SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
Personal. 
MR. G. D. DELPRAT, C.B.E. 
One of the most notable advances in Australian industry of recent 
years has been the establishment of the Broken Hill Proprietary 
Limited’s iron and steel works at Newcastle. A few years ago a pro- 
posal for an enterprise of such magnitude would have been ridiculed. 
“ Australia is not ripe for such a scheme” would have been the objec- 
tion. The Broken Hill Proprietary, however, held other views, and 
also the courage of ‘its convictions. It risked about £4,000,000 of its 
capital upon the venture, and now, after being in existence only four 
or five years, is providing employment for approximately 6,000 men. ~ 
More than 4,000 men are at work at Newcastle. 
The impetus which this new development has given to industry 
already has been widely felt. The extent of the influence which it will 
ultimately exert cannot yet be measured. Apart altogether from exer- 
_ cising a reduction upon the quantities of iron and steel imported into 
the Commonwealth, it has given birth to new industries whose raw 
material is the product of the Newcastle works. New avenues for the 
profitable employment of labour have therefore been opened up, and 
the district of Newcastle not only feels, but displays in the large and 
rapid expansion of its surburban areas, the beneficial effect of this 
huge undertaking. 
Mr. G. D. Delprat, whose portrait appears in this issue, is the 
general manager of the Broken Hill Proprietary Liméted. To his 
enterprise was largely due the extension of the corporation’s activities. 
His long connexion with the Broken Hill Proprietary, and the fact that 
he has been closely associated with the many successful and important 
innovations which have marked the progress of the company’s opera- 
tions, have caused his name to be widely known. He joined the Broken 
Hill Proprietary in 1898, and a few years later (in 1903) had discovered 
and patented a process of flotation without the use of oil. This process 
is now almost universally adopted. Having a large stock of bisulphate 
of soda on ‘hand, Mr. Delprat instructed the company’s research chemist 
to make certain investigations, and it was soon found that on placing 
some of the tailings in a strong solution of this salt and heating it in 
a beaker that the sulphides were floated as a high-grade concentrate, 
leaving the gangue in the bottom of the beaker. Then followed the 
erection of an experimental plant, and the results were so successful 
that patents were applied for in November, 1902. 
Considerable difficulty was at first experienced in placing this new 
process on a commercial footing. First, one type of separation vessel © 
was tried, then another. At least a dozen attempts were made before 
a suitable design was made. In May, 1903, 50 tons of zine concentrates 
had been produced by the new process from zine tailings which were 
ordinarily dumped. ‘his parcel-was the first zinc concentrate ever 
produced by flotation. By October, 1904, 500 tons of tailings were 
being treated, and up to the present time no less than 902,172 tons of 
zine concentrates have been produced. 
60 
