The Economic Aspect of Geology

by C. K. Leith

CHAPTER IX

MINERALS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL (THE FERRO-ALLOY GROUP)

GENERAL FEATURES

Iron and steel and their alloys are the most generally used of the metals. The raw materials necessary for their manufacture include a wide variety of minerals.

Iron is the principal element in this group; but in the manufacture of iron and steel, manganese, chromium, nickel, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, zirconium, titanium, aluminum, uranium, magnesium, fluorine, silicon, and other substances play important parts, either as accessories in the furnace reactions or as ingredients introduced to give certain qualities to the products.

Nearly all parts of the world are plentifully supplied with iron ores for an indefinite period in the future, but their abundant use has thus far been confined mainly to the countries bordering the North Atlantic,—the United States, Germany, and England,—which, possessing ample coal supplies, have had the initiative to develop great iron and steel industries. China has abundant coal, moderate quantities of iron ore, and a large population, but a low per capita consumption of iron and steel products. Development of its iron and steel industry is just beginning. Japan has neither coal nor iron in sufficient quantities, and hence the Japanese effort in recent years to control the mineral resources of China and other countries. As a result of the war Germany has been largely deprived of its iron ores, and France may assume somewhat the rank in iron ore production once held by Germany. Sweden and Spain have been considerable producers of iron ore, but both lack coal, with the result that their ores have been largely exported to England and Germany. With increase of per capita consumption in outlying parts of the world, iron and steel industries are beginning to develop locally on a small scale, as in India, South Africa, and Australia. Russia has had sufficient supplies of coal and iron, but the stage of industrial development in that country has not called for great expansion of its iron and steel industry.

There has been a tendency for iron and steel manufacture to become concentrated at a comparatively few places on the globe favored by the proper combinations of coal, iron, transportation, proximity to consuming populations, initiative and capacity to take advantage of a situation, and other factors. Even though on paper conditions may seem to be favorable in outlying territories for the development of additional plants, this development is often held back by competition from the established centers. On the west coast of the United States, there are raw materials for an iron and steel industry and there has been discussion for years as to the possibilities of starting a successful large scale steel industry. The consuming power of the local population for all kinds of iron and steel would seem to be great enough to warrant such action. However, the demand is for an extremely varied assortment of iron and steel products; and to start an industry, making only a few of the cruder products such as pig iron and semi-finished forms, would not meet this demand. All varieties of finishing plants and associated factories would also need to be started in order to meet the situation. This would require large capital. Furthermore the local demand for some of the accessory finished products might not warrant the establishment of the accessory plants.

Throughout the history of the iron and steel business there has been a marked tendency for the iron ore to move to regions of coal production rather than for the coal to move to the iron ore regions. The coal or energy factor seems ultimately to control. This is due in considerable part to the fact that coal furnishes the basis of a great variety of industries for which iron ore is only one of the feeders, and which are so interrelated that it is not always easy to move the iron and steel industry to a spot near the sources of iron ore where iron and steel alone could be produced.

In regard to iron ore supplies of proper grade and quantity, the United States is more nearly self-sufficing than any of its competitors. It imports minor amounts of ore from Cuba and Canada, and even from Chile and Sweden, to border points, in the main merely because these imported ores can compete on a price basis with the domestic ores. The entire exclusion of these ores, however, would make comparatively little difference in the total volume of our iron and steel industry; though it would probably make some difference in distribution, to the disadvantage of plants along the coast. There is only one kind of iron ore in which the United States has anything approaching deficiency, and that is ore extremely low in phosphorus, adapted to making the so-called low-phosphorus pig which is needed for certain special steels. Ordnance requirements during the war put a premium on these steels. While some of these extremely low-phosphorus ores are mined in the United States, additional quantities have been required from Spain and Canada and to a lesser extent from North Africa and Sweden. Also the Spanish pyrite, imported ordinarily for its sulphur content, on roasting leaves a residue of iron oxide extremely low in phosphorus which is similarly used. The elimination of pyrite imports from Spain during the war, therefore, was a considerable contributing factor to the stringency in low-phosphorus iron ores. War experience showed that the United States was dependent on foreign sources for 40 per cent or upwards of its needs in this regard. Certain developments in progress, notably the project for concentration of siliceous eastern Mesabi Range ores, make it likely that future domestic production will more nearly be able to meet the requirements.

The equivalent of 15 per cent of the iron ore mined in the United States is exported as ore to Canadian ports on the Great Lakes and in the form of crude iron and steel products to many parts of the world. England and Germany are almost the sole competitors in the export trade.