PARAPARA IRON ORE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13368, 19 August 1907, Page 6

PARAPARA IRON ORE.

Dll. BELL'S REPORT

Tli > third of tlie new series of Bulletins of the New Zealand Geological .Survey oi partment, prepared by Dr Bell and hiii ussistants deals with the Purapura (iScjson) district, and embraces an area of about 243 square miles. 'Of industrial interest is the report on the Parapara iron ore deposits. llicio deposits, the' report states, are of vast economic value and of great scwnliiiu interest. "It stems remarkable,'' says the report, "that deposits of iron ore of such immensity, of such high average quality, ;md of such easy accessibility should have remained so long imwei'ktd. Exposed as they are to ihe surface, they possess every faci itv for cheap and easy winning, while their close proximity to the sea coast, at once affords every opportunity for their exportation in the crude state, or as pig iron. The actual winning of the ore could be undertaken with little difficulty or expense, by simply quarrying, or the open cut system. In t-lie Mesabi section of the Lake Superior region, where somewhat similar conditions % prevail, the actual cose of mining is estimated at 80 cents, or 3s 4daton. In New Zealand, the average cosfs should not greatiy exceed this - amount, and mining operations might be conducted even more economically. It will probably be found expedient to convert the ore into pigiron before exportation." The report goes on to say : —"lt lias been estimated by very good authorities that at the present rate of consumption, within 50 years the world's visible supply of ores "now considered sufficiently high grade to be employed for manufacture, will be exhausted. In view of these considerations the value of the immense deposits of iron ore at Para para cannot be doubted, and the day does not soem far davtant when ths great store of mineral wealth will be utilised."