Mineral Facts and Problems: 1960 Edition Page: 310
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MINERAL FACTS AND PROBLEMS, ANNIVERSARY EDITION
lites may exceed 5.5 million tons. Western
European reserves are said to be principally
in Italy, West Germany, Spain, and the United
Kingdom (14).
The United States has an enormous reserve
of phosphate rock-at least 13 billion long
tons-and some authorities have estimated its
fluorine content to be equivalent to about 900
million tons of fluorspar. However, recovery
of this fluorine or any part of it depends upon
the quantity of phosphate rock mined and sold,
upon the treatment processes to which the
phosphate rock is subjected, and upon further
development of methods of recovering the flu-
orine in the desired commercial forms.
No estimate of the cryolite reserves in Green-
land is available, but recent reports indicate
that exploration has failed to develop appre-
ciable new reserves, and the deposit may be
approaching depletion.
SOURCES OF STATISTICAL INFORMATION
Annual and quarterly data on production
and shipments of fluorspar are obtained from
domestic producers by the Federal Bureau of
Mines. Over 95 percent of the consumers of
all grades of fluorspar are canvassed quarterly.
A biennial consumer canvass covers virtually
100 percent of the known consumption. All
known importers of fluorspar are canvassed
annually for imports and sales by quantity
and use.
World production and trade data are com-
piled by the Bureau's Division of Foreign
Activities. U.S. exports and imports are ob-
tained from the Department of Commerce.PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION, AND
FOREIGN TRADE
The growth of the fluorspar industry in the
United States during the present century has
been rapid, particularly since 1941. Produc-
tion increased from an annual average of about
40,000 short tons in the decade 1900-09, to an
average of about 323,000 tons during the dec-
ade 1940-49. During the same period, aver-
age annual imports increased from about
15,000 tons to 57,000 tons. From 1950 to 1958
domestic production has fluctuated from
347,000 tons in 1951 to a low of 245,000 tons
in 1954. In recent years several thousand
tons of concentrate have been recovered an-
nually in the Illinois-Kentucky district from
waste dumps of earlier mill operations.
Domestic fluorspar production in 1958 (ship-
ments from mines and mills) totaled 319,513
short tons. As a whole domestic fluorspar has
been supplying a declining fraction of the mar-
ket in recent years. Difficulty in meeting spec-
ifications required by buyers and the com-
petition of foreign fluorspar are among the
factors which have influenced trends in the
industry. Shipments by States with maximum
shipments in any year and cumulative ship-
ments to the end of 1958 are shown in table 3.
Imports in recent years have been greatly
stimulated by the strong demands of the con-
suming industries and the requirements of the
National Stockpile. In 1958, imports totaled
392,200 short tons valued at $9.7 million,
whereas 631,400 tons entered in 1957, 181,300
tons in 1951, and 2,100 in 1942. Mexico has
recently been the principal source with sev-TABLE 3.-Shipments of domestic fluorspar by State of origin with shipments of maximum year and cumulative shipments
from earliest record to end of 1958
[Short tons]State
Maximum ship-
mentsYear
Short
tonsShipments by years
1949-53
(average)1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
Short Percent
tons of totalTotal shipments to
date
Short tons Percent
of totalIllinois ---------------------- 1951 204, 328 166, 286 107, 830 166, 337 178, 254 169, 939 152, 087 47. 6 5, 474. 549 53. 0
Kentucky_ ------------- _ 1941 141, 862 61, 552 35, 831 8, 899 14, 865 20, 626 25, 861 8. 1 2, 864, 746 27. 7
Montana.__--- - -_____ --_ 1957 64, 339 4, 511 15, 102 25, 223 59, 775 64, 339 53, 654 16. 8 240, 966 2.3
Utah__-- -- - ---__--_____ 1950 18, 936 15, 585 4, 403 7, 328 10, 581 11,087 16,109 5. 0 152, 425 1.5
Nevada.....--------------------- 1953 (1) (1) 14389 12, 338 3.9 199,110 2.
California _______________ 1934 181---------- 71, 753 66,244 62, 881 59 464 18.6
Colorado_ . .__ _______ 1944 65, 209 28, 787 59,197 1, 374, 312 13.3
New Mexico....----------------- 1944 42, 973 17, 123 8, 876 - ------ ---------- ---------- 1
Tennessee------------------- 1956 (1) 2 183 ...---- ..--- -------
Idaho......---------------------- 1952 (1) (1) -----
Other States 3--------------- (3) (3) (3) _._. ____.------_------ -- 23, 482 .2
Total-_-. _.-.-.---_ .. . 1944 413, 781 306, 910 245, 628 279, 540 329, 719 328, 872 319, 513 100. 0 10, 329, 590 100. 0
I Figures withheld to avoid disclosing individual company confidential data, included with total.
9 Includes synthetic calcium fluoride recovered by TVA in 1952-53.
8 Comprises: New Hampshire, 1917, 1,274 tons, total shipments 8,302 tons; Texas, 1944, 4,769 tons, 1949-53 (average) 498, total shipments 14,779 tons;
Washington, 1945, 132 tons, total shipments 382 tons; and Wyoming, 1944, 19 tons, total shipments 19 tons: total shipments 23,482 tons.310
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United States. Bureau of Mines. Mineral Facts and Problems: 1960 Edition, report, 1960; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38790/m1/318/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.