New Hebrides manganese

Business and

Development

New Hebrides manganese mine closes

The New Hebrides is to lose its third top export earner— manganese ore. Cie. Francaise des Phosphates de TOceanie, the French Rothchild-controlled company which has mined man ganese deposits at Forari, on the east coast of Efate, for the past seven years, has announced production will be stopped, in several stages.

Poorer grades of ore and “market roblems” are the official reasons for ic closure of the mines, but PIM nderstands the lower prices being ffered by the mine’s only customer, apan, have made production un :onomical.

The official French New Hebrides ewsletter says the condominium’s conomy will suffer from the loss of ic mines. “During the manganese xploitation period the condominium as had an unprecedented industrial ctivity,” the newsletter says.

Manganese, an essential element i steel production, was first mined t Forari in July, 1961, and the first xport shipment to Japan went on anuary, 1962. Exports for 1962 were 4,908 tons.

Early estimates of marketable ore r ere one million tons, and if this as mined at a rate of 60,000 tons year the mines would have had life of over 14 years.

Exports in 1965 were 65,000 tons, hich sold for £5tg.749,935, and only arned less than copra and frozen sh exports.

Of the several hundred New [ebrideans and Frenchmen working le manganese mines, only those with schnical experience are expected to nd other jobs.

There has been talk of a closure >r some time, and in recent weeks lany men had been put off, and the lajority were expected to go in Sep ;mber and October. Some of these nd many other New Hebrideans ave been travelling to New Cale onia to work in the nickel mines for etter money. These departures have aused embarrassment to New tebrides contractors with work to nish, and needing skilled men.

Canada could

give aid to Fiji

People in Fiji who’ve been looking towards Australia as a possible potential benefactor, might be better advised to turn their eyes in the op posite direction—to Canada.

According to Mr. Robert H.

Gaynor, the Canadian Government’s itinerant Trade Commissioner for New Zealand and Fiji, his govern ment might be interested in financing one or several of Fiji’s development projects providing a substantial amount of Canadian equipment and personnel was involved.

Mr. Gaynor said this during a visit to Fiji in August-September, a visit which concided with the arrival of

a couple of go-ahead representatives from two of Canada’s largest con sultant engineering firms, as well as Ontario’s personable Minister for Trade and Commerce, Mr. J. S.

Randall.

The engineering men were Mr.

Hans Von Cube, foreign operations manager for the Foundation of Canada Engineering Corporation Ltd., Toronto, and Mr. G. E. M. Proctor, a partner in the Ontario-based Proctor and Redfern Group of consulting engineers and planners.

Having spent a week investigating projects worth millions of pounds— including the Queen’s Road between Suva and Nadi, possible sewerage schemes, the Rewa and Navua irriga tion proposals and forestry and tourism development—both of them professed interest in doing the job.

Any job.

Even if the World Bank was unable to provide the £FS million necessary to reconstruct the Queen’s Road, they said, the Canadian Government: might come to the aid of the party.

“As a general rule, the Canadian Government is willing to finance the Canadian content of a project. To date, it hasn’t financed the local content,” Mr. Proctor pointed out.

Whatever the ultimate source of finance for the road, he added, Fiji would be wise to bring in outside skill and experience.

“The cpmbined experience gained over many years and in hundreds of different situations is one of the advantages of a foreign consulting firm,” he said. “It brings fresh thinking which might be lacking in a government or local firm.”

Mr, Proctor wouldn’t commit him self on the question of current plans for how “The Road” is to be built, saying that the present estimated cost was based on certain design criteria upon which he wasn’t prepared to comment.

“But like everything else, there’s no limit to the level of sophistication which could be achieved with the project. From the point of view of development, the new road is certainly necessary.”

Mr. Von Cube and Mr. Proctor are not the first to show interest in Fiji’s various development projects —but they intend to be among the first in line when tenders are handed out.

Mr. Randall, who was on his way through to Australia and South-East Asia as leader of a Canadian Trade

Mr. J. S. Randall.

Mission of 14 businessmen, was enthusiastic about Canada’s potential involvement in Fiji development.

Offering Ontario’s help in such fields as road construction, engineering and forestry, he remarked: “We have the same know-how as the Americans but we are not too big to come and work with people like yourselves”, Good advice—and Fiji s hoteliers should heed it immediately. Not sometime in the future.

Japanese on the

move in Fiji

September brought an encouraging progress report from one Japanese owned factory in Fiji—the tuna-can ning plant at Levuka—and news that another Japanese project—an as sembly plant for Tokyo-manufactured camera parts—might be established.

The canning factory, owned by the Pacific Fishing Company, is turning out between 1,680 and 1,920 cans of tuna a day. Sales of both flaked and solid-packed tuna have been good and prices are lower than similar lines produced in Japan and Aus tralia.

A spokesman for the distributors,

Banno Oceania Ltd., said a local company had shown interest in ex porting the canned tuna to Noumea, Tonga and Samoa. There were also plans for exporting further afield.

The question of establishing a camera plant in Fiji was raised dur ing a visit last month by Mr. Takeo Maeda, executive vice-president of the Canon Camera Company of Tokyo.

Because labour costs were rising in Japan, he said, his company was looking for alternative countries in which to establish plants. Canon pro duces 27 per cent, of Japan’s annual output of four million cameras and holds a big percentage of the country’s export trade.

Mr. Maeda said that if it was de cided to extend his company’s opera tions to Fiji, an assembly plant would be built first to handle camera parts manufactured at Canon’s plants in Tokyo.

Cocoa prices

best for years

Worsening crop prospects, due to bad weather, for the world’s two biggest producers of cocoa—Ghana and Nigeria— sent the already-high world cocoa prices spiralling in Sep tember, to give New Guinea and Western Samoa producers their best prices in over 10 years.

Prices for in-store NG cocoa and ex-wharf Sydney NG cocoa jumped over $lOO in September to $690 and $625 per ton and prices offering for Western Samoa cocoa leapt from £Stg.2Bs to £Stg.32s per ton.

World prices in London for Ghana cocoa topped £Stg.36o on September 20—the highest since June, 1958.

New Guinea growers and sellers responded in Rabaul and by late September much of 1969’s crops were sold months ahead, at prices around $650.

“One producer near Kokopo sold his whole 1969 crop of 100 tons to us this morning for $660 per ton,” one broker said.

However, some brokers pointed out that cocoa reached Stg.soo per ton in 1954-55, and if the Ghana crop was “any sort of a disaster,” this figure could possibly be reached again.

A London broker predicted highest ever prices of £Stg.7oo a ton in 1969 because there would, in his estima tion, be a major world-wide shortage of cocoa. The problem for growers was thus whether to sell now or not.

Most major confectionery manu facturers keep from 12 to 18 months cocoa supply on hand and they must keep purchasing to maintain their stocks.

Watch assembly

for American Samoa

Sheffield Watch Company of New York will spend between SUS6O,OOO and SUS 100,000 to set up a watch assembly plant near Tafuna Airport, Lutuila, American Samoa.

The company will employ 50 Samoans and three resident super visors and it hopes production will start by next February.

Mr. Mundey Johnston, special assistant to American Samoa’s Gov ernor, told PIM in September that Sheffield had been granted a special quota of watches it could assemble n Samoa and export, duty-free, to he US. Under US law, some pro lucts could be imported duty-free if aver 50 per cent, of the cost of these aroducts was incurred in US terri ories, he said.

Sheffield planned to import all watch aarts from Japan and Europe and rain Samoans to assemble them.

Mr. Johnston said another US erritory, the Virgin Islands, currently lad at least seven watch manufac urers, including Sheffield, exporting nillions of watches annually to the JS.

He said it was “unlikely” other US vatch manufacturers would follow Sheffield into American Samoa be muse special watch quotas were lecessary from the US Department )f the Interior.

These things need

Fixing/ say planters

In his recent report for the year :nded June 30, 1968, Mr. W. J.

Jrose, president of the Planters’ As ociation of New Guinea, touched >n problems varying from land short ige in Rabaul to piecework systems or plantation labour.

Mr. Grose’s main points and com nents included: • Copra producers have not yet eceived full compensation for stori ng devaluation losses late last year ilthough the Australian Minister for ixternal Territories, Mr. C. E.

James, had indicated that full com >ensation would be made by Aus ralia. • Government help was needed o set up a separate cocoa research >rganisation. • It was “ridiculous” that in the 12 years since the Japanese ocupancy md destruction of some land records nany pre-World War II titles had not >een restored. Land tenure was one >f the “key retarding factors” re ponsible for the economy of NG lot keeping pace with rapid political nogress.

• Administration policy towards rural development was attracting large companies and New Guinean resettlement schemes at the expense of the backbone of NG’s development to date—the owner-manager. This was “inimical” to the best interests of the territory as a whole, Mr. Grose said. • Shipping costs, to and in NG ’“U’nUoct t u a were among the highest m the world” and were “beyond planters’ control”. Mr. Grose hoped “something constructive” would come as a result of Australian examination of services, for which his association had repeatedly asked.

Talks, but nothinq

'. 3

firiH/ OH NG CODDCf

A September statement from Nippon Mining Company of Japan that “broad agreement” had been reached between Rio Tinto Zinc Company of Britain and seven Jap anese smelters on Bougainville’s copper reserves was hurriedly cor , RT7 - . . rec a day c Q J^ ipp °? f sai l InH tra^ijfi^Aiv M Q ir.sm ™ 1S !j! ’ iIZ lr T?nfmlr t in SUS7O milhon for the P ro J ect In

(Continued on p. 135)

exchange, Japanese smelters would be supplied with 635,000 tons of copper ore over 10 years beginning 1973.

The Japanese companies would also export mining equipment worth between SUS2O million and SUS3O million for the project on deferred payment terms. Nippon also said copper ore dressing facilities capable of handling 40,000 tons of ore a day would be set up.

RTZ, parent company of Conzinc Riotinto, which has a two-third in terest in Bougainville Copper Pty.

Ltd., said in London that the Nippon report was wrong and no announce ment could be expected for “some days or possibly weeks”.

Following RTZ’s denial, Nippon said there would be negotiations on price, quality and delivery terms of the Bougainville copper ore when Mr. F. Espie, managing director of Bougainville Copper, arrived in Japan in October. • The Wholesale Society of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony has appointed a new general man ager, Mr. William Hardy, He will replace Mr. W. J. Kirby-Jones, who resigned in June following recom mendations by the society’s board of directors (P/M, Aug., p. 26).

Mr. Hardy was formerly with a Unilever subsidiary, United Africa Company, in Nigeria and Kenya, and recently carried out a technical assist ance assignment in Ceylon. He was awarded the OBE in 1962.