The Rima Hat Dredge

Hokitika Guardian, 2 March 1923, Page 3

The Rima Hat Dredge

GOOD REI CRN'S .MAINTAINED. Thi' electrically driven dredge at Rimii Mat continues to give good returns regularly. Fortnightly cleaiiingsup are carried out, and the results arc said to he extremely satisfactory. The noticeable feature about the ground treated i- its uniform value, and ilie secret of the success o! the operations is the constant working of the. dredge, resulting in the quantity of spoil put ilhrough, lit oilier winds, the machinery is working more and more efii- < ieiitl.v. There i lens occasion for .stoppages, and the aggregate amount of ground turned or, r in a given period in an increasing qunnity. thus enhancing the gold vi.-1.1. By the succe.sslill scheme of op. ration introduicd ami perfected, liilili! Fiat is proving oic n the richest alluvial tints in Hm Dominion. All visitors arc -truck with the amount of work done. It is phenomenal when compared with the amount of ground turned over in a ht.c period bv the steam driven dredgi s lormerly employed in the district. Ihe whole plant is working now so i fficievilv. ant: is ill a splendid om ii'tion ol p'p.ur. I " dredge generally :• in (apt 1 .:.I order, cud is a credit to all concern: d ah nit its operations. There was a cleaning on . '••'••"• for a “short” fortnight' work, an ii ho vield of gold was between SOU and 93b ounces. The .lauiinry monthly return was in the region ot 2.01 Mi ounces, so that tlic return- ere nf a liuil'nrm nc ragc. The ground operated is ol a very uniform nature, and the dridy. wo; toil. verv satisfactorily. Parties <u non

ahead of the I 'vialhan clearing and stumping the sin: d huh, so that Ihe drctlrre Inn unlv liic alluvial soil to oocrate. The buckets arc running v< rv mil .which is the most satisfactory feature about tlm working, and gives the • •cost gratification to the management. The dredge has become an object ol great public interest, and is being visitml by large numbers regularly. Most holid'av milkers to the Coast make it a point of soeiiring a card at the town office «•» visit the dredge, nnd all exore- surprise at the magnitude of the eperations and the smoothness with which the plant operates. 1 rohahlx more visitors to the district than townspeople find their "a\ to 111 dredge, but all who make the trip are ddidited with what they see. and have ifnite a new and revised idea as to the compleeiiess will, which the ground m being worked. The access track to no |.„. ~t its working point has hittlx been" improved, and the climb oyer Hie tailin''' heap is now not so laborious The tailing heap, however, is voith S„, •mounting for the outlook, and to aiv one an idea as to the immense amount of work the dredge has done i„ the sixteen months it has been "oik--1,1 H'lio venture lots now become a wellestablished local industry. It has passed the speculative mining stage. Il ls i. satisfactory for all concerned in the welfare of the underaking, and is not without gratification to the people generally who will derive great pleasure from the knowledge that the auriferous value of the Flat has been so pleasingly demonstrated, thus giving encouragement for further expansion in -old dredging in other mv't- o' the di-urr , . to be enitailv suitable.