Mr. PUMPELLY. A dollar a unit. We acted as agents for the Government and operated a plant for them. We got a fixed fee. They paid the cost, and we got a fixed fee, depending on what our recoveries were. There was a slight sliding scale-the more the efficiency, the more we got. On these big operations it might be well to put in an agency agreement with a sound metallurgical company. You might offer $2 a unit, to industry as a whole, to produce this stuff. The Government found they can do it for a dollar and a half a unit. No one has any way of knowing until we get into it further. You would get a very substantial production from smaller people at a fixed priceat a good price and at a long-term market-just as you did in the World War. Mr. RUSSELL. In other words, it boils down largely to the fact that the cheap production of manganese in foreign countries is sent in here at a price that we cannot compete with. Mr. PUMPELLY. Congressman, the first part of this year, the latter part of last year, we started to figure for the Treasury Department in converting this ore of theirs into a high-grade product. They said: "Keep your price within the foreign market price." It was 90 cents then. We started figuring. It is 65 cents now. Mr. RUSSELL. I think the statement was made today that it is down to 61 cents. Mr. PUMPELLY. That is right. Putting the excise tax on it, it is right back at 90. Where are you? The Government has to do this job. Mr. RUSSELL. We are going in competition with foreign labor, which I understand in some cases pays 18 cents and 20 cents a day. Mr. PUMPELLY. That is right. Mr. RUSSELL. That was true in cases where the manganese was handpicked. Mr. PUMPELLY. That is right. Mr. ROCKWELL. Thank you very much, sir. That will conclude our hearings for today. We will meet tomorrow morning at 9:30. Whereupon, at 4:35 p. m., the committee adjourned to 9: 30 a. m.. Friday, March 12, 1948.) STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MINERALS AND METALS FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1948 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MINES AND MINING, AFTERNOON SESSION Washington, D. C. Mr. LEMKE. The meeting will please come to order. Our first witness will be Mr. Myers from Virginia. STATEMENT OF DAVID G. MYERS, PRESIDENT, MYERS CHEMICAL CORP., LYNCHBURG, VA. Mr. MYERS. My name is David G. Myers, president of the Myers Chemical Corp., Lynchburg, Va. Mr. Chairman, I would like to read a statement regarding my experience in the development of manganese ore in Virginia, and in particular my observation of an exploratory drilling project conducted by engineers of the United States Bureau of Mines, along with a report written by Mr. Cornelius Kelleher who is a graduate engineer of Columbia School of Mines and a former employee of the United States Bureau of Mines during the emergency of World War II. GENERAL STATEMENT ON MANGANESE ORE IN VIRGINIA AND AT THE PIEDMONT PROPERTY IN PARTICULAR As owner of the Piedmont mine, also known as the Lerner or Myers mine, I visited Washington in the year 1940 and applied to the Geological Survey and Bureau of Mines to conduct an exploration under bill S. 117, Seventy-sixth Congress, chapter 190. Although these agencies had reports of the former excellent production of this mine and high quality of the ore, I could get no action. Finally, in October 1941. I appealed to Senator Carter Glass asking that he function in my behalf on this request. He was informed that a survey was being conducted by the United States Geological Survey on the James River-Roanoke River manganese district, a distance of 60 miles or more, and that decision on worthy locations would then be considered for exploration. Why hasn't this report been published for public information after an elapse of 5 years? Dr. G. H. Espenshade made this survey, and I believe this committee would receive valuable information from the contents of this report. I worked underground in the Piedmont mine and had first-hand information of the ore body. In fact, I superintended the mining to the last level, about 218 feet in depth. When the mine was closed due to low price of ore, the deposit was not exhausted. After much urging, the Bureau of Mines did some drilling which will be described in the Kelleher report. I would like to read this report and have it inserted in the record. Gentlemen, I present these facts for your information and consideration. I trust you will find them of such value as to warrant you taking steps to give small producers an opportunity to develop and market their supplies of manganese ore. As to the amount of manganese in Virginia, I think Mr. Carson Adkerson has already told you something of this. This mine is where he started in the manganese business. He worked for Piedmont when he got out of school, and is thoroughly familiar with the structure and the geological aspects of this teritory. In 1912 this was the only manganese-producing mine in the United States. The history of manganese throughout the United States goes back to Virginia. The biggest deposit of high-grade ore-considered high-grade, 45 or better-was mined at Crimora, Va., by the Old Dominion Manganese Mining Corp. The records show that over 160000 tons of high-grade ore were taken from this district. This property that we have is within 60 to 65 miles from Crimora. The Government record was written by Dr. Hewitt in report Bulletin 640. It states that approximately 30,000 tons of high-grade ore were mined and shipped from this property. Nearby, within a mile of this property there have been thousands of tons of ore mined from a mine known as the Leet mine, another high-grade deposit. In the past 5 years I have discovered from 20 to 25 excellent showings and deposits in various sections of Campbell County. Recently I have sunk a shaft on this property 65 feet in depth. I encountered ore 8 feet from the surface of the ground. I have cross-cut from the bottom of this shaft for 88 feet, 70 feet of it in manganese ore. We have contemplated using this ore for making manganese sulphate. We have established a small pilot plant at a cost of about $7,000 and for the past year have made various experiments on the differen types of ore which we have available. This is manganese sulphate [indicating]. Mr. LEMKE. Is that from your mine? Mr. MYERS. Yes; I made this. I would like for you to take a look at it. It is bitter if you taste it. Mr. LEMKE. I just want to make one suggestion and that is that the testimony as I recall it here was to the effect Virginia was pretty well mined out. Mr. MYERS. I have one little statement here I would like to rea you. On February 12, Mr. Boyd stated: Virtually every indication of existence of manganese in this country has bev looked at either by the Geological Survey or the Bureau of Mines or but!. and every indication of sufficient promise has been thoroughly investigated as studied. I want to say that Mr. Boyd is misinformed. He has written r a letter recently. I do not have the letter. It states he is too busy and occupied to come to Lynchburg, Va., to see and get first-hand information of the ore that is showing. Mr. RUSSELL. How long, to your knowledge, has it been since the Bureau of Mines has made a survey or study of the property down through there? Mr. MYERS. The last survey made by the Bureau of Mines in that territory was made by Mr. G. H. Espenshade and was completed late in 1941. The report that I have consistently tried to have them to publish after 5 years, and I thought that these explorations were made to encourage the development of manganese and give the public the knowledge of what was in that territory instead of suppressing it. Mr. RUSSELL. Have you seen a copy of that report ? Mr. MYERS. I have been over there and looked at it. Mr. RUSSELL. The report has not been made public then? Mr. LEMKE. Anything you know about it you can tell us. BUREAU OF MINES DRILLING PROJECT AT PIEDMONT MINE CRITICIZED Mr. MYERS. In that report you will find a hundred or more deposits of manganese listed in this area. You will also find there was a slight report on the explorations or drilling they did at the Piedmont property owned by the Myers Chemical Corp., which does not go into any details or give the facts of their full findings on the property. That drilling was done in the spring of 1942. They came to the property without my knowledge or without saying anything to me after I had tried for 2 years, and on March 19, I was at the War Production Board trying to obtain a loan to open up this shaft to mine ore. Before I could get this report in the Bureau of Mines was on my property working 5 days without my knowledge and I was told by a friend that he knew they were on the property. The engineer in charge, Mr. Frank McIntosh, was living in my home town at the time and had not contacted me. I went to see him and he said that he had meant to get in touch with me; it was very fine because I was glad to have him to make an exploration of the property. However, when the drill came to the property, which was a small drill of an inch and five-eighths core, the engineer had a map prepared by Dr. D. F. Hewitt, in 1916, who was on the ground with me when the mine was in operation. This map showed the location of the ore body, the various levels, and I would like for you to take a look at this [indicating so there was no doubt from an engineering standpoint of where this ore was located. The position they placed this drill in was approximately 200 feet west of this ore body and the angle of the drill was going into the ground at about 74 degrees. As laid out by the Geological Survey it was to go at an angle of 65 degrees, in order to hole out under the old workings at 500 feet. I had this drill hole surveyed by a reputable engineer in Lynchburg and he said it was impossible for them to say that the drill hole had gone under the ore body. However, the maps which they drew did show that it crossed entirely under the ore body. Mr. Carter Glass, Jr., went down to the property with me and looked at it because I wanted the method they were using reported up here in Washington. I said to Mr. Glass, "Well, they are not going to explore this property. I am putting in for a loan and I am afraid that they are going to put this one hole in and leave this property, to state they did go |