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Show TO . . March 5, 1943 The Western" Mineral Survey, Salt. Lbke City, Utah Contributes Much To U S. War Effort (Continued From Page 3): production under 1941. and pre--. vious years. Idaho, although. Still No. 1 silver producing state, was below 1941. Montana silver production dropped, mainly dye to the closing of zinc' mines, and Utahs figure , was lower because the state produced less lead-zin- c ores in 1942 than 1941 and. had no straight silver production at all Manganese, to turn to the rarer strategic metals, finds the West and especially Montana turning out the bulk oi the high grade concentrates and Montana, particularly through the Anaconda operations, was substantially up last year over 1941. Utah production was very low. - In eastern . states, where1 considerable quuantites of low grade concen- , trates are turned out, the govern-ment made great efforts to encourage manganese production, through granting of loans, establishing of collection depots and other means, but the situation generally was highly unsettled in the regard of this particular metal. In tungsten production, California, Idaho and Nevada all did very weir in 1942, showing substantial gains over 1941. Most American mercury is pro-- , duced by California, Nevada and Oregon, and while production Was high in 1942 a great deal of the output went to our Allies, and while maximum efforts will be made in 1943, little chance of sending output figures higher is seen unless some new mines are discovered and put into operation. At present, some of the established mercury producers are nearing depletion. Colorado, followed by Utah and California, had a good year in vanadium in 1942 and prospects for 1943 are bright Colorado and Utah rank No. 1 and No. 2 again in production of molybdenum, Utah's production coming as a by. Utah copper mine. Sroduct of theranks third in production of this metal, with some molybdenum ore deposits straight and some of the output coming . - of other mining. is highly The need for this metal ' critical, as new uses for it are constantly coming to light, particularly as an alloy metal for steel. In the case of magnesium, great strides have been and are being made. Up until two years ago the as a by-produ- ct United States depended entirely on the output of the Dow. Chemical Company. and on imports to supply her needs for this highly important metal, demand ?or which is constantly growing as war industry expands. Within the - nation we have unlimited of . dolomite, potential supplies ' source of magnesium, but a great many bugs have still to be taken from the processing methods for obtaining the metal from this ore. Production figures for 1942 mean little, as; a great many of the large magnesium plants, notably Basic Magnesium, Ltd., at Las Vegas, Nev., were under construction: through most of the year and only in actual operation for a comparatively short time.. At the present tone, production is far greater than it was a year ago, and by. the end of 1943 we should know the full possibilities in this field. Montana and California showed. Increased production in chrome in 1942 over 1941, with new development at Red Lodge, Mont., Caliproving quite successful. fornia has several chrome producers and some of the metal is coming from Oregon, and while U. S. production still falls short of our needs, the picture is considerably a year ago. brighter than Over all, 1942 nonferrous metal production was more than satisfactory and prospects for 1943 are good in the cases of most metals. We still have some critical shortages and some major problems, but there is no reason to lack faith in our mining industry and our engineers and scientists. Labor supply continues to rank as a major problem, and one which will doubtless be greatly affected during the year by numerous factors, Including the draft policy and the actions of the War Manpower Board. - - . : . Price Is Big Factor In Output Of Metal Senator James E. Murray of Montana, chairman of the Senate special committee on small business problems, told the mining war council of the Colorado Mining Assn at its recent meeting that manpower lack, resulting from Inadequate prices for nonferrous metals, is the crux of the problem created by the shortage of such metals. Whether by flat increases or bigger premiums, Senator ray said, we must have adequate prices for. the miners products so that competitive wages . may fie paid , and workers kept contented, in . mines, mills and smelters. You must he able to afford liberal development pro grams. There Is too much stress being put on the financial picture. You . cannot shoot the Japs with dollar bills; minerals are what we need to knock them over! ' If higher prices allow a few- mines ,to make excessive profits, I can assure you and the OPA that my friend Henry Morgenthau will he close at hand to relieve you of such a burden. Senator Murray said' a pool of 20,000 workers would leave an adequate margin for opening ail of the important marginal mines and hundreds of smaller ones. . Only a portion of these men need be skilled workers and most, of them, where necessary,' could be trained in mines now operating, he said. ' . - . - ; -- it-wa- s . GOES TO WAR! 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