AMERICAN INTEREST IN IRON SAND

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5326, 12 February 1947, Page 6

AMERICAN INTEREST IN IRON SAND

fPres.s Assn.-

^ dominion's deposits SCIENTIST LEAVES WITH FAVOURABLE IMPRESSI0N

-By Telegmph — Copyright.)

' AUCKLAND, Last Night. The multi-million clollar American corporation that made the name of nylon famous throughout the world is interested. in New Zealand's huge "problem deposits" of ironsand. This is the du Ppnt de Nemours Company, whose chief geologist, Dr. J. R. Gillson, has recently made a quiet study of the ironsand deposits on the- coast near Wanganui. His interest in them was as a source not of iron, but of another element ealled titanium in which the sands are also comparatively rich. Titanium sounds like one of those atomie energy metals, but is it not. It has much more mundane uses. Its chief value, in the form of titanium dioxide, is in the making of paints, in which it has becat steadily replacing wliite lead. Its maia advantages are ibat it is not poisonous, has a greater covering powc-r, and does not blacken In a city atmosphere. Dr. Gillson went on to Australia last week. He left the intpression behind in Wanganui that he was favourably impress^d with whai he isaw. j There is ,at present no way of telling, however, whethev his visit may prove tb have been a prelude to a move by his company towards more extensive research and experiment here. Dr. Gillson is a scientist. rather than an aetual production expert. (New Zealand's Government and university geoiogists and chemists know all about the existence of titanium in the iron sand. There have been several technical articles about it in the off'icial Journal of Science and Technology. The best iron sand depisots have been shown j h\ test to contain as much as 10 j per cent. of titanium. j Commerciai enternrise that ovor j the last half century have tried to ) get payable iron out of the deposits know all about it too. The -presence J of titanium proved to be oue of the | two or three primary reasons why ' these attemnts were technical and fin-anc-ial failures. ■ It makes most of the accepted blast furnace smelting methods unworkahle. But recent technical advances in tlie iron and steel industry overseas have indicated that, with further research and experimentation, an economical way may be found of working iron san.i. The promise hehl out by these advances is proved by the i'act that the Government still lists a ^tate iron and steel industry based on the deposits in the long-term plans for I'utute industrial development in New Zealand. Apart from the technical aspects, iron sand has a most attractive feature in its ease of working. In the efforts that have so far been made to smelt the iron sand the chief goal has Ijeen the iron itself. But geoiogists have been pointing out lately that on present world prices the titanium ingredient — long regarded as an annoying impurily — is ; worth tvvice as much. Tests have jshown 'that one ton of the nest iron sand contains, on 1P39 prices, T3 worth of iron, £'7 worth of titanium dioxide and £3 worth of another metal ealled vanadium, which is used in the making of high-grade steel alloys. New Zealand normally uses only about 200 tons of titanium dioxide a year in paint-making. An iron and steel industry using 100,000 tons of iron sand a year could- produce up to 40,000 tons of titanium dioxide for overseas markets. Du Pont is one of the Big Two conipanies in the international chemical indr.stries field. The other is the British Imperial Chemical Industries. Until Germany fell there was a third — ihe I. G. Farben concern. The names cf all. three have from time to time been linked in allegations about cartels and "monopolies in restraint of trade."