WAIHI GOLDMINING CO.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10956, 19 July 1921, Page 3

WAIHI GOLDMINING CO.

THE ANNUAL MEETING. At the annual meeting of the share holders in the Waihi Gold Company, ALr A. N. Mitchison (chairman), explained that during 1920 they had not been 'able to develop the mine as much a£ they desired, owing to the difficulty of obtaining the necessary labour, and* he was sorry to have to report that the results of development so for as it gone had not been satisfactory. There was more of the oxidised country in depth than they had hoped to find, and this olass of country was unfavourable for payable veims. They hoped to get through it by sinking and also by crosscutting in. various parts of the On the question of ore reserves he spoke as follows:—

“The ore developed during the year was 116,521 tons and the output (in wet tons) -was 161,624 tons, thereby the ore reserves by 42,782 tons. There vas on. December 31st last amount of 523,828 tons, of an average assay value of 3ls, which could be worked in the ordinary course of mining. 'We are purposely abandoning the use of the expression ore reserves,' continued the chairman, 'because that conveys the assertion that the ore comprised therein can be crushed at a profit, whereas a rire in the cost of production or a fall in value of the metals might in the future render the crushing of some of it unprofitable, while on the other rltangm in the opposite direction might show that the ore reserve had been under estimated. It is hoped, however, that on the whole it will prove to be worth on the average at least 31s on the mine valuations. Ipf addition to the tons in ponerKl account there are 254.737 tons in suspend account. *but although this is of higher value and will ultimately be obtainable we** do not expect that any considerable part of it can bo withdrawn for a long time to come, and some of it will only be obtainable when the mine has ceased to bo a going concern. A careful reexamination of the ore in suspense account was mpdo during the Tear. It was decided that one -portion was available in ordinary course of mining, and this was transferred to genera! account. It was considered that a second portion was unlikely to bear the of winning it. and this was excluded altogether. Ths third portion is the 254,737 tons to which I have referred. BALANCE OF PROFIT. “Owing to smaller revenue creased expenditure during the year the balance of profit above the line in the revenue account had fallen from £187,315 last year to £146,511 this rear, a, diminution of £41,164, and a further was to be expected in the current year. / and probably very much heavier re amount. The company had started with 6d dividends in respect of 1921. It had been, suggested by shareholders—and the directors appreciated the force of the suggestion—that dividends of so small an amount as 6d per share were inconvenient, f and they proposed, therefore, not tc pav an interim dividend in September, but to pay Is in December, provided that the position justified, such payment.**