FOREIGN ECONOMIC ADMINISTRATION
Special Areas Branch
Far East Enemy Division
IRON CRE: MANCHUR IA
November 1944
FE-119.1
CONFIDENTIAL
Copy No.
MAR 12'48

TN
406
.cb
I76
1944
UNIVERS

THE UN
IVER
SIT OF
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WICHICAN
1817
· LIBRARIES •
•
:
Seft
Documents
Expediter
ས་ཁ་
(5-20-54
211-43
Summary and Conclusions
The principal Manchurian iron ore deposits are in the
Anshan, Penhsihu, and Tungpientao fields. These deposits are,
for the most part, of low grade. However, because of the
availability of good coking coal without the need for water
transportation, the provision of adequate beneficiation
facilities, and the proximity to the principal Manchurian
iron works, they are an important source of iron for use
in the Japanese war economy.
Manchurian production in 1944 is estimated at 7.6 mil-
lion tons of ore with a total iron content of 3.1 million
tons, which is believed to be barely adequate to meet the
demands of the Manchurian iron and steel industry, and
probably represents the maximum exploitation possible under
war conditions.
}
Table of Contents
Page
I. MANCHURIAN IRON MINES
1- 3
Ownership and Control
Iron Ore Requirements
Iron Ore Output
II. PRINCIPAL ORE WORKINGS IN MANCHURIA
1
1
1- 3
4-15
Anshan
Mining Methods and Transport
Roasting and Concentration
Regulation of the Roasting Process
Magnetic Concentration
Possible Concentration by Flotation
Ore Supply
4-8
4-6
6
6- 7
7
7
7- 8
Penhsihu
Output
8-10
9-10
Tungpientao
Location
11-14
11
Reserves
11
Development
11-13
Mining Methods
13
Production History and Current Estimates
Deposits of the Kyowa Mining Company
13-14
14-15
III.
POSSIBILITY OF INTERFERENCE WITH ORE
SUPPLY
16
TABLES
1.
Estimated Manchurian Iron Ore Output, 1944
2. Total Estimated Reserves Available to
Showa in the Anshan Field
Ore Supply Planned for Showa Steel Works
for 1941
3.
4.
5.
Estimated Penhsihu (Honkeiko) Reserves
Iron Ore Deposits in the Tungpientao
(Tohendo) Field
2
5
8
10
12
་
!
I. MANCHURIAN IRON MINES
The
Manchuria has vast deposits of iron ore, which constitute
a major source of supply for the Japanese war economy.
principal fields are the Anshan, Penhsihu, and Tungpiențao.
There are a few other, less important, fields.
Ownership and Control
According to Domei broadcasts, all iron mining and
processing in Manchuria were centralized on April 1, 1944, in
the newly created Manchuria Iron Manufacturing Corporation,
capitalized at 740 million yen. This corporation is under
the general control of the Manchuria Heavy Industry Development
Corporation. The new firm merged the Showa Steel Works at
Anshan, the Penhsihu Iron and Colliery Company, the Tungpientao
Development Company, and possibly the Kyowa Iron Mining Company,
which operated five small mines near Ssupingkai.
:
•
Iron Ore Requirements
The most recent revised FEA estimates place Manchurian
iron-making capacity, including both pig and sponge iron, at
3,442,000 metric tons (before the beginning of the Allied
bombing program). Assuming a 15 percent reduction in output
below theoretical capacity because of necessary relining and
repairs of blast furnaces, but entirely overlooking bomb
damage at Anshan and Penhsihu, it is estimated that total
iron production in Manchuria in 1944 should approximate 2,908,700
metric tons. For production at this rate, the Manchurian iron
and steel industry will require an iron ore supply with a total
iron content of 3,070,000 tons, allowing for a three percent
smelting loss and for 70,000 tons of iron content in the rich
ores used directly in the open hearth charge.
Iron Ore Output
•
·
The 1936 figures, the last official figures published
on Manchurian iron ore production, place the total ore produc-
tion at 1,934,000 metric tons. A recent report states that
in 1941 total Manchurian output was 4,200,000 tons, an increase
of 219 percent over the 1936 figure. One broadcast claimed
a 67 percent increase in 1943 over 1942; however, it has not
been possible to verify this claim. Despite optimistic
•
- 2 -
Japanese claims and the belief of such experts as Crockett,1/
that output at Anshan and Tungpientao could be expanded, to
nine million tons, it is believed that Manchurian iron ore
production barely meets the requirements of the iron and
steel industry as estimated in the preceding section. Table 1
gives only a very rough approximation of the 1944 output, but
it is in reasonable agreement with the potentialities of the
various ore fields.
TABLE 1
'Estimated Manchurian Iron Ore Output, 1944
(metric tons)
Iron content
Field
(percent)
Ore
Iron content
Anshan
Rich
50
800
400
Le an
33
3,600
1,200
Penhsihu
40 (aver.)
1,000
400
Tungpientao
Other
50
2,100
1,050
50
100
50
7,600
3,100
With production as estimated in Table 1, Manchuria
would be barely self-sufficient in iron ore production,
There are, however, several factors which may affect the
quantity of ore actually available for the Manchurian iron
and steel industry.
7
It appears possible, for example, that the Japanese
may be shipping considerable quantities of Tungnientao ore
to Japan Proper by way of Korea. There is no direct evidence
of such shipments, though British sources have estimated that
at much as one million tons a year of Tungpientao ore may be
reaching Japan Proper.
>
م
There is, on the other hand, evidence that iron ore is
reaching Manchuria from Lungyen, North China. Shipments from
1/R.E. Crockett, H.A. Brassert and Company, New York.
- 3
It
Lungyen have been recently estimated at 1,825,000 tons.
is believed that much of the ore reaching Manchuria from
Lungyen is in transit to Japan Proper, by way of Korean ports.
Some of it may be destined for Manchurian blast furnaces, but
if this is the case, the proportion so destined is not known.
Possibly the Japanese are bringing ore to Manchuria
from North China to replace Tungpientao ore shipped to Japan.
Only a short rail and sea haul would be necessary to transport
Tungpientao ore to Japan Proper, whereas a much longer ocean
haul would be involved in shipping Lungyen ore to Japan Proper
via Tangku. Such a policy would be in accord with the announced
Japanese program of transferring heavy freight from water to
rail whenever practical.
:
If some Lungyen ore is being utilized in Manchuria, the
reason may be that the Japanese have preferred to import rich
ore rather than to expand the concentrating plants required
for the leaner ores.
Little, or no, information is available on these im-
portant points, and even though information were available
concerning the activities of a particular date, it might not
be true of the situation at another time. Japan, like other
countries engaged in war, must at times resort to improvisa-
tion..
t:
It is, therefore, impossible to determine exactly Man-
churian production, exports, and imports of iron ore, The
figures given for output must be regarded as tentative and
approximate.
·
-
· 4 ·
II. PRINCIPAL ORE WORKINGS IN MANCHURIA
Anshan
The largest iron ore deposits known to exist in Man-
churia are located in the vicinity of Anshan, Fengtien Province.
They are estimated to total more than one billion tons cf ore.
These deposits comprise 12 workings within 16 kilometer radius
of the Showa Steel Works at Anshan, and the Kyuchorei (Kung-
changling) deposit, 48 kilometers southeast of Liaoyang. The
individual deposits and the estimated reserves contained in
them are listed in Table 2.
$
•
According to the report made by H.A. Brassert and
Company to the Manchurian Industrial Development Company in
1939, the ore is a hard hematite-quartz-schist. Because its
hardness (6 to 6.5 Mohs scale) exceeds that of the surrounding
strata, the ore, through erosion, has been formed into prominent
hills or ridges, thus facilitating open-cut mining. Total
reserves of immediately available rich ores, ranging from 53
percent to 61 percent iron content, were estimated in 1939 at
25 million tons; and of lean ore, averaging 35 percent iron
content, at 1,089 million tons.
•
*
•
Because of the hardness of the ore, its high silica, tai
content, and the fine division of the hematite particles, the...
low-grade deposits, on which the blast furnaces at Anshan
mainly depend, require a much more difficult beneficiation
process than the ores of similar iron content found at Birming-
ham, Alabama, the Cleveland ores of England, or the French
minette ores. However, ever since the Showa Steel Works
built the plant at Anshan, its research bureau has devoted
intensive study to the beneficiation problem, and a solution
has been achieved by a process which involves transforming
the hematite to magnetite by roasting; fine crushing; magnetic
concentration; and sintering the finely divided concentrate
into an agglomerate containing about 57 percent iron which is
suitable for blast furnace use.
Mining methods and transport. The following description
of mining methods in the Taikozan mine, the principal producer
in 1939, is typical of mining methods used at all of the open-
cut Anshan deposits. The mining proceeds from the top of the
hill containing the deposit. A mixture of liquid oxygen and
carbon (soot produced from anthracene) is utilized for blasting.
The crude ore passes by way of inclined hoists to a crushing
plant at the foot of the hill where the fines are screened
- 5
Class
Reserves
(thousand
Fe
Mn
TABLE 2
Manchuria: Total Estimated Reserves Available to Showa Steel Works in the Anshan Field, Typical Analysis
Deposit
Typical analyses (percent
Si02
CaO
A1203
MgO S
Cu
metric tons)
Ohtoen
Rich
Kyuchorei
Rich
24,000
1,000 :53 .038 .054
61.1 022 .11:
·
13.5
1.51
.59
•49
.087
069.:
12.81;: .82
.555
.682
:081 .15
Total rich
25,000
Nishi Anzan
Lean
75,000
42.20.038 .217 37.5
.85
.45
.217
.041013.
Taikozan
Lean
95,000
Ohtoen
Lean
27,400
38.55 .034.12:43.93
.06353.84
31.8 .016.063. 53.84
.24
.14
•5
047
007
.95
.057
.088
.044 .027
Higashi Anzan
Lean
150,000
Ohkhoshi
Lean
110,000
Hakka hoshi
Lean
100,000
Ittanzan
Lean,
94,400
Kanmon-zan
Lean
19,600
Shin-Kanmon-zan Lean
20,000
Tessekizan
Lern
300
Shoreishi
Lean
500
Kyuchorei
Lean
371,000
Total lean
1,064,000/
1,089,000
· Total ore
Source:
Brassert Report, 19:9.
Figures are as given in the Brassert report; the reserves shown add up to 1,063,200 metric tons för
lean ore and 1,088,200,000 metric tons for total ore.

-6.
out and sent by a conveyor system to nearby storage space.
The crushed lump ore is then loaded from a tipple into 50-ton
freight cars which are conveyed in trains of 10 to 15 cars
directly to the hoppers at the roasting plant at Anshan.
The Kyuchorei mine, which contains the largest amount of
rich ore, uses underground methods. In 1939, hạnd crushing
in the mine and at the mine face was the only means of pre-
paring the ore for blast furnace use, but plans were being
made for the installation of mechanical crushers and equip-
ment for conveyance to storage.
A network of railway lines transports the ores from the
various workings over the short distance (average of 12 kilo-
meters) to the roasting and concentrating plant which is
situated on a 12-meter elevation at the south side of the main
steel works.
Roasting and concentration. Roasting is accomplished in
special furnaces developed at Anshan, with cross-sectional
dimensions of 6 by 2 meters and a height of 9 meters. Charging
is done by means of a modification of the usual blast furnace
double bell top. The ore is preheated, by burning powdered
+
coal in combustion chambers located on both sides of the fur-
nace and about half way between bottom and top. The products
of combustion of the coal enter the furnace through ports in
the sides and penetrate the charge to the top of the column.
The passage of the heating gases through the charge heats the
ore to a temperature ranging from 600 C to 700° C. Reduction
is effected by coke oven gas which is admitted to the furnace
at the bottom and rises up through the heated ore, joining
the current of heating gases at the level of their admission.
The availability of surplus gas from Anshan coke ovens pro-
vides a cheap and effective reducing agent. The waste gases
are drawn off by an exhaust fan through offtaxes which communi-
cate with a circle pipe.
Regulation of the roasting process. The bottom of the
furnace is closed by a water seal. The rate of discharge of
ore is determined by the speed of a rotary feeder on either
side of the furnace, which discharges the ore onto a pan con-
veyor running beneath the surface of the water.
Reducing fuel (coke-oven gas) is used at the rate of 40 to
50 cubic meters per ton of ore. Powdered coal of 6,000 calories
per kilogram is used for heating, at a rate varying from 20 to
25 kilograms per ton of ore. Power consumption is stated to be
2.2 kilowatt hours per ton of ore.
į
7-
:
The
The recovery of iron ranges from 80 to 90 percent. The
chief difficulty in effecting a high recovery is in regulating
the reducing action so that it produces a magnetic condition
without further reduction to ferrous oxide (Fe). If magnetite
is further reduced to form excessive proportions of ferrous
oxide, the value of the roasting is lost because over-reduced
ore is no more magnetic than the original hematite.
necessity of cooling in the absence of air to prevent re-oxida-
tion to ferric oxide (Fe203) requires the use of large amounts
of steam. This steam may be inspirated into the furnace by
means of the induced draft of the fan. At the temperature of
the furnace, it will react with ferrous oxide to form magnetic
oxide (Fe30) and hydrogen, thus automatically serving as a
regulator of the process.
,
!
Magnetic concentration. Concentration of the roasted ore
is carried out by the usual methods of wet magnetic concentration,
using the Grondal separator. The roasted ore is reduced through
jaw crushers to a nominal size of minus 25 mm. It is then
further reduced in roll crushers to a nominal size of minus 6
mm. after which it is ground in ball mills. Final grinding is
in a closed circuit by means of tube mills with classification
into plus and minus 150 mesh size (0.014 mm. square opening),
by means of Dorr bowl classifiers. The minus size goes to the
Grondal separators, from which the concentrate is washed, settled
in Dorr thickeners, filtered, dried, and sintered on sintering
machines of the Dwight-Lloyd type. Tailings go to waste. The
sintered ore has an iron content of about 57 percent and a
silica content of about. 17 percent,
4
Possible concentration by flotation. According to recent
Japanese broadcasts, the research department of the Showa Steel
Works has succeeded in perfecting a method of concentrating the
lean Anshan hematite ore by a flotation process which, the
broadcast claims, is vastly superior to the process described
above because it eliminates the necessity of roasting. In
view of the fact that the American Oyahamide Company is said
to have worked out a successful flotation process for iron
ore concentration in the United States, it is believed that
the Japanese could probably apply some form of flotation
process to the Anshan ores. However, it is not thought that
flotation would be used on a large scale at Anshan, as the
present concentrating and sintering equipment is satisfactory.
Ore supply. At the time of the exhaustive study of the
steel works at Anshan by the Brassert Company in 1939, the annual
ore supply for the works totaled 2.4 million metric tons,
8.
including two million tons of lean ore from Taikozan, 300,000
tons of rich ore from Kyuchorei, and 100,000 tons of rich ore
from Ohtoen. The Showa Steel Works at that time was contem-
plating a plan of expansion calling for a total ore supply
in 1941 of almost 5.5 million tons to be obtained from the
deposits shown in Table 3.
TABLE 3
Ore Supply Planned for Showa Steel Works for 1941
(thousand metric tons)
Deposit
Production
Total
Ohtoen (rich)
183
Kyuchorei (rich)
1,100
Total rich
1,283
Taikozan.
2,815
Higashi Anzan
700..
Ohtoon (lean)
700
Total lean
4,215
Total ore
5,498..
Source: Bressert Report, 1939.
In the opinion of Mr. Crockett, one of the Brassert
engineers who inspected Anshan in 1939, the Japanese should
have been able, not only to carry out the expansion planned
for the 1941, program, but also to produce at least six million
tons of ore in 1944 from the Inshan: field..
"
4
Recent Japanese press statements appear to indicate
that the expansion program for ore production has not been
fully carried out and thet. Inshan is dependent to a large-
degree on imports of rich ore from Lungyen and Tungpientao.
The use of such imports may imply that the ore production.
program at Inshan has fallen short..
•
Penhsihu²/
These iron ore workings, located in the vicinity of
the town of Penhsihu on the Mukden-Antung railway, are the
2/ Penhsihu is called Honkeiko in Japanese
se.
ノ
​•
- 9 -
oldest in Manchuria. They were developed as early as 1905 by
Okura and Company, which formed the Penhs ihu Coal and Iron
Company in order to take advantage of the occurrence of both
good coking coal and iron ore in the immediate vicinity of
Penhsihu. Total reserves in the. Penhsihu area are estimated
at over five million tons of rich ore (64 percent iron) and
500 million tons of lean ore (33 percent iron). (See Table 4.)
·
4
The principal ore deposit is found at Maioerhkou,
eight kilometers east of Nanfeng station. This deposit was
first worked by the open-cut method, but later it was found
necessary to drive adits into the hill in which the ore body
is located; mining was then carried on by the cut and fill
system. Ore was brought to the surface through the adits,
lowered to the foot of the hill by a gravity plane, and
shipped by narrow-gauge railway to Nanfeng where the low-
grade ore was concentrated by Grondal magnetic separators..:
These concentrates, together with the fines from the deposits
of rich ore, are briquetted at a plant at the Penhsihu Iron
Works before utilization in the blast furnace,
fore utiliz
Since the low-grade ore is predominantly magnetite,
no preliminary roasting is required. The concentration pro-
cess is, therefore, much simpler and less costly than at
Anshan.
The ore at Miaoerhkou is reputed to be one of the best
low phosphorus ores in the world, comparing favorably with the
best Swedish ores. It is especially suited for the manufacture
of the special steels required in the munitions industry. Its
qualitative importance in the Japanese arms industry is,
therefore, probably much greater than would be indicated by
the comparatively small output.
Output. Although separate statistics on output at
Penhsihu are not available, it is believed that in the prewar
period, the blast furnace capacity of the Penhsihu Iron Works
was supplied entirely by the adjacent deposits. To supply
this capacity would require an annual production of roughly
1,500,000 tons (average iron content of combined rich and
poor ore assumed to be 40 percent). According to recent in-
formation, however, "both Penhsihu and Showa are now making
considerable use of the rich and easily mines Tungpientao
iron ores, in preference to the lower grade ores hitherto
mined in the vicinity of their works."
·
10 -
་
:
TABLE 4
Estimated. Penhsïhu (Honkeiko) Reservesa/

(million
Reserve
Miaoerhkou
(percent of iron)
metric tons)
•
Rich magnetite
64
5.
:.
Lean magnetite
33
230
Waitoushan
Lean magnetite
33
150
Tahoyen lean magnetite
33
120
•
Source: Brassert Report, 1939.
.......
505
Five other deposits near Penhsihu are listed by Tegengren,
Iron Ores and Iron Industry of China. 1924; no analyses
or estimate of reserves is given.
Analyses of Miaoerhkou Ore
(percent)
FE A1203 Cao
Mgo
Mn
S
Pi
Si₂03
Rich Ore
64.01 1.28 0.45
0.027
0.37
0.116 0.017 6.17
Lean Ore
33.61 0.37 0.38
0.08
&
0.030 0.059 50.93
Source: Japan-Manchukuo Yearbook, 1940, page 755.
..
11
.
Tungpientao2/
•
Location. One of the richest discoveries of high-
grade iron ore in Manchuria was made in 1937 as a result of
intensive Japanese surveys in the hilly, thinly settled area
east of Tunghua (Fengtien Province) close to the Yalu River
in the Tungpientao field. The iron ore beds in this field
extend 30 miles cast and west and nine miles north and south
from Talitzukou to Chitakou and Santoukou. A list of the mines
as given in the Brassert report, together with analyses of
samples from the principal deposits, is shown in Table 5.
::
·
:
•
Reserves. The discovery of the Tungpientao deposits
was so recent that most of them had not been thoroughly sur-
veyed by the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. The only
available information about the reserves concerns the prin-
cipal deposit at Talitzukou and the Chitakou mine of which
loss is known. Preliminary reports estimated the total
reserves at 100 million tons of rich ore (64 percent iron)
and "several hundred million" tons of medium quality and
lean ore for 'the entire field. Of this total, Talitzukou
contains an estimated 78 million tons of rich hematite ore.
(64 percent iron), 1.6 million tons of magnetite ore (50 per-
cent iron), 3.8 million tons of chamoisite (31 percent iron),
640,000 tons of limonite (54 percent iron), and 1.5 million
tons of sidcrite. The Chitskou deposit is estimated to con-
tain two million tons of hematite and eight million tons of
magnetite, averaging 52 percent iron content. complete
analysis of Chitakou ore is not available.
4
Development. In September 1938, after geological surveys
had proved the richness of the coal and ore deposits in Tung-
pientao, the Tungpientso Development Company was formed.
Created for the purpose of developing the resources of the area,
it is a subsidiary of the Manchuria Heavy Industry Development
Corporation and is capitalized at 140 million yen.
Railway construction was the first essential. Work
was promptly begun on a line from Leihoukou (Shaho) on the
Mukden-Kirin main line, running through Tunghua and the
mineral-bearing areas to Chian and Linhiang, where it connects
with the Korean railway system. This line was completed in
1939.
A steel plant was constructed at Tunghua with a blast
furnace capacity now estimated at 132,000 tons a year and iron-
3/ Tungpiontao is called Tohendo in Japanese.
- 12
TABLE 5
Iron Ore Deposits in the Tungpientao (Tohendo) Field
Japanese Name
Dairisshiko
Roko
Sandoko (West)
Shichidoko
Daizenshiko
Daiyoshiko
Daisekisakushi
Chinshumon
Daibyoko
Chinese Name
Talitzukou..
La ok ou
Santaokou
Chitaokou
Tatzentsukou
Tayantsukou
Tashih-Tz otsu
Chenchumen
Status
Prospected
11
11
Not Prospected
11
11
"
Tamiaokou
11
Daikoro
Tahanglu
Ħ
Sandoko (Middle)
Santa okou.
11
Sandoko (East)
Santa okou
11
Kanj in
Hangjen
11
Rore (South)
Laoling
11
Godoko
Wutaokou
"
Hokusaichi
Daik oko
Paitsaiti
Tahungk.ou
#t
"
Prospected
Analyses of Dairisshiko (Talitzukou) Ore
Type of ore Fe
CaO MgO Mn
S
P
Si203
-Hematite::
64.38
0.27 0.27 0.007 0.015
3.70
Hematite
:
65.35 2.81
0.50
0.018 0.025
3.39
· Limonite
54.38
2.33
0.027 0.020
1.76
Magnetite
50.14
6.52
0.105
0.105 0.025
7.86
Chamoisite. 31.42 1.69
8.08
0.051 trace
13.02
Source: Brassert Report, 1939.
- 13 -
:
making capacity of other than blast furnaces estimated at
30,000 tons a year.
•
Although the original Japanese plan contemplated a
much larger steel plant at Tunghua, the final decision (which
was recommended in the Brassert report) was apparently to
confine further expansion to Anshan and to utilize Tungpientao
orės to a large extent in supplying the Anshan and also the
Penksihu plant.
Mining Methods. In view of the fact that all develop-
ment at Tungpientao occurred after 1938, when. publications of
significant data on vital Japanese industries had been dis-
continued, little information is available concerning mining
methods in the area. Since
Since, according to reports of Japanese
surveyors, the richer deposits are near the surface, it may
be assumed that open-cut methods are used almost exclusively.
A recent press report from occupied China states that the
transport facilities of the mines are to be improved by the
addition of a fleet of electric locomotives and that new
apparatus is to be installed in the Talitzukou and Chitakou
mines.
:
It is probable that the provision of an adequate labor
supply for the area will prove more difficult than the supply
of steam shovels and the other relatively simple equipment
required for onen-cut mining. Tungpientao is very sparsely
settled and was overrun by bandits until 1938, thus, the
importation of labor and the construction of barracks would
be necessary.
Production history and current estimates... That the
Tungpientao mines were producing in 1939 is indicated by
Mr. Crockett's statement that 300,000 tons of Tungpientao
ore were utilized at Anshan that year. According to one
source, the Japanese had planned a production of 500,000
tons from Tungpientao for 1940 and 1.3 million tons for 1942.
Japanese press reports in 1940 stated that the Tungpiento
Development Company planned to increase production by 550,000
tons, of which 300,000 were to come from Talitzukou and the
balance from Chitakou. To estimate 1941 production at about
900,000 tons would appear to be reasonable.
Mr. Crockett believes that a current output of three
million tons of high-grade ore for the entire field would
be quite possible. Another source states that, an annual
14 -
"
production of 1.7 million tons at Talitzukou alone was planned
to follow completion of the Tunghua-Chian railway. However,
recent information suggests that both at Anshan and at Tung-
pientao the rich ore deposits are mostly on the surface and
that the quality of the ore deteriorates as lower depths
are reached. Shortages of labor and equipment at Tungpientao
have been reported. These facts and the utilization of Lung-
yen ore at the Showa Works are said to indicate that the
Tungpientao mines are not developing according to plan, though
the use of the Lungyen ore, as noted earlier, may be to com-
pensate for the export of Tungpientao ore. In any case, out-
put has been estimated, tentatively, at about 2.1 million
tons, of which possible 300,000 tons would be used at Tunghua,
and the balance perhaps divided among Anshan, Penhsihu, and
Japan Proper.
There is no recent information indicating that Tung-
pientao ore is now being shipped to Japan Proper, although
as early as 1939 it was reported that an initial shipment of
6,000 tons of Chitakou ore arrived at Moji. If such shipments
are taking place, which is possible in view of the present
Japanese program of transferring cargo from water to rail
routes wherever possible, they may be going by way of Fusan.
Deposits of the Kyowa Mining Company
In 1939, the Kyowa Iron Mining Company was formed ** a sub-
sidiary of the Manchuria Heavy Industry Development Corporation,
to exploit the iron deposits worked by the Kang-te Iron Company
at Kaiyuan, Hsifeng, and Hsuchiatun, near the main South Man-
churia Railway line, Mukden-Hsingking. Press reports state
that the firm also expected to develop mines at Hsifeng,
Chiatao, Lienshankwan, Kuchiatzu, Tanankow, Shimachi, and
Wangchiapu. The firm was originally capitalized at 10 million
yen, which was increased in 1940 to 20 million yen.
·
Of the above-mentioned deposits, Tegengren gives
only the Hsuchiatun deposit, just south of Mukden. According
to his estimate, this deposit contains only 300,000 tons of
marketable ore, averaging 50 percent iron content, which is
so scattered in small separate beds that it can hardly be
credited with any commercial importance. Recent information
indicates, however, that in 1940 the Hsuchiatun deposit was
being worked by small-scale hand method, that about 20 Japanese
and 300 Chinese were employed in the mine, and that the ore
was transported by hand trucks on a light railway to the main
Dairen-Mukden railway, two kilometers distant. No estimate
of output was given.
•
4/ Iron Ores and Iron Industry of China, 1924.
15
More optimistic Japanese accounts allege that the
Kaiyuan deposit contains 60 million tons of hematite rang-
ing from 50 to 70 percent iron content. No evidence of
actual output from Kaiyuan or any of the other deposits
owned by Kyowa is available.
In view of the mining company's small capitalization,
the small-scale nature of mining at Hsuchiatun, and the
complete absence of references to Kyowa in recent Japanese
broadcasts concerning Manchurian iron ore output, it is
reasonably certain that the original Japanese claims were
exaggerated and that the current output is probably so small
as to be negligible.
16..
III. POSSIBILITY OF INTERFERENCE WITH ORE SUPPLY
Inasmuch as the principal ore fields at Anshan, Penhsihu,
and Tungpientao consist of many scattered deposits, worked
principally by open-cut methods, their exploitation is not
particularly susceptible to interference, because only the
ore conveyors, loading platforms, and short railways spurs,
which could be repaired fairly quickly, would be liable to
injury.
Serious damage to the ore concentrating equipment at
Anshan and Penhsihu would render useless the low-grade ores
which constitute the major supply of both fields. It would
probably be impossible also, to increase sufficiently the
output of Manchurian high-grade ores, or imports from North
China, to supply full iron-making capacity in Manchuria. Six
months to a year would be required to rebuild the concentrating
plants and restore operations after their effective destruc-
tion.
Direct hits on the crushers, gyrators, and motors would
be necessary to destroy the ore concentrating equipment, as
it is too heavy to be seriously damaged by near misses.
However, viewing the Manchurian steel industry as an inte-
grated unit, the ore fields and ore-processing equipment are
clearly less susceptible to attack, and less essential to
the output of finished steel, than the steel plants themselves
and the related coke ovens at anshan and Penhsihu.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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