The Vanadium Corporation of America was a commercial producer of

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pas ...

, a transition metal and a strengthening additive for steel. The company was founded in 1906 by Joseph M. Flannery and was headquartered in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The company operated several vanadium mines in multiple countries, including

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. The raw material was converted into a

ferroalloy Ferroalloy refers to various alloys of iron with a high proportion of one or more other elements such as manganese (Mn), aluminium (Al), or silicon (Si). They are used in the production of steels and alloys. The alloys impart distinctive qualitie ...

at its plant in

Bridgeville, Pennsylvania Bridgeville is a borough in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 4,804 at the 2020 census. Geography Bridgeville is located along Chartiers Creek, about southwest of downtown Pittsburgh at . According to the U ...

. By 1914, it was estimated that 75 percent of the world's vanadium ore production came from the American vanadium mine in

Minas Ragra The Minas Ragra was a large vanadium mine in the Pasco Region of Peru. The deposit was discovered by a United States Geological Survey expedition on November 20. 1905. Members of this expeditions were Donnel Foster Hewett and José J. Bravo In th ...

, Peru, making it one of the largest producers of the element in the world. In August 1916, James J. Flannery sold the company but remained chairman of the board. J. Leonard Replogle headed the syndicate that took over the company and became president of the new firm, which retained its original name. In 1919, the company acquired the Primos Chemical Company.

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Science History Institute The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center. It was fo ...

Digital Collections (Photographs and ephemera documenting the facilities and activities of the Vanadium Corporation of America from 1911 to 1976 freely available for download in a variety of formats). * * * * * * *{{cite book, author=Gerald D. Nash, title=The Federal Landscape: An Economic History of the Twentieth-century West, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tsy_zy8cLckC&pg=PT82, year=1999, publisher=University of Arizona Press, isbn=978-0-8165-1988-0, pages=82– Chemical companies of the United States Chemical companies established in 1906 Defunct companies based in Pennsylvania 1906 establishments in Pennsylvania