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By E. H. Crabtree

The heavy-media separation plant at the Central mill of the Eagle-Picher Mining and Smelting Co., near Picher, Okla., was started in February 1939. Since that time twenty-four million tons of lead-zinc ore has been treated in the mill, of which approximately 70 pct has been treated by heavy-media separation. Until January 1945, galena concentrate from the flotation plant was used as the sink-float medium. At that time minus 100-mesh ferrosilicon was substituted for the galena, and its use has been continued. The purpose of this paper is to compare the operating results and the costs of operation of the two media. For the purpose of this comparison the period Jan. I, 1943, to Jan. 29, 1945, has been taken to represent the operation using galena medium; the period Jan. 29, 1945, to Sept. I, 1946, to represent the ferrosilicon medium. During the first of these periods about seven and one-half million tons was milled; during the latter, or ferrosilicon period, more than five million tons was milled. It is believed that these tonnages are large enough to give representative data. Flowsheet The Central mill has a capacity of 15,000 tons per day. Briefly, the treatment used consists of crushing the ore through I½- in. and wet-screening out the minus 3/16-in. portion. The minus 136 plus 3/16-in. washed product is treated by the heavy medium; the minus 3/16-in. product is deslimed and jigged. The heavy-media cone tailing is discarded and the cone concentrate is recrushed and jigged for the production of a coarse lead concentrate. The cone concentrate, impoverished of lead, is then ground in ball mills and treated by differential flotation. The minus 3/16-in. jig product is similarly treated. Heavy-media Plant The heavy-media cone plant treating the minus I½ plus 3/16-in. product consists of one open-top cone 20 ft in diameter by 20 ft deep, equipped with a central airlift. Concentrate is discharged from the top of the airlift to a 3 by 14-ft low-head Allis-Chalmers drainage screen. Medium drains back into the cone, from the first half of this screen. The last half of the screen is provided with washing sprays for further removal of medium. Cone tailing is similarly drained and washed. Undersize from the washing screen is thickened and then cleaned in the medium-cleaning plant. When galena was used as a medium, cleaning was done in Fagergren and Denver flotation machines. The ferrosilicon is cleaned in three 36-in. and one 24-in. Crockett magnetic separators. A flowsheet of the cone plant is shown in Fig I.

Jan 1, 1949

By H. A. Sawin, C.M. Romanowitz

Placer dredging as we know it today, especially gold dredging, is an industry about 40 years old, dating from the beginning of this century, when a few mining men in California saw the possibilities in adapting earlier dredging methods to California placer fields in and immediately adjacent to streams. At first it was thought that dredges must be operated in existing stream beds, but experience soon pointed the way to dredging alluvial deposits of old stream beds, operating on landlocked dredging ponds. Within the first five or six years of modern dredging, experience was gained so rapidly that dredges to dig 60 ft. below water level were *designed and built. This depth was believed by many operators to be the maximum at which successful dredging could be carried on. Alluvial deposits of gold, suitable for dredging, were readily handled by equipment available and developed early in the industry's history. Much of the gravel was easily dug and if deposits were cemented, contained large boulders, or for some other reason could not be handled by a dredge, the ground was abandoned in favor of other deposits that could be handled easily. Many failures, adversely affecting the dredging industry, resulted from attempts at that time to extend the scope of placer dredging with equipment not suited to the formation being dredged. Dredging ground suited to early equipment was exhausted eventually, but many supposedly undredgeable alluvial fields containing gold in commercial quantities were found and became known to dredgemen. Improved equipment was needed to work deposits known to exist at great depths or associated with unusual obstructions. Operating companies looked to dredge manufacturers and metallurgists, particularly manganese-steel foundries, for improved designs and materials. Experience developed in California has spread throughout the world, and dredges of improved types have been adapted to the mining of platinum and tin as well as gold. Space will not permit a description of all the improvements in dredging since the early days, but a few of the recent developments are worthy of note, because they make possible the dredging of placer deposits of great depth, those having hard, irregular bedrock or containing large boulders in great quantities, and compacted or cemented gravel deposits. Deep Dredging At Hammonton, calif., yuba consolidated Gold Fields has, within= the past two years, built its dredge No. 20. The company has operated continuously in that field since 1904, digging successively at maximum depths of 60 ft., 80 ft., 112 ft., and now 124 ft. below water level. The first dredges were equipped with buckets of 6 and 7½-cu. ft. capacity; six dredges operating in the field today have 18-cu. ft. buckets, digging now 65 to 124 ft. below water level. Some ground near Hammonton has been dug for the third time, owing to the devel-

Jan 1, 1943

By Tell Ertl, Ernest E. Burgh

The Bureau of Mines is operating an oil-shale mine 10 miles west of Rifle, Colo., as part of its Synthetic Liquid Fuels program. The purpose of operating this mine is twofold: First, to supply oil shale to an experimental Processing plant; and second, to develop practices and select methods for mining oil shale on a commercial scale at the lowest practicable cost. The second purpose—that of finding out how to mine oil shale most cheaply—entails considerable mining research. Since the drilling of oil shale probably will be one of the major items of the mining cost, fattors that influence drilling speeds were investigated. One phase of the drilling program was the development of a successful hard-surfaced rock-drill bit1 that can be used for drilling long holes in oil shale without changing bits. During that phase, drilling speeds were measured and drill cuttings were collected for assay and for screen sizing, when the cuttings from the individual tests were compared, a definite relationship was shown to exist between the drilling speed and the coarseness of the drill cuttings. Procedure Measurement of Drilling Speeds All drilling in the tests was done with a Model UMB-D-99W Gardner-Denver wagon drill. Round-lugged drill steel, 141 in. in diameter was used in 6, 12, and 18 ft lengths with 1/8-in. Timken H-type bits hard-faced with acetylene tube borium. The tests were made in the lower adit of the Bureau of Mines oil-shale mine; the grade of the oil shale drilled ranged from 18.6 to 42.7 gal per ton, During the experiments air pressure varied between 75 and go psi while water pressure remained fairly constant at 75 psi. All holes were drilled almost horizontally. Each drill hole was thoroughly cleaned of cuttings after being collared. The advance of the drill along the carriage was measured and recorded as the drilling speed in inches per minute. Method of Collecting Cuttings TO facilitate the collection of cuttings, each drill hole was collared in a smooth, vertical portion of the oil-shale breast (Fig 1). A galvanized-stee1 sheet was fastened to the breast below the area in which the hole was to be drilled. The cuttings washed out of the drill hole by the drilling water were guided by the steel sheet into a wooden box. The cuttings that remained in the drill hole after the drill was withdrawn were scraped out and placed in the same box as the cuttings washed out of the hole. After the cuttings from a I-min. drilling interval were collected, they were placed in flat metal pans. The fines were allowed to settle and the clear water was decanted. The cuttings then were dried in the sun.

Jan 1, 1949

By C. M. Romanowitz, H. A. Sawin

Placer dredging as we know it today, especially gold dredging, is an industry about 40 years old, dating from the beginning of this century, when a few mining men in California saw the possibilities in adapting earlier dredging methods to California placer fields in and immediately adjacent to streams. At first it was thought that dredges must be operated in existing stream beds, but experience soon pointed the way to dredging alluvial deposits of old stream beds, operating on landlocked dredging ponds. Within the first five or six years of modern dredging, experience was gained so rapidly that dredges to dig 60 ft. below water level were *designed and built. This depth was believed by many operators to be the maximum at which successful dredging could be carried on. Alluvial deposits of gold, suitable for dredging, were readily handled by equipment available and developed early in the industry's history. Much of the gravel was easily dug and if deposits were cemented, contained large boulders, or for some other reason could not be handled by a dredge, the ground was abandoned in favor of other deposits that could be handled easily. Many failures, adversely affecting the dredging industry, resulted from attempts at that time to extend the scope of placer dredging with equipment not suited to the formation being dredged. Dredging ground suited to early equipment was exhausted eventually, but many supposedly undredgeable alluvial fields containing gold in commercial quantities were found and became known to dredgemen. Improved equipment was needed to work deposits known to exist at great depths or associated with unusual obstructions. Operating companies looked to dredge manufacturers and metallurgists, particularly manganese-steel foundries, for improved designs and materials. Experience developed in California has spread throughout the world, and dredges of improved types have been adapted to the mining of platinum and tin as well as gold. Space will not permit a description of all the improvements in dredging since the early days, but a few of the recent developments are worthy of note, because they make possible the dredging of placer deposits of great depth, those having hard, irregular bedrock or containing large boulders in great quantities, and compacted or cemented gravel deposits. Deep Dredging At Hammonton, calif., yuba consolidated Gold Fields has, within= the past two years, built its dredge No. 20. The company has operated continuously in that field since 1904, digging successively at maximum depths of 60 ft., 80 ft., 112 ft., and now 124 ft. below water level. The first dredges were equipped with buckets of 6 and 7½-cu. ft. capacity; six dredges operating in the field today have 18-cu. ft. buckets, digging now 65 to 124 ft. below water level. Some ground near Hammonton has been dug for the third time, owing to the devel-

Jan 1, 1943

By R. A. Pallanch

Probably one of the most perplexing problems with which a mill operator contends is the proper evaluation of his mill results. True, he accurately determines his recoveries of metals and grades of products monthly, weekly, and often daily. These figures do not of themselves directly translate to mill economics. When one figure is unusually good there may be an offsetting circumstance. The advantage of high lead or zinc concentrate grade may be offset by poorer recovery; high lead recovery may be offset by poorer zinc recovery, or vice versa; and so on. Besides, grades or recoveries may not of themselves mean more than a reflection of the grade and character of the ore during the period under study. What the operator sorely needs is some one measuring stick that tells him when he has achieved his greatest return, regardless of grades or recoveries—for if he knows his methods and practices are yielding the optimum return he need no longer concern himself with the assays of products and tailings, or the corresponding distribution of metal values. At first blush it would appear that the obvious answer to this is the actual money return to the mill. Paradoxical as it may seem, however, money return does not make a dependable yardstick any more than do grades and recoveries, as ore condi- tions would vary enough to bring about greater money return during periods when the actual metallurgical work is not as good. The mill operator, of course, should always aim for the greatest return on the ore, once it is in the mill bins, with proper attention always to mill treatment cost. The need of a proper yardstick becomes more imperative with the increasing complexity of the problem. In the case of a simple, single-product operation on a fairly uniform ore, in which only one metal is of significant importance, the need is not great, as grade and recovery pretty well tell their own story. At the other extreme is the operation that makes three or four separate marketable products from a complex mixture of heterogeneous ores that vary tremendously in individual metal contents and ratios, degree of oxidation, and other characteristics, and in which gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc are all significant values. Economic Recovery The first attempt at obtaining a proper single yardstick for a fairly complex ore with which I am familiar is the use of the ''Economic Recovery" term at the lead-zinc flotation mill of the Sunnyside Mining and Milling Co., Eureka, Colorado. This method had been applied there early in Sunnyside flotation-mill history (not later than 1920) and credit for the innovation I believe belongs to Messrs. Kuryla and Marquand. The term "Economic Re-

Jan 1, 1949

By H. Eklund, R. T. Hukki

This article presents a simple arithmetic derivation for the relationship between sharpness of classification and circulating load, as well as world-wide industrial data which are compatible with the derived equation. It is shown that the sharpness of classification decreases with increasing circulating load. Based on the evidence available a comparison is presented between the performance of the present-day hydraulic classifiers. In a continuously operated closed circuit grinding system the tonnage and the fineness of the components may be indicated as follows: Eq. 8 expresses the relationship between sharpness of classification and circulating load in closed grinding circuits. If CL = 0, E = 100% according to the definition used. This, however, is a purely theoretical case because any apparatus to be called a classifier must produce the conventional two products. Furthermore, if CL = m, E =0%. In order to visualize the meaning of Eq. 8, the effect of factors d (fineness or percentage of under-size of classifier overflow at size x) and b (fineness or percentage of undersize of classifier sands at size x) should be studied. By the most rigid standard, factor d should be given the value of 100%. By so doing the size of classification is defined as that screen size x through which 100% of the classifier

Jan 1, 1965

By John D. Morgan, Sylvain J. Pirson

AN instantaneous and continuous analysis of a mineral suspension should be of great value in controlling various mineral preparation processes. Described herein is a method of analysis based on the use of high-frequency alternating current, which, under certain restrictive conditions, could be of use. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS In a suspension of conductive minerals, the electrical effect primarily responsible for the variations in electric conductivity is the capacitance. In Fig Ia, let an alternating voltage E be applied across two electrodes F and F', between which are two rows (S and T) of mineral particles, all of approximately the same size, immersed in a fluid. Let the number of rows of particles between the electrodes be R and the number of particles in each row be N. If A is the area of a particle, D is the distance separating two particles, and K is a constant depending on the fluid, the capacity, Co, of the particle system will be given by: [KRA C0 ND] Referring now to Fig Ib, let R, the number of rows, be held constant, but let N, the number of particles in each row (S and T), be increased X-fold. The capacity, C1, of [ ]

Jan 1, 1947

By A. W. Edelen

THE Teziutlan copper-zinc deposit is supposed to be of late Cambrian or early Paleozoic age. The country rocks are a series of schists or phyllites, flat lying and in the form of a plunging anticline. The ore deposit occupies a single horizon in the schist for a known horizontal extent of 1200 meters. Along its strike occur four large lenses or ore bodies. These ore bodies occupy positions along the flank and extend to the crest of the anticline. The primary mineralization is in the form of quartz, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena, with a few scattered silver anti-monides. Quartz and pyrite form the mineralization between the ore lenses. In the ore lenses the sulphides appear as a massive, very fine-grained intergrowth of minerals. The intergrowth suggests a contemporaneous deposition of the heavy sulphides. The grain size, usually under 0.09 mm., makes the separation difficult and fine grinding important. The ore bodies were formed at great depth by solutions probably originating in the same basic magma that gave rise to the dolerite sills that are so common in their vicinity.

Jan 1, 1937

By R. S. Shoemaker, F. W. McQuiston

EMPEROR GOLD MINES Vatukoula, Fiji 1974 Operating Data to July 1 ORE DESCRIPTION: Ore bodies occur in basalt and associated ash beds overlain by andesite tuffs and sediments. The basalt in much of the ore mined is weathered with alteration of olivine to serpentine and iron oxides, and augite to chorite. The most important host minerals for gold are the tellurides sylvanite and hessite. Next in importance the sulphide s, pyrite, marcasite and arseno-pyrite. A small amount of free gold also occurs. Chalcopyrite, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, bornite, galena and native tellurium are present in small quantities. TYPE OF MINE: Underground and open pit ORE HAULAGE TO MILL: 3.5 ton bottom dump skips from underground. 7 ton trucks from open pit. CAPACITY IN TONS/24 HRS: 1345 short tons ASSAY HEADS (1973): 0.232 oz Au per ton, 0.357 oz Te per ton PRODUCTS: Gold Bullion (400 oz bars) Metallic Tellurium (1 2 lb bars ) RECOVERIES: AU 86.2% Te 88.0% ORE GRINDABILITY: 9.25 Kwh/T TOTAL POWER: 25.7 Kwh/T WATER: Pumped 112 mile to a 318, 000 gallon head tank. Consumption: 2 140 gal per ton, no reclaimed water used. TAILINGS: Pumped 2 /3 mile through 8" pipe. Uphill sections are steel. Downhill sections are fibro asbestos.

Jan 1, 1975

[Steel, iron which is malleable at least in some one range of temperature, and in addition is either (A) cast into an initially malleable mass ; or (B) is capable of hardening greatly by sudden cooling ; or (C) is both so cast and so capable of hardening. Variety A includes also molten iron which, if cast, would be malleable, as do its two sub-varieties, "ingot-iron" and "ingot-steel." (Tungsten-steel is malleable only when red-hot.)] does not seem to fit perfectly the requirement that it shall include all known varieties of steel and exclude everything else. The first requirement, that it shall be malleable at some temperature, is also possessed by some varieties of gun-iron—that is, mottled castriron, of which cannons have been made in the past by the South Boston Iron Co. and others. Gun-iron also meets the requirement (A) in being cast into an initially-malleable mass. The malleability was indeed not great, nor mas it made use of except to demonstrate the quality of the iron, but it approached in measurable degree that of some of the alloy-steels. As for requirement (B), some puddled-irons having from 0.2 to 0.3 per cent. of carbon may be hardened greatly, although this property is [lot utilized.

Jan 1, 1909

By A. M. Gaudin

TEN years ago Taggart, Taylor and Ince1 described a workable, convenient apparatus for the measurement of contact angles be-tween cleaved, ground or polished particles and captive bubbles. Wark and Cox2 and Wark and Sutherland3 have done an im-mense amount of experimental work with this apparatus. Their work has had as principal object the determination of "con-tact curves." Contact curves are Cartesian charts in which pH (or some other variable) is plot-ted against quantity of modifying agent. The rectangular area is broken into two or more curvilinear areas separated by the contact curve. The curve indicates that a sharp demarcation exists between condi-tions that bring about sticking of particles to bubbles and conditions that do not pro-duce sticking, The type curve appears in the TRANSACTIONS as Fig. 1, page 248, volume 112. Wark and Cox offer data to show that the contact angle has a value determined by and characteristic of the agent used. Wark and Cox also make the statement that they believe this value is independent of concen-tration (ref. 2a, p. 209), They say: It is suspected that, given sufficient time and provided that there are no disturbing factors. the full ethyl xanthate angle (corresponding to a complete xanthate film) would be obtained in every case where contact occurs.

Jan 1, 1940

GRAHAM BRIGHT,* East Pittsburgh, Pa.-Bee-hive coke ovens are usually located at the mines, where the gases from the ovens are not strongly objectionable because the communities are not thickly built up. The byproduct oven will naturally he located near centers of industry, to which the coal can be brought from different directions and desirable mixtures can be made; where also the byproducts can be readily marketed, while the gas can be utilized for industrial and domestic purposes. Not much thought seems to have been given to the gases escaping from the byproduct coke oven, which are more or less objectionable in thickly populated sections. When the byproduct oven shall have been more widely installed, this question is likely to become serious, and it will be necessary to apply remedies. May I ask what has been done, or is going to be clone, in this direction? S. A. Moss, ? Lynn, Mass.-One cause of escaping gas is that the gas exhausters do not supply the proper suction. If a satisfactory regulating governor is applied and the correct kind of gas exhauster is used, the trouble will be eliminated. J. I. THOMPSON,? Pittsburgh, Pa.-The hoppers Co. has made a careful study of the question of smoke prevention. The smoke caused by the operation of the byproduct coke ovens is infinitely less than that caused by bee-hive ovens.

Jan 11, 1918

By Bjorn Bolviken

Bjorn Bolviken (Geochemist, Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway)-Under the heading "Recognition of Anomalies," the author states, "If the frequency distribution is actually log-normal, the probability of these high values being part of the background population is small (less than 0.023 and 0.0013 for 2 and 3 standard deviation, respectively)." The figures quoted seem to be the probabilities of these high values being the mean rather than part of the background population unless "background" is defined as one single concentration. If the background is considered to be a statistical distribution of concentrations,50 (which is probably the case here since the author uses the term "background population"), the probability of any observed value being part of the background may be estimated through a calculation of the number of observed values that are in excess of (or below) the number expected to belong to the background. Apparently, some confusion exists in the literature regarding this point. Many authors accept the concept of background as being a statistical distribution, but do not seem to recognize the consequences of this concept. One of these consequences would be that the background of a chemical element should comprise any concentration between zero and a theoretical maximum, which is governed by the chemistry and mineralogy of the material

Jan 1, 1974

By J. L. Stokes, L. J. Demer

It has recently been shown' that epitaxial films of silicon carbide deposited on silicon single crystals possess desirable properties for semiconductor applications. There is one apparent disadvantage to such a system, however; since epitaxial deposition is a high-temperature process, it can result in plastic deformation of the silicon substrate. The accompanying Berg-Barrett X-ray diffraction photographs reveal plastic deformation in two silicon semiconductor crystals which occurred when the crystals were coated with an epitaxial layer of silicon carbide at 1150°C. Due to differences in thermal expansion between the silicon substrate and the epitaxial silicon carbide, the silicon was subjected to stresses while still in the plastic temperature range. Both crystals shown were 0.7 in. in diam and 0.0055 in. thick. The crystals were sliced from a larger crystal so that their polar axes were parallel to the [ill] direction. After cutting, the crystals were polished with diamond paste, and etched in HC1 vapor to remove surface damage re- sulting from the cutting and polishing operations. This provided clean, damage-free surfaces on which to deposit the silicon carbide. Figs. l(a) and l(b) are reflection and transmission photographs, respectively, of the same crystal. A smaller portion of the crystal is shown in the transmission geometry, because a vertical slit was

Jan 1, 1965

By R. T. Murrill

BLOCK-SIGNAL and dispatching systems have been in use on surface railways for years, but only recently have they been applied to underground mining conditions. Formerly, all ore was moved underground by hand tramming; the surface openings were numerous and fairly close to the ore being mined. As the tramming distances increased, animals were brought into service. Then came the locomotive, and since its introduction, haulage lines have gradually been reduced to fewer levels and to fewer surface openings until more than 20,000 tons are being handled daily on one level in some of the larger mines. Under the, se conditions many trains must use the same-tracks, and signal systems have become necessary. In some cases it has been found more advantageous to use train dispatchers than to install signal devices. The dispatcher may be simply a flagman at a busy point or he may have mechanical signals to operate at more distant points. At the inspiration mine, Inspira-tion, Ariz., the station is equipped with a switch-con-trol board, whereby the dispatcher throws electrically all track switches in a certain block, which gives him complete control over all trains passing through that block. In a few cases, dispatcher stations are established in connection with a signal system.

Jan 2, 1922

By F. L. Wolf

THE reclaiming of metallics from slag and sweepings is of vital interest to every brass-foundry man, but the first cost and interest on the investment often make it prohibitive for the small foundry to enjoy the benefits of a complete concentrating unit. However, the cost of such an installation and the cost of operation are often exaggerated to such an extent that foundries dispose of their copper-bearing refuse at a great loss. This paper gives the actual costs and the returns obtained in the reclaiming plant used at the Ohio Brass Co. This plant is divided into two sections, the preliminary treatment and concentrating departments. In the former occur the screening, crushing, and hand-picking operations whereby most of the non-valuable and heavy metallic constituents are removed. The concentrating equipment consists of an elevator, bins, jigs, ball-mill, and table. PRELIMINARY TREATMENT The preliminary treatment varies, depending on whether the material is slag, foundry-floor sweepings, or brass casting-floor sweepings. Material of the first class is produced from the operation of six Steele-Harvey and six Schwartz furnaces; the second class represents sweepings from an average of thirty-five molding floors per day; and the last is collected around the sprue cutters. and knockout bench.

Jan 9, 1920

By Monte J. Pool, Rudolph Speiser, George R. St. Pierre, William T. Ebihara

Standard free energies of formation of WO,, W O W20058 and WO3from oxygen and the lower oxide or tungsten have been determined in the tempel-ature range of 700° to 1220°C. A tentative W-O phase diagmm is presented based on the evidence that the oxide phases, "W18O49" and "W20058", are unstable at l~atm total pressure, below 585° and 485°C:, respectively. A HE need for a complete quantitative treatment of the phase equilibria of the W-O system has been establishedby metallurgists during the past few years. In an attempt to improve the endurance of tungsten exposed to oxidizing atmospheres at high temperatures, many research groups have studied the kinetics of tungsten oxidation. The reverse process, the reduction of the tungsten oxides to metal, has also been investigated to some extent. Regardless of the particular interest, metal to oxide or oxide to metal, a knowledge of the phase equilibria of the W-O system is required to properly interpret all of the kinetic observations. It should be possible to state the stable phases of the W-O system at any given values of the chemical potential of oxygen and the temperature.

Jan 1, 1962

By R. P. Rothwell

THE first difficulty mentioned is that in some instances two or more beds of coal separated by sandstone or slate rocks of considerable thickness in one part of a basin, are found running together in another part. Of course, we may happen to strike first the part of the basin where there is but a single seam, and in this case the bed would appear 60 divide into two or more branches within a short, distance. Such cases are not rare in the anthracite coal-fields. I would suggest as an explanation of this phenomenon the gradual sinking of the peat-marsh-the embryo coal-bed-on one side, and the moving forward of the marsh, so that on one part of the bed the formation of peat would still be progressing, while another part, being under water, would be covered with mud and sand. Thus we have different portions of the same bed of different ages. Now if the sinking of the marsh be stopped for a time, the bed will become thicker in the portions left exposed, and if the sinking now changes in direction, so that the part that had previously gone down commences to rise, we should have the phenomenon of a bed, continuous throughout, with one portion overlying another, and separated from it by rock strata. These are exactly the conditions observed in splitting beds. While one side of the lake is sinking, and the peat marsh moving on in that direction, the other side may be rising,

By P. Eadington

I feel sure that the apparent anomolies between his findings and ours arise as a result of the different experimental methods used. The modem oxygen electrode method he used is sensitive to nano moles of oxygen uptake whereas the method we used was only sensitive to micro moles at best. Furthermore, our experimental method did not permit measurements to be made in the first ten to fifteen minutes of reaction, the very time he is observing. Direct comparison of his data to ours is made difficult because of not knowing the specific area of the samples he used. However, we found that precipitation of PbS using sodium sulphide gave rise to samples of area approximately 30 m2 g - 1. Noticing the rapid decline in oxidation rate over ten minutes, as reported in Table 1, one can conclude that we could not measure the rate after ten minutes using our method. Taking the above area I estimate that at these rates only a small fraction of surface would be oxidised in a period of hours. I can only conclude that at some point a change in oxidation mechanisms occurs giving rise to a much faster rate such as we observed. Finally, I would like to comment on the apparent inertness of the homogeneously precipitated lead sulphide sample 11. This method of preparation we found to give specific areas of 20 to 30 times less than other methods and this would account for the very low oxidation rate.

Jan 1, 1982

By E. E. Russell Tratman

The use of dynamite in cold weather is attended with some difficulty, owing to the freezing of the material and its consequeut liability to fail to explode when the fuse is fired. With proper methods and care the dynamite can be thawed with reasonable safety, but numerous accidents occur (more than get reported in the public press), due to carelessness in the operation and to the treacherous nature of the material, or a combination of both conditions. Dynamite will stand treatment at one time which at another time will result in explosion. An expert on explosives says that the most dangerous means of thawing cartridges are ingeniously devised by ignorant laborers; baking, boiling and toasting being favorite methods, while at a stone-quarry, in one instance, an apparatus was arranged for steaming the cartridges over a pot of boiling water. In this latter case the nitro-glycerine leaked through the canvas cover and settled on the bottom of the pot, with the result that an explosion occurred, the water acting as a tamping to the charge. The fact that small quantities of explosives containing nitroglycerine will burn quietly and without explosion if ignited by direct contact with a flame, has led to the dangerously mistaken reasoning that merely heating the explosive can produce no ill effect. If . a dynamite cartridge is ignited or placed in a fire it will probably burn harmlessly away, but if placed on a stove or in an oven and

Jan 1, 1893