SEARCH FOR GOLD

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 40, 17 February 1931, Page 12

SEARCH FOR GOLD

EFFECT OF BONUS

PROMISES OF PANAMA

"Evening Post," 17th February. Too little gold—aud that in too few hands—is blamed for the great fall in commodity prices the world over. An increase in production, great as it is still, would be most ■welcome, and Australia has stimulated the search by payment of a bonus of £1 per ounce for a period of ten yeara for all fine gold produced in excess of the average annual production for the past three years. This bonus -will be distributed among all producers, and it is expected that it will induce an increased production this year of from 400,000 average to 600,000 ounces. The Wiluna Corporation, of London, ■with. Government support and assistance, is opening up a new goldfield in Western Australia. The development of this new area should be powerfully stimulated by tbe bonus of £1 per ounce. In fact, in the case of the Wiluna the bonus is expected to work out at an additional 2s 6d per ton profit, while as output expands it -will steadily increase. To finance the further equipment of the mine, which is expected to reach the production stage in March next, the company has just issued in London £350,000 of 10 per cent. convertible into ordinary shares or .redeemable at 20 per cent, premium. COMPARED WITH THE RAND. "Panama Gold" reads like a romance or the title of a thrilling talkie. But in sober truth it represents the activities of the Panama Corporation, an English company ■working in Panama territory. Mr. Duncan E. Alves, chairman, addressing shareholders in London, said that the corporation's enterprise had been repeatedly referred to in the American. Press and the local Press of Panama; and gravest suspicions had been engendered in certain quarters in the United States in connection with the company's operations in relation to the Panama Canal. After thorough investigations locally by a special mission sent from Washington it was officially announced that they were satisfied as to the bona fides of this British enterprise and its operations in Panama. Judging by the speeches made at this meeting, the corporation promises to be a considerable contributor to the world <s stock of gold. The goldfield which the corporation is exploring, with the cordial support of the Panama Government, >s practically in length the same as the maiu leef series of the Rand. The Remance Mine alone, which is only one of the four properties being developed, is, in the opinion of Mr. Hugh IT. Marriott, a wellknown Band engineer, a far more attractive mming proposition than the New Modderfontein when he first took a hand in examining it. The New Modderfontein paid nearly £2,000,000 in dividends in one year, but Mr. Marriott's estimate of a profit of £350,000 to £400,000 per annura from the corporation's four properties is more modest. He quoted results of bulk sampling ranging from 29s per ton up to £636 per ton, and added: ''I have extreme confidence that your properties in Panama contain within their boundaries the next coming goldfield of the world." WORLD PRODUCERS. Over half the world's gold now being produced comes from the Union of South Africa. The United States ranks second ■with, 10.9 per cent, of ihe total output, ■while Canada is third =ritb 9.6 per cent. The latest figures of world output are tor 3.928, when the production of the Union of South Africa was 10,354,264 fine ounces, that of the United States ?,144,720 ounces, and Canada 1,890,592 ounces. In the eight years preceding the date just mentioned, there had been a decline oi over 300,000 ounces in the production of the United States, while the production of Canada had increased by more than 1,000,000 ounces. For 1929 (latest available returns), Canada's finally revised official figures are as follows: 1,928,308 fine ounces, valued at 39,861,663 dollars. This compared -with an output of 1,890,592 fine ounces in 1928, valued at 39,082,005 dollars. For the first half of 1930 the out put, according to preliminary figures, was 976,235 fine ounces, with a value of 20,180,568 dollars. The Dominion is ow giving the United States a close run for second position among the gold producing countries of the world.