A BURST BOOM

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17951, 1 December 1932, Page 4

A BURST BOOM

THE GRANITES GOLDFIELD INVESTMENTS £150,000 NOkLNAL CAPITAL ABOUT A MILLION - . ■ vHgPpJ; ' ' * ! - . ; SYDNEY, Nov. 24. Whilst the nominal capital of the 12 ; principal companies hitherto operating an The Granites area of'Central Australia is about £1,000,000,' tho amount actually invested in shares of these companies, on nominal face value, is variously estimated at from £120,000 to £150,000 by leading members of tho Sydney Stock Exchange. During the period of the mild boom in these shares at the end of last month and the first week of this month, the public speculation in the issued shares forced them up to a temporary market value of from £350,000 to £500,000. That, however, was “speculation money.” . Even in the rush speculation period very little money was invested in these shares by Sydney speculators. The ; major portion of the money was found ■ an Melbourne and Adelaide, with a fair proportion in Brisbane. Further, of the money actually invested in the companies by the public, only a proportion of it has been ex- - pended on tho development of The Granites area. Most of it has been tuted in'preliminary investigations and exploratory work. Some of the companies • have still capital in hand for further, investigation work, whilst a few of the smaller companies have in- - dicated that they will shortly convene meetings of shareholders to consider whether the money in hand should be given back to the owners of shares or = spent in further investigation of the urea. VICTORIAN INVESTMENTS MELBOURNE, Nov. 24. About £IOO,OOO was subscribed in Melbourne to the capital of companies Which were formed to take options over leases at The Granites, Central Australia, following reports of sensationnl discoveries of gold-bearing ore. At Pithe height of the boom in shares, the market value of the shares subscribed for was about £250,000. Now that the ■greater part of tho field has been condemned by leading engineers, prices of shares have slumped, and the aggregate market value does not exceed £30,000. Thus, on marketjjvaluee, original subscribers to the companies have lost £70,000, and some later speculators a good deal more. Most of the companies, however, still have funds in hand; the total of which is believed to be about £45,000. Expenditure by the companies has covered miners’ wages, engineers’ fees, commission on sales of shares,' legal expenses incidental to the flotations, cost of plant and office expenses.