REEFTON COAL MINES, LTD.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2747, 15 April 1916, Page 15

REEFTON COAL MINES, LTD.

Th 9 prospectus of the above-named company is advertised in this issue. The capital of the company is <£30,000, in shares of ,£1 each. The object: is to acquire as a going concern, and to-further work, deyolop, and equip with modern plant and railway, tho 188 acres known as the Burko's Creek Coal Fields, which are situated two and a half miles from the Reefton Railway. Station.-" There are at present four seams of coal on the property. No. 1 seam now being worked is from 15 to 18 feet thick; No. 2 seam is 5 to C feet thick; No. 3 seam is 15 to 18 feet thick: and No. i is about threw feot thick. Christchurch and Wellington coal dealers and householders who have tested the coal confirm all that is claimed for it, and the claim mado is that it is on® of the best, if not tho best, household coals in the Dominion. This statement Is made by Mr. Sidney Fry, A.M.Aus., 1.M.E., certificated first-class colliery manager, etc., who thoroughly examined and favourably, reported on the property. He says it is also a very good steamraising eoal, as the Reei'ton-Greymouth Railway have been regular users of the ooal for the past two or tlrreo /years, and prefer it to any other coal produced on the West_ Coast. This is also said to bB the experience/of the mines, dredges, and 'householders in the Reefton-Greymouth-Hokitika-Ross district. A .feature of the proposition is the absence of any single engineering difficulty. There are only t\vo and a half miles <of railway to make to connect with the Reefton Railway Station, and this presents no difficulties, as the construction- will be over open and practically level country, the gra<le from the mine to the station being about one in fifty. No sinking, pumping, or boring will be required for years. The natural facilities for economical mining are so convenient that Mr. Fry estimates that the cost of placing the coal f.o.b.' Greymouth will be well under lis. per ton. The company is now able to make arrangements to dispose of the whole of its output at a price which shows a profit of over 25 per cent, on the total capital. This speaks well for tho quality of the coal, and shows that the market will be limited only, by the output of the mine. The opening of the Otira Tunnel iB expected to open a great market in Canterbury for this ooal, which will run right through from tho mine to Christchurch. in the trucks in whioh it is first loaded, thus arriving in the best condition, ano being handled only twice instead of four times as at present. The company is fortunate in having aa a director Mr. David Redpath, the Well-known wholesale coal! merchant of Christchurch. Mr. Redpath's intimate Knowledge of the coal business is expected to prove invaluable to the company, Messrs. Brace and Llieli (late Turnbull and Co.), Panama Street, Wellington; Ross and Co., Queen Street, Masterton; and Messrs. M'Mahon and Lee, Reefton; are the company's brokers. Samples of the coal and nlioto-, graphs of the mine may be seen at the' offices of the who will, on application, post prospectuses and full particulars to any address.