From New Guinea

Upper Watut Gold Alluvials N.L.

NOW that operations have been commenced by Upper Watut Gold Alluvials N.L., Wau, New Guinea, and major difficulties have been surmounted. The directors confidently expect that before the end of February the company will be sluicing full time with both pontoons, and will be showing adequate margins over working costs.

Sluicing operations were commenced on August 5, but the first clean up of gold did not take place until the end of September. Expenditure for the six months ended August 31 exceeded the revenue by £4330. At the close of the half year current assets amounted to £11,190, and liabilities to £39,556. Expenditure on plant and constructional work has considerably exceeded estimates. This was due partly to the extremely difficult condi tions in the territory and partly to the fact that delay in the delivery of certain items of plant, caused by the precedence given to the manufac ture of rearmament orders, entailed excessive expenditure. The services of expert workmen sent to New Guinea at considerable expense had to be retained until all items of plant were delivered.

The directors added that they have made arrange ments for the provision of extra finance neces sary to enable the company to commence opera tions. During the period the option taken by Bulolo Gold Dredging Limited over the company's unissued shares was relinquished.

Bulolo Gold Deposits Ltd.

Bulolo Gold Deposits Ltd. advises that a clean up for the four weeks ended February 1 resulted in a recovery of 120 oz. from approximately 37,000 yards. The area treated was mainly terrace ground. This yield compares with December clean up of 80oz. from 40,000 cub. yds and 2380 z. from 9,200 cub. yds in November.

Sandy Creek Gold Sluicing Ltd.

The mine manager of Sandy Creek Gold Sluic ing Ltd. reported on February 2, that the Janu ary production compared with previous months as under:—

Sunshine Gold Development Ltd.

Sunshine Gold Development Ltd. reports that the clean-up for the period from January 1 to 20, including four days lost for repairs, yielded 3970 z.

The plant was closed down on January 20 for re-welding internally the balance of the pipe line, which, it is estimated, will take three to four weeks.

New Guinea Goldfields Ltd.

Production statements of New Guinea Gold fields Limited compare as under:—

Production for the Edie Creek mill was re duced through stope preparations on the lower levels. Output for January should improve. The decline in production from Golden Ridge was due to a reduction in the grade of available ore reserves.

Enterprise Of N.G. Gold And Petro

Leum Development N.L.

From December 21 to January 18 sluicing was carried on by Enterprise of New Guinea Gold and Petroleum Development Ltd. on the Surprise Creek alluvial mine. For December 520 z. of un refined retorted gold was recovered from 8300 cubic yards, consisting of 4325 cubic yards of wash and 3975 cubic yards of overburden. On the Oriabanda alluvial property, sluicing on a small scale was under way. Very little sluicing was car ried out on the Oriabanda property during Dec ember. The clean-up to December 31 yielded lOoz. 17dwt. of unrt fined retorted gold from 450 cubic yards of wash put through the sluice boxes. The development programme on the Edie Creek ore mine was continued, but owing to difficult condi tions being met in the underground workings progress was considerably delayed. At December 15 the drainage adit had been advanced to 206 ft from the portal. Retimbering the No. 1 W drive on the main lode continued. Surveys and the

preparation of mine plans proceeded without interruption. The equipment of the metallurgical laboratory was completed and testing work on the mine ore commenced. Work was commenced on a pilot plant to treat 500 tons of ore a month.

An engine was landed on the mine, and will be used to drive a crusher now on order in Australia.

A later report stated that production from all sources for January w’as 720 z. 9 dwt. from 11,400 cubic yards, consisting of 5230 cubic yards of wash dirt and 6170 cubic yards of oyer-burden.

Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd.

Production for the four dredges of Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd., for January, compares with that of the previous two periods as follows: —

Irowat Gold Alluvials N.L.

A working loss of £4657 was sustained by Irowat Gold Alluvials N.L. for the year to September 30. Gold returned £5933. Sluicing com menced on May 26, 1936, and from then to September 30 last 128,910 cubic yards were treated for a yield of 10670 z. gold, while from September to December last 3360 z. gold were recovered from 46,456 cubic yards. The directors say that as a result of these disappointing re turns it was decided to suspend sluicing for the time being and to carry out an intensive pros pecting campaign to test further the runs of the more highly payable sections of the property.

This testing is proceeding continuously. It is hoped to announce at an early date that opera tions have been recommended on the areas proved.

Mr. J. H. McColl has been appointed a director and has made a trip recently to the company's property. Mr. D. J. McClelland, a director, did not seek re-election. Arrangements have been made for the finance necessary to enable the company to function until results of testing are known. When the books closed the company had £3Bl in cash. Debtors owed £1760 and creditors were owed £13,724.

Criticism was expressed by shareholders at the first annual meeting in Melbourne on February 5 that Irowat interests had been subjugated to its associate company, Upper Watut Gold Allu vials. A shareholder said that plant worth £3,000 had been moved from Irowat’s property to Upper Watut and that the latter was using Irowat’s labourers. Another pointed out Upper Watut acted as purchasing agent for Irowat and made a sur charge of 10 per cent on all buying.

The directors replied that both properties are the Watut River, and plant is continually being moved from one to another to save buyyig new. Labourers might also go from one to an other, but account of any such transfer is rigidly kept and credited in the particular company’s books. By purchasing on a bulk scale materials could be brought considerably cheaper and the 10 per cent charge by Upper Watut was definitely not a surcharge but purely a charge for handling.

A motion that the meeting be adjourned for a month was carried, and a committee of three shareholders was appointed to meet the directors and discuss the affairs of the company prior to the next meeting. This was done to enable the preparation of a list of questions concerning fin ance and administration to be answered at the meeting.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Jan.

Yards ... 9,121 9,870 11,890 7,345 Cold, oz 281 288 311 139 Value, c. yd. 4/7* 4/4* 3/11 2/10

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Alluvial— Fine gold, oz 1313 941 645 Fine silver, oz 901 673 476 Golden Ridge Mill — Fine gold, oz 1633 1592 1132 Fine silver, oz. 1355 1169 908 Edie Creek Mill- Tons 2739 -— -— Fine gold, oz. 793 774 860 Silver — — 2462 Alluvial profit £4705 £3798 £1942 G. Ridge Mill, profit £7426 £6874 £3359 Edie Creek, profit £921 *£1049 £93 * Loss.

Nov.

Dec.

Jan.

Cubic yard 956,200 785,000 899,000 Bullion, oz. 17,724 17,471 16,978 Gold, fine oz. 12,318 12,027 11,797

Value—

Aust. currency* ... £107,782* £105,236 £103.223 Per cubic yard /27.0 /32.1 /27.5 Working profit £75,880 £75,451 £75,285 * At £8/15/- per fine ounce.