LARGE MINING ENTERPRISE.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 May 1920, Page 4

LARGE MINING ENTERPRISE.

DEVELOPMENT WORK ON LtIMU FLAT. PREPARATIONS ADVANCING RAPIDLY. Tho large mining enterprise on Rinru Flat nt South Hokitika undertaken on behalf of an important United States company, has taken very definite shape within the last two or three weeks. Mr R. E. Cranston is representing the company, and has with him Mr Ford, engineer in charge of the works, while Mr Langford is the electrical' engineer. The venture at Rimu Flat will be one of the largest, dredging enterprises undertaken in the Dominion. The former dfedge worked on the Flat is to be dismantled and replaced by a much larger and far more powerful dredge to be driven by electrical power. Prior to dismantling (now under way) the dredge was used do excavate a larger dam to float the new dredge to be built. This excavation has now been completed, and utilising the ;existing plant lias h eeu performed at a .minimum of cost. The new dredge it is interesting to note will not he much longer than the present dredge. Its size will gain in breadth, a:: the new hull or pontoon to be built will ho some, 52 feet wide as against the present hull of 30ft. Adjacent to tho dam is the site where the new hull is to be built. It will be constructed of Oregon which is being procured in balk in the Dominion. The original intention was to build the pontoon of kauri, but the local timber was not procurable, and the next most suiU able was the imported oregori. Being purchased locally and at short notice has naturally added to the cost of the lumber. A sawmill is to be erected on the claim site, and there the Oregon balk timber will be cut into the sizes required. Later the sawmill will be used for ordinary timber cutting purposes. On tho mining area there is a considerable amount of standing timber notwithstanding that millers have gone through tlie bush heretofore. What remains bps been taken up by the mining company for milling rights, and so the remnant, consideralbe in point of fact, will he salvaged, and put on the market in due course.

Close to the pontoon site, a large flnachine shop is to he erected on tho tailings deposited by the former dredge, also stables, and housing requirements will be built ns needed for the accommodation of the workmen. The power will be brought - from the Kanieri Forks and in addition to supplying power will also supply the light so as to enable work to lie carried on continuously. , Adair’s road from its junction with the railway, is being put into serviceable condition for the transport of heavy material to the dredge site. The road is being widened and a tramline laid to facilitate tlie haulage. The sleepers are sunk, and the rails laid laid at surface level, which arrangement will permit ol easv access for vehicle traffic. This work is being advanced rapidly already, as a quantity of timber and material Lor the dredge pontoon is due to arrive snortly, and will require to be transported to the site to permit of erection as rapidly as possible.- The machinery for the large dredge will not reach here for some few months. It is coming from America, and in the meantime all the other work will, he carried forward as fast as local circumstances will permit. It is intended as far as possible to rely on labor available within the Dominion. For the preliminary work now in band good men have been secured and there is no occasion while similar labor continues available to seek outside tlie ebun-

Tin- plant from the dredge now being dismantled is being stored on the dam bank at prepent-. Any suitable parts will be used as required. The ninety horsepower engine on the dredge is to be removed to the Hokitika sub station in Weld. Street and used as a standby plant for the electric light supply for the town. This engine will be so used only temporarily as it is intended eventually to instal a two hundred horse power engine at Hokitika and so give a first class light and power service. The stand by plant will be used as circumstances arise should any break occur in tiie hydroelectric service at Ivanieri Forks. With the precautions to be taken, a good service should be secured to the town of Hokitika and district. It will be seen from the foregoing, that a very important industrial enterprise is going forward, and in a _very few weeks’ time now the district generally will feel the benefit of the expansion. As to the mining side of‘the venture the promoters do not-consider the ground too rough for the proposed powerful dredge to be used to cope with. There is revealed now a very fair idea of the oharaotr of the wash to be operated. Large stones predominate, but this is a healthy sign of,the gold deposit. Jn the latter respect the areas taken up for mining have been prospected very comI pletely both by boring and shafting. J Those results combined with the yield recovered by the existing dredge as far as it is worked, give a satisfactory warrantrv as to the general value of the ground, for it is justifying the present large enterprise—the largest dredging proposition in the Dominion. In the •matter of public importance Ilimu Flat will attract very considerable interest and no doubt mining men from all parts of the Dominion, as doubtless from the Commonwealth also, will be attracted here to see the “dreadnought” dredge in operation. Similar machines to that to be installed here arc the fashion in the United States, where rougher boulder country than that prevailing at Rimu Flat has to be dealt with. The promo* ters are going forward with the local works in good heart, and it is evident in a very short time something tangible will be there to be seen as a result of their well-organised and well, directed efforts now proceeding. The enterprise carries in its train a new era for dredging in this part of the world.