A VALUABLE MINE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10853, 19 March 1921, Page 11

A VALUABLE MINE

END OF THE TALISMAN STORY OF THE MINE’S FORTUNES i AND MISFORTUNES. | NEARLY A 3,000,000 WON. A brief history of the Crown and Talisman goldmines .was given by tno chairman of tiie Talisman Consol.duteu. Ltd., jlr A. W. Blanchard, at the meeiing of shareholders at Auckland, at which it was decided to «o into voluntary liquidation. Considerable Wellington capital was invested iu bath mines. The Crown and Taldsman mines ho said, were discovered in 1882, and the Talisman Company was incorporated on December 19th, 1099. with a share capital of ASOtl.otK). A 50-stamp wet crushing mill was started on July 31st, 1901. Operations from that time were more or less successful until early <in 1904, when it became necessary to reoonstruct the company to get further capital. This was done by forming a new company of 300,000 shares, paid up to 17s, with a liability of 3s per share. One shilling of tlris was called up, and some time later the remaining liability of 2s w a s written off. About the tame of reconstruction a favourable development occurred in the mine at No- 8 level, where payable ore was found in the Bonanza section. This was the turning point in the career of -Hie mine, for although the new ore body at No. 8 level had a horizontal length of only about 40 feet and width up to 4 feet, these dimensions rapidly increased as depth was attained. and finally, at No. 14 level, the best tn the mine, the length of ore-shoot was nearly 1400 feet, with width«_ up to 16 feet. About 120 feet below No .14 level the values in the vein became much lower, and at No. 15 level the, ore occurred in irregular “bunches,” with still poorer values. In view of the adverse results ■ obtained at levels 15 and. 16, it Was decided to do no further sinking until the vein had been tested 400 or 500 feet deeper by diamond drilling. Two holes were put down in the Bonanza section anJ one in the Woodstock section- These holes .proved that tho vein persisted in depth, fully maintaining its size, hut unfortunately the core carried practically no values. Tho absence of values from the lowest workings and from, the diamond drill cores, taken into ixmsideration with the heavy cost of sinking the shafts deeper and opening new levels, indicated clearly that the Chances of finding any further ore bodies that would be profitable were very remote. In 1910 45,000 new shares were issued at a premium of ss. In 1904 the Woodstock property was bought from the liquidators for £7OIO, and, although the Woodstock section generally had been very disappointing, this purchase was highly advantageous to the Talisman

The total return from the mine was .£2,951,315, which was equal to £7 5s a tou. The total dividends paid were £l, 151,164. or about A 4 17a 6d a shareThe wages paid from September, 1912, to September, 1920, amounted, to £319,882. “I know of no other mine that has shown mieih 'high returns for suoh a. largo tonnage crushed over 6uch a lengthy period of years," concluded the chairman, “and-the figures I have given confirm the opinion that the Talisman has been, one of the finest manes in the world.” -

CompanyThe following returns were given:— Tons - Ketnrn. Crushed. X 1807 — : . 783,334 1903 218,993 •* 1909 .... 36,456 208,835 1910 .... 40,030 210,266 1911 ..i 222,058 1913 .... 42,730 245,568 1913 .... 39,790 215,641 1914 .... 521210 263,514 1915 ... 35,330 188,600 1916 ... 16,335 83,231 1917 139,320 1918 .... 13,885 125,303 1919 .... 3,655 46,598