SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. __ 
1 Rta er Personal. 
Mr. H. W. GEPP, INDUSTRIAL SCIENTIST. 
~) It is perhaps too early at this stage to predict the future of the many 
new industries in Australia which owe their birth to the war. Most 
of these “war babies.” are still in their swaddling clothes. Others of 
them have shot forward with amazing rapidity, and have become vigorous 
and robust children. Conspicuous for its quick and strong develop- 
ment is the zine industry, which already has passed out of its infancy 
and is establishing a home circle of its own with quite a number of 
dependants. Zinc oxide and lithophone for the manufacture of paints 
and pigments, and rolled zinc for various purposes, are some of the 
‘off-springs. Caustic soda and various chloride products will shortly 
‘be added:to the family group. © From babyhood to manhood in less than 
three years is, therefore, the record of the zinc industry in Australia. 
At the present time, its production gives employment.to 600 men in 
the works at Risdon, near Hobart, and this number it is expected will, 
in the near future, be doubled. 
To this development Australia is largely indebted to Myr. H. 
W. Gepp, the General Manager of the Hlectrolytic Zinc Company 
of Australasia Proprietary Limited, Prior to the outbreak of war, 
the manufacture of zine by the distillation process was practically the 
monopoly of Germlany and Belgium. Great Britain was largely 
dependent upon those two countries for her supplies. Canada and the 
United States, however, produced small quantities, and the enormously 
increased demand occasioned by the munition necessities had to be 
met by purchases from across the Atlantic. Naturally, enormously 
increased prices had to be paid. Zine soared from about £20 per ton 
to about £140 per ton, and America was largely benefiting. Mr. Gepp, 
who was in the United States in 1915 and 1916, on the business of the 
Amalgamated Zine Company, made a close study of the developments 
in the industry, and then determined upon making investigations into 
the practicability of treating the concentrates in Australia. The first 
consideration was the obtaining of cheap power. This was found 
to be available in Tasmania. Mr. Gepp then spent a considerable 
time in working out various processes, and eventually advised the 
Australian companies to consider the advisability of the treatment of 
‘the raw material locally by the electrolytic process. Upon his return 
to Australia, accompanied by a number of American experts, he selected 
a site near Hobart for the proposed plant. 
Since the beginning of 1918, the plant at Risdon has been pro- 
ducing about 5,000 tons of zine per annum. Plans are now in hand 
to extend the plant to produce between 35,000 and 45,000 tons of zinc 
per annum, together with the development of a number of subsidiary 
industries. The utilization of these concentrates in Australia, contain- 
ing approximately 30 per cent. of sulphur, will mean the gradual but 
steady elimination of imported brimstone and pyrites for acid manufac- 
ture for the production of superphosphates, which are so essential for 
farming industries. The company proposes to treat about 100,000 
tons of Broken Hill concentrates annually, which will represent the 
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