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By S. Frederick Ravitz

JUDGING from the inquiries that are constantly being received by the Utah Engineering Experiment Station as to the "Why," so to speak, of the flotation process of concentrating minerals, it occurred to me that perhaps a brief statement of the more important theories might interest those who have not followed the technical literature. Like many other industrial processes, flotation has hitherto been developed on an almost purely empirical basis, with relatively little practical contribution from the fundamental chemistry and physics on which the phenomena are based. In fact, its development by the trial - and - error method has been perfected to such a high state that it is becoming generally thought that further important advances can be brought about only by a thorough understanding of the actual mechanism of the process. Natur¬ally, such a complicated process has brought forth numerous theories, most of which have failed to withstand the test of time. It is significant that no theory has yet been advanced which is universally accepted.

Jan 1, 1933

By F. G. Cottrell

AS previously announced, Van. H. Manning has resigned as director of the Bureau of Mines, effective June 1, to become director of research with the newly organized American Petroleum Institute. Doctor Manning has been connected with the Department of the Interior for 34 years, having been civil engineer with the Geological Survey, from 1885 to 1910, previous to his connection with the Bureau of Mines which was organized in the latter year. Doctor Manning was appointed to an administrative position in the new Bureau under Joseph A. Holmes, its first director, and on Jan. 1, 1911, was made assistant director. On Jan. 1, 1914, when Doctor Holmes had to relinquish active

Jan 1, 1920

By Robert J. White

Strong's equation for calculating bottom-hole pressure reduction due to gas cutting of drilling mud is corrected, resulting in a simpler equation which is easier to use. Use of the equation is illustrated by examples. It is shown that reduction of weight of a 10 lb/gal mud by 50 per cent at the surface due to gas cutting produces only n 3 per cent decrease in hydrostatic head at the bottom of a 5,000-ft well. It is also shown that at the surface 5 volumes of air per volume of mud are required to reduce the apparent mud weight from 8.5 to 6.5 lh/gal in a 3,000-ft well. Illustrative graphs are included to show the effect of various degrees of gas cutting on apparent mud weight at depths of 2,000, .5,000 and 10,000 ft and to show variation of apparent mud weight, with depth for a 100 lb/cu ft (13.37 lb/gal) mud gas cut to 90 lb/cu ft (12.03 lb/gal) at the surface. INTRODUCTION In 1938, Strong' published the following equation for calculating reduction in bottom-hole pressure due to gas cutting of drilling mud h = 1/D [p + pn/100 In p + p(1-n/100)/p(1- n-100)] where: h = depth in feet P = pressure in atmospheres at depth h due to mud column only D = hydrostatic pressure in atmospheres of a col-umn of uncut mud 1 ft high p = back pressure at well-head (in atmospheres) n/100 = fraction by volume of gas in mud at well-head at back pres-sure p This equation was recently found to contain an error due to an incor-rect expression for variation of vol-ume fraction of gas with pressure. Values calculated by the original equation are close to the correct values for small percentages of gas for which it was derived but become increasingly erroneous as the gas content increases and are completely unusable at the very high gas con-tents employed in aerated mud. DERIVATION The nomenclature used is the same as in Strong's paper. The pres-sure dP exerted by a lamina of thickness dh at a depth h ft is ex-pressed by Eq. 1 where x = volume fraction of gas at depth h dP = D (l - x)dh . . . (1) When we express x in terms of the wellhead per cent gas n, the well-head pressure p and the pressure P at depth h, the result is Eq. 2. x = (np/p+p)/(100-n) + (np/P + p) When this is substituted in Eq. 1 and rearranged to separate the var-iables the result is dh = 1/D [dp + np/100-n dp/(P + p]. Integration between appropriate lim-its results in or if the wellhead is open so that p = 1 atm and we rearrange Eq. 4, the result is loss in head = hD — P = n/100-n In (P + 1) ...(5) Eq. 5 can be solved easily by successive approximation using hD as a first approximation for P on the right-hand side and calculating a first value for loss in head. This can then be used to get a new value of P using the left-hand side of the equation. Values converge very rap-idly even for quite large values of per cent by volume gas n. EXAMPLES The effect on bottom-hole pressure of 50 per cent gas cutting of the mud in a 5,000-ft well using 10 Ib/ gal mud will be calculated, we have: h = 5,000 ft 10 X 7.48 144 X 14.7 = 0.0353 atm/ft hD = 176.5 atm n = 50 Substituting these values in Eq. 5 and using hD as a first approxima-tion of P on the right, we have, approximate loss in head = 50/50 In (176.5 + 1) = 2.30 log 177.5 = 5.17 atm. We calculate a new value of P as follows:

Jan 1, 1958

By J. C. Uy, T. E. Davidson, A. P. Lee

The effects of hydrostatic pressures to 26 kbars on the micro structure of poly crystalline Cd, Zn, Bi, Sn, Zr, Mg, Cu, and Fe were examined. Pressure-induced microscopic plastic flow in the form of boundary migration, slip, multiple slip, or twinning has been observed either singly or in combination in cadmium, zinc, bismuth, and tin. No deformation was observed in zirconium, magnesium, copper, and iron. The occurrence of such deformation, in terms of its intensity and initiation pressure, relates directly to the degree of anisotropy in the linear compressibility. Pressure cycling does not significantly affect the residual tensile properties of a zinc alloy which exhibits pressure-induced deformation similar to that of Pure zinc. CLASSICAL elastic theory predicts that a superim-posed hydrostatic pressure will not induce shear stresses in an ideal material. Thus, in the case of homogeneous and isotropic materials plastic flow will not occur as a result of pressure exposure, regardless of the magnitude of the pressure, unless some form of phase transformation or permanent density change takes place. However, real materials, such as metals, often vary considerably from the condition of homogeneity and isotropy. For this reason, Vu and johannin' examined and observed hydrostatic pressure-induced microscopic deformation in polycrystalline cadmium and, zinc, but not in aluminum, to pressures of 9 kbars and indicated that its occurrence is related to anisotropy in the linear compressibility. In addition, Davidson and omaan' have reported pressure-induced deformation in polycrystalline bismuth below the 1-11 transformation pressure. It becomes apparent then that under certain conditions hydrostatic pressure can induce localized internal shear stresses in some metals of sufficient magnitude to cause plastic flow. In this work, eight pure single-phase metals of different lattice structures and degrees of elastic anisotropy were examined after pressure exposures of up to 26 kbars in order to establish the conditions under which such deformation occurs and the type of deformation as a function of pressure. The effects of pressure cycling on the mechanical proper-

Jan 1, 1965

By F. C. Noyes

DAME Nature was in a generous mood when she distributed widely over the face of the globe numerous deposits of phosphate rock from which man can make phosphatic festiIizer to replace the phosphate re- moved from the soil by crops. The principal deposits are readily accessible to the world's greatest consuming areas and most of them are such that mining operations can be carried on at relatively low cost. The world's known reserves shown in Table 1 are sufficient to last well over 2000 gears at the present rate of consumption. Before giving a brief outline of the phosphate rock industry of foreign countries let us try to get a picture of the movement of phosphate rock throughout the world in 1938, the last full normal calendar year where it came from and where it was consumed. Table 2 shows the origin and finial destination of world shipments in 1938 by grand divisions. Table 3 (p. 499) shows shipment9 of phosphte rock to each country in Europe. Europe is seen to be by far the world's greatest market and the French North African mines the world's most important producers outside of the U. S. A.

Jan 1, 1944

By D. Argyriades, G. Derge, G. M. Pound

The electrical conductance of molten FeS was studied as a function of temperature and composition. It was found that stoi-chiometric FeS (36.5 pct S) shows a minimum specific conductance of 400 ohm-1 cm-1. For the Fe-rich melts the conductivity increases with increasing amount of iron to about 4850 ohm-1' cm-I at 26 pct sulfur. For the sulfur-rich melts the conductivity increases with increasing amount of sulfur until it reaches a maximum of 1300 ohm1 cm-1 for 37.4 pct S and decreases to 800 ohm-1 cm-1 for 38.3 pct sulfur. It is concluded that molten stoichiometric FeS is an intrinsic semiconductor in which the forbidden gap in the electron energy level diagram is quite narrow. Excess sulfur acts as an acceptor impurity in providing a component of positive hole conduction, while excess iron acts as a donor impurity to increase the n-type conduction. K. Bornemann and G. von Ftauschenplatl used a four-terminal, direct-current cell to study the electrical conductance of molten copper sulfide. Their measurements showed a high conductivity, of the order of 100 ohm-1 cm-" and a positive temperature coefficient. From electrolysis studies, Savelsberg2 concluded that molten Cu2S and molten FeS are electronic conductors. Further. he found that molten FeS has a high specific conductance, of the order of 1500 ohm-' cm-', and a small negative temperature coefficient. Pound, Derge, and Osuch,3 using an ac Kelvin circuit and a four-terminal cell, measured the specific conductance of molten Cu,S, molten FeS, and various mixtures. They found that the specific conductance of the solutions followed a roughly additive rule of mixtures. Yang, Pound, and Derge4 showed from electrolysis measurements that the mechanism of electrical conduction in molten Cu2S, FeS, and mattes is primarily electronic. Further, they observed that small additions of CuCl suppress the electronic conduction whereupon the system behaves ionically.

Jan 1, 1960

Sponsored by the Utah Section of AIME, the 1960 Annual Rocky Mountain Minerals Conference brought more than 500 members of the mineral industry to the conference rooms of the Newhouse Hotel in Salt Lake City during the period October 5 to October 7. Under the overall supervision of J. M. Ehrhorn, general chairman, and H. E. Wright, assistant general chairman, the Conference offered 14 papers of technical interest in four sessions during the first two days, and it culminated in the Exploration Symposium held on the morning of October 7. The opening session of the Conference, meeting on the morning of October 5, heard R. P. Work, utility engineer of the Mountain Fuel Supply Co., discuss the growth and economic factors related to the use of natural gas in Utah. In his paper entitled Natural Gas Market In Utah, Mr. Work emphasized the very good prospects of natural gas serving almost all parts of that state. He mentioned that recently the El Paso pipeline, built to serve the Pacific Northwest with gas from Texas, has permitted natural gas to be available to Eastern Utah, and a tentatively planned pipeline from Green River, Wyo. to Southern California will bring natural gas to the central and southeast areas of the state.

Jan 11, 1960

By William D. Southard, Joseph W. Schlitt, Bruce P. Ream, Lawrence J. Haug

The operation of Kennecott 's Bingham Canyon copper precipitation plant, one of the world's largest, is described. This description includes a brief historical review of precipitation at Bingham and the general layout and operation of the present cone cementation facility. Current practices are based on results of studies undertaken to define improvements needed in each unit operation. These improvements were required to meet changing plant conditions and were implemented primarily within the constraints of the existing facilities. Specific unit operations included were the cone precipitators, the cone discharge thickener, the cone effluent settling basins, and the plate and frame filter presses. As a result of these improvements, loss of precipitated copper decreased and the degree of precipitation increased, raising copper recovery by 9 t/d. At the same time, iron consumption was reduced by 22.5 t/d. Problems in drying the cement copper were also overcome so that a product containing 12-15% moisture could be consistently delivered for smelting.

Jan 1, 1980

New York State Museum, Albany, N. Y. D H. Newland, State Geologist. A complete list of publications or the latest lists of available publications will be sent upon application. A series of Bulletins on The Mining and Quarry Industry of New York are available as follows: Bulletin 51 (1910), 15 cents; 161 (1911), 20 cents; 166 (1912), 20 cents, 174 (1913), 20 cents; 190 (1915), 15 cents; 277 (1925-26), 50 cents; 295 (1927-1929), 40 cents. Another series discusses the Geology of the State by Quad¬rangles, available as follows: Bulletin 153, Broadalbin Quad (1911), 25 cents; 154, Sche¬nectady Quad. (1911), 20 cents, 170, North Creek Quad . (1914)

Jan 1, 1933

By Barry K. McMahon

Following minor slope failures at the commencement of mining the west wall of the Kanmantoo Mine was redesigned from an overall slope between haul roads of 55° to 46°. This decision was based on a probabilistic analysis which indicated that 46° was the optimum economic slope.

Jan 1, 1983

By F. F. Aplan

Mineral processing engineers have recorded an- other year of active research and development work. Most gratifying was the broadly based attendance at the Mineral Processing Fundamental (formerly Basic Science) Committee sessions at the 1968 Annual Meeting of the AIME. Because of the availability of good papers, the active discussion and the growing attendance, sessions have grown from one to three at the annual meeting. Prof. M. C. Fuerstenau of the University of Utah will chair the Mineral Processing Fundamentals Committee for the next two years and we may thus be assured of continued active leadership. The name change from "Basic Science Committee" to the more descriptive "Mineral Processing Fundamentals Committee" approved by the MBD executive council is a welcome improvement. Our profession continues to attract the interest and cooperation of those in other professional groups. The 1968 Engineering Foundation Particulate Matter Conference, under the chairmanship of John Karpinski of Bethlehem Steel, was devoted exclusively to comminution this year. It attracted conferees from five continents and served as a particularly stimulating source of interchange of knowledge from many technical fields. Next year's conference will be under the chairmanship of Professor L,. G. Austin of The Pennsylvania State University. This conference plus the Symposium on Wettability and Flotation to be held at the annual American Chemical Society meeting in Minneapolis in April indicates the success achieved in the inter-disciplinary approach to problems. Other evidence of this spirit of professional cooperation is the forth- coming book on Size Reduction edited by D. W. Fuerstenau. This is the outgrowth of an AIChE symposium on size reduction held in 1965.

Jan 2, 1969

By AIME AIME

In the present number of Mining and Metallurgy, issued on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Institute, it appears appropriate to chronicle a few of the interesting incidents respecting its early life. We are fortunate in being able to cull the following notes from unpublished manuscripts of Doctor Raymond and Doctor Drinker, than whom no other members could have written with greater exactness and fidelity. THE seventh decade of the 19th century may be said to have marked an. era in the history of the world. Industrially and .commercially it was marked by the wide application and utilization of discoveries already made, which came to their full effect at this period in steamships, railways, telegraph and cable lines; the standardization of parts in machines, from watches to locomotives; the use of 'dynamite, antiseptic surgery, the open-hearth steel process, the compressed-air rock-drill, the electric generator, and the Gatling gun. Through the opening of the Suez canal in 1870 the maritime trade of the world was revolutionized, sailing vessels were supplanted by steamers, while ocean cables and ocean "tramps" brought about far more rapid movement of commerce than had before been experienced. Politically, this period was marked by the sudden birth of the German empire and the beginning of that intensive internal development of the national resources of that empire in preparation for colonial extension and war, the amazing result of which has been made evident by the recent world conflict. In the United States, the significance of this decade was peculiarly important. The re-admission to the union of Virginia, Mississippi, Texas and Georgia in

Jan 1, 1921

By Whitman E. Brown

The installation in 1948 of a Humphrey spiral concentrator section at the Hill-Trumbull plant of The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. is the latest commercial method on the Mesabi Range being used for the recovery of fine iron ore. In two stages of concentration 84 spirals treat approximately 120 long tons per hour of minus 1/8 in. ore. These spirals augment the production of the heavy-density plant which recovers the plus 44 in. iron from the plant crude ore. Structure of the ore is such that, when crushed, about 50 pct of the plant crude is minus 1/8 in. size. After desliming in a 66 in. Akins classifier, grinding the classifier product in a ball mill and again desliming in a 78 in. Akins classifier about 15 pct of the crude ore remains to be treated in the spiral plant.

Jan 1, 1949

By G. G. Biggar

A MATERIAL contribution to the success of our Armies in the field has been the portable pipe-line system. These are the words of Brigadier General R. F. Fowler, chief of the supply division of the War Department. The portable pipe line is one of the "secret weapons" the American forces employed in their swift advances through Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy. Constructed of a light steel so flexible it can be snaked around trees, it can be laid at a rate of ten to thirty miles daily right up to the fighting fronts. It has played a major role in supplying combat troops with products varying from petroleum to water.

Jan 1, 1943

By Oscar A. Glaeser

INDUSTRIAL relations in the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company's Western operations covers the field of personnel and labor relations, and the principal aims are to render service to the employes of the Company and to its operating departments. Accident prevention Safety is a primary function. A safety engineer is employed at each operation. The wholehearted support of Company officials, staff, and the working force has been most successful in preventing accidents. Constant vigilance has been combined with a policy of building safety into all operating activities whether these are in the construction of a new facility, the developmnt of a mining system, or the direction of the working force. That this policy has produced results is attested to by the fact that the accident frequency rate at the Company's major mining operations in Utah has been reduced approximately 75 per cent in the ten-year period ending Dec. 31. 1946.

Jan 1, 1948

By Paul M. Tyler

MARKETWISE the year 1935 was rather a good one for most of the rare and minor metals; as a class they climbed out of the depression much faster than the common metals. The diamond market, too, was better than it had been for years, attributable only in part to investment buying, as there was a genuine pick-up in consumer demand. Wars and rumors of war tended to speed up purchases of certain metals, but consumption for peaceful purposes was the principal factor. Significant was the important role played by new industrial uses. New discoveries during the year were disappointingly few, considering the broad extent of this research frontier. Scientific developments were far from being at a stand-still, of course, but the dominant note was the cashing in on research consummated in former years. With even a moderate upturn in general business a surprising number of laboratory ideas donned overalls and found jobs in industry.

Jan 1, 1936

By Frederick G. Coqueron, Joseph E. Pogue

FOR a number of years, the Department of Petroleum Economics of The Chase National Bank has been conducting a study of the capital employed in the petroleum industry. The technique followed is that of combining and summarizing the available financial and operating data for a group of thirty representative oil companies, doing about two thirds of the domestic business of the entire industry. This paper presents the results of the findings for the year 1943, and supplements the survey, "Sources, Disposition, and Characteristics of the Capital Employed by Thirty Oil Companies During the Nine-Year Period, 1934-1942," presented before the Petroleum Division of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers on Feb. 24, 1944, and also published as a pamphlet by The Chase National Bank.

Jan 1, 1944

By W. Joseph Schlitt, William D. Southard, Bruce P. Ream, Lawrence J. Haug

The operation of Kennecott's Bingham Canyon copper precipitation plant, one of the world's largest, is described. This description includes a brief historical review of precipitation at Bingham and the general layout and operation of the present cone cementation facility. Current practices are based on results of studies undertaken to define improvements needed in each unit operation. These improvements were required to meet changing plant conditions and were implemented primarily within the constraints of the existing facilities. Specific unit operations included were the cone precipitators, the cone discharge thickener, the cone effluent settling basins, and the plate and frame filter presses. As a result of these improvements, loss of precipitated copper decreased and the degree of precipitation increased, raising copper recovery by 9 t/d. At the same time, iron consumption was reduced by 22.5 t/d. Problems in drying the cement copper were also overcome so that a product containing 12 - 15% moisture could be consistently delivered for smelting.

Jan 6, 1979

By J. R. Dawson, A. B. Kinzel

THE purpose of testing is to determine whether the material in question is identical in all essential respects with similar material which has given satisfactory service. The most common method of securing such information is to select samples as representative of the entire material and subject them to destructive tests. As the welding industry grew, service data were accumulated and tests of welds took on new significance. New tests were devised and old tests modified so as to be more pertinent to welding. Moreover, in some cases the generally accepted procedure of testing by sampling is not accorded the same degree of confidence when applied to welds as in the usual applications. Thus, in instances where great hazard would be involved should the material fail, means of non-destructive testing have been sought with favorable results. Accordingly, tests used today may be divided into two groups, destructive and non-destructive tests.

Jan 1, 1930

By Dunbar D. Scott

The development in the perfection of mine-surveying instruments has been by no means rapid, as it has depended somewhat on the details of construction borrowed from astronomical and geodetic theodolites, largely on the restrictions laid down by mining companies and the prejudices of mine managers themselves, but more than all on the methods used in conducting surveys and the importance attached thereto. Mine-surveying, in some form or other, has been practiced from the very earliest times; but it has never kept pace with the other branches of surveying, or even with the art of mining itself, and cannot be recognized as an exact science until shortly before the beginning of this century. The works of Hero of Alexandria, who lived in the second century B.C., are still extant, and contain descriptions of a rectangular sighting-instrument, which he invented and called a diopter. His improvement upon this simple construction, which possibly he devised for use in the Greek mines for rough leveling-purposes and for laying out any angle, must be considered, says Hübner," as the origin of the highly perfected theodolite of to-day. Whether this instrument came into general use during the first centuries of the Christian era, is not recorded; in fact, no writer undertakes to tell how mine-surveying was conducted until 1556, in which year Agricola expounds the principles of mining and metallurgy in his De Re Metallica, devoting the entire fifth chapter to the practice of mine-surveying (see Fig. 1). In mediæval times those who possessed any knowledge of engineering skill made strenuous effort to keep their art a secret, partly on account of the miners' proverbial conservatism and partly for their own personal aggrandizement, and were, in

Jan 1, 1899