CINNABAR MINING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20229, 13 April 1929, Page 13

CINNABAR MINING.

OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH. ERECTION OF LARGE WORKS. ACTIVITIES OF NEW COMPANY. Quietly and unostentatiously, a new industry is being established north of Auckland. On some 000 acres of land at Ngawha Springs, near Kaikohe, 40 men are engaged in erecting the. buildings and plant necessary to exploit tho valuable cinnabar deposits found in that region, and it is likely that everything will be ready to comtneneo operations in about three months. The works aro being erected for Kaikohe Development, Limited, a company registered in New Zealand with £25,000 of English capital. It is an offshoot of Imperial Chemical Industries, Limited, the great British combine formed three years ago with Sir Alfred Mond as chairman of directors, and £58,000,000 of issued capital. Tho manager of tho subsidiary New Zealand company is Mr. R. H. Goodwin, who was sent to tho Dominion by the British combine a year ago, and who is now supervising tho erection of the works and installation of machinery. Mr. William McNeill has been brought out from Homo to act as engineer. Tho greater part of tho machinery is being manufactured in Auckland and forwarded to Kaikolio by schooner and motor-truck, via Opua. lhe plant includes two rotary furnaces, required to vaporise the mercury in the ore, and the condensers through which 1110 IIICICUIV fumes aro drawn. After solidifying in these chambers tlic resultant chemical will be treated to remove impurities. Tho mercury at Ngawha Springs is held in suspension in tlio earth, and tlio cost of its recovery is therefore less than in the case of ore which has to be crushed before passing through the furnaces. The machinery will bo run by an internal combustion engine, although electricity will bo generated on tho property for lighting purposes. A dam is now in course of construction in furtherance of a scheme for supplying the works with water, and bores aro being put down with the same object. Quarters have been built for tho men, and a residence has been erected' for the j manager. Tho foundations have been j made for tho machinery, and a great deal of grading, levelling and road-making has been completed. It is expected that something like £75,000 will have been expended at the works by the time everything is in readiness for operation. The mercury product will bo despatched direct to tho English market, where, at the present moment, it is worth £22 10s a flask of 751b.