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GOLD AND SILVER MINING During the year 372,908 oz. of bullion, valued at £1,389,959, was produced, a decrease in quantity of 97,660 oz., and a decrease in value of £128,160, as compared with the previous year. The gold content of the bullion is estimated at 128,364 oz., valued at £1,353,207. The estimated gold production for the past sixteen years has been as follows : Year. Oz. Year. Oz. 1930 .. .. 120,931 1938 .. .. 152,050 1931 .. .. 129,851 1939 .. .. 178,955 1932 .. .. 166,354 1940 .. .. 185,665 1933 .. 161,755 1941 .. .. 174,656 1934 .. .. 160,248 1942 .. .. 165,986 1935 .. .. 165,277 1943 .. .. 149,150 1936 .. .. 164,575 1944 .. .. 142,287 1937 .. .. 168,487 1945 .. .. 128,364 The decline in the production of gold which commenced in 1941 has not been arrested, and output shows a decrease of 13,923 oz. of gold compared with the previous year and is the lowest production since 1930. This decline has not been confined to any particular section of mining. Production from alluvial mines (3,474 oz.) shows a decrease of 1,357 oz., dredges (82,086 oz.) a decrease of 5,188 oz., and quartz mines (42,804 oz.) a decrease of 7,378 oz. compared with the previous year. Conditions brought about by the war, shortage of skilled labour and of equipment, together with increased working-costs, have been partly responsible for this decline in production, which recent output figures show is still decreasing. However, exhaustion of available deposits is also a factor, and this is particularly true of alluvial mining and of dredging operations on a small scale. Production from alluvial mines in the prewar years was greatly stimulated by the operations of parties and individuals subsidized under the gold-mining scheme, and though individual outputs were small, in the aggregate they were appreciable. There have been fewer gold-dredges in operation, although the production of gold by dredging has not decreased in similar proportion owing to maintenance of output by the modern high-capacity dredges. Sixteen dredges were operating during 1945, fourteen on the west coast and two in Otago, but three of the dredges on the west coast have since shut down. The construction of dredges, which had to be deferred because of the war, is again receiving consideration, and it is expected that the number of high-capacity dredges, which have been so successful on the west coast, will be further increased, while it is possible that additional areas suitable for similar dredges may be located by further prospecting. Any further expansion of gold production in the Dominion appears dependent on large-scale dredging operations carried out on the relatively low-grade ground, which has not been amenable to the older types of mining methods. Notwithstanding this fact, the policy set out in the Mines Statement of 1941, whereby dredging of land of good or potentially good farming value shall only be permitted provided conditions as to resurfacing and resoiling are strictly complied with, will be rigidly maintained, even if thereby it should render dredging operations uneconomic. For practical purposes there are only two quartz mines at present producing gold, the Martha and the Blackwater, and shortage of skilled labour and increased workingcosts have of late years created problems at both mines. The reduction of the gold export duty, which, since 29th September, 1939, has amounted to 75 per cent, of the amount by which the New Zealand currency value of the London market price exceeds £9 ss. Bd., to 40 per cent, of the same amount has resulted in an additional 10s. 7d. New Zealand currency per fine ounce being made

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