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Udy broke smelting down into two processes, v. one in the blast furnace. The first, a horizontal, slowly rotating, gas-fired kiln, removes 55% of such impurities as oxygen and sulphur from ores of such low grade that blast furnaces cannot handle them, conditions them for the second step. This is a Udy-designed electric smelting furnace that finishes the job. The slag from the electric furnace can be put through a series of similar furnaces to draw off other metals such as chrome, copper, zinc and manganese. Thus, for the first time, a smeltery can work iron ore over with the same thoroughness that an oil refinery uses to squeeze every last product out of crude oil.
Udd and Udy were a long time making a go of it. Udd poured at least $3,000,000 of his own money into Stratmat. Then, in 1957, the prestigious Koppers Co., Inc., which designs and builds steel mills, saw the possibilities and added its money to the development, in return for stock and the right to engineer and design plants using the Udy process. Shortly afterward, Frank W. Chambers, 52, a one-time Koppers executive and director of engineering at Kennecott Copper, took over as Stratmat president and set to work to make the process a commercial success.
Little Mills. Chambers is now working with businessmen in India to build as many as 15 small (150,000 tons a year) steel mills, scattered about the country, that would use local ore and coal to meet the needs of nearby markets. Each mill would cost less than $12 million. Other countries interested are Nigeria, Egypt, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines and Morocco.
Thus far, more than $12 million has been poured into Strategic Materials without a cent of profit, but by the end of this year Chambers hopes to start breaking even and by next year to show some earnings. In Venezuela alone, the company expects to get a quarter of what its process saves the government, an estimated royalty of more than $1 to $1.50 per ton. Says Chambers: "We won't put Gary or Pittsburgh out of business. But we can use materials they can't, and we are heading a trend to build little mills close to raw materials and the markets."