Document JQxBeLYGabOw550pDx5yBQa

/{ Vg?T ^S7^1AH J$,m ASBESTOS PI*g COMPANY s v Tile report is written la response to wired instructions of September 21 at, as the result of which Z travelled by car to Kulieva and Joined the zurth hound plane on the morning f the 27th- Kr. Slockley of the Treasury set me at the plane according to arrangement, and applied what explanations were necessary hut could not have been conveyed by your wise* He baa elao ade aveil able for my asaietacce Hines Lepaxtoeai file So. 35i/*5 * covering the Batter of the Government's guarantee of a bank over-d^aft of 25,000 on behalf f the Vest Australian Slue Asbestos fibre Cbmpany, Our Joint mission is to report on the past, present and future operations of the Gjmpany from ur own particular* aspect, for which purpose we have mhde amtual exchange of Inform ation* The ensuing remarks axe made from the point of view of a sine operator and any figures supplied by Kr. SLeckley end here quoted will he specifically actcowl edged at the tine. Other figures dealing with various casts will he used, and it Is to he understood that these ere dose approximations only, and are used tcaid}* for comparative purposes.' before continuing with the report, a brief outline of develop ments over*the past 67 years ay help to dispel any confusion which could arise in the Bind of anyone tc% familiar with the asbestos industry in this State,. due to the ei&ll&rity in noses of the two major operating Companies. * * In the early part of 19&, Kr. I. Valters operated a smell plant in Tempire Gorge on behalf of an English Company - Asbestos, Kolybdenum and TUngeteo Ltd. The fibre production was spasmodic and was shipped froa Bsetourne to Singapore, and thence transhipped to London. After several periods of idleness, apparently &ued by the war, Le Bersales interests bought the undertaking, and the operating Company Is sow known as Vest Australian BLue Asbestos fibres Ltd., which is controlled through Australian Kina K^noge-, sent and Secretariat Ltd., and is row under the direct .management of hr. s. E. &tub>o. The ease interests also are holding leases at Karra Hnaba, about 50 miles to the Vest, and at Xarllla&a, sods 50 Biles to the Bast of the Tampixe Gorge Leaoee. (These latter two holdings are not being actively worked.) At about the time that Walters was in operation, L. 6. Hancock, of Kulga Sowas-Station, held leases in Wi tteroom * Gorge some lj miles West of. Tampire Gorge, and erected on them a small home-made plant which gave surprisingly good results. ' He finally succeeded In attracting- the interest of Cole nisi Sugar Refinery, who' now told the controlling interest in Hancock's leases, and operate thee under the title of Australian Slue Asbestos Ltd. with Hr. Hancock &e Superintendent.. After selling out is Yaapire Gorge, Valters moved to Vitte&eoB's Gorge and pegged soma leases adddoing. Seacocks, but these were also acquired by West Australian &ue Asbestos Fibres Ltd. and are tew being worked in a small way. ' The fibre froa them is carted 35 miles and milled in the Vampire Gorge plant. Geological Survey Bulletin So. 100 etould be read in con junction with this repost. ,. The Government is aeked for further assistance by the Company, to establish the asbestos industry, and before this can be'con sidered, the security for the previous guarantee nust be-examined, and this will be attempted immediately. Hr. BlockIcy has given 'me a copy of an *Xaw4sxr of Machinery, plant-and BuiLdi-ng* Trt ..Yempire Gorge 1st August, 1945" which has apparently been pduced . by the Chmpany in eupport 0? the application fox increased aaeietaneq- VMMSnPRMEf WV 4)04315 similar inventory was prepared at the tine of the original request for the guarantee of the hash overdraft of 25,000 end it covers the ease items, though the later inventory includes material brought to the lessee since the earlier one was sade up. A comparison of the two 11 eta produces results which would Boe to he a trifle irregular. On one occasion, a price etowa for an article on the later list, is sore than doubled on the earlier list; In very fee oaeee do the figures agree, and there la to systematic disagreement which could be accounted for by a depreciation factor or aiadlar allowance, in fact for some -*6*1ales the price on the later list is often ouch higher than on the earlier. Some item* h&ve been shown twice, others which are on the ground, are not shown at all, while yet others wJi ch are etown on the list have tot yet arrived. Ur. Stubbs info nos me that the items were, listed at the Bine for the neat part,' but the prices were added in Perth. Ur* Bleckley will cover this aspect in greater detail and in the Beantine it hae been decided that Z attempt to assess the break-up value of the plant. X& view of the lax methods of compiling the inventory, this assessseat will have to be based largely on y own experience, and the items on th liet as supplied will have to be dealt with store or leas individually. The valuation of a Bine plant, lealwaye a difficult pro cose, but & few obvioue principles can be used ee a. guide. Hrfitly, even a-poor'plant stay have' a high value if. it can be kept operating an * good sine, while the* ease' plant can be alao&t veinOle as if the pay ore in the Bine cute out. This Beans in simple terns that there is a great deal of difference between the operating value and break-up value of any plant, and the difference varies accord ing to the condition of the aaoni&ery. Isolation postulates a . big decrease in the resole value end Is particularly applicable in the present cose. If the present plant were put up for sole, Australian Blue Asbestos, the Colonial Sugar Sofinery Company1 o undertaking in ftUtenoosra Gorge,, is the only prospective buyer in a position to offer reasonable prices for any item that ttoy require, for the reason th*t they would need to freight It only 35 Bilee. Ont&lde buyers would probably have to pay freight os . their purchases us to 1,000 Biles or sore, and consequently would be offering very low prices. Some units always have a cooperatively high re-sale value, while for others it is often Impossible to got a buyer. Tor instance Biesel power units and electrical equip ment cone into the former elase, while outmoded machinery, *nd the etceteraa such as sped el chutee, covers, etc., which ere part of every plant and which cost a lot to erect, fall into the latter class. * In particular the treatment plant would have a lew resale vslu# for a variety of reasons. Hratly, a large port of it could only be used in another asbestos plant, and C.s.R. is the only other operator in the business at the moment. Their plant is far * superior .to this one and they would not be offering nigh prices for poor ^juipment. Secondly, the machines have suffered a great deal of wear owing to the hardness of the g&ngu* material, and bearings ere probably b&dly worn through operating in a duety atmosphere* These ooeditions have been aggravated by the facts that the Billing is done on contract, and' that pressure for pro duction has cat maintenance to the dead Birdman. The.contrastore are always in a burry to get the plant in operation 95 that even lubrication is neglected. The cessation of hostilities will have an effect on resale Values, since buyess are likely to postpone purchasing as far a a possible in the tope that new machinery will be stoxtly .forth coming, and that items such as Bales tax will bo reduced. Apart .from the only other prospective buyer -able to offer reaeocable prices would be Slue Bpca Gold Mines and Comet `Gold r jf Qee, and it is certain that a representative of the latter <^mpany would he at Uae sale. Most people wbc axe interested is the purchase of mining aachinery are well aware that 25e Bernales* undertakings are usually equipped by shuffling from one Bine to another, second hand &echineiy, which in some instances is only fit for the scrap heap. Keen bidding Is cot to be expected fro these . buyers for machinery of doubtful condition and age, as is a ^fai-r proportion of the present plant. The above facts Bust be borne in Bind when reading through the prices which X have put on the various items, and which show sobs very oevere reductions on those supplied by the Company. M a general guide you eould refer to the prices for the TSodgina break up, which X understand has taken place, or lo about to take place, but account oust be taken of the fact that the Wodgina plant was a much better one than this one, and did little work after its erection. It is difficult to see how the Company arrived at the prices, shown on the inventory, but they sees, with few exceptions, to be new prices at Berth, with a sua of 23,000 added to allow for freight and erection costs* The prices that X have shown are * Vw estimates of what would be got for* the material as it stands on . the lease, since If it ease to the paint.of dispose!, I assume that this would be done by auction or tender, as is being done all over the country at present with surplus war Ume undertakings* Here then, is an estimate, with coma eats, based on the invent ory of August, 1st* The left hand column of figures shows ay appraisals, while the right hand column is taken from the inventory. Tmi arcs. t (l). 2. .5 b.p. National Sere Engines. /'One drives starting sir compressor j*ad *\ the other drives concrete mixer and / they would be sold with them. Price 1 shown la about new pre-war* Petrol ( and kerosene engines bare low resale \ value. Value of one engine included in item 12 hereunder* The second .engine is a duplication and appears in Sundries ti tern 6. '*'_**. U). 3. .8 fa.p. National Xhosel Engines. One is duplicated and isalued)in item 5. The other two. are not in use. One has a cracked head. Both second hand. /.Price shewn 1b about pre-wer new., Two} Lnmy. 7 (3)* 1 *3 b*? lister Engine and Compressor (Portable). In fair crder. / Used as auxiliary at Tampire Gorge* Shown at about pre-war new price. Portables have comparatively high maintenance coat and only fair resale value. ) / c )Total Carried Forward 15D 400 wo- 150 .350 1100 1640 - 4- s. (brought forward ^ 55? (4> i 40 b.p. xonsan Ricardo portable Coo- pMowr unis. At Walters leases.--'** * yrice shown is pre-war new.) ^ 400 (15) 1 9 h.p. Kational Diesel direot-eoupKd to 5 'K.V, 330 generator. Seel ten 2 above. cbuld not have cost price shown eves when new. Had done a lot - of wrt. Fair resale Value.) . XOO (6) 1 5 cylinder S'. A National Diesel T275 h.p.) driving 100 K..tf. 44 V, alternator. /Engine ie second hand and needs maintenance. Gudgeon pise are worn. The alternator ie a con verted generator and is old. Vee halt drive. Fair resale value.) 2000 (?). 1 jr.A-'B. 1 cylinder National Diesel driving *VA 440 V. 53 -cycle alternator. /Shown at about pre-war; new price. \n fair order and hae fair resale *alue.) 500 (8) 1 6 cylinder Groaaley 32.eed Engine ` 100 h.p. a reconditioned transport Vue engine taken, over with Walters1 leasee. (Atomisers are warn out and no replacements are available. Sew price shown./ ' . 400 i$) 1 142 h.p. VI Jeers Setters piesal Engine. A 2 cycle engine -of old design, end . lias'rat yet been erected. /Sought to . drive Bowett and Lindley dSopresso r. lair resale value.1) _ joQ (10) i Alternator with Switchboard and instruments 250 K.V. 440 V. 50 cycle. Explicated on last page of inventory. (la an old model and shown at shout preA . war new price. Fair resale value. / 500 ' 1640 X fl2) 1 National Compressor Kerosene Engine end receiver for starting < neese*.>.' Engine from itee CO .above. 1 prices sOhMe.WwUn aAreC akwbouuwt pre- unew. All in fair order and would have Sfai ir resale value. ) (13) 1 X*rge air receiver l6*6* x 6*6*. Thie is an old boiler brought iron Whin Creek and is therefore probabiy about 30 yyeears old, and has no pressure ticket. /Very low resale value. 19? 70 400 160 - 5- X (14) (15) _ * ^Brought Jbrward') 1 sail air,receiver 7* x 4*. Actually 7* * 3** fls is good order and ha guage and inspection cover. /Pair resale value./ 1 500 c. ft. Air Compressor Browett and liadley, 2 stage. Ifet erected. Second band but appears in goocTorder. (Shown at price which seens above pre-war new *for such a small capacity. Pair reealeN ral ue. / 9L90 P $00 U6) i 220 c. ft. Ihloan Compressor. Sought with Welters' Leases. (Shown at pre war new .price. Pair order. Fair resale. \ (17) 2 Air Receivers 1J1 x 5* Apparently conversion. ;Very low resale value.) as) 1 "Tractor Bulldoses 6 cylinder detrae B.D.H. meael.- Tractor is second band and gets bough, treataeat so is often under repair. Slade and hydxollc con trol equipment manufactured on the'dob. /Shown at pre-war new price. Fair \ presale value. ' (19) 1 leader - Gardner Denver. Brand new. (Hew-price.) ., (20) 1 Friction winch. Good!order grooved type. (low resale,value.j. (21) 1 EXectric ^lnch double drum with 15 h-p. ootor end controls... Snail type. Good order. (.Shown at very high price. Fair resale.) 150 20 600 12$0 .93 2)0 { 2btsi for Engines. 7970 /M 12950 75 15D0 5oq 300 1200 1250 Co 600 18435 MMPR8. A-C. 440 Volt 50 cycle. /As far a can deterdne the so tors are L shown at bout pro-war aewprice.J Tfce 15& ters power aotox shows on the list la a duplication end 1 included in the 3 15 toree power no tors constituting the third item. / In general, do tors hare a good resale'value si see they hare few soring parts and electrics! coils do not wear out if properly * treated. Sheerer, the very fine duet froo the Bill in which the bulk of the so tors is used baa got well into the . windings end hearings so that their new value oust.be heavily discounted, for a break-up assessment'}, n an 1 ec lated area is which there .are few elec trical installations of any kind. looo 2300 tt .> r 4 TO5t VEHICLES, - 6- X 2fcdge truck hoe os tyres, sad the springe have been taken out and used on bulldozer. It is practically wrecked. The second truck continually breaks down. The runabout oiafires and tbe track rod keeps falling off. The body work on all vehicles ie dilapidated beyond repair at reasonable cost, and they are all contin- ually causing bold upe, despite a lot of half-bearted tinkering. / They are a liability rather than an asset on an undertaking of this nature. The tyres are in only fair condition on the two vehicles that have then, and at present the second hand value of vehicles in bad mechanical condition is largely, a function of the value of the tyres. ) 100 Total for electric lectors and 2otor Vehicles)) 1100 TOOL SHASPBBnre, v_ {l) l Cllaax Tool sharpening furnace. /Shown at new price and is In good \/ order. It h&e r coving parts, but t is subject to besting so that linings i have to be replaced. Good resale \jvalue. / (2) 1 Ehlaan Bo. 11 Tool sharpener. A fairly old teachine which has done (a lot-of work and often gives trouble. Low resale value.} (3) 1 Gioax tool sharpener, with spares. A small machine, but is nearly new and gives re trouble, /Good resale value. \ ^Tbtal for Tool-Sharpening.^ v-, 40 150 250 440 ME Second hand rock drills are always a very 1 doubtful proposition frots the buyers point \ of view. A though they are of very rugged \ construction, they receive, almost without ' exception, continued abuse from the miners. They are made of special alloy steels, and their inner surfaces are accurately machined and case hardened, as are all moving parts which means that their first cost is high. Sven without abuse they are subjected to considerable wear si nee they are high speed machinea acd their resale at a reasonable figure depends almost entirely on whether spare parts can be bought with th^a at the tide. There are some spare parts in the store for all drills, and if they are cold with the machines, a fair price would be got Jfcjr the lattes, -Bore spare parte -are X^qsocted from Yinnietharra. 6oo 2900 75 .475 475 102? -7 - ifc) 1. 3 28 Hainan Sotft drills. Kearly new. Two at Y&apiro and one at Walters'. 'tfith spares. (2) 1 large Ingexsoi Hand Jbct drill. Spare Bechine in tool shop with sparse. (35 3 240 SfclTian lb da drill s. Two nearly new and one fairly old at Walters*. With spares. 7 Silver Suiist Holrcan rock drills* One bought with Walters end six from Yinnietbarra. With spares. (5) 4 Thor Rand drills, not two as stated. Two new, and two idle for lack of parts. (6) 1 C.P. 3* Ifeck drill. Good order. Only few spares available* 3 Qioix rock drills. Dae * boxagonal steel, none of which is ax present . available on the nine so drills not Is use. With spares. 180 60 XO 2&> 60 123 Total for Ebck Drills with parte. 900 2PO 100 y>o 500 100 330 lz> SUHDRY. (l) 1 iatfee. 1 Radial Drill. 3 Blaoksnitb's Anvils and blocks, etc. tbs lathe is very old and has a best spindle and broken teeth in tbs spur wheels. The drill is old but ssss sound. There are three anvils alto gether and a quantity of the uausl blackemi th*s tools. aXI of. this equipseot. has very i0v resale value . in this area.^) (2) 1 Refrigerating Riant complete with freezing rooo.. Thie plant i* about 1x.2 sooths old and lain good order, (S^patently new price is shown. Good.) resale value. y (3) 1? ULao Trucks. Thirteen at Yaapire and two at Walters'. 3oe fron Wbia> Creek. Xew resale value. ^ {4) 1 Concrete lilxer cosplete with engine. Kediuo sice outfit with *> b.p, Kationai kerosene engine. See its (1) under Sngioes. Partially diaa*otied. Q?rice shown apparently ne. Pair resale' value.} carried forward 150 750 45 100 IS 45 493 1325 150 350 - 6h (^Brought Forward^) C5) 1 2 ton chain block* 1 3 ton chain bloc* 1 5 * to a chai a bio eh. JS> t 3 to a as stated. ' la good order. /'Good resale value.) <w 3D , {6) -w , 1 Refrigerati^ plant complete, with 3 h.p. Southern Cross Engine, (This was bought in ft bourne together with the large store of the Sorthem Trading Ch. for 1,0GO. It is said to be in good order though it is rot. erected. Over valued at 000. Pair resale value.* ) 200 (7) 1 Pual tack and stand. Capacity 30,000 gallons. At point Sampson waiting to be erected there, (X did.not see it, but It Is said tone new.} {6} 2 500 ft. double dying foxes. Abandoned in fatour of rails and skip. (Sow resale value.) 100 (9) 4 Spare sets conveyor head and tail pulleys complete with adjusting blocks end idlers. There are six sete on Job, four are new and two second hand. CLow resale value. The four sew sete \ could not possibly have cost 500 per} 3^0 (105 3 Jaw Crackers 15* x 9* each.. One ie duplicated in. item (16). It is in fair order arid is on waiters' leases. The,other two are at Taopire Gorge and one is in piece. (They have a low resale value.) 150 {11) 1 Sturtevant i6 x 6 Jaw Cracker. duplicated in lien (lO) above. . (12) 1 Type T3r. Tracer Crusher 1* 8* with spares. Brought in second band. * The no at trouble-free unit in the mill. CZn fair order and would have falx\ resale value. *S 300 (13) 1 large Sturtevant Bolls with spares* . . These are jp* *15* and were part of the old Whin Creek plant which was * purchased by Walters, who asld items to both this agios.and C.5.R. The.rolls are not less tb&n 30 years old and C. 3.B. got e duplicate set for L50 /The price shown here is roughly pre-\ / war new price for a modern set of \ { roils of the sane sise. Very low ) \_reaale value. / {14) 1 Small eet of Sturtevant rolls. Hot in uee. ( Too small. New price shown. Very low resale value.) * )Total carried forward. z> 2185 35 600 2000 400 3300 1050 400 600 <J /id 255 /10260; - 9- (15) 6Srougbt Jtorward / 1 Set 20* x 12" CTaquea rolls with spares. / b\These roll a bate bean woefully 1li trested. one roll had cut right through' Its trass on one elds, sod into the Iron I frame, yet it was etiii being used j though the elsctrio motor driving It 1 was running so bat that an air jet was \ played on it in the last stages* This \ set is of modern design hut as rolls , V are little used these days it has a j \low resale value. / a8? 50 (16) ` ?/ Seta Allan rolls with spares. These aro 20* x 12* and are worn. ( They were here 6 years ago to ay knowledge and are w t now in Use haring, been thrown out on the dump. Very low resale` Talus.) 50 10260 6oq po (17) 1 Hdtax Screen with Spares. - There are two ot these i the Dill and they were imported from England, (C. S.R. had two made under license in Melbourne and the agreed price was 9*&. Heir resale value. ) (16) 3 Siagara Screens with spares* Two are in use in the mill and one is on the dump but will be brought in soon. ?ai,r regale value.) (l$) 2 Shaker screens with spares. Hew from Kalgoo&lc foundry. Hot yet used* /Hair resale value.) (20) 1 Jaquoe vibrator screen with spares. /Shown at new price. , In fair order.) (jots resale value. S {21} 1 Trommel Screen, with spares. /Has not been properly lubricated* In . fair ottier and bis fair resole value./ (22) 5 arge cyclones with connections. One came from England and four were made on the Job.of heavy galvanised .iron riveted and soldered* (Very low resale value. ) v (23) i Kublt Hammer 3LU .with spares. Of Z&gllsh make. (^Subjected to more normal wear than.any other machine is plant so has low resale value/ (24) 4 Largs exhaust fans. There are 5 altogether; 2 are nearly new, one Is fairly old and two were made on the Job. QHsir reeale value.) (255 1 5` 8U displacement fan. Hot being used. Consists of a'6 bladed pro peller and .plate baffle only, /low reeale value.) (jtotal Carried forward.') 3D0 195 2p 1 300 100 7S> 500 yo 10: i$Q p 600 200 1325 100 255 * 3665 100 15435 - 10 e- (^Brought Ssrward. / (26) 4 ' aaail .exhaust fans. Only one is use. (All la (air order only. Pair resale value.} (27) " ? (28) 9 Conveys ra ccopl ete with head aad tail pulleys, driving reductions etc. with gantries. Pour are about 2D ft. 1eng, four are about 40 ft* and one of 70 ft. fhie means about 690 feet of belt. / It le hard to eee bow they could 'have coat 2,700. Low resale va^ue*) 1 Picking table complete with drive and eccentric. Sot yet erected. (Good order bat low recalc value. Made on the job.) (29) 1 large Crusher 30 x 12 Jaw. Only the flywheels with shafting acd swing jaw have arrived on job. Ualzt iraoe it in &ebourne. ?air resale value.) (30) 1 Traylor Crusher ranstalling dig. This item consists of two small castings, one of which fits Inside the other and both ceo be carried about, /it has not been used and the invoice price-is 14., yet it is shown here at 650. it is quite worthless to anybody but the purchaser of the Traylor cracker and would have to be thrown in with it} (31) 1 SLectric 300 Mg. 'Seldsr, /Nearly new and good resale value./' (32) 1 Shad Grader with 6 ft. blade, fend at* of hand controla for the blade. n unted on a small oaod' back chassis running on four iron wheels so, that.it has no. rubber tyres. It has act. engine'end was designed to be towed by a truck or tractor, f It could t have cost 79*. new if it had been gold plated* low resale value*) (33). 1 (3) 6 5 ton weighbridge. Case froa Vhla Creek and is therefore about 3c years old. Kt is use. (Xw resale value.; Wheelbarrows. .^Bo resale value.') (35! 1 Corrugated Iron Curver. Pair order. Came tsom Whin Creek. ?air resale value. ) (3) 4 toes of drill steel. All la use. /Very low resale valueA &>tal carried forward*') 3665 y> 500 50 2P0 50 50 20 2Cf' 40 4725 (XS 15485 10 0 #00 1*> BOO 600 100 750 150 m . 75 400 19260 - 11 (szought 2b rward ^ (37) 1000 feet 33 lb. sail. 9t tons tram rails 9000 feet piping. ' The first lot of tram rails ia in use. Tb second lot was bought at Yionietharra and has not yet arelved, while the piprinmge la all in uee.f tow froesratlheevpailpuees-T rails but higher cTotal for Sundries 4725 1 4879 /x( 19260 2P 19910 The buildings are for the Dost part of wood and Ison, with the exception of the power houee and Dill buildings which have steal frames. Much of the timber is new, but the bulk of the iron is second-hand. The miners huts are entirely now, but the remaining email buildings were apparently Bade up. out of a number of second-hand buildings purchased in Boebourss. A large store was bought, together with some oBaller structures, and a disused hotel from Cossack, and all were dismantled and re-assembled in different force here. The resale value of this material ie only fair. Only walls and roofs could he resold because floors when * resent are of cement. / (l) 1 Tower lb use* Trom Southern Cross United Hines. Steel fra*ae only. Tartly covered by iron./ fair resale value. ) 950 {2) 1 Tullding toueir treatment plant. Reams of steel with some rood. Is roofed .but bao so sides. (low resale value. ) 100 (3) 1 . Building housing blacksmith and tool sharpening slap. 2ush shed consisting of roof only supported os various odds asd ends. 'All second-hand* (Almost to resale value.^) 'v (4) 1 Building containing three offices, store and two bulk stores. Xros and wood frame. Both second hand. Saw asbestos lining in offices only. /Fair resale value, j v 200 (5) 1 Hess room, kitchen, stoves, store rooms and equipment. Kew timber, old iron, no lining. (sdz resale value.) 150 (6) 1 Change room with showers, basins, troughs end installations. Sew timber, old iron, co lining. (tow resale value.') 100 (7) 1 Iron building need as temporary Mine Store. Bush timber froae. feme new iron and some old. resale value.) 10 fto-fc&l carried forward.') TO65 - 12 - (Brought forward) (8) 12 Miners Buts, iron and asbestos. Ho<* iron as stated, but ell asbestos and all new. /Eair resale valued) (9) 1 Rouse, iron end softwood, two rooms and verandah. All eecond hand, (zovs resale value.) ft*r 1 Iron house, 3 rooms, hew timber, v second hand iron. Qlow resale value.) (115 1 Iron bouse, 2 rooms. Second hand v timber, new iron. 3?air resale vilue.) (12) 1 Iron house, 3 rooms. All second hand. low resale value.) (13) 1 Iron house, 3 rooms. All eecond hand, resale value.) (14) 1 3 room iron camp. .Seoond hand. Taken over with leasee. low resale value.) (15) 1 Iron value.). Second hand. /low resale r '' (16) Material for three staff houses cut ready for erection. . Kew timber, saw asbestos, second band iron. C$ood re sale value while not erected.) fetal for Bundles.) IO65 240 25 40 30 30 40 30 10 300 lfilO STORES. (1) Standard Steel. Xt is of varlouy sections and la scattered about the job. (J.% would have a low resale value.) (2) Xl fie*.'*torea> g>are parts*- etc. ^ /Without clicking'the individual items it^ / c&n be said that they are present in the j store to the .approximate value indicated. / In a Break up sale* however, a large part { of them would have to be sold with the particular machine for which they are suited, rbck drill parts, for instance, cope into this category aa pointed out elsewhere, and since they are scarce at * the moment, the drills themselves would have to be practically given away if no parts accompanied them, further, since , stores ere elway9 a variable item, the / BDOuat shown will have to be heavily / discounted from a sale point of view. / 50 500 550 *7 200 25D0 2700 Brought Server6 55C Uloe Stores. These are reads up oainiy of. tinned foods, sooe clothing, and a small amount of perish ables. The quantity varies quite widely, particularly in the wet season, (Their resale value In this country is nigh. Tfcoae that were present at the time of sale would - bring close to cost price. The value shown s for this item le at present roughly correct^/ 1000' Ah tel for Stores.) 155& Shafting, pulleys, hearings, baiting, rock drill columns/ho see and dips/ fitters and blacken!the tools, tex rope pulleys and tax ropes. All pipes and fittings throughout plant. /Thl s itm appears to he in port a fabric- \ / aticcu The only parte of it not yet accounted' f for are:rock drill ooluans,hoses and dips, tex ropes and sodpulleys. Each echine in the coill is driven by its own bo to t through a tex rope drive, and there are therefore no countershafts and bearings. There io only one countershaft in the power bouse which furnishes power to the lathe and radial drill, hut there are odd pulleys and hits of shafting on the scrap heap and various parts of the lease. The only hearings ere tbaee in the do to re and on the elevators end spare elevate c &eer, all of which have been charged out at very high rates. ' The black- soiths tools, of which there are very few, come under item (l) of Sundries, while sods of .the fitters tools on the job belong to the Company sod some are the property of the fithere.__ Since the oill crushes dry, there is only a few feet of water pipe in it, which supplied water to flu&h out rejects is.two places (wee flow sheet). Other piping is used for suction ducts and has been Bade up on the job, me j from flat iron end some from old drums, and f its resale value is nil, Tex rope pulleys I are keyed to their respective too tore or I shafts, and it would not be ecooomicel to '! remove the for sale purposes, and their / value is included with the major unit. The / value for xesele of the rock drill columns,/ hoses and dips with some odd pulleys ana / shafting is only fair. . * / 300 250 K.W, Alternator and Starter recently cent up. This Vs & duplicotien of item (10} under Engines. H6te different prices for the same article on the eame inventory. H ~rr - 14 ~ Bag Slevater. M used by fame re. Cooplete with Engine. CIn good order but bug low reeale valueS here. A PIant*Bulldinga./freight and cartage) fxoo Yinnietharre. Vo buildings from Vinnietharra have yet arrived on the job. a^oe pipe and rook drills have been brought inland are accounted . for elsewhere.} All Switch Boards wiring, Electrical instruments and fecial starters, and \ other Electrical equipment. ' There are four small switchboards in the sill which carry twenty-four starters, a starter regulator end a phase switch, with fuse boxes and wiring. The'starters have *v all been duplicated under 'TSotors.* The \ main switch boards in the power house have * three new kilowe tt lour asters, about six j second hand volt and Amp.- meters, two ; Triple pole double throw switches, a breaker \ switch, and poroelain fuse holders with \ wiring and etceteras./The 250 K.tf. alter- . aator switch board is Included in item v/ {10) under *3nginea* *and new electrical A equipment ie included in "Kine Stores, spare parte. * f Appert "fraro items rot dup licated, the electrical gear for resale purposes is cot of great value. .'Several thousand feet of power lice and in use wirings with fittings would be Included. The resale value would be fair.N 20 3DO g%S&a Apart from the lots shown in the inventory, those below have been brought onto the lease. 1 FD as-Feeder with Hi chardson reduction gear . and 3 tup. so tor. In good order, but not erected. (Fair resale value.) *D 1 ore Sin, 14* x'10*. in good order hut roi erected. Fabricated steel. Sloping hottoa, no stand. (Low resale value.) ' 1 Pine ore bin. 16' disaster by 15* high. Steel* plate "curved and punobed for riveting or bolting, flood order. Low resale value.) 1 Crab winch. , Fairly old, but in working order. (Low resale value. } 1 Snail 2. C. ISotor shout 3 K.1^. a lust been erected in power house./Fair resale value.) w 2 S3all mod and iron buildings* Second hand timber and iron. low resale veiue.^) 6 j?ew Binere. huts, wood and asbestos, but ne oracled. /bo.oJ -xesele value.) 50 5 10 S3 (2?tal for Extras.') 335 mmmm /xf 100 4000 4000 - 15 - StMUR! 07 2STI1UTED kss#s.psi css AES ISVESTOSr PSXCB8. /**. ReBol 9 Inventory Sngioes ..................... .......................... -ISo tors (BLsctri e). i...................... w Bo tor Vehicles .................... .. Pumps ..................................................... Tool Sharpening ............. Jto ek Drills and Parts ....... Sundry................... ................ Buildinga .................................... .. Shaftings, pulleys, etc...... Alternator and Starter ...... 7970 1000 100 50 440 1X\ 8*J*1?**0J* 200 v> - iVp4?*T . 19560 T2zmaz3m3z=BmsBsms**xsi**esv&m*"*aBB33m*^m*ms 1^35 2J00 160 102? 1633 19510 9530 5500 1400 68350 These values are for material that could actually be seen at eltlier the Yaepiro or Wlttercom'e Gorge leaeee. They do cot include buildings from Y1 snietharxa* which have ajt yet arrived, bos the fuel ta*& which Is to be erected atfolat Sampson. Though S have ot reed the terse of the mortgage, I understead that it wee given over materiel on the, Yampire leases oply, end t on the Wltten&em leasee. It this be`so the value of equips*eat at Falters leases will have to he deducted free the figure etovre. The total resole value'of all equipment on both leasee is estimated at <&9*560 lu situ. It would, however, epat the Government a considerable sum* to realise on the materia, the usual figure being about 10 of:the gross value, which in this .. case would amount to <a95o. leaving a balance of X?,6o4. . In ' round figures the. break value of the whole of the equipment., is* in my opinion; rot more than L?,500, and I therefore ojactude that there ic insufficient cover for the-existing mortgage, iw v, f>rw / * AM > in 'y j/y ft. * 'She eeCxaeuvary xoc&b of cne Soil agf ne* series nave been eroded to tons many steep gorges, in the sides of which the fibre beasteg rock. has been exposed. The beds to be mined era therefore almost horizontal for the post past, and often diffi cult to approach when autorowing in alsoat vertical tSLi.lt faces high above the bottom oS the gorges, aa happens at tbe Company's WIttsnooa Gorge lessee. in Tempt re Gorge, however; the terrain is ody moderately rough, and it is here that the bulk of fibre jpzoduecd to date has been coined. .-' The ashestoe can he* son either hy bench! ng on the faoe of the gorge or by driving into the bill, using underground matte da .of mining. The choice depends upon the amount at overburden to he removed in the forcer netted, And this has been reasonable * .in the past so that benching has so far accounted for most of the production, though underground teethe4a axo being attempted. Zb benching, the overburden is boss! with rock, drills to a ^ depth of about 0 feet and the holes are charged and fired in the normal way. Sue to the fact that it is horizontally bedded the 'v'.t.. rock, tends to break In flat slabs and is bomewhat ooze difficult to dispose of than no usual broken rack. Disposal is row handled 'V by & Xlesel tractor and bulldozer whioh pushes the broken s ck < over the edge of the bench, and this machine is. equivalent to V:. 30 ob ware shovellers. The present output, is elmost entirely a /r .function of the successful operation of the.tractor and bulldozer, /which Is about ^ tup*, being the second latest size in a range , of four sizes. It is quite often out of action for.repairs, - .mainly due to the inexperience, of the driver, who does not asea to realise that even such a rugged Machine has its limits. 1 Despite //relatively high naiatesence it still shifts the waste reck, at a cost cf s few penes per yard. &th maintenance and cost could be ,, 'reduced df one of the largest models of*machines could be secured. /be steepness of the gorge face above the fibre bands is such f/ ; .that.the width cf the bench seldom exceeds y> feet before the \amount of overburden to .be removed-becomes too great to bo economic- i; :al by* the present Methods. ' Zb other places the bench can only be * V \tfc.en out to a width sufficient to let the ectof truck through, l */ which is about 10 feet, while there will he. found a few places in which the overburden is too thick to make it economically reoor- V able at all. However, in a limited area near, the main office it ' **'.1appears that a bench .width of . SD cr 60 feet may be possible. \ ' \. .: >M V After the fibre weas bavs been uncoverad they are barred or sandblasted out and taken to the mill' in a arctor truck which /'passes right along the benches on the Sas't side cf the gorge where /jJ'aoBt of the Mining is being dons. , Two faces are being worked on .^vthe West elds cf the gorge, where the broken rock is feaoved by /hand since the bulldozer Is lolly occupied on the 3ast aide* *t.. ve3&</ In these operations the workmen are on a contract basis, beire ^Apaid according to the number of toss of bagged fibre produced /sH^from their ore. They were formerly paid by the fathom of rock broken, both overburden and fibre, but It was found that they were .'gflvcaroless in sorting the ore from the barren rock, so that a high * proportion of ore was pushed over the edge of. the bench* by. the bulldozer. ,|W$e3#v< "Some development has heen started in preparation for underIgj^gccu&d irdng 'methods in the near future. The general idea is to *$d_aywiop a eooperatively narrow strip right round the gores faces, the ere will be. extracted, using same sort of room ''and pillar method, with scrapers to pull out the waste rock -../a. ;.w^s.id^P', it.oves the odge the bwntftu .. , r.& V/. /3VNS > -F- * 7xoo the point of view of anyone used to modern methods of breaking ro ck, the ore production adda of both this undertaking and that of Australian Blue Asbestos In 'ffitteiooo'a Sorgo has been handled In a Banner -which betrare inexperience of any but the most elementary methods. Hr. 7bsell has noted on the tile that Hr. Stubbs Is a jt>ung Kan of considerable energy and ability, and this io quite true. He is actually however, & mechanical and electrical man and freely adoite that before cooing to Vampire Sorge he had bad ns experience whatever of mining methods, and.knew nothing about aebestoe. Bo says, quite frazfcly, that W wishes that Australian Blue Asbestos* who axe further advanced with their underground work, would hurry up and find out the most eoonomic&l form of underground mining,* so that he could adopt it without the exp enee of eo^erlmentation. But Hr. Banco ok, whs manages the Australian Slue Asbestos project Isa station man, with even lees experience about a mine than Stubbs, so that it is a case of the blind leading the blind. Both Banco ok and Stubbs are assisted on the mining aide by sen who told shift bosses itcketa. The point is that both projects have long passed the prospecting stages in which smell quantities of ore wore won by the simplest methods from the easiest places, and are ww well beyond the capacity of the average shift boss. The problem to be faoed in the future development of the asbestos industry in this State is purely a mining one. The metallurgical requirements of the undertaking are comparatively simple, si no* the separation of the fibre ie an entirely mechanical process, and since tie deposits are so large and regular the geological aspect is also isl&Uvely staple. It is an absolute certainty that neither Company will have & hope of success until they bring their oper ations under the constant supervision of an engineer with wide experience of modern mining practice- Let us examine some of the mi stakes of lnes&erience that have already been made and have caused much money to be wasted. It ie wet! known that quarrying methods are cheaper than under ground methods^ and etauld therefore not be abandoned in favour , . of the latter until the last pound of ore has bees economically won by these means. It is equally well known that long hlaet halos break much more rock per pound of explosive than short ^onss and this means lower costa. Zb sore ideal place than the free face of one of these gorges could be found for the use of long blast holes, and yet all the miners that Z have seen Use v shirt 6 foot boles as if they were.working a narrow atopo under* K. .ground. Hr. Stubbs .does hit thick that the long blast boles will ' \ work because the boring is too hard and the rock o'a tha.gorge . face is cracked due to weathering, which would dissipate tbs *5-. fores of the explosion. Both of these objections apply.to the use of. ssaller holes which have to be bored and fired in the same,hard, cracked rock. By employing a smell aopunt of special equipment, most of which is already on the job, aa experienced aan could do soma real blasting and win some fibre at lees than '1(* half its present mining costs* 1t is not claimed that copy-book - . blasting setteds will weak at the first attespt, but they can be a*" adapted to suit the particular conditions only by one with the ,necessary experience and tenacity. *'*: >2%^' * IT large socle blasting could be brought to perfection *.tfco stage will ultimately be reached at which underground mining Ste'becomes the-more economical proposition since the overburden attains * depth of up to several hundred feet in some places. |gjg^>/The maximum feount of rock that can be removed economically from. jgWi*Jbetb between end above the fibre bands by large scale blasting glgggSoethsds is.likely to be of'the order of 33 ft. instead of about v--j2*-g,l6>fcet by the present methods, and no underground mining ebould ^TC-^i^be^attempted till the ebe^er ore has been won. > r. - *V*.v.u*. >* *' -%i*; l. /J~ *' m: -16 - /jj, The extra amount of ore that could be mined from the feoes before underground mining la embarked on could be computed, but not until a complete surrey plea of ell faoea baa been made. Haoh of this ore hae already been locked up botb at Yaopire Gorge and at Australian Blue Asbestos leases by erecting building a of all descriptions at tbe foot of tbe facee, end this building ia still going on. All buildings Including tbe plant should bare been located well clear of tbe working faces whatever tbe netbcd need, but particularly when reel blasting is to be done. In the ooamutatioa of tbe extra fibre to be got from the faces, account will bare to be taken of the faot that the gorge face rises above the fibre bands in benches. If the first benoa rises 23 feet above tbe bands, and tbe second one rises 30 feet above the first, tbe overburden can only be ecenotoically taken off to tbe height of the first bench, that is, SO feet, since at 30 feet, the est imated maximwo economical height, no foothold could be gained from which to bore holes. Though ouch fibre near the plant baa been locked op to this method, there is another occurrenee further down the gorge, which is at a different horizon, and is well dear of any structures. Very little is known about it, and it should be thoroughly investigated with a view to getting cheaper fibre than by under ground mining higher up the gorge. The possibility exists that underground mining may cot have to be tackled for years to e. The proposed underground mining methods were apparently., chosen so that scrap era could be used to obviate shovelliag^of ' the mullock. Tbe idea was taken from a text book by Banco ok and is being followed by Stubbs, and a few moments consideration shows that a scraper la about the ooet unsuitable of any mechan ical contrivance on this type of work. A scraper does its best work when it can be set up at a fixed station and continually fed with dirt from a rill. Scrapers were in use at ht. Isa under these conditions, being erected is a scraper drive which was bed by a number of rills from the'stops above, and each scraper would handle tens of thousands of tons of dirt from the one fixed position. When narrow seams in a flat bedded deposit have to be mined, it is clear that large areas in a horizontal plane must be covered even for a small production. Xf scrapers are used to remove the dirt, this means muoh lost time in shifting, and a large nuobcr of scrapers, particularly when a herd and pillar system of mining is ueed. Zfcery time a cut la fixed new . pin holes have to be bored^and the-scraper, which must be ft. ` portable one, baa to'' be'moved out of the way of the shots. * Cb&tinned trouble is es^erianced with-eye holts whtoh-often pull out in the hardest of'rocks and which take time to drive in. Great strain and wear comes on the ropes which rapidly deteriorate and have to be frequently replaced. In short, a scraper is.not nearly flexible enough. The basic principle to be considered in. the mechanical handling of dirt in a narrow flat bedded deposit is mobility. By coincidence, I have Just received from the library the bulletin of the Institute of Hiring and Hetellurey for CTuly 1$45, which contains an article on scraping practice as used in a Danish mine, figures quoted show that in loading pyrites in upper cuts the actual working time was 2 hours 2o minutes in an 8 hour, shift, while for scraping fill it was 3 hours 35 minutes in 8 tours* Banco ok *s scraper la much too light and moves too fast and was probably designed for different material. To handle the slabliy rock that ie a feature of these asbestos mines a heavy .slow speed scraper with abort teeth would probably give much better results. Banco ok* s foreman telle me that the present unit, which ie portable and runs on the mine tracks, is now ho faster ..than hand, shovelling. It is operated by air thro ugh a doable sdrua scraper winch, and is used to bog out the drive faces.' y a* >-5-1*'* *r ***\ - JO - \ o' An air operated sine car Xoader'wouid be Bach more suitable in this case slnoe it possesses greater soUlity due to the feet, that no pin holes, ropes or pulley bleeps have to be set up and maintained. Its conditions of operation are otherwise alailar to the scraper, in that it wust be connected to the nine air line, it rune on the sine rails, and has to he shifted back 'when hlastf rig. There la a new mine car loader on the lease at Yaopire Gorge, which hae not yet been assembled. _ Hancock, is driving his levels 0 feet wide because it ie 'plain that prices for this width at which contractors can sake- good money are leee than double the prices for a width of 10 feet at which they could (sake the* same money- He therefore considers that he ie breaking the ground4*cheaply which is quite wrong- The object of any development policy is to open up an ore body la such a way that the later exploitation by stopleg can be done most cheaply* The prise factor is development Is speed, and no sine of any ceneequenoe ever attempts to combine balf-bcerted sloping methods with their development progresses. The advantages of speed are Quite difficult to slow on a financial balance sheet, while the doubtful advantage that has been indicated above ie easily shown. Speed of development coses from keeping the drives as narrow as is compatible with the use..to which,they are to be put. One considerable advantage is that the dirt breaks finer sad can be handled sore rapidly than coarser dirt- Since the face Is narrower the loader or scraper doea not have to be sved as often as in a wide face. These two factors alone mean that considerable time, and ?ney ere saved in handling the dirt, at a Blight!y greater eot for i&oreaee fracteur expenditure, a die-' advantage whiob they greatly out-weigh. The prindpel.:*reason why very wide headings mean wasted money, la that when the ore is broken from slopes, not core than one third of it is sent to the Dill end the other two thirds, which is barren rock, is left in the etepe, but in development headings ell rock that is broken suet be removed, and by the inefficient ecraper. Hundreds of feet of underground development' for a lord and pillar system of mining has been-started right from the feco of the gorge, .and advancing into the hill, both at the Australian HIus Asbestos, and Vest Australian SLue Asbe&toe Pibres lessee, end the expenditure involved has been wasted to a large extent for the following reasons- ,. J ^ *rhe `economical exploitation of*!these* deposits demands that the BaxiBtBB possible extraction begot.'^rem any -developed area. Thie'statement postulates that no matter what the netted .Used, it oust be carried, to- the limit of safe subsidence, whiob will. ohxrtXy be dealt with more fully. Since the gorge-faces are everywhere Quite pxeoipi toua it ie obvious that directly ander these faces ore extraction cannot he carried to anywhere near the Units of subsidence, which.would cause the disturbance of large masses of rock on the faces. Various mine utilities have been built close to the faces which are now being so developed, so that rocks disturbed by subsidence would come down on traveling' ways, easeah up air lines and rails, demolish anything in their way, and be a constant source of danger to any one having to pass through the narrow gorges. TO Bake sure then that, euch things do t happen only a oaall proportion of the ore developed by under ground cethade can be token from near the gorge fab*, and its cost will be high. Seeing that there Is such & large Quantity of ore available this development lea waste of money, and should have been done well inside the hill where subsidence cannot affect operations outside. It is an attempt to save money on transport of waste rode but Is ill-founded for the above reason, and elso , ?i because a uasefully designed stopir^ will -eliwt'n&ir*-uil (B r Blasts rock transport in stopao. The only rock that will need to be brought outalds will be from development. It should be plain that if any further ore is to be cheaply ton from near the gorge faces. It will have to be done by core efficient .biasting methods ae has been suggested in the early part of this section, which will leave the face dean and safe and not subject to subsidence, attending into the hill from the new free face after this ore hae bean won, is a block of ere which will be costly to extract because as has been explained, it cannot be mined to the point of-safe subsidence, and is therefore rot economical to develop 'fully in the initial stages of underground operation. Tor safety the length of this block of ore will have to be the full leegth of the working face, and Its width approximately twice the height o f overburden. Jos Vest Australian Slue Asbestos Fibres this width will be approximately 2D0 feet, while for Australian Hue Asbuetos it will be about 600 feet at their present workings. Though 1 do not agree with underground exploitation at this stage Z think that it would have been further, alwad than itis at a* lower cost if theae things had been taken into consideration. The method of underground mining to be used has been the subject of much discussion which has resulted in initial attcpts at bord and pillar/practice. The rook at the gorge face is cracked by weathering and partly oxidised, censing odd soft patches. As thedrive pro coeds into the hill, the craoks and oxidation disappear, and at $00 feet into the hill, the rock ia . hard and dense. It can be broken eo that both the roof and \ floor are .almost perfectly flat surfaces, which have been exposed over long lengths, and widths up to 25 feet by the drives in Australian Slue Asbestos Trorklnge. The roofs when eousded with a bar give the reiroonee of good solid rock. The indieatic a is that a cheaper metrod then bord end pillar, say longwall advancing, day be feasible. The solution of . the problem is entirely depend- . ent on the matter of subsidence which is dealt with fully in text books on coal mining, and these should be do eely 'studied by anyone interested in ml nice in the Bamereley Ranges. Coal scams are usually enclosed In auch strata ae sandstones, shales and day, all of whioh ere comparatively soft. Zf the seams are rot too thick they can often be worked by longwall methods and the roof collspeed as tbs face advances. Such wft strata begin to subside almost immediately after the coal in token away from under them, but the action of subsidence is v. comparatively gentle and can be controlled by experienced men. The rod: above the asbestos cease is very hard and brittle and will probably stand up over large areas, but ro matter low strong it is, it cannot be indefinitely undercut without eollape* log. because it is hard and brittle it will probably stand up to the moment of failure, and thon come down, which means that subsidence in tbe case of hard strata is anything but gentle and cannot be controlled nearly as easily asin tbe case of soft rock in coal sines. Zt would be quite impossible to let the roof down to the floor in the asbestos rocks, but this is not necessary. When the fibre seams are mined,up to one third of the broken rock is sent to the mill, leaving two thirds behind, which could just .about fill the space occupied by the whole of the original solid rock. This broken rock could be ^ack filled by an air operated bulldozer which would pack it right up to the back so that, subsidence would be a minimum and Under the proper, conditions tbs workings would be as safe as any other underground wo rkings. ay ideas could be expounded along these lines, but in tbe hands of inexperienced miners they are apt to be dangerua, tiugh i t the lowest pojusible co-sie aj* to he ajjjrad ai ihay will -have to be tried at souse time or other. Wt' The ratio of rock to be broken to fibre woo is of particular importance in either Quarrying or underground mettofis, as Is the - . actual relationship between the fibre bands themselves. In bobs . of the -workings at Yaopire Gorge the fibre occure in two bands which are for the Dost part 6 feet apart and in this distance the fibre of ell grades occupies about 3 inches on the average, in other parts of the leases the amount of fibre is about 3$- inches and la constnod In about 3 feet of rock, while ether exposures stow stout 4 inches confined in about a feet of rock. jX Pave been told that near harillana there is 9 inches of fibre -jiji 3 feet of rock in one closure. Though the number and length of individual seams varies Quite widely, a steady average total length is maintained over largo lengths of exposed seem. Some people say that the seams are coatintous over a length of 63 .miles, but one men, wto to ay knowledge hae been worki^r them for - several years, eaid that they would cut out In another 50 feet into the hill. These statements represent the extremes, hut the former it? sore likely to prove true in the long run. In the meantime, it le better to consider the deposit as a normal ore occurrence, and therefore subject to variation. The minimus mining width is likely to be about 7 feet, since \ jjthe days of slave labour are gone when sen crawled on their hands * - and knees into narrow etopes, and in any event the use of modern appliances, which give lower costs than narrow mining by hand, demands reasonable head room. The average amount of fibre Is this 84 lichee seems to be about 3J- inches, or 4.1#. Some of It must be lost ia both mining and milling operations even when efficiently carried out, and Z would eay that the overall recovery would be about 6o?5 of the fibre. This means that in a mi nine should be made on the basis'of gil ~ - -- ---atea Kilning policy to date toe been, ae the result of Inexperience, costly and extremely short-sighted, and this section can he summarised in the following terms. - Get oometody who knows some thing stout mining. 21 nnxiTO praotigb. At'the'end of this section a flow sheet is attached showing the sequence of operations at the present tine. The principle on which the separation of fibre from gonguo is .based ie that when the ore la crushed, the gaague which ie hard end brittle, breaks down, aaintaining at ell tines a granular form, while the fibre which is tough rather than hard, splits along two perfect cleavage planes, hut retains its original unbroken length If mt subjected to too rough a treatment. Thus the fibre eventually assumes a fluffy fora and can be sucked off the screens by an * air current, while the granular gangue passes either through or over the screens* In other words the Billing process increases the ratio of surface area to weight, to a ouch greater extent in the esse of the fibre than of the ganguo, which allows a current of sir of the right "velocity so pick up the fibre and leave the gangue behind. By comparison with setel ting, roasting or cyanidatlcn, as cossonly used for gold or base metal ores, the extraction of the. fibre Is a .simple Batter. The processes referred to all involve .. cheated reactions between atca* and molecules, which cannot be observed, so that the actus! results of any changes oade axe - not detemi cable until some later tine* On the other hand, the passage of psbeatoa bearing rock through the sill is observable at ell stages, and the efficacy or otherwise of any alteration ' ie immediately apparent. The operation is from start to finish, an entirely Beefcanicai one of the slspleat nature requiringneither chemicals nsr water, and crushing finer than about 6 Besh is unnecessary, which Beane that fine grinding, the costliest operation in particle sise reduction, is eliminated. 5b r theea reasons an asbestos Billing plant should operate cheaper than almost any other treatment plant, provided that It ie soundly designed and operated. . Turning now to the particular mill under consideration, we find that its saxiBUta theoretical throughput at the present time i 4 tons ol ore pex hour, & Halt placed on it by the sochiae of the smallest eepocity, in this instance the 12* x 10" priaary cracker. Here are ease figures cover!ng a production period , of five months of this year.- !) * * ' 19*5 * '* April hSay June July . August ``1 Ore Milled Tons 246 zro vn 546 361 `Totals* 1760 2: Plbxo Recovered Tons 46.00 535 80.0 96.0 .77*0 352.5 3a 2 JiUling 1 line * 18.7 19. fe 22.4 . 17.6 ax.3 Sours 61.5 67.5 89.2 136.5 90.2 19.8 444.9 5 Posable Time Sours ? 744 720 7 44 744 3672 8 4 5 ?. 8.5 9.1 12.4 18.4 12.1 12.1 y figures for September were cot avail&bl e, but 1 understand that they are atallax to those for Angus*. Colusa 1 io arrived at by division of column 2 by alumn 1, ' ; and represents the ratio of fibre recovered to rock, allied, but it is to be mted that the sill la oniy about 5 J5 efficient, do that to get the actual percentage of fibre in the oil! feed, tbe figures in column 3 ecculd be multiplied by 1.176. Thus for the period the average of fibre recovered to ore silled is 19*^> but the average percentage of fibre in the sill feed is 23*# ~ V Column 6 coses from the division of column 4 by colusm $ and gives the percentage of time tb&t the sill was la actual production. These figures immediately attract.the attention since they show that over a period of fire months the mill was is production only <12.1% of the time, with 1$.^ as the beet figure for any one no nth. This, of coarse. Deans that fibre production baa been at beet only 3.8, of the theoretical saxiQua. It is admitted that very few plants aver operate near their theoretical maximum, as calculated from machine rapacities, as been done for the above figures, but on the other hand, any reaooa&bly designed and erected plant can be made to operate for very close to the theoretical maximum ' time at a somewhat reduced machine capacity. The present plant . falls very far stort of either objective for a variety of res eons which mill now be exsained* Then first inspected these leases some 6J- years.ago, a email sill was being operated by Hr. I. Walters on the site of the present . - mill, which has been built up by alterations and additions to Walters' mill, using some new and some second hand equipment. These additions have been Bade for the most part during the last eighteen months end have been rushed so that fibre production could begin. The result is that, from a mechanical point of view, the plant is * - an extremely poor affair, on whloh the amount of maintenance work required to keep the wheels turning spasmodically is out of all proportion to wb&t it would have been if reasonable care had been exercised In its erection. * The routine of the past four days since our arrival here has * : . been for 5 ox 6 men to work'on it every day from $a*m. till lunch tine. It is started up about 2p.. and ehat down about lOp.o. and 1 a^-inforaed that this is the usual practice. It night be expected that, with a maintenance period of severni-hours every . day,, the plant would, give reasonable service during the eight tour *.. mi.-', period of operation, but such i e not. the ease, as stoppages occur, '' quite often* Yesterday the Toques rolls (253* x 10*} caused a shut down, while 'the* day before the Traylor eradker bogged up. Such mishapo require up ts two hours before, a clearance can be . effected. . Time is also lost when the evening Deal is taken, and when the crackerman lets up for any season, such as to roll a cigarette, since the cracker, and bo- the whole of the sill, is hand fed, as will be seen fro the flow sheet which s&vws that the sill dqoe not possess a bin of any description. The feed1 therefore snrgeo from choking point to nothing at six several tines during the shift. - The Dili is operated on contract by a group of three men, who work on any day of the week, including Sundays, on which the wheels can be persuaded to turn. The advantages of the contract . system era-well known, but it is very doubtful whether they are economically sound in the present instance. The <bopany usually supplies the contractor with the tools to do the dob, and stands the cost of the wear and tear on those tools* Sometimes a stove! r>% worth ate* shillings is the osly tool needed, while at other times ,St, * machine and equipment worth several hundred pounds suet be applied* " *2 ihe caee before ue, a complete milling plant worth several ' ASiy;i-ikou.B&ed-$6aa4s -hoe bees put at-their -diwpoflai, Wt "Bmst ihrlfisn*. * vhzUte *ained by the Company. UfcaV, j.y...i'. "!">. ....... Pew contractors over taka any real care ' y > 2* - O7 gear eupplied to tbep, since they do not have to pay fox its up-keep, and-the onec la thia ease ere ns exceptions. I noticed . seer wheels cut of normal roach, running perfectly dry, and eooe conveyor idler pull eye were squeaking, which means that at some future date the alzeady difficult prohi ea of maintenance, is likely to he increased at the Company's exp ease. A major consideration la the duet menace, and when the air in the gorge Is stagnant, end the plant is in operation, the conditions are simply spelling* These conditio ns were experienced on~.two evenings within the period of ay visit, causing a pall of ' dust to hang in the gorge for a distance of a Quarter of a mile either side of the plant, end yet the man assure ms that conditions have improved since my lost visit. I have given the Manager to understand that further improvement must he made immediately at the expense of production. The men themselves are aware that their health assy rapidly deteriorate under such conditio ns, and 1 have taken pains to explain to them the action of the dust parti dies on the lungs. Despite tide, they are reluctant to wear the respirators, which were supplied to them by the Manage ment, and a number of which can he seen thrown into odd corners. .They say that respirators are hot and sweaty, and quote nuaerous other disadvantages.'all of which are true, hut are, nevertheless. Sax outweighed fey the one advantage el health protection. This attitude towards respirators is quite universal on all the mini fields of my experience, sc that the solution of the dust problem resolves Itself into the willingness of the Management to accept the responsibility of seeing to it that the various machines . release se little dust aa possible into the atmosphere. Zbtfc ties end money have been spent to this end* but improvements are often nullified by wrong placement, slipshod work, and lock of understanding of the simplest technical principles. Attempts hove been Dado to collect dust from the vastovs Qaehtnee by blocking off open spaces and introducing either a 4 inch or 6 inch diameter straight suction line. This supplies a strong suction over a email area end collects dust only over that same area, but causes eddy currents in adjacent axesa which disperse the dust; through open spaces which cannot -be blocked off. The strong auction also picks up heavy particles which are not harm ful to health, and dope site them in the main suction duct* where the velocity of the air current is low. 1 have pointed out that by using an,,evasee type of take off, of calculated dimensions, instead of a straight pipe, any required velocity of air can be got over a reasonably large area at each machine, using the present fan. Two simple principles are 4avblred. Hrstiy, dust is released'when rock is crushed and particularly when that crushed rock falls freely through the atmosphere, and collection apparatus oust be Installed in such positions, which are usually at the output sod of the crushing machines, and the beads of any conveyors. The second principle is that the collection apparatus . must be designed to give a low velocity of suction over as large an area aa possible, rather than a high velocity over a snail area, causing the defects outlined above. If these principles are complied with, the duet problem will be completely solved* That little duet is now collected through the straight pipes and choked main duct pesses tbroogh a fan and is delivered into a tank 10 feet in diameter by 6 feet high, which is about 33 feet away from the mill. The top of this tank is wide open, so that if the wind is In one direction, it blows the dust back into the plant, while if it is in the other direction, the duet descends on the mesa and men's comps. It will have to be colleoted and settled at this point by scene of a spray tower on a bag house or a combination of both. So general, the elimination of dust has been treated as an after-thought which is wrong. Anyone, construct ing a dry treatment plant of eny description oust realise that dust control is the major principle around which the -fcfea plant ig designed. Some trouble has been caused in the Dill due to electric " soto re burning out, which is probably largely attributable to the dusty conditions of operation. Very fine duet gets into the windings of the do tore end forma on them a coating of appreciable thickness. Since the dust le a poor conductor, the dotors tend to overheat, eo that if a peak load bo pieced on an overheated 010tor, due to a surge of feed, that actor say easily burs out. The alleviation of dusty conditions ie therefore likely to assist in this respect, quite apart from the fact that it will oean that working conditions for the Den will be - ssuch sore tolerable. jfcu o&y have noticed iron the flowsheet that So. 3 is the only grade of fibre being produced. As far as possible, the crude ore brought to the mill is*of this grade only, but no setter Cow carefully it is picked, it oust always contain'some of both So. 1 and Ho, 2 grades, which aha not at present separated, but go into the bags and are sold as So, 3 grade. . 1 have asked Ur, Stubbs why the higher grades have not been separated and stockpiled, seeing that the major costs of fine crushing have already been borne to. make possible the extraction . of 2b. 3 grade* HI a reply was that he had been Instructed frost ferth not-to collect the higher grades since there la little demand. for them, and that this applies particularly to the Ho.. 2 grade, which ie alec more difficult to eollect than the 0. 1. tfe further stated that there is a snail hut spamo die market tor Ho. 1, and that odd small lots have been sect sway* sod eleo that he could, separate this grade in the sill by "simply pressing a button* to use hie own nerds, this policy seem* to me to be tortsighted In the extreme, and Indefensible 072 any grounds whatever. Instead of letting the Ko. l grade go out in the cheaper Kb. 3 grade, it appears that it could bo collected and stockpiled at a cost of a couple of shillinge a bag. Probably a wire will be received at some future date for a consignment of ft. 1 grade, and sped si arrangements will have to be &ede to get it, whereas it could be building up overy tine the plant runs, if the trouble were taken to collect it. X have noted on the flow sheet the position at which the collection of Ito. 1 grade could be made. During the period of our visit, the mill feed seemed to be somewhat poor, averaging about 1# fibre, which is lower than is desirable. It, however, the feed exceeds 2% fibre, a great de*l of trouble.ie experienced with the screens and cleaning arrange- . sente, technically, the object should be to strive for aslant which will handle a nuoh richer, feed,- since the gaegue is of more than average hardness and .imposes severe wear on all surfaces with which it comes in contact. The optimum feed with the present set up is considered to be from 0 to and the maximum output la put at 130 to&e per month working one shift only. The figures quoted at the beginning of this section agree as fas as feed is concerned, but indicate that a higher output should be possible, ttough even the lower figure has tot yet been approached in the best month (July) which gave a production of only 96 tons. It appears that pressure from Perth office for increased production with second hand gear poorly erected, are the soot causes of poor mill results. Clearly, a-plant can't bo is pro duction and under repair at the same time, but I am of the opinion that it would have paid to have shut the plant down months ego, tor a fortnight, and put every possible men onto it to correct as many faults as could be done in the time, and so eliminate acme . of the lost time. If it were then run for the second half of the south, it would hove treated as much ore ao it did when running the whole 00nth before correction. la short, the grinding of the last xe&XutUji oat -ef -any plant torfe*** Repair, esusee both a loss, of production and increased costs. X6 // The plant wae, however, forced to close down on the 6th * instant due to the fact that the ehella of the second set of . rolls were worn out, and one of the brasses was cut right out. . another set of shells io expected, but the exact date of arrival Is not known* Curing the watting period aoe essential alterations are'to be Bade, and have already been put in hand. She fan which, eucfca material f too the top deck, of the double deck vibrating screen and delivers it to the cyclone, has been removed and put on the other side of the cyclone. The rotor -.had'to be refaced and rebalanced every few days owing to the abrasive action of the gaogue* The new arrangement will Dean that this wear will be eliminated since tbs material will no longer pass through the fan. The rolls referred to above have heed entirely resow** end will he fitted with a new shaft,. bearings and ahell a, and set up higher on their foundations, which will out out spillege at the Niagara screen which causes dust and lost time for removal. These rolls are too smell for the 4*b. and should be replaced with a larger set. Screens are being repaired and duet collection apparatus re-designed. k bin and large cxacher axe to he placed in front of the existing email primary cracker so that feed will be automatic. * which will eliminate some lost time and fluctuations of feed. . A picking table is also to be installed so that barren rock can be sorted from the feed, which will decrease useless wear on machines. The last two items will probably ret be added during the present shut down ei^ce the time will bo too short. . Such improvements, though beneficial as far as decreasing lost.tine and therefore costs, cannot eliminate inherent faults in Bill design. The plant has been erected on a perfectly flat site built up at a considerable cost in Use and coney, in a location which ie aloost entirely made up of steep slopes, . ohe of which should have been selected for a sill site** The result is that in quite a smell sill housed in a.bullding about 80 ft. by JO ft., we have no lass than nine separate conveyors. Again, since the rock to be handled is so bard, ouch wear is .to be expected and its effects will be felt particularly on second hand machinery. This ffieeoe that provision oust be Bede for the rapid cbenglng of worn parts, but this is row impossible because the Bochines have been cramped together so*that they, ace , hard .to get at. c / ' A brief summary of 'this section a Billing follows. The plant is a vary 13001 affair In which everythin has been f mistakenly sacrificed In the name of production. The output could be greatly improved, at the cost of teaperary loss of production, if time were allowed foe obvious faults to be corrected in a workmanlike* Banner. Owing to faults in design and poor machinery, this plant will probably never be made to produce continuously, et or near its theoretical maximum out- ' put.. Zf a large increase in production is required, n entirely new mill of reasonable design and construction will be necessary Ibtwithstanding its present condition the plant is able to cope with mine production which is quits lost, hut it it is to be stepped up, the plant will become a hopeless bottleneck. --'**% ...*.... *. . ELcg-agm-o? w. A. h. A. y. mx. /4^ Jaw 'CsscKer 12" x 10" , .1 Salt Conveyer .flU.fi.t. .Traylor Cruaber 20" I , Belt Conveyor Rotex Screen . Single deck Underelze Oversize Belt Conveyor 3D" x 15" Bolls Ko. 1 `Grade fibre cars be tabes off here* Only one deek of the screen ie now affectively used.' Bel t Go nveyo r Waste lump flUft.t/v Belt Conveyor Ho Iex Screen . Souble deck ?"0 ell ^*tor Undersize 1 Belt Conveyor Overel ze t- 20" x 12" folia Belt Cb nveyor Vibrating Screen Single Deck, Under!ze Wasb Water- ........ --] Bbete Xwmp, .lan.. Oversize HoJBoser^Kill Bel t Co nvey r Vibrating Screen 2 deck 2.1gbt ^partial es Pan 1 Cyclone Jop Deck r Oversize Vnde'rei zo Heavy parti cleo ' i_ - Second fleck _ Over size Undersize Duat Coarte particles ; Vibrating Screen. _____ Singly Deck light particles . Heavy particles Belt conveyor >1 Waete Dump Undersize ' UWanb Water Waste Dump ` Oversize | Pan Cyclone Pan Cyclone Dust" Coarse parti dec ' '(----------- 1st Undersize ....... .. nij Bust TronjBel Belt Conveyor 2nd Undersize Oversize' to begs j We. 3 'Grade Fibre. 'W 2 > 4v o *?- 6* oH 9 ft ft b* * ft' ft a> 0 3 3V H ;<* - r* ' Is t I 2* M f* fHt tf 1 *tf *<* * M M - H* a OA S * SB o' MB <n *md > i h 9 'A trg. e* * 2& ft 5 m0 fet 0 F0* **$ K> us>o O s On 8 05 MH M CO WO .n Os A O.s <Hy ft *? VO N vn m 1 *I os w H- *3 o3 so B 3 Ca S * S - I * > * B On N> U HO' v* a .* k t * I \ o ^3 ! t-t M . vn -o flj CD S* .On A 4* p fs> * 3 & SO <7\ .* . , *s : * la -Nj CD NO . -: M . TO *. \n ca . \CJDl u* sn 8 *sj M Ca O N E2 C^n Oo >o V A>-3 O* H HM se vn<4 Ca I I **3 vj 1 W 4 \4 b* H r* On P ?w Vs v* On H i\> W Os SfO^ <4_a* *0 <M < uo tova w UCDO h*2 vim nM* a H fe \r a * /*3 ca o U -i ca These' llgotta are taken from an extract of costs supplied to oe by Hr. ELockley, wfc gave me to under stand that book-keeping methods at the sine are such that they were only arrived at alter considerable difficulty, cad are not guaranteed to be of the usual accuracy that can be got from a veil kept set of bocks. Hr. ELookley* s figures have been reduced to shilling e and decimal points of a shilling, and hie average coats omitted, as they ere not required fox the purposes of the examination to folio*. He has noted as follows:- "The - sign cease sot shown separately." figures represent expenses to produce fibre to loading .point on sine.* "figures do not Include depreciation.1' "figures refer to long tons of ore, but abort tons of fibre. 1 understand then, that the figures take to account of forth office expenses, capital expenditure, or depreciation, but represent the actual cash spent on production for euah items as labour, fuel for engines, and'similar expendable stores. It is to*be remembered that the figures in the table relate to tons of ore cent to the mill, and. that this ore.is won by sorting from a larger mass of broken rock. Vo can reduce the costs shown to tons of rock broken so that they can be compared with other types of mining, for the essence of any mining opera tion is. the breaking of*rock at* the lowest possible cost. At Yamplrs Go rge, the 450 tone of ora waa produced both by mining from the gorge face.and by underground mini eg, but no record has apparently been kept of the amounts produced separately by either method. At the time of our visit, six parties were producing from the benches, but o&y.one from underground. Some of the bench parties were assisted by tbs bulldozer, which disposed . of their waste rook quickly and cheaply, while others disposed of their waste by hand, and the proportion of fibre produced from the benches was high. I would estimate that in July, probably 400 tons. came, from the benches, and the remaining 55. tons from underground. On the benches, about id feet thickness of rode was broken, of.which 2 feet represented fibre bearing ore, while underground the same amount of ore came from the mining of a thick&ee Qf c feet. >Thua the 400. tens of ore from benches cee from the freaking of 3200 tons of rock, and the 50 tons of under ground ore was derived from 200 tons of * rock. At the VitteajoB Gorge, or Valters* leasee, 9$ tons of >ora were got from bath methods, and since no bulldozer is available for removing west rock from benches, it la. done by band, so that the ratio of ore produced from benehlng as against under ground is net nearly so high as it is at Yeopire. I would put it at not more than 3 to 1. which means thot 72 tons of ore came from.the benches and 24 tone from underground. The figures for ratio of ore to rock broken are also slightly different as the 2 feet thickness of fibre bearing rock can he got underground from a mining width of 7 feet, as against S feet at Ysopixe, while the 16 foot maximum remains the same. She 72 tons of ore from the benches came from 576 tons of rock, and the 24 tons from underground came from 04 tons of rock* Th.e following examineWon f costs will be `confined to tbs figures for July, since they are the most complete and* represent the best monthly performance to date. They can now be act .at in the following manner:- IIW JULY. 194 5. ............... -"tiii'.rwftwatfsg Tons .. Minin*. Yaapire Benching.................. Underground.......... Walters Benching.................. Underground..... feck Ore. Fibre 3350 400 200 !?o H 8 5Z* 72 if 84 24 6 Mill! nr. Yampire........................ n*f `I'ransnftrt. Yaffipire......................... TMbrn Tranmnpt... 450 96 72 24 450 96 72 24 96 Shillings per ton. feck Ore * Fibre. 10.3 82.7 520. 2 35.1 82.7 520.2 27.2 217.9 |53*7 62,3 a?.9 853-7 4.9 5.4 57-4 234.8 37.4 146.5 .9 6.7 42.6 4.4 33.0 117.* 5 .4 2.8 15.8 ' \.-j. (<v Hri ELockley** figures covering mining are given under the beading of development and extraction which are'noraslly separated. Xtisnot easy to define development and extraction.in the case * of benching from afree gorge faJS/but it should he easy for the underground wordings. Strictly speaking, all underground work done to data steUld he classed as development. In general, the system of recording at the mine seems to sake the accurate determ ination of these items separately a waste of time. the figures show that though rock i% broken from the bench sore cheaply than from underground, the coats per ton of ore and fibre are the same. The figures of 02.? shillings and 217-9 shillings per ton'of ore really represent average costs of pro- auction by both benching sod underground netted*, but a* ao record has bees kept of the tonnage produced by each matted, an examination of costa to see whether the economical limit of benching has been reached is impossible. The limit is postulated in the figures at about 2 to 1, and is the observable limit beyond which'the Manager has apparently decided that he cannot go before resorting to underground mining, with which 1 disagree entirely. ; Jw i. Vy KIHISS CO STS. Benchlng. At Yampire tbe cost was 10.3s. per ton of rock broken, and 27.2s. per ton at Valters*, and tbe difference ie almost entirely accounted for by tbe uee of tbe treetor end bulldozer at Yaapire Gorge to rectove waste rock after it baa been broken. The maobtoe pusbee tbe broken rack over tbe edge of tbe bench, and can handle slabs of tbe else that would require secondary blasting if they lad to be disposed of by band. Srea at Yaopire the tractor canal reach ell of tbe working faces and ae many as four of the are still being worked by band. At Valters' leases, all faces are entirely band worked. At times tbe tractor is out of operation for r^aira, so that all faces at Yampire are on occasion band worked. Clearly, tbe advantages of modern eartb coving equipment are demonstrated here, and if all disposal were dene by these means costa could be greatly reduced. The advantages of these machines would be part icularly great in large scale benching methods as suggested, which could not be very well carried out without them. At least one more bulldozer of tbe largest size should be put to work immed iately, and if long bloat boles are to be used, two more bulldozers would be necessary. Costs can only be cut by further capital expenditure. Such economies will greatly increase tbe ratio of overburden that can be removed, and thus bring large tonnages of ore into the more straightforward field of benching. Other factors in favour of benching axe that almost no development is required and no ore is left in pillars as will have to be done to a more or less extent with any underground method. Once tbe method of benching ie established, together with its economics based on sound book-keeping, tbe operator can tell after a few minutes examination whether a certain.fall will pay tc atrip or not. .Benching on a large scale can only be undertaken In locations favourable to the rapid disposal of waste, that la where, the fibre seams are high above the bottom of the gorge. The deposit near tbe mill at Yaapire ie dome shaped a&d dips below the floor of tbe gorge at either end so that near.these points disposal would become diffioult. Xn this respect the deposit further down tbe gorge appears more favourable. Underground. At Ystcplre the cost was 20.7s. per ton of rock broken, and 6a. 3s. t<-Valters, and it i-s difficult to awe T*by the difference sbould.be so great. At both places the dirt ie bogged by bend into trucks and dumped over the edge of the bench, sicce the proposed scraping system'has not yat been put into operation at Yampire Gorge. The Gorges are steeper, the ground tighter, and supervision is croze difficult at Valters, but these disadvantages are insufficient to cause the breaking of rode to coat three times a a ouch as by similar metbode at Vampire, Allowing that all wo tic to date is development, it is reasonable to assume that when stoping is started tbe costs will he leas than they have been, but X have pointed out elsewhere that a large proportion of the ore already developed will bare to be left^in pill era for safetys sake, so that if the present methods are continued, the drop in cost when ctoping starts la not likely to be mors than two or three shillings per ton under existing conditions. Red uction of costs can be brought about by increased seale and'the -use of mine cor loaders in place of hand methods, particularly in-development faces. Modern rock drills with automatic feed end withdrawal will also save time and money in underground methods for it oust be remembered that ell dirt will be broken by machine* rigged on bars and oat -a eiogla eleker machine with its rapid steel charging advantages, will be required. Areas to be mined ia .r' 4 ill eventually "be extensive eo that transport of supplies will -edeae a coaideration* ifacMne steal will be one of the princi pal iteas under this heading, and the econo calcs of the use of sip os Jack hits in place of consent!w& steel will need to be iereatie*ted. ttl33>TB5 <Sff?S ,, ora from all sources was costing 37*s. per too to mill, but costs per ton of fibre were considerably lees for Valters ore than for feopite, became for the sonth of ?uly the grade of the former ore was aueb higher, though it is to be noted that, in August, the grades, and therefore sailing costs, were roughly the same. These costs include bags at 44a. per abort ton of fibre, which >*h)uid be capable of reduction* Sags used are new corn- sacks which e|o cow apparently k<pt by the buyer. They contain a aaodsua of 6 lbs. of fibre, so that it takes about 26 of then to sake a short ton. Arrangements have now been made for than to be returned, and it is expected that they say be used about four tines before being discarded* So reduce bagging costs, it was proposed to consign the fibre in bales like wool, but the buyers objected. To get 80 Iba. of fibre into a cornsaok requires constant ramaing, *Wcb is at present done by hand,. and is a full.tine job for one Ban while the Bill is operating. Vhen they leave the mine the bags are well distended, but X m info raed that when they arrive 10 Sydney they are quite flat, and as such fibre again could be got into thee, ft therefore eesse that a mechanical type of press would be an advantage in enabling say, 19 lbs. ..to be put in one bag.. It etould be possible to reduce bagging costs by ' She first essential in decreasing nilling costs is to increase the tonnage handled thus reducing overhead expenses, but this cannot be done.until many faults have been remedied, and mainten ance reduced. The longer these improvements are delayed, the cor too Boy will go* down the sink. The installation of the bin and Tic ss feeder will be the next greatest money saver since it will give a steady feed, and thereby both greater capacity and efficiency. Dust control will also cut Billing costs by decreas ing wear on bearings and increasing'the efficiency of the mill operators themselves* Sand sorting is to be tried and should eliminate some wests rock. I regard the putting of the sill in , tfrder as the So. 1.priority on tbs'Job.- It has been a great . money waster, and yet its faults are obvious to everyone wha haa had anything to do with it* Their eradication ia simple and results of improvements are 1mediately determinable, which is not bo in the case of alterations In mining methods. t A capacity of at least 1,500 tons of ore per month is a reasonable expectation from the present Bill after correction of the faults enumerated. ORE TRANSPORT. Co ate 6.7s. per ton of ore at *fempire aa 3P- per ton at Valters. '*-**. *,1 * This work ia done on contract by a Ban wft> possesses the only good truck on the job* At Yanrpire, the truck, passes sight along the bench that bag been cleared by the bulldozer and picks the ere at the working faces. Where band mining is in vogue, Jha-ojse i-s,eeet -ftrwn s slide to Vhe bettoB of the gorge and 1b picked.up vfa'bst by the truck. The trick *awps ell tv ioi Y,at -feeding to rthe mill cracker, and the aaximu haul is flo lees than half a -ails.** m XV /^J7 At WhIters' tile ore Is sent iron the benches, to the bet too * of the gorge by flying fox and is dumped on the ground fro* where the contractor loads it by hand into the truck. It is carted 35 Biles to Yaaplre and then again dumped about a quarter of a mile from the plant until it can be treated, when it is hand loaded into the truck and dumped at the cracker site. Ooato could be cut by using bins instead of dumping on the ground. Snell ones of bush timber would have paid for themoelree <3 vex and over again. *- * gnmg TRAKfiFOBT . This cost iel5&per ton of fibre from all sources. Fibre is bagged oa it coses from the mill and is stacked nearby. It is later removed to' the opposite side of .the gorge to tko point where the Etoebourne transports load and unload. After being weighed here, it is again stacked and loaded by hand when the transport arrives. A site Is mw being built up at the mill itself, where the bags will be weighed and stacked ond then loaded direct to transports. . This cost should thus be cut to about 5a. per ton of fibre for branding, sewing, weighing and stacking bagged fibre. ,.*'* coMp.mgch o? yAiffiftB & 'aaltbrs costs 3VI,V. 1945/ 1 Shillings Per ton of ftsek. Shillings ' Per Ton of Ore Shillings Per Ton of Fibre Vampire Walters Yaopire Walters Vampire Walters Mining.................. Killing................ Ore Transport.. J"bre Transport > v. .. ' . IO.3 4.9 .9 .4 31-7 5.4 4.4 .4 6a. 7 isi 217.9 - 37-4 30.6 2*8. 523.2 234.6 42.6 . 15.6 653-7 146.5 117.5 15.6 16.5 41.9 129.6 286.1 * 813.4 1133* 5 16/6 .52.1.9 6. 9.10 14.8.2 540.13.2 56.13.7 It is plain that si sing accounts largely for the &gb cost of production at Walters' leases. Mechanisation and better mining sethe da would reduce costs here to about the same extent as at Vampire if the scale of operations were similar. The coat of ore transport however, cannot be reduced to any .extent, since the price is 7d. per yard per Bile, or spprexilately 4x&> per ton mile which is very low for the north West. This Beane that fibre from Waiters' will always cost 3.15. 0 per ton sore than from Vampire under present conditio ns. It is being carted 35 Biles to the Company's mill, from a point within i pile of * c. S. R.'e mill. Ur. Stubbs tells me that the Bill in Vampire Serge , i only a pilot plant and the intention is to erect another mill at Walters, though he did not eay how this s/ae to be financed. The oh3 act tV "ttHe 1 e to 3o away with carting, and to got the . benefit of the better grade of ore et Walters1. On pining field >m * t this magnitude and nature the erection within one ails of each other, of two separate millsby two different Companies Is ee economically absurd as la the carting of ore from a point one mile from one sill, 35 miles to'another mill. Ur. Stubbs intoros me that the intention row is to take the Brokett and Bindley compressor and tbe Vickers Bitters Idesel Engine and erect them to supply air at 'Ssltera' leases, where air ie non being furnished by* tbe XOrnac Hi cardo Portable and the Holman compressor. The Browett and Bindley machine was 'to have .been erected at Vampire end excavations for the foundations are afmost completed* If this move is carried out, Vampire Gorge is dependent for its air on up to four small machines, to wit, the Borman Ricardo Portable ( 150 c./.m.), the Holman Portable J15G c. f.m.}, the Broome and Wade (220 c. f.o.) and tbe Iblmaa * (220 c. f.o.). To leave Vampire, which has supplied the bulk of the production to date, dependent fox ita air on such a doubt ful array of smell units, seems Quite senseless. Ore from the benches at Valters ie eent to tbe bottom of the Gorge is flying foxes, and recently & miner lost his life when the ascending bucket hit him. This was an unfortunate accident, and was caused by the deceased turning the brake wheel the wrong way and not getting clear of the bucket as the shouted warning of his brother, who was work log with him, advised him to do. The fox is now being replaced by rails end skips at considerable expense, and with tbe idee that they are safer. I fail to see why tbe flying fox should not be just as safe if operated with ordinary care. The appliance itself is Quite a solid affair with about half inch steel cables, and lea vast improvement on tbe foxes with which all fibre was lowered without mishap only a couple of years ago* These contraptions consisted mostly of old petrol drums with a few strands of fencing wire in place of tba cable. The freight on the compressor and'engine, excavation and pouring of foundations, creation of engine house, engine, compressor, and cooling tower, together with tbe completion of tbe rails up' the side of the Gorge,' will represent a capital outlay of about 2,000. In view of the urgent need to recondition the mill at Vampire, and the fact that* nobody on tbe job baa any clear idea of competent mining practice, this expenditure ie entirely un warranted. The outlay of tide money at tbe present time will only help to perpetuate tbe costly exroxs that have already been made at. Vampire, at an even greeter cost as is indicated by the pro duction figures. The object eto old be to cut both miring and silling costs immediately, and to this end Z would immediately dose down Valters' leases, and concentrate on Yaopire, at least until such time as a clearly defined mining programme and coating system have been established at the latter place. ' It is admitted that Valters' leases possess certain advantages, the principal of which is that a higher percentage of fibre and a better proportion of longer fibre can be got from them, but the Company is cot in a position to be able to make use of them. The longer fibre ie of nc importance at the present time since there Is to eate for it, and it la net even being recovered from present mill feed. Zf a survey is mode to see wbat fibre can be got by better benching methods, Walters' leases should be included, because there is more room fox rapid disposal of large Quantities of f&ets rock, and to date re structures of a permanent nature have been erected below the facee which would be damaged by flying rocks. . WIFE TO -BSZMAffTT.S CEl%11?g. 03 ate incurred in getting the fibre from ib* -nine to Fremantle ere so below:- Wnm | Z b. d. , XUee ter Ton me. Kine Stare to Point Samp eon Joint Sampeon to Fremantle. Point Sampson Chargee........... 3.15. 0 2. 8. 3 7. 7 6. 5 5 223 10 CO Total......................................... 6.17- 8 ................. . M ii 4.1d. .6 The figures were supplied by the Company end ere for abort tons of fibre* The road transport to Point Sampson i a. done by the moet tsodern trucks available. Tbeee are petrol driven 'ffhitee and re almost new. With trailer they Uake a load of 10 tons of fibre over a road which is In good order, but hac a few very eteep hills on it. There la a possibility that the distance to Roebourne could be shortened by about 40 miles by the construction of a new Beetlen through extremely rough country, but thie work is rot likely to be put in bend for a long time to come, since a very large euo of money has been epent on the roads in the aree over the past two years. A slight reduction in freight may be brought about by larger output end tbe uee of Diesel trucks, but it is clear that the figure of 4.1 pence per ton mile te eheap in an ieclated area like the Borth ffeet. The came applies to the shipping figure of something more than a halfpenny per ton mile, end I rote from the file that efforte to have this figure reduced were unavailing. In general the above figures are unlikely to be very substantially reduced in the near future, and improvements In cost oust be Bought at the mine, ae has been noted .by hr. Telfer. yrere pgpovgay sees of the sought after mineral ccuc in -any mining opera tion, principally in the treatment processes, end to a smaller extent in tbe extraction of ore from the sine. ** The Vampire mill has an efficiency of about SgS, end it is eatimeted that about gS of ore Ss loet In mining operations, end the following tables are based on these figures 1, Kill Recoveries. Vampire . Benching Underground Walters Bendiing Underground Ore Fibre hilled Fibre Recovered Fibre in Ore 2-e et l.T. 400 SO S. T. $ l.T. 57.1 14.3 7.1 14.3 B. T, 67.3 .4 % 16.6 16,6 B.T. 10.2 1*3 72 16 16,1 22. 3 16.9 26.3 2.8 24 6 3?* 4 22*3 *0, 26.-3 Qv nsssssssssstasssssasa* 546 96 65.7 15*7 ro.9 l.5 15.2 _____ _____ ..............................--!....... ................................................................ ....... . ,/r *6 2. Recoveries. /57 feck Ore Mined Recovexed ' L. T. L.?. Ore In feek L.T. * Ore Bibre toot In lost Ore L.T. % L.T. Yatjfrire Benching Underground Walters Bench! ng Und erground 3200 400 12.5 421 , 13.2 so0 V 25*0 52.6 26. 4 21 < 2.6 l6.b l6.b 72 12.5 75-8 13.2 24 28.6 25.3 3>.l 3-6 i3 26.3 26.3 1.0 .3 4060 546 13.5 574.7 14.2 28.7 1&.5 5.2 Troo these two tables, a third can be taken ebawl eg total loeaea and amounts of fibre in situ* X Fibre Lasses. * fibre. Troio a ok L.T. % litre Losses Mill Mine Total Ir. T. z.r. Z.7. Tibre in Rock I). T * Yampire Benching Underground Walters Benching Underground 57-1 1.8 7.1 3.6 16.1 2.8 5.4 6.4 10.2 3* 5 i*3 .4 2.8 1.0 .9 0 13.7 1.7 3.8 1.2 70.8 2.2 8.e 4.4 19.9 3*5 6.6 f.9 2.1 15.2 5.2 20.^ 106.1 2.6 S.T. Short Sbne. L.T. - Loag Ibns. Mill Keep very. Tha Hill feed for tbe ho nth of July, 19*5, contained 100.9. tone of fibre of all grades, of which, 15.2 tons t;se lost in tailings, this la not a a serious ea it would appear at first eight, for it a'could bo recalled that only 2%. 3 grade was pro duced, there being no o&rket for Grades 1, 2 or 4. Barally grades 1 and 2 are taken off at an earlier stage than grade 3, as the sir currant can pick the up after lose fibyiaatiea, end therefore lees damage to the fibres. They are row being picked up with grade 3 after fairly complete fiber! aing, which means that their recovery is high with aone small loss due to damaged fibres. Tiber!setion is at present adequate for tbe oore or lees complete recovery of everything up to Grade 3, but not for Grade A, which therefore goes out onto the ductp, end forme tbe largest psreenteg-e of the l%,2 tone lost. /S4 ^ Though a good plant could he ejected to giv a more efficient recovery of ell grades than this one, the loesses &own above are not worth worrying about until reasonable operation of the plant on a throughput basis ie assumed, and & demand for grade 4 fibre comee to hand. Kill fibre losees will be Slightly increased when hand picking is introduced, since even a careful workman may throw out a large stone with a pmell amount of fibre In it. HIne Kecovery. btfc rock and fibre bearing ore are horizontally bedded &nd b*eak into flat Slabs when fired. Tiring, however, must be dona separately it maximum recovery of ore is required, and this is a disadvantage to be constantly faced, particularly In underground minir methods, where it will cause ices of speed in both developsent end g to ping. Lessee of* fibre occur in both firing and hand sorting, but with oare they should not exceed 35, and nay be ouch less. If faces were broken out .in one tiring as in gold mining, the recovery would be very low, the longer grades practically all destroyed, and the sorting would become laborious. The type of cut used in fixing development faces will have some bearing on this matter. Centre cute often blow the collars oft of nearby holes which would cause appreciable fibre loss in places where there are bands of fibre on both the .top and bottoms of the drive, as happens in the Yamsire leases, \fcrkoen on contract will shoot the fibre out to save time rather than bar it out at extra effort. Barring out of the fibre gives rise to the minimum losses but there will be relatively few occasions on which it can be used. Even after shooting the surrounding rook away, the fibre bands arc often quite intact. This is noticeable after a few feet beyond the original weathered gorge face, when the rock is fresh and compact. Here we are faced with the most important single factor in the large scale development of the blue asbestos deposits of this State. Briefly tbs position is that large overseas combines have had absolute control of the world's markets at least up till the time the war broke out. Buyers have been oautious about going outside of the combine for their requirements to a producer wh>ee future output is doubtful, as if they are forced back on the large producers they will probably, get a poor deal. The sew producer Is faced with a deadlock, si ace the buyer wants to be sure of continued .supplies before he will give an order, and the producer wants a largo order before he will go to the expense cf erecting machinery and starting mining. Since the combine has large stocks available at all times the new producer must give way ana conform to the potential buyers depends. normally he must undertake large expenditure sod be prepared to etodepile fibre until be bag considerable reserves, the war moderated these conditions to a large extent since asbestos became a strategic mineral, and as shipping was not available the over seas firms were unable to get their product into Australia to the usual extent. The war time conditio ne were responsible for the present operations in the Baoereley Benges and the object now should be to retain and expand' the advantage gained during tho* war years. The coming of peace is likely to bring With it the same conditions of marketing that existed before the war, that is, lower prices end tighter markets with the larger producers prepared to indulge is price war-fare to squeeze out the new man. It has been said that to overcome this possibility, the Government could put a taxon Imported asbestos. Future con.ditions of world trade ere now being decided end are not yet cleat, but they will xct ha -greatly affected -by the zaqufcements of. a so&ll part of, a nation of seven million people. ?or example ,_Great.Britain may request Australia to allow free entry' to all -Canadian and Cape Blue Sibre tht we can absorb, in return for ex /S3 R/hich she would guarantee to take all surplus wheat fro a us at a fixed price satisfactory to our farmers. Such an arrangement la not beyond the hounds of possibility and would be of immense benefit to Australia as a whole, but aoidd rot brighten the future prospects of the Sorth 'Jest of this State. In abort future trade agreements cannot be foretold at this stage. 'The desirability of accumulating stocks of fibre has been reterred to and on it is based ey criticise of the selling of -H*. 1 end 2 grades with Ho. 3, end ashing no attempt et separate recovery after having met the major expenditure involved; that of fine crushing. X was under the impression, that C.S. R were accumulating their current production for future use in their Building Material ft vision, but this appears to be incorrect. Mr. Broadburst of the c. S. R., who was managing the Australian Slue Asbestos Company while Mr. Hancock was on holiday, told me that they had no accumulated stock and were unable to comply with o rders. S have noted from the file that ffunderlieha have given an order for a large consignment and that Indian buyers are en quiring, but that an export license has not yet been arranged on behalf of the latter buyer. From the producers angle, a long term contract providee fcfc* beet stimulus to production, and it Ns*, would be Interesting to know the reactions of both of the above ^buyers to the suggestion of such a contract, in place of large . orders at indefinite intervals. One cannot get away from the feeling that they are at present making use of this State*s producers and will probably go back to the combine as coon as S3selble. In support of his appliestioo for further assistance r. ?aye has advanced as one of his principle reasons, the plea that he does not want to lose markets so hardly, won. I an of the opinion that though hardly won, they axe lightly hold. . It seems to me that the marketing field is one in which tbs Government could render some assistance. The highest authority should inspire the greatest confidence and should be brought to bear, particularly in such cases as Import licenses, which are soiey a Government function. It has been suggested that the financing of stookpiling be done by the Government, but this would require a largo sum of money, for which ledoral assistance would probably have to be sought. The use of blue fibre in place of white in manufacture of asbestos board seems to give some promise of increased marketing, though the position ie yet to be clarified. It appears that some manufacturers claim th$t it is better In some respects than white, while others say that it is quite useless. One thing must be borne in mind by those interested in asbestos production, and plane for the future must be baaed on it. It is. that the present prices will stow a sharp decline in the near future. This sill take place within a few months in my opinion, and I expect the drop to be of the order of one third. Generally, it eeeme t tb* *oet the demand exceeds the supply, at a price*favourable to the producers, even ttough they are unable to make use of it at present, but the future will probably bring less favourable conditions. It is suggested that the largest Australian consumers be approached and requested to name the conditions under which they would give Australian proBueax* At lexm aa.atra.ct, say rael less than seven years, for the whole of their requirements, the contract to come into .force *wo years hence, which would allow ZC.j.' tit0* *or expansion of.* pro auction to the required dimensions. iC i. lv ,,* %<> >. Ebeir terms would no doubt bo stiff, but if the etiffest of teres bring a guaranteed market, they are preferable to the hash to esouth existence of* the past. This probing of pceaibilities for the future would ut least give us some idea of what we are up against, but right now every body is completely in the dark. It should be undertaken immed iately and le likely to be treated seriously if it emanated from * the.Government, the quality and quantity of the fibre available *i euch that if it is exploited along the right lines, it will stand the toughest set of conditions that any buyer could frame. Recently on engineer said to be representing consumers apparently made a fairly close inspection of the mines. If I remember rightly, hie name is Stroud, and one must assume that bin report to bis mentors will remark on the inadequate handling of the production side to date.* which will cause a disinterested attitude on the pert of potential buyers, which is a greet pity, but will continue Just so long as people igcorent of the arts of mining continue to have charge of the project. \ l U4 /ft > poli ci as. The policy of Austxslion iliaes lUnageoent arid Secretariat vbo, I a* told, menage thie undertaking on behalf of Auetaec, a de Bernsles faielXy concern, sees* to roe to be beyond comprehen sion, and without a vestige of logic. They have a Chief HI cine Engineer, and yet the mining aide ot -the business is in a hopeless seas* They also have a Meehan* idial Engineer, and the roll! Id a nightoare of maintenance problems, and a menace to safety. There seems to be an accountant hut not the elementa of a costing ayeten, and there tea surveysz, hut almost nothing ie known of quantities of ore aveil able for bench ing. Sbme of these people pay periodic visits by plan to the aice for not sore then a day ox two. X asked Mr. Stubbs why the ferser two officials could not spend a period of say several weeks with hi, nd help to straighten things up. They are always too busy with work on another of the Oreup* a Bines, and yet Mr?eye cl ados when he wants a lean that it is of very great import ance that the ik> nth* Vest be populated through 'the eeta&Zietoeni of the asbestos industry, which la a case of running with the hare and hunting with the founds*. It surely ie Important to populate the Mbrth We at and establish a new industry which will benefit v the whole of Australia, and just as surely could these busy officers devote a few weeks of their time to the cause, at the expense of the other nines which are neatly gold, end are well established already. They appoint as Manager, a nan who had never seen an asbestos ? mine, end had no experience whatever of dining operations a&d methods and leave bin to his own devices to extract ore by underground methods in a flat bedded, hard, siliceous ore body, an operation that has rarely been performed on a large scale in Australia* This nan, Mr. Stubbs, seen a to be the only genuine one of them all, and has worked like two men to get tho thing going to the best of bis ability. In return for this he is continually badgered from Perth for sore production, though his fortnightly reports, copies of which! have read, afould tell tho tale of Bill maintenance problems to anyone. Eo is supposed to keep 09ste within bounds, but has net the faintest idea of what sose things are costing as invoices arc seldom scot to him. X noticed that he had a fresh copy of the inventory supplied to us for the purposes of this .v 1 investigation and he wrote to Perth Office protesting that auoh items as a 14. jig entered at 6jfc. Bade his look a fool. * that can one think of the two inventories la which prices for the same article are doubled or halved or vice versa, and on wbioh everything possible ie duplicated? By what process of logic ere the items listed at the mine by the Ban responsible for their use, but priced in Berth by someone who has obviously never even seen some of them? Mr. Paye claims that gear has been obtained from Associate Cbmpaniee at reduced rates. The International Utility came from the Kelgoorlie Jb undry, an associate company, ahd is about a 1935 bo del, and had done sore than 100,000 Biles. It is shown on the inventory at 300. and arrived on the job about 1act January when it could not possibly have been worth more than 150, and is row worth bout 50. X suspect that the price of 330. is contrary to National Security Regulations. Xbuc new sets of conveyor bead and tail pull eye with shafts and bearing ere charged at 500. per set. They are new and probably came from Kdgoorlle foundry, but axe much too heavy for requirements at lamp!re, and could not have oast the price shown. They are not necessary since there are two other spare second band sets on the 3oh. ,S M. /< fe. In oy new the inventory ie a complete fabrication, for which this Department la entitled to ecoe explanation. Whether it was done deliberately or through gross carelessness makee no difference, for people who conduct their affaire In either manner are not worthy of a moment*e consideration. There ie probably set of boo^a somewhere in the Perth office of the Company, which would tell the true etory, and it would be interesting if Ur. &ocbley could examine them. Zn any case, he should be instructed to cheek up on the item<f 4,500 for plant buildings, freight aad cartage from ^innietharra, if he has not already done so* These l^emo came from a Government source, and records of their sale should be available. I The shortcomings of the vrtele undertaking quite obviously originate In the Perth office of the fcopany. Shortage of SUopower and shipping difficulties are made to cover a multituds of sins. They are very reel problems in the Berth West. The inter val between boats has been ae high as sixteen weeks, and good miners are scares even in peace time, ss they prefer the amenities of Pieces like Kalgoo Ale, to the crudities of l'aoptrc GorgeLack of manpower ie the major reason why instead of being hurried s job should be properly done in the first place, thus reducing maintenance, and the went of shipping cannot be made to explain why informs:ion ie with-held from the Manager, or why the field officers attached to Perth office cannot stay cn the mine long ere ugh to straighten out some of the mistakes which are obvious to tne least of the workmen. In dealing with applications fox assistance by this Depart ment, 1 have always based my recommendations on the principle that it is better to lend money to an honest man with a fair show, than to a rogue with a first class one. In this case we are dealing with a proposition of uncertain future, operated by intereete who have shown by their handling of* the present application &nd the expenditure of the 25,000. that they are unreliable. Anyone who lends money under these drcumstances Is playing with fixe end must expeot to get burnt. There are however exceptions to every rule, end the present application could under some circumstances provide the exception to ay general rule. If the establishment of the asbestos industry oculd be given a reasonable chance of success by the granting of a subsidy as applied for, X would cot hesitate to recommend it*even though I knew the money wuld never be recoverable. : : Hr. Telfer has expressed disagreement is principle with the Idea of a subsiviy, vri'tfc wbiofc I concur, particularly in the present instance. We are asked to subsidise weak policy, poor methods of production, &nd inexperience, which would be throwing money away. If such a subsidy is granted to the present applicants it will be immediately claimed by C.S.R. and we would have very little grounds for equitable refusal. X as not convinced of the good faith of the present applicants and they have apparently neither the experience nor the tenacity to overcome their present difficulties. Their solution of the Problem takes the line of least resistance, for if eometfne ban e persuaded to put up the money, they can carry on for a time at least, with the e&me slovenly mothsds, but with even less chance of ultimata financial success. It would be folly to grant any subsidy at the present stage, and any industry that requests a subsidy should automatically accept the onus of proof that it is being oarried on at the aaxdmuo efficiency before applying for such subsidy. ; Any aesistance granted now, whether in the form of a subsidy J ora lump sirs, and which allows past methods to be carried on, will be b waste of money. Tailing pitees wmbinad with these methods will eventually force the ring to shut down, and will give the industry a b0d name to add to its original difficulties. /* ML SUZftl ARY. fS7 1. TV.a undertaking should be in the hands of one experienced in modern lining methods, as it is primarily a mining problem, as distinct from a metallurgical, geological or mechanical one. . 2. The sill cost be put in order immediately, and brought toV,. the stage where it can be relied on to operate contiououeiy /) - ^with the ainiaias of maintenance. To carry on with the sill H. in Its present state is to lose both money and production, v 3. The scale of operationo rauat be stepped up to a stage approaching maximum mill capacity. 4. A survey mutjt he made to determine what Quantity of ore ie I available for benching by more efficient means at each deposit j at Vampire, and also at alters1. * ** 5. Underground development at the gorge faces ehould be stopped immediately,. ... * -- 6. Benching should be stepped up even by present methods, but \ J waste disposal must be by bulldozer^. 7. Shut down Walters' lessee until cheaper methods have been established at Yaopire. 8. Prohibit erection of mine utilities near any working faces! 9. Some social services in the form of erection of huts and bsueee already on the ground must be undertaken. If these things are put in hand production can*be more than doubled, end coats cut by t least 2% on July figures, in e few months, provided that the few items needed can be got onto the ground quickly. Some production could be got at the seme tLoe, but further capital expenditure to the tune of, perhaps, 15,000 would be colled for, rot, however, for the liquidation of debts incurred in the past. Z have rated that both of the present operators in tbs `KsoeraLay Ranges have to date failed financially to make a success of aehes-tes mining'-at the -carront high'prices, and that this failure le due primarily to lack of mining wisdom. Hr. Broadhurst of C.3.3.. when Z asked what happened if the price dropped severely, as it well may, said "tfe shut down, though perhaps this statement should not be taken a a carrying the authority of the principal executives of C.S.H. Sven those closely esaooisted with ashestoe production in this State are full of the idea that we can never compete with "Cape Blue" fibre, produced by native labour. A few moments consideration will show that this belief is quite groundless, and am'conveneed that with proper handling, the Hamer81 ey produetfl will hold their own on a `ffexld market without any form of subsidy whatever. The supposed cheapness o.f native labour ie & mistaken Idea* Cheapness ie always reflected in 00ate per ton, and anyone who cares to take the trouble of consulting "The 10.mng Magazine0 of London, will see that costs on the Band, which employe all native labour ere appreciably higher then those of our major mines, such ae Lake View and V&luna. The rjnly -aAirsai^ge.-of native &%o<ux As that it is usually plentiful, but Band operators are now denyingthis. /!>'? >: Apart from labour, to enable Srold coaspelition, *e require a deposit of vast magnitude, and everyone who baa seen the Hamersleys, soon forgete ble original intention of trying to estimate how much fibre la avail able, because there la so much and indic ations of so such more, that it would be quite wortbleefi and unn ecessary to pursue enquiries along tbeee linee. T^e Government Geologist in bulletin ICG has noted that our deposits seen si nila? In all respects to the South African ones, which 1 understand ate al bq very laiy e* Therefore we have in the Kaiseraley H/irtgea u deposit of similar magnitude to, afld pzobably f better quality than, any other known deposit, end we can break ore eheaper than the country possessing the rival deposit, particularly if we use modern oeobonieed raetfeds. Therefore in a price and Bark sting war, we are holding the wbiphsndle, since the indications are that we cun produce more cheaply. The third requirement to enable tforld competition is to get & major organisation interested, and when C. S. R. camciinri was of the opinion that the economical development of the Kaneraley deposits wee & foregone conclusion* X have been amased and dis appointed at their poor showing, though Z have learnt to expect anything from a de Bernalee undertaking. Surely sn organisation with the resources and industrial experience of C.S. 3. suet know that a dangerous calling like oloing can not be proseotted economically on a large scale by amateurs. * Both Mr. Broadhurat and Sir. Hancock have told me that the Company has tried 'so celled mining experts,' and ere now content to pay for the formers mistakes* fhi oust be very nice for these two gentlemen, but the outlook tor the future from a State point . of view is bleak because of it. To date C.S.2. has paid foritbe experience of their asbestos executives, and very dearly, yet they have not paid in full es they will shortly see, for 12*. Broadhurst's blithe admission 'we shut down," aey come true in tie very near future. -They have-apparently rot tewever, benefited from the experience which has cost them eo dearly, fox there is one lesson to be learnt from it. It is that the profession cf a l&aing Engineer, particularly from the argle of skilled end experienced underground operation, is not an attractive one, rushed by f&nd Parents with aobitions for their curly headed boys, . The reasons ore obvious, and the result ia the top flight mine operators in Australia are extremely few, though they axe often aped unsuccess fully .by ".a ailed Joining 'experts.* I say to anyone that likes to listen, that the Saaeraley Range asbestos deposits,' in the hands of men of the calibre of 2-eke View's j. ?. Thorne, or Hluna's H. 2. Carroll, would easily bold their own on a a?fid market, end could shut down "Cape Blue' if it were necessary to carry competition to these lengths. > cue. 24th October, 194J. Co- C&~x~ tssbmmtiv* at? ------- ----------------**--" '*.* M .$j . ,V<| .*..>V'--