C—2

Minerals Other Than Gold and Silver Iron-ore. —From the Onakaka deposit 317 tons were quarried, crushed, and sold as oxide of iron * valued at £237 15s. on the quarry floor. The increase in value per ton over the last year is due- to the cost of access to the new site, coupled with higher cost of production. Arsenic. —From the roasting-furnace used in conjunction with treatment of the Blackwater Gold Mining Co.'s sulphide concentrates, 7 tons 19 cwt. 8 lb. was recovered. This by-product realized £143 15s. sd. . Talc and Quartz Magnesite. —From a Crown mineral licence at Upper Takaka, Lime and Marble, Ltd., quarried 540 tons, which was processed at Mapua, the product being used for agricultural purposes. The value of this product on the quarry floor was £378. Dolomite. —A tonnage of 6,912, valued at £3,456 on quarry floor, was extracted from a quarry at Mount Burnett, in Collingwood district, and shipped from Onakaka in its raw state to fertilizermanufacturers in the North Island. Non-metallic Minerals Clays. —From Polglaze's Clay-pit, Kaka, 416 tons feldspathic clay were mined and used for the manufacture of insulators at the Temuka Pottery-works. This product was valued at £644 16s. at the mine mouth. Westport Brick and Pipe Co. produced 200 tons of clay for the production of earthenware pipes and fittings, and was valued at £B2 10s. on quarry floor. Greymouth Brick and Tile Works produced 1,000 tons of clay for brickmaking, valued at £875 on quarry floor. Nelson Brick and Pipe Works produced from the pits at Nelson and Moutere 650 tons of clay for brickmaking and field tiles. This clay was valued at £l3O. General Remarks Dredging and alluvial mining during the year accounted for 15,500,000 cubic yards of gravels dug and sluiced from the known workable auriferous deposits in this inspection district, and prospect boring of sixty-seven holes aggregating 5,247§- ft. in depth was carried out. On an area adjacent to the company's claim, 781J ft. were bored by Ngahere Gold Dredging Co., who put down thirteen holes in the Grey River Valley. This was the only boring carried out to prove a virgin area, the rest of the boring, as mentioned in the 1947 report, being for the purpose of eliminating yardage that did not measure up to increase of dredging-costs that have accumulated since the prospecting of areas was carried out prior to the erection of dredges and further reduced the acreage available for profitable exploitation. The Ngahere Gold Dredging Co. holds prospecting licences over an area that has responded fairly satisfactorily to boring operations, but it is not yet known whether the values will warrant dredging operations. Fatal Accidents Nil. Serious Non-fatal Accidents Dredges On 4th May, 1948, J. Mills, oiler, Ar'ahura dredge, when operating a hand winch, was struck a, blow on.the wrist, which was fractured. Metalliferous Mines Nil. Prosecutions Under the Mining Act, 1926 Nil. SOUTHERN INSPECTION DISTRICT (T. McMillan, Inspector of Mines) Quartz and Alluvial Mining Waitaki County Sluicing operations have been carried out in the auriferous gravels of the Livingstone and Maerewhenua Goldfields.

40