BELGIAN ENTERPRISE

Hokitika Guardian, 18 July 1931, Page 3

BELGIAN ENTERPRISE

COPPER FROM THE CONGO. NOUMEAN NICKEL. b ■ Interested in the development of the mining of nickel and chrome in the island of New Caledonia, two Belgian engineers, Messieurs R. Bloc and P. lianck, of I’Union Miniere du Hnut Katanga, .are through passengers to San Francisco by the Maungaimi, which has arrived gt Wellington from Sydney, Messieurs Bloc and - lianck Rave spe-nt some months on the island, and they are now returning to Belgium via the United States. . . Exceedingly rich deposits of nickel are on the. island, said M. Hanck to a “Dominion” reporter the other day. At one time the whole of the-world’s supply of the metal came from NoumeaThe largest us© for nickel was in its alloys, German silver and nickel-steel, he said. On account of its non-tarnish-ing properties and power o. taking a high polish, it was very largely used to coat other metals. Nickel added to steel raised its elastic limit, nickel-s.teel was of great importance for gun-steel i-in combating the fatigue induced h.y.i repeated firing. The two most important mines in the world .were those of Sudbury, Ontario, and of New Caledonia.

Extensive Copper Mines

M.. Hanck had a little to say concerning his company-,;. I’Union Minioro du j Haut Katanga, which owns extensive. copper mines in, Katanga, a part of Belgian Congo in Central Africa. The company, operates in a large -way, and in 1929 the production of copper reached 130,000 tons. It, therefore, ranked among the most important copper producers in the world. In the Congo there were several subsidiary organisations, hydro-electric, chemical, coal, flour-milling, land, and -railway companies, while in Belgium the Union Miniere had a large interest in la Societe Generate Metallurgique do Hoboken, which effected r-fche final processes to the metals. , ; With the erection of a Jarge modern plant copper, tin, radium, and. cobalt wore also obtained. Uranium, containing a very high, content a radium had been discovered ap Katanga at .QhinkoJobwo. The first .grammes were found in December, 1922, and since then the annual production had been as follows: 20 gr. .in 1923, 22 in 1924 , 20 in 1920, 20 in 1926/26 in 1927',' 42 in 1928, aim 60 in 1929. A-’ factory had been constructed at Oolcn in Belgium for the treatment of uranium, from which practically, .tjl£,whole, world drew itssupply'"oF radium.

Mhpy Employees

The Union Miniere employed in Africa nearly 2500 Europeans of all professions ami, trades who did not enR gage-dri-. manual-labour,, hut ratherg in investigating, and superintending operations;,,: he;,'said. . ,The , officials of the company- lived- in fine houses-of European) style, ...and they also engaged a good deal) inr,sporting l - activities, the principal- “distractions” being tennis, football, cycling; and golf. The company employed about 17,000 native workers, the labour presenting a difficult problem at Katanga was a region not very thickly.peopled. Therefore Hie workers had to be recruited from other parts of the Congo or from Rhodesia or Angola.

The principal town of Katanga was Elisabethville, which was founded only, in 1910. It was now - a pretty place, with a population of- about 9000 Europeans, laid out in American style. The territory was progressing rapidly, there being still great mineral deposits not touched, but there was still a lot of pioneer work to be done.