MINING NEWS.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 403, 28 January 1904, Page 5

MINING NEWS.

•v. ■. _. —— —„ - - . ■'<' The quantity of gold won during the year by the Hartley dredge was 5,0380z 16dwt 3gr, valued at £19,499 19s. and the expenditure for the same period was only £3,195 18s 2d. Up to the present time the quantity of gold won from the claim is 25,7240z Idwt 15gr, valued at £99,536 Is 3d, and produced at a cost of £24,419 Is lOd. The amount of money paid out in dividends last year was £15,437 10s, or £2 7s 6d per share; whi e the total sum returned to shareholders since operations were commenced is £78.000, equal to no less than £l2 per share, the capital of the company being £6,500. The present position of the company is exceptionally strong, as on 31st December the directors had a reserve fund of £2,560 and a bank balance of £951 4s 5d ; while there were debtors to the extent of £8 10 lid, as against which the debts owing by the company amounted to £555 7a 3d.

The following items are taken from the '♦ Cromwell Argus":—The Remarkables dredge at the Nevis has been stopped for a few days, pending the arrival of a new winch pinion from Dunedin,—Water for sluicing at the Nevis is running short. Unless a i change takes place very soon work will have to cease. The Nevis river is so low, that it can be easily waded at the crossing by Ritchie's, which is by no means the shallowest part.—We hear the condition of Rise and Shine 2 is likely to cause some little friction between the company and the engineer. —Mr Geo. Goodger has been appointed dredgemaster of the Alpine Consols.—The Loch Lomond is still engaged opening out. She bottomed in one corner on a soft reef carrying payable gold. ThejUnity dredge is at present undergoing an overhaul. The ladder is being .repaired at the Alexandra foundry.

MOLYNEUX HYDRAULIC DREDGING COMPANY.

The following is the directors' report to be submitted to be submitted to the annual meeting of shareholders, to be held at the company's office, Alexandra, On Monday, Ist February, 1904:

We are sorry to say that the year's operations have been very unsuccessful, and consequently we have not been able to pay any dividends. Owing to the poor returns when working the last cut, about half way up the claim, in August last, we decided to stop the dredge for about three months. At this time we were getting the overburden sluiced off at the lower end of the claim, to enable the dredge to work it to advantage. In the beginning of November the dredge was shifted down to the sluiced ground at the lower boundary, and commenced dredging. For the first three weeks after starting, the returns averaged about 18 ounces, and part of the cut was in the old elevating paddock. Then, early in December, an unfortunate accident happened to the elevator. Repairs were put in hand without delay, and at the same time, it was lengthened by 12 feet,and now able to stack the tailings higher than formerly. The dredge is working steadily, and is in good order, and although the returns so far are not up to expectations we only hope that they will be better later on-

Measrs Jas. Kelman and J. Pattison retire from the directorate, and offer themselves for re-election. The retiring auditors (Messrs L. B. Grimstone and F. Young) also offer themselves for re-election.

DREDGING RETURNS. The following are the returns for the week ending Saturday, January 23rd, 1904:

Total for 52 dredges 1317 2 1 Average per-dredge 26 0 0

fttaffscdWaiaraa, Wart OtasifclMh SO*

ozdwtgrs Heesey's Waikaia 57 17 0 PerseveranceNo. 1, Alexandra ... 67 16 0 Electric No 1, Cromwell 57 4 0 Golden Bed, Miller's Flat, 6dys._ 57 1 0 Junction Electric No 2, Cromwell 55 0 0 Enterprise No 2 , Alexandra ... 54 3 0 Gold King No 2, Roxburgh 51 0 0 Eamsoleugh No 2, Alexandra 122h 43 15 0 Mystery Flat, Waikaia, ... 41|15 0 Perseverance No. 2, Alexandra... 40 2 0 Hoa No 2, Alexandra,... 39 0 0 Bttriok, Roxburgh, lSOhrs* 37 0 0 Olrig.Mannberikia, 12Sh 34 11 0 Roxburgh Jubilee, Roxb'rgh, 181h 3C 15 0 Molyneux Eobinoor, Roxburgh ., .. 30 14 12 Rising Sun, Upper Clutha 29 10 1 Nugent Wood, Waikaia 29 1 0 Rue and Shine, Up'er Clutha .- 27 0 0 Taniwha, Tuapeka River 24 8 0 Central Charlton, near Gore. 188hr 24 1 0 Golden Gate. Millers Flat, 6dy s 24 0 0 Waikaka United No 2, Waikaka 22 3 0 Golden Ron, Millers Flat 22 0 0 Waikaka, Waikaka, 132hrs ... 21 17 0 Waikaka Queen, Waikaka 21 2 0 Enterprise No 1, Alexandra 20 13 4 Island Block, Beaumont, 20 2 0 Enfield, Waipori, 20 2 0 Cromwell No 1, Cromwell 20 1 0 Upper Waipori, Waipori. wk ... 20 0 0 Charlton Creek, near Gore 19 10 0 MacCharlton, near Gore, 138hrs 18 8 0 Waikaka Syndicate, Waikaka ... 18 0 0 Gabriel, Tuapeka Flat... 17 6 0 Incbdale, near Palmerston, 15 11 0 Molyneux Hydraulic, Alexandra 15 7 0 Otago. Miller's Flat, 5dys 15 0 0 Waimumu Extended, Gore 15 0 0 Central Mataura, Mataura, . ... 14 11 0 Royal Waimumu, near Gore 14 0 0 Happy Valley. Tuapeka. wk 13 18 0 Cromwell No. 2, Cromwell 13 16 0 Reliance, Tuapeka Flat ... 13 4 0 Tuapeka, Tuapeka Flat, 12 18 0 Revival, Upper Clutha .„ 12 12 0 Sbeddon's Freehold, Waikaka, wk 11 0 0 Inch Valley, near Palmerston ... 10 0 0 Chicago, Alexandra, 95hrs 9 10 0 Ngapara No 3, Nevis, lSOhrs ... 8 15 0 Lawrence. Tuapeka Flat, 6dys 8 3 0 Lower Eefield, Waipori 3 16 0 Oceanic Steam, Waipori 3 3 9