Ε REPORTS ON
N
INDUSTRIAL
MOBILIZATION
News of the nation's activity in marshaling its resources to meet the international emergency
Lead a n d Zinc Prices Lifted
In order to attract more foreign lead and zinc into this country, Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson has ordered the price of each of these metals to be raised two cents a pound. Price ceilings become 19 cents a pound, N e w York, on lead and 19.5 cents, East St. Louis, on zinc. T h e order also provides for an increase of two cents a pound over the existing domestic ceilings. The new prices are sub stantially lower than current world market prices, including prices currentiy being paid by consumers in the U . S. for much of their imports. At the same time, steps are being taken i n Congress to repeal present duties on these metals, amounting to I V i c cents a pound on lead and 0.7 cents on zinc. This action needs clear only the Senate Finance Committee on lead, and both Houses on zinc. Hence, with duty-free metals this amounts, in effect, to a three-cent rise in the American price, as far as foreign metal producers are concerned. The rise in the metals is a direct result of negotiations between this country a n d Canada, aimed at receiving more of these metals from Canada. Copper a n d Zinc Get G o v e r n m e n t Assist
Defense Materials Procurement Agency recently an nounced four moves intended to boost supplies of copper and zinc in order to meet stockpiling and defense needs. 1. It agreed to help the Phelps-Dodge Corp. step up copper production by 38,000 tons a year. Under terms of the agreement, the company will undertake a $25 million expansion program which will include the construction of a new concentrating and leaching plant at Bisbee, Ariz., as well as enlargement of its smelter at Douglas, Ariz. In turn, DMPA will buy, at 22 cents a pound, up to 112,500 tons of the first 150,000 tons produced by the new facilities providing the corporation cannot sell it to other purchasers in this country at a higher price. T h e new facilities are ex pected to be in production by late 1954. 2. A similar agreement was entered into with the Copper Cities Mining Co. A $15.2 million expansion plan is in volved here to increase production by 22,500 tons of the metal a year. The copper will come from ore mined at the company's Gila County ore body near Miami, Ariz. Here again, DMPA will guarantee a certain amount, but this time at 2 3 cents a pound, up to 170 million pounds of the first 192 pounds with the same proviso as above. Produc tion is expected to start in October 1954. 3. The government agency advanced $60,000 to the North Butte Mining Co. for expansion of their facilities at the Granite Mountain Mine near Butte, Mont. The com pany has a leaching operation at t h e site which will be en larged to produce a yearly output of about 7 million pounds of cement copper. Payment for the loan will come in the delivery of $60,000 worth of copper which the Government will buy at 24.5 cents a pound. 4. And finally, by contract with DMPA, the Volcan Mines Co. of Lima, Peru, will construct a $750,000 concentrating mill with a monthly capacity of 1500 tons of 60% zinc con centrate. The entire output is to b e shipped to this country where it will b e processed into about 765 tons of slab zinc VOLUME
29,
NO.
42»
.OCTOBER
15,
a month. I n its turn, D M P A has agreed to purchase 50% of the slab zinc, up to a maximum of 380 tons a month for three years, or a total of 13,680 tons, at 17.5 cents per pound, f.o.b. smelter. T h e remainder may be sold commer cially in this country at the same price. The mill is scheduled for completion about the first of 1953. Container O u t l o o k G e n e r a l l y Improves; Drums Still Scarce
NPA has announced an improvement in the container situation, b u t quickly follows up this bit of cheer with the news that t h e improvement may b e only temporary. Dur ing the first quarter of 1951, container users accumulated large inventories of finished goods and, therefore, did not have to rely too much on the market for certain containers. The inventories will soon b e depleted, however, and heavier demands will ensue. Containers for chemicals have remained pretty thin in spite of general improvement. A rundown on NPA's listing of containers useful to the chemical industry may indicate what the future has in store: Drums. The shortage of steel is the constant bottleneck causing short production and undoubtedly short tempers as the industry runs 50 to 55% below capacity. Glass containers. Production and shipments exceeded 30 million gross or a 6.4% increase over the first quarter. Most raw materials are available in adequate supply; however, selenium, used for clear transparent glass, is posing a prob lem. T h e industry is still operating below capacity. Plastic films. Generally, the supply is insufficient to meet demand, with defense orders taking as much as 45% of the polyethylene available. Demand for cellophane continues strong with the supply of carbon bisulfite tight. Collapsible tubes. Total shipments declined 8.2% below the first quarter. However, medicinal and pharmaceutical tube shipments increased 2.9% over the first quarter. Alumi num and lead supplies were reported tight but the tin supply was adequate. M o r e R a p i d Write-Off A w a r d s Come Through M o r a t o r i u m Blockade
A new list of 111 approved certificates of necessity has been released by Defense Production Administration, de spite the moratorium imposed last Aug. 18. To date, 3662 new or expanded facilities have been approved with a dollar value of $9.5 billion. DPA explained that most of the awards were acted upon because of the provisions of the Revenue Act of 1950 which stipulate: "In no event shall an amortization deduction be allowed for any taxable year in the case of an emergency facility completed or acquired by a taxpayer after Dec. 3 1 , 1949, and before the date of enactment of the Revenue Act of 1950 (Sept. 23, 1950) unless a certificate in respect thereof shall have b e e n made prior to the expiration of 12 months after the date of enactment of the Revenue Act of 1950." If the 60-day period is adhered to, the moratorium should be over on Oct. 18. However, there are indications that it may have to be extended. It was originally imposed to post-
1951
4297
INDUSTRIAL MOBILIZATION pone additional new facilities expansion temporarily, in view of the serious shortage of critical materials, and to provide a period of review of administrative procedures. W h e n queried recently on the possibility of an extension, Manly Fleischmann, DPA Administrator, admitted that the mora torium would probably be extended, but would not commit himself on the number of days or months that would be necessary. The following table lists awards made in this group that are of interest to the chemical industry. Certificates with out a dollar value are those in which a portion of the facili ties involved was completed or acquired before Sept. 2 3 , 1950. DPA will take action at a later date o n the remainder of the facilities involved. NAME O F COMPANY LOCATION O F F A C I L I T I E S
Whitmore Oxygen Co. Salt Lake County, Utah Phillips Chemical Co. Funica, N. Mex. Sinclair Refining Co. Marcus Hook, Pa. Mathieson Chemical Corp. McKamie, Ark. The Shamrock Oil & Gas Corp. Sunray, Tex. The Shamrock Oil & Gas Corp. Sunray, Tex. Oldhury Electro-Chemical Co. Niagara Falls, Ν. Υ. Shell Chemical Corp. Houston (Deer Park), Tex. Monsanto Chemical Co. Texas City, Tex. (Styrene plant) Food Machinery & Chemical Corp. Sunray, Tex. Southern Alkali Corp. Natrium, West Va. Warren Petroleum Corp. Maysville, Okla. The Dow Chemical Co. Freeport, Tex. The Dow Chemical Co. Midland, Mich. Union Carbide and Carbon Corp. Kokomo, Ind. Reynolds Metals Co. Bellwood, Va.
PRODUCT OR SERVICE
AMOUNT \ P P L I E D FOR
Oxygen Sulfur
$1,498,000
Sulfur
320,000
Sulfur Propane, butanes, gasoline, Diesel fuel
198,990
Sulfur
195,500
Sodium chlorate Epon resins Styrene monomer Propane, butanes, gasoline, Diesel fuel
50 60
Appointments .
William C. Truppner has been named acting administrator for NPA's production controls. Mr. T r u p p n e r is 50 an economist and government career 70 man. He has been serving in the production controls office as a deputy as sistant since last April. Mr. Truppner's appointment coincided with an announce ment of William C. Skuce's return to private business. Mr. Skuce had been with NPA since December 1950, w h e n he joined the organization in order to develop the Controlled Materials Plan. The understanding at t h a t time was that he would return to industry w h e n the p l a n went into effect. He stayed on an extra three months to guide the plan through its first quarter. During this time he has served without compensation. H e returns to t h e Owens-Corning Fiberglas Co. as manager of the transportation products division. Osgood V. Tracy has been appointed to the previously unfilled position of deputy director of NPA's Chemicals Division. Mr. Tracy comes from Esso Standard Oil Co. where he has been general manager of t h e chemical prod ucts department. His specialty is petrochemicals. Richard M. Morrison has been appointed to succeed Frank A. Watts as director of PAD's Materials Division. Mr. Watts is returning to his position as general sales man ager of the Humble Oil and Refining Co. at Houston, Tex. Mr. Morrison is on leave from his position of manager of the purchasing department of The Texas Co. R. P. Walsh, another new nominee in the PAD office, will replace Charles E. W e b b e r a s director of the Natural Gas Production and Processing Division. Mr. W e b b e r is also re turning to private industry as assistant manager of the natu ral gas department of the Sun Oil Co. in Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. Walsh spent some time with the Commonwealth Gas Corp., at Charleston, W. Va., as a vice president and direc tor of the company. Immediately before coming to P A D , he was engaged in cattle ranching activities in North Dakota. 50
Gasoline Chemical products Chemical products Alloys aluminum
The Rains Came and Aluminum's Thirst Was Slaked (For the Time Being) While eastern farmers disconsolately poked at the dry earth of their farmlands, western industrialists had cause for glee as soaking rains poured into the Pacific Northwest's watersheds. Reservoirs rose and generators in the hydro electric pool started turning at maximum efficiency. Excess water poured through the spillways of Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. This solved, for the moment, the problem of the alumi num industry which had been considerably disturbed by Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson's request that plans be drawn up to indicate the feasibility of moving plants from the Northwest (see C&EN, pages 4053 and 4 1 8 7 ) . Bonneville Power Administration reported that the interruptible power load—power that can be cut off when the Columbia River falls to a low level—was restored and would continue to operate at least until Oct. 2 1 . After that date, the supply of interruptible power load will again be de pendent on the weather. The withdrawal of the 240,000 kilowatts of interrupt.hie power had shut down two of the 18 potlines in the North west aluminum industry. These were potlines at Kaiser Aluminum Co.'s plant in Spokane, Wash., and the Alumi num Co.'s plant at Vancouver, Wash. The rain was helped along over that eventful rainy week end by cloud seeding activities over northeastern Washing ton, northern Idaho, and northwestern Montana. Every thing now depends on a good autumn rainfall and the avoid4298
DMA Backs 16 New Mineral Exploration Projects
Defense Minerals Administration has undertaken to as sist 16 new exploration projects for strategic and critical metals and minerals in nine states and Alaska. These proj ects involve an estimated cost of $564,022, of which $402,449, or 71.35%, is to be borne by the Government and the rest by private industry. This action brings to 144 the number of projects approved since the start of the mineral exploration program last April. The Government has contracted to pay $5,093 million of the $8,578 million which the xDrogram has so far approved. AMOUNT PERCENTAGE CERTIFIED In this late batch of contracts the ALLOWED largest amount has been assigned to 60 the Admiralty-Alaska Gold Mining Co. 80 $1,498,000 which plans' to spend $120,000, of 80 which DMA will pay $108,000, to look 320,000 for deposits of nickel-cobalt ore. 198,990 T h e newly signed contracts call for 50 search for 14 strategic and " critical 195,500 80 metals and minerals: antimony, zinc, 70 copper, tungsten, mica, lead, manga 85,55,15 nese, thorium, beryl, columbite, tanta lum, mercury, nickel, and cobalt. 70
Monochlorobenzene
Reclaimed
ance of a cold snap that could freeze water high in the Columbia's watershed.
CHEMICAL
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
