BAUXITE FOUND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 28, 13 March 1942, Page 2

BAUXITE FOUND

A TASMANIA!* ACCIDENT WEALTH MAY BE OPENED Not long ago, a road wore out in Tasmania. Repairs began. A complaint went into the Public Works Department that the material being used by the repairers was bad. As an afterthought the person making the complaint suggested that a big deposit of ironstone gravel close by could be used.. Investigating officers tested the deposit and found bauxite—2,ooo,ooo tons of it and not far away, another big deposit right on the surface. extent unknown. These discoveries have raised the tiope that Tasmania may become a vital centre of the light metal industry. Tasmania's hydro electric resources, actual and potential, supply one of the essential requirements of the production of light metals — cheap power. Hitherto that has bccij the only attraction the State could

offer to the aluminium industry, but the discovery of the bauxite depos■its had completely changed the situation, and the Government is endeavouring to have the industry established. Coal is situated close to the bauxite area. While the aluminium industry at present oiTers the most hopeful possibilities, Tasmania eventually may other consti-, tuents of modern light alleys, such as magnesium. The Premier, Mr Cosgrove, intends to approach the Prime Minister with the idea of launching a joint Commonwealth and State enterprise. An offer has been made by a foreign Government to take up to 70,000 tons of bauxite annually. Aluminium cannot be produced at present within £25 a ton of the estimated cost of producing it in Tas-| mania* J