COMMERCIAL CONTROL

Copper, lead, and zinc form a class by themselves, with respect to industrial utility and tonnage produced, ranking after iron, which far outclasses them, as the most important base metals. The total yearly production of each throughout the world is considerably more than a million tons.

Table 53.—Ore Production, Smelting, and Consumption of Lead in 1913
(Tons of 2,000 Pounds)

CountryRecoverable lead content
of ores and concentrates		Primary pig leadRecoverable lead in
ores and pig lead
Mine
production		ExportsImportsSmelter
production		ImportsExportsConsumptionNet
imports		Net
exports
Net
tons		Per
cent.
[130]		Net
tons		Per
cent.
[130]		Net
tons		Per
cent.
[130]		Net
tons		Per
cent.
[131]		Net
tons		Per
cent.
[131]		Net
tons		Per
cent.
[131]		Net
tons		Per
cent.		Net
tons		Per
cent.
[132]		Net
tons		Per
cent.
[132]
Algeria12,900  1.012,900  1.0....................................12,900  1.3
Australia[133]244,500 19.7132,000 10.6......112,500  9.0......101,900  8.110,600  0.8......233,900 18.7
Austria-Hungary23,800  1.9......2,800  0.226,600  2.112,500  1.0......39,100  3.015,300  1.2......
Belgium............56,000  4.556,000  4.5......8,700  0.747,300  3.747,300  3.8......
Bolivia1,100  0.11,100  0.1....................................1,100  0.1
Bulgaria2,200  0.22,200  0.2....................................2,200  0.2
Canada18,800  1.5............18,800  1.56,400  0.5......25,200  2.06,400  0.5......
China14,000  1.114,000  1.1....................................14,000  1.1
Egypt3,200  0.33,200  0.3....................................3,200  0.2
France9,600  0.8......21,300  1.730,900  2.587,700  7.0......118,600  9.1109,000  8.7......
German S. W. Africa13,200  1.013,200  1.0....................................13,200  1.0
Germany79,300  6.4......120,300  9.7199,600 15.946,800  3.7......246,400 19.1167,100 13.4......
Great Britain20,300  1.6......13,300  1.133,600  2.7177,400 14.1......211,000 16.4190,700 15.2......
Greece20,300  1.6............20,300  1.6......20,300  1.6............20,300  1.6
Holland........................10,500  0.8......10,500  0.810,500  0.1......
India (Burma)6,500  0.5[134]2,200  0.2......4,300  0.3......4,300  0.3............6,500  0.5
Italy24,900  2.0[134]1,000  0.1......23,900  1.912,000  1.0......35,900  2.811,000  0.1......
Japan4,200  0.3............4,200  0.317,000  1.3......20,400  1.617,000  1.3......
Mexico68,300  5.57,100  0.6......61,200  4.9......61,200  4.9............68,300  5.5
Norway........................500.........500...500.........
Peru4,300  0.34,300  0.3....................................4,300  0.3
Portugal600...600.......................................600...
Rhodesia400...400.......................................400...
Russia3,100  0.2[134]2,000  0.2......1,000  0.163,700  5.1......64,800  5.061,700  5.0......
Spain209,200 16.8......9,900  0.8219,100 17.4......219,100 17.5............209,200 16.7
Sweden2,100  0.2500.........1,600  0.11,200  0.1......2,800  0.2700.........
Switzerland........................6,400  0.5......6,400  0.56,400  0.5......
Tunis31,100  2.531,000  2.5....................................31,100  2.5
Turkey-in-Asia15,300  1.2............15,300  1.2......15,300  1.2............15,300  1.2
United States411,900 33.3......13,200  1.0425,100 33.8......10,800  0.9414,300 32.12,400  0.2......
Other countries............2,600  0.22,600  0.234,100  2.7......36,700  2.836,700  2.9......
World[135]1,245,100100.0227,800 18.2239,400 19.21,256,700100.0476,200 37.8441,600 35.21,290,500100.0682,700 52.9636,500 50.9

[130] Percentages of World production of recoverable lead content of ores.

[131] Percentages of World smelter production of pig lead.

[132] Percentage of mean of totals used in a and b.

[133] Total recoverable lead content of ore production reported, less lead content of Australian production in forms other than pig lead.

[134] Probably represents ore surplus rather than exports.

[135] Lack of proper balance in these totals shows error or incompleteness, or lack of comparability, due in part to lag in the statistics, which, however, show correctly the general situation.

The ownership or operative control of mines is a minor factor in the commercial control of the lead industry and in general is of importance only as determining the distribution of ore to smelters competing otherwise on nearly equal terms. Most of the large smelter interests engage in, or have subsidiaries engaged in, mining or have sufficient holdings in large mining companies to influence their smelting contracts. The actual basis of control of the industry is, therefore, often through combined ownership or control of mines and of reduction works.

The ownership or control of reduction plants has been the dominating factor in the commercial control of the industry. The production of each country in 1913, the principal lead reduction works of the world, and their affiliations and control are discussed below.

United States.

—The control of the lead industry of the United States through ownership or control is vested in ten groups as follows:

1. The Morgan-Guggenheim group, comprising the American Smelting & Refining Co.; American Smelters Securities Co.; and their subsidiaries: Selby Smelting & Lead Co.; Tacoma Smelting Co.; Garfield Smelting Co.; Consolidated Kansas City Smelting & Refining Co.; Federal Lead Co.; Federal Mining & Smelting Co.; Western Mining Co.; Silver Lake Mining Co.; and the Yak Mining, Milling & Tunnel Co.

2. The St. Joseph Lead Co.

3. National Lead Co.; St. Louis Smelting & Refining Co.; United Lead Co.

4. The Rockefeller-Ryan group, comprising the International Smelting Co.—Tooele smelter, Utah; and the International Lead Refining Co.,—refinery at East Chicago, Ind.

5. The United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Co. group, comprising the United States Smelting Co.—Mid vale smelter, Utah; U. S. Metals Refining Co.,—electrolytic lead refinery at Grasselli, Ind.; Needles Mining & Smelting Co.,—zinc-lead custom concentrator at Needles, Calif.; Bingham Mines Co. and other mines in Utah (Bullion, Beck, Champion, Utah-Apex, Centennial-Eureka and Tintic); Sunnyside and Gold Prince mines at Silverton, Colorado, and formerly a half interest in International Metals Selling Co.; and the Leadville Unit.

6. The Day group, comprising the Northport Smelting & Refining Co.; Pennsylvania Smelting & Refining Co.; Hercules Mining Co.; Tamarack & Custer Mining Co.; and the Amazon-Manhattan mines et al.

7. The American Metal Co. group, controlling the Ohio & Colorado Smelting Co. (owning 65 per cent. of its stock), and the Balbach Smelting & Refining Co. (owning one-third of its capital stock and selling the entire output).

8. Hayden-Stone-Clark-Coolidge group, comprising the American Zinc, Lead & Smelting Co.; American Zinc Co. of Tennessee; American Zinc. Co of Wisconsin; American Zinc Co. of Illinois; Granby Mining & Smelting Co. of Missouri; and the Butte & Superior Mining Co.

9. The Eagle-Picher group, comprising the Eagle-Picher Lead Co., Joplin, Mo. with smelter at Joplin, Mo., and controlling the Galena Smelting & Manufacturing Co., Galena, Kan.; and the Webb City Smelting & Manufacturing Co., Webb City, Mo.

10. The Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co., controlled by Bradley-Crocker interests, and probably representing a certain proportion of English capital.

11. The Desloge Consolidated Lead Co., which formerly operated its own smelter but now has its ores smelted on toll by the Federal Lead Co. and markets its own lead.

All of the above companies are owned and controlled by American citizens so far as known, except certain interests in the American Metal Co. and perhaps the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co.

The American Metal Co. has 70,000 shares of capital stock, of which 34,644 shares were owned by the Metallgesellschaft, one of the German “Trio,” 18,620 shares belong to Germans who have become naturalized American citizens and have had the management, and the remaining 16,736 belonged to Henry L. Merton & Co., of London, a firm that is in process of liquidation. The Alien Property Custodian took over the 34,644 shares referred to above and sold them at public auction. The control of the company is vested in three voting trustees selected by agreement between the Alien Property Custodian and the American shareholders.

Vogelstein & Co. at one time linked groups 5, 7, 8, and 10, chiefly through selling contracts. Vogelstein & Co. owned the International Metals Selling Co., formerly marketing the production of the United States Smelting, Mining & Refining Co., but this connection is now broken. A contract for sale of the entire output of the American Zinc, Lead & Smelting Co. was held by L. Vogelstein & Co., partly owned by Aron Hirsch & Sohn, another member of the great German metal combine. L. Vogelstein & Co. (Inc). was seized by the Alien Property Custodian and was controlled by five directors, two of whom were appointees of the Custodian.[136] The operative control of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co. is vested in Americans, but Vogelstein & Co. sells the output. Groups 5 and 8 are probably linked to some extent by large stockholders in common, Clark & Coolidge of Boston.

[136] L. Vogelstein is reported to have sold his interests to the American Metal Co. and subsequently, early in 1920, to have acquired a fifth interest in that company.

As a result of the activities of the Alien Property Custodian, the ownership and control of substantially all the mines and reduction works in the United States are vested in American citizens. Further information regarding the activities of German interests in the American metal trade is given in the chapter on copper, [pages 232]-[235].

[Table 54] lists the important lead smelting and refining plants of the United States at the present time.

Table 54.—Silver-lead Smelters in the United States

Financial
Group
No.		Operating
company		LocationNumber
of
furnaces		Annual
capacity
(tons of
charge)
 1American Smelters Securities Co.Selby, Calif. 3210,000
 1American Smelting & Refining Co.Denver, Colo. 7510,000
 1American Smelting & Refining Co.Pueblo, Colo. 7380,000
 1American Smelting & Refining Co.Durango, Colo. 4210,000
 1American Smelting & Refining Co.Leadville, Colo.10510,000
 1American Smelting & Refining Co.Murray, Idaho 8657,000
 1American Smelting & Refining Co.East Helena, Mont. 4306,000
 1American Smelting & Refining Co.Omaha, Neb.[137] 282,000
 1American Smelting & Refining Co.Perth Amboy, N. J.[137] 4170,000
 1Con. Kansas City Smelting & Refining Co.El Paso, Texas 6380,000
10Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co.Kellogg, Idaho 3600,000
 7Ohio & Colorado Smelting Co.Salida, Colo. 3200,000
 5U. S. Smelting, Refining & Mining Co.Midvale, Utah 7530,000
 6Northport Smelting & Refining Co.Northport, Wash. 2216,000
 6Pennsylvania Smelting Co.Carnegie, Pa. 260,000
 4International Smelting Co.Tooele, Utah 5500,000
Total 775,521,000

[137] Refinery also.

The following [Table 55] shows the relative importance of the various financial groups controlling the production of lead in the United States.

Table 55.—Financial Groups Controlling the Production of Lead in the United States

Financial
group
No.		CompanyPercentage
of production
Oct.-Nov.,
1918		1917
 1American Smelting & Refining Co34.137.7
 3National Lead Co. (St. Louis Smelting & Refining Co.) 5.9 9.0
 2St. Joseph Lead Co.20.116.4
 4International Smelting & Refining Co. 3.7 6.5
 5U. S. Smelting Refining & Mining Co. 5.5 8.3
 6Pennsylvania Smelting Co. 6.2 7.2
 7American Metal Co. 1.8 2.1
 8American Zinc, Lead & Smelting Co. 1.7 1.3
 9Eagle-Picher Lead Co. 9.3 6.2
10Banker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co. 6.3 1.7
11Desloge Consolidated Lead Co. 2.6 3.3
Ontario Smelting Co. 1.9 0.0

The American Smelting & Refining Co., through the preponderance of its production and the wide distribution of its interests, dominates the domestic industry, although its proportion of the total output has decreased greatly during the past few years.

Spain.

—More than 60 per cent. of the pig lead made in Spain comes from the smelters of the Penarroya company (French), which within the past few years has absorbed the Spanish smelters of Escombrera-Bleyberg at Esconbrera, and the two smelters of Figueroa, at Linares and Cartagena. This gives the Penarroya company a dominant position in the Spanish lead industry. English interests, E. J. Enthoven & Co., have a smelter producing about 25,000 short tons of lead annually. All the smelting companies have made a combination to stop competition in ore buying. The Spanish government imposes a duty of about $1.80 per ton on lead concentrates exported.

Australia.

—Smelting plants in Australia that produce lead have the capacities shown below.

CompanyLocation1913 production,
short tons
pig lead
Broken Hill Associated SmeltersPort Pirie, South Australia 92,824
Sulphide CorporationCockle Creek, New South Wales 19,660
Total 112,484

The annual capacity of the Port Pirie plant is now 165,000 short tons of pig lead.

Table 56.—Silver Lead Smelters in Mexico

CompanyLocationNumber of
furnaces		Annual
capacity
tons of
charge
American Smelting & Refining Co.Monterrey 7 410,000
American Smelting & Refining Co.Aguascalientes 1(lead)40,000
American Smelting & Refining Co.Chihuahua 7 400,000
American Smelters Securities Co.Velardeña 3 150,000
Compañia de Minerales y MetalesCerralvo 2 35,000
Compañia de Minerales y MetalesGuadalupe, N. L. 1 70,000
Compañia Fundadora y Refinadora de Monterrey (leased to American Metal Co.)Monterrey 4(or 8?)210,000
Compañia Metalurgica Mexicana (Towne)San Luis Potosi10 250,000
Compañia de Minerales y Metales (reported about to be dismantled)Torreon 9 350,000
Compañia Minera de PeñolesMapimi 6 350,000
Mazapil Copper Co., Ltd. (English)Saltillo, Coahuila 1 36,000
Total 51 2,301,000

Mexico.

—Practically all the Mexican smelting works are owned and operated by American companies. Prior to the war several of these were controlled by German interests through the American Metal Co. (incorporated in the United States), but the action of the Alien Property Custodian eliminated all foreign control in those companies, which comprise Compañia Minera de Peñoles, Compañia de Minerales y Metales, and Compañia Metalurgica de Torreon, leaving only the Compañia Fundadora y Refinadora de Monterrey still under German control. The American Metal Co. normally controlled 60,000 to 75,000 tons of bonded Mexican lead and 12,000 to 15,000 tons of lead smelted in Mexico, together with over a thousand tons of antimonial lead.

The Aguascalientes and Velardeña plants are chiefly copper smelters. There are small lead smelters at Terrazas and Santa Rosalia, Chihuahua, but they are probably abandoned.

British Isles.

—During the war the British lead-smelting capacity is reported to have been increased. Before the war a large amount of foreign lead bullion from Spain, Belgium and Germany was desilverized in the British Isles.

Other Countries.

—The lead-smelting plants of France escaped destruction during the war, being outside the war zone. The capacity of the Pontgibaud plant was greatly increased. They are all French owned. The most important lead smelting plant in Italy is that of the Societa di Pertusola (English), with a pig-lead output in 1915 of 16,625 metric tons; the other plant is that of the Societa di Monteponi (Italian), with an output of 5,187 tons. The only lead smelting of Greece is that of the Compagnie des Mines de Laurium (French).

The only important lead smelter of Canada is that of Trail, British Columbia, which is controlled by the Canadian government. This plant includes a refinery using the Betts electrolytic process.

The only lead smelter in Turkey is one controlled by French interests, that of the Société des Mines de Balia-Kara-Aidin, at Kara-Aidin. The lead smelting plant of the Burma Mines Corporation, Ltd., at Bawdwin, Burma, has a capacity of 22,000 short tons lead.

In Siberia the Ridder Mining Co., controlled by the Irtysh Corporation, of London, has constructed 165 miles of railroad, which, together with river transport, brings the ore from the Ridder concession and the coal of the Ekibastus coal fields to the smelting plant at Ermak, which has a capacity of 15,000 tons of lead annually.

Trade Combinations.

—National and even international control of the lead market has at times been attained through marketing organizations or trade combinations of reduction works, ore-buying and metal-selling agencies with interlocking directorates, joint ownership, and long-term contracts for ores, concentrates, and metals.

In 1909 the so-called Lead Convention, or officially the International Sales Association, was formed in Paris. It was composed of German, Spanish, and Belgian producers and metal-selling agencies controlling directly about one-half of the European production. Some companies not nominally in the association acted in concert with it. This convention was renewed in 1910 and again in 1913 for three years. The association was dominated by the same interests as the German Zinc Syndicate,—the Merton group, comprising the Metallgesellschaft, the Metallbank and Metallurgische Gesellschaft of Frankfort and the Merton companies of London; Beer, Sondheimer & Co., controlling a dozen German metal and chemical concerns, and Aron Hirsch & Sohn at Halberstadt. The Merton group of London and Frankfort were the selling agents of the association, and the dominant “Trio,” through the Australian Metal Co., controlled the lead exported as metal or concentrates from Australia.

In the United States and Mexico all lead exported was controlled by the American Metal Co., affiliated with the association, or the American Smelting & Refining Co., acting in concert with it. The German “Trio” maintained and was rapidly extending and strengthening its ascendancy throughout the world through banks, holding companies, affiliations with syndicates and cartels, interlocking directorates, joint share holdings and purchase in whole or in part of mines and smelters. Some of the English lead refineries were closely associated with the Convention, and all lead exported from the Port Pirie smelter was sold by Merton & Co. The association was able to fix the price of lead in Europe and thus affect the output and, it has been claimed, so manipulated the market that lead outside the Convention was controlled just as effectively as that inside. The membership was international, brought together by mercenary motives. That the strongest and most aggressive interests were German citizens was purely incidental.

As a result of the war, however, the production of Australian lead concentrates and bullion is permanently diverted from German control. The activities of the Alien Property Custodian tended to eliminate all German interests in the United States. Most of the Australian lead bullion production is now marketed by the Broken Hill Associated Smelters, Prop., Ltd., of whose capital stock the Broken Hill Proprietary owns one-third and the Broken Hill South, Broken Hill North, and Zinc Corporation each own two-ninths. The plant of this company is now the largest smelter in the world.

The nationalist movement in France resulted in the formation of trade associations known as “consortiums,” comprising the principal factor in each industry. These “consortiums,” were recognized by the government, and each was made virtually arbiter of its particular field. The consortium of the mineral industry has been perfected into the Société Minerals et Metaux, 154 Boulevard Hausmann, Paris. The official announcement states that this society is organized under the auspices of the French government in order to group the French metal producers operating both at home and abroad into a co-operative association for the purchase and sale of metallurgical products.

The participants comprise the principal companies in France producing or refining metals and also the mining and smelting companies controlled by French capital in Spain, Algeria, Tunis, and other foreign countries. A highly centralized organization of that part of the mineral and metal industry under French control is thus achieved for mutual protection and advantage in competition with other nationalities. Members of this organization will produce most of the ore from Algiers and Tunis and probably 75 per cent. of the Spanish lead bullion. The present annual output of the participating companies is about 200,000 metric tons of lead, 50,000 metric tons of zinc, and 40,000 tons of copper, besides iron, antimony, platinum, etc. The association comprises the following companies: Société Minière et Metallurgique de Penarroya; Société d’Affinage de Metaux; Compagnie des Mines d’Ain-Barbar; Association Minière; Société des Mines de Zinc d’Ain-Arko; Compagnie du Boleo; Compagnie Française des Mines de Bor; Corocoro United Copper Mines, Ltd.; Société des Mines de Fedj-el-Adoum; Société des Mines de Zinc de Guergour; Compagnie des Mines de Huaron; Société Minière du Kanguet; Compagnie des Minerais de Fer Magnetique de Mokta-et-Hadid; Comptoir Lyon Allemand; Société Anonyme des Mines de Malfidano; Compagnie des Mines d’Ouasta et de Desloula; Société des Mines de Parzan; Compagnie Industrielle du Platine; Société Anonyme des Mines et Fonderies de Pontgibaud; Société des Mines d’Antimoine de Rochetrejoux; Société des Anciens Etablissements Sopwith; Société Française d’Etudes et d’Enterprises; Société des Mines du Djebel-Ressas; Société Anonyme Française du Djebel-Hallouf; Société Anonyme des Mines et Usines de Peyrebrune; and Compagnie La Cruz.

One of the results of the war was the stimulation of co-operative enterprises between British companies, the movement being encouraged by the government, which in some cases participated financially. The British Australian Lead Manufacturers Proprietary, Ltd., was formed as a consolidation of the Australian interests of British firms, with the object of establishing a white-lead industry in that country. Those participating comprise: Alexander Ferguson & Co.; Cookson & Co.; Foster, Blockett & Wilson; Locke, Blockett & Co.; Locke-Lancaster; W. W. & R. Johnson & Sons, Ltd.; Mersey White Lead Co., Ltd.; and Walkers Parker & Co.

The Chloride Syndicate comprising the Zinc Corporation, Ltd., Burma Mines Corporation, and the Swansea Vale Smelter, Ltd., is conducting experimental work on the Ganlin process with the object of perfecting it.

Richard Tilden Smith, having acquired controlling interests in J. H. Enthoven & Sons, Locke-Lancaster, Walkers Parker & Co. and a one-third interest in the Burma Mines Corporation, became a strong link between these important companies and thus secured an arrangement with the Imperial Government for financial assistance with the new plant of the National Smelting Co., Ltd., at Avonmouth to the extent of £500,000 out of the total estimated cost of £750,000, the government being particularly interested in the production of by-product acid. The National Smelting Co. agreed to take 25,000 tons yearly of Broken Hill concentrate and smelt no foreign ore without government permission. Enthoven & Sons control through ownership the output of one of the Spanish smelters and through desilverizing and marketing contracts the output of the French Laurium company of Greece. An attempt to bring about a closer combination of all the above-mentioned English and Australian companies failed.

It is reported that in 1917 Vivian, Younger & Bond, and Morgan, Grenfeld & Co. were instrumental in forming a “Metal Bank” in London. Broken Hill Associated Smelters Prop. Ltd., and the Penarroya company were said to have agreed to market their production through this bank, but it is probable that the arrangement was never made effective. A Chemical and Metallurgical Bank has been formed in London, among the shareholders being Richard Tilden Smith. Its proposed field is not clear, but it will probably endeavor to influence the control of lead in the United Kingdom.

A British Metals Corporation was formed in 1918 by Vivian, Younger & Bond, Chas. Tennant Sons & Co., Cookson & Co., the British Aluminum Co., Morgan, Grenfeld & Co., and large stockholders of the Rio Tinto Co., with a capital of £5,000,000. The Imperial Treasury will be represented on the board of directors. The purposes are to finance British non-ferrous metal companies, bring all the production within the empire of those metals under one marketing organization and preserve British control. If plans are successfully carried out, the smelting both in England and on the Continent of Europe, should any British concentrates be allotted there, will practically be on toll, the metal remaining in the control of the Metals Corporation or the affiliated bank.