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Jan 1, 1914

By C. H. Curtis

The valuable mineral content of the current feed to the Miami concentrator is as follows: copper, 0.7 pct total; molybdenum, 0.01. Flotation of this ore yields a sulphide concentrate containing: chalcocite, 44 pct; molybdenite, 0.5; pyrite, 50.0; insol, 5.5. A combination of potassium ethyl xanthate and pentasol amyl xanthate as collectors, and pine oil as frother, are used in this flotation. Rejection of pyrite is encouraged by holding the amount of collectors used to the minimum consistent with copper recovery and by operating at high alkalinity (equivalent to 0.35-0.40 lb CaO per ton solution of pH 11.0).

Jan 4, 1950

By H. C. Fiedler

It was recently shown with 3.3 pct Si-Fe containing 0.026 pct S and 0.06 pct Mn that the extent of secondary recrystallization to a cube-on-edge texture is determined by the cooling rate from the solution temperature of the manganese sulfide inclusions.1 With a rapid cooling rate, many small inclusions rather than a few large ones are formed, which leads to increased restraint to normal grain growth and more complete secondary recrystalliza-tion. Strip samples 12 mils thick, rolled from 1-in.-thick slabs that were cooled at 130°C per min

Jan 1, 1964

By Magnus Troilius

The heat-calculations of gas-analyses involve cumbrous multiplications, which are apt to lead into errors. The foliowing tables and formulae have been found useful as facilitating such calculations, and therefore I hope that they will be of interest to some of the members. By "heat-unit" will, in the following, be understood the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water l° Cent. All the tables refer to cubic meters at O0 and 760 mm. pressure. The following gas is chosen as an example: C02, - 4.0 vol. per cent. co, = 20.0 " CHI, - 3.5 " H, - 7.0 " N, - 65.5 " " 100.0

Jan 1, 1884

By Ta M. Li

Expanded mine-mill capacity and greater operating flexibility are part of the dramatic changes taking place in the Tennessee mining operations of Asarco, Inc. Climaxed by the recent start-up of the $6.3 million Young mill in September 1975, Asarco has pushed Tennessee back into number one position as the leading zinc mining state. Furthermore, start-up of the Young mill is expected to insure a much-needed and continuing domestic zinc supply, at a time when US mines can only supply one-half of 1975 domestic consumption.

Jan 5, 1976

By A. R. Denison

The Permian Basin as it appears in the title of this article refers to three rather widely separated areas of production. It includes what are commonly known as the "Panhandle" fields of the northwest part of Texas; the West Texas fields, in the southwest part of Texas; and the New Mexico fields, in the southeast corner of New Mexico. These three areas are all included in a single province and produce the majority of their oil from limestones or dolomites of Permian age. The manner of accumulation of oil in the three areas is somewhat diverse. In the Panhandle, production is found on the flanks of an enormous structural ridge, the core of which is granite. In southwest Texas and New Mexico oil is produced from both gentle and steep folds and from lenticular areas of porosity. Production in Texas During 1927 Texas produced a total of 216,306,000 bbl. of oil of which the Permian Basin contributed 89,797,000 bbl., or 42 per cent. During 1928, Texas produced 255,021,000 bbl. of oil of which the Permian Basin contributed 145,955,000 bbl., or 57 per cent. The increase in total production is entirely due to the West Texas fields. All other districts in Texas declined during the year while the west Texas fields registered an increase of more than 71,000,000 bbl. West Texas daily average production increased from 260,752 bbl, at the beginning of 1928 to a maximum of 406,318 bbl. per day the first week in May. Due to prora-tion agreements, the production was held at a fairly constant level around 340,000 bbl. during the remainder of the year, having 345,660 bbl. the last week in December. Daily average production of the Panhandle fields decreased from 80,178 bbl. at the beginning of the year to 59,025 bbl. at the close of the year. The combined daily average production of the Panhandle and West Texas fields at the beginning of the year was 341,138 bbl. and at the close of the year was 405,408 barrels. Fig. 1 gives a comparison of the production in the Permian Basin in relation to the production of the entire state. It is clearly shown that

Jan 1, 1929

BEFORE an audience which included many notable members of the engineering profession, the John Fritz Medal was presented to Senator Guglielmo Marconi on July 6, 1922, in the auditorium of the Engineering Societies Building, in New York. The medal was awarded for achievements in the development of wireless telegraphy, but all of the speakers emphasized the inventor's service to mankind, in saving life at sea, especially, as well as his remarkable scientific attainments. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JOHN FRITZ MEDAL The John Fritz Medal is presented from time to time for notable achievements in applied science, as a memorial to the engineer and metallurgist whose name it bears, one of the charter members of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. The medal fund, contributed by friends of Mr. Fritz, is administered by representatives of the four national engineering societies. Seventeen awards have been made to men of eminent distinction in the various branches of the profession of engineering, whose names are more familiar to the civilized world than are the names of most of the presidents of the United States. Four of the medallists were present on the evening of July 6: Dr. Elihu Thomson, the dean of the electrical engineers, General Goethals, Orville Wright, and J: Waldo Smith, who developed the New York City water supply, system. In opening the meeting, Dr. Comfort A. Adams, president of the Board of Award, said in part: The profession of engineering knows no national boundaries. That the engineers of this country sense this fact deeply is evi-denced by the absence of any limitations as to nationality in the award of the John Fritz Medal. The engineer is seeking for the truth wherever it may be found, and it frequently happens that the most helpful sugges-tions for the solution of a particular problem are the results of the work of men of other nationalities on the other side of the world, whom we have never seen. Thus through this long range interchange of information and of ideas, there has grown up a feeling of real kinship among the engineers of the civilized world, a sense of interdependence and of the need and value of cooperation, in wide contrast with the all too prevalent sense of conflicting interests, of racial and national antagonisms of bitterness and misunderstanding. We often think of the nations of the earth as separated by walls or barriers, of various kinds and of various heights. Some of these are the natural results of evolution, for example, differences of language, customs and traditions; while others are more artificial, being maintained by law and dictated by fear, greed, and shortsightedness or ignorance. There is deep conviction that the degree in which we can abolish these barriers is a true measure of our progress towards real civilization, and that the destruction of these barriers is the only method of attaining that world-wide peace for which every

Jan 8, 1922

By Bruce W. Gonser

TIN is not yet classed as a rare metal, but it has taken a long stride in that direction in the last ten months. It is now in Group 1 of the War Production Board's critical list, along with such company as magnesium aluminum, and nickel. This is in sharp contrast with the position a year ago when the supply well exceeded demand, and tin was used when feasible in place of really scarce metals. The geographical sources of tin production in recent years are shown in Table 1. Preponderance of former production in southeastern Asia, particularly Malaya and the Netherlands Indies (but all now controlled by the Japanese). is entirely too marked to be funny. Of the 1940 known world production of 237,000 long tons nearly all was controlled by the United States, Great Britain, and their friends. Now their supply is from countries that produced only 28 per cent of that amount. This excludes China and Australia, which because of shipping difficulties and local consumption, cannot be expected to export much tin. In spite of some expected increase in production, therefore, the supply is, and will continue to stay for at least several years, way below that desired for even normal uses. Although deliveries to consumers in the United States alone

Jan 1, 1942

By H. R. Brannon, J. S. Osoba

The introduction of the scintillation counter into field use for gamma-ray well logging has provided a new tool with special utility for the deternzination of natural radioactivity of sediments. Previous subsurface gamma-ray measurements have indicated only the total amount of radioactivity of the sediments. With the scintillation counter, the relative amounts of the elements which emit gamma radiation can be determined. Sediments logged included 35 zones in wells located in the Teras Gulf Coast, East Texas, and West Teras. Although the data obtained from measurements made to date are not sufficient to evaluate the possibilities of spectral logging, it appears likely that spectral measurements will yield information of geologic value. INTRODUCTION Although variations in the natural radioactivity of sediments were recognized as early as 1909,1 the appli- cation of such variations to borehole logging was not made until almost 30 years later. A group of Russian workers in the early 1930's were successful in making crude measurements of natural gamma activity in an oil well borehole. The first practical gamma-ray logging system was developed by Howell and Frosch2 in 1939. Induced radioactivity, or neutron, logging appeared soon after the introduction of gamma-ray logging. After early work had demonstrated the potentialities of radioactivity logging, development of sensitive and stable logging equipment for field use followed, so that neutron and natural gamma logs are now run routinely and have proved to be extremely valuable in characterizing subsurface formations. Even though tremendous strides have been made in developing radioactivity logging, it is apparent that the ultimate in the method of logging has not been reached, for, until very recently1 in none of the commercially available logging systems has advantage been taken of the fact that gamma radiation is composed of a spectrum of rays, each ray having a distinct and characteristic energy. An individual gamma ray originates in a single element and has energy determined by the element. The inten- sity of radiation, or number of rays emitted from unit volume in unit time, is determined by the concentration of the element. If it were possible to sort out these gamma rays and assign them to their parent elements, thereby essentially analyzing for the elements, a wealth of new information descriptive of formation material and fluid content would be at hand. For example, if in natural gamma logging, the gammas due to potassium and to the thorium and uranium series were measured individually, data would thus be available on the concentrations of each of the three elements, adding materially to the information content of the log. In contrast, conventional gamma logs measure only a quantity proportional to the combined concentrations of uranium, thorium, and potassium. The naturally radioactive elements occur in sediments in concentrations dependent on source material of the sediment, and through their chemical characteristics, on conditions of deposition,' so that the individual concentrations may be diagnostic for particular formations. These concentrations, particularly if measured in situ, could lead to a powerful tool for correlation and for reflecting environmental conditions under which sedimentation took place. As a correlation tool, individual uranium, thorium, and potassium measurements

Jan 1, 1957

BARBOUR, PERCY E., Deputy Supt., (Captain), New York State Troopers; Captain, 22nd Regiment, N. Y. N. G. BARLING, 1i. B., 1st Lieutenant, Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps. CHAPMAN, R. H., Major, Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps. DUNN, THEODORE S., 1st Lieutenant, Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps. DWIGHT; ARTHUR S., Major, Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps. FORBES, CARROLL R., Captain, Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps. GOODSPEED,. G. E., JR., 1st Lieutenant, Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps.

Jan 7, 1917

[NUMERICAL CODE TO MAPS (Region Listed in Roman Numerals after Each Petroleum Section) 1 Alaska 2 Arizona 3 Black Hills 4 Boston 5 Carlsbad Potash 6 Central Appalachia 7 Chicago 8 Cleveland 9 Colorado 10 Columbia 11 Connecticut 12 Delta (VIII) 13 Detroit 14 East Texas (VI) 15 El Paso 16 Gulf Coast (VII) 17 Kansas (IX) 18 Lehigh Volley 19 Mid-Continent (IX) 20 Minnesota 21 Montana 22 Nevada 23 New York]

Jan 1, 1961

By G. S. Hume

Petroleum is produced in Canada in the provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta and in the Northwest Territories. The total production, however, is relatively small in comparison with the consumption, the value of imports exceeding 40 million dollars a year. Production figures are given in Tables 1 and 2. In Turner Valley, still the largest producing gas and oil field in Canada, five wells were completed during the year. The largest of these

Jan 1, 1936

By G. S. Hume

Petroleum is produced in Canada in the provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta and in the Northwest Territories. The total production, however, is relatively small in comparison with the consumption, the value of imports exceeding 40 million dollars a year. Production figures are given in Tables 1 and 2. In Turner Valley, still the largest producing gas and oil field in Canada, five wells were completed during the year. The largest of these

Jan 1, 1936

By Shiou-Chuan Sun, R. F. Wesner, J. D. Morgan

A new apparatus termed a "distribution analyzer" is introduced to ascertain the optimum conditions of electrostatic separation of minerals. It was found that with similar surface condition, testing environment and a constant feed rate of not higher than one layer of particles fed on the grounded roll of the separator, the behavior of each component mineral in a synthetic mixture or ore is roughly similar to that of the same mineral when tested alone.

Jan 3, 1950

R. W. Raymond, New York City: From a study of Mr. Johnson's paper, I conclude that his apparatus is simple in construction and operation, and imitates in a revolving machine the movements of hand-shoveling. It does what a man would do in removing sand from the waste-water with a perforated shovel. I am sorry to say that I fear the present condition of the brown-ore mining industry in the East, as long as

Jan 1, 1899

From the beginning to the end, the attendance and enthusiasm of the 119th meeting, which was held in New York, Feb. 17 to 20 surpassed all expectations. Besides the ten technical sessions, one of which was in conjunction with the American Institute of Electrical Engineering and one a session of the National Research Council, there were two memorial meetings, one for Dr. Raymond and one for the members who died in service; two joint sessions with the Canadian Mining Institute; and a meeting devoted to pictures of copper mining, milling, and smelting. Of the 732 persons registered, 119 registered in the Institute of Metals Division. Monday's sessions were devoted to the problems of industrial organization, the Institute of Metals Division, and to petroleum and gas. Among the special features of these sessions were the topical discussions on housing and. Americanization. Americanization, too, was the topic for discussion by the Woman's Auxiliary Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, nearly 100-members of the Canadian Mining Institute were present to discuss the possibility of bringing about uniform mining laws for the United States, Canada, and Mexico, to obviate the maintaining separate legal departments and managerial forces for the several countries; and to avoid the confusion which, it is said, has led to a duplication of effort and has sometimes created a barrier to international cooperation in mining. Among the Canadian delegation were D. B.

Jan 3, 1919

By R. V. Ramani, Robert Stefanko

The more stringent ventilation requirements of the 1969 Act have created a greater need for improved network analyses. More air is required at the last open crosscut (9000 cfm) and for the first time a minimum quantity is specified for the face (3000 cfm). Severe restrictions are placed on both belt and track haulage, and the intake air cannot contain more than 2 mg per cu m of respirable dust, to be reduced to 1 mg later. Larger tonnage and longer life mines are the trend today, necessitating multiple fans and shafts. Yet relatively little engineering goes into designing the mine ventilation system. In this paper a ventilation system is designed for a typical Pittsburgh block system, manual calculations are made and then checked by a computer solution. The computer is the ideal tool to try out proposed changes on paper to insure that the entire mine is properly ventilated and no costly adjustments need be made by dumping air. While it is theoretically possible to solve complex ventilation network problems by hand, it is not practical to do so because of the tremendous man-hours required and the many opportunities for errors. Thus the digital computer is indispensible to the ventilation engineer and newer improved ventilation programs are being developed to more realistically model mine ventilation networks. Suggested ventilation changes to comply with the new regulations are also critically evaluated.

Jan 1, 1973

By John Birkinbine

An unusually large number of crystals of magnetite obtained in the exploitation of a deposit of magnetic iron-ore of remarkable purity, encouraged the preparation of this paper, and its presentation at this time, that the matter might go on record in the Transactions. To make this record more complete, a preliminary statement is offered concerning the district and locality in which the ore is found. To the northeastern portion of the State of New York the United States is indebted for a large percentage of the iron-ore which has assisted in developing the resources and industries of the nation. As early as 1804, iron-ore was mined between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack mountains, and this district has since been an important and continuous contributor to our iron-ore supply. The production of the Lake Champlain district for the last, eleven years is as follows: Years. Gross tons. 1879,...........420,341 1880,...........531,000 1881,...........637,000 1882,...........675,000 1883,...........500,000 1884,...........504,894 1885,...........379,077 1886,...........588,752 1887,...........768,852 1888,...........789,419 1889,...........750,230 Approximate total,.....6,644,565

Jan 1, 1890

By Clemens Jones

The difficulties attending the reduction of ferric sulphate in the determination of metallic iron by the method of Marguerite, are often serious, and affect time, patience and accuracy. They depend upon the condition and purity of the zinc used, the state of saturation of the solution, acidity, and temperature. D. J. Caruegie (Chem. News, lvii., No. 1481), says that ferric solutions are instantaneously reduced by the use of zinc-dust. But there are obvious objections to its employment in quantitative work. Dr.

Jan 1, 1889

By C. B. Manula, R. Venkataramani

Application of computers to present-day open-pit mining with bucket wheel excavators (BWE) is discussed. The development of the wheel excavators and their use in mining are discussed along with the necessity for building a computer model of the bucket wheel and the mathematical formulation of the problem. The simulation procedure, testing the model, and test results are summarized. Even though the mining industry in 1966 produced more ore than ever before, current extraction rates are only a fraction of what is expected in the later years of the 20th century. Nearly 90% of all metals and mineral products consumed last year was recovered by open-pit mining. This has placed great pressure on this segment of the industry which has, consequently, resulted in some spectacular developments. With increasing size of projects, the need for increased sophistication of engineering, planning, management, and administration of modern mining installations has never become more apparent. The design of complete systems for the mine and plant that fit the mold of today's business and social environments is undergoing an evolutionary process. Traditional concepts in mine development and operations are being sidestepped in favor of new ideas and principles. As the overburden thickness increases, materials handling presents a major problem to mining companies, especially those concerned with the mass production of ore and waste from low-grade deposits. The profit margin here is likely to be significantly less as to take chances with capital investment. Constant efforts are needed to improve upon productivity if the ore is to be economically mined. The development of vast low-grade deposits and thick overburden deposits calls for better tools to handle the enormous amount of materials. A natural solution to this problem is the use of bucket wheel excavators (BWE), which employ a continuous cutting head to feed the materials handling system. High productivity, versatility, economy of operation, and adaptability to most types of haulage systems combine to make BWE's attractive for large earth-moving operations. "Operating costs are being pushed down by the impact of giant haulage units, by high-speed conveyors, and computerized railroads. Matching all these with the continuous output of BWEs, one can visualize increased production at much lower costs." Historical Background The wheel excavator, which was patented in Germany in 1913, made its first appearance in an open-pit lignite mine in 1920. From this early beginning, however, BWEs were slow coming into practice. Initial developments were dampened by many design problems. From 1936 onward, major developments in design improved the wheel's ability, capacity, and versatility. A literature survey shows that wheel excavators are being used in Australia, Zambia, South Africa, the Congo, India, Indonesia, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Great Britain, Guyana, Yugoslavia, Morocco, Germany, Canada, and the U.S. for mining and loading chalk, lignite, clay, sandstone, phosphate, broken ore of iron, coal, shale, loose and semi-loose rock overburden.' A recent LMG* BWE at work in a German lignite mine weighs 6790 tons with an hourly capacity of 11,000 cu m. Although the BWE has wide applicability, its application to new mining areas poses a problem. Because of the large capital investment involved in BWE application and the narrow profit margins in mining low-grade ores or coal at depth, little margin of error can be tolerated in the selection, design, and operation of these machines. The questions that need to be answered prior to installation of a BWE for a mineable deposit are: 1.) What are the anticipated BWE performance characteristics? 2) Which method of BWE operation is most efficient? Attempts to answer these questions require a thorough knowledge of the mining system and the BWE operation. One approach is the building of a computer-ori-ented simulation model to determine how information and policy create the character of the BWE system under consideration. BWE Operation Modern BWEs generally excavate in blocks. Fig. la shows a BWE working in an established cut. The wheel is positioned to travel on the pit floor in line with the top edge of the old highwall. As it advances, a new highwall is exposed in the direction of excavation. Digging is done by rotating the wheel, swinging it from side to side in long parallel arcs, and "crowding" into the bank, by advancing the entire machine, or by the travel of the digging boom if an automatic crowd is available (Fig. lb). A second way by which the wheel can be advanced into the bank is by the falling cut method. A brief description of each of these methods follows. Cut with a Crowding Machine: At the end of every swing, the digging boom can be extended by the thickness of cut desired and the boom swung back in the reverse direction. Obviously, the thickness of bank excavated does not vary with the boom position; therefore, the slewing motion of the boom is fairly constant for uniform output. The thickness through which the digging boom can be advanced into the bank is theoretically calculated from the formula'

Jan 1, 1971