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By H. D. Jacobs

The Bureau of Mines developed a concentration method to upgrade and utilize marginal natural or direct-shipping iron ores and fine-grained lean iron ores. Presently these ores receive little beneficiation and accordingly have low iron-silica (Fe-Si02) ratios. Ore samples were roasted with equal weights of solid reductant at 1,100° C for 1 hour to metallize the iron and for an additional hour at 1,200° C to promote grain growth. Concentration was effected by crushing and screening techniques and/or wet magnetic separation. Sized concentrates (minus 4 plus 35 mesh) derived from crushing-screening processes contained from 80 to 85 percent iron that was 90 percent metallized. Iron-silica ratios as high as 12:1 and iron recoveries from 75 to 94 percent were obtained. The sized concentrates were judged suitable for use as blast furnace feed. Minus 200-mesh metallized concentrates derived from roasted minus I-inch plus 8-mesh ore fractions and magnetically concentrated contained 90 percent Fe and 4 percent or less Si02, chemically qualifying them as feed for electric furnaces. Roasting minus 8-mesh ore with hydrogen, then magnetically concentrating it, produced iron concentrates containing 57 percent to 67 percent Fe and 3.6 percent to 8.4 percent Si02. The concentrates having Fe-Si02 ratios ranging from 8:1 to 12:1 were considered adequate for use as blast furnace feed. Overall iron recoveries for the 12 ores tested ranged from 56 percent to 94 percent with an average iron recovery of 86 percent.

Jan 1, 1969

By Bassett N

The Eneabba deposit, located 280 km north of Perth, Western Australia, and 30 km inland (Fig. 1) is one of the most recently developed deposits of mineral sands in the world. The area has been in production since 1974, while the Associated Minerals Consolidated Limited (AMA) operation commenced production in 1976. Total ore reserves of close to 400 million tonnes contain about 40 million tonnes of heavy minerals (proved and probable).

Jan 1, 1979

By Chris Strawson

Moranbah North is a modern longwall operation mining premium coking coal in the Northern Bowen Basin, Central Queensland. Australia Moranbah North Coal (MNC) is owned and operated by Anglo Coal Australia. Extracting approximately 4.5m of the Goonyella Middle seam using a single longwall, the mine produces 5 to 6 Mt per annum. The weak coal (4.5 MPa), low strength laminated immediate roof, and strong upper roof sandstones, make operation of the longwall at depths in excess of 250m geotechnically challenging. In the past, there have been a number of production delays due to geotechnical issues. Roof instability resulted in a long stoppage on Longwall 105, and the eventual relocation of the face further outbye in the block. (Figure 1). When mining commenced in LW106, there was a requirement for uninterrupted production, particularly in the more demanding inbye area of the panel. Following discussions with a number of Geotechnical experts, it was decided to narrow the face, and test the theories of reduced face weighting due to spanning of the goaf across the panel. A new on line chock monitoring system, and microseismic monitoring was installed in order to characterise the difference in the rockmass response, as the panel width changed from 175m, to 265m, and then 300m. The nature of the goaf formation and impacts on face loading and production are discussed, having the unique opportunity of three different face widths within the same area.

Jan 1, 2007

By A. J. Boynton

THIS paper is not the result of recent research with regard to any particular feature of iron metallurgy, blast-furnace practice or mechanical engineering. It is rather a series of notes with regard to contemporaneous progress in blast-furnace construction and operation, together with some suggestions as to changes and improvements that seem to be desirable. On April 1, 1930, a committee of the Chicago District Blast Furnace and Coke Association presented to that association a rather ambitious study of blast-furnace equipment, together with recommendations for the design of construction of a complete blast-furnace unit for the production of 1000 tons of pig iron per day. This report represented the result of months of study by members of the committee, all of whom were actively engaged in operation or design of blast-furnace plants. It is natural, therefore, that comments on the present state of the art should take this 1000-tons furnace, as recommended by the Association, as a basis for comparison with corresponding features of construction or design. See Table 1. In looking through this report at the present time, the significant difference is in the nature of the gas-washing equipment that today would be specified. In other respects, the installation would remain generally very much as it was outlined in 1930. The change in furnace dimensions would be very slight and of no especial significance, except with respect to changes in stock-line diameter, of which more will be said hereafter. The high-efficiency stove as developed by various designers is thoroughly described within this report, and few changes have taken place since. Blowing equipment shows refinement and reflects the improvement in steam engineering. Hoisting and charging equipment and ladles for the conveyance of iron and slag remain, in general, as they were in 1930. In accordance with a general tendency

Jan 1, 1935

By Baafi EY, Appiah HK

The Prestea Goldfields Ltd of Ghana, West Africa has produced over 170 t of gold with average grade of 11 g/t since 1912. The deposits occur in a wide shear zone which closely follow the Birimian-Tarkwaian contact. Both the Birimian and Tarkwaian systems are of Precambrian age. Underground exploration is carried out to delineate ore bodies by means of AX size diamond drilling at 50 m sampling intervals. After the orebody has been delineated, development work is carried out by exposing the gold reef. Channel sampling is then carried out at about 3 m intervals in both the stope and stope drives. A channel sample length is commonly 0.6 in, but may vary depending on physical characteristics of the reef. The values of channel samples are linearly combined to obtain the average reef or slope values and/or widths of the exposed sections. The sampling practice and methods of improving the efficacy of sampling at the mine are described.

Jan 1, 1976

By Laurence Pellier

Electron microscopical studies were made of the effect of sensitization at 1200oF on a Type-.104 stainless steel with high carbon and low nitrogen and oxygen contents, after solution annealing and after cold working. The loci of the carbide precipitates in the early stages of sensitization were followed in dry stripped plastic replicas. Some observations were made by direct electron transmission on thinned films. Intragranular dislocations showed a high degree of stability through the annealing necessary to produce sensitization. I HE present work was undertaken to determine the effect of sensitization, at 1200°F, for 1/2 hr, on the electron microstructure of a Type-304 stainless steel with high carbon, and low nitrogen and oxygen contents, after solution annealing and after cold working. Many electron microscopical studies of sensitization of 18-8 stainless steels have already been made. Most of them utilized extraction replicas, from which the morphology and composition of the precipitated carbides could be established.'-" ry stripped replicas were seldom used for such studies, although it was demonstrated that they are applicable, in general, to EurveYs of the general microstructure of many alloys' and, in particular, to the observation of precipitated carbides in austenitic stainless steels.3

Jan 1, 1963

By Warren B. Davis

Introduction If a subject this broad were to be covered in even moderate detail, it would require a set of books about the size of an encyclopedia. Since an acceptable length for this paper is a small fraction of one book, it will have to consist of a few samples of the subjects that I think are the most pertinent to World Fossil Fuel Economics. I plan to discuss the trends in world energy demand, particularly in the U. S. and Europe; the consumption patterns and cost patterns of oil, gas and coal; the prospects of synthetics; and some of the effects of government regulation of fuel economics. World Energy Demands Fig. 1 shows Free World energy consumption by principal areas for the period from 1950 to 1970 and a forecast for the period from 1970 to 1985. These figures include only the measurable forms of energy. An example of energy consumption that is not measured is the wood a peasant might cut in the forest and bum in a fireplace to heat his home. This omission probably is a very small part of the total. This forecast is not identical with that of Wayne E. Glenn (see Page 22), but the differences in total energy consumption are not significant. The U. S. consumption, which was 55 percent of the world total in 1950, had declined to 45 percent by 1970, and is expected to decline further to 38 percent by 1985. Western Europe has consumed 28 percent of the total from 1950 to 1970 and is expected to lose share slightly between 1970 and 1985. The most spectacular gainer is Japan, which increased consumption from 2.5 percent in 1950 to 7.5 percent in 1970, and is expected to reach nearly 17 percent by 1985. The over-all Free World total has grown from 62 quadrillion Btu (equivalent to 29 million B/D of crude oil) in 1950 to 151 quadrillion by 1970, an average growth rate of 4.5 percent/year. This total is expected to grow at a rate of 5 percent/year between now and 1985, reaching 315 quadrillion Btu (equivalent to nearly 150 million B/D). Fig. 2 shows which fuels supplied this energy between 1950 and 1970, and gives an estimate of how it will be supplied between 1970 and 1985.

Jan 1, 1971

By G. Ranjan

The designers and the practicing engineers have started using latest and cost effective techniques of ground improvements which utilise the weak and poor sub-soil deposits efficiently for the civil engineering construction. In the present investigation, a new concept of 'skirted granular piles' has been advocated. An effective method of construction of granular piles as an economical alternative to vibroflot, and the skirt has been developed. The construction technique is based on indigeneous know how which effectively utilises the man-power technology avoiding import of costly equipment suiting to the developing countries. Full scale insitu tests have been carried out at four sites, having different soil conditions, on virgin weak sub-soil, and improved ground by casting plain and skirted granular piles. Effectiveness of different types of skirt has been demonstrated through insitu tests. A simple analytical approach has been proposed to predict the ultimate pile capacity. The predicted values of ultimate capacity have been found to demonstrate a good correspondance. Granular pile behaviour in terms of pile depth, diameter, spacing and stress deformation characteristics of the improved ground have been discussed. A significant improvement in ultimate capacity in improved ground has been noted. This is further augmented when granular pile group is skirted.

Jan 1, 2010

By B. D. H. Knights, N. B. du Preez

The recovery of the economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo has allowed for the rapid increase in production of copper from this region, while the increased price of cobalt continues to support the recovery of that country’s economy. This has enabled the modernization of the process technology used, particularly the change from direct electrowinning of copper to solvent extraction-electrowinning. With this change has come a variety of technical challenges in optimizing the recovery of cobalt from these sources. In this paper, we discuss aspects of the flowsheets for the production of cobalt from the ores of the DRC and Zambia, highlighting the technological improvements that have been made. Following this description of the practice, we assess the challenges of further improving the recovery and purity of cobalt from these sources. INTRODUCTION The African Copperbelt (Figure 1) is by far the biggest producer and holds the greatest reserves of cobalt (Sheed, 2015). However, the ores of this great mining region are extracted primarily for their copper content, and cobalt is a by-product. The ratio of copper-to-cobalt is between 6 and 20 to 1, with the ores from the DRC richer in cobalt than those from Zambia. The overall supply of cobalt, shown in Figure 2, is increasing due to an increase in demand for its use as a battery material. Cobalt is used in superalloys, hard metals, pigments, catalysts magnets, tyre adhesives, lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, and wear-resistant coatings, amongst others. Although these generic categories persist, Figure 3 shows how the relative usage of cobalt is changing due to the uptake of electric vehicles in China and Europe. Cobalt is a key element in lithium-ion batteries, and because it is widely anticipated that electric vehicles will be legislatively encouraged, it is anticipated that the demand for cobalt will rise. This anticipated increase in demand resulted in an increase in the price for cobalt, to which suppliers responded over-eagerly, and the price has dropped dramatically in the first few months of 2019, as shown in Figure 4. However, there is a clear cycle of price peaks in cobalt’s history.

Jan 1, 2019

By James Pile

The San Juan Coal Mine, located near Farmington, New Mexico, supplies the San Juan Generating Station with more than 6 million tons of coal annually. To replace dwindling surface mine production, San Juan installed a longwall in 2002. The roof rock in much of the underground reserve consists of interbedded coals, carbonaceous shales, and mudstones. Roof support consists of fully-grouted roof bolts, both tensioned and non-tensioned, supplemented by modified cable trusses. Short-encapsulation pull tests conducted by San Juan's geotechnical engineering department showed that some of the immediate roof layers provided variable bolt anchorage. To ensure that the roof bolts were obtaining the necessary anchorage, additional tests were conducted in a variety of locations. The results have been used to determine the optimum support design for different areas of the mine. Another series of tests evaluated the performance of several bolt and hole diameter combinations. The experience at San Juan Mine shows that short-encapsulation pull tests can provide the information necessary to improve ground control in variable roof conditions. It also illustrates how a pro¬active geotechnical engineering program can be an essential component of a state of the art underground coal mine.

Jan 1, 2003

By Roscoe C. Clark

A study of the effect of various corrosive waters on five different types of cements indicated that those cements containing less than 5 per cent tricalcium aluminate were the most resistant to corrosion. INTRODUCTION Oil field experience indicates that some formation waters are excessively corrosive to some cements. A study has been made to determine the most corrosive waters and the relative resistance of various types of cement to these corrosive waters. PROCEDURE This study of the corrosion of cement was limited to an evaluation of the effect of various corrosive waters on five different types of cements. A determination was made of the types of cements which offer the greatest resistance to corrosion and of the chemical contents of waters found to be the most destructive to cements. The laboratory tests were conducted by immersing small cylinders of 20 samples of set cement in various corrosive waters. The initial mixing of most of the cement slurries was done using Tulsa tap water as the mixing water; however, a few of the slurries were mixed using a sulfate water as the mixing water. When the 20 samples had been immersed for a period of nine months, they were removed from their corrosive baths, inspected and photographed. The field tests were conducted by placing ten cement specimens, each contained in a screen wire thimble, in the gas anchors of insert pumps in wells in six different fields. The specimens were observed whenever it was necessary to pull the pumps and were returned to the 1aboratory when deterioration had reached a serious state. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS In both the field and laboratory tests the resistance of the different cements to corrosion was determined by the condition of the samples and the number of samples of each that were in good condition at the end of the immersion period. Table I lists the various cements tested in the order of their resistance to corrosion with the most resistant at the top and the least resistance at the bottom. An analysis of Table I reveals that the upper half of the table predominates in slow set and sulphate resisting cement.: (low 3CAO.A12O3 content) while in the lower half the port-land and high early strength cements are in the majority. Of the last two the high early strength cements appear to offer less resistance to sulfate water corrosion. An investigation of the composition of the cements listed in Table I indicated that as a general rule the cements containing less than five per cent tricalcium aluminate will exhibit the greatest resistance to corrosion. The destructive action of various corrosive waters was compared by listing the waters in the order of those containing the largest number of samples that failed completely. These ratings are presented in Table II with the most corrosive waters listed first and the least corrosive last. Figs. 1 and 2 show the end views of cement samples which had been immersed in the baths of five per cent MgSO, water and the five per cent Na2SO4 water respectively in the laboratory. These .pictures are representative of the results obtained and present a pictorial evaluation of the corrosive resistance of various types of cements.

Jan 1, 1950

By James M. Johnson, David Landriault, Frank Palkovits

The term “Paste Technology” was first used in the late 1980’s. It was used to describe a high fines (15 wt% or greater minus 20 microns), low water content backfill material that could be transported underground through a borehole/pipeline distribution system (4” to 8” dia.) at a yield stress similar to fresh concrete (100 to 400 centipoise). This “Paste Backfill”, unlike slurry transported backfills does not segregate into separate solid and liquid phases at low pipeline transport velocities or upon disposal into the underground stope. Paste backfills can consist solely of fine material, or can include fines plus sand and aggregate similar to a concrete mix. Pipeline transport of paste requires that sufficient fine material (minus 20 micron content) is contained within the mix to lubricate the pipeline walls to create a plug flow condition. For concrete, the fine material is supplied through the cement addition to achieve high compressive strength. For paste, the fine material is generally available in large quantities in the form of mill tailings. The paste tailings can be transported underground for use as backfill or discharged on the surface in a tailings management facility (TMF). This natural abundance of fine grained material is not exclusive to mine tailings but is common to many waste streams in many different industries. This makes the disposal of many waste materials very amenable to paste pipeline transport and placement as a non-segregating slurry. The potential use of paste technology for a wider group of waste materials was realized by these authors and others over two decades ago. Through the effort of this small group the use of paste technology has expanded over the years to become recognized as a low cost, environmentally superior, and technologically controllable method of transporting and placing specific material waste streams with a low water content and high placement density. The high yield stress nature of a paste also lends itself well to the blending of one or more coarse waste materials into the fine waste material paste stream. This allows all the waste materials to be transported by pipeline, increases their placement density; decreases the supernatant release/treatment, reduces contaminant mobilization, hydraulic conductivity and oxygen/water reactivity through encapsulation in the paste matrix. The following paper describes the present state-of-the-art use of paste technology in the world today. It also describes future uses of the technology that are under development and speculates on the overall use of the technology for waste management in the future.

Jan 1, 2005

By H. P. Allen

The Achotla mill of the Cia. Minera de Penoles is of special interest in that it is one of the few still employing the chloridization process. The ore milled comes from the Suriana mine and consists of both oxide and sulphide, from neither of which can the gold or silver be extracted by a simple cyanide treatment. The mill was built in 1927, after several years of study in the development of the process1, and operated from December of that year until October 1930. Operations were resumed in February 1935, and have been continuous since, treating approximately 5000 tons per month, while the mine is getting up to full tonnage of 6500 tons per month. Transportation of Supplies The property is in Guerrero, Mexico, some 175 km. by airline southwest of Mexico City. The mill site is at Temisco (Fig. I), 8 km. from the Balsas River and 4.8 km. by aerial tram from the mine. At Temisco are the general office, shops, warehouses and laboratory serving both mine and mill. Here sufficient water is available either from a small creek running through the property or from the Balsas River, also convenient and ample storage space for the tailings. With the exception of the mine timber and a few native building materials which may be obtained locally, all supplies for both mine and mill are brought down the Balsas River from Balsas, the terminal of a Mexican National Railway line out of Mexico City. The method of transportation on the river is interesting. Rapids with very fast water are numerous, prohibiting the use of mechanically propelled boats. Those used resemble large, flat-bottomed rowboats some 22 ft. long by 8 ft. wide (Fig. 2). They are manned by two oarsmen sitting in the bow, each handling one large oar, and usually another man in the stern who, with his oar, assists in steering the boat, especially when the rapids are run. From 3 to 7 tons of freight are carried on each boat, depending upon the stage of the water, which governs also the time

Jan 1, 1939

By L. S. Darken

IT has been known for sometime that in an ionic lattice, such as that of Ag2S or FeO, the migration velocity of the anion may differ markedly from that of the cation, the cation being usually the more mobile. It has been shown, for example, that during the formation of silver sulfide tarnish on silver, the tarnish layer grows principally by the motion of silver cations through an essentially stationary silver sulfide lattice. Similarly, the growth of wüstite scale on iron proceeds principally by motion of iron ions, this being accomplished with the aid of vacant iron lattice sites into which the iron may readily move. Likewise investigations of solid solutions of various salts show that there is usually considerable difference in the mobility of the different cations. Measurements of the mobility of various metals in liquid mercury indicate that the various metals move at different rates relative to the mercury. In view of the foregoing it seems reasonable to suppose that when any single phase solution is acted upon by a field, the atoms of different elements respond in different ways; in particular, that the force arising from a particular concentration gradient in a binary alloy would cause the atoms of one component to move with a drift velocity which is in general different from that of the atoms of the other component. The recent experiments of Smigelskas and Kirkendall1 support this viewpoint, since they found, in essence, that during diffusion in alpha brass zinc moves appreciably faster than copper. This was evidenced by the relative motion of inert molybdenum wires. Such a phenomenon is incompatible with the place interchange theory of diffusion proposed by several authors, most recently by Birchenall and Mehl.2 This theory has, however, also been questioned3.4 for other reasons, principally because of the high energy required for direct atomic interchange. The rather large difference between self-diffusivity, as determined by tracer technique, and mutual diffusivity, as determined with the aid of another element at low concentration, might also be interpreted as favoring the above idea; however, Birchenall and Mehl have pointed out that there is another possible interpretation of this difference; this is discussed later. A rather interesting and pertinent observation was made by Schwartz,5 who noticed that tungsten lamp filaments, heated by direct current, commonly fail by necking down in the region at the temperature gradient near the positive end, with a concomitant swelling at the corresponding position near the negative end. He introduces considerable auxiliary evidence to show that this phenomenon is occasioned by the motion of tungsten cations which migrate in the high temperature region from the positive end toward the negative end. The mechanism of this migration is not clearly understood. If, however, this experimental evidence be accepted, we are forced to conclude that alloying elements in the tungsten may migrate by the same or a similar mechanism, whatever it may be, at a greater or lesser rate, thus giving rise

Jan 1, 1948

An integrated mining equipment development organisation is typified by Deutsche Montsn Technologic of Essen, Germany. working on improvements in reliability, production and control in coal mines. Examples of recent mining advances are in mechanised roadheading, in different approaches to cutting technology, and in low height roof bolting.On the longwall face the mechanics of cutting are related to supplied energy as well as to dust make. In conveying both armoured face conveyors and conveyor belts are monitored. Roof support is not neglected and the continuous pumping of stowage slurries provides further options for longwall support. Surveying developments, particularly the gyro-theodolite, directional drilling. and shaft vehicle monitoring provide further examples of advances in control in coal mining activities.

Jan 1, 1991

By A. F. Agnew

Discussion by A.E Agnew Strachan's paper summarizes a wealth of data on water-storage dam "incidents" published by USCOLD and ASCE in 1988, together with a review of tailings-dam incidents published by USCOLD in 1994. The data is summarized by text and 11 histograms. The histograms present a useful compilation of these data, although the patterns within the histogram blocks did not survive the Mining Engineering printing process - so their usefulness is impaired. Unfortunately, the text discussion is too cursory and does not highlight the significant relationships among the various causes of the incidents. Four paragraphs of text and Fig. 1 were devoted to water-storage dams, but the discussion is too sketchy, and Fig. 1 is unclear. Important statistics that could be uncovered are: •the total number of dam incidents tabulated were 500+, •earth embankments constituted 73% of those in operation and •incidents related to earth embankments were 75%, of which dam failures accounted for 24%, major repairs accounted for 42% and accidents accounted for 34%. Strachan concluded that "the majority of the dam failures are associated with overtopping (p. 49), and that the majority of incidents are associated with spillway and other facility structures" - although this is difficult to discern from Fig. 1. Confusion regarding Strachan's use of the terms "dam failures" and "incidents" is compounded by his use of "failures" and "accidents" in one paragraph of his Introduction section followed by his use of "incidents" in the next paragraph. Getting to the meat of Strachan's important paper, the tailings-dam incident survey (USCOLD, 1994), the connection between Figs 2 through 11 seems obscure. First, in the four paragraphs of introductory material, one learns that "incidents consisted of failures, accidents, seepage and other incidents of performance that did not meet design criteria" (p. 50). One does learn the helpful caveat that "structures not related to mill tailings were not included in the review" - so that the Buffalo Creek (West Virginia in 1972) and Aberfan (Wales in 1966) coal-mine failures, together with the ongoing metal-mine remediation work at Summitville (Colorado) do not muddy the waters of his paper. The all-too-brief discussion of the data shown in Figs. 3 through 11 (185 dams in USCOLD plus 26 dams in UNEP) reveals the following: •Figure 3: 57% of the incidents (failures and accidents) occurred with dams less than 20-m (66-ft) in height. •Figure 4: 63% of the incidents were due to failures alone (subset of Fig. 3). •Figure 5: Active dams had 82% of the accidents and 93% of the failures. •Figure 6: Types of dams (upstream, water-retention, downstream, centerline and "unknown") separated according to incidents. •Figure 7: Breaks out the incidents in Fig. 6 by failures, accidents and ground water. •Figure 8: Breaks out incidents by type (overtopping, slope stability, earthquake, foundation, seepage, structural, erosion, mine subsidence and "unknown"). •Figure 9: Separates Fig. 8 data into active and inactive dams. •Figure 10: Separates Fig. 9 data into failures and accidents. •Figure 11: Same as Fig. 8, but broken out by tailings-dam type (Fig. 6). Figures 6 and 7 show that most of the failures are associated with upstream or "unknown" types. Figure 9 shows that the leading causes of incidents for active dams

Jan 1, 2003

By Paul Tyler

STRATEGICALLY situated in almost the heart of the leading fertilizer-consuming area of the United States, Tennessee long has ranked second only to Florida as a phosphate-producing state. Since 1932 its share of the national output of phosphate rock has increased steadily, and in 1937 its production mounted to an all-time record. More significant even than the increase in tonnage are the forward strides in technology. The Tennessee Valley Authority's research program has led to quasicommer-cial operations using hydroelectric power to manufacture concentrated phosphatic fertilizer that is used to further the farmer education program designed to streamline the fertilizer business and halt the appalling waste of farm land by soil erosion. Even more stimulating to chemically minded imaginations is the production of elemental phosphorus by a private company that not only has succeeded in extracting it from the phosphate rock in electric furnaces but actually has contrived to capture it and to transport it safely in tank cars. New values have been created for low-grade phosphate deposits, and the economic life of reserves has been lengthened while the waste of former years goes back into the mills for recovery of its values by modernized methods. Tennesse's phosphate-mining industry dates from the discovery of blue rock in Lewis County in December 1893. Its known reserves are of the order of 101,500,000 tons, which compares with the production of 825,099 tons in 1937; that is, 21 per cent of the phosphate-rock output of the whole nation. The total output reported from 1894 until July 1, 1938, was approximately 19,000,000 tons. Official estimates of reserves are overly conservative and evidence submitted before a joint Con-gressional committee in November 1938 places "probable" reserves at more than 6,000,000,000 tons.

Jan 1, 1939

By Robert F. Mehi

The mechanical behavior of metals and alloys is presumably conditioned by two factors; namely, the crystallinc symmetry and the interatomic forces. Considerable attention has been given to the first of these factors through the recent advances in X-ray technique. It is the purpose of the present paper to call attention to the importance of the second of these factors, to point out promising methods of investigation, and to present some pertinent data. Plastic deformation takes place by slip along atomic planes.' This slip may be inhibited in a number of ways: by the interatomic forces of, cohesion which bind the atoms rigidly in a lattice structure, which in pure metals is usually of high symmetry; by latticc distortion caused by solid solution formation or by mechanical strain; by the intercrystalline boundaries whcrc slip is restrained, probably by the non-registration of the atom planes in adjacent crystal1ites;2 and by the presence of small hard particles which serve to "key" the slip along the atom planes.5 In pure metals, and perhaps also in solid solutions, the atom planes of easiest slip are those exhibhing the greatest density of atomic population and the greatest interplanar distance4 and apparently can now be pre-dict,ed from the analysis of the lattices. Concerning the interatomic forccs, which resist this slip by holding the atoms firmly together, little is known. Most textbooks on physical metallurgy, following the work of Bot-tone,5 correlate the hardness of the pure metals with the atomic volume,

By W. B. Coleman

Considerable discussion on the effect of iron and steel scrap in blastfurnace burdens was presented in the January, 1927, issue of Mining and Metallurgy. Therein the question is asked as to what causes the difference in physical properties of pig irons where the chemical analyses are practically the same. This point no doubt has been noticed by a number of furnace operators, but several years ago very little thought was given to it. The foundries purchased pig iron, had it analyzed and found it to be within their specification. The castings made from this iron at times would be satisfactory and at other times hardness and shrinkage would occur. Since the iron was chemically correct the foundries generally were at a loss as to what to do. They changed their method of melting in the cupola and in some cases this corrected the trouble. In some instances the foundry would continue eliminating a brand of iron until the castings produced were satisfactory. Through this process of elimination they would finally arrive at the conclusion that a certain brand of iron was causing the trouble. During the course of this elimination minor changes might have been made in the melting and in the end satisfactory castings were secured without discovering any definite reason for the trouble. Frequently the foundries blamed the manufacturer of the pig iron although the seat of the trouble was in their own method of melting. I have in mind one foundry in particular that was using three brands of pig iron for producing their castings and their losses were rather high. Three entirely new brands of iron were substituted in the charge and still the losses continued. Even after using six brands of pig iron the management felt that the pig iron was the cause. The difficulties encountered in the melting of iron in the cupola, over the past several years, reflect in a great many cases on the operation of the cupola. At different times certain brands of iron were unsuitable for producing a certain class of castings, but at the same time one could see no reason why the iron should be considered abnormal. Irons from furnaces where production and low cost are the main factors that are being used in foundries produce in most cases harder cast-

Jan 1, 1927

By Louis J. Demer, Paul A. Beck

As reported in a previous publication,1 isothermal grain growth in high purity aluminum and in an aluminum alloy with 2 pct magnesium can be adequately described by means of the empirical relation: [ ] or in some cases, by the simpler relation, [ ] Here, D is the average grain size after an annealing period t. The annealing period includes the time for complete recrystallization R, and the time for grain growth [to]. DA is the grain size as recrystallized, n is a parameter depending on the temperature and on the material. The effect of 2 pct magnesium in solid solution was to decrease D, and to increase R, A and n at a given temperature. The present work was undertaken in order to investigate the above listed effects of magnesium in solid solution, as functions of the magnesium content. The work also includes the study of certain anomalous effects observed in the recrystallization and grain growth of the 2 pct magnesium alloy at 350°C. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The method of producing the ingots used in this work was described in detail1 and need not be reproduced here. The materials used were high purity aluminum, furnished by the Aluminum Co. of America, of lot analysis shown in Table I and magnesium from a high purity distilled stock of magnesium crystals. [ ] Ingots were prepared for a series of binary aluminum-magnesium alloys of increasing alloy content. The numbers used to designate these ingots and their magnesium contents by chemical analysis are given in Table 2. [ ] The analyses showed no difference in composition between the top and the bottom of the ingots. Spectrographic analysis of the ingots for elements other than magnesium showed, within the limits of accuracy of the method, no increase in impurities over the amounts given in the lot analysis for the high purity aluminum in Table I. Careful microscopic study of ingot 21 in the as-cast condition, at magnifications up t0 1500X, revealed a cer-

Jan 1, 1948