IRON ORE SMELTING COY.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1918, Page 3

IRON ORE SMELTING COY.

4 ANNUAL REPORT, Following is tfc:; second annual report o£ ihe Aew Zeaiaiiu. iron Uic Smelting and j-Uaiiu/acliu-iiig Company for the year ending August 31, lUiß: In presenting the balance-sheet for the year ended August 31, i'JIS, your directors regret that- a more satisfactory result ot the year's operations cannot be recorded, immediately after our last annual meeting steps were talceu. co put the large furnace in commission. The result of a trial smelting waff inconclusive, and it was deemed advisable io obtain -••xpe.rt advice. Mi\ V \V. Aubel, Am. I.AX-K, was engaged, and recommended considerable alterations io the furnace. These occupied several months and further delay occurred in securing supplies of eoal and coke, so that it was not until August 29 that v?e were able to re-commence smelting. A fairly satisfactory run wrg obtained, extending over a week, giving good grey iron, of which some 30 tons have been sold at highly satisfactory prices, and favorable reports have been received. Your directors feel warranted in saying that the metallurgical problem is solved, but much difficulty is experienced in obtaining fuel for carrying on, and the financial position will require re-adjusting. It is hoped to lay proposals before the annua.! meeting. During the year the late chairman, Mr F D. Payne, ar.d Mr. W. tl. Moves resigned from the directorate. Mr. W. J. Penn was elected chairman and Mv. Charles Goodson, of Hawera, was invited to join the board and consented to do so. The other vacancy was noi filled, it being left to the shareholders at the animal meeting to fill it. Messrs W. J. Penn and A. \Y Reid now retire in accordance with the articles of association, and are eligible for re-election. There arc, therefore, three vacancies to be filled. During the year Mr. D. McAllum resigned the secretaryship, and 3fr. W. M. Falconer was appointed to succeed him. Since the end of the financial j\ar Mv. Falconer resigned, and Mr. C. H. Wynyard was appointed in his plfice. You will require to elect an and'tor. Mr. V. Dnff. A.T.A., N.Z., the retiring auditor, again offers his service -

ANNUAL MEETING FURTHER ADJOURNED. In consequence 01 there not being a quorum present yesterday afternoon, tlie annual meeting of the company, which had been adjourned from an eariier date, had to be further adjourned. In moving the adjournment, the chairman (Mr- W. J, Penn) said lie could, in formally, put before the shareholders present some facts with regard to the present position of the company The capital was now practically exhausted They had spent all the share capital subscribed and to be called up, and had arranged with the bank for an overdraft for tha amount of uncalled capital, for which a debenture nad been given, the directors being < personally responsible. The directors had done what they considered best Tn the interests of shareholders. It would be remembered that after the last annual meeting a trial had been made in the small furnace which bad proved somewhat -unsatisfactory, and it had been decided immediately to instal a larger furnace. This barl been done and a trial made with moV satisfactory Tesults. There were, however, some details which required attention and alteration. To properly adjust these, the directors had sought export advice, and secured the services of Mr. Aubel, a qualified metalurgiea] engineer, and lie had remained here for about six months. He had pointed out that the furnace was not high enough to give satisfactory results, and that the preparation of the ore ill the furnace was not what he would like, but lie undertook to do his lies:,. The alterations of the furnace were authorised, and "these had occupied 3om<: months, owing to the difficulty of requisite material, and it was not until ills end of August that they had got & run. In spite then of inevitable initial liiriicnlties, tliey had secured about 50 cons of marketable iron which had been dispose! of at from £ls to £l6 per ton. .Sample.} hud been sent to Auckland, Wanganui, Dunedm, and Haw-era, ar.d, quoting from replies received from purchasers such as Messrs Reid and Gray and Sha,cklocks (Dunedin), Hopkirks (Hawera), and Fraser and Sons (Auckland), Mr. Penn showed that, while the iron did riot fuliy meet requirements, it ivas of .sufficient -quality and value fo? ur.e, and all the purchasers had placed order;} with ihe company, some for m much as JiO-ton Jots A great deal of difficulty had been experienced in obtaining fuel for the Einelting of the ironsand ore.. They had had to wait as long as three months in order to get 100 tons of coke, and they were now 23 tons short or thai quantity needed lor the next smelting. It was, :ii fact, more difficult to get fuel than to do the smelting. It was hoped, however, to he in a. position to re-light the furnace'about January and to put through the ore in hand. What would happen after that, the chairman ,-n.id he could not venture to predict. He stated hi had been in Wellington some weeks ago, and while there endeavored to interest the Prime. Minister in the matter. At the latter's request he (the chairman) had written to Mr. Masssy, setting out the renuirements of the company, and o, reply had been received stating that an early opportunity would be taken of placing the- matter befor Cabinet and any decision made would be communicated. In ihe hurry of the session's business, the matter appeared to have been placed in the hands of the. Minister for Mines (tlie Hon. V 7. D. 8. MaeDonald:, who, at the company's request, had sent a geologist , to see the work*, and who had told 1-iic Minister that he thought the position was such that the Government should immediately coire to the assistance of the industry, and. as the matter was so urgent, expert advice should be sought. The company had urged that ail endeavor* should lie made to get a competent adviser from the Old OmmlTy ti-< report on the matter. The chairman had .suggested tliai, while the Prime Minister end Sir Josjp'i Ward were at Home they should get iirio touch with Sir William Lorrimer, whe, when here, had shown a keen interest in t!'<o industry and had asked, to be kept m touch with vhni was being done, and said that if samples of the irr.ii vrvrs sent to hin> he would submit them to experts for opinions, and woitlfi communicate at)'/ advice of.'ored. He thoaghfc the Dominion's; k-adc?', Might «ise their influenc?., through S'n V/Wiam Lorrimer, to get a high-class mtu#'. p%i out to give advice son the prosper*. % the industry. The €overomenfc a lot about the necessity of <ievelop>,V ! the latent resources of the country, anS ' he thought the best way of helping this : industry was iir the direction indicated. He thought the directors might consider selling right i&e awi,.

let them carry on as a State enterprise. He had pointed out the great difficulty of overcoming the prejudice resulting from years of failure, which made the raising of further capital very hard. If the Government got such, a report as suggested, and if that was favorable, then they could either take over the whole plant or advance the money necessary for extending the work. On the other hand, such a report would place them in the position of being able to go on the open market, either in New Zealand or England, to raise the capital required, and so extend' the work to enable them to reach the success which they felt confident would follow such extension. The directors were of opinion that there were good prospects for tho production of .iron at a cost that would make it of marketable value. It would be several years before iron would be down to £lO per ton, and even that was a payable return. He was satisfied the works could be made to produce iron at a cost below that of imported iron. There was, however, no prospeift of keeping the works going at present until the position in regard to fuel improved. Speaking as to the quality of the iron, Mr. Penn said it was very fine, and what had been once produced could he got again. The evidence of the purchasers, and their offers of further purchases, was sufficient to show the value of the company's product. He could not. speak positively as to the cost of production. At the belt the smelting of ironsand took more fuel than ordinary iron ore. Jhc production plant, for preparing the ore for treatment, was admittedly faulty, tat that could be remedied and the cost in that direction reduced. Then, with regard to fuel, it wa= beyond doubt that the company would ultimately have to possess its own coking plant. When the run of the present ore was done it was tlva intention of the directors to pay off the staff, with the exception of someone to look after the machinery, and to close down the works until it was ascertained whether the Government would render any assistance. He himself felt pretty confident that help would be given. The member for the district (Mr. !■>. (>. Smith) had given valuable help to Mr. Penn while in Wellington, anil it was expected thai the Minister for Mines would be in New Plymouth after the holidays, when the question would be gone into with hir.v and it, was hoped the Government would te persuaded to carry out th» director' suggestion find get an opinion from an Engfisfi ..expert When word was received from the Government it would be communicated to the shareholders. He hoped it would come within the. next few weeks. He then moved that the meeting be adjourned sine die.

The motion was_ seconded by Mr. Martin. Mr. 0. Fraser, in speaking of the pros, pects, said lie thought the next trial run made would be more valuable, tjian any other, in the direction of showing to what stage the industry had developed. A point bad been reached which would place the company in the position of being able to eliminate much/ o'? the difficulty associated with the initial efforts. Remedies had been found to meet the difficultie?.. The fact -that every ton of iron produced at the last smelting had been sold at from £l4 to £ls per ton showed tha value of what was being produced. Castings made from tha iron by his firm in Auckland had been very favorably spoken of. In the next running it was hoped to economise in the cost ox production. The new furnace (icrnngenronts would enable them to do u r/rk on finer material than had hitherto been the case. The cost of fuel ha:l been a serious item in tlie expense of treatment of the ore, but that could be reduced. While at present the cost of coke to tlie company was about £4 per ton, it would be possible, with their own plant, to coke their own coal at a cos!, of about £2 13s per ton. That, and better preparation of the material l'or the furnace,' would greatly facilitate economies. The motion for the adjournment' of tlie meeting was then carried.