TARANAKI IRONSAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 26 October 1907, Page 2

TARANAKI IRONSAND.

In the Illustrated -Now Zealand ilciald punished in Duuedin ill ISiU appears mo lollowing article, which, 111 now of. tlie expected ile\'riujiiuciitb 01 taranaki lruiisand, in ol interest:— ••J.lie subject oi smelting llie ironsand has been renewed by Mr. Chilniau, ol laranaki, wiiu, in a very able letter to llie -New Zealand Times, controverts till! siaiemcul ox Sir Julius Vogel relative to llie opinion of Dr. Percy, wliicli was published by us some short time since. _Ur. Cliiliuuu says: —'Allowing that JJr. Percy is a very high scientific authority on metallurgy, 1 cannot admit that his oiiiuiuu is conclusive, as he may not have given special attention to this particular subject or know the method proposed to be adopted. 1 expect the ironsand deposits thai Dr. l'erey alluded to as having been thoroughly well tried are in Lower Canada. But 1 am informed that there is an essential diU'ereiice in the 'chemical properties of the two ores, the Canadian sand containing upwards of 'M per cent of that intractable material, titanium; the Taranaki sand !) to 11 per cent, only; aud that the Canadian deposit is upwards of two hundred miles from the fuel supply, and is found in such an impure state that largo revolving magnets are used to separate the sand from the impurities. A failure under such circumstances does not necessarily imply that the Taranaki sand cannot be successfully smelted.' Mr. Chilman then quotes several authorities who have expressed very decided opinions that Taranaki sand can be smelted and made a commercial success, and amongst them is 111', liilcy, i'.C.S., analytical chemist, who is employed by -Mr. Ucsseiucr, the late ill-. ii 11. Davis, aud Mr. llopcr, the managing partner of Messrs. Harrison, Ainslic and Co., the owners of the only charcoal smelting Works in England, who have had a lifelong experience of the business. This latter gentleman, who claims, Mr. Chilman says, to know more on the subject tiian any other person in England, went very carefully into the question of smelling the Taranaki sand with Mr. Watduck and himself, who received the estimate of the cost of making it into pig iron, and lias no doubt of the unde° taking being a commercial success. Mr. Itober smelted the Turkish sand in one of their furnaces after repeated failures in the Staffordshire furnaces."