CONVERSION OF MINERAL RAW MATERIALS OF THE WESTERN STATES INTO MARKETABLE FORM Next is Dr. R. S. Dean, Chief of the Metallurgical Division. At the outset I may state that, under the direction of the Bureau of Mines, Dr. Dean has done some very remarkable work in solving the problem of beneficiating low-grade manganese ores in this country, that I regard as of incalculable value to the country. Dr. Dean, is your Division conducting investigations concerning the conversion of mineral raw materials of the Western States into marketable form? Dr. DEAN. Yes. Mr. SCRUGHAM. State in your own way what investigations are under way. Dr. DEAN. That is one of the major problems before our Division. I think that our work in developing an electrolytic method of recovering manganese is an example of the type of activity we are carrying on in this regard. Mr. SCRUGHAM. In the hearings before the Naval Appropriations Subcommittee, it was stated by the chairman of the committee appointed for the purpose of investigating the need for strategic war materials, and concurred in by the remainder of the board, that the supplies of manganese in this country were so scanty or totally inadequate that they recommended the purchase of such materials from foreign sources. In view of the researches which you have been conducting, do you consider that there is any necessity for purchases from foreign countries, or do you think that the domestic market, under proper conditions of encouragement, can be supplied from domestic sources? Dr. DEAN. I believe that if the estimates which have been made by the United States Geological Survey and others interested in the manganese problem are correct, there is adequate manganese ore in this country to provide for the domestic needs. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Has your work on manganese gone far enough for you to compute the cost of a 100-tons-a-day plant? In other words, to ascertain whether or not domestic supplies favorably located can be beneficiated to compete with the foreign product? Dr. DEAN. We feel that the cost of plant and operation are comparable with similar costs for electrolytic zinc plants. That would mean that with a plant of comparable size to the larger electrolytic zinc plants of, we will say, a capacity of roughly 100 tons per day, that the cost of electrolytic manganese would be of the order of the cost of electrolytic zinc. We do not know the exact cost of the production of electrolytic zinc in the larger plants, such as Anaconda, but it must be of the order of 5 cents per pound. Mr. SCRUGHAM. This subject is of such tremendous national importance that I would be very glad to have you amplify your views, if you care to do so, for the benefit of the record. Dr. DEAN. Well, by way of amplification I may say that we are now producing in our small plant approximately at the rate of 10 pounds per day, and we plan to produce during the remainder of the present fiscal year several hundred pounds of manganese in order that we may get more complete information. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Explain what you mean by manganese. 139751-37-pt. 1—30 Dr. DEAN. By manganese I mean pure metallic manganese, an article which is not at present available at any price. Metallic manganese, as it is marketed today, is made by one of two methods by reduction with silicon, in which case the resulting metal invariably contains a certain percentage of silicon, or by reduction with carbon and subsequent removal of most of that carbon, in which case the resulting manganese inevitably contains a small percentage of carbon. Now, we know that these small percentages of impurities have a very undesirable effect upon the alloys which are made with these materials. Consequently the manganese which we are able to produce by this process is a better material for the manufacture of alloys than is any high-purity manganese which can be obtained today. For steel manufacture, ferromanganese is used. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Will you reduce these cost estimates into terms of ferromanganese? Dr. DEAN. The cost of manganese contained in ferro at present market prices is approximately 5 cents per pound. Mr. O'NEAL. That is the processing cost? Dr. DEAN. No, that is the cost of manganese in the form of an SO percent alloy, known as ferromanganese. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Do you recall offhand the tonnage of ferromanganese or manganese imported or brought into this country, per year, to supply the national needs? Dr. DEAN. I could not give you a reliable estimate without referring to the Minerals Year Book. But in normal years, broadly, we import 600,000 tons of 50-percent manganese ore. Mr. SCRUGHAM. I wish to emphasize at this point that in case of international embargoes or complications, this supply of manganese might be lagrely cut off from importation into this country. Such a situation is not only possible, but probable. Mr. O'NEAL. What other strategic ores do you speak of? Mr. SCRUGHAM. I will bring out the others later, through another witness. Proceed with your statement, Dr. Dean. Dr. DEAN. I stated that with our small plant, we expected to produce several hundred pounds of high-purity metallic manganese which we would use to obtain information concerning the advantage which this high-purity manganese has over the existing material, and that beyond that work the next step is the installation of a full-sized plant for the production of manganese. We feel that by the end of this fiscal year we would be in a position to furnish the basis for the design of such a plant. Mr. SCRUGHAM. I consider the work done by the Metallurgical Division along such lines of incalculable value to this country, and I wish to stress its importance. Are there other mineral resources, deficient mineral resources, of similar nature-- Mr. O'NEAL. May I ask a question before you get into that? Is the plant that you now have for making manganese of the type that you mentioned on such a scale that it would be very practicable from a commercial standpoint, or is it merely a laboratory plant" Dr. DEAN. It is rather more than a laboratory plant, although it is not of a size which would produce manganese in such an amount that it could be sold at a profit. It is, however, large enough to give us satisfactory information concerning methods, and fairly reliable information with regard to costs, although the question of cost must always be determined accurately only by a practical, full-scale plant. Mr. RICH. What do you mean by cost? Do you mean the price that we would be able to import it for, in comparison to what we would be able to manufacture it for? Dr. DEAN. That is right. We have not taken into consideration the matter of freight. We would, as a matter of fact, have no very good means of taking freight into consideration, because I do not believe that there is at the present time a schedule on metallic manganese. Mr. RICH. Practically all of the manganese that we use is imported? Dr. DEAN. The ores are imported. Mr. RICH. And you are now trying to develop something whereby we can take it out of our own resources? Dr. DEAN. That is right. Mr. RICH. What is the principal item of expense in connection with the extracting of it? Dr. DEAN. Power. Mr. RICH. Then I suppose that these power developments that we have in the West are utilized by you in connection with your work? Dr. DEAN. Our work is being done in connection with the Boulder Dam development, and the ore which we have used in our experimental development comes from near Las Vegas, and is just 8 miles by air line from Boulder Dam. Mr. RICH. Then you figure that eventually we will be able to be self-sustaining with our own manganese? Dr. DEAN. I see no reason why we should not be, with the possible exception of freight. Mr. RICH. Leave the question of freight out of it. Could we supply what we would need ourselves, in case of emergency? Dr. DEAN. I believe that we can. Mr. RICH. And even if the freight were an item, at that time we would not consider it? Dr. DEAN. That is right. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Now, Dr. Dean, the question is, do you think that similar results might be obtained in the beneficiation of low-grade ores, ch as nickel or even tin if the deposits of such material should Gevelop? Dr. DEAN. There are many known mineral resources, in the West Particularly, which could be utilized if processes for successfully neficiating them were developed. The possibility of cheap power Government projects may make economic beneficiation possible many cases. Referring to nickel, which you mentioned, we are doing some work now on the beneficiation of the nickel ore from the Bunkerville district, Nevada. ERADICATION OF NOXIOUS WEEDS Mr. SCRUGHAM. There has been a great deal of pressure brought to bear on Members of Congress for a very large appropriation for the radication of noxious weeds. A bill is now pending before a conference of the Senate and House in which the sum of $2,000,000 has en authorized by the Bureau of the Budget for weed eradiction. One of the developments in the Bureau of Mines which in my opinion might properly be taken up is the cheap production of chemicals for weed eradication. Have you investigated that subject to any degree? Mr. DEAN. Yes. We have gone into the question of sodium chlorate manufacture. The Department of Agriculture established several years ago an experimental plant for the production of sodium chlorate at Arlington, and we have visited that place and discussed the subject with their experts and have done a considerable amount of work in locating and developing methods for the beneficiation of raw materials, such as salt, which might be of the necessary purity for the manufacture of sodium chlorate electrolytically at one of these power sources in the West. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Is that one of the chief materials used in the eradication of weeds. Dr. DEAN. Sodium chlorate is, I believe, the principal weed eradi cator. STRATEGIC METALS OF WHICH THERE WILL BE A PROBABLE SHORTAGE (See p. 480) Mr. O'NEAL. Going back to the question of strategic metals, I would like to know what are the minerals on which there would probably be a shortage in this country, that would require importations. Mr. SCRUGHAM. We have an expert present for that. Mr. O'NEAL. I thought possibly you had gotten away from that subject. Mr. SCRUGHAM. We will put it in the record at this time. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Mr. Hess, will you make a statement for the benefit of the record in answer to Mr. O'Neal's question? Mr. Hess. We are short of antimony, cobalt, chromium, iridium, manganese, mercury, mica and I bring in mica because it is a war material nickel, tin, and tungsten. Mr. O'NEAL. How about fluorspar? Mr. HESS. We have a lot of undeveloped fluorspar in the West which cannot be used now because it is too far from transportation, but I understand indirectly from the War Department that they are interest in foreign sources of fluorspar, because they have had trouble in finding enough in this country. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Does that answer your question, Mr. O'Neal? Mr. SCRUGHAM. You will be called on later, Mr. Hess, unless there are some other questions. DEVELOPMENT OF CERAMIC RAW MATERIALS Dr. Dean, have you given any consideration to the development of ceramic raw materials? We import into this country, from information I have received from the officials of the Tennessee Valley Authority who are making such imports, some 6,000,000 dozens of pieces of ceramic each year, and in the case of international difhculties. that would appear to be quite impossible. Have you done any work or given any thought to the development of such raw materials? Dr. DEAN. Yes. We have made some investigations of the possible utilization of mineral raw materials locally available for ceramic ware in connection with electric firing at our Boulder City laboratory. I believe that you have seen the results of some of this work, which indicates that a very satisfactory type of ceramic ware can be made from western raw materials with the controlled firing which is available through cheap power. Mr. SCRUGHAM. I wish to insert in the record at this time the statement of fact that the Tennessee Valley Authority has a laboratory for this purpose located at Norris, Tenn. Does any other department of the Government have a laboratory of this character? Dr. DEAN. Well, the development of ceramic work, you know, was allocated to the Bureau of Standards. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Who allocated it to the Bureau of Standards? Dr. DEAN. I presume Congress did, following the transfer of the Bureau of Mines to the Department of Commerce, but I am not certain of that. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Dr. Furness, could you tell us that? Dr. FURNESS. It was done by Executive order. Dr. FINCH. It was by order of the President. Dr. FURNESS. Mr. Hoover was then Secretary of Commerce, and the transfer of the Bureau of Mines from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Commerce was made by an Executive order of President Coolidge. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Will you endeavor to furnish the committee with a copy of that Executive order, for that comes within the subject of overlapping functions. This appears to me to be a function of the Bureau of Mines, which is also being handled by the Bureau of Standards and by the Tennessee Valley Authority. (The following statement was later supplied:) CERAMIC WORK The transfer of ceramic work from the Bureau of Mines to the Bureau of Standards was not by direct Executive order, but did result from the order of President Coolidge, on June 4, 1925, transferring the Bureau of Mines from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Commerce. On November 6, 1925, Acting Director D. A. Lyon, of the Bureau of Mines, reported to Assistant Secretary J. Walter Drake, of the Department of Commerce, upon the ceramic investigations of the Bureau of Mines, listing 15 activities. On February 2, 1926, Assistant Secretary Drake sent the following memorandum to Dictor Turner, of the Bureau of Mines: Carrying out the plan announced by Secretary Hoover some time ago, all research and experimental work in ceramics, refractories, etc., including laboratory and plant tests, and related cooperative activities heretofore conducted by the Bra of Mines, are to be transferred to the Bureau of Standards and will be under the direction of Mr. P. H. Bates, Chief of the Ceramics Division. It is the understanding that from this date these activities will be coordinated looking toward the consumation of this arrangement." The plan announced by Secretary Hoover, mentioned in this memorandum, was expressed in a letter of August 24, 1925, to the Acting Director of the Bureau of Mises, in which he discussed the Budget estimates of the Bureau and made the following comment: "It is my intention during the present year to make other provision for the work dore by the Bureau of Mines in Alaska and for the investigations now carried on in the field of ceramics." |