The wide use of ox)'gen converter steel-making, coll/)Ied with the much illl/Hoved blast furnace process, and recent abundance of rich iron ore supplies have altered the whole steelmaking situation. Progress in the chemical indust./y did, for a time, spur the develo/)lI1ent of , direct reduction' processes, as the various methods of making iron withollt a blast furnace were called. However, blast furnace has become so e.Dicient that direct redllctioll processes are now aimed less at replacing the conventional /JI'ocess than at supplementing it. This sllp/Jlemenlmy /JI'ocess has come to be kllown as , pre-reduction,' since its product is to be subsequently treated by the conventional /Jrocess. Yawata Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. carried out a series of tests on olle /y/Je of IHe-reduced material, slJonge iron, and /Ha ctically confirmed that its lise reduced coke rate and increased iron output. Pre-reduction at mines ""D' be economical. BlIt , for the /Hesen t, although technically feasible , (He-redllction at j a/Janese steelworks has not yet /) roved economical.