Successful Smelting of Ironsand.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1666, 4 July 1887, Page 2

Successful Smelting of Ironsand.

— -♦ — THE FIRST TAPPING. On Sunday, at 4.30 p.m., the furnace was tapped for the first time, and tho metal ran out freely. It was blocked up again, and the work went on steadily. At 1.30 p.m., the metal was again tapped, and it flowed splendidly along its channel into the pig bed, where it was formed into ordinary pigs or Bolid bars of about 2cwtß each. Two tons and a half of metal was obtained at this tapping, which occupied about 10 miuutes, and the furnace closed up again. The metal was what is termed by the trade " mottled pig " of an exceedingly good quality. This iron is not the ordinary article used in castings, but, oi course, can be used up with the ordinary pig for that purpose. Mr. Hipkins, however, waa only experimenting in hie charges in order to get the proper quantities of ironsand, etc., for the production of the ordinary pig, and this he will speedily attain after probably one or two more tappings. The Henui furnace, Mr. Hipkins is confident when he gets it into prime working order, will produce very little short of 100 tons of metal per week. We ascertained the cost of the furnace us at present working would be about i'lGO or £170 per week. The estimated output of iron would be, at the lowest, 70 tons per week, which, at £4 per ton, would yield the handsume sum of .£2BO, as against .£l7O for working expenses. On the face of that, there can be little doubt but that a financial success has been attained. The process adopted by Mr. Hipkins is simplicity itself, and reduced the expenses to a minimum. Formerly it was considered necessary to work the ironsand into compound bricks before it could be placed in the furnace, and the making of these bricks and burning them entailed an enormous amount ot labor and expense. Now Mr. Hipkios simply mixes the ironsand with tufa and sawdust. This having been thoroughly mixed, it is wheeled in barrows a'ong the approach to the top of the furnace, and tipped into it without any fmther treatment. This timple process has ensured the commercial success of the undertaking. The old process would cost at least 10s per ton more for making the compound, aud that was the preat stumbling block io the way of the successful sm&ltin^. The iron sand is eminently suited for the production of the more valuable form of iron used fur making Bteel, and the fuel for charcoal iron can be obtained exclusively in Taranaki. For the ordinary pig iron Mr. Hipkins is using coal, charcoal, and Mokau coal, but in the manufacture of the better class of iron the fuel used is- charcoal. The difficulty with regard to this iron is that the consumption in the colony is so small that it would be necessary to find a market elsewhere for it. The matter resolves itself into a question of freight and other charges, but it is confidently expected by those competent to judge that the manufacture of this iron would eventually prove more remunerative than the ordinary pig iron. It would certainly do more good to the district, for a splendid opportunity would be afforded to our bush settlers to earn money Io keep them comfortably during a large portion of the year by utilising the timber that they at present destroy when clearing their sections. The members of the Iron Association are now most anxious to continue the present smelting operations for a week, or more, if possible, but they have only sufficient fuel to last two or three days at' the most. They have decided, therefore, to make another appeal to the public for aid, and we feel sure the appeal will get a generous response. After the trial is completed and the commercial success proved by the actual sale of the iron prodnced, a company with a substantial capital will be floated to carry on the | operations, the subscribers obtaining shares in the company. The furnace was tapped at 10 o'clock last night, when a similar quantity of metal was obtained to that run out in the morning. This morning it is confidently expected that the yield of metal will have greatly increased. — Abridged trom the News.

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