MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 20

MINING.

sTke returns winch we have published of the quantity and value of gold THE gold entered for exportation from export. New Zealand for the fir3t quarter of the year afford very Stratifying evidence of tho progress of the mining industry. The increase, as compared with She March quarter of 1898, is shown to exceed sv> per cent, in both the quantity and the value o\ the metal exported. The actual increase in quantity was 21,3130z, and the increase in value ?"as £80,023. The increase in the figures from Otago alone was greater than the net increase for the colony. The amount entered for export from Dunedin for the first quarto: of this year was 35,2280z, or 22,5810z more Mian in the March quarter of 1898, and this increase represented an increased value of £90,602. It is to the remarkable development of the dredging industry in the river beds and riv*r flats of Central Otago and other parts of the goldfields that the extraordinary leap which in a single year has taken place in the output of the provincial district must bo held ascribable. That industry is as yet, however, comparatively in its infancy. It has barely emerged from the experimental stage, and the extent of its possibilities cannot be hazarded. The splendid returns which some at the new dredges have lately been obtaining indicate that with improved appliances the dredging industry has a very hopeful future before it, and that it is to it we must look if Otago is to regain her position as the principal goldproducing province in th« colony Auckland, too, continues to give increasing returns, the yield for the March quarter of this year exceeding that for the corresponding quarter of 1883 by 5800oz in quantity and £17,671 in

j value. This is in large measure the undoubted result of tho introduction of appliances which enable low-grade ores to be profitably worked, which formerly could not be treated except at a loss. A comparison between the value of the gold won m Otago with tbat from Auckland is in this connection not uninteresting, and the figures we have already stated enable it to be made. As the yield in Otago of 22,5510z above last year's return represents an increased value of £90,602, it will be seen that the value per ounce of our gold is a trifle over £4. The Auckland gold, on tho other hand, is worth only about £3 per ounce, an increased output of 5800oz representing* art increased value of £17,671, so that Otago gold is 30 per cent, .more, valuable than that from the Hauraki. The output from. Auckland may be expected to increase still further, as deyelopmpnt works aro being vigorously pushed on in various portions of the province, and the gold-pro-ducing stage should shortly be /reached in several mines in which dead work is at present being done. While Auckland and Olago have done well, the West Coast has not only made no progress but her output for the last quarter was less in value than that for the March quarter of 1898 by £29,180. Mining on the Coast, particularly at its two extremes, seems to be somewhat stagnant. Notwithstanding the reduced contribution of that part of tho colony, however, there is promise of the return for the year from our goldfields being bettor than it has been for many years.