The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-07-31
BURNING up IRON ORE
MAY YIELD NEW MILLIONS,
School of Mines Experiment Station at Uni.
versity 10 at Work on Process of metallic.
ing" To Change Poor Ore into Iron.

concerns find it no longer worth
their while to seek in Minnesota for
high-grade ores disable have not
been perfected, the mining compan-
les Mr.. Davis says, will move their
equipment and forces to one Of the
other big known deposits, and the
once famous Mesabi Range will
stand just as vacant and desolate,
due to the competition of other de-
posits, as those other deposits now
stand due to Minnesota's superiority.
The same memorable economic law
will operate to bring that situation
about.
Among the consequences OF such
an abandonment, some would be
serious. Cities and villages now de-
pendent on mining would dwindle
and disappear. Thousands Of in
comes derived from labor, manage
ment or ownership in the mining in
dustry would vanish. Taxes derived
by the state from the known de-
posits of ore, from profits on the
Occupation of mining it, and from
gross earnings of the railroads which
carry it from pit to port would be
lost.
Minnesota would be left with a
choice between two evils. 1t .aight
either sink back and become Sec
ond rate state in it's economic eff
cheney, its contribution to national
| wealth and in the standards of is
various activities and institutions, OF
It would have to impose a heavier
burden on its remaining taxpayers
Primarily, of course, these are the
farmers. Secondly, these taxpayers
are the manufacturing and distribu-
tive industries and the transporta.
ton companies. If the four main
economic problems of the state are
to improve and strengthen it's agri-
culture, manufacturing, transporta-
ton, and mining, it would do well
to look to the future welfare of its
mines, lest their loss impose a Grip
ping burden on the prosperity of
the other three.
| There is always romance in
science. and the mining experts OF
the University of Minnesota, in a
red litter of iron ore that brings a
hopeless look to the janitor's face
amid he clang of chains, the grind
ing of crushers and the roar of ex-
pertinent furnaces operating al
1000 degrees centigrade, are fight.
ing their battle in the building as.
signed to them on the campus
Asked what they are about, they
will say that they are trying to per
feet the direct reduction process.
for metallizing lean ores. Their
one sits down to talk to them, anG
presently discovers that thew are
battling at an economic Marine
They are fighting for the future
prosperity Of the state. And the
fight is not only for the sake OF
Tending off an economic disaster
# they win they will not only dc
that, but will increase and prclong
mining, diversity manufacture. in,
1ustry, establish new state wealth
and provide additional tonnage to
maintain the transportation system
that is so vital to the prosperity of
agriculture.
If the metallizing process wo:ks,
ron and steel will be made in Min
nesota right at the mines.
This involves a new conception
IF Minnesota's industrial possibil-
ties. Steel is made in this ''ate
now at only one place, Duluth, be-
| cause Minnesota has no coal and
such a plant to which the coking
coal of the eastern beds could be
brought by cheap transportation, a
water haul.
One Of the great advantages of
metallizing will be, however, that it
| will require only the cheapes: of
fuels. North Dakota Ignite w be
perfectly satisfactory, the experts
believe, although they must yet
work out the particular type Of fur
aace in which fuel Of that type
will accomplish the desired results.
It is because the process is still in
is experimental stages and because
furnaces and other machines must
De built and rebuilt until the right
arrangement is found that the Leg
stature has granted them $4,000 a
year for two years for this work.
There is no sensationalism in the
considered statement that if they
make metallizing success the ulti-
mate return to the state and its
people will run into millions, prob
ably billions of dollars.
Technically, the process of metal
| lizing will consist in heating the
iron ore, (oxide of iron), to a tenn
perature of about 1000 degrees
centigrade, in a furnace in which it
has been mixed with some gaseous
or pulverized fuel. The fuel will
act as the reducing agent, in that
| it will burn by combining with oxy-
gen, not from the air but from The
iron oxide. This process will be
continued until The oxygen original
| ly combined with the iron in the
iron oxide has been completely
burned up and only the metallic
ron and a small percentage of
silica (sand) will be left. The
silica will be separated by mechan-
ical means and the iron will remain.
It will be largely due to the use
Of pulverized or gaseous fuel that
the complete burning out oe the
oxygen will be possible. Such a
fuel can be mixed with the o".. far
more thoroughly than can the coal
that is used in blast furnace in
smelling metallic iron out o. ore.
A remarkable thing about the pro-
spective process is that the change
| from ore to metal will be accom-
plished without melting the material.
The metallic iron, after the reduc-
| ton, will look like the ore with
which the process was begun, except
that it will be black rather than
|red.
Some of the steps in the process
will be exceptionally interesting.
When the ore first enters the neat
ing zone and its temperature is