WAITAHU GOLD MINING COMPANY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22432, 29 November 1934, Page 15

WAITAHU GOLD MINING COMPANY

ANNUAL MEETING The annal meeting of the Waitahu Gold Mining Company, Ltd., was held last evening in the Chamber of Commerce boardroom. Mr J. R. Fairbairn presided. „ ANNUAL REPORT. Surveying the important phases of the company's operations since the previous annual meeting, the chairman said that on September 28, 1933, it was reported that the long tunnel near the Pahaki Flat had been pierced, and three weeks after that the water was brought on to the claim and sluicing operations were commenced. From that date (October 20, 1933) until Christmas time, stripping operations were _in progress removing the top material. Elevating' operations were proceeding steadily, but unfortunately on January 23, 1934, the race broke and sluicing was not resumed until January 31. From then until April another; prolonged spell of drought was experienced, there being insufficient water for working the elevator/ and from January 31 until April 14, 1934, only 42Joz of gold were won, and this mainly from the 'ground sluicing operations. The water situation improved considerably in April and May, but unfortunately a slip on the race carried away a section ,of the .and.it waß necessary, to drive a tunnel to connect up the water race; so that while; adequate water was available the claim Was' unable to be worked from May 28 until July 5. The paddock was completed by October 6, 1934, and'.the aggregate'gold> won from the paddock was 4500 z -4dwt. Of this, 2870 z appeared in " the' accounts' for the period ended August 4, 1934,' and the remaining 1630 z would; of course; come into the financial year ended July, 1935; Frbm October 6 until the present < date the- gold won amounted to 776z,' which virtually equalled the expenses; which'amounted to approximately 12oz per week. The chairman then read extracts from the report on the year's operations supplied bv the claim, manager' (Mr 1. *\ Thomas). ' ' '"' . From this report,' said the- chairman, it was quite evident that the company had a most valuable' claim'from a goldbearing point 'of' view/b'ut the great difficulty was the uncertainty of the water supply. Various schemes had' been looked into by the board, arid the most feasible scheme appeared to be the construction of a dam on the'.,Pahaki FJat, It was proposed to construct, this dam "by excavating the soil aud sub-strata by hydraulic sluio ing and. depositing the material so removed in the, form of ,an embankment to make' a large reservoir. It was. the manager's:, "intention to divert this sluicing water back into the race while the dam was in .course of construction, and thus avoid hampering ,the sluicing operations at the claim itself. Three months ago instructions ,were given for the manager to proceed with the dam construction, and. this work had been put in hand, although the progress made so far had not been very great, and it might be necessary to resort to other methods than, hydraulic sluicing for the construction of a satisfactory dam. There were two other sources of water supply .which were under investigation at present. One' was a supply from Larry's Creek, arid an engineer was at present on the ground inspecting this to ascertain the most water available that could be brought in at a level to connect with the existing water race and other important points connected with construction. The other scheme being investigated was the utilisation of the, fall in the Waitahu River itself to operate a turbine for the pumping of water from the Waitahu River into the company s race on the Pahaki Flat. It was thought the capital cost involved if either of these schemes were to be adopted would be beyond the company's present means. A reef was encountered in the No. 2 tunnel, which proved to be gold bearing, and a certain ■ amount of prospecting work had been carried out on this to see if this reef continued to any extent. It would be noted> that the profit and loss account showed a loss for the period of f 433 14s lid, but from that date to the completion of the paddock the profit made was sufficient to cover this loss. The balance sheet showed the company to have liquid assets of £1406, and over and above accounts owing by the company there was a surplus of £IOOO. This was due to the support accorded the debenture issue by the shareholders. In view ; of the inadequacy of the water supply, the directors deemed it proper for the vendor company (the Gold Development Corporation, Ltd.) to be approached to see what attitude it adopted regarding the position, in view of the definite report by its engineer that the water supply of 25 heads was available to the company. It was understood that this matter was being discussed by the Gold Development Corporation, Ltd., at its annual meeting, to be held shortly. The directors intended to see that the Gold Development Corporation, Ltd., was made fully aware of its responsibility in the matter. He formally moved the adoption of the report and balance sheet. Seconding the motion, Mr B. H. Nees said he was not depressed by the present position. The claim had been worked under very serious difficulties, and he had never known of any claim which had offered such obstacles. Since the close of last year the company had made a profit of £3OO, which showed that the claim was profitable. If the company could get four or five more heads of water the claim could' be worked at a profit. If they had a normal year as regards rainfall on the West Coast the claim would produce gold in payable quantities. It was one of the best sluicing claims he had seen, and he had been associated with gold mining companies for many years. If the company could obtain more water then it would be in the happy position of paying a dividend. He was confident that the claim would prove to be a profitable venture. Mr H. Halliday said that very few otthe shareholders had been on the claim, and he briefly explained the position ot the intakes on the mountain side and the manner in which the water was taken to the company's claim. He could assure shareholders that the directors were doing everything possible to make provision for more water. It had to be remembered that the working time on the claim last year was only three-fitths, this being mainly due to breake in the race and the lack of sufficient water. A dam was being built on the flat above the claim, and when this was finished the position should be much Brighter. The report and balance sheet were adopted after the chairman and Mr Nees had answered a number of questions. GENERAL. Messrs B. H. Nees and H. Halliday were re-elected directors, and Mr G. S. Kirby wa 8 re-elected auditor. The remuneration of the directors and auditor was fixed the same as last year. The meeting concluded with a vote ot thanks to the directors.