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By W. J. Reagan

MANY factors enter into the manufacture of basic open-hearth steel of high quality. Perhaps the two most important are temperature and the iron oxide content of the metal. If we can control these two factors we can essentially control basic open-hearth practice. SOURCE AND EFFECT OF IRON OXIDE Earlier investigators, especially Herty and his associates, have shown that iron oxide is introduced into the open-hearth furnace in four ways:1 1. - By oxidation of the scrap by furnace gases. 2. By decomposition of the limestone. 3. By oxidation of the iron oxide in the slag by furnace gases. 4. By direct addition of iron ore to the charge. We also know that the speed of operation of an open-hearth furnace depends, for a given charge and given combustion conditions, on the rate at which iron oxide will diffuse from the slag into the metal. The rate of diffusion depends upon a number of variables, such as iron oxide content of the slag, slag viscosity, etc., which also depend upon the amount of iron oxide in the metal, amount of carbon present, temperature, and so forth. For a given carbon and a given temperature, the iron oxide content of the metal is in proportion to the iron oxide content of the slag. This fact can be easily verified by analysis of slag samples taken as described by Herty.2 It is preferable to take these samples just before deoxidation. In killing the steel samples with aluminum it is desirable to use aluminum rod of 99 per cent purity; ordinary commercial aluminum rod with a purity of approximately 92 per cent is not satisfactory. In drilling these samples it is also essential to take the largest amount of drillings possible. This gives more accurate results because it eliminates spotty segregation of Al203.

Jan 1, 1932

As knowledgeable men in the industry know, a mineral occurrence is found through prospecting but an ore deposit is "made" -made through, first, imaginative and effective exploration; thence through efficient engineering, sales and management. There are two main phases of exploration-reconnaissance and target investigation-each of which can be further divided into two additional stages (see accompanying table). The search for a new ore deposit within a known and geologically mapped mining district involves only the last two stages, whereas the search for a new orebody in a virgin geologic environment involves at least three stages and often the full sequence. Of course, some of the exploration stages may be bypassed depending on available results of previous mineral surveys and/or exploration by individuals, business concerns, and governments.

Jan 10, 1967

By O. B. Hopkins

The reports for the years 1942 and 1943 were written in 1943 and 1944, respectively, and were summarized at the meetings of the Institute in February 1941 and February 1944, but were held in manuscript form until released for publication in 1945. 1942 During the year 1942, developments in the Peruvian oil industry continued to be subject to repercussions from the swelling war effort, which steadily diverted more of the normal supply of men and materials into war channels, and necessitated the rerouting of supply lines. The result in Peru was an increasing demand for crude oil and products. The production of petroleum in Peru in 1942 was 13,626,259 bbl., as compared with 11,935,584 bbl. in 1941—an increase of 1,690,675 bbl., or approximately 14 per cent. The largest increase, amounting to over 61 per cent, was from the Lobitos fields, but this increase was caused largely by the subnormal production in 1941. International Petroleum Company's production in the La Brea y Parinas field increased 727,111 bbl., or 7 per cent, whereas the Peruvian Government's production in the small Zorritos field declined 10,380 bbl., or approximately 20 per cent. The final production figures for the Ganso Azul field at Agua Caliente were not available for 1942 at the end of the year, but the production was believed to have increased approximately 80 per cent from 1941, or from 13,750 to approximately 25,000 barrels. Development and Exploration Exploration in Peru in 1942 was very limited and confined to areas adjacent to the older producing fields, and the efforts there were largely expended in the extension and development of the producing areas. This situation resulted partly from the shortage of transportation and drilling equipment, and also from the strong demand for increased production of oil. . International Petroleum Co. completed 69 wells during the year, including seven exploratory wells, three of which added moderate extensions to the proven areas. Sixty of the completions were oil wells and nine were dry holes. Lobitos Oilfields, at Lobitos and Restin, is understood to have concentrated its drilling effort on development rather than on exploration. The Peruvian Government operating at Zorritos confined its drilling to the development of the small producing areas previously found. During the year it announced plans to drill three exploratory wells in the Pirin area of southern Peru (see map on p. 638). It was reported that the Government had made a survey of the Sechura area (representing the southern part of the Northern National Reserve as shown on the map), but no work under this arrangement was announced. The Cia. Ganso Azul, at Agua Caliente, completed its No. 6 well as a producer on March 27, and during the year it completed the installation of a 400-bbl. topping plant.

Jan 1, 1945

By B. Silliman

THESE ores occur in the Laurentian rocks in the town of Clifton, St. Lawrence County, New York. The Clifton Mining Company have opened these magnetites upon their estate of 23,000 acres, on the waters of the Grasse River, an affluent of the St. Lawrence, which flows for about nine milt",3 across the estate, exposing a section of the formation, and affording ample water-power at numerous points. In approaching this district from De Kalb Junction, upon the Watertown and Ogdensburg Railway, the observer passes from the zone of the specular ores, which abound to a great extent in Jefferson County, across a belt of non-metal-liferous limestones, continuing for some miles intermingled with metamorphic rocks, and gradually giving place to heavy beds of granitic and porphyritic gneiss, the weathered surfaces of which present a gray and rough appearance, from the washing out of the feldspar; leaving the quartz very prominent, and completely disguising the real character of the rock, which, when freshly broken, has a lively reddish appearance from the predominance of flesh-colored and red feldspar. Beds of fine-grained quartzite appear also intercalated in the granitic gneiss. These are the dominating rocks of the magnetite region, but the magnetite is always found, so far as the speaker's observation extended, associated with beds of calcite, carrying hornblende, black and green, biotite, and brown garnet interspersed with yellow and magnetic pyrites. The strike of these rocks is about northeast, and their dip about 40' to 45' southeast

By H. P. Reid

PORTLAND cement is manufactured under either of two general proc-esses, the wet or the dry. The raw materials in general consist of limestone, shells, marl, cement rock, clay, shale, blast-furnace slag, etc., so proportioned that when calcined the desired composition will be obtained. In the wet process the combined raw materials are ground to extreme fineness in the presence of water, to a resulting slurry of from 30 to 50 per cent moisture content. The moisture of the slurry may be reduced by thickening or filtering processes for feed to the cement kiln or the slurry may be fed to the kiln with its full percentage of water. The dry process differs from the wet in that the surface moisture of the raw materials is removed prior to grinding. For the drying of these materials heat is required and in most cases is produced by burning of raw fuel either on grates or stokers before the dryers or in suspension in the form of pulverized coal, oil or gaseous fuel. The power required for making the cement is sometimes purchased from outside sources; sometimes it is generated from the heat in the waste gases leaving the cement kilns, or generated at the plants direct from raw fuel. We have, then, as the possible requirements of fuel in the cement industry: (1) fuel for power generation, (2) fuel for drying raw materials, including coal before pulverizing, and (3) fuel for burning the raw materials to cement clinker. There is no essential difference in quality required in fuel for burning the materials by the wet and dry processes.

Jan 1, 1932

By L. C. Snider

NO important discoveries of petroleum during 1932 are reported from Canada. New Brunswick, which has a small production from one field, was inactive, and the production showed a decline from 6600 bbl. in 1931 to about 6300 bbl. for the year 1932. The old fields in Ontario increased from 123,000 to about 131,000 bbl. Alberta showed a decline of more than one-third, from 1,413,631 bbl. in 1931 to about 913,000 bbl. in 1932. This decline was due principally to the restrictions placed on the flow of gas wells in the Turner Valley field, from which the crude naphtha is obtained that accounted for more than 93 per cent of the production of Alberta and for more than 80 per cent of the production of all Canada in 1932. The starting of new wells to the limestone that produces the naphtha-bearing gas was prohibited late in 1931, and only wells started before that time were finished during 1932. One well was drilled in the Turner Valley field to a depth of 7555 ft., establishing a depth record for Canada. It passed out of the Madison limestone at 5560 ft., and encountered showings of oil in the underlying formations, probably of Devonian age. Commercial production had not been established by the end of the year. Commercial oil wells were brought in in two areas in Ontario which had previously been considered as productive of gas only— in the Dawn gas field, Lambton County, and in Raleigh Township, Kent County. The discovery wells had initial productions of about 50 bbl. per day, but no production of major importance is indicated. In Alberta, outside the Turner Valley district, two wildcats were drilled northwest. of Lethbridge in the Keho Lake vicinity. Both failed to make commercial producers in the Madison limestone, but one was testing upper sands at the close of the year. Good showings of oil are reported. A very small production was found in the Madison limestone in a wildcat well on the Twin River structure southeast of Lethbridge and another well has been started near by on what is considered on geophysical evidence to be a better location structurally. About 15 locations were made on the Canadian side of the border north of the Cut Bank development in Montana.

Jan 1, 1933

By P. Somasundaran, D. R. Nagaraj

This study initiated to explore the potential of commercial chelating extractant for beneficiation of minerals revealed "LIX "65N to be an excellent collector for cuprite and chrysocolla. The collector action of the LIX is proposed to result from its chelation with copper species on the surface of the minerals. Thus, the syn-isomer of LIX65N, which is unable to form a chelate with copper ions, failed also to act as a collector. The proposed mechanism takes into account partitioning of LIX between the mineral surface (to form a surface chelate) and the copper chelate dispersed in the bulk aqueous phase (either due to formation of the chelate with dissolved copper, or due to detachment of chelate formed at surface). The efficiency of the collection is dependent upon this partitioning since the bulk chelate is found unable to collect. The marked decrease in flotation obtained when copper was added to the system supports this mechanism. The dependence of flotation of chrysocolla and cuprite on pH and reagentizing time is discussed on the basis of the proposed mechanism. Batch laboratory flotation tests using synthetic mixtures of oxide, sulfide and mixed oxide-sulfide copper minerals with quartz demonstrated the ability of LIX to separate the copper minerals from quartz.

Jan 1, 1980

The regular activities of the Institute are financed mainly by income derived from members' dues, from advertising in MINING AND METALLURGY, and from the sale of publications to the public. In addition, collateral activities and special projects are financed each year by means of income from endowed funds controlled and administered by the Institute. In the aggregate, the amount of these endowments totals more than $684,000. An active effort is being made to increase the endowment funds of the Institute through a standing committee, of which Henry Krumb is Chairman, and of which the other members are: George D. Barron, Cleveland E. Dodge, John V. N. Dorr, Howard N. Eavenson, D. %. Jack- ling, Harvey S. Mudd, Wallace E. Pratt, Milnor Roberts, and Wilfred Sykes. This committee believes that there exists a tremendous opportunity for the Institute to be of evergrowing service to the public, to the mineral industries, and to the profession. It welcomes suggestions as to names of men of means who are vitally interested in the mineral industries, and to whom the opportunity to make a contribution or bequest might appeal favorably if presented in the proper light.

Jan 1, 1946

By Eugene McAuliffe

THE mining press, as well as certain federal and state bulletins, refer from tine to time to. the relative hazards that attach to loading bituminous coal by hand when compared with the so-called "mechanical loading" process. Much of the coal coming under the head. of hand-loaded coal is won in part by the use of machinery; the coal-cutting machine is in general use, the electric power drill employed to a lesser extent. Therefore it may be said that the principal difference in the process employed, mechanical loading versus hand loading, lies in the fact that some type of loading machine is employed in the mechanical loading process to lift the coal from the face of the room, place or entry, after it is mined, placing it in the pit cars for transport to the tipple. It is a common practice to compute accident records on the basis of tons mined per fatal and per nonfatal accident, disregarding the fact that it is possible to produce by the aid of coal-loading machines the same daily, monthly and annual tonnage with a much smaller force than is required where the coal is all shoveled by hand. Inasmuch as the men who are released by the substitution of machinery for hand labor must find employment elsewhere, suffering some measure of hazard in their new occupation, we are of the opinion that the true relative hazard that attaches to the processes of mechanical loading and hand loading can be determined only by using as the basis of comparison "man shifts worked" or "hours of exposure" experienced per accident. The Union Pacific Coal Co., beginning with the year 1929, undertook to maintain a true record of man shifts worked per compensable accident, giving equal weight to fatal and nonfatal accidents. Accidents lacking sufficient severity to come under the compensable terms of the Workmen's Compensation Act were not included in the compilation, the Act providing that "no compensation, except the expense of medical attention, shall be allowed for the first seven (7) days of disability, unless the incapacity runs beyond the period of twenty-one (21) days,' in which case the compensation shall run from the time of the injury."

Jan 1, 1931

By AIME AIME

COUNCIL.* PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL. D. W. BRUNTON DENVER, COLO. (Term expires February, 1910.) . VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL. J. PARKE CHANNING NEW TORE, N. Y. FREDERICK W. DENTON PAINESDALE, MICH. JOHN B. FARISH DENVER, COLO. (Term expires February, 1910.) W. C. RALSTON SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. IV. L. SAUNDERS NEW TORE, N. Y. H. V. WIINCHELL ST. PAUL, MINN. (Term expires February, 1911.)

May 1, 1909

By M. Safiuddin

Within the mining industry, open-pit mining has progressed to a point where a 200-yard walking dragline is as conceivable today as a 35-yard dragline was just a few years ago. This is possible due to the technological advances and efforts of the excavator manufacturers, and the manufacturers of electrical equipment have always stayed abreast with them in meeting their requirements and in making available their experience with the latest control techniques and hardware from various fields for application in the mining industry. An electrician in the coal mines of Pennsylvania who had not heard the word "thyristor" a few years ago now wonders how the old excavators with Rototrols® and magamps could ever work. The thyristors, transistors and operational amplifiers which were considered too fragile and delicate for a rugged and severe application like the mining industry, today constitute the brain of an excavator control taking commands from the operator and giving signals to the muscles of the excavator to move the bucket within a few seconds. A giant 200-yd bucket filled with overburden moves within seconds of the operator's command. Digging cycles for these excavators range from 40 to 60 sec depending on the swing angle. With these tremendous production capabilities of the excavators, the equipment failures and downtime become very expensive, and the loss of return on large capital investment for such machines becomes intolerable. Even though these failures and downtimes cannot be avoided completely, a good preventive maintenance program can help reduce them, thus increasing the machine availability. As we shall see below, the causes for breakdowns and failures of electrical equipment can be analyzed and a good preventive maintenance program can be drawn up to eliminate most of these failures.

Jan 9, 1967

By C. D. Jardine, D. G. Patton

Rapidly increasing energy costs and more rigid customer quality requirements necessitate improved control of pelletizing processes. With the introduction of dedicated microprocessor-based controllers, sophisticated control strategies are now possible. An application of this technology at Carol Project has resulted in fuel savings, improved pellet quality, and standardization of operating procedures. This was accomplished with no production loss by using a "building block" approach to design and equipment selection.

Jan 1, 1985

By H. E. Lee, A. W. Edelen

The Teziutlan copper-zinc deposit is supposed to be of late Cambrian or early Paleozoic age. The country rocks are a series of schists or phyllites, flat lying and in the form of a plunging anticline. The ore deposit occupies a single horizon in the schist for a known horizontal extent of 1200 meters. Along its strike occur four large lenses or ore bodies. These ore bodies occupy positions along the flank and extend to the crest of the anticline. The primary mineralization is in the form of quartz, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena, with a few scattered silver anti-monides. Quartz and pyrite form the mineralization between the ore lenses. Ill the ore lenses the sulphides appear as a massive, very fine-grained intergrowth of minerals. The intergrowth suggests a contemporaneous deposition of the heavy sulphides. The grain size, usually under 0.09 mm., makes the separation difficult and fine grinding important. The ore bodies were formed at great depth by solutions probably originating in the same basic magma that gave rise to the dolerite sills that are so common in their vicinity. Introduction The Teziutlan copper-zinc deposit is distinctly different from other ore deposits of Mexico in age and type. Previously stated to be pre-Cambrian in age, it is now quite generally supposed to belong to the late Cambrian or to the early Paleozoic period. Also, in contrast to the usual shallow-vein zone type of mineralization in Mexico, there is here exemplified an intermediate vein zone deposit of copper and zinc. So far as is known, the Tezintlan vein is unique in the history of Mexican geology and in a class by itself, its closest counterpart probably being the copper veins of the pre-Cambrian of Canada. The Teziutlan district is in the extreme northwestern corner of the State of Puebla, Mexico. Teziutlan, the terminus of a branch line of the National Railways from Mexico City, is connected to the mine at Aire Libre by a 17-km. narrow-gauge railroad owned and operated by the Teziutlan Copper Co. Owing to excessive grades on this short linc, Shay-geared locomotives arc used for the transportation of concentrates and supplies.

Jan 1, 1941

By Leonard Logan

The petroleum industry is not peculiar in that it has a problem of stabilization. Economic conditions, not only in the United States but throughout the entire world, are unstable. However, the petroleum industry together with coal mining and agriculture has experienced a longer period of depression than most of the others. It is significant to note that industries engaged in the production of basic raw materials, the primary industries, have not enjoyed as much prosperity since the war as the secondary industries, or those engaged in the fabricating of raw materials and their distribution. The problems of the primary industries are not all the same. Overproduction has existed for several years in agriculture but its causes are not the same as those that have brought about overproduction in the petroleum industry. Unlike agriculture, the institution of property rights and the migratory nature of oil are responsible for the oil man's troubles. Our laws permit the owner of the oil and gas rights, with certain exceptions, to drill when and where he pleases. Since oil is migratory, the adjacent property owner must go and do likewise—drill. This condition spread over a wide area soon brings to the surface more petroleum than can be readily absorbed by the market, creating a condition of overproduction. It is significant to note at this place that when overproduction occurs the complete units in the industry suffer least. A complete unit is taken here to mean a corporation engaged in all the phases of the industry through production, transportation, refining and marketing. In the present depression the complete units in the industry are not in as bad financial condition as those engaged in single phases of the industry. The same thing can be said of the zinc industry, the lumber industry, and the other industries where there are organizations engaged in all the steps through the production of raw materials to the marketing of the finished product. The reason for this is that the complete units are in better position to coordinate all the factors that would work for a stabilized condition than are the units that are engaged in a single branch of the industry.

Jan 1, 1931

By H. E. Lee, A. W. Edelen

The Teziutlan copper-zinc deposit is supposed to be of late Cambrian or early Paleozoic age. The country rocks are a series of schists or phyllites, flat lying and in the form of a plunging anticline. The ore deposit occupies a single horizon in the schist for a known horizontal extent of 1200 meters. Along its strike occur four large lenses or ore bodies. These ore bodies occupy positions along the flank and extend to the crest of the anticline. The primary mineralization is in the form of quartz, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena, with a few scattered silver anti-monides. Quartz and pyrite form the mineralization between the ore lenses. Ill the ore lenses the sulphides appear as a massive, very fine-grained intergrowth of minerals. The intergrowth suggests a contemporaneous deposition of the heavy sulphides. The grain size, usually under 0.09 mm., makes the separation difficult and fine grinding important. The ore bodies were formed at great depth by solutions probably originating in the same basic magma that gave rise to the dolerite sills that are so common in their vicinity. Introduction The Teziutlan copper-zinc deposit is distinctly different from other ore deposits of Mexico in age and type. Previously stated to be pre-Cambrian in age, it is now quite generally supposed to belong to the late Cambrian or to the early Paleozoic period. Also, in contrast to the usual shallow-vein zone type of mineralization in Mexico, there is here exemplified an intermediate vein zone deposit of copper and zinc. So far as is known, the Tezintlan vein is unique in the history of Mexican geology and in a class by itself, its closest counterpart probably being the copper veins of the pre-Cambrian of Canada. The Teziutlan district is in the extreme northwestern corner of the State of Puebla, Mexico. Teziutlan, the terminus of a branch line of the National Railways from Mexico City, is connected to the mine at Aire Libre by a 17-km. narrow-gauge railroad owned and operated by the Teziutlan Copper Co. Owing to excessive grades on this short linc, Shay-geared locomotives arc used for the transportation of concentrates and supplies.

Jan 1, 1941

FRIENDS of the late Charles F. Rand presented in 1930 a sum of money from which the income is available to support various phases of the work of the Institute in which Mr. Rand was so deeply interested. At present the fund amounts to $10,000. The specific terms of the deed of gift are as follows: "The fund collected to establish a memorial to the late Charles F. Rand shall be placed in the custody of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, to be set up as a trust to be known as the `Charles F. Rand Foundation,' the income of which shall each year be applied to a distinct purpose to be decided upon in that year by vote of the Board of Directors. This purpose shall be such as to promote the general welfare of the Institute and to constitute a permanent memorial of the usefulness of Mr. Rand, who for many years gave unstintingly of his time and talents in its service.

Jan 1, 1946

Jan 1, 1938

Executive JOHN M LOVEJOY, Chairman ERLE V DAVELER G B WATERHOUBE WILBER JUDSON WILLIAM WRAITH J V W REYNDERS, Consultant Finance HENRY KRUMB, Chairman PAUL D MERICA R M ROOSEVELT H G MOULTON, Consultant Admissions RALPH M ROOSEVELT, Chairman GEORGE D BARRON, Vice-chairman JOHN L CHRISTIE PHILIP KRAFT W A SINSHEIMER

Jan 1, 1937

By W. J. Kroll

W. J. Kroll (Belgium)—Those who are acquainted with the metallurgy of our forefathers may have occasionally a good time when glancing at recent publications in which aged discoveries are unconsciously reported as novelties. We know very well, that oxygen blowing of iron has been described by old Bessemer. The author of the present article is, however, not aware of the fact that the process he describes, the fused salts scrubbing, was already used in the middle of the last century by St. Claire Deville in his attempts at making higher-purity aluminum from raw AlCl3 by sodium reduction. The same fact escaped the three investigators to whom the author refers. The technical grade AlC13 produced by St. Claire Deville from impure oxide, chlorine, and carbon (Oersted process) was contaminated with Sic4 and FeC13, which he removed on an industrial scale by various methods.' He sublimed, for instance, his chloride in contact with iron nails, or aluminum chips, or in hydrogen, which reduced the FeC13 to the less volatile FeCl2. He used also alkali-alkaline earth chlorides as a solvent for A1C13 and FeC13 in presence of iron as a reducing agent, and sublimed his purified AlC13 from solvent salts. The successors of Deville used also zinc or lead as a reducing agent. These methods were later used currently for the purification of BeCl2 and for collecting this compound in a salt bath, suitable for fusion electrolysis. More recently, the same Deville process has been described as applied to the purification of ZrCL4, as part of a method of extraction of ZrCL4 from silico zirconium, which later was reacted with FeC12 in a separate part of the equipment. According to the patent referred to3 the ZrCL4 is dissolved as a gas in a carrier salt such as alkali-alkaline earth chloride, from which it can be reclaimed in a purified form by distillation. A bath of NaCl/KCl is recommended in the specifications. The FeC12-FeC13 go in the salt solution in which raw ZrCl4 is introduced by bubbling, while Sic4 and Tic4 pass through the bath and escape in the atmosphere. purification by this salt-solvent method is thus well described. It may be worth while insisting on some minor details about which the author did not bother too much. One of these concerns the material of construction for the container. If iron is used, and if no other reducing agent is added, then it is the iron of the pot that acts as a reagent in the breakdown of FeC13 to FeCl2, and corrosion can be expected. This shows the importance of using extraneous large surface-reducing agents, of which there is a choice. Zir-

Jan 1, 1963

By Horace V. Winchell

PERHAPS the matter of greatest interest to all mining men at the present time is the question of income and excess profits taxes on mines. Every producing mine in the United States is called upon to render to the government an account of its operations and to pay a graduated tax upon its earnings. It is manifestly a matter in which every mine owner, every stockholder in a mining corporation, every mining and metallurgical engineer, every person employed by a mining company and every one engaged in an industry which in any way depends upon the continued operation of our mines or who consumes their products is financially, to a greater or less extent, involved. In view of this fact it is surprising to see how little attention is paid to it and how few of our members have taken the pains to investigate and understand the provisions of recent enactments by Congress and the ways in which these enactments are being applied to mining industries.

Jan 1, 1920