Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

GREAT BOULDER NO. 1.
ANNUAL MEETING.
The ninth annual general meeting
of the Great Boulder No. I Conm
pany was held in London on Thurs
day, June 15, 1911, Mr. Geo,. P.
Doolette, J.P., presiding.
The Chairman: Gentlemen, the
object of our meeting to-day is to
lay before you the ninth annual re
port, balance-sheet, and accounts of
the company for your reception and
adoption. You have already receiv
ed them, and I presume that, as is
customary, we may take them as
read.. For the benefit of those.who1
have lately joined the company, and
who will no doubt read my address i
to-day, not being present, I would
like to say -that we have two pro
perties, one, the lease originally ac
quired from the Great Boulder Pro
prietary Company at Kalgoorlie and
immediately- adjoining the Proprie
tary Company on the north, andl
the other a property known as the:
St. George, which we acquired- by
purchase .in 1907, and which is
situated at Mount Magnet, about
700 millt north-east of Kalgoorlie.
With reference to bur original lease
at Kalgoorlie, in spite of most
Ssanguine- expectations as to its
value at the time of the flotation of!
the company, when the engineers '
considered that' it had a better]
chance of success thiin even the
Proprietary mine itself, I regret to
say that we. have not yet succeeded
in seveloping it into a payable mine.
As you will remember, -we have .
been working by means of tributers
for .some years, and watching care-
fully the exploratory" work which the
Proprietary Company has been
carrying. on on the adjoining lease
from the 'Hamilton shaft. At- one
time it-was hoped that the lode from
the Ivanhoe property which passed
through the northern lease -of the
Proprietary Company would enter
our lease at its southern boundary.
At the 1600 ft. level, as a matter
of `fac? the lode did follow its
course for 17 ft.' into our lease, and
we fully hoped that at,£he 1800 ft.
level it would .come in some
distance; but, strangely enough, al
though it continued good south 'of
the Hamilton shaft ft has evident
* ly given out in the north at the
1800 ft. level. Tlfe Proprietary
Company, having so much develop
ment work' in hand in other parts
of its property during the' year, did
not continue the sinking of the
Rainiltn shaft, so that.no progress
has been made in deveiopments in
its vicinity which would have im
proved the' prospects of our lease.
The manager mentions the two lodes
Which I' spoke of last year as- hav
ing been cut near ?the eastern boun
dary of the- contiguous lease by
diamond drill from the -Hamilton
shaft, and states that there is very
little doubt that the most easterly
lode is identical With the Morty lode
of' the South Kalgurli, which enters
our ground at a depth of 1500 't.
I think there cannot be any doubt
" could we undertake the expenditure {
of sinking the May shaft and cross- .
natting from the 1500 ft. level,. e
should strike a good body of ore in }
that"t loJiality, but we shall have to '
wait the further enhancement of 1
our finances before we-can at all
think of undertaking ~such work. .
You will be glad to know-that the :
Proprietary Company in its project- "
ed work for the coming year intends t
to sink' the Hamilton shaft' to the c
1950 ft. level, and the manager sayi ¶
that this must improve our pro- I
sputs. I sincerely hope it will. In .
the 'meantime we are continuing ui
der contract with the tributers to
have the north-easterly section of the
lease opened up, and these men..
have had varying success. One of a
the parties found a lode, a new ore ,
body going north at the 230 ft. level
from the Albert shaflt. At first it c
was worth 2e0 dwt. per ton, but the j
ore they have crushed has not com"
up quite to that value. We hope
that the tribiuters in question willa
be more successful in further ex- y
ploration of this lode. It has been i
a fortuitous circumstance for us that
the Proprietairy Company, while c
protecting its own interests and l
ca-rrying on developjnent to that
end, has been able also to help us l
in exploratory work," and thus save i
us the large' expenditure that we t
should have had to undertake to r
develop our property, 'and should I
forune 'favour us in the develop- a
ments at the 1950 ift. level and give i
us payable ore'in our own lease, we c
have made an arrangement with the i
Proprietary Company that it will i
haul amdnd treat that ore for us on an t
equitable basis, and so save ius the r
considerable capital outlay in regard '
to Dlat. With 'regard to the St. .
-- /
_ George, as you will see from the re
ports there has been a decided im
provement in the working during
the year, and I feel that I am
justified in saying that I believe we
- have turned the corner. From the
accounts of 1908 you will see that
the results of the year's working
gave us a debit balance of £598
17/11, but this year I am lad to
say that we show a credit balance,
after the payment of all expenses, I
of £5181 3/2, which, together with
the balance carried forward from
previous years, gives us a credit
balance for the year of £8864 1/4,
and from this we are asking you to!
allocate £2b)0t to a depreciation?
fund, as up to the present time no
provision as been made for this,
and we think that now profits are
being made such a fund should be
created. The principal event dur
j ing the year has bteen the finding
orf payable ore at the 300 ft. level in
the St.. George mine, so that it is
now proving itself 'a mine which
will continue in depth, and we sin
;cerely hope that our further ex
Splorations at this level will give us
the bodies .of ore which have been
.proved in the upper levels. So far
??he driving at the 300 ft. level has
been quite satisfactory. Explora
tion at the 190 ft. level-has given us
a -good deal of trouble owing to ,the
undue influix of water, but it now
looks as if the .-re is improving in',
value in depth, and that we have
got over the water difficulty. I
would like to call your attention to
the stoping record on page 26,
following the superintendent's _ re
port, which gives us hope as to the
future, from whiat has taken place.
during the year. Withl regard to
ore reserves, you will understand
that it is somewhat difficult, in a
formation of the kind that we have
at the St. George, to form anything
like a correct estimate. of ore re
serves, ijut our manager says that
,we may regaid the- estimate of the
superintendent as being conserva
tive. lHe puts them down at 15,000
tons of a value of 6.7 dwt., but we a
may take it that we have improved
upon this tonnage by the finds
which have been made : after- the
year -closed, and the further fids-j
that are disclosed in recent cables.
On June 4-6 we were advised jthat at
the -100 ft.' level 'there was a new
body of ore; in the winze sunk 85
ft. the assays averaged 13 dwt.- per
ton, aim at the 190 ft. level- north
they struck ore 50 ft. south of the
winze, the width of the ore being
12 ft., and the assays 8 dwt.; and ,
yesterday we had .a cable from the
manager to say that the 190 ft. level ]
had been driven 35 ft. on ore,
average Width 12 ft., average assay;
8 dwt. per ton. In- the end of thej
drive the ore improved to 12 dwt.
per ton; in the wvinze from the 100
ft. level to the 190 ft. no width is
iven, but -the assays average 15
iwt. er ton, so that I think we'
are justified in saying that the out-.
look for the future with rega?rd to
development may be considered
satisfactory. During the year we '
have treated 21,783 tons for a yield
of £33,324, and after the paament of
-all iAine expenses, including the
cost of opening up the. mine; we
have a credit balance of £6-189 '10.
The capital expenditure for'- the
year has been £3522, and the .cost;
of mining and reduction comes to
24/7. per ton during the year, which
Imay be considered as economical,
taking into account the very puggy j
nature of the ore, which rendered a 1
change in the slimes plant necessary. "
The superintendent reports that a t
new 1idgway filter has been added i
during the year, and says that itlt
promises to be a great improvement, c
so that no doubt we shall soon be- I
gin to make a better profit than we s
-fhave hitherto secured. To refer r
again to the Kalgoorlie lease. you t
will see that the returno Trom the s
tributers have covered the whole t
outlay, with the exception of about :
£86, and you will also see that both e
at Kalgoorlie and. in London ex-s
penses have been kept down as much c
as possible, as we promised last a
year. With regard to the, future, r
it is somewhat difficult for me to a
prophesy. If you look throunh -the"
data for the year 1910 you will find
we have- shown a profit on each
month's returns, and for two months a
of the present year the profit ex- a
ceeded the expenditure, but, unfor- t
tunately, in February and Miay the 1
returns showed us a loss. This, 5
however, wa regard as an accident, a
and now, with the better ore show
ng in the faces as advised by
cable, and the good discoveries that
have been made, we 'believe, as 1 c
have already reported to you, that I
the average value of our stoped ore c
will be increased, and consequently v
our profit enhanced. -I feel in a -
very much more hopeful spirit - to
day with regard to our future than
I did last year, and I honestly be
lieve that when I have the pleasure
of meeting you next year I shall
*have to report to you a very much
improved state of things and a much
larger credit balance. At one time
it looked as if there .was nothing left
for us but liquidation, and I think
y'ou will agree with me that we have
passed that stage, and that the
future holds out to us greater
promise than we have yet had. The
accidents of mining are proverbial,
and any day with an extension of
the values that we are developing at
depth, the whole aspect may be
changed, and we shall be able tol
congratulate ourselv6s upon the
fact that, after all- our disappoint
ments, we have developed a mine of
value. I can only add, with the
Freemasons,' "so mote it be." 1
now beg to move, "That the report
and accounts for the year ended
'December 31, 1910, as printed and
issued to the.shareholdei's, he and
are hereby adopted; also that the
jrecommendation of the directors
that the sum of £2000 be transferred
to depreciation fund account from
the profit and loss account, be 'ap
proved, leaving £6664 114 to be car-)
ried forward to the year 1911." 1 I
will ask Mr. Waddington to second
that.
Mr. John Waddington, J.P.: I beg
to second the resolution.
The motion 'was carried unani
mously.
SMr. G. M. Inglis, the retiring
Idirector, was re-elcted.
$