Search Documents

By Edward W. Parker

At the Cleveland meeting of the Institute, October, 1912, I had occasion to call attention to the general though erroneous impression that the principal mining activities of the United States lie west of the 100th meridian of longitude. Few, I believe, realize that the States east of the Mississippi river, which comprise only 28.8 per cent. of the total area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, contribute about two-thirds of the total mineral production, computing by values. In 1910 the percentage of the production credited to the Eastern States was 67; in 1911 it was 65. When I have, with becoming modesty, ventured to speak of these comparisons, I have usually been met with the rejoinder, " But you include coal." I surely do, for whereas coal (m petroleum, as natural gas, as limestone) is not in the strictly technical definition of the word, a " mineral," it is legally mineral, is certainly a mineral substance, and contributes by far the largest tonnage and approximately one-third of the total value of all mineral products. The production of coal-mines in 1911 weighed approximately 500,000,000 tons. In 1912 it exceeded that record by nearly, if not quite, 50,000,000 tons. According to H. D. McCaskey, of the U. S. Geological Survey, the total weight of all the metallic ores mined in the United States in 1911 was 105,000,000 tons (a little more than one-fifth that of coal). In 1910 Mr. Lindgren estimated the total weight of all metallic ores at 120,000,000 tons. The products of the quarries, clay-pits, oil-wells, phosphate-mines, and other non-metallic products, taken all together, did not in 1911 weigh in excess of 300,000,000 tons, so that the output of coal exceeds by 25 per cent. the combined tonnage of all other mineral products. The coal-mines give to

Jan 1, 1914

By F. Z. Schellenberg

Systematic exploitation in the Pittsburg coal-seam on a large scale is simple where the boundaries of the property do not interfere by forcing drainage-, ventilation-, and transport-lines of entries to be run to particular confined fronts. A prime condition governing development is the natural direction of the seam's perpendicular cleavage-planes, giving long lines of smooth faces near together and parallel, bearing about 65' to the left of the meridian and therefore crossing the basins. The gradients of dip into the basins change from 10 per cent. at the east rim to practical flatness northwestward across the great coal-fields, a hundred miles wide; the dip being halved in rate at each successive crossing-over of an anticlinal crest. Elevations above sea-level on this transverse section, in scope of present development, differ by 1,000 ft. between low trough and high outcrop. Local irregularities of dip are found, but the main feature to be recognized is the pitch of the basins—the general rise northeastward at 20 ft. per mile, from 100 ft. below sea-level at the low point near the SW. corner of Pennsylvania to 1,500 ft. and more above tide, and the appearance then, at the surface, of the lower coal-seams carried in the next deeper-lying thousand feet of rock-measures; below which series come the oil- and gas-sands of Oliphant's charted column of strata, reaching down altogether 3,000 ft. below the Pittsburg coal-seam. Because of the general regularity of occurrence of the coal-seam, the mine-map depicting the courses of economic operation to be undertaken and the steps in controlled exhaustion, need be but a projection of two dimensions on the horizontal plane of space, and this for the most part composed of natural, almost unbroken lines, on the face and on the end of the coal, co-ordinating rectangularly.

Jan 1, 1911

By S. Singh, R. C. Deshpande

RECENTLY metallographic studies of copper slugs recovered after firing shaped charges in deep containers of water were reported.' The present note describes the metallographic examination of a steel

Jan 1, 1960

By Robert W. Bartlett

A computer model for predicting the rate of oxidative leaching of copper from fragmented low grade sulfide ores is presented. The model involves the kinetics of the dissolution of chalcopyrite grains and solution diffusion of oxygen within rock pores. Adjustable curve fitting parameters are not used. The model was tested by comparing computed extraction curves with experimental results for a -11 inch ore obtained by block caving and leached at 90°C and 400 psi oxygen for one year at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories.

Jan 1, 1973

By D. G. Hartley, P. C. Hayward, K. R. Weller, U. J. Sterns

The major copper loss at Mount Lyell is in the coarsest particles presented to flotation. An analysis of data collected from the five Primary and six secondary ball mill circuits showed that grinding was limited by low breakage rates in secondary mills, possibly due to oversize balk. For five months, the make-up ball size for one secondary mill was reduced from 50 to 30 mm (2 to 1.1 in.). Frequent steady-state tests indicated that overall average breakage rates could be increased by about 70% using smaller balk. A mathematical simulation of the whole circuit with increased breakage rates showed that the resultant finer grind was likely to improve copper recoveries by about 2%.

Jan 1, 1984

By S. H. Davis

THE pyrites used in making sulfuric acid in the United States have been largely imported from Spain and Canada, the Spanish imports amounting to nearly 1,000,000 tons per annum in the pre-war period. The greatly increased use of sulfuric acid and the cutting off of these Spanish imports, incident to war conditions, brought about a threatened shortage of sulfur supplies during the war period. The bituminous-coal mines of certain districts have, for many years, furnished a small tonnage of pyrite in the form of coal brasses. A mechanical concentrator at Danville, Ill., for a number of years, has been treating hand-picked lump pyrite and coal from the picking belt and from the mines and a small plant near Gillespie, Ill., for a few months has been recovering pyrite from washery refuse. Many mines throughout Illinois, Indiana, Western Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have shipped an occasional car of the hand-cleaned lump pyrite. Only a very small percentage of the available pyrite has been recovered in this way, however, as usually the miners throw such lumps into the gob with slate and other impurities. It has been estimated that the western Indiana coal field could furnish more than 100,000 tons of pyrite per annum. The present production is very small. The possibility of furnishing the domestic trade with pyrites recovered as a byproduct from coal-mining operations appears attractive but there are certain features difficult to overcome. Pyrite, to be used in acid making, must meet with certain requirements as to size and purity. Lump ore for grate burners should be under 3 in. (7.6 cm.) and over 1 in. (2.5 cm.) in diameter. Fines for use in mecnanical roasters should be under quarter mesh. The material should be high in sulfur, free from arsenic and phosphorus, and as low in carbon as possible. The pyrite obtained from coal can be made to meet all the above requirements, but it is difficult to remove all the carbon. The pyrite in coal occurs as bands and nodules of varying thickness and size and of comparative purity, but mixed with this is more or less web sulfur. The web sulfur carries with it admixed coal, which may make the concen-

Jan 8, 1919

By John V. Beall

They let the whole world know again that not only could we do it, but we make it look easy. The great crews before Scott, Irwin and Worden of Apollo 15 have all blended warm humor, informality and dexterity to put on a good show: but it keeps getting better and the last one was the best. Scott's rendition of Galileo's experiment using a hammer and a feather--not just any feather, but a falcon feather after the name of the LEM-was priceless. One generation of school kids will never forget that lesson. The final touch was in the "would-you-believe''" category, Now if English astronauts had been performing the mission, the sign-off would have been typically low key. Something like; "well its tea time, chaps; we'll have to toddle along." Apollo 15 surprised and thrilled spectators by blasting off to the Air Force song "Off we go into the wild blue yonder" and leaving a camera behind to photograph their own ascent. Now that is what we call showmanship. There is another aspect to our space show and that is that it cost billions of dollars to put on. With that kind of backing, the world for an audience and in the face of grave personal risk, one would expect the space explorers to be all business. Instead they did their jobs with limpid buoyancy. Our older readers will recall and contrast a movie of the thirties and the tense atmosphere when they had to talk that kid up there (Franchot Tone) down through the zero ceiling. A feat of considerably less difficulty than docking LEM. but nevertheless the gut tightening drama was absent in the latter event. In another example, few of us can visualize reporting back after a business mission to one of the old barons such as J. P. Morgan in any but the most sedate and business-like terms. In fact we don't have to go that far back, as we can think of a few pepper-pot bosses we have had to whom one always played it straight.

Jan 1, 1971

Jan 1, 1918

By A. S. Nowick, A. E. Roswell

Anelastic measurements of atomic mobility in an Ag-Zn substitutional solid solution, make possible a study of the rate of decay of lattice defects frozen into the alloy by quenching. A WIDE variety of experimental evidence has accumulated recently in support of the belief that atomic mobility or diffusion in face-centered cubic lattices occurs principally through the movement of lattice defects, as contrasted to a mechanism by which two or more atoms directly exchange lattice positions. The most direct evidence, summarized in a recent review,' includes the Kirkendall-effect measurements and anelastic measurements on quenched alloys. Theoretical calculations' have focused attention on the lattice vacancy as the defect probably responsible for diffusion in the common metals. Later calculations3 have also shown the possible importance of combined pairs of vacancies in producing diffusion. The only defect that has been considered seriously, in addition to the vacancy and combination of vacancies, is the "interstitialcy" (an atom which has left its normal lattice position and entered an interstitial position) ; the calculated energy of formation of an interstitialcy in a close-packed lattice is too large to permit a reasonable probability for the occurrence of this defect In view of these calculations it may be tentatively concluded that the defects producing atomic movements are single or multiple vacancies. Anelastic measurements of atomic mobility in substitutional solid solutions provide a valuable method for the study of lattice defects. By means of this method it was first demonstrated' that defects may be frozen into a lattice by rapid quenching from high temperatures. (It was subsequently shown6 that resistivity measurements may also be capable of detecting the presence of frozen-in defects.) A summary of the principles involved in these anelastic measurements will now be presented. The anelastic method is based on a relaxation phenomenon in substitutional solid solutions, first discovered by Zenera in a brass and subseauentlv investigated extensively in a series of Ag-zn solid solutions.' This relaxation effect may be observed in the usual way either dynamically, as a peak in

Jan 1, 1954

By Charles E. Carlsen

Underground construction involves all the legal problems common to the construction industry and adds a nice little group of its own. Elements which will ultimately affect contractor-owner relationship commence to form almost as soon as the owner conceives of the project. A few of these with emphasis on their application to underground construction will be mentioned. (1) During the design stage, determination must be made as to whether the specifications will be general or restrictive. To what extent will the operations of the contractor be controlled? Can he proceed to use any method of tunnel excavation that he desires and only be responsible for the end result or will specific excavation procedures be required? Can explosives be used? Under what restrictions? Are tunnel supports required? How long can the crown behind the heading remain unsupported? What kind of supports are required? What restrictions on the placement of tunnel-lining concrete will be required? Each of you could extend this list for many pages but these illustrations are indicative of decisions that must be made in advance of bidding, and the ultimate decision on each question can have a significant effect on the legal relationships that exist between the contractor and the owner. The owner wants a good job at a fair price. On the other hand, nothing is worse than having a tunnel collapse during the construction period, with its extra costs, loss of life, and delay to the entire project. If the specifications are too restrictive, increased costs of performance are bound to occur. Owners save tremendous amounts of money by obtaining a contractor who has been ingenious in devising the most economical construction procedure. Care must be taken in drafting the specifications so that the benefits of such ingenuity will not be lost. (2) HOW is the contract to be awarded? Will there be open bidding, a restricted list of bidders, or will there be negotiations with a comparatively few contractors? If it is a government project, whether Federal, state, or

Jan 1, 1970

By Wilber Stout

In Ohio, the annual output of coke made from native coals has averaged not more than 70,000 tons, or about enough to run a 200-ton blast furnace. Raw coal locally mined from the Sharon, or No. 1, bed was used for iron smelting in Mahoning furnace at Lowellville, Mahoning Co., as early as 1846. This practice was continued in the Youngstown district until the coal became scarce and the Connellsville coke more popular. At present, the Sharon bed contributes a part of the fuel for the production of ferrosilicon iron at Jackson, Jackson CO. About one-third native coal and two-thirds soft coal are used. In this state, coke, on a commercial basis, was first made in Jefferson County probably about 1861 or 1862. The coals used were the Steuben-ville Shaft, or Lower Freeport, and the Strip Vein or Middle Kittanning. The practice, however, was discontinued before 1880 because of the competition of superior foreign cokes. Beehive ovens, later built at Leetonia, Columbiana Co., were operated for only a few years; the coal used at this place is the Lower Kittanning or No. 5. In a desultory way, slack from the Pittsburgh coal has been coked at a few places in eastern Ohio, and attempts, either for experimental or for commercial purposes, have been made in other parts of the state. Small quantities of coke were made from the Upper Freeport coal at Salineville, Columbiana Co., and near Nelsonville, Hocking Co.; the results were poor. Tests were made of the Middle Kittanning coal near Zanesville, Muskingum Co., at Moxahala Furnace, Perry Co., and at Washington Furnace, Lawrence Co.; the cokes were all high in sulfur and ash. Attempts were made to coke the Clarion coal at Vinton Furnace, Vinton Co.; a small battery of molding ovens and a pile of high-sulfur coke yet remain to tell the story. The Pittsburgh coal was coked on a commercial scale at Utley and at Lathrop, Athens Co., but the operations were not successful and were soon abandoned. These failures and indifferent successes are not to be attributed to a lack of demand for a first-class coke, as Ohio has held a commanding place for many years in iron smelting; nor to a deficiency of coals, as the state has a vast reserve of such material. They are to be ascribed to the inferior quality of the native products offered to the trade. The cokes

Jan 1, 1920

By Irwin Roman

The literature of geophysics as applied to the discovery of mineral deposits has been very extensive during the past few years,' but there seem to be few references to the use of the method of least squares for obtaining better interpretations of the observed data.2 There seems to be a general reluctance among geologists and engineers to acquire the technique of least squares, in spite of the fact that a thorough knowledge of the theory is not necessary for the use of the method.

Jan 1, 1932

By Ben L. Seegmiller

Localized open pit slope failure was avoided as an apparent result of a practical rock mechanics program conducted at the Twin Buttes copper operation. The key to the program was the application of cable bolting, a technique that artificially supports open pit slopes using properly installed post-tensioned cables. As a result of the research and testing program, extensions of the cable bolting principal became significantly apparent. • The economics of artificial stabilization appear to be overwhelmingly favorable, and • Best practical applications are "final" pit slopes, slopes beneath permanent structures and potentially slope failing areas. Success of this research is manifested by the fact that similar stabilization systems are presently under consideration for Twin Buttes as well as other open pit operations.

Jan 12, 1974

By Herman Blumenthal, Ronald Silverman

lnfiltrability of a porous Tic compact, produced by powder metallurgy technique, depends on the capillarity of the compact and the surface condition and nature of the individual particles. Capillary forces raise the liquid metal infiltrant into the interconnected pores of the compact and the complete filling of these pores is a function of their geometry as well as the wettability of the Tic particles. The paper deals especially with the improvement of this wettability through surface conditioning of the Tic particles. INFILTRATION, a technique for preparing dense powder metallurgy parts by filling the void spaces of a porous body with a liquid metal, has been used for the manufacture of titanium carbide-base cermets. Although the infiltration process was

Jan 1, 1957

By R. Clare Coffin

The production of oil in the Rocky Mountain district, including southeastern New Mexico, increased from 33,048,630 bbl. in 1930 to 34,325,163 bbl. in 1931. This increase was due to production in New Mexico, which exceeded the 1930 figure by approximately 5,000,000 barrels. Total production by fields is given in Table 1. Exploration during 1931 resulted in the discovery of a new oil-producing horizon in the Big Muddy field in Natrona County, Wyoming, and ' the discovery of a new gas pool in the Powder Wash structure, Moffat County, northwestern Colorado. Gas was discovered also in the Frontier sands of the Bunker Hill dome, Carbon County, Wyoming, but no test has yet been made by which to determine the significance of this discovery. All other exploration which resulted in increasing the known reserves of oil and gas in the district was confined to drilling in partly outlined fields where known limits of production were extended. During the year two major gas pipe lines were completed in western Montana, and one in southwestern New Mexico was extended into Arizona. One new project involving the marketing of natural gas from Wyoming fields included the conversion of an existing oil line to a gas line to serve towns in southeastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. Colorado The decline of 132,501 bbl. in the production of oil in the Colorado fields during 1931 from the figure of 1930 is due to the natural decline of existing wells, partly offset by the increased production in the Greasewood area. New exploration was limited largely to northeastern Colorado, where attempts were made to find oil in areas adjacent to the Grease-wood field. Powder Wash, Moffat County.—The Ohio Oil Co. is to be credited with the discovery of a gas field in the Power Wash structure in Moffat County, Colorado. The initial well drilled in sec. 5-11-97 encountered a sand at a depth of 2152 ft. which produced 34,188,000 cu. ft. of gas on an open-flow test. The rock pressure was reported as 630 Ib.

Jan 1, 1932

This brief resume of events, transpiring in Mexico, culled from the daily New York newspapers, since the last Bulletin went to press, does not indicate any degree of improvement in the situation. MEXICAN MINISTER TO FRANCE RECOGNIZED A dispatch from Paris quotes Alberto J. Pani, Mexican Minister to France, as saying lie lead received notification that lie might present his credentials at the French Foreign Office on May 13. This notice came at the moment the Mexican press was announcing his departure for Spain because of inability to present his credentials. MORE REVOLUTIONARY TROUBLES SOUTH AND NORTH Revolutionary outbreaks hulked large in advices from Mexico City at the end of May, says the New York Tribune. General Eznesto Danny, a major, four other officers and forty men, composing a train guard on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Railroad, were killed recently in an attack by rebels under Felix Diaz's command. The troubles in the south, coupled with the fact that Villa's activities in the north have necessitated sending troops to campaign against him, have reacted in the capital seriously, it is reported. Military guards hi Mexico City have been doubled and machine guns have been placed on the roofs of the National Palace and the Cathedral. STRIKE AND MARTIAL LAW IN MEXICO CITY Advices from Mexico City, according to the Evening Sun, said that virtually every school teacher in the city was out on strike and that recurrent rioting was being put clown by armed trucks manned by Federal soldiers. The strike of the school teachers was clue to the fact that they had not been paid for months, but the direct incitement is said to have been the contrast between their impoverished position and that of Carranza's generals, who are described as rolling in wealth, and who flaunted their opulence on the streets of Mexico, riding about in high powered automobiles with women bedecked with diamonds and other jewelry. The city is said to be virtually under martial law with no immediate prospect. of a subsidence of the bitter feeling against the military caste.

Jan 7, 1919

By Byron Bird

WHILE Mr. Fahrenwald has been working on the fundamentals of ore-dressing, in Idaho, the Northwest Experiment Station of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the University of Washington, has been studying the corresponding fundamentals for the closely-allied subject of coal-washing. In this work many of the principles outlined in Mr. Fahrenwald's paper have been touched on, one important exception being that phase of his studies where conditions were approximated between those existing on a table and those existing in a hindered-settling classifier. During the past three years this work has been given over almost exclusively to a study of coal-tabling to devise better methods of cleaning fine sizes of coal, particularly the coals of the Northwest, which are very difficult to wash. One important result of this study thus far has been the development of a satisfactory hindered-settling coal classifier, now in use in several commercial plants. Recently table stratifica-tion has been the subject for study. This latter phase of the work with coal,. as well as the earlier portion dealing with hindered-settling classification, has in a measure paralleled Mr. Fahrenwald's work with ore. Without going into details about the results of the coal experiments, I shall merely say that, from a quali-tative standpoint, they are, in general, concordant with Mr. Fahrenwald's, but that from a quantitative stand-point the results, particularly those with, table strati-fication, are somewhat different. These differences may disappear as the work progresses-Mr. Fahrenwald is further ahead with his experiments than we are at the Northwest Station-but if not, the disparity would not be surprising, and indeed would be what one might reasonably expect when investigators work on two very dissimilar materials and use different apparatus and methods of study. However, this- mention of our coal-washing experiments is made only in passing. A principle of general application that may be estab-lished from Mr. Fahrenwald's paper is that different types of stratification should be used in successive' gravity-concentration processes to. obtain best results.

Jan 3, 1927

By William Newnam

LEAD mining has been carried on in several localities of the Province of Ontario in a desultory fashion for the past 60 years, but up to 1916 the results have not been of much commercial importance. The most ambitious attempt was made by an English company which built a lead smelter at Kingston, Ont., in, 1880 to treat the- concentrates from the . Frontenac mines. After 2 years' operation, the -mines and smelter were abandoned. Up to the present there has not been a sufficient tonnage of concentrates to support an efficient blast-furnace plant and as most of the small properties could not stand the heavy freight and duty charges into the United States, development work has not been carried on in a, systematic manner. As a result the industry has languished. At, Galetta, in southeastern Ontario, considerable prospecting and development work has been carried on in the last few years and very promising deposits of galena have been found in the Chats Island group by the James Robertson Co., Ltd., of Montreal. The chief deposit is that of the Galetta or Kingdon lead mine, located on Chats Island in. the Ottawa River about 5 miles east of the town of Arnprior. The rocks' in the vicinity of -the mines consist of an interbedded series of crystalline limestone and biotite gneisses of pre-Cambrian age. This part of the Ottawa River' basin has been severely faulted and the overlying Paleozoic limestones may be seen in normal fault contact with the pre-Cambrian. The vein filling is of a very well-marked fault fissure type and although the amount of displacement is not determined at this point, similar faults to the east show a displacement of from 1,500 to 1,800 ft. which would indicate mineralized fault fissures of considerable depth. The ore occurs in a highly crystalline calcite with some barite and fluorite, and the galena occurs more or less richly disseminated in clusters and crystal aggregates. In some cases these masses weigh several hundred pounds. Small amounts of sphalerite are occasionally encountered.

Jan 4, 1917

[ ]

Jan 1, 1938

By Ian Campbell

THE year 1952 was marked by several new alltime highs in industrial mineral production; by an easing of the critical situation with respect such minerals as fluorspar and sulphur; by important production of asbestos, lithium, and rare earths; by the perfecting of new products which will place new demands upon industrial mineral supplies, such as "Fiberfrax", and the finding of new uses for old minerals, such as wollastonite; by continuation of basic and applied research; and publication of a notable study of the national mineral economy, viz., the "Paley Report".

Jan 2, 1953