Late last December a little - known metal called 'lithium" suddenly became headline news when it was linked, although only speculatively, with such well - established nuclear energy sources as uranium, plutonium and hydrogen.
A report to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, spotlighted by the press and newscasters, said that scientists had for the first time detected lithium in the skies high above the earth.
The report added simply that this substance was found over the South Pole and apparently came from nuclear tests conducted during the past 18 months.
Whether an "L-bomb" exists or not (neither the U. S. nor Russia admits the use of lithium in nuclear weapons), lithium is still an important commodity to the Southern. Our railway serves two of the three major producers of lithium in the United States.
Both of these Southern customers - Foote Mineral Company and Lithium Corporation of America - depend on Southern for the movement of raw materials used in their operations.
Southern's service to Foote Mineral is in the nature of a 350-mile link in the company's production line. Ore mined and processed at Foote's facilities near Kings Mountain, N. C., goes over Southern lines in covered hopper cars to the company's lithium chemical plant at Sunbright in the southwestern tip of Virginia, where lithium and lithium compounds are extracted.
Sulphuric acid, a vital ingredient in Lithium Corporation's production process, arrives in the plant by rail and is pumped from tank cars into this storage tank. |
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Lithium Corporation, on the other hand, imports concentrated ore by rail from Canada. Southern handles this material from Potomac Yard, Va., and delivers it to the LCA plant at Bessemer City, N. C. Located only a few miles from each other, Foote's mining facilities and Lithium Corporation's plant are served exclusively by Southern-as is Foote's Sunbright plant.
As a metal, lithium is a curiosity. Softer than lead, which it resembles in its pure form, it is the featherweight of the metallic field. A cubic foot of it weighs only 33 lbs., compared with 108 lbs. for magnesium and 168 lbs. for aluminum. It is, in fact, the lightest of all solids and about half the weight of water.
People who think of metal in terms of what can be built with it-automobiles, washing machines, electrical appliances, etc.-would be startled to see what happens to a piece of lithium dropped in water. The piece floats on the surface, fizzing and skittering about until it dissolves without a visible trace (it combines chemically with the water) .
Chemical plant of Lithium Corporation of America near Bessemer City, N. C., with rail facilities showing prominently. The corporation's siding connects with Southern's main line (darkline across top of picture). (Lithium Corporation of America photo) |
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Lithium, by itself, has no structural use. Aside from the fact that it can be cut with a knife and acts like a "seltzer" tablet in water, the flame from a match will melt it. Also, it must be stored in oil to keep it from combining with gases in the air.
Yet, the property that makes it useless alone as a structural metal-its tendency to combine chemically with a number of other elements-makes it valuable in other forms. A significant part of lithium production from both Foote and Lithium Corporation at the present time is channeled to the Atomic Energy Commission. The government's use of the material is restricted information except for the admission that the AEC extracts from it a substance known as "lithium 6" and returns the remainder to the producers who may then sell it to commercial users.
Currently, the petroleum industry heads the list of commercial lithium consumers. Lithium stearate is the base for a grease which maintains its viscosity and lubricating properties over a wide temperature range. Lithium base automobile greases, already on the market, make seasonal changes in lubricants unnecessary.
Lithium greases were developed in the United States during World War II. Had they been available to the Germans, the outcome of the Nazi-Russian winter campaign might well have been different. German army officers admitted after the war that the breakdown of their mechanized equipment in the extreme cold contributed decisively to their defeat at the hands of the weather-wise Russians.
Foote Mineral Company's extensive lithium-producing facilities at Sunbright, Va., where Southern delivers ore mined at the company's deposits at Kings Mountain, N. C. .(Foote Mineral Company photo) |
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Second to the petroleum industry as major lithium users are the porcelain enamel and glass industries. Here the maverick metal, as lithium carbonate, proves again a handy helper. Mixed in porcelain enamels for coating bathtubs, sinks, pots and pans, and the like, lithium additives have made it possible to produce thinner, more fluid coats. These can be fired at lower temperatures, have higher gloss and are more resistive to impacts and acids.
The addition of lithium compounds makes glass stronger and easier to work with. Lithium has replaced lead in some types of quality glass such as lenses, and has made possible the production of intricate shapes like television tubes at a comparatively low cost.
Another of the metal's peculiar properties makes it highly useful in the air conditioning field. Since certain of its compounds readily absorb and retain moisture they can be used to control humidity, or produce refrigeration in absorption-type cooling systems.
Inside Foote Mineral's limestone mine in southwestern Virginia near the town of Sunbright. Three tons of limestone and a ton of coal are required for every ton of lithium processed at the company's chemical plant. (Foote Mineral Company photo) |
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Among the dozens of other uses for lithium, one of the most important lies in its application to other metals. Strange as it may seem in view of its softness, lithium serves as a hardening agent for several metals. Its lightness makes it especially useful in helping to strengthen aluminum.
Lithium also has a place in metal refining where certaain of its compounds act as "scavengers" in removing impurities. In the making of metal castings, too, lithium goes to work on "air pockets" (which would weaken the casting) and eliminates them by the simple process of absorbing the gases which create them.
New commercial uses for lithium are constantly being explored. Some experts believe that the need for special-duty metals in our present rockets and missiles age may lift this versatile metal out of its supporting role status and into the limelight as the glamour star among metals. Lithium alloys are light, resistant to high temperatures, and are good radiation shields.
Certain compounds containing lithium (such as the perchlorate) also show great promise as solid fuel components providing tremendous thrust for rockets and missiles.
Open pit mining at Foote Mineral's spodllmene deposits. Controlled blastig forms shelves, or "benches," that are also access roads for dump trucks. The crane at leftt uses a heavy metal "drop ball" to break up the ore. A power shovel loads it on a lO-ton truck while at far right a worker drills holes for new blasting charges. |
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Although the upsurge of interest in lithium is fairly recent, the element was discovered in 1817 and a method for extracting it from several minerals was developed in 1825. The name itself comes from the Greek word lithos, meaning "stone," which was based on the fact that lithium appears in some 145 minerals.
Of these lithium-bearing minerals, one called "spodumene" is among the four considered of commercial importance. Spodumene has been found all over the world but the most economically attractive deposits yet discovered lies in a "spodumene-tin belt" 25 miles long and over a mile wide extending from Grover, S. C., to Lincolnton, N. C. Both Foote Mineral Company and Lithium Corporation of America control large quantities of ore in this belt.
(Concentrated lithium ore in the form of spodumene resembles fine, white beach sand and represents about 15 per cent of the ore body. Other minerals of commercial importance, notably mica and feldspar, are also extracted and marketed as by-products.)
In Foote Mineral's process "of extracting lithium from spodumene enormous quantities of limestone and coal are necessary. Processing one ton of lithium ore requires a ton of coal and three tons of limestone. So when the company purchased the mine property at Kings Mountain it began searching for the nearest source of these two minerals.
At Foote Mineral's Kings Mountain plant a dump truck unloads its cargo of spodumene ore into a hopper for primary crushing. A conveyor belt then carries the ore through two more crushing operations. |
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At Lithium Corporation's Bessemer City plant, two huge rotary kilns are used in the production of lithium. (Lithium Corporation of America photo) |
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Inside scene at Lithium Corporation's Bessemer City plant shows somw of the complex machinery used in removing impurties from lithium in solution. (Lithium Corporation of America photo) |
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Lithium Corporation of America, though also extracting lithium from spodumene, uses a different process which involves sulphuric acid instead of coal and limestone and can be applied to low-grade, run-of- mine ore or high-grade concentrates. The company at one time mined spodumene from its own reserves near Bessemer City, N. C., where the $7 million chemical plant is located, but found that it couldn't process run-of-mine ore fast enough to keep up with the demand for lithium.
To maintain a sufficient supply of ore without building their own concentrating mill, Lithium Corporation entered into an agreement with a mining company in Canada, which owns extensive spodumene deposits. Under a long-term contract, the Canadian firm now supplies all of the Carolina plant's ore in concentrated form, shipping it there by rail.
From its unheralded beginning over a century ago, when it was considered no more than a curiosity, lithium has now grown to a point where it is making a strong bid for recognition among elements long established as work horses. If its potential in the nuclear field is ever realized-and many scientists feel it will in the near future-the day may come when lithium, the maverick metal, will lead the herd.
Foote Mineral Company's processing plant at Kings Mountain, N.C., where Lithium ore mined from nearby deposits is concentrated and shipped via Southern to the company's chemical plant at Sunbright, VA. Also shown is part of the spur line conecting with the railway's main line near Kings Mountain. |
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