GOLD PRODUCTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21325, 28 October 1932, Page 12

GOLD PRODUCTION

HIGHER EXPORT FIGURES RETURNS FOR NINE MONTHS SEPTEMBER'S GOOD TOTAL MANY, MORE PROSPECTORS [r.V TELEGRAPH , ' WELLINGTON, Thursday More gold was exported from New Zealand during September than during any single month for many years, according lo a statement to-day by Mr. A. 11. Kimbell. Under-Secretary for Mines. The export for the month was 20,347 ounces, valued at £113,275, rather less than one-sixth of tho total gold exported for last year. Mr. Kiinbell said that from January 1 last to September 30, prospectors alone had sold ,12,620 ounces of gold, valued at £55,674. This amount was much higher than the corresponding figure for 1931. It was -considered that the number of prospectors had increased by 400 or 500 per cent 'during the first nine months of the present year. The average monthly revenues, for gold actually sold, of individual prospectors, ranged frdm £8 18s 6d to £l3 Bs. The largest number of prospectors was in Centra,! Otago, but there wore also many men working in the Thames, Coromandel, Xelson and West Coast districts. The total export figures for the first nine months of the present year, compared with the corresponding figures for last year, also showed a substantial increase. The figures were as follows: —1931, total of 99,911 ounces, value £410,648; 1932, total of 121,626 ounces, value £654,288. To encourage prospectors tlio Mines Department is at present circulating two .valuable leailets, "Fossicking and Prospecting for Gold," and "Notes on Taking of Samples of Mineral Deposits and ,Valuation of Mining Prospects. In tho first, the department remarks that the leaflet has been prepared "describing the best ways of seeking for and saving gold, in the hope that it will bo of real service to workers, especially those who have had little previous experience of prospecting, and thus lead to tlio opening of iiew finds, with consequent increased production and opening up avenues for useful employment of more and more men." The ensuing sections of the leaflet, which is' illustrated with diagrams, are devoted to areas for prospecting, prospecting for reefs, prospecting for alluvial gold, fossicking and methods of saving gold, including cradling, boxing, banjoing and ground sluicing.

GOVERNMENT INTEREST -LIMITATION OF FINANCE 7 SPECIAL FUND SUGGESTED i [by TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION ] WELLINGTON, Thursday \ Regret that finances did not permit the Government to do more to assist the development of goldmining was expressed by the Hon. C. E. Macmillan, Minister of Mines, in the House of Representatives thf? evening. V Mr. Macmillan said he was convinced that the 'Dominion was on the eve of big developments in goldmining. There had been many improvements in methods. The 'Government was making every effort, as Jar as the limited funds available would allow, to assist the industry, and it oca curred td him that it would be advisable to build tip funds from royalties on gold won for the purpose of enabling the Government to boro and try out country. This would be a substantial inducement to investment.