51 



the different Governments of New South Wales, the manufacture of 

 these materials would have been in full swing years ago, and they 

 have no deposit of iron ore equal to that of Tasmania. The 

 so-called statesmen fail to see that manufactures are the backbone of a 

 country, and that the iron and steel trade is the basis of all other 

 industries. If it were possible to withdraw all iron and steel from use 

 man would soon revert to a state little better than barbarism. From 

 the iron trade all other manufacturing industries will grow with 

 remarkable rapidity, as has been proved in innumerable other places, 

 and until this has been established little headway will be made towards 

 a sound commercial prosperity. Look at America. Seventy years 

 ago she produced only the smallest possible amount of iroD, and 

 practically no steel, while to-day she produces one-half the total 

 output of the world, and this in the face of enormous natural 

 difficulties. By natural difficulties is meant the awkward distribu- 

 tion of the three essential materials — coal, limestone, and iron. In 

 some cases one or other of these materials has to be carried upwards of 

 1,000 miles to the other two, and then back, as a finished article, to 

 the distributing centre. 



We may now see in what way it would be advisable to proceed in 

 the utilisation of these deposits of iron ore, both the chromiferous 

 and nonchromiferous. The two classes are specially mentioned 

 because, in the author's opinion, the secret of commercial success lies 

 in treating the two ores at one works. 



Taking the chromiferous first, it would be advisable to work in the 

 direction of producing a steel containing a certain definite proportion 

 of chromium. For this purpose a mixture of the two ores— chromifer- 

 ous and non-chromiferous — might be made in smelting, or a percentage 

 of the chromium pig might be added to the pure pig when melting 

 for the production of steel. Owing to peculiar characteristics, before 

 detailed, it would be impossible to satisfactorily deal with chromifer- 

 ous pig iron in the puddling furnace for the production of malleable 

 iron. 



To utilise this material it will be necessary to convert, the pig 

 iron direct into steel, and for this purpose the Bessemer process 

 would undoubtedly be the best. A description of this process would 

 take too long, but it may be mentioned that its leading feature is 

 the introduction of large volumes of atmospheric air — under pressure 

 — beneath a bath of molten metal. The air as it forces its way 

 upwards and through the molten metal oxidises and burns out most 

 ot the foreign elements and chemical impurities. By this method of 

 production the material is more under control, while under skilful 

 supervision a steel containing any desired proportion of chromium can 

 be produced. The other foreign and deleterious elements could be 

 removed, or neutralised, by oxidation or the introduction of some 

 element possessing a stronger affinity for them than they have for 

 iron : in tbe same way that dolomitic limestone is used in the basic 

 process of steel manufacture to extract the phosphorus. 



The most suitable method of adding the required proportion of 

 chromium would be as follows : — Melt pure pig iron (iron free from 

 chromium) in the Bessemer converter, and reduce it to as nearly pure 

 ferrum as possible, then add the necessary amount of chromiferous 

 pig, and after a few moments' violent agitation, to ensure perfect 

 mixing, cast in the ordinary way into ingot moulds. 



By this means a steel possessing all the advantages and none of 

 the disadvantages attendant upon the presence of chromium would be 

 produced. 



There is little doubt but that a metal so produced would command 

 a ready and profitable sale, providing buyers knew that they could buy 



