also used in high-speed tool steels, its use materially reducing the amount of tungsten necessary. It is added in the form of ferrovanadium, carrying 35 to 40 per cent of vanadium. Another use of vanadium is in chrome-vanadium steels for armor-plate and automobiles. Minor amounts are used in making bronzes, in medicine, and in dyeing.
The low-grade ores of the United States range from 1 to 8 per cent of vanadium oxide, the general mean being nearer the lower figure. The high-grade ores of Peru contain from about 10 to as high as 50 per cent of the oxide; the roasted ore as shipped averages about 35 to 40 per cent.
Two-thirds of the world's supply of vanadium comes from Peru, where the mines are under American control. The concentrates are all shipped to the United States and some of the ferrovanadium is exported from this country to Europe. The Germans during the war supplied their needs for vanadium from the minette iron ores in the Briey district in France, and presumably the French will in the future utilize this source. An unrecorded but small quantity is obtained by the English from lead-vanadate mines in South Africa. There are some fairly large deposits of vanadium minerals in Asiatic Russia, which may ultimately become an important source.
The United States supplies less than one-half of its normal needs of vanadium, from southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. The grade of these deposits is low and the quantity in sight does not seem to promise a long future. Through its commercial control of the Peruvian deposits, the United States dominates the world's vanadium situation.
Geologic Features
The Minasragra vanadium deposit of Peru contains patronite (vanadium