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By M. A. Westbrook, J. F. Redmond

A method is presented for obtaining porosities of consolidated formations from the drill returns. The method provides a means of determining the bulk volume of a large number of particles, such as drill cuttings, by employing a capillary diaphragm for removal of surplus surface liquid from saturated cuttings having pores of capillary size, which reduces tile amount of error present in former attempts to determine the porosity of drill cuttings. The method makes it possible to obtain a considerable amount of supplementary data on consolidated formations. Introduction Porosity is a direct measure Of the volume of the voids in a formation. It may be used for estimating the permeability of a formation provided that a correlation of these two properties has been obtained from the analysis of cores from the particular formation, and it forms a desirable aid in interpreting electric logs.1 These useful applications have emphasized the importance of developing a method for determining the porosity of the formations penetrated by a well by some means other than coring, for even in exploration wells it is neither economical nor practical to core all formations. Also, in wells where at the outset the coring program appears comprehensive, it is frequently found that, after certain layers are drilled. more complete information is required for evaluation. Porosity values, if obtainable, would be of great assistance in such cases. In soft formations it is usually possible to obtain porosities after drilling with cores taken by side-wall coring devices. In hard consolidated formations, that coring procedure is not alway practicable and other methods for determining porosities must be resorted to. A first choice is the examination of drill cuttings. if an analytical procedure is available that is both accurate and reasonably rapid. Such a procedure has been devised and is applicable to sand and limestone cuttings having pores of capillary size. Although imp,ovements can yet be made, it is believed that the new technique is sufficiently well developed to warrant description, Preparation of Sample The well samples containing the cuttings representative of the particular intervals are first washed through a No' 6 gauge screen. The cuttings remaining on the Screen are large enough to use lor the porosity measurements' From the sized sample, the cuttings to be examined are separated from the shale and Other extraneous particles. It is recommended that 10 to 15 c.c. of the selected cuttings be used for measurements, although only 4 to 5 c c. were used to make the comparative tests described later in this article. These cuttings are extracted and dried by the same methods used for preparing core samples for porosity and other measurements. The separation, which is at present being carried out by hand, is the most tedious

Jan 1, 1946

By F. W. Bloecher, A. M. Gaudin

THIS paper describes the results of a series of tests carried out to determine the partition of dodecylamine between distilled water and the surface of quartz at various concentrations of dodecylamine acetate in solution. An adsorption-column technique was utilized for this purpose. Ralston and Harwood, of Armour and Co., had synthesized marked dodecylamine acetate for us.' In their preparation which we employed, 0.0007 pct of the total carbon was the radioactive isotope, carbon fourteen. Unmarked dodecylamine acetate of high purity was also prepared by them for our use. The presence of carbon fourteen in the dodecylamine enabled us to analyze quantitatively for dodecylamine on the surface of quartz, using a radioactive-tracer technique. The method used was that known as internal gas counting of carbon dioxide, formed by oxidation of the amine. This method has already been described, "3 ' and the reader is referred to these papers for details of the analytical method and procedures. and surrounding liquor, a technique analogous to chromatographic columns was utilized. The experimental setup is shown in fig. 1. The dodecylamine-acetate solution was made up in a volumetric flask and poured into the glass funnel shown. It was allowed to drip slowly onto the quartz bed, the rate of flow from the funnel reser- voir being controlled by a hose clamp. The quartz column was contained in a small, fritted-glass filter (size 20 mm, C). The beaded top edge of the filter was cut off to enable the holder and contents to fit into the open end of the 30/45 joint on the combustion tube. This combustion tube is used in the analytical train described in a previous paper.' A piece of gum-rubber tubing joins the bottom of the fritted-glass filter to a filter flask, which in turn is connected to a vacuum line, or water aspirator. The rate of flow of amine solution through the bed was

Jan 1, 1951

By F. W. Bloecher, A. M. Gaudin

THIS paper describes the results of a series of tests carried out to determine the partition of dodecylamine between distilled water and the surface of quartz at various concentrations of dodecylamine acetate in solution. An adsorption-column technique was utilized for this purpose. Ralston and Harwood, of Armour and Co., had synthesized marked dodecylamine acetate for us.' In their preparation which we employed, 0.0007 pct of the total carbon was the radioactive isotope, carbon fourteen. Unmarked dodecylamine acetate of high purity was also prepared by them for our use. The presence of carbon fourteen in the dodecylamine enabled us to analyze quantitatively for dodecylamine on the surface of quartz, using a radioactive-tracer technique. The method used was that known as internal gas counting of carbon dioxide, formed by oxidation of the amine. This method has already been described, "3 ' and the reader is referred to these papers for details of the analytical method and procedures. and surrounding liquor, a technique analogous to chromatographic columns was utilized. The experimental setup is shown in fig. 1. The dodecylamine-acetate solution was made up in a volumetric flask and poured into the glass funnel shown. It was allowed to drip slowly onto the quartz bed, the rate of flow from the funnel reser- voir being controlled by a hose clamp. The quartz column was contained in a small, fritted-glass filter (size 20 mm, C). The beaded top edge of the filter was cut off to enable the holder and contents to fit into the open end of the 30/45 joint on the combustion tube. This combustion tube is used in the analytical train described in a previous paper.' A piece of gum-rubber tubing joins the bottom of the fritted-glass filter to a filter flask, which in turn is connected to a vacuum line, or water aspirator. The rate of flow of amine solution through the bed was

Jan 1, 1951

By F. H. Buchella

When Duval Sulphur & Potash Co. awarded pre- mining stripping and early mining at Esperanza to an independent contractor, it was agreed that monthly payments for excavation were to be made on a truck count. At six-month intervals, however, adjustments must be made on the basis of actual excavation or cut from the pit area. It was estimated that it would be three times more expensive to have the pit sectioned by chain and transit survey than to use photogrammetry, since it would take two crews of three men approximately two weeks to do the field work, another two weeks to plot the sections, and additional time to establish a control network. Therefore it was agreed to have the mine area mapped by photogrammetry for both the premined surface and for semi-annual check surveys necessary for intermediate settlements. A triangulation net was established with a maximum distance of 900 ft between control points. In about 30 working days a two-man survey crew, using a theodolite, set up and triangulated 30 stations and calculated their results. For ease in spotting on the photographs, control stations were marked on the ground with white-painted tires centered over the survey pins.

Jan 6, 1960

By Renato G. Bautista, Gary A. Beetner, Anthony L. Frey

A multistage mixer-settler extractor described in earlier hydrodynamic studies was simulated on a computer. A mass transfer mechanism was derived based on a pseudo distribution constant and a pseudo first-order rate constant. The constants were adjusted to give the proper output concentrations and proper form of the stage-wise concentrations. The results obtained by computer simulation of start-up conditions show very good agreement with experimental data. A second simulation was constructed which demonstrated that the model can be greatly simplified and still yield good results.

Jan 1, 1974

By Nathaniel Arbiter

T. M. Morris (School of Mines and Metallurgy, Rolla, Mo.)—Rate studies promise to help quantify flotation operations. The author's exposition of rate studies is therefore laudable. However his exposition of a second order rate equation rather than a first order rate equation is not convincing. It is important to use the correct equation, otherwise erroneous conclusions may be drawn. The data assembled by the author and plotted according to a second order rate equation can be plotted according to a first order rate equation. As a matter of fact much of the data used reveals that a second order rate equation is not applicable. According to the method used by the author for plotting data, the reciprocal of the slope of the line is the maximum possible recovery. Physically this cannot exceed 100 pct, yet several graphs yield maximum recoveries greater than 100 pct. For example: l—Curve 2, Fig. 1 yields a value of 120 pct; 2—Curve 2, Fig. 2 yields a value of 115 pct; 3—Fig. 7 yields a value of 110 pct. The real test of the graphical method is, as the author points out, whether or not the earliest points agree with a straight line. The second order rate plot does not fulfill this requirement. Fig. 10 shows the data used by the author to obtain Curve 2 in Fig. 1, plotted according to both a second and first order rate equation. Fig. 11 shows the two rate plots made from data published by Ludt and DeWitt.19 In Fig. 10 the first order rate plot gives a very good fit and obeys the boundary condition of passing through the origin. For the second order rate plot a straight line can be drawn through the last three points but the earliest points are not in agreement with this line. The reciprocal of the slope of the straight line gives a value of maximum possible recovery of 112 pct. The maximum possible recovery according to the first order rate plot is 78 pct. In Fig. 11 the first order rate plot again fits all of the points very well and passes through the origin. The second order rate plot shows wide deviation of the earliest point, indicating that the second order rate equation is not applicable. The reason for the fit of data to the second order rate equation during longer flotation times is that R, the cumulative percent recovery, changes slowly toward the end of the flotation operation, so that when t/R is plotted against time, one is, in effect plotting t against t and one would certainly expect a straight line. The author attempts to show that the second order rate equation is correct by citing evidence which shows that recovery is a function of initial concentration. This is a debatable point especially since, in the author's original presentation of this paper at the St. Louis

Jan 1, 1952

By John V. Beall

It is difficult to understand why they did it. It was a demonstration of total commitment which sent chills of mixed admiration and fear up and down your spine. The scene was the bodega in Section A, 2660 Level on the 12 to 8 shift. The jefe was patiently waiting for the tea leaves to settle in a large metal cup. His attention was distracted by the appearance of a miner who had a problem. The long and short of it was that the miner believed the branch raise he was driving was unsafe and he wanted the jefe to come and see it. After lunch the jefe went around. First cautiously shining his light to peer up the raise from outside the chute, he then scrambled inside and swiftly climbed the cribs to the face. No question, it was hairy; about 4 crib sets were needed to catch up to the face. The unsupported raise was slabbing. It didn't take the jefe more than a few seconds to ascertain this situation and to slide back down. As he came out of the chute, a small avalanche arrived on his heels and provided a sort of exclamation point to his order; "cerrado!" In other words, shut 'er down.

Jan 1, 1970

By R. V. Higgins, A. J. Leighton

A fast method is needed for calculating thoroughly the performance of two-phase flobr~ in reservoir rock with complex geotrietry. The authors present such a method and .slzow its accuracy by romparison with laboratory performrrnce of a five-spot pattern. In making the performance c.alculations, the octant of the five-spot pattern was divided into four channels. The computer tinle required for the culculation was one rllinrcte. This is rorighly about minute per channel. INTRODUCTION By using an electronic computer it is now possible to make reservoir performance calculations in which fewer assumptions and more significant variables are included than was possible with a desk calculator. These performance calculations include such variables as the properties of the reservoir rock and its contained fluids, properties of the rock-fluid system and even different well-spacing patterns. Usually, the more variables that are included the higher the computer cost—and time on the computer is expensive. As a result, a short procedure is needed so the many variables will be included and accurate performance calculations will result. If a reservoir is composed of alternate layers of permeable and impervioi~s rock, and if each conducting layer has a different relative permeability, the combined computer cost for calculating each layer by the present long computer programs (which includes different well-spacing patterns and other variables) would be expensive. The performances of complex spacing patterns in a field often are studied by a potentiometric model, but in these model studies the analogy is to the flow of only a single phase. This paper presents a procedure to calculate the performance of a five-spot pattern with two phases flowing using a potentiometric model as a guide for the dimensions of channels and other related data. The time required to calculate the complete performance is about one minute on the IBM 7090 or four minutes on the IBM 704. The procedure can be extended to calculate the performance of more complex well spacings or an entire field with little modification. The procedure has been tested on the performance of the laboratory water floods of a five-spot pattern reported by Douglas, et alThe range of viscosity ratios in the laboratory experiments is from 0.083 to 754, which is extensive. The accuracy of the performance calculations is excellent as shown by the plotted points in Fig. I. The recovery as influenced by the geometry of the five-spot, taking into account the deviation from true radial character, has been predicted by Aronofsky and Ramey." The authors used a potentiometric model to determine the sweep efficiency to breakthrough of the flooding agent. Dyes, Caudle and Erickson,' by means of a laboratory model, show the influence of mobility ratio on recovery after breakthrough of the injected material. Dyes, et ai, used the X-ray shadowgraph technique and miscible phases in their studies. Craig, Geffen and Morse from the analysis of the performance of their laboratory model correlate many variables, including average saturation of a flooding agent determined by permeability relationship. Craig, et al, used X-ray shadowgraphs to determine the sweep efficiencies in sandstone models. In this report the sweep efficiency is not needed, and the important effect of continuously changing saturation gradients before and after breakthrough

By E. L. Larison

DURING the early years of the present century a notable interest appeared in American industry in the matter of recovering and render-ing profitable byproducts of manufacturing operations. Among the byproducts of reduction of sulfide ores in many plants large amounts of sulfur dioxide gas were available. In certain instances the concentration of SO2 in the gases evolved was, or could be made, sufficient to make them suitable for manufacturing sulfuric acid. At the Anaconda Reduction works such a condition existed. Large tonnages of copper concentrate were being roasted and the roaster gases were available and suitable as a source of sulfuric acid. Earlier work on a large scale at Martinez, Calif., and in the Ducktown region, Tennessee, had shown the feasibility of manufacturing sulfuric acid from the SO2 contained in gases arising from the reduction of copper sulfide ores. In California and Tennessee the acid found a ready market in manufacture of fertilizers, while the situation regarding disposal of the sulfuric acid was quite different at Anaconda. No local use for acid existed, and a commodity of such low value could not stand freight charges to consuming centers. There was a very large accumulation of sand tailings from the gravity concentration mill below the plant at Anaconda. This material, made by the comparatively crude methods in use up to about 1915, contained about 13 lb. of copper per ton, largely as sulfide minerals. In 1912 serious research work toward recovery of this copper was instituted and after about two years of laboratory and pilot-plant development, a process for accomplishing it was perfected. This process involved roast-ing the sand tailings, leaching the roasted tailings with sulfuric acid, and throwing out the copper by passing the solutions over scrap iron. Under this plan each ton of sand required the introduction of about 70 lb. of 60° Be. sulfuric acid.

Jan 1, 1934

By Donald Ofte

LIQUIDUS temperatures of molten alloys were measured in an oscillating-cup viscosimeter by observing the abrupt increase in the alloy viscosity when the apparatus was cooled below the alloy liquidus temperature. The liquidus transformation can be an elusive thermal effect in an alloy system where a small amount of material is involved in a low-enthalpy liquidus reaction, or where other unfavorable physical conditions interfere. Using the viscosity technique, liquidus temperatures were measured in binary alloys of plutonium with cerium, gallium, and iron, as well as ternary Pu-Ce-Co alloys. The previously described oscillating-cup viscosimeter1 is a torsion pendulum consisting of a right circular, cylindrical tantalum cup fitted to a rigid shaft which, in turn, is suspended by a torsion fiber in a highvacuum system. When the torsion pendulum is placed in oscillation the viscosity of the liquid contained in the cup is a function of both the decay of the oscillation caused by the viscous drag of the liquid contained in the sealed tantalum cup, and the period of the oscillation. The period is measured by a photo-electrically operated timer to the nearest thousandth of a second. Prior to each measurement, the apparatus is held at temperature between 5 and 18 hr to assure thermal equilibrium throughout the 8 to 10-cc alloy sample. When the cup, filled with a liquid metal, is oscillating. only a very thin outer layer of the fluid is in motion. This moving annulus represents the liquid's contribution to the moment of inertia of the torsion pendulum. When the viscosity increases, more liquid is placed in motion, and the slight increase in the moment of inertia causes a corresponding increase in the period of oscillation.

Jan 1, 1967

By K. G. Davis, P. Fryzuk

VALUES for the equilibrium distribution coefficient, ko, are required for solidification studies. The procedure generally adopted1-3 is to progressively solidify alloy rods over a range of growth rates, under conditions where a high degree of convective mixing is present in the melt. The measured effective distribution coefficients are plotted as a function of growth rate, and the extrapolated value at zero growth rate is taken to be the equilibrium ko. The method is limited by the experimental difficulty in obtaining steady growth rates less than approximately 10-4 cm per sec. Extrapolation from rates greater than this can lead to inaccuracy. In the present investigation, an alternative method for determining ko, previously used by the authors for the Ag-Sn system,' was applied to alloy of thallium in tin. Specimens were grown under conditions where convective mixing was absent, and experimental concentration-distance curves in the region of the initial transient were compared with curves calculated for trial values of ko. The ko which gave the best fit was taken as the correct value. To obtain the calculated curves, a value for the diffusion constant in the liquid near to the melting point was needed. This was determined by the capillary-reservoir method. Diffusion Constants. Details of the experimental procedure used by the authors in the capillary-reservoir technique have been described in previous papers,5'6 the only variation being in the use of Tl204, a ß emitter, as tracer, in contrast to previous work where ? emitters were used. The activity of a ß-emitting sample, as measured in a Geiger counter, is proportional to the surface area. To measure the concentration of thallium along the capillary after diffusion had taken place, the solidified capillary (1 mm diam) was cut into 2.5-mm lengths and each length compressed between parallel steel plates to form a disc approximately 5 mm in diam. The discs were placed in a flat-bottomed dish, covered by a thin lead shield with a central aperture, and counted in a 0 counter with fixed geometry. Each disc was etched lightly in a dilute solution of nitric and hydrochloric acids a short time before counting, to eliminate sur-

Jan 1, 1968

By Samuel Wyer

Over 8,000,000 people in the United States depend on natural gas for their cooking, heating and lighting service. This service has been made possible only by the investment of large amounts of capital in transportation lines connecting the gas wells to the various communities, thus combining a hazardous mining operation with a public utility service. The effect that making these lines " common carriers" will have on the present and future service to these 8,000,000 or more people is of far reaching ethical and economic importance, and deserves careful consideration. As an introduction, it must be conceded that: 1. Natural gas, although a mineral and obtained by a mining operation-with more uncontrollable and uncertain features to cope with than exist in the mining of coal or other minerals-when served to the public becomes a public utility service. 2. The governmental power to regulate all public utilities in the interests of the public cannot be successfully disputed. 3. Mere suggestion of inconvenience to the utility is wholly irrelevant, as it cannot be considered or allowed to influence in making a defense against governmental regulation. Unfortunately it is not generally appreciated that: 1. Legislative enactments are not necessarily laws, and cannot abrogate economic laws or alter engineering facts. 2. There is a clear distinction between "common carrier" and "public utility," although the terms are frequently confused. ' "A common carrier is one who undertakes for hire to transport persons or goods, or both, from place to place for all persons indifferently, the term implying indifference as to whom shall be served, and an equal readiness to serve all who apply, in the order of their application." On the other hand, property becomes a "public utility" only "when for a particular purpose the public have a right to resort to the premises and make use of them."

Jan 5, 1914

By J. S. Miller

This paper describes the method of mining a steeply pitching anthracite seam on a heavy pitch in the Orchard vein in No. 1 Tunnel of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. The Orchard vein in the Neaquehoning district has a thickness of about 15 ft. on the level of the gangway, which is sufficient thickness for the gangway to be driven full width in coal. Above the gangway, the vein becomes thinner and near the surface is about 8 it. thick. The coal is of good hard quality and carries a fairly good roof. The pitch of the vein is between 65" and 70". Usually the breast-and-pillar method has been employed in the mining of the steeply pitching veins in this section. This method produced good results as far as the mining of the breast was concerned but the recovery of the pillar was difficult as to full extraction and expensive as regards costs. To recover these pillars after the breasts were driven, three methods were commonly employed; they were known as the pillar-breast method, pillar-skipping method, and pillar-chute method. The pillar-breast method consisted in putting a battery in one corner of the pillar (Fig. I), coupling the manways A and B of the two adjacent breasts for two or three lengths ahead of the working face of the pillar being cut, and working the pillar as a breast. This method was used by the more skilled miners of the earlier days but has practically been abandoned. A slight variation of this method is used to some extent. In this case, the pillars are left wider than ordinarily and of sufficient width for the full-width breast to be driven in and a small pillar left on each side of the pillar breast between it and the regular breasts. With the completion of the "pillar breast," the ribs are drilled full of holes, loaded, and fired. In the pillar-skipping method (Fig. 2), the middle breast of three is not driven through and is drawn empty while the outside and inside breasts are kept full. At the corners of the two pillars standing, batteries are put in and a skip of the two pillars started; the coal in the two pillars is blasted over into the empty breast. A small pillar is kept along the

Jan 1, 1925

By J. H. Swislzer

TWO-LIQUID miscibility gaps have been found to exist in both the CaO-SiO, system above 1705 and the Cr,03 system above 2200"c. Glasser and 0sborn3 studied the extension of these miscibility gaps into the Ca0-Si0,-Crz03 ternary system and reported that the two-liquid region is not present at temperatures below the monotectic temperature of 1705°C in the CaO-SiO, system. The present authors, in connection with other work on surface-tension measurements and foam stabilities in the same ternary system,4 observed that the miscibility gap exists at temperatures as low as 1600°C. A brief experimental study was devoted to deter- mining tie-line positions in the two-phase region. The technique used was to obtain a separation of phases at 1600°C, then to quench-in the high-temperature phases and obtain a chemical analysis of each phase. It was necessary to take special precautions in obtaining a phase separation because of a tendency toward emulsification of the two liquids. The procedure followed is described in the schematic drawing in Fig. 1. A small platinum crucible containing several pinholes on its sides was placed inside a larger platinum crucible. An excess of Crz03 was placed in the outer crucible, together with a prefused binary CaO-Si02 mixture, and the Cr203 was allowed to diffuse through the pinholes and saturate the same binary CaO-SiOl mixture in the smaller crucible. After equilibration at 1600°C, the inner crucible contained only the lighter liquid (liquid A) saturated with Cr203. The outer crucible contained layers of both liquids. Experimental data were obtained by analyzing the entire contents of the inner crucible and only the bottom layer of the larger crucible (liquid B). The upper layer of the outer crucible was not suitable for chemical-analysis purposes because dispersions of the second phase sometimes were found in the samples. The technique is described in more detail in Ref. 4. The same method was used by Grieveson and urkdoan' to study a miscibility gap in sulfate-ferrite melts, where the liquids were difficult to separate because of similarities in density. In addition to the phase-separation experiments, a few others were conducted to obtain information

Jan 1, 1964

By J. H. Slater

THERE is nothing particularly new about the use of sinter in a blast-furnace burden. For many years flue dust has been sintered at the various blast-furnace plants to put it in a form that could be recharged to the furnace with some assurance that it would stay in the second time. This paper is not a compilation of scientific data but only an attempt to give our experience with sinter. There are some unexplained discrepancies in the tests given here, such as the flue dust produced and iron tonnages, but the results given are the results that were obtained. Sinter is not the cure-all for blast-furnace problems. A good coke is still the most important factor in good furnace operation. However, good sinter is a big help. As flue dust is produced under varying operating conditions and fluctuates greatly in carbon content, it is difficult to produce from flue dust alone a uniform sinter, which will give satisfactory blast-furnace results. Sinter made from flue dust alone will change in character with every carbon variation. Almost invariably flue dust con-tains carbon in excess of the amount necessary to make good sinter, and this excess must be burned out, This, of course, necessitates reduction of the speed of the sintering machine and thus a decrease in tonnage, An alternative is to dilute with a carbon-free material to use up the excess carbon. High-carbon material when sintered results in a very dense, undesirable prod-uct, since the excess heat melts the charge into a hard, nonporous mass, and tends to form refractory silicates.

Jan 1, 1940

By T. Egleston

For several years 1 have been engaged in studying the behavior of iron and steel under varying conditions of tension and compression, as well as of shock and abrasion. Some of these observations have been communicated to the Institute at various times. Within the past year I have been looking at the various observations that I have made as a whole, and have been led to the conclusion that there is a regular law of fatigue and refreshment of metals, and that the change which produces either the fatigue or refreshment, is a. chemical one, which is, however, in almost all cases accompanied by physical and molecular changes at the same time. That metals under conditions that were more or less well understood became worthless, has been known for many years. It has been known to blacksmiths that iron and steel, when improperly treated in their fires, become "burned," as they call it, and could no longer be used, and some of them have had a scrap heap into which such material was thrown. A few of them knew that after a period more or less long the iron or steel recovered some of its original properties and could, with many precautions, again be used, but that these phenomena followed any law has not to my knowledge been announced. My attention was first attracted to the varying conditions under which iron and steel rails break in service. It was not long before I became convinced that there was a general law applicable to all metals which allowed of their being used with safety within certain limits, and caused their rupture when the use extended beyond these limits, and this law I have called the law of fatigue- of metals. When me observe the causes of deterioration in iron and steel rails, we find that they are principally shocks, either slight and frequent, like those produced by the passing of a train over a road-bed in good order, which produces a vibration sensible to the ear laid on the rail, for very long distances, but distinctly audible for only a short one; or from sudden and heavy blows, like the descent of the locomotive and each car successively from a high to a low rail.

Jan 1, 1880

By Beverley S. Randolph

The coal-measures of George's Creek coal-region, in Maryland, lie in a comparatively flat synclinal basin, about 4 miles wide. The dip of the measures is, in places near the edge of the basin, as much as 20 feet in 100. The Pittsburgh seam, known locally as the " Big Vein," is the only seam worked at the present time. Ocean No. 3, one of the large mines of the Consolidation Coal Company, has its opening on the outcrop of the Pittsburgh seam, in a ravine which cuts into this seam to such an extent as to bring this opening to within a mile of the axis of the basin. After working all the coal to the rise of this point, the mine was further developed by extending a slope down the dip of the seam, making such an angle with the line of greatest dip as to give a grade varying from 1 to 10 per cent., down which the empty cars carry a rope from a single-drum winding-engine. The coal was worked from each side of this slope in successive Iifts during its progress. From the top of the slope, for a distance of 4000 feet to the fourth lift, the " make " of water is drained by gravity through a heading into the adjoining mine. Below this point the water was pumped into this same heading, at the fourth lift, from which point, as before mentioned, it flowed by gravity.

Jan 1, 1895

By C. A. Heberlein

C. A. HEBERLEIN,* New York, N. Y.-The results stated by Rey and Brevers are so startling that they are of great interest, as the concentration of a low percentage of cinnabar by differential flotation yields a high-grade concentrate in the presence of either arsenical or iron pyrite. The authors say: "Cyanide can thus be used to depress arsenopyrite and make a good cinnabar-arsenopyrite separation. A cinnabarpyrite separation could probably be effected in the same way." Corrosive sublimate at the present price of mercury would be a very expensive reagent but the expense would be justifiable if a high rate of concentration could be obtained with a high extraction. On my request, special tests were made in the Punitaqui mill in Chile along the line suggested by the authors, without any improvement of either grade or extraction. As the recovery of the cinnabar in a complex sulphide of chalcopyrite and pyrite gave unsatisfactory results, I had tests made at the testing laboratory of the American Cyanamid Co. at Stamford, Conn. As these tests turned out to be highly satisfactory, not only at Stamford but later at the mine, they are presented here. [AMERICAN CYANAMID TEST FEED PER CENT Si02 66.54 A12032.08 CaO0.70 MgO 0.00 Alkalis1.78 Fe15.63 Cu0.44 S9.42 Hg0.45 OZ. PER TON Ag0.95 Au0.151 Screen Analysis of Tailings, Per Cent Plus650.0 Plus 1001.32 Plus 15020.75 Plus 20019.85 Minus 20058.08] The pulp had a density of 22 and a pH of 7.8. Total time of conditioning was one minute. The reagent added was Texas fuel oil, 0.116lb. Of 33.7 Bé. gravity containing 0.9 per cent sulphur. Frother, 0.062 lb. of No. 5 pine oil. Rate of concentration of mercury was 25.7: 1 [ ]

Jan 1, 1941

By Henry Engelmann

ORes are generally found in the mines mixed with more or less base matter, which renders their treatment by smelting or milling unnecessarily costly. They have to be sorted. Those of a higher grade remain often mixed with substances which might, with hardly a loss of metal and at small expense, be removed by dressing machinery, and a concentrated and purified ore thus obtained, which would bring a far higher price, because it can be reduced by cheaper methods, and, at any rate, at less expense, besides affording a saving of transportation, which in our territories is often an item of no small magnitude. The ores of a lower grade have often to be

By Henry Engelmann

ORES are generally found in the mines mixed with more or less base matter, which renders their treatment by smelting or milling unnecessarily costly. They have to be sorted. Those of a higher grade remain often mixed with substances which might, with hardly a loss of metal and at small expense, be removed by dressing machinery, and a concentrated and purified ore thus obtained, which would bring a far higher price, because it can be reduced by cheaper methods, and, at any rate, at less expense, besides affording a saving of transportation, which in our territories is often an item of no small magnitude. The ores of a lower grade have often to be

Jan 1, 1874