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of 50? and which was of direct shipping quality) (14) could
partly be compensated by the production of pellets with an iron
ore content of over 60? from the low grade iron ore reserves
(with an Fe-content of 25?) that were below and along the sides
of the main Mesabi ore body. However, this process would require
large investments and would still result in costs per ton which
would compare unfavourably with the production costs of other
regions. Moreover, the future ore supplies would also have to
cover, the expected increase in the United States steel
consumption (15). Lastly, after the war the U.S. Government had
stressed the importance of reserving the domestic resources for
emergency (war) situations.
However, geographical considerations and political circumstances
limited the choice. Production of iron ore in Australia, Southern
Africa, or Brazil would because of the long distances involved
result in high transportation costs (later, the development of
"super-tankers" would reduce, if not eliminate, this problem).
In West Africa, geographically favourably located for the U.S.
steel plants, the French insisted on majority ownership of mining
ventures and managerial control whereas in the colony of Sierra
Leone U.S. investments were prevented by the English colonial powers
(16). The (later) selection of Liberia in West Africa by American
investors in the iron ore mining industry was therefore hardly
a choice but rather the result of a geo-political situation. In
Latin America they (the American steel companies) started,
shortly after the end of the war, the development of the iron
ore reserves of Mexico (Republic Steel Corporation), the
extension of mining activities in Chile (Bethlehem Steel
Corporation), and the exploitation of the vast iron ore reserves
of Venezuela (notably U.S. Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel
Corporation). Also in the Western Hemisphere, in Canada, five
U.S. steel companies participated in the Iron Ore Company of
Canada which mined iron ore in the Labrador-Quebec region (17).
It is significant that of the ore deposits in the above mentioned
four countries only one could favourably compare with the Bomi
Hills deposits in Liberia. This ore came from a deposit in
Venezuela, about 100 miles east of the Bolivar mountain (the
Cerro Bolivar also forms a giant iron ore body). It was to be
exploited by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in the 195O's and it
showed a Fe-content of about 63? (18).
Owing to a difference in level of economic development,
immediately after the Second World War, the demand for iron ore
in Europe was much lower than in the U.S.A. but gradually, during
the 1950's and notably in the following decade, this demand grew,
France, however, did not experience immediate problems as its
production of ores exceeded the demand of its own steel industry, •
Outside Europe, the iron ore mines in French West Africa and
French Equatorial Africa supplied the industry of the colonizing
power in Europe (before the "wave of independence" of the 196O's)
whereas the post-colonial policy of France vis-a-vis its former
colonies in Africa guarantees a continuation of this supply,
notably the supply of iron ore by Mauretania and Gabon.