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By M. D. Cooper

LUCIEN EATON, Ishpeming, Mich.-It is not the custom in the Lake Superior region, as far as I know, to employ shot-firers. Each man, or pair of men (most of the contracts are given to two men) do their own firing; each contractor keeps his powder separately. The general custom is to distribute powder (dynamite only is used) to the mines 2 days a week. The boxes, marked with the contract number and the level, are taken underground and the men take them to their working places. They are kept in boxes, which must not be nearer together than 50 ft. and are usually away from the timber roads or traveling roads. When holes have been drilled, one man usually takes down the machine, and the other man makes up the charge. He cuts the fuse, puts in the caps, etc., at a distance from the powder box. He then carries the powder charges to the working place where both men charge the hole. They do their own firing and warn others coming from any direction that the holes are being fired.

Jan 4, 1917

By J. J. Kramer, W. A. Tiller, G. F. Bolling

The temperatures of solid-liquid interfaces have been measured during the growth of Sn-Pb alloy crystals which exhibited a cellulur substructure. A simple descriptive theory was used in combination with this data and the other measurable growth variables to predict some features of the solute segregation such as the intercell excess concentration and the depth of cell grooves during freezing. The effective distribution coefficient at the tip of a cell, a, was predicted and experimentally found to vary in the range, 1 >a > k0. At the lower limit, the severe segregation that must arise between dendritic cells was substantiated by various observations such as the existence of a second Phase even for alloys of only 0.2 wt pct Pb. ThE cellular morphology of a solid-liquid interface is known to coincide with the formation of a zone of constitutional supercooling ahead of the interface during growth.' The occurrence of various cell structures, (two-dimensional cells, regular cells, dendritic cells), has been quantitatively investigated,'2,4 but the segregation of solute which arises as a consequence of this mode of growth has only been examined qualitatively. An indirect method of obtaining the solute concentration at the tip of a cell cap during solidification has been de-

Jan 1, 1963

By L. B. Bramlett, S. L. Reyher, G. G. Southard

The Archean (2.65 billion years) aged Canning Stock at Copper Mountain, WY, contains an average of 20 ppm U. The North Canning and Fuller deposits occur within the enriched interibr of the stock. Post-Laramide development of supergene enrichment blankets occurred in 25-100 m (82-328 ft) crushed zones. Hematite and chlorite accompany pyrite and sooty pitchblende in the mineralized zones. Reduction mechanism proposed for deposition of pitchblende are sulfides, hydro-carbons, bacteria, the water table, or some combination of these. Abundant tar-type organics appear to have preserved the enrichment blankets from degradation. Trace element and radio-metric data define target zones, but exploration models focus on favorable structure.

Jan 1, 1983

By Wells A. Hutchins

Water laws important to the mining industry are those which govern or affect the right to use water, to dispose of water after using it in mining or milling, and to discharge waste material into water-courses. They include statutes and court decisions having general applicability, as well as others that pertain specifically to mining. THE INDUSTRY'S CONTRIBUTION TO WESTERN WATER LAW Despite sharp differences of opinion, the water law the Spaniards brought to the Southwest appears to have included some form of appropriation of water. The Mormons, who settled in Utah in the mid-nineteenth century, also developed a system of appropriative water titles. But by far the most profound impact on western water law was made by the gold- seekers who flocked to the Sierra Nevada foothills of California after the discovery of gold in 1848. Much of the gold was extracted from the ground by hydraulic or placer mining, and so the-miners' rights to the use of water became fundamentally important. Since there was no organized government in the foothills and no laws other than those made by the miners, they helped themselves to the land, the gold, and the water needed to work their claims.' They established and enforced regulations governing the acquirement and holding of mining claims and their rights to the water they needed.'In 1879 Justice Field, former Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, spoke for the U. S. Supreme Court in saying that the miners were "emphatically the law-makers, as respects mining, upon the public lands in the State.""

Jan 2, 1960

By John M. Warde, Raymond M. Richardson

What to do with atomic wastes is one of the major problems of the atomic age. Unlike other waste materials, these cannot be burned, evaporated, or filtered, and the transfer of radioactive material from one physical or chemical state to another is not a complete answer, because only time diminishes radioactivity. Rate of decay of radioactive materials varies from a few seconds to several thousand years and cannot be altered by known economic methods. At present the Atomic Energy Commission and its contractors are coping with the situation adequately. Intensification of private development of atomic power could, however, pose problems in the nation's nuclear energy program.

Jan 5, 1955

By Michael J. Fiannnaca, Michael M. Easdon

Disseminated epithermal gold metallization occurs within a breccia unit interpreted to be a submarine debris flow. Gold is associated with oxidized pyrite, fluorite, and jasperoidal silica. A minimum of 8 Mt (9 million st) of open-pittable mining reserves will be cyanide heap leached as run-of-mine ore at a rate of 0.9 Mt (1.0 million stpy 1. Careful evaluation of the combined results of successive sampling projects has established the pit plan, minable reserves, and process metallurgy of the operation. The sampling procedure utilized for a given test depended upon geological interpretation as well as the procedures, successes, and failures of previous tests. This paper summarizes the sampling and testing procedures of the development effort in light of the project goals and attendant problems in achieving them.

Jan 1, 1985

By R. C. Stevens

INTRODUCTION Idarado Mining Company, a subsidiary of Newrnont Mining Corporation, is situated high in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. Portals, offices and surface plants are located near the towns of Ouray and Telluride at elevations ranging from 9,000 to 12,000 feet. The Ouray portion of the development was initiated in 1943. Upon completion in 1945 of a 250-ton mill, processing of development ores containing copper, lead and zinc was undertaken; thus, serving as a pilot testing unit for larger scale milling operations. These facilities were subsequently enlarged and utilized until 1956. Meanwhile, in 1953 Idarado had acquired The Telluride Mines Company, 62 miles distant by highway; however, only six miles via a network of tunnels which eventually linked the two workings. Extensive underground development and increased ore production necessitated reconstruction and expansion of the milling plant. The facility was designed to accomodate processing of 1700 tons of ore daily. This goal was achieved and it represents the current daily output. MINERALOGY The veins are a compound fissure which have undergone several stages of mineralization. The first stage is represented by complex ores of copper, lead and zinc in a quartz gangue. Precious

Jan 1, 1970

By William G. Brissenden

Gaspe Copper Mines Ltd., a subsidiary of Noranda Mines Ltd., operates a completely integrated copper mining, milling and smelting plant at Murdochville, on the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec. Operating six days a week, the mine produces 8000 tpd of ore. The mill runs continuously and capacity is rated at 6500 tpd of ore. Treating Gaspe concentrate output plus a certain amount of custom concentrate, the smelter produces between 3700 and 4000 tons of copper anodes per month.

Jan 9, 1959

By Henry B. Fernald

THE Federal income tax treatment of expenditures for exploration and development for mines and other natural deposits (other than oil and gas) was materially changed by special provisions of the 1951 Act that are continued in the present 1954 Code." These present provisions for mines in stance they are the same as the 1951 amendments to the 1939 Code, Secs. 23 (cc) and (ff), respectively, except that for exploration the allowable annual deduction is increased to $100,000 (from $75,000) and minor changes in case of property transfers are made with respect to the four-year limitation. Before 1951 the statutes made no specific pro- visions regarding development and exploration for mines, but the rules were prescribed by Treasury regulations: 1) Before the mine entered the production stage, all development and exploration expenditures for mines, less net receipts, were to be capitalized recoverable through depletion or written off as losses when determined worthless. 2) After a mine entered the production stage, development expenditures were deductible as expenses-currently if ordinary expenses, but on a deferred basis if extraordinary in scope. This recognized the two separate periods, one before and the other after beginning of the production stage. There was no distinction between an exploration and a development period, but exploration was included as part of development.

Jan 1, 1958

In the late 19th century Fremont Pass was only a gateway to Leadville, Colo., 12 miles to the north. Some of the silver, lead, and zinc won from this famous camp crossed the Continental Divide at Climax, passing by the huge outcrop of molybdenum on Bartlett Mountain. This element, relatively un- known in the world of commerce, was then nothing more than a joke to play on greenhorn prospectors. Even 30 or 40 years later, after the demand for metals created by World War I had forced temporary use of molybdenum as an alternate for tungsten in tool steels, the Bartlett Mountain outcrop once again became merely a curiosity. With the persistent efforts of Brainerd Phillipson, for years the president of Climax and almost the only employe, use of molybdenum gradually began to grow, first in tool steel and later in the alloy steels required by the growing automotive industry. Mr. Phillipson was first an engineer and second a salesman. The combination of these two qualities is the key to the story, not only of Climax sales but also of the growth of molybdenum from an object of idle curiosity to the point where it is today, along with chromium and nickel, one of the most versatile alloying elements in the iron and steel industries and increasingly important in chemistry.

Aug 1, 1955

The first of a series of special war meetings of the New York Section of the American Institute of Mining Engineers held on the evening of July 20 at the Machinery Club, preceded by an informal dinner. The subject for discussion was the important general one of the manganese supplies of the steel industry of the United States. It had been intended to include chromium supplies but this matter was crowded out and left for a later meeting. The principal speaker of the evening was Donnel F. Hewett of the U. S. Geological Survey, who, as a result of his recent studies of the resources of the country, ably presented the question of the extent to which the United States can furnish manganese ore.

Jan 9, 1917

By J. B. Hiskey

The hydrometallurgical application of thiourea in processing precious metal ores and concentrates has reached the development stage. This paper reviews recent technical literature covering the process development of thiourea leaching. In addition, recent fundamental contributions are discussed. Most of the interest in thiourea leaching has involved treating high grade concentrates that have sufficient value to just the use of thiourea as a reagent. An important development in thiourea technology is the addition of SO2 to the leaching solution. This procedure effectively reduces the decomposition of thiourea and eliminates the problems of passive surface layers that limit the leaching efficiency. Results for the thiourea leaching of a bulk sulfide concentrate and a residue from the autoclave leaching of a smelter flue dust are also reported. As determined by a standard bottle roll cyanidation test, the bulk concentrate was extremely resistive to cyanide leaching yielding only 16% gold and 2% silver extraction in 24 hours. Leaching with a relatively concentrated thiourea solution (1MCS (NH2)2) resulted in 83% gold and 75% silver extraction in four hours. With the treated flue dust residue, gold extraction was about 60%. Gold and silver extraction with cyanide was sensitive to both cyanide concentration and oxidizing conditions. Cyanidation resulted in 59% gold extraction and 77% silver extraction in 24 hours.

Jan 1, 1985

By William G. Schultz

Sylvite’s potash mine probably ranks as one of the most highly mechanized and automated mining operations in the world. Employing, on a normal 10-hr production shift, one supervisor and a crew of seven operators, Sylvite is able to mine at an average rate in excess of 600 tph. The ore is produced by two Marietta miners weighing 258 tons, making them the largest and heaviest piece of equipment ever taken underground. The ore produced by these two Marietta miners is conveyed to the shaft area, cycled through a 15,000 ton storage system and hoisted to surface completely automatically. The operation of all equipment in the mine can be monitored and controlled from a central control panel located underground.

Jan 7, 1972

By Arthur Foote

AT THE end of the year 1914, the main North Star incline shaft had reached the 6300-ft. level, and encountered a vein dipping Southwest, or, exactly opposite to the North Star. Subsequent development failed to find the North Star vein continuing beyond this intersection, so the 6300-ft. level proved to be the bottom level of the North. Star vein, and very little ore was found below the 5300-ft. level. The new vein was called No. 1 vein. Development work carried on for the next 10 years discovered a third vein, called No. 2, branching off about 1200-ft. to the east, with a North-south strike and a west dip. No. 1 vein had about 900 ft. of backs above the 6300-ft. level before reaching the boundary line of the property, and No. 2 vein died out about 800 ft. above. During these 10 years, the money spent on development was increased from $54,000 in 1914 to $184,000 in 1924; the ore reserves steadily diminished until it was evident that the mine must close down unless by some means a large tonnage of ore could be developed quickly.

Jan 1, 1930

By Joseph Kuti

Longwall mining is the term used for the underground extraction of a wide and deep panel of coal. Such a panel may be blocked out by one or more entries on either side ("head" and "tail") of a longwall face. If all the entries are pre-driven, the panel extraction is termed longwall retreat mining. With one exception, all the longwall faces in the United States are of this type.1 Prior to the general decline in the rates of production with Continuous Miners, the development of the multiple entries generally kept ahead of the longwall extraction rate. This is no longer the case: longwall extraction rates far exceed the rate of development. In addition to this problem, in newly established mines, the development of a haulage and bleeder system based on multiple entries results in a lead-time of three years or more before longwall mining can be applied.

Jan 11, 1979

By J. M. Gaines

THE use of oxygen in electric furnaces is relatively old, and the practice has been employed by several steelmakers prior to the recent impetus given generally to the use of oxygen in steelmaking. This application has been described recently in several publications,1 and a number of patents relating to the application of oxygen in electric furnaces have been issued.2 An effort is made in this paper to assemble recent information relating to the use of oxygen in electric furnaces and to present this material from a practical viewpoint, to an extent consistent with the withholding of certain operating data which manufacturers consider to be confidential. The use of oxygen has been extended during the past months in a number of additional steel companies by incorporating oxygen practice into regular production and by much increased experimentation. Available records show that oxygen is used more or less regularly at present in 18 shops, of which six utilize the oxygen for production and the others for experimen¬tation. The number of furnaces per shop using oxygen varies from one to six. Many types of electric-furnace steel have been prepared with the assistance of pure oxygen, including low-carbon and medium-carbon killed steels, low-carbon rimming steel and low-carbon and medium-carbon stainless and alloy steels. Oxygen has been used in furnaces of all sizes up to 90 tons capacity for accelerating charge meltdown and for reduction of carbon.

Jan 1, 1947

By Theodore H. Eyde

The Superior Oil Co. drilled two holes, 4720 and 5940 ft, respectively, using conventional oilfield rotary drilling equipment. The results indicated that large rotary drills can be adapted to mineral exploration purposes with few modifications. The principal advantages are: a large hole diameter, excellent samples of cuttings, a geolograph which is a constant drilling record, rapid penetration even in hard rocks, and the ability to use electric logs for measuring the properties of the rock being penetrated. The disadvantages are the high cost of mobilization, drilling, and oilfield service at remote locations. Though the oilfield sampling techniques are adequate for identifying lithology, improvements are necessary to obtain representative samples for analytical purposes. As deeper targets are explored, mineral exploration organizations will have to resort to rotary drilling.

Jan 1, 1975

By David W. Pasho

The success of a collector vehicle, designed to recover manganese nodules under the conditions which exist in deep ocean mine sites will in part be determined by the effectiveness of pick-up and running gear mechanisms. For the purpose of qualitative comparison, some specific aspects of seafloor interactions with various concepts are reviewed utilizing existing data on seafloor characteristics and running gear/tool interaction with soils.

Jan 1, 1976

By Richard F. Down

The Tynagh mine of Irish Base Metals Ltd., a subsidiary of Northgate Exploration Ltd., of Toronto, Canada, is situated one mile from the village of Tynagh in County Galway, one of the western counties of the Republic of Ireland. Mining has been carried on in Ireland since the Bronze Ages, but, apart from a reference in the 1859 Geological Survey records to much earlier mining attempts, mining has not been a feature of the Tynagh area in recent times. The present ore body was discovered by geochemical techniques in 1961. Following a diamond drilling programme to delimit the orebody, a pilot plant was operated at the property in late 1963 and early 1964. Construction of the 2000 tons per day treatment plant began later in 1964 and production commenced in December, 1965. The orebody contains both sulphide and 'oxide' ores and these are treated to produce, by flotation, a variety of lead concentrates, a zinc concentrate, and a bulk lead-zinc concentrate, which are shipped to several European smelters. The term "oxide ores" is used here to mean all ores which contain economically important amounts of the oxidised minerals of lead, zinc or copper. THE ORE The ore body lies on the northern side of a major east west fault between sandstone and limestone; it is a boat shaped mass of residual or secondary ore lying over primary sulphide in limestone. (1) (2) The secondary ore consists of both residual sulphides and

Jan 1, 1970

By T. B. Counselman

AFTER several years study, the Universal Atlas Cement Co. decided to rebuild its plant at Leeds, Alabama. The entire old plant, which was to operate during the new construction, was then to be scrapped with the exception of two kilns. The quarry was to be mechanized, new and larger kilns installed, with the most modern type of equipment all through the plant. Raw grinding operations at all of the Universal Atlas plants were dry. However, the dust hazard of this operation and the growing emphasis on occupational diseases made wet grinding attractive. Coal at Leeds is cheap, so that a slightly higher coal practice was unimportant. Power was cheap, so that waste-heat boilers were not desirable. Since new kilns were to be installed, these could be made long enough to make filters unnecessary. Wet raw grinding could be either the old practice of open-circuit compartment mills or closed-circuit grinding in accordance with metal-lurgical practice. The latter saved power and steel wear and saved initial investment. This had been demonstrated in cement plants. Also, the elimination of tramp oversize was a most important advantage. Ease of chemical control was another factor. Blending in the thickener, with elimination of slurry mixers had been found practicable. Therefore, if wet raw grinding were used at all, the advantages were clearly in favor of closed-circuit grinding. Detailed layouts of the most modern possible closed-circuit dry-grinding plant and of a closed-circuit wet-grinding plant were prepared, and careful estimates were made of initial invest-ment and operating costs. Full consideration of all the factors involved resulted in a decision to install wet closed-circuit grinding.

Jan 1, 1939