Published October 1962 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
From the Office of UNITED STATES SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD Room 342, Old Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. Volume II -- Number 44 10-26-62 BYRD' EYE VIEW A Public Service Column by U. S. SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD WEST VIRGINIA IRON ORE DEPOSITS MAY HAVE GOOD FUTURE The abundant deposits of iron ore in West Virginia, and in adjacent Appalachian areas, may soon be called upon to fill the growing needs of the Nation's steelmakers. This possibility stems from new technology being developed by the U. S. Bureau of Mines -- technology which seeks economically feasible methods of extracting the iron in low-grade ores. Up to now, research to utilize our abundant deposits of low-grade iron ores has been pursued in a dilatory fashion. So long as we had high-grade ore deposits to work, there seemed to be no pressing need to concern ourselves with finding methods for the economic extraction of iron from low-grade ore deposits. However, the hard new look being afforded the Appalachian region iron ore deposits results from the exhaustion of the rich ore deposits in the Lake Superior area -- deposits which, " historically speaking, were opened so recently. Today, much of the high-grade iron ore used by our stee1makers is imported. Some comes from Canada, but a goodly percentage comes from Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Thus, there is national concern that, in the event of war, or of political upheavals in Latin America, these foreign supplies of iron ore could be cut off. The low-grade iron ore deposits in the Appalachian ; region are called “hematitic sandstones.” These deposits are said to contain several billion tons of extractable iron -- enough to supply our Country's steel needs for the next one hundred or more years at the current rate of steel consumption. Currently, in connection with the iron ore deposits in West Virginia, the U. S, Bureau of Mines is seeking an economic method to reduce the phosphorus and sulphur content while increasing the iron content of the concentrate produced. Moreover, the Bureau is also experimenting on ways to separate the silica associated with West Virginia ores. Also, while intensive research is proceeding on the economic removal of impurities from the ore, the Bureau is engaged in experimental work in the production and utilization of pellets reduced from concentrated ore, Pelletizing ore concentrates could mean lower steel production costs. In Colonial days, the low-grade iron ores of western Virginia were eagerly sought after by the iron furnances in Tidewater Virginia. Now, after a lapse of more than a century, the wheel of history has fully turned; only this time the Nation may soon eagerly seek the calcareous red iron ores in what, since 100 years ago, is now t-lest Virginia