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By Shiou-Chuan Sun, R. E. Zimmerman

An evaluation of the mechanism surrounding the froth flotation of coarse coal and mineral particles as a result of experiments conducted at The Pennsylvania State College. Maximum size ranges for both bituminous and anthracite coals were established as well as the factors affecting the floating of coarse particles. CONSIDERABLE interest is developing in the froth flotation of coal and the maximum particle sizes which can be treated by such method. The economic necessity of recovering extreme coal fines and slurries plus the restrictions being placed upon stream pollution have brought about many new and prospective installations of flotation plants. Most coal slurries or silts have a wide size range, some sizes of which may be unsuitable for effective froth flotation. This fact also enters into the froth flotation of other minerals and the principles that SHIOU-CHUAN SUN and R. E. ZIMMERMAN, Members AIME, are Assistant Professor and Division Chief, respectively, Division of Mineral Preparation, The Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pa. Joint AIME-ASME Fuels Conference, French Lick, October 1949. TP 2843 F. Disccussion (2 copies) may be sent to Transactions AIME before June 30, 1950. Manuscript received Sept. 12, 1949. apply to coal would also apply to minerals in general. A series of experiments were made by the authors for the purpose of investigating factors influencing the froth flotation of coarse mineral particles and an attempt has been made to evaluate those factors. This paper presents the results of a study of the froth flotation of coal particles in the size range greater than 35 mesh. During the study a "multi-bubble" hypothesis has been developed to explain the various phenomena observed in the behavior of coarse particles in froth flotation of coal. The terms coarse, intermediate, and fine particles as used in this paper are arbitrary and differ for various minerals. For coal alone the term intermediate particles means that the particle size is within the range of 35 and 200 mesh of Tyler sieve sizes. Sizes of coal particles coarser and finer than this size range are termed respectively as coarse and fine particles. Methods of Conducting Flotation Experiments: All of the flotation tests, except those shown in table 1, were carried out in a laboratory Fagergren flotation machine, using 300-a samples of solids for each test. All mineral samples we; prepared from selected lumps of high purity by crushing, grinding, and screening to the desired sizes. Except coals, all the other samples were cleaned through magnetic

Jan 1, 1951

By Donald C. Barton

Geophysical methods of prospecting taken as a whole do not seem to offer much promise to a young man planning to enter them in the future. They have come to stay, to be sure, and they will continue in at least moderate use for a long time. Domestic use of those methods presumably is at a maximum at the present time. Geophysical prospecting is expensive; the effects of the law of diminishing returns in efficiency in finding prospects can already be recognized. Small oil companies, independent oil operators, and royalty buyers have been doing much geophysical work. But in face of the increasing costs of discovery of prospects and in face of the probably decreasing favorability of the prospects discovered, I expect to see a sharp drop in their use of geophysics within the next 10 years. The major oil companies and the larger small oil companies will continue to use geophysics indefinitely, but it seems doubtful whether the very extensive domestic campaigns of a few companies will be maintained for many years, certainly not for 10 years. The use of the geophysical methods in foreign countries has not yet reached its peak, and probaby will continue to increase for several years. That peak level of activity will probably be held for 10 years, although the site of maximum activity will shift from country to country; by the end of 25 years from now, I should expect the foreign use of the methods to have leveled off to one-fourth to one-half the peak level. Foreign service in geophysics does not seem to offer an attractive career, except for men of exceptional disposition. Young men just out of college, who are willing and who can afford to spend three or four years having a fling at adventure before settling down, will find it attractive, but when their tour of foreign service is over, they probably will have harder work finding a job than when they were seniors, and their foreign experience will count for little, except for further foreign service. A few men, mainly the higher men, will have headquarters at civilized or semi-civilized cities and towns or at permanent oil-company towns, and can

Jan 1, 1940

THE CHAIRMAN (DR. A. R. LEDOUX).-If there ever was a question in the mind of anybody as to whether there are some mining engineers, I think if they would look in the door tonight they would decide there are. We meet here tonight not only to enjoy a smoke and other incidentals which are permitted us in these days, but with a more serious thought in our minds, because that flag, with its 540 stars, only begins to show the number of our membership that are serving the country. We are thinking of them, and when we consider how many of those men are also citizens of one or another of our allied countries, we can imagine that many are tonight thinking of us and perhaps have received, even at the front, notices of our annual meeting and are wondering what we are doing tonight; so our thought this evening will be going out to them, going out to those of our number who are serving in the khaki or in the blue, or in other activities denied to some of us for one reason or another; but, gentlemen, there is one thing we will do now, we will rise and sing together r the Star Spangled Banner. Gentlemen, not only are American citizens here tonight, not only representatives of our country on the Speakers' platform, but. there are representatives of our Allies, and we are going to have the privilege of listening to one or two of the latter, a citizen of the great British Empire and a citizen of France. We will first have the pleasure of hearing Capt. Hodder-Williams. He has been loaned to us to take charge of training Columbia University students, after two years or more in the trenches, and lie carries with him the only German thing in this room, a German bullet in his shoulder. That has not affected either his spirit or his

Jan 4, 1918

By J. N. Hummel

The methods of electrical prospecting, which employ contact electrodes to produce an electric field in the ground, furnish information concerning the constitution of the material beneath the surface, as indicated by the distortion of this artificially produced field and anomalies therein. To reveal the distortion of such field of known character, it is only necessary to measure qualitatively the direction of the field, using sensitive compensation methods. In such a case, the survey is relatively simple, and that is an important factor from a practical point of view. The distortion of the normal field thus determined permits an easy interpretation and gives approximate information as to the subsurface conditions, without the necessity of a thorough theoretical knowledge of the electrical field. The true field of application of the equipotential lines and search-coil methods, which are based on this principle of directional determination of the electrical field in the ground, is that of search for deposits of economic minerals for the mining industry, although they can also be used in solution of other problems; for example, in the determination of the strike of anisotropic beds. The distortion of the electric field as represented by the picture of equipotential lines or other measured curves is striking only when bodies having conductivities different from that of the country rock are embedded in the underground, or when the underground is anisotropic. It is obvious that methods based on such a simple principle and capable of solving directly many of the practical problems of mining geology have found a widespread application. However, these methods are unable to furnish any information as to the presence, depth and physical properties of layers in the underground, which have different conductivities, but are parallel, or only slightly inclined, to the surface. Where such conditions exist in the underground, the picture of the field

Jan 1, 1932

By Edgar Schweitzer

The original Dorrance breaker of the Lehigh Valley Coal Co. was erected in 1883. The coal beds were clean and dry, consequently a dry preparation system was used, consisting of revolving cylindrical screens for sizing and hand-picking, to remove the few impurities from the run of mine coal. The picking or cleaning room contained long parallel rows of chutes with seats mounted on them, for the use of the breaker boy, who bent over the chute and picked out the refuse material from the coal as it gravitated down the chute. The introduction of dry mechanical pickers, of, the sliding frictional type, in the early nineties lessened the number of boys, but hand-cleaning on the coal and refuse discharge ends of the mechanical picker was necessary. The Pardee spiral pickers, which were brought out about 1900, were better than the gravity pickers and gradually replaced them. In 1912 the breaker was entirely remodeled, although the original frame was retained. The revolving screens were replaced by shaking screens, and Pardee spirals were installed on all sizes of coal from egg to pea coal, inclusive. Hand-picking still was necessary on the coal and refuse ends of the spirals, although the changes did result in a reduction of the former breaker force. As mining advanced, and the thick clean bed became exhausted, it was necessary to mine veins containing a high percentage of impurities, which complicated the preparation problem. The most serious difficulty was the increase in the quantity of damp or wet run of mine, which could not be fully cleaned on the spirals. When this quantity exceeded approximately 5 per cent. of the feed, it was necessary to send the excess of the wet coal to the company's Prospect colliery for wet washing. This plan worked well for a time, but as the amount approached 15 per cent., with the prospect of a further increase, the company considered the building of a wet-washing plant. The Dorrance breaker was the only dry-cleaning plant operated by the company. At the seventeen other collieries, wet washing was employed, and jigs, both plunger and pan, were used. All the practical methods used in the anthracite fields were investigated, and it was finally decided to adopt the Rheolaveur system. The decision was due largely to the experience gained from the the operation of a Rheo-

Jan 1, 1931

By P. Raffinot, M. Rey, V. Formanek, G. Sitia

Six years of laboratory study, followed by three years of mill operation treating more than 10,000 tons of ore, have established the flotation of oxidized zinc ores with fatty amines as an efficient process. Recently the method has been applied with success to partially oxidized sulphide ores. In this paper the authors give an account of their research and the milling results obtained in Sardinia since 1951. CONCENTRATION of oxidized copper and lead ores by flotation has been practiced for 30 years, but flotation of oxidized zinc ores has remained unsolved until a few years ago. This problem is, however, of great importance in mining districts where large tonnages of oxidized zinc ores exist in underground mines or in dumps. Some sulphide ores also possess a degree of oxidation high enough to justify recovery of oxide zinc minerals. Various attempts have been made to float the zinc carbonate, smithsonite. It is well known' that smithsonite can be collected with fatty acids, but as the predominant gangue constituents, limestone and dolomite. are floatable with the same reagents, fatty acids are difficult to use. Gaudin has shown,' on mixture of pure minerals, that smithsonite can be floated with higher xanthates, or better, with higher mercaptans. Another procedure, briefly mentioned by Davis," consists in sulphidizing the ore, activating the zinc carbonate with copper sulphate, and floating with ordinary xanthates. This process was attempted in the writers' laboratory in 1946, but results were erratic. It has since been taken up by Italian engineers and is in operation on certain types of ores. Two other research projects should be mentioned. In 1942 Erlenmeyer and others' floated synthetic mixtures of smithsonite and gangue minerals with hydroxyquinoline, an analytical reagent for zinc. On the other hand, Bunge, Fine, and Legsdin published in 19465 Some interesting results obtained on Missouri oxidized zinc ores. With sodium oleate as a collector and a combination of sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate, and citric acid as a limestone depressor, they secured, after four cleaning operations, a good grade of concentrate. With many ores this reagent combination lacks adequate selectivity. In 1939 M. Rey initiated a program of research on this important problem. Work was pursued first at the School of Mines in Liége, Belgium"' and later in Paris in the laboratories of Société Miniére et Mbtallurgique de Penarroya and Société Minerais et Métaux. Reagents used in the beginning were higher xanthates and mercaptans, later fatty amines. Sulphidization with sodium sulphide was found necessary. These conditions make possible the flotation of zinc carbonate and zinc silicate. Two milling plants were put in operation in Sardinia in 1950 and several others are now contemplated." ' It should be mentioned that unknown to the present writers McKenna, Lessels, and Peterson were

Jan 1, 1955

By E. DeGolyer

The problem of good engineering practice and. of good conservation practice in oil production is that of keeping gas in solution. This can best be done by producing a field as a water-drive field. Some degree of water drive is believed to be present in most fields but in the past most fields have been produced too rapidly to allow water drive to be effective. Ultimate recovery should be So per cent greater for fields produced by water drive over that from gas-expansion fields. Wide spacing will permit fields of low-degree water drive to be produced effectively as water-drive fields. INTRODUCTION NEGLECTING all the complicated scientific and technical argument that leads to the conclusion, the solution of the problem of good production practice, of good engineering practice, and of good conservation practice in oil production is to keep gas in solution. This can best be done by producing fields at a rate low enough to make effective the water drive, which exists, it is generally believed, to a degree great enough to be made effective in more than 80 per cent of the fields of the United States. Oil is being so produced in the Ten Section field of California; the Hobbs field of New Mexico; the Yates, Hastings, Friendswood, Anahuac fields and the main sand of the Conroe pool, in Texas; the Magnolia pool in Arkansas, and doubtless in many other pools. The measures of success in the efforts to achieve the solution of the problem are the maintenance of bottom-hole pressure and the prevention of an increase in gas-oil ratio. Some decline from the original bottom-hole pressure and the production of some gas are essential. A pressure gradient from the reservoir to the well is necessary and at least as much gas must be produced as that in solution in a barrel of oil. Once the optimum pressure and the gas-oil ratio have been established, they should be maintained. How common is water drive in oil and gas pools? General opinion is that some degree of water drive is almost universal. Theoretically, this conclusion appears to be a sound one. According to our present understanding of the processes of sedimentation, we would expect to find all sands or sandstone charged with connate water unless it had been displaced by some other fluid, such as fresh water percolating into the beds at the outcrop, or oil and gas, or gas only, in reservoirs. The fact that the original pressure of the fluid system in most reservoirs is approximately that of the hydrostatic head of water for the corresponding depth indicates that the sands are charged with water, and common experience in drilling into the extensions of the porous zones beyond the reservoir is to find them watercharged. The very fact that oil and gas pools have substantial pressures in their original undisturbed state indicates either that a reservoir is a rigid, closed system, a con-

Jan 1, 1941

By R. S. Archer

IN the microscopic examination of aircraft-engine parts made of heat-treated alloy steels, the writer has been forcibly impressed by the failure of the usual etching processes to disclose any but gross defects in heat treatment. It seemed particularly desirable to bring out the grain size of the steel, which is indicated in the ordinary etching processes chiefly by the change in orientation of structure from grain to grain. After various attempts, a fairly successful method has been found, which is here presented in the hope that it may be of use to those who have occasion to examine these steels in the heat-treated condition. The specimens worked with have been mostly chrome-nickel steels heat treated (that is, hardened and tempered) to a Brinell hardness of around 300. A few experiments with other specimens will be referred to later. Briefly, the method employed consists in etching the steel about 10 min. in a fresh solution of picric acid in ethyl alcohol, and then rubbing off the smudge of carbonaceous matter on moist broadcloth. Different samples of almost identical analysis; heat treatment, and physical properties (including resistance to impact) respond quite differently to this treatment. In some, the grain boundaries are developed quite readily, while iii others, especially ill those whose grain is unusually fine or in which the final hardening heat, has not quite obliterated the previous crystallization, the results are more obscure. The exact time of etching to secure the best results also differs for various samples, and the greatest success is usually attained by a process of "tinkering." Such a process is illustrated in a series of micrographs, the first six of which were taken at a magnification of 300 diameters.

Jan 1, 1919

By R. Schumann

THE expression "unit process " comes up with increasing frequency in discussions among metallurgists and mineral engineers, especially among those concerned with training the next generation. The unit process approach characterizes a significant advance along the road from metallurgy as an empirical art to metallurgy as a branch of engineering. The purposes of this paper are to define and list the unit processes in specific terms, to indicate the scientific and engineering principles basic to all the unit processes, and finally to show how these ideas have been applied to a reorganization of instruction in chemical metallurgy. UNIT OPERATIONS AND UNIT PROCESSES Metals are extracted from ores and other raw materials by stepwise procedures. In general, each metallic element is extracted by a different procedure. For many of the metals there is a choice of several flowsheets. However, the procedures all have steps in common. In fact, the many different flowsheets are all made up of a relatively small number of steps which are combined in different groups and sequences. For example, crushing, screening, roasting, sintering, melting, and gaseous reduction are steps which each appear in the flowsheets for extracting the majority of the metals. The individual steps or flowsheet units can be designated as unit operations or unit processes. These terms are well established in the field of chemical engineering, as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' definition of chemical engineering shows: " Chemical engineering is that branch of engineering concerned with the development and application of manufacturing processes in which chemical or certain physical changes of materials are involved. These processes may usually be resolved into a coordinated series of unit physical operations and unit chemical processes. The work of the chemical engineer is concerned primarily with the design, construction, and operation of equipment and plants in which these unit operations and processes are applied. Chemistry, physics, and mathematics are the underlying sciences of chemical engineering, and economics its guide in practice."1a In this definition, the distinction between unit operations and unit processes is that the unit operations are physical while the unit processes are chemical. Table I gives a list of the principal unit operations and unit processes of chemical engineering, taken from Shreve. lb Table 2 lists the principal unit operations and unit processes used for metal extraction. The division between unit operations and unit processes is similar to the chemical engineers' distinction and also corresponds approximately to the division of labor between mineral dressing and chemical metallurgy which has been customary in the past. Furthermore, it will be noted that in the proposed classification the unit processes primarily involve chemical reactions and/or changes in state of aggregation; the unit operations, primarily do not involve either bulk

Jan 1, 1948

By R. S. Christie

Reservoir pressure is the pressure at which a fluid is held in a state of equilibrium in a porous stratum. This pressure may be a result of the genesis of oil or gas and its subsequent migration into and through an adjacent porous stratum, or of hydraulic head. Reservoir pressure is an indication of the potential energy contained in the reservoir, and when it is known the engineer is in a position to use it to advantage in recovering and lifting the oil. It is important to know the pressures in any type of reservoir, but this knowledge is probably of greater value in a limestone reservoir, as at Hobbs, where producing rates or conditions may be more sensitive to changes in pressures. The Hobbs field is in east central Lea County, New Mexico. The discovery well was completed by the Midwest Refining C I. in 1928, but intensive development did not begin until after the completion by the Humble Oil and Refining Co. of No. 1-A Bowers in February, 1930. There are 143 producing wells on approximately 5500 acres. The field has not been defined to the northwest, but a projection of structural contours indicates that the productive area ultimately may cover 7500 acres. The producing horizon is the White or Crystalline lime of Permian age. The top of the lime is found at an average depth of 4000 ft. and the wells penetrate it an average distance of 200 ft. The main pay zone is an oolitic stratum about 25 ft. below the top, and varies from 2 to 15 ft. in thickness. Other porous or cavernous strata are found lower in the lime but have little saturation. The initial production varied from 100 to 25,000 bbl. per day, depending perhaps to some extent on the structural location but chiefly on the porosity of the pay. The initial gas-oil ratio varied from 325 to 16,000 cu. ft. per barrel. In wells where the top of the White lime was found below 350 ft. below sea level (Fig. 1)) the gas-oil ratio was usually less than 1500 cu. ft. per barrel, while in wells higher than 350 ft. below sea level, the ratio was usually above 2000 cu. ft. per barrel. The water table has been determined at about 620 ft. below sea level, by three wells on the west side of the field. With few exceptions, the wells have been completed with 7-in. casing cemented

Jan 1, 1932

By H. Q. Golder

With the development of open-pit mines of ever increasing depth, the stability of the pit slopes in soil and rock is of growing economic importance. How is it, considering the newness of the problem that we know anything at all about the stability of man-made slopes? How much do we know and how did it all begin? We can make a reasonable estimate of the stability of a slope in soil, but we know as yet woefully little about slopes in rock because the problem is much more complex. It is only with the development of the capacity of the computer to handle wearisome calculations that any but the simplest of stability problems in rock have become possible of solution. But what we do know is a guide of immense value in the design of slopes in rock. But remember that the computer is a great elevator; it takes everyone's feet off the ground! So our study began with soils and what is now known as "Soil Mechanics", which is a translation of the German term "Bodenmechanik". It is a pity that the title of Terzaghi's book "Erdbaumechanik" was not used instead. But here the task of the translator is difficult because English lacks the facility of German to string together several words and make a new one whose meaning is unequivocal. Thus, we have the three German words 'Erde' 'Bau' and 'Mechanik'. 'Erde' means "earth" in almost all the English senses including "soil". 'Bau' and 'bauen' convey the meaning of building and construction, and 'Mechanik' means "mechanics" which includes statics and dynamics and the 'mechanics of materials', etc. So that a correct translation of the German is a phrase like "the mechanics of construction with, in or on, earth or soil." However we are stuck with 'Soil Mechanics' and that is where it all began. Now this study or subject did not begin with 'Terzaghi' although his contribution to the subject is unquestionably greater than that of any other single person. Every scientific discipline has its 'classical problem' and that of soil mechanics is 'the earth pressure problem' and it began in the 17th century. In fact, it probably began before this with the introduction of gunpowder to Western Europe in about the 15th century, but the first known reference to the problem was by Vauban, a distinguished French military engineer who lived from 1633 to 1707 and who gave rules for the dimensions of retaining walls from 6 to 80 ft. in height. The soil properties were not mentioned by Vauban probably because the rules were intended to be applied to fortifications only, but Poncelet (1840) claimed that Vauban's rules were based on a theory, and not simply on military and practical

Jan 1, 1972

By Leonard D. Jaffe

IN recent years, the advantages of tempered martensite as a microstructure for steel parts have been well established. For parts that must not fracture brittlely when loaded at high rates, at low temperatures, or under conditions of combined stress, tempered martensite is especially desirable. One of the factors that determine whether a steel part will have a martensitic structure after heat treatment is the hardenability of the steel. Despite the large amount of recent research, there are still many unsettled basic questions concerning hardenability and its relation to chemical composition, and, indeed, considerable disagreement among investigators in the field. Much of the uncertainty that beclouds the existing knowledge of hardenability arises from the fact that hardenability is still a wholly empirical concept, and has not been quantitatively related to the more fundamental knowledge of isothermal decomposition of austenite. Hardenability is, essentially, a measure of the time required for small percentages of austenite to decompose, during continuous cooling, to pearlite, bainite, proeutectoid ferrite, or proeutectoid carbide. In the practical heat-treatment of steel, also, the decomposition of austenite is usually not isothermal but rather during cooling, or, in general, is not at a single constant temperature. Thus, both hardenability and practical heat treatment involve anisothermal decomposition of austenite. In a previous publication1 the author and his collaborators outlined the principles that govern the relations between isothermal and anisothermal decomposition of austenite, and reviewed the experimental information available in 1945. To avoid repetition, familiarity with that article (Paper 1) will be assumed, and attention given primarily to work carried out or published since 1945. The method generally employed was explained in Paper 1: anisothermal transformation is studied through investigation of the effect of holding austenite at one temperature upon its subsequent decomposition at another temperature. Both temperatures are below the stability range of the austenite. This paper is confined to studies in which only a small amount of transformation occurred at the first temperature. This is the only case of importance in practical heat treatment when an essentially martensitic structure is sought. MATERIALS AND PROCEDURE It was necessary to use different steels for the studies involving proeutectoid ferrite and for those involving proeutectoid carbide, because the two constituents have not been found to form in the same steel. Several steels were tried and rejected

Jan 1, 1947

By Carl Belser

This paper summarizes the data on the oil-shale deposits of western Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. It is based on published reports by the U. S. Geological Survey, on the results of core drilling and sampling by the Bureau of Mines, on the drill cuttings from the Genera1 Petroleum well, on a recent unpublished report by the Geological Survey on the geology of Naval Oil-Shale Reserves No. I and No' 21 and from information supplied by geologists of private companies who have investigated the Green River formation. The paper also contains a revised estimate of the grade and tonnage of minable thicknesses of oil shale of western Colorado. Introduction The oil shales of the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming comprise an important natural resource for the production of synthetic liquid fuels. The oil shale in western Colorado generally is more amenable to exploitation, apparently richer, and probably more persistent than in Utah or Wyoming. Work is now being done by the Bureau of Mines near Rifle, Cola. to ascertain the best procedures for mining the oil shale, producing shale oil from the oil shale, and converting the oil into more salable products. As a part of this program, holes were drilled and cores were taken of the oil shale on Naval Oil-Shale Reserve No. I. In addi- tion, drill cuttings were obtained from a well drilled through the Green River formation by the General Petroleum Co. about 18 miles northerly of the Naval Oil-Shale Reserve. Geology During middle Eocene time a broad, shallow body of water, now called Uinta Lake, covered northwestern Colorado and east-central Utah; a similar lake, known as Gosiute Lake, was in southwestern Wyoming Each of these contemporary lakes was bounded by high hills; the drainage was to the south. The Green River formation was laid down as sediments in the bottoms of these lakes. It is 3000 ft thick and has been divided into the following four members:

Jan 1, 1949

By W. H. Craigue

The scope of this article covers only the mathematical principles involved in discounting to present worth future expected profits and it is believed answers definitely two questions, which were raised at a recent meeting of the Committee on Methods of Valuing Coal Properties, as follows: 1. The accumulative effect of carrying charges on the value of coal mines showing definitely the number of years beyond which the coal may not be mined at a profit and subsequent to which the possession of any unmined coal will be a liability rather than an asset. 2. The effect on the valuation of coal mines, in the presence of the carrying charges described in question 1, of an increase in plant capacity and production. In general, in considering these questions, it may be stated that the consideration of an increase in plant capacity and production follows as a matter of course after a determination has been made of the year beyond which no profits are to be realized (giving the carrying charges accumulative effect, or in other words capitalizing the carrying charges, as shown hereinafter). For example, if it is determined that any coal that is unmined after 45 years will have no value or less than no value, the question immediately arises as to whether or not a plant should be constructed that would result in a yearly production great enough to extract the entire tonnage in a time less than 45 years, and if so the number of years less than 45 years that would, from a financial standpoint, be the most desirable, all under the assumption that the market for the product or the transportation facilities are such that the yearly production can be increased to the desired amount. Specifically, the carrying charge is considered herein as yearly expense, such as state or local taxes, which are assessed each year against the total tonnage remaining in the ground (or the total coal acreage remaining) at the beginning of the year, at a fixed rate per ton (or a fixed rate per acre) OF a fixed percentage of the assessed value, in the latter case it being necessary to convert such percentage into a rate per

Jan 1, 1934

By Charles A. Ashburner

VERY little is known of the economical value of the coal-betas of. the State of Texas. The first authentic statement in regard to their occurrence is that contained in the reports of the United States Explorations for the Pacific Railroad, near the 32d parallel of latitude, published in 1853-55. Professor William P. Blake reports, "that a number of seams of bituminous coal, varying, in thickness from two to four feet, have been opened along the Brazos River, in Young County, about one hundred and fifty miles west of Fort North." Dr: Shumard also states, "that the characteristic fossil forms of the Carboniferous Era have been found with this coal, and considers the ago of the formation established. Fossils obtained from the carboniferous limestone remove all doubt of the age of these deposits."† In the spring of 1879, I was called upon by. some Eastern capitalists to make an examination of the Brazos coal-field, in order to obtain the thickness, extent, and value of the coal which could be mined and be- made merchantable for steam, heating, and metallurgical purposes. The demand for coal in this section of the country is great, and a fuel. which in our Eastern markets might be considered of inferior quality, would here find a ready sale. It must be remembered that the market value of a coal does not depend upon its absolute purity, but upon its actual value in heat units which it is capable of producing. A poor coal which can be cheaply mined near the: consumer, is infinitely more remunerative to a mining company than a superior coal whose cost to the consumer is greatly increased by high mining charges and railroad freights. The value of the Texan coals does not depend upon their purity but upon their low first cost and nearness to a market. A glance at a geological map of the United States, will show that the Brazos coal-field is the extreme southwestern extension of what may be called the Missourian, Fourth or Western, bituminous coal * I am permitted by the gentlemen for whom the examination was made to publish the general statements contained in this paper. † Macfarlane's Coal Regions of America. More recently brief mention has been made of the coal-field in the pamphlets of the State geological survey. These reports are, however, too general, too indefinite, and too impracticable to permit of any conclusions as to the value of the coal as an economical, merchantable fuel.

Jan 1, 1881

By A. J. M. Ross

Backfilling of stopes and other underground openings in the Homestake mine with sand tailings was undertaken primarily to reduce surface subsidence, which was wrecking much of the surface plant and a substantial part of the town, and to make possible maintenance of openings into the top of pillar stopes as mining progressed. The progress of this type of filling has been rapid and the results very satisfactory. Sand is now used in filling timbered stopes, shrinkage stopes, and abandoned drifts and crosscuts. A permanent pipe-line system for transporting sand tailings into the mine by gravity has been installed. The close filling of all stopes has resulted in important benefits other than the two major ones. The ore bodies in the Homestake mine occur as replacements in one distinctive layer of the metamorphosed pre-Cambrian sediments along a group of minor folds that together form a complex anticline that pitches at 35" to 40' to the southeast. The ore bodies are extraordinary for their magnitude. Widths of over 300 ft. have been mined and continuous ore has been followed for over 1200 ft. along the strike on some of the upper levels. Mining has been by shrinkage stoping with square-set mining of crowns and pillars. In the standard plan, shrinkage stopes 60 ft. in the direction of strike and the full width of the ore have been taken up to within 25 ft. of the level above. After filling, the crown has been mined by square-set methods, as have also the 40-ft. pillars between shrinkage stopes. In former days, when the supply of ore seemed inexhaustible, the mining of pillars was allowed to lag far behind because of the high cost. Many pillars were rather badly fractured on the level and in some places between levels. Coarse waste was used for backfilling all stopes, but in pillars it became increasingly difficult to maintain haulageways for the transportation of this fill over the top of the stopes as mining progressed. The cost of maintaining these crosscuts was excessive and in many pillars practically impossible. Therefore it became the practice to fill pillar stopes by tapping the back and sides of the stopes.

Jan 1, 1940

By R. E. Zimmerman, Shiou-Chuan Sun

An evaluation of the mechanism surrounding the froth flotation of coarse coal and mineral particles as a result of experiments conducted at The Pennsylvania State College. Maximum size ranges for both bituminous and anthracite coals were established as well as the factors affecting the floating of coarse particles. CONSIDERABLE interest is developing in the froth flotation of coal and the maximum particle sizes which can be treated by such method. The economic necessity of recovering extreme coal fines and slurries plus the restrictions being placed upon stream pollution have brought about many new and prospective installations of flotation plants. Most coal slurries or silts have a wide size range, some sizes of which may be unsuitable for effective froth flotation. This fact also enters into the froth flotation of other minerals and the principles that SHIOU-CHUAN SUN and R. E. ZIMMERMAN, Members AIME, are Assistant Professor and Division Chief, respectively, Division of Mineral Preparation, The Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pa. Joint AIME-ASME Fuels Conference, French Lick, October 1949. TP 2843 F. Disccussion (2 copies) may be sent to Transactions AIME before June 30, 1950. Manuscript received Sept. 12, 1949. apply to coal would also apply to minerals in general. A series of experiments were made by the authors for the purpose of investigating factors influencing the froth flotation of coarse mineral particles and an attempt has been made to evaluate those factors. This paper presents the results of a study of the froth flotation of coal particles in the size range greater than 35 mesh. During the study a "multi-bubble" hypothesis has been developed to explain the various phenomena observed in the behavior of coarse particles in froth flotation of coal. The terms coarse, intermediate, and fine particles as used in this paper are arbitrary and differ for various minerals. For coal alone the term intermediate particles means that the particle size is within the range of 35 and 200 mesh of Tyler sieve sizes. Sizes of coal particles coarser and finer than this size range are termed respectively as coarse and fine particles. Methods of Conducting Flotation Experiments: All of the flotation tests, except those shown in table 1, were carried out in a laboratory Fagergren flotation machine, using 300-a samples of solids for each test. All mineral samples we; prepared from selected lumps of high purity by crushing, grinding, and screening to the desired sizes. Except coals, all the other samples were cleaned through magnetic

Jan 1, 1951

During the past 60 or 90 days, the metropolitan newspapers have published much concerning unemployment throughout the nation and the efforts of the Army and various other bureaus for finding work for the returning soldiers. The United States Employment Service has 2000 bureaus throughout the country, which Nathan A. Smyth, Assistant Federal Director, states have placed more than 2,400,000 persons in employment. The Engineering Societies Employment Bureau, which, since December, 1918, has been endeavoring to put all returning engineers in touch with employers who need efficient men, has produced results that are very gratifying to the Secretaries of the four Founder Societies under whose direct management the Bureau operates. During this period, 1615 men have registered at the Bureau's office in the Engineering Societies Building; not all of these, however, are unemployed. Many are ex-army and navy men, who in passing through New York on their way home, look over the field in the hope of making a change for their own benefit before returning to their former positions. During this period, 427 positions vacant have been filed, 2300 of which positions have been filled from the men registered. The letters mailed by this Bureau amount to about 1000 a month and the number of personal calls at the office, 1600. The lowest number of positions filled has been in mining, but the lowest number of registrations is also from mining men. While in February idleness throughout the nation was increasing at the rate of 35,000 a week, under date of Mar. 7, Arthur Woods, a special assistant to Secretary of War Baker, states that there is a material improvement in the unemployment situation and that the problem is no longer a serious one. It is recognized that' the improvement wrought in each individual by his military training and experience has so increased his value that it is 'not only unfair, to ask these men to accept their old jobs at the old wages, but it is probably very unlikely that they will be willing to do so. This plain statement of improvement may not carry conviction to everyone but a concrete example will show its validity. Take the example of a young man under 21, bright and intelligent, with only a high-school education who was employed, before being drafted, on purely manual labor. He shows up well under military training and is made a corporal; he makes good and is appointed a sergeant; and finally becomes top sergeant, which requires him in many ways to handle the entire company of 250 men. The result is; even if he has not been tried by the fire of battle, he comes out of the army with a feeling of self-confidence and capacity that was entirely lacking when he went in and he has had actual experience in handling a larger body of men than the average mine foreman at twice his age, and he has had twice the average amount of detail work to take care of.

Jan 4, 1919

By Paul Billingsley

The Asientos-Tepezala district is in the north of the State of Aguasca-lientes, about 30 miles north of the city of Aguascalientes, the capital. The district is reached by a standard-gage railway on the west side through the junction, Rincon de Romos, which is on the main line of the National Railways of Mexico from El Paso to Aguscalientes. The terminal is Tepezala. On the east side a narrow gage connects Asientos with the junction, San Gil, on the main line, Asientos to San Luis Potosi. Tepezala on the west side of the Asientos hills is about 2 miles from Asientos on the east side. The area between the two mining centers is separated by a low subdued divide which forms the central part of the hills. The district is in a group of isolated hills surrounded by characteristic bolsón plains. The hills rise above the surrounding plains about 6500 to 10,000 ft.; the highest peak is Alta Mira. The two mining districts lie somewhat upon the flanks of the hills at about the same elevation, 7200 ft. The district is an old one and has been known since early in the 17th Century when the mines were worked by the Franciscan Monks. Their mining operations, which were limited to the oxidized ore above the water level, consisted chiefly in extracting silver from the Santa Francisca vein. To judge from the old workings and the remains of surface plant, the operations were on a large scale. By modern mining operations since about 1900, the various mines of the district have been one of the principal sourees of ore for the smelter located at Aguascalientes. Topography The topographic features of the Asientos hills are largely controlled by the character of the underlying rocks. During the Tertiary period, the entire group of hills was probably covered by extrusive volcanic material in the form of cones and lava flows. The central part of these have since been carried away by erosion, so that remnants have been left along the borders of the hills. These remnants form rather conspicuous peaks,

Jan 1, 1927

By T. G. Chapman

The writer has carried on experimental work for several years with respect to the simultaneous dissolution of gold by cyanide and the adsorption of the dissolved gold on activated charcoal in ore pulps, followed by the recovery of the charcoal by flotation. The results of this experimental work have been sufficiently encouraging to suggest a new process based on the principle of simultaneous dissolution and adsorption of gold, applicable to certain ores and tailings that cannot be treated to advantage by countercurrent decantation or filtration. Applications for patents have been filed and The Dorr Company, Inc. has the exclusive right to license the use of the process. The purpose of this paper is to describe such a process, state its possible advantages and immediate field, and give some results obtained on a laboratory scale. Early Experimental Work In the early stages of the experimental work attempts were made to precipitate soluble gold from cyanide solutions with zinc and aluminum in ore pulps followed by flotation of the precipitated gold, but since the results were not promising enough to continue with these precipitants attention was directed to carbon. The first experiments with carbon comprised the addition of cyanide and alkali to the ore pulp, the addition of carbon at or near the end of the dissolving period, and the recovery of the carbon by flotation. With this method of procedure the assumption was made that carbon functioned as a precipitant of gold from cyanide solutions and as such should be added as are other precipitants, including zinc and aluminum; namely, at the end of the dissolution period. The assumption was then made that carbon functioned as an adsorbent, and that if such assumption proved to be correct, it could be added with success to the ore pulp at the time of adding the cyanide. The first experiment along this line was successful in that the feasibility of the dissolution of gold by cyanide and the simultaneous extraction of the dissolved gold by carbon in ore pulps was demonstrated, at least with respect to such treatment on a laboratory scale.

Jan 1, 1939