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By R. W. Raymond

THE question, what is the best proportion among weight, fall, and speed of stamps, is one which has not yet received thorough and systematic examination. In considering the economical application of stamping machinery, we meet, at the beginning, with serious difficulties in obtaining accurate data for comparison. The weight and fall of stamps vary as the shoes and dies wear out; and this may lead to a change of speed also. Moreover, defects in engines, boilers, or machinery for the transmission of power, may occasion serious losses, which cannot fairly be charged to the arrangements of the stamps proper. Again, the capacity of stamp-mills is directly dependent, in some degree, upon the nature and extent of discharge, fineness of screens, and other peculiarities of the battery. Finally, the hardness and tenacity of the rock crushed varies so much that comparisons between different localities cannot be implicitly trusted. The safest experiments are those made in the same mill, by changing first one and then another condition of working; but this is seldom possible for such conditions as weight and lift of stamps, and only within narrow limits for their speed. We may eliminate of friction, transmission, and generation of power, in the case of stamps, by measuring the power actually developed by their fall. Thus, the weight, multiplied into the fall in feet, and the number of drops per minute, gives us exactly the number of foot-pounds exerted by each stamp. Dividing by 33,000, the number of foot-pounds per minute in one-horse power, we have the horse-power per stamp, from which the effective power of the whole mill may be obtained. Dividing the amount of rock crushed daily by the effective horse-power, gives us the daily amount per horse-power ; and this is the best measure that can be obtained for the effectiveness of the stamps. A complete discussion of the subject would require us to determine the exact influence of the discharge, etc., and the exact resistance offered by different classes of rocks, for both of which points the data are wanting. Professor J. D. Hague, in the third volume of the United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, gives a valuable

The Institute is custodian of funds for support of numerous gold medals and prizes and has representatives on boards awarding still others. Details regarding the Institute Awards are given below. The Institute is represented on the boards of the John Fritz Medal, the Hoover Medal and the Washington Award, in connection with the three national societies of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical engineering; and, also, in the case of the Washington Award, with the Western Society of Engineers. The Institute is represented with these four societies on the committee in charge of the Alfred Noble Prize.

Jan 1, 1937

By W. M. Aubrey

Lying approximately 110 miles east of Toronto, Canada, the Marmora mine produces iron ore with a content of about 40 pct Fe, primarily in the form of magnetite. Operated by the Marmoraton Mining Co., a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Co., the orebody is mined by open pit methods. The ore from the pit is crushed, cobbed, ground to -100 mesh, magnetically concentrated to 67 pct iron, and then pelletized in shaft furnaces. The pellets are normally shipped by rail throughout the year from Marmora to Picton on Lake Ontario where they are unloaded and stored. Subsequently, during the navigation season, the pellets are shipped to Bethlehem Steel's Lackawanna plant in Buffalo, New York, for use in the blast furnace. At Marmora, the pellet plant demand and the concentrator output are not usually equal. To counter this problem, surge capacity in the form of storage pits in combination with a 30-ft diam thick¬ener has been provided between the concentrator and the pellet plant. Two sets of controls have been installed on this thickener, one controlling the…

Jan 9, 1960

By Newell G. Alford

At its meeting in the fall of 1937, the Executive Committee of the Coal Division considered the growing scarcity of young engineers entering coal mining with serious intentions. This scarcity was the cause of considerable alarm and a committee consisting of C. T. Hayden, E. A. Holbrook, C. E. Lawall and L. E. Young, with the writer as chairman, was appointed to gather factual data on the current trend. A questionnaire1 was designed and mailed to the heads of the 60 mineral technology schools listed by Prof. W. B. Plank in his article in September 1937.2 Replies were received from 46 institutions, not all from heads of coal-mining courses but all from men that at one time or another have had experience with some kind of coal-mining curricula and know current student impressions. Our committee is indebted to all of these gentlemen for their cooperation. Our committee hoped by this means to quickly reach the root of the trouble and make a set of comprehensive recommendations to the Coal Division for relieving the industry immediately from the growing dearth of youth who yearn for coal-mining careers, but the condition is more serious than at first diagnosed. We must now refer the question back to the Coal Division, with the recommendation that the Division get the industry's permission for still another major operation on its frame of mind. In addition to 10-year statistics on the first pay received by graduates in coal mining and other technical work, we requested enrollment data for 20 years from all schools with either mining engineering or mineral technology curricula. Nine leading questions were also plied, as shown in the Appendix. Every one of the answers was significant and interesting. Fortunately, we encountered positive frankness that was extremely helpful.

Jan 1, 1938

By Newell G. Alford

At its meeting in the fall of 1937, the Executive Committee of the Coal Division considered the growing scarcity of young engineers entering coal mining with serious intentions. This scarcity was the cause of considerable alarm and a committee consisting of C. T. Hayden, E. A. Holbrook, C. E. Lawall and L. E. Young, with the writer as chairman, was appointed to gather factual data on the current trend. A questionnaire1 was designed and mailed to the heads of the 60 mineral technology schools listed by Prof. W. B. Plank in his article in September 1937.2 Replies were received from 46 institutions, not all from heads of coal-mining courses but all from men that at one time or another have had experience with some kind of coal-mining curricula and know current student impressions. Our committee is indebted to all of these gentlemen for their cooperation. Our committee hoped by this means to quickly reach the root of the trouble and make a set of comprehensive recommendations to the Coal Division for relieving the industry immediately from the growing dearth of youth who yearn for coal-mining careers, but the condition is more serious than at first diagnosed. We must now refer the question back to the Coal Division, with the recommendation that the Division get the industry's permission for still another major operation on its frame of mind. In addition to 10-year statistics on the first pay received by graduates in coal mining and other technical work, we requested enrollment data for 20 years from all schools with either mining engineering or mineral technology curricula. Nine leading questions were also plied, as shown in the Appendix. Every one of the answers was significant and interesting. Fortunately, we encountered positive frankness that was extremely helpful.

Jan 1, 1938

By Milton C. Neul

As recently as the mid-1930's, steam and rail haulage were still the primary means of moving large quantities of rock. However, 2- to 5-ton standard on-highway trucks were beginning to be used in the mining industry's efforts to lower haulage costs. It was quickly obvious that rubber-tired equipment was more flexible, faster and more maneuverable. The trend towards haulage trucks had begun. Now while savings were being realized, the severe operating conditions encountered in open pit operations proved too much for the lightly constructed frames, gasoline engines and highly inflated tires. As a result, a few years later, the first 10 to 15-ton, two-axle heavy duty trucks were designed specifically to operate under off-highway conditions.

Jan 3, 1966

By George B. Clark

7.1-1. Introduction. The fundamentals of blasting involve both the properties of explosives and of the rock being blasted. While the knowledge of property correlation between rocks and explosives for most effective blasting is far more complete, many quantitative evaluations have been made. Four of the most important explosive properties appear to be energy density, bulk density, rate of energy release, and the pressure-time history of the gases produced. Important rock properties are density and porosity strength, and energy absorption properties, including the effective moduli of elasticity. Rock structure also has a marked effect on its breaking properties, i.e., joints, bedding, fractures, alteration, etc. Several mechanisms enter into rock fragmentation by blasting. These include slabbing, radial fracturing, crushing, and bursting by the gas bubble. All of these factors are closely related to properties of both explosives and rock. Slabbing depends upon the character of the first generated stress wave, whose shape and magnitude are a result of the pressure generated by the explosive, its time history, and the resultant response of the rock, including its ability to sustain the stress wave. Actual slabbing, in turn, is a function of the magnitude and shape of the pressure pulse and the tensile strength of rock. Further fragmentation depends to a great extent upon the amount of gas in the bubble and its energy and pressure. Blasting rounds are best designed by taking the above factors into consideration. This is effectively accomplished by use of cratering curves which relate breakage- parameters to the explosive energy. Optimum depths from single charge cratering curves must be adjusted to changes in shot geometry and related to multiple hole blasting. Blasting damage may occur from either air blast or ground waves, and in the latter ease may be due to direct vibration or to settlement caused by vibration. Technical information indicates that blasting damage is often

Jan 1, 1968

By A. A. Smith, J. S. Smart

NUMEROUS investigations of the effects of the various impurities common to commercial coppers have been published, and the data have found wide use in industry. Naturally, emphasis has been placed on the oxygen-bearing coppers of the tough-pitch variety, but need is now evident for data covering the oxygen-free condition as well. Furthermore, relatively few of the important reactions between oxygen and the various impurities are well understood, and often the data at hand are not applicable to the low concentrations encountered in commercial coppers. This paper presents the changes in conductivity and softening temperature derived from individual additions of the group VIII triad, iron, cobalt and nickel, to high-purity copper, and constitutes a portion of the copper-research program being conducted at the Central Research Laboratory of the American Smelting and Refining Co. The method of preparation of high-purity copper and its alloys in either the oxygen-free or oxygen-bearing form has been described previously.1 The purity of this material, and the methods developed to produce it, provide the means for direct investigation of the very low concentration range in which the various impurities generally exist in commercial coppers. The usual necessity for extrapolation to this range using the results obtained from higher concentrations, and the interfering effects of extraneous impurities, are thus simultaneously circumvented. Since previously published data have adequately presented the effects of higher concentrations of iron, cobalt and nickel, the present investigation has been confined to the composition range 0 to 0.05 per cent. All alloys were initially prepared in the form of oxygen-free continuous cast rod, the weighed alloying additions in suitable form being charged with the pure copper to the continuous casting crucible. The best of the available high-purity alloying materials were used, and spectrographic analyses confirmed the absence of interfering elements from the alloys formed. Each series was compounded in the direction of increasing concentration, starting with pure copper in a new crucible and finishing with the 0.05 per cent alloy. Composition was closely controlled by adding the alloying element in the form of a carefully compounded and analyzed master alloy rendered uniform by continuous casting. The accuracy of this method of synthesis was proved by chemical analysis of the more concentrated alloys, and, accordingly, there is every reason to credit the stated composition of the very dilute alloys in the range where chemical analysis becomes highly uncertain. Oxygen-free samples for measurements of conductivity and softening temperature were obtained by drawing the continuous cast rod to wire of 0.081-in. diameter, employing a number of intermediate anneals to refine the grain structure. The

Jan 1, 1942

By Andrew R. Swanson

An experimental study of the process parameters controlling the selective agglomeration of raw coal slurries is described. Particular attention has been paid to the influence of input variables on agglomerate size and process kinetics. These factors were considered to be of paramount importance as they determine the selection and sizing of the process equipment. The variables studied include oil addition, pulp density, agitation rate and particle size of the feed. The results have been qualitatively interpreted in terms of a classical reaction kinetic model.

Jan 1, 1977

By W. Hodge, A. F. Haskins, R. M. Evans

Refractory boron compounds are shown to resist corrosion by molten zinc. Coatings were made from ferroboron and manganese boron by several methods: welding, hard facing, and pack diffusion; and techniques of coatings are very important. Mechanical failure of the diffusion coatings can be partially eliminated by applying them to type 416 chromium steels rather than carbon steels. Welded coatings made with a tungsten arc are better than those made by other welding methods. Sintered compacts of mixtures of iron and chromium borides developed strengths of about 30,000 psi. They resisted corrosion of zinc at 600°C and oxidation at higher temperatures. MOLTEN zinc rapidly attacks common metals of construction. The rate of attack is greatly amplified at temperatures over 500°C. However, there are many applications where it is necessary, or at least advantageous, to use metal construction, such as for galvanizing pots and zinc smelter equipment. Condensers and agitator linings used in continuous zinc smelting processes are eroded and corroded by violently agitated molten zinc. Pumps, tubing, and other parts to permit transfer of molten zinc would be desirable in many zinc handling operations. The development of metallic materials which are resistant to molten zinc also might permit its use as a heat-transfer medium in modern high efficiency power plants. In reviewing previous work on zinc-resistant metals, it was evident that most of the available data refer to corrosion at temperatures just above the melting point. Tungsten and high Mo-Fe alloys containing more than 80 pct Mo resist corrosion by molten zinc.', ' Imhoff states that because chromium is not attacked by zinc, chromium plating improves galvanizing pot life." Nitrided cast iron has been used in die-casting machines' where the molten alloy is 96 pct Zn and 4 pct Al. Other metals that have been suggested as of possible value for zinc resistance are columbium, tantalum, and titanium.V he corrosion of steel by zinc has been discussed by many authors,z, "2 None of these materials resisted corrosion by molten zinc at the temperatures used in this investigation, i.e., 600" to 700°C. I. Exploratory and Resistant-Coating Tests To make a study of zinc-resistant metals, exploratory tests were conducted to sort out roughly those materials which seemed most worthy of further development. This preliminary study included both solid metals and surface coatings. Exploratory Corrosion Tests in Molten Zinc—In initiating a study of this problem, numerous samples of metals and alloys were evaluated by dynamic corrosion tests made at 440 °C. Each metal was tested in its most readily available form, which, because of shape and size, was often unsuited for standard corrosion testing. The equipment used for dynamic corrosion testing of all materials, except in a few initial experiments, is shown in Fig. 1. Samples were tied to tungsten rods with tungsten wire, immersed in the zinc, and revolved at 12 rpm about the circumference of a 4 in. diam circle. Speed of travel was about 12.5 fpm. The molten zinc was protected from oxidation by an atmosphere of carbon monoxide, or, at a later period in the program, by a 9:1 mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen. When the effect of both molten metal and atmosphere was desired, the zinc level was lowered. Special high grade zinc was used in all of the corrosion tests. Corrosion losses for materials tested are shown in Tables I and 11. Whenever the materials were available in suitable form, the losses are reported in mils per year. It was recognized that weight losses on irregularly shaped specimens did not show the corrosion rate but the important consideration—poor resistance to corrosion—could be determined readily.

Jan 1, 1956

By L. E. Garner

Aggregate resources should be considered primary factors in urban development. Resource planning is essential because land values, previous construction, or zoning restrictions often preempt exploitation of aggregate deposits within an urban area. Sequential land use practices allow development of area prior to urban development population and aggregate consumption trends in Austin, TX, indicate that substantial quantities of reserves will be lost to future development. Aggregate materials are present in nearby areas. However, a comparison of transportation and reclamation costs indicates that reclaiming land after mineral extraction can be significantly cheaper than transporting materials longer distances.

Jan 1, 1982

By R. V. Ramani, R. Stefanko, P. C. Thakur

The effects of diesel exhaust on mine ventilation systems are discussed. Mathematical models for emission of gaseous pollutants from diesel engines and their dispersion into mine air have been developed. Situations likely to prevail in mines were originally modeled using partial differential equations, but only simplified solutions are presented here. Validity of these models has been established by field observation of the growth of carbon monoxide concentrations in mine air environment. Consequently, these models can be used for air requirement calculations for diesel engines in underground mines.

Jan 1, 1977

By Paul Billingsley

THE term Boulder batholith was first applied in 1897 by W. H. Weed'2 to the extensive mass of granite in western Montana within whose borders occur the ore, deposits of Butte. In a general, way this was known to extend from Helena on the north to the Highland Mountains near Butte on the south, and to be relatively narrow in its east-west diameter. Its intrusive relations to the surrounding sedimentary , rocks, and its probable Tertiary age, were described by Weed, but in many ways his statements, based upon incomplete data, have required revision. Most notable of the errors of this description of the batholith were the failure,3 since corrected, to recognize the intrusive contact of the granite with the capping of andesite, and the complete absence of any reference to the many extensions of the granite beyond the somewhat narrow limits of its largest exposure.

Jan 1, 1915

Jan 1, 1951

INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS It is necessary now to digress from the direct study of appraisal techniques to consider an important tool for the mineral appraiser. Whenever a great deal of data have been accumulated, such as might be gained through the sampling process discussed in the preceding chapter, the application of statistical methods should be considered. Statistical methods are used for descriptive purposes and for the organization and summarization of quantitative or numerical data. Descriptive statistics covers the tabulation of data, its presentation in graphical or pictorial form, and the calculation of its several descriptive measures. It is not the intent of the brief summary of statistics that will be outlined hereafter to cover the total breadth and scope of mathematical statistics. It is the intent of this and the following chapters to review a few of the statistical concepts that have the most direct bearing upon the problems involved in mineral evaluation. Should the reader desire to go more fully into statistical theory and mathematics, numerous texts and publications are available.

Jan 1, 1980

Jan 1, 1959

By R. A. Davidson, L. Silverman

RESIDENTS of many urban centers are becoming increasingly aware of the obscuring effect of fume and smoke discharge from power, metallurgical, chemical, and other industries; and they, as well as the legislatures of these affected cities, are agitating for cleaner air. Management's most pressing problem is to find an economical way to reduce process effluents in response to the growing pressure from population and legislative demands. The removal must be done, if possible, without handicap to the current operation, since the costs of relocating are often excessive or prohibitive. In fume recovery or disposal, an important item to consider is whether or not the material being discharged has any value. If it has commercial value, the cost of its recovery may offset or aid amortization. For this reason, in making a study of the specific problem in hand, a major factor was the nature of the material emanating from the stack: in particular, its particle size, size range, and its chemical and physical composition, as well as its potential value and utility when recovered (in either a wet or dry state). Should the product have no commercial value, it must be disposed of at minimum cost in a way to prevent recontamination. Initial studies were therefore made to determine stack concentrations and volumes of material evolved from the operations. The next phase of the study concerned the physical and chemical nature of the collected fume. The third portion of this paper describes the wet and dry collector studies undertaken to recover the fume. Cleaning Requirements for Ferroalloy Furnace Operation The basic need for any effluent collection equipment is the highest possible efficiency and the lowest tolerable resistance when the power consumption involved is considered. Since the electric furnace effluent is largely composed of fume of small size (less than 0.5u), it has high light obscuring properties, and even low concentrations will cause some loss of visibility and be evident to nearby residents. The permissible limit for fly ash emission in many cities is based on a weight value (viz, approximately 0.4 grains per cu ft), but the smoke density values are dependent upon a shade of color. In the case of the Los Angeles County code, emission is restricted to pounds per pound of material processed per hour basis (but not exceeding 40 lb per hr for any one given plant operation). If an average particle size of the fume from ferro-silicon alloy electric furnaces is assumed to be 0.4u (as shown later, this is the approximate mean size) and an average loading of 1 grain per cu ft (stp), each cubic foot of stack gas will contain approximately 75x10 10 particles (based on assumed, and confirmed, spherical shape and a standard deviation of unity). When it is realized that the air in metropolitan areas, which are also general industrial areas, contains approximately 5x108 particles, the tremendous light scattering effect of this concentration becomes apparent. Consequently, nearly 100 pct collection would be necessary to equal the average concentration. Fortunately, however, discharge from a high point above ground (50 to 100 ft) will result in at least a thousandfold dilution, or the stack concentration reaching the ground in the foregoing case might result in a ground concentration of ' particles. If the concentration at the source could be reduced by a factor of 100 (99 pct efficiency of collection), then a concentration of 75x10" particles would be diluted to 7.5x10' which would be very satisfactory. An efficiency of 90 pct (factor of 10 decontamination) at the source would result in a discharge of 75x109 articles which upon dilution yields 75x10 which is still 15 times the general air value. Another approach to this consideration is to use the value of concentration of 0.005 grains per cu ft for the value of a visible effluent as cited by Kayse.1 To attain this value with an average loading of 1 grain per cu ft would require an efficiency of 99.5 pct. Since the foregoing value is not based on any reported size of fume particles, it is felt that the numbers' approach given previously is more reliable. These calculations serve to indicate the desirability of thorough cleaning, preferably at the source, and with efficiencies well above 90 pct, preferably above 95 pct (dilution 1:20). One of the most important items in any control program is to reduce the concentrations as close to their sources as possible. The use of better furnace design, deeper coverage over the electrodes, and the prevention of blows or breaks in the surface all help to reduce dissemination; consequently, all of these improvements should be made, if possible, to cut down the effluent load. In addition, in order to minimize the volume of contaminated air that has to be cleaned, the furnace should be enclosed as much as possible. Test Arrangements Before fundamental studies with collectors were made, a furnace stack selected for the test program was sampled to determine the gas temperatures and

Jan 1, 1956

By L. L. Newman

PUBLIC UTILITY GAS PRODUCTION IN 1802, William Murdock first used retort coal gas to light his house and the Boulton and Watt plant where he was employed. For the next three quarters of a century coal served as the principal raw material for the manufacture of city gas for general distribution. Coal continued to hold its predominant position for another half century after Prof. Thaddeus C. Lowe developed the first practical method of enriching water gas with cracked-oil vapors in an integrated operation. This position, however, was no longer maintained through the medium of direct carbonization of coal in retorts but as a result of using anthracite or coke as the generator fuel in carburretted water-gas machines. The early water-gas machines were extremely crude and the consumption of both oil and generator fuel was very high. However, the cost of installation was considerably lower than for any coal-gas system having the equivalent gas-making capacity, the labor involved was small, and the water-gas machine could be started up and shut down quickly. It thus proved very useful as standby equipment and in taking peak loads from the coal-gas plants. The flexibility of the water-gas machine, furthermore, made it possible to change the candlepower of the gas readily to suit the required conditions. Later, when calorific value replaced candlepower as the standard of gas quality, the water-gas machine was found to be equally flexible in keeping the city gas under complete and convenient control. No basic improvements were made in the Lowe carburetted water-gas process until 1898, when means were added to provide for regular reversals of the flow of steam through the fuel bed. By judicious proportioning of the quantities of up-run and down-run steam, it became possible for the operator to control the hardness and position of the clinker to a degree that previously had been unattainable. Also in 1898, the first by-product coke plant in America to supply city gas was built at Everett, Massachusetts. Later many other by-product plants, of greatly improved design and capacity, were built, but not primarily for city-gas production, chiefly because of the relatively high investment cost per unit of gas made. Cheaper plant construction has been the subject of serious study, and some progress is expected, but other factors, such as plant life,

Jan 1, 1953

By Peter J. Huck, Madan M. Singh

IIT Research Institute has investigated the potential of high pressure water jets for rapid rock excavation. During this study, an attempt was made to correlate the extent of breakage effected to the mechanical properties of rocks. Six rock types were used in these experiments and nine properties were determined for each rock variety. A regression equation using the two most significant rock properties and one jet parameter (pressure) was established. Although tests were conducted to specific pressures of 35, no minimum in the specific energy consumption was noted.

Jan 1, 1971

By Sam Tour

SOME years ago, the writer described heat checks or thermal cracks that occur in die-casting dies.1 The life of dies was considered in relation to the casting temperature, the material used for the die, and the heat to be absorbed by the die per unit volume of casting made. The mech-anism of the action that results in thermal failure of dies was described. In the present paper the writer proposes to describe some additional observations in regard to heat checking, make one or two suggestions as to the method or methods for further attack of the problem, and give the results obtained on some work carried out along these lines.

Jan 1, 1934