COAL PRODUCTION

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIII, Issue 6035, 21 October 1946, Page 7

COAL PRODUCTION

RECORD YEAR IN 1945 There were 165 coal mines operating in 1945. Fifty-seven of them, on freehold property, produced 1,280,072 tons, or 45% of the total. The remaining 108 mines, on Crown land, produced 1,553,504 tons, or 55%' of the total. No coal was imported and exports were 21,989 tons, compared with 37,688 tons in 1944. The supply position remained difficult and it had been impossiob to build up reserves to allow for stoppages in shipment occasioned by the vagaries of the bars at the West coast ports. Only recently has _it been possible to arrange a trial shipment of coal from Vancouver Island, Canada. The prospect of importing further supplies from the West coast of the United States has been pursued, but permanent relief of current shortages would come only from expansion of production in the Dominion.

An estimate of New Zealand’s coal resources was:—Anthracite, proved recoverable, very little; probably recovei-able, very little. Bituminous (coking), 14,160,000 (56,190,000). Sub-bituminous (non-coldng), 139,094,000 (103,992,000). Lignite noncoking, lew grade), 147,000,000 (377,000,000. Totals, 300,254,000 (537,182,000.

In addition it is inferred that there are 321,000,000 tons of sub-bitumin-ous coal. “Inferred” coal reserves consisted of important blocks considered likely on geological grounds to contain coal, but which are unbored and too far away from known outcrops for reliable estimates to be made.