AN ISLAND OF IRON.

Otaki Mail, 7 January 1924, Page 3

AN ISLAND OF IRON.

OFF AUSTRALIAN COAST. j A correspondent who has just xeturn- ■ eel to Perth from a visit to little-known \ regions in the north-west of Australia and the adjacent islands has supplied to the West Australian an interesting account of a remarkable island composed almost entirely of iron ore.

Far away on the north-west coast of Australia—2o6o miles above Perth, and scores of milos from the nearest white habitation—i s a spot destined to play an important part in the future of Australia, and even, perhaps, of the British Empire, he writes. This is Koolan Island, on Yanibi Sound, a veritable island of- iron, only waiting for capital, science and energy to exploit its treasures and turn it into one of our greatest assets. "During a recent visit to the North-West," to quote the article,

it fell to my lot to land on this island I on the first steamer of any size to enter Yambi Sound, and the incident well exemplified the truism that, however well one imagines he knows this great country of ours, he is always liable to stumble across beauties and wonders he has never previously heard. "In the early forenoon wo entered the Sound, impressed by its untouched loveliness, as must have been those early pioneers who, first entering Sydney harbour, had laid before them the glories of Port Jackson, then untarnished by tte suburban builder and the advertising. Within a cable length of Koolan Island, not from lack of depth, but for greater convenience of manoeuvre, we transferred to the ship's launch and coasted, close alongside the island for the whole of its length.

Parts of the island carry a fair amount of medium-sized timber," and a number of flowering shrubs somewhat similar to the hibicus. We noticed a variety Of bird life, but no sign of human occupation, although it is an established fact that the natives do from time to time visit it from the mainland. It is said that some years ago three white men, who had gone out prospecting, were murdered by natives in this vicinity, When later their boat was discovered, it was found to contain a quantity of rich gold-bearing stone, but it' still remains a mystery where they collected" it.

I "Koolan and the neighbouring isi lands are all some hundreds of feet in ■ height and rise almost sheer from the sea. Situated as they arc almost parallel to the mainland, they form a magnificent harbour, perhaps ten miles long by a nri!e wide, with deep water to within a chain of the shore, and sheltered from all prevailing winds. After an inspection of tho coastline from tho launch we went ashore to examine more thoroughly the iron ore of what at first sight the island appears to be almost wholly composed. Koolan is seven miles, long in an east and west direction, with a maximum breadth of three miles at its eastern end, tapering to the west, and is 670 feet high near its centre. The outcrop of the ore forms the shores of the ridge along the southern side of the island, rising to a height of over 600 feet above high wator mark in one part. At two points where the outcrop was measured with n measuring tape it showed a thickness of 100 feet, apparently all solid ore—and experts estimate that there afe 76,350,000 tons of ore above high-water mark. A very large portion of this eonld-be obtained without tho expense of removing any overburden. This is a mining proposition from which conjecture and uncertainty have been almost entirely eliminated; tho very unusual and complete exposure of the ore bodies in tho wonderful sea cliff section available, make it possible to dispense with a great deal of preliminaiy work and attack the proposition with such certainty that both quality and quantity can safely be regarded a"s already proved. One can actually see and handle tho ore bodies in the cliff along the whole length for a depth of as much as 600 feet. Tho estimate of 76,550,000 tons mentioned above highwater mark and mostly by opon quarrying; the amount obtainable by mining must be enormously greater. This ranks Koolan Island high amongst the great iron mines of the world in magnitude. It belongs to the class of bedded hematite deposits of sedimentary origin which comprises about two-thirds of the total known commercial iron reserves of the world."