OPEN CAST MINING

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 September 1945, Page 8

OPEN CAST MINING

MR. O’BRIEN DEFENDS SYSTEM. WELLINGTON, September 12. Discussing open cast mining in the House of Representatives to-day the Acting-Minister of Mines (Mr. O’Brien) said the Government had been criticised for its policy, but open cast mining had saved New Zealand from several severe headaches. , , • New Zealand industries had increased consumption by -500,000 tons, and there was little help from overseas supplies. He dealt with criticism by Mr. Polson (Opposition, Stratford), who, he said, had obtained information from a mechanical engineer, but had misread it. At one mine, Mr. Polson had said, it cost 98/- to produce a ton of coal. That was far from the actual state of affairs, and that was not the cost. The crux of the position was . the amount of overburden to be shifted to win the coal. Mr. Polson had said we should have used draglines. The position was that when we started open cast mining there were no draglines in the country, and we had to use available machinery, which had done a good job. New machinery had since been obtained from the United States. Mr. O’Brien dealt with the Glen Massey situation, and said the actual amount of coal there was 480,000 tons, with an overburden of 2,550,000 yards, or five yards a ton of coal. The estimated cost of producing a ton of coal was 22/2, and the price realised was 18/10, which was a loss of 3/4—quite a different figure from that which Mr. Polson gave. At Waitewhena, a profit was made ol 5/2 a ton. Generally there were 15' to 20 feet of overburden to move in open cast mining. Mr. Polson asked if the coal situation was improving. Mr. O’Brien replied that it. was, and given a fair run we would have enough at least to the end of the year. If, however, we could get coal from overseas, even one-third, of the amount imported in 1942-43, he would be very happy.