ROSS GOLD FIELDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 12

ROSS GOLD FIELDS

AUSTRALIAN INTERESTS

Hopes of successful gold dredging south of Ross on the West Coast, in the Mikonui area, are held by Australian mining interests, who already are associated with several of the larger dredges at present working on the West Coast. Bores have already been put down in the new area, said Mr. J. M. Newman, a representative of the Australian interests, in an interview in the "Otago Daily Times." The ground was heavy to work and a particularly heavy dredge would be required to work the ground, Mr. Newman said, so that the capital required to begin the new company would, be rather bigger than that of the three present dredges in which he was interested —Kanieri. Arahura, and Ngahere. He estimated the required capital for the Ross area at about £300,000, but anticipated little difficulty in raising the money. About the prospects of what is known as low-grade dredging on the West Coast, Mr. Newman was enthusiastic. Labour costs were high, he said, but provided there was a big enough area the future of dredging was excellent in land in which bores revealed a consistently good return.