plies poses a major obstacle to the
expansion of the iron and steel industry. In 1969 it was necessary to
import 2.1 million tons of metallurgical coke and 633,000 tons of coking
coal.

Workable deposits of iron ore are situated in the vicinity of Resita and
Hunedoara in the southwest. Other known deposits, particularly those at
Ruschita and Lueta, have a low metal content and harmful radioactive
admixtures. Suitable mining and processing methods to handle these ores
have not been developed and are not believed to be economically
feasible. Domestic mines provided about 32 percent of requirements in
1965 but only 17 percent in 1970; by 1975 the importance of native iron
ores will have further declined. Imports of iron ores almost quadrupled
in the 1960s and reached a volume of 3 million tons in 1969. Most of the
imports came from the Soviet Union.

Information on basic nonferrous ore reserves is tenuous and, in part,
conflicting. The tenor of published reports points to a scarcity of
reserves, low metal content of ores, and difficulties in ore processing.
The great majority of existing mines are said to have only enough
reserves left for a few years' production. Consideration has been given
to the recovery of nonferrous metals from industrial wastes, such as
blast furnace slag and metallurgical dross. For the time being, domestic
reserves appear adequate to cover the needs of lead and zinc production
and a portion of the requirements for smelting copper and aluminum. The
bulk of bauxite and alumina and a substantial quantity of copper must be
imported.

Romania is reported to be extracting small amounts of gold and silver.
It is also mining uranium ore, which has been exported to the Soviet
Union in exchange for isotopes and enriched uranium for use in
experimental nuclear installations.

Timber

The country's 6 million acres of forests constitute a valuable source of
raw material. Information on the volume of the annual tree harvests has
not been published. Substantial quantities of lumber and, increasingly,
of lumber products and furniture have been exported, although at the
expense of domestic consumption.

In a program to conserve and rebuild this important resource, which was
severely overexploited during World War II, a strict limitation was
placed in the early 1950s on the annual volume of timber cut. A further
reduction in the amount of timber felling was decreed for the 1971-75
period. Through a more e