Fiji Iron Ore Deposits To

Be Surveyed

Suva, Feb. 28.

fITHE Fiji Department of Mines will X soon make a survey of iron ore de posits which have been known for some years to exist in Nadroga and Navosa provinces. Equipment for a mag netic survey of the area, in order to ascertain the extent of the deposits, has now arrived in the Colony.

Use has already been made of the ore as an ochre for colouring paints and cement. Roofing paint made from the local ochre is weathering as well as the imported article and cement floors which have been coloured with it are standing up well under heavy use.

It is hoped in some quarters, that the deposits will provide a new industry, but apart from ochre and similar manufac tures, the establishment of a real iron industry is extremely doubtful. It would fail for the same reason that the large iron ore deposits in New Caledonia re main virtually unexploited—namely, the lack of local coal for smelting.