SCHEELITE MINING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1941, Page 6

SCHEELITE MINING

A WAR INDUSTRY

KEY MAN RETAINED ON JOB

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

DUNEDIN, This Day. An indication of how important scheelite mining is to the Empire war effort and an idea of the activities of Macßae's Flat Gold and Scheelite Company were given to the Armed Forces Appeal Board at its first sitting in Dunedin by the manager of the company, Mr. H. P. Lewis, in an application for exemption from military service on behalf of a mining engineer employed by the company, the appeal being based on the grounds of public interest and undue hardship to the firm. "Scheelite is urgently required for the Empire's war effort," Mr. Lewis told the board, "and I have repeated requests from the Mines Department urging that the production of ore be raised to the highest point and that the men engaged on scheelite mining should be retained. Every ton of scheelite we can produce is urgently wanted by the Government, which is buying it on behalf of the Imperial Purchasing Board. From it tungstic acid is obtained and this is used for hardening steel for armour-plating.

"Altogether about 1800 tons ,of scheelite has been mined at Macßae'js," Mr. Lewis added, "and in the past six months alone we have shipped 12 tons of treated ore for which we get £220 a ton. Our average assay in that period has been 66.7 pc, cent. All this goes straight to the Government for war purposes, and we have just received a further urgent request for any ore on hand."

Mr. Lewis said that the company had been carrying out important development work at the mine and it was hoped to secure good ore as a result. The appeal was adjourned sine die.