CAN COPPER BE MADE?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 3 July 1907, Page 4

CAN COPPER BE MADE?

WIDESPREAD INTEREST IX THE REPORTED DISCOVERY. VAST SUM AT STAKE. Great cxeiicincnl Ims Ijeen caused in commercial circles by the announcement that Sir William Ramsay, tin; discoverer of helium and argon (the latter in conjunction widi Lord Laylcigh), liad found a method of .nuking copper. Sir William Ramsay on Saturday informed an Express correspondent thai lie vislied lo make no statement upon the subject, Init after inquiries the illformation was elecilcd elsewhere that the distinguished chemist has recently been experimenting with the aim of making artificial copper, and that it is prolicide he will make a statement shortly to the IJoyal Society. Many metallurgical experts are very sceptical aliunl the announceinent. Others are cqua'ly sanguine. l!ut it is in tin; copper world where the real interest prevails. The vast Mill! of money invested in copper mines is at stake. This is placed at any amount . lie'ween .aiO(UMIO,(MK> and .u 1,000, noo.noo. It will In' rcmcmliered that when Mr Thomas \Y. I.awson, the copper king, floated the group of holdings known as the Amalgamated Copper Company, the nominal capital of which was placed at .€ir..l)o'l,(lim, t' l - public Subscription reached the colossal sum of ,£82,500,000 —that is, over five limes the amount in vited. COST IX Mixiyc.'. The public were tempt oil not only by the promised riches of the company, lint also by its security. To use Mr. Lawson's own words, they knew that : '(iold can be found ill a day by any one with eyes, silver in a week by anyone with hands, and money in a year by anyone with sense to save it, but no man gets into copper without capital, fortitude, patience, and brains. As a matter of fact, it requires, even to-day, £1.000.000 in money, and five years of spending It after a copper deposit his been found before it can be made to yield returns." Can Copper be made by a syntheti? process? The metallurgical world holds divided opinions op the subject. One authority slated to an Express representative: - "I am fnnkif sceptical about, this sensational announcement. We are repeating now the old experiments of the al chemists, and I expect they will have the same results. "I have heard of one man in AmericiJ who claimed to turn silver info gold, but everyone looked upon him as a fraud. But the name of Sir William Ramsay stands for so much that is notable In the scientific world that his experiments demand serious attention. "His experiments may be the same in results, however, as that of the gTeal Herman chemist who recently claimed to have discovered antimony, a fact which had never lien suspected before. So it may be lhat his copper amalgam—if it is an amalgam—contained copper to begin with in some unsuspected source." COMBIXlNl: ELEMENTS. Another gentleman of considerable scientific attainments holds a strongly contrary opinion: ''l am emphatically of opinion that it is quite possible to make copper," lie said, "and I believe that Sir William Ramsay has been experimenting oil the lines of making copper by amalgamating a body of oilier elements. "I believe that cupper can be made by a mixture of iodine and lead or zinc. The whole trouble is finding out the exact proportions in which these elements combine. Ido not think that the announcement would have been made had it not great commercial possibilities." The commercial world views the matter ntrictly from the point of view of its effect oil the world's industrial markets. If the experiment is an assured fact, and it can be proved that copper can be manufactured at a reasonable figure, then its effect on the electrical world can not be measured. One thing is certain—the demand for copper has never been so great as if is at present. The turnover for last year was estimated at 711,fi7."i tons the year before (182.125 toils being raised, the rough value in If0(> hi ing .-CT5,000.000.