Japanese coal hunt ‘may benefit N.Z.'

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33516, 23 April 1974, Page 1

Japanese coal hunt ‘may benefit N.Z.'

West Coast coal exploration and feasibility studies by a Japanese company had shown “quite promising” results, and the : project could benefit both New Zealand and Japan, the Minister of Mines (Mr Colman) said last evening from Westport.

Mr Colman said that the Government had not received any firm proposals from the Japanese company, and that it was waiting for the publication of the White Paper on coal, which would give likely requirements for coal in New Zealand.

“Several matters have to be resolved before we will be able to talk seriously to the Japanese,” he said. The Greymouth reporter of "The Press” reported yesterday that the Japanese company of Ataka and Company, Ltd, had announced that it was continuing its coal exploration on Mount Davy, in the Paparoa ranges. Drilling on the mountain has been carried out in three periods for the Japanese company by Longyear (N.Z.) Ltd, the last investigations being made only a few months ago. The deposit being investigated is a strong coking coal, with a high carbon content, which the Japanese want for vertical-process steel making from South Australian iron ore.

A cable message last week said that Ataka had declined to comment on Tokyo press reports that, its survey had confirmed the existence of soft-coking coal deposits of 22.6 million tonnes, enabling it to produce between 600,000 and Im tonnes a year.

A Japanese financial newspaper, “Niho Kogyo Shimbun,” said that Ataka had already been authorised to develop and export the yields on the condition that 100,000 tonnes should be supplied to cover domestic needs. Initial agreement This is believed to refer to the initial prospecting agreement with the previous New Zealand Government, in which 100,000 tonnes a year was reserved for use within New Zealand if the field was found economically exploitable. However, any agreements would be subject to decision by the present Government,

which has not yet issued a policy on coal exports. Ataka geologists returned to Japan in February after the sinking of three further test bores. A spokesman for the Mines Department said yesterday that they were expected t» return later in the year. Prospecting costs Mr Colman said last evening that the Japanese company had spent “quite a bit of money” proving the coal reserves and the quality of the coal, and that it must be fairly serious to have gone to the extent that it had. The White Paper on coal was "not too far away now,” he said. It was to have been published at the end of last year, but the energy crisis had recast the role of coal, and the Commission on Energy Resources had needed extra time to complete the Paper. The White Paper would be the basis for the Government’s long-range policy on

the use of coal. Proposals by Ataka would be considered in the light of this, Mr Colman said. An example of the decisions to .be made was that concerning Buller’s reserves of about 30m tons of coal. If a thermal electricity generation station were established on the West Coast, it i could need all these reserves. “Before we get too deeply committed with the Japanese we have to make certain of our own likely requirements, especially of the premium coal we have on the West Coast,” Mr Colman said.

The Japanese company had given the Government indications of what it had in mind, but more detailed proposals were still to come.