Table 39.—Ownership and Capacity of American Copper Refineries
| Works | Ownership, group— | 1917 capacity (pounds) |
|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Copper Smelting & Rolling Co. | 1 and 2 | 720,000,000 |
| Nichols Copper Co. Independent and in part | 4 | 500,000,000 |
| Raritan Copper Works | 3 | 460,000,000 |
| American Smelting & Refining Co. | 1 and 2 | 288,000,000 |
| United States Metals Refining Co. | 8 | 250,000,000 |
| Tacoma Smelting Co. | 1 and 2 | 204,000,000 |
| Anaconda Copper Mining Co. (new plant) | 3 | 180,000,000 |
| Calumet & Hecla Mining Co. | 5 | 65,000,000 |
| Anaconda Copper Mining Co. (old plant) | 3 | 65,000,000 |
| Balbach Smelting & Refining Co.[114] (former German affiliations) | ... | 48,000,000 |
| Total capacity | 2,780,000,000 | |
| 1917 production (pounds) | ||
| Electrolytic copper | ... | 1,452,744,593 |
| Secondary electrolytic copper | ... | 66,337,771 |
| Imported copper made into electrolytic | ... | 555,000,000 |
| Total 1917 refinery production | ... | 2,074,082,364 |
[114] This company treats copper scrap and imported copper ores and matte.
The refineries control the situation to a very considerable extent. A copper producer must obtain electrolytic refining in order to market his product. Lake copper and casting copper do not require electrolytic refining, although producers of casting are often at a disadvantage when there is a big premium on electrolytic copper and casting can only be sold at a large discount.
The smelters do not control the situation in the same way. In the United States are a large number of custom smelters—32—that actively compete for ores; some have many branches. Moreover, a mine of any size will have its own smelter, as the capital investment is far less than that required for an electrolytic refinery. As the table shows, there are only seven groups (the six above enumerated and the Balbach Smelting & Refining Co.) interested in electrolytic refining, and one of these (the smallest) is to a considerable degree interested in the treatment of secondary or scrap copper.
The electrolytic refinery control of the copper production of the United States is shown by the 1917 figures. In that year the production of electrolytic copper was 1,452,744,593 pounds; of Lake copper, 238, 508,091 pounds; and of casting copper, 152,293,487 pounds. Electrolytic copper thus constituted 77¹⁄₂ per cent. of the total.
Control Through Selling and Distribution of Copper in Finished Form.
—Groups owning mines, smelters, and refineries invariably also control or own the selling agencies that distribute the product to the consumer. In these cases, control through selling is the same as control through mine ownership, but is increased by the copper in ores received at custom smelters.
Control through selling, then, is identical to the control shown in [Table 38], so far as groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 are concerned, if certain additions at the expense of the other groups are made. But every producer of Lake copper controls the sale of its product, because Lake copper needs no electrolytic refining. Hence in groups 5 and 9 mine ownership and control through selling are identical. This is a fact of considerable interest and confirms the fact of control through refinery ownership. Groups 6 and 7 ([Table 38]) are large producers, and although they do not own refineries they are able to control the sales of their product. The refineries are willing to refine their copper on toll and return the marketable copper to the mine owners, who make sale to the trade. Groups 2, 3, and 7 now control copper even further, as they own brass mills, wire and rod mills, etc. They manufacture a part of their production and sell it as copper wire, finished brass, etc., instead of making sales to the brass and wire mills of ingots, bars, cakes, etc., which is and has been always the general practice.
There remains to consider the control, through selling, of the six uncertain groups (total production 63,820,173 pounds) and some of the 134,458,614 pounds of copper produced from custom ore. A large part of this, as noted, is lodged in groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8.