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Show WATER FOR UTAH present industry require in excess of 4,500,000 gallons per day; the total needs are greater than those which can be obtained from a supply of 5000 acre- feet per year. Their power requirements today approximate 600,000,000 kilowatt- hours per year, or about 60% of the Stare's industrial power consumption. In the outlook for more complete processing of the nonferrous metals in Utah, there are possibilities for more copper refining than planned at present. Although the actual electrolytic refining of copper does not require immense quantities of electric power, the requirements are nevertheless quite substantial. At 376 kilowatt- hours per ton, the cell rooms for a copper refinery of 12,000 tons capacity per month, or 144,000 tons per year, require an annual total of 53,000,000 kilowatt- hours. The production of electrolytic zinc, for which national demands have been increasing very steadily, requires very large quantities of electric power per ton of refined metal produced, or about 3700 kilowatt- hours. What would be considered a minimum- sized plant of 100 tons of electrolytic zinc per day, or 36,000 tons per year, would consume on the order of 130,000,000 kilowatt- hours per year. Given electrolytic copper and electrolytic zinc production in Utah, a brass plant would be logical of establishment in the State. Lead refining - consuming 600 kilowatt- hours per ton of refined lead - would require approximately 12,000,000 kilowatt- hours for a 20,000 tons per year refinery. Much greater capacity for electrolytic and electrothermic zinc, and electrolytic refining of lead and copper would be possible if based on the productive capabilities of Utah's copper, lead and zinc mines and beneficiating plants. The basic question is one of power and water supply and, most important, that of power costs. For example, in electrolytic zinc production, a two- mill differential in power costs per kilowatt- hour represents a plant production cost difference of about one- third of a cent per pound, which is by no means insignificant. On the other hand, to be balanced against higher cost of power, of reasonable level, are those cost factors which relate to the mining, beneficiation and transportation of concentrates to the refinery. In this balancing process, the costs of transportation to ultimate consuming markets must also be given considerable weight. In total, however, the remarkable concentration of resources, mines and beneficiating plants in Utah - given adequate supplies of power and water at reasonable costs - would seem to provide a favorable set of circumstances for the complete and integrated development of the State's copper, lead and zinc industries together with their payroll- producing manufacturing plants. LIGHT METALS In the family of nonferrous metals are those important materials - aluminum and magnesium. Both of these are produced by means of electric power in extremely large amounts. Their fabulous production expansion in the United States and Canada during the war makes them subject of conjecture as to Utah establishment. In the case of aluminum particularly, in spite of its expansion from a prewar consumption of 300,- 000,000 pounds to a present of over 1,800,- 000,000 pounds, markets are still reaching further unbelievable heights. Further production capacity is restricted by the availability of low- cost power supplies. Utah does not possess any known reserves of bauxite, the preferred ore for aluminum production. It does have materials of substantial alumina content such as alunite and high alumina clays, which, however, under normal conditions are not competitive with bauxite. Furthermore, as pointed out, one of the two basic ingredients in aluminum metal reduction is electric power in enormous quantities and at extremely low rates. It takes 10 kilowatt- hours of electricity per pound of aluminum. As a consequence, power at price levels of more than 2 mills per kilowatt- hour are not considered of great industrial interest. A minimum- sized aluminum reduction plant, producing 16,000 tons or 30,000 tons per year depending on plant design, would have an annual requirement of 350,000,000 to 600,000,000 kilowatt- hours respectively, with a capacity of 40,000 to 70,000 kilowatts. The only possibility for such plant establishment in Utah would depend entirely on strategic considerations where costs of production would be of slight or no consequence. In terms of national security, it might be deemed [ 62] |