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By George Rice

THE A.I.M.E. Ground Movement and Subsidence Committee, pro-posed in 1920, held its first technical meeting in February 1923, under the able chairmanship of Mr. H. G. Moulton. The following list of papers and discussions, indicating the scope of the problems and relation to various conditions and method of mining, were given at that meeting by the distinguished mining engineers: J. Parke Channing, on Subsidence at Miami, Arizona; Howard N. Eavenson, on Mining an Upper Bitu-minous Seam after a Lower Seam Has Been Extracted; J. J. Rutledge, on Subsidence in Two Oklahoma Coal Mines; Benjamin F. Tillson, on Caving Cracks at the Franklin Mine, New Jersey; Dr. F. W. McNair, on the Dome Theory; William Kelly, on disadvantageous effects in Mining and Back-filling Working Upward a Steep-Pitching Iron-ore Bed; Eli T. Conner, on the good results of Back-Filling by Hydraulic Means in Preventing Destructive Subsidence in the Anthracite District; Thomas H. Claggett, on the merit of Systematic Pillar Drawing in Preventing Cracks in an Upper Seam; Henry H. Otto, successful results in the anthracite district in Mining Lower Seams before Upper Seams; Douglas Bunting, on Leading Factors Incident to Successful Mining of an Overlying Seam; Edwin Ludlow, on there being "less damage to buildings when there was complete removal of coal with complete packing than when room and pillar is used without extracting the pillars"; Edward O'Toole on "bumps" in eastern Kentucky mines, which he thought were the result of geologic stresses: H. A. Buehler, on Upheaval of Surface in an Illinois Case in Advance of the Face; and R. Dawson Hall, on The Mechanics of Subsidence from Mining. The author of this paper discussed various Winds of problems of ground movement and subsidence in both metal mining and coal mining; the production of great landslides by workings near an outcrop, as at Turtle Mountain, Alberta, Canada; and general

Jan 1, 1939

By Basil B. Zavoico

During 1938 the Russian oil industry, while able to increase its production 4.69 per cent above the preceding year, was not successful in correcting some of its basic difficulties, and the industry's position as it entered 1939 was unsatisfactory. The internal political difficulties of 1937 and 1938 took a toll in the oil industry as they did elsewhere in the U. S. S. R., further complicating the solution of the problems facing it, most important of which still remain: lack of experienced and responsible leadership, able to make quick decisions; undisciplined and migratory labor; and insufficient and often unsatisfactory quality of the various equipment needed by the industry and its ineffective distribution. Recent developments in the U. S. S. R. suggest that during 1939 the management will be granted more latitude and hence somewhat better results may be anticipated from the executive branch, provided, however, the "purges" do not recur. The labor should be better disciplined and should not shift as easily, owing to the introduction, at the close of 1938, of individual labor passports to all workers in the country, the principal purpose of which is to correct those two deficiencies. It is not anticipated, however, that the service of supply will show any appreciable improvement in 1939, partly because of inherent difficulties and partly because the manufacturers of heavy machinery are working primarily and necessarily for munitions. Production Production of crude oil during 1938 is estimated at 224,714,000 bbl., as compared with 212,742,000 bbl. in 1937, an increase of 4.69 per cent but 12.76 per cent below the planned output. While there were no major readjustments in the source of supply of crude oil, both the older districts, Baku and Grozny, were barely able to maintain their 1937 levels of production, the increased output being supplied primarily by the fields of Maikop and Ural Permian Basin districts. While exploration work was outstandingly successful in 1937, in 1938 no discoveries of any

Jan 1, 1939

At the present time this plant is treating by direct cyanidation 1,000 tons of ore from Open Cut mining and dumps, and 1,200 tons of current flotation tailing obtained from the Sulphide Mill, per day.The following table shows the average analysis of the two feed products (see Table 1):Precipitation Process.-The pregnant solution obtained by the cyanidation of the above has the following general analysis:-Gold 0·600 dwt. per tonTotal Cyanide 0·050 %Free Cyanide 0·045 %Calcium Oxide 0·015 %KCNS 0·060 %Na2S20S 0·140 %CaS04 0·200 %Cu 0·050 %Zn 0·004 0/0K4Fe (CN) 6 NilThis solution, after standard clarification, is precipitated by means of zinc dust and a soluble lead salt.

Jan 1, 1939

By L. A. Norman

ANOTHER chapter in the history of Mother Lode mining is being written by operations in the Old Eureka mine near Sutter Creek, Amador County, California. During a two-year period (1938-1939), 85,517 tons of ore averaging 0.62 oz. gold per ton were mined and milled, as compared to the production of approximately 210,000 tons of 0.315-oz. gold ore during the preceding seven years. This is a repetition of mining history in the Mother Lode, where a period of prosperity has followed a long period of lean production. The location of this new ore in the hitherto unproductive hanging-wall greenstones and its mining and geological developments are most interesting. HISTORY OF THE OLD EUREKA MINE The Old Eureka mine, also known as the Hayward, Eureka, Hetty Green and Amador Consolidated, is in the most productive 10-mile length of the 120-mile long Mother Lode of California. The mine was first opened in 1852 with operations more or less continuous for the next 30 years. Production during this period amounted to $12,000,000 from an ore shoot 500 ft. long, which bottomed 1700 ft. below the surface. The shaft was continued as a prospect to 2065 ft. on the incline, where work was stopped in 1881. The mine was sold in 1916 by Hetty Green and the shaft deepened to the 3500-ft. level (3212 ft. vertically) by the new owners. Drifts were run on the 1700, 2100, 3000 and 3500-ft. levels, together with approximately 1500 ft. of crosscuts. No ore was found and work was abandoned in 1921. The present owners, the Central Eureka Mining Co., purchased the mine in 1924 after threatened litigation over rights to the rich ore shoot being mined from the lower levels of the Central Eureka mine on the south. Rehabilitation of the shaft commenced in 1926 and in 1930 mining on the old 2100-ft. level was started. While efforts of the previous owners had been directed for the most part toward the area south of the Old Eureka shaft and adjacent to the productive Central Eureka mine, the present owners started drifting northward on the old 2100-ft. level. On the 2000-ft., 2100 and 2300-ft. levels, drifts were run in part along the

Jan 1, 1939

This modern plant was installed with the object of treating all oxide ore and payable dump material by the cyanide process.The plant is located on a ridge on the eastern side of Linda Gully. The mill -site has a slope to the south of 1 in 4.The new plant is of steel and concrete construction and was specially designed to suit the climatic conditions which exist at Mount Morgan.THE COARSE CRUSHING PLANTThe ore received from the, mine is dumped into a 600-ton steel bin which is commanded by a 3 ft. 6 in. gauge railway,The mine ore is conveyed by steam locomotives in rakes of five self-dumping 7-ton railroad cars. The dump material is mostly loaded by bull-dozers and conveyed to the binsin large motor lorries. Located on the top of the bin is a heavy railroad grizzly having 12-in openings through which all ore must pass.The flow of ore from this steel bin is controlled by a No. 7D 3-speed Ross chain feeder. It should be mentioned here that, although the bottom of the steel bin is inclined at an angle of 45°, it has been found, owing to the clayey nature of the oxide ore, that the live capacity of the bin is only about 50% of the total capacity.

Jan 1, 1939

By Ian William Wark, Alwyn Birchmore Cox

In defending the chemical theory of flotation, Taggart, del Giudice and Ziehl have criticized1 the views of those who prefer to attribute the effects of certain flotation agents to adsorption. Perhaps with some justification, they describe the latter term as the "haven of refuge of writers lost in a morass of shaky experiment and muddy thinking." We prefer to regard it, however, as a haven of refuge for writers who seek a conventional term to describe the formation of films of flotation reagents on solid surfaces, because in many cases it is not yet possible to specify the forces that hold them there. Originally, as Taggart and his associates state, adsorption connoted a concentration difference and nothing more. In recent years, workers in the field of surface chemistry have tacitly added other meanings, and they now speak of orientated adsorption of unimolecular films on a solid sub-strate, of chemi-adsorption, and of exchange adsorption. Thus the term adsorption may connote simply the Gibbs layer of excess concentration at the surface of a solution, or a unimolecular film at the surface of a solid. Perhaps this has led to the misunderstanding of Taggart, del Giudice and Ziehl concerning the relationship between surface tension and adsorption at solid surfaces. The change in "surface tension" accompanying adsorption at a liquid surface can be used as a measure of the adsorption, and the Gibbs equation as quoted by these authors correlates these two conceptions. But, to correlate two conceptions docs not necessarily imply an attempt to explain either, although sometimes such an "explanation" is carelessly inferred. Use of "surface energy per unit area" instead of the numerically equal but more difficult and less definite conception of "surface tension per unit length " would lessen many of the present difficulties. (Compare with Adam.2) At interfaces involving a solid phase, neither '" surface tension " nor " interfacial tension "can have any meaning, but the conception "interfacial energy per unit area" call be understood by anyone who is familiar with the concept of free energy. While it is true that surface energy cannot be directly measured at a solid surface,

Jan 1, 1939

By Albert L. Toenges

A phase in strip mining of bituminous coal is the overturning of the surface of the land. The purpose of this report is to acquaint the operators and others interested in stripping with the work that has been done in certain States to reclaim the surface of land from which the coal has been removed by this method of raining. The preparation of this manuscript follows an extensive study of the subject in the field in the course of which a large number of strip mines were visited. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The information used in the report was obtained through the courtesy and cooperation of the operators of the mines visited, State officials and educational institutions, and others interested in the subject.

Jan 1, 1939

By L. L. Wyman

The exact nature of the changes that take place in the iron-nickel alloys, giving rise to the interesting and useful expansion alloys in the Invar range, has yet to be fully understood. Similarly, the ternary iron-nickel-cobalt alloys, which also possess such commercially useful expansion characteristics,1,2 are concerned with transformations that appear to be identical with those found in the parent iron-nickel alloys. The investigations on iron-nickel alloys in the range 26 to 29 per cent Ni have been reported by several authors3-9 wherein it is shown that there are factors other than temperature, such as stress and grain size, which play an important part in determining the temperature at which the low-temperature transformation takes place. It will be shown in this paper that the ternary iron-nickcl-cobalt alloys having nickel contents comparable to the alloys mentioned above behave in a parallel manner. The alloys in the range of 26 to 31 per cent Ni and 16 to 21 per cent Co have a coefficient of expansion of about 4.0 X 10-6 per degree Centigrade, and the alloys in this range of composition find considerable application in making glass-to-metal seals, because these expansion properties so well match commercial glasses. The behavior of these alloys is not a simple matter, for it has been observed in alloys of 28.5 per cent Ni and 18.5 Co that severe working ran cause the appearance of a second phase having a needlelike structure similar to the martensite structure in carhon steels. Fig. 1 shows the change brought about in an alloy of this composition when a strip of this material was cut with tin shears. This second phase has been identified as the body-centered cubic alpha phase, and it is the purpose of this paper to describe the results of some of the preliminary investigations in the study of the changes involved in these alloys. Materials The past work on these alloys has concerned itself primarily with materials made by the usual casting procedure and involving the use

Jan 1, 1939

By A. U. Seybolt

A FEW copper-zinc-base alloys meet die-casting requirements reason- ably well, although improvements are desired. Aluminum bronzes, high-tinbronzes and some copper-nickel-zinc alloys can be die-cast, accordingto Herb,1 but seldom are because of such factors as higher melting ranges and greater cost than certain of the brasses. Fox2 has summarized the copper-base die-casting alloys that were in commercial use in 1937 and has given the effects of different alloying constituents. Table 1 gives some of the properties of these alloys as reported by Fox. TABLE 1. Commercial Die-casting Brasses a Constituent Yellow Brass Low-silicon High-siliconb Brass Brass Nickel Silver Composition, Per Cent Cu 57-59 63-65 80 -81.5 42.0 Zn 40-42 33-35 13.5-16.0 41.0 Sn 0.5-1.5 Si 0.75-1.25 3.75-4.25 Pb 1.0 Ni 16.0 Properties Tensile, lb. per sq. in.. 55,000-60,000 65,000-70,000 85,000-95,000 85,000-95,000 Yield, lb. per sq. in.d.. 30,000-35,000 35,000-40,000 65,000-70,000 65,000-72,000 Elong., per cent in 2 in . 15-20 20-30 8-12 10-20 Brinell hardness 120-130 120-130 160-180 160 Specific gravity 8.47 8.50 8.15 8.45 Properties reported by Fox.2 b Trade name of Brastil, Doehler Die Casting Co., similar to Webert Alloy, 3,4 American Brass Co., and Tombasil Alloy,5 Ajax Metal Co. c Trade name Tinicosil, Titan Metal Manufacturing Co. Melting point (liquidus) of the yellow brass is given by Herb' as 1650° F., of the high-silicon Brastil (with 4.5 to 5 per cent Si) as 1600° F., and of the nickel silver as 1675° F. d Criterion not stated.

Jan 1, 1939

By B. W. Gandrud

This is the third report published by the Bureau of Mines concerning the washability of Black Creek coal. Both of the former reports.5/6/ dealt with the Black Creek coal at the Bradford mine, Dixiana, Ala., near the northeastern extremity of the Warrior field, whereas the present report is based on float-and-sink tests of coal from what is presumably the Black Creek bed near the southern extremity of the field. Although the Yolande Coal & Coke Co., owners of the property at Yolande No. 6 slope, consider this opening to be on the Black Creek bed, the authors do not feel that there is as yet positive proof that this correlation is correct. There has been little or no development of the Black Creek bed in the Yolande Basin in the past, and a positive identification of the bed at Yolande No. 6 will have to await further exploration and development. The Yolande No. 6 is an exploration slope 3/4 mile north of Rockcastle, Ala. The slope is approximately 400 feet from top to bottom on a dip of 180. As far as the authors can ascertain, coal has never been produced commercially from the Black Creek bed in the southwestern part of the Warrior field. Exploration work in the past has indicated that the Black Creek coal in this area is extremely friable and high in sulfur. Extreme friability would naturally discourage its use as a domestic and railroad fuel, and high sulfur content would be a disasvantage in its use for coking coal. The present study of this coal has been made with particular reference to sulfur elimination on the assumption that it would make a good coking coal provided enough of the sulfur could be eliminated by washing.

Jan 1, 1939

By D. Beregekoff, W. D. Forgeng

In the routine examinatlion of a wide variety of metal specimens it is sometimes necessary to have special methods of polishing in order to retain and reveal certain details in each specimen. Among such special cases is the retention of graphite in malleable and gray cast irons, the preservation of all types of non metallic inclusions in both hard and soft steels, obtaining a scratch-frec surface with soft metals, and avoiding the usual relief effects with very hard specimen. such as tool metals c3o1ltaining various carbide and nitride phases. It, is the purpose of this paper to give an account of some of these special polishing methods in use at the Union Carbide and Carbon Research Laboratories. The polishing procedures outlined have been found to give uniform results. It is obvious that only general rules and the most important working details can be given here. Following these rules, the polisher can obtain satisfactory results if he possesses the necessary patience and has a sincere desire to give as nearly perfect a finish as possible to his work. Procedure The specimen is flattened with considerablecare on a file or sharp cutting sanding belt, since the initial production of a flat surfacc greatly facilitatcs subscqucnt polishing. The polishing motors have two speed., 600 and 1200 r.p.111. ,It higher speeds specimens arc likely to he over-Ileated, therefore the high speed is used only when a saving of time is important. The following abrasive papers are used consecutively: Yo. 2, So. 1, No. 0, No. 00 and No. 000. The final wet polishing is done oil a cloth-covercd metal disk. Woolen broadcloth of the best quality and capable of resisting severe pressure is most commonly used on the last lap. . polishing felt of the type used for polishing optical glass has been found equally satisfactory and is much stronger than broadcloth. For retaining inclusions and graphite, a hard cloth with very little residence, such as

Jan 1, 1939

By John A. Johnson

For the purpose of comparing the amounts of dust produced by various mining operations, samples of atmospheric dust were collected during a complete cycle of drilling, blasting and mucking at or near the face of the Bureau's Mount Weather testing adit while the efficiency of several types of stemming in metal-mine blasting was being investigated. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS All gas samples were analyzed in the laboratory of the Bureau of Mines Gas Section at Pittsburgh, Pa.

Jan 1, 1939

By Walter Crafts

Structural steels containing chromium have become widely used in the last 20 years. In the earlier part of this period the major applications were in chromium-molybdenum aircraft tubing and similar special high-strength steels. During the past 10 years there has been a notable expansion in the use of chromium-bearing steel for structural purposes when welding was utilized for fabrication. The chromium-bearing steels introduced by Saklatwallal (chromium-copper), Kinzel2 (chromium-manganese-silicon), and Schultz3 (chromium-copper) are being extensively used at the present time. General Effects of Chromium Chromium is so widely known for its carbide-forming tendency that its capacity to stabilize oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus is often overlooked. In low-carbon steels of the structural type these so-called secondary characteristics become more prominent. For this reason also, chromium in structural steel is definitely a toughening agent. As the carbon content is increased, the more widely known hardening effect becomes more evident. In low-carbon steels chromium increases the notched-bar impact strength substantially. This property persists at subzero temperatures and is utilized for low-temperature service in chromium-copper steel.4 Chromium also reduces any tendency to strain-aging embrittlement. In addition to improving the toughness of steels with the usual impurities, chromium has the specific property of counteracting the brittleness induced by high phosphorus.5,6 In steels low in carbon and alloys, chromium has an almost negligible effect on tensile strength, and a hardening influence is noticeable only in the stronger steels. The ductility of welds adjacent to the base plate is also improved by chromium, both in the range of foolproof welding steels having strengths of less than 80,000 lb. per sq. in. as well as in the higher strength steels.

Jan 1, 1939

By Keith Sutherland

AEROFLOAT 25 is a complex mixture of free cresylic acid with aryl substituted dithiophosphoric acids, sulphides, disulphides, etc. Its complete composition has not been published by the makers or patentees. It is prepared1 by the reaction between phosphorus pentasulphide and carefully selected cresylic acid. We have been informed that this acid contains no phenol and very little cresol, and that it is rich in the higher alkyl phenols, particularly the xylenols. The reaction between a phenol ROH and phosphorus pentasulphide may produce compounds of the following type:2 (i) RO S P Diaryldithiophosphoric acids RO SH (ii) R-SH Thiophenolic compounds (iii) R-S-R Diaryl sulphides (iv) R-S-S-R Diaryl disulphides (v) Substituted thianthren compounds Except for the simplest type, the thiophenols (ii), the boiling points of these compounds lie above 300° C. The amounts of the thianthren compounds formed from the five xylenols (if all these are present) will vary according to the position of the substituents. In an attempt to ascertain something of the nature of the reagent, fractional distillation under atmospheric pressure was undertaken. At the outset, hydrogen sulphide was freely evolved, and-particularly below 200° C.-the fractions had the strong odor characteristic of the

Jan 1, 1939

By Mark Sheppard

The technical literature on the general subject of crushing contains many references to the work of investigators on the laws governing, and the factors entering into, the economical production of fine materials. In fine grinding, whether for the purpose of producing fine material, or for the unlocking of minerals in an ore, close control of the screen sizes of primary-crusher products is of secondary consideration and accordingly has received very little attention. The growth and development of the nonmetallic industries, however, have drawn more attention to primary crushing. Many of these industries are interested in the production of relatively coarse products that meet certain definite size specifications, a condition entirely different from that existing in the field of ore dressing. Under such conditions, a knowledge of the factors governing the selection and operation of primary-crushing equipment is essential to the economical production of a satisfactory material.

Jan 1, 1939

By McHenry Mosier

The Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior, has established a testing adit on the Government reservation at Mount Weather, Virginia, to facilitate research on the fundamentals of mining under actual metal-mining conditions. A number of sites in several Eastern States were investigated, but Mount Weather was selected because the rock seemed best suited for rock drilling and other mining tests and because the ground was already owned by the Federal Government, the site having been acquired in 1902 for use of the Weather Bureau. The testing adit has an advantage over an active metal mine for certain investigations because variable conditions affecting any particular research problem can be controlled and maintained in a fixed status, whereas in an operating mine this seldom is feasible. Operations were begin in September 1936, with a crew of four laborers under a resident engineer. The laborers were recruited from nearby farms, and although they had no previous mining experience, they have developed into satisfactory miners.

Jan 1, 1939

By R. E. Heithecker

In Kansas, almost every oil well drilled into a limestone formation is treated with hydrochloric (muriatic) acid upon completion. This is done to increase the potential capacity of the well and thereby increase its "daily allowable" production (see p. 9 ), to shorten the time required to produce the recoverable oil, and to increase the quantity of oil recovered ultimately from the reservoir. The porosity and. permeability of limestone formations seldom are uniform throughout the proved area, consequently the production capacities of completed wells vary considerably. Acid treatment of wells tends to increase production capacity and to equalize potential capacity. If offset wells already have been treated with acid, new wells usually are treated to protect the property on which they are drilled against drainage. Even though competitive conditions do not exist in a field, it

Jan 1, 1939

By O. C. Blade

[In its general study of crude petroleum, tic Bureau of Mines has published several reports that include analyses of samples of crude petroleum from Oklahoma fields3/. This report discusses briefly the properties of crude oil samples collects in come of the producing fields in the State ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the State of Oklahoma. No study was made under the general supervision of R. A Cattell, chief engineer, petroleum and Natural-Gas Division, Bureau of Mines Washington, D. C., and N. A. C. Smith, supervising engineer, Experiment Station, Bureau of Mines, Bartlesville, Okla., and under the direct supervision of Ludwig Schmidt senior petroleum engineer Bureau of Mines, Bartlesville, Okla.]

Jan 1, 1939

The concentration of Mt. Morgan sulphide ore has always been attended by serious loss of gold. Until recently, with a simple selective flotation flowsheet, even the lowest grade of ore milled-about 2 dwt. per long ton-thislloss was 0·9 dwt., whilst for average to high-grade ore, 3·5 to 5 dwt., the figure was 1·5 to 2·0 dwt. Early in 1937 it was decided to equip the research laboratory for an investigation into the condition and location of the escaping gold and the physical and mineralogical barriers preventing its recovery.With the completion of: this equipment in July 1937, trial and error testing, which had been explored to exhaustion, was abandoned and a five months' research programme mapped out and commenced. Based on the knowledge so gained, a flowsheet combining primary desliming, bulk flotation of the natural slime, selective flotation of the deslimed fraction, and cyanidation of the selective flotation tailing was drafted and tried with encouraging results in a 70-lb. per hour pilot plant. This flowsheet, modified to meet current circumstances, is being dove-tailed into the existing 1,500-ton sulphide ore concentrator, though the cyanidation treatment is actually carried out in the oxidized ore mill, to which the flotation tails are pumped.RESEARCH EQUIPMENT(1) Five tube elutriator (Fig. 1) t built in the company's workshop.

Jan 1, 1939

By H. W. Hitzrot

THE new 4800-ton fine-grinding plant at the Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines property at Timmins, in the Porcupine district of northern Ontario, went into operation in November 1937, and represents the culmination of an experimental program. The plant is a moderately low rectangular building of hollow tile on a steel frame, large enough to house four 7 by 15-ft. ball mills, with a 12 by 27-ft. classifier beside each mill. At one end is space for the addition of another mill and classifier or a mill and classifier for the regrinding of table concentrates. This regrinding is now done in the old grinding department of the main mill building. Also within the new building are the four 6-in. sand pumps for lifting the product from the low-dis- charge ball mills up to the classifier feed launders and the containers and appurtenances of a complete dust-collecting system. Together with the usual overhead crane, these constitute the major units of equipment within the new plant. The location is at the lower end of the main mill buildings toward the old tailings pond, now so neatly leveled off and sodded to rival the very best of our own W.P.A. projects. Close by the new grinding plant is a large dome-shaped structure-the new fine-ore bin designed arid built by Mr. Longmore and the Hollinger milling and engineering staffs. There are four separate automatically loaded inclined belt conveyors leading up from the bottom of the bin to the grinding plant. Each belt is equipped with a recording weightometer, in the grinding building. The whole structure and the machinery within it give the impression of permanence and a carefully integrated design with close attention to details, giving the operators every advantage for consistently good work. The many ideas and opinions behind this achievement were all ably organized and executed by the Hollinger milling and engineering staffs, anti not a few were directly initiated by them. Excellent cooperation was afforded by the Hollinger staff to the engineers helping to conduct the grinding and classification test program. It was the author's privilege

Jan 1, 1939