Canadian Cobalt

Move in NC

From Our Noumea Correspondent COMMENTARY on a recent an nouncement that the Minister of Overseas France had de cided to open countries of the French Empire to foreign capital has been given by M. Henri Lafleur, the mining magnate who repre sents New Caledonia in the French Parliament.

M. Lafleur said that he had been taken to task in certain quarters at Noumea for some manoeuvres in mining circles.

The facts, he said, were that the big Falconbridge concern in Canada had been negotiating with the Nickel Company over the exploita tion of cobalt in New Caledonia.

However; there was no agreement, and Falconbridge had then turned to other interests, namely, his own.

About 2,000,000 dollars would be invested in NC, and half the cobalt produced would be reserved for French needs.

All negotiations had been carried out with the knowledge of the Minister of Overseas France.

The NC Mining Bureau, with nine qualified geologists- in its employ, is

busily prospecting for cobalt, as well as for nickel and chrome. Indi cations are that the cobalt deposits are widespread.

MEANWHILE, living quarters and other buildings are going up at the Bay of Prony, site of the future iron ore workings. The control group (Nickel Co., H. La fleur and Etts Ballande) expect to

have the first shipments ready; fore the end of the year.

A ten-year contract provides the delivery in Australia of ra tons of iron ore every year.

The Bureau is also investiga coal possibilities. Many years? substantial quantities were mi but experts agreed that the coall much too young, it gave ins cient heat and too much cindf