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Show WATER FOR UTAH to a marked degree. Also of importance, demonstrating a favorable measure of increasing industrial maturity, was the fact that in 1947 the West's ratio of pig iron to steel ingot production approached the national level. However, the fabrication outlook does not yet appear to be a balanced one. As far as Utah's steel fabricating industries are concerned, they are limited to the Geneva Steel rolling mills. Even with announced plans for expansion and some diversification of end- product, Utah's present situation can only be described as being in its infancy. There is no production in the State, based upon its otherwise favorable iron and steel structure, of such products as rolled steel piling, universal plates, strip steel, rail and other railroad products, reinforcing bar, tool steel, skelp and rounds for pipe, pipe rods, wire and wire products. The recent announcement of the proposed establishment of a steel pipe plant is a note of progress, but the extent to which the State's industries might possibly enter into the manufacture of these products is I not simple of determination. At present, western production of these items is* concentrated in Colorado, California, Oregon and Washington. | The factors of freight rates from producing plant to consuming markets are all important. With increasing industrialization in the State, together with the expansion in its economic life - dependent on the full development of its water and power resources - it is quite likely that additional payrolls in the ferrous metals field will become realities. I ... Potential Developments ... Steel production is an index of national well- being. In the United States, its levels have been steadily climbing upward. During the last few postwar years, consumption has been outstripping productive capacity. In 1947, the national production of steel ingot ( not including direct production from scrap) was almost eighty- five million tons, or thirty- two million tons more than in 1939, an increase of 60%. It has been estimated that by 1949 the Nation's steel capacity will be on the order of ninety- six million tons; | therefore, one hundred million tons does not seem beyond reason. During the war peaks of 1943, the per capita steel ingot output from all ferrous metal sources was around 1,300 tons. In 1947, although cessation of war production had dropped the per- capita consumption, it was again climbing to 1,170 tons, with a most probable level of 1,350 tons per capita for 1948. Western production, and therefore that in Utah, must at least share this growth because its population is growing at a much greater rate than that of the Nation. Population growth compounds the need for steel and iron products. Expansion of Utah's ferrous metals industries means additional requirements for water and power. Their present structure is highly dependent on both. Geneva Steel Company's water requirements of today are substantial - on the order of 42,500 acre- feet per year. Its power requirements are also large and are being met by the company's own steam plant, with a capacity of 50,000 kilowatts. In order to stimulate and assist in the expansion of the State's ferrous metals structure, both water and power supplies must be provided in much greater quantities and at lower cost than are now availa ble. As a measure of requirements which Utah should be prepared to satisfy, one segment of the potential expansion of the iron and steel industry particularly deserves some attention: ferroalloy production. These products of the electric furnace include ferromanganese for deoxida- tion and without which steel production would not be possible; ferrochrome to increase hardness and corrosion- resistance; ferrosilicon as a deoxidizer and for the manufacture of special steel for the electrical industry; ferrovana- dium to increase tensile strength and other physical properties of steel; ferrotungsten for high- speed tool steels; ferromoiybdenum to improve machinability. From a raw material point of view, ( See Map I I - Genera! Occurrence of Principal Minerals - page 50), it is believed that Utah possesses, or can acquire from reasonably tributary areas, such component raw materials as silica for ferrosilicon; manganese from Nevada and by import; molybdenum as a by- product of copper production at the Bingham copper mine; vanadium from southeastern Utah [ 55] |