WORLD AFFAIRS

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9204, 31 March 1938, Page 3

WORLD AFFAIRS

NEWS FROM MANY QUARTERS

LOCATING DEPOSITS

NEW RADIO BEAM FINDER

(By “Pacificus” in “The Christian

Science Monitor”)

Many a prospector, trudging his

way across mountain and desert

abandoning one fruitless digging

after another, has dreamed that a

time might come when, by some

magic, he could peer through rocks

and sand, through the surface of the inhospitable earth, and see with certaintv the places where he should sink shafts to find the hidden treas-

ure. That time has arrived in some degree, for newly devised apparatus makes it possible for a lone searcher after gold or other metal to spare himself the labour of digging where nothing is to be found, and even to locate with precision any. concentrated deposits which may lie within 25 feet of the earth’s surafce. The device is a radio beam finder for the location of metallic mineral deposits, which can be operated by a single individual.

Pacificus gets his information about the device from R. Burton Rose, mining geologist, of San Jose, California, who has done extensive pioneering and experimentation in this field. The equipment already is being employed by some 1200 institutions and individuals throughout the country. Instruction in its use is being given in some public schools.

SEARCH FOR OIL This small portable one-man equipment is similar to, but much less powerful than, the elaborate plants being used by mining and oil companies to explore new fields and locate new mines or wells. These large and more complicated “induction” types, such as are used in locating oil structures or “domes” likely to carry oil, require a crew of about 20 men, and trucks to haul the heavy equipment.

Large areas in the West where oil is thought to exist, such as the Red Desert in Wyoming, are being explored by this means. First, a hole is drilled to a depth of about 9 0 feet. Then a charge of explosive is set off in the hole and the resulting “earthquake” waves are recorded by the operators, stationed at a distance. It is known how long would be required for the "echo” to bound back through solid structures; any variation from this norm enables the trained investigator to predict very accurately the presence or absence of possible oil structures. . The presence of oil itself cannot be determined, but the presence or absence of probably oil-bearing structures can be determined with reasonable certainty. The mere discovery that suitable structures arc not present usually means a saving of many thousands of dollars because the sinking of a well perhaps a mile deep has been shown in advance to be unnecessary. Possible underground bodies of water can also be reached for in this manner, and the process is useful in determining the presence of good or poor bases for the foundations of large dams or other structures.

But it is not only in these largescale operations that the beam finder can be used. The lone prospector now can obtain equipment which is as easy to handle as a wheelbarrow, and which will save him hours of fruitess digging and perhaps guide him to his goal.

OIL FROM COAL LONDON —New hope has come to several thousand unemployed workers in a distressed area in South Wales, wtih the laying recently of the foundation stone of an oil from coal plant at the Wern Tawr Colliery. Glamorganshire. The ceremony was performed by Lord Dunraven, a former M.P., who said the plant would provide increasing employment in an industry which was essential to the well-being of Britain.

The Government and Lord Nuffield have provided half of the required capital of £650,000, and it is hoped to have the plant in operation by next autumn. The plant is to turn some 500 tons of coal daily into smokeless fuel, the byproducts including petrol, Diesel oil, tar and acids. Already miners who have had no regular employment for 17 years are among those who have been taken on. The scheme includes the reopening of colliery works which have lain idle for four years.

FAMOUS RESORT BLACKPOOL, England.—Several million pounds are involved in the most ambitious planning scheme yet undertaken by a British pleasure resort, and shortly to be carried through at Blackpool. Within the next few years the Corporation proposes to remodel the heart of the borough and rebuild the busiest of its five railway stations which serve millions of visitors annually. Private projects include the erection of a new opera house to seat 3000, a variety theatre and two departmental stores on the London pattern. Of £1,750,000 which the Corporation seeks powers from Parliament to borrow, almost £500,000 is to be spent on acquiring the Central rail--way terminal which, first built 70 years ago when the population of Iho town was a fraction of its present 100,000, is now a congested bottleneck. Gasworks near the beach aro to be moved at a cost of £123,000.