Mining News.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 998, 17 April 1891, Page 18

Mining News.

The Minister for Mines has received a letter from the President of the Otago Miners’ Association drawing attention to the desirability of the Government taking steps to see that the miners receive a fair prioe for their gold, either by the establishment of a mint or the introduction of a system by which the Government could purchase the gold at the post offices at mining townships instead of at the banks as at present. The miners allege that at present they only receive £3 <l7s per ounce for their gold, while the value of it to the Sydney Mint is £4 3«. The Minister has decided to make arrangements for the purchase of 12 ounces of gold at each of the mining townships and have it sent to the Mint at Sydney, and by that means ascertain the real value of the gold as compared with the amount the men are receiving for it. Referring to the Zeehan silver fields, Tasmania, Mr Geo. D. Gibson, an acknowlodged leading expert on the field, writes in the Zeehan and Dundas Herald on 21st February, 1891 :—“ Without the slightest prejudice to the southern portion of the field, I wish to refer particularly to the northern. With the north-east lam not so well acqnainted, but the north-west I have recently had several opportunities of studying from a metallurgical point of view, and I may say that the more attention and study that is given to the subject, the more any intelligent observer will be impressed with the vastness and importance of this silver field. So far nothing to equal it has been discovered in the Australian colonies, and if indications are to be relied on it bids fair to equal, if not surpass, in importance the historical silver fields or the Mexico, and Peru.”