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By Oliver C. Ralston

THE two chemical compounds, natural sodium carbonate and sodium sulphate, in their anhydrous condition are dealt in as "soda ash and "salt cake”-names from an earlier day that are not as precise as the present accepted terminology. Once a large part of the sodium carbonate recovered was in the ash of seaweed, so it was logically called soda ash, and the corresponding potassium carbonate, once mainly recovered from wood ashes, was called potash. The term "salt cake" was applied to the sodium sulphate resulting from interaction of sodium chloride with sulphuric acid or sodium bisulphate, to form hydrogen chloride gas and an anhydrous cake of sodium sulphate. It was called "salt cake" and also "glassmaker's salt cake" because much of it was used in the production of glass. The two salts occur in nature in a variety of forms, but whereas an- hydrous sodium sulphate (thenardite) is fairly common, the anhydrous normal sodium carbonate, Na2CO3, is almost never found in nature. The monohydrate (thermonatrite), Na2CO3.2H2O, is seen occasionally, but it is never a major constituent in natural "soda" deposits. The high solubility of normal sodium carbonate is one reason for this. While both compounds occur widely in brines, the solid salts found in nature are usually trona (Na2CO3.NaHC03.2H2O) and thenardite (Na2SO4). The natural brines containing workable quantities of the two sodium salts are largely found in the arid and semiarid portions of the western United States and other countries. The classical discussion of the resources of these brines are those of Clarke,5 Chatard.4 Packard,19 Gale,11 and Wells.28 From North Dakota to California and from Arizona to the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Manitoba, saline lakes, dried-up lakes, playas, and similar land-locked depressions contain accumulations of saline matter. Sodium chloride is the predominant salt but some of the lakes contain predominantly either sodium carbonate or sodium sulphate. Often sodium carbonate

Jan 1, 1949

By G. L. Kothny

Developments of well-surveying instruments, coring .and core orientation, were in an advanced state when drilling for oil began—these developments actually originated with the mining industry.' Surveying of oil wells was not generally used in the United States until Alexander Anderson2 disclosed that the majority of wells drilled with rotary tools were crooked, with average horizontal drifts of about 516 ft. for holes 5000 ft. deep and about 793 ft. for holes 6000 ft. deep. This disclosure brought about the development of many additional instruments for surveying oil wells during the progress of drilling and after their completion. Surveying of boreholes, during the process of drilling at regular depth intervals, became a standard practice in the petroleum industry. Some producing states even established laws making check surveys mandatory, during drilling and under certain conditions also after completion. The surveying of boreholes also brought about changes and improvements in drilling practices. It provides information for the guidance of the hole while drilling, and for plotting the course as the work progresses, enabling the driller to take corrective measures immediately and with the least expense. The reasons for drilling straight holes are too well recognized to warrant any full discussion of them here. Straight holes are less costly to drill, because they reach the object on the shortest course. Table I shows the horizontal drift and loss in vertical depth for various angles of inclination. It is not surprising, therefore that many drilling contracts for oil wells today limit the drilling contractor to a maximum inclination off the vertical of 2° or 3O. In the mining industry the reasons for drilling straight holes are still more serious. A crooked hole may miss an ore body underground or provide incorrect information regarding an ore body. Types of Surveying Instruments The surveying instruments used in oil-well drilling may be classed in two types: I. Inclinometers, recording inclination only.

Jan 1, 1949

By J. N. Munro

At the present stage of geothermal technology and the still limited applications of geothermal energy, most of us consider any use of "things geothermal" to be something out of the ordinary. If in such a situation there can be a use of geothermal energy which is even more unusual, then the utilization of geothermal energy-or more precisely, geothermal heat--for the manufacture of salt is just such a use. This is the essence of investigations in the Fiji Islands, where experiments in the evaporation of seawater to product, salt have been conducted using geothermal heat emanating from the ground in an area of hot springs. The hot springs are located on the coast at Savusavu in a depression about GO ft wide. There are ten individual springs, but most of these are small and insignificant. The temperature of the water from these springs reaches 100°C.

Jan 9, 1964

By Harlan Walker

ROCK-DRILL steel has an important bearing on costs in many mining operations, both directly and indirectly. Direct factors include such items as shop expense, steel consumed per ton of ore produced, cost of distribution and the dust hazard. The latter, although no specific amount may be assigned to it, is an ever-present problem, and is receiving increased attention as the science of mining progresses. Indirectly drill-steel performance affects consumption of compressed air, mainte-nance of drills and drilling speed. The latter, in turn, increases or retards the tempo of mining and development. These factors, while not all inclusive, are preponderant in their importance. Thus it is evident that in an extensive operation drill-steel expense may run to many thousands of dollars and that thoughtful research leading toward more efficient practice is warranted.

Jan 1, 1940

By F. C. Schora, H. P. Meissner

Iron ore from Cerro Bolivar, Segre', and Sierre Grande was reduced in fluid beds at about SOOT, using gas analyzing 20.5 pct CO, 41 pct Hz, and 38.5 pct N2. Except in the early stages of reduction, the rate of oxygen loss from the bed was directly proportional to the oxygen concentration in the bed, independent of gas composition as long as the gas was reducing, and little affected by temperature. The percentage reduction of the bed solids at any time was independent of particle size. I HE reduction of spheres or cubes of dense iron ore in a slowly moving stream of either pure H, or pure CO has been found to take place at distinct interfaces between well defined layers of iron and the iron oxides.'y4 These interfaces generally penetrate the ore lump in topochemical fashion, remaining parallel to the original contours of the specimen. Thus in the earlier stages of reducing hematite, the specimen's core is Fe,O, surrounded by successive shells of the lower oxides, and finally by an exterior shell of iron. McKewan5 assumed that the rate limiting step occurred at the Fe-FeO interface, with reducing gas penetrating up to this interface through the external porous iron shell, and reduction of the higher oxides within the ore lump occurring by diffusion of iron through the dense FeO shell. He developed an analytical expression based on this model relating the amount of oxygen removed from

Jan 1, 1962

By A. R. Kinkel

The Shasta copper-zinc district of northern California lies in the foothills of the Klamath Mountains at the northern end of the Sacramento Valley. It contains two main areas of base-metal ore deposits, the East Shasta and West Shasta districts shown in Fig. 1. The East Shasta includes the area from the Afterthought mine, near the settlement of Ingot on U. S. highway 299 East, to the Bully Hill mine, on the north side of the Pit River, 9 miles to the north- west. The West Shasta, a well-defined northeast- trending district about 8 miles long and 2 miles wide, west of the Sacramento River, Fig. 2, is the western part of the ore-bearing area formerly known as the Shasta copper belt. Referred to in the older writings as a copper arc, this belt was thought to form a crescent extending entirely around the head of the Sacramento Valley, the convex side to the north. Recent studies by the U. S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the California State Division of Mines show that there are two districts, one at each end of the so-called copper arc, which are distinct in geologic structure and ore occurrences, and that there is only sporadic and unconnected copper mineralization between them.

Jan 2, 1955

By Y. Zimmels, I. J. Lin, I. Yaniv

The potential application of magnetic and electric separation techniques in beneficiation of fine-particle feeds are reviewed. Special features of these techniques are considered and compared with a view to increased amenability of such feeds to separation in electro- magnetic fields. The following techniques are discussed, with reference to those already developed and in use to-date: - Differential-susceptibility separation (DSF). - High-gradient differential-dielectric separation (HGDDS). - High-gradient magneto-gravimetric separation (HGMGS). In this context the new approach - whereby selectivity of solid- solid separation processes, in wet high-gradient magnetic and electric separation, can be improved - is described, including experimental results from DSF and HGDDS tests.

Jan 1, 1980

By J. S. Kirkaldy, W. V. Youdelis

THE occurrence of concentration distributions in rapidly cooled castings with gradients of opposite sign to those expected on the basis of the constitution diagram and diffusion controlled kinetics, has long interested metallurgists. The work on inverse segregation to 1937 has been adequately reviewed by Vaughan, and to 1949 by ell-walpole. The general conclusion for unidirectional solidification, that the enrichment of the initially solidifying regions with lower melting point compositions is due to the flow-back along interdendritic channels of normally segregated residual liquid, has a very sound experimental basis. Perhaps the best experimental work and the most complete qualitative description of the process has been given by Adams.3 The authors accordingly assume the reader's understanding of the content of this paper. It appears that one of the principal deterrents to the complete understanding of the process has been the lack of an analytical description. Although a number of workers including Masing,4-6 Sauerwald,7 and Adams3 have attempted quantitative predictions,

Jan 1, 1959

By E. S. Leaver

THE purpose of this paper is to describe, in a general way, gold-dredg-ing operations in California, with particular reference to unusual features, including types of deposits and recent attempts to improve the recovery of the gold.

Jan 1, 1937

FREQUENTLY the careful engineer puts the word porphyry in quotation marks or precedes it with "so-called," when he writes of the Porphyry Copper mines. This is done by way of serving notice that he is aware that the term is not a precise one, though no one who is informed on the subject would in any event misinterpret it. The name originated from the fact that the rock containing the copper at Utah Copper, Morenci, Nevada Consolidated, and Braden-the first four to be developed-was in each instance known as porphyry. The term was convenient; and when Ray, Miami, and inspiration came along they fell into the Porphyry category even though the ore consisted essentially of a rock called schist instead of porphyry. The word is not inclusive enough; nor as a matter of fact is it sufficiently exclusive. Numerous copper deposits occur in porphyry rocks that are not Porphyry Coppers, paradoxical as it may seem. Desiring to be more accurate and at the same time to use a word that is in some degree descriptive, various engineers have adopted the expression "disseminated copper deposits." This alludes to the characteristic scattering of grains or specks of copper minerals more or less uniformly throughout the mass of the rock. Yet here again the implication is not entirely accurate, for the following reason: in some of the ores, the proportion of copper minerals "peppered" in the rock is small, compared with that which coats the walls of cracks and minute fissures; and that which is found as veinlets along planes of fracture. Many geologists have extended their interpretation of the term disseminated to include both types of mineral occurrence. One of the most striking features of the Porphyry ores is the intense shattering and fracturing that the rock underwent at some period or periods prior to the deposition of the copper

Jan 1, 1933

RESEMBLING in some respects the enterprise at R Chuquicamata is that of the New Cornelia Copper Co. at Ajo, Arizona. Controlled from its inception by the Calumet & Arizona Mining Co., New Cornelia became a unit of the Phelps Dodge Corporation when the latter absorbed the Calumet & Arizona company in 1931. Both Ajo and Chuquicamata are situated in low mountains in extremely arid desert country. Both ore deposits consisted-the past tense is used advisedly because the oxidized ore has nearly all been mined at Ajo-of a horizon of leachable oxidized ores overlying sulphide or concentrating ore. The principal technical problem in each case was the development of a method for treating the oxidized ore. In both instances the capping of waste rock was comparatively thin and power-shovel mining in open cuts was the obvious method of exploitation. Nature had smiled on neither place in the matter of climate. Though Ajo does not have the persistent winds for which Chuquicamata is notorious, the comforts of living are largely artificial. And it is only fair to emphasize that at each place the mining companies have achieved remarkable success in providing these comforts. Of course, in point of size New Cornelia must be content with the inferior role. From May, 1917, when production was started, to the middle of June, 1930, the company leached 16,368,000 tons of oxidized ore, thereby virtually exhausting the ores of this class. Up to the same date, about 15,000,000 tons of sulphide ore had been mined, and a rough estimate gives 170,000,000 tons remaining in reserve. The total tonnage does not loom very large in comparison with Chuquicamata's billion tons; but it is exceeded by similar figures for only four of the Porphyry group.

Jan 1, 1933

By G. T. Horne, P. J. Wray, S. Kinoshita

CONSIDERABLE evidence exists for a strengthening mechanism operative at intermediate temperatures in bee metals containing interstitial solute atoms. The strengthening is indicated by a maximum in the ultimate tensile strength1 as well as the fatigue

Jan 1, 1965

Procurement of uranium is vital to the future of the Nation. Its utilization for atomic energy can destroy mankind or raise an unsurpassable civilization-the problem of the statesmen. Uranium poses a challenge to the mining profession. Evanescent in occurrence, its discovery and mining can mean substantial profits, plus safeguarding the future of the Nation.

Jan 9, 1951

By Wasyl Kunda

High grade jig and low grade flotation concentrates used in the following experiments, are produced from silver ore at the mine. The study was carried out to recover the silver and other metals from these concentrates by hydrometallurgical methods. The concentrates were subjected to two stage oxida¬tion leaches in a HNO3-H2SO4 medium. The dissolved metals were recovered by selective precipitation of: (a) silver chloride, (b) iron-arsenic-bismuth residue, (c) copper sulphide, (d) cobalt-nickel sulphide. The effluent solution contained only ammonium sulphate and ammonium nitrate. The silver chloride was further processed to the high purity silver powder by the AgCl ? Ag2S ? Ag2SO4 ? Ag° route. The recovery of silver from the concentrates was over 98% and other metals from 95 to 99%.

Jan 1, 1984

By W. R. Ingalls

During the last two years, and especially during the last six months, a number of important articles upon the new methods for the desulphurization of galena have been published in the technical periodicals, particularly in the Engineering and Mining Journal and in Metallurgie. I proposed for these methods the type-name of " lime-roasting " of galena as a convenient metallurgical classification,'and this term has found some acceptance. The articles referred to have shown the great practical importance of these new processes, and the general recognition of their metallurgical and commercial value which has already been accorded to them. It is my present purpose to review broadly the changes developed by them in the metallurgy of lead, in which connection it is necessary to refer briefly to the previous state of the art.

Jan 1, 1907

By P. E. Landolt

BEFORE World War I, and even prior to World War II, lithium was considered among the rare elements. Mining was limited to exploitation of a few well selected sources of rich minerals recoverable by hand cobbing methods. Within the past five years the situation has changed radically. Many new sources have been explored and developed, principally in Canada, North Carolina, and Southern Rhodesia. The prime raw material for lithium recovery is spodumene. In Southern Rhodesia, however, both petalite, a modified spodumene, and lepidolite, a lithium mica, are being mined in quantity.

Jan 4, 1957

By Gerald Sherman

Asbestos ore is hard, well intersected by free fissuring but not completely enough to avoid heavy secondary blasting, and is a more valuable ore than usual for caving. These factors have resulted in deviations from standard caving practice in details but not in principles.

Jan 4, 1950

By C. A. Crawford

Nickel and the nickel-copper alloy, the latter generally referred to as monel metal, are available in a variety of wrought and fabricated forms, of which the following are regular commercial products:

By T. G. R. Rawlins, L. E. Brosselard

Direct platinum carbon replicas have been used to study substrates prior to growth and after initial nu-cleation of the layer. Replicas have been directly stripped and correlations have been made with other replica techniques. Mechanically polished substrates are very flat with occasional areas of "dirt", which is apparently silicon. When such substrates are etched in hydrochloric acid gas, scratches and hexagonal defects (thought to be polishing compound) are revealed, together with areas of apparent redeposition. Chemically polished substrates are much less flat although much more homogeneous in appearance. Heat treat)nents have no effect. Nuclei deposited on these surfaces, using a normal silicon tetrachloride system, have been examined. Nuclei on mechanically polished subsrates occur in random areas only, whereas on chemically polished surfaces they are more uniformly distributed. THE interest in the study of thin films and now their rapidly expanding use in many fields has increased over a period of years. Much of this current interest, particularly in the field of single-crystal or epitaxial thin films, has derived its stimulus not only from possibilities for application but also from fundamental electron-microscope studies which have indicated the manner of growth of such layers from the initial nuclei.1-5 Previous work involving study of growth processes may be divided into three categories. First, vacuum deposition, primarily of metals, on a variety of substrates has been studied by electron microscopy and electron-diffraction techniques. These have shown the three-dimensional aspect of nucleation and the remarkable liquidlike behavior of the growing nuclei which coalesce to form a complete layer. More recently this work has been expanded in two ways: by growth inside the electron microscope this has obvious advantages for kinetic studies; and by growth in ultrahigh vacuum—much of this work has been done on semiconductors.8-11 It is of interest to note that metals, specifically gold deposited on rock salt, will form only polycrystalline layers in ultrahigh vacuum unless the substrate surface is contaminated.12 In general the mode of growth for vacuum-deposited semiconductor films is the same as that for metal films. The second method of growth that has been studied is that of electrodeposition.13,14 The little that has been published suggests that the mode of growth is similar to the vacuum case, except that irregularities may perturb the electric field and disturb the growth process. The third and last primary method of growing epitaxial layers is by use of chemical methods. These techniques have generated much interest and much has been published on them. Considerable electron-microscope work has been done on the defects in the layers; however comparatively little work has been undertaken on the initial nucleation and early stages of growth. Confining ourselves now exclusively to the case of silicon, Charig et a1.15 have considered the growth of silicon on silicon substrates by hydrogen reduction of trichlorosilane, and studied the films by means of replica and transmission techniques. Subsequently they have studied the same system for growth on quartz,16 and with the addition of pyrolysis of silane on quartz and alumina.17 Also Manasevit el al. have studied deposits using silane and silicon tetrachloride on sapphire.18-14 Finally, in this volume studies of deposition on beryllia and sapphire are reported. Although Revesz and Evans20 have examined complete layers, grown by means of the widely used silicon tetrachloride reaction, no detailed examination similar to that published by Charig and Joyce21 for the trichlorosilane system has been given. Therefore this investigation has examined substrate surfaces prior to growth and then nucleation on these surfaces for the silicon tetrachloride system. EXPERIMENTAL In this work the surfaces have been studied by means of standard replica techniques. Because of the very real problems associated with artifacts introduced,22 different replicas and different cleaning

Jan 1, 1967

By I. E. Rosenzweig

THE problem considered in this paper is as follows: An arbitrary horizontally stratified area is given. The electrical properties of this area are characterized by a function p(z) (Fig. 1), which shows the relationship between resistivity p of thes oil and the depth z. For such general case the apparent resistivity p* will be computed, by FIG. 1.-GRAPH OF FUNCTION p(z) FIG. 2.-GRAPH OF p(Z) FOR n HOMO-GENEOUS LAYERS. earth-resistivity measurements carried out by any given configuration of electrodes. General solutions of this problem appear to be very important for interpretation of field results of resistivity measurements, concerning structural investigations. Such solutions have been given by many authors for the special case of a finite number of homogeneous layers (Fig. 2)1-4 as well as for the more general case of continuously rang-ing resistivities. 5-8

Jan 1, 1939