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By Betty J. Laswell, Gerald W. Laswell

If recent trends in the rotary drill market are indicative of future surface mining operating practice, then the move to scaled-up mining equipment by manufacturers may soon be over. Of the 48 different rotary drills currently produced by 12 manufacturers, over 60% were introduced within the past five years. By far, the new drills have been in the "small" class, capable of producing up to a 229-mm-diam (9-in.) blasthole with 222 kN (50,000 lb) or less of down pressure. New rotary drills in the "large" class, capable of producing a 311-mm-diam (12 1/4-in.) blasthole with up to 423 kN (95,000 lb) down pressure, have also been prominent. In the super-size category, new drills producing blasthole sizes to 444-mm-diam (17 1/2-in.) with up to 578 kN (130,000 lb) have been minimal.

Jan 7, 1978

By Andy B. Wallace

Veins in the Pyramid district of northwestern Nevada occur along steep fractures in Oligocene and Miocene quartz latite tuffs. The vein mineralization is zoned from a central enargite-pyrite zone outward through a complex polymetallic pyrite-tetrahedrite-sphalerite-galena-chalcopyrite-bornite-chalcocite zone, and finally to an outer zone of pyrite and galena. Wall rock alteration includes advanced argillic and sericitic envelopes along veins superimposed on district-wide propylitization. The ore distribution and alteration patterns were probably produced by an increase in pH, a decrease in sulfur fugacity, along with cooling of the migrating hydrothermal fluid.

Jan 1, 1981

By T. Egleston

Although the success of metallurgical operations depends so largely on the possibility of finding proper refractory materials, which enter so prominently into the cost of their operations, it can hardly be said that our knowledge of them is in a very satisfactory condition, or even that we know very much about them, beyond a few facts which have been gathered through their use. Experience, as a general thing, is an excellent master, but the requirements of

By R. S. Shoemaker, D. L. Harris

Past investigations into the possibility of concentrating the low-grade iron ores of the Gogebic Range in Wisconsin have been hampered by the complex association of the constituent minerals. In part the problem arises from the fact that the iron occurs essentially as two minerals, hematite and goethite, having nearly the same chemical composition but exhibiting different physical properties. Individual grains of these minerals are usually so small that the ore must be ground to a size finer than 325 mesh if substantial liberation of the minerals is to be secured. Appraisal of beneficiation tests on this iron ore requires, therefore, some method of determining quantitatively the contents of constituent minerals in the various products of the beneficiation. Because of the chemical similarity of the two iron minerals, chemical analyses do not provide a means of differentiation. Although the minerals are different physically, they are both opaque and friable, and as the ore must be ground to a very fine size for liberation to be secured, quantitative microscopic methods of analysis are extremely difficult at best. In an effort to overcome these analytical problems, a quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis method has been developed at the University of Wisconsin for the research program on iron ore beneficiation.

Jan 5, 1955

By Brahm Prakash, R. Schuhmann

Chemical conditions for flotation and nonflotation of quartz with oleic acid as collector and barium, calcium, aluminum, iron, and tin as activators were studied using a simple vacuum-flotation technique in glass-stoppered graduates. The detailed study of barium activation led to an interpretation based on ideal Langmuirian chemisorption.

Jan 5, 1950

By Tuncel M. Yegulalp

This article summarizes the preliminary results of continuing research at the Henry Krumb School of Mines. Columbia University, which is directed towards improving the production efficiency of mining operations. The purpose of the particular

Jan 1, 1979

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Jan 1, 1938

By Eugene P. Pfleider

Research indicates that the cube diamond is a superior stone for drill bits. It can be oriented to combine a long cutting edge with structural strength and high resistance to wear. Test bits set with preferred orientation give double the bit life at astoundingly low diamond loss in comparison to oriented octahedral diamonds.

Jan 10, 1953

By Orville R. Lyons

THE relative performance of coal washing equipment, or the effectiveness with which any type or make of equipment removes impurities from coal, has been most difficult to evaluate in the past. The most widely used yardstick is the Frazer and Yancey efficiency formula developed in 1922,1 but Yancey in a later article states that "washers treating coals of different density composition or operating at different densities of separation cannot be compared directly on the basis of this criterion."' Prior to and since 1922, a variety of other methods has been used for comparison purposes, including the distribution curve, the error area, and the "ecart probable" or probable error. Yancey and Geer in discussing these methods conclude, "Performance can be evaluated in a number of different ways, with the choice of the proper method to use being dictated by the objectives of the investigation and the data available."' It is true that performance can be evaluated in a variety of ways, but if the equipment is to be evaluated on an effectiveness basis, there should be only one universal comparison method. Varying methods have been used because one universal comparison method has not been found or developed. In the article previously quoted, Yancey and Geer state in clear terms the primary concept for a universal comparison method: "One of the simplest, and certainly one of the most obvious evaluations of washery performance is the quantity of sink material in the washed coal and the float material in the refuse. If the washery products are tested at the density at which the washing unit is operated, the sink in the washed coal and the float in the refuse represent material that has been misplaced." The quantity of misplaced material was used as a criterion of washery performance by Lincoln in 1913,8 by the United States Bureau of Mines in 1938,4 by Hancock in 1947,3 and by the national French research agency Cerchar in recent years.2 In 1950 Anderson' proposed the use of this criterion as an efficiency value to replace the Frazer and Yancey formula. However, none of the above-mentioned investigators used the misplaced material concept in a manner that would provide universal coal-cleaning equipment comparisons. The Correlation Theory The ideal coal cleaning process would treat all sizes and would make a perfect separation at any given specific gravity. All material lower in density than the desired value would report in the coal product and all material higher in density would report in the refuse product. Unfortunately, no known cleaning process achieves this goal and there seems little likelihood that any process yet to be invented will do more than approach it. When coal is treated in volume under operating conditions, it is impossible to avoid mechanical entrapment, fluctuations in throughput and effective gravity of separation, and the creation of turbulent currents, even when a true heavy-liquid bath is used and the feed is closely sized and contains little intermediate gravity material. This being so, it is possible to appreciate the difficulties inherent in trying to obtain a perfect separation when treating a wide range of sizes and a feed containing high percentages of intermediate material, using turbulent currents to help create the effective separation gravity, under operating conditions which normally tend to be on the overload side. When coal is separated from refuse in any coal cleaning equipment, some refuse always reports to the coal and some coal to the refuse; the writer therefore assumed that there should be a relationship between the total amount of misplaced material produced by any given piece of equipment and the difficulty of separation as represented by the percentage of near gravity material in the feed. With small amounts of near gravity or ±0.1 material in the feed there should be less misplacement of material than would occur with large amounts of near

Jan 1, 1952

By Morton Macartney

FOR many years the developers or owners of worthy mining ventures in need of financing have found it almost impossible to obtain such financing under the conditions existing in most other lines of business. High rates of interest and unfair participation in profits have robbed the developers of much of their holdings, and have resulted in over-capitalization and many other like evils. When the general financial condition of the country is bad, this difficulty increases to a point where many operations must cease and hen are thrown out of employment. In 1.934 this situation had developed to such a point that Congress attempted to aid the mining industry. It first authorized the RFC to make loans to recognized and established corporations, individuals, and partnerships engaged in the business of mining, milling, or smelting of ores in June, 1934, limiting such authority to loans adequately secured, the security to consist of mineral acreage. The requirements of the law were stringent and of the 252 requests for loans received up to June 1, 1935, 35 were authorized.

Jan 1, 1936

By H. R. Barnhurst

IT would be a difficult matter to trace from the beginning the very few improvements made in the burning of fuels prior to 1860. Doubtless the crossing of the sticks of wood in building a, wood fire early appealed to our savage ancestry as a means of expediting its effectiveness for their crude culinary purposes. Stones and andirons came later in assisting the admission of air to the under part of the fuel bed, while beacons and cressets utilized metal bars as supports for the same purpose. It is probable that Tubal Cain owed his success to the use of bellows making possible the use of mixed fuel and charge upon a hearth. With the development of working in east iron, grate bars cane in, and they are still with us doing duty in every household and almost every art where heat is a factor. Little was done beyond these crude methods prior to 1860. With the advancement of knowledge came the fuel-gas producer, a. natural child of the retorts employed in supplying illuminating gas. It is only within the last 15 years that the conclusion became general that complicated systems for saving heat would not remedy deficiencies in its primary development, and within that tine there has been great advancement in the means of producing initially fire of high efficiency, so that to clay we are moving rapidly toward loth high development and high absorption, with the resultant of high efficiencies. In studying the subject of the availability of pulverized coal as a fuel, it may occur to ask, why has this not come up earlier? This question would be naturally prompted by recalling the fact that Thomas Crompton's English patents upon his methods were issued to Min nearly 40 years ago. A conclusive answer to this, however, is that Crompton at that time had very crude facilities for raking what was at best a, very imperfect pulverization of the coal, and the expense of preparation was very great. He does not seem to have been aware of the advantage of a thorough drying of the coal in the

Jan 10, 1913

By Robert H. Richards

Very little has been published recently on this subject in the mining journals or proceedings of societies. The attention of experts has been diverted perhaps by the demands for pan amalgamation of refractory ores. Yet free milling ores occur in many localities, and it may be interesting to have on record some data as to details of running a small test-mill, especially as details of results do not seem to be accessible to stndents and investigators. Küstel, in 1863, under battery amalgamation, dismisses the subject by stating that "amalgamation on copper-plated platforms, troughs, and other copper fixings" is " very imperfect, and mostly abandoned." J. Arthur Phillips says, in 1867, under placer mining : " A well-amalgamated copper plate is considered as effective for

Jan 1, 1880

By H. H. Hasler

THE mining and removal of coal from two or more beds, either simultaneously or consecutively, in vertically adjacent areas have always been matters of concern to mine operators from both operating and recovery points of view. However, with the progressive introduction and use of electrical and mechanical facilities, such problems assume even greater proportions. In this paper typical cases occuring in Cambia County, Pa., are given and procedures whereby such problems may be greatly reduced, if not entirely eliminated, are suggested.

Jan 5, 1951

By R. R. Nash, W. F. Sheely, E. D. Levine

ThiS note reports on the variation with temperature of critical stress for basal slip of binary solid-solution single crystals of indium and of thorium in magnesium. PROCEDURE Alloy single crystal spheres were acid machined to 3/8-in. diam cylinders with the basal planes of the crystals normal to the cylinder axis and then annealed at 810°K. Stress was applied parallel to the slip system, (0001) [1120]. Experimental details will be presented in another paper.' Two nearly equivalent' techniques of stressing were used. Stress on the magnesium-indium alloy crystals was increased by 1 g per sq mm at 1-min intervals, and the critical flow stress was defined as the lowest stress to pro-

Jan 1, 1960

PRESIDENT E DEGOLYER, District 0 NEW YORK, N Y PAST PRESIDENTS J V. W. REYNDERS, District 0 NEW YORK, N Y SAMUEL A TAYLOR, District 3 PITTSBURGH, PA FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT GEORGE OTIS SMITH, District 4 WASHINGTON, D C TREASURER CHARLES F. RAND NEW YORK, N Y SECRETARY H. FOSTER BAIN NEW YORK, N Y

Jan 1, 1923

By Arthur Hockman, Howard W. Jaffe, Howard F. Carl

THE problem of establishing practical techniques for evaluating natural corundum ores arose from the desire to improve the existing purchase specifications for crystal corundum procured by the Federal Government for stockpiling. Such purchase specifications had been developed for a large number of products, including minerals and ores considered to be critical and strategic because of the country's dependence on foreign sources of supply. It will be apparent to anyone considering the subject of purchase specifications that the determination of whether or not a submittal meets the specifications is a prime consideration. Consequently satisfactory specifications for minerals should not only incorporate physical, chemical, and mineralogical requirements that are practical but should also establish the means by which both buyer and seller can be assured that materials meet stated requirements.

Jan 4, 1954

Within the last century, and largely during the latter half of it, the increase of our knowledge of the development of man, both in his search for a livelihood and for power, and in the growth of his reason and conscience, has been greater than all we had known before. The great interest in all kinds of archaeological work and the many excavations made of buried and long forgotten places has put at our disposal historical records not available, and in many cases not known before, and a study of these and other records of human progress from paleontological and geological sources has given us a much broader view of what we call "civilization" than was possible even a short time ago. The old idea that men were created with fully developed minds, speech and reason has yielded to the view that in the upward progress of the human race the development of the mind and reason has been a comparatively recent occurrence, as we think of the half million, and probably more, years that have passed since our earliest records of man were made. The traits that come to us without effort

Jan 1, 1935

By John J. Childress, Russell L. Cook

Stringent environmental regulations, which have limited the use of sludge ponds, coupled with the economic incentive to clean more coal or to add fine coal cleaning additions to existing preparation plants have increased the use of static thickeners in preparation plants. The Lamella Gravity Settler, sometimes designated Lamella Thickener, is a shallow depth sedimentation device which has been applied in a variety of industrial process and wastewater control projects in place of the conventional raked thickeners. This paper presents the theory and design of the Lamella Thickener, as well as describing the operating results from several full scale installations in a variety of Appalachian preparation plants.

Jan 1, 1979

By F. T. Selleck, H. H. Reamer, B. H. Sage

An experimental investigation was made of the effect of temperature upon the three-phase pressure associated with the propane-water and propene-water systems when hydrates were present. In addition, the characteristics of the propane-propene-water system were established over a limited range of ternperatureo under conditions such that hydrate was formed. The hydrate phase for this system may he a solid solution and the distribution of propane and propene in it is similar to that found in the coexisting hvdrocarhon liquid phase. INTRODUCTION A knowledge of the characteristics of hydrates of the hydrocarborrs encountered in industrial practice is of importance in connection with the design of process equipment. Villardl.1,2 carried out early studies of hydrates, and de Forcrand1 con-sidered the more probable compositions of the hydrates of hydrocarbons. Hammerschnid1 presented information about the propane-water and the isobutane-water systems. Scheffer5 studied the hydrate of hydrogen sulfide in detail, and de For-crand reported on the hydrates of krypton, argon, and xenon.1 Roberts and co-workers1,2 determined the nature of the hydrates formed in the methane-water and ethane-water systems. Carson and Katz10 studied the methane-propane-water, methane-pentane-water, and the methane-hexane-water systems in the four-phase region. The results of this rather extensive investigation indicated that the paraffinic hydrates formed solid solutions. The experimental evidence now available does not Support the existence of hydrates of the pentanes-antl-heavier hydrocarhons but it cannot be stated with certainty that such hydrates are not formed. Stackelherg. 11,12,13 made extensive studies of the crystal structure of paraffinic hydrate; by means of x-ray techniques and found that hydrates poses; a definite structure and composition. The existence of such a Structure does not preclude the firmation of Solid solutions of hydrates in aqueous systems containing two or more hydro-carbon~. Wilcox, Carson and Katz" reviewrd the information on the hydrates of importance in the processing of natural gas and presented data concerning their formation from natural gas. Kobayashi and Katz1' made studies at high pressure of the Hydrate of methane. and Unruh and Katz"' investigated hy-drates in mixtures of carbon rlioxide and methane. Frost and Deaton contributed to the knowledge of the composition of the paraffinic hydrates The irregularities in the experimental results were several times the expected uncertainties. This experience confirms the behavior encountered by other investigators indicating that hydrates tend to occlude water during their formation, thus rendering difficult the direct measoremeut of their composition. Miller and Strong2 investigated a number. of paraffinic hydrates from the standpoint of their possible application to (, the industrial storage of gas. Powel1 studied the effect of solutes upon the decomposition temperature of paraffin hydrates. Marked lowering of the decomposition temperature at a given pressure may he obtained by the use of such additive agents as ethylene glycol, urea. and sodium chloride. APPARATUS AND METHODS Two method* were here employed to study the behavior of hydrates. The first involved a glass capillary within which the hydrocarbons and water were confined over mercury. The second made use of a double-ended weighing bomb technique." The glass capillary equipment has been described elsewhere.'" A schematic drawing of it is presented in Fig. 1, where the arrangement of the agitator and mercury reservoir is shown in some detail. The lower part of the glass capillary, D, was enlarged to afford space within which the fluids used in the investigation could he stored at low pressures after their introduction through the valve. G. The temperature of the capillary was controlled by the circulation of a hydrocarbon oil of low viscosity from the agitated bath, B, through the vacuum jacketed column. C. The pump, A, was employed for the circulation of this oil. A relatively clear view of the capillary tube, D, was obtained through the vacuum jacket. Mercury was introduced into the lower part of the vessel, E, from

Jan 1, 1952

By J. Amanat, H. J. Siriwardane

A numerical procedure based on nonlinear finite element analysis has been developed for predicting subsidence profile over longwall mine panels. The developed procedure has been verified by comparing predictions with published field observations at several mine panels. This paper presents certain aspects of predicting subsidence profile over mine panels located in hilly terrain. Analysis of four such cases are presented herein.

Jan 1, 1984