Search

An account of the evolution of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which set aside a major portion of the world's oceans as a common heritage of mankind, is presented. An examination of the Convention's precepts illustrates discussion questions for use with secondary or college students. (RM)

During the last decade the world's iron ore map has been experiencing significant changes; the increasing importance of iron ore pellet production with its associated mining and processing activities exemplifies one of the most important of these changes. Increased demands of the steel industry for iron ore pellets have helped stimulate the development of large and expensive concentrating and pelletizing establishments. Capital requirements and the need for technical cooperation have tended to create a greater symbiotic relationship between the iron ore mining and steel producing industries; steel companies have become increasingly committed financially to pellet producing projects. Competition from pellets is placing a growing strain upon mining regions dependent on direct-shipping ores, especially those regions forced to use underground mining methods. Development of low-grade ores capable of beneficiation has helped in some mining regions to reverse a long-standing trend of decreasing employment and has improved the general economic conditions of those regions. During the coming decades, world iron ore pellet production will continue to increase, and its impact upon the iron mining and steel producing industries will become even more significant, especially in Canada and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's reply to comments on his paper regarding the process of concentrating iron ore by mechanical means near the mine rather than, as in the past, by chemical means in the blast furnace only. The use of an energy-mass budget analysis could indeed contribute to a better understanding of the "relative costs" to society when iron ore and steel producers utilize beneficiated low-grade ores rather than direct shipping ores. Water pollution, could likely be shown to rank high as a cost item in the pelletized iron ore production process, as could also air pollution.