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By C. C. Griggs

FROM its inception, a limestone quarry or mine should be under the direction of a capable engineer. Before it becomes a reality, he should outline the future results, plan the most economical methods for moving the materials and the most efficient equipment, and pilot the undertaking along the narrow pathway of success, avoiding the pitfalls of uneconomical production and the precipitous walls of scanty profits. Inspection of successful limestone properties shows that all have had difficult engineering problems, the solution of which have required keen engineering ability. In approaching a subject of this nature, it is logical to follow the progress of the limestone operation from its inception to the end, as reflecting the engineering required. There are four major divisions: Investigation, equipment, development, and operation.

Jan 2, 1925

In Table 47, tonnages shown before 1869 are estimated. After that time they are partly estimated from the total tonnage handled by the Allegheny Valley Railroad from four counties, of which this was one. Several reports to state authorities give a few figures, all probably very low, as is shown by the return in 1880 to the Secretary of Internal Affairs. [ ]

Jan 1, 1942

There are no data available of shipments until 1858, and then estimated, when railroad service became available. By reason of the iron made in the county, and the large amounts of salt, the tonnage used locally was quite large, and until 1860 these are estimated from the probable salt and iron production. After 1859 the tonnages shipped by rail are partly estimated from the total shipments of the Allegheny Valley Railroad from four counties. It is believed that the totals are below, rather than above, what the actual production was. While considerably larger for the same years than figures given by the Secretary of Internal Affairs and census reports, these data were always too low in those days, partly because of lack of facilities for gathering them, but more largely because of the strong prejudice existing in those days against furnishing such data to any governmental agencies.

Jan 1, 1942

By Gilbert H. Cody

The present article calls attention to the activities of a committee on coal research of the sister society of Economic Geologists. The field of coal geology crosses the boundary between the two societies and joint meetings are as applicable here as in the metallic and other nonfuel fields of mining and natural resources recovery. The six fields of coal geology are briefly described and some of the ways in which they touch on coal mining, preparation, and recovery briefly indicated.

Jan 2, 1950

By C. Hertzler

The difference of means of milling characteristics by rock and ore type is tested in a statistical manner in the paper. The null hypothesis being tested is that the sample means of two different populations are equal. It is assumed that the null hypothesis is true when performing the test. Because of this, acceptance of this hypothesis leads to the conclusion that the sample means of the two different populations are equal (or there is no significant difference between the sample means), not that the samples come from the same population, as the author asserts. Rejection of the null hypothesis leads to the conclusion that the sample means of the two different populations are not equal. A P value for this test is reported in Table 2 and is incorrectly identified as the probability that the two samples came from different populations. Actually, what was recorded was 100(1 - p) where p is the usual p-value. The usual p-value measures, on a scale of zero to one, the extent to which the data agree with the null hypothesis. It is the probability of observi" a value of the test statistic (Z score) that is at least as contradictory to the null hypothesis as the one computed from the sample data (McClave and Dietrich 11, 1982). The author makes no mention of the fact that were these tests to be conducted together, the chances of determining that the null hypothesis is not true when it is really true are increased considerably (Snedecor and Cochran, 1980). This is a multiple comparisons problem and should be dealt with accordingly. The usual methods involve adjusting the level of the individual tests. Table 2 reports an incorrect 100(1 - p) value in the comparison of concentrate grades for other rock types with .30 to .69% Cu vs other rock types with .70 + % Cu; 86% should be 98.6%. Although the article can be criticized for poor data presentation and discussion of that data, the point the author makes regarding the use of these statistics in the ore reserve estimation process is well taken. It does not appear that inaccuracies in the statistical interpretations have hindered that usefulness.

Jan 1, 1985

By Gordon B. French

Occidental's in situ retorting process for oil shale has many advantages over the conventional, underground mine and surface retort. Only a portion of the oil shale is mined and transported outside where it blends with the oil-shale talus found in the area. Spent shale is retained underground without surface disposal problems. The process consumes no water from outside sources. Noise and dust levels are kept at a minimum. As many of the facilities as possible are located underground. More oil is produced from a given area than conventional surface processing. Additional energy can be recovered by using conventional turbines to generate electrical power of magnitude of three to four times required by the operation.

Jan 1, 1977

The only real data available begin in 1873. The total figures are all estimated from these. [ ]

Jan 1, 1942

Little coal has been produced in this county, the totals being estimated from the meager data. [ ]

Jan 1, 1942

No production data are available earlier than 1866, and only a few after that time. The tonnages shown in Table 41 are estimated. [ ]

Jan 1, 1942

By R. B. Strathmore Cooke, Eugene L. Talbot

The perfluoro acids and derivatives show unusual surface-active properties that qualify them as possible flotation reagents. They lower the surface tension of water from 15 to 20 dynes below that obtainable with the corresponding hydrocarbon compounds. Fluorochemicals adsorb very strongly on solid surfaces to give films that exhibit larger contact angles than films of the corresponding hydro-carbons. The large contact angles probably result from the terminal –CF3 group. The perfluoro acids are made by electrolysis of the corresponding carboxylic acid in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride. From the perfluoro acids many derivatives may be obtained, such as amides, amines, alcohols, xanthates, ethers and esters and others.

Nov 1, 1955

By C. L. Warwick, A. B. Parsons

The papers and discussion appearing in this volume were presented at a symposium jointly sponsored by the American Society for Testing Materials and the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and held at Philadelphia, Pa., November 29, 30, and December 1, 1944. Late in January, 1944, Lieut. Col. C. H. Greenall, Officer-in-Charge of the Laboratory Division, Frankford Arsenal, Ordnance Department, U.S.A., suggested to the American Society for Testing Materials that it might be a propitious time to arrange for a symposium on stress-corrosion cracking at the Annual Meeting of the Society in June, and agreed to make available a number of papers relating to work being carried out at that Arsenal. The Society's Committee B-5 on Copper and Copper Alloys, Cast and Wrought expressed keen interest in the symposium, and other Society committees were contacted and agreed to cooperate. Since the subject is one of primary interest also to the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, it was arranged that the two organizations would jointly sponsor the symposium. A Symposium Committee was formed under the joint leadership, for A.S.T.M., of Carter S. Cole, then Chief of the Metals Branch, Conservation Division, War Production Board and now Engineer on the Headquarters Staff of the Society; and, for A.I.M.E., of E. A. Anderson, Chief of Metals Section, Research Division, New Jersey Zinc Co. (of Pa.) and chairman of the Program Committee of the Institute of Metals Division. The Symposium Committee was constituted as follows:

Jan 1, 1945

By Leon Y. Sadler, E. K. Landis

Froth flotation has been described by several authors" as being analogous to a first-order rate process. Although a few investigators"," have found orders other than one fit their data best, the rate is described most often by the first-order equation, [ ] where r is rate of disappearance of floatable mineral by flotation, C(t) is concentration of floatable mineral in the cell, t is time, and k is first-order flotation rate constant. One of the difficulties in using this rate equation to develop a mathematical description of an actual flotation process is the determination of a suitable value of the constant k. The value of k, which reflects the floatability of the floatable mineral, is dependent on the hydrodynamic conditions in the cell, type and concentration of flotation reagents used, pulp density, and pH, method of froth removal, aeration rate, particle characteristics, and many other factors. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that each particle of floatable material has a distinct value of k and that a unique distribution of k values exists for given feed and cell conditions. This has been observed and discussed by several investigators, and mathematical descriptions of the batch cell and steady-state continuous cell with distributed flotation rate constant have been developed." The mathematical description in the form of a transfer function of the continuous or flow cell under unsteady-state conditions with a distributed flotation rate constant has not been presented in the literature. The purpose of this note is to make such a presentation. The basic features of the perfectly mixed continuous

Jan 1, 1974

By A. J. Brown

I HEREWITH send to the Institute a sample of Pancake coal. It is rather early yet to make any estimate of the future value of the discovery; but it is certainly the most promising vein of coal yet discovered in the State of Nevada, and, I believe, the first true coal found west of the Rocky Mountains, or perhaps west of the Missouri River, unless some of the Utah coals belong to the coal measures of the Carboniferous age. The Pancake vein certainly belongs

Jan 1, 1875

MILNOR ROBERTS,* Seattle, Wash. (written discussion?).-The coal fields of Washington, on which Mr. F. A. Hill's paper gives much detailed information, lie on the western slope of the Cascade Range, which extends north and south through the State just west of its center. The mines are on the lower half of the slope, the lignite fields of Lewis and Thurston Counties extending into valleys and low hills west of the mountains. An exception is to be noted in the case of the Roslyn field, a small but important area which lies on the eastern slope.

Jan 11, 1918

By A. U. Seybol

Eight binary iron alloys were examined after ion nitriding experiments to determine the behavior of the following elements: Al, Mo, Mn, Si, Ti, V,Cr, and C. Only Al, Cr, Ti, and V additions caused hardening in binary iron alloys. A few steels were examined to see the effect of Cr, Cr + Al, Cr + Ti, and Cr + V. It is suggested that a useful new class of ni-triding grade steels might be those containing about I pct V. The nitriding of steel, first described by Fry1 about 45 years ago, rapidly attained commercial application with very little knowledge of the fundamentals involved. While Fry,' in describing the status of nitriding in 1932, apparently correctly postulated hardening by precipitated nitrides, the details of the nitriding process were not understood, nor has the situation changed much since that time. It is also interesting to note that the compositions of some typical nitriding steels given by Fry at that time have changed little in the intervening years. Currently used nitriding steels owe their surface hardening to either chromium (as in 4340 steel) or aluminum plus chromium as in the Nitralloy grades, where both CrN and AlN appear to contribute to harden ing. Titanium additions have been studied experimentally, but thus far titanium steels have not won wide commercial acceptance. This subject will be expanded later. The orthodox ammonia nitriding process has been reviewed very adequately many times as in Jenkins3 and Case and VanHorn,4 and their is no need to outline the process here. Ion nitriding is not as well-known, although there have been several descriptions5-9 of the process given, sometimes with comparisons with the ammonia process. Most of these papers are primarily concerned with a description of the equipment, or of the physics or electrical engineering aspects of ion nitriding, but Noren and Kindbom9 gave the results of a metallurgical investigation using both processes. In brief, ion nitriding is carried out in a vacuum chamber from which the air is exhausted and replaced by a N2-H2 mixture, typically containing 10 to 20 pct N2, at about 5 to 10 torr pressure. While ammonia gas has also been used in ion nitriding, there is no evidence that ammonia makes any improvement in the ion nitriding process. A few hundred volts dc is applied between the grounded container wall (positive) and an insulated center post supporting the work (negative) to be nitrided. A glow discharge is created in the ionized gas, accelerating positive nitrogen ions to the work. These ions contain enough energy to form the normally unstable Fe4N "white layer", thus establish- ing surface nitrogen solubility characteristic of the a Fe/Fe4N equilibrium. This creates a substantial concentration gradient, driving dissolved nitrogen into the steel. The temperature employed is in the same range (around 500" to 550°C) as in ammonia nitriding, but because of factors which are not understood at present the nitriding time is ordinarily considerably reduced in ion nitriding. Other advantages have been cited,9 but it is not the purpose of the present work to contrast the two processes. The present objective was to examine the behavior of binary iron alloys during ion nitriding with respect to the microstructure, hardness level, and depth, and to examine some of these factors in steels as well. In this way it was hoped to be able to find out something about the individual role of these elements in steels. While all the work was done by ion nitriding, there seems to be no reason why any conclusions reached would not equally apply to ammonia nitriding, excepting only the kinetic aspects of the process. Another objective was an exploration of the critical-ity of the ion nitriding variables: gas composition, pressure, temperature, and time. EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS The equipment used was substantially as described by Jones and Martin.8 The vacuum tank was about 12 in. in diam by about 18 in. high, and consisted of water-cooled stainless steel, with a single small window at the top for viewing inside. This sat on a heavy mild steel base equipped with the main pumping port, pressure control port, and vacuum gaging. A series of variable resistances was interposed between the glow discharge and a large-capacity -40 amp variable primary transformer feeding a 1000-v transformer, but 600 v were about the maximum ordinarily used. With the small l-in.-round, 4-in.-thick discs used for nitriding, the electrical load was usually about 500 v at 0.8 amp. The specimen temperature was controlled by a stainless-steel sheathed chromel-alumel couple, whose junction was in the steel stool upon which the flat discs were placed. These were ground through 400 Sic paper. Cycling of the temperature controller caused -0.2 amp variation in ion current, providing an ample control band. The binary iron alloys were made from vacuum-melted hydrogen-deoxidized electrolytic iron and alloys of 99.9 pct purity. Cast ll-lb-square tapered ingots were forged and hot-rolled to about 11/4-in.-diam rounds. Discs of 1/4 in. thickness by about 1 in. diam were machined from the rods for nitriding specimens. The following alloys were prepared: 1 pct each of Mn, Mo, Cr, Ti, Al, V, Si, and an Fe-0.8 pct C alloy. EXPERIMENTAL VARIABLES Of the variables total gas pressure, nitrogen partial pressure, temperature, and time, only nitrogen partial pressure was found to be critical to the operation. A critical nitrogen partial pressure was found corre-

Jan 1, 1970

By J. A. Dresser

The controlling supply of asbestos for the world is obtained from southern Quebec, 150 miles or less north of the international boundary line between Canada and the United States, and about 75 miles south of the city of Quebec.

Jan 1, 1915

By R. S. Shrode

By now most readers of this column are aware that it no longer has a regular editor. Tom Murphy, who did the job so well, has had to bow out because of his duties in Australia---duties that keep him from the luxuries of such things as typists and typewriters for rather extended periods of time. We will miss his regular contributions but hope and expect to hear from him as a guest columnist from time to time. Finding an editor to function on a regular basis turns out to be no simple task. This does not mean that there may not be candidates around who would secretly enjoy having their arm twisted into a "yes" position, but at the moment none has been found. Anyway, at the Salt Lake City business meeting it was agreed that we should try to spread the load around. To that end, the Regional Vice Chairmen were specifically singled out as one potential source of contributions. These fellows should have an opportunity for a hearing during their term in office. The existing organizational set-up of the IndMD Division may be a little unfair to this group of officers. The limited responsibility outlined in our Manual of Official Duties and Responsibilities does not offer them much chance for self-expression. Probably the by-laws were written so as to have a geographic representation of membership in case it should be needed at some time. But that is another subject. The point is that now these regional officers have an opportunity to speak out on topics of their own choosing through this column. Some have already done just that. There are also other potential contributors to the column. One is the Secretary, who twice a year uses the column for distributing the minutes of our business meeting to the members. Another is the outgoing Division Chairman. In Salt Lake City, it was decided that this officer should be challenged to contribute something each year as a means of reviewing events of the past year or explaining what should have happened but didn't. I am, therefore, trying to accept that challenge.

Jan 1, 1970

By Charles Meyer

The year 1955 was a busy one for mining geologists, for the expanding world-wide business activity kept the demand for mining products generally high, stimulating operators to develop local ore reserves and to expand their efforts to find new deposits. The uranium rush was still on, although probably past its maximum rate of climb. Prospecting was also stimulated by the increasing demand for rare metals, and this created new and fascinating targets for exploration. On the whole, it was a boom year when the prospector's chronic optimism found few repressions.

Feb 1, 1956

By Ernest Robinson

SINCE the early nineties, there has been a persistent belief in some minds that petroleum in commercial quantities exists in Montana. It is, however, only comparatively recently that commercial produc-tion has been secured. . The earliest deep boring in the plains region of Montana was made in what is now Blaine County, in 1890, by the town of Chinook in an effort to secure artesian water. The well reached a depth of 956 ft. without developing an adequate supply of fresh water, but the drillers reported shows of oil and gas. In 1892, the Quartermaster's Depart-ment of the U. S. Army drilled a hole at Fort Assini-boine, northwest of the Bearpaw Mountains, in essentially flat-lying sediments to secure water for the military establishment. This well reached a depth of 1500 ft. and shows of oil and gas were reported. In 1903 and 1904, two wells were drilled within what is now the Glacier National Park in an effort to develop oil production. Shows of oil and gas were encountered at several horizons but no commercial production was brought in. The extraordinary geological conditions in the area where these wells were drilled should be mentioned. The thrusts from the southwest which, in other places along the Rocky Mountain front, resulted in folding, here developed the great Lewis overthrust fault. It is in fact largely to this fault that the magnificent scenery of the Glacier Park is due. A great thickness of Algonkian strata belonging to the Belt series was thrust northeastward over the upper Cretaceous sediments. The derricks under which the wells referred to were drilled were in moun-tains composed of very old rocks but the holes were drilled through Cretaceous sediments.

Jan 7, 1923

By Ta M. Li

A record 340 senior students with majors in mining and mineral engineering from 21 shcools in the US may be expected to enter a manpower-hungry mineral industry in 1975. While starting salaries may have been the deciding factor in job selection in the past, 1975 graduates will find salaries almost the same in most mining sectors. Meanwhile, the survival prospects of various mineral engineering schools had the usual ups and downs in 1974, but tightening state budgets could still take a toll in reducing the number of schools offering mineral engineering degrees. Two such schools on the endangered list include Montana College of Mineral Science in Butte, Mont., and the College of Mines, University of Idaho, in Moscow, Idaho.

Jan 3, 1975