REVIEWS 423 



Tungsten in igi8. By Frank L. Hess. From " Mineral Resources 

 of the United States, " (United States Geological Survey), 1918. 

 Part I, pp. 973-1026; Government Printing Office, Washing- 

 ton, D.C. Pp. $2)'^ "^ith summary of recent publications. 



The years 1916, 1917, and 1918 recorded the largest production of 

 tungsten ores which this country has known, about 5,000 or 6,000 short 

 tons for each of these years as compared with a maximum around 2,000 

 tons in previous years. Slightly over 50 per cent of the 1918 output 

 was scheelite from California and Nevada, and nearly 40 per cent was 

 ferberite from Colorado. Preliminary figures for 1919 and 1920 issued 

 by the United States Geological Survey show a slump in production to 

 around 200 to 300 tons, figures lower than any recorded since 1903 and 

 due to the depression in the steel industry which is the principal tungsten 

 consumer. 



No fully satisfactory substitute for tungsten in tool-steel has been 

 developed. To quote Mr. Hess: "It is said that in England and France 

 molybdenum has been used to replace about half of the tungsten in some 

 high-speed tool-steels, but it is apparently not a preferred metal, being 

 used only when it is difficult to obtain tungsten." 



In California and in Nevada scheelite is found mainly in contact 

 metamorphic deposits in limestone near granitic intrusives. In South 

 Dakota the production was mainly wolframite from replacement deposits 

 in dolomite near Lead and Deadwood. The chief competitor for the 

 American market is China, where the discovery of great, easily worked 

 placers in the southern provinces has been the most striking event of 

 recent years in tungsten geology. 



A brief summary of the international situation shows that Great 

 Britain controlled and imported, in 1918, 33.7 per cent of the world's 

 output, and thus owned by far the greater part of the 1918 production. 



Another interesting fact in regard to tungsten minerals is their 

 rather general limitation in economically important deposits (with the 

 exception of those on the Iberian Peninsula) to areas closely contiguous 

 to the Pacific Ocean — a good illustration of the provincial character of 

 metallic distribution, which may perhaps be correlated with the petro- 

 graphic provinces as pointed out by Alfred Harker. 



The paper presents an excellent and much-needed summary of the 

 tungsten situation, treated both from the geological and economic point 

 of view, and closes with a summary of recent literature on tungsten. 



E. S. B. AND C. H. B., Jr. 



