THE SHIPMENT OF ORES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8949, 13 January 1888, Page 6

THE SHIPMENT OF ORES.

Ms. Joshua Jackson writes as follows "Your leader in to-day's issue has been freely commented upon by mining men of this community, and the general opinion is that you strike the keynote of the situation when you say that 1 all persons interested in mining are thoroughly dissatisfied with our present battery and other processes.' Unfortunately this has bean too long known, and yet very feeble have been the attempts to remedy the defeots ; and what little has been done has fallen through for the want of oapltal to carry out the experiments to a further issue. There are men in oar midst who are possessed of mining interests of a very valuable nature, and have also the courage to launch out into any process which would utilise those properties { but, Alas! like the remainder of the population of this distriot, they are strioken with that chronic complaint, want of funds. In fact, that is the cause of our present depression, and what we want are men of enter* prise and capital. That we have good things cannot be denied, and although many of us may be starred out before reaping any advantage therefrom, yet the time is not far distant when the introduction of some new system of treating our complex ores will at once arrest the stampede that is now draining the Thames and this community of •some of our most enterprising and successful men. You suggest that ' the Government should select and depute some thoroughly qualified person to proceed to America and Europe to the works now in operation there.' This I suggested in your columns of July 5, 1886, but siuoe then I and others have altered our opinions, and like the Broken Hills Company, we say, import a practical and scientific man vversed in the German and American processes, and I would say place him at the School of Mines, in conjunction with Mr Montgomery, where there are, or will be in the course of a couple of months, daplioates of almost every known plant in existence, and capableof manipulating several tons of ore per week, on a scale large enough to determine the method most suitable tor it. However, lam digressing from my subject, the shipment of ore, a few statistics of which I have prepared, bat regret to say they are anything but satisfactory, and which confirms more than ever the necessity there ii of reducing our ores in this country, and thereby retaining the enormous percentage which is at present enriching outside buyers to the detriment of the produoers. lam per* sonally interested in two recent ship ments, and have therefore procured vouchers of the sale, which I append, feeling assured they will prove interesting to mauy who have not the opportunity of looking into details, but whom you often hear say, 4 Why don't you ship it in large quantities ; it won't cost above £5 or £6 per ton ?' Will they, after perusing the statements produced, counsel further shipments ? I trow not. The first account sales is that of the Union Company, Waihi, a shipment of 34J tons, which realised the handsome sum of £618, while the assay value made by Johnston, Matthey, and Company was about £790. From the sum of £618, charges to the tune of £191 are made, or an average of £5 12s per ton for freight, insurance, assaying, commission, etc., since leaving here. In addition to this, it cost to win, land in Auckland, and re-ship, not less than £6 per ton, so that wo have a total of about £12 per ton to pay before it goes into the hands of the purchaser. The difference then between the buyer's price and the bulk assay made by Johnston, Matthey, and Co., is exactly an average of £5 per ton, so that we have nearly £17 per ton to deduct before the producer receives anything, or in other words, the vendors get an average of £18 per ton, while charges of one sort or another are £17. The second statement is that of the ore just shipped by the Keuilworth Co. tributers, and upon which advances wore made by agents of English buyers. In this instance the ore was put through the stone-breaker, and bulk assays made in accordance with the ordinary custom throughout the world, and yet we find that out of a total value of £763, not more than £269 of an advance could be obtained, or about 35 per cent, of ■ its value. Further, the last item in the JLenilworth statemsnt I have not included in the foregoing remarks, inasmuch as it was rejected as being too poor (worth £10 per ton), and the result was that the tributers received only £2 per ton for it from the proprietors of the battery. Surely this latter la proof enough that when ore of this richness will not pay to ship, what is bought must be very profitable to the buyer, besides iudicating for what I contend, viz., the enormous sacrifice shippers have to put up with. Now, I ask, what encouragement is there to continue shipments in the face of such hard facts as these ? Had we not better pick out the very best ore, and by extra treatment at the battery get all we can, and let the bulk await the advent of one or other of the new processes that New Zealand is to be flooded with during this year of grace- It is not generally known that a portion of the Union Company's ore in question has been treated by the Newbcry-Vautin process in London, and 1 am informed by recent advices from England that so successful was the trial upon these complex ores of ours, th»t its adaptation for Thames ores of every variety was so uniformly successful that the patent was purchased by a syndicate for the use thereof in New Zealand, and whioh purchase was corroborated by cablegram in your paper a week or two ago. It is also stated that the effioienoy of this latter system of treatment of We w Zealand ores was the lever that floated

the YYaihi mines. Whether that be so or not, is a matter of little consequence but that the London director* of the Waihi Company have oonfidenoe in its superiority over all other known proceises (and that after the examination of the best mills, pans, and furnaoes In America by an accredited agent) is evidenced by the fact that the process they have deoided upon is that of NewberyVautin. Under suoh circumstances as the foregoing, I would ask mine owners to pause before making further shipments, and await the erection of the Waihi Company's plant, which is to be completed in the course of three or four months, where, I doubt not, opportunities will bo afforded for the reduction of a few small parcels after the mill is fairly at work. It will be said that in several instances ere was shipped to draw the attention of capitalists to our resources. Admitted ; but now the necessity for suoh is not required. On the contrary, we have buyers of mining properties constantly in our midst anxious to secure good minus. Within the last few days three well-known properties in the Upper Thames district have been sent to London by English representatives, and the reasonable prices at whioh they are offered afford every probability of their early disposal. Should Newbery-Vautin's process be a success at Waihi, what a revolution inclining it would oreate ; and many who are anxious to sell, up anchor and away to those far-away fields, would be stimulated to renewed activity, satisfied with the assurance that they had at last within their roaoh a method of reducing the ore, whioh would compel the matrix to deliver up the whole of its precious metals. The tableß to which I have referred are as follows : — UNIQN COMPANY, WAIHI.

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Tom. Cnt. Qr. Lb. 12 X 3 13 £14 7 0 £175 10 10 Charge] .. £63 17 6 4*18 41 6 0 180 2 0 Charge* .. 20 10 3 12 7 1 0 18 0 0 161 0 0 Charges .. 62 4 7 5 13 2 0 17 16 0 100 14 7 — Charges .. 30 7 10 — Si 0 3 21 017 7 6 Other Charges .. * 10 17 2 193 17 4

Net T»lne received .. .. £423 10 1 Asm; value la exactly £6 per ton higher. KBNILWORTH COMPANY'S IRIBUTKK3. Gold. Sliver. ValiwaMajr. Total ■ ' oz dwt gri o* dwt gra per ton, value. 4i „ 7 0 11 101 19 0 £44 £103 7 - 6. !2 21 88 14 0 85 245 20 ..260 42 4 0 19 820 £703 flO .. 1 14 9 24 0 16 19 £10} t .Rejected M loo poor for shipment.