TITANIUM PRODUCTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27057, 16 April 1949, Page 9

TITANIUM PRODUCTS

EXTRACTION FROM IRONSANDS INVESTIGATION IN SOUTH ISLAND PA WELLINGTON, Apl. 14. If ilmenite rich in titanium dioxide could tie recovered on an economic basis from New Zealand ironsands it might mark the beginning of a new industry for the Dominion, said an officer of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to-day. He was commenting on a recent cable message from London, which said the possibility of extracting important quantities of titanium from Taranaki ironsands as part of the general scheme for obtaining iron by electrical smelting was receiving close attention in the Dominion.

The South Island ironsands might prove more important than the Taranaki sands as a source of titanium products, the officer said. Taranaki — rather than South Island—ironsand was to be used in\the electric smelting experiments at Onekaka because of the relatively small quantity of titanium is contained. The existence of titanium in ironsand made production of iron from it somewhat difficult. The Taranaki ironsand concentrate contained about 5 per cent, titanium In smelting for iron this would go into slag. So far no economic method of extracting titanium from such slag had been discovered. The department was interested in finding such a method. If it were unable to do so an important quantity of titanium would be lost if a large amount of ironsand were smelted.

South Island ironsand was quite different, the officer said. Concentrates from these deposits, which occurred on the West Coast, from Westport southward, were mixtures of magnetite, ilmenite and garnet. These could be separated, giving a concentrate of ilmenite containing about 44 per cent. of titanium dioxide. The question to be answered about these sands was whether the extraction of titanium products would be a paying proposition. The actual method of extraction offered no great difficulties. South Island ironsand deposits had not yet been properly surveyed, the officer said. The department was looking into the possibility of recovering ilmenite from them and investigations into the best method of doing this were being carried out. If ilmenite could be recovered on an economic basis it might mark the beginning of a new industry for the production of titanium pigments. Another possibility was the export of ilmenite to Tasmania, where a start was being made with the making of titanium products.