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on the party in Hongkong ~Captain TILLETT The
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you reduce the matter to pounds, shilli pence, and allow a reason depreciation, that we get about £170 and Cassel Company receive £190 odd..
Mr. LEWIS You forget the prelimina expenses in starting the plant. At any we have a claim against the Cassel Company die. cussing it in public will only prejudice it.
The CHAIRMAN The for que to
The CHAIRMAN-Is $9,732. Yes, there i
I should like only six months' working. to say that this is in a great measure:
We have had considerable experimental. trouble, as I have already stated, in treating the tailings. A larger amount of cyanide has been used than we were prepared for and the percentage of gold found was not so large as we expected. This I believe to be entirely due to the weathered tailings. When they get mixed with the new tailings they impart some kind of sulphide of iron to the new tailings and this coats them round a substance which the cyanide with not penetrate until they have been and put through the mill again. We put a certain portion through the mill with the other quartz and we hope to treat a very considerable portion of the old tailings very successfully, although no doubt the will not be so good as if the tailings were all
new.
results
as this space is contracted | the next letter from Punjom that a contra find and on arriving area, it is practically impossible has been settled for the sinking of the shaft. apart. However; as a portion of | There is another matter to which your directo ings is being used up every month, are desirous of calling your attention, and that in hopes that in the course of three is the course which the Company will have to the old will have disappeared, leaving take at an early date to secure a legal title to the new for treatment: After the failure the property. At present we hold the conces of Mr. White to work the cyanide plant, this sion on a prospecting lease which will expire in gentleman was discharged, and, on the recom- March, 1898, and probably you are aware that mendation of the Cassel Company, we engaged the State mining regulations of Pahang early in January Mr. Wilson, who had had impose a number of onerous and arbitrary large practical experience in working the pro- conditions which are not calculated to en- oess in New Zealand. On arrival at Punjom courage European mining enterprise. In con- be carried out a series of laboratory experiments sequence of these regulations we are likely
eight the on both new and weathered tailings and on the to suffer a large curtailment of the original Cassel Company is $1,787 concentrates which justified him in putting Punjom concession, and we would therefore re-working. The profit made by the cyanide
Captain TILLETT You really have only five the whole plant in operation on the 31st commend that the necessary steps be taken to March last, with results which are now well carefully select such portions of the best mining months' working. known to shareholders. Mr. Wilson's agree- | land in our concession, running north and south ment was for six months only, and we were from Jalis, and following the lay of the country anxious that he should remain for another term rock; such area to be as extensive as we can on increased remuneration, but this he declined, possibly obtain from the Government of Pahang, though he eventually consented to continue for Referring to the two telegrams recently received three months longer. Since his departure the from Mr. Blamey, it is satisfactory to know cyanide plant has been run by Mr. Quin, the that the information sent is most reassuring, assayer at the mine, until he fell so seriously for, with the mill again at work, we may safely ill as to necessitate his removal from Jalis for infer that the flood has done no serious damage the purpose of obtaining skilled professional to our property. Our best thanks are due to treatment, and it was with very great regret the manager and European staff for the skilful that we subsequently learned of his death, which and efficient manner in which the mining and occurred on the 2nd instant at Kuala Pahang milling operations have been conducted, not while on his way to Singapore. The operations withstanding the many difficulties encountered, are now being carried on by Mr. Jolly, with and I feel sure you will all join in the hope the aid of the manager, until such time as we that their arduous efforts and unceasing energy will be crowned with success during the course have procured the services of another com- petent cyanider. A water wheel of sufficient of the coming year. Before moving the adop- power to drive all the stamps has been put up tion of the report and statement of accounts, which will effect a large economy in firewood, I will be glad to answer any questions to the as we hope to get sufficient water from the dam best of my ability. to drive the wheel during a period of about eight months in the year. In the event of this being found to work satisfactorily, the directors recommend the construction of a new dam made of lime concrete, and carried up 10 feet higher, so as to impound enough water to keep the wheel going throughout the year. An increase in the number of stamps has for a long time been under consideration, as the Board feel satisfied that the output of might easily be augmented to over 2,000 tons a month with but little increase to mining account, all other expenditure remaining practically the same. Such addition of, say, 20 head of stamps would double the quantity of gold won, andsit only the uncertainty that still exists to some extent regarding the mag. nitude of our reserves of payable ore which prevents the scheme from being adopted at once. Considerable and well-directed explora- tory work has already been done at both Tang kong and Gubau, where quartz associated with the same slate rocks as at Jalis crops out in great böld masses on the hill-sides, ridges, and valleys in an almost continuous course between the three places and although the results so far have proved somewhat disappointing, yet we have the authority of our manager, Mr. Blamey, for stating that the appearance of the outcrop at Gubau and the amount of free gold found there during the short period in which a few men were employed in opening out the ground are such as to warrant more extensive ex- plorations and to encourage the hope of finding rich auriferous ground at greater depth. Exten- live open-cast excavations have been worked by Chinese on various parts of the outcrop, and large holes in the valleys mark the sites of mines which have been worked by them at a mparatively but recent date. The Company having now attained the position of a dividend- paying concern, with every prospect of good returns in the future, the Board are of opinion
ore
time has arrived for proving the value of property. at Gubau! Instructions have refore been given to sink a shaft on what is med the site most suitable for the purpose,
it be carried down to such depth as fortune met with shall determine. Then, should the explorations prove successful, diate steps will be taken to dispose of some of our concession. This work is well in hand the site for the camp having been *quarters and storehouses and good roads connecting with and river made. The arrangements: and boiler and we expect to learn
|
Captain TILLETT-There is one question I should like to ask, and that is, seeing the im. mense expense we have been put to and the great loss of time caused by the Cassel Company, whether you think they are entitled to the royalty of $1,787. As a matter of fact, they have practically made more out of the business during the past year than the Company.
The CHAIRMAN-The matter of the royalty is a question of agreement between the Cassel Company and ourselves, and I very much fear that we shall have to pay the amount. With regard to making any claim on the Cassel Company, for my part I really do not see that they are responsible for the chemist that was sent out and who after trial proved incapable of working the cyanide process. He was a very good chemist, had passed satisfactory examina- tion at a college in Glasgow, and had made successful laboratory experiments in Cassel's works at Glasgow, and they fully expected that on reaching Punjom he would be able to carry on the cyanide process successfully. However, although he was a good chemist he was deficient in knowledge and experience of the cyanide process, and I very much fear that the Punjom Company will have to suffer that loss.
Captain TILLETT-You can hardly consider that the Cassel Company have carried out their part of the contract.
The CHAIRMAN-The Cassel Company were asked by the Punjom Company to send out a chemist, or rather, I think, the ar- rangement was made between Mr. Orange and the Cassel Company in Glasgow. The Company were asked to send out a chemist to work the cyanide. They sent out a young man who bore a good character as a chemist, but he was certainly a failure at the mine. Whether the Cassel Company are responsible or not is a question; for my part I think they are not responsible, as they sent out a man who they had every reason to believe was capable.
1
Mr. BAIN Has a claim been made against the Cassel Company, Mr. Chairman P
The CHAIRMAN-No claim has been made What would you make a claim for?
Mr. BAIN-Failing to carry out the contract. The CHAIRMAN Would you claim for the cyanide not being a success, or the expenses in respect of wages, or the passage money out and the passage money home?
Captain TILLETT—That is a matter for the directors to consider,
The CHAIRMAN-I do not see how we can olaim. “If any one in reasonably, make Hongkong was asked to send a good clerk to Shanghai and he sent the best man he could
We think the better way is to go on using part of the old tailings with the new until they can all be cleared away; then we shall go on using the new tailings and get the 80 per cent. as promised instead of 55 per cent, as we are getting now.
Mr GEORGI see the profit on the cyanide working is $9,732. I suppose from that has to be deducted the salary of the chemist.<
The CHAIRMAN—No, that is the net profit. Mr GEORG--What is the profit from cal- oining? You lump the whole thing down to the gold account $226,738.
The CHAIRMAN-The calcining process is giving us from 70 to 80 ounces of gold per month. That is included in the reports from May.
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Mr. GEORG-Would it not be better in futurs reports to state that more clearly f
The CHAIRMAN-To give the results from the mill separate from the calcining?
Mr. GEORG Yes.
The CHAIRMAN-We hope in a year hence, and probably less, that we shall not be using the calcine process, but that we shall be doing the whole by the aid of the cyanide. If we can work with a small vat-the process is the same as we are already using, only the small vat would have an agitator to agitate the liquor which is in the vat and keep it in motion, so that the cyanide may come in contact with the particles of slime and gold. We think that process will be very much cheaper. I do not know that the differences will be very much in the cost of treatment, but we shall get a larger percentage of gold out of the concentrates. At present there remains about 30 per cent. of gold in the residue, and if we can get 20 per cent. of that gold out of the residue by the cyanide process it will be a considerable gain...
ld it not be, advis.
Mr. GEORG I mean
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able to put it apart in the gold give the gold account for ordinary the gold account for oyanide The of people on the coast who do not papers and who simply have to go by report says.
The
Yout CHAIRMAN Georg, will be carried out
Mr. GROEG — There is an there are 650 shares - allotted. Is this not a
The CHATEM be well to hold While W
shortly ooct have been
the
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