hrome (60 to 70 per cent chromium), used for the manufacture of
chrome, chrome-nickel, and other steels. These steels have great
toughness and hardness, and are used for armor-plate, projectiles,
high-speed cutting tools, automobile frames, safe-deposit vaults, and
other purposes. Chrome ore is used also both in the crude form and in
the form of bricks for refractory linings in furnaces, chiefly
open-hearth steel furnaces; and as the raw material for bichromates and
other chemicals, which are used in paints and in tanning of leather. In
the United States in normal times about 35 per cent of the total
chromite consumed is used in the manufacture of ferrochrome, and about
35 per cent for bichromate manufacture, leaving 30 per cent for
refractory and other purposes.

In the higher commercial grades of chrome ore the percentage of chromic
oxide is 45 to 55 per cent, but under war conditions ore as low as 30
per cent in Cr_{2}O_{3} was mined. Recovery of chrome from slags
resulting from the smelting of chromiferous iron ores was one of the
war-time developments.

The principal chromite-producing countries in normal times are New
Caledonia, and Rhodesia (controlled by French and British interests),
and to a somewhat lesser extent Russia and Turkey (Asia Minor). Small
amounts of chromite are mined in Greece, India, Japan, and other
countries. The Indian deposits in particular are large and high-grade
but have been handicapped by inadequate transportation. The production
of chrome ore in New Caledonia, Rhodesia, Russia, and Turkey has usually
amounted to more than 90 per cent of the total world's production. The
ore from New Caledonia has been used by France, Germany, England, and to
some extent by the United States. Rhodesian ore has been used by the
United States and the principal European consumers. Latterly more
Rhodesian ore has gone to Europe and more Caledonian ore to the United
States. The Russian ore has been in part used in Russia and in part
exported, probably going mainly to France and Germany. The Turkish ore
has been exported to the United States, England, and Germany; it
probably supplied most of Germany's chromite requirements during the
war.

During the war the United States was temporarily an important producer,
as were also Canada, Brazil, Cuba, and to a minor degree Guatemala.

The richest chrome ore mined at present comes from Guatemala, but the
mines are relatively inaccessible. The New Caledonian, Rho