Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Thursday 5 June 1941, page 12


BIG EXPENDITURE AT RAPID BAY

Premier On Progress Of B.H.P. Co.'s Works

Capital expenditure by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Ltd, on the Rapid Bay limestone quarry work- <*> ings to supply flux for Whyalla and

Newcastle blast furnaces would amount to several hundred thousand pounds, the Premier (Mr. Playford) said yesterday on his return from a visit of inspection with Sir Walter Duncan. MI.C. a director of the company, and Mr R. T. Kleeman. superintendent of the BS.P. at Whyalla. The limestone, contained in a reef of almost pure stone running for one and a half miles and rising to as much as 500 feet above sea level, is 16 miles from Nornianville. and will take the place of that at present brought from Devonport. Tasmania. Several homes of the material have been constructed In the growing nearby village, and others are to follow. Much work had been done since the project was begun a few months ago. the Premier said, one hundred and thirty men were employed and much machinery was already in place. The jetty, a substantial structure to be 1.600 feet long with a depth at the end of more than 30 feet at low tide. was no<v halt completed, he added, although some of the piles had had to be sunk through solid rock. Large steamers would be able to berth, and with stocks placed at the jetty head, would be fed at up to 3,000 tons an hour. A truck and conveyor belt system would be used on the pier. An output of 10.000 tons of limestone c week was expected from the quarry workings. Mr. Playford said that the main Installation, the crushing plant, was yet to be made.