 In 1939, a commission was formed to study the properties of the ore and devise a way of smelting it on an industrial scale.The commission determined that, by sintering the sand into bigger chunks or pellets, the problems of smelting the sand in a blast furnace could be eliminated.However, at that time World War Two began, and thus further development was suspended and did not resume until the late 1960s, producing the first output of steel in 1969.