C.—2

From the Round Hill Mine at Macraes 902 tons of quartz yielded 197 oz. of gold, valued at £1,423. At the Golden Progress Mine, Oturehua, at the 150 ft. level, the last end drive was continued beyond the fault for a short distance. The battery treated 250 tons of quartz, which yielded 313 oz. of gold, valued at £2,283. From the Blackwater Mine, Waiuta, 31,862 tons of ore was mined, from which 16,103 oz. of gold, valued at £130,471, was obtained. About 2,400 ft. of development-work was done during the year, much of it in the Nos. 10 south, No. 11 north, and No. 12 north levels. The " Prohibition " shaft was sunk another 300 ft. down to the Blackwater No. 12 level and is being equipped with an electric winding-engine. A strike of the miners caused the mine to close down in March, and work was not resumed until May. From the Alexander Mine 2,164 tons of ore was mined, from which 1,807 oz. of gold, valued at £15,127, was obtained. The mine was idle from March to July through labour troubles. The Big River Mine produced 1,009 tons of ore for a yield of 690 oz. of gold, valued at £5,715. At the Mount Greenland Mine the battery crushed 462 tons of ore, the yield being 431 oz. of gold, worth £2,419. At the Britannia Mine, in the Buller County, 327 tons of quartz was mined, yielding 68 oz. of gold, valued at £428.

(2) Dredge Mining. The following is a statement showing the capacity and production of bucket gold-dredges and dividends declared by dredging companies during 1934. (Note. —The dividends declared by privately-owned dredges are not obtainable for publication.)

In 1933 seven dredges only were operating in New Zealand. The revival of interest in golddredging resulted in four other dredges commencing operations in 1934 and one resuming. Five others are in course of construction, namely, the Mossy Creek, Maori Gully, Bundi, Bendigo, Goldlight, and Waipapa Beach dredges. During 1934 the Freshford dredge was dismantled and taken from the Waikaia River to an area in the Waikaka Valley, where it was re-erected, some alterations then being made to it. New plant was installed on the Nevis-Diesel dredge, and, after alterations to the dredge, it resumed working in March and was operating for about two months. Work was then suspended, and the dredge has not been running since. From where it had been working on the Shotover River the Goldfields dredge was taken up the river through a long narrow gorge, of nearly one and a half miles in length, to the Big Beach, and dredging was recommenced in August. The repairs to the Nevis Crossing dredge having been completed, operations were resumed early in 1934. Except for the compulsory stoppage through the severe winter, the dredge has been running continuously, with very satisfactory results. The pontoons of the Bendigo-Goldlight dredge were completed in July, but, owing to shortage of water in the paddock, as well as other reasons, the dredge was not ready for running by the end of 1934. A small dredge, called the Rainbow, is working shallow ground near the Gore-Hedgehope main highway. The Mataki dredge treated 669,274 cubic yards of gravel in 1934, which yielded 1,664 oz. of gold, or an average of 1-193 grains per cubic yard; the Rimu dredge treated 2,824,364 cubic yards for 14,965 oz., or an average of 2-54 grains ; the Okarito dredge 312,453 cubic yards, yielding an average of 2-5 grains ; and the Brian Boru dredge 594,594 cubic yards, yielding an.average of 1-19 grains of gold per cubic yard. The Brian Boru dredge is now idle pending further boring being done on the area.

21

£>.2 J? • «a • -ri •g s # jh .3 . «j w> Dividends declared. £ O o otc r3 ; £j r ci r $ n.3 W |§ -.gi ft" Quantity and «I Dredge. Locality. °| B f j | flf, fl| J b tTnel tatag «•Si jS€g l¥ SSSW g>g 1934. During P& fig 11 nil is 1934 - I9 d 34° f O fc fc 0®hH <j Otago and Southland. Ft. oz. £ £ £ Aitken's (Freshford) .. Waikaka .. 6 10 32 S 12 203 1,573 Goldfields .. .. Shotover River .. 8 18 305 E 23 707 4,994 Nevis Crossing .. Nevis .. .. 31 10 12 S 10 152 1,097 Nevis Diesel .. Upper Nevis .. 7 10 205 E 35 73 483 Rainbow .. .. Waimumu .. 2J 12 38 0 7 102 705 West Coast. Brian Boru .. .. German Gully .. 9 20 250 E 45 1,477 12,283 1,350 1,350 Gillespies Beach .. Gillespies .. 5 13 225 E 19 1,736 12,461 2,917 2,917 Mataki .. .. Murchison .. 7 20 120 S 16i 1,664 12,096 2,812 2,812 Five Mile Beach .. Okarito .. 5 10 .. H 20 1,630 11,845 3,500 24,500 Rimu .. .. Rimu .. .. 12 19 325 E 41 14,965 122,526 27,627 64,068 Stafford .. .. Stafford .. 8 12 100 E 25 328 2,541 Worksop .. .. Antonios, Reefton 4 12 140 0 20 1,055 7,715 3,200 3,200 Totals, 1934 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 24,092 190,319 41,406 Unknown Totals, 1933 .. .. 22,045 160,033 25,819 Unknown