WAIHI GRAND JUNCTION COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 28

WAIHI GRAND JUNCTION COMPANY.

FUTURE PROSPECTS. (Fbom Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, July 23. Mr George llothwell presided at the annual meeting of the Waihi Grand Junction Gold Mining Company, held yesterday at Winchester House. The Chairman mentioned ihat the cost of mmmg 1 48,4// tons of ore was £33,188, or 13s f.d per ton — an increase of 3s Id per ton over last year, when 40,220 tons had cost £21,326, or 70s 7d per ton. The milling and treatment costs — £22,345, or 9s 2d per ton — showed a reduction of Is 2d per ton when compared with the preceding year, while the percentage of recovery of the combined gold and silver values had improved from 80.3 in 1907 to 85.6 in 1908, the gold recovery being 87.9 and silver 68 per cent. Later results showed an advance of about 2 per cent, on those figures), and still further improvement, both in extraction and reduction of cost, was expected. The amount charged to mines development redemption (£9695) was Si6sl 8a more than in 1907, on account of the increased tonnage drawn from the mine. The total arrived at uy addition of the items under the heading- of administration expenses (New Zealand, £4361) was £381 less than 1907, and me London charges -were alse £238 less. Interest on loans (£3056) was practically the same as before. The amount written off for rlepree-iath-n of plant, machinery, and buildings (£6902) was £608 more than in the prei ious year THE YEAR'S RESULTS. Bullion realised and in transit stood at. £72,941, obtained from the treatment of 48,477 tons of ore, or £1 10s Id per ton, compared vith £71,741 from tons in UO7, or £J 15s Bci. showed the serious .eduction cf 5s 7d ocr ton, although the extraction had been improved by fully 5 lier cont. Aftei 1 deducting gold duty and realisation expenses (£3030), and^ adding sundrj receipts (Now Zealand, £579) and transfer fees (London £1191. the total on the credit side of the account is insufficient by the ;um of £857 to meet the expenditure on working account, includiujj mines, j

development redemption, and Auckland omit London office expenses; and, when interest; on loans and depreciation of plant* machinery, and buildings are addei', the* adverse balance on the operations of the year is increased to £10,815. This unsatisfactory result had been brought about by the lower value of the ore treated and the increased ccst of mining, together account* ing for a difference of 8s 8a per ton compared with 1007 results. The returns from the mill to June in the present year had been equally unsatisfactory, but the July yield reported this week (£7601 from 4835 tons) showed a "decided improvement, and ift v, as to be expected that the supplies of ore ccni ; n« front development work now being; carried out in the Empire and Royal lodes on Nos. 4 and 5 levels would enable a batter average value to be maintained. The increased cost of mining, where a reduction had been confidently expected, had been the cause cf continuous worry" and- anxiety to tiie director, and they had deemed it advisable to obtain further professional advice in order that a remedy' might, if .possible, be found. GRATIFYING DEVELOPMENTS. If the operations of the past year had. proved/ financially < disappointing, .it.* had been otherwise with the development of the mine, which had' been attended with the most gratifying results. The three lodes or branches, known as No. 6a, No. 6b, and^No. 6c, Mr Brown considered to be all portions of the Royal lode, divided by intrusions of country rook, and-^from the fact that the yjgderlie of the first . is to the south and ibM last to the north', that they will unite at greater depth and form one large lode. The greater part of the exploratory work so far' carried out had been on the C branch, which appeared to be the most important of the three. That had been opened up by driving east of cross-cut foi a distance of 121 ft, and west of cross-cut for a distance of 210 ft,' where the interesting development recently reported occurred — tho discovery of a large and valuable ore body striking east of north, or nearly at right angles to the drive on the C branch and underlying north-west. At first some doubt existed as to whether a new and hitherto unknown lode had been discovered, but Mr' Brown was now of opinion that that was the main Royal lode, and that the A and C branches, boyond the area disturbed by intrusion of country rock, had come together. INCREASED MILLING PLANT. The Chairman then refererd to the ore reserves above No. 4 level and to the values at No. 5 l§vel, and added: The report >f the superintendent gives full details of the additions and improvements made in the milling, departments during the past year, by which the capacity of the plant has been' increased from 150 to 200 tons, per day, while at the same time by' providing for finer grinding and more effectual agitation, a material improvement, in the extraction has been secured. The_ increase in the capital bf the company from £300,000 to £400,000, and the issue of 70,000 of the new shares to shareholders at pir having, by providing for the .repayment of the loans of £60,000, placed the . finances of th© company on a secure footing, and the discovery of additional lodes in the mine having placed its capacity for supplying a greatly v increased output beyond all doubt, no time was lost by. your board in authorising a further extensive addition to the milling department. The motion for the adoption of the report was seconded by Mr James Cahrert. In reply to questions, the Chairman stated that only a trivial amount of work had been done so far on the Waihi West property. They had only done sufficient work toprotect the area. He might say that the work done in' the past had disclosed some very good ore, but later developments seemed to show that this was merely a local patch, inasmuch as they had found only low grade ore underneath it. Of course that particular property would l.*.ve to be thoroughly prospected some day, but they had their hands, full in dealing with the property on the other side, and therefore they could not think of proceeding with the development of the Waihi West property just yet. Mr Calvert, in reply to a shareholder, said it was very , difficult indeed to give a true idea as to the present capital position. Two calls had been made in New Zealand, regarding which the directors had not yet had any accounts, nor did they know , how much of that money had been spent. There were two calls to be taken into consideration — the one just made and one to come. To answer Mr Cutcliffe's question in a plain manner, he would say that, the- directors had provided for " raising ' £70,000, whereas the company's debt was £60,000. They would pay off the debt and would be left with the difference, and the' shares under option would produce, if taken up, an amount of about £50,000. The report was idopted. On the motion of the chairman, seconded by Mr J. W. Broomhead, the retiring director (Mr H. D. Bishopp) was re-elected to the board, and the retiring auditor was reappointed. The proceedings were then brought to * close.