agement to smelt the whole of the ore from the mine at
about Swansea prices; notwithstanding the unfavourable circumstances
under which such smelting would necessarily be carried on.

As I understand the nature of this arrangement, the ore will be smelted
at the mine, and the remuneration to the smelter will be between fifty
and sixty shillings per ton perhaps, by way of "return charges," or we
will say between sixty and seventy shillings, which is a sum exactly
equal to the cartage of the ore to the port. If then the Directors
abandoned their intentions, because they found they could not smelt at so
low a sum as the price of cartage and freight, how will the contractor
make it pay under more unfavourable circumstances? No doubt, if he should
find it remunerative, the shareholders of the Burra Burra would find it
still more so, and it would be the interest of the proprietors of the
larger mines to enter into similar engagements; but, on a due
consideration of this important subject, I am led to believe that to make
smelting works successful in South Australia, Companies must purchase the
ore, and carry it off to localities suitable for the operation. Such an
arrangement would still considerably increase the profits to the
proprietors of the mine, nor would there be any difficulty in determining
the value of the ore, by processes similar to those adopted at Swansea,
by which the interests of both parties are equally protected.

In the South Australian Register of the 27th of November of last year, it
is stated that a Mr. Hunt, one of the auctioneers in Sydney, offered for
sale thirteen tons of pure copper ore of colonial manufacture, from ore
the produce of the Burra Burra, in ingots weighing 80 lbs. each; the ore
having been smelted by Mr. James at Mr. Smith's foundry at Newtown. This
copper was however bought in at 80 pounds, the limit being 85 pounds
per ton.

It will give the reader some idea of the character of this prodigious
mine, and of the profits arising from it, to know, that during the four
months preceding the 23rd October, 1847, the directors declared and paid
three dividends, amounting to 200 per cent. on the subscribed capital,
and that the credits of the Association on the 30th September were
104,694 pounds 4 shillings 8 pence. The Burra Burra mine however is not
the only one of importance. Several others have of late been discovered,
and South Australia may be said to be a thriving country in every sen