The Nation - News from June 16, 1985

The United States’ dependence on the Soviet Union and southern Africa for supplies of several vitally important metals could be ended within a decade, according to a report from the congressional Office of Technology Assessment. The report recommends development of promising deposits in other regions of the world, improved manufacturing processes, recycling of scrap and waste, and development of substitute materials such as ceramics. It noted that the United States, while blessed with an abundance of many other natural resources, has almost no available chromium, cobalt, manganese and platinum, metals essential in many critical processes.