POSITION OF THE IMPORTANT NATIONS WITH REGARD TO MANGANESE SUPPLIES
United States.
—Although from 1885 to 1890, deposits in the United States supplied half or more of the needed high-grade manganese ore, from 1890 to 1916 the domestic production rather steadily declined to a negligible minimum, while imports of foreign ore and ferromanganese steadily rose in accord with the rate of total steel production. On the other hand, during the period ending about 1908, when the rate of manufacture of steel by the Bessemer process (in which spiegeleisen is largely used) exceeded that by the open-hearth process, the annual domestic contribution of spiegeleisen largely made from domestic ores greatly exceeded the imports. In advance, therefore, of the exploitation of the large deposits of low-grade ores of Minnesota, which have been the source of most of the production since 1916, the United States demonstrated independence of foreign supplies of low-grade ore and alloys.
The experience and information gained during the war, largely during 1918, show conclusively, first, with respect to metallurgy, that 20 to 30 per cent. spiegeleisen, as well as 60 to 70 per cent. ferromanganese, instead of 80 per cent., may be used to make satisfactory grades of open-hearth steel without appreciably sacrificing rate of production or quality of product; and second, with respect to ore production, that known domestic deposits can supply for at least five and probably ten or more years, much more low-grade ore than is needed to make spiegeleisen, and for at least five years and possibly ten years, about one-third the high-grade ore needed for the manufacture of alloy with 60 to 80 per cent. manganese. The reader should note, however, that capacity of mines to meet demand is in large measure determined by the prices offered for the product, which during 1918 were about five times those prevailing before the war. Beyond doubt, at pre-war prices, the United States can not supply more than several per cent. of the high-grade ore needed to make ferromanganese.
Citizens of the United States have not shown great interest in purchasing foreign deposits of manganese ore. With Cubans, they have controlled the mines yielding a large part of the Cuban output, and about 1907 one company, the Carnegie Steel Co., purchased several deposits in India. That company, however, seems to purchase ore, in addition to the output of its mines. Not until 1917 did Americans enter the Brazilian fields; then the largest deposits of the relatively unimportant Bahia district were purchased by a Philadelphia group.
England.
—Before the war, England received about 50 per cent. of her manganese ore from India, 40 per cent. from Russia, 3 per cent. from Brazil, and small quantities from Spain and Portuguese India. Some low-grade ore also came from Spain, Algeria, and Greece. Domestic production was scarcely 1 per cent. of imports. Exports of ferromanganese, largely to the United States, however, have been equivalent to 35 to 45 per cent. of the total imports of ore. Two effects of the war were to eliminate Russia as a source of ore, the deficit being made up from India, and greatly to curtail exports of ferromanganese. In contrast with the United States and Germany, Great Britain does not seem to contain deposits of low-grade ores capable of supplementing the needs of high-grade ore.
England controls fully 90 per cent. of the Indian output, probably through ownership by resident English and native Indians. On the other hand, England seems to have no control, direct or indirect, of the output of Brazil, Russia, or of other important contributions to supplies.
France.
—Of the needed manganese ore, France imports from 35 to 45 per cent. from India, 40 to 55 per cent. from Russia, about 10 per cent. from Spain, and several per cent. from Brazil, and produces about 2 per cent. The domestic material, however, contains 30 per cent. or less manganese. In addition, France imports, as well as exports, a little ferromanganese from time to time.
So far as available data indicate, the French have made practically no foreign investments in manganese deposits, except in the Nicopol district, Russia. A company with a French name mined about 1,300 tons in India in 1907, out of a total of 899,055 long tons.
Germany.
—Germany’s position with respect to manganese is very similar to that of the United States. For four years prior to 1914, Germany imported 48 to 68 per cent. of the total receipts from Russia, 25 to 35 from India, 3 to 7 from Brazil, and small quantities from Spain, Greece, and Sweden. Domestic production of ore with more than 30 per cent. manganese is negligible. Germany probably exports small quantities of ferromanganese to Sweden and other European countries, and from time to time has exported alloy to the United States.
Like the United States, however, Germany possesses extensive deposits of ferruginous manganese ore with 12 to 30 per cent. manganese; and from 1908 to 1913, produced 260,000 to 330,000 metric tons of such material, as well as 2,300,000 to 3,000,000 tons with 5 to 7 per cent. manganese. There can be little doubt that although Germany, through accumulated stocks of manganese ore and seizures in Belgium, possessed in 1914 at least two years’ supply, she was able to maintain a fairly constant rate of steel production for four years by adapting processes to economize high-grade ore and use low-grade.
Germans appear to have purchased manganese deposits in Russia and Brazil only, and these have yielded only a small part of the annual imports. In the Chiaturi district of Russia, however, where most of the deposits are owned by natives, a German company, Gelsenkirchen Gesellschaft, reported to be a subsidiary of the Krupp company, was established about 1910, to purchase property as well as trade with and offer financial assistance to the producers. It is reported that this company alone exported about one-third of the output of the district. Germans are reported to own a part of one of several companies operating in the Nicopol district, Russia.