REVIVAL OF GOLD DREDGING IN OTAGO

Hokitika Guardian, 30 December 1930, Page 2

REVIVAL OF GOLD DREDGING IN OTAGO

As a result of the completions of negotiations which have been in progress for some time past between the Nokomai Sluicing Company of Dunedin and thei Siamese Tin Syndicate Limited of London what is considered to be the most important developments in gold mining in Otago for many years past, has taken place. Under the agreement which has been entered into between the two parties, the powerful London Syndicate has undertaken to equip the property of the Nokomai Sluicing Company situated in the Nokomai Valley with a modern diedge capable of dredging to a depth of 120 feet and similar in construction to those which have so successfully coped with equally deep placer deposits in Malaya in recent years. Negotiations have been prolonged as a result of the difficulty experienced in acquiring suitable titles to certain freehold properties forming the lower portion of the Nokomai Valley, but it is understood that a, satisfactory arrangement has now been arrived at with the owners, as a result of which the whole of the valley is now available for dredging operations. tinder the agreement which has taken planej a company is to he formed registered either in New Zealand or in the United Kingdom with a nominal capital of £300,000, the Nokomai Sluicing Company receive .£37,500 in ordinary stock and £12,500 in, cash, in payment for their mining and water rights in the Nokomai Valley. The Nokomai Valley has been worked'continuously si*ce 1896 by hydraulic sluicing and elevating the total ! value of bullion extracted by the Noki omai Sluicing Company being £250,000. I As operations proceeded down the valley the gravel although increasing lin value increased in depth until ' it was recognised that modern dredging methods alone could render the propositions profitable. The ground which it is proposed to dredge has already been amply tested by boring operations and by hydraulic sluicing and elevating the value c- : tablished for the gravel being in the neighbourhood of a shilling per cubic i yard. / ' Sluicing and elevating operations in . addition to verifying the results obtained bv boring have exposed a large area of rock bottom and a section of the' gravel from surface to bedrock | showing that both gravel and bedrock : conditions are satisfactory for bucket dredging. Considerable interest has been aroused in mining circles as a result of the . satisfactory termination' of these negotiations and it is, anticipated that the : Nevis'.and other .valleys hitherto, only partlv ,investigated, will attract, the attention of, mining investors and svstematio . hpring programmes will bei undertaken,' ~V >' * !