FALL IN PRICES OF METAL

Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1920, Page 3

FALL IN PRICES OF METAL

EFFECT 1 ON.AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY.

The fall in the price of metals will tell on all industry -in the Commonwealth. Electrolytic copper at £B7 to £B9 per ton means that boards of directors of a number of copper-mining companies will have to very seriously consider the v question of finance, states the “Argils.” For instance, the recent balance sheet of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company contained a statement showing the way in which costs" have mounted up during the past three years v This has been due to the increased price of commodities, concessions made to workers, and their lower efficiency. The metal market now is approaching a point where the strain of such imposts will tell greatly on the profit-earning capabilities of all the mines at work, and compel attention to the problem of how far they shall be depleted of reserves in order merely to maintain staffs of workers. The same situation must also arise at the. silverlead mines of Broken Hill. Mr/ Jusr tiee Edmunds, in his award respecting labour there, lias plated a special, bur-' den on the companies of providing coni- j pensation for sufferers from occupational diseases.. The companies, have •also to bear the burden of shorter hours and higher wages. Protests have been made against the effect of the award. When‘these were uttered the price of metals was a gootl ileal above the point the market lias now reached. The fall in the price of tin lias been even more spectacular than that of copper, lead, and zinc, and the drop .may affect the dividends paid by Eastern concerns. So far as copper, lead, and zinc milling goes, tile situation would not be so bad if, through the strikes that have taken place not only at Broken Hill but in the coal and shipping industries, the splendid markets that existed during the past twelve months had not been missed. The high price that has to be paid for coal and transport as the result of the strikes, when combined with the drop in the price of metals, make the basemetal mining industrial outlook most discouraging, unless the men guarantee a far higher standard of efficiency thail has been set by them of late. .