Anthracite iron were their principle businesses. The Franklin Institute, in 1830, offered a gold medal to the manufacturer of the greatest quantity of anthracite iron, and Nicholas Biddle and his associates offered a prize of $5,000 to the first individual to smelt a certain quantity of iron ore within a given time, using anthracite. The Lehigh Coal & Navigation, by then an industrial giant of the times, also offered free water power and discount rates on coal and shipping to encourage the development of the process. The first key breakthrough occurred in 1828-29, when Scotsman James Beaumont Neilson patented the hot blast
Siberian Anthracite a part of the Alltech Group, which is the majority shareholder. The company is led by CEO Anastasia Poprygaeva. Siberian Anthracite dates back to the mid-1970s, having been founded in 1974 to supply a number of Soviet enterprises producing electrodes and metallurgical and ferroalloy plants. The company's assets were restructured in 2001 as CJSC Siberian Anthracite. In 2011, it was reported that the company planned to list its shares in London. Siberian Anthracite was a founder member of Novosibirsk-based professional ice-hockey club Sibir, and continues to sponsor the club. Siberian Anthracite Siberian Anthracite () is Russia's largest producer of ultra