Search Documents

By Karl J. Benecke

Though the first patent on a bucket wheel excavator (BWE) was granted in 1881 in the US, this technology was developed in Germany to the high standards of today. However, this development was only possible in parallel with development of shiftable belt conveyors and boom stackers. The combination of these three types of equipment in the open pits of the Federal Republic of Germany has made lignite the cheapest energy source for power generation, despite the low heating value of German lignite on the order of 8500 kJ/kg (3600 Btu/lb) only. Comparing the costs for fuels used in power generating on the basis of their heating value, the relation between lignite, high quality black coal, and imported crude oil is on the order of 1 to 1.5 to 2.5, hence highly in favour of lignite. These cost advantages for lignite in Germany are due mainly to the concentration of lignite mining in a few high-output mines. The largest one, Fortuna mine in the Cologne district, produced a total of 45 million tons of lignite in 1976. That equals the annual fuel need of a 5750 MW power plant running 7000 hours per year at full capacity. Altogether 95.2 million bank m3 equal to 200 million tons of overburden had to be removed to accomplish this lignite output. The largest BWE ever built is working in the Fortuna mine [(Fig. 1)]. At a digging height of 51 m above crawler level, the total vertical reach in relation to the face conveyor level is 98 m by means of its conveying bridge and loading unit. The hourly output is 10 400 bank m3. Its weight in operation is 13 000 tons and its wheel diameter 21.6 m, as high as a seven-story building. Major reasons for the development of BWE technology in Germany were: ? Lignite deposits with moderately consolidated, alluvial-type overburden (gravel, sand, loam, marl, clay, etc.) ? Great overall depth of the deposits, ranging far beyond 100 m, requiring a wide opening of the mine, hence not permitting direct overcasting of overburden. ? Multiple-seam deposits of poor-quality coal divided by reject partings, which demand a perfectly selective digging tool for clean separation. In general, these conditions are almost identical to those prevailing in the lignite deposits of Texas and neighbouring states: The type of overburden suitable for BWE digging, the overall deposit depth ranges down to around 100 m, and finally, the multi-seam occurrence with partings between seams, the latter ranging from just 1 m to a few meters in thickness. Technique As the Texas-type lignite deposits come into focus more and more as a possible fuel source in power plants to replace natural gas and crude oil, the following will deal with the BWE technology for mining a typical Texas lignite deposit under the aspect of producing enough fuel for a 500-MW power plant located at the mine mouth.

Jan 1, 1980

By C. G. Dunn

IDENTIFICATION Of the kinds of orientation relationships that may exist among crystals is an important problem in the metallurgical field. As an aid to its solution standard orientations of several orders of twins would be very useful for rapid analyses to discover high-order as well as low-order twin relationships. Although data have been published that give orientations for three generations of twins, these data are not readily useful in the form presented; i.e., in a stereographic projection with one pole per orientation.1 However, accurate data based on calculations of the positions of all {100} planes for such groups would be very useful when presented in tabular form. Therefore, calculations have been made for a group of four orders of twins and the data are listed in Table 3. Illustrative applications are considered briefly, with the idea of pointing out what may be done with large groups of orientations. METHOD OF COMPUTING ORIENTATION OF A TWIN It is common practice to describe the orientation of a crystal in terms of the positions on a stereographic net of the poles of certain planes of the crystal. A single position on a net may be given it terms of two angle variables, two sets of which appear in the following equations: [Polar NetWalff Net x=rsinOocos4pyx=rcos0. y=rsinB,sin4,ny-rsin0.cos¢,, z=rcos0,,z=rsin0.sin4,,] The three numbers x, y and z determine a length r as well as a direction [(0, 0)] in an X, Y, Z coordinate system. In the present case, r will be set equal to (h2 + k2 +12)1/3, where h, k and 1 are the usual Miller indices for a crystallographic plane, a restriction that facilitates determination of the positions of poles of new planes from those of old or known ones,2 as will become evident later. Furthermore, since twinned lattices have certain planes in common, it is an easy matter to determine the orientation of a twin of a crystal if the orientation of the crystal itself is known. We start therefore with a crystal of known orientation (positions of three {100} poles given) and determine where the cube poles occur in first, second, third and fourth-order twins. Methods for identifying twinned lattices and for making the calculations to find the orientation of a twin have been published.3 4 Reference 4 will be illustrated in the calculation of the orientation of a twin, even though this method differs from the one used by the writer in obtaining the following data on four orders of twins. Consider a crystal S and its twin A1, A1 being one of the four {112} or {III}

Jan 1, 1945

By E. P. Palmatier

RECENTLY a cooling system has been in process of installation on the 3400 and 3600-ft. levels of the Magma copper mine at Superior, Ariz. The general system of ventilation employed at this inclined-vein mine is as follows: Ventilating air enters the shafts on the western side of the mine. Booster fans at each level each deliver approximately 38,000 cu. ft. per 'min. to the drifts. This air passes diagonally upward to the upper levels of the mine on the eastern side, where it passes up the shafts to large exhaust fans on the surface. Owing to the dip of the vein, all operations on the eastern side of the mine are above the 2500-ft. level, and those on the western side below the 2500-ft. level. At present, 2500 lineal feet of new drifts are being driven-on each of the 3400 and 3600 levels. The rock temperature is about 135°F. Until the new installation is completed, ventilating air for the two levels is supplied through Flexoid tubing from small booster fans -on the 3200-ft. level. The air picked up by these booster fans has a dry-bulb temperature of approximately 85°F. and a wet-bulb temperature of 82°F. By the time this air reaches the end of the Flexoid tubing at the 3600-ft. level, the dry-bulb rises to 101°F. and the wet-bulb to 86°F. The conditions at the head of the new drift were 102' dry-bulb and 93' wet-bulb.

Jan 1, 1937

By Dr. T

THE application of electricity in the extraction of metals has hithcrto been chiefly confined to the electrolysis of dissolved or fused compounds of these by varios methods. The power of electric currents to generate intense heat in their passage through a resisting medium has, however, long been known, and the late W. Siemens thereby succeeded in fusing considerable quantities of steel. But it was reserved to Messrs. Eugene 11. and Alfred H. CoWles, of Cleveland, Ohio, to take a new step in the metallurgic art by maKing the heat thus produced a means of reducing in the presence of carbon the oxides not only of the alkaline metals, but of calcium, magnesium, manganese, aluminium, silicon, and boron, with an ease that permits the production of these elements and their alloys with copper and other metals 011 a commercial scale. In the apparatus devised and now employed by the Messrs. Cowles, a column of fragments of well-calcined charcoal, so prepared and arranged as to present the requisite electrical resistance, is imbedded horizontally in finely pulverized charcoal, and covered by a layer of the same material coarsely broken, the whole being arranged in a box of fire-brick, covered with perforated tiles and opened at the ends to admit two carbon electrodes an inch and a half in diameter.

Jan 1, 1886

YEARS ago, when metal mining was more an adventure than a well-organized business, it was often said (with some color of truth) that unless a mine could stand bad management or mismanagement, it was not much good. Today, the natural excellencies of an ore deposit are merely a challenge to the engineers to exploit it as skillfully, as efficiently, and as profit- ably as possible. A vast amount of competent and imaginative engineering management (which includes economic analysis no less than the technologic arts of mining ore and treating it) has been required to make New Cornelia the smooth-running and successful operation that can be seen at Ajo today. New Cornelia was acquired by the Phelps Dodge Corporation when it absorbed the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company in 1931. Next to Morenci, it doubtless is the corporation's biggest asset. It in no way detracts from the achievement of Phelps Dodge engineers to say that they had an admirable ore deposit to work on. New Cornelia ore, as mined, is relatively low in grade and the deposit is by no means the largest of the Porphyries; but it has these attractive features : (1) It is peculiarly suitable for opencut mining because: (a) The overburden of waste rock lying above the ore deposit was (it has long since disappeared) almost negligible. (b) The deposit is roughly circular in horizontal section, with the horizontal dimensions four to five times as great as the maximum thickness. (Nevertheless, eventually some underground mining may be desirable.)

Jan 1, 1957

By P. C. Kapur

An approximate but simple and practical solution to the discretized batch grinding equation has been obtained. The solution is based on a new grind function, a combination of selection and breakage parameters and particle-size distribution of the feed. The grind function, which is readily computed from limited experimental data, has significant implications for analysis of the particle-size reduction processes. Using the practical solution, three ball-mill comminution systems—dry dolomite, wet quartz, and limestone—have been simulated with acceptable precision. The application of the discretized batch-grinding equation1 to routine comminution analysis is frustrated by two principal difficulties. First, the selection and breakage parameters of the grinding equation must be computed separately. This is usually a difficult and uncertain task although, recently, a number of experimentally and computationally efficient strategies have been proposed for determination of these parameters?" Second, for actual computation, the solution to the batch-grinding equation becomes progressively tedious and unwieldly for finer particle-size range.1,2 The purpose of this part of the report is to present an approximate solution to the batch-grinding equation, which is practical in that it seems to overcome the aforementioned obstacles. The solution involves the concepts of a new grind function, a lumped parameter of the selection-breakage functions, and particle-size distribution of the feed, which is readily computed from a limited amount of experimental data.

Jan 1, 1971

By Rossiter W. Raymond

The most important event in the history of mining in the United States was the discovery of gold in California, which led to the rapid development, not only of a new industry, but of a new empire. The settlement of the Pacific slope was making but slow progress under the inducements of a scanty commerce in furs and hides. The liberal grants offered by the government to agricultural pioneers in Oregon had attracted to the Willamette valley and other favored points in that territory a limited population; hot the government of the Mexicans in California was positively unfavorable to enterprise. It is true that gold was known to exist in the country. Rumors of it were current among the trappers, and placers had actually been worked in what is now Los Angeles County; but the padres of the neighboring mission of San Fernando had discouraged the business as demoralizing to their flocks; and the existence of the precious metal was not widely known; still less was its distribution northward suspected. The discovery of gold, January 19th) 1848, at Sutter's saw-mill, on the south fork of the American River, afterward famous as Coloma, in Eldorado County, was the beginning of the new epoch. This discovery was made by James Wilson Marshall, a partner in the mill, who observed in the debris washed down by the tail-race a glittering fragment of a mineral unknown to him. Suspecting it to be gold, he sought for further specimens, and obtained, in the course of a few days, several ounces of it. Tests subsequently

By Samuel M. Brock

Problems related to strip and auger coal mining have grown with the development of the industry and the economy. New technology has produced equipment that has made mining by surface methods not only highly productive, but potentially highly destructive of water resources and natural environments. On the other hand, growth of the economy has produced an increased demand for clean water and created new demands for amenity values that natural environments provide. Thus, opposing forces have created conflicts in resource use. And these conflicts have made surface mining highly controversial. Resolving the controversy will require the solving of complex economic and social problems. The essence of the economic problem created by surface mining is that, in the absence of proper regulation, substantial costs resulting from the process are borne by the public rather than the mine operator. The major goal for the regulation of the surface mining industry is to provide controls which will promote the attainment of maximum social welfare. Deciding upon the type of controls required, and how to apply them to attain a social optimum, however, poses some very difficult problems. In a comprehensive article on this subject, David B. Brooks defined the problem and suggested that benefit- cost analysis might be helpful in providing guidelines for making decisions about surface mining regulations.1

Jan 5, 1969

By Rossiter W. Raymond

THE most important event in the history of mining in the United States was the discovery of gold in California, which led to the rapid development, not only of a new industry, but of a new empire. The settlement of the Pacific slope was making but slow progress under the inducements of a scanty commerce in furs and hides. The liberal grants offered by the government to agricultural pioneers in Oregon had attracted to the Willamette valley and other favored points in that territory a limited population; but the government of the Mexicans in California was positively unfavorable to enterprise. It is true that gold was known to exist in the country. Rumors of it were current among the trappers, and placers had actually been worked in what is now Los Angeles County ; but the padres of the neighboring mission of San Fernando had discouraged the business as demoralizing to their flocks ; and the existence of the precious metal was not widely known; still less was its distribution north¬ward suspected. The discovery of gold, January 19th, 1848, at Sutter's saw-mill, on the south fork of the American River, afterward famous as Coloma, in Eldorado County, was the beginning of the new epoch. This discovery was made by James Wilson Marshall, a partner in the mill, who observed in the debris washed down by the tail-race a glittering fragment of a mineral unknown to him. Suspecting it to be gold, he sought for further specimens, and obtained, in the course of a few days, several ounces of it. Tests subsequently

Jan 1, 1875

By Joe O. Ledbetter

INTRODUCTION Health physics as a profession really got a significant start during the Manhattan Project of World War 11. The Health Physics Society has recently published its 25th anniversary issue of the journal (June 1980). There was concern over radiation exposures during and after uranium production, especially about radium and its daughter products [Jackson 19401 and, as evidenced by the frequency of articles in the literature, there still is. The reason for this concern was expressed by Harley as "Workers engaged in the mining and pro- cessing of radium-bearing materials are exposed to dusts of the parent, to radon, and to the radon daughter products. In- haled radioactive particulates may be retained in the lung or redistributed to other organs of the body. Relatively minute de- posits of radioactive substances, particularly alpha emitters, have been clearly shown to be the etiological factor in a variety of injuries to industrial and re- search workers. " [Harley 1953] Emphasis in measurements has been placed on radium in water and radon in air, since these are the principal mobilized phases; however, it should be kept in mind that radium-containing particles do become suspended in air as aerosols and radon absorbs in liquids. Much of the uranium mining and production is being carried out aboveground. The principal difference between underground and surface (pit or leach) mining of uranium is the reversal in the relative importance of roles for the types of radiation dose. For aboveground the major radiation exposure is external gamma ray, whereas for underground it is internal alpha; for aboveground, the whole body penetrating is of greater importance than the lung alpha dose. AS a result of the politics involved and the law- suits for any and all diseases as being occupationally- caused, today , more than ever before, the successful performance of the activities connected with uranium production--before-, during-, and after-the-fact-- must include the provision of first class radiation protection. Such protection can be achieved by good measurements, thorough risk evaluations, and adequate controls. Meeting the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) philosophy necessarily entails the determination of what is reasonable exposure. The necessary and sufficient elements of radiation safety under the ALARA dictum require a hard look at the dose versus effects data. There are times when the health physicist needs to make decisions of judgement rather than compliance with a well-defined regulation value. In order to facilitate such decisions, the real world must be separated from opinions that are merely artifacts of statistical variation and from the unprovable "what ifs" that are slanted to question the morality of any non-Luddite. UNITS VOCABULARY FOR DOSIMETRY There have been many radiation quantifying and dosimetric units introduced in the past. Fortunately, most of them did not catch on enough to become required knowledge for reading the health physics literature. The unit definitions necessary for our purposes here are the following: -curie (Ci)--unit of radioactivity equal to 3.7 x 10 10 disintegrations per second Webster&apos;s 19711 or the quantity of radionuclide that undergoes 3.7 x 10 nuclear transformations per second. Environmental levels of radioactivity are usually measured in picocuries (10-l2 Ci) per cubic meter for air and in picocuries per liter (pCi/~) for water and sometimes for air. .roentgen (R)--exposure dose of x or gamma rays that gives 1 esu of charge (either sign) to 1 cc of dry air @ STP. The roentgen is equivalent to an energy absorption of 86.7 ergs/g of air [Gloyna and Ledbetter 19691. .rad--radiation absorbed dose of 100 ergs per gram of absorber. The SI unit for absorbed radiation dose is the Gray; 1 Gy = 100 rads. orem--radiation absorbed dose of 1 rad times the quality factor (QF) for that radiation. The QF is 1 for x rays, gamma rays, beta rays, and posi- trons. For heavy ionizing particulate radiation, QF is a function of the amount of energy trans- ferred per unit length of travel, i.e. , the linear energy transfer (LET); the values of QF:LET in keV/um are as follows: 1:<3.5; 1-2:3.5-7; 2-5:7-23; 5-10:23-53; and 10-20:53-175 [Morgan and Turner 19 671 . For radiobiology, relative biological effectiveness (RBE) is recommended for use instead of the quality factor above that is for radiation protection: the RBE is the ratio of the dose of 200 kVp x rays to the dose of radia- tion in question (both in rads) to cause the same

Jan 1, 1980

By C. Bohdanowicz

The most important decline in drilling activities during the past three years was in the Boryslaw-Tustanowice-Mraznica fields and at Bitkow in Eastern Poland. A small drilling increase in some fields of the Jaslo and Drohobycz districts, notably Wankowa, Ropienka and Rypne, cannot compensate in new production for the decline in the large fields.

Jan 1, 1934

By F. S. Knoll

The expanding role of electrostatics as applied to minerals and related fields is covered in this paper. New and existing forms of electrostatic separation are classified into two broad groups: separation of charged particles and separation of neutral particles. The basis for each form of separation is discussed along with particle examples and results obtained.

Jan 1, 1986

By Theron Wasson

The year 1942 in Michigan was devoted largely to the development of fields discovered in 1941 but was also characterized by a great increase in prospecting for new productive horizons below the Dundee limestone. Some new fields were discovered but as yet these have shown few signs of being of major importance. Michigan&apos;s total production for 1942, of 21,754,000 bbl. of oil, as reported by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, was second only to the record year of 1939 when 22,799,000 bbl. of oil were produced. All important fields were prorated throughout the year, and it is obvious that without proration a new all-time high would have been established for the state this year. From 1925 to the end of 1942, Michigan has produced annually the following amounts of oil: Year Barrels Source 1925 4,000 1926 94,000 1927 435,000 1928 592,000 1929 4,641,000 1929 Michigan Geological Survey 1930 3,928,000 3,785,000 1932 6,925,000 1933 7,942,000 1934 0,603,000 1935 15,776,000 U.S. Bur. Mines, 1937 1936 11,928,000 U.S. Bur. Mines, 1938 1937 16,628,000 U.S. Bur. Mines, 1939 1938 19,211,000 U.S. Bur. Mines, 1938 1939 22,799,000 1940 19,764,000 1941 16,361,000 1942 21,754,000 Total 183,170,000 This tabulation shows the steady growth of the industry in Michigan since the first discovery of oil in 1925. Maes A map of the oil and gas fields of Michigan in 1941, published in the report for 1942, shows the main producing areas and should be referred to if information in regard to their location is desired.* The main producing zones were shown in the columnar section in the same publication. Development in Fields Reed City Field.—During 1942 the Reed City field, which ended 1941 with 112 producing oil wells, added 70 new producers to bring the total at the end of the year to 182 wells and 4700 proven acres. A south extension of the field developed during the year was in large part responsible for the increase. Approximately 9,000,000 bbl. of oil was produced from the field during the year, bringing the total accumulated production to the end of the year to roughly 11,750,000 barrels. Headquarters Field.—The Headquarters field, which started the year with ro producing oil wells, ended the year with 41 wells aid 1240 proven acres. Approximately 2,300,000 bbl. of oil was produced in 1942. Kawkawlin Field.—Although not a 1941 discovery, the Kawkawlin field has been actively developed on the 40-acre spacing plan during the last year, 42 producers having been completed, bringing the total number of wells at the end of the year to 77. Nearly 500,000 bbl. of oil was produced during the year.

Jan 1, 1943

By Theron Wasson

The year 1942 in Michigan was devoted largely to the development of fields discovered in 1941 but was also characterized by a great increase in prospecting for new productive horizons below the Dundee limestone. Some new fields were discovered but as yet these have shown few signs of being of major importance. Michigan&apos;s total production for 1942, of 21,754,000 bbl. of oil, as reported by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, was second only to the record year of 1939 when 22,799,000 bbl. of oil were produced. All important fields were prorated throughout the year, and it is obvious that without proration a new all-time high would have been established for the state this year. From 1925 to the end of 1942, Michigan has produced annually the following amounts of oil: Year Barrels Source 1925 4,000 1926 94,000 1927 435,000 1928 592,000 1929 4,641,000 1929 Michigan Geological Survey 1930 3,928,000 3,785,000 1932 6,925,000 1933 7,942,000 1934 0,603,000 1935 15,776,000 U.S. Bur. Mines, 1937 1936 11,928,000 U.S. Bur. Mines, 1938 1937 16,628,000 U.S. Bur. Mines, 1939 1938 19,211,000 U.S. Bur. Mines, 1938 1939 22,799,000 1940 19,764,000 1941 16,361,000 1942 21,754,000 Total 183,170,000 This tabulation shows the steady growth of the industry in Michigan since the first discovery of oil in 1925. Maes A map of the oil and gas fields of Michigan in 1941, published in the report for 1942, shows the main producing areas and should be referred to if information in regard to their location is desired.* The main producing zones were shown in the columnar section in the same publication. Development in Fields Reed City Field.—During 1942 the Reed City field, which ended 1941 with 112 producing oil wells, added 70 new producers to bring the total at the end of the year to 182 wells and 4700 proven acres. A south extension of the field developed during the year was in large part responsible for the increase. Approximately 9,000,000 bbl. of oil was produced from the field during the year, bringing the total accumulated production to the end of the year to roughly 11,750,000 barrels. Headquarters Field.—The Headquarters field, which started the year with ro producing oil wells, ended the year with 41 wells aid 1240 proven acres. Approximately 2,300,000 bbl. of oil was produced in 1942. Kawkawlin Field.—Although not a 1941 discovery, the Kawkawlin field has been actively developed on the 40-acre spacing plan during the last year, 42 producers having been completed, bringing the total number of wells at the end of the year to 77. Nearly 500,000 bbl. of oil was produced during the year.

Jan 1, 1943

By Fordyce Coburn

RICHARD ore mine of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Corp. is an underground magnetite operation located in northern New Jersey approximately four miles northeast of the town of Dover, and 40 miles west of New York City. The mine is situated on the southeastern flank of one of the many gneissic ridges having a northeast-southwest trend

Jan 11, 1953

By Benjamin Petkof

The mineral mica, which has been known to man since ancient times, has played an impor¬tant role in the development of our modern industry. In the latter part of the 19th century sheet mica began finding use as a dielectric insulating material in the newly developing electrical industry. Later, when modern elec¬tronics began to develop, it became a vital insulating and dielectric material for use in electronic equipment. Both the electrical and electronic industries were greatly dependent on some form of natural mica. The manufacture of electric motors of varying sizes, electronic tubes, and other electronic items was dependent on an adequate supply of sheet mica. During World War II this material was so vital to national defense that special efforts were made to mine it in the United States as well as to obtain it from overseas mica-producing areas. However, advancing technology has successfully begun the progressive development of man-made mica-based and non-mica-based materials that can replace mica for many uses. In addition, developing technology has dictated changes that have made sheet mica unnecessary for some uses. As the demand for sheet mica declined, the demand for scrap and flake mica has continued to increase. In fact, today the domestic production and use of scrap and flake mica far outshadows the necessity for good¬quality sheet mica in this country. Historically the United States has always been dependent on foreign sources of material for good-quality sheet mica and imports practically its entire requirement. In the case of scrap and flake mica, the United States is the dominant world producer and consumer. End Uses Sheet mica (Chowdhury, 1941; Rajgarhia, 1951; Skow, 1962) is available in many com¬mercial forms, but these forms can be broadly classified into manufactured and unmanufac¬tured mica. Manufactured mica consists of mica that has been shaped, punched, or other¬wise processed into some form, suitable for a particular end use. Unmanufactured mica con¬sists of partially hand-trimmed or processed material that has not been prepared for any particular end use. Unmanufactured mica is broken into two commercial classes consisting of sheet mica and scrap and flake mica. These classes of mica differ greatly in their ultimate end uses and marketed forms. Sheet muscovite mica can be classified by color, degree of prep¬aration of the crude material, thickness, size, visual appearance, and electrical quality. In addition, phlogopite mica is also classified by its thermal stability. Scrap and flake mica consist of mine, trimming shop, and factory scrap that occurs as remnants from mining, processing, and manufacturing operations, and small particle size mica that is available from the beneficiation of pegmatites, clays, schists, or other mica-rich host rock. The end uses for sheet mica vary so greatly from those of scrap and flake mica that it is necessary to discuss them separately. Sheet Mica Sheet mica consists of relatively flat sheets of material which have been mined as naturally occurring books or runs of mica. These sheets are hand-trimmed to remove any imperfections and are punched or stamped into specified shapes for industrial use. Sheet mica can be further processed and is described or specified as block, film, or splittings based on thickness. Block mica is not less than 0.007 in. thick with a minimum usable cross-sectional area of 1 sq in. Film mica is split from the better quali¬ties of block mica to specified thickness groups ranging from 0.0012 to 0.004 in. Splittings are sheets of mica with a maximum thickness of 0.0012 in. and a minimum usable area of 0.75 in. Other small sized, lower quality block mica

Jan 1, 1975

PROF RICHARD ÅKERMAN Stockholm, Sweden DR. FRANK DAWSON ADAMS Montreal, Canada PROF RICHARD BECK Friberg, Germany ANDREW CARNEGIR New York, N.Y. DR. JAMES DOUGLAS New York, N.Y. PROF HATON DE LA GOUPILLIERE Paris, France SIR ROBERT A. HADFEILD London, England PROF HANS HOFFER Leoben, Austria JAMES FURMAN HOEFER Leoben, England PROF HENRI LOUIS LE CHATELIER Paris France

Jan 1, 1917

New York LOUIS D. HUNTOON, Chairman. ARTHUR S. DWIGHT, Vice-Chairman. THOMAS T. READ, Secretary, Woolworth Bldg., New York, N. Y. E. MALTBY SHIPP, Treasurer. GEORGE F. KUNZ, W. De L. BENEDICT. Boston ROBERT H. RICHARDS, Chairman. ALBERT SAUVEUR, Vice-Chairman. AUGUSTUS H. EUSTIS, Secretary-Treasurer, 131 State St., Boston. Mass. TIMOTHY W. SPRAGUE, HENRY A. WENTWORTH.

Jan 1, 1917

DEVELOPMENT of a chemical process for the extraction of pure metals from mill concentrates or metal scrap has progressed beyond the pilot plant stage and may prove an important adjunct to present smelting and refining methods if initial commercial operations prove economically successful. Developed by the Chemical Construction Corp., the new process involves the treatment of oxide and sulphide ore concentrates by chemical methods, instead of the usual smelting and refining techniques. Several of the many applications are now scheduled for commercial use. Refiners using the new process will prepare ore concentrates by standard flotation methods, introduce the concentrate as a slurry into an autoclave along with water and an acid or ammonia. From the resulting leach solution, recovery of individual metals is made by use of suitable reducing agents. By varying conditions during treatment, different metals in the ore are produced separately as pure powders, which may be pressed into forms ready to market, or in the case of copper, extruded as rods or pipe. The reagents are generally recovered. By manipulating the variables during reduction, selective separation of nickel, and/or cobalt, and/or copper can be made simultaneously. The separation is a continuous operation. Low metal prices are not immediately in view because of the tremendous demand at this time. However, reduced metallurgical treatment costs will allow economical mining of orebodies with lower metal content, permitting increased production to meet demand. Although the practical horizon for use of the new process appears to be limitless, one factor may enter into its employment. Just how low grade a concentrate can be economically used is unknown. In addition, for present practical considerations, only metal below zinc in the electromotive series may be processed. Each commercial application requires specific technique adaptation and pilot-plant data for engineering design. A nickel-cobalt-copper process has been researched and piloted in collaboration with Sherritt Gordon Mines, Ltd., for the firm&apos;s Lynn Lake properties. In addition, processes were tailored for cobalt concentrates of Howe Sound Mining Co., and National Lead Co., in view of the urgent need for this specific metal. Major General William N. Porter, president of Chemical Construction, says of the new process, "piloting experience has shown that production cost, from ore concentrates to pure metals should be considerably below current costs." Other savings may be realized by cutting transportation and personnel costs, and by reducing the time lag between mining and pure metal from months to a matter of hours. First commercial use of the process will start sometime this summer. Chemico is slated to finish building a $2.5 million cobalt refinery for Howe Sound Mining near Salt Lake City. The plant is expected to raise world cobalt production by 40 pct. The plant will process 35 tons of 20 pct cobalt concentrates from Howe Sound&apos;s Blackbird mine near Cobalt, Idaho, daily. Yearly production is expected to reach 2000 tons of pure metal, about one half of U. S. consumption in 1950. Steps in the Howe Sound application of the process are: 1. Acid oxidation leach. 2. Filtration (residues thrown away are insoluble compounds-gangue, iron, arsenic). 3. Cementation (for Cu removal because Cu content is too low for recovery). 4. Reduction from ammoniacal solution. 5. Separation of Co and Ni as mixed metals (95 pct Co and 5 pct Ni). 6. Recovery of ammonium sulphate. Under construction at the Fredericktown, Mo., mine of National Lead is a $5 million refinery sched- [ ]

Jan 1, 1952

By Joseph B. Umpleby

WHEN the Cushing field flooded the oil market in 1914 and 1915 with a daily output equal to nearly one-third of the world&apos;s production, the situation was soon corrected by increased consumption, and the price of crude oil rose from 45 c. per barrel in, February 1915 to $1.10 in December of the same year-the highest price paid in the Mid-Continent field up to that time. The intensive search for oil during the following seven years failed to disclose a single new ,field equal to Cushing, and many observers concluded that the rapidly increasing number of wells contributing to the world&apos;s output, each declining roughly 20 per cent. a year, combined with the rapidly increasing con¬sumption of petroleum, made it highly improbable that any field would; be found again sufficiently large to seri¬ously affect the oil market. That seven exceptional fields should then be discovered simultaneously is a remarkable coincidence. Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs, and Powell, each exceeded Cushing in daily output and reached the apex of their production during a year when Burbank, Tonkawa, - Smackover and Huntington Beach each contributed several times the daily output of the average new pool. This unexpected and tremendous flood of flush production could only have the effect of depressing price and greatly adding to stocks throughout the country. It was particularly depressing in the Mid-Continent as the new oil from California proved of attractive refining grade and because of cheap transportation by water easily undersold Oklahoma crude in the eastern markets.

Jan 1, 1924