OUR MINERALS.

Grey River Argus, 19 January 1922, Page 5

OUR MINERALS.

PROSPECT OF NEW CAPITAL AND SCIENTIFIC TREATMENT. (Per Press WELLINGTON, January 16. The manager of the Anglo-Scottish Finance Corporation, Ltd., Mr John Matthews, is at present in New Zealand for the purpose of advising his principals on the prospects of the profitable employment of their capital in the development of gold and other minerals in the Dominion. He outlines in glowing terms the potentialities of the mining industry. “The present economic position of the Empire compels us to review our resources with a view to the speedingup of the development of its immense mineral deposits. In this connection the attention of investors at Home is being focused on New Zealand, whose potential mineral wealth is beyond the dreams of avarice. It is becoming more generally realised that Britain must initiate fresh enterprises and industries for the development of the Dominions. “I have had a long and intimate association with the inning industry in New Zealand, and am, therefore, in a position to present a fair and comprehensive statement of what has been accomplished in the past, and to denote where combinations of Capital, Labour, professional skill and experience, and business capacity may secure the rewards of enterprise in the future. Nature has been generous with her mineral gifts to New Zealand. The economic. place of mining in the history of New Zealand is a large one, for the discovery of gold and other minerals has had an important effect on the prosperity of the country, and has stimulated pioneering enterprise in the coast lands and the rich gold-bearing interior. The Desire for Mining Boom. ‘ ‘ There is no desire for what is termed a ‘mining boom,’ for nothing has been more disastrous to mining as an industry as the inflation and watering of capital in gold-mining companies at periods of undue excitement. So long as gold mining is carried on on the same lines as coal or iron mining. I am of opinion that it is just as legitimate an enterprise, and more likely than most undertakings to give an adequate return on the capital employed. In New Zealand almost every known variety of mineral has been discovered. To ascertain the possibility of producing iron and steel on a commercial scale, quantities of Parapara iron ore and Taranaki iron-sand were sent Home last year, and submitted to an exhaustive test, under the supervision of a recognised iron and steel expert. The results of that test were extremely favourable. Now, as pig iron can be produced more cheaply in New Zealand than in America, and the iron ore and coal are much nearer the seaboard, it is anticipated that this industry will rapidly develop. The Mineral Areas. “Rich and extensive gold-bearing fields are likely to develop in the Westland province if scientifically exploited. The inland country in the far south is very little known to the prospector, the bulk of the diggers having worked the beach sands. From Cape Farewell to Big Bay there is a stretch of mineral country, hundreds of miles in extent, with indications of immense wealth, extending from the sea coast to the dividing range. The West Coast mineral fields are yet unexplored, but are capable of absorbing an enormous population. Gold and its Profit. “It not infrequently happens that people are heard to say that gold mining is a hazardous undertaking, but this is far from being the case with the careful, expert and scientific development of to-day. The sum of over £12,500,000 has been paid in dividends from 102 mines, with a total authorised capital of less than £4,000,000. The total gold output of the Dominion is £88,750,000.” Mr Matthews quoted from material he published in a booklet in London in October last—“ The Potential Mineral Wealth of New Zealand” —in which he reviewed the history of gold mining, the returns of the various companies to date, the application of science to mining lurgy in the Dominion, the nature and quality of the ores available, the percentage of gold and the methods of working them. “The real interest in New Zealand mining is less in what it has been or is, than in what it will be with the mineralised areas. Hitherto unheardof gold and mineral fields will demonstrate the possibilities for profitable invest ment. The wide distribution of coal and lignite is a material aid to other industries. There are many other minerals —such as copper, antimony, cinnabar, manganese, mica and asbestos. Limestone is distributed over a wide area; scheelite is regularly reported 1 from Otago and Marlborough; fuller’s earth and haematite paint from the Thames; and a variety of grinding and polishing materials in Otago and different parts of the Dominion. These and many others still await the introduction of modern methods and some capital for their development; when these are forthcoming, the yield of gold and other minerals will receive an enormous impetus, ; .