POTASH SUPPLIES

Grey River Argus, 20 September 1918, Page 3

POTASH SUPPLIES

DEPOSITS IN ALSACE,

The fact that Alsace contains the ><i most valuable deposit of potash salts : : \i in Lhe world has made tne recapture '?1 ot. the territory an international Se-p^ cessiry, says 'the .bulletin.; The field is situated' at Wittelsheim, and is alleg- ; ed to conceal 1500 million tons of the '< precious substance. There are 15 niinea I with a capacity of 800,000 tons per - j annum; but owing to the competition | with the Government mines at. Stass- | furt in Prussian Saxony, their output J has been kept down to 80,000 tons a J year. The Allies badly want potash, .1 and are now compelled to manufacture v the stuff by expensive electrical pro- ■^ cesses. In America the hunger for this fertiliser cannot be .gratified by the. j] most desperate expedients. A couple '•,$ of factories have been - established oa -J the Pacific Coast to treat the kelp, ;| but the business is-, handicapped oft. . .^ account' of the heavy labour in gather- .'••;-? ■ing the raw material from the: rocks. ■ In western Nebraska they are inspect- >3 ing 1 the alkali lakes, but even with fcho £ help of microscopes and bloodhounds J they could' not unearth enough ;potash ;■;; for adjacent needs. An ingenious elec- 'y trioian; . however, has patented a : -jM method of extracting it from cement : /ym kiln and blast-furnace dust, and his invention has enabled the Bethlehem .3l Steel Works -and other large corpora- -;|1 tions to turn a lot pf their previous^ -|1 waste into good mone.y. The success ;$■ of the process, however, is dependent ' " : jß on the result of the war. If the Allies ;;M should win back Alsace they would. -§H make artificial production largely ) un- ';JB necessary, and. at the same time^jß smash a stupendous German monopoly. ~/9