TARANAKI IRON SAND.

Evening Star, Issue 3273, 16 August 1873, Page 2

TARANAKI IRON SAND.

Pursuant to announcement, Mr E. M. Smith, the travailing agent of the New Zealand Titanic Steel and Iron Company, delivered an address, explanatory of the position and prospects of the company and the proposed manufacture of steel and iron from the Taranaki sand, in the Friendly Societies’ Hall, yesterday afternoon. There was a large attendance, which included a number of mercantile men, iron-founders, and iron-workers.

Professor Black, who presided, explained that the Taranaki sand was, without doubt, the purest known, being far superior to any in England. He had assayed a small quantity, which yielded 51 per cent, of pure metal, whereas the average from English sand was 31 per cent Difficulty had been experienced in getting rid of the titanium, but that was now got over by the admixture of the sand with clay. Some of the latter obtained at Taupo bad been sent to him for analysis. He found it contained 34 per cent, of iron, and if the Taranaki sand could be mixed with clay possessing such a high percentage of iron, there could not be the least doubt of the thing being a commercial success.

Mr Smith explained that on the Taranaki beach, where the sand was obtained, it lay to a depth of twenty feet. The company possessed eight and a-half miles length, 274 yards width of sand beach, besides 5,000 acres of bush land, on a free lease of foriytwo years, from the Provincial Government. The sand was easily smeltable. The General Government had granted a bonus of L 6,000 on the first production of one hundred tons of steel, and LoOO for the first thousand tons of crude metal. The iron could be produced at L 7 per ton, and was worth about L 23 in the Colony, Steel could be produced for Ll6 10s per ton, while in the Colony it fetched between L6O and L7O. Thirty or forty practical men of experience were employed, and when the new furnace is erected and everything in working order, fifty tons of metal can be produced. All necessary materials, such as coal, limestone, and clay, are in abundance in the vicinity of the works. Shares had been taken ujj in Picton, Kelson, Taranaki,

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Wanganui, Wellington, and Dunedin, to the number of 2,000. The shares were only LlO each, but the directors only proposed calling up L 3 per share, so that each original applieant would get a LlO share for L 3. They would afterwards increase the capital, when the second issue would be sold at LlO. Adjoining the How Zealand Company s lease an English company was about to start; and the latter would include largo and wealthy ironfonnders at Home. Apart from the large demand for steel in England, there was sufficient demand for both iron and steel in the Colony for two companies to produce. A vote of thanks to rofessor Black terminated the proceedings.