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Show Utah Hard Hit by Foreign Blows at Lead-Zinc Prices Utah's lead-zinc . industry has been crippled by foreign governments govern-ments and producers of strategic metals dumping their low priced products on the American market. According to Paul H. Hunt, who recently testified in Phoenix for the Utah Mining Association before the House Committee on Small Business, of 30 Utah lead-zinc lead-zinc operators in 1952, only eight are still active, six on a curtailed basis. By March 30, 1953, approximately approxi-mately 1600 men had lost their jobs. Mr. Hunt quoted S. H. Wilhs-ton, Wilhs-ton, chairman of the Strategic Minerals Committee, American Mining Congress, who summarized summariz-ed the situation by saying, "When we want and urgently need metals from abroad, we dp not get them and when we do not need them, they come into the American market mar-ket to depress prices and close down domestic plants." Foreign metal dumping in the past 10 months forced the price of lead down from 19 c to 12c a pound, and zinc from 19c to 11c. Mr. Hunt pointed out that most American mines cannot operate successfully at these prices. Domestic Shortage In tracing recent fluctuation of the lead-zinc market, Mr. Hunt recalled that in 1951 government ceiling prices on zinc rose from 17c to 19c, while foreign producers pro-ducers were getting 31 c on the western European market. This made it impossible to obtain zinc for American requirements and when use of zinc was curtailed, men in manufacturing industries lost their jobs. In 1952, Mr. Hunt said, European Euro-pean demand for zinc fell off and the United States became a dumping dump-ing ground. Prices dropped to 11c while imports in July rose to i " J' V-, ' ' ''''' 'J J r - 1 f "A I' ' i' Paul H. Hunt . . . sees danger to Utah in mines closing. 60,000 tons. The year's total was 565,162 tons, an increase of 150 over 1951. Despite a smaller spread between be-tween foreign and domestic lead prices, the lead picture closely paralleled zinc. When supply caught up with demand, foreign sources unloaded and imports jumped from 257,900 tons in 1951 to 615,481 in 1952, Mr. Hunt said. Hope for the future of the industry in-dustry in Utah and the entire country lies in H. R. 4294, Mr. Hunt said. He pointed out that this bill, recently introduced in Congress, through provisions that provide for a sliding scale of im-1 im-1 port taxes on lead and zinc, can strengthen arid stabilize the industry in-dustry to a point that will permit reopening of currently 6hut down mines. |