USEFUL METALS 



Bauxite is used in the manufacture of aluminum, aluminum 

 sulphate, alums, etc., and in the linings of furnaces on account of 

 its refractoriness. The low ocean freight rates from foreign 

 ports allow bauxite to be delivered, duty included, from the 

 southern part of France to New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore, 

 at a lower rate than it costs to ship bauxite from Alabama, 

 Georgia, or Arkansas to Philadelphia. French bauxite can be 

 delivered in Philadelphia at $0.55 per ton cheaper than the 

 American bauxite can be supplied to the same market and in 

 Boston for $1.70 per ton cheaper than the home product can be 

 delivered in the same city. One reason for the advantage the 

 French bauxites have over the American is that they do not 

 have to be quarried. The richest mines are in the southern part 

 of France in the neighborhood of Baux, 30 miles from the coast. 

 Three kinds of bauxite exist in the district : Ferruginous, spotted, 

 and aluminous. The demand for the first is small on account 

 of its iron content. The spotted variety contains 21.99 per cent, 

 of iron oxides and 60 per cent, of the aluminum oxide. The third 

 variety is the one most sought because the iron and silica are 

 both low and the aluminum is higher than in the other varieties. 

 In order to carry on the bauxite industry with profit, works 

 should be established with modern appliances so that the various 

 salts of aluminum and the aluminous refractory compounds may 

 be manufactured. 



Cryolite is used in the manufacture of hydrofluoric acid, the 

 various fluorides of commerce, some sodium salts, and also as a 

 source of aluminum. The fluorides are sold to smelters and glass 

 manufacturers except the sodium fluoride which is shipped 

 directly to Europe and India, and used in the manufacture of 

 opalescent glass which closely resembles French porcelain. The 

 glass is extremely hard and tough and can be worked as easily 

 as ordinary glass. 



The Pennsylvania Salt Company has at times possessed the 

 sole power to import cryolite into the United States and South 

 America. The supply is controlled by the Danish government. 

 There are no commercial deposits of cryolite in the United 

 States, although it is found near Pikes Peak, Colorado, and in 

 Yellowstone National Park. The value of the Ivigtut cryolite 

 is $80 per ton, determined as follows: (1) Cost at the mine in 

 Greenland. (2) Royalty to the Danish government. (3) Ocean 

 freight rates. (4) Domestic freight rates. (5) Cost of concen- 



