SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD MINES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2058, 3 August 1893, Page 16

SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD MINES.

South African gold shares are decidedly that class of security which amid tiie general depression of the stock jfhd share markets offer by far the most tempting opening to purchasers. There are many reasons which combine to attract the public in this direction, says the London Mining Journal, apart from the actual position of tha shares themselves. Australian affairs are so exceedingly gloomy as to discourage all speculation in- that quarter, while elsewhere the blighting influence of the silver evil is severely experienced. Our South African colonies have never been guilty of the financial recklessness of South America and Australia, and there is a backbone of settled 'population there to support the new development of enterprise. Moreover, even the financial world hap a Carlylean faculty of "hero worship," and imagination has been stimulated by the magical personality of the Cape Colony, Premier, De Beers amalgamator, Chartered Company promoter, and Uganda telegraph constructor. In the absence of any reasonable prospect of an upward movement in other classes of scrip for at least some time to come, it is not, therefore, remarkable that South African enterprises, mineral and others, should be displaying so much animation. We believe, however, that the revival is based upon a much more solid and permanent cause than the general difficulty in finding channels for speculation. For a long time numerous prophets have been pointing, almost unheeded, to the revolution which has been effected in the methods of gold mining on theWitwatersrandt, to the reforms which have taken place in company, organisation and. personnel, and to the change in public policy which is reducing the cost of production. If the first Randt "boom " was the outcome of ignorant credulity, that which is now developing is the product of scientific assertion gradually workingupon public scepticism. The most eminent mining experts have not hesitated to couple the acutest geological theories with the most glowing accounts of the Randt's future. The reef is of enormous extent, with ore poor in gold but remarkably uniform in character. There is thus the prospect of the development of the most surprising gold-mining enterprise the, world has ever seen — of an auriferous industry carried out on the same gigantic scale and with the same huge plants as the -working of a' coalfield. In another couple of years the Randt alone may be producing £10,000,000 worth, and thus, by adding 50 per cent, to the world's supply of theprecious 1 metal, it will be solving one of the greatest economic problems. It is surprising to see the Randt output attain in March so heavy a total after the widespread stoppage of work caused by the floods in the previous month, and there can be no doubt that the general additions and improvements to plant which have resulted from that calamity will bring about a brilliant advance from all previous records in the early future. The new developments which are taking place on the Randt are not confined to the extension of steady and scientific work to the deep levels. AU the principal mines are now equipping themselves with rock^drilling plant, electricity is being generally used for lighting and power transmission, the value of the cyanide process has been conclusively proved, and is being generally adopted. Claims which, when formerly worked, failed to pay under the disadvantages of exorbitant purchase money and wasteful

methods, are again being developed. The reported discovery of coal in the west Randt seems to open up a more promising future for the mines in that direotion. Enterprise is again reviving on De Kaap field, while other new auriferous deposits are opening up all over the Transvaal. The new Silati railway will afford the possibility of profitable exploitation to mines of which most patisfaetory accounts are published. As to the external influences of the gold-mining industry, few operators in the " Kaffir circus " probably have any conception of the extent of the change which has been wrought. The railway from the Cape Colony has had the effect of reducing appreciably the cost of mining materials in Johannesburg and by facilitating supplies has abolished altogether the temporary inflations which at one time were the rule in all commodities. This effect will be further exhibited when the railways, now in course of construction, are completed from Natal and from Portuguese territory. The labour question is still a difficulty, but it seems likely to vanish beneath one or both of two solutions — the one the compound system, the other the increased importation of white miners. As it is the reduction of liquor licenses in Johannesburg has done much to improve the position of the mining industry in respect to this important factor of labour. A further decrease in the cost of mining is promised in the abolition of the dynamite monopoly and the proposed cheapening of cement. There are thus many reasons why mines which have not hitherto paid dividends should be capable* of remunerative working under these altered conditions, and it is not wonderful that prices should have risen, and that fresh capital should be asked for. Outside the Transvaal the gold mines of Mashonaland are attracting the most hopeful attention. The explorers are themselves thoroughly impressed with the auriferous value of their territory, and the more investigation is extended the more encouraging the reports become. It cannot be doubted that Mashonaland as a gold country has a big future before it. In Zululand promising work is being done by a syndicate, and a most eminent mining expert has reported very favourably upon several deposits in the Mozambique Company's possessions. The mineral wealth of South Africa is indeed magnificent, and British enterprise will find a wide field therein for a long time to come. Prospects are so far superior to those afforded in the history of any previous aurif erouß development in that the country's gold mines lend themselves to a business-like and extensive pursuit of the industry not hitherto possible. The element of speculation ought to have less to do with South African gold mining than it has had to do with the winning of the precious metal in any part of the world. So long as the purchaser ef shares is sure that a sufficient capital is available for honest development work, it is hard to see where he can hope to find a better opportunity for a sound and remunerative speculation than in South Africa.