N.Z. URANIUM DEPOSITS

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28347, 5 August 1957, Page 10

N.Z. URANIUM DEPOSITS

Expert To Report Soon

(From Our Own Reporter) HANMER SPRINGS, August 4. . New Zealand’s economy could be entirely altered very soon “because of the most interesting developments” in the recent survey of the Buller uranium fields. The Minister of Mines (Mr J. K. McAlpine) expressed this view when addressing members of the New Zealand Textile and Garment Manufacturers’ Federation at its

annual conference at Hanmer Springs today. Mr McAlpine said, in an interview after his address, that the British Government had undertaken to assist the marketing of any commercially-minable quantities of uranium ore discovered in the Buller region. Mr McAlpine said ihat an extensive report on the investigations in the Buller area by Mr J. B. Richardson, an expert from the British Atomic Energy Commission, could soon be expected. “We have every reason to believe, from preliminary discussions with Mr Richardson after his Buller examination, that New Zealand’s economy could be greatly affected with a new national industry of uranium miming,” the Minister j Mr McAlpine had earlier told the members of the conference that they should consider within the next year the importance of the use of atomic energy in furthering their industry.