The development of domestic chromite supplies means the depletion of limited resources, high cost of production, use of lower-grade ores, and lowered efficiency in consumption. With the free access of high-grade foreign ores, the market for domestic ores, therefore, disappears; and the domestic chromite-mining industry can not survive to any large extent. If world conservation of raw materials or the best use of the world’s resources is of chief importance, the domestic chromite-mining industry should be allowed to decline, and cheaper and higher-grade foreign ores should be allowed to replace domestic chromite. Experience during the past few years has shown that the chromite deposits of the United States, supplemented by imports from Canada, Brazil, and Cuba, can largely supply the domestic requirements for a limited period.
The United States controls only a small part of the chromite reserves of the world. American firms own the principal Cuban deposits and control the Brazilian deposits through leases. The United States is, therefore, dependent to a large extent upon the good will of France and England for a continuous supply of chrome ore, these two countries jointly being largely in control of the chromite reserves of Rhodesia and New Caledonia. Turkey controls most, if not all, of the chromite deposits of Asia Minor, but because of their enclosed situation on the Mediterranean, these deposits could not be relied upon as a source of supply in time of need. The same is true of the deposits of the Ural region in Russia.
The chief chromite-consuming firms in the United States are the Electrometallurgical Co., probably the largest producer of ferrochrome in the world; the Mutual Chemical Co., and the National Electrolytic Co., large producers of chromium chemicals, and the Harbison-Walker Refractories Co., American Refractories Co., and various steel-making plants, users of chromite for refractory purposes.
Great Britain.
—Before the war Great Britain consumed annually about 25,000 tons of chromite, most of it being used by Blackwell & Sons, Ltd., for the manufacture of ferrochrome. The ferrochrome made in England, however, is not sufficient to supply the needs of the British steel industry, and much is imported from France.
Except for unimportant occurrences in the Shetland Islands there are no chromite deposits in the British Isles, and Great Britain is therefore dependent entirely upon overseas sources of supply. British colonies, on the other hand, are rich in chromite deposits, and as long as British ships have freedom of movement on the ocean, they will have access to the more important chromite deposits of the world.
Owing to their richness and large size, the most important of all the British-controlled deposits are those of Rhodesia. Only one of many deposits in this area is being operated, and the reserves in untouched ore bodies are undoubtedly large, comparable perhaps with those of New Caledonia.
The production of the Rhodesian chrome mines has in recent years averaged in the neighborhood of 60,000 tons annually or about 35 per cent. of the world’s production, and doubtless the output could be very greatly increased if other known deposits were developed. However, even the present production is more than twice the actual chromite requirements of Great Britain. These requirements, however, do not represent the needs for metallic chromium or chromium compounds, and if France should cease to supply Great Britain with ferrochrome, a much larger amount of the raw material, chromite, would be necessary for the English steel industry.
Besides the chromite deposits of South Africa, chromite deposits of importance are found in other British colonies, notably in British India and Canada. Amounts of chromite varying from 2,000 tons to 10,000 tons have been produced annually in British India for many years, coming mainly from Baluchistan, in the northwestern part, but a small production has come also from Mysore, in the southern part. In early years, India furnished a more important part of the world’s supply of chromite than at present. Transportation is a serious difficulty in the mining of these deposits and when New Caledonian and Rhodesian ores became developed, the Indian ores dropped in importance.
The Canadian deposits, while of considerable extent, and having ready accessibility to eastern American markets, have not been extensively or continuously mined, on account of their low-grade character. By concentration, a medium high-grade product can be obtained, but concentration methods are expensive and bring the cost of the material up to such an extent that it can not compete with other ores now on the market. Thus, the cost of producing both Indian and Canadian ores is such that under normal conditions it is difficult to find a market for them, but in case of necessity, a considerable tonnage can be supplied from these sources.