Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-04-23
WESTERN ORE REVIEW.
Z. X. LclthsDf Geological Survey Dis
cusscs Situation

In review OF the Worlds Iron ore
Reserves. g. X. Leith Of the geological
survey says In part:
with few executions the western
ores occur along the contacts of IN
trusive lgneous rocks and limestone,
and the extent TO which the ores follow
the contact I'm depth has not been
shown. Hence the estimates of tom
mage vary within very wide limits.
THE iron ore deposits of Iron county,
Utah. are among the larger and most
typical of this class of ores. Here
some 500 pits have been sunk and IL
has been possible In recent detailed
mapping to estimate with reason
able approach TO the truth the amount
OF ore of all grades appearing to the
depth shown by explorations of ma
tural exposures.
WEST HAS LOTS or IRON.
Using the Utah deposits az a basis
o. comparison, and excluding the Mex
lean deposits which the writer has not
seen, the tonnage of iron ore of all
grades in each Of the better known
distgicts of the west and adjacent parts
of British Columbia would not surpass
that of ono Of the other Lake Superior
ranges, hut IT IL extremely likely that
&c u'tD fNIlpiulloU OF the presently
known deposits continues, and as fur
Their deposits are found, as they UNI
doubteClS will be, that the aggregate
tonnage Of ore in the west viii equal
q considerable part OF that of the
Lake Superior region, and one would
be rash to conclude that IL Is impossl-
bic tina. an amount OF iron ore may be
round In the west fully equivalent 10
that In the Lake Superior region.
III these data approximate the
truth, there seems to be little cause of
alarm that North America will really
suffer for lack of iron ore for con-
Sidcrably longer period than required
f)r the exhaustion of the presently
known tonnage as estimated by Tor
nebohn and others, at the present rate
of Increase OF production. The time
of exhaustion Is not likely to come be-
fore that calculated on the same basis
for the worlds reserves, and probably
not then. II may be argued that the
use Of lower grade ores In Europe ana
England than IN the United tates rs
Itself evidence that the exhaustion Of
reserves Is farther In the future for the
United States than for Europe or Eng
land.
HIGH GRADE ORE rs LIMITED
But as il becomes more and more
obvious that the end OF the supply ~
higher grade ores In the United States
Is not indefinitely in the future and
may even be within single lifetime,
there Is likely to be an Increase In the
tendency to conserve the higher grade
ores, and especially the Bessemer ores,
and draw more largely on the tower
grade supplies tendency favored by
the concentration of control In few
hands. This tendency has already be-
come well defined, as shown by the
fact that pig iron production has not
In recent years increased as rapidly as
iron ore production. 1t Is not at all
unlikely that even the next decade may
see important changes IN this dlrec-
ton This will give values to properly
located low-grade ores. II viii ulti-
mately mean higher cost for iron,
changes In the relative Importance OF
processes for conversion Of iron, pos
sbly changes IN the geographic dstrl-
button of different phases OF the iron
Industry, and modification OF the re-
lations Of the North American iron
trade with that of the rest Of the
world