Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 918, 3 July 1869, Page 4

IDA VALLEY QUARTZ MINING COMPANY.

, "A. meeting, of s^are^bldersinithe , Ida galley Quartz Mining Company iiook , place on. Monday, at half-past four o'clock, in the Commercial Koom'of the Provincial Hotel, ten shareholders "being present. The object of the meeting" wais to receive a report of the position of the, Company.. Mr W. H. Cutten was votedrto the ohanV and explained' that the present meeting was' not a proper statutory meeting, such a meeting .requiring seven weeks to give the legal notice. What would be done, therefore, would not bind the shareholders, and it would be therefore for them to consider, after hearing the report read, what- steps should be taken with regard to the Company. The Secretary and Manager (Mr M. W. Hawkins) then read the following report :—: — The. directors of the Ida Valley Quartz Mining Company (Registered), take the present opportunity of laying before the shareholders a report' of their proceedings} and to deplore -the imminent probability, of the co'lapseof tbe.Company, consequent upon the insufficient capital at their disposal for the prosecution of the works and the liquidation of tbe debts of the company. When the director's last had the pleasure of reporting to, you, they believed they had overcome the many difficulties which had beset the prosecution of ihe undertaking, and congratulated the shareholders upon the general prospects of the company. On the 26th October last, however, they addressed a circular to the shareholders, calling upon them for pecuniary assistance to enable them to develops tho resources of the mine. , This appeal was very partially responded to,' only seven 'shareholders contributing an aggregate sum of L 145. Believing that the course r,eommended, viz. : the construction of a cross level from Homeward Bound Beef, main level, to Lloyd's Reef, was absolutely necessary to the successful carrying on of the works, the four directors resident in town supplemented this sum with' a furtheredvanoe of L 250, which, with ' the assistance of temporary advances from the Bank, enabled them to complete this work. The grent tody of water encountered, however, and other causes arising from paucity of funds, prevented them from taking advantage of the completion of this cross level. The Mining Manager has also sunk a deep ehaffc on the Homeward Bound Reef, and owned out a lower level on this reef 50 feet below the main level. A considerable quantity of water has heen encountered in this work and the stone has proved variable iv size. Sometime having elapsed without receiving satisfactory reports from the Mining Manager, the Directors, on the 27th May ult., despatched one of their number (Mr Cutten) pnd the manager to the mine to enquire and report. Those gentlemen found that the failure of the mining manager to report arose from sickness, induced chiefly by worry and disappointment at the baffling nature of the works. The number of men employed daily on the mine and works was 31 (viz.— 20 miners; one captain, three feeders, one smith), of whom 15 miners, or three shifts of five men each, . were employed on the lower level of Homeward Bound Reef. Although they were of opinion that the open ! ne of this lower level was a wise undertaking, they deemed that without the means of obtaining appliances for the reduction of m&nual labour, it was desirable to close this work for the present. This was accordingly done, and the number of miners employed upon the works when they left was reduced to 20. In consequence of the falling off in the receipt of gold during the fortnights ending May Ist and May 15th ultimo, respectively, the directors were prevented from meeting the payments for wages. This caused disorganisation among the labourers ; and while many of the B»en employed continued to work diligently, from the Company's inability to pay the wages others who did not were obliged to be retained, thereby causing increased expense and dissatisfaction. The mine and mill are in first-rate working

order. Sinco the last report, the -stoppages from Ireakage, so frequent before, have boon trifling and easily repaired on the •works. During tho early part of the year there wan a stoppage for want of water, but thero ia now a plentiful supply (5 heads) and more than sufficient for driving 10 heads of stampers in addition to the present mactinory. Messrs Cutten and the manager returned to town on the sth instant, but on the 12th instant, Mr Martin, the mining manager, arrived in town and informed- the directors, that without increased means it was impossible to proceed ; that the stone obtained in the lower level of Lloyd's reef was poor and small in quantity, and that the result of tho fortnight's work would not meet the claims of wages. He therefore urgently recommended the direotors to stop work. They felt that they had no other resource than to adopt his advico, and stopped aooordingly ; whereupon tho bank took poiae«. eion of the property on account of the mortgage. ... » Upon washing up the gold resulting from the fortnight's work ending (say) June l^to. » oftke of gold, woighing 540z, wm obtained — value, say L2oo— which would havo been more than sufficient to pay wages »p« plicable to its production, thus showing an ca that with pewevenuioe tnefinanoial

difficulties, , might f have , been ; surmounted ; especially { v, shareholders* would ' hafte, j rende*edl»ny^sJst < ance.' : The I Btoppkge, , lunjr* , ever,; has taken' place, and* the 1 directors'fear 'here is little Lope of , the present; Company resuming .work unless the, shareholders will come forward with liberal-assistance and «s tricate it~from ittf 'dMchltie's. '', , " ,' ' | , ljl( The. following is a summary of "the 1 Company's affairs, at: this- date :—: — > !<•>>< ■;> .\~ " v t , - , :• > LZABiurim ■ <•"> ' ' Share capital. .... ; L 5150 6' 0 Mortgage, . ; >1000.i0-0 Sundry creditors 615,11 2 Wages ... ,'..., ...... 378, , 7 ,3 Sundry ' shareholders creditors ' i for goods supplied ... ■ ... • 12318 '0 Sundry shareholders, cash advances (whereof the four directors have advanced L 450) 636 13 .0 Balance surplus 90314 11 LBBOB 4 4 ASSETS. Original cost ... L2BOO 0 0 Plant, stores, mill, milUiouse, smithy, &6. &o. ... ;.'..' 3200 0 0 L Permanent; works* including •» i water race, &c. , 2600 0 0 Cake gold held by bank, say . 200 0 0 Cash iv bank 8 4 4 LBBOS 4 4' The directors are confident that tho values set opposite to the assets ' Plant,' and •Permanent Works,' are below the coat at which they could be replaoed ; and, therefore, the balance £903 added to the sum of LSOO, actually lost in the construction of the first and useless water-race, represents a considerable profit upon the operations of the' Company. L , That the mine has been, and is,' a valuable property, and would have paid a dividend had the capital been sufficient for, the completion of works properly chargeable to that head, may be shewn as follows :— The assets representing capital are „. £5800 The nominal capital was £5150 Less paid-up shares for purchase of claim ... £2800 liost in .construction of , useless race 900 . 3700 Leaving of original capital ... 1450 Mortgage , 1000 Advances from shareholders ... 63S 3086 2714 Dedact debts due by the Company ... • ••• £1118 Less cash and gold in hand ... 208 910 Representing profits expended in ■\vorko properly chargeable to capital £1804 1 The Company commenced to raise gold in Octobor 1867, but from the Bevere disaaters «vhich were sustained from time to time j (failure of original race, breakages, new turbine wheel, &c, &c), and from changes in the local management, the works have not heen, until lateiy, continuously carried on. The actual time worked by tho mill would not, the directors believe, exceed ten months, although considerable sums were expended in prosecuting the mine, &c. The foregoing statement shows a profit obtained during these broken periods of upwards of 35 per cent. , Notwithstanding the perilous position} of the Company, the directors are still of opinion, that with sufficient capital to fall back upon to enable them to withstand the expense of a, temporary falling off in the yield of gold, during the prosecution of necessary works of an unproductive character, whioh must from time to time be undertaken in order to develope the mine at lower levels, the .undertaking is no longer speculative but may be viewed as a permanent investment, and should repay the proprietors. The following is a statement of gold raised from the mine.

Total • • - 2225 15G4 12 Average yiold per ton, 14 07 dwts. It will be observed that during the porlod wm'oh elapsed from tbe recommencement of water supply in April, there has been no stoppage j and that 833 tons of quartz have heeu obtained and reduced, yielding 3410zs 7dwts of gold. . To account for tho apparent falling off in the yield per ton, it maybe stated that Rinoe July, 1868, all the available material has been passed through ttia miU, including; a considerable quantity of mullock. The directors havo, called; the fhsrebolaer*. together in order th*t they toy, if they

think propet^makeiany suggcstioai fo*| tpe,, /protection oijsjie pxop^it^imdjthe^obn^ußnce of the .Company, if ,or I ,iOjlearn /l t?:h6thernpKey. 'uit'ena.to^^ , [\ \ Aj* Jfw from,the, state-, menls whion'nad 'tJeen inad'e, in/the^ report, 'it wits'cle-aV to" his;, mind ■; that; itiad' the « Company' - hadp' totoney^ '-to ' fall J batiK upon,' iWouidvhave iturne'd) out a paying' concern,f»butnthe!;mbney/:whichiought^b haye- u gone,,to,the payment of . dividends* hadhadiio. beuivesjbed and, working expenses, and, had. thus gone to the capital account/ »o *hat the funds available for carrying on mining" I cpera-, tiona had gradually dwindled away; and there was now none to go oni with. It was impossible to work the mine unless the directors.. had ppw.er to, iall ,back on the shareholders for money. , They had , advanced money already, and had pledged ! their credit for the undertaking, and if it i were not gone on with they could riot but lose. Their- misfortune was' in having i trusted to the representations of ia manager who,:had constructed a water race at a< cost, of L9OO, which race was ; of no iis6..j They had also, got into debt for machi- 1 nery^ although it was in good order, and go far everything -viras satisfactory, and they only wanted montey to be able, to work it. Mr Martin, the manager, hod given* them hopes of great success at first, but had had of late to i contend with less rich stone, and had lost heart. Up to very lately they had deemed the pros-, pects so good that they, had incurred debts on account of;them, J and in fact had setup a house for the manager to live in. i When Mr Hawkins and himself went up a short time previously they found Mr Martin .very,, ill,.,; his illness, being, in his opinion,, caused by disappointments at things not having turned out better than they had. They also found that, [instead of his having carried, on the cross j level which was to lead from the lower or Homeward Bouod reef^to the shaft at Lloyd's reef, as it > had been intended | should have been dpne, he had stopped when within 18ft. of, striking that, shaft. | He appeared, instead of carrying out the cross level, to have abandoned it, and to have been working in the Homeward Bound reef, in the hope of getting another reef. At any rate, he had never carried out the cross level, and this was a very grave mistake. They .found him inclined to stop the workings at ones, but they insisted on going on with them ; and when some of j the men under Mr Withers took up the ' abandoned level, they positively struck the reef in 184nches from the place where the work had been stopped by Martin, when he gave it up to go back to the thin reef. If he, instead of doing that, had gone on to Lloyd's reef, the Company would, in all probability, never have been placed in that difficulty. They Tiad now got to it, and found abundance of stone, but had run out of funds, and could not work it. The object of the cross level waa to enable them to take the stone from Lloyd's reef along the level to the train carriages which conveyed it to the machine, without being at the trouble and expense of raising it up the shaft. Without that level they had to raise all the stone from the floor of the first level to the surface, and then shoot it down to the lower reef. (He then explained the nature of the ground, and of the workings, by a skeleton plan.) The stone Found at the place where the cross level struck the shaft at Lloyd's reef was 2ft [ 3in thick, but higher up the shaft, in what was supposed to bethe same reef, at the .upper level, it was sft, and Mr Withers | said that working upwards they had come to 6ft. The work of raising the atone had been performed, by three 'shifts of two men each, instead of, as ought to have been, by a horse whim, or better still, a steam engine. In, addition to the | reefa spoken of, of whioh,.by the w«y, they had only , prospected about a thjrd part, he might explain that their workings lay in a gully between two hills, on the tops of both of which stone had been obtained, but whether it were payable or not it had not been prospected sufficiently to enable them to say. On one side they were near Dillon's Claim, whiph would have to be worked through their drives, but on .the | other, towards the Persever*»ace Claim, h^lf their land had not been worked, and they were led to believe that theirs were permanent reefs, only they had not the money to work them. They had employed, a population of 50 persons, who mu«t, if the workß were stopped, be thrown out;of employment. The question, then, for them to consider was, whether they would allow the mine to go, or whether thtey were in a position to do anything with it. It was to be sold on' the 9th July. The wish of the directors was to make it a permanent institution, and not allow it to fall through. They wquld, however, have to do, it themselves, as the bank would advance no money except on the personal 'liability of the direotors. Mr Thomson said that if the works were' carried on, he did not believe the banb would. press; them for six months. If the shareholders would oorne forward

indfassMitHdm^ directors wtuh to-, makei^the/xnine ft Eennanentworfc^Heihad little doubt that the would 'hold^veraftdi , • r, Mr. Hawkins fpointedoutithatthjb creators .woidd^dqubto ( af, t i£ the works were, gone on with,,, thsy .would c have,a greater chance of being repaid. - >Th* CsAiitMAN said tliafc when himself and if Mr Hawkins went upV Mr Martin twanted'to stop at once, buMhey declined to.do so until they saw the cake of gold that was to come from;, the crashing.,.: That ,cake,weighed' v ßQ pz., muchmore than sufficed to pay wages and expenses of getting it. They stopped the workings at the Homeward' Bound reef, which ought to have been carried on if there had been money, . Mr Martin came down to town last Saturday in a great hurry, and told them he could see, by the amalgam, that the cake they, would have, from that .crushing would not be more than 30 oz, whereas it was 54 oz ; and had he remained on the ground, and got that cake, there was very little doubt that; no stoppage wtfuld have taken place as Bad done. "He again put »it to them, that it was for them, to consider ,whether or not they should float the Company on a firmer footing than heretofore. ; , .' Mr Copbland. asked whether, in case the Company were resuscitated, they had any idea of a manager. 'The Chairman- replied that they had not. They never knew the late manager, 'Mr Martin, was about to leave ; he went away without notice. ' Mr Hawkins said that on Wednesday last he had gone to where he had been staying, and found he had sailed for Auckland the previous day. Mr Reeves suggested that the shareholders should club to purchase the, mine. Mr CopELAND,,did not think the present company could exist. A new company ought to be formed to work the mine. Mr Thomson 'stated, for the information of the meeting, that there was 50ft. of stone in Lloyd's reef ready to stope out, and that it could be done at a small expense. • After some further desultory conversation* , . . The Chairman expressed an opinion that to work the mine properly they ought to have LSOOO capital, not all paid up, but at easy call. They wanted pumps and a steam engine. Mr Hawkins said that they could get lignite for 8s a ton, and that a 12-horse power steam engine could be placed on the ground for L6OO. The Chairman thought that LI6OO ready cash would do. Some further conversation took place, and it was decided to take steps to have the question of a new company iully discussed at a future meeting. The meeting then terminated.

The Adelaide correspondent of the Argus writes :— By the outgoing mail Sir James Fergusson has opened communication with, the Indian Government on a subjeot which concerns all the other colonies in common with ourselves — the breeding of? howas for India. In this enterprise we have hitherto deferred to the superior energy and resources of Victoria, but even they may sometimes require stimulating. Sir James ia said to have been astounded at the low conception generally entertained here of the importance of the Indian markets. He found us rearing the most serviceable horses in the world, and trucking them among ourselves at L 5 or LlO ahead, while they were worth L6O or L7O in Calcutta. He brought, us the startling information that the remounts in the Indian army, exclusive |of the native contingents and the police, cost nearly half a million per annum, most of which was spent on imported horses. Then when he asked what share South Australia enjoyed of this profitable trade, the Treasurer is reported to have startled him in return by showing him in the' Customs tables 100 horses a year exported to India 1 The exporters enter them at an average of L2oper head, fhough the original sellers seldom see more than L 5 or LlO of it Yet, buying at L 5 in Adelaide, and selling in Caloutta at L6O or L7O, is declared to be a very precarious speculation. Mr RD. Robs, the late head of the commissariat service here, has suggested theformatfon of a remountdepot inthenorthernterrilory, to which the horses might be driven overland. He would start them In mobs when they had turned three years old, and let them spend about two years on the journey, grazing all the way, so as to gain the utmost strength at tlio least expense to their owners. Arriving in Calcutta »t their full maturity they would produce handsome pnoes at the time, and afterwards be a credit to their- breeders. Some of our chief squatter* in the far north have been disoussuig the ovorland scheme very seriously. Meanwhile *ti author, Mr Row, has gone in charge of tho despatches which are to submit it to the Indfcn Government,

Tonß quartz Gold Date. No. of oake. crushed, retorted. 1867, n Oct. to / oz dts 1868, ["Nob. Ito 5 630 630 0 May. ) Ax&. 20 „ 6 203 114 15 Sep. 12 7 C 2 108 4 526 „ 8 162 30 8 Nor. 20 „ 9 47 3414 Deo. 12 „ 10 103 62 11 1869. Feb. 6 „ 11 173 134 5 20 \\ 12 106 67 18 Mar; 6 „ 13 52 40 10

Lprlll7 -lay 1 15 29 uno 12 it ii >> »» »> 14 15 16 17 18 210 63 216 175 175 112 5 33 10 59 7 82 2 54 3

STATEMENT OP QUARTZ AND GOLD RAISED,

(Here the water supply commenoed for the season. )