A party, consisting of four engineers with boring plant and stores, has already sailed for Nigeria to take possession of and work this property, as well as two other properties belonging to the Gongola Syndicate, Limited, and arrangements have been made for giving to this company the benefit of this organisation, on payment of a proportion of the charges incurred and to be incurred in connection therewith. There will be set aside £20,000 of the capital for working capital, of which 10,000 shares will be subscribed for immediately.
The purchase consideration is 30,000 fully-paid shares to be allotted to the Wadu Syndicate or its nominees, and the right to subscribe at par for the unissued capital of the company.
It may be mentioned that it is estimated that a profit of at least £45 per ton of ore will be obtained, taking the actual price at £90 per ton and deducting £15 for the cost of working and £30 for transport, &c., which latter item will shortly be considerably reduced.
RIBON VALLEY (NIGERIA) TIN FIELDS, Ltd.
Capital.—£200,000 in 200,000 shares of £1 each, of which 50,000 are set aside for working capital.
Directors.—Mr. Edward Hooper (Chairman), Mr. Sidney J. Messenger, Mr. Herbert Moir, Mr. James Wickett (Director of the Malay Tin Mines), and Mr. H. W. Pelham Clinton.
Secretary.—Mr. George Kerr, A.C.I.S.
Offices.—Capel House, New Broad Street, E.C.
This company has acquired a most extensive property—nine miles in extent—and holds it under an exclusive prospecting licence from the Northern Nigerian Government. So far the prospectus has only been privately issued. The licence carries with it the right to select areas for mining purposes for periods of twenty-one years, at an annual rental of 5s. per acre, and a royalty on the mineral output. The property is situated on the head-waters of the river Gongola, the river flowing through the area being locally known as the Ribon. It is about 20 miles south-east of Naraguta, and within easy reach of the main transport route. There is a constant and unlimited supply of water, and a large quantity of timber suitable for fuel. The labour is plentiful, cheap, and suitable for alluvial mining. The costs are put approximately at £20 per ton of black tin, of a minimum of 70 per cent. Mr. H. W. Laws, M.I.M.M., the chief mining engineer of the Niger Company, says: “I consider the area has excellent prospects of proving very large and profitable, and that in selecting land for mining purposes it will probably be necessary to acquire two, and perhaps three, separate leases, owing to its unusually large extent.” An engineer of wide experience and an assistant has left London for the property, and Mr. Walter Wethered, who is paying his third visit to the Nigerian tin field, is to attend to the Company’s interests on the spot. The intention is that the Ribon Company shall become one of the parent kind, because it is quite impossible that, unaided, it can develop so large a sett.