THE IRONSAND PROJECT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 256, 29 April 1912, Page 5

THE IRONSAND PROJECT

i ia» CHANGE IX TIIE PROGRAMME. EXPERIMENTS TO BE MADE BY LOCAL SYNDICATE. As little or nothing has been heard of the ironsand project at Moturoa since the opening of the experimental works some weeks- ago, a News reporter approached one of the inventors of the secret process, Mr. J. Smith, last week. From him he learnt that the Parapara Company has decided not to carry on the testing and experimental work itself, but has delegated the task to a local syndicate. An arrangement, he said, is just about completed, whereby the company's building and plant at Moturoa will be leased to Messrs. Smith and Tweedale, and another local resident who is providing some of the capital necessary to carry on the work. Messrs. Smith and Tweedale are holders of the process for treating the ironsand for the extratction of the various metals which they claim to have discovered in the deposits. The lease, which has been purchased for a consideration, will run for four montlw. The object of the lessees is to demonstrate, in that time, that marketable metals can be produced on payable lines. They will be in a position to make a start in earnest in about a fortnight. A number of briquettes of ironsand and clay have already been i mixed, preparatory to smelting operations. According to Mr. Smith, if at the end of four months the Parapara Com- , pany is satisfied that the experiments have been a success, it will buy from j the local syndicate the patent rights of-, the process for extracting the ores in this part of Taranaki. The process will j then be patented throughout the world, ' and the whole business will be taken in ] hand bv the Cliristehureh fnmp:inv. J = ' I