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By J. H. Polhems, R. B. Brackin, D. B. Grove

THE heavy media separation process plays an outstanding role in the concentration of 4000 tons of zinc ore per day at the Mascot mill of the American Zinc Co. of Tennessee. Of the total tonnage, 72 pct is treated in the heavy media separation plant to reject 56 pct of the ore as a coarse tailing, which has a ready market. Concentrates from this separation are beneficiated further by jigging and flotation. Approximately 25 pct of the total zinc concentrate production is made in the jig mill. Jig tailings are ground and pumped to the flotation circuit where the balance of the production is made. Fig. 1 shows a generalized flowsheet of the mill. The Mascot ore is a lead-free, honey-colored sphalerite in dolomitic limestone, with lesser amounts of chert and some pyrite. A mineralogical analysis is given in Table I. After 10 years of successful operation with galena medium and treatment of nearly 10,000,000 tons of ore, a decision to convert to ferrosilicon was made early in 1948 because of the increasing price of galena and consequent high operating costs. The conversion was made on Nov. 6, 1948, and the results obtained since that time have shown remarkable improvement over those made with galena. The Table I. Mineralogical Analysis of Mill Feed, Pct Calcium carbonate 49.5 Magnesium carbonate 35.2 Iron oxide and aluminum oxide 1.5 Zinc sulphide 4.5 Insoluble 9.3 100.0 Table II. Comparative Data, Galena and Ferrosilicon Ferro- Diner-Gelenaa siliconb ence Operating costs per ton milled, ct. 21.21 9.12 12.09 Medium consumption per ton milled, lb 0.80c 0.15 0.65 Reagent consumption per ton milled, lb 0.45 0.02 0.43 Tailing assay, pct Zn 0.310 0.297 0.013 Concentrate. oct Zn 12.08 10.33 1.75 Heavy medla ieparatlon recovery. pct 89.38 90.22 0.84 Mill feed rate, tons per hr 153 166 13 Heavy mesa separation feed rate. tons per hr 100 10 0 Tons milled per heavy media separation man shift 350 620 270 Mill feed to coarse tailings, pct 51.0 56.7 5.7 Lost mill time, pct 5.6 5.0 0.6 Power consumption, kw-hr per ton 2.06 1.92 0.14 a 1947. " First 6 months of 1950. c Net consumption after deducting credit for reclaimed waste galena. Consumption of new galena was 1.320 lb per ton milled. For entire life of galena operation, a credit of 40 pct of the value of the new galena added was realized from the sale of waste galena. comparisons given in this report cover the first 6 months of 1950 as representing the ferrosilicon operation, and the year 1947 as representing the galena operation. This was the last full year in which galena was used exclusively and is representative of the best work done during the 10 years of operation with this medium. After only 2 years' operating experience, with ferrosilicon and treatment of 1,807,585 tons many advantages have been revealed and are summarized in Table 11. Development Prior to the introduction of the heavy media process, all the mill feed was crushed through 5/8 in. and treated by jigging. A finished tailing assaying 0.66 pct Zn was made on rougher bull jigs, and cleaner jig tailings were ground for treatment by flotation. The first test work on the sink-and-float method of mineral beneficiation was carried out at Mascot in 1935, using a 3-ft cone and galena medium for batch tests. The following year a 6-ft cone was installed for pilot-plant work. This unit became a part of the mill circuit on March 1, 1936, and handled a gradually increasing tonnage in the next 2 years as the process developed to the point where it could treat all the + 3/8-in. material in the mill feed. Coarse jigging was then discontinued on March 1, 1939, and all coarse tailings have been made by the heavy media separation plant since that time. Feed Preparation: The original feed preparation plant consisted of a drag washer followed by two 4x10-ft Allis-Chalmers washing screens. A surge bin and two additional 5x12-ft AC washing screens were added in 1943. Use of primary and secondary washing screens was found essential to provide the cleanest possible feed for the cone and thereby avoid excessive contamination of the galena medium. Improved washing was obtained by replacing the drag washer with a 7x20-ft Allis-Chalmers scrubber, shown in Fig. 2, which has been in service since May 1944. Throughout the life of the galena operation, delivery of extremely muddy ore to the mill overloaded the medium cleaning system, and it frequently was necessary to cut off the feed and clean the medium for several hours until its normal viscosity had been re-established. The cleaning circuit

Jan 1, 1952

By John B. Campbell, George G. Binder, Loren H. Jenks

Conventional methods of producing crude oil generally leave in the depleted reservoir 1 to 3 bbl of oil for every barrel brought to the surface. This paper describes a field test which explores the possibility of using gas-driven liquid propane to improve oil recovery efficiency. Laboratory theoretical and experimental studies leading to the field test indicated that low residual oil values could be obtained using limited amounts of propane driven by gas. The field test involved (I) repressuring the reservoir to the vapor pressure of liquid propane, (2) injecting the liquid propane, and (3) injecting dry natural gas to drive the propane and oil to the producing wells. Considerable preliminary work, including new drilling, work-overs, and a pressure survey was necessary. During the test, oil production rates have averaged about nine times the final primary rates. The field average GOR is still below the pre-test value. Oil recovery to date is 112,000 STB. About one-third of the 143,-000 bbl of propane injected has been produced to date. Results of the C-2 block test are encouraging and larger, more definitive field projects ore indicated. INTRODUCTION The cost of finding new crude oil reservoirs continues to increase. Today the oil industry is drilling more and deeper wells and making fewer big discoveries. Nevertheless, the demand for oil and oil products increases each year. It is natural that oil companies, faced with this situation, concentrate on recovering more of the oil existing in our known crude oil reservoirs. There is room for much improvement. For every barrel of oil brought to the surface by present day methods of producing crude oil, generally 1 to 3 bbl are left behind in the depleted reservoirs. The "unrecoverable" oil in petroleum reservoirs is largely "trapped" by capillarity. Since flushing with a solvent is exceedingly effective in combatting oil loss due to capillarity, much effort in this direction has been made in recent years1,2,3,4,5. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has been suggested as a relatively inexpensive. abundant, easily recoverable solvent for crude. Some operators have observed striking responses in oil recovery at production wells offsetting input wells in LPG storage reservoirs6,7,8. In spite of the low unit cost of LPG, however, it is uneconomic in general to inject a volume of LPG into a reservoir to remove a like volume of oil. A modification of solvent flushing in which a limited quantity of liquid propane is gas driven through a reservoir appears capable of recovering much more than 1 bbl of oil per barrel of propane injected. Also, most of the propane injected should be recoverable for sale or re-use. Since such a process could well have widespread and profitable application, The Carter Oil Co. is making an extensive evaluation of the technique's possibilities. Laboratory development of the gas-driven propane recovery technique was sufficiently encouraging to justify testing in the field. Since 1952, the Production and Research Departments of The Carter Oil Co. have cooperated in a field test in the C-2 Block leases of the

Jan 1, 1958

By W. H. Schacht

The operations of the Copper Range Co. are located in the Michigan copper district at the southern end of the Keweenaw Peninsula, 8 miles southwest of Hough ton (the center of the district). All the producing mines are situated in a long narrow zone paralleling the peninsula and occupying the central portion. This zone is about 25 miles long and 3 to 4 miles wide. The important mines, in their order from northeast to southwest, are, Mohawk, Ahmeek, Allouez, North Kearsarge, Wolverine, South Kearsarge, Centennial, Calumet & Hecla, Osceola, Franklin, Quincy, Isle Royale, Baltic, Trimountain, and Champion; the last three are operated by the Copper Range Co. The existence of copper deposits in this district became known soon after the discovery of America. Many references by early explorers show that copper was found in the possession of many of the American Indians that inhabited the Great Lakes region. There is abundant evidence that exploration of these copper deposits extended into prehistoric times; and some indication that the American Indians carried on operations shortly before the advent of white men. An account of the finding of primitive mining appears in the Government publications of 1850-51 by Foster and Whitney. Although earlier expeditions by white men had been made to the Keweenaw peninsula, an attempt to commercialize the district was not made until after 1765, when Alex. Henry, a British subject, searched the shores of Lake Superior for mineral treasure. His first expedition took him to the Ontonagon River, where he found the famous mass of copper now on exhibition at Washington. In 1771, he started operations along this river with a crew financed by English capital; but after much difficulty and only meager success he found only detached masses while in search for a major deposit. There is no record of any cxploration from 1774 to 1820. In 1838, Dr. Douglas Houghton was appointed state geologist. Prior to that time he had made several visits to this region; and was the first white man to find

Jan 1, 1925

By Robert A. Jankowski, Charles D. Taylor

The objective of this program was to conduct dust surveys at six longwall sections having double-drum shearers, that were regularly in compliance, and to identify the dust control techniques that were the most effective. As each of the mines selected had a record of regular compliance with the Federal Dust Standard, all sampling was "short-term" (often less than 30 minutes) and no attempt was made to relate the survey results to dust-sampling results obtained by the companies for compliance purposes. The sampling procedures (1) used during this survey were developed jointly by the Bureau of Mines and Foster-Miller Associates, Inc. In addition to monitoring dust levels, measurements were also taken throughout the shift to monitor airflow along the face and water usage on the shearer. This program was a cooperative effort of the Bureau of Mines and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The following MSHA health specialists contributed to its successful completion: Paul Lenyo, CMS&H, Dist. 2; Ellis Mitchell, CMS&H, Dist. 3; Carl Jenkins, CMS&H, Dist. 4; David Stritzel, CMS&H, Dist. 8; and John Prelc, CMS&H, Dist. 9. RESULTS CUTTING SEQUENCE - WORK LOCATION At all mines surveyed, an important factor in controlling dust exposure at the shearer is the design of the cutting sequence so as to allow the shearer operator to work most of the time on the intake-air side of the lead drum. It is generally accepted that most of the dust generated by a double-drum shearer comes from the lead drum, which in the raised position normally takes a full sump. Because the position of the drum that is in the raised position determines the horizon control, the operator must be close enough to carefully monitor its operation. Therefore, his position relative to the lead drum has a significant effect on his dust exposure. Dust profiles, such as those constructed from data collected at Mines A and B (Figure 1), show the large gradient in dust concentrations that can exist between the intake and return air side of the lead drum. When the primary cut is taken head to tail, the lead drum is downwind and dust levels can be maintained at a low level until air has passed the shearer (Mine A). Thus, shearer operators can stay in relatively uncontaminated air. When the primary cut is taken tail to head, the lead drum is upwind of the shearer controls, resulting in higher dust concentrations at the shearer operator's work location (Mine B). At the mines where this cutting sequence was used, it was company policy for the shearer operators to walk on the intake side of the lead drum, returning to the controls only to adjust the height of the lead drum. DIRECTED WATER SPRAYS AND PASSIVE BARRIERS It is not always possible to keep the shearer operator on the intake air side of the lead drum. Various techniques have been tried to keep the dust generated by the shearer away from the machine operators when they work adjacent to the shearer. At all mines visited, the external water spray nozzles were directed so that dust from the shearer was directed downwind and toward the face, and away from the shearer operators. The effectiveness of using external water sprays to keep dusty air close to the face was noted during Bureau of Mines efforts to develop improved water spray systems (2). Laboratory and underground tests showed that water sprays located properly and directed downwind can create aiflow patterns that move dust generated by the shearer toward the face and away from the shearer operators. Sprays directed upwind, into the airflow, can actually move dust away from the face

Jan 1, 1982

By Richard M. Foose

MOST of the roofing granules produced in Pennsylvania are made by two companies at three plants. The Advance Industrial Supply Co. has three quarries and a mill at Gladhill Station, in southern Adams County. The Funkhouser Company is actively engaged in mining, quarrying and milling at Charmian, about one mile west of Gladhill Station, and at Delta, in southern York County. These three plants produced approximately 100,000 short tons of granules in 1943. The production of roofing granules in 1937 for the whole country was only about 500,000 tons, generally indicating the large growth of the industry since that time. The fundamentals of producing roofing granules were discussed comprehensively by G. W. Josephson in a paper before the Industrial Minerals Division in October 1943 (Mining Technology, March 1944). The purpose of this paper is to describe the actual methods of mining the rock and milling it to make roofing granules, as practiced by the three Pennsylvania plants. MINING AND MILLING Funkhouser Company (Delta) The Funkhouser Company, near Delta, in southern York County, Pennsylvania, operates three joined quarries and a mine in the Peach Bottom slate. The joined quarries extend 1200 ft. in a northeast southwest direction along the strike of the slate cleavage and are about 200 ft. wide. The working face is about 45 ft. high. The quarrying operation is rather simple: Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers, 1-in. and 1 1/4-in., with hollow drill steel, are used to undercut the quarry face with10-ft. holes. The face is "blown" and allowed to slump on the quarry floor. Loaded by a Marion electric shovel into trucks, the shattered rock is taken to the primary crusher 2500 ft. away. In addition to the normal quarrying operations, a drift into the northeast wall of the middle quarry was begun about 1935 and has advanced about 2000 ft. since then. Rooms have been driven at angles to the drift along choice beds of slate. The drifts and rooms have a roof more than 35 ft. high and the main drift and rooms are all more than 40 ft. wide. There is no cribbing at any place in the mine. Several of the rooms were driven upward on a 5º slope and in some of them there was stoping. Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers are used, and only wet drilling is practiced. When visited in January 1940, an electric shovel was operating at the head of the drift, scooping up the slate blasted out of the working face. This, too, is trucked to the primary crusher. Some of the better quality slate is saved for making slate shingles. The primary crusher, which is a No. 30 McCulley gyratory, receives the slate from the trucks and crushes it to about 2-in. size (Fig. I). This product travels by a 30-in. belt conveyor to Niagara vibrating screens with 2-in. holes. The minus 2-in. product moves to a storage silo by bucket

Jan 1, 1945

THE Johnson award for 1926 was given to T. L. Joseph for his experimental work on blast-furnace operation. When the Bureau of Mines undertook its experimental blast-furnace investigation in 1919, a number of operators and metallurgists were doubtful as to the practicability of small-scale tests. Several pre-vious attempts, outside the Bureau, to operate small furnaces had been unsuccessful. However, pig iron was produced in three and four-ton furnaces during the first half of the nineteenth century. The operation of a small furnace did not therefore seem an impossible task. This point of view, together with a realization of the importance of problems connected with the pro-duction of pig iron, prompted the Bureau to undertake this work. Such problems as the feasibility of using charcoal briquets as a fuel, the application of oxygen enriched blast, and the use of new ores and raw ma-terials, in general, can be investigated only at consider-able cost on full sized furnaces, while with an experimental furnace they can be conducted at a com-paratively ;small, cost. The results of small-scale tests are sufficient to determine whether the problem. War-rants the expenditure required for a trial on a com-mercial scale. The accompanying photographs and chart show the various stages of the experimental furnace development. Some idea of the size and shape of furnaces which were tested can be had from the development chart. In oper-ating furnaces A to F, a series of changes were made to increase hearth temperature. Perhaps the most im-portant change was the position of the tuyeres with respect to the bottom of the hearth. The height of the tuyeres above the hearth was gradually increased and the hearth diameter decreased. It was shown by this series of furnaces that metal and slag are the chief source of heat supply to the crucible. For this reason there is a minimum rate at which these materials can be brought into the hearth of a small furnace if it is to function properly. The rate of slag "and metal fall are determined by the burden on the furnace and the rate of blowing. Due to lack of funds necessary to provide ample blowing equipment, hot blast stoves, essential mechani-cal features, and to meet operating expenses, it. was necessary to work with much smaller furnaces, such as G to K shown in the chart. The particular object of these tests was to study the extent to which reactions could be speeded up by decreasing the size of the stock. One decided change, noticed at the beginning of this series of tests, was the effect which coke size had on the production of a strongly reducing gas. Furnace G, 22 in. high, operating on coke crushed to pass 10 mesh, made a gas richer in carbon monoxide than did fur-naces A to F, operating on run-of-the-oven coke.

Jan 3, 1927

By W. R. Ingalls

THE main objective of everybody, individually and collectively as the people of nations, is to earn their living and improve the scale thereof as much and as rapidly as possible. We are able to earn" our living only by working and producing. We I are able to rise to higher standards of comfort only by increasing our production of goods, or diminishing the waste of those that we do produce, or both. This statement is trite. It is equally trite to dwell upon the importance of increased production to be derived from increased efficiency of labor and improved manage-ment; and the good results that would accrue to every-body if employers and employees would work together to secure the maximum of production at the minimum of cost. All of this is nothing more than platitude, to which every intelligent person subscribes in the abstract; but what concerns us especially, and what is neither so easy nor so understandable, is to translate the expres-sion of the abstract principle into formulas for action. The national net income obviously may be increased in two ways, or by both together. One is to diminish the waste of the goods that we already have made available. The other is to increase the supply of goods. .Increasing the supply of goods may involve the elimina-tion of waste, but a distinction is to be drawn between the waste of things that we have and the failure to obtain those that we might have. If we limit the term "waste" to the careless and profligate use of the materials that have come into our possession, together with the absorption of labor in doing obviously unnecessary things; and if we character-ize by the term "inefficiency" the failure to accomplish in our industrial operations the best of which we are capable, we shall create a distinction that will be pro-motive of clear thinking. In this paper I am going to deal with inefficiency, not waste, observing the distinc-tion, arbitrary if you please, that I have made. Without any doubt the greatest inefficiency that exists in our economic affairs is that which causes hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of men to be idle a good deal of the time. The major reasons for such idleness are two-fold. One of them is the conse-quence of what for convenience may be called business cycles, although I do not hold to the hypothesis of business cycles as it is now being rather widely expounded. That hypothesis involves the idea of rhyth-mic undulations due to causes unknown, but which it is hoped may be ascertained. The movement of busi-ness in waves up and down is undeniable, but that there are recurrences of cycles every so often is purely imag-inary, I think. It is unnecessary-to digress into that subject. The extents of the rises and falls above and below a median line undoubtedly is less than is commonly supposed.

Jan 3, 1922

Meeting of Jan. 23, 1914.-The President reported the appointment of Arthur S. Dwight and E. Gybbon Spilsbury as tellers to canvass the votes for the Annual Election of Directors. The President reported the appointment of the Committee on Precious and Base Metals, reorganized in accordance with the list on page xlvi. . The Treasurer was authorized to invest the sum of approximately $1,000, accruing from the sale of Life Memberships during the past year, by the purchase of one gold bond of the Interborough Rapid Transit Co., due 1966, at 5 per cent. The By-Laws of the San Francisco Local Section were approved. The recommendation of the Lord Kelvin Memorial Fund Committee that the balance of the fund unexpended be applied to the establishment of a Kelvin Gold Medal was approved. Forty-two members who had paid up all arrears of clues were reinstated. The sum of $100 was appropriated to the Columbia Local Section. The price of each of the three Volumes of Transactions of the year 1913 was established as $5 in paper and $6 in half-morocco. Forty-three Members, One Associate and four Junior Members were elected to membership in their respective classes.

Jan 2, 1914

By Richard M. Foose

Most of the roofing granules produced in Pennsylvania are made by two companies at three plants. The Advance Industrial Supply Co. has three quarries and a mill at Gladhill Station, in southern Adams County. The Funkhouser Company is actively engaged in mining, quarrying and milling at Charmian, about one mile west of Gladhill Station, and at Delta, in southern York County. These three plants produced approximately 100,000 short tons of granules in 1943. The production of rooling granules in 1937 for the whole country was only about 500,000 tons, generally indicating the large growth of the industry since that time. The fundamentals of producing roofing granules were discussed comprehensively by G. W. Josephson in a paper before the Industrial Minerals Division in October 1943 (TP 1725, this volume page 460). The purpose of this paper is to describe the actual methods of mining the rock and milling it to make roofing granules, as practiced by the three Pennsylvania plants. Mining and Milling Funkhouser Company (Delta) The Funkhouser Company, near Delta, in southern York County, Pennsylvania, operates three joined quarries and a mine in the Peach Bottom slate. The joined quarries extend 1200 ft. in a northeast-southwest direction along the strike of the slate cleavage and are about 200 ft. .wide. The working face is about 45 ft. high. The quarrying operation is rather simple: Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers, I-in. and 1 1/4-in., with hollow drill steel, are used to undercut the quarry face with 10-ft. holes. The face is "blown" and allowed to slump on the quarry floor. Loaded by a Marion electric shovel into trucks, the shattered rock is taken to the primary crusher 2500 ft. away. In addition to the normal quarrying operations, a drift into the northeast wall of the middle quarry was begun about 1935, and has advanced about 2000 ft. since then. Rooms have been driven at angles to the drift along choice beds of slate. The drifts and rooms have a roof more than 35 ft. high and the main drift and rooms are all more than 40 ft. wide. There is no cribbing at any place in the mine. Several of the rooms were driven upward on a 5' slope and in some of them there was stop-ing. Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers are used, and only wet drilling is practiced. When visited in January 1940, an electric shovel was operating at the head of the drift, scooping up the slate blasted out of the working face. This, too, is trucked to the primary crusher. Some of the better quality slate is saved for making slate shingles. The primary crusher, which is a No. 30 McCulley gyratory, receives the slate from the trucks and crushes it to about a-in. size (Fig. I). This product travels by a 30-in. belt conveyor to Niagara vibrating screens with 2-in. holes. The minus a-in. product moves to a storage silo by bucket

Jan 1, 1948

By Richard M. Foose

Most of the roofing granules produced in Pennsylvania are made by two companies at three plants. The Advance Industrial Supply Co. has three quarries and a mill at Gladhill Station, in southern Adams County. The Funkhouser Company is actively engaged in mining, quarrying and milling at Charmian, about one mile west of Gladhill Station, and at Delta, in southern York County. These three plants produced approximately 100,000 short tons of granules in 1943. The production of rooling granules in 1937 for the whole country was only about 500,000 tons, generally indicating the large growth of the industry since that time. The fundamentals of producing roofing granules were discussed comprehensively by G. W. Josephson in a paper before the Industrial Minerals Division in October 1943 (TP 1725, this volume page 460). The purpose of this paper is to describe the actual methods of mining the rock and milling it to make roofing granules, as practiced by the three Pennsylvania plants. Mining and Milling Funkhouser Company (Delta) The Funkhouser Company, near Delta, in southern York County, Pennsylvania, operates three joined quarries and a mine in the Peach Bottom slate. The joined quarries extend 1200 ft. in a northeast-southwest direction along the strike of the slate cleavage and are about 200 ft. .wide. The working face is about 45 ft. high. The quarrying operation is rather simple: Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers, I-in. and 1 1/4-in., with hollow drill steel, are used to undercut the quarry face with 10-ft. holes. The face is "blown" and allowed to slump on the quarry floor. Loaded by a Marion electric shovel into trucks, the shattered rock is taken to the primary crusher 2500 ft. away. In addition to the normal quarrying operations, a drift into the northeast wall of the middle quarry was begun about 1935, and has advanced about 2000 ft. since then. Rooms have been driven at angles to the drift along choice beds of slate. The drifts and rooms have a roof more than 35 ft. high and the main drift and rooms are all more than 40 ft. wide. There is no cribbing at any place in the mine. Several of the rooms were driven upward on a 5' slope and in some of them there was stop-ing. Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers are used, and only wet drilling is practiced. When visited in January 1940, an electric shovel was operating at the head of the drift, scooping up the slate blasted out of the working face. This, too, is trucked to the primary crusher. Some of the better quality slate is saved for making slate shingles. The primary crusher, which is a No. 30 McCulley gyratory, receives the slate from the trucks and crushes it to about a-in. size (Fig. I). This product travels by a 30-in. belt conveyor to Niagara vibrating screens with 2-in. holes. The minus a-in. product moves to a storage silo by bucket

Jan 1, 1948

By Thomas A. Hendricks

The object of this paper is to give a brief description of the coals in the different districts of Arkansas and Oklahoma, their present commercial classification, and the need for a scientific classification that shall be more nearly in accord with their physical and chemical properties and shall place them in their proper position in a general scheme of classification. The paper is based on two seasons of field work in the Oklahoma coal field in 1930 and 1931 and on several weeks spent in visiting most of the operating mines in Arkansas in the same years. Most of the productive districts of the Arkansas-Oklahoma coal field lie in an east-west trending belt immediately north of the Ouachita Mountains, but the northwestern districts in Oklahoma trend northward toward Kansas. With the exception of the Muskogee district, where very little coal has been mined, the coal beds of the last-mentioned districts are all younger than those of the districts in the east-west trending belt. Description of the Coal by Districts Lehigh District, Oklahoma (5).1—In the Lehigh district mining has been extensive, but only three or four mines are operating at the present time. Two coal beds of workable thickness, Atoka and Lehigh, are known in this field. The greater part of the mining has been in the Lehigh, or younger bed, and all analyses available for the field have been of that coal. The Lehigh coal is very tough and blocky, the moisture and ash contents are fairly high, 6.5 and 10.7 per cent respectively, the volatile content is 39.5 per cent, fixed carbon 43.4 per cent, B.t.u. value 11,525, and the fuel ratio 1.1 (average 15 analyses). So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, laboratory attempts to coke this coal have been unsuccessful and no attempt has been made to produce coke commercially. Tulsa District, Oklahoma (l).—All commercial mining in the Tulsa district has been by stripping from the Dawson bed, and production has never been very great. The coal is blocky, contains 6.5 per cent moisture, 36.8 per cent volatile matter, 48.4 per cent fixed carbon, and 8.3 per cent

Jan 1, 1932

By REED H. HYDE

IN these days of low metal prices and difficult marketing conditions, any treatment that will improve the grade of a product is of interest, particularly when the operation involves little or no addition to the total cost and may even result in a marketable by-product. Such a' combination of circumstances exists, in some cases, in the zinc industry, where it has been found that certain impurities can be removed from .the ore during the Dwight-Lloyd sintering operation, previous to reduction to metal. Consequently it is not surprising that zinc smelters having these sintering machines are paying particular attention to this phase of the operation. Loss of zinc as fume is very low under the conditions obtaining in sintering zinc ores, but impurities such as cadmium and lead are more readily fumed off and it is on this fact that the purification is based. As a result of preferential volatilization of these impurities a sintered product' is made from which purer zinc metal or oxide can be produced, while the fume may be collected and treated to recover the impurity metals. To be effective the operation must be carefully conducted, but no special equipment other than that of a well designed Dwight. Lloyd plant is needed.

Jan 1, 1931

Meeting of Mar. 27, 1914.-President Thayer announced the appointment of H. S. Munroe as a member and E. Gybbon Spilsbury as Chairman of the Library Committee of the Institute. The President announced the appointment of the Committee on Papers and Publications, the Technical Committees, the Committee on Increase of Membership, and the Committee on Junior Members and Affiliated Student Societies. The President announced the appointment of Dr. George F. Kunz as a member of the Reception Committee of the International Engineering Congress, 1915. It was voted that the Institute accept the invitation of the Mining and Scientific Press to occupy space at the Panama-Pacific Exposition next to them and avail itself of the service of their representative to receive and register members of the Institute who visit this space during the exposition.

Jan 5, 1914

Alexander N. Winchell, Butte, Mont. (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Spurr calls attention to the fact that an ore-deposit may be due to a succession of concentrations at different geological epochs. He cites an example of such a condition on Napoleon creek, a branch of Forty-Mile creek, Alaska. It will perhaps be of interest to call attention to another example of the same general character, not so remotely situated. The example referred to is located on Pole creek, a tributary of Cherry creek, in the extreme northeastern part of Madison county, Montana. An excellent geological map of this region is to be found in the Three Forks folio (No. 24) of the United States Geological Survey. According to this map, Pole creek, in its upper course, occupies the contact between the " Flathead " formation, which Peale correlates with the Middle and Lower Cambrian, and an area of gneisses and schists supposed

Jan 1, 1903

By A. W. Hesse

TWELVE years ago, a meeting of coal-mine operators, mining engineers, oil and gas operators, Bureau of Mines engineers, geologists and state mine inspectors took place in Pittsburgh, Pa. for the purpose of discussing, and solving if possible, the problems in connection with the drilling of oil and gas wells through or near coal mines and through the future coal reserves. Proposed regulations were drafted and presented at that meeting by 0. P. Hood and A. G. Heggem of the Bureau of Mines.1There was considerable discussion of the various articles, practically all of which appear in Bulletin 65, but unfortunately the interest aroused at that meeting was short lived. Practically none of the important coal-, producing states gave the matter the consideration it should have received at that time. REASONS FOR AGAIN RAISING THE QUESTION Notwithstanding the marked progress in, safety work, coal mines still have an unenviable reputation for mine explosions. Our mining laws have become stricter and the enforcement, especially in Pennsylvania, more sternly carried out, but what good will come from a rigid carrying out of the mining laws if some source of danger exists all around the mines, over which the operators have no control? It is hardly necessary to recite all the cases of natural-gas explosions published in Bulletin 65, but with some of them I am especially familiar. In 1912, while making one of my usual Sunday visits to the Miners' Hospital, at Fairmont, W. Va., my attention was called to a patient in a horribly burned condition. He was swathed in bandages so that no part of his face and hands were visible. He had not then been informed that his two sons, mere boys, had died of the burns they had received in the same accident. This explosion was due to natural gas leaking into a country mine at Peora, Harrison Co., W. Va.

Jan 2, 1925

By Frederick M. Becket, Russell Franks

WideSpread experimentation has been conducted in recent years to devise a means of preventing intergranular corrosion in austenitic chromium-nickel steels of the 18 per cent chromium-8 per cent nickel type. Additions of titanium to these steels have been used commercially to overcome this dificulty, as advocated by Krupp of Germany, and the latest literature reference concerning improved details of this method is the article by Bain, Aborn and Rutherford.' Extensive work by the present authors has shown columbium also to be a particularly valuable agent for inhibiting intergranular corrosion. This paper does not deal with steels that are largely or wholly austenitic; it is limited to a discussion of the results obtained through the use of titanium and columbium in plain high-chromium steels. For many years titanium has been used commercially by some steelmakers as a cleanser, and to a lesser extent as a hardener, but then in greater percentages. The results of the work to be described disclose that titanium and columbium in proper Proportions act as effective softeners in the high-chromium steels. It is well known that chromium intensifies the hardening effect of carbon in steel; it imparts pronounced air-hardening properties within a rather wide range of chromium content; it provides increased ductility in steels of given strength and hardness; and it enhances resistance to corrosion and oxidation at elevated temperatures to a marked degree. However, in applications requiring a combination of some of these valuable properties great hardness is frequently a detriment rather than a merit. When the objective is a soft and ductile steel having optimurn corrosion resistance, the producer strives for a carbon content as low as commercially practicable. Despite these efforts some of the commercial high-chromium steels low in carbon present considerable difficulties during production, owing to their air-hardening properties, and in consequence the economic result is not favorable. A good example is found in the 5 to 6 per cent chromium steels employed chiefly in the oil-cracking industry. Sleels

Jan 1, 1934

HOW the Engineers' Memorial clock and carillon at Louvain has impressed the people of that city is indicated by the following letter sent by the Secretary of the University of Louvain to the Secretary of the United Engineering Society. We are still full of the memories of that splendid July 4, when we came into such .delightful contact with our American friends and more specially with the representation of the engineering societies of the United States. It was a great joy for all the members of the University to see those, American friends who have given to us such a splendid memorial in honor of- the brave men who fell in the Great War.

Jan 1, 1928

By R. V. Norris, E. W. Parker

Edward W. Parker,* Philadelphia, Pa.—At the New York meeting of the Institute a year ago, Mr. R. V. Norris presented a paper on anthracite mining costs, in which he gave the results of an intensive study of this subject by the Engineers' Committee of the United States Fuel Administration. Within the last 30 days, the Federal Trade Commission has issued an official report on the same subject, which covers a longer period of time and comprises statistics of realization values and margins that were pot comprehended in the paper by Mr. Norris. As, however, the data utilized by Mr. Norris formed also a part of the basis for the report of the Federal Trade Commission, a brief digest of the latter may not be out of place at this meeting. The report of the Federal Trade Commission covers primarily the two calendar years 1917 and 1918, divided into five periods which furnish opportunity for the study of how the influence of certain definite factors affected either the cost of production or the price, or both, during the 24 months. The first period, January to April, 1917, which may be considered the basic period, comprised the 4 months in 1917 during which the wage agreement of May, 1916, without modification, was in effect. During this period, the labor cost on fresh-mined coal is placed by the Commission's report at $1.79 per gross ton, the total cost at $2.66, the average realization at $3.29, and the "margin" (sales realization over total f.o.b. mine cost) at $0.63. The second period covers the four months from May 1 to August 31, during which time the first of the supplemental wage agreements (supplemental to the agreement of 1916) was in effect. It was also the period during which the summer discounts were in effect and when prices were practically fixed by a voluntary agreement between the operators and the Federal Trade Commission. It was, further, the period in which the 75 cents differential on prepared sizes permitted to the individual operators by the Federal Trade Commission began; at that time, also, on account of war conditions an unusually large quantity of steam sizes were marketed at exceptionally good prices. On account of the two latter conditions, not explained in the Commission's report, the "margin"1 on operating

Jan 1, 1920

By Walter Harvey Weed

The notes given in this paper, the result of observations made during recent brief professional trips to the northern States of Mexico, are offered as a slight contribution to the geological knowledge of a region little known, but long famous for its rich gold- and silver-mines. They are not detailed geological studies, but they contain, I believe, the salient facts. The following districts were visited: 1. Santa Eulalia (silverlead) ; 2. Parral (silver-lead); 3. Las Vigas (copper); 4. Jimenez (copper); 5. Guadalupe y Calvo (gold); 6. La Cumbre (gold); 7. Palmarito (silver); 8. Cananea (copper); 9. Sierra Pinitos (gold); 10. Sierra Azul (gold). 1. The Santa Eulalia Silver-Lead Deposits. Seventeen miles SE. of Chihuahua is the mining district of Santa Eulalia, to which that city owes its origin and long prosperity. Discovered in 1703, this district has been, and still is, one of the great silver-lead producers of the world. For 86 years after its discovery, the total output upon which the crown tax was paid amounted to $112,000,000. Worked until within the last 20 years by the most primitive methods, without machinery of any kind, the deposits continued to yield a vast treasure of silver; at present the yearly tonnage far exceeds that of former times. A broad-gauge road runs from Chihuahua up the valley of a small creek to the village of Santa Eulalia, which is situated within the borders of the mountains of that name. A few miles out of Chihuahua a narrow-gauge railway, owned by the Chihuahua Mining Co., branches off to the mines. This road ascends a smooth but steeply-rising plain to the base of the mountains, and winds about the slopes until the mines are

Jan 1, 1902

By E. De Goyler

Volcanic origin was among the first of the theories advanced to account for the occurrence of the salt domes of the Gulf coastal plain, northern Louisiana, and eastern Texas, and it is still being re-stated in various forms by the most recent contributors to our knowledge of the geology of such deposits. Argument has been largely by analogy and attention has repeatedly been called to the Mexican oil fields, particularly those of the Tampico-Tuxpam region, because of the occurrence of oil in close proximity to volcanic plugs in those fields, an occurrence supposed to have some resemblance to the common occurrence of oil in the salt domes of the United States. The author, having spent several months of the past year in a general study of salt domes and in a detailed study of certain domes in the United States, and having been acquainted for some time with the exploration of similar domes in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region, Mexico, and with the general geology of the Tampico-Tuxpam region, Mexico, has reviewed the various theories of volcanic origin for salt domes which have been advanced to the present time. The purpose of this paper is to present such review and to discuss the supposed Mexican analogy. Review of Volcanic Theory R. Thomassyl who had visited the Five Islands of Louisiana between 1857 and 1859, in 1860 described them with some care, noting their distinct character, alignment, and similarity, and ascribing to them a volcanic origin. He regarded them as being akin to the mud lumps in the delta of the Mississippi and was impressed by their symmetry and by the ponds or lakes which occur on several of the islands and which he regarded

Jan 1, 1920