During the last four centuries an estimated $9 million in gold has been recovered from Puerto Rico 

 and some offshore placer gold might be inferred. No specific prospects, however, have been identified. 

 Any offshore deposits are likely to be diluted by biogenous sediments and the prospects for the 

 occurrence of minable deposits are remote. 



In summary, the prospects for offshore placer gold look good to excellent in Norton Sound, fair in 

 other parts of the Bering Sea, fair to good off the southeastern coast of Alaska, fair to poor off the coast 

 of Oregon, and poor elsewhere along the coastal United States. 



In addition to placer deposits, vein-type lode deposits might be present in the shelf rocks off the coast 

 of Alaska near areas where vein deposits occur onshore. However the exploration technology for finding 

 such deposits has not yet been developed. 



IRON 



Uses. Iron ore is the basic raw material for iron and steel, the key mineral commodity of industrial 

 civilization. In tonnage, over 90 per cent of all metal consumed in the United States is iron or steel. Iron, 

 in a relatively pure state, is a tough malleable metal, but the iron of industry contains several per cent of 

 carbon. Steel is a mixture (alloy) of iron and small amounts of carbon. The term alloy steel is used to 

 describe mixtures of steel and other elements such as tungsten, nickel, vanadium, chromium and many 

 others. The relatively low price of steel and its versatility makes it the indispensable metal in the U.S. 

 and world economy. The principal users in the United States, in decreasing order of importance are: 

 automotive industry, 19 per cent of total production; construction, 17 per cent; containers, 8 per cent; 

 oil and gas industry, 7 per cent; industrial machinery, 6 per cent; rail transport, 6 per cent; electrical 

 machinery, 3 per cent; appliances, 3 per cent; and agricultural, 2 per cent. 



Present levels of utilization of iron in millions of short tons. 



World (1966 production) 377.9 



United States (1966 demand) 86.5 



Ranges of projections to the year 2000. 



Prospective supplies and prices. Land-based resources in both the United States and in the rest of the 

 world are considered sufficient for well over 100 years. Domestic iron ore prices are based on the Lake 

 Erie price, or price per long ton of ore containing 51.5 per cent iron, at rail of vessel. Lower Lake ports. 

 This published price has remained stable since 1962, except for a reduction of 10 cents per ton on lake 

 freight rates in 1964. Natural ore prices average about $10.70 and pellets are quoted at $10,252 per long 

 ton unit of iron. Since most ore is captive or is sold under long term contracts, the actual cost to the 

 consumer may be less than the quoted price. 



VIM 37 



333-092 0-69— 10 



