Ken Smith says "with rlys charging by weight, not volume, it would have been cheaper
to coke at the colliery & take the coke to the steelworks or whatever."
Ah, but coke is friable and does not handle or travel well. Once, when with consulting
firm W. S. Atkins, whose planning department was involved in many studies in which
developing countries wanted to assess whether they should have a steelworks, I noted
that at that time (the 1960s), the ten countries making the most steel were also those which
mined the most coal, not those which mined the most iron ore.
The coke needs to be made as near to the blast furnace or electric arc furnace as possible.
Iron ore can be shipped as lump or fines, the latter usually then sintered or pelletised
at the steelworks before charging to the furnace. Sinter, like coke, does not travel well.
Pellets do, generally, ship OK so may, (for instance as at Narvik using iron ore from Kiruna)
may be made before being taken away by ship.
Tony Brewis
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