CARRICK GOLD MINING COMPANY

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 13840, 26 November 1912, Page 8

CARRICK GOLD MINING COMPANY

■ The annual) meeting of shareholders in the Carrick Gold Mining Company was held yesterday afternoon, Mr J. B. Hine presiding over some 30 shareholders. The minutes of the last annual meeting and general special meetings were read and confirmed, after the recorded utterances of members at the meetings had been excised. This matter was discussed at considerable length.

ANNUAL REPORT. The annual report was. taken as read. .In moving the adoption of the report, Mr Hine said: As you ,are all aware, the past year has been. ah eventful one for the : company. At one time, owing to financial,, troubles, its very existence. was, threatened, but I am pleased to say that, this is a thing of . the past, and that now our company is in a, strong financial position. As stated in the report, the balanc'd of shares offered were oversubscribed for by'.existing .shareholders, and I do not think, they will have cause to regret their action in so doing.. The result .from the crushing of ,100 tons from the White Horse reef is in itself more than chough to prove the value of the mine—showing, as it does, an extraction of more, than one ounce of gold to the ton. There is practically .an unlimited quantity of this sulphide stone,' hitherto untouched, and tho deeper we go down the better value it -gets. If a low level tunnel were put in, it would tap another 160 feet of backs, besides making the ore in the upper levels easier to handle, by doing away with the present inclined tramway, and incidentally the danger of a truck getting away, and doing damage to the battery. This would "%ot hamper operations in the slightest degree.- Development on the present levels would go on just the same, and the ore broken out put through the mill. It was hoped that before this time had elapsed the battery would have been constantly working. That such is not the case is due to causes over which neither the directors nor the manager have control, the main .cause

being the difficulty of securing miners. Casual labour is easy to get, but competent miners are very scarce. It is useless putting incompetent men on to break out ore, as they mix the mullock and oro to such an extent that it only makes the average return lower by its addition, but it also robs tho plates arid takes a quantity of gold away in tho tailings. ; This scarcity of miners will, I think, right itself as the field becomes (as it’ is sure to do) more favourably known. 'Weather conditions also hampered our crushing operations—a most unusual occurrence in Central Otago—the road being washed out a short distance from the battery. At the present time there are 25 men employed, out of which number only 13 are miners. To keep tho battery constantly going it is estimated another 10 or 15 men will he’ required. Turning to the balance-sheet yon will see that there is about i! 5,500 yet to ha collected from shares sold. A. large quantity of timber from the dredges purchased is on the, ground, and at Bannockburn, besides tools and other material necessary for the proper equipment of the concern. I am pointing this out to show that the future expenses will he mainly for wages, coal, , explosives, and horse-feed, The machinery is working well, and no difficulty has been experienced in the treating of the. quartz. Mr John Stevenson seconded tho motion for the adoption of the report and balance-sheet. ■ Mr John Anderson, in reviewing the report, pointed out that the amount of material treated was not stated. Mr H. H. Ji,ewis asked why, in view of the fact that the battery was ready shortly after September last year, such a small amount of stuff had been put through. He understood that the last crushing. started) on October Ist, and the return did not reach the shareholders till November 11th.

Mr Hine explained that the battery was sot to deal with oxydised stone, and 100 tons of sulphide, were treated, this. taking hine days, the manager not thinking it worth while to alter the machinery for such a. small amount. In reply, to Mr Anderson, Mr Hine said the company could put through 200 tons of oxydised stone or 100 tons of sulphide per week. , Mr Lewis said that the original prospectus stated that- there was sufficient ore in sight to allow the company to go on crushing 200 tons a week for several years. The battery had been up for 12 months, and despite the two or three months’ delay owing to finances, he could not understand why the manager was getting out from the Eoyal Standard reef stone, which was admittedly poorer. If the sulphide stone was worth nearly £4 per ton, and the battery could deal with it, why not leave the oxydised alone?. Mr Snow: The oxydised is on top. Mr Hine said if they could get a sufficiency of miners they could keep the battery going full speed. Their experience was that , the opening up of one reef led to the discovery of another. Each reef had to be treated carefully. The manager had said, “As soon as we get a swing in, we can do as we like, but if you poi.e a hole here and another there, you don’t know whore you are. , Once you have proved the mine you can push on and get the stuff out in the proper manner.” Mr H. H. Thompson said he did not dissent from the report, hut there was one thing he would like to emphasise on the directors: “We want results.” The Garrick Company had been running three years, during which time somewhere about .£15,000 out of actual cash capital had been spent. That left ,£5,000 either paid up or to be called up, and, at the past rate of expenditure, all the capital would be spent by the end of the year. Personally, he felt satisfied that good results would be attained, but still he felt he was voicing the feelings of shareholders when be'said to the directors, “We want results.” . .' Mr TTiue: We arc beginning to get results. Wo have £BOO to our credit which is not shown here. Mr Thompson: I don’t disagree with the company’s management. I think everythin is hi order, but still I feel I am voicing the feelings of shareholders generally in saying that results are wanted. Mr Hine: : I/quite agree with Mr. Thompson that rye must husband our resources. ■ . . Messrs Lewis, Turner, and Eattenbury spoke of the necessity of the publication of regular reports from the mine. These reports should either be posted at the company’s oJiiceg or published in’ the press on a certain day each week or month. Mr Hine said lie recognised the weight of the speaker’s remarks. Mr Ties was extremely busy at the mine, but the directors contemplated the appointment