MINING PROSPECTS AT THE INANGAHUA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 91, 15 August 1873, Page 3

MINING PROSPECTS AT THE INANGAHUA.

[From the Inangahua Herald, July 26.] The half-yearly statements for June ofi eighteen mining companies, carrying on operations in the Inangahua district, show that four only of the eighteen have declared dividends during that term, namely, the Golden Fleece, £2,G00 ; Ajax, £2,504 ; Anderson's, £475 ; and Invincible, £300. The total calls made since the registration of the various companies is £37,474, and the total dividends £5,879 showing an excess of calls over demands of £31,595. At first sight the above results would appear far from encouraging, but on taking into consideration the number of registered companies which have been in a position to raise and crush, stone, and the value of work done represented by the above calls, it will be found that the result is not less satisfactory than those presented by other fields of mining enterprise. Taking, for instance, the Anderson's Creek Company, in which a dividend of £475 only has been declared — what are the actual facts ? On the 13th of October last, after a large expenditure in opening mine, constructing water-race, and powerful battery, crushing operations were commenced, and continued with various vexatious interruption until the present. It was found necessary to improve and alter the water-race, while in opening the mine unexpected expense had to be gone to recently owing to faults in the reef, which have, however, been since overcome. In addition to this a special contract for the erection of a crushing plant was entered into which provided for the cost of construction, &c, being paid out of the proceeds of the mine, so as to do away with the necessity of making calls. This liability, amounting to between £5,000 and £6,000, will have been entirely paid off in the course of a fortnight, so that it will thus be seen that, had the machinery been erected by the company, already £6,000 would have been available for distribution as dividends. The situation is similar in respect to the "Wealth of Nations Company, a considerable debt having been incurred to outside capitalists for the erection of machinery, which has to be liquidated before any proceeds of the mine will be available for demands. Had capital been called up to cover this outlay, as a matter of course considerable sums would be regularly available for dividends. In the Golden Meece the calls represent £1,100 only and dividends £2,600, and th 6 present crushing is certain to result in a very large sum being available for distribution after deducting all working expenses. A private telegram forwarded a day or two ago to a nonresident shareholder, states that 140 tons of stone had been put through during the previous week, which would give an average of 1\ ozs. to the ton. This, together with the fact that something like 300 lbs. of quicksilver has had to be obtained in addition to that already on hand, goes to show very conclusively that the stone is rich, since it requires so large a quantity of silver to amalgamate it. This Company, however, possesses no machinery for crushing, and is dependent upon the Ajax plant, while the latter again has been almost exclusively employed on stone raised from the latter mine. The Ajax mine, on the other hand, is per-

haps the only one which, from the bare ' figures, would enable an opinion to be formed of the value of the enterprise. The calls made in the Company amount to £2,504, j aud the dividends to a similar amount, so that really nothing has been available forthe purpose of dividends, the call and dividend having been simultaneously declared. Yet, even in this claim, it is^pmetliing that the Work of opening the rafP and prospecting, together with the vast expenditure involved in carrying out preliminary works, in addition to working exponses, should have not required a larger amount to be called up than £2,50-1. The Energetic Company, representing calls to the extent of £5,250, have but quite recently commenced crushing operations, so it is too early to seek for dividends as yet from that enterprise. The Baud of Hope Company, which, excepting Anderson's, has called up a larger amount of capital than any 1 company in the district, nearly £5,900, has already passed into liquidation, owing to the unfavourable results obtained from the stone raised. In all the remaining claims, beyond a trial crushing or two, nothing has been done. The North British are prospecting for and daily expect to get a continuation of the reef contained in the Golden Fleece. The Vulcan and Enterprise, on Adam Smith's line,, are jointly carrying in a tunnel to strike the Wealth "of Nations reef. The GKjlden'Ledge, on the same line, has had a trial crushing with a payable, though not a high average. At Eainy Creek it has been decided to still further prospect the reef before making any effort to erect machinery. On Kelly's line, the Inglewood, North Star, Phoenix, and Victoria, all dependent upon the Westland Crushing Company for crushing their stone, have ceased operations for the present, awaiting the successful termination of negotiations for the purchase of that plaut, as the stone will not admit of such a deduction for crushing stone as 255. per ton. In the United Band of Hope there have been three trial crushings with very respectable results, and the company is now engaged steadily carrying on a low level tunnel to work the mme — an operation which will not probably be concluded until the end of the year. The Invincible Company on Anderson's line, which has declared a dividend of £300, is dependent upon Anderson's Company's plant for getting stone crushed, and it is not likely therefore that this company, for some time at least, will be in a position to add very largely to the gold product of the district. At Boatman's, the Fiery Cross, and Just-in-Time Companies are both raising splendid stone, and machinery is now being erected, but will not be ready for operations to commance in less than two months, and the product for some months will have to go chiefly towards liquidating the debt to the contractors for supplying machinery. At Larry's, although very promising stone has been struck in two claims,, no efforts are hitherto being made towards erecting • machinery. At present it will appear therefore that, irrespective of alluvial deposits, the gold product of the district is entirely dependent upon the working of the Anderson's . Cceek, Wealth of Nations, Energetic, aud Ajax batteries, and of these the first and last-named only are in a position to crush for outside claims. The above remarks will serve to show that large dividends are impossible while so few mining companies are iv a position to crush, and so large a portion of those crushing, or likely shortly to do so, have a heavy liability to liquidate for machinery.