670 
MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1967 
 
(1966) to 9.6 million tons. Commercial stone decreased 3 percent from 3.7
million tons (1966) to 3.6 million tons. Basalt, used for roadstone, ballast,
riprap, concrete and asphalt aggregate, and fill, continued to be the principal
stone quarried, accounting for 94 percent of total. 
 Bristol Silica Co. mined silica (quartz) from a quarry near Rogue River,
Jackson County. The material was transported about 4 miles by truck to a
screening plant at Gold Hill. The sized material was marketed for use in
making ferrosilicon, silicon carbide, and cement. Stone was pro~ duced from
operations in 34 of the 35 counties; output exceeded 1 million tons in Lane
and Washington Counties. 
 The April closing of Ideal Cement Co. Gold Hill, Jackson County plant, was
re 
flected in decreased limestone output which totaled 588,000 tons compared
with 627,000 tons for 1966. The decrease would have been much greater except
that the use of limestone for roadstone was initiated. The largest limestone
industrial market was the cement industry, followed by the sugar, lime, paper,
and agricultural industries. Limestone was quarried in Baker County by Chemical
Lime Co. at its Baboon quarry and by Oregon Portland Cement Co. at its Durkee
quarry; in Josephine County by Ideal Cement Co. at its Marble Mountain quarry;
and in Polk County by Oregon Portland Cement Co. at its Dallas quarry. Limestone
for roadstone was produced in Baker County by U.S. Forest Service and in
Curry County by the Curry County road department 
 
Table 7.—Stone sold or used by producers by uses 
(Thousand short tons and thousand dollars) 
 
 
Use 
 1966 1967 
 Quantity Value Quantity Value 
 
Concreteandroadstone 14,277 
Railroadballast 244 
Riprap 1,380 
Other 1 17,387 
 $20,883 10,992 $16,115 
 349 237 343 
 2,894 1,234 2,346 
 24,209 737 1,452 
 Total~ 33,288 48,335 13,201 20,256 
 
 1 Includes building stone (dimension), stone used at cement, paper, and
chemical plants; sugar refineries; rock fill; dams; dikes; and for miscellaneous
unspecified purposes. 
 2 Data may not add to totals shown because of rounding. 
 
 Talc and Soapstone.—Soapstone for use as a carrier material in insecticides
was ground at the Portland plant of Stauffer Chemical Co. The crude material
was obtained from mines in Skagit County, Wash. Soapstone was mined and shipped
by John C. Pugh from a deposit on Powell Creek, Josephine County. The material
was used for sculpturing purposes by educational institutions. 
 
 Vermiculite (Exfoliated).—Output of expanded vermiculite was 14 percent
higher than that of 1966. Crude vermiculite from the Republic of South Africa
and Montana was exfoliated at Portland plants of Vermiculite-Northwest, Inc.,
and Supreme Perlite Co., respectively. Expanded material was marketed as
loose-fill insulation, as a lightweight aggregate for plaster and concrete,
and for soil conditioning. 
METALS 
 
 Aluminum.—Northwest Aluminum Co. chose Warrenton, near Astoria, as
the construction site for a $142-million plant with an aluminum capacity
of 130,000 tons per year. Australian bauxite was to be processed to alumina
at the plant and the alumina in turn reduced to aluminum. Three U.S. and
three Japanese companies were announced partners in the project. Yawata Econ
Steel, Shawa Denko KK, and Mitsui and Co., the Japanese companies involved,
were to take an estimated 35 percent of the aluminum ingot produced. Bell
Intercontinental Corp. of New York, Equity Corp., and American ExportIsbrandtsen
Co. were the U.S. participants: 
Bell Intercontinental, a subsidiary of Equity Corp., was to be in charge
of plant construction on the 840-acre site. The construction contract was
let to Parsons-