WAX FROM PEAT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4561, 17 April 1942, Page 4

WAX FROM PEAT

CHATHAM ISLANDS RESOURCES COMMERCIAL TESTS Utilisation of the huge peat-covered areas of the Chatham Islands for the production of montax wax is stated to be an important possibility in consequence of investigations which have been made in exploration of an alternative source to the former Germanproduced supplies. Several tons of this peat were recently dealt with under laboratory conditions for the extraction of the wax, samples of which are now’ being tested out under commercial conditions. Montax wax, which is used for the manufacture of-polishes, etc., was before the outbreak of war exported from Germany, being obtained from the lignite- deposits there. Several thousand tons are used yearly in New Zealand and Australia. The yield of wax obtained from the Chatham Islands peat, however, is stated to be greater than that from lignite beds. Montax wax has been extracted by solvent methods from the Otago and Southland lignites, but it melts at a slightly lower temperature—only 5 to 6 degrees—than the German product, and reports from manufacturers are awaited concerning the suitability of the best samples which have been forwarded to them both from the South Island and Chatham Island.

Lignite deposits in the South Island have been found to have from 4 to 8 per cent of montax wax, but the peat in the Chatham Islands has been found to have as much as 1C per cent, excelling that of the German deposits. Moreover, there are colossal quantities of dry peat right on the surface in Chatham Island, requiring no mining, as is the case with lignite.