TARANAKI IRONSAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1917, Page 4

TARANAKI IRONSAND.

THE "KEAL THING" MANUFACTURED. SUCCESSFUL TRIAti OF NEW PLANT For several months the New Zealand Ore Smelting Company has been testing its works at Moturoa, and on Sunday a start was made with actual smelting. The smaller blast furnace was used, and the trial proved an unqualified success, the first "run" of pig iron being made in the afternoon, and continuing at inter- , vals of a few hours during -the night, all day yesterday, and last night, about half (i ton being obtained from each run. The conditions were far from favorable. Rain fell in torrents on Sunday night, and all the a&nd waa in a wet condition, but everything went well, and the test quite equalled the most sanguine expectations. The quality of the iron improved with each run, and there is little doubt that the Heskett process will make good. The plant, of course, is not perfected; that is too much to expect from entirely new and original machinery, but the soundness of the principles has been demonstrated, and the details will be seen and improved as operations proceed. The company has been unable to procure the necessary supplies of eoal, and therefore the plant can OBIS' be run for another three or four days, • Mr. J. A. Heslcett (the inventor of the process), and those associated'with him in the manufacture of the iron, are," together with the company, to be congratulated upon this initial success which, everyone hopes, will be followed by the establishment of one of the Dominion's greatest industries, at Moturoa.