MINING NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13455, 4 June 1907, Page 3

MINING NEWS.

, WAIOTAHI. At a meeting of directors of the Waiotahi Gold Mining Company, held yesterday, a further dividend of Is 3d per share was declared, and will be.'.- payable on . Wednesday, sth inst. - The payment of "this dividend represents the distribution of an additional £15,000, and increases the total amount paid in dividends to £349,800. Dividend warrants will. be posted to the shareholders. The manager of the Waiotahi mine reI ports for the week as follows: No. 6 level: The crosscut north of the main shaft is in progress, and is now in a distance of 265 ft. The large body of quartz has been apparently passed through and the crosscut is being continued. The prospecting crosscut south of the main shaft is in a distance of 108 ft, and as yet nothing has been met with. The stopes on the footwall dropper are being continued and good colours of gold are occasionally seen. Stoping on" the main reef is also in progress, the fourth stope being carried 53ft west of No. 1 winze. Cure reef: The fourth stope has been carried 54ft west of the rise, and 51b of picked stone were selected on Saturday. No. 5 level: The drive into the footwall on the cross reef is in a distance of 39ft, but so far nothing of importance has been met with, and I have" stopped this for a time. Stoping on the main reef above this level is being continued as usual, colours of gold being seen in the leading ['stope east of No. 4 rise. The stopes east of No. 2 winze are <producing a fair supply of■ crushing dirt. The seventh stope has been carried east of No. 1 winze for a distance of 56ft; A small portion of the eighth stope has been taken out east, of No. 1 winze for a distance of [The drive west on the main reef is in a distance of 231 ft. No. 4 level: Driving east on the main reef from the north-east drive is in progress, and is in a distance of 104 ft, and during the -week colours of gold have been seen in the footwall portion, the I reef being about 6ft in width. Stoping | above this level ,on the main reef is proceeding as usual, and good dabs of colours of gold are occasionally seen.' The roof of the ; old crosscut north of the main, shaft has been cut down for a. distance of 83ft. Cure reef : The drive west on this reef is in a distance of 33ft from the rise, the reef at present being very small. No. 6 level: The '■ sinking of the No. 2 winze in the western, end below this level is being pushed on, and is down a distance of 9ft. Good mineral indications continue to be met with. TALISMAN. r . '\. '—— :--'"-■ ; - -,■.! LOCAL REPRESENTATION DESIRED. With a view to securing representation to New Zealand shareholders on the board of directors of the Talisman Consolidated Gold Mining Company, and also removing one or two points of dissatisfaction, several Wellington shareholders a few weeks back : addressed circulars to shareholders and asked for proxies, so they could be used at the annual meeting of the company. Besides the desire for local representation, the promoters of the scheme urged as reasons for a change in the management the delay in announcing authentic information of development work and the high rate of remuneration claimed by and paid to the': five directors, amounting to £4100 last year, £3000 of -this being a 5 per cent, commission on dividends paid by the company. Of the 300,000 shares issued in the company ; 220,000 are, held .: in New Zealand, and consequently .large number of proxies were obtained and sent to London in anticipation l of being in time for the annual meeting usually held in July. A cable was also despatched stating that proxies for 66,000 shares would reach London on June 9 and that' 42,000 would follow. The annual meeting, ; however, : wa? held on [May 30, and when this [was known in the colony another ' cable"' was [ sent ' lodging s a,'' protest against the alteration in the date of the 'annual meeting. It appears further from advice received that in the election the directors had only "ah advantage of 7000 shares, without the New Zealand! proxies, so that, although the locally-organised scheme for a change in •th management was hot carried through, if would indicate that some of the English shareholders are in accord' with the views of colonial shareholders. : WAIHI GOLD : MINING COMPANY. ANNUAL REPORT. [PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] - London, April '26. ,': In the annual report presented at'['the! annual meeting of the Waihi Gold I Mining Company, on May 9 last, the Board stated that [during, the year 328,866 tons (of j 2ooolb dry weight) of ore were treated. The gold and silver sold realised £837,927. This amount, together with £9269 for in- | terest, made the total gross revenues received. for the : year [£847,196. '■ The ex- | penditure in New Zealand and London, including development work at the mine, amounted to £345,123, leaving a gross profit for the year of £502,073, as. compared with £416,593 in 1905. This sum added to the balance of £16,626 brought forward from the preceding year (after payment of bonus of 2s per share) gave a total of £518,700. Out of this the directors had provided £60,110 for sinking shaft, new plant, and machinery, and had written off ten' per cent, depreciation on plant and machinery, amounting to £33,170. Dividends amounting to 12s per share had been paid free of income-tax. The sum of £26,313 had been reserved for income tax in London and New Zealand in respect font year 1906, as aainsfc £23,888 in 1905. After these appropriations the balance remaining to credit of revenue account at December 31 was £102,561, which the directors recommended' should be applied as follows: To payment of . a bonus an ,?L£ er share ' to ' be carried to reserve SSnPffini (making a total reserve 'of il.50,000), leaving to be carried forward £18,175. The bonus now recommended makes a total distribution of 15s per share —that is 75 per cent." in respect of the year 1906, as against 13s per share or 65 per cent, in respect of the year 1905. Since the date of the accounts to March 23, 76,822 tons (of 20001b) of 'ore have been treated, yielding £179,363, and a dividend (No. ,56), of 3s per share, was paid on March 1, absorbing £74,386. Further additions have been made to the ore reserves, which at December 31 were estimated at 1,029,658 tons, as compared with 938,334 short tons at December 31, 1905. On the whole the developments, of the mine seem to the directors to point to a long continuance of the prosperity of the company. In comparing the year now under review with, the previous year, there has been an increase of over 30,000 tons in the tonnage .crashed. The assay value per ton was £2 17s Bd, which is lOd less than last year, and Id per ton more than for the year 1904. On the other hand, the improvement in extraction has continued, and higher prices have been obtained for silver, so that owing principally to these causes the actual yield per ton for 1906 is £2 10s 11.5 d, or 2s 2d more than last year. The working expenses, which were reduced last year, show a slight further reduction. ' - Up to the present the company' have been unable to obtain the permission of the New Zealand Government to their scheme for the generating of electricity at the /Hora Hora rapids, on the Waikato River, and. transmission to the mTne, but they still hope that leave may hereafter jbe granted. In the meantime, however, it has been found necessary to supply additional power at the works from' other sources, and, as shareholders have been informed; two producer gas plants of SOOh.p.' each, and five 200h.p. gas engines are being provided. The whole of °the producer gas plant and two of the gas engines have been [shipped, a third engine is ready for testing and will be shipped shortly, and a' fourth will be ready in the latter :. half of May. A Stock Exchange quotation was applied for after [the meetling of last year and the 'shares are now [quoted in the official; list.