MINES AND METALS

Evening Star, Issue 23486, 29 January 1940, Page 9

MINES AND METALS

B.H.P. BONUS ISSUE IMMEDIATE START TO BE HADE The issue of new scrip by Broken-Hill Proprietary Ltd. under the company s scheme to distribute 64 bonus shares for every 100 shores held will commence within the next fortnight. Jh e bonus represents a total sum of £4,4 oOr 790, and will lift the paid capital of the company to £11,410,868. Coming from share-premium reserve, the issue will not he subject to the Commonwealth income tax or ordinary State taxes. Nomina! capital is being increased from £15.000,000 to £25,000,000, hut no immediate issue of now shares will be made for the purpose. HEW AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY UTILISATION OF COPPER A new outlet for the output Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Ltd., of Tasmania, will be provided under a scheme proposed to bo undertaken by Metal Manufactures Ltd., of Sydney, in conjunction with the Cable Makers' Association of Great Britain, to produce rubber-insulated cables in Australia, alongside Metal Manufactures’ Port Kembla (N.S.W.) works. The project is conditional on adequate tariff protection being granted. The Mount Ly*ell Company has over £250,000 of share capital in Metal Manufactures, the rest of the capital being mainly in the hands of British Insulated Cables, the British Aluminium Company 7. Imperial Chemicals of Australia and New Zealand Ltd., the Broken Hill Smelters Company, the Electrolytic Refining and Smelting Company. Electrolytic Zinc, the Zinc Corporation, and the North and South Broken Hill Companies. DRILLING FOR OIL AUSTRALIAN OPERATIONS Following the amendment of the Victorian Mines (Petroleum) Act, 1935, which" became operative on January 1 of the present year, Austral Oil Drilling Syndicate N.L. reports having pegged and applied for licenses covering about 600 square miles from Lakes Entrance to Seaspray, on the coast of Australia, south of Sale. The syndicate will continue its development work in the Lakes Entrance area, where certain rights have been acquired from South Australian Oil Corporation Ltd., and Wiluna Ajax 'Gold Mines N.L, over areas held by them and areas covered by agreements over leases Nos. 2. and 4 from the Midwest Qil Company N.L. and South Australian Oil Corporation. The directors have decided to drill another well immediately after consultation with their geophysical surveyors regarding the site. This well will be drilled to a larger diameter, to enable it to be continued to a greater depth if found desirable. The company’ is disposing of further syndicate shares to augment its present resources to enable this work to be completed. The Federal and State Governments, combined, are putting down one deep bore at Lakes Entrance on a spot chosen by them. They have also decided to "drill six scout "bores across the field, of which two will bo on this company’s area. The oil in the company’s Imray well has risen to 322 ft, and is still rising, adds the report. .SALES OF COPPER MOUNT LYELL'S WAR CONTRACT ‘ The contract for the sale of Empire copper to the British Government is for one year only, unless the war ends before then, and can be renewed for another year if necessary. This arrangement will enable allowance to be made at the end of a year for any serious changes in costs during the intervening period. Originally some Empire producers expressed fear that the contract would bo for the duration of the war. The contract between the British Government and Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Corapanv Limited provides for a maximum of 7,b00 tons per annum at £4B 10s sterling a ton, f.0.b., Sydney. Interest in Mount Lyell shares in the last fortnight is attributed in some Australian quarters to rumours that the price commissioner is likelv to take action to increase the Australian price of copper. Production at Mount Lyell is approximately 7 13,000 tons a year. REPORTS AND RETURNS White's Electric Dredge. The following is the official return of gold won by White’s Electric Gold Dredging Company’s dredge during the week ended January 25;—Eighteen ounces of gold in 98 hours (4,980 yards). New River. The following is the official return of gold won by the New River Gold Dredging Company’s dredge during the week ended January 25;—Twenty ounces in 115 hours (9,400 yards). COTTON, RUBBER, ETC. Press Association —By Telegraph—Coyprigla LONDON, January 28. (Received January 29, at noon.) Friday’s closing prices were as follows; Cotton. Spot, 8.30 d; February, 7.97 d lb. Rubber. Para, 13d; plantation smoked, 11 15-l Cd. Linseed-oil, £2 0s OJd. Turpentine, £2 14s 9d.