MINING COST AT WAIHI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14133, 7 August 1909, Page 3

MINING COST AT WAIHI.

An interesting statement regarding tho, costs of mining at Waihi was made by the chairman of the company (Mr. A. M. Mit-., chison) at the annual meeting held in London recently. Mr. -Mitchison said:/ "The costs per ton.' of "tho . items of expenditure work out as follows:—Mining, including development, 7s 4.72d;\ transport, 3.78 d; crushing and milling, 2s 9.99 d; extraction, 45_0.77d; assaying and melting, 5.17 d; repairs and renewals, 4.49 d; salaries at mine, 4.98 d; Auckland charges, ; l.Old; sundries in New Healand, 6.96 d; freight and insurance on bullion,'4.l7d ; London charges, , 4.38 d: total, 17s 2.42 d I have .' excluded acid treatment and export duty on gold, l "' which oome to about Is Id.per ton.>. These items are peculiar to the Waihi, and must' not be used-in comparison with any mine, ? so with these exclusions the expenditure works out at 17s 2d; but if we add these items it comes up to 18s 3d. Now, tho item which six years ago corresponded- to 18s 3d was £1 (applause)—so the charges per ton have been brought down about- 6s in six years(renewed applause)—which is very" creditable indeed' to the management at Waihij_ if wo remember some of the difficulties with which it is faced- (Hear, hear.) The ore is particularly hard and tough (that is one of the reasons why, the duty potstamp is, and must be, low), and the gold' is • mixed; with ' a great deal of silver " ant! distributed in a very diffuse and somewhat complex manner, so that tho metallurgical reduction is long and complicated, involving in particular the sliming of at least 50 per cent, of the ore. Consequently, the crushing and milling expenses and the expenses of extraction, which altogether aggregate 6s 10.76 d, must always be higher than would bo the case if the ore were more friable, or if we had not such difficult , metallurgical problems to face, of if wo did not aim at so high an extraction. In this, as in everything else, in Lon-: don and in New Zealand, we try to do . what is best, and not -what looks best. (Applause.) It is poor economy to reduce your working costs if you lose more by extraction. You will sco by Mr. Barry's report that there has been an improved extraction this year as compared with last year of 1.4- per cent, of the gold and 3 per cent, of the silver. Now, roughly speaking, our gold realised £785,000, and our silver £145,000, so that this saving was somewhere about £15,000, or, say, ' 9d per ton..This year the costs have been de- 1 creased by about Is per ton, so that the total improvement in the year is about •Is ' 9d per ton. ■' ' f '

• / ROYAL OAK. , , A further telegram was received by (lie secretary of the Royal Oak Gold Mining . Company from.the mine manager yesterday. Tho . message*,,, stated: ' " Btok© down all . quartz. Strong dabs and colours of,gold.. No picked stone." s ..... .. ...j* -- <• ■. i ■■■ r y r;OfT. • ■ SAXON. :: ;r :v - ' The manager of the Saxon mine telegraphing to the secretary of th.o. company (Mr. J. B. Sheath) yesterday stated: "Reef 4ft. wide beyond break. Seen strong dabs. of gold." ' ' LANIGAN'S ANTIMONY. ' • The manager of Lanigan's Antimony and Minerals Mine advised tho secretary of tho company as follows by telegram yesterday: , " Between No. 1 and No. 2 levels block of ore 15ft in length, 4in wide. See distance ; plan. Nos. .4 and 5, block high, 3in to 4in wide.- Stoping out, Monday. New winze Skeleton , Hill, indications , good. Should meet good ore next.)few; feet if water riot ;• troublesome. Managing director leaving, tonight." ' ' '' - _ " y, . , ' -NOTES:" - i The low level in the Tairua Monarch Con-7; solidatod mine is now in 582 ft, and thecountry passed, through last week was of a ■ firmer nature. . Good : progress is being made with the extension of, No. 1 level, this being now in 127 ft. -- The, country 1- is well oxidised - arid -of the ' most favourable description; • " v ' y^''~]^' r y y'y : , ' ' The manager of the May Queen Extended mine reports that in, the -eastern end there is a nice Compact body of quartz, about l2iri i wide, encased in good mild sandstone coun- * * try, and that when breaking down some splendid minerals and a few colours of gold were seen. , In the western end the footwall iportion of the reef has taken a sharp turn, . to the right. This the manager, takes asa good sign that .the , reef ..is' coming together 4' again, and as the - country'"there is really first-class he expects to be able , to report, something better before long. .