Quest For Gold

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 649, 29 April 1929, Page 8

Quest For Gold

MINE WORKINGS IN SOUTH AUCKLAND THE visit of the Minister of Mines to the Thames and Waihi goldfields to-morrow has been arranged by the local authorities in the hope of a mining revival there, particularly in the treatment of baser metals. Several companies in the South Auckland district have shown promising results in prospecting for gold, lead, zinc and copper.

many of the small gold-mining towns the duty of 2s an oz. on all output has been regarded as a Heaven-sent blessing, for the -whole of this money is handed by the State to the local authorities in the district whence the valuable ore is taken. To those who are engaged in mining for gold, however, the disposal of the subsidy shows an entirely different complexion. It is believed, and apparently with some economic justification, that the duty which was taken from the gold should be returned for the development of the industry. In Auckland —as, in fact, in many parts of the Dominion —companies prospecting for gold have been dependent upon the State for assistance in the construction of roads and bridges to the workings, and complaints have been made by sections of the people against Government grants to wild-cat schemes. SMALL TOWNS BENEFIT True, many schemes undertaken in the worked-out fields have proven ephemeral, and have caused the ruin of their promoters, but it is believed that if the £400,000 paid out in gold duties by the Waihi mines since their inception, and the large sums paid similarly by other concerns in rents and duties, had been diverted back into the industry instead of being absorbed by the local authorities, a greater chance of success would have been enjoyed by the prospectors. As i$ is, the equivalent of about 25 per cent, only of the revenue from rents, licences and duties in the Auckland Province has been given back to the development of the mining industry. About a dozen mines are working in the province. Some of them have enjoyed their palmy days; many of them never have been in that happy realm. The Waihi mines, on the authority of the Mayor of the town, produces gold to a value of about a third of a million pounds in a year—a sum which yields a substantial revenue in gold duties. The Ohinemuri has handed over £1,400 to the local bodies in rents alone, and has spent about £90,000 on

developmental work. In the spring, when the mine will employ about 90 men, the gold duties paid by the concern will go up heavily. BRIGHT FUTURE Work was started on Monday of this week on completing the plant for the Walomo mines in the northern Thames district, where from 6,000 to 8,000 tons of ore yielding about £5 to the ton is expected to be recovered. Some mining engineers believe this field to be the forerunner of a great industry in the northern district running from Tararu to Tapu, where rich ore bodies containing metals similar to those existing in the Waiomo are located . RICH FIELDS WITHIN REACH The Hauraki mines at Coromandel are operating on a fairly large scale at a level of 400 feet, where an excess of water recently gave great trouble. Excellent country was struck at 500 feet also, and the next few weeks are expected to decide whether there is anything in the famous Welcome Find and Bunker’s Hill leaders, as well as in other well-known gold producers northward of the Hauraki shaft. Work is going on also at the Thames proper, where the well-known Moanataiari, the Lucky Shot, the Alburnia and several smaller companies are registering outputs of comparatively small volume. Developmental work is being carried out at the Alburnia mine, where endeavours are being made to touch a rich leader believed to exist at the Whau level. A promising thick stone is reported to have been found at the Orlando reef, and it is hoped by those interested in the concern that a crushing block will be opened up there. Altogether there are about 1,000 men employed in quartz mining in Auckland Province. Although many of the mines are not working on a large scale, the prospects are considered to be better than for many years, mainly due to the developmental work that has been accomplished and the experiments that have been undertaken to prove the existence of workable ore.