OCR Text |
Show Manganese From India REVOLUTIONARY conditions In Russia have cut off tho rest of the world from one of the principal sources of an indispensable metal, manganese In the Caucasus there is one deposit of 100,000.000 tons of ore that is nearly GO per cent, manganese oxide. The metal Is related to Iron, slightly lighter In weight and with a silvery sheen It is very widely distributed In rocks both Igneous and sedimentary but bigb-grado ores are scarce. Now that Russia is shut off wo depend for our supplies mainly upon India and Brazil Manganese has a greater affinity for oxygen than iron has. Henco in the smelting of Iron ores it Is usrd to got rid of excess oxvgcn so that when the melt ls completo there shall be no iron oxide left in tho molten metal. It is indispensable in the making of virtually nil steels, taking up the oxygen that has to he ollmlnated, after which it is "slagged out" In the form of n complex manganese oxide. Small quantitjes of mansaneso are added to steel to produce "manganese steal," which has groat hardness and toughness. |