POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL CONTROL
The [table] of production for 1913 on page 105 shows the part of the total that each country contributed and the known extent of commercial control.
In contrast with deposits of several other important minerals, most of the manganese deposits throughout the world are owned by natives or residents of the respective countries in which they are found.
German companies have acquired tracts in the Chiaturi and Nicopol districts, Russia, and Queluz (Lafayette) district, Brazil. It appears that although one of these companies produces a little ore, the main purpose was to stabilize an unorganized industry by financial assistance.
In India it is difficult to distinguish between those companies composed of resident English and native Indians which were formed to exploit mines for profit and those composed of absentee English who desire to secure a supply of ore for English or other consumption. There seems to be no English capital in Brazil or Russia.
One French company owned two shipping mines in India in 1907, but there is no record of operations in 1913. French capital is interested in several companies busy in the Nicopol district, Russia. A Belgian company operates one mine in the Queluz district, Brazil.
Plate III.—Geographical distribution of the principal manganese deposits of the world. By D. F. Hewett.
Table 24.—Production and Commercial Control of Manganese
| Country | Long tons | Manganese content (per cent.) | Per cent. of total production | Commercial control (estimated per cent.) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | ||||||
| United States | 4,048 | 40+ | 0.16 | United States, 100 | ||
| South America | ||||||
| Brazil | 120,368 | 38-48 | 5.10 | - | Brazil, 80 | |
| Belgium, 5 | ||||||
| Germany, 15 | ||||||
| Europe | ||||||
| Austria-Hungary | 34,986 | ? | 1.5 | Austria-Hungary, 100 | ||
| Bosnia-Herzegovina | 5,709 | ? | 0.2 | ? | ||
| France | 7,610 | 30+ | 0.3 | France, 100 | ||
| Germany | 748 | 30+ | 0.03 | Germany, 100 | ||
| Italy | 1,596 | 18-45 | 0.07 | Italy, 100 | ||
| Russia | 1,289,370 | 41-48 | 55.4 | - | Russia, 65 | |
| Germany, 30 | ||||||
| France, 5 | ||||||
| Spain | 21,254 | 29+ | 0.9 | ? | ||
| Sweden | 3,938 | ? | 0.15 | ? | ||
| United Kingdom | 5,393 | 30+ | 0.21 | England, 100 | ||
| Asia | ||||||
| India | 815,047 | 42-54 | 35.0 | - | English and native, 90 | |
| United States, 10 | ||||||
| Japan | 18,516 | ? | 0.8 | Japan, 100 | ||
| Oceania | ||||||
| Australia | 27 | ? | ||||
| Total | 2,328,110 | |||||
The Carnegie Steel Co., of Pittsburgh, Pa., U. S. A., owns and works several deposits in India. Although Americans own deposits in the Nazareth district, Brazil, in Panama, and Costa Rica, and some of those of Cuba, there is no record of American ownership of any of the most important deposits of Brazil, nor of any in Russia.
From 1902 to 1914, about half the ferromanganese used in the United States was made in this country from foreign ore and half was imported from England, where it was made from imported ore. This tendency arises out of the limitations of blast-furnace smelting of the alloy and the difference between the cost of labor in the United States and in England, but does not represent definite control, for ferromanganese may be made in any modern blast furnace used to make pig iron. In order to smelt with maximum efficiency in making ferromanganese, however, a blast furnace should run continuously for long periods, and therefore make 20,000 to 35,000 tons of alloy annually. Although it is possible to pass without interruption from making ferromanganese to spiegeleisen and then to pig iron, the change causes losses. Small steel works in the United States therefore find it more advantageous to purchase imported ferromanganese than to make what they need.