Heavy metal

the long version

Deep in the bowels of the Samaria Mountains, Jack Crampton labors in search of the "mother lode". He knew he was getting close when the last blaster had revealed evidence of lead and silver, and an enormous deposit of a grayish, chalky mineral. This worthless mineral Jack had discovered turns out to be the catalyst to a heart-pounding thriller that leads from the legend of the "Iron Door" through the disaster of the Bay of Pigs, to the brink of nuclear war at the Cuban Missile Crisis. Burt Jones, retired air force officer, leads the way in a race against time to control this "heavy metal", which will decide U.S. military might, or subjection to Soviet domination