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By Roshan B. Bhappu

This is the Centennial year of AIME and many of us reading this issue of ' will be getting ready to attend the Centennial Celebration in New York from February 26 through March 4. The officers of the Division sincerely hope that a large number of our members will attend the fine technical sessions and social functions arranged for this really big meeting. The year 1971 will be a crucial one for MBD. This SME Division is a working group organized "to furnish a medium of cooperation among those interested in the basic unit processes and unit operations of minerals beneficiation; and to promote the advancement of this branch of mineral technology through meetings for professional intercourse, and to stimulate the preparation, reading discussion and circulation of papers connected therewith." No one can deny the worthiness of these objectives or minimize the efforts that Division officers and members have made to attain them. Much has been done over the past several years to achieve a smooth-running and effective MBD organization. However, there is still room for improvement and much more needs to be done in order to provide the best possible services for the membership and the profession.

Jan 1, 1971

Claims of 16 gold mining companies seeking damages from L-208 will be heard in Court of Claims starting Jan. 26. Earlier this year, judges ruled that 3 gold mining companies could sue for damages from the wartime order closing their mines. Congress later waived the statute of limitations thus permitting other gold miners to get in their claims. Despite power shortages third quarter production of aluminum exceeded that of the previous period by 2.2 pct. However, September production was 16 million lb less than in August. Hewitt-Robbins, Inc. dedicated a new $1 million addition to the company's Buffalo, N. Y. belt conveyor plant. New equipment, including a $220,000 press, will make belts up to 70 in, wide, compared with the former limit of 60 in. Charges of a tin cartel in Malaya are not backed up in the latest U. S. Government report according to the Malayan Tin Bureau. The U. S. mission reported that it "did not discover any evidence of curtailment of tin output by the mining and smelting industries." It noted that guerilla activity had halted exploration and expansion attempts by producers.

Jan 1, 1952

The new Ceramic Engineering Building of the University of Illinois is to be formally dedicated on Nov. 20 and 21. The occasion will be made one of great interest to the clay-workers of the country. It is expected that the exercises will be attended by many representatives of the architectural, structural, mining, geological, chemical, and manufacturing interests. In connection with the dedication exercises, an industrial conference will be -held, in which a number of topics of current interest to the ceramic engineer, the clay-worker and the manufacturer will be discussed by well-known experts. : The number of students registered in the College of Engineering of the University of Illinois eleven days after the beginning of registration - for the new year, is as follows: Architecture, 116; Architectural Engineering, 167; Ceramic Engineering, 46; Civil Engineering, 190; Electrical Engineering, 266; Mechanical Engineering, 273; Mining Engineering, 25; Municipal and Sanitary Engineering, 26; Railway Engineering, 34; total, 1,143. The enrollment of students in the whole University, not including the College of Medicine, the College of Dentistry and the School of Pharmacy, which are located in Chicago, is 5,21.4.

Jan 10, 1916

By G. C. Stone

AS the term "hardness" is used with many different meanings, it should be understood that it here means resistance to deformation by compression. It was determined by measuring the pressure, in pounds per square inch, necessary to reduce by 20 per cent., the length of cylinders 1 in. (25 mm.) in diameter by 2.6 in. (66 mm.) long. The tests were made at Columbia University on an Olsen 400,000-lb. machine, the load being applied at a constant rate of speed 0.0319 in. per min. The results were obtained by Messrs. Rigg and Williams, and some of them were given in a paper read at the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the American Society for Testing Materials, in June, 1913. The remainder of the results were obtained in subsequent experiments by the same authors. In all cases, the results given are the averages of three or more closely concordant tests. All of the spelters tested were of standard commercial grades and all were of compositions making them good deliveries. The accompanying table gives the results arranged in the order of increasing hardness:

Jan 1, 1919

Meeting of June 26, 1914.-The President was authorized to appoint Advisory Committees to co operate with the United States Bureau of Mines. The President announced the appointment of Edward H. Benjamin and W. C. Ralston as additional members of the Committee on Arrangements for the San Francisco meeting, 1915. H. T. Van Ells and Judd Stewart were appointed to represent the Institute on a joint committee of several technical societies to consider the standardization of graphical methods for the presentation of statistics. The President announced the appointment of H. Foster Bain to succeed Edward H. Benjamin, resigned, on the Committee of Management of the International Engineering Congress, 1915. The Secretary was authorized to issue a new circular advertising the sale of back Transactions and to sell back Transactions, bound in cloth, at a price of $35 for 46 volumes, provided sufficient orders were received to warrant the special binding. The sum of $177.50 was contributed to the San Francisco Local Section. Upon recommendation of the Committee on Membership, 70 Members, 4 Associate Members and 7 Junior Members were elected to their respective classes; there was also one change of status from Junior Member to Member.

Jan 8, 1914

Meeting of Mar. 26, 1915.-The following Committee on Nominations was appointed: Fred W. Bradley, Chairman; James F. Kemp, Past President; Frank M. Smith, Chairman Montana Section; R. C. Gemmell, Chairman Utah Section; Frank A. Ross, Chairman Columbia Section; Louis S. Cates, Arthur Thacher. The Committee on Precious and Base Metals and the Committee on . Coal and Coke were appointed, the personnel of which is shown in another part of this Bulletin. The President was authorized to appoint a Committee on Welfare with J. Parke Channing as Chairman. W. P. Cutter, Librarian of the United Engineering Societies' Library, was appointed a representative of the Institute on-the Committee oh Classification of Engineering Knowledge to co-operate with similar committees of other engineering societies. A vote of thanks was extended-to Edward B. Sturgis for his excellent work in arranging for the Annual Dinner. in February, of this year. The suns of $57.30 was appropriated to the New' York Section. It was resolved that in response to the courteous invitation from 36 members of the Institute in Arizona and the neighborhood, the 1916 summer meeting of the Institute be held in Arizona.

Jan 5, 1915

By A. C. Dorenfeld

In most mineral enterprises, what is the progress, and shift in responsibilities, as the young engineer advances in the corporation? You are all familiar with the normal pattern-in mine production from level boss, to shift boss, to superintendent to manager; in milling from test engineer, to shift boss, to foreman, to superintendent and then manager; in engineering from surveying on to Chief Engineer; and all then aspire to the corporation presidency. Note the shift-from purely technical jobs, say in the first five to ten years in the profession, to administrative positions for 30 to 40 years. What is the average preparation given to mineral engineering students, who can look forward to about 30 years of administrative work? From the catalogs of 21 institutions, offering 36 curricula of four years length, in mining and/or metallurgy, requiring the equivalent of about 150 to 160 semesterhours for graduation, the following results were obtained: Average number of semester hours of economics, 3 hr. Range of requirements, 0 to 8 hr. Thirteen curricula do not require any economics. Accounting and business law, average: 1 semester hr, 26 curricula do not require business law or accounting.

Jan 2, 1955

THE Lehigh Valley Section is planning with a num-ber of other organizations a three-day conference, April 25, 26 and 27, with field visits to cement, slate and steel plants in the vicinity of Easton, Pa. W. B. Plank is chairman and D. Knickerbocker Boyd is sec-retary. Headquarters will be at Hotel Easton. Wednesday' will be cement day. In the forenoon A. S. T. M. Committee D-16 will meet and after luncheon the delegates will visit the Martin Creek plants of the Alpha Portland Cement Co. An evening dinner and general session on cement is being arranged. Thursday morning will be devoted to a technical ses-sion on slate, and the breaking of ground for the new John Markel mining building at Lafayette College. After luncheon various slate quarries will be inspected, the visitors being guests of the companies. In the eve-ning there will be a conference dinner at Hotel Easton with a number of distinguished visitors. Friday will be given over to steel and will include a visit to Lehigh University, an inspection of the plant of the Bethlehem Steel Corp., and a luncheon as guests of the latter.

Jan 3, 1928

By Mario L. Villa

Argentina's oil production continues in its upward trend. The year 1940 closed with an important increase over 1939; that is, 1,996,371 bbl., or 10.72 per cent. The Government oil fields (Y.P.F.) are responsible for these results, as their total output was 12,474,655 bbl., which compared with the 10,222, 533 bbl. produced in 1939 represent an increase of 2,252,122 bbl., or 22.03 per cent. Fields operated by private companies yielded 8,134,882 bbl., against 8,390,633 bbl. in 1939, a decrease of 255,751 bbl. (3.04 per cent). To the total of 20,609,538 bbl. produced in 1940 in Argentina, the Comodoro Rivadavia field contributed 14,976,222 bbl.; Plaza Huincul, 1,275,814 bbl.; the Province of Salta, 1,845,1977 bbl. and the Province of Mendoza, 2,51I,475 bbl. Table 3 compares the output of companies working in Comodoro Rivadavia. The total increase of 186,819 bbl. (1.26 per cent) registered in the Comodoro Kivadavia area is due only to an intensification of development programs in the known

Jan 1, 1941

By Mario L. Villa

Argentina's oil production continues in its upward trend. The year 1940 closed with an important increase over 1939; that is, 1,996,371 bbl., or 10.72 per cent. The Government oil fields (Y.P.F.) are responsible for these results, as their total output was 12,474,655 bbl., which compared with the 10,222, 533 bbl. produced in 1939 represent an increase of 2,252,122 bbl., or 22.03 per cent. Fields operated by private companies yielded 8,134,882 bbl., against 8,390,633 bbl. in 1939, a decrease of 255,751 bbl. (3.04 per cent). To the total of 20,609,538 bbl. produced in 1940 in Argentina, the Comodoro Rivadavia field contributed 14,976,222 bbl.; Plaza Huincul, 1,275,814 bbl.; the Province of Salta, 1,845,1977 bbl. and the Province of Mendoza, 2,51I,475 bbl. Table 3 compares the output of companies working in Comodoro Rivadavia. The total increase of 186,819 bbl. (1.26 per cent) registered in the Comodoro Kivadavia area is due only to an intensification of development programs in the known

Jan 1, 1941

Accessions AMERICAN ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY, TRANSACTIONS, vol. 33. Bethlehem, Pa. 1918. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS, BULLETIN, vol. 2. 1918. (Gift of the Association.) AMERICAN YEAR BOOK: 1915. Edit by Francis G. Wickware, New York. 1919. (Gift of D. Appleton & Co.) ANNUAIRE DE LA HOUILLE BLANCHE FRANCAISE. ` By M. Auguste Pawlowski. 2d year. 1918-1919. Paris. (Gift.) BLACK DIAMOND, Vol. 60, Jan.-June, 1918; vol. 61, July-Dec., .1918. (Gift.) Chicago. CANADIAN MINING INSTITUTE, TRANSACTIONS, vol. 21. 1918. Montreal, Quebec. COMPTES-RENDUS DE L'ATHÉNÉE LOUISIANAIS, vol. 4, No. 3. (Gift of Wm. Beer.) EFFICIENCY OF NATURAL GAS AT Low PRESSURES. Abst. of testimony of Samuel S. Wyer before the Corporation Commission of Oklahoma, February 4, 1919. Printed by Empire Gas & Fuel Co., Kansas City, Mo. GEOLOGICAL. INSTITUTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UPSALA, BULLETIN. Edit. By Hj. Sjögren. vol. 14, 1917; vol. 15, 1916; vol. 13, pt. 2, 1916. (Gift.) HYDROGENATION OF OILS. Catalyzers and catalysis and the generation of hydrogen and oxygen. By Carleton Ellis. 2d edition. New York. 1919. (Purchase.) INSTITUTE OF METALS, JOURNAL, vol. 26. No. 2. Edited by G. Shaw Scott. London. 1918.

Jan 6, 1919

[Separates of all the Technical Publications published in 1.929 ,are available at Institute headquarters. All the papers are on file in public, university and technical libraries, and when so indicated in the list, maybe found in the TRANSACTIONS.] METAL MINING TECH¬ NICAL PUBLI- TITLE AUTHOR MEETING TRANS. CATION VOLUME No. AND PAGE 182-A-23 The Royal Commission on Mining Henry Louis New York Subsidence Feb., 1929 183-A-24 Cycles in Metal Production D. F. Hewett New York T29t, 65, 93 Feb., 1929 199-A-25 Ventilation ?at the United Verde Oscar A. Glacscr New York T29, 114, 141 Mine Feb., 1929 206-A-26 Air Conditioning in Deep Mines R. W. Waterfill New York T29, 99, 112, Feb., 1929 245-A-27 Bumps in No. 2 Mine, Springhill, Walter Herd New York Nova Scotia (with discussion) Feb., 1929 257-A-28 Misfires: Their Causes, Prevention ? New York and Treatment on Occurrence Feb., 1929 Misfires in Anthracite Coal T. D. Thomas Mines (With Discussion) Misfires in Bituminous Coal W H. Forbes Mines (With Discussion) Misfires in Non-metallic Mining A. W. Worthington (Limestone) (With Discussion)

Jan 1, 1929

By Robert R. Walden, LeMont West

K ENTUCKY'S first acid-grade fluorspar flotation Kmill, shown in Fig. 1, was placed in operation Aug. 1, 1952, by the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Co. at Mexico, Ky. During 1951 a critical shortage of acid-grade fluorspar developed and it became necessary for the company to produce part of its fluorspar requirements. In 1951 the company purchased the Crider and Lennen metallurgical fluorspar mill and an adjacent stockpile of tailing at Mexico, Ky. The tailing, assaying about 26 pct calcium fluoride, originated from log washer and jig mill concentrators in the area. As the mill did not have a fluorspar dryer or convenient rail facilities, the company leased the Burleson concentrator at Marion, Ky., where these facilities were available. At Marion, Ky., on the Illinois Central Railroad, dry acid-grade fluorspar is transported direct to the company's Calvert City, Ky., hydrofluoric acid plant. The Mexico flotation plant was reconditioned and designed to produce acid-grade fluorspar from the jig tailing stockpile. The new plant flowsheet is shown in Fig. 2. The ore feed, old tailing, which contains 10 pct of waste rock and coarse gravel assaying approximately 8 pct CaF,, is bound together by sticky clay

Jan 1, 1955

By R. W. Raymond

Edward Cooper was born in New York City, Oct. 26, 1824. His father, Peter Cooper, to say nothing of manifold reasoils for fame as an inventor and philanthropist, deserves to be remembered as a pioneer in the establishment .of public schools ; and it is not surprising that. he sent his son to one of the democratic institutions in which he was himself so ardently interested. From the public school Edward Cooper went to Columbia College, where he made the acquaintance of Abram S. Hewitt, who was first his tutor, afterwards his traveling companion, brother-in-law, business partner and life-long friend.' For twenty years I was the consulting engineer of the firm of Cooper & Hewitt, and also connected with the work of the Cooper Union, in which they were both deeply interested and faithfully active. On the basis of the intimate knowledge thus gained, I venture an estimate of Edward Cooper's character and career which, if not fully comprehensive, may facilitate a juster estimate than would be reached by the student of those data which the modesty of the man permitted to be placed upon public record.

Jan 1, 1907

By J. L. Huitt

Some of the problems associated with the acid treatment of oil wells are related to the control of the composition of formation treating acid. One test usually made at the well site is the determination of the acid concentration. Heretofore, the concentration of the acid delivered to the well site usually has been interpreted from a hydrometer measurement of the specific gravity of the acid solution. Experience has shown that this indirect measurement of acid concentration can give erroneous results. More reliable results are, of course, obtainable by the titration method; however, this method is not easily adapted to well-site testing. To overcome these objections, a device was developed for use in the field which permits determination of the concentration of treating acid both quickly and accurately at the time of the acid treatment. Its purpose was three-fold, namely, to determine: (1) the concentration of the fresh treating acid, (2) the concentration of the spent acid returning from the well, and (3) the solubility of formation samples in treating acid. The device was designed to operate on the principle of the stoichiometric relation between the calcium carbonate—hydrochloric acid reaction and the carbon dioxide gas resulting from the reaction. By confining the carbon dioxide gas within a reaction cell of the type shown in Fig. 1, the pressure inside the cell is increased. Since the pressure is an indication of the quantity of carbon dioxide gas produced, it may be used to estimate the concentration of the acid, provided an excess of calcium carbonate is used. From information on the volume of the reaction cell, the volume of acid used, and the pressure and temperature of the gas after the completion of the reaction, the concentration of the treating acid may be computed. The reaction cell is essentially a pressure vessel equipped with a pressure gage, temperature indicator. pressure release valve, and a special sample holder. Plastic and metal construction makes the cell both rugged and acid-resistant. The sample holder is so designed that a sample of calcium carbonate (or sample of carbonate rock) can be dropped into the acid

Jan 1, 1956

By D. E. Etter, J. E. Selle

The Pu-Ce phase diagram was determined by differential thermal analysis, metallography, and elechm-nricroprobe analysis. The dingram is chararterized by a eutectic with extensive solid solubility in the cubic Phases of both cerium and plutonium. No intermediate phases were found. Cerium is soluble in e plutonium to 16.0 at. pet Ce at 626OC nnd in d plcltoniurn to 23.0 at. pet at 613 "C, decreasing to 17.5 at. pet at room temperature. No solubility in the a, ß, or ? phases was jound, and the mininum cerium required to stabilize 5 plutonium to room temperature is 3.2 at. pet. The maximum solubility of plutonium in 6 cerium is 19.5 at. pet at 721OC, and the maximum soluhility of plutonium in ? cerium is 34.5 at. pet. Invariant points in the system are: a) eutectic at 626oC, L16.5 = E Pu16.0 + y Ce65.5; b) peritectoid at613oC, e Pu13.5 -y Ce65.5- d Pu23.0. AS part of a program aimed at the determination of the phase equilibria in the Pu-Ce-Cu ternary system, preliminary investigations were made of the three binary systems. A survey of the Pu-Ce binary system by differential therma1 analysis indi- cated several areas of disagreement with the published diagram,' primarily in the shape of the liquidus surface. Consequently, a thorough investigation of the system was undertaken, and this report presents the results of the study. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Three methods of investigation were used: differential thermal analysis (DTA), metallography, and analysis with electron-microprobe X-ray analyzer (EMX). The EMX analysis was particularly useful for the determination of solvus lines. The DTA method was most useful for the determination of the liquidus curves. Metallography complemented both of these techniques. Materials. The cerium metal used for most of this work had a freezing point of 805°C. This material showed 15°C premelting, and was found metallographically to contain some unidentified in~lusions.2 The temperature of premelting is defined as the point at which the DTA curve breaks away from the base line, analogous to a curve obtained from a solid-solution alloy. Several compositions were prepared near the cerium end of the diagram with higher-purity material which had a freezing point of 800°C. etallographic analysis showed this material to be relatively free of inclusions and only 8°C premelting was observed. Major impurities were found by spectrographic

Jan 1, 1964

By A. C. Milner

In a gold standard world which possesses insufficient metal to meet the every-day needs of all, confidence becomes the vital factor, the very foundation upon which the machinery for the expansion of gold into currency, and credit, rests. The gold supply, affected by many influences, moves constantly from one point to another, but not always to that point where it is most needed. In the period 1928-1930, the combined gold holdings of the United States and France increased $1,370,936,-000, and this with new gold adding only $600,000,000 to the monetary gold stock.Theref ore, the gold stocks of other countries must have been depleted during the period by $770,936,000. This uncontrolled shifting throws the delicately adjusted instrumentalities of both credit and commerce out of equilibrium. If a given nation's gold stock shifts so as to bring it substantially below the legal reserve ratio set up against it for currency issues, the effect can easily extend to the currency issues and banking credit volume of one or more nations which may have based their gold exchange standards upon the gold stock of such nation. Thus the substitution of paper based on gold in place of the actual gold is an inflation of the currency, which carries through into an uncontrolled pyramiding upon the entire machinery of credit based on gold. In 1929 Europe, South America, Africa and Asia had overissued currency based on gold. America, Oceanica and Japan, which have not overissued their gold currencies, would in normal times require their entire present gold stocks and, as Continental Asia is largely upon a silver credit basis, from a domestic standpoint, it would appear that the gold problem is not so much one of maldistribution, as it is one of inadequate supply. It would appear that some method of increasing greatly the velocity of gold, within the safe reserve point, should be devised, or that silver, of which estimates indicate that 7,000,000,000 oz. are available for

Jan 1, 1931

By AIME AIME

THE second session on geophysical prospecting at the February meeting of the Institute was a discussion of the mining law and the bearing of the new method of search on location of claims and assessment work thereon. Allen H. Rogers was chairman of the meeting, which he opened by reviewing the present law and the proposed changes. W. R. Ingalls commented (by letter) on the Arentz bill, as introduced into the House of Representatives in 1921 and the need for revision of the present mining law. L. W. Douglas explained (by letter) the bill that he introduced and which has been passed by the House. SAMUEL S. ARENTZ, Nevada: It is my opinion that if the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers is to sell this proposition to the people in the West, they have to sell it to the lawyers, because, after all, they are heard loudly when it comes to speaking in Congress. One man tells the other, "This thing is a vicious piece of legislation"; it might not be, but they will pass it on if it affects them. If the Institute would impress on the people affected that we need a re-codification of the mining law and that such is necessary along certain lines; that things have changed during the past decade or two, so today instead of doing our prospecting alone through the sinking of a shaft, through a discovery that may be seen, we are now moving on to more modern means of discovery through geophysics, through the churn-drill, through geology, through geological inference, I think we could get somewhere.

Jan 1, 1929

By Howard Martens, Pol Duwez

XPERIMENTS were performed on a Cr-Fc alloy Econtaining 44.7 pet Cr in order to determine the heat evolved during the transformation of the a solid solution into the s phase, and the change in volume accompanying the transformation. Since previous measurements on the rate of formation of a from s indicated that the reaction was quite fast as soon as the equilibrium temperature of 820°C was exceeded by some 50°, standard thermal analysis experiments were performed on heating specimens of s at the rate of approximately 40°C per sec. A definite thermal arrest was observed at 870"C, Fig. 1. This result indicates that the reverse seaction of into a is exothermic. From the heating curve of Fig. 1, taking 15°C per sec as the heating rate in the neighborhood of the transformation, 2.4 sec as the time for transformation, and assuming that the specific heat of the alloy at 850°C is an average between iron and chromium, namely 9.5 cal per mol per "C, the latent heat of transformation is approximately 342 cal per mol. The order of magnitude of this latent heat was also obtained by comparing the heating curve of Fig. 1 with a similar curve obtained with pure iron under identical experimental conditions. It was found that the length of the thermal arrest for s was about 1.8 times as long as that for iron. Since the latent heat of the a to 7 iron transformation is 203 cal per mol1, 2 the latent heat of it to a would be 365 cal per mol, which is in relatively good agreement with the value determined from the heating curve. For the determination of volume change, thermal expansion curves were recorded using a specimen containing 44.7 pet Cr and completely transformed to cr by previous treatment. The curves were recorded at a rate of heating of about 4°C per min and at approximately 840°C a sharr, increase in length of about 0.08 pet took place. Fig. 2. It is therefore established that the specific volume of a near the transformation temperature is about 0.24 pet smaller than that of a, and consequently, when the s phase forms in an a matrix, it would tend to shrink away from the matrix. Since the s phase is known to be extremely brittle, these results offer an explanation for the microscopic cracks often observed in the a phase under the microscope. The results of this study are in qualitative agreement with previously published data on stainless steel 19-9DLa and on a Cr-Fe alloy containing 45 pet Cr.' The increase in density due to the transformation from n to s given in ref. 4 is 0.90 pet. These measurements, however, were made at room temperature. whereas the presently reported 0.24 pet is the change at the temperature at which the transformation takes place during heating. In the graph of Fig. 2, the percentage change in length that would be observed at room temperature is given by the length X, which is about 0.27 pet. This would correspond to 0.81 pet in volume change. Acknowledgment This work was done at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under Contract No. DA-04-495-ORD-18 with the Army Ordnance Corps, Washington, D. C. The authors wish to thank this agency for permission to publish the results of this investigation. References I H. Klinkhardt: Measurements of True Specific Heats at High Temperatures. Annalen der Physik (1927) 84, pp. 167-200. - H. Esser and W. Runghardt: Influence of the Method, of Dctcrmination on the Measured Heat Content of Iron. Archtvo ffur Dct Eisenhiittenwesen 11934) 8, pp. 37-38. J. J. Gilman, P. K. Koh, and 0. Zmeskal. Delta Ferrite Formation and its influence on the Formation of Sigma in a Wrought Heat Resisting Steel. Trans. ASM 1 1949) 11, pp. 1371-1388. 1 J. M. Thomas: Discussion of ref. 3. Trans. ASM (1949) 41, pp. 3 390-1392.

Jan 1, 1957

By Blandford C. Burgess

Mica is an orchid among minerals. It is formed in pegmatites, one of the most bizarre of igneous formations, and is exceeded by few other minerals in the perfection it may attain as to size, color, and cleavage. First used for window glazing, as an ornament and article of trade, it has become one of the most essential insulators of electricity, heat, and shock. Most internal combustion engines use mica condensers or capacitors and such machines of war as planes, tanks, and submarines are immobile without it. The original manuscript of this guide was written in April 1943 at the peak of war emergency. It was not used be- cause shortly thereafter a decision was made to buy on a one price basis eliminating differentials for both quality and size. This is now presented with the thought that from the standpoint of preparedness we can only consider an- other war imminent and every effort should he made to set up in usable form the experience gained during the Second World War. Colonial Mica Corp. was set up by Metals Reserve Co. as a wholly owned government agency to encourage production of domestic mica and to purchase it. It soon became the exclusive buying agency for such mica. The writer as Southern Manager called on all the private agencies buying mica to assist in formulating buying policies, methods, and prices.

Jan 1, 1949