A NEW COALFIELD.

Northern Advocate, 4 August 1924, Page 3

A NEW COALFIELD.

DOBSON AREA TO BE WORKED. Mr. Walter Lcitch, M.M.E., who has been appointed manager of the Grey Valley Collieries, Ltd., wns in Christehureh recently. He said that a tender for continuing the tunnel commenced by the old Dobson Company, and another for the construction of a ventilating shaft, would be let, this week in all probability. The u-ork would take about six months, after which the field would be operated. It will be remembered by those interested in coal mining that the Dobson Company, which obtained a lease of 950 acres, of the field in 1920, spent about £40.000 on a plant, machinery, building-s, and development work, and then gave up, because a test bore showed a seam of coal only 2ft. 9in. in thickness. Since then, however, the field has been investigated by the Grey Harbour Board, which had the services of the Government boring plant, and it has been shown that there is good reason to believe that had the Dobson Company kept on with its tunnel for another 180 feet it would have struck a seam of gocd bituminous cool lift. (3in. thick, and by now would have owned one of the biggest producing collieries in the Dominion. The contracts to be .let this week by Grey i Valley Collieries, Ltd., a recently formed company, which li«s taken over the lease, will provide for the comple- : tion of the tunnel and. certain other ' work necessary to the working of the j mine; it 11 the rest of Uie developed work having been done by the Dobson Company, which also acquired most of j the necessary ph.-iit. 5 Mr. Leitch, who was for 2?> years manager of the Blackball mine, and who has an extensive knowledge of the Grey coalfields, says that the borings made up to d:ite show an area of seam which if 12ft. thick would mean a deposit of 7,000.000 tons of coal. At places, however, the seam is over 20ft. thick. The roof is a good one, of hard quartz rock, giving promise of economical working, with no necessity for extensive timbering. The mine is said to be the nearest bituminous mine to • Christchurch. The famous Bninncr j mino was just across the drey Kivor from the field, which is now to be developed. The Christchurch-Grey-niouth railway runs through the field on its northern side, so that there is no difficulty about tr.inspo.rt. It is estimated tHat the output of the mine when they aie working at. full mroduc- j tion will be about 100,00 tons a year. [