THE SMELTING OF TITANIFEROUS IRON ORES* 

 By W. M. Goodwin 



Presented by Dr. R. F. Ruttan, F.R.S.C. 

 (Read May Meeting, 1920) 



INTRODUCTION 



National commercial independence rests to a great extent upon a 

 domestic production of coal and iron. This fact, brought home so 

 clearly to all nations since 1914, is now stirring leaders in science and 

 industry throughout Canada. For her supplies of both these essential 

 commodities, Central Canada is at present dependent upon her friendly 

 neighbour, the United States. The coal supply of Ontario and Quebec 

 must always be brought in, preferably from the sister provinces; but a 

 domestic supply of iron and steel from native ores is not only feasible, 

 but according to many thoughtful students of the question, expedient 

 at the present time. 



It is now commonly realized that the bulk of the iron ores of Central 

 Canada must be subjected to some form of beneficiation to make them 

 suitable for the present methods of smelting. A great deal of time 

 and energy, to say nothing of money, have been spent in attempts along 

 this line, with only a fair measure of commercial success. There is 

 another line of endeavour, though, on which little or no work seems to 

 have been done. 



A philosophical metallurgist has pointed out' that metallurgical 

 development has had a tendency to advance hindside foremost and that 

 often it has taken years for an indirect application of an old process to 

 a new purpose to become changed into a simpler process directly suited 

 to that purpose. Thus for many years attempts have been made to 

 use titaniferous iron ores in the blast furnace, mainly in mixture with 

 non-titaniferous ores. The large tonnages of titaniferous ores available 

 at low prices offer an inducement for their utilization that can have been 

 offset only by real troubles that developed when their use was attempted. 



♦Research carried on under the auspices of the Advisory Research Council, with 

 whose permission this paper is published. 



ide Alzugaray, J. Baxeres — "Direct Preparation of Ferro- Vanadium Alloys" — Min. 

 & Eng. World, Vol. XLI, 1914. 



35 



