The Economic Aspect of GeologyLeith, C. K. (Charles Kenneth)
Science
The Economic Aspect of Geology
Leith, C. K. (Charles Kenneth)
Geology, Economic
The first, the sulphide type, is represented by the great ore bodies of
the Sudbury district. These are situated in the basal portions of a
great norite intrusive, and are ascribed to segregation of the sulphides
as the rock solidified. To some extent the segregation was aided by
mineralizing solutions following the crystallization of the magma, but
in general there is little evidence that the ores were deposited from
vagrant solutions of this kind (see pp. 34-35). These ores owe their
value to primary concentration; secondary transportation and
reprecipitation by surface waters has not been important. A small amount
of the green arsenate, annabergite or "nickel bloom," has been developed
by oxidation at the surface.
The second, the garnierite or "lateritic" type of nickel ores, is
somewhat more common and is represented by the deposits of New
Caledonia. In this locality the original rock is a peridotite,
relatively low in nickel, which has been altered to serpentine.
Weathering has concentrated the more resistant nickel at the expense of
the more soluble minerals, and has produced extensive blanket deposits
of clay, which in their lower portions contain nickel in profitable
amounts. Similar processes, working on material of a somewhat different
original composition, have produced the nickel-bearing and
chrome-bearing iron ores of Cuba (pp. 171-173).
TUNGSTEN (WOLFRAM) ORES
ECONOMIC FEATURES
The principal use of tungsten is in the making of high speed tool
steels. It is added either as the powdered metal or in the form of
ferrotungsten, an alloy containing 70 to 90 per cent of tungsten.
Tungsten is also used for filaments in incandescent lamps, and in
contacts for internal combustion engines, being a substitute for
platinum in the latter use. Of late years tungsten alloys have also been
used in valves of airplane and automobile engines.
The average grade of tungsten ores mined in the United States is less
than 3 per cent of the metal; before smelting they are concentrated to
an average grade of 60 per cent tungsten oxide.
Germany through its smelting interests controlled the foreign tungsten
situation prior to the war; two-thirds of its excess output of
ferrotungsten was consumed by England and the balance principally by the
United States and France. Other consumers in the main satisfied their
requirements by imports of tool steel from these four countries.
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