Beneath the forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula lie vast iron deposits that have long resisted ore-hungry steelmen. The ore is jasper, a diamond-hard rock that blunts ordinary drills, is too low in iron content (about 33%) for conventional refining methods. Five years ago Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., with Ford Motor Co., set up pilot operations to mine and process* jasper by a new method. Last week Cleveland-Cliffs and Inland Steel Co. announced that they will build, near Marquette, Mich., the nation's first big jasper-mining and processing project. At peak production the Marquette plants will grind some 6,000,000 tons of jasper yearly,...
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