The Flaxseed-Ore of Wisconsin. [Volume: 8, Issue: 4, 1889, pp. 244-250]

No. 4.]

CHARCOAL IRON WORKERS.

247

30 miles inland from Lake Michigan and within 20 miles of
Fond du Lac, at the head of Winnebago Lake, makes it accessible,
and the cheapness of mining will, before long, bring it into demand.
At one time a contract for 1.000,000 tons of this ore was made, and
nearly 100,000 tons were mined and shipped in a year.
This interesting deposit, of which so little is apparently known
by our metallurgists, probably approaches in extent and resembles
somewhat the Minette ore of Luxemburg, of which a writer
upon the German iron industry lately remarked: "Considerable
alterations in the production of ore will be noticed in consequence
of the invention of the basic Bessemer process, and it may be noted
that the thick deposit of Minette in Luxemburg and Lorraine, which
formerly had but a limited use, has attained a high and constantly
increasing estimation. According to Mr. A. Jager, Minette consists
of fine oolitic grains of brown hematite, cemented together by calciferous, argillaceous or siliceous masses.
"With less than 27 per cent of iron, Minette is not regarded as
suitable for smelting purposes. Usually a mixture is employed,
which renders the addition of lime as flux unnecessary, and yields
28 to 34 per cent. of iron. For export the higher grade ores are
naturally preferred, and the average yield of the Minette exported
to the lower Rhine and Ruhr may be taken at 38.5 per cent. of iron
with about 10 per cent. of water. The amount of available ore in
the Luxemburg-Lorraine deposit is estimated by Mr. Jager at
2,400,000,000 tons, being exceeded in size only by the clay ironore deposits of Cleveland. The total cost of production at some of
the principal mines in 1881 was found by Jager to be 10d. (22 cents)
to Is. 2~d. (30 cents) per ton, and may now have slightly increased."
The Minette ore approaches in appearance the Iron Ridge ore,
as far as the grains are concerned, but the Luxemburg ore has more
cementing gangue than the Wisconsin ore, and consequently shows
an average percentage of iron below that from the mines which we
have described.
If the German and Belgian iron-workers can utilize to advantage
the deposit of Minette ore, and find a constantly increasing market
for it, we, in this country, should, before long, be able to make a considerable quantity of basic steel from the Iron Ridge deposit in
Wisconsin.