Search Documents

By Thomas MacFarlane

DURING the last fifteen years the progress made in the science of lithology has been of a very marked character. From being a miscellaneous collection of facts and observations regarding certain mineral aggregates seemingly incapable of systematic arrangement, it has become a most interesting and orderly department of science. The investigators who have brought about this great change have recorded the results of their labors, and placed at our service an extensive and varied literature on the subject. To this I have paid some attention, and partly from .studying it, partly from my own observations, I have wrought out a classification of original or crystalline rocks, which I venture to bring under the notice of the members of this Institute. The practical importance of the subject will be acknowledged when it is considered that rock species are not without their influence on the contents of the mineral veins which intersect them. Besides, the Institute has been doing good service in defining terms in metallurgy, and no doubt in mining and geology we might

Jan 1, 1880

By Benjamin B. Lawrence

The lease-system is the gradual result of the development of our larger producing mines throughout the State of Colorado. The operation of a mine, or group of mines, by corporations has been attended, in many cases, by disaster, owing to the difficulty of securing a fair day's work from the men employed in the mine, and the loss entailed by careless mining and sorting of high-grade ores, or by lax or inefficient management on the part of superintendents and foremen. Given, therefore, a mine that has been practically abandoned by its owner, for the reasons given, but still possessing merit, the lessee appears on the ground and secures a lease for a year, or term of years, from the owner, upon the payment of a royalty upon the gross smelter- or mill-returns of the ore which he mines. In this way many of our abandoned mines have been re-opened by the miner, who, with two or more associates, has been enabled, by careful attention, to obtain profitable results.

Jan 1, 1893

THE object of all classification is to group together things which are alike, and separate those which are unlike. This object is essentially a practical one, enabling us to apply past experience to new conditions: Many costly large-scale experiments lose half their importance for want of proper description of the coal used, and the consequent impossibility of predicting other coals will behave in the same way. I do not, therefore, make a fundamental distinction between "scientific" and "use" classifications, except in so far as use depends on conditions, such as size or impurities which are not related to the nature of the coal substance itself. The characters chosen to define the classes of coal must be such as are accompanied by as many other properties as possible. It is not to be expected that any system of classification will enable us to predict every property of coal, since all specimens have an individuality of their own. But specimens can be grouped by a number of resemblances into species. Further, species which resemble each other can be grouped into genera.

Jan 1, 1928

By Charles Janin

The first successful bucket-elevator dredge to operate in California was put in comnlisvion wt Oroville in March, 1898. There had been numerous previous attempts at dredging, but noue of the earlier boats proved a success. The gold-miners in California earl3 conceived the idea of a machine to dig gravel from the beds and bars of auriferous streams that were inaccessible by the methods then employed, and it was only a few months after the discovery of gold in California that such a machine was Shipped around Cape Horn from New York to San Francisco. Thij was, however, but the forerunner of many failures in gold-dredging, and was soon at the bottoni of the Sacramento river. During succeeding years many other unsuccessful attempts mere made, and it was not until 1897 that a dredge of the single-lift bucket-elevator type mas floated on the Yuba river. This dredge was built by the Risdon Iron Works for 12. H. Postlethwaite, and would probably have been a success if it had been operated on some of the rich Ororille ground

Jan 1, 1912

By L. D. Fetterolf

The New Jersey Zinc Zompany operates at Depue, Illinois, an integrated zinc smelting plant using tie vertical retort reduction process. The overall operation comprises green concentrate roasting, sintering, vertical retort smelting and metal refining. In the roasting operation, the fine concentrate is pelletized, the dried pellets fluidized and autogenously roasted with air in a “fluid column” with minimal formation of dust requiring recirculation. The roasted pellets and any associated roaster dust are agglomerated in a rotating drum and laid down, in combination with coal for fuel, on a Dwight-Lloyd sintering machine which converts to a semi-fused mass - a physical state more suitable for vertical retort smelting. The smeltins plant of 27 vertical retorts rated at 8 T zinc each per day on average requires the following major processing steps - mix preparation and briquettine, briquet coking, vertical retort reduction, vapor condensation and slab casting of metal. A portion of zinc production is converted to 99.99+ percent purity by boiling and fractional distillation in columns consisting of externally heated, superimposed trays of high-conductivity refractory.

Jan 1, 1970

By Immo H. Redeker

Through close cooperation with geophysical and geological test work by Texas Gulf Sulphur Co. in Beaufort County, the Asheville Minerals Research Laboratory assisted in the evaluation of North Carolina's most valuable mineral resource, the Pungo River phosphate deposit. After a core evaluation study, the flotation process for the concentration of North Carolina phosphate was demonstrated in a 500-lb per hr pilot plant in Asheville. Tonnage samples of phosphate concentrate were produced for customer evaluation in the United States, Europe, and the Far East. Plans for a larger pilot plant to be erected at the plant site at Lee Creek were prepared for TGS. The larger pilot plant was operated by TGS in conjunction with a test dredging operation which led to the adoption of a dragline dry mining method to move 90,000 tpd of material for the production of 10,000 tpd of phosphate concentrate in the all-flotation phosphate concentrator. Calcining, dry grinding, and byproduct studies complimented the construction of one of the world's largest and most modern fertilizer raw-feed complexes on the eastern North Carolina seaboard.

Jan 1, 1972

By Ellis Clark

These mines were discovered by George W. Lufkin in August, 1878, and mere worked almost continuously until August, 1893, a period of fifteen years. The ore-deposits in this locality lie close to the surface, and it is strange that the Spaniards, passing and repassing for nearly three centuries, did not discover them, particularly as they are marked in several places by large outcrops of black flint and iron, which would lead even a casual observer in a mineral country to suspect the proximity of ore. The mines are situated about six miles from the old Santa Fé trail, and fifteen miles from the Rio Grande. The geology is such that a skilled geologist passing over the ground would probably suspect, from the peculiar arrangement of the formations, the occurrence of ore. The formations in the district, eruptive and sedimentary, are nine in number; and of these eight are to be found within one thousand feet of the Grande workings. Topography. The topography of the Lake Valley district shows its dependence on the surface and underground geology, in a degree more marked

Jan 1, 1895

By R. B. Tippin, J. S. Browning

Inasmuch as the higher grade potash deposits are rapidly being depleted, it is important that economic beneficiation techniques be developed for recovering potassium compounds from lower grade sylvite ores and deposits containing clay materials. The Federal Bureau of Mines has conducted research to develop processes for heavy liquid concentration of potash ores, This method of concentration is discussed, and results of tests made on potash ores from New Mexico are presented. The tests demonstrated the technical feasibility of producing near commercial-grade potash concentrates, with a high recovery of the contained sylvite. The concentration of minerals based on their differences in specific gravity dates back to the very beginning of mineral dressing, and the use of heavy liquids in the laboratory to achieve optimum mineral separations has been utilized for many years. With the advent of froth flotation and its success, the incentive to develop new processes has remained relatively dormant. However, flotation refinements in the nonmetallic ores have not progressed as rapidly as in metallic (sulfide) ores because of the complexity of the deposits and the chemical similarities of the minerals.

Jan 1, 1967

By Robert L. Frantz

Progress and improvement continue to be the bywords of a dynamic coal industry. The industry continues to gain strength and expand its horizons in the face of competition from atomic energy and the problems of restrictive legislation. The direct contribution of coal mining and transportation to the national economy is about $3 billion a year ac- cording to a study made by the National Coal Policy conference. Coal remains the backbone of the power industry producing almost two-thirds of all the electrical energy generated by fossil fuels and one-quarter of all the energy consumed in the nation. Power supplied by electric utilities increased 6.9% last year. The chairman of the Federal Power Commission predicted a 7.5% growth rate until 1980 for the nation's electric output. Some 80,500 MW of fossil fired power plant capacity are on order or under construction before 1974, compared to a present capacity, all sources, of about 290,000 MW. The comparable new additions of nuclear power plants is expected to total about 51,000 MW.

Jan 2, 1969

By Gary E. Melickian

Last year's review was characterized as a year of politics and began an era of legislation. The 1972 review can be similarly characterized, with even more rigid health and safety regulations and environmental legislation. The mining industry should be aware of what's happening in the nuclear power and other fields as a result of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, where the environmental impact of most major construction activities are already under close scrutiny. Section 102 of NEPA requires that all federal agencies include a detailed statement on specified environmental conditions as part of every report on proposed actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. All such environmental reports must consider the same general conditions: • The environmental impact of the proposed action. • Any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented. • Alternatives to the proposed action. • The relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity. • Any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.

Jan 2, 1973

By Charles Meyer, Reno H. Sales

AT Butte, successive zones of sericitized and argillized quartz monzonite occur around every ore-bearing fracture regardless of its size, attitude, or relative age. The two types of alteration always occupy the same relative positions; sericite adjacent to the ore-bearing vein, clay minerals always between the sericitized rock and fresh quartz monzonite, except where overlap of alteration effects between adjacent fissures has eliminated the lower grade mineralogical products, as is the case in much of Butte's Central zone of pervasive sericitization. As long as active circulation continued in the channel, each zone migrated away from the fissure, that is, it grew at its outer edge and simultaneously receded at its veinward edge because of encroachment by the next innermost zone. The different mineralogical and chemical responses within the wall rocks to the attack by the ore fluid are dependent not on a drastic about-face change of composition of the fluid in the channel relative to its ability to alter the quartz monzonite but on continuously varying conditions of physico-chemical environment within the wall rock outwardly from the vein.

Jan 1, 1947

By R. Costantini

Long-distance transportation of solids by hydraulic pipelines holds promise of great economic benefits. In most mineral processing plants today, moving of solids in slurry-form by pipeline is commonplace. Yet in spite of this, the method is slow in being adopted on a broad scale for moving solids over distances of many miles. This is especially surprising in view of the successful realization of two daring ventures in long-distance solids pipelines in this nation within the last five years. One is the 72-mile long, 6-in. diam. pipeline of the American Gilsonite Co. which has been satisfactorily transporting 700 tpd of gilsonite from the mine at Bonanza, Utah, to the processing plant at Grand Junction, Colo., since April 1957. The other is the 108-mile long, 10-in. pipeline of the Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Co., which has been transporting about 4000 tpd of finely crushed coal from the mine at Cadiz, Ohio, to the Eastlake Power Plant of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. since January 1958.

Jan 8, 1961

By R. E. Hook, H. J. Garrett, A. M. Adair

X-ray diffraction and metallographic techniques were employed to examine the impurity phases occurring in as-swaged and recrystallized chromium produced fvom high-purity iodide chromium crystals. Chromium oxides are found to form in a consistent manner associated with the temperature of recrystallization. Microscopically observable second phase particles of Cr203 are observed to form intergranulurly beginning at 1300T. Beginning at 1500°C. Cr30, is formed intergvanulurly, atzd at 1600°C and above Cr30, is also formed in association with migrating grain boundaries. Geometrical traces formed by particles of this high temperature oxide uithin the grains rez)eal the histmy of grain boundary motion. X-ray evidence is presented which suggests the existence of a high temperature form of Cr203. Other impurity phases in addition to the oxides of chromium are also present. THE partitioning Of impurity elements between grain boundary aid lattice sires, either as solutes in solution or as second phases, may exercise an important influence on the mechanical behavior of metals and alloy systems. This partitioning of impurities could have a direct bearing on the iecrys-

Jan 1, 1963

By W. H. W. Husband

Rock salt has been solution mined for many years in many countries. Attempts have been made in the past in Canada and various other countries to produce potash by the same method. However, only Kalium Chemicals Ltd. has been successful, possibly because the conditions in Saskatchewan are the most favorable to be found so far for the development of a solution-mining method for potash. In view of the fact that few studies of solution mining of potash have been attempted, only one company has succeeded in using the method, and no information has been released by this company, the application of solution mining of potash ore bodies has to be presented on the basis of available theory, past small-scale studies, and recent patents. A simple mining method is outlined and possible methods of recovering the potash from the brine are discussed. Dissolution data pertaining to solution mining of potash, flowsheets, and material balances are presented. The available information is brought together in a cost analysis to show capital and product costs in terms of 1966 dollars.

Jan 1, 1972

Papers published by the Institute are issued in a variety of forms MINING TECHNOLOGY, issued every other month, contains the TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS on Metal Mining, Minerals Beneficiation (milling and concentration), Industrial Minerals (nonmetallic) and Mining Geology, Mining Administration, and Geophysics papers relating to Metal Mining (A, B, H, I, K, L ) METALS TECHNOLOGY, issued eight times a year, contains the TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS of the Iron and Steel Division and the Institute of Metals Division, and once or twice during the year those on Non-ferrous Metallurgy (reduction and refining of nonferrous metals) (C, E, and D ) PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY, issued every other month, contains the TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS of the Petroleum Division, together with Geophysics papers relating to -the finding of Petroleum (G, L ) COAL TECHNOLOGY, issued four times a year, contains the TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS of the Coal Division (F ) MINERAL INDUSTRY EDUCATION DIVISION papers appear in a TECHNOLOGY according to classification of subject matter DISCUSSIONS appear in the respective TECHNOLOGY as available MINING AND METALLURGY is the monthly magazine, which contains papers of general interest and news of the membership

Jan 1, 1952

By Arthur F. Johnson

Plant sites for the light metal industry must be located where ample low cost power is available. In the first half of the century hydroelectric development was the only source of this power-now the best sites have been exploited and those remaining do not promise enough water to permit year-round capacity power plant operation. In searching for economic plant sites engineers have concentrated on locations with vast water power potential. Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp. has been studying the economics of developing water power to make aluminum. However natural gas, lignite, and even atomic energy have also been considered as possible power sources for aluminum production. Economic studies have given consideration not merely to investment and production costs, but to total costs of delivering fabricated products to the market center of the U. S. When delivered costs are considered and when full account is taken of the newest techniques of mining bituminous coal and utilizing it to make electric power, one arrives at the inescapable conclusion that coal has emerged as the economic answer to American aluminum production.

Jan 4, 1955

By R. H. Thielemann

THE conventional short-time tensile test provides a reliable means of predicting the sustained load-carrying capacity of steels only when the temperature is such that continuous plastic flow does not occur. At elevated temperatures, stresses considerably less than the short-time rupture value may produce continuous flow, with fracture occurring only after long periods of time. The amount of flow or creep accompany-ing failure varies for different steels, and depends, to a large extent, on the temperature and the duration of the test. Service records of cracking stills, steam superheaters and high-temperature boilers have shown that brittle fractures sometimes occur with little or no warning. In installa-tions of this type, localized stresses are often encountered, and steels must be capable of withstanding a certain amount of deformation without fracture. The sustained-load rupture test determines the expected life and corresponding ductility of steels at various stresses and tempera-tures. It also yields additional information regarding the effect of micro-structure and metallurgical stability on the high-temperature properties.

Jan 1, 1939

By J. W. Onuscheck

The oxygen-fuel oil burner lance is a very useful tool at the Monessen B.O.F. It increases the overall flexibility of the operation. An additional 15,000 to 20,000 ingot tons can be produced at a given hot metal supply. It helps overcome sporadic drops in hot metal thermal values and/or supply. It results in increased yield, in particular, on high carbon heats where much yield was lost on reblow triggered slag reactions. The burner has also been adopted as a standard tool to aid burning in new vessel linings. Overall, steelmaking performance has improved with the use of standard preheat practice. Scrap charges up to 50 percent have been used routinely in times of extreme hot metal shortages, but the performance is weak in some categories. Development of a single step oxy-oil process is in progress. In this process, scrap and hot metal are charged as in the normal B.O.F. practice, but fuel oil is fired with the refining oxygen.

Jan 1, 1972

OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES OF LOCAL SECTIONS AIME Committee on Local Section Affairs Roger Pierce, Chairman Carleton C Long Thomas C Frick AIME Committee on Student Chapter Affairs John P Nielson, Chairman John C Calhoun, Jr J R Van Pelt, Jr Council of Section Delegates A A Burr, Chairman (Hudson-Mohawk) Ralph A Watson, Vice-Chairman (North Pacific) L G Neely, Secretary (West Central Texas) INTERIM COMMITTEE M O Langham (East Texas), Fulton J Olivier (Delta), L W Smith (Niagara Frontier), G R Spindler (Central Appalachian) LOCAL SECTIONS (There are 78 Local Sections in the United States, 9 Foreign) ADIRONDACK Established June 18, 1952 Official year begins in April Meets fourth Saturday monthly, April through October Seven meetings annually Local Section Dues AIME Members $2, Nonmembers $3 Charles F Dievendorf, Chairman Severn P Brown, Vice-Chairman George E Erdman, Secretary-Treasurer Gouverneur Talc Co , Inc Gouverneur, N Y Malcolm V Lowry, '60, Section Delegate Committees Membership David J Crawford, Chairman Program Brower Dellinger, Chairman Student Affairs Eugene A Eastman, Chairman

Jan 1, 1959

By J. M. Johns

INTRODUCTION The Climax Mine is located on the continen¬tal divide, on Fremont Pass, about 145 Km south west of Denver, Colorado. Molybdenum, along with the by products, tungsten, tin, and pyrite are produced from both the open pit and under¬ground operations. The underground operation utilizes a panel caving mining system, and produces in excess of 27,000 mt per day. In the mid 1930's, the Climax mine began changing from a grizzly level layout to the slusher drift system which is still in use to¬ day. Over the years, the slusher drift layout has been refined to correct, improve, and sim¬plify minor operational problems. In common with most older hardrock mines, the development equipment used at Climax was the standard rail mounted, pneumatic mining machinery. This type of equipment remained in use, at least to some degree, until about four years ago. For production, 112 Kw electric slushers were used, while mine traffic was rail with trolley locomotives. Beginning about ten years ago, Climax began

Jan 1, 1981