A MIRAGE

Evening Star, Issue 25993, 7 January 1947, Page 5

A MIRAGE

METAL WEALTH OF ANTARCTICA MINING OPERATIONS IMPOSSIBLE (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 10.20 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 6. “ Nonsense,” is the comment of Professor Frank Debenham, 0.8. E., founder and late director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University, commenting on the theory that beneath the Antarctic icecap there are rich deposits of uraniummetal from which atomic energy is derived. Interviewed by the ‘ Sunday Express ’ which pointed out that eight expeditions to the South Polar icecap had been planned by nine nations, Professor Debenham said there was no proof that uranium lies underneath the ice, and.even if it were there and could bo located, it certainly could not be worked. “ The average depth of the icecap, which is always on the move, is probably about 4,000 ft. And all the atomic energy in the world could not melt it or move it—and keep it melted or at bay—to enable mining operations for uranium.” Regarding minerals, Professor Debenham said even if good quantities of copper, gold, coal, and oil were found, the cost of mining them would be out of all proportion to their value. “ The only immediate economic prizes to be won from the Antarctic are in the whaling industry, and these are being scientifically exploited by international agreement. So it becomes increasingly clear that the international rivalry underlying the purely scientific nature of the Antarctic expeditions is political.” Professor Debenham added that the immediate benefit of holding areas in the South Polar regions are: (1) It would be of value in establishing whaling stations; (2) it would be of great help in meteorology. Knowledge of the behaviour of the great Antarctic gales would enable the weather of the South Atlantic and the South Pacific to be forecast accurately over a wide area. Finally, mankind might benefit by the development of Antarctic sanatoria. It was one of the healthiest regions in the world, and there had been almost dramatic cures of consumption of men who had joined South Polar expeditions. “It is unlikely that there will be any development of the economic resources of the Antarctic until we have discovered a way of radiating energy by air If we can do that we can harness the gales that blow all the year round throughout the area.