GOLD MINING AS AN INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 10 July 1890, Page 14

GOLD MINING AS AN INDUSTRY.

Gold mining, as a speculation, has received a shock ; why not try it now as an industry ? It suits the unscrupulous promoter and the gambling operator to manipulate a gold mine, but the investing public's interest lies in its being scientifically and honestly worked. The present position of South African gold shares in the market is a telling although painful illustration of the first method ; some of the Indian gold mines may be taken as an apt instance of the second. The mad rush to acquire claims in the Witwaterstrandt, to float companies in Johannesberg or • London, to set up stamping machinery, to crush the best and most easily got at ore, to send Home the highest returns of gold extracted, to declare fancy dividends, and, as the end and aim of all, to rig the market, has ended, as was inevitable, in wreck and ruin to many an anwary speculator. It is an old story, which will continne to be repeated until mining for the precious as well as every other metal is oarried on as an industry, or, in other words, on commercial principles. As businesses are not builfc up by those at their head always keeping their eye on the Stock Exchange, so gold mining is not likely to be successful while directors and managers think more of the market quotation than the steady development of their property. Mines apparently rich — snch as the Salisbury, which extracted over 2000oz in one month a little over a year ago — have now to stop milling in order that necessary work which should have been done at the outset may now be undertaken. This is by no means a solitary instance of palpably bad management, reflecting, as it does, upon the skill, if not the honesty, of those in charge. Mining engineers may not always have a free hand, and may be required to do many things against their better judgment j but they too not unfrequently add to a want of knowledge and practical experience a desire to make a brave show, to the eventual outdoing of those who place their dependence thereon. A determination to go right through with the work, opening up and developing the mine as they proceed, doing the dead work that is essential at the outset, will not produce bloated dividends, but it will, if the conditions are favourable, make the, property a steadily remunerative one and add to their own reputation in the long run. We have referred to India for an illustration of what gold mining may do as an industry. The mines of the Mysore goldfields passed through the speculative stage, but those which have been taken in hand in a business-like fashion and steadily de- , veloped have been placed upon a stable foundation as an investment and an industry. With a steady production of 2oz to 3oz per ton, there is a rich and profitable return for the capital sunk and the labour expended. If South African mines are ever to be worth the attention of the investor, as opposed to the speculator, they must be dealt with in the same fashion.

The next great development of gold mining will in all probability take place in the East. In those great islands of the Indian Archipelago, Borneo, Sumatra, ai d Java, great mineral wealth is known to exist. Tbe natives, time out of mind, have searched for gold in Borneo, and in later centuries the Chinese have diligently mined for the precious metal. The gold is found in the river sand, in deposits in the higher ground, and in the rocks. As might be expected, there is little or no scientific mining, but, notwithstanding the crude methods of working, the want of means, and arbitrary interference of native chiefs in some parts of the island, large amounts of gold are exported yearly. There is an undoubtedly good opening for European capital and enterprise ; hut, if satisfactory results are to follow, the South African lesson must, be taken to heart. Gold miuing as an industry is what we want, and not as a wild speculation. — Pall Mall Budget.