SEARCH FOR URANIUM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26848, 12 August 1948, Page 5

SEARCH FOR URANIUM

HIGH-GRADE CONCENTRATES DISCOVERY IN DOMINION P.A. • WELLINGTON, Aug. 11. The Minister in charge of the Scientific and Industrial Research Department, Mr McCombs, answering Dr A. M. Finlay (Govt., North Shore) in the House of Representatives to-day, said the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was aware of overseas Work on oil shales, and was now collecting a further sample of oil shale for radio-active analyses. The department had had the search for uranium ores very much to the fore during the past 10 years, and some concentrates had given figures much higher than the 200 grammes of uranium oxide per tpn quoted by Dr Finlay for Swedish shale. Mr McCombs added, however, that these New Zealand concentrates did not appear to be economically exploitable at present unless as a stock-piling measure subsidiary to the economic extraction of some other materials.

Dr Finlay said he welcomed the information about uranium, which was a subject usually “ tucked away in the dim light of a ‘ top secret ’ drawer.” If any considerable 1 supplies of uranium should be discovered in New Zealand it would be a source of revenue, but also of embarrassment. Those areas in which uranium deposits were known to exist were clearly the places for . which the rest of the world was competing to-day, and it would 1 be almost a relief if n« substantial sources of uranium were found in this country to arouse the envy and interest of other nations.