Revival of Goldmining Industry.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4011, 4 August 1931, Page 5

Revival of Goldmining Industry.

ASSISTANCE TO PROSPECTORS. MR BODKIN’S STRONG ADVOCACYMi- Bodkin, M.P., for Central Otago, speaking in the House on the 17th July, said that he noted with pleasure that the Mines Department had. referred to the Unemployment Board

the matter of assistance to prospectors for gold. He took it that the object was to divert a portion of the unemployment funds to the development of the mining industry. If that was the case then he hoped that the restrictions that were previously imposed upon the expenditure would not apply to any new grants. The expenditure of the £2,000 that had been voted had been limited to married men while in many cases the most expert miners l were single men. This restriction had put out of the industry many men who had the necessary experience and qualifications for exploring undeveloped country in the goldfields and was not in the best interests of the mining industry.

The present was a particularly opportune time for the development of the mining industry, first because of the adverse exchange rate gold miners were getting approximately £5 an ounce, most of the gold was sold on assay, and the miners were getting the benefit of the exchange pu Australia which was approximately IBs au ounce; secondly, that many promising fields had not been properly prospected in the past because of the inability' to get water to command the area. In the early days miners had not bothered to prospect to any extent unless they were certain that they could get water to command the area to be prospected. Most of the water in the water-sheds was taken up for miningpurposes many years ago and those water rights were continuously in commission until comparatively recent date.

The decline of the miming industry was largely due to the effects of the war because the prices for all com-' modifies required by the miner increased considerably jnore than 100 ,per cent. This put many claims that were quite -good gold winners out of commission and while some of the water races had been converted for irrigation purposes others had been abandoned and the water to-day was available to be brought on to other areas il prospecting proved that the expenditure was Justified.

Lu the Lawrence district they had one of the most promising alluvial deposits possibly in the world, while on the Old Man Range there was an immense area of land that had never been prospected. In Naseby, Matakanui, and St. Bathans mining operations were still being carried on, and it would be an infinitely better proposition to expend some thousands pi the unemployment funds in developing and proving these fields than to spend it under the unproductive No. 5 Scheme. ' The Upper Clutha and Cardrona Valleys contained thousands of acres that had never been prospected and lie believed that the Nevis field was the richest in New Zealand.

Quite a lot of raining was being carried on in the Shotover district, and he felt that if reasonable assistance was granted to miners in these districts the industry would readily absorb hundreds of men. He felt certain that the time would .ome when the reefs at Macetown would be again yielding substantial returns. In Alaska low grade ores yielding only 4s a ton were being worked successfully and he was certain that there were still many reefs in Otago that would yield double and treble those values, ii.o Progress Mine at Oturehua and the King Solomon had both been assisted by the present Government The returns now being won clearly indicated the wisdom of granting State aid to the industry. The scheelite mines at Glenorchy also offered a promising Held for the employment of Labour and if the Unemployment Board built up the mining industry it would be helping bo (lighten the load for every section of the community.

Private enterprise was doing quite a lot in boring the Nevis and Nokomai fields and he felt that a few thousand pounds spent in developing goldHelds of Otago might possibly result in providing permanent employment for thousands of men for many years to come.

He would also like the Minister of Public Works to consider the advisability of supplying water from the Public Works Schemes in Central Otago to miners who were able to make use of the water for mining purposes. This probably might not be greatly availed of under some of the schemes but in the case of the Hawkdun scheme he thought the policy of supplying water in the Naseby district to miners for mining purpose’s should be considerably modified.

He believed that if the water was supplied free to miners during the season that it was not required for irrigation all the unemployed men in that district would be prepared to carry on mining operations without any further assistance from the State. If this were done be felt that there would be a substantial increase in the gold production of the Dominion which of necessity would be the richer for it