Enough N.Z. coal for centuries

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33477, 7 March 1974, Page 2

Enough N.Z. coal for centuries

Goal is expected to make a great comeback as a source of energy in New Zealand.

The Minister of Mines (Mr Colman) outlined the vast potential of coal at a news conference in Christchurch yesterday. He said there was enough coal under the New Zealand ground to keep the country going at the present rate of consumption for at least 800 years. If the total energy requirements of today had to be met by coal, there would be enough known supplies for the next 200 years. 1 Govt hacking The Minister referred to ) the uphill fight coal had to , become acceptable again. Ith had slipped in recent years from 50 per cent usage to 20 ( per cent, while oil had leaped , from 38 per cent to 58 per : cent. 1 But the Government was ’ squarely behind the drive to encourage people to use more ' coal, both domestically and ’ industrially, he said. There had recently been

three big industrial conversions from oil to coal. N.Z. Forest Products., which formerly used 10,000 gallons of oil a day, was now using coal. So were the East Tamaki Dairy Company and the Auckland Farmers Frozen Meat Company, making! a total saving of 25,000 gal-! lons a day in three enter-! prises. Funds saving Mr Colman said it was sound economics and good planning to switch to coal and stay with it. New Zealand was faced with an increased oil bill this year of between slsom and slBom. On the domestic scene, he said, coal-fired home appliances invented or developed in New Zealand had put coal back in the front ranks as a fuel. Mr Colman said that a: Christchurch merchant had! told him that his coal orders: last month amounted to 1 $lO,OOO, whereas in February, 1973, they were only $7OO. The days of oil having the advantage of low price had passed and coal had become much more competitive. Mr Colman said he could see no troubles arising with the supply of coak Industrial

relations between the miners and employers were good. The industry was a trend setter in co-operation and consultation between unions and management.

s' The Minister said he hoped soon to see the White Paper j being prepared on energy j resources and possible refer-! s ences to the establishment of I coal-fired power stations in! the South Island. The importance of coal t was becoming greater all the I time because of limitations on the supply of natural gas, and the end being in sight for the economical generation of hydro-electricity. “Still cheaper” > e As an economic propositioni i it was still cheaper to fetch si coal to the domestic hearthp and burn it there to heat fi water and the house than it )iwas to generate electricity. i’The capital cost involved in I; supplying the power for a t two-bar electric radiator was t more than $lOOO. Mr Colman dismissed the e degree of air pollution caused t by coal burning. The pollutv ants put out of a house chim- ’ ney by Strongman coal could t be measured at 0.23 per cent,! ; compared with oil’s 3.5 per' i cent, he said. Modern equipment properly e used, produced hardly any pollution.