Plant to clean Otago sand

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34046, 9 January 1976, Page 2

Plant to clean Otago sand

(N.ew Zealand Press Association

ASHBURTON. January 8

The Crown Crystal Glass Company’s sand-cleaning plant at Mount Somers will be used to clean sand from Central Otago in an attempt to provide its Christchurch factory with low-iron-content silica sand.

i The company has called in ;a consultant to see if the 10- • year-old plant — the only one {with such a high-cleaning poItential in New Zealand — is (capable of doing the job. I Sand is now being carried from Central Otago to Mount

(Somers in preparation for I trials next week aimed at producing the type of sand required.

The consultant, Mr J. John, said that the Mount Somers plant was the only one in New Zealand capable of processing the silica sand to such a degree. “There are similar plants elsewhere in New Zealand, but nothing so complex,” he said.

“AU we are going to do is put a higher-quality sand into it,” he said. “It is more costly than using local sand, but L. could give us what we are looking for.” Crown Crystal’s general manager in Christchurch (Mr I. G. Lyons), said the machine was capable of turning out sand with a low iron content. “It’s really just a matter of tufting, arid that is why we brought the expert in,” he said. It was necessary’ to have as low an iron content as possible in the sand to produce a clear glass.

A successful conclusion to the trials did not necessarily mean that the company would continue to bring sand from Otago. There were deposits of sand elsewhere which could be used.