INDUSTRY: Sulphur from the Sea

The search for yellow gold has sent Freeport Sulphur Co. deep into the marshes of the Mississippi delta country, drilling from rigs floated atop steel barges or straddled on a forest of pilings. The risks of searching for sulphur are high (the company lost $1.5 million drilling into one barren offshore salt dome last year alone), the costs of mining it even higher. But willingness to take the risks built Freeport into the second biggest producer (first: Texas Gulf Sulphur Co.) of the mineral that is used in the production of everything...

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