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By H. F. Ameen, F. M. Hamilton

Results of a laboratory investigation of some sintering variables are presented. The effect on physical properties of mix component variation and rate of cooling of the sinter is illustrated by crush and tumbler test results and data of reducibility tests and microscopic examination of sinters are shown. The results of using solid additions in the mix to improve bed permeability are given.

Jan 12, 1950

By Mehmet Guney

A series of experimental investigations was carried out in situ and in the laboratory with special emphasis on the gassy seams of the Kozlu District, Zonguldak Coalfield, Turkey. The nature of firedamp emission in the return airways of coal faces together with the individual parameters affecting the phnomenon were studied and the observations are discussed. The residual methane content of the lump coal samples was determined by the volumetric method. All the evidence obtained from the field and laboratory results indicate that certain coal seams under production in the Kozlu District of the Zonguldak Coalfield are very gassy in nature. There are cases where in the return airways of some coal faces the total emission of methane reached up to 3300 cu ft pure methane per ton of coal mined. From the impressions gained in the course of the present work and from available literature, retention and emission of methane are basically large-scale phenomena, dependent on exogenous and endogenous parameters in coal mine, which may effect to a greater or lesser degree actual firedamp incidents.

Jan 1, 1976

By G. E. McElroy

Changes in existing airway and fan-installation conditions offer the most common opportunities for effecting economical operation of mine-ventilating systems, but the largest possibilities for securing this result lie in the original design of the main airways for efficient service. Formulas, and charts for their graphical solution, are presented herewith for the determination of the elements of airways design when the conditions of service are known or may be roughly approximated. Although the analyses are made with particular reference to metal-mine airways, there is no essential difference between main airways in metal and coal mines, and the methods presented are applicable to both. Little attention is paid to designing airways for maximum economy in the ventilation of metal mines. Most of the openings used as main airways are originally designed and used for transportation and other operating purposes. Even where openings are made primarily for ventilation, the possibility of their future use for other operating purposes, or even custom alone, usually results in the selection of a size and shape similar to those of existing openings. Natural conditions, such as heavy ground, often seriously limit the size of opening that can be maintained without excessive expense; and various operating factors, such as velocity limitations on traveling roads, often dictate size requirements in excess of those required for economy in ventilation only. In metal mines the main airways are, as a rule, too small rather than too large for economic service, with the general result that the quantities in circulation are often less than the mine's proper requirements over long periods, even though excessive amounts of power are applied in an effort to remedy conditions. Increasing the area of an airway increases the cost for excavation and lining practically proportionately but at the same time affects a very rapid decrease in power requirements. The balancing of these two factors of the expense to give a minimum total yearly operating cost for ventilation is mainly a matter of proper original design of the main airways of the mine, since the large volumes handled through these parts of the system involve large power costs and thus present opportunities for effecting large savings through proper design. Many of the factors

Jan 1, 1932

By H. S. Martin

THE Phosphate Recovery Corporation operates three flotation plants, Nos. 1 and 2 concentrators about three miles northeast of Mulberry, Florida, and No. 3 plant at Wales, Tennessee. These plants represent the first commercial phosphate flotation operation and are also believed to be the largest nonmetallic flotation operation in the world at the pres-ent time. The details of this paper will be confined to plant No. 2, this being the newest and largest concentrator in Florida, and the flow sheet being practically the same as at plant No. 1. The No. 3 plant has been oper-ated but a short time and has been shut down since December, 1932, on account of the decrease in phosphate rock production. The phosphate washers usually are located centrally on a known deposit so that about two hundred acres of ground can be mined eco-nomically to each washer location. The washers are moved to new areas when the distance becomes too great for economical pumping. The flotation plants are built either adjacent to a washer, so that current debris may be utilized, or on the site of a former washer where there is sufficient accumulated debris available for mining, and the flotation plants must also be moved from time to time. Most of the water used in the Florida flotation plants is recovered after passing through a circulating system where most of the fine sus-pended matter is settled out, but some make-up water is obtained from deep wells near the plant. Power is obtained from the Tampa Electric Co. through the dis-tribution facilities of the International Agricultural Corporation. Flotation concentrate is hauled from the plant by trolley over the International Agricultural Corporation's trolley system, to the drying plant at Prairie, one mile northwest of Mulberry.

Jan 1, 1933

By B. Rao Pothini, Hilmar A. von Schonfeldt

One of the key elements essential to a productive and uninterrupted longwall mining operation is roof control. In several of the Island Creek Coal Company's mining sections, polyurethane has been infused 80 into strata to control severe roof failures in the face and gate entry areas. To date about 50,000 kgs (110,000 lbs) of the chemical have been consumed in a number of applications. Roof-to-floor convergence 60 and differential roof sag have been monitored to determine the need for polyurethane infusion and also to evaluate roof stability following the infusion. Stratascopic observations of the roof formed the basis 40 for confirming the need and also for estimating the required quantities of polyurethane. Both chemical infusion and roof control monitoring techniques have been applied successfully under very adverse roof 20 conditions; substantial production benefits have been realized. Operator acceptance of the system has been very good.

Jan 1, 1981

Jan 1, 1941

By R. Hogg

INTRODUCTION As mineral particles are made smaller and smaller, it follows that their surfaces assume a greater and greater importance. In the extreme, the colloidal systems are characterized by the complete dominance of surface over bulk properties. Surface characteristics and properties will clearly influence any fine-particle processing operation. Comminution, for example, is a process of creating new surface. Agglomeration, on the other hand, may involve the reduction of surface area and the forces involved are generally surface forces. All mineral separations, solid-solid as well as solid-fluid, involve the treatment of two or more phases (solid plus liquid and/or gas). As the interfacial area increases, so will its effects on processing. Both physical and chemical separations are influenced by interfacial phenomena. Gravity separations are usually performed in a liquid phase and may be affected, for example, by the wetting characteristics of the solids. Flotation processes, of course, are based on the exploitation of differences in surface properties. Hydrometallurgical processing usually involves interfacial chemical reactions, e.g. leaching. The rates of such reactions depend on surface area and may be influenced by electrochemical effects in the electrical double layer at the solid-liquid interface, or by adsorption of reactant and/or product species from solution. In characterizing a mineral surface, it is important to consider first the surface area, since this determines the relative importance of the interfacial effects. The structure and chemical composition of the surface, which may depend on segregation of impurities within the solid and on adsorption from the external environment as well as on the bulk composition of the solid, will generally determine such

Jan 1, 1980

By J. K. Furst

THE reasons for manufacturing steel by the duplex process are, briefly: saving of time; increasing output for capital invested; and avoiding the difficulty sometimes experienced in obtaining scrap. On account of the latter reason, some plants duplex only at such times as the price and quantity of scrap in the open market warrant. At some plants the use of the duplex process enables, the blast-furnace practice to be simplified, because the furnaces run more smoothly and produce more iron when not held to a strict specification as to the silicon and phosphorus therein. The duplex process was practiced in Witkowitz as far back as 1878, but it was left to the steel makers of this country to develop it along practical, commercial lines. The American companies manufacturing steel by the duplex process at the present time are: Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., Maryland Steel Co., Bethlehem Steel Co., Pennsylvania Steel Co.; Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., Colorado Fuel & Iron Co., Lacka-wanna Steel Co., Dominion Iron & Steel Co. of Canada. All of these companies, except the Dominion Iron & Steel Co., combine the acid Bessemer with the basic open-hearth process, while the latter combines the basic Bessemer with the basic open hearth. The Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co.'s Plant The installation of a converter of 15 tons capacity at the Ensley plant of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. in 1904 marked the introduction into this country of the duplex system. The experience gained in the employment of the Bessemer converter had demonstrated that there was a shortening of .the time required in the open-hearth furnace and a reduction of the outlay for fuel and lime, thus affording substantial evidence of the economies resulting from this method.

Jan 10, 1914

By Robert Anderson

The diffraction of x-rays by cold-worked and heavily polished surfaces of metals gives, no evidence of an amorphous state and typically perfect crystallographic diffraction' patterns are obtained. Severely cold-worked metals, reduced as much as 98 per cent. in area, give true crystallographic diffraction patterns, and polished surfaces of large single crystals of metal give typical crystallographic patterns. The conclusion is drawn, on basis of x-ray evidence, that metals are fragmented on cold work and polishing and not amorphized. THE purpose of this paper is to report evidence, regarding, metal: structures, that is contradictory to the amorphous-metal, hypothesis of Beilby, and particularly evidence that is opposed to the proposition that a vitreous amorphous layer is produced by polishing a piece of metal. According to the theory of Beilby, which has been developed, by Rosenhain and others, polishing a piece of metal greatly affects the condition of the metal at or near the surface polished, making that surface entirely different in character from the metal beneath. A vitreous amorphous surface film is said to be formed. The polishing process, on the basis of Beilby's explanation, is well known-and does not' require discussion here, but it is advisable to seek the precise meaning of,., the term "amorphous." According to Beilby, "amorphous means. Non-crystalline in the most intimate sense of the word'; the molecules are not marshalled in crystalline order and orientation." According to Rosenhain, the amorphous condition is that assumed by a metal when, the .crystalline arrangement is completely broken up so that the atoms exist in a state of disorderly arrangement similar to that ;which exists in the liquid state. Thus, from the point of view of the phase rule, the "amorphous phase" is regarded as being identical with the liquid phase. Amorphous metal is often likened to an undercooled liquid. A crystalline substance is one in which the atoms are arranged in space according to some definite repeating geometrical pattern. The existence of amorphous metal has not been definitely proved.

Jan 1, 1925

By W. L. Fink, R. S. Archer

THIS paper describes results obtained on aluminum-beryllium alloys and aluminum-beryllium-copper alloys in the preparation of which aluminum of 99.95 per cent. purity was used. The constitution and structure of the high purity binary alloys are given. The aluminum-beryllium eutectic occurs at 0.87 per cent. beryllium and 645° C. The solid solubility of beryllium in aluminum at 631° C. is 0.05 per cent. beryllium, and at room temperature is less than 0.013 per cent. beryllium. The densities of the alloys are substantially the same as the values calculated on the assumption that the densities of the elements are not changed by alloying. All of the alloys age-harden at room temperature after a solution heat treatment, and the chill cast aluminum-beryllium-copper alloys age-harden at room temperature without a prior solution heat treatment. Hardness and tensile properties are given. Salt spray corrosion tests on sheet specimens are described. It is shown that beryllium does not lower the corrosion resistance of aluminum to salt spray provided the alloy has received a solution heat treatment. COMMERCIAL POSSIBILITIES OF BERYLLIUM ALLOYS Beryllium has certain properties such as low density, high hardness, good corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion and fairly good electrical conductivity, which would indicate that it is worthy of consideration as an ingredient of light alloys. It was not until recently, however, that beryllium could be produced with sufficient ease to encourage research along this line. The production of beryllium by electrolysis from a fluoride bath has now developed to the stage where it could be used commercially if there were sufficient demand for the element. Claims made in certain newspapers and technical articles in regard to the strength and corrosion resistance of the aluminum-beryllium alloys are not justified by experimental results. Moreover, beryllium is an expensive metal ($200 a pound at the time this work was done) and, on account of the nature of its ore and the consequent difficulty of its extraction, it will in all probability continue to be a relatively expensive metal, although the cost would undoubtedly be a great deal less than $200 a

Jan 1, 1928

By H. E. McKinstry

MOVEMENT on a fracture of irregular shape can cause local widening of the fissure and thereby offer freer channelways for circulation of ore-depositing solutions. This influence, coupled with large areas of wall rock available for reacting with ore solutions in brecciated and shattered ground can account for locally active deposition of metals and the resulting ore shoots. Such irregularities in the fracture system may be caused by local variations in the strength of rocks and by pre-existing lines of weakness, especially if these stand at favorable angles to certain components of the fracturing stress. Therefore correct interpretation of the mechanics of fracturing should permit deductions as to structurally favorable places on unexplored portions of the vein system.

Jan 1, 1941

Mr. Brown : .That part of the Standard Company's plant which has been added since the publication of Mr. Leggett's paper, and is described in mine, renders the single-phase, alternating system, which Mr. Hale has called " unelastic," much more elastic than it had been. The original plant at Bodie was substantially the same as the Telluride plant mentioned in his paper. The machines came from the same shops, and were practically the same; but while the Telluride Company has changed completely to a polyphase system, the Standard Company has retained its original plant, but has belted on a directcurrent generator at the receiving end, thereby converting the water-power into electricity, electricity into power, the power into electricity, and finally again electricity into power for use in the mines. This is a roundabout course, to be sure, but it shows that there are possibilities even in the out-of-date single-phase system. The only point perhaps, that deserves particular notice with respect to the hoist is the fact that the rheostat, or starting-resistance, was not built originally

Jan 1, 1897

By J. L. Bruce, G. W. Nicolson

ThE country rock of the Mavrovouni mine of the Cyprus Mines Corp. is hydro-thern~ally altered, disintegrated pillow lava, with very little tensile strength ("short" ground). In places, especially when wet, it is heavy ground, though not extremely heavy except where movement has been caused by underlying or nearby stoping operations. Damage by caving from roof or sides of galleries is not sudden but progressively faster when the size of the cave increases as a result of the fall of small pieces. CeMent and Concrete Linings During early operations, galleries in the country rock were supported by customary mine-timbering methods. Available timber, howcver, was of poor quality and of relatively high price, and replacements were frequent and expensive. Furthermore, the massive sulphide ore bodies required large volumes of fresh air for ventilation and cooling, and it was therefore desirable to provide smooth-lined galleries with low resistance for the introduction of air to the ore bodies. It was also desirable to eliminate hazards of fire in shafts and underground workings insofar as this would be practical. Cement and concrete were relatively cheap, and plans for using these in support of shafts, underground galleries, raises, and chutes, were developed steadily. Circular shafts with diameters ranging from 10 to 15 ft were adopted for all permanent shafts and airways. In places these were lined with concrete poured behind sectional pressed-steel forms especially constructed for this purpose. In other places, they were lined with precast-concrete blocks. It was found that such precast concrete of good quality could be produced on mass production scale and delivered at the mine from most favorable point of manufacture, at a cost of about 25 cents per cubic foot of concrete. This refers to prewar costs. As the use of concrete blocks in circular lined galleries was developed, it was found that there were very great advantages in the reduction of air resistance as compared with customary timber supports. After best methods had been developed, it was found that breakage and replacements were extraordinarily low, averaging only about 11\2 pct per year during a period of about 15 years. Furthermore, it has been possible to reclaim for re-use a very large percentage of the concrete blocks from abandoned galleries. During the history of the operations precast-concrete blocks have been used for lining shafts, raises, ore chutes, galleries, and shaft stations, ranging from 3 to 16 ft id. The thickness of lining has varied from 5 to 10 in.; with 12 in. thickness in a few cases. Junctions of two galleries at angles ranging from about 30 to 60° are usually made of poured concrete behind sectional forms, or of a combination of poured concretc and precast blocks. In nearly all cases it has been found advisable to make the point of the wedge at the junction, of

Jan 1, 1949

By T. Glen Heslop, Dennis H. Laubscher

INTRODUCTION In all cave mining operations waste is drawn mixed in the ore, hauled, hoisted and milled. This waste usually contains some mineral which partly covers some of the costs of mining and milling it, but it still re- presents a loss of profits as the production rate from the mine is matched to the mill capacity - every tonne of waste milled replaces a tonne of profitable ore. Draw control aims to reduce the amount of waste drawn and to increase the amount of ore recovered. It is also used to regulate the grade of ore flowing to the mill and in block cave blocks to prevent potential stress build- up on the major apexes above grizzly drifts. This paper summarises what has been learnt about draw control in the forty years that cave mining methods have been used in the three largest underground chrysotile asbestos mines in the southern hemisphere. The four mining methods to which draw control has been applied are: a. Block caving. b. Shrinkage with overburden caving. c. Sublevel caving. d. Open stoping. Open stoping has been included because on a number of occasions severe falls from the back and side of these open stopes have occurred. Without full records of where and when ore is blasted, when and how much ore has been drawn from each of the drawpoints, it would be impossible to analyse the migration of ore and fallen waste in the stope. Several problems peculiar to chrysotile asbestos ore bodies affect the practice of draw control. Heterogeneous fragmentation, cavities, side pressures and the interaction of stresses in the caved ore affect the migration of ore under draw. Fibre is normally not developed uniformly throughout the ore bodies, values vary from place to place but there is usually a general decrease upwards and the hangingwall contact is an economic limit. The immediate hangingwall rock frequently looks like the ore body hostrock and is difficult to recognise in a drawpoint, and cannot be used as the marker for stopping draw. During caving or shrinkage, a large proportion of fibre becomes detached from the host rock and re- ports in the fines, which migrate differently to the larger rocks. The fines are not sticky, and flow easily if loose and dry, but compacted, the fibre and rock fines con- solidate the ore. During draw the proportion of fines in the ore varies considerably, as fines either flow relatively freely between the large rocks or become trapped and compacted above large rocks or hangups. This creates a large sampling error in drawpoint grade assessments, whether done visually or by bulk sampling, unless the assessments are done frequently. The method of draw control used is to regulate the draw rate in an attempt to lower the ore-waste interface as evenly as possible, and to finally stop working the drawpoint when a calculated tonnage has been drawn.

Jan 1, 1981

By L. S. Richardson, N. J. Grant

Iodide-grade titanium, two oxygen alloys, and two aluminum alloys were studied by means of creep-rupture tests from 1000° to 2000°F. From the test information an evaluation was made of, 1) the relative creep-rupture strengths of the u (hexagonal-close-packed) and 0 (body-centered-cubic) forms of titanium and some of its alloys; 2) the effects of solid-solution strengthening by oxygen and aluminum on the u and 0 structures; and 3) the extent and effect of atmospheric oxygen alloying on rupture life in tests above about 1000°F. THE use of titanium alloys at temperatures above 1000° F has been considered unlikely by most investigators because of low creep strength (based on a requirement for room-temperature ductility, formability, and weldability) and low oxidation resistance. The results of this testing program do not entirely uphold this pessimism in terms of strength and oxidation resistance. The observations described below are based entirely on stress-rupture results, although some creep tests were also carried out on these alloys. Three items of primary importance are covered: 1) Stress-rupture data in the form of the Larson-Miller parameter curves for several titanium alloys at temperatures up to 2000°F; 2) The relative strengths of the hexagonal-close-packed a structure and the body-centered-cubic 0 structure; 3) The effects of solid-solution alloying on the creep-rupture properties of titaniu'm at elevated temperatures. Only two investigatons have reported the creep- rupture properties of titanium at temperatures above 1000° F. Lunsford and rant' tested iodide titanium; their values are also utilized in the paper. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE After a few tests had been made in a conventional creep-rupture test machine, it became clear that some sort of atmospheric protection would be necessary for short-time tests conducted at temperatures above 1600°F, or for times greater than 100 hr at 1200°F or above. Several furnace units and test machines were constructed, the most successful of which is shown in Fig. 1. Certain experimental difficulties peculiar to titanium were encountered; for example, the use of molybdenum holders was dictated because titanium forms low melting-point eutectics with conventional high-temperature alloys containing appreciable amounts of iron, nickel, or cobalt. This same difficulty made the use of chrome l-alumel thermocouples in direct contact with a test specimen impossible, above about 1500" F. The high-temperature high-vacuum furnace shown in Fig. 1 was capable of maintaining a vacuum of better than 10"5 mm of mercury at 2000°F (pressure measured in cold part of system) and 5 X lo-' mm at room temperature. Most of the tests eonducted in vacuum were at temperatures

Jan 1, 1960

By Robert Anderson

DURING the past 5 years no subject has aroused more interest or received more attention among mill operators than flotation. One reason for this is, undoubtedly, the remarkable success of the process in Australia where that country has risen to the position of furnishing one-fifth of the world's Supply of zinc. The plant of the Butte & Superior Copper Co., designed by James M. Hyde in 1912, was the first important large flotation plant in this country; other installations have been made since then with considerable frequency, particularly so in the last 2 years. Without going into complete detail, it may be safely said that although flotation is a highly successful commercial process, it is more or less on an empirical basis. Upon scanning the literature, it is found that the flotation investigations have, in the main, dealt with a solution of the problems which accrue to practise; until recently no attempt was made to remove the difficulties in the way of the formulation of a consistent and harmonious theory. Of late this phase of the work has been receiving considerable attention, particularly by the United States Bureau of Mines at its Salt Lake City station, by the Mellon Institute at Pittsburgh, by the General Engineering Co. at Salt Lake City, by many of the mining schools, and private individuals almost ad infinitum. There is, at present, an enormous amount of laboratory work being carried on in flotation research, and probably the time is not far away when a generally acceptable explanation of flotation phenomena can be Set forth. However, at this time, it seems as though the current technology is befogged with a super-abundance of contradictory evidence; this confusion can only be dispelled as time proceeds and the knowledge of the subject becomes more complete.

Jan 7, 1916

By C. E. Johnston

In December 1956, International Minerals & Chemical Corp. installed a rope-suspended belt haulage system in its Carlsbad, N. M., potash mine to complement the already existing rail transport arrangement. In this article the author describes when and where each system is used, the advantages and disadvantages of both, and future planning and proposed changes in haulage at IMC. The haulage system at the International Minerals & Chemical Corporation (IMC) potash mine near Carlsbad, N. M., reached a turning point in December 1956 with the introduction of rope-suspended belt haulage. In fact, IMC pioneered the use of this type of belt in the potash industry. Since that time belt conveyance has been employed as an extension of the rail system but not as a replacement of the main rail haulage. IMC's potash mine is located in the Permian Basin, approximately 20 miles east of Carlsbad in Eddy County, N. M. The 800, 850 and 900-ft levels have been exploited. From these levels over 60 million tons have been extracted. The two ore minerals are sylvite (KCl) and langbeinite (K2SO4. 2MgSO4). The principal gangue mineral is halite, with minor amounts of polyhalite, kainite and leonite. Langbeinite is mined on the 850-ft level and sylvite on the 900. The 800-ft level, with both langbeinite and sylvite mineralization, is idle. Mining heights vary from 54 in. to over 10 ft. A room and pillar mining system is used. Geologically, mining is done in the Salado salt formation. The U.S. Geological Survey has classified the 900-ft sylvite level as the first ore zone and the 850-ft langbeinite level as the fourth ore zone. Since the grade of sylvite is low, mineralization at the IMC mine is somewhat irregular and salt horses, are common. Selective mining and a flexible haulage

Jan 1, 1963

By J. H. Fletcher

ALTHOUGH some mines have been completely mechanized, on the whole mechanical equipment has made slow progress in the coal fields. Coal mining is particularly well adapted to hand labor. The skillful hand miner can keep his working place safe under difficult roof conditions, remove impurities from the coal at the point of origin, and produce a maximum percentage of large-size coal, so as to command the highest price on the market. Hand mining has also the advantage of low capital investment per ton of production and moderate carrying charge when the mine is idle. Though animal haulage gave way to electric locomo-tives and hand cutting to mining machines, beyond these concessions most of the tonnage is still produced by manual labor. But factors over which producers have no control are speeding the change to mechanical mining. The additional investment in underground equipment and surface preparation plant must be offset by a great increase in tons per man-day, and to do this the employees should be able to utilize as much of their time as possible on production. In the installation of mechanical mining, the only change in method usually has been to add loading machines to a mine already developed for hand loading. Because of a lack of suitable equipment, few mobile loading machines have been installed in seams of coal less than 4 ft. thick; the mechanization in the thinner seams has been confined largely to shaking conveyors and hand loading onto chain conveyors. Mechanical mining requires an organization that is prepared to study its particular problem from production territory to market in recognition of the changed factors arising from the use of loading machines at the working face, and other causes, such as safety of men and property; high wage scale on hourly basis; concentrated working territory and rapid extraction from a given area; change in the percentage of sizes of coal produced and effect of this on average realization. There are also the coal-cleaning problem; increased capital investment, maintenance, obsolescence, and the relation of all these to the spread between realiza-tion and production cost. If coal seams were uniform, the answer would

Jan 1, 1939

By W. M. Weigel

The rapid advance, during recent years, in the manufacture of articles that have been in common use for generations and the development of new materials entering into appliances and devices unheard of fifty years ago have created a demand for some of the more common non-metallic minerals. To supply this demand there has quietly developed a branch of the mining industry of which little is known by most mining engineers —the mineral-filler industry. In this paper, and generally in the trade, the term mineral filler is applied to a mineral used in its natural state after mechanical preparation only (such as grinding, milling and washing), without undergoing any chemical change and without exerting any chemical action on the substance with which it is incorporated. The consumption of mineral fillers is confined chiefly to large manufacturing centers in the Eastern and Northern Statcs. Where available, materials originating near the place of consumption are used, as most fillers bring a comparatively low price and, frequently, the freight may equal the cost of the finished filler at the mine. The Southern States have abundant deposits of non-metallic minerals suitable for fillers, which supply the manufacturing industries in adjacent states. Many of these deposits are equal to, or superior, in quality to those mined in the North, but they can not compete with them because of the freight rates. The mineral-filler industry has felt the present depression, but it has suffered less than most mining industries, for as a rule the mills are simple, the overhead expenses are low, and the labor is entirely local and can revert to farm work when the plant closes down. Many other deposits in the southern district will undoubtedly be developed when business revives and freight rates are adjusted. Most of the non-metallic mines are small and the tonnage handled is low in comparison with the tonnage involved in modern large-scale mining of coal, iron, copper, etc. On the other hand, at nearly all non-metallic

Jan 1, 1923

By W. M. Weigel

The rapid advance, during recent years, in the manufacture of articles that have been in common use for generations and the development of new materials entering into appliances and devices unheard of fifty years ago have created a demand for some of the more common non-metallic minerals. To supply this demand there has quietly developed a branch of the mining industry of which little is known by most mining engineers —the mineral-filler industry. In this paper, and generally in the trade, the term mineral filler is applied to a mineral used in its natural state after mechanical preparation only (such as grinding, milling and washing), without undergoing any chemical change and without exerting any chemical action on the substance with which it is incorporated. The consumption of mineral fillers is confined chiefly to large manufacturing centers in the Eastern and Northern Statcs. Where available, materials originating near the place of consumption are used, as most fillers bring a comparatively low price and, frequently, the freight may equal the cost of the finished filler at the mine. The Southern States have abundant deposits of non-metallic minerals suitable for fillers, which supply the manufacturing industries in adjacent states. Many of these deposits are equal to, or superior, in quality to those mined in the North, but they can not compete with them because of the freight rates. The mineral-filler industry has felt the present depression, but it has suffered less than most mining industries, for as a rule the mills are simple, the overhead expenses are low, and the labor is entirely local and can revert to farm work when the plant closes down. Many other deposits in the southern district will undoubtedly be developed when business revives and freight rates are adjusted. Most of the non-metallic mines are small and the tonnage handled is low in comparison with the tonnage involved in modern large-scale mining of coal, iron, copper, etc. On the other hand, at nearly all non-metallic

Jan 1, 1923