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By Frederick Laist, H. J. Maguire

The ore from the Butte mines of the Anaconda company is quite siliceous; that is, it contains considerably less iron than is needed for the fluxing of the silica. The direct smelting of this ore, therefore, requires the addition of considerable fluxing material. The only flux available in sufficient quantity at Anaconda is limestone containing no metallic minerals. This necessarily makes the direct smelting of the ore so expensive that it is more profitable to subject the ore to a preliminary treatment by concentration. However, as the losses in the concentrator were very high, compared with the losses in the blast furnaccs, it was found, by calculation, more profitable to send ores containing more than a given percentage of copper to the blast furnaces, in spite of the higher costs of treatment. The dividing point was dependent on various factors, the chief of which was the prevailing market price of copper. It was customary, therefore, to segregate the ore as mined into two classes. Ore in the first class generally contained 5 per cent. or over of copper; this was sent directly to the blast-furnace department. Second-class ore contained less than 5 per cent. of copper, and averaged around 3 per cent.; it went to the concentrating department. With the introduction of the flotation process, it mas found possible to maintain an average recovery, as concentrates, of 96 per cent. At the same time, the cost of reverberatory smelting was very materially decreased by the use of pulverized coal. These two changes in practice made the blast furnaces unable to compete with the reverberatory furnaces on a cost basis. The distinction between first- and second-class ore was therefore abandoned, and the ore was treated by concentration. Obviously, on ores as high in iron as the Butte ores, the concentrator produces a product that is self-fluxing; in fact, it is possible to produce a concentrate containing more iron than is necessary to flux the silica. Under these conditions, the amount of basic fluxing materials required for the smelting operations became very srnall and the converter slag lost its former value as a blast-furnace flux. For this reason, a less expensive method of recovering the copper, silver, and gold contained in it than smelting in blast furnaces had to be found. It was not feasible

Jan 1, 1921

By David P. Hale

THE Cartersville barite district is near Cartersville, Ga., in the southeastern part of Bartow County, about 43 miles northeast of Atlanta. The area over which active mining is being done extends about six miles in a northeasterly direction and is about three miles wide. Barite production in Georgia began about 1907,1but the existence of the mineral was known much earlier. At present four companies are operating washing plants and three other plants are operating on leases from those companies. The chief impurities in the ores are silica and iron oxide. The silica is easily washed and jigged out and gives little trouble. Any gravity separation between the iron and the barite is generally poor, owing to the slight difference in specific gravity. Two operators have turned to magnetic separation as the solution to the problem and have made remarkable improvements in the finished product. By very close sizing prior to jigging, the separation between iron and barite has been greatly improved. In some localities manganese occasionally appears as an impurity, but is fairly easy to eliminate by gravity methods. A considerable percentage of iron and silica is eliminated by being broken free in crushing. Until methods for the recovery of fine ore were introduced a minimum of crushing was done, but modern methods allow more than formerly. The depression years brought about the need for increased recovery of ore handled on the part of the producers and a demand for a higher grade of product on the part of the buyers. Improvements in milling and mining practice have had a far greater effect, however, than merely the production of a better grade of ore with greater recovery. They have opened for mining large areas that a few years ago were considered noncommercial deposits because of their inaccessibility and their high iron content. It is no exaggeration to say that the new methods have more than doubled present known reserves of barite ore of economic value.

Jan 1, 1938

By B. M. Blake, R. S. Reppert, A. F. Keiser, E. J. Trinkle

The southern West Virginia coalfield was formed in a rapidly subsiding depositional basin associated with deep-seated growth faults. Subsidence began to the southeast during deposition of the Pocahontas Formation, and then shifted to the northwest during deposition of the New River, Kanawha, and Allegheny Formations. Rocks of all the coal-bearing formations grade into massive sandstones to the northwest. For the No. 3 Pocahontas, Sewell, Campbells Creek, and No. 5 Block coals discussed in this study, the overall sulfur and ash values of each coal seam increase gradually toward the northwest. The thickness of each coal tends to increase toward the southeast. These trends are partly a reflection of the differential subsidence of the coal basin along with varying degrees of peat accumulation and degradation. The northwest side of the coal swamps underwent relatively less subsidence and, thus, more degradation due to increased aerial exposure, with a resulting increase in the sulfur and ash values of the coals, and a decrease in the thickness. The open sea existed to the west of the coal swamps, and this marine environment also contributed to the higher sulfur values to the northwest. Coals of the Pottsville Group in the southern West Virginia coalfield generally have sulfur values between 0.6-1.0% with some as high as 2-3% on the northwest edge of the coal basin.

Jan 1, 1983

By K. C. Ten Brink, Allen D. Garrison

A rrevious paper1 reviewed some of the properties of clays and shales and presented some data on the nature of the gelling phenomenon. It included a brief discussion of origin of clays and shales, their composition, structure, retention of water, ionization, base exchange, and the nature of the gelling of water suspensions. Other publications of the Institute2-8 have discussed the properties of clays and their relations to drilling-fluid behavior and control. It is the purpose of this article to present some new data obtained and arranged in a different manner and making possible a better understanding of the chemical reactions involved in the control of drilling-fluid characteristics during the normal drilling operations. Experimental Procedure The difficulties involved in the measurements of the flow characteristics of plastic fluids are too familiar to recite. The possible applications of some of the well-known instruments to this problem have been adequately discussed by Hobson9 and he has given an excellent bibliography. Although there are many viscosimeters of varied design, none of them appear to fulfill the most obvious demands of accuracy in the measurement of clay or shale suspensions. Since the fluid characteristics are dependent on the rate of flow of the fluid, and the viscosity usually falls off very rapidly as the rate is increased, it is clear that the first requirement is that the instrument shall be capable of a wide variety of speeds. The viscosity of the fluid at any fixed and constant rate of flow is also a function of time, so that the second demand is that the instrument shall be capable of a constant and continuous motion for a prolonged period of time.

Jan 1, 1940

By K. C. Ten Brink, Allen D. Garrison

A rrevious paper1 reviewed some of the properties of clays and shales and presented some data on the nature of the gelling phenomenon. It included a brief discussion of origin of clays and shales, their composition, structure, retention of water, ionization, base exchange, and the nature of the gelling of water suspensions. Other publications of the Institute2-8 have discussed the properties of clays and their relations to drilling-fluid behavior and control. It is the purpose of this article to present some new data obtained and arranged in a different manner and making possible a better understanding of the chemical reactions involved in the control of drilling-fluid characteristics during the normal drilling operations. Experimental Procedure The difficulties involved in the measurements of the flow characteristics of plastic fluids are too familiar to recite. The possible applications of some of the well-known instruments to this problem have been adequately discussed by Hobson9 and he has given an excellent bibliography. Although there are many viscosimeters of varied design, none of them appear to fulfill the most obvious demands of accuracy in the measurement of clay or shale suspensions. Since the fluid characteristics are dependent on the rate of flow of the fluid, and the viscosity usually falls off very rapidly as the rate is increased, it is clear that the first requirement is that the instrument shall be capable of a wide variety of speeds. The viscosity of the fluid at any fixed and constant rate of flow is also a function of time, so that the second demand is that the instrument shall be capable of a constant and continuous motion for a prolonged period of time.

Jan 1, 1940

By Edmund C. Pechin

THE writer approaches this subject with a great deal of diffidence —first, because it is utterly impossible to treat it satisfactorily within the limits of a paper, and, secondly, because the larger development is of so comparatively a recent date as to make authoritative data on some interesting points unavailable. For over one hundred years small charcoal-fnrnaces have been in existence, at widely scattered points, making a few tons of iron daily, and then gradually increasing to a daily output of, say 10 to 12 tons, as the market widened. With the exhaustion of local supplies of wood, inaccessibility to market, and sharp competition, bringing lower prices, many were compelled from time to time to make temporary stops, and finally to cease altogether. During the first half of the century there were at different times in operation between 75 and 90 charcoal furnaces. The last Directory of the Iron and Steel Works of the United States (1890) gives 19 as the number of charcoal-stacks in Virginia. Of these several are cold, and, it is

Jan 1, 1891

By Lawrence B. Wright

THE Republic district, Washington, is of new interest because of the discovery of new gold-silver ore within a unique structural pattern. The camp was revived in 1937 following installation of a plant to treat low-grade disseminated ore at Knob Hill and further stimulation followed discovery of "cross vein" breccia ores in 1939. Previous writers 1-2 ascribed the quartz veins to a latite porphyry stock, but are in disagreement as to its precise location and extent. This study leads to the conclusion that the ores have a more profound parentage linked to a broad system of thrust faults and folds, the mechanical origin of which is related to a southward trending (Sanpoil) syncline connecting with the Lewis and Clark zone of shift described by Billingsley and Locke3 in 1939. The Republic anticline and a cross anticline recumbent against Cretaceous granodiorite, and involving some 4000 ft of Eocene andesite flows and early Miocene lake beds, localize the ores, mainly along the east flank, in a series of openings simulating drag folds and steeper than the folded flows. These broad structural features no doubt reach deeply into the basement rocks, where at appropriate crossings and junctions it is suggested that heat effects gave rise to oremaking materials, including, in this instance, intrusive breccias that later were mineralized, and comprising the broader bodies of new ores. The breccia ore is seen crosscutting the earlier narrow quartz veins with a welding of the two at junction areas by a second surge of ore minerals. The ore mined and developed since 1937 equals district production from 1896 to 1937. The ores are typified by cherty quartz, adularia and some barite, with fine pyrite and marcasite, polybasite, pyrargyrite, tetrahedrite and gold. Selenium is present, possibly with gold, as a normal selenide. The disseminated ores, as well as the vein and breccia ores, are localized principally in one 500-ft flow (Knob Hill andesite), which has been traced around the crest of the low northward-plunging Republic anticline. The gold-silver ratio in the earlier narrow veins is about 1 to 4 and in the disseminated and breccia ores, 1 to 7. The latter higher silver ratio is deemed to reflect the character of the second surge of mineralization. Sills and dikes of the Columbia River (Miocene) basalt cut the folded structure and ore, thus placing the mineralization in the middle Miocene.

Jan 1, 1947

By E. G. Leonardon, C. Schlumberger, M. Schlumberger

Last year the authors presented a paper that discussed the various electrical measurements they perform in drill holes, which they name "electrical coring."' The object of the present paper is to give a brief account of the points of scientific interest that have been elucidated by further field work and laboratory research, as well as the economic results that have been attained recently. The practical examples given in this paper are drawn, for the most part, from the field work performed in Russian oil fields during the years 1931 and 1932. This is due to the fact that, thanks to the comprehensive cooperation of the Russian geologists and scientists, the authors are allowed to make public a large amount of recant information. In other countries in which the authors are engaged in similar work, the competition between private companies makes it imperative, for a considerable lapse of time, to avoid publication of the results obtained. The following points will be discussed successively, under separate headings: 1. Electrochemical phenomena in drill holes. 2. Stratigraphic correlations and tectonic studies. 3. Relations' between the productivity of oil horizons and their electrical resistivity. 4. Location of coal seams. 5. Summary and conclusions. Electrochemical Phenomena in Drill Holes Technical Publication 462l described the author's discovery concerning the existence of important differences of potential spontaneously gener-

Jan 1, 1934

By W. A. Tiller, W. C. Johnston

The solute distribution ahead of an advancing solid-liquid interface is controlled by varying the momentum boundary layer thickness in the liquid adjacent to the interface. Single pass zone-melting experiments on Pb-Sn alloys are described in which the liquid is caused to rotate in the plane of the solid-liquid interface due to the influence of a magnetic .field rotating in this plane. The variation of the diffusion boundary layer thickness with field strength is determined. DURING the freezing of an alloy a partitioning of solute occurs at the solid-liquid interface, the magnitude depending upon the difference in the solid and liquid solubilities at the interface temperature. Because the diffusion coefficient is so small in the liquid relative to normal freezing rates, either a pileup or a depletion of solute occurs at the interface when the partition coefficient, kO, is either less than or greater than unity, respectively. This solute distribution is completely characterized by i) the solute concentration in the liquid far from the interface, C) the ratio of freezing velocityf, to diffusion coefficient, D, iii) the partition coefficient, ko, and iv) the thickness of the diffusion boundary layer, 6,, at the interface (this assumes that an electric field is not applied across the interface). For a particular system, C ko and D are fixed so that the character of the solute distribution can be changed only by a variation of either f or 6c. As is well known, the freezing velocity can be changed by varying the thermal environment of the alloy. Whereas, the thickness of the solute rich layer can be changed by varying the fluid flow conditions in the liquid. It is the purpose of this paper to describe a technique for controlling the fluid flow conditions in the liquid. During most solidification experiments the driving force for fluid flow arises from either mechanical mixing, thermal convection or electromagnetic mixing. The momentum boundary layer thickness, 6m at the solid-liquid interface, within which negligible movement of the liquid occurs, has been calculated for the special case of mechanical mixing where crystals are solidified by the Czochralski technique.l,2 The calculation of 6m for the case of thermal convection has also been made.3 In some calculations it has been assumed that the momentum boundary layer thickness, 6,, may be equated to the thickness of the diffusion boundary layer 6c, at the interface. However, as may be seen from Appendix I this is only true in very special cases and in general where a is a constant of magnitude determined by the particular liquid alloy. Neither calculations nor experimental data exist for the dependence of upon electromagnetic mixing. In this paper experiments are described in which the liquid is caused to rotate in the plane of the interface due to the torque developed on it by a magnetic field, H, rotating in this plane. The variation of is controlled by the variation of H. A magnetic field rotating in a plane perpendicular to the interface has been used for the purification of aluminum. Experimentally, we determined the variation of 5C with H by using the zone-melting technique of pfann5and a theoretical relationship of Burton et a1.2 pfann5 has shown that, after the passage of one molten zone through a long cylindrical charge of uniform concentration, CO, the solute distribution, C,, in the solid is as shown in Fig. 1. The equation describing this distribution is

Jan 1, 1962

By Thomas L. Kesler

Essentially all of the barite produced in Georgia has come from the Cartersville district in the northwest part of the state. The earliest recorded shipment of ore, 60 tons, was made in 1894.1 With the exception of the four-year period 1931 to 1934, the separate yearly output has been recorded and published since 1915, whereas the total yearly output of the United States has been published since 1880. The separately recorded production of Georgia (Cartersville) through 1947 is 2,232,544 short tons valued at $14,900,746,2 but unpublished data on the period 1931 to 1934, plus the estimated unrecorded output prior to 1915, make the actual total about 2,400,000 short tons. This is about 21 pct of the total production of the United States, which, through 1947, is 11,328,440 short tons valued at $71,683,386.2

Jan 1, 1949

By W. O. Borcherdt

THE 650-ton underground mill of The Empire Zinc Company of Colorado (a subsidiary of The New Jersey Zinc Co.) serves the Eagle mine at Gilman in the Battle Mountain mining district of Colorado. The topography is rough, the mine and mill being under Battle Mountain and the alit entrance in the north wall of the canyon of the Eagle River, which is here a steel) gorge. The town of Gilman stands on a shoulder of the mountain at altitude 8975 ft., above sea level, along the Pike's Peak ocean to ocean highway and contains the company office and the usual facilities of a modern mining town. The railway contact is at Belden, altitude 8370 ft., at the bottom of the gorge directly below Gilman, where the westbound track of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad is cut along the north bank and the eastbound track along the south bank of the river. A general description of the mine, mill and service facilities, with an account of the geology, character of the ore and methods of mining and milling having previously been published in a series of articles1, this paper will discuss with as little repetition as practicable the reasons for building the mill underground rather than as a conventional structure, the methods of construction employed and the experiences gained in what is apparently the pioneer plant of this type and extent.

Jan 1, 1937

By H. F. Johnson, C. S. Harloff

The Nichols series system of electrolytic copper refining has successfully maintained its strong competitive position in the copper-refining industry of today; therefore the improvements made in accomplishing this result are of interest. While additional interest would lie in specific comparisons of results obtained in series operation with those in multiple, we have refrained from such a comparison because it can be fair to both only when they are operating under similar conditions on the same grade of materials. Historical The Nichols Copper Co. started a small refinery at Laurel Hill, using its present system, about 1892. The details of the process in its early stage of development were kept strictly secret, so that no information was published or interchange of ideas permitted with the staffs of other copper refineries, where the multiple system was being developed at the same time. However, the fundamentals of the process and type of cell used today differ very little from their earliest form. All operations including loading and unloading of tanks, and all transportation as well, were carried on by hand. The plant remained in this condition with a gradual expansion taking place until the World War forced such a rapid development that little time or thought could be devoted to modernization or mechanical improvement requiring careful design or detailed planning. Considerable progress was made, however. (1) Large refining furnaces were developed. (2) The old expensive air-lift type of circulation was abandoned in favor of the present system. (3) Operating technique was gradually developed to a high point of efficiency. (4) Tank construction and lining were greatly improved, the first concrete tank being installed in 1915. (This tank is still in operating condition.) (5) A new power plant was constructed. (6) Fuel oil was substituted for lump coal on the refining furnaces. (7) Mechanical casting of the finished product was accomplished. During this entire period the plant was particularly fortunate in receiving only high-grade, clean copper bullion coming principally from the Phelps Dodge mines in Arizona. This, together with the lack of

Jan 1, 1934

By Richard Hamburger

The purpose of this paper is to call attention to certain methods which will shorten and simplify the calculation of plane tri-angulation. These methods, though not new & do not appear to have been properly publicized in the United States. The cotangent (or tangent) solution of a triangle permits calculation of coordinates in a smooth series of operations of the calculating machine with a minimum of notation. The semigraphical solution permits the simultaneous solution of a number of intersections, at one station, without the added burden of solving additional triangles. This in turn encourages more numerous field checks and more complete office computation than would normally be undertaken. RICHARD HAMBURGER, Junior Member AIME, is Junior Engineer, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co., Inspiration, Arizona. TP 2798 A. Discussion (2 copies) may be sent to Transactions AIME before March 31, 1950. Tables I and I1 show the distinct advantage which the combined use of the cotangent and the semi-graphical solutions hold over, what might well be called, the standard solution. It will be shown that the positions for the entire net in fig. 1 may be calculated without computing any distances, thus saving much computation. (2) Comparison of Cotangent and Standard Solutions: To compare the cotangent method with the standard method, the notation involved in the solution of triangle 1-X-4, fig. 1, by both methods is shown. Fig. 2 shows the given information, that is, the coordinates and azimuths of Stations 1 and 4, and angles of the triangle or the azimuths from Stations 1 and 4 to Station X. (Azimuths are used here because the author feels that they are easier to handle, but bearings may be used by those who prefer them). It will be seen from the above comparison that the advantages of the cotangent solution of a triangle are: (a) rapidity, (b) full use of the calculating machine, (c) the small number of

Jan 1, 1951

By R. B. Schluter, M. M. Fine

A process for winning copper from pelletized chalcocite concentrate without matte smelting and converting is under development at the Twin Cities Metallurgy Research Center of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The new procedure includes a two-stage fluid-bed treatment in which the pelletized concentrate with 33% Cu and 7% S is first desulfurized to about 0.5% S in an oxidizing atmosphere, and then metallized by reduction with hydrogen. The reduced product is melted with flux to separate metallic copper from the gangue. The metal must be refined to remove residual sulfur and iron. The pelletizing of the fine concentrate into mini-pellets prior to fluid-bed treatment is an important feature of the process, because it permits shorter reaction time, decreases dusting, and facilitates subsequent processing.

Jan 1, 1972

By A. W. McReynolds

One characteristic of plastic deformation which distinguishes it from elastic strain is the essential inhomo-geneity of plastic strains. Elastic strain varies continuously through a material, and average relative displacements of initially adjacent atoms are only small fractions of their initial spacing, (strains of the order of 0.01 or less). On the other hand, plastic flow corresponds to the appearance of discontinuities in strain of the lattice, such as dislocations or slip bands, where local strain, on an atomic scale, is several orders of magnitude higher. These discontinuities are visible on a microscopic scale as the familiar slip lines (Fig 1). In spite of this obvious microscopic inhomogeneity, however, macroscopic measurements almost invariably show a smooth curve of stress vs. strain (Fig 2b) even if measurements of linear strains be made to an accuracy of one part in 107. This macroscopic homogeneity of strain indicates that the discontinuities in strain on slip planes occur in increments too small or too slow to be recorded individually, and further that they occur sufficiently independent of one another so that the small increments add at random to a smooth stress-strain curve. The present paper describes observations of plastic strain in aluminum of commercial purity and in high purity Al-Cu alloys, where there exists a strong coupling between slip in various regions of the specimen such that once initiated it spreads rapidly through a large volume. The total effect is that of relatively large, rapid, and regularly spaced steps of strain followed by periods of only elastic strain. Fig 2a illustrates the type of "stair-step" stress-strain curve which results. The properties of this cooperative slip phenomenon will be described further in the section on results: in par- ticular it will be shown that each step corresponds to the propagation of a wave of plastic deformation through the specimen. Some interpretations of the mechanism by which it occurs will be made in the following section. Although the type of plastic wave phenomena to be described has not previously been reported, there are numerous cases of related effects in the plastic yielding of metals: YIELD POINT PHENOMENA The most familiar of such effects is the "yield point" observed in low carbon steels, brass, duralurninum, and the like. It consists in the sudden termination of the elastic portion of the stress-strain curve by a large plastic strain. Since the usual tensile machine is such that yielding of the specimen relieves the load, the resulting curve is as shown in Fig 3. As the strain continues, deformation occurs at a lower stress for some time, then follows a rising curve, but with no further sudden yielding. This effect has been observed in brass by Sachs and Shojil and later by many others. Edwards, Phillips and Jones2 made extensive studies of the effect in steel, and of the role of various alloying elements. Although there seems to be fairly clear evidence that the yield point is caused by a hardening of the material by precipitation of impurities, no satisfactory explanation for the sudden yielding has been given. Winlock and Leiter3 have shown that the strain. level of the upper yield point depends strongly on the rate of loading, the yield point increasing by almost a fac- tor of two as the strain rate goes from 0.002 in. per in. per min. to 4.4 in. per in. per min. This effect would seem to imply an incubation period before yielding is initiated at a certain stress. On the other hand, by going to very slow loading rates, Edwards, Phillips and Jones2 showed that the yield point does not become lower and eventually disappear as might be expected, but, on the contrary, begins to rise at loading rates below about 25 Ib per in. per min. becoming much higher than at rapid loading rates. STRAIN AGING If, instead of continuing straining of a specimen after occurrence of a yield point, the load is removed and the specimen aged, resumption of the test results in occurrence of another yield point as shown by the dotted curve of Fig 3. The new yield stress is generally higher than the previous maximum applied stress. This hardening of the material by straining and subsequent aging is undoubtedly related to quench age-hardening resulting from the aging of a specimen quenched from high temperature. Since neither effect is observed in pure metals, it is generally accepted that quench-aging in all cases is the result of hardening by precipitation of a supersaturated alloying element, and that strain-aging is probably a similar precipitation, accelerated by disruptions of the lattice by previous strain. Pfeil4 has shown that strain-aging does not occur in iron from which all of the carbon has been removed, but that only a very small carbon content, around 0.003 pct, is necessary to cause strain-aging. In accord with this observation is recent work by Dijkstra5 in this laboratory showing that the solubility limit of carbon in iron is extremely low, less than 0.001 pct at 400°C. Edwards, Phillips and Jones2 have shown that the strain-aging effect is also removed by the addition of small quantities of elements such as Mo, Mn, Ti, and the like, which readily form carbides. Their results demonstrate the

Jan 1, 1950

By Paul Foote

MOST of the treatises on metallurgy intimate that simultaneously with the development by the atomic physicist of a really satisfactory theory of the atom will be inaugurated a new epoch in the science of metals. Metallurgically and metaphorically, we shall dwell in the Utopia of Sir Thomas More. It is my privilege this afternoon to demonstrate that this state has not arrived. An atom is a miniature planetary system consisting of a positively charged nuclear sun about which revolve electrons each carrying the negative charge e. The charge on the nucleus is + Ze where Z is the atomic number and the number of planetary electrons in a neutral atom is equal to Z. These electrons are arranged in several groups having different binding energies. Ordinary x-ray phenomena relate to processes occurring deep within the atom, usually with electrons in the so-called K or L shells. Such electrons in the heavier atoms are so closely bound to the nucleus that the forces exerted by neighboring atoms in a solid are relatively inappreciable. For most practical x-ray investigation, the atom may, be considered as in the gaseous phase completely isolated from its neighbors. The K radiation from an element in the gaseous state, in the solid or liquid phase, or even in combination with other elements in all its possible valences, is almost identical. ? Visual and ultraviolet spectroscopy is concerned with disturbances of the most loosely, bound outer or valence electrons of the atom, always in the vapor state. The remarkable progress of the last year in both theo-

Jan 2, 1926

By W. M. Weigel

LESS advances in the technology of non-metallic minerals than for several years past mark 1931, and the cause is easily found. The universal depression and decreased markets for non-metallic as well as other mineral commodities has forced the producers to cut out all unnecessary expense and reduce operating costs to a minimum in order to keep going, even on a reduced output, and to prevent insolvency. The result. has been that but 'little research has been carried on, and such as has been completed has in but few cases been put into commercial practice on account of the expense involved in new equipment and plant changes. The trend in the industry has been more economic than technologic, and the greatest effort put on market studies and sales attempts to expand markets and scrutiny of present operating 'practice leading to reduction of cost of production. This tendency has been increased by highly competitive conditions and the buyer's market which has prevailed and to the fact that price has been a greater factor than quality in placing orders. Only in cases where improvements in technology would immediately and effectively reduce costs or where in special cases there was but little competition with almost a monopoly control has actual technical development taken place.

Jan 1, 1932

By Richard Hamburger

(1) Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to call attention to certain methods which will shorten and simplify the calculation of plane tri-angulation. These methods, though not new,',2 do not appear to have been properly publicized in the United States. The cotangent (or tangent) solution of a triangle permits calculation of coordinates in a smooth series of operations of the calculating machine with a minimum of notation. The semigraphical solution permits the simultaneous solution of a number of intersections, at one station, without the added burden of solving additional triangles. This in turn encourages more numerous field checks and more complete office computation than would normally be undertaken. RICHARD HAMBURGER, Junior Member AIME, is Junior Engineer, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co., Inspiration, Arizona. TP 2798 A. Discussion (2 copies) may be sent to Transactions AIME before March 31, 1950. Tables I and I1 show the distinct advantage which the combined use of the cotangent and the semi-graphical solutions hold over, what might well be called, the standard solution. It will be shown that the positions for the entire net in fig. 1 may be calculated without computing any distances, thus saving much computation. (2) Comparison of Cotangent and Standard Solutions: To compare the cotangent method with the standard method, the notation involved in the solution of triangle 1-X-4, fig. 1, by both methods is shown. Fig. 2 shows the given information, that is, the coordinates and azimuths of Stations 1 and 4, and angles of the triangle or the azimuths from Stations 1 and 4 to Station X. (Azimuths are used here because the author feels that they are easier to handle, but bearings may be used by those who prefer them). It will be seen from the above comparison that the advantages of the cotangent solution of a triangle are: (a) rapidity, (b) full use of the calculating machine, (c) the small number of

Jan 1, 1951

By P. F. MINISTER

AT Lime Spur, Mont., the East Butte Copper Mining Co. has been quarrying limestone for twenty years. The quarry is beside the Northern Pacific R. R. in the Jefferson River canyon, 4 ½ miles east of Cardwell, at Lime Spur, Montana. HISTORY This quarry was opened early in 1900 by Dan Morrison of Whitehall, the discoverer of the Morrison cave, to supply a demand for smelter flux. Limestone was sold to the Pittsmont smelter of The East Butte Copper Mining Co. and to the Butte Reduction Works. As no particular effort was made at the quarry to select the rock that delivered to the smelters was unduly high in magnesia and impurities. The East Butte com¬pany, therefore. Bought the quarry. in 1909 and confined operations to the high-grade beds in order to supply rock of the desired purity for its own smelter and the Butte Reduction Works until the latter shut down. It also developed a market for some of its rock with the sugar factories. The latter market increased until in later years all rock, larger than 4 in. in size over a bar grizzly, was being shipped to the sugar factories, and the rock smaller than 4 in. was being used as a flux in the blast furnaces at the Pittsmont smelter. In 1924, the East Butte concluded a contract with the Anaconda company for the treatment of its ores, and the Pittsmont -smelter -was shut down: which made the minus 4-in. rock a useless by-product. Since there was not enough revenue in the sugar rock alone and also because of limited waste room it became necessary, if Lime Spur was to continue to operate, to increase- the proportion of plus 4-in. rock and to develop a market for the minus 4-in.

Jan 1, 1930

By Zay Jeffries

Each generation accepts the developments of the preceding generations without full appreciation of the difficulties that had to be overcome or of the effect of any given development on society. Today, the production of pig iron is the yardstick with which general industrial health and progress are measured. So natural and logical does this seem to us, that it is difficult to picture conditions prior to the fourteenth century when pig iron was unknown. Not only was pig iron unknown but iron or steel could not be melted and poured into castings; all iron and steel articles were forged from sponge iron. All castings, as well as many worked articles, were made of non-ferrous metals or alloys. In many parts of the world, over long periods of time, not only was the annual exchange value of non-ferrous metals greater than that of iron and steel, but their combined tonnage was greater. At present, the value of the pig iron produced in a year is of the same order of magnitude as that of all non-ferrous metals combined; the tonnage of pig iron is, however, about twenty times that of all non-ferrous metals combined. Owing to lack of records, we will probably never know the relative importance of the various metals at all periods in historic times. A certain conclusion is that the iron and steel industry, since the discovery of pig iron and the cheap methods of converting it into steel, has grown at a much more rapid rate than the non-ferrous metal industries. Notwithstanding their fundamental fitness for man's needs, iron and steel owe their importance in no small degree to the low cost of production. The low cost was a result of increased knowledge of the production appliances and of the metallurgical processes. This increased knowledge is the key to our modern industrial civilization. It will remain for future generations to determine whether there is now going on a gradual change toward greater importance of the non-ferrous metals, as compared to iron and steel. The world's pig iron production in 1920 was slightly more than twice what it was in 1890, whereas the non-ferrous metals production in 1920 was about two and one-half times that in 1890. Every non-ferrous metal industry has shown marked growth during the last thirty years. During this period, the production of cop-

Jan 1, 1924