Evening star., 1951-07-15
By George Kennedy

tNSttshSSy
has been expanded about as fal
as it can go.
The United States now is max
ing steel in the same amount a;
at the World War II production
peak-100 million tons a year
The re-armament program ma,
boost that figure by Is millior
tons next year. The Nationa
Security Resources Board esti.
mates that our steel production
will go to 1870 million tons by 1860
1t takes a ton of ore to make {
ton of steel--a ton of scrap i
added. So if we are going to b,
making 80 million extra tons O.
steel in eight or nine years, anc
Iif Mesabi's expansion days ART
over, it can readily be seen thar
80 million tons is going to hav,
to come from somewhere else.
That has been the reason fol
the big ore search. The results 81
far give every reason to hope tina
80 million-ton gap can be closet
by 1860.
Liberio q Small Show
The iron range of hills in Liberia
into which Republic Steel is dig,
Iging, is small compared with som,
Iof the other finds. Republic
plans to import about a millior
tons a year from Liberia. Beth.
lehem plans to get 3 million ton
Ia year out of its Venezuelan oper,
tation. The first shipment ar,
rived in Baltimore harbor il
April. The United States Stee
Corp. has discovered an iror
mountain in Venezuela, tn,
Cerro Bolivar. which is biggel
than its Hull Rust -Mahonins
mine in the MeSabi, heretofore tn,
biggest iron mine in the world.
Even the Venezuelan supply MAJ
be small compared with Labrador
where drillers have already proves
about as much iron as there is II
sight on the Mesabi. What is go.
ling on in Labrador is one of The
great industrial adventures of ou
time. . s
In a few days drillers will hol,
through a tunnel almost hal
mile long, to push a railway
through the Laurentian Mountain,
to get the ore. This railroad
which will run north from tn,
port Of Seven Islands. just within
the great breakwater provided b,
Anticosti Island in the st. Law.
renee Estuary. will be double
tracked and 365 miles long. It i.
probably the biggest railroad con.
Istruction undertaken on this con.
tinent since the transcontinenta
Canadian lines were built.
There are 900 men working Il,
there now. All those in the mine
area, and all their equipment ant
supplies, had to be flown in
Weather stations and flying field.
have been established. And al
this is being done at time wher
lprivate capital-so it is said-ns
longer takes risks.
Labrador ore is being developed
Iby the M. A. Hanna Co. of Cleve.
land, which is the second larges
shipper of ore from Minnesota
Hanna made the explorations ans
obtained the mining concession.
together with the Hollinger Co,
which mines gold and silver il
Canada. Hanna then created thu
Iron Ore Co. Of Canada, an Amer.
lican company, and through i
brought five steel companies init
partnership in the enterprise. Ii
Iall, the group has about 1925 mil.
lion to fool around with.
The work has been runnin,
ahead Of schedule. Current plan,
call for the shipping of 5 millio,
tons of ore during the 1855 sea
son and 10 million tons in 1876
or 1857.
This Labrador ore is not piled u
IN mountains. It comes out of on
OF the dreariest wastes in tn
world. The region looks from tn
air as If an ocean had dried ur
leaving a lot of big puddles. Their
is hardly any game except smal
fur-bearing animals. The trap
pers used to go in in the winter
and avoid the area like the plagu
IN the summers, because it TEEN
with mosquitoes.
Iron ore was discovered ther
years ago by a missionary priest O
1.-THE Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
Why the DeIoy?
Here is how George M. Hum
phrey. president Of the Hanna Co
told congressman about it in tn
St. Lawrence Seaway hearing
earlier this year:
Now the reason that nothinI
was ever done about it before,
Mr. Humphrey said. sis this: Tha
part of Labrador is a very sparse
lily settled country. Practically al
of the people in Labrador liv
within five miles of the coast, be
cause there are no roads. Their
are no railroads. There is abso
llutely no means of communicate,
Eof any kind except by water.
Human beings were limited t
this: You took a canoe and
pack and went up there, takin
lonly what you could carry on you
back. It took six weeks or more t
lget in, and six weeks or more t
lget out, and you only had coupl
|of months to be up there. Then a
Iyou could discover was what 70
could look at. or what you coui
idig by yourself with what 70
could carry.
$50 that until flying becam
available, there was no means {
determining how much ore wa
there. When flying came in an