AFTER MANY YEARS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 73, 26 March 1912, Page 7

AFTER MANY YEARS.

WORKING TARANAKI'S IRONSAND WHAT IS BEING DONE. [BY ISLEGBAPH — SPECIAL TO THE POST.] NEW PLYMOUTH, This Day. Ifc is only a matter of a few days before the initial lot of ironsand briquettes ■will be in process of manufacture at Moturoa.' The Paparoa Iron Ore Company's works will be completed at the end of the month and no time will ba lost in commencing operations. As there was ■such scepticism locally a special reporter visited the works and found an up-to-date plant and buildings costing several thousand pounds. Prior to that if was common talk that the machinery was cheap and secondhand, that the works were merely run up to dodge the Harbour Board cancelling the lease, that they were only temporary, and that th« company had no serious intentions of giving the proposed industry a proper trial. The manager, however, pointed out the massive concrete foundations and other features of the building. The works convinced the reporter that the plant had been installed with an eye to future developments. The visitor was agreeably surprised at the thorough preparations. The ground was covered with cases of machinery, and it was apparent the company means business. The patent process of heating the briquettes, sand mixed with clay, is enshrouded in great tecrecy. The pressman .was admitted, but no other visitors were allowed. Other than the process auxiliary jx> smelting for treating the refractory metals in ironsand nothing could be gleaned. A rival company somewhere .on the coast is becoming active and has sent a representative to America, and therein lies much of the reason for the 1y company's reticence. Much interest has been aroused' by &• statement of Mr. J. Smith, son of the late Mr. E. M. Smith, that the iron was not bis only objective. He and his collaborator, Mr. Tweedale, had been working at a secret process for the past two years and now claimed that they had perfected the treating of the sand whereby certain valuable new metals had been obtained. He said one white metal hitherto unknown, with the same properties as platinum, had been successfully tested for motor-car work and at an Australian wireless, station. • Underlying the sand are deposits of clay. Machinery has been erected for manufacturing 20,000 builders' bricks daily. Later the company will possibly erect revolving magnets to separate the light grey, useless sand from, the ironblack variety. At present there is no need for this, as the quantity of sand on the beach i* so rich that it is practically pure ironsand. The beach will b« first picked over. Probably an aerial tramway, to convey the sand from the company's beach, which is nearly a mile in extent, wil be erected. Thei* will be no formal opening ceremony. If the statements made prove to be justified Taranaki, after many weary years of waiting, will shortly be in a position of definitely knowing whether the ironsand is' of commercial value. The result of the handling of the first lot of pig iron is being awaited with considerable interest.