Other firms exporting zirconium minerals from Brazil, in addition to Gordon & Rogers, of 141 Broadway, New York, are Suffern & Co., of 135 Broadway, New York; S. R. Scott & Co., 39 Broadway, New York; Foote & Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; P. S. Nicholson & Co., Caixa 91, Rio de Janeiro; E. J. Lavino & Co., Bullitt Building, Philadelphia, Pa.; Luiz de Rezende & Co., Rua Ouidor, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Chas. Spitz, also of Rio de Janeiro, who is agent for the Société Minière, a French company in which Rezende & Co. are said to have a considerable interest. Sometime ago the firm of A. C. de Freitas & Co. of Hamburg, Germany, had a contract from the Brazilian government on monazite sands and agreed to export at least 1,200 tons annually. How much zircon that company exported is not known. The de Freitas properties are now being worked by the Société Minière (French).[103]
[103] Production figures 1902-1916 for the United States and Brazil are given in [Table 34].
Until very recently, zirconium has been of minor interest in this country, the monazite sands having been exploited for their thorium contents only, not for zirconium. However, Germany and Austria seem to have placed considerable value upon zirconium-bearing sands, and, as shown by the attached [table], more was produced in 1913 than in all the time prior, and practically all the material produced during that year went to Germany. This is in accord with the efforts of Germany, just before the war, to obtain tungsten and molybdenum, and is an evidence of preparations long before hostilities began.
India.
—Before the war, the German users of monazite were in control of the Travancore, India, deposits. That control of course ceased and the contracts were cancelled. The India Office decided that, in the future, all directors of the company must be British born, and that the company must be ready at all times to sell monazite sand to British firms, direct, at a fair price.
United States.
—It is hardly probable that the deposits in the United States will be able to compete, on a commercial basis, with the Brazilian ores; but, if the necessity should arise, this country can produce, within its own borders, enough zirconium to manufacture many thousand tons of zirconium steel. The cordial commercial relations between the United States and Brazil will probably protect this country from any undue restraint on exports from South America.
General.
—All of the large countries interested have facilities for making the ferro-alloy. Numerous alloys of zirconium have been made, and a number of patents, both foreign and domestic, have been issued covering various alloys, both ferrous and non-ferrous. No secret processes, as such, are known to the writer.
Table 34.—Production of Zirconium Minerals in the United States and Brazil, 1902-1916[104]