N.Z. SULPHUR INDUSTRY

Grey River Argus, 6 August 1940, Page 3

N.Z. SULPHUR INDUSTRY

THERMAL REGION I Under Investigation [Per Press Association.] WELLINGTON, August 5. In an interview at Rotorua where he spent the week-end, thg Minister in-Charge of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Researcn, Hon. Dr. McMillan, indicated that his department has recently carried out a complete survey of the sulphur-pro-ducing possibilities in the Rotorua thermal area. The Minister said that the annual consumption of sulphur in New Zealand was fifty thousand tons, and the survey had shown that the total amount of sulphur available in this area to be about twenty thousand tons. While this quantity was small compared with the country’s annual requirements, it was nevertheless considered advisable to ascertain whether the country’s sulphur deposits could not be used to advantage. It was prooable that sulphur from local deposits could be dealt with by at least one type oi plant, and that steps could be taken to concentrate on the lower grades. Sulphur was chiefiy used in the manufacture of fertilisers, and was, therefore, an important commodity. Further investigations were proceeding.