THE STEEL AND FERRO-ALLOY MINERALS
Iron.
—The iron supplies for the world’s consumption have been obtained principally from four countries: the United States, Germany, France, and Great Britain. More than one-third of the total production has come from the United States, and of the American output about 85 per cent. has come from the Lake Superior district, which alone produces annually over 30 per cent. of the world’s total. Next in importance to the United States have been Germany and France, and about 80 per cent. of the production of these two countries has come from the Lorraine fields on the border. The annual output of these fields has been 25 per cent. of the world’s production, or nearly as much as the Lake Superior district.
Linked with the coal industry as it is, no world-wide or even national monopolies of iron ore have been attempted. The greatest single commercial organization in the world is the United States Steel Corporation, with a total annual capacity (in 1913) of over 17 million tons of pig iron, or about half of the total American production. But this organization is not a monopoly, and there are a large number of powerful independent companies. In France and Germany no dominating organizations have been noted. In England up to the time of the war the iron industry was controlled by middlemen, and the manufacturers were insufficiently organized. To meet this condition ([page 86]) the British Board of Trade Committee advised a consolidation of iron interests.
Extension of commercial control by the dominant iron-producing nations to the ore reserves and to the iron industry of foreign countries, so establishing that commercial penumbra of empire which is so apt to deepen into actual sovereignty, is, however, much more marked in the case of iron than of coal, though less significant than in the case of oil. The control by ownership of great iron fields in South America by England and the United States, and the extension of Japanese control of iron-ore reserves in China, are the most significant features of this situation. In France, even before the war, Germany controlled over one-third of the iron and steel business. With the passing of German Lorraine to France, it is likely that much German capital will remain.
Japan has an iron and steel industry which, although small as compared with that of the United States, Germany, and Great Britain, and the other leading iron and steel manufacturing countries, is rapidly expanding. Blast furnaces, steel-making furnaces, and steel mills are being erected in Japan and in Korea, Manchuria, and China by Japanese interests. Japan is still very far from supplying her own consumption of iron and steel, which is a million and a half tons annually.
In brief, as regards the world’s iron and steel, the United States has a greatly preponderant position, which it will tend to increase, with the desirable tendency of drawing North and South America more closely together. In Europe, France and Germany are oddly yoked in the control of the second greatest steel industry in the world. In the future great arena of the Pacific, Japan is patiently building up her steel industry, with far-reaching Oriental vision. Coal mines and an iron blast furnace are included in the German “rights” recently acquired by Japan. Will Japan return Shantung? Did Germany return Alsace Lorraine? In her forward-looking plans, Japan has two national rivals—England and America. She has a vast fertile field to work in, except for these (especially England)—all of eastern Asia. She has a great disorganized nation which is no longer a rival—but a field whereon to feed and grow stronger—Siberia and Russia.
In the train of steel, and next after the problems of coal and iron, come a number of less-known and less-abundant metals—the ferro-alloys, metals that alloy with iron to make steels of special hardness or toughness, or with some other special quality. Relatively inconspicuous as they are, they are indispensable in the industries.
Manganese.
—Manganese is far more than a ferro-alloy. It is essential in the manufacture of all open-hearth process and Bessemer process steel, which make up 99 per cent. of the total United States production, for it acts as a remover of the carbon which makes the difference in quality between steel and cast iron. For this purpose it is mixed with the iron in the form of alloys. One of these is high in manganese—ferromanganese—and one low—spiegeleisen.
The principal manganese fields are those of Russia, India, and Brazil, which are so large and readily available for exploitation and transportation to markets that there is little prospect that they will be displaced as the principal sources of the world’s supply for many years. In contrast with the situation regarding other important minerals, most manganese deposits throughout the world are owned by residents of the countries in which they occur. This is due to the superficial and irregular character of the oxide deposits (the only ones as a rule of high enough grade to find a market) and the simple nature of the mining and washing of ores, which does not require much capital.
The United States is poorly provided with high-grade manganese ores, and hence has always been and will always be a heavy importer. Previous to the war, the supplies were mostly drawn from Russia and India; and during the war from Brazil, in addition to an increased domestic production under the stimulus of high war prices. England, France, and Germany—in fact the whole industrial world—have the same sources of supply. There is little necessity of sharp competition, leading to commercial combinations, or of strict governmental control, since the productive capacity of the principal deposits is very large, and far exceeds the world’s demand for steel making.
Chromite.
—Next in importance in the ferro-alloy group of metals is chromium, found in nature on a commercial scale only as the oxide chromite. Chrome is used extensively in the steel industry and the leather industry—in the former for making a specially tough steel (and also a refractory lining for iron furnaces); in the latter, for tanning.
Chromite is found in many countries, but in most (as in the United States and Canada) in small and scattered deposits, easily exhausted. The largest and most important sources of supply are in the French colony of New Caledonia, in the South Pacific; in Rhodesia, in Africa; in Asia Minor; and in the Ural Mountains, Russia. Up to 1830 the Ural region supplied the world’s chromium; from 1830 to 1870, the Eastern United States (Maryland and Pennsylvania) became the chief source; from 1870 to about 1900 the scene of chief activity shifted to Asia Minor; and since then New Caledonian and Rhodesian ores have occupied the world’s markets. New Caledonian ore is produced with cheap labor, and the deposits are near the coast; and the Rhodesian deposits are large and rich. High prices during the war, due to lack of shipping, brought about a great increase of production in the Pacific States of the United States; but with a return to normal conditions this region cannot survive competition, unless especially protected by legislation.
In normal times, the United States consumes more than one-third of the world’s annual consumption of chromite, but depends upon foreign sources—Rhodesia and New Caledonia. During the war, deposits of limited extent in Brazil and Cuba were drawn on, as well as Canadian and domestic ores. So far as developed, however, the Western Hemisphere is relatively poor in chromite deposits. The chrome industry in the United States is highly centralized, the Electrometallurgical Company having an almost absolute monopoly of the ferrochrome industry, and being probably the largest producers of ferrochrome in the world, and the Mutual Chemical Company having a great preponderance in the chemical chrome industry.
The chromite supply of the world is therefore at present essentially a monopoly controlled by British-French capital, and the great supplies occur in the colonies of England and France.
Nickel.
—The position of nickel is rather unusual, in that workable deposits are rarely met with, and deposits of great importance are confined to a few places. The only really commercially important deposits are those of Sudbury, in Canada, and of New Caledonia; although small deposits of workable ore have been mined in Norway, and nickeliferous and chromiferous iron ore occurs in Cuba.
The deposits of Sudbury are relatively far more important than those of any other field. Therefore Great Britain (through Canada) possesses by all means the largest and most important nickel deposits, amounting practically to an exclusive control. Previously American capital exerted a dominant commercial control over the nickel industry, through its ownership of the largest ore reserves and its control of smelting and refining plants in the United States. One of these American companies has also the second largest holdings in New Caledonia. The British government plainly has taken means to overcome this commercial domination. A large company has gone into business at Sudbury, in which the British government has the controlling interest. The government has also brought about the transfer of the refining operations of the International Nickel Company from New Jersey to Ontario, so that the entire industry will be confined to Canada.
Tungsten.
—The greatest tungsten-producing region is that of eastern Asia; the region of the United States and Mexico second; that of Bolivia and neighboring countries in South America third; and fourth comes the province of Portugal, Spain, and Italy. There seem to be no very large and concentrated tungsten deposits; and nearly all of those worked give signs of being easily exhausted. There may be therefore a world tungsten shortage in the future. Possibly Bolivia will prove to be the most durable field.
As to the commercial control, it is entirely in British hands, and this through the active policy of the British government. Actual control is obtained through the ferrotungsten makers, to whom the ores go for treatment. On this basis the commercial control in 1917 was: British 14,606 tons; American 9,479 tons; Japanese 1,165 tons; French 1,057 tons; and Germany 360 tons.
American capital controls the tungsten deposits within its own borders and in Mexico, and is largely interested in Bolivia and China. Before the war Germany controlled probably half the tungsten output, the other half being divided among the United States, England and France. At the present time, the control through ownership of mines and smelters is as follows: Great Britain 54 per cent.; United States 35 per cent.; Japan 4 per cent.; France 4 per cent.; and Germany 1 per cent.
Vanadium.
—Vanadium is an important ferro-alloy metal. Vanadium steel has great toughness and torsional strength, and is used in automobile parts, gun barrels, and the like. Chromium-vanadium steels have an extensive market.
The largest and most important deposits of vanadium in the world are in Peru, and until recently were controlled by the American Vanadium Company (an American firm), which has a concession from the Peruvian government. Otherwise the most important deposits are found in southwest Colorado, and were till very lately controlled by the Primos Chemical Company, of Pennsylvania. The American Vanadium Company had an absolute world monopoly of vanadium products and ferrovanadium, until the entrance into the field of the Primos company. Quite recently the holdings of both these companies have been taken over by the Vanadium Corporation, allied to the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
Antimony.
—Antimony has a relatively restricted use in peace-time, but war creates (for the manufacture of shrapnel) a vastly increased demand. Under normal circumstances the supply is far in excess of the demand. China has long been the most important source of supply, and is likely so to continue. France and Algeria are also producers, as is Mexico; and other countries produce under the stimulus of high prices. The United States, as well as Canada, has relatively small reserves and normally small production. In the early part of the European war, however, in 1915 and 1916, countries like Bolivia, Mexico, Australia, the United States, Peru, Burma, and Spain contributed important amounts; but none of these will be important factors at the usual low prices.
Prior to the war, England was the chief antimony-smelting center of the world. Ores from all over the world were there treated, and the British brands were considered purer than others, and virtually monopolized the world’s markets, including those of the United States. During the great demand in 1915 and 1916, British interests completely controlled the Bolivian industry. Until 1914 one of the principal English companies held contracts for the production of the Wah Chang Company, the most important antimony producers in China; but in 1914 this company established an independent selling agency in the United States. This tends to transfer the control of the antimony market from England to China. With all her vast mineral resources, China has been able to obtain an important position in the world’s markets with regard to but few metals. Of these antimony is the most striking example. Since 1908 over 50 per cent. of the world’s total antimony production has come from China.
Molybdenum.
—The use of molybdenum in steel making is as yet almost in the experimental stage, but it is likely to become important. It is valuable in electric work.
Up to about 1916 practically all the molybdenum ore (molybdenite, a sulphide of molybdenum) came from Australia and Norway. Shortly after the opening of the war, the molybdenite in Canada became prominent; and later the United States came to the fore as a producer. At present the United States can probably produce as much if not more molybdenum than all the rest of the world put together, principally from the great newly discovered deposits at Climax, Colorado. Before this development, Great Britain was the largest producer, in Australia and Canada. Both the British and the Canadian governments have been much interested in the development of the Canadian molybdenum, and the Canadian government has built a mill for the concentration of the ores. Prior to the war, the German-controlled American Metal Company, a branch of the German “metal octopus,” obtained, through a subsidiary, a large share in the control of the Climax deposits; and the Primos Chemical Company, which had strong German connections before the war, produced ferromolybdenum from ore from its own mine at Empire, Colorado. This, together with the great interest taken by Germany and German capital in molybdenum elsewhere, led to the rumor of attempted German control of American molybdenum.
Uranium.
—Uranium is valuable for the manufacture of special steel, although only used in small quantities. It is of extraordinary interest on account of its association with radium, both being obtained principally from the minerals carnotite and uraninite (including pitchblende). Radium is used in medicine, and for luminous paint. The only regions which have yet produced large amounts of radium and uranium on a commercial scale are in the United States and Austria. At the present time the United States is producing several times as much as all other countries combined.
Zirconium.
—Zirconium is used in electric lighting, and experiments have been made with zirconium steel. During the war it was at one time thought to be of unusual value as a ferro-alloy. Zirconium occurs in nature as the mixed oxide and silicate, baddeleyite, and as the silicate zircon. The baddeleyite deposits, having a higher percentage of zirconium, will probably become the chief source of the metal. It occurs in commercial quantities only in Brazil. Zircon deposits are found in Brazil, and also in India; and a deposit of minor note occurs in the United States (Florida).
Thorium and Mesothorium.
—With zirconium must be considered monazite, a mineral which is the source of thorium and mesothorium. Thorium nitrate is used in the manufacture of Welsbach mantles for gas burners; mesothorium is a by-product of its manufacture from monazite, and is a radioactive substance used as a substitute for radium in making luminous paints and for therapeutic purposes. The zircon minerals and monazite typically occur together in river or beach sands. Like the zirconium minerals, monazite comes mainly from Brazil and India; although it has in the past been mined successfully in the United States, the industry is now extinct.
The thorium nitrate industry of the United States is closely controlled by two companies, the American Welsbach Company, and the Lindsay Light Company. During the war they furnished thorium nitrate also to England and France, thus exercising a world-wide control.