ONEKAKA IRON ORE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23262, 3 February 1939, Page 12

ONEKAKA IRON ORE

RESULTS OF BOBING SCATTERED POCKETS FOUND PESSIMISM AT TAKAKA [by TELEGRAPH —OWN correspondent] WELLINGTON, Thursday Doubts whether iron ore exists in Onekaka in deposits of sufficient bulk to allow economic working are becoming evident from test borings which have been in progress for some time. Borings so far have failed, it is understood, to locate other than scattered pockets of ore. Tunnels will be driven shortly in the hope of finding deposits! of economic quantities. Much work has been done in the formation of tracks into the area containing the depositsi, which lie in the hills well back from the old ironworks beside the Takaka-Collingwood road. In Takaka, where the announcement of the Government's development plan was received with enthusiasm, the feeling of optimism regarding the future of the scheme is becoming tinged with doubt. Many residents are frankly pessimistic, and others are still hopeful of a partial fulfilment of the original plan. The original works, which have not been in production for several years, are falling into a state of disrepair. The pig-iron retort, with its attendant feeding: shed and machinery, stands gaunt at the back of the works, and from i'b the aerial ore-conveyor line stretches back into the hills, a few hoppers, red with rust, hanging motionless. About the yard lie rusting containers, and an overhead pig-iron conveyor which formerly carried the product to road transport, stands with many of its moulds lying about the grouncl. In contrast to the dismal look_ of the works, the workers' hutments, in orderly array, are neat and clean-looking. They stand in three rows, and metalled road runs between two of the rows. A larger , building serves as a dining and recreation room. They are, however, some distance from the ore workings.