of the mine and were about to construct a mill to treat the ore. But because of the facts surrounding us, our business decision was to indefinitely suspend the development and that has been done.

For many years we have carried out extensive exploration in the United States. This is the only way to extend development of natural resources. But the facts around us and the absence of a proper return from zinc mining and any assurance regarding its future have forced us to the business decision that we must curtail our exploration activities in the United States, and this has been done.

I cite these only as examples of the business decisions that are slowly but surely being forced upon us, as well as others in the leadzinc mining industry.

Under these circumstances how can we expect an industry to survive for very long, let alone go forward in the essential development of natural resources?

The fact that my particular company has made these business decisions obviously to avoid further unfavorable economics and that my company, like all others in the lead-zinc mining business, is wrestling with most difficult economics are not really the prime concern of this committee.

But the fact that avoidable circumstances in our domestic market have been allowed to come about in this important segment of our national economy is of vital concern to this committee. What happens to my company or to others in the zinc mining industry would seem to be their business, but what happens to the lead-zinc mining industry of the Nation, in view of all the circumstances, would seem to be the Government's business.

There are many ways to preserve and encourage the industry which only needs an effective measure to prevent unwarranted invasion of our markets. The measure under discussion here today will do this. It will bring out healthy, profitable, and steady mine production and encourage the development for the future. At the same time it will permit extensive participation in our growing market by our friendly neighbors on a basis far more profitable to them than at the present time.

I thank you for the opportunity of appearing, and I urge you to go forward with measures that will destroy the apathy that exists concerning the present, but more importantly, the future, of a vital natural resource industry.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. EDMONDSON. Thank you very much. I am certain there will be some questions for you, too, if you would stand by.

Our next witness is another distinguished citizen of Utah, so I am going to yield to our colleague from Utah to make the introduction of the next witness.

Mr. BURTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It is a real honor and pleasure for me to present to the committee. Miles Romney, a gentleman who has distinguished himself in the mining industry in the West. He has been a manager, mining engineer, and in recent years, manager of the Utah Mining Association. He has established a national reputation in this field, having appeared before this and other committees in both Houses of the Congress on numerous occasions.

Finally, I would like the committee to know that he is the older brother of George Romney. I mention this not because I think it will enhance Miles' already illustrious name, but if that fact were breezed around a little bit more, it might give George a boost.

Mr. EDMONDSON. We are very happy to welcome George's older brother before the committee.

I can certainly say that in the circle where you appear today, you are a lot better known than George.

STATEMENT OF MILES P. ROMNEY, MANAGER, UTAH MINING ASSOCIATION, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

Mr. ROMNEY. Thank you, Mr. Burton and Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it is a real pleasure to be permitted to appear at this hearing on the subjects proposed in H.R. 6269, 6371, and companion bills.

If I might be nostalgic for just a few minutes, just over 100 years ago three of my grandparents traveled by ox team and covered wagon from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to the Salt Lake Valley. They were about 3 months on the road. Last week I left Salt Lake on a jet-propelled Boeing 720 and 1 hour and 48 minutes later, we were squarely over Council Bluffs. The experience led to mentally contrasting their life and time with the present.

My grandparents had at best but a few hundred pounds of metal in their outfit and personal possessions. There were wagon tires and irons, oxen shoes, hand tools, cooking utensils, guns, bullets, and knives. The specific metals were iron, lead, copper, probably some tin and zinc, and maybe some gold and silver coins and trinkets. The items had been hand-fashioned in the small shops of individual craftsmen. The plane I flew in by contrast was constructed of a great variety of metals and alloys, complex in form and metallurigal composition and produced in modern factories equipped with machines of equal complexity. Between the plane and the machines involved in producing its parts, it is quite possible that every presently useful metal had some part in the constructing of that plane.

The experience materially increased my consciousness of the infinite complexity of our present way of life and of the extent to which continuity of that way of life is vulnerable to availability of mineral raw materials.

Lead and zinc have a major and vital role in that complex pattern. The facts regarding the serious reduction in domestic mine production of lead and zinc, over the past decade, are well known to this committee. In this discussion of the domestic lead-zinc mining problems and conditions, reference to adverse present circumstances are made primarily to illustrate the immediate threat of further losses in domestic productive capacity.

Utah has been prominent in the nonferrous metal field for a long time. In 1872, the Utah Territory produced 45 percent of the Nation's newly mined lead. Its mines have continued over the past 90 years to make major contributions to the Nation's supply of lead-zinc and other metals. In 1961, Utah mined 15.6 percent of the newly mined lead, and 8 percent of the Nation's newly mined zinc. Utah early became a milling and smelting center and portions of Idaho, Mon

tana, Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona have shipped ore to Utah for treatment.

Since January 1959, Utah has had but one lead-zinc custom mill and one lead smelter. Reduction in Utah's lead-zinc mine production and closure of most of the mines in the so-called tributary areas forced_an arrangement between two companies, each operating a mill and a smelter, to "pool" the ore supply and to close one mill and one smelter. I became personally acquainted with many of the independent leadzinc mine operators in the tributary areas from 1936 to 1950 while employed by the U.S. Smelting Refining & Mining Co. as a field engineer. I have been through much of that territory recently. The mines are closed and the miners have gone to other businesses or employment. To ascertain the quantity of lead-zinc shipped to Utah from these out-of-State areas, the recoverable lead-zinc from Utah mines as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Mines is compared with the total lead and zinc recovered by Utah's mills and smelters as reported by the University of Utah Bureau of Economic and Business Research. The period involved was from 1948 to 1962-15 years.

The data is summarized as follows:

Annual average recovered metal from out-of-State ore shipments to Utah mills and smelters: 1948-52, 39,582 tons of lead-zinc; 1953–57, 14,567 tons annual average; 1958-62, 3,252 tons annual average.

The progressive decrease in lead and zinc metal produced from outof-State ore shipments means only one thing-closed mines. Evidence of the mine closures is clearly shown by the number of mines both in Utah and adjoining States from which lead-zinc ore was purchased for custom treatment in Utah in 1951, in 1961, and for the first 5 months of 1963.

The figures were furnished by the International Smelting & Refining Co. at Tooele, Utah, operator of the one remaining lead smelter in Utah: 1951, 144 mines shipped lead-zinc ore for treatment; 1961, 67 mines shipped lead-zinc ore for treatment; first 5 months, 1963, 28 mines have shipped ore for treatment.

Lead smelting is the most critical facility with respect to continuity of lead-zinc mining in Utah and the tributary area. Decreases in quantities of lead-bearing ore from out-of-State shipments and from Utah mines, combined to seriously distress both of the Utah smelters when they were operating.

The U.S. Tariff Commission's report to the President on lead-zinc, dated April 1958, gave the combined annual capacity of those two smelters as 550,000 tons of charge. Lead smelter charges contain approximately 30 percent lead, so the lead-producing capacity approximated 165,000 tons annually. The smelter remaining in operation. has an annual lead-producing capacity of about 90,000 tons.

In contrast with these approxiate lead smelting capacities, the total tonnage of recoverable lead from Utah mines and from mines shipping to Utah mills and smelters has been as follows:

That is shown again on a 5-year average basis, and it shows the recoverable lead on an annual average basis from Utah mines, the average lead contained in ores from out of State, and the total available.

The figure in the right-hand column is the summary figure. It shows a little over 79,000 tons of lead annually were received in the 1948 to 1952 period.

From 1953 to 1957 it had been reduced to a little over 57,000 tons, and from 1958 to 1962, 41,700 tons of lead available for smelter treatment against a capacity of 90,000 tons.

Zinc concentrates produced in Utah from the same sources and in the same periods have been as follows:

I will not read those figures. I trust they will be included in the record.

Although zinc concentrate production has no bearing on lead smelter operations, termination of lead smelter operations would mean the end of both lead and zinc mining in Utah and in most of the socalled tributary areas.

Lead smelter employment in Utah has dropped from 886 men in 1957 to 363 men in 1963, according to the Utah Department of Employment Security.

Lead-zinc mine and mill employment in the 1948-62 period was as follows, as reported by the Department of Employment Security, and again summarized on a 5-year average basis:

1948-521953-57. 1958-62

Mine and mill average employees per year in Utah

2, 506

1, 642 1, 054

The number of men employed by Utah lead-zinc mines and mills shows a substantially greater decrease than has been experienced in the quantity of metal produced. Normal maintenance work in many potential but nonproductive mine workings has been stopped and long-range exploration and development for new ore reserves has been materially reduced. Most mines are now being operated on the short-range basis of allocating the maximum possible manpower to production.

Even this drastic reduction in work force and in the scope of mining operations has failed to put Utah production of lead and zinc on

a profitable basis. Seven mines reported 1961 operations to the Utah State Tax Commission for the purpose of property tax valuations. Three of those mines produced a total of about 3,000 tons of the approximately 600,000-ton total. The other four, produced the balance. The gross income to those seven mines for the sale of ore totaled $6,999,993, but the allowable cost deductions totaled $7,625,595. “Allowable cost deductions" defined by State statute, exclude some costs which are normally included in arriving at net profits for income tax accounting. Thus the above reported "cost deduction" figure is somewhat less than full cost. Even so, one the above reporting basis, the Utah lead-zine mining industry operated on a $625,602 overall loss in the year of 1961.

Similar reports for 1962 operations are not expected to improve over 1961, for the lead price in 1962 averaged 9.63 cents and zinc 11,625 cents, compared with 10,871 cents for lead and 11,542 cents for zine in 1961. The combined lead-zine price in 1961 was 1.16 cents per pound higher than in 1962.

Lead and zinc mining in Utah and the tributary areas in surrounding States and lead-zinc milling and smelting in Utah continue the deterioration initiated in 1952 with the dumping of Korean war scare stocks on our market. The impact of surplus worldwide mine production must of it financed by American taxpayers' funds-accelerated that deterioration as it reached our domestic market, the only market open to surplus supplies.

The whole Utah industry is in critical balance. Custom ore from tributary areas has practically disappeared as the mines in those areas have closed. The reduced volume from those areas and from Utah mines has forced the closing of one lead smelter and leaves the remaining smelter with substantial excess capacity. Further curtailment of lead supply could well force the closing of that smelter, the loss of which would immediately terminate lead-zinc mining in Utah and in much of the tributary area.

This critical situation can only be improved by such basic corrective import control action as is proposed in H.R. 6269 and companion bills. We sincerely hope that favorable action will be taken in time to prevent the loss of Utah's contribution of lead-zinc to the accelerating mineral raw material needs of our Nation.

We appreciate the fact that Utah's contribution is but a part of that total, and therefore assure this committee that we join with the rest of the domestic lead-zinc mining industry in support of the legislation being considered here today.

Thank you gentlemen.

Mr. EDMONDSON. Thank you, Mr. Romney, for a very fine statement. I know I have several questions, and I am sure others will have.

I would like very much to introduce the next witness to appear before us, but we have sort of established the precedent here of letting the Representative from the State present the witness, so I yield to my good friend from Idaho, Congressman White, to present our next witness.

Mr. WHITE. I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to introduce the next witness.

I realize, of course, the committee has had a long association with this gentleman, and I would like to say that Mr. Charles Schwab,