with the timely recognition of an urgent national educational need and the reasonableness and wisdom of the legislative answer to this national requirement embraced in the sound approach being advocated by Chairman Wayne Aspinall in H.R. 10950, by Representative John Saylor in H.R. 6788 and by Senator Gordon Allott in S. 635. Of course, such legislative action on this subject would accord with the calls and sound principles of the Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970. The American Mining Congress appreciates the opportunity to express its views to the Committee, and we hereby express our thanks for the support given these proposals by its members. With warmest personal regards, I am Most respectfully yours, J. ALLEN OVERTON, Jr., MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, Hon. WAYNE ASPINALL, OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, Houghton, Mich., November 10, 1971. Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CHAIRMAN ASPINALL: I am advised that your Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs is now considering House Bill HR 6788, known as the "Mining and Minerals Resources Research Act of 1971." I note that this legislation calls for the establishment and operation of "qualified mining and minerals resources research centers" at one college or university in particular states. While we certainly favor the purposes of HR 6788, we strongly urge your Committee's consideration of a change in the language regarding the eligibility of institutions so that non-land-grant mining schools may participate in this important minerals research program. Language such as has been included in S. 635 would designate one mining or minerals institution in each state as the recipient institution regardless of its status as a land-grant college. As a non-land-grant mining school, we urge you to consider these changes in HR 6788. As early as 1861 the Michigan Legislature recognized the importance of the minerals industry and passed an act to establish a state mining school at Houghton, in the Upper Peninsula. This was one year before the Morrill Act. Through the years Michigan Technological University has become worldfamous for its contributions to mining and minerals recovery. We are outstanding among the six major minerals schools in the nation and have comprehensive academic programs in mining, geological and metallurgical engineering, geology, geophysics, and minerals beneficiation. We proved more than one hundred graduates per year from our minerals curricula. Students from nearly every state attend Michigan Tech. In addition, the Michigan Legislature established in 1953 an Institute of Mineral Research on the University campus with its own research faculty. It has provided ore beneficiation innovations and minerals expertise for the development of nearly every successful new mining operation in the northern middle states. In view of Michigan Tech's leadership role in minerals education and research, including deep involvement in a host of environmental projects for revegetation, recycling of mineral resources, and the enhancement of our total environment, we urge your adoption of the suggested language changes in HR 6788, or in any other specific legislation on this matter under consideration by your Committee. Respectfully yours, R. L. SMITH, STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, WILLIAM J. SMOTHERS, PH. D., P.E., PRESIDENT The following is an analysis of House Bill 10950 to establish mining and mineral research centers based upon the experience and information available to The American Ceramic Society. The American Ceramic Society has approximately 7,500 members, drawn from all areas of ceramic interest. It is the premiere publishing agency for scientific and esoteric ceramic-related data in the world. Through two monthly technical publications and several monographs published annually and some twelve national meetings each year the Society serves to record and disseminate the findings of the research and development of the members and contributors of its eleven Divisions, namely: Basic Science, Cement, Ceramic-Metal Systems, Design, Electronics, Glass, Materials and Equipment, Nuclear, Refractories, Structural Clay Products, and White Wares. Through two classes of membership the Society also makes use of some 1700 registered, professional ceramic engineers of the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers and the some 250 ceramic engineering and science educators through The Ceramic Educational Council. The engineering and science community, to which the information disseminated by the Society is related, is engaged in the development and production of non-metallic minerals and subsequent processing into a variety of products with an annual value of some 15 billion dollars. There is no standard by which to judge the additional value of the contributions to society made by the educators, scientists, artisans, government employees and others whose participation in ceramic activity and development is not included in industrial production statistics. The ceramic industry is a basic one in that its products are essential to all industries which employ high temperature processes, for example, the primary and secondary metals industries; electric power, both from fossile fuels and nuclear energy; petroleum and petrochemical; fine and heavy chemicals; and many others, including the ceramic industry itself. The structural clay products, glass, and cement divisions of the industry produce a wide variety of products essential to the construction industry. The ceramic insulators, ferromagnetics, ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, phosphors, and dielectrics of the electronic ceramic division of the industry are essential to this nation's electronics industry, including the computer industry. The glass division supplies the optical industry a wide variety of lenses, prisms, filters, and optical fibers. Ceramic materials serve unique roles in this nation's nuclear, space, and defense programs. The prevailing deficiencies in this nation's ceramic research and development and training of ceramic engineers and scientists have been documented in the 1969 report of the National Academy of Sciences compiled by the Panel on Nonmetallic Minerals of the Committee of Mineral Science and Technology, a document with which the members of the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee is certainly knowledgeable. The American Ceramic Society is cognizant of the findings and recommendations of this most comprehensive study. Our national commitments of manpower, monies and materials over the past two decades to the nuclear, space, and numerous defense projects has served to deprive the ceramic industries and educational programs of the resources essential to sustaining this nation's past prominence in this basic technology. As a consequence the ceramic industry in this country cannot manufacture dinnerware, floor and wall tile, some electronic ceramics, optical glass, some specialized refractories and processing equipment in competition with products offered by foreign manufacturers. The plate and flat glass industry in this country has in the past five years acquired through license arrangements the complete technology for the float glass process, as developed by a British manufacturer, in an effort to provide a domestic supply of these glass products competitive in price and quality with that offered by foreign manufacturers. There are other and increasing numbers of examples of declining ceramic technology which have an immediate and long term consequence upon our economy and security which should be of national concern. To reverse this trend there must be a significant increase in the education of ceramic engineers and scientists and funding for research and development. The data presented in Figure 10, page 34, of the National Academy of Science report Nonmetallic Materials, see attachment I, depicts the annual production of academic degree candidates in ceramics for the twenty-year period from 1947-1967, as developed from eurollment data compiled annually by the Statistics Committee of the Society's Ceramic Educational Council. In this twenty-year period the thirteen accredited ceramic engineering and eleven ceramic science departments in the country awarded some 6,000 degrees. However, inasmuch as those earning graduate degrees were recipients of two or three of the degrees awarded, the number of individuals educated during this period was only some 4,500. In the five-year period subsequent to the last year included in attachment I, the annual reports of the Ceramic Educational Council indicate that some 800 additional individuals have earned one or more degrees in the field, thus, bringing the total since 1947 to some 5,300. A survey published in the March issue of the Bulletin of the Society indicates that approximately 5% of the total graduates are in the armed forces and some 16% are engaged in activities unrelated to the field, such that of the 5,300 awarded degrees in the past quarter century only some 4.200 remain associated with the field through employment in industry, government, or eduaction. This number indicates that there is only one technically-trained ceramist per 140 employees in the ceramic industry, which number is well below the average in other basic industries. The survey cited above also indicates that only 18% of the 4,200 graduates active at this time, or some 750 individuals, are engaged in research and development. Of these, some 300 are employed in government and education such that on the average there is no more than one trained ceramist engaged in research and development per eight industrial organizations processing ceramic materials. These data should evidence adequately the reason for our lag in ceramic technology; however, the annual national expenditure for nonmetallic mineral research and development is another obvious contributor. The previously cited National Academy of Sciences report provides a survey of such expenditures in 1966 by industry, government, and educational institutions, which was little more than 1% of the total value of ceramic products manufactured in that year. By any criteria, this annual rate of expenditure is grossly inadequate to sustain the technological progress of any basic industry. The excellent analysis of the contributions to the open technical literature in the field. as summarized in Table 9, page 37, of the National Academy of Sciences report, clearly evidences the consequences of this limited R&D investment in that U.S. contributions to the technical literature declined from 32.2% of the total in 1951 to 21.1% in 1963, while those of the USSR increased from 12.5% to 41.8% over this twelve-year period. Unfortunately, the quality or significance of the findings reported in the literature cannot be assessed from such au analysis, but there is a clear consensus within our engineering and scientific community that this aspect of our research and development activity is of equal or possibly greater concern. There is, of course, à direct relationship between the number of students eduIcated in the field and that portion of the annual R&D expenditure available to the universities. The National Academy of Sciences' Panel on Nonmetallic Materials estimated this expenditure in 1966 at $5 million, of which $2.7 million was administered by 24 institutions participating in the Society's enrollment survey. For these latter institutions this level of funding provided an average annual expenditure of approximately $7,400 per student enrolled in graduate programs, which was but half the accepted national norm of $15,000 per engineering or science student for that year. Recent projections for the growth in the demand for nonmetallic mineral resources in the decade ahead give cause for further concern for the future of ceramic technology in this country. Domestic production of some nonmetallic . minerals is currently inadequate to fulfill demand. New exploration techniques must be developed to increase the known reserves of these minerals and improved techniques must be developed for beneficiating known deposits which in their natural state lack the degree of purity to meet current requirements. The manufacture of all ceramic materials requires one or more high temperature processes which consume significant quantities of energy, largely derived from natural gas or electric power. The efficiency of few of these processes has been examined at any time in the recent past, and with the ever mounting demands for energy and growing concern for the consequence of combustion products upon air quality and in turn the ecology, all present high temperature processing systems should be carefully studied and research and development initiated for the design and study of new systems with greater thermal efficiency. Inasmuch as the future of ceramic technology in this country is dependent upon the future availability of trained personnel. The American Ceramic Society is very interested in the intent and provisions of H.R. 10950 for the following specific reasons: 1. Ceramic engineering, as one of the several disciplines comprising the broad field of mineral engineering education, has long been neglected in this country with the consequence that in the past decade some institutions have terminated programs in the discipline and others are currently threatened. 2. The on-going ceramic engineering programs have offered upward to one hundred years of service to industry and government and their faculties have the dedication, technical competence, and capacity to contribute to the implementation of the intent of H.R. 10950. 3. This legislation could serve to evidence to the general public a national concern for the many problems confronting the country in the management of its natural resources, particularly to the young people of this country who must be encouraged to consider career opportunities in one of the mineral engineering fields, if this country is to regain its former technological pre-eminence in this field. 4. The revitalization of academic research and development, as intended by the institutes to be established through the provisions of this legislation, would serve to strengthen the total academic programs in all mineral engineering disciplines, and an important secondary benefit of the research and development activities of the institutes would be the increase in trained manpower to fill the needs of industry, government and education. For the Membership, WILLIAM J. SMOTHERS, Ph. D. President, The American Ceramic Society. ST. JOE MINERALS CORP., SOUTHEAST MISSOURI MINING & MILLING DIVISION, Hon. ED EDMONDSON, DEAR MR. EDMONDSON: House Bill H.R. 6788 to establish mining and mineral research centers in the various states is an important piece of legislation that is long over-due. The United States is a leader among the countries of the world, principally because it has been blessed with an abundance of natural resources and with people with the energy and initiative to exploit them. As we go deeper into the earth's crust in search of minerals, the techniques must become more sophisticated. There is a desperate need for basic research in all phases of mining technology. I urge your committee to support H.R. 6788. L. W. CASTEEL, Division Manager. Hon. ED EDMONDSON, THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, Chairman, Mines and Minerals Subcommittee, House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, Longworth Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. EDMONDSON: It is my understanding that three bills are presently pending in Congress, HR6788, HR10950 and $635, that would amend the Mining and Mineral Policies Act of 1970. These bills would provide vitally needed financial assistance to mineral engineering schools. The high standard of living enjoyed in the United States has been possible only because of our ability to develop our mineral resources to a high degree. However, the easily mined minerals have been largely depleted and what remains will require more skilled manpower and greater technology. Unfortunately there has been a great attrition of minerals engineering curricula throughout the country with the majority of those remaining in a very weakened condition. Unless financial support is forthcoming, additional curricula will be abandoned, further reducing mineral engineering graduates in an area already suffering an acute shortage. This at a time when there is a great awareness of the need for more and better mineral engineers to cope with environmental depredation during mining. |