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By Leon W. Dupuy

A brief elemental discussion of the fundamental factors involved in diamond drilling often fills a need, particularly when a mine operator is contemplating for the first time an exploratory drilling campaign. Mr. James A. Barr, of the Mining Methods Committee of the Institute, has suggested that many engineers must undertake a drilling program of one kid or another and, in the case of diamond drilling, sometimes even are at a loss as to how to start correspondence. The Bureau of Mines has acquired much experience in managing exploratory diamond-drilling activities. Its activities in diamond drilling included exploring for potash in Texas, Utah and New Mexico1-' during the 1920's. The Strategic Minerals Exploration program was started in 1939 and was materially expanded during the war to include critical and essential minerals. At the peak of its war-time activity more than 200 engineers were employed, a majority of whom supervised diamond drilling. Many of them had little experience with such work prior to their employment with the Bureau, and it was necessary to instruct them in their duties. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to present the fundamentals of exploratory diamond drilling from the viewpoint of management in such a way that they will Serve as a basis on which those beginning exploratory diamond drilling may build an experience and acquire ability to direct exploration as they gain that experience. Selection of Method of Drilling Selection of the method of drilling is governed by the type of material to be penetrated and by the type of sample needed to determine the quality and importance of a deposit. Types of drills that might be used for a given job include diamond drills, churn drills, hand auger drills, power auger drills, bucket drills, and rotary drills (sometimes called "seismograph rigs"). Each type has a specific field in which it is most useful. While the Bureau of Mines utilized all the types of drilling mentioned, diamond drilling was used on a majority of its exploratory projects. Factors Governing Selection of Diamond Drilling The prime consideration in selecting a method of drilling is first to determine what results are desired and then to choose a method that will furnish reliable data in the ground to be penetrated. Use of diamond drills permits recovery of a core as well as sludge at a comparatively low cost. The core provides an excellent means of studying the formation being drilled and furnishes much information that would be difficult to obtain otherwise. Diamond drills will recover a satis-

Jan 1, 1948

By Leon W. Dupuy

A brief elemental discussion of the fundamental factors involved in diamond drilling often fills a need, particularly when a mine operator is contemplating for the first time an exploratory drilling campaign. Mr. James A. Barr, of the Mining Methods Committee of the Institute, has suggested that many engineers must undertake a drilling program of one kid or another and, in the case of diamond drilling, sometimes even are at a loss as to how to start correspondence. The Bureau of Mines has acquired much experience in managing exploratory diamond-drilling activities. Its activities in diamond drilling included exploring for potash in Texas, Utah and New Mexico1-' during the 1920's. The Strategic Minerals Exploration program was started in 1939 and was materially expanded during the war to include critical and essential minerals. At the peak of its war-time activity more than 200 engineers were employed, a majority of whom supervised diamond drilling. Many of them had little experience with such work prior to their employment with the Bureau, and it was necessary to instruct them in their duties. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to present the fundamentals of exploratory diamond drilling from the viewpoint of management in such a way that they will Serve as a basis on which those beginning exploratory diamond drilling may build an experience and acquire ability to direct exploration as they gain that experience. Selection of Method of Drilling Selection of the method of drilling is governed by the type of material to be penetrated and by the type of sample needed to determine the quality and importance of a deposit. Types of drills that might be used for a given job include diamond drills, churn drills, hand auger drills, power auger drills, bucket drills, and rotary drills (sometimes called "seismograph rigs"). Each type has a specific field in which it is most useful. While the Bureau of Mines utilized all the types of drilling mentioned, diamond drilling was used on a majority of its exploratory projects. Factors Governing Selection of Diamond Drilling The prime consideration in selecting a method of drilling is first to determine what results are desired and then to choose a method that will furnish reliable data in the ground to be penetrated. Use of diamond drills permits recovery of a core as well as sludge at a comparatively low cost. The core provides an excellent means of studying the formation being drilled and furnishes much information that would be difficult to obtain otherwise. Diamond drills will recover a satis-

Jan 1, 1948

By S. Beatty

RECENT experimental results' on the superconductive properties of vanadium indicate that the magnetic behavior of the metal is greatly affected by internal strains caused by mechanical work, and particularly by oxygen and nitrogen impurities. These result in an increase in the hardness of the metal such that metallurgists' have used hardness as a measure of the impurities. An increase in the impurities should also be reflected in a change of lattice parameter with increasing impurity content. The lattice parameter of vanadium prepared by the thermal decomposition of the iodide has been determined by two workers. Neuburger3 obtained a value of a, =3.0338 ± 0.0003A for the body-centered cubic lattice by means of the powder method. The work of Katelaar is referred to by van Arkel4 in which a value of a0 = 3.025 is given. Four samples were used for this investigation. Sample A, the vanadium of the highest purity in the group, was obtained by means of the thermal decomposition of vanadium diiodide and deposited on a 3 mil diam tungsten filament in the form of crystals. The second sample, labeled B, was obtained by the calcium reduction of the pentaoxide at a sufficiently high temperature to give a melt. A third sample, C, was obtained in the same manner as B but remelted in a pure argon atmosphere. The last sample, D, was prepared by the calcium reduction method and the fine powdered vanadium was then sintered by means of applied heat and pressure. Samples A, B, and C were thus essentially free of mechanical strain in their preparation. Sample D was annealed in a high vacuum at 800°C. The samples were prepared for X-ray diffraction analysis such that all additional strain by cold work or by contamination with oxygen and nitrogen was kept at a minimum. Powder obtained from filings was deemed unsuitable since this would require annealing to get rid of the cold work. A heat treatment up to 1000°C at 10-6 m pressure might still increase the impurity content by means of adsorbed oxygen from residual gas in the vacuum chamber. The most satisfactory samples were prepared for back-reflection film techniques. Samples were cut to size, etched with hydrobromic acid, and mounted in Bakelite. They were then lightly polished on 3-0 paper and lightly etched. Chemical and Hardness Analysis of Samples Spectrographic analyses were made of the four samples and indicated similar metallic impurities for the group. The major metallic impurity in each sample was iron, which was less than 0.01 pct. The sum of the other metallic impurities was approximately 0.1 pct. The carbon content was assumed low by virtue of the methods of sample preparation. The principal impurity difference between the samples was in the oxygen and nitrogen content.

Jan 1, 1953

F. E. BACHMAN, Port Henry, N. Y. (written discussion*).-Experi-ments with titaniferous ores found in Essex County, New York, made by the MacIntyre Iron Co. in 1914, showed' that titaniferous concentrates are reduced in the furnace with no greater, and probably with less, expenditure of heat, and consequently of fuel, than non-titaniferous mag-netites; and as a greater proportion of their oxygen is removed by carbon monoxide than is the case with non-titaniferous magnetites, a lower fuel consumption for the reduction of iron may be expected. After the furnace was blown out at the end of the experiment, the formation in the hearth was found to be abnormal. The brickwork was replaced, entirely around the furnace, by a layer which at -the tuyere circle was made up of cinder, fine carbon, and coke; the coke, however, gradually disappeared toward the bottom, being replaced by cinder and graphite. The usual salamander of graphite and iron was missing. The material left in the hearth seemed to be cinder that had not drained from the last cast; its composition, though, would indicate that it was in the furnace previous to the taking off of the titaniferous ore. At first, this material was thought to be blast-furnace cinder mixed with less iron and graphite than is normal; but an examination showed it to be made up of cinder with small masses of iron and graphite. There were also patches of a steel-gray material having a metallic luster; a microscope showed these patches to be made up of black metallic crystals interlacing white crystals.

Jan 11, 1919

By Lucien Eaton

THE changes that have occurred in metal mining in the past 75 years include almost everything that we know about modern mining. It is true that in odd corners of the world mining is still carried on as it was before that period, but in the United States such instances are rare. Everything has changed to some extent. Even picks and shovels have changed in design and materials. At the beginning of this period steam power had been used for pumping and hoisting for nearly 75 years, but almost every other operation underground was performed by manpower. Although mining was carried on in a small way east of the Appalachian Mountains before the Revolution, and continued thereafter on an increasing scale for more than 100 years, it was not until the discovery of the iron and copper deposits in Michigan and Minnesota and the opening of the mineral areas of the West after the building of the transcontinental railroads that the real development of modern metal mining began. In the same period many problems of deep mining in South Africa were solved by new techniques in shaft sinking and hoisting. Before this time knowledge of mining and skill in its performance were handed down from father to son by the apprentice system, and the son learned to do things in the way his father and grandfather had done them. The rapid expansion of mining in the United States after the Civil War required more men than the apprentice system could supply, and the

Jan 1, 1947

By R. I. Jaffee, H. R. Ogden, D. J. Maykuth

Phase diagrams for the Ti-W and Ti-Ta systems were determined. The Ti-W system is characterized by a wide, two-phase region of ß plus tungsten which is derived from a peritectic reaction between the liquid and tungsten solid solutions. The ß field terminates in a eutectoid reaction between a titanium and tungsten terminal solid solution. Tantalum and ß titanium form a complete series of solid solutions. Other features of this system are the extensive a-ß field at low temperatures and an appreciable solubility of tantalum in a titanium. BOTH tungsten and tantalum were first thought to form ß-isomorphous systems with titanium as a result of early work' using powder-metallurgical techniques. Later work2 on arc-melted Ti-Ta alloys, made using a commercial titanium base, showed that, in the range of 0 to 10 pct, tantalum was soluble in ß titanium and that the a solubility extended to between 2 and 5 pct Ta at 790 °C. The present investigation covered the entire alloy range in both systems and was chiefly concerned with high-purity alloys at the titanium-rich end. The constitution of titanium-rich alloys made with a commercial titanium base was reported by Holla-day, Kura, and Jackson.3, 4 As will be shown in detail later, the early prediction of a isomorphism was true for the case of the Ti-Ta system, but not for the Ti-W system. The results of this investigation will be presented first. The experimental methods used are described in the Appendix. Ti-W System The entire Ti-W phase diagram is shown in Fig. 1. Details of the titanium-rich side are shown in Fig. 2. The chief features of the system are a ß eutectoid and a high-temperature peritectic between liquid and tungsten solid solution. Melting Range: Examination of cast structures of low and medium-tungsten-content ingots showed cored ß phase as the primary constituent. Fig. 3a illustrates a typical cast structure for alloys in the range of 20 to 30 pct W. From 30 to 72 pct W, coring was very severe. Alloys containing 72 through 88 pct W, however, showed definite evidence of a peritectic reaction between the liquid and a terminal solid solution of titanium in tungsten. Fig. 3b shows the cast structure for an 80 pct W alloy. A 95 pct W alloy, shown in Fig. 4, consisted primarily of primary tungsten solid solution plus a small quantity of ß probably rejected during cooling. Incipient-melting experiments located the peritectic temperature between 1850" and 1900°C and indicated that the reacting phases are liquid containing about 25 pct W and tungsten terminal solid solution containing about 8 pct Ti. Figs. 5 and 6

Jan 1, 1954

By Homer G. Turner

Coals, other than anthracite, have been so thoroughly studied under the microscope during recent years, that we now know what kinds of plants and what parts of plants form the bulk of lower rank coals from peat to bituminous coal. The microscope has also shown the state of preservation of such vegetation as well as the nature and distribution of products of plant decay. These and further details have been ascertained mainly through the employment of two methods of attack, section cutting and maceration. Anthracite has failed to respond to these methods, so well adapted to the study of lower rank coals and, therefore, has been neglected by investigators to such an extent that there is much doubt as to its microscopical characteristics. The object of this paper is to lift anthracite from its realm of obscurity by demonstrating the wealth of microscopical detail that is revealed when reflected light is used on a properly polished and etched surface and, further, to show the relationship between anthracite and bituminous coal. Technique The method adopted in this investigation is similar to that described in an earlier paper.' Because of slight modifications recently made, the process is again described. It consists, briefly, of etching a polished surface of coal with heat. Although pieces of various sizes and shapes are used, blocks of coal about 2 or 3 cm. square take the most uniform polish and are large enough to be handled with ease. Larger pieces can be used if one has the equipment for polishing them and they rnay be desirable when one wishes to study some particular form that extends for some distance through the coal. Large surfaces, however, require greater care in polishing and etching; for this reason, they are not recommended for ordinary work.

Jan 1, 1925

By H. H. Stoek

A study of Americarf coal-mine practice shows two of its distinctive features to be: A greater number of accidents per thousand employees than in any of the other leading coal-producing countries; a much greater percentage of the coal lost than in any of the other leading coal-producing countries. Although our subject is mainly concerned with the second feature, any consideration of mining methods should include safety, efficiency, and economy or costs. If the argument could be offered that our wasteful mining was necessary on account of safety, and that it is carried out with less loss of life than in other countries, the plea for conservation of coal could not he so strongly urged. But when we are wasteful of both life and property, the subject merits more: consideration than it has received. Some coal operators will doubtless say that the unit of accidents should be the number per million tons produced rather than per thousand employees, for by adopting this unit America probably stands in the lead rather than the lowest among the countries. However, vital statistics are not usually so expressed by other governments, by life and accident insurance companies, or in other industries, and it is merely begging the question and attempting to bolster up a bad condition to adopt a peculiar unit for the statement of our accidents. For many years the statement was made by various agencies, and was unchallenged, that "For every ton of bituminous coal mined in the United States a ton had been lost in the way of pillars left in the mines." This statement was undoubtedly true for many years, and although in the past decade some progress has been made toward obtaining a higher extraction, and in some districts very decided progress, the loss is still great; and, although no exact data can be given, it is probable that for the United States as a whole at least one ton is lost for every two mined.

Jan 1, 1923

By H. H. Stoek

A study of Americarf coal-mine practice shows two of its distinctive features to be: A greater number of accidents per thousand employees than in any of the other leading coal-producing countries; a much greater percentage of the coal lost than in any of the other leading coal-producing countries. Although our subject is mainly concerned with the second feature, any consideration of mining methods should include safety, efficiency, and economy or costs. If the argument could be offered that our wasteful mining was necessary on account of safety, and that it is carried out with less loss of life than in other countries, the plea for conservation of coal could not he so strongly urged. But when we are wasteful of both life and property, the subject merits more: consideration than it has received. Some coal operators will doubtless say that the unit of accidents should be the number per million tons produced rather than per thousand employees, for by adopting this unit America probably stands in the lead rather than the lowest among the countries. However, vital statistics are not usually so expressed by other governments, by life and accident insurance companies, or in other industries, and it is merely begging the question and attempting to bolster up a bad condition to adopt a peculiar unit for the statement of our accidents. For many years the statement was made by various agencies, and was unchallenged, that "For every ton of bituminous coal mined in the United States a ton had been lost in the way of pillars left in the mines." This statement was undoubtedly true for many years, and although in the past decade some progress has been made toward obtaining a higher extraction, and in some districts very decided progress, the loss is still great; and, although no exact data can be given, it is probable that for the United States as a whole at least one ton is lost for every two mined.

Jan 1, 1923

By Edward Judd

THE old Cerro de Pasco smelter at La Fundicion, near Tinahuarea, 9 miles. from the Cerro de Pasco. mines and at an elevation of 14,300 ft., has now been replaced by a thoroughly modern smelting plant at Oroya, the junction point of the company's private railroad with the Central Railway, of Peru. This site has the advantages of being closer to the Morochoca mines, as well as nearer to the port of Callao, and at the same time is 2000 ft. lower in elevation, which benefits not only the cost of transportation but also the tech-nical operation of blast furnaces , and converters. The Oroya smelter was designed with the idea of .smelting about 2500 tons of. ore per day, but having in mind the possibility of increasing its capacity, all departments of the plant can be extended within reasonable -limits; for instance, if it is found that reverber-atory smelting is cheapest, taking into consideration the cost of fine crushing and fuel, it is possible to extend the roaster and reverberatory plants accordingly. The ore handling system is modern, consisting of belt conveyors, reclaiming machines, and electrically driven calcine cars, all requiring the minimum of labor. Waste heat from the reverberatory furnaces is utilized in boilers for the production of power to operate the plant, and the power house is equipped with condensing units to obtain the highest economy. Shop installations for the making of all repairs required for the smelter are unusually complete, includ-ing iron foundry, steel foundry, forging and machine shops, carpenter and pattern shops, and an electrical shop. There is also a plant for the production of all clay and silica refractory brick used in the furnaces; this is situated on the smelter site and is conveniently arranged for receiving raw materials and delivering finished brick to the several departments of the smelter. The laboratory is in a wing. of the general office, which is a two-story brick structure, situated on the smel-ter site.

Jan 10, 1923

By Arthur Redfield

THE year 1923 was marked by slight progress in exploring and developing the petroleum resources assumed to exist in Central America. Actual drilling for oil took place only in Costa Rica and Panama. The Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corpn., through its subsidiary the Costa Rica Oil Corpn., drilled in southeastern Costa Rica.. Its, Panaman subsidiary is reported to have abandoned drilling in Bocas del Toro. The Texas Co. drilled in Chiriqui, and the Panama Gulf Co. in Garachiné, Province of Darién. No oil was obtained in any of these wells;' shows of gas were met in Costa Rica. Concession hunting continued during the year. A number of concessions, several of which appear to be purely speculative, were submitted for ratification. Some confusion has been caused by overlapping concessions and claims to oil lands, caused partly by the imperfection of existing maps. A conflict between the Sinclair, and Gulf companies in Panama has been compromised. The Amory concession in central Costa Rica, held by the British Controlled Oilfields, Ltd., was voided by decision of the arbitrator, Chief -Justice Taft. Geologic exploration took-place in Guatemala and in Panama. The chief contribution of the year to Central American geology was a description by Katherine Van Winkle Palmer of Lower Miocene foraminifera and mollusks from southeastern Costa Rica. A new petroleum law was promulgated in Panama.

Jan 3, 1924

By L. D. Anderson

WHEN, after years of troublous experiences in roasting sulfide ores with heavy dust and fume losses resulting from the equipment and methods first available, there appeared on the, scene of metallurgy that revolutionary process known as sintering, it was felt that at last there had been found the ideal method for preparing sulfide ores for blast-furnace reduction. Not only were the sulfides roasted but also the fine oxidized ores were bound together with them in strong porous cellular masses which were in the best possible condition for reduction. With the experiences gained in the manipulation of the Huntington-Heberlein, Carmichael-Bradford, and Dwight & Lloyd processes there developed a refinement of detail which brought the whole plan of roasting by sintering to a high plane of perfection. But that metallurgy is never stationary is revealed by the fact that changes in milling practice, particularly the development of flotation, have introduced a new set of problems in sintering itself. Inasmuch as it is felt that these problems have not yet been solved in an entirely satisfactory manner this paper is written to record the present practice of the Salt Lake Valley smelters with the hope that there will be brought forth such discussion as may perhaps lead to still better practice. By far the greater proportion of the sulfides smelted today are flotation concentrates. Usually they are high grade, sometimes as high as 70 per cent. and more in lead. They are extremely fine, many mills grinding the ore so that from 60 to 80 per cent. will pass through screens of 200 mesh. The physical condition in which many of these concentrates reach the smelters is disconcerting to the metallurgists. Some are of about the consistency of putty. Others are of a sticky, slimy nature. Others again, dried to the limit, are veritable powders. Remembering that the down-draft sintering charge for the best results must be porous enough to let air be drawn through it reasonably well, must be thoroughly mixed, and must have some coarse material in it to segregate out and form a layer on the grates, it will be understood that the advent of this extremely fine material has made necessary still further elaboration in the equipment and processes of preparing sulfides for the blast furnaces, all of which is expensive. The high metal contents of the concentrates

Jan 1, 1929

By C. S. Smith, E. W. Palmer

IN 1934, when Gregg and Daniloffl wrote their excellent monograph on the alloys of iron and copper, the most recent literature on the constitution of the alloys indicated a narrow single-liquid area for 20" above the liquidus with a closed liquid mis-cibility gap above this. Since that time, however, a number of investigators have confirmed the much earlier studies of Mushet2 and Stead3 who, among others in the nineteenth century, had described the true state of affairs. Liquid copper and iron are completely miscible in the absence of carbon, but small amounts of carbon cause liquid segregation. In 1934, one of the writers' mentioned evidence for the absence of liquid separation in carbon-free alloys at temperatures up to 1700°C. Two years later, Mad-docks and Claussen5 unequivocally established the absence of liquid segregation and published a revised diagram, reproduced in fig. 1. They also studied the limits of the two-liquid area in ternary alloys of iron, copper, and carbon as a function of carbon and iron content. In the same year Simpson and Bannister" and Schumacher and Souden7 described in some detail the properties of alloys containing 50 to 75 pct Cu. More recently Hodges et al.16 have developed the copper-rich alloys for use as high-strength conductors. In 1937, Iwase, Okamoto, and Ameniya8 published data on the miscibility gap in ternary alloys of iron, copper, and carbon that supported the conclusions of Maddocks and Claussen, and definitely located the two-liquid area at temperatures of 1450" and 1540°C. They also reported that additions of 1 pct Al, Ni, Pb, Sn, or Zn caused no segregation in 50 pct Cu alloys at 1540°C. The use of copper in amounts approximating 1 pct has found industrial employment to an increasing degree in both wrought and cast steels, for such steels are capable of being precipitation-hardened following normalizing, and have high yield strengths. This is summarized by Gregg and Daniloff,1 Sallitt,9 and Lorig and Adams,10 while Alexander" gives additional information on the heat treatment of copper-steel castings. Lippert12 has described Digby's two-phase steels containing copper and chromium. The work described in the present paper was done in the years 1932 to 1934, at which time much of the information was new. The excellent work subsequently done in other laboratories but more promptly published makes the present paper in part only a confirmation of what is now well known. There has not, however, been published any unified study of

Jan 1, 1951

By E. G. Spilsbury

AS a fresh illustration of the advances made in the past few years in the overhead-cable systems of hoisting and conveying, as applied to open-cut deep mining and quarrying, I would call attention to a further development of this system of transportation which has lately been put in operation i-n this State. A few miles above Williamsport, on the Susquehanna river, the Glen Union Lumber Company, of Pottsville, Pa., owned a large tract of valuable timber-

Jan 1, 1892

By Nelson Severinghaus

Following the end of hostilities of World War 11, a resurgence of industrial and home building has given impetus to the use of many products of the stone industry. Shortage and high prices of some building materials such as lumber have aided wider acceptance of materials such as concrete products which have been relatively plentiful and which have not risen so rapidly in price. Ingredients for many of these substituting materials come from the stone industries, often from by-products of stone operations. Most of the tonnage of the stone industry in the State of Georgia comes from granite and marble. There are extensive dimension stone operations in granite in the Elberton and in the Lithonia areas. Building and monumental marble from the Tate area has been used throughout the country. Cutting operations in both types of stone have their by-products in faulty blocks and in spalls. In the State there are three large crushed-stone plants utilizing granite, One near Camak, One near Lithonia and one at Stockbridge. All have had excess fines Or in in the past but this excess is largely disappearing with development of new uses. At times this "waste" has amounted to as much as 20 pct of the stone quarried. Handling Of this large tonnage from point of screening out to storage piles presented a costly problem and large areas were taken up by the piles. Crushed 'tone is generally sold with a a narrow margin Of price over cost, so any elimination of disposal cost or increase of income by marketing of by-products is highly desirable. By-products of Granite Dimension Stone It sometimes becomes difficult to differentiate between main product and byproduct. In the cutting of granite dimension stone in the Lithonia district of Georgia, a considerable quantity of remnants of Uneven shape and size is produced. The larger of these pieces have long found use as building rubble, particularly for retaining walls and building foundations (Fig I), They are broken down to one man size by plug drilling and wedging and by hammer. In recent times, demand for this former by-product has grown so that quarries have been opened for the production of rubble as a main product. Local masons have attained skill in using these irregular shapes to form economical and attractive walls. Areas such as Elberton, Georgia, which do not have a large building market nearby, tend to accumulate piles of large pieces of reject stone. When a road job or other local construction offers a quantity market for crushed stone, a portable crusher works this material down to crushed aggregate. Spalls and finer chips from granite stone-cutting operations have generally found their way into crushers and thence to the many uses for crushed aggregate. One company near Lithonia started marketing the smaller by-product crushed sizes for chicken grit about ten years ago. This use has grown to nation-wide distribution and the tonnage is now so great that they have opened a large quarry with

Jan 1, 1948

By Nelson Severinghaus

Following the end of hostilities of World War 11, a resurgence of industrial and home building has given impetus to the use of many products of the stone industry. Shortage and high prices of some building materials such as lumber have aided wider acceptance of materials such as concrete products which have been relatively plentiful and which have not risen so rapidly in price. Ingredients for many of these substituting materials come from the stone industries, often from by-products of stone operations. Most of the tonnage of the stone industry in the State of Georgia comes from granite and marble. There are extensive dimension stone operations in granite in the Elberton and in the Lithonia areas. Building and monumental marble from the Tate area has been used throughout the country. Cutting operations in both types of stone have their by-products in faulty blocks and in spalls. In the State there are three large crushed-stone plants utilizing granite, One near Camak, One near Lithonia and one at Stockbridge. All have had excess fines Or in in the past but this excess is largely disappearing with development of new uses. At times this "waste" has amounted to as much as 20 pct of the stone quarried. Handling Of this large tonnage from point of screening out to storage piles presented a costly problem and large areas were taken up by the piles. Crushed 'tone is generally sold with a a narrow margin Of price over cost, so any elimination of disposal cost or increase of income by marketing of by-products is highly desirable. By-products of Granite Dimension Stone It sometimes becomes difficult to differentiate between main product and byproduct. In the cutting of granite dimension stone in the Lithonia district of Georgia, a considerable quantity of remnants of Uneven shape and size is produced. The larger of these pieces have long found use as building rubble, particularly for retaining walls and building foundations (Fig I), They are broken down to one man size by plug drilling and wedging and by hammer. In recent times, demand for this former by-product has grown so that quarries have been opened for the production of rubble as a main product. Local masons have attained skill in using these irregular shapes to form economical and attractive walls. Areas such as Elberton, Georgia, which do not have a large building market nearby, tend to accumulate piles of large pieces of reject stone. When a road job or other local construction offers a quantity market for crushed stone, a portable crusher works this material down to crushed aggregate. Spalls and finer chips from granite stone-cutting operations have generally found their way into crushers and thence to the many uses for crushed aggregate. One company near Lithonia started marketing the smaller by-product crushed sizes for chicken grit about ten years ago. This use has grown to nation-wide distribution and the tonnage is now so great that they have opened a large quarry with

Jan 1, 1948

By Robert H. Merrill

In 1960, the Kennecott Copper Corp. and the U.S. Bureau of Mines entered into a joint research program to determine the changes in stress, strain, and displacement created by changes in slope angles. The field site was the Kimbley Pit, located near Ely, Nev. The supporting laboratory investigations were made at the Bureau's Denver Mining Research Center. Following a study to determine the rock stresses in the mining district, the strike and dip of geologic defects (fractures) in the rock, and the laboratory-determined strength of the rock, a new slope angle and pit configuration was selected, and instruments were installed to measure changes in stress, strain, displacement, microseismic noise rate, and sonic velocities at several points in the west wall of the pit. Between February and November 1966, the west slope was changed from an average angle of 45' to a slope angle that started at 45° on the south wall, and gradually increased to 575' at the center of the west wall, and to 61° on the north wall. The pit was deepened from about 500 ft to about 550 ft. About 2.55 million tons of waste and ore were removed by stripping and mining. Measurements made between November 1965 and September 1967 showed that the pit wall was stable before excavation began, that changes in the measured quantities occurred in the pit wall during the excavation, and that the wall returned to a condition of equilibrium after the mining was completed. The need for a method and the technology to pre-design a pit slope does not require elaboration. About 5 billion tons of material are excavated yearly by surface mining methods in the United States, and the economics, safety, and availability of lower grade metals, nonmetals and fuels could all be substantially improved if operators could preselect optimum slope angles. Mining companies and the Bureau of Mines have recognized the need for developing engineering methods to determine stable slope angles. In the industry, Kennecott Copper Corp. had been making an

Jan 1, 1969

By Thomas C. Baker

The Fresnillo unit of the Mexican Corporation, S. A., is situated at the old historic mining town of Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico, 33 miles north of the city of Zacatecas and 750 miles south of El Paso, Tex. It is connected with the Mexican Central Railroad by a broad-gage spur 5.5 miles long, belonging to the company. Fresnillo is surrounded by a broad semi-arid valley on the Mexican plateau at an elevation of 7300 ft. The monotony of the valley is broken by a number of low hills. Near the town of Fresnillo is the " Cerro de Proano," an elliptic-shaped hill of gentle slope, rising out of the plain to a height of 325 ft.; the base has a major axis of 4500ft. and a minor axis of 3000 ft. In this hill is the silver-bearing mineralized zone, which comprises past and present mining operations. (In this paper money values are expressed throughout in American currency and the dry short ton of 2000 lb. is used.) The discovery of ore at Fresnillo is credited to the Spaniards, soon after the conquest of Mexico. There are, however, no authentic records to show the amount of work done by them. In 1832, the State of Zacatecas took possession of the property and operated it. Evidently the rich ore above the horizon of the plain had been fairly well exhausted, as an old record states that thirty shafts were used for unwatering, requiring 300 men and 1500 animals. The cost of pumping alone amounted to $150,000 a year. In spite of the fact that cheap convict labor was used, mining costs were reported as $20 and treatment charges as $20 per ton. In 1835, the state was obliged to seek foreign capital, and a company formed in London secured a controlling interest in the property. This new organization sank two shafts, one 11 by 19 ft. and the other 10 by 15 ft., to unwater the mines and extract ore. Large Cornish pumps were purchased in England and hauled overland from Vera Cruz; engines also were installed to operate the arrastres (grinding mills) in the patio process of ore treatment. Substantial buildings were erected and operations were conducted on a large scale, for that period. The patio, the largest in Mexico, was 1150 ft. square. The costs for 1850 were:

Jan 1, 1925

By Mark L. Requa

During the past two years California has developed a new and important oil-field: I refer to Midway. This field produced the famous Lake View gusher, which is credited with a total production in excess of 8,000,000 barrels. Fortunately for the oil industry of the State, this well is now a thing of the past, and nothing, save a great crater-like opening marks its location. The pipe is entirely worn away and gone; and it is a matter of serious doubt if there can be anything done that will cause the well to produce again. Fortunately, also, there have been no other wells in that field or elsewhere throughout the State that in any may compared with the Lake View. Midway is noted for large wells, of from 500 to 2,000 barrels production; but the decline is rapid, and a few months serve to bring the output down to a few hundred barrels. In the oil-territory heretofore blocked out as proved and probable, there have been, during the year, many changes. Some areas which were expected to be fairly productive have apparently failed; others, more strictly "wild-cat," have come in; while in some of the older fields there are properties which are beginning to shorn evident signs of exhaustion. The total area of proved territory will therefore probably suffer but small

Jan 1, 1912

By AIME AIME

WHEN your good secretary was kind enough to ask me to speak tonight I was rather reluctant to do so lest it be just another case of a man who has been abroad inflicting himself on his friends. So if anybody wants to walk out on me it will be perfectly all right. In the matter of statistics, geography, geology, and the like, you can get more from an encyclopaedia than I can tell you. For that reason I want to restrict myself to mentioning just a few personal impressions of that great country, Australia. About ten days ago I met the professor of mining from the University of Adelaide. In our conversation, which ran into a discussion of the relative characterstics of the two countries, he asked me whether it was fair to think of Australia as a land of strikes and not think of the United States as the home of murderers, bootleggers, and gangsters. At any rate those are the things most prominently played up in the news from the respective countries, so you can see how distorted our conceptions can be.

Jan 1, 1931