GOLD BEING FOUND AT MAHAKIPAWA.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 78, 1 April 1931, Page 7

GOLD BEING FOUND AT MAHAKIPAWA.

SHAREHOLDERS HEAR OF PROGRESS AT MINE. Over two hundred shareholders attended the annual meeting of the Mahakipawa Goldfields Ltd., last evening. The chairman of the board of directors, Mr J. R. Templin, presided. On the chairman’s table was over lOOozs of gold which had been won during March. In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, which have already been published, the chairman said that since the last annual meeting additional capital had been raised to carry out recommendations made in a report submitted by Mr K. M. Barrance. Mine operations were started on January 5 and were now being vigorously pursued. From results obtained during an inspection of the mine in September it was anticipated that payable gold would be obtained in a wing drive which ran in an easterly direction. Work was started there, but after driving a few feet the bottom rose quickly and the payable wash failed. Therefore, it became necessary to explore the workings for other payable ground. All indications pointed to the bottom rock sloping westward, but in order to work this ground it was necessary to go back towards the shaft and lower the floor of the existing main drive. This -work had now been carried out and the floor had been lowered to the end of the old workings. Drives had been pushed west and it was in these that the returns up to the present time had been obtained. As yet the west side of the gutter had not been reached and therefore the extent of the payable wash could not be stated. One of the original bores known as the No. 3 bore showed exceptional values, and it was recommended that an endeavour be made to exploit that area. It was decided to run a prospecting drive north to intercept the bore and to prove the values before deepening the shaft to work this ground. This prospecting drive was completed in February and showed that there was coarse gold north of the shaft, and also that the assumption the No. 3 bore was on the bottom of the gutter was wrong. The drive had been continued beyond the bore a distance of eight or ten feet, and the bottom rock was still dipping north-west. Disposal of Gold. “Your directors have carefully investigated the price paid by the bank for gold,” continue the chairman. “The gold which was won in January and February was sold to the bank direct, and our return was only £3 17s 10£d per ounce. This question was brought to the notice of the Minister of Mines by a recent deputation, and the position was thoroughly investigated by the department, who recently forwarded us a memorandum setting forth the position at length. In respect to the March out-put and in the future, we propose to sell the gold direct to the Melbourne Mint, and thus obtain the benefit of exchange rate and better prices obtainable in Australia, which should bring the company up to £4 10s per ounce. The gold which we are winning contains some quartz, and in order to overcame this a furnace has been built at the mine to smelt the gold so that it will be shipped in bar form. “Our monthly working costs will depend upon the number of men employed, but with the present men-engaged, the total working cost per month, including management, overhead cost, power and other charges, runs between 130 and 135 ounces per month on the present price of gold. My reason for mentioning this in ounces is so that shareholders will be able to gauge our financial position when they read the monthly reports in the Press which state our return in ounces. The report and balance-sheet were adopted unanimously,

Progress at Mine. The mine manager, Mr Barrance, said that when he visited the mine last September, the conditions were not favourable for taking good somples, but he got an idea of the run of the leads. Ilis best results were from No. 5 wing drive. lie found a couple of places that made him think that the mine had not been worked far enough west. On taking charge, he started work at No. 5 east, where he got half a dozen ounces, and then found the grade poor, with the bottom rising. He then paid attention to about 300 feet south of the shaft and the January return (27 ounces) came out of the bottom of the drive. They were now on the south face and could get west without the wash dipping away. He then started No. 4 west crosscut and after going thirty feet, he met a sandy layer, with a poor grade. He came back and started another drive. The whole of the grade was irregular. The size of gold which was being obtained varied, added Mr Barrance. Two pieces of over an ounce had been found, but fine gold was the better propositition. The richer gold-bearing portion of the face was eighteen inches up, but in the remainder, there was a little fine gold, and that helped in making the returns. It would now be possible to go another 300 feet south of the south face without running into old drives. He thought that there was a lead east of the present drive, and it was possible that there was another lead running south. At the King Solomon mine, a quarter of a mile further up, the river had concentrated in a ravine, but where they were working there were, he thought, at least two channels. By pushing cross-cuts west they might find a hump in the river bed. If this were so, an investigation would have to be made. Gold was also showing to the north-west. When the gold was melted at the mine, added Mr Barrance, the shareholders would be able to realise the exact value of it, for there would be no discrepancy between the amount won and the bank returns. Price of Gold. The chairman said that the following letter had just been received from the manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Dunedin:— “At present your company has only received credit on the basis of £3 17s lOid per standard ounce. As soon as the mint outturns come to hand from Melbourne, you will be credited further with whatever premium is payable by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Ltd., less exchange. “According to the outturns received yesterday from Melbourne, our last •shipment will return to our customers approximately £4 13s 9d per ounce, premium being at £3O 10s per cent, less cost of shipment to London, 25s per cent. “You will, of course, understand that the premium will vary from time to time according to the ruling rate of telegraph transfer, Australia to London.” This would mean, on the gold sold during January and February, an additional £BS, said the chairman. Messrs J. Howie and H. MTlraith were re-elected to the directorate. Future Operations. Mr Barrance said that one of the returns from the old King Solomon mine had shown £750 per set, and he* was aiming for that. To reason from that and his own experience, he thought that future returns should be as good as last month’s. After that, it depended on what was to be found to the north, where there was a large area to be -worked. There was a better future to the north than to the south To get north woulcj. either mean deepening the shaft or a new shaft further down the valley. The north land had never been worked by anyone. The borer who had investigated the northern area 500 ft north of the shaft had admitted that he had gone too far east and had lost the lead. Boreholes could be, however, very misleading. Mr F. G. Dunn was re-elected auditor | at the same fee as last year.