TARANAKI IRON SAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4884, 16 November 1876, Page 6

TARANAKI IRON SAND.

We are indebted to the editor of the Taranaki Herald for the following letter ; Sir, —As a New Plymouth correspondent of a Wellington paper says that the cost of smelting the iron sand given by me is absurd, and “Tally-ho,” in the Budget, says that I have surely made a blunder, and that not an ounce of the metal will ever leave the furnace at the Henui at a less cost than £8 per ton, I shall be obliged if you will afford me space to answer these parties.

My estimates of £6 per ton aa the price at which the iron could be delivered in London was based upon the careful calculations of practical men in England conversant with the working of charcoal blast furnaces ; and from, information recently obtained from Tasmania, and from Mr. Blanchard, the, intelligent furnace keeper at the Henui. As I have no object in deceiving the public, and have no wish to delude myself, I will give the different items, so that any mistake I have fallen into may be pointed out. To prevent any misunderstanding I would remark that my estimate, is of the probable cost when the furnace is in regular working order, under efficient management —the proceedings at the late trial cannot be taken as giving the slightest approximation to this. The trial was a very hurried one —the furnace was being blown in, always an expensive operation—the men were new to the work —and as the main object was to test whether the sand could be smelted in , an ordinary furnace, more men were employed than were needed, so as to have help at hand in case of difficulties occurring .in the first trial of smelting an entirely new ore. My estimate is baaed upon the furnace at the Henui turning out 100 tons of metal pet week, which lam told is under its capacity when in regular working order. Delivering iron sand and clay, say 2 tons £ s. d. sand and £ ton of clay for X ton metal produced .. .. .. .. .. 0 2 6 2 furnace-keepers at 12s. each, 245.; 2 assistants at Bs. each, 165.; 2 feeders at Bs. each, 165.; 2 spare hands at Bs. each, 165.; engineer, 125.; assistant, 10s. Total, S4s. Say £5 per day on output of 100 tons per week .. .. .. ... .. 070 Making sand into compound fuel for engine- 0 5 0 160 bushels charcoal at 4d. per bushel ~ 213 4 16 cwt. limestone at 20s. per ton .. .. 0 15 0 Royalty .. .. .. .. .. 01 0 Freight to Wellington and England .. 110 0 £5 18 10 The number of men required to work the furnace was given to me by Mr.-Blanchard, who said the furnace-keeper would require one assistant, - and that one man would feed the furnace. Besides this I have estimated for an additional man for any other work that may be required. Seven shillings per ton is above American calculations, with ordinary wages at per day, and is about the same as the cost at the British and Tasmanian Charcoal Iron Works, at West Tamar. Charcoal I have put at 4d. per bushel, made in kilns. In America the price is 2Jd. per bushel, and in Tasmania, at the above-mentioned company’s works, 3d. per bushel, the wood being brought from various distances within a radius of tea miles from the works. In estimating the cost of -limestone and the freight to England, I calculate upon the company having a small vessel of their own, to go to Massacre Bay or elsewhere for limestone, and to convey the iron to Wellington for shipment. Mr. Temple, the managing partner of Shaw, Savill, and Co., told me that the freight of the iron to England would be merely nominal, as the wool ships would be glad to take it as ballast, for which they now have to pay. The estimated cost of producing iron at the Tasmanian Company’s works, with coke aa fuel, is £3 per ton, the coal being brought from Newcastle and coked on the ground. The company apparently mean to make coke iron (which I judged would be the case from the capacity of the furnace, from 300 to 400 tons per week), and the cost of making it in England may be gathered from the fact that pig iron from the Cleveland districts and in Scotland is now selling at from 555. to 60s. pet ton, which would bring the cost of making under 40s. per ton. As to the value of the metal we are completely in the dark, and shall.be until it has been tested in England. Competent authorities in England gave it as their opinion that it would be superior to Swedish charcoal pig, the average selling price of which in England before the late high prices ruled therehad not fallen below £9 10s. to £lO per ton. When I was there in 1872 it was £ll 10s„ and French charcoal pig £ll 16s. per ton. The best brands of Swedish charcoal pig are never allowed to come .into the English market, but are in Sweden converted into bars. By the last mail I received a letter from Auckland, the writer of which has been practically engaged in the manufacture of iron during twenty years of his life. He speaks thus of two samples of the iron I sent to Auckland:—“l was very much surprised to find one sample so grey, and I must tell you candidly that I could not avoid a suspicion that it had been ‘doctored.’ All new furnaces; owing to the care taken in ‘blowing them in' with light charges and selected ores, will produce very grey iron; hut I certainly did not expect iron with so much free carbon could be. made from iron sand alone. It is a splendid sample of soft grey iron. The white iron is , the iron I should look for, and the sample shows that it would make splendid steel; it is In fact cast-steel.

He then quotes Mr. Stenson’s opinion (Mr. Stenson is a high authority in England on the subject), with whom he is in intimate corresi pondence, that it should be converted into steel before sending it to the English market,

and that steel of* the finest and best quality could be produced by a process similar to the Bessemer process. Probably this will eventually be found the most profitable form in which to export the metal, and to give an idea of the value of steel in Eugland even in the present depressed state of the trade, I quote the latest prices from the Engineer : Sheffield from .. .. £l7 to £2O per ton Fair average steel . . £24 to £32 „ Second-class tool .. £2B to £45 ~ Best special steel .. £SO to £7O ~ The cost of converting the iron into steel by the Bessemer process would be under £4 a ton. , ■ , With respect to my correspondents suspicion of the metal being “ doctored, fortunately, every precaution was taken to satisfy the public. I had special instructions from the company on this point, and appointed two very trustworthy persons, who were quite independent of the manager, and were accountable to myself only, to take an account of everything that went into the furnace, and to prevent any person going to the throat of the furnace, excepting the men engaged in feeding, who loaded the barrows under their inspection. Whatever the value of the metal may prove to be, it is certain that the product is from iron sand alone.—l am, &c., Richard Chilman,