THE MINERAL INDtJSTRY OF OREGON 671 
 
Jurden Corp. Site selection was successfully concluded upon agreement with
the Port of Astoria to finance the plant through the sale of revenue bonds;
the Port was to lease the plant to Northwest Aluminum Co. Construction was
expected to require 3 years and as many as 2,000 workmen. Production was
to begin early in 1970 and would provide an annual payroll of $8 million
with an additional local contribution of about $700,000 in county taxes.
Access roads and site grading were completed. 
 The Reynolds Metals Co. Troutdale plant was operated at capacity throughout
the year, and employment was near 800. Addition of a new potline, announced
in 1966, remained under consideration. 
 Harvey Aluminum, Inc., The Dalles, received alumina from its new plant in
the Virgin Islands. Capacity production continued through the year, and plant
employment was approximately 500. 
 A metallurgical process for recovery of aluminum from Pacific Northwest
ferruginous bauxites was reported by the Albany Metallurgy Research Center,
Bureau of Mines, Albany. The research described applies to aluminum-bearing
material such as that found in the Salem Hills area.6 
 Purchases of electricity from Bonneville 
Power Administration (BPA) by the 
Harvey and Reynolds companies totaled 
3,076 million kilowatt-hours, 2.7 percent 
more than the previous year.7 
 
 Copper.—Bear Creek Mining Co., exploration subsidiary of Kennecott
Copper Corp., located 38 claims in northeastem Baker County. The area was
being explored by geologists from Bear Creek's district office in Spokane,
Wash. Cyprus Mines Corp. also was doing exploration in the same area. 
 
 Ferroalloys.—The Union Carbide Corp. Portland plant strike, which
began in August 1966, was settled in April after 8 months and 1 week. In
addition to production of ferromanganese, silicomanganese, and ferrosilicon,
output of low-iron manganese metal was begun. Manganese ore was imported
from numerous foreign sources, and silica rock was shipped from Montana.
Purchases of electricity from BPA declined 15.7 percent compared with that
of the previous year.8 
 
 Gold and Silver.—Lode and placer mines yielded 186 ounces of gold
and 31 
ounces of silver, the lowest production since the Bureau of Mines began keeping
records in 1902. Old tailings shipped from the Warner mine, Jackson County,
to a California smelter accounted for most of the reported production; the
remainder came from lode and placer operations in Baker, Grant, Jackson,
Josephine, and Malheur Counties. 
 The idle Buffalo mine, Baker County, source of most of the gold produced
in the State over the past several decades, was acquired by A. W. Brandenthaler
through a lease-purchase-option agreement from the Union Pacific Railroad.
Development work, consisting of drilling and drifting, was conducted. 
 A gold prospect, situated in an extensive mineralized zone of Josephine
County, was the subject of a State publication.9 
 
 Iron and Steel.—Iron ore from the Tolman property, Jackson County,
was being considered for use at the Hanna Nickel Smelting Co. Riddle plant,
Douglas County, as an additive for refining ferronickel in an electric steelmaking
furnace. 
 Peruvian iron ore was to be used to produce steel at a plant being constructed
at Portland by Oregon Steel Mills, a division of Gilmore Steel Corp. Mildand-Ross
Corp. began constructing for Oregon Steel a prereduced iron ore pellet plant
with an initial annual capacity of 300,000 tons. The plant, scheduled to
begin in early 1969, was to produce prereduced pellets containing a minimum
of 95 percent metallic iron under a new and unique patented process developed
by Midland-Ross. Electric steelmaking furnaces, with an annual capacity of
150,000 tons, were planned, with plant-design expansion capability up to
500,000 tons. Included in the construction program was a new rolling mill
capable of forming up to 750,000 tons of steel plate per year with dimensions
ranging from ~ to 3 inches in thickness and up to 96 inches in width. The
$35-million facility would meet all government requirements for air- and
water-pollution control. 
 
 6 Blake, Henry E., Jr., Oliver C. Fursman, 
Arden D. Fugate, and Lloyd H. Banning. 
Adaptation of the Pedersen Process to the 
Ferruginous Bauxites of the Pacific Northwest. 
BuMines Rept. of mv. 6939, 1967, 21 pp. 
 Bonneville Power Administration, Branch of Customer Service. 
 8 Bonneville Power Administration, Branch of Customer Service. 
 ~ Libbey, F. W. The Almeda Mine, Josephine County, Oregon. Oregon Dept.
Geol. and Miner. Ind., Short Paper 24, 1967, 53 pp.