WEST COAST COAL

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31113, 16 July 1966, Page 1

WEST COAST COAL

Japanese Want 5m Tons (From Our Own Reporter) GREYMOUTH, July 15. Two representatives of the Japanese industrial firm of Marubeni lida Proprietary, Ltd., Mr R. Yahiro, a mining engineer, and Mr N. Isghiguro an administrative officer, have been visiting the West Coast to try to arrange the purchase of five million tons of coal for export to Japan, over a period of seven to 10 years. They said in Greymouth yesterday that their company’s main objective was to buy Buller coal. But if the negotiations were unsuccessful, then the company was prepared to deal with Paparoa coal. Previous shipments of Paparoa coal had been described in Japan as the best coking coal in the world. Japan at present imports 30 million tons of coal a year from Australia, Canada and the United States for its steel mills, but none was in the same class as Paparoa coal for cooking purposes Mr Yahiro said. Should an agreement be reached regarding Paparoa coal, his firm would be prepared to build a jetty at Point Elizabeth, seven miles north of Greymouth. The deep water there would permit the loading of colliers up to 35,000 tons.