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Briefly, can you relate how you got into the minerals industry and some of your experiences as an executive, engineer, and administrator? Also would you tell ME about your affiliation with the Society of Mining Engineers of AIME? Roseburg, Ore., was where I was born and raised. It was, and still is a lumbering town; it couldn't have been any farther from mining. Upon graduation from high school, I turned 18 and, having already signed up with the Army Corps of Engineers, I was in the service eight days after my birthday. Four months later I was in New Guinea. As an amphibious engineer, I saw many of the Pacific and Philippine Islands, and ended up in Japan just a few days after the war was over. In later years, my work took me back to several of the places I had been during the war.

Jan 3, 1978

By T. R. Graham, J. R. Long

This report is concerned with part of a series of investigations carried on by the Federal Bureau of Mines on alloys, particularly nonferrous alloys, made with electrolytic manganese. A broad general program instituted after commercial quantities of electrolytic manganese became available was necessary in order to compare the effects of electrolytic manganese with those of the ordinary commercial grades. Representative analyses of these two materials show the commercial manganese metal to contain up to 2 per cent iron, a maximum of I per cent silicon and 0.06 per cent carbon, while the electrolytic manganese rarely exceeds 0.01 iron, 0.02 sulphur, with no silicon or aluminum. In the literature, the emphasis has been largely on high-strength casting alloys containing up to 5 per cent manganese, and few data are available on wrought manganese alloys. These factors, coupled with the strategic position of copper and zinc, have given impetus to the Bureau's War Research Program for the development of alloys containing nonstrategic manganese for the purpose of supplementing or providing alternates for the more strategic metals. The alloy reported here was studied, along with several other ferrous and nonferrous alloys, as possible cartridge-case material, and was chosen after a review of the properties of the ternary alloys of copper-manganese-zinc. Preliminary Work In a cursory survey of this system, alloys ranging from 60 to 95 per cent copper, o to 50 per cent manganese, and 5 to 40 per cent zinc were investigated. The alloys containing 60 per cent copper were found to fall into the two-phase alpha plus beta region of the system, and since those containing 70 per cent would not permit a saving, only alloys containing 65 per cent copper were considered. The tensile properties of these 65 per cent alloys are plotted in Fig. I as a function of manganese content for annealed material and for four conditions of cold-work In the annealed condition the increases in strength and decreases in elongation are minor up to 15 per cent manganese; beyond this, the changes become more significant. In the cold-worked condition, the first 5 to 10 per cent of manganese appears to have the greatest strengthening effect, the rate of increase dropping off as the manganese increases beyond this amount. These effects are more pronounced with moderate than with severe cold reduction. It is also interesting to note that while the elongation of annealed material drops regularly with increasing manganese, the elongation in the cold-worked state is relatively little affected by increasing manganese content, particu-

Jan 1, 1944

By J. R. Long, T. R. Graham

This report is concerned with part of a series of investigations carried on by the Federal Bureau of Mines on alloys, particularly nonferrous alloys, made with electrolytic manganese. A broad general program instituted after commercial quantities of electrolytic manganese became available was necessary in order to compare the effects of electrolytic manganese with those of the ordinary commercial grades. Representative analyses of these two materials show the commercial manganese metal to contain up to 2 per cent iron, a maximum of I per cent silicon and 0.06 per cent carbon, while the electrolytic manganese rarely exceeds 0.01 iron, 0.02 sulphur, with no silicon or aluminum. In the literature, the emphasis has been largely on high-strength casting alloys containing up to 5 per cent manganese, and few data are available on wrought manganese alloys. These factors, coupled with the strategic position of copper and zinc, have given impetus to the Bureau's War Research Program for the development of alloys containing nonstrategic manganese for the purpose of supplementing or providing alternates for the more strategic metals. The alloy reported here was studied, along with several other ferrous and nonferrous alloys, as possible cartridge-case material, and was chosen after a review of the properties of the ternary alloys of copper-manganese-zinc. Preliminary Work In a cursory survey of this system, alloys ranging from 60 to 95 per cent copper, o to 50 per cent manganese, and 5 to 40 per cent zinc were investigated. The alloys containing 60 per cent copper were found to fall into the two-phase alpha plus beta region of the system, and since those containing 70 per cent would not permit a saving, only alloys containing 65 per cent copper were considered. The tensile properties of these 65 per cent alloys are plotted in Fig. I as a function of manganese content for annealed material and for four conditions of cold-work In the annealed condition the increases in strength and decreases in elongation are minor up to 15 per cent manganese; beyond this, the changes become more significant. In the cold-worked condition, the first 5 to 10 per cent of manganese appears to have the greatest strengthening effect, the rate of increase dropping off as the manganese increases beyond this amount. These effects are more pronounced with moderate than with severe cold reduction. It is also interesting to note that while the elongation of annealed material drops regularly with increasing manganese, the elongation in the cold-worked state is relatively little affected by increasing manganese content, particu-

Jan 1, 1944

By A. N. Holden, W. E. Seymour

DURING the last several years, the U-Zr system has been studied at many laboratories as one of the research programs sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission. The equilibria in part of this system have been difficult to determine, although the phase diagram from 0 to 60 atomic pct Zr has been established with reasonable certainty. Existing diagrams of the system vary appreciably beyond 60 atomic pct Zr, particularly with regard to the existence of an intermediate phase. Most existing diagrams show a transformation or reaction horizontal near 600°C. In 1955, a collection of uranium phase diagrams' was prepared at the Battelle Memorial Institute and the U-Zr diagram in that collection contained a questionable region in the vicinity of 60 to 80 atomic pct Zr. Summer-Smith" has published a phase diagram of the system that shows no intermediate phase. Summer-Smith did his work with powders and found only the uranium and zirconium eutectoid mixture from X-ray patterns of material annealed below 600°C. Mueller3 at Argonne National Laboratory did similar work with filings, and he found that initially there was a pattern of an intermediate phase, but on long-time annealing

Jan 1, 1957

By George J. Bancroft

INTRODUCTION. IT is unnecessary to repeat here the contents of many valuable contributions to this subject which have appeared in the Transactions and in the publications of the U. S. Geological Survey. As a basis for the further suggestions of this paper, the following are the most important: 1. The investigation of J. R. Don,1 showing the gold of certain Australasian veins to have been deposited by ascending solutions, and not by lateral secretion. 2. The theory of Prof. Posepny,2 distinguishing the vadose from the deep circulation, and ascribing the origin of certain classes of ore-deposits to ascending solutions of the latter class. 3. The theory of Prof. Van Hise,3 as to the underground circulation and the primary enrichment of veins thereby. 4. The paper of Prof. J. F. Kemp,4 showing that ore-deposits are largely the products of " expiring vulcanism." Many of Prof. Kemp's, ideas have been widely adopted by mining men. 5. The theory of secondary enrichment, so lucidly expounded by Mr. S. F. Emmons.5 This theory, dealing with, the rearrangement of ore-bodies after primary mineralization, has been generally adopted, and seems to me to have been as completely proved as the nature of the case permits. There are two facts which I think should be constantly borne in mind in formulating a theory of the genesis of ore-

Jan 1, 1913

By Charles Hart

In this paper it is the author's intention to show the extent and character of foreign ores now known to be available; these deposits may be in active production or held in reserve until economic conditions may make them active. He hopes to show the relation existing between these ores and the American supply, and which of the former are now producing or will in turn come into production when our better ores have been exhausted. This phase of this discussion must of necessity include some data as to the present rate of consumption and a study of the changes we may expect here and abroad in the general steel trade and its sources of supply in raw materials. It is obvious that the occurrence of coal, ore and limestone in relation to one another and the proximity of a market are the elements in control of this feature of the problem. If the foregoing situation is favorable, all the other questions may be solved, for it is clear that with proper basic conditions finance, labor and operations will fall in line. We present a short outline of the present methods of carrying on the foreign iron ore trade, believing that it is of general interest in comparison with our own highly specialized methods, and that with the exhaustion of our better ores we will be compelled to seek a part of our supply abroad. A partial list of iron ores, with incomplete analyses (Table I), is added, to give a better understanding of the general situation and explain to some extent the reason for things being as they are in the iron and steel trade of the world and to help in bringing this paper to an informing conclusion. The question of the world supply of iron ores has been a subject for study on the part of geologists and engineers for many years, and found its best results in the Eleventh International Geological Congress, appropriately held at Stockholm, Sweden, in 1910. The proceedings are published in two volumes and are undoubtedly the best records available on this subject at the date of publication. It should be borne in mind, however, that much has happened in the 20 years since these figures were assembled. There is just as much known ore at present as at that time, minus the quantity consumed, plus newly discovered reserves. The World War had great effect upon this situation; during that time explorations were greatly reduced and the settlements after the

Jan 1, 1929

By R. I. Jaffee, J. G. Dunleavy, W. Hodge, H. R. Ogden

IN a search for an improved conductor for use in field wire for the L. S. Army Signal Corps, an alloy of copper and silver was developed from which it was possible to obtain 29 B & S ga. strands with tensile strengths in excess of 160,000 psi combined with an electrical conductivity of over 70 pct IACS. Such a favorable combination of strength and electrical conductivity has not been reported previously in the rather extensive literature covering this subject. The properties obtained from various binary alloys of copper and silver, together with the method of fabrication of these alloys which has been developed to obtain the properties desired in fine wire strands, are discussed in this paper. LITERATURE The effect on the electrical conductivity of copper of the various elements in solid solution is shown in Fig I, taken from published data by J. O. Linde and others.' It will be noted that silver in solid solution depresses the electrical conductivity to a lesser extent than any other element for which data are given, and is followed rather closely by cadmium, and then by chromium. Zinc, which lies between cadmium and chromium, has so high a solid solubility in copper that the data for zinc are scarcely comparable to the data for the other two in the range covered. Not many data are available on the strain hardening of copper-rich Cu-Ag alloys. Corson2 reports a 3 pct Ag alloy properly cold worked and annealed to have 100,000 psi tensile strength and 90 pct IACS conductivity. On straight cold working, Hessenbruch3 reports 101.000 psi for a 5 pct Ag, 0.3 pct Be alloy, and 129,000 psi for a 30 pct Ag, 0.5 pct Be alloy. Here it would he expected that much of the strain hardening came from the silver content of the alloys. The copper-rich side of the Cu-Ag diagram, according to Stockdale,4 is shown in the upper part of Fig 2. The electrical conductivities for copper-silver alloys annealed at 750 and 350°C, taken from the work of Johansson and Linde,5 are shown in the lower part of Fig 2. The sloping line corresponds to the conductivity of solid solutions of silver in copper, and the horizontal offshoots correspond to the conductivity of the two-phase alloys in equilibrium at the two temperatures shown. The electrical conductivities are very high, even for the 750°C anneal. The potentiality for age hardening from supersaturated alpha copper solutions appears to be excellent from the solubility line, but Smith and Lindlief6 have shown that the response to age hardening of solution-annealed alpha alloys is not good. They found that the tensile strength of a 5 pct Ag alloy aged at various temperatures was not as great as in the quenched condition, even though, anomalously, the hardness increased from RB68 to RB78 by annealing for 4 hr at 400°C after a 750°C quench. Weist7 also found that the alloys increased in hardness

Jan 1, 1948

By O. W. Simmons, L. W. Eastwood, C. M. Craighead

Eighty-four quaternary titanium-base alloys from the following systems were investigated: 1. Titanium-chromium-carbon-nitrogen. 2. Titanium-chromium-carbon with copper, vanadium, molybdenum, manganese, iron, or nickel. 3. Titanium-chromium-nitrogen with vanadium, molybdenum, or nickel. The tensile properties, minimum bend radii, hardnesses, response to heat treatment and aging treatment, and phase relationships of these alloys are reported. HIS paper is the third in a series describing J- titanium-base alloys. The first paper describingdescribed titanium binary alloys, and the second contained data on a large number of titanium ternary alloys. Eighty-four heats, comprising three groups of quaternary titanium-base alloys, are described in this paper as follows: 1. Titanium-chromium-carbon-nitrogen alloys. 2. Titanium-chromium-carbon alloys containing copper, vanadium, molybdenum, manganese, iron, or nickel. 3. Titanium-chromium-nitrogen alloys containing vanadium, molybdenum, or nickel. The methods of preparing, fabricating, and testing the alloys are described in the paper Binary Titanium Alloys. Quaternary Titanium - Chromiurn - Carbon -Nitrogen Alloys The properties of titanium-chromium-nitrogen and titanium-chromium-carbon ternary alloys have been described in the paper Ternary Alloys of Titanium. Because small amounts of nitrogen and carbon both appear to be somewhat beneficial, these additions have been investigated fairly completely in quaternary alloys containing chromium at the following levels of composition: 2.5, 3.5, and 5.0 pct chromium 0.25 and 0.5 pct carbon 0.1 and 0.2 pct nitrogen Mechanical Properties: The mechanical properties of these alloys are listed in table I. Fig. 1 and 2 show graphically a comparison of the tensile properties and hardnesses of quaternary alloys with those of the titanium-chromium binary alloys. Fig. 1 shows the comparison at 0.25 pct carbon, whereas fig. 2 shows the comparison at 0.5 pct carbon. It is concluded from these data that 0.25 pct carbon and 0.1 pct nitrogen are desirable additions to the 5 pct chromium-titanium base. It is further concluded that most of this improvement is produced by the nitrogen and that carbon is either harmless or mildly beneficial, at least up to 0.25 pct. Structure and Transformation Range: The effects of carbon and nitrogen on the transformation range of the titanium-chromium alloys were determined as part of the routine investigation. Additions of 0.25 pct carbon and 0.1 pct nitrogen had no appreciable effect upon the transformation range. However, the addition of 0.25 pct carbon and 0.2 pct nitrogen definitely raised the beta solvus temperature, as shown by fig. 3.

Jan 1, 1951

By R. F. Mehl, B. Lustman

THE formation of intermediate phase layers in cementation processes has been subjected to extensive qualitative investigation though to relatively little quantitative study; this work has recently been fully summarized by F. N. Rhines.1 It is necessary here only to enumerate the general conclusions drawn concerning the kinetic laws governing the growth of intermediate layers and to state what is known concerning the structural changes accompanying the generation of phase layers. I. When the intermediate phase is protective in type-i.e., when its density is less than that of the base metal, so that a continuous coating is formed and maintained the isothermal growth of the phase follows a simple parabolic equation: X2 = kt [I] where X is the thickness of the alloy layer, k the reaction rate constant, and t the time. The applicability of this equation to diffusion processes is tested by plotting the square of the thickness versus time, or by plotting the thickness versus the square root of time; the resultant achievement of a straight line in such. a plot has been con¬sidered sufficient proof of the validity of this equation. Exceptions have been found where liquid phases are involved in the reaction, where the diffusion layer is cracked,2 and where thin semimetallic oxide and sulphide coatings are formed on metals.3 In the first two cases the thickness increases linearly with time, and in the latter it is a logarithmic function of time. 2. The rate of thickening varies with temperature according to the Arrhenius equation k = Ae-Q/RT [2] where k is the parabolic rate constant of Eq. I, or some other rate-descriptive function, A is the action constant, e the base of natural logarithms, Q the heat of activation, R the gas constant, and T absolute temperature. This equation has been found to be generally valid except when transformations occur during reaction in either the base metal or in the reaction layer; in such instances Eq. 2 is still applicable with different values for the constants A and Q above and below the transformation temperature. 3. All phases that are stable at the temperature at which diffusion occurs will appear in the interdiffusion of two components. In some cases certain of the phases may be too thin to be observed and identified easily. Nonequilibrium phases have never been noted in thick reaction layers; i.e., layers of a thickness that may be discerned microscopically. The relative, thickness of each phase in a diffusion layer is proportional to the concentration gradient and to the rate of diffusion in that phase .4 The reaction layers tend to have a

Jan 1, 1942

By E. R. Macgregor, J. Halpern

The kinetics of the reduction of cupric salts in aqueous solution by molecular hydrogen to metallic copper are described. The rate of reduction appears to be homogeneously determined and shows a marked inverse dependence on the hydrogen-ion concentration. Precipitation of copper is more rapid and complete in sulfate than in per-chlorate solution. A mechanism is proposed which accounts for this behavior. IN recent years a number of important hydro-metallurgical processes have been developed in which metallic salts in aqueous solution are reduced by gaseous hydrogen, usually at elevated temperatures and pressures, and thereby precipitated either in metallic form (e.g. Ni, Co, Cu) or as an oxide or salt of lower valence (e.g. VO, and VA).1 ; In connection with applications such as these, most of which involve heterogeneously catalyzed reactions, recent demonstrations"-" that salts of certain metals, e.g., Cu", Ag' , Hg" , and Hg,+ can activate molecular hydrogen homogeneously and thus catalyze hydrogenation reactions in aqueous solution, are of considerable interest. For example, cupric salts catalyze the otherwise slow homogeneous reduction of dichromate and ceric salts by hydrogen, i.e. Cr,O; + 3HL. + 8H1 ? 2Cr'- -- 7H,O [1] 2Ce ' ! H.. ? 2Ce" | 2H . [2] In perchloric-acid solution, where Cu" is not appreciably complexed, the kinetics have been found" " to be of the form -d [H,] _- k,[HJ [CU"]' dt -LCu+' l+ (k ,/k,) [H] [3] where, K = 1x10"' exp [—26,600/RT] 1, mole-' min-' ... [4] and (k ,/k,) - 0.25 at 110°C. This kinetic behavior suggests that the reaction proceeds by a mechanism involving the following sequence of steps kt Cu" +H1CuH' 4-HA [51 k., CUH + CU" ? + 2Cu f H' [GI 6Cu'+ Cr,07 + 14H'+ 2Cr- (¦ 7H,O + 6Cu" ['i] fast The catalytic activities of the undissociated cupric-sulphate and cupric-acetate complexes are somewhat greater (by factors of 6.5 and 120, respectively) than that of the simple hydrated Cu" ion.'" These considerations suggest that, in contrast to the other hydrometallurgical hydrogenation reactions, referred to previously, reduction of cupric salts in aqueous solutions by molecular hydrogen, should proceed homogeneously, and in the absence of an extraneous catalyst. This has already been demonstrated" for acetate-buffered solutions where the product of the reaction is a precipitate of cuprous oxide (Cu,O). In the present paper, an investigation of the reduction of cupric salts in perchloric-acid and sulphuric-acid solutions, leading to the precipitation of metallic copper, is described. Some results for the sulphate system, which is of considerable hydrometallurgical interest, have been reported previously by Ipatieff",' " and by Schaufel-berger' but these do not give a quantitative account, of the kinetics and mechanism of the reaction. Experimental The reduction experiments were conducted in the 1-gal, titanium-lined autoclave described in connection with earlier related investigations," " and using a similar procedure. The solutions were made up by dissolving known amounts of CP grade Cu(ClO,), and HC10, (or CuSO, and HISO,) in dis-tilled water. While in the autoclave, the solution was stirred and maintained at a constant temperature (±loc) and under a constant partial pressure of hydrogen gas. It was ascertained that the agitation (provided by two 3-in., four-bladed stirrers, rotating at 900 rpm) was adequate so that at no time was the rate of reaction limited by solution of hydrogen. During each experiment, samples of the solution were withdrawn periodically, allowed to cool, and the concentration of copper remaining in solution was then determined electrolytically. Some Cu' is formed during the reaction, but undergoes disproportionation when the solution is cooled to room temperature. For purposes of kinetic calcula-

Jan 1, 1959

By Robert S. Moehlman

Is recent years, exploration and development by diamond drilling has become a popular attack on the problem of finding new ore shoots and developing extensions of known shoots. Diamond drilling has been used in recent years in extensive sampling of disseminated copper deposits, in preference to churn drilling. At the Harvard gold mine, near Jamestown, California, Philip R. Bradley, Jr., general superintendent, reports that: "The Harvard work was a singular example of the reliance that can be placed on diamond drilling in evaluating an ore body." Drilling at the Harvard mine will be discussed in a subsequent section of the paper. So popular has diamond drilling become, indeed, that many who have had slight experience with drilling are inclined to regard it as a cheap cure-all. This paper proposes to show some of the limitations on the application of drilling and some of the steps that should be followed in drilling programs to obtain reliable results. Cost oF Drilling Drilling has the advantage, over shaft sinking and drifting, of lower cost and greater speed. As compared with churn drilling, the advantage of bringing up a coherent sample instead of fine cuttings for a sample is obvious. Diamond drilling is generally more expensive, however, and more engineering effort is required in combining the average of core and sludge samples. Exploration of drift walls by hammer drills to a depth of less than 30 ft. is generally cheaper than diamond drilling, but beyond this depth the diamond drill is cheaper and more efficient. The principal factor in determining cost of drilling is the character of the ground drilled. Broken ground with many fissures is most expensive to drill. Hard ground is less of a problem with diamond drills than with ordinary machine drills. Hardness or softness affects only the speed of drilling. Caving, easily washed, sandy or clayey ground requires continual cementing and casing, which is the greatest cost problem. Thus, soft, incompetent ground is more costly to drill than hard, massive ground. Cost of drilling per foot in good to fair ground varies from less than $I per foot, achieved in some districts in Ontario, the Mother Lode, and Missouri, to $5 per foot in many western states. In bad drilling ground, costs may range from $5 to $15 or more per foot, thus approaching the cost of drifting. Other factors that increase the cost per foot are: I. Short total length of hole drilled, so that the cost of moving in crews and equipment must be spread over a relatively few feet. 2. Cost of drilling per foot increases with depth beyond about 500 ft.. as more time is consumed in pulling rods' 3. Cost of preparing drilling stations, getting air underground to stations? etc' 4. Inaccessibility and lack of water on the job make for higher costs.

Jan 1, 1946

By M. E. Wadsworth, T. D. Chatwin

The kinetics of sulfidization of hematite (Fe203) by H2S gas at various partial pressures have been determined over the temperature range of 170° to 500°C. The process was controlled by thin films of pyrite (FeS2) and troilite (FeS) which were protective and formed diffusional layers. At higher temperatures the thermodynamic drive to form FeS2 decreased, and consequently the rate of formation of FeS, decreased. Conditions for the development of thin layers of FeSz consisting of 10 to 100 atomic diameters are presented. Laboratory flotation results on synethetic ores indicate floatability identical to that of pyrite of normal xanthate flotation. The prospect of high-temperature sulfidization of metal oxides using H2S, S, or other sulfur bearing compounds is intriguing as a potential activation process for flotation since the thermodynamics are very favorable for a large number of systems. If the kinetic parameters are sufficiently well understood it may be possible to provide surface sulfide layers a few angstroms thick, thus imparting normal sulfide floatability characteristics to the oxide. For thin layers the total sulfur pick-up would be small except for very high surface area materials but in most cases this sulfur could be readily removed by roasting if necessary. The general reactions for the sul-fidization of metal oxide MxO, to a metal sulfide MpSq using H2S may be written for the three conditions py > xq; py < xq; and py = xq: A large thermodynamic advantage is obtained in many systems because of the relatively large negative free energy of formation of H,O compared to H,S. For the temperature range 2S° to 1500°C &apos; where AFOis the standard free energy and T is absolute temperature. As is evident from Eqs. 4 and 5, the free energy of formation of H ,0 is approximately 35 to 37 kilocalories per mole greater than that for H,S over broad variations of temperature. For oxide-sulfide systems as outlined above, sulfidization may be expected to occur for the conditions: Groups I and 111: that is, if the terms on the right are more negative than those on the left the reaction is expected to occur thermodynamically. The value hFg,(,) is included in Eq. 6 since hFLzs is based upon gaseous S2 rather than the normal reference state, orthorhombic sulfur. The

Jan 1, 1969

By L. B. Slichter

Prospecting is certainly the world&apos;s biggest and best gambling business. It is a game where the chips cost many thousands and where many millions, even billions, can be won. An attractive feature of this gamble is the fact that the players are free to rig the odds as favorably as possible. Only the limited bounty of nature, the restrictions of the laws of the land, the competition from other players, the limited sagacity of the player himself— only these, and other factors, restrict the possibilities for large winnings. Today probably about half the land surface of the earth remains to be searched for signs of ore visible at the surface. It is fortunate that so much land still remains for exploration by relatively economical methods. Looking to the future, it is a good guess that the costs of finding ore will increase in response to increasing technical difficulties. To continue to achieve profits from prospecting, it will become necessary to analyze the business more skillfully, in a more and more sophisticated manner. Whenever feasible, qualitative concepts must be replaced by their quantitative equivalents, improvements, and extensions. THE GAMBLE The fact that prospecting is a gambling business reminds us at once of the elementary rule known as the law of gambler&apos;s ruin. I hesitate to mention so simple a rule in this company of experts. This rule expresses the rather serious chance of going broke when the odds for success are small, merely by a normal run of bad luck regardless of the long-run expectations of gain. The only sure way of avoiding this special risk of gambler&apos;s ruin is to have enough capital, and the will, to continue the play many times and thus ride out the inevitable runs of bad luck. For example, if the probability of success is one in ten for each venture, there is a 35 pct chance that ten successive ventures will fail in a row. But if one has the capital to continue the play through a run of 100 failures, then the chance of gambler&apos;s ruin is only 5 in 100,000. Almost any management, I suppose, would be under terrific pressure to cease the play during a long run of bad luck. To continue to prospect under such circumstances requires great confidence in the premises, and a firm conviction in the long-term expectation of profit. There is evidence which I shall mention that in the future even the strongest companies may not have the necessary capital to prospect on the ideal scale. Joint ventures will be very desirable as a means for extending the available venture

Jan 1, 1961

By Harold Price

ONE year ago, that is in January, 1923, there had not been constructed a single oil-storage tank of 55,000-bbl. or more capacity with a completely electric welded roof and bottom. Today, there are at least fifty 80,000-bbl. storage tanks completed, or nearing completion, on which both the roofs and the bottoms are electric welded. It is the purpose of this paper to describe, in a general way, the construction of these FIG. 1.-ELECTRIC-WELDED SEAMS AND RIVETS OF BOTTOM IN 55,000-BBL. TANK AT EL DORADO, KANS., SHOWING ALSO PATCH PLATE WELDED TO BOTTOM. welded roofs and bottoms, and to give their advantages over riveted construction. All of the following data and conclusions were obtained from observations made during the welding of tanks by the Welding Engineering Co. at Texas City, Tex., and Tonkawa and Burbank, Okla. As far as can be determined, the first electric welding on large tankage was completed in May, 1922. At that time the Empire Companies of Bartlesville, Okla., discovered a badly leaking bottom in a 55,000-bbl. tank at El Dorado, Kans. They had considered concreting this bottom, but because of the much smaller cost, decided to try electric welding; so a- contract was given the Welding Engineering Co. of Bartlesville, Okla. In this instance, no new sheets were added, the bottom being repaired by electric welding of all seams and rivets, Fig. 1. In some places where the original rivets were missing, the holes were filled by welding; patch plates were also added at certain badly worn spots. This tank has since been in service over a year and half, but no other

Jan 6, 1924

By R. E. Cech, T. D. Tiemann

It has been shown that hydrogen may be made to serve as a rapid and eflicient reducing agent for Cu, Ni, Co, and Fe sulfides if a scavenging agent for hydrogen sulfide is intimately mixed with the sulfide particles being reduced. Accelerated reduction kinetics are demonstrated for nickel sulfide. Copper, nickel, and cobalt sulfides, when treated at certain temperatures in a combined reducing agent-scavenging agent system, are converted to voluminous masses of fibrous metal product. Studies have been carried out to determine the conditions which lead, on the one hand, to irregular poly crystalline fibers and, on the other, to long single crystal filaments a few microns in diameter. A mechanism is proposed to account for the formation of single crystal filuments. The sulfide minerals of Cu, Ni, Co, and Fe are an important source of these metals yet there has been comparatively little scientific effort devoted towards understanding reduction mechanisms of these minerals. This may be, in part, due to the fact that the most convenient reducing agents for carrying out such studies, viz., hydrogen and carbon, do not react appreciably with sulfides. We have found that the reaction of hydrogen with metal sulfides can be markedly accelerated by placing a scavenging agent for hydrogen sulfide in close proximity to the metal sulfide. A brief series of experiments demonstrating relative reduction rates is reported in this paper to illustrate the effect. With the reduction process thus accelerated we have observed an unusual type of reduction behavior on some of the sulfides investigated. Under certain conditions the metallic product of the reduction reaction takes the form of filaments growing outward from the sulfide particles. The present paper deals largely with efforts to classify the various types of growth forms observed. This study has shown that filamentary growths from sulfides take a much greater variety of forms than has heretofore been reported by Ercker,1 Hardy,2 and Nabarro and Jackson3 in their reviews of metallic growths from copper and silver sulfides. THERMODYNAMIC CONSIDERATIONS The thermodynamics for hydrogen reduction of metal sulfides is quite unfavorable. For the sulfides considered here equilibrium constants typically range from 10-3 to 10-5. These low equilibrium constants impose severe kinetic limitations on reduction since hydrogen sulfide must be transported out of the system at concentrations of only a few hundred ppm. Unless extremely high gas flow rates are employed the atmosphere surrounding any sulfide particle will always be essentially in equilibrium with the sulfide. If, however, one places an efficient scavenging agent for hydrogen sulfide in close proximity to the metal sulfide particles the concentration of H2S near the metal sulfide will be held to a very low value. This would permit the reduction reaction to proceed with little or no inhibition from a buildup of reaction product gas. It is well known that calcium oxide is capable of removing hydrogen sulfide from a hydrogen gas stream of low dew point.4 If a sufficient quantity of calcium oxide is mixed with the metal sulfide particles the reaction: CaO+H2S=CaS+ H2O [l] will substitute moisture in place of hydrogen sulfide in the gas stream and this will not affect, in a direct manner, the reaction: MeS +H2=Me + H2S [2] A convenient method of considering the thermodynamics of the combined reducing agent-scavenging agent system is to consider the atmosphere when the partial pressure of hydrogen sulfide is the same over both the metal sulfide and the scavenging agent, i.e., pH2S (1) =pH2S (2). As a consequence: pH2O (1) pH2(2) =K1K2 The chemical driving force for reduction will depend inversely upon the moisture content of the gas and will be 0 when, in the system, pH2O = pH2.K1K2. Table I lists values of the equilibrium constants for reduction and H2S scavenging reactions for a number of sulfides at several temperatures. Data are taken from Rosenqvist4,5 and Kelly.6 The equilibrium constant products calculated from this data show that the limiting level of gaseous reaction product has been increased by a factor of 10&apos; to l04 as a result of substituting a reducing agent-scavenging agent system for a simple reducing agent system. One possible side effect which must be considered is the possibility that the moisture evolved in the scavenging reaction might cause the atmosphere in the system to be sufficiently oxidizing to favor the formation of oxide rather than metal. This possibility was examined by comparing the equilibrium constant products listed in Table I with equilibrium constants for hydrogen reduction of the respective metal oxides. It was found that for copper, nickel, and cobalt the combined reduction-scavenging reactions could not develop a sufficiently high oxidizing potential in the

Jan 1, 1970

By J. E. House, J. L. Drobnick, R. R. Swanson, D. W. Agers

The paper describes an improved process for the recovery, purification, and concentration of copper values from acidic dump leach liquors. The process employs a new liquid ion exchange material (LIX® 64 reagent) capable of separating copper values from iron and other impurities common to dump leach liquors in the typical pH range of 1.4-3.0. Properties and performance of the reagent are discussed. Design scale-up information for both pilot plants and commercial installations, including preliminary economics, are presented. Economic considerations include the production of electrolytic copper from the purified copper aqueous concentrate. INTRODUCTION Since the commercial acceptance of the liquid ion exchange process in the mineral processing industry, it has been predicted that a wide selection of chemical reagents to efficiently and economically separate many metals in solution under a wide range of conditions would be commercially available. Several years ago, General Mills began a basic research and development program to determine if it were possible to develop a reagent to extract economically metallic ion from existing process streams. Progress toward reaching this objective was reported in late 1963, when development of quantities of LIX -63 reagent, a highly selective reagent for the extraction of copper, was introduced. The properties of this reagent are described in a previous paper.&apos; The development work with this reagent indicated that perhaps the largest potential application for a copper extractant, the treatment of acidic dump leach liquors, would not be economically possible with LIX-63 because of limitations of the reagent to extract copper below a pH of 3.0. The relatively small pH adjustment required with LIX-63 would result in a significant processing cost and the undesirable precipitation of ferric hydroxide from the liquor. This pointed to the need for another copper extractant which would extract copper from dump leach liquors without pH adjustment. General Mills was successful in synthesizing a molecule which does not have the pH limitation of the LIX-63, yet possesses the selectivity-solubility properties required of a metallic extractant. The resulting LIX-64 reagent broadens the pH range from which copper can be effectively extracted and separated from other metallic impurities. Of special significance is the fact that the reagent, LIX-64 was developed by combining the technical requirements of a specific problem in hydro-metallurgy with theoretical organic and physical chemical principles.

Jan 1, 1967

By W. H. Ode, W. A. Selvig

By plotting fixed carbon against British thermal units of coals free from mineral matter, and ranging in rank from anthracite to lignite, it is found that the coals of higher rank, from anthracite to the higher rank of the high-volatile bituminous coals, inclusive, can be separated into groups according to their degree of metamorphism by reference to their fixed carbon. Such charts show also that the coals lower in rank can be best separated into groups with respect to B.t.u., especially when plotted on the moist basis, that is, coal containing its natural bed moisture. A tentative scheme for coal classification was presented at the October, 1932, meeting of the Technical Committee on Scientific Classification, of the American Standards Association Sectional Committee on Coal Classification. This scheme was sponsored by Subcommittee IV on Tentative Classification of Coals, under the chairmanship of W. T. Thom, Jr. It proposed the grouping of coals according to rank by reference to fixed carbon and B.t.u., on the basis of coal containing its natural bed moisture but free from mineral matter. This scheme proposed classifying coals into four broad classes: (1) anthracitic, (2) bituminous, (3) subbituminous, (4) lignitic. The anthracitic class was divided into three groups designated as meta-anthracite, normal anthracite, and semianthracite. The bituminous class also was divided into three groups, low volatile, medium volatile, and high volatile. The high-volatile group was further subdivided into four subgroups according to moisture content, as fo1lows: (1) less than 5 per cent, (2) 5 to 10 per cent, (3) 10 to 15 per cent, and (4) 15 per cent and more. The subbituminous class was divided into two groups, group 1 including subbituminous coals having calorific values of 10,500 B.t.u. or more, and group 2 including those with less than 10,500 B.t.u. The lignitic class of coal was divided into two groups both below 8,000 B.t.u., the one group consisting of consolidated and the other of unconsolidated

Jan 1, 1934

By E. C. Truesdale, W. K. Waring

The Research,Division of The New Jersey Zinc Company (of Pa.) has conducted, over a period of years, numerous tests of the reducibility of various zinc ores and the reactivity of various kids of coal, using a number of different experimental methods. Most of these tests have involved the reduction of mixtures of ore and coal. In such cases the following simultaneous reactions are believed to be mainly responsible for the production of zinc, as was shown by Bodenstein&apos; some years ago: ZnO + CO = Zn + CO2 [i] C + COj = 2CO [2] Each of these reactions is dependent upon the other for the supply of CO and COz, respectively, and the over-all rate of formation of zinc vapor will be determined by the slower of these two reactions. An analogous pair of reactions sometimes of importance is: ZnO + He = Zn + HZO 13] C + Hz0 = CO + He U3 While it is possible to obtain an indication of the relative reducibility of various ores, or of a fine versus a coarse Ore, by testing them with a given coal, and while coal reactivities may be measured in a corresponding manner, a more direct determination of relative reaction rates is possible by carrying out the desired reactions, such as I and 2, separately and under reproducible conditions. It is one purpose of this paper to present some of the results that have been obtained by the latter method. C. G. Maier2 discusses the relative rates of reactions I and 2 and concludes that while at relatively low temperatures reaction I is faster than reaction 2, this difference becomes less with increasing temperatures, although at smelting temperatures reaction is still the faster. He also says (p. 48), "At temperatures . . . be- -tween 1100&apos; and 1300°C., . . . the zinc oxide reduction reaction is intrinsically more rapid than its physical limitations; that is, it is limited by gas diffusion rates.&apos;&apos; In the course of numerous reactivity tests involving the separate use of reactions and I and 2, we have obtained data that show by direct experiment, we believe for the first time, the correctness of Maier&apos;s statements concerning these reactions. We also include data on the relative rate of reaction 3, involving reduction by hydrogen. Finally, some interesting results obtained by carrying out the reduction of &apos; a zinc ore-coal briquet in streaming atmospheres of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and hydrogen, respectively, are presented.*

Jan 1, 1944

By Clarence Zener

IT has long been known that the density of a metal usually decreases with cold-work. Thus O&apos;Neill1 observed as early as 1861 that cold hammering of commercial hot-rolled copper is accompanied by a decrease of density of 0.2 per cent, and that subsequent annealing restores the original density. The origin of this density change, however, has remained obscure. In particular, experiment has not yet decided whether it is due to the presence of small cavities and an increase in intergranular surface or to an actual expansion of the lattice itself. This uncertainty in the origin of the change in density is a reflection of our uncertainty as to the changes induced in a metal by cold-working. One school regards cold-working as a breaking up of the original grains into a large number of perfect crystallites somewhat randomly orientated with respect to one another.2 According to this viewpoint, the mere introduction of a large intercrystallite surface induces a net volume expansion. Another school regards cold-working primarily as a distortion of the grains. It is not obvious that this second viewpoint will lead to a net volume expansion. The purpose of the present paper is to show that this is indeed the case, and that this expansion is of the right order of magnitude to explain existing experimental data. The physical basis for the association of an expansion with distortion lies essentially in the variation of the elastic moduli with volume. This variation is considerable. Thus from Table I we see that a I per cent increase in volume for the case of copper will decrease the bulk modulus K by i0 per cent, the shearing modulus µ by 3.8 per cent. If we thus twist a rod through a given angle, we shall do less work upon it if it increases slightly in volume, thereby reducing the torsion modulus that involves as a factor the shearing modulus. A general principle&apos; in physics states that the rod will so adjust itself as to have a minimum potential energy consistent with the end restraints. It will therefore expand. [ ] In order to obtain a quantitative comparison with experiment, we follow Maier4 in comparing the lattice expansion with the latent energy of cold-work. This latent energy has been measured directly by Taylor and Quinney5 on copper rods subjected to torsion, and may amount to as much as 15 per cent of the total work done upon the specimens. We shall assume that this

Jan 1, 1941

By Nicholas J. Grant, Hanna Ibach, Bill C. Giessen

The system Ta-Rh was investigated over the entire comnposition range using metallogvaphic and X-ray techniques as well as thermal analysis. Terminal solubility limits, solidus temperatures, and the crystal structures of two new intermediate phases were determined. There are five intermediate phases: o, tetragonal, isostructural with o(Fe-Cr); a1, orthorhomnbic : a2, orthorhombic, isostructural with CozSi; 0 3, a high -temperature phase of unknozun structure; and a TaRh3, cubic, AuCu3 structure. a, aL, a,, and a melt peritectically; and a TaRh, has a maximum melting point. Five peritectic and one eutectic reactions occur. THE Ta-Rh phase diagram has not been fully treated in the literature; however, two inter metallic phases have been described.&apos;-&apos; This study attempts to work out the diagram covering the details of phase boundaries as well as the crystallography of the intermediate phases. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Starting materials were tantalum powder of 99.8 pct purity, supplied by National Research Corp., Cambridge, Mass., and rhodium powder of 99.9 pct purity, supplied by Bishop Co., Malvern, Pa. Analyses as given by the manufacturers are presented in Table I. In addition to the spectroscopic analysis, an oxygen analysis has been made of the tantalum powder. After preliminary trials, the standard procedure employed in making the alloys was as follows (see Ref. 4 for further details). The powders were weighed, mixed manually, compacted under 16,000 psi, and arc-melted at not more than 500 amp under thoroughly titanium gettered welding-grade argon of 400 mm Hg pressure. The gettering process was repeated after each melt. It had been shown previously5 that under these conditions no oxygen pick-up exceeding 0.001 pct in a hafnium button could be detected. The buttons, ranging from 5 to 10 g in weight, were inverted or, if possible, crushed and remelted three times. Melting presented no difficulty, except for tantalum-rich al- loys, which showed considerable spashing during melting. The average weight loss of 1 wt pct rose to 2.5 wt pct in these cases. Subsequent melting, however, resulted in losses of less than 0.1 wt pct. The melts obtained frequently showed small in-homogeneities, mostly in the tantalum-rich part of the system below 25 at. pct Rh. This was not due to insufficient blending of the elements, but to crystallization taking place from the cooled bottom. This condition was not improved by further re-melting; therefore the following precautions were taken. Cross sections of as-cast buttons were made. For the investigation only buttons were used where these inhomogeneities did not exceed 1 at. pct (estimated from the amounts of haSeS resent). In addition, only the center portions of such buttdns were utilized to minimize errors. Smaller buttons showed smaller concentration gradients and were used as a check. Finally, all alloys were homogenized to eliminate coring (see below). After this, the error in alloy composition due to inhomogeneity was cl at. pct. In order to confirm the concentrations of the alloys and to provide an impurity check, wet-chemical analyses and oxygen-fusion analyses of four key alloys were carried out. The results, together with the concentrations as calculated with the weight balance method, are presented in Table 11. It was found that for three alloys the agreement is very good (< 0.2

Jan 1, 1964