Read the following passage carefully and attempt the question.
The iron and steel industry forms the base of all other industries and, therefore, it is called a basic industry. It is basic because it provides raw material for other industries such as machine tools used for further production. It may also be called a heavy industry because it uses large quantities of bulky raw materials and its products are also heavy.
Iron is extracted from iron ore by smelting in a blast furnace with carbon (coke) and limestone. The molten iron is cooled and moulded to form pig iron which is used for converting into steel by adding strengthening materials like manganese.
The large integrated steel industry is traditionally located close to the sources of raw materials – iron ore, coal, manganese and limestone or at places where these could be easily brought, e.g. near ports. But in mini steel mills access to markets is more important than inputs. These are less expensive to build and operate and can be located near markets because of the abundance of scrap metal, which is the main input. Traditionally, most of the steel was produced at large integrated plants, but mini mills are limited to just one-step process steel making – and are gaining ground.
The industry is one of the most complex and capital-intensive industries and is concentrated in the advanced countries of North America, Europe and Asia.
The important steel centres are Scun Thorpe, Port Talbot, Birmingham and Sheffield in the U.K.; Duisburg, Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Essen in Germany; Le Creusot and St. Ettienne in France; and Moscow, St. Petersburgh, Lipetsk, Tula, in Russia and Krivoi Rog, and Donetsk in Ukraine. In Asia, the important centres include Nagasaki and Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan; Shanghai, Tienstin and Wuhan in China; and Jamshedpur, Kulti-Burnpur, Durgapur, Rourkela, Bhilai, Bokaro, Salem, Visakhapatnam and Bhadravati in India.
Which of the following is NOT used in producing steel?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Mica
The passage states: “Iron is extracted from iron ore by smelting in a blast furnace with carbon (coke) and limestone. The molten iron is cooled and moulded to form pig iron which is used for converting into steel by adding strengthening materials like manganese.”
Option (1) Limestone — Used in producing steel. It is put into the blast furnace with coke to smelt the iron ore.
Option (2) Iron ore — Used in producing steel. It is the main raw material. Iron is extracted from it.
Option (3) Mica — Not used in producing steel. Mica is not among the raw materials of steel making: iron ore, coal (coke), limestone and manganese.
Option (4) Manganese — Used in producing steel. It is added to pig iron as a strengthening material to make steel.