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By T. Egleston

IF we may characterize the aim of metallurgists twenty years ago by any one point towards which their efforts were especially directed, we should say it was the idea of adapting '' waste products" to some useful purpose, while the energy of to-day seems rather to take the direction of so arranging processes as to have no "waste products." The iron-master of this decade no longer speaks of the waste gases

By Eugene B. Wilson

The development of coal-mines has kept pace with the facilities at command for ventilating and lighting. In fact, it was formerly • customary to leave unworked those mines, or portions of mines, in which naked lights could not be used without danger. Attention was then turned to the ventilation; but even with improved ventilation, the naked light was often unsafe. The new era in coal-mining dates, we may say, as far back as 1815, when Sir H. Davy and Mr. George Stephenson discovered the principle of the safety-lamp. Since then many improvements have been added to their lamps, but

Jan 1, 1885

By T. Prof. Egleston

IF we may characterize the aim of metallurgists twenty years ago by any one point towards which their efforts were especially directed, we should say it was the idea of adapting "waste products" to some useful purpose, while the energy of to-day seems rather to take the direction of so arranging processes as to have no " waste products." The iron-master of this decade no longer speaks of the waste gases

Jan 1, 1873

By R. W. Raymond

AT the Liége meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, in August, 1873, and also at the Vienna Convention of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, at the end of August, and at the convention of German geologists, at Wiesbaden, in the first part * Extract from the President's address.

Jan 1, 1874

CHARLES H. FULTON (author's reply to discussion*).-Mr. E. E. Thum is kind enough to point out an apparent discrepancy between the conclusions drawn from experiments and the results of those experiments. It is stated on page 1383 that carbon dioxide in excess of 1 per cent. is not found in the gases above the carbon reduction temperature (of zinc oxide). This statement refers to such temperatures as occur in ordinary zinc distillation and is not meant to include temperatures above 1350° C., and it should have been so stated in the original paper. When the temperature of the distilling chamber reached 1400° and above, it was noted that the amount of carbon dioxide in the gases increased. This cannot be explained by the equilibrium of the reaction 2CO?CO2 + C, and in seeking reasons for the discrepancy, the experiments of Meyer

Jan 1, 1919

By Yoshihiko Shimazaki, Hokuichiro Ohmachi

Mineral resources of Japan are remarkably characterized by the diverse variety of ores. Seventeen kinds of metallic ores are produced in Japan from approximately 175 mines, but the country is becoming increasingly dependent on imported ores, and 23 ores such as bauxite, nickel and platinum are not produced domestically. Self-sufficiency of non-metallic minerals is higher than metallic ores. Twenty three non-metallic minerals such as fire clay, pyrophyllite dolomite, and limestone are produced from about 1264 mines. About 22 minerals such as graphite, asbestos, fluorite, and phosphorites are not produced in the country. One of the major concerns of Japan is raise the self-sufficiency of raw materials. The result of the analysis of the mineral potential of Japan in relation to possible future domestic supply and is reported.

Jan 1, 1976

By S. C. Fall

The basic aims of the drilling and blasting program at the Mission mine are fourfold: 1. To provide 100,000+ tpd of broken alluvium and rock material for shovel excavation; 2. To obtain fragmentation that will permit the most efficient digging of the broken material and provide an acceptable crusher feed; 3. To conduct the drilling and blasting program in accordance with approved safety procedures; 4. To obtain these objectives at the lowest possible cost. The material that is mined from the pit is divided into four different rock types and the overlying alluvium. Each of these materials is broken by using procedures tailored to its individual characteristics.

Jan 9, 1965

By H. T. Van Ellis

(Butte Meeting, August, 1913.) THE following is a brief description of the cost accounts in effect at the. mines of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. The accompanying chart, Table I., shows the distribution of labor, materials, and redistributable accounts to the various operating and repair accounts. OPERATING. Development. Owing to the fact that every mine has its peculiarities in formation and methods, the question of arriving at what charges should be included under the head of " Development " is one that has occasioned considerable thought and comment, and in the cost sheet of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. this, account has been sub-divided to show the expenses of breaking ground, tramming, timbering, shaft sinking, up-raising, and cutting stations and skip chutes. It has always been the policy of the company to charge the entire cost of this work to operations monthly, whether the mines are producing or not, also the cost of the opening up of new mines; and only surface construction and additions are charged to capital, excepting original machinery installed for operating pumping plants. Explanations of the charges to the various sub-accounts follow: Breaking Ground-Work performed in driving cross-cuts from the station, or cross-cuts from the drifts, and diamond-drill work, for the purpose of discovering or developing ore bodies. Tramming.-Cost of tramming waste produced by cross-cuts mentioned above. When waste is hoisted to another level to be used for filling, the charge to this account stops at the station, and when hoisted to surface the charge includes tramming from the collar of the shaft to the dump. Timbering.-Cost of timbering the cross-cuts mentioned above includes the cost of handling and framing such timbers, but does not include the wages of station tenders and top carmen.

Jan 6, 1913

My bets are on you, every time! But who is right? In the "cobalt issue" of our favorite magazine, January 1951, you stated: "By far the best immediate United States prospect for, large amounts of cobalt is the Blackbird mine of the Calera Mining Co., which is operating for Howe Sound Co., in Leinhi County, Idaho." In the March 1 issue of Saturday Evening Post, Ernest F. Mechlin, Jr., chief cobalt section, National Production Authority, states: "The Bethlehem Steel Co.'s Cornwall, Pa. ore bed is the principal domestic source." Maybe he should have said: "was the principal domestic source", or perhaps Howe Sound's Idaho cobalt is still in the prospect stage in Mr. Mechlin's opinion, perhaps in yours too. KATHARINE W. CARMAN GEOLOGIST 933 MICHIGAN AVE. EVANSTON, ILLINOIS Mr. Mechlin is correct in his statement that Cornwall is the principal domestic source of cobalt, but within the year, Blackbird production should greatly exceed that from Cornwall. Calera is expected to ultimately produce 3 million lb per year, whereas Cornwall averages 520,000 lb per year. -Editor.

Jan 1, 1952

By P. E. Cavanagh

SINCE the 1930's' the production of iron ore in Canada has increased from zero to about 15 million tons per year. In the same short period of about 25 years, the steel industry has doubled in output, while the consumption of steel has also doubled. In the 1930's all Canadian steel was made from imported iron ore, whereas today, Canada is exporting considerably more iron ore than she imports. It appears certain that the production of iron ore in Canada will at least double in the near future, and should be over 45 million tons per year at the end of the next 25 years, in 1980. It also appears certain that most of this iron ore will be exported to the United States, with some proportion going to Europe. In this situation, it is logical and proper at the present time for Canadians to consider means of converting some of all of this Canadian iron ore into semi-finished or finished products in Canada.

Jan 6, 1958

By Stephen C. Blair

Laboratory permeability measurements at elevated pressure and at temperatures ranging from 20º to 150°C have been conducted on samples of Ironton-Galesville sandstone. The purpose of this testing was to identify and characterize important physicochemical processes occurring in association with the injection and withdrawal of heated ground water at the U.S. Department of Energy's Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) field site in St. Paul, Minnesota. Results indicate that permeability decreased significantly as temperature was increased and that dissolution of the dolomite and silicate cementing agents and accompanying changes in mechanical properties may occur in the heat storage aquifer at St. Paul. Further, loss of permeability with temperature in laboratory samples may be caused by the change in the mechanical structure of the sample. Tests at ambient temperature to evaluate the effect of particle migration under conditions of reversed flow indicate that this process will not significantly impair formation permeability at the St. Paul site.

Jan 1, 1984

By J. D. Vincent

During the history of man, the term concentration has had many meanings. Early in history, it may have been construed to mean sorting and smelting. Not many years ago, its definition included only the physical beneficiation processes. Today, and in this article, the term concentration is taking on the meaning of beneficiation and chemical processing, or either separately. An alternate definition could be: concentration is the process of recovering and upgrading an element or nonmetallic mineral so that the product can be used or refined for the needs of man. For the purpose of this article, concentration will have the same connotation as it does in the mineral industry, which has come to include processing methods such as leaching and chlorinization under this heading. Usually, smelting techniques and electrorefining are excluded and classified under the heading of refining. Using the broad definition of concentration, the areas of mining processing include not only the physical beneficiation processes and flotation but also hydrometallurgy and vapor-metallurgy. These methods include sorting, sizing, crushing and grinding, gravity concentrating, magnetic processing and flotation as well as hydrometallurgy and vapor- metallurgical processing.

Jan 1, 1971

By Sam Tour

OF the new alloys achieving commercial prominence during the year, an aluminum-silicon magnesium casting alloy, which is similar in many respects to the 4 per cent copper alloy, developed about 1921, which has attained such a wide field of service, may be mentioned. The new alloy, like the old, is a heat-treatable type and develops about the same physical properties. The alloy casts easily and is relatively insensitive to high pouring temperatures. Its ability to produce substantially leak- proof castings is noteworthy. A second casting alloy development is the new Aluminum Co. of America No. 132, "Lo-Ex" piston alloy, a result of nearly eight years of research. The alloy contains about 14 per cent silicon and varying amounts of nickel, copper, and magnesium. It exhibits a low coefficient of expansion and thus permits small piston clearances. Its lower specific gravity is a further advantage.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. Bentzen, S. S. Wong, W. K. Fletcher, B. J. Price, A. J. Sinclair

One hundred eleven pyrite samples from three porphyry-type deposits in the Canadian Cordillera were analyzed (many in duplicate) by AA spectrophotometry for Co, Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn and Mn. All elements have density distributions that are lognormal or combinations of lognormal populations. Co and Ni in pyrites show zonal patterns that relate generally to mineralogical zones in the porphyry systems, particularly if contoured as the Co/Ni ratio. High Cu and Mn values in pyrites also correlate with Cu-rich mineralogical zones. Other elements studied appear less regular in their distribution patterns, although Pb and Zn highs in pyrite seem to occur sporadically near the margins of porphyry systems. These data considered with two other studies permit construction of an empirical model for the distribution of certain minor elements of pyrites from porphyry systems of the calc-alkalic suite. In particular cases pyrite geochemistry shows potential as an exploration tool to aid in target definition for detailed exploration.

Jan 1, 1978

By P. BOURY

THIS account of a contrivance which has been found serviceable in practice may be of interest to engineers, and' especially to those engaged in hydraulic mining. In that process, one feature which seems at first sight to possess little significance, is highly important in its effects, namely, the regular supply of water to the " giants." The chief condition of this regularity is an even flow in the pipe-line from the penstock to the nozzle. This, of course, requires that the penstock be kept full. Any considerable surplus of water, overflowing at the penstock, is a simple waste, unless it be otherwise utilized in the sluices. At all events, it does not affect the delivery of the nozzles. But a deficiency at the penstock may admit air into the pipe; and this may produce hydraulic recoil, injuring the line by incessant vibrations, giving rise to leaks, and even to blow-outs, and (when a partial vacuum exists at the time of the fracture the collapse of the pipe. An accident of this sort in our main pipe-line, occasioned partly by a settling of the ground and partly by the presence of air in the pipe, led to the employment of the device here described. The line referred to is made of 30-in. pipe, successively reduced to 18 and 15 in. in diameter, for the supply of two giants. By reason of the causes above mentioned, the 30-in. pipe burst more than 1,400 ft. from the penstock, and, despite the air-valve, the 30-in. pipe was collapsed to such a degree that one length of it, next to the penstock, was squeezed together and positively swallowed by the main pipe, through which it traveled for 750 ft., piercing through a short elbow on the way. This remarkable result was undoubtedly the effect of the vacuum suddenly produced when the pipe burst.

Sep 1, 1906

By HAROLD A. KNIGHT

The Miami Copper Co., Arizona, is asking Congress to reimpose the import duty of two cents per pound on copper which, by law, has been suspended until June 30, 1950. C. Donald Dallas, chairman of Revere Copper and Brass, champion of a duty-free regime as regards the red metal, has been answering E. H. Westlake, Miami president, now that Mr. Westlake's statement to stock- holders has been salted away for posterity on wire recorders. Even prior to this action and at the instigation of two prominent consumers of pig lead, the House of Representatives has, in the confines of committee, not yet reported out, as of June 16, a bill to suspend the duty on lead for another year from expiration of the present law June 30, 1949. But apparently the bill was started too late. Thus the tariff issue becomes a Rip Van Winkle again after having slept for several years in the mountains of metals scarcity. During the wartime scarcity and the boom days that followed, most metal producers welcomed a considerable influx of foreign metal since it gave them a little surcease from constant teleibhone calls asking why that delivery of 300 tons of lead, 250 tons of zinc, and 1000 tons of copper had been delayed. These were the days when it was such an undisputed sellers' market that the sellers had even thrown away their certificates of ownership. Another development that brings home the tariff situation, small in it- self but perhaps indicating a trend, has been the announced closing of

Jan 1, 1949

By Charles Will Wright

THE HIGHLY SPECIALIZED heavy air transport services to mining regions, such as exist in the New Guinea gold fields and in northern Canada, have been even more essential in the development of mines in Peru. Few nations have been con- fronted with greater natural obstacles to transport than has Peru, and without the plane it would have been impossible to get the machinery and supplies for the construction of power plants and mills to many of these interior mines, situated as they are over high mountain ranges, with muleback the principal means of transportation. As the mines within a district become important producers and warrant the expenditure, the mule trail is being replaced by automobile roads to connect with the railway stations and with the airports.

Jan 1, 1940

R. V. Norris, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (communication to the Secretary*):—Mr. Stow's paper presents a series of arguments, numbered from 1 to 18, concerning the relative merits of four systems of colliery-ventilation, designated by the author as " plain pressure-ventilation," " plain exhaust-ventilation," " obstructed pressure-ventilation," and " obstructed exhaust-ventilation." These arguments are subsequently compared by means of tables, in which an arbitrary numerical value is assigned to each, and which consequently serve no other purpose than that of showing his opinions and predilections, as indicated by his assignment of the said numerical values. In addition to this general summary, Mr. Stow intimates his preference for a fifth method of colliery-ventilation—namely, what he calls " alternating pressure-ventilation," which consists in the running of the fan at "pressure " during working-hours, and as an " exhaust" between shifts—a system which he proposes as, perhaps, new, yet which he thinks deserves recognition " as a standard form." This proposed " standard form " is not to be found in practice ; and I think it would be impracticable in gaseous mines of large extent, for the following reasons: 1. It takes considerable time to reverse the air-current in a large mine; and the reversal would involve a period of complete stoppage of ventilation, long enough to permit serious accumulations of gas. 2. In shaft- and slope-mines, at least, it is hardly practicable to have " every man out of the mine" during the night, and certainly impracticable to avoid keeping mules and horses inside. 3. The doors necessary to divide and direct the air-current are properly hung to open against the air-pressure; and, unless

Jan 1, 1910

By D. A. Rice, R. L. Stone

Studies of the possible effect of plant water chemistry on the strength of unfired iron ore pellets apparently have not been reported in the literature. Naturally occurring soluble salts were removed from magnetic concentrate filter cakes obtained from several iron ore concentrators. Laboratory balling tests showed that unfired pellets made from these "clean" filter cakes were 50-100% stronger than the usual unfired pellets containing the salts. The fact that certain chemical additives dissolved in the water used for balling "clean" concentrates decreased the strength of unfired pellets indicates that salts in the plant process water may be responsible for lower strengths. According to chemical analyses of plant process waters at these plants, calcium and magnesium are probably the most detrimental salts in the plant circuits. It is suggested that calcium, magnesium, and other polyvalent cations in the mill process waters ion-exchange for lower-valence cations in the bentonite and thereby destroy the electrostatic-charge bonding in the green pellet. Some practical guidelines are also included for plant balling practices.

Jan 1, 1973

By WALDEMAR T. SCHALLER, EDWARD P. HENDERSON

THE material available for mineralogic study, consisted of drill cores, 2 to 3 in. thick, supplemented by small well cuttings. Such study has added no essential new information regarding the minerals, though the refractive indices, used for determinative purposes, have been determined more accurately than before, permitting the development of a scheme for the rapid identification of these minerals. The essential points brought out by the investigation are two: (1) that certain mineral associations evidently point the way to an understanding of the geologic history and (2) that a definite sequence of mineral formation has taken place so that the original minerals formed have been in part-reacted on producing new compounds and associations; Twenty minerals have been found. The most important are :

Jan 1, 1929