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By W. A., Wasley

THE EL TIGRE MINE is a highgrade silver and gold producer located in the northern part of Sonora, Mexico. It has been worked continuously since 1903, producing 50,000.000 oz. of silver and returning handsome dividends. During 1930 and 1931 falling silver prices compelled the Tigre company to make representations before the Department of Labor in Mexico City showing the necessity for drastic reductions in wages and personnel. The delays in obtaining permission from the Federal Labor Board to make these readjustments caused the company to suffer considerable financial loss during those years. After the reduction in operations was finally effected, the Sonora state government headed by Señor Francisco Elias (former Governor, now Secretary of Agriculture) and Señor Rodolfo Elias Calles (present Governor and eldest son of Señor Plutarco Elias Calles, recently Secretary of War and former President of Mexico) have cooperated with the company to make continued operation possible by revising downward certain state taxes that would have been a factor in forcing the closing of this mine. Also, permission to change our workmen over to another system of mining was essential to continued operation.

Jan 1, 1933

By Carl Henrich

In the planning and erection of smelting-works, especially of such as contain the modern large water-jacketed blast-furnaces, we are often confronted with an insufficiency in the watersupply. It may be impossible to find in the immediate neighborhood of the selected site a sufficient supply to furnish the jackets with cold water. Or there may be enough water for this purpose, but it may be highly charged with scale-forming minerals held in solution. Or, the main water-supply, if pumped from the workings of a mine, may carry iron- or copper-salts, or even some free acid in solution, all of these substances being derivable from the oxidation of sulphuret-ores in the mine. Moreover, such mine-waters sometimes contaminate the waters of the creeks, so that these become unavailable, and we have to fall back on an inadequate supply of pure water furnished by some spring or springs, entirely too small in

Jan 1, 1896

By Jack D. Arthur

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, as amended, and related regulations take blasting safety into consideration by requiring compliance with existing state and federal laws. The regulations are based on blasting practices developed by the industry, as well as research and experimentation by the US Bureau of Mines and explosive manufacturers. Residential areas in the proximity of surface mines have made it mandatory that blasting operations be conducted under restrictions and requirements designed to protect the public and structures located within 0.8 km (0.5 mile) of any surface blasting activities. Restrictions against blasting apply where dwellings, schools, churches, hospitals, or nursing facilities are within 305 m (1000 ft) of blasting operations. They also apply where wells, petroleum or gas storage facilities, municipal water storage facilities, fluid transmission pipelines, gas or oil collection lines, and sewage lines are within 152 in (500 ft) of blasting operations.

Jan 11, 1979

PAST PRESIDENT WILLIS MCGERALD PEIRCE New York City PRESIDENT-ELECT AND TREASURER ANDREW FLETCHER New York City VICE-PRESIDENTS O B J FRASER, New York City J B MORROW,' Pittsburgh, Pa. J L GILLSON, Wilmington, Del L F REINARTZ, Middletown, O PHILIP KRAFT, New York City W THOMAS,' Tucson, Ariz.

Jan 1, 1952

By Robert T. DeGavre

The $650 million financing for Into Ltd.'s Soroako nickel project is a story worth telling-not only because the project itself represents a significant achievement but also because there are certain important lessons that can be derived from our experience in financing the project. A critical appraisal of the methods and successes in the financing plan is presented in this article, in light of goals which Inco sought to achieve. A technical assessment of the project is not included, since Inco Ltd. has submitted a series of papers on this subject at the International Laterite Symposium as part of the 108th Annual Meeting of AIME in February 1979. Progress in developing and financing the project is encapsulated in the accompanying project factsheet.

Jan 3, 1979

By J. G. Thompson

IRON, iron everywhere, but hardly a particle of pure unadulterated iron for the metallurgist to use as a base for the protean characteristics that he develops in the alloys of iron-the modern steels. Iron, next to aluminum the most abundant metal in the crust of the earth; one of the oldest metals known to man and serving him as the most indispensable metal in both war and peace; yet man's knowledge of its properties is based on specimens that are not pure and hence probably differ considerably in their properties from the truly pure metal. Purification of iron has brought about startling changes in its electrical and magnetic properties and has modified its behavior in changing its crystal form with temperature, the basis of the heat-treatment of iron. So both the research metallurgist and the metallurgist of the steel plant are intrigued by the possibilities that might unfold were 100 per cent pure iron available in sufficient quantities to determine its properties.

Jan 1, 1940

By Arthur F. Taggart

PROGRESS in a technical art is of several kinds. It springs .from many diverse sources. It comprises invention, mechanical improvement, operating advance, analytical study, education. Invention is, by definition, a relatively great, essentially individual step, taken quickly. Operating advance is the slow, cumulated march of practice; in contrast, it moves at the pace of the tortoise, but over, the years its effects rival and, in some cases, surpass those of invention. Mechanical improvement- is a usual concomitant of the reduction of invention. to operating practice; thereafter it is a primary tool of operating advance. Analytical study is the process of mental digestion of the fruits of invention and practice. Its purpose is to render these into a form assimilable by the art as a whole, and by the perennial crop of would be practitioners. Education, disseminating the results of such study, consolidates and maintains the positions gained. Thus, slowly at first, but continuously accelerating, the tide of progress grows- to flood. Such growth, in mathematical parlance, is expressible in the general form y = mxn, where x is time, n is some positive number greater than one, m is another positive number, and y is the state of the action at instant x. When n is 2, the readers will recognize the graph of the equation as one branch of the familiar square parabola, whose property it is to become parallel to the y-axis; i.e., to move at an infinite rate, in that never-never

Jan 1, 1947

By Paul Sterling

The general impression regarding the preparation of merchantable anthracite is that it is confined to a colossal, grimy structure, called a " coal-breaker." This name is a misnomer; for the desired result is not to break the coal, but to prevent its being broken. Preparation may be said to begin at the face of the chamber, with the mining and loading of the coal. Local conditions vary, not only ill the same field or basin, but also in the same mine, so that there is no fixed empirical rule governing the method of blasting or cutting coal. Tests should be made, when possible, to determine the explosive, or the mechanical coal-cutter, which will produce the largest percentage of what are locally known as " lump " and " prepared sizes " of anthracite. The prepared sizes are those mostly consumed for clomestic purposes. All other sizes might be called by-products of the anthracite industry; for they are not especially desirable, being the degradation resulting from the mining and handling of a brittle or laminated material. Being low in volatile combustible matter, anthracite burns most successfully when nearly of a uniform size, permitting the easy passage of air through the voids. This accounts for the large number of sizes into which the coal is separated. Table I. gives the various sizes, the diameter of ring over and through which each size is made, and the usual purpose for which it is employed.

Jan 1, 1912

By Robert J. Ramsey, Robert D. Jeppson

Introduction The Utah Copper Division of Kennecott Copper Corporation will present its contribution to the A. M. Gaudin Flotation Symposium in four parts. The first two segments will discuss briefly the historical development of the Utah Copper Division and describe the ore body. The third segment will review the facilities and operating procedures for the Utah Copper division's newest plant, the Bonneville Concentrator. The fourth segment describes flotation process circuitry, including molybdenite recovery procedures, at the Arthur and Magna concentrators. (The Bonneville concentrator is a crushing and grinding unit and does not have its own flotation plant). I. Historical Development Progress through change has been the key to the successful operation of the Utah Copper Division for more than 70 years. As the original low-grade copper operation, the pressures to remain competitive and profitable have dictated the timing and extent of each change. Much of the change has occurred through technological and economic advancements in the area of ore concentration. The Utah Copper Division of Kennecott Copper Corporation had its origin June 4, 1903, when the Utah Copper Company was organized. The initial mill of 300 tpd (tons per day) capacity was built at Copperton a few miles below the present Bingham Canyon mine site. From 1904 to 1910, the Copperton mill was expanded to a capacity of 1,000 tpd, and all of the known apparatus for gravity concentration were evaluated.

Jan 1, 1976

By R. Neilson Clark

THE coal-beds of Canyon City are situated six miles below the town, upon the Arkansas River. At this point the Rocky Mountains have thrown out from their main ridge two spurs. The one to the north, containing Pike's Peak and Cheyenne Mountain, is known as part of the "Rim Range;" the one to the west and south is known as the "Greenhorn Range." Against these syenitic mountains, the later rocks are piled and uplifted ; at right angles to the direction of this main uplift is the axis of a lesser plication. On the north, west, and south, the pitch is steep, gradually flattening as it approaches the centre of the basin and rising again to the east at a pitch of about 5", thus forming a perfect basin, the centre of which is only three miles east of the base of the Greenhorn Range.

By Otto Henry

THE purpose of this investigation was to determine the equilibrium diagram of the lithium-magnesium pair as a first step in studying the possible usefulness of these alloys as ultra-light structural materials. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE The behavior of lithium towards magnesium was first investigated by Masing and Tammann.(I)? In order to prevent oxidation the alloys were made in iron tubes under an atmosphere of hydrogen; temperatures were measured with a glass-protected thermocouple. These investigators found that lithium and magnesium form two series of solid solutions separated by a miscibility gap between 85 and 95 per cent magnesium; that the alloys with 81 and 95 per cent magnesium showed a homogeneous structure under microscopic examination, while the alloy with 89 per cent magnesium contained two distinguishable crystallites; that the curve indicating the beginning of crystallization rises from the melting point of lithium to that of magnesium; and that no compounds of lithium and magnesium are formed. The equilibrium diagram was not plotted because no definite data were obtained for determining the solidus and the posi-tion of the miscibility gap in the solid state. The difficulties encountered in this investigation were: (1) that it was necessary to heat them as high as the melting point of magnesium in order to obtain homogeneous melts; at such temperatures the alloys attacked the glass protecting the thermo-couple; and (2) that at temperatures above 400° C. the lithium united

Jan 1, 1934

By A. A. Steel

DUring the summer of 1905 I was employed by the U. S. Geological Survey to investigate the geology, mining, and preparation of barite in most of the fields of the United States. The Eastern districts have been more or less completely described; the Virginia field in detail by Thomas L. Watson, in his paper, Geology of the Virginia Barite-Deposits,' and other fields in abstract, including statistics of production and references to current literature, by various authors.2 There have also been published a few details of the occurrence of barite in the lead-mines of Washington county, Mo.³ The other accounts of this district are erroneous and meager, and since this field is the most important one in the United States at the present time, a detailed description of the local geology seems doubly desirable. Barite-deposits are scattered over nearly the whole of Washington and adjoining counties, but the product is all mined from the areas indicated upon the sketch-map, Fig. 1, and is shipped from the stations of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railway, between Blackwell and Potosi, from 45 to 60 miles SW. of St. Louis. The topography is for the most part gently rolling, with slightly graded streams, usually less than 200 ft. below the higher hill-tops. Along Mineral fork and Indian creek are some steep bluffs and cliffs, affording good exposures of the

Jan 1, 1910

By T. E. SCHTVARZ

THE publication of the report by Mr. F. L. Ransome was welcomed by many engineers who had mined in the heart of the Sail Juan country, braved its long and snowy winters, climbed its lofty peaks, run the gauntlet of its snow-slides, and studied its problems of geology, while making dividends for their English or American clients. This report helps one to understand why the bonanzas occurred, and why the inevitable borrasca presents itself where least expected. The Red Mountain district of Ouray county, a very productive section from 1884 to 1893, occupies considerable space in the report mentioned.. The character of the ore-occurrence, being distinctive and presenting many features not existing elsewhere, has been deserving of special study. It is to be regretted that Mr. Ransome was .unable to observe the conditions underground, as all the principal properties, many of which I opened and developed, were closed at the time of his investigation: It has been my privilege to have contributed a few brief papers recording my observations in developing these properties ; and it is the object of the present paper to present certain sections of the Yankee Girl mine, which throw additional light on the geology of the section and make the available data more complete. The main Yankee Girl chimney or " stock" was the most productive for the first 500 ft. in depth of any chimney in the district.

Mar 1, 1905

By Arthur Knapp

The practical application of mud-laden fluids in wells has been the subject of many papers.' However, there seems to have been little investigation of what actually happens when mud-laden fluids are applied to a loose porous sand. The assumption is that the fluids penetrate the sands and that there is some plastering action. The degree of penetration and the relation of plastering action to wall stability is not generally known. This paper describes a series of experiments made in an attempt to observe, in laboratory apparatus, the action of mud-laden fluids under conditions simulating those to be found in a well. For the purposes of this discussion all fluids containing solid matter in suspension are mud-laden fluids. Series I: Penetration of the Pores of Uncemented Sands The subject of the penetration of porous formations by water is discussed in detail in Water-Supply Paper No. 67 of the U. S. Geological Survey. No attempt was made to repeat the experiments described therein. The results of the first experiment of this series are given simply to show the capacity of the apparatus used. The conditions in this first experiment were maintained throughout the remainder of this and the second series, except where noted. The experiments of Mills, McCoy, and others on subsurface flows, adjustments, migrations, etc., deal with the oil, water or gas within the porous beds.V he experiments described herein deal with the conditions immediately surrounding the bore hole.

Jan 1, 1923

By Arthur Knapp

The practical application of mud-laden fluids in wells has been the subject of many papers.' However, there seems to have been little investigation of what actually happens when mud-laden fluids are applied to a loose porous sand. The assumption is that the fluids penetrate the sands and that there is some plastering action. The degree of penetration and the relation of plastering action to wall stability is not generally known. This paper describes a series of experiments made in an attempt to observe, in laboratory apparatus, the action of mud-laden fluids under conditions simulating those to be found in a well. For the purposes of this discussion all fluids containing solid matter in suspension are mud-laden fluids. Series I: Penetration of the Pores of Uncemented Sands The subject of the penetration of porous formations by water is discussed in detail in Water-Supply Paper No. 67 of the U. S. Geological Survey. No attempt was made to repeat the experiments described therein. The results of the first experiment of this series are given simply to show the capacity of the apparatus used. The conditions in this first experiment were maintained throughout the remainder of this and the second series, except where noted. The experiments of Mills, McCoy, and others on subsurface flows, adjustments, migrations, etc., deal with the oil, water or gas within the porous beds.V he experiments described herein deal with the conditions immediately surrounding the bore hole.

Jan 1, 1923

By John V. Beall

Tsumeb has added a chapter to its absorbing history with the beginning of copper smelting operations this month. This development will be followed shortly by another one when lead smelting and refining plants go on the line next year. In our own milieu these events would be common- place enough (although a new lead smelter certainly would be cause for wonder), but in the sparsely settled remote regions of northern South West Africa they are a dramatic industrial expansion. They are also, however, a sound businesslike extension of policies which have marked the tenure of Tsumeb Corp. Ltd. The historical data given in Table I are a drab listing of factual bones without the corporeal splendor which should surround the denouement of the Tsumeb bonanza. When Sir Francis Galton traversed the country, his was an expedition which was in keeping with the then blooming era of heroic explorations. The Otavi highlands in the interior were unexplored and the reception of the natives uncertain. While the exploratory work was in progress during the turn of the century the Hottentots and Hereros were successively in open bloody rebellion. The suppression of these uprisings, particularly the Hereros, by German soldiers so decimated the tribes that a labor shortage ensued for many years, hampering the development of the colony. To these troubles may be added difficulties In obtaining mining supplies. However, there should have been no shortage of meat from wild game judging by conditions prevailing even today.

Jan 12, 1962

By Frank R. Van Horn

In the summer of 1908, R. B. Cochran, Superintendent of the Compania Metalurgica Mexicana at Sierra Mojada, Mexico, presented to the Department of Geology and Mineralogy at Case School of Applied Science an interesting series of silver-, copper-, and lead-ores from the Veta Rica mine. These ores contained several interesting minerals which were associated in a somewhat peculiar manner, so that I was impelled to make a closer study of their occurrence. The investigation has brought out several new facts concerning the geology of the district and the geological occurrence of the ores, and therefore has seemed worthy of record. Two papers have been published previously about the region, one by Chisml in 1887, and the other by Malcolmson² in 1902. These articles, however, treat of the district more from the stand-point of the metallurgist and mining engineer, and not much attention is devoted to its mineralogy and economic geology. 11. Geographical Location of the District. The Sierra Mojada is situated in the extreme western part of the State of Coahuila, near the Chihuahua boundary. It is reached best via the Mexican Central railroad from El Paso, Tex., to Escalon, Chihuahua, a distance of 494 miles. From this point, a branch line, the Mexican Northern railroad, runs 78 miles in a NE. direction to the mines, which are its northern terminus. The railroad was built about 1890, practically on account of the Sierra Mojada mining-district.

Jan 1, 1913

By W. R. Ingalls

IN THE years immediately preceding 1914, the American people earned an aggregate income of 33 to 34 billion dollars, of which they saved about five billion, the annual saving being expressed mainly in the form of houses and railway extensions; to a less extent in public utilities, public improvements, factories and mines; and to a very small extent in foreign investments. It appeared needful that we should save and invest annually in these ways about 15 per cent. of our aggregate income in order to keep the development of our plant, so to speak, ahead of our steadily growing needs. The common knowledge that at present our housing and railway facilities are inadequate suggests immedi-ately that we have been running behind the pre-war ratio of reinvestment. Since 1919, we have not had any carefully prepared, authoritative estimates of the national annual income. However, with some experience in this subject, I have ventured to make rough estimates, which rest on solid foundations, although some rather empirical develop-ments are involved. Such estimates would be consid-ered good work in this field if they fell within limits of 10 per cent., plus or minus. Even so, these data are more useful when quickly available than more accurate data that are belated; for recognizing that there is a margin of error we can at least get a reasonable and approximate idea of how things are going.

Jan 2, 1923

By John Wellington Finch

WHAT is an engineering opportunity? To the mining .engineer the natural assumption is that the first requisite 'is a mineral deposit, but, of course, it is not so simple as that. There are at various points on the earth really very great mineral deposits which, on account of geographic location, backwardness of the country, or hostility of its natives, are now, and for a long time to come will be, quite valueless. The mining engineer, and for that matter the civil engineer, is more dependent upon the decisions of capital than upon any other factor in his profession. Ordinarily it is to be assumed that money will go to any place where it is clear that an adequate return upon its investment can be secured, but for many years it has not been safe to depend upon this. ' As already stated, there are many places where local conditions are such that mining is not safe to engage in and there are still other places in which conditions have been so aggravated by the Great War and by the social unrest which has upset the Asiatic region that capital is naturally most reluctant to venture, even when engineering data makes the undertaking appear attractive. It will be evident, I. believe, that there are many factors vital to the success of a mining enterprise in some of the remote countries which we do not have to consider in the United States and which do not, in fact, exist here.

Jan 1, 1924

By T. Egleston

The Boston and Colorado Smelting Works are situated in the town of Black Hawk, Gilpin County, Colorado, on the Clear Creek Narrow Gauge Railway, 55 miles from Denver, in the Rocky Mountains, at an altitude of 7800 feet. It was one of the first works erected for the metallurgical treatment of gold ores, and the only one established in Colorado on a large scale which has been uniformly successful. Both gold and silver ores are treated, and gold, silver, and copper produced. The lead is not separated from the ores nor paid for, if it exists, and is entirely lost in the residues. The works were planned and built by Professor Hill, formerly Professor of Chemistry in Brown University, Providence, R. I., and is still managed by him, assisted by Mr. Richard Pearce, formerly professor in the School of Mines at Truro, England. They are very advantageously situated with regard to the ore-producing regions, having Boulder County on the north, which produces, besides ordinary gold ores, a series of tellurium minerals, such as altaite, sylvanite, and hessite, which are very rich in gold and silver. They are associated with copper and iron pyrites, blende, galena, and the carbonate and oxides of iron. Gilpin County itself produces for the most part the pyrites of iron and copper rich in gold, with a small quantity of galena and blende, which is rich in silver. In