Open Market

Australian & Ng Gold On

A COMPANY has been formed in Australia (The Gold Pro ducers’ Association Ltd.) to take advantage of the Common wealth Government’s recent de cision to allow sales of newly-mined gold to be sold overseas at a pre mium above the fixed Australian price of £l5/9/10 per ounce.

Producers must be members of the new company if they wish to take advantage of the offer, which on present indications will bring them about £1 per ounce above the Australian fixed price. Seven men have been elected as a committee — in effect a directorate —of the new company. A Queenslander, Mr. J.

Macolm Newman, chairman of Mt.

Morgan Ltd., will represent NSW, Queensland and New Guinea.

Western Australia (which produces three-quarters of Australia’s gold)' will have three representatives on the committee; Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia will have one member between them; the Wes tern Australian Government will nominate one member; and the seventh member is Mr. J. C. Guest, a director of North Broken Hill whom other committee members have themselves nominated.

All gold producers in Australia and Papua-New Guinea have until February 29 to apply for member ship of the company. It is estimated that if all major producers join, the gain from open market gold sales will be something like £1 million Australian per annum.

Mrs. Jock Esson, of Madang, New Guinea, arrived in Sydney for a holiday in January. She will later be joined by Mr. Esson.