Chap. XXIV. | valuation of manganese-orIes. 
495 
In order that an ore should be subject to the application of the scale 
of prices given in table 27 on page 415 it was formerly recessary 
that it should not contain more than 10% of silica and 0*10% of phos- 
phorus. [These rates may be considered as those applied to ore delivered 
in the United Kingdom.] 
In the United States, according to the ' Mineral Industry ' for 1905, 
published in 1906, the schedule is fixed by the 
Steei^Company'^*^ Cainegie (;;a,rnegie Steel Company. The ore must not 
contain more than 0'1% of phosphorus, nor 
over 8% of silica ; deductions are made from the price of the ore of 15c. 
per ton for each 1% of silica in excess of 8% and of Ic. per unit of 
manganese for each 0*02% of phosphorus in excess of 0" 1%. The price 
per imit of manganese given in this publication is as follows : — 
Over 49% of Mn. . . 28 cents. 
46— 49% of Mn. .. 27 „ 
43— 46% of Mn. .. 26 „ 
40—43% of Mn. . . 2.-> „ 
Ore containing less than 40%, of manganese, or phosphorus or silics 
in excess of the above limits, ie sometimes subject to acceptance or refusal 
at the buyer's option. An additional price per unit of iron present in 
the ore is sometimes paid by the steel-makers ; but the practice as regards 
this constituent varies. In the ' Mineral Industry ' for 1903, issued in 
1901, where the price per imit of manganese for ores containing over 
49% of this constituent is given as 25c., the price paid by the Carnegie 
Steel Company for each unit of iron is given as 5c. 
Owing, however, to the rise in prices during 1906, and the great difficul- 
ties steel-makers are said to have encountered during this year in obtaining 
the full amounts of ore required, there seems to be a tendency for a slacken- 
ing in the stringency of the requirements of the steel-makers, especially as 
regards manganese and phosphorus contents. It is probable that a consi- 
derable proportion of these restrictions are not 
Requirements made less , i i , ^ -.r , n • i 
stringent during 1900. always closely connected with any metallurgical 
difficulties in the treatment of the ores, but with 
the desire of the steel-makers to obtain their supplies of manganese-ore 
at as favourable a price as possible, and to be able to cut down the prices 
paid whenever possible by levying fines for the presence of a small per- 
centage of a given constituent in excess of what is stated in their schedule 
of prices. That this is probably the true interpretation of the situation 
is shown by the fact that during 1906, under the influence of the great 
