New Britain herald., 1925-01-30
MANGANESE VERY
 IMPORTANT ORE
Used in Multitude Of Everyday
 Needs

Paris It Is announced that United States firm has won the concession for the Tchlature manganese mines, biggest in the world, so America can shave in the morning with a steady, untroubled hand.
 There Is very intimate connec- ton between Tchiature, deep In an arid raylne under the Caucasus now peaks, and the cutting edge Of the daily razor," says a bulletin of the National Geographic Society from iis headquarters at Washington, D. c.
 "Razors are steel. Steel IS ron. But steel also is carbon and silicon and sulphur and phosphorus and manganese; for steel is an alloy just as surely as bronze or aluminum aye alloys. Gary and Bethlehem and Pittsburgh can get iron from Minne- sota and most of the Seasoning for their steel in the United States, but they must go abroad for much of their manganese.
 Comes From Georgia, Russia.
 Georgia, not the United States Commonwealth, but the Soviet Re- public which Is federated with Rus sia, lies along the southern slopes of the giant Caucasus Mountains which cut it off from Russia like the Pyrences cut off Spain from France. Oil is Georgia's chief mineral re- source and manganese is second. Oil at Baku, on the Caspian Sea, did much to build the Transcaucasian railroad from Baku to Batum, on the Black Sea, back in the eighties, but manganese found use for 1t first.
 "A few miles west of Tffis, which is the capital of Georgia, a narrow gauge branch railroad now winds through the deep cut of the Kvirila River Its terminal s miles from the main line is Tchiature, which is about 130 miles from the poris of Batum or Poti. Round about Tchla- turf are next 10 the largest known rich deposits of the rara earth cnlled manganese ore. Although tli1S region is supposed to have 200. 1000, 900 tons awaiting the pick, Brazil is said to have mountain of it. hIt this par ticular Brazilian deposit is so fsr inland that its exploitation is inn practicable at present.
 Before scientists discovered that manganese would facilitate the pro- cess of making steel and before they found that certain per cent made steel wonderfully hard, the Tchiaturi Mountain district was inhabited by a few scattered herders. In prosperous times 4,000 miners now work the hills. A herder of sheep knows little about mining so at first Italian min CTS were imported to work the stata. But the mining is easy and compara- lively safe so the Georgians soon caught on and now the great major ity of workmen are natives.
 Brought Thcater and Hot Baths. Before the World War much was tone to maintain good living condi- ! lions for the miners. Homes were l tuit for them together with an in- stitutions for hot baths, so dear to i the Georgian heart. Electricity came 1 into the mountains for the mines and the villages. Manganese even brought a theater to Tchiaturi.
 When the branch railroad reach cd the deposits there was great re- jocing because previously all ore had to be taken over perilous noun tain paths 25 miles to the main line. Seldom more than a ton could be carried by bullock cart at one time I he old Russian government bull the branch line but freight charges were so high, it is said, that they paid the railroads cost in two years
 India Passes Georgia.
 "Up to the time of the World War, Georgia led the world in production of manganese except for the periods of depression in 1907 and 1908. Then its rival, India, passed it. Closing of the Bosporus in 1914 practically sealed the Georgian mines.
 "The United States has always i'm ported manganese heavily from Brazil where the mines are in Minas Geraes, about 300 miles northwest from Rio de Janeiro. During the war America developed her own manganese resources and is using them today to some extent. The principal steel producing countries have in the past each drawn their chief manganese supplies from diff ferent source; Germany from Geor- gia. England from India, where it Is found in the Presidency of Madras and in central India, and the United States from Brazil. Montana, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Arakansas. Colorado and our own state of Georgia. are the sources within the unitel States.
 Many radio fans also rely on manganese. Grades of ore coming chiefly from Philipsburg, Montana, are important constituents Of the dry cell or dry battery"