TITANIUM DIOXIDE FROM N.Z. SANDS

Wanganui Chronicle, 14 April 1949, Page 5

TITANIUM DIOXIDE FROM N.Z. SANDS

S. Island Deposits May Be Better Than Taranaki WELLINGTON, Last Night (PA). lf ilmenite, rich in titanium dioxide, can be recovered on an economic basis from New Zealand ironsands it might mark the beginning of a new industry for the Dominion, an officer of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, stated today. He was commenting on a recent cable message from London, which said that the possibility of extracting important, quantities of titanium from Taranaki ironsands as part of a geeral scheme for obtaining iron by electrical smelting was receiving close attention in the Dominion. South Island ironsands may prove more important than Taranaki sands as a source of titanium products, the officer said. Taranaki—rather than South Island —ironsand was to be used in electric smelting experiments at Onekaka because of the relatively small quantity of titanium it contained. The existence of titanium in ironsand made the production of iron from it somewhat difficult. Taranaki ironsand concentrate contained about 5 per cent, of titanium. In smelting lor 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 and if it were unable to do so an important quantity of titanium would be lost if a large amount of ironsand were smelted. The officer said that the position regarding South Island ironsands was quite different. Concentrates from these, which occur 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 queston to bo answered regardng these sands was whether 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 officers aid. However, 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 econmic 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 production of titanium products.