UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 131, 1 December 1930, Page 8

UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES

(To the Editor.) Sir,— According to the letter signed "Caution" in Saturday's "Post," certain persons in the Dominion have been trying to revive an interest in mining, and it is pleasant to know that they are working along correct lines in the development o£, the unwoi-kcd mineral deposits in New Zealand. Mining, i£ properly conducted, will have a-valuable effect towards quickly solving the unemployment question. What could be better than an increased production in our gold yield? -Surely, "Caution' must know what modern practice is doing for j mining in other countries, where low-grade gold mines are paying dividends from ore valued at only a few shillings to the ton, where mines that were abandoned in the early days on account of being unprofitable to work have been reopened and equipped with satisfactory results. The Baldwin mine, Burma, an old mine abandoned by the Chinese and re-equipped by the Burma Corporation, Ltd., India, has paid dividends since 1923 to the tune o£ £4,894,756. Lake George mine in New South Wales is being equipped by Lake George Metal Corporation, and the experimental pilot plant has demonstrated that the ore is worth £4 8s to the ton. The estimated output of concentrates per annum is:—Lead 18,000 tons, zinc 36,000 tons, pyrite 54,000 tons. The pyrite will bo utilised for the production o£ sulphuric acid. . Regarding the boom and burst question, why is mining selected for special attention when we have boom and burst fresh in our minds? What else is inflation in the value of property and commodity but "boom," and what else is deflation but "burst." Will "Caution" be good enough to look into and calculate the amount of money that has been lost in the so-called gilt-edged investments during the last two years? Also the losses that have accrued by the deflation of property value and the losses that are accruing due to the low value being received for our primary products? I agree with "Caution," there may be undiscovered payable reefs in New Zealand; but I prefer to leave the discovery of these to the "super-optimist," otherwise the prospector, who has the courage of his' convictions. No doubt. the Government geologists do know of localities where gold may be discovered, and the suggestion of "Caution's" to test these is quite good; a false gold mining boom would be fatal to New Zealand. The suggestion that the money expended during the last mining boom on the Coromandel peninsula would be better expended on "Tatt's," makes one believe that many people have not learned anything from past . mistakes, and that mining stands for ever ■ condemned owing to the many violations of the economic laws governing mining. The future prosperity of New Zealand depends on the amount of energy and the methods adopted in developing our natural resources. While "Caution" is being cautious, our latent natural resources remain undeveloped, our unemployed remain idle, thus they and their dependants are faced by the spectre of despair. Is it not time that those who have the destiny. of this fair land under their control awakened to the fact that by allowing our natural resources to remain undeveloped they a.re violating more economic laws than.did those people who created the Coromandel mining boom?—I am, etc., PROSPECTOR.