JOS TIN AREA (NIGERIA), Ltd.
Capital.—£110,000 in 440,000 shares of 5s. each.
Directors.—Assheton Leaver (Chairman), C. D’Arcy Leaver, H. T. Miller, J. R. Parsons, F. S. Saunders, A. T. Schmidt, L. N. Way.
Offices.—58 West Smithfield, E.C.
The company acquired from the Tin Areas of Nigeria Limited, an area of 1,920 acres which were originally held by the Niger Company. Mr. Charles Scott has been engaged as mine manager, and is now on the property, from which about 20 tons of black tin were won during May, June, and July.
At the statutory meeting held on 22nd August, the chairman said:
“I may say that I have had the pleasure on two or three occasions of meeting Mr. H. W. Laws, who was the chief mining engineer of the Niger Company in Northern Nigeria, and is now their consulting engineer here. He had for some time the direction of the work on this particular mine. In the course of friendly conversations with him, he told me that he was of opinion that our company should get back its capital, together with interest commensurate with the risk run in all mining enterprises. He also told me that he considered the mine could go on producing indefinitely anything up to 200 tons of tin per annum, without any capital expenditure, but he added that he thought that would be a very wrong policy to pursue, and that the right thing to do was to have, as we intend having, a thorough survey made of the property, and then come to a conclusion as to the best method of working it. I think that it is very satisfactory to hear this from Mr. Laws, because it points to the fact that we have really got a sound property, and one which, if properly managed, will prove to be a sound speculative investment. It is a property which must be regarded as a low-grade proposition. Although, of course, it is more fascinating to have a property which may be called a very rich one, yet a large low-grade property is really far more satisfactory from the shareholders’ point of view than a property which is simply rich in patches, because with a large low-grade proposition it is a case of “cut and come again” and as often as you like. There is always something to go away with. Mr. Lush, in a report which he gave us at the time of the flotation of this mine, estimated that we could reckon upon having 500 acres containing 2 lbs. of tin per cubic yard, and if that estimate is realised—and I have no reason to anticipate that it will not be realised—and the profits are made that he foreshadowed might be made, you have a very handsome property, and one containing apparently something over half a million sterling worth of tin.”
BISICHI TIN COMPANY (NIGERIA), Ltd.
Capital.—£200,000 in £1 shares.
Directors.—The Earl of Wharncliffe, Sir William Wallace, K.C.M.G., William Scott Coutts, Samuel Watkin Carlton, James Gardiner.