RADIUM IN AUSTRALIA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 952, 9 February 1911, Page 4

RADIUM IN AUSTRALIA.

Something has already been heard of the discovery by Mr Douglas Mawson a few weeks ago of a deposit of radium in Australia. Further information on the subject, obtained from Mr Mawson himself, cannot fail to be acceptable. Interviewed, Mr Mawson explained that the discovery was made early in November last, when a piece of radium-bearing ore was brought into the Adelaide Museum under the impression that it was another mineral, of no commercial value. The specimen, however, came under the notice of Dr Mawson, who is honorary mineralogist there. Previously it was known that in the locality from which the ore came there were other minerals of scientific interest, and it was therefore deemed worth while to arrange for a proper investigation. The South Australian Premier supplied Dr Mawson with the wherewithal to undertake the task. The necessary equipment was provided, and Dr Mawson, accompanied by three experienced prospectors, proceeded from Adelaide to Farina, a two days’ journey by rail. Here camels and horses were found awaiting them, as arranged, and by this means of transport the rest of the journey was accomplished. The actual spot where the radium-bearing ore was found was some distance from Lake Faome, in a north-westerly direction.

An examination of the vicinity convinced Dr Mawson that the age of the rocks was pre-Cambrian. He and his assistants investigated thoroughly the already-known occurrences of interesting minerals, and in addition made some new discoveries. The radium lode, Dr Mawson considers, is the most important, because ot its great commercial and scientific value. The outcrop of the reef extends for three miles, forming a high ridge 1000 feet above the adjoining valley. It consists of manganiferous ironstone for the most part, associated with which are large quantities of fluorspar and barytes. The mineral which constitutes the ore of radium is chiefly torberuite (a copper uranium phosphate), a mineral which has been reported only once previously in Australia, and this was but in one specimen from the Carcoar cobalt mine in New South Wales. Recent investigation, however, has failed to reveal the presence of any more of the mineral in the Carcoar district. Further mineral samples found by Dr Mawson at Mount Painter were sapphire and monazite, the latter a rare substance, from which the best quality of incandescent gas mantles are made.

Dr Mawson states that a firm in Adelaide has taken the matter up and formed a small prospecting company, which already has commenced operations. According to latest reports, the radium value of the reef is rapidly increasing as the sinking proceeds. It is the intention of the company to erect works at Port Pirie, at which the ore will be treated.

A statement was recently published m the press, and attiilmted to Dr Mawson, to the effect that a ring had been formed with a view of keeping up the price of radium. That statement, Dr Mawson explains, is hardly accurate. As a matter of fact, there are British, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Australian companies already formed to deal with radium-ore deposits, but so far as Dr Mawson knows there is no combination among these with the object of making a corner in the mineral.