Role of Metallurgical Pilot Plants in the United States

The large capital costs of metallurgical plants and
rapidly advancing metallurgical technology have forced industry in the United States to rely increasingly on demonstration or pilot-plant investigations to minimize the risk of economic or technical.failure of new install-ations. This commonly accepted use, which has been discussed frequently in technical journals, arises from several causes . Among these are the growing dependence
on lower-grade ores or different types of ores than have been previously used, and on the increasing per-capita consumption, of nearly all metals and metal-bearing products. Other reasons are the advent of new metall-urgical processes , the need for new or higher quality products, and the availability of better equipment.