ALEXANDER MINES

Evening Star, Issue 21811, 29 August 1934, Page 5

ALEXANDER MINES

Tlje annual report of the directors of Alexander Alines Ltd. states: Mining and ore extraction during the whole of the year has been confined to the M‘Vicar reef section. Owing to the hardness of the. ore and the country rock in the lower workings of the mine it was decided to install rock-drill-ing machines. A hydro-power plant is under erection for the purpose of generating compressed air at the mine for working these machines underground. The major portion of this plant has been erected and will be completed shortly, and the machines put into operation. When these are in commission it will cheapen the cost of producing ore and render progress in the various development faces speedier. Directly the machines are in operation it is intended to pursue a policy of active developmental and prospecting operations, primarily with the object of augmenting ore reserves. At three places in the mine—namely, by extending No. 3 level north, also No. 4 level north, and cross-cutting to the eastward in No. 4 level—there appears to be every prospect of locating further pay. able ore bodies, and development work at these points will bo pushed forward as early as practicable. Since February 27, in consequence of a sudden and unexpected demand made by the Inangahua Miners’ Union, a strike of the men in the company’s employ occurred, and operations have been at a standstill. Early in July operations in the mine were resumed. In November last it was decided to install a four-panel roasting furnace at the mine for the treatment of concentrates being produced from milling operations. This furnace has been completed, and is now waiting the erection of a small cyanide plant to treat these concentrates in a separate unit as distinct from the cyanide plant now in operation at the battery. When this furnace is in commission it should enable the concentrates which are being produced from the battery to be treated successfully and at a much lower cost than by transporting them per packhorses and railway to Greymbuth, and then shipment to Pori Kembla, Australia, for treatment there. The battery crushed for the nine months ended February last (when the strike commenced) 2,959 tons of ore, from which 2,006 tons of sand were saved and treated at the cyanide plant, which is equal to 67 per cent, of the tonnage crushed. The gold produced was sold in London, and the output for the period realised £17,461 9s Bd, plus £3,934 18s 3d, making a total of £21.396 7s lid. During the year two dividends, Nos. 8 and 9, of Is per share each, representing a total of £7,500, were distributed to the shareholders.

Dealing with the company’s industry generally, the following figures will Serve to'indicate the extent of the taxation and other relative payments which have been made since the company came into existence:—Paid in rates on mining properties, £Bl4 2s lOd; in rents on leases, £Bl2 8s Id; on pack track, £862 17s 8d; in income tax on dividends. £3,512 12s Id (tax on dividends Nos. 8 and 9 not yet paid); in gold duty, £2,862 Cs sd. Early in 1933 extra taxation was imposed on all gold mining companies, and it is hard to understand why such an important industry was saddled with the high duty of 12s Cd per ounce, of gold produced. This is a direct tax on industry and is fundamentally unsound, and at the present lime ■ most uneconomic when

every effort should be strained to create employment. Every other gold-produc-ing country in the. world is adopting a policy, of fostering the gold mining industry in order to. stimulate employment and promote production of gold.Gold is the only primary product which is in keen demand, and is therefore readily saleable ■ without much expense. All gold mining companies should protest against this gold duty tax, which absorbs so much of the assets which are so vitally necessary for development work and ore production.