MINING

Evening Star, Issue 16910, 6 December 1918, Page 5

MINING

With the lifting of the embargo on the export of steel, ammonia sulphate, etc., the Broken Hill Proprietary Company promptly made some big shipments to the East, being all small steel, Hats, billets, rounds, and rods, and, in addition, quite a number of shipments of ammonia sulphate. The opening up of the Eastern market for steel products seems likely to become an important factor in tho trade returns of the company. It is something new for Australia to bo exporting steel products, instead of importing them as largely as she has. In spite of the fact that only one furnace at the Mount Lyeli mines has been in commission, the copper production for the last four-weekly smelting period, which closed on November 20, is likely to be good. This is due to the collecting from the old converters, which are being dismantled, of a considerable quantity of material which has accumulated about the plant during the many years it was in operation. These residues, which are all being gathered up and sent to the furnaces, carry a high percentage of copper, and will "appreciably supplement tho metal from the limited tonnage of crude ore smelted.

MOtTNT LYELL MINES. Tho shortage of labor is interfering with production at the Mount Lyell Company's mine's to an extent which has never been previously experienced. During the past four or five weeks the scarcity of men has been gradually becoming more pronounced., and at present they have only enough at the North Lyell mine to work one shift, whilo conditions at the Mount Lyell mine are. not much better. The output for the last three weeks has just been sufficient to keep one furnace going, and as the holiday season will soon be here, there is very little chanc© of any improvement in the labor supply until the beginning of the new year; in fact, it is not expected to run more than one furnace until after the holidays. Unless seme radical alteration occurs, this continual labor shortage is likely to be a serious matter for the company, as it means that their mines are only being exploited to about half their productive capacity. Various reasons are advanced to account for the difficulty in this connection, one of which is that when the climatic and social conditions and the abnormally high cost of living in the district are considered, the wages paid compare unfavorably with those of other mining districts of the Commonwealth. Be this as it may, the fact remains that the district is given a wide berth by suitable mining workers, with the result that, while in mining centres on the mainland I there is generally sufficient labor available, tho Mount Lyell Company are obliged to carry on operations on a greatly reduced scale. It is, however, possible that the cessation of (he war and the consequent return of so many men to I Australia will help to f.oivo the difficulty, j At least, it is to be hoped so, as, ii 250 i suitable men came along to-morrow they could bo placed right away, and as the aggregate earnings of this number of em-' I ployees would be something like £9OO a j week, some idea can be formed of the loss ' to the community which is being entailed I by the existing state of things.