THE IRONSAND INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144857, 8 December 1915, Page 2

THE IRONSAND INDUSTRY.

Important developments. SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATION. Although very little has been heard of late vvii/h icierenc© to jroubaiici, iiupui LUiit woiiC has L,ecu in hand at iUoluluit, mid uUcr caretul expoiimoiUs extcnui..g over a period oi aooat swerve mourns uie fiesni'iL syndicate had u puuuc demonstration "ran'' on Tuesday luicruuuu. This snowed very ciisany maf iruusand can he convened into pig-iron m a practical way. Tne process, which has ucen evolved by tuo joint clfuris of Messrs. J. A. ficshett, »i . P. JtiesKClt and S. E. I-laser (consulting engineer, of Auckland!, has tnumpiied over aii tne initial aunculuee and a.i doubts as to tbo icasiumly or manuraclunng pig-nou trout taranaki ironsand is mis at rest. Tne process is an interesting one, but of course the details are tne pi opin’ty of tne syndicate. Witnout, noweve:, giving away any of the essential points, it uugut no interesting to mention tuat the ironsaud is ‘'coned" vvim a coking coal, ioriuing a compound which is sett-reduc-ing in tne turnace, -However, after an, what concerns the public of not omy Taranaki Dnt of New Zealand as a wnoio is uic iact that pig-iron of a very superior quality cun uo produced hero, and produced at a price wnich wifi compete with tuo imported article. it is the intention of the patentees to form a company tor the production of pig-iron, and at a later stage to moigo into the stool industry. Tne possibilities of manufacturing iron and steel in New Zealand are particularly promising, and especially so at the present time, when it Ss suoU a difficult matter to obtain supplies from foreign nuirkets. Great Britain produces only 2U per cent, of the world’s output of iron and steel, and the balance is practically all in tbo bands of America and Germany, so that the Imperial authorities are fully alive to the necessity of developing tno iron industry in the colonies. Had New Zealand been manufacturing pig-iron it would have been, practically speaking, a- small matter to have produced the necessary material for the manufacture of munitions of war, but not having the raw material the Munitions Committee found that it would be impossible for New Zealand to take any part in that direction.

New Zealand imports over £4 worth of iron and stool por annum per head of the population, mnjdng the Dominion the largest users of iron and steel, per head ot population, of any country in the world—incidentally it is generally conceded to bo a fact that the country using the largest amount of iron and) steel is the most progressive. Ot course it is not contemplated for one moment that the syndicate for some years to come will manufacture all that is required, but there is a very large amount of material imported into Now Zealand which could be quito well manufactured here provided the raw material in the form of pig-iron was available. Experts tell us most emphatically that tbo supply of ironsand is unlimited, and the demonstration at the works of the syndicate on Tuesday showed that the question of supply of sufficient raw material will at no distant date bo an accomplished fact. It ie estimated that the cost ot a plant to produce 175 tons of pig-iron per week will run into about £35.000, including working capital. and the Hcskett Syndicate, which has already spent about £SOOO in bringing the matter to a payable production point, will-possibly appeal to the public for this amount of capital. ' Seeing the great advantage it would be to the Dominion ns a whole to be, able to produce such a largo proportion of its requirements of pig-iron, this is a very small amount of capital, and no difficulty should bo experienced in floating the company. The syndicate had a run some weeks ago, and the pig-iron was turned into ordinary trade castings in Qhristchurch had Auckland with the best of results. One firm in Christchurch which experimented with the pig-iron decided to cease further importations, and has already placed an. order with tbo syndicate for its total requirements. Other tests carried out by engineering firms have shown that the castings produced were of excellent machinery quality and adaptable to any class or work. Several samples were handed to our representative showing the quality of the product of the syndicate,-and these can Be seen at the Herald office by anyone interested. The demonstration on Tuesday was carried out in the presence of representatives of engineering firms of Christchurch and Auckland and a largo number of local representative residents, and all appeared to be highly satisfied with the results.