THE MOUNT RADIANT MINE.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1868, 12 March 1913, Page 4

THE MOUNT RADIANT MINE.

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER.

..I'I'® 1 '® Hon - Win- Eraser, Minister ot Mines, who passed through Palmerston yesterday, met a deputation from the Mount Radiant Prospecting Company, consisting of Messrs J. A. Fraser, C. A. Loughnan, W. A. keiller, R. A. McKepzie, M. Morrison, G. E. Trevor and P. L. Sim The deputation was introduced' bj Mr D. Buick, M.P., who said the company, which was practicnllv a .ralmerston one, had acquired certain mining rights in the Mount Radiant Karamea, and desired the assistance of the Government to faciliate the development of this large mineral neld.

Mr Sim, the secretary of the compuny, said that the company had been promoted for the purpose of prospecting and developing the Mount Radiant mineral field, but was being retarded by reason of the difficulty of access. There wasadrav roid for four miles from the port of Karamsa, a bridle track for a further four miles, but thence to the reef at Silver Creek there was a foot track only. The company asked that the Minister would now agree to the construction of a good bridle track to Silver Creek. At present supplies and appliances were swagged in, but later a large quantity of ore would be brought out for the purpose of bulk assays, which meant serious delay and expense. Mount Kadiant had been described by several experts as the largest mineral deposit in the Australasian colonies, and it was hardly necessary to Doint but that the matter was one of enormous importance to the Dominion. Mr Fraser asked why, if this was such a rich field, did the company not construct the track out of it* own capital. It seemed to him that the members of the company would reap the principal benefit. Then there was always the danger that the venture might Drove to be less profitable than indications led them to expect, in which case the money expended on the bridle track might result in small benefit to anyone. Mr Loughnan said that this being in the nature of a prospecting and developing company its capital wa* naturally limited. If the field proved to be as good as reports and assays led them to expect, the Government would after all be the chief gainers. If Mr Fraser would agree to the construction of the bridle track now the company would be quite prepared to reimburse the money if the venture proved a success.

Mr Fraser, in reply, said that this latter proposition put the matter in a more favourable light. He asked that full information, including reports and assays, be forwarded to him so that he might make further enquiries when he visited the West Coast, which he intended doing in April.

ROMANCE OF QUARTZ MINING

ABOUT MOUNT RADIANT.

The early history of almost all th» great Australian and New Zealand mines contains a romance, which was brought to mind by the meeting of the Hon. Mr Fraser and the Mount Radiant prospecting company deputation yesterday. The owner of the famous Waihi had the greatest difficulty in convincing anyone of its value, and it was only after undergoing many privations and experiencing rebuff* that he at last succeeded in getting the necessary capital to thoroughly test it and prove its value. Broken Hill scrip was practically floating in the gutters at Adelaide. While Mount Morgan shares in early stage* of its history were deemed to be hardly worth the stamp duty on the transfers. Will Mount Radiant provu to be another romance? It is, like Mount Morgan, a conglomerate ore, but in addition to gold, silver and copper, it contains a percentage (in some assays a large one) of molybdenite. At the present moment molvbdenit® is worth in its crude state £224 per ton. Copper, however, predominates in the Mount Radiant ore, and it is destined to be primarily a copper proposition. The United States now controls from 65 per cent, to 70 per cent, of the world's supply. The demand for copper has increased steadily with the wide world adoption of electric machinery, and will continue until every land is exploited for new lodes. Twenty years ago Europe imported £ 1f,0,000 worth of copper; in 1910 the figures rose to £20,000,000. In another twenty yearn these figures will probably be doubled, if not quadrupled. In 1910 only 7 per cent, of the machinery in the United States had been electrified, and it is estimated that in another fifteen years the percentage will have risen to 40.

Mount Radiant, it is said, has possibilities from the hugeness of the deposits, and the further developments now being undertaken by the local company will be eagerly watched.