France  is  entirely  dependent  upon  England  and  the  United  States,
although  it  might  be  able  to  get  a  small  amount  of  concentrates  direct
from  Norway.
Germany  was  much  interested  in  molybdenum  before  the  war.  Dur-
ing the  war  it  probably  did  not  import  any  molybdenum  concentrates
at  all,  and  as  the  world  production  before  that  time  was  small  it  is  not
likely  that  there  was  any  reserve  on  hand  in  the  empire  in  1919.
Japan  has  no  molybdenum  deposits  as  far  as  is  known,  and  probably
is  not  specially  interested  at  present  in  the  use  of  this  metal.
The  distribution  of  the  chief  molybdenum  deposits  of  the  world  is
shown  in  Plate  VII.
MOLYBDENUM


199


200  POLITICAL  AND  COMMERCIAL  GEOLOGY

SUMMARY

Molybdenum  commands  attention  because  of  its  growing  importance
as  a  steel  alloy  metal.  Although  the  metallurgy  and  properties  of  molyb-
denum steels  are  not  thoroughly  understood  and  their  use  is  not  wide-
spread, especially  in  this  country,  accumulating  evidence  indicates  that
molybdenum  will  eventually  become  one  of  the  common  alloy  metals.
It  is  used  in  the  form  of  wire  as  supports  for  incandescent  light  filaments
and  in  electrical  apparatus,  and  may  become  essential  in  the  manufacture
of  special  steels.  It  cannot  be  easily  replaced  in  chemistry,  and  for  its
other  applications  it  is  better  and  cheaper  than  other  materials.
