MATERIAL FOR BORAX

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 June 1943, Page 4

MATERIAL FOR BORAX

FOUND IN ASH OF WAIKATO ’ COAL DISCOVERY OF SCIENTIFIC INTEREST. AND POSSIBLE COMMERCIAL VALUE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This . Day. A discovery of great scientific interest and possible future commercial value was reported by the Minister of Supply (Mr Sullivan) today. The Minister said the Dominion Laboratory had discovered that the ash of Waikato coal contained four per cent of combined boron trioxide, which would be equivalent to about ten per cent of crystallised borax. “While it may be only of scientific interest,” said Mr Sullivan, “it is possible that we have here a material from which boric acid and borax may be prepared. This aspect is being explored. Further chemical work is being carried out and also investigations in the field, as the occurrence is of great interest to geologists.” The discovery was due to the careful work of Mr F. T. Seelye, Chief Chemist. Investigations were being made because char from the coal was giving trouble in the furnaces of the Railway ■Workshops, owing to the easily fusible nature of the ash. When the ash was subjected to chemical analysis, the sum of its constituents was four per cent short, and it was the work"of Mr Seelye which proved that this was boron.