Consolidated Silver may mine perlite

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32860, 8 March 1972, Page 20

Consolidated Silver may mine perlite

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, March 7. If present negotiations by the Consolidated Silver Mining Company of New Zealand, Ltd, produce an order, the company may be exporting perlite from deposits on Great Barrier Island within nine months. Perlite has been described as mineral popcorn. When ground and fed into blast furnaces it expands up to 20 times in volume and forms small glass balls. Major uses are for insulation—including wallboards, as a filtration aid, in horticulture as a potting material, and for making light-weight concrete. Test drilling, to establish the exact extent of the deposits, started about three weeks ago.

Mr W. R. Sparrow, general manager of Consolidated Silver, said today that given a reasonable order—between 50,000 and 100,000 tons—first deliveries would be made within nine months, provided that current studies on costs and feasibility proved encouraging. Final quantities had not been ascertained, . but it appeared that there was enough perlite in the deposit to make the country one of the world’s major reserves. Japan, considered a major source, is thought to have less than does Great Barrier. There are also extensive caches on the volcanic plateau, at Atiamuri.