Quantity and value of iron ore marketed in the United States, 1912 and 1913, by States. Total... Pennsylvania. +111 253,484 + 11.84-10.07 (a) (a) 212,513- 20.49-17.82 (a) (a) (a) 167,211+21.71 + 5.70 23,88660. 22-58.28 107,685 8.33 +22.37 70, 887 12.66-12.56 22,042 +101.79 +97.59 80, 14919.42 + 8.87 582, 177 -22.22-21.31 a 8,442 -a 7.35-a.64 57,017,614 107,050, 153 59, 643, 098 130,905, 558 +2,625, 484 +23,855, 405 + 4.60 +22.28 a Montana and New Mexico included with "Other States." b1912 California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 1913: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolína, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. PRODUCTION OF IRON ORE, BY VARIETIES, BY STATES, AND MINING DISTRICTS. Iron minerals are classified as sulphides, oxides, carbonates, silicates, etc., of which only the oxides and the carbonates are used in the iron and steel industry, except a very small quantity of byproduct from sulphide ores used in acid manufacture. The ores of iron are generally classed under four heads: 1. Hematite.-Including all varieties of the anhydrous sesquioxide (Fe2O3—theoretical percentage of iron, 70). This is known locally as red hematite, specular ore, gray ore, fossil ore, oolitic ore, etc. 2. Brown ore.-Including hydrated sesquioxides, such as limonitę, göthite, and turgite, or a mixture of these minerals (Fe2O,nH2O-theoretical percentages of iron, 59.8 66.2). This is known locally as brown ore, brown hematite, bog ore, limonite, etc. 3. Magnetite.-Including magnetic oxides (Fe,O,-theoretical percentage of iron, 72.4). Magnetite is known generally as magnetic iron ore. 4. Iron carbonate.-Including carbonates of various types (FeCO-theoretical percentage of iron, 48.2). Iron carbonate is known locally as spathic iron ore, kidney ore, black-band ore, siderite, etc. Hematite has always been predominant as an ore of iron, and at present constitutes more than nine-tenths of the iron ore produced in the United States. Brown ore and magnetite are far below it in importance; brown ore furnishes at present less than 3 per cent and magnetite a little less than 4 per cent of the total iron-ore production. The production of iron carbonate is insignificant in comparison with that of the other ores; in 1913 it constituted only about 0.045 per cent of the total. In the following tables are shown the quantities of each of the classes of iron ores mined in the various States and mining districts during 1912 and 1913: Iron ore mined in the United States in 1912 and 1913, by States and varieties, with percentage of increase or decrease in 1913, in long tons. Includes some brown ore and a little magnetic ore. e Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming. a Includes some brown ore and a little magnetic ore. Less than three producers in Montana, New Mrxico, and Wyoming in 1912 and in Maryland and Texas in 1913, and permission was not granted to publish State totals. Increases and decreases in 1913, therefore, included in Other States." c Hematite included in brown ore. d Magnetite included in brown ore. • Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, and Texas. Iron ore mined in the United States, by mining districts and varieties, in 1912 and 1913, with percentage of increase or decrease in 1913, in long tons. a Includes only those mines in Wisconsin which are in the true Lake Superior district, and includes some brown ore and a little magnetic ore. On a These tables show that the great bulk of the hematite comes from the Lake Superior district (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) and Alabama, the bulk of the brown ore from the Appalachian States, and the magnetite from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The iron carbonate is obtained from Ohio and Mississippi. later page is given the production of the principal ranges in the Lake Superior district. It is a well-known fact that the great bulk of the Lake Superior hematite is more or less hydrated, and that many deposits include masses of brown ore having varying percentages of combined water. There is, however, a complete gradation from anhydrous hematite to limonite, and since there is no sharp dividing line and since also the greater part of the ore is nearer the anhydrous than the completely hydrated condition, the production of the hydrated ores is included in the production of hematite. mined in the Crystal Falls and Iron River areas of the Menominee Range are, on the whole, considered to be somewhat more hydrated than other ores of the Lake Superior district. According to the analyses of Lake Superior iron ores given in Survey Monograph 52, pages 477-479, the average loss by ignition, which includes the combined water of the ore, was 4.12 per cent in 1909, and the range in percentage was between 0.40 and 11.40. Since the combined water in a true limonite is 14.4 per cent, it is seen that the ores as a whole fall well below the limonite content of water. Certain mines in northern Michigan produce an ore which is locally termed magnetite, 1 Personal communication from C. K. Leith, Madison, Wis. The ores but which is a coarsely crystalline anhydrous ore consisting dominantly of hematite, but having sufficient quantities of magnetite distributed through it to render the ore strongly magnetic. This magnetic ore is also included with hematite in the production tables, both because it is not a true magnetite and because no provision is made for a class of magnetic ores. TOTAL PRODUCTION OF IRON ORE. In the following table is shown the production of various types of iron ore in the United States as far as has been recorded. The statistics from 1889 to the present were collected by the United States Geological Survey; those for 1860, 1870, and 1880 were collected for the census reports of those years; those for 1875 and 1881 were estimated by I. L. Bell; and those from 1882 to 1888, inclusive, were estimated by James M. Swank from the pig-iron production. No figures can be obtained for the production of various classes of iron ores prior to 1889, except for the census year 1880. Iron ore mined in the United States, 1860-1913, in long tons. Year. 1 1 Bell, I. L., Principles of the manufacture of iron and steel, p. 451, 1884. Mineral Resources U. S., 1882 to 1888. a Includes ore produced by owners of blast furnaces, estimated by census at 800,000 tons. b Figures given are for consumption of domestic ores. Total production for 1882, 1883, and 1884 is estimated as 9,000,000,8,400,000, and 8,200,000 tons, respectively. See Mineral Resources U. S. for 1883 and 1884. Some brown ore included in magnetite. dBeginning with 1910 ore sold for paint excluded from iron-ore production and included in metallic paint. In the following table the production of iron ore in the United States is shown from 1810 to 1869, and by decades from 1870 to 1909. The figures for the years previous to 1889 were calculated from the pig-iron production which included imported ore as well as domestic ore used. Production of iron ore in the United States from 1810 to 1909, by decades, in long tons, and rate of increase. In 1913 there were 411 iron-ore mines active as compared with 382 mines in 1912, and 194 mines produced more than 50,000 long tons of iron ore each as compared with 170 mines in 1912. The largest quantity produced by any single mine in 1913 was 3,457,608 long tons of hematite, mined at the Hull Rust mine, near Hibbing, on the Mesabi Range, Minn. The Leonard mine, near Chisholm, Minn., also on the Mesabi Range, held the record in 1912 with an output of 2,633,285 long tons, but the output of this mine decreased slightly in 1913 and it ranked second, with a production of 2,354,632 long tons of hematite. Nine mines in Minnesota besides two in Michigan and one group in Alabama produced more than 1,000,000 tons each, as compared with nine mines in Minnesota and one group in Alabama in 1912. The largest producer in Michigan in 1913 was the Norrie group, which reported having mined 1,267,887 long tons of hematite. Permission has been granted to the Survey by the owners and operators of 172 of these large mines to publish their production, and these statistics are given in the following table: Iron-ore mines of the United States that produced more than 50,000 long tons each in 1913. |