THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF CALIFORNIA 163 
 
Capitan Mining Co. The ore was trucked to and stockpiled at a plant near
Keene, Kern County, where furnacing was to begin early in 1968. The other,
the Chiefs mine near Bridgeport, Mono County, was producing ore and plans
were made for treatment in a custom furnace in Aurora Canyon to be operated
by American Mining and Chemical Co. 
 In June, Sonoma International, Inc., announced it would develop the Altoona
mercury mine, Trinity County. Earlier the company had discontinued work at
the Baker mine, Lake County. 
 
 Molybdenum.—Union Carbide Corp. recovered molybdenite and powellite
as byproducts (as sulfide and oxide concentrates, respectively) in the treatment
of tungsten ores from its Pine Creek mine, Inyo County. Molybdenite production
was lower than in 1966 but shipments more than doubled. The reverse was true
of powellite as production rose slightly and shipments dropped nearly 40
percent. All shipments were consigned to domestic customers. 
 
 Pig Iron, Sinter, and Ferrous Scrap.— Kaiser Steel Corp. produced
all the State's pig iron in blast furnaces at 
Fontana, San Bernardino County. The furnaces used 14 percent less ore (concentrate)
but 15 percent more agglomerate (sinter and pellets) in producing 1 percent
less pig iron. The output was 
95 percent basic pig iron and 5 percent direct castings. Kaiser steel furnaces
consumed 23 percent more ore (concentrate), 91 percent less agglomerate,
2 percent less pig iron (hot metal), and 5 percent more scrap (home and purchased)
than in 1966. United States Steel Corp. at Torrance, Los Angeles County,
was the only other steel producer using pig iron in addition to scrap. All
others operated on scrap alone. Overall consumption of ferrous scrap and
pig iron was down 1 percent from 1966 while use at steel furnaces was virtually
unchanged. 
 
 Platinum.—Byproduct platinum-group metals were recovered from stream
and ancient riverbed gravels and from old tailings at the bucketline gold
dredging operation of Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields on the Yuba River, Yuba
County. The output was the only reported recovery of platinum in the State.
The quantity recovered was 46 percent below that in 1966. 
 
 
Table 
24.—~Mercury production, by methods of recovery 
Year 
Oper- 
 
ating 
 
mines 
 Recovery method 
Furnaced 1 Retorted Unclas- Total  sifled 
 
 
 — 
 Ore 76-pound Ore 76-pound 76-pound 76-pound 
 treated flasks treated flasks flasks) 2 flasks Value' 
(short tons) (short tons) 
1963            
 1964 - 1965            1966            1967            
31 
39 
84 
72 
78 
 61,595 13,273 4,068 303 16 13,592 $2,575,004 89,630 8,949 12,595 1,334 8
10,291 3,239,504 137,079 11,219 21,060 2,168 17 13,404 7,650,333 136,693
13,714 16,292 2,344 12 16,070 7,100,047 184,656 13,942 67,895 2,438 5 16,385
8,018,164 
1 Includes ore and mercury from dumps not separable. 
' Includes mercury recovered from miscellaneous dump material, placer, and
cleanup operations. 
 3 calculated at average New York price. 
 
Table 25.—Ferrous scrap and pig iron 
 
consumption 
 
(Thousand short tons) 
 
Year 
Ferrous 
Pig iron 
 
scrap 
 
1963                       
1964                   
1965                       
1966                       
1967                       
2,415 
2,575 
2,829 
2,991 
2,960 
1,891 
2,250 
2,319 
2,267 
2,245 
 Rare-Earth Minerals. — Molybdenum Corporation of America (Molycorp)
stated in its annual report that 25.5 million pounds of rare-earth oxides
were contained in concentrates produced in its Mountain Pass, Calif., mine
and mill in 1967 compared with 25.2 million pounds in 1966. Sales of rare-earth
products rose about 2 percent. Over 8 million pounds of rare-earth oxides
were shipped