Search Documents

By AIME AIME

ED DIX, after studying both mechanical and electrical engineering at Cornell, started out to be an electrical engineer, then taught material testing at Cornell, and decided to become a metallurgist. He was successively employed by the Morse Chain Co. as metallographist, by the Baltimore Copper Smelting and Rolling Co., as chief of the testing department of the Bureau of Aircraft Production, as assistant engineer of tests of the Aluminum Castings Co., and as chief of the metals branch, engineering division, U. S. Air Service. Since 1923 he has been with the Aluminum Co. of America, now as chief metallurgist.

Jan 1, 1936

By William Gleason

"The Colorado School of Mines has used the Edgar Mine in Idaho Springs as an experimental mine to teach students since 1921. Since the school acquired the former gold, silver, lead and zinc mine, countless students have received hands-on engineering lessons on their way to earning mining engineering degrees. On Dec. 14, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a historic field hearing about the future of mining education in the United States in a classroom about 300 m (1,000 ft) inside the Edgar Mine. Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Cresent Hardy (R-NV) and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) were on hand for the first ever congressional hearing held in a mine where they heard testimony supporting the Mining School Enhancement Act, which was introduced to Congress by Hardy and Perlmutter on Oct. 9, 2015. The act, which is part of a larger mining development and reclamation reform package, seeks to address the absence of a viable pipeline necessary to replenish current faculty vacancies in United States Mining Schools. “What better place to hold a hearing to discuss the need for future mining engineering experts,” Subcommittee Chair Lamborn said in his opening statement. “It is a need felt by industry, states, the federal government as well as nonprofits.” The Mining School Enhancement Act would redirect millions of dollars in fees that are being collected from active mining operations to fund the research and educational programs at engineering schools with mining programs. Those fees now are being used in the form of grants awarded by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMRCA)."

Jan 1, 2015

By Berger. P.

The accepted definition of the function of an edge protector fails to specify adequately the several tasks which it must perform to be functionally effective: detailed analysis of these tasks leads to the reasoned conclusion that they cannot satisfactorily be fulfilled by the conventional types of "edge-strips". The true cost of edge protector failure is cumulative: renewal costs are dwarfed by the increased operating expenses and production losses which result from but partial or incipient failure of the edge-strip; yet, the several supposedly improved types, for use with starter-blanks, generally were "built down to a price", prolonging the agony, as it were. Clearly, a fresh appraisal of the problem was overdue, and more especially so with the advent of "permanent" cathodes. As a result, new methods of edge .protection have been developed, including the so-called "EDGEWISE" system in which the present author as patentee *) has a vested interest-which he hereby declares. Due mention is made of recent progress in protecting the edges of aluminium "Jumbo" cathodes in zinc electrowinning operations, although the present Paper is more concerned with edge protection of starter-blanks and permanent cathodes in copper ER/EW processes, where most of the "old" problems now may justifiably be claimed to have been overcome, Mention is also made - albeit at this time necessarily only briefly, and confined to edge protection - of "rigidized" metal blanks and permanent cathodes: a most recent development**) which may prove to represent a "breakthrough": time will tell.

Jan 1, 1987

POLITICAL developments, the impact of Korean warfare necessitating immediate rearmament plans, and recent developments in mining taconites have focused attention on their immediate exploitation to fill the gap created by diminishing reserves. The question of rich foreign ores versus low grade development is past-we need both sources with emphasis on the immediate large scale mining of taconites. In the past three months several things have occurred which add to the taconite picture: (1) Pellets have been used successfully in the blast furnace by Armco. (2) In Congress HR 8512 was introduced by Congressman Blatnik of Minnesota to amend the lending powers of RFC to permit long term loans on basic mining developments, particularly the taconites, which may be needed for the strengthening of the national economy. (3) Walter S. Tower, president of the American Iron & Steel Institute, announced that American steel companies are planning expansion of 6,000,000 tons of steelmaking capacities in the next few years. (4) The outbreak of war in Korea has obliged the United States to rearm and make plans for a semipermanent defense establishment to which 10 to 12 pct of the national income will be budgeted. (5) Startling new advances have been made in the Linde Air Products Co.'s jet-piercing drilling. The United States is now confronted with the problem of increasing its steel capacity and at the same time of securing enough iron ore to supply this increase as well as make provision for the rapidly decreasing supply of rich iron ore on the Mesabi range. Taconites, the low grade iron ore at the east end of the Mesabi, of which there are literally billions and billions of tons of easily concentratable magnetic ore, are the immediate answer. According to the Wall Street Journal on July 24: "Reserve Mining Co., backed by such steelmakers as the Armco Steel Corp., Wheeling Steel Co., Republic Steel Corp., is reported ready-as soon as the pending bill clears (HR 8512)-to seek a $100 million federal loan to build a taconite processing plant at Beaver Bay, Minn., to produce about five million tons (of pellets) annually of 60 pct to 65 pct in iron ore . . ." Experimental work indicates that pellets may be the final form, rather than nodules, agglomerates, or sinter. At Ashland, Ky., the Reserve Mining Co., which has obtained a

Jan 9, 1950

A New Process Builds An Industry

Jan 7, 1951

Are Stockpile Requirements Exaggerated? THE federal stockpile of strategic and critical materials was created for an emergency. The emergency has occurred but no withdrawals are being made from the stockpile. On the contrary, the-rate of stockpiling is being increased. A serious dislocation between supply and demand for metals exists and purchases for the stockpile are a significant contributing factor in this situation.

Jan 3, 1951

A FEW nights ago while working in the small hours of the morning on a clarion message intended for this page, we repaired to the kitchen for coffee, as is our wont when the solitude of the late hour and the stillness of the night seduce thoughts from the job at hand to reminiscences. The thought occurred, as we slowly dissolved the instant coffee in boiling water, that this modern world of canned, frozen, and dried foods deprives us of some of the subtler and therefore more delightful pleasures of life. We recall the aroma of boiling coffee which greeted us on getting up in the morning before the ease of instant coffee deprived us of the aroma from the old coffees. This line of thinking led us to place the blame on our wife for taking the easy way of making coffee and thereby depriving us of some of our enjoyment. From thinking about our spouse, it is only a short step to thinking about "the boss" or bosses in general.

Jan 9, 1951

THERE have been two important accomplishments of the Truman administration; the Hoover Commission report on inefficiency and waste in government and the report of the Paley Commission on the natural resources of the United States. Both reports are in the interest of the American people and should transcend the boundaries of political parties. Both reports are starting points for the formulation of policies which must be continuously revised to meet changing conditions. Regardless of the outcome of the election the principles embodied in these two great documents must be kept alive. The Paley report is right in our own bailiwick of mineral raw materials and it behooves us to study it carefully as our responsibility to posterity. To those in the mining industry who have limited their field of observation to moving rock or to metal prices it may come as a surprise that our production of such staples as copper, lead, and zinc has fallen behind increased requirements to the point that substantial tonnages must be imported. Iron ore is next on the list and everybody knows that such metals as tin, tungsten, chromium, manganese, nickel, and cobalt are imported almost exclusively. The crisis in raw materials pointed up by the Paley report has been reported annually by Elmer Pehrson and others to small gatherings at the Mineral Economics Division sessions at the Annual Meeting for as long as we can remember. In September 1949, the United Nations Economic and Social Council held an international resource conference at Lake Success which disclosed these same grave conclusions: - Consumption of raw materials is multiplying at an alarming rate, faster than discoveries or replacements are being made. - Production has been wasteful and utilization lavishly beyond enginee¬ing and practical requirements. - Industrialized nations are depleted and many raw materials consumed by industry are not found in the industrialized countries. - Nations formerly exporters of raw materials are increasingly building their own consuming industries. - Political forces in the world are limiting access to raw materials. The Paley Commission selecting the quarter century, 1950 to 1975, to project raw material requirements for the United States, pointed out obstacles to meeting these requirements, and made recommendations for procurement. It is not important that we disagree that cobalt consumption will reach 344 pct of present, or fluorspar 187 pct when iron and ferroalloys are only expected to increase 75 pct. What is important it that the fabulous appetite of the United States for mineral raw materials has consumed more since World War I than was consumed by the entire world in all recorded history prior to 1914. And, unless the people of the United States are satisfied to remain at their present standard of living (which is unthinkable) this consumption is correctly plotted by the Paley Commission as continuing to expand. If the U. S. is to continue on a course of progress, it must procure raw materials wherever it can at the lowest possible cost. Natural resources are clearly an area in which the broadest cooperation between industry and government must exist to achieve efficient exploitation, economic consumption, and expansion of sources of supply. The message of the Paley report requires action comparable to that of the North Atlantic Pact. Its implication is as significant as military preparedness. It is a world problem. It is a mining engineering problem. Don't let it die!

Jan 1, 1952

RECENTLY, we were asked to name the greatest contribution to progress in mining technology during the past 25 years. Immediately, the introduction of the pneumatic hammer for making blastholes came to mind because it can be credited with speeding the excavation of rock and the elimination of hand drilling. Possibly this answer was so spontaneous because we were working on this "drilling issue" Of MINING ENGINEERING. Present drilling tools have devel¬oped so rapidly, that a great deal of engineering is. required in the selection of bits, steel, and machines for the drilling conditions at each mine. Formerly a modicum of engineering was utilized in selection of equipment for it was purchased from manufacturer preference. With the development of alloy drill steels, tungsten-carbide bits, throwaway bits, and the jackleg drill, mining companies began doing more experimental work before making selections. It is unfortunately true, that each operator must begin at the beginning by doing his own test work before choosing his drilling method, and tools. Some of this work has been done very well-under controlled conditions and obtaining proper data on the variables. Such data should be accumulated from the various mines, tabulated, and published. Such a volume would be of tremendous help to the small operator in selecting equipment and would permit the research departments of the larger companies to formulate some measure of rock drillability and to undertake more specialized research on the different phases of drilling.

Jan 1, 1952

EDUCATION is a business; and, if the consumer is satisfied with the product, no one has any grounds for complaint. "Pretty well satisfied" about slims up the attitude of the mining industry toward the young graduates presently entering the field. Yet, with amazing regularity the controversy over the five-year curriculum recurs in educational circles. The educational mills grind out their products, some higher grade than others, depending on individual proclivity. The cycle continues almost without interruption. Arthur Taggart, however, takes his bowie knife to some of the sturdiest limbs of the tree of knowledge in his article on engineering education on page 770 of this issue. As all who know him might suspect, the pruning is not restrained. With one swing of the knife, such practically-labeled courses as Mine Design are stricken from the tree and transplanted to the field of Graduate Education. Emphasis on the basic sciences and the study of man through courses in history, economics, and literature are recommended to constitute an undergraduate curriculum. Such courses show the least depreciation and therefore give the student the most for his money. Partial justification for this dramatic departure from tradition is explained by the increasing number of companies giving training courses. Why make the student pay for what he can get paid for learning after graduation, the author argues. Other leading educators espouse this doctrine. Dean S. C. Hollister of Cornell, for the Committee on Adequacy and Standards of Engineering Education, recommended to ECPD in 1951 that emphasis be placed on the basic sciences. "Sifting back through the curriculum, it seems clear that instruction in the basic sciences, if taught in a manner such that knowledge of them makes available working tools, contributes the most sustaining part of the curriculum", reported the committee. Note that he would utilize practical problems from the fields of engineering in teaching the sciences. In our opinion the important thing to learn in college is how to think the engineering approach. Recitation on traditional solutions of classic problems sharpens the memory, not the ingenuity of the student. The engineering schools of the nation recognize the advantage of great emphasis on fundamentals, and the inclusion of cultural courses in the curriculum. However, industry presently requires graduates to have a substantial knowledge of the tools of the trade upon graduation. This means that the colleges are forced to pare to the bone to encompass the required studies in the time allotted. In addition, there is the limitation of student money. College educators also claim that entering freshmen are often improperly prepared in such subjects as writing and mathematics. These considerations make it difficult for the critic of the engineering graduate to make any headway with the educators. Actually with the mounting problems imposed by lower grade and more complex ores, a new breed of engineers is needed. The impetus for this new product must come from industry. If there was a concerted effort from industry for an improved type of engineer, the colleges would modify their aims to meet the demand for the kind of individual desired.

Jan 1, 1952

DEPENDENCY on foreign sources for many mineral raw materials is a characteristic of our economy which is becoming painfully evident. Although investment in foreign mining projects has increased, it has not kept up with the growing demand for foreign minerals. The sphere of American investment capital in mining ventures abroad has been severely limited by the rise of nationalism in many underdeveloped countries. Consequently, we can look back over half a century in which mining investment, exclusive of petroleum, has increased by 50 pct whereas other American investments abroad have multiplied by better than 300 pct. Investment in foreign mining or petroleum encounters different problems than capital investment for other industries. It is rarely invested in industrialized nations. Most of it goes to countries with expanding frontiers, like Canada, or to underdeveloped nations like Liberia. It must be used for building communities, recruiting and training labor, and establishing lines of communication and transportation. These complications are an accepted part of the mining game. However, the most complex problem is in those countries which consider mineral exploitation a usurpation of the people's natural heritage. This is a characteristic of the young government existing by a tenuous balance of power in an underdeveloped nation. American mining capital understandably has shunned these nations as being poor investment risks. However, they possess minerals which are needed by industry. Our government has attempted to stimulate mineral supplies beyond those provided from abroad by private capital. ECA, now under DMPA, makes loans to foreign mining companies. Since the ECA program cannot be expected to continue indefinitely, Point IV seems to be the logical next step to encourage foreign countries to fill our shortages. However, only 1 pct of the $35 million budget provided in the first year for Point IV was alloted for mining programs. Considering the need for minerals and the difficulties of procuring them by private investment, a larger share is needed and justifiable. Those who have been engaged in foreign mining can vouch for the fact that it takes many decades to teach the complex technology and economics of mining to the natives of under-developed countries. For this reason Point IV must be considered a long range program. Mineral requirements for the present must be met by more direct measures. Encouragement of private investment in foreign mining by such incentives as tax relief on profits from foreign sources, international bank-borrowing facilities for private capital, and diplomatic assistance in encouraging foreign countries to cooperate are imperative for our future mineral security.

Jan 1, 1952

THE wave of nationalism co-mingled with communism which is sweeping from the Philippines across the Asiatic continent into the Middle East has climaxed in a tragedy in Iran which is shaking the foundations of the United Nations. Iran, who a few short years ago stood before the UN as a supplicant for protection against the occupation of the province of Azerbaijan by the Soviet, today defies its jurisdiction in the oil dispute with Great Britain.

Jan 11, 1951

By ME ME

IT just so happens that we do our best thinking while painting wood- work and last Saturday while finishing up the screens (the bugs come late where we live) the paint very nearly ran out. By adding turpentine, it just stretched. It was pretty thin for the job though, which made us think that that is just about what the situation is going to be in the mining industry if something isn't done to increase the number of enrollments in engineering curricula. Engineers are going to be spread too thin for the job at hand.

Jan 8, 1951

BEING at the crossroads, metaphorically speaking, seldom has the advantages of the literal sense of the words. One seldom has precise knowledge of the existence of the metaphorical crossroads or forks in the road of life. A case in point is the Committee on Education of the Engineers' Council for Professional Development, which for twenty years has been accrediting the engineering curricula in the educational institutions of the United States. The committee is now at odds with itself and with the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners over the accrediting of courses which in the opinion of many engineers are not strictly speaking engineering curricula at all. Such courses include: fire protection engineering, crystal engineering, nuclear engineering, and geological engineering. The crossroads might be placed arbitrarily somewhere between 1936 and 1938 when the committee first started accrediting curricula and included the first course in industrial engineering. Purists might argue that the committee first wandered from the straight and narrow when it recognized subdivision of engineering into the major branches of mining, metallurgical, civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering. Accrediting is certainly an important function because it provides a standard for engineering education and it should be done on a national basis by an unbiased group like the Education Committee of ECPD. Students, educational institutions, and industry derive great benefit from proper standards. The autonomous State Boards of Engineering Examiners have long accepted ECPD accreditation as evidence of the required academic training of engineers aspiring to licensing. But the State Boards today question the wisdom of applying the name engineer to graduates of some of the so-called fringe curricula. The Education Committee, having gone so far in accrediting some of them, has numerous applications pending for accreditation of similar curricula and even new courses never before accredited. Arguments against recognizing highly specialized engineering curricula are numerous. The Salary Stabilization Board has disallowed industrial engineering from classification as engineering for its purposes. A graduate of a specialized course in geological engineering at a school in the Southwest slanted heavily for practice in the petroleum industry might not be interchangeable with a graduate of a similarly designated curricula at one of the institutions in the North Central states where the emphasis might be on metallic. mineral deposits. Industry in general should not expect the universities to supply a degree in each of the specialized engineering classifications it might set up for purposes of salary or job designation. Having gone so far, it is easy to understand the difficulty of the Education Committee. ECPD might well call a moratorium for the purpose of taking stock of its position. If the present trend is allowed to continue, it is apparent that an engineering institution could be subdivided into a multiplicity of departments teaching specialized curricula resulting in a subordination of the basic concepts of engineering. Although the parallel of the medical profession is trite, it should be pointed out that degrees in medicine are not labelled by the numerous specialities practiced by doctors. For practical purposes the ECPD would do well to accept the fact that the crossroads have been overreached "and protect the engineering profession by coming up with minimum standards for an engineering curriculum.

Jan 1, 1952

SINCE dad first took us to the ocean we have always seen a plump elderly gentleman who, with supine composure, floats over the crests spouting whale-like to the wonderment of small boys. Floating requires certain physical and mental characteristics that it takes many years to acquire. These are, in order of importance, confidence, beef, and complete relaxation. Possibly a rough parallel can be drawn between the mining industry and the dignified paunchy gentleman riding the billows. Mellowing in a downtown club he reminisces over his rough-and-tumble youth; when frontiers were being pushed to continental limits and the great mines were discovered on a first come first serve basis. Those were the days of the empire builders. They created the methods, made their own laws, and gambled their very lives on the outcome. For these efforts and sacrifices they shared in the great wealth which was made. There were no comparisons between the small and big operators because they all started small and those with the most financial know-how slowly merged into the big companies of the present.

Jan 12, 1951

IT is certainly fitting and proper that the shortage of engineers should be the topic of frequent editorials in the professional magazine of mining engineers, but many of you are directly concerned with another shortage; namely, the shortage of skilled miners. It is often said that the military organization is built around the noncommissioned officer and it is similarly true that the mining organization depends for its production on the skilled miner-the NCO of the mining industry.

Jan 10, 1951

Time Now For Thinking In these turbulous times a natural restiveness is created among the younger men of the mining profession. Many of them are veterans of World War II and the question is raised in their minds as to whether or not to go back into military service. There is time to think about this question now and it is advisable to do so in order that snap decisions may be avoided if war is declared.

Jan 2, 1951

AN unprecedented expansion of the mineral industries began in mid-1950. There are few minerals on the strategic list for which some source of supply here at home has not been found. All types of inducements have been utilized, ranging from RFC loans to guaranteed-price purchase contracts. No one can deny that tremendous progress toward mineral self-sufficiency has been made. Despite the greatness of these accomplishments, made' in the name of national defense, one cannot help but. have a feeling of uneasiness over the price which has been paid-in indebtedness, in freedom, and in the sacrifice of private enterprise. The people of the Soviet have been enslaved by a military state which attempts complete control of the economy. A similar yoke has been imposed on the business life of this nation. Of course, there is a difference in degree of control and in purpose. We are dedicated toward defense and the resistance of aggression. And, our personal liberties have not been usurped. The realization of the extent to which this nation has been forced by Communist aggression to adopt the practices of the socialized state is appalling.

Jan 1, 1952

THIS issue is about Chuquicamata and the new sulphide plant. Chuquicamata is moving into a new cycle of productivity; she has begun to give up the sulphide copper which lies deep-seated beneath the oxide ore zones in large but yet unknown quantity. After forty years of production, Chuqui may be likened to a strapping youngster, with adolescence and maturity still ahead. Mining operations are being projected-not for decades -but for generations. Although there are still many years of open-pit mining ahead, planning of future underground mining has been started. The bottom of the orebody is still unknown, but enough work has been done to show that Chuqui is one of the largest known copper orebodies in the world. Until recently, only the oxide ores have been mined and these have been treated at the rate of 50,000 to 60,000 tons per day by leaching. Construction of the sulphide plant was timed to coincide with reduction in production of oxide ores. The new sulphide concentrator and smelter, designed in keeping with the magnitude of the orebody, will be brought on the production line at the rate of 30,000 tons per day. The capacity of the plant now planned can be expanded to treat 60,000 tons of sulphide ore. Little wonder that Chuqui is a name legendary in the remotest mining circles. But to those who have known her more intimately, and there is hardly a mining camp without a Chuqui graduate, she means much more. She is an orebody that has made engineers. Reposing at 10,000 ft on the western flank of the Andes in the arid northern reaches of Chile, water is scarce, common fuels absent, and volcanoes and earthquakes add drama and hazard. It is these natural difficulties which have created the fascination and challenge which have caused many engineers to devote their lives to unlocking this treasure house of nature.

Jan 1, 1952

THERE has been a lot of talk about the shortage of engineers and we have done our share of it; but recently we heard a spot radio commercial-between broadcasts-urging high school seniors to study engineering. We think this is going too far. Engineering is an exacting profession requiring the highest personal qualifications. Publicity for the purpose of interesting capable young people in choosing courses in engineering should emphasize qualification. The opportunities for a career in a great constructive profession which is the basis of our high standard of living should be properly evaluated. Although there is a need for more engineers today, nobody knows what the employment potential is going to be four years hence. The profession may do itself a grave disservice by attempting mass recruitment in the face of an unpredictable national economy. The mining and metals industries are in a special position as fewer engineers are needed in these fields. Only 10 pct of all engineers are mining and metallurgical engineers. Today's shortage is not so much in recent graduates, but in trained practicing engineers. The shortage has served the profession to good effect because it directed the talents of engineers into more productive channels. In some areas high school graduates have been put into routine jobs such as, surveying. If there is one thing the mining profession does not want, it is an oversupply of graduates which would relegate college men to years of work and discouragement in routine jobs. The public has a clear cut picture of the legal and medical professions and thus the respect knowledge imparts. But the engineer is variously thought of as a man who pulls the throttle lever on a locomotive, tends a furnace, or builds a bridge. The term engineer is too loosely used. For instance we have heard of "crowd engineers" and "exterminating engineers." In some unions an engineer designation has been established to describe a person doing routine checking or other control job. We do not disparage these positions but they are different from the work done by the man qualified by years of experience and study. Many of these so-called engineers are not engineers at all. The engineering profession has cooperated closely on a program of recruiting high school graduates for engineering study. It should start a cooperative public relations program to enlighten the public on the accomplishments and work of engineers. This type of publicity need not be of the bombastic type. It can be educational and dignified. Radio, television, and the periodicals can be used to convey information. It is time that laymen and interested young people learn to make a distinction between the true engineer and the technician. Such a program would instruct parents and high school students and thereby interest the right type of people in the engineering profession. The Centennial of Engineering sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers is a step in the direction of instructive public relations. This fine start should not be allowed to remain as a one pass venture. The engineering profession as a whole should follow this exposition with a sustained, well directed effort to inform the public of the engineer's work and the possibilities it holds for a constructive career.

Jan 1, 1952