Show US ore supply drops steadily to hit new low high rate of manufacturing depletes natural iron reserves in mines washington americans used to thinking they are eternally blessed with natural resources are having to face a new tact fact the country Is running low on some of the materials it needs most secretary of the interior julius A krug has issued another warn ing in his annual report and the matter of iron bobbed up in con gress during debate on the st law rence seaway iron means steel and steel Is 13 basic in our complex industrial life its the substance that goes goe s into our bridges skyscrapers houses automobiles tractors ships and trains all ali krug said about iron ore was this supplies of high grade iron ore are limited he didn dian t say how limited but others have summarizing the views of indus try and government experts the commerce department says our best reserves around lake superior may run out in 20 years that region produces 80 60 per cent of ell PH the iron ore mined annually in irl this country and half the na tion s output comes from one place a great yawning pit called the range in minnesota use steam shovels since 1892 americans have been taking iron ore out of the pits with steam shovels its it s been almost like taking sand off a beach the s shovels hovels just strip off a thin earthen cover and scoop the ore into railroad cars the ore moves straight to big docks for dumping into specially designed boats then it goes to the mills at cheap water rates this simple process has been a key factor jn america americas s develop ment of cheap mass production items and the ore beat germany and japan but while the war was still on a steel man said this Is the last world war that will be fought off the from 1940 to 1945 the industry drew on ore at three times the rate of the 1930 s now that peace has come the withdrawals arent aren t much lighter rate doesn doean t decrease last year 77 million tons were mined around lake superior corn pared with 79 million tons in 1944 it s too early to say much but the specialists seem agreed that getting iron ore from taconite means huge investments in plant manpower water and power foreign ores are the alternative the two sources most talked about are labrador and brazil both have enough iron ore of good grade to keep america americas s steel plants going for many decades but in both countries the ore Is more than mile miles from the sea in a wilderness industry would have to start from scratch at huge cost during the st lawrence debate backers of the bill said this if we had the seaway labrador ores might move to lake steel plants at reasonable cost otherwise for eign ores might cause a wrenching shift of industry from the great lakes to the atlantic coast on the other side it was argued that the st lawrence project might delay the taconite development there Is no easy answer |