TARANAKI IRONSAND.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1402, 30 March 1912, Page 22

TARANAKI IRONSAND.

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. ■It is.not,generally known that the possiblo development of Taranaki ironsnnd dates back a period of Gl years, when Mr. John Perry, a carpenter and a pioneer of the province, .'made an attempt to smelt the sand by erecting a.email furnace on tho banks of a creek which ran into the Huatoki River. Mr. 'Perry was eucouraged in ,tha work by the then Governor, Sir George Grey, Who promised him a lease of an ironsand beach area if his experiment was successful. Great difficulty was experienced by Mr. Perry in. carrying out the work, owing to the fineness of tho sand, which made.its way to the bottom of the furnace before the fire . could operate upon it with sufficient smelting power, but small quantities of iron'were'produced and'forced into various ; articles by Mr. Wood, a blacksmith. Such was the genesis of what there is reason to believe will one day be one of New Zealand's biggest" industries. ' Magnetic ironsnnd is found in great abundance on the Taranaki sea shore from Mokau to Patea, a' distance of' 130 miles. Tho stuff, say the. scientists, has been washed by the rivers out of the-"tufa tt'hioh surrounds tho base of Mount Egmont. and carried-out on to the sea beach. It appears to be a sublimate of iron and- by volcanic agency, and converted into a black magnetic oxide, while 'in a heated state, through contact with heated steam, it produces a smelting of 50 to 61 per cent, of iron of tho finest quality, the tensile strength of which has been discovered by experiment to bo greater by 35 tons 5 cwt. to the square inch .than that of the liest English iron. When converted into steel, the iron has been put to the most severe tests by many eminent steel and tool makers in Great Britain, and has been admitted by them, to be unsurpassed by any. other steel- in the world. Its closeness of-grain, -brilliancy of polish, keenness of edge, elasticity, and strength have excited! general admiration amongst experts, authorities, and captains in the steel industries, and have led to the prediction that ultimately it must supersede all- other brands of steel for the finer and more expensive branches of the cutlery and edge-tool trade. ' NEW WORKS. ' ■' 'A few .weelcs ago a plant was set down 'at Mot'uroa : by tho Parapara Iron Ore Company, in close proximity to the oil wells, in order to deal with experiments to produco metals which will stand severe tests, and which will rival platinum and •other allied metals in general efficacy. A number of these experiments have already ' been! carried out bv Messrs. .T. C. Smith (second son of the late Mr. E. M. Smith M.H.R.), and-W. Twecdale, a. practical smelter, and,'it is understood, with every success. The successful treatment is said to.have been largely due to petroleum, but very little information on the subject can at present be obtained from the two principals,. whose reticence is not unnatural. Developments have reached the stago that the Parapara Company havo deposited a sum of .£2OOO with tho New Plymouth Harbour Board as' a guarantee in connection vith, the bond they undertook when they .purchased tho ironSand interests • owned by the trustees of tho .lato Alfred Cadman estate. .The new plant which is now erect'.edwas manufactured-in Christciiurch. It •comprises a ,50-h.p. gas suction: engine, gas 'producing'-plant,; brick-making machine, and a blower.and, smelter of the latest design. There is''also a laboratory and assay plant attached; The sands-are to be exhaustively tested for.-- all their known and ■ yet-to-be-proved values. Taking, a comprehensive view of what has been accomplished in the past, there appears to be no reason why further important developments in the treatment of tho sand should not now be attained. The experimental work of the Tarapara Company's staff at Moturoa will be watched with interest throughout New Zealand. : . PAST HISTORY. - Tho present seems to be a favourable opportunity to briefly review/what has already been done by the pioneers of the industry. Alter Perry's first experiments in 1848, Mr. C. Sutton followed on somewhat similar lines with a smelting works near Mount M'Cormick, but, as may be easily understood, he was not very successful, his plant being of the most crude description. In 1858 the Provincial Government of Taranaki granted an ironsand lease to Captain Morsehcad, a retired officer of the East India Company's service. This gentleman went .to England in order to float a company to work the ore. He was unsuccesL-fiiV in his mission, and in 1869 a firm from Wellington, under the name of Henochsburg and- Company, erected a furnace on the South lioail, just outside the boundaries of New Plymouth, and nttmpted ip work the sand. 'Partial suc : cess attended the?e operations, and the firm was expanded into a company known as the Pioneer Steel Company, but failing tomako steel How freely from the surface, the syndicate'suspended operations. They then deputed Mr.'Chilman, an enterprising New Plymouth resident, to proceed to England, represent to {he ironmasters of Great Britain the value of the ore, obtain information as to the best manner of treating the stuff, sell the old. works if possible, and raise a new company. Mr. Chilnnn succeeded in selling the lease of the sands, and also the company's interest; to' Mr. Walduck, wlio failed" to do anything of any special note, but a company was formed chiefly by the exertions of Mr. E. M. Smith, later known as Ironsand Smith," an active and New Plymouth resident, who afterwards represented the district in Parliament. "IRONSAND SMITH;" In the early 'seventies Mr. Smith had a small arsenal, in Wellington, and here from Taranaki ironsand ho used to manufacture breech blocks for. the rifles then m use- by the Colonial Government. Mr. Smith discovered a method of preventing the choking of the furnaces by the ironsand by forming,it with clay into compound bricks before subjecting it to the fire. This company bore the name of the New; Zealand Titania Steel and Ironworks Company, Limited. Its proposed capital was .£50,000 in 5000 shares of .£lO each, with power to increase to ,£IOO,OOO. About .£20,000 of this capital was called up. A works was erected at Henui, including a , blast charcoal furnace on the best Ameri- ■ ; can plan, and a powerful engine and apparatus for producing a hot blast. After tho works had been completed and evcry- . tiling was in readiness for commencing tho operations, the company shut up tho place and refused to take charge of tiie furnace. At thu earnest solicitation of tho shareholders, residing in Taranaki, iand. on> their guaranteeing to protect the company from loss; or damage, permission was given for cxDerimental operations to bo conducted. ■ The -first of these was an : experimental reduction of ore, which was chiefly hcinatite, from the Parapara mine, at Golden Bay, Nelson. The next experi- . merit was conducted under the supervision of Messrs. E. M. Smith and D. Atkinson,- by which ironsand alcne was reduced. !On Saturday, September 23, 187G, the furnace, was tapped, and .1 tons ljcwt. of pig-iron was produced, which has since been tested in England and reported to ' be of the best possiblo quality. For somo reason, possibly want of capital, the furnace was blown out, and the works closed down. In 188-t a fur/her agitation on tho part of. New. Plymouth people led ' to a Mr. Hughes, from New South Wales, putting ,down a. plant, ) nl [- ],j s experiments were not of a successful nature, and the works again remained idle till 1887. An enthusiast named Hipkins then experimented, with some success, and a certain - nmonnt'of-failure, and then Mr. T. Oldfield purchased the works, and, in conjunction with Mr. E. M. Smith, ho succeeded in making iron. - FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS.'. Tho next development was the purchase of the plant at Ilenui by the Bank of New ZeaWnd, and the removal of it to Auckland, where it was re-erected. Various attempts were made there to 6inclt the iron, but without success. Meanwhile, Mv. Smith had gut into Parliament, and he persuaded tho Bank of Now r Zealand directors to allow him the chanre of proving the soundness of his process of producing marketable- iron. This was doni in order to enable the bank to.obtain tlio bonus offered .it the-time by (he Government. The financial- trouble* which commenced in 1592 placed a d.impcr on the whole business, although Mr. Smith provod .beyond a shadow of a doubt that iron and steel of the finest quality in th| world could be produced

by his methods, ivhich ho declared were both simple mul cheap. Nothing further was dune till 189'S, when Mr. Smith went to England to raise a company, lie was partly successful, but after spending .LSOflll,' am! re- . reiving applications for £ttS,WI> ol shares, broker became involved in financial speculations, over which Mr. Smith had no control, and the New Zealander re- • turned to his home a much saddened man. He continued''-in his efforts to promote interest in tho industry, became lctinwn as "Ironsand Smith" far and wide, and preached his gospel at all times and at all hours. In 1901 he and the late Sir Alfred Cadman proceeded to England with the intention , of ' introducing British capital into the venture. The leading Bcientists reported' 'most favourably as to the quality of the iron and steel shown and "manufactured, hut vexatious delays in the 'financial world, prevented anything tangible from being done. Then Mr. Smith later returned to England alone. .Failing health,rendered, it impossible for Jiim to e.arrv out his project to a successful issue, and then Mr. J. H. Witheford, who: is.now in'New.Zealand, took up tho burden. He also was unsuccessful. Mr. .B.'M. Smith died in 1907, .without realis"irig the supreme-hope of his life, and all interest in the industry languished until his second son,-Mr! J. C. Smith, followed in his father's footsteps, and experimented in various directions, with an idea of extracting certain other.metals then iron from the .sand. These metals exist in payable quantities, made so by a.certain process in which petroleum is understood to play'a leading part. The project has.been taken up by tho Paraparn. Iron Ore. Company, which some time ago purchased theironsand rights held by the trustees in the estate of the late Mr. A. J. Cadman, and further experimental work is now being undertaken.