Evening star., 1940-03-03
Miss Jewell Glass Hunts
Hidden Mineral Wealth
With Wars Stopping Imports of
Vital Materials, Research Takes
On Added Importance
By GRETCHEN SMITH.

By GRETCH
Searching for minerals. necessar
u the daily occupation Of Miss Jewt
the Division Of Petrology Of the U
the only woman on the investigating
It Is not in mines, but beneath
young woman with closely cropped
problem which has embarrassed the4
United States since the beginning Of
wars in the Orient and Europe.
Until the outbreak Of hostilities
abroad. Miss Glass explained that
much Of her work included analysis
Of rocks and stones and the soils
in which they are found, for the
purpose Of assisting engineers. '"The
proper construction Of roads, bridges
or other engineering projects" she
explained, depends SO much upon
the quality Of rock deposits, or the
stone used"
After several years Of interesting
research, In which q well-denned
volcanic crater was discovered be-
meath the surface Of the plains near
jackson, Miss, through an ore anal
ysis made by Miss Glass, she was
assigned the important work Of in
vestigating strategic minerals"
These, she states, are minerals
essential to the economic life Of
the Nation and for the manufacture
Of articles Of national defense.
Important Minerals
Shut on by War.
With war breaking throughout the
world and nations concentrating
their own resources for home con-
sumption, former important mineral
imports from other countries have
been curtailed, said Miss Glass.
I'VE use more tin than any nation
In the world" she explained, "and
yet we only produce l per cent Of
our needs. Most Of 1t has come from
the Far East, the Malay Peninsula
and from Hainan, taken over by the
japanese"
Other minerals essential In manu-
featuring, found only In limited
quantities In the United States, said
Miss Glass, are nickel, manganese,
chromium, mercury, antimony and
tungsten.
Most of our nickel has come from
Canada" she pointed out. Nov it
must all go to England to be used
by Great Britain. The war;" she
continued, has also stopped exports
of chromium from Rhodesia, where
the greatest mines are found. China
is the greatest producer Of antimony
and tungsten. both necessary for
war implements and munitions. The
war in China" she continued. has
seriously crippled our imports"
Miss Glass contends that to really
understand the economic history Of
the world one should have a thor
ough "rock bottom" knowledge Of
rocks, ore and the minerals therein.
Mineral Resources
Prompt Wars.
"As soon as one nation controls
strategic mineral" she declared,
there is going 10 be war Nations
claim they fight for ideals, traditions.
freedom or some other fine thing
they really are fighting for minerals.
Why does Russia want Finland?
Dedause Of its great nickel supply.
And why Is Sweden threatened?
| For its iron mines"
As mineral imports from Europe
and Asia have been seriously cur.
tailed, Uncle Sam must look to his
own resources, Miss Glass explained.
With the hope Of finding sufncient
minerals within the country's bor-
ders to help carry on" in an emer-
gency, the Geological Surveys stad
Of petrologists is conducting an in
tensive research into all mineral ore
deposits in the country.
I'VE recover and utilize from great
volumes Of rocks small amounts of
ore, which sometimes yield small
quantities of these strategic miner
ais" Miss Glass said. I'VE even
search the dumps. 1t is our busi-
ness to find where it is and how
much there is and also to study min
ing methods and the development
OF lean ore-bearing deposits"
While nature has been stingy with
the United States in certain min
/ erals, it has placed one of the few
rutile mines in existence not far
from the Nations Capital. Para
doxically, rutile, found In one of the
few great nations still at peace, is
used principally for warfare smoke
screens, although it is used also for
Welding purposes, the mineralogist
explained.
1T Is found is Roseland, Nelson
County, Va.," she added, "and I un-
derstand the miners there are work.
ing night and day now"
Started for Career
In Teaching.
Miss Glass, who Is q graduate of
George Washington University and
q member Of the Columbian Women
and the Phi Delta Gamma Sorority.
had planned to major in botany
and to teach school, she said. Min
eralogy was one of her subjects at
the university, she explained, and
she became 50 interested she decided
to make 1t her life work. After re.