Search Documents

By W. A. Gibson, Zay Jeffries

It has been known for a number of years that certain aluminum alloys could be hardened by quenching from a temperature of about 500' C. Immediately after quenching the total increase in hardness is not marked, but the hardness increases gradually so that after about 4 days, it has reached a maximum. The actual increase in hardness probably continues for weeks or even months, but in order to detect the differences after 4 days, it is necessary to make tests at rather long intervals. So far as is known to the authors, Alfred Wilm was the first to discover these properties in aluminum alloys.' The aluminum-copper alloys are amenable to this treatment and the addition of magnesium makes the heat-treatment effect more pronounced. Until recently heat treatment of aluminum alloys has been confined to the worked alloys in the form of sheet or extruded products. The alloy that has been most used in this connection is known commercially as duralumin and has about the following composition: copper not exceeding, 6 per cent.; magnesium not exceeding, 2 per cent.; manganese not exceeding, 1 per cent.; commercial aluminum,2 balance. A typically good alloy in this range consists of: copper, 4 per cent.; magnesium, 0.5 per cent.; manganese, 1 per cent.; commercial aluminum, balance. This alloy can be rolled into sheets or extruded; and in this condition it can be heated in the ordinary furnace atmosphere to a temperature near 500° C. and quenched in water. After about 4 days it will have the following physical properties: tensile strength 55,000 to 60,000 1b. per sq. in. (3866 to 4218 kg. per sq. cm.); elongation in 2 in., 15 to 20 per cent. No harmful effects of the furnace gases or even the air, if the heating is effected in an electric furnace in an air atmospherc.

Jan 1, 1921

By M. J. Coolbaugh

There is a need for concepts and techniques developed specifically for blasting in areas where the rock is loose or highly fractured. Common practice has been to use techniques developed in hard homogeneous rock and reduce the amount and strength of explosive. However, this rule cannot cope with all of the special characteristics of highly fractured rock and has not adequately taken care of the problems of overbreak, gouging, and wall damage. The main problems encountered when blasting in highly fractured rock are controlling the amount of rock broken, minimizing the damage done to the remaining wall material, and adapting blasting methods to rapidly fluctuating ground conditions. In addition, because it frequently needs timber support right into the blasting area, there is also the problem of how not to shoot out the timber when heavy loading is needed in order to offset a loss of impact caused by deflection of the detonation wave off the numerous rock interfaces, and by the absorption of the wave by resilient clay particles. Another consideration is the fact that less attention needs to be directed toward producing satisfactory fragmentation of the broken rock. Those blasting methods designed for breaking hard rock into manageable segments are, as a rule, not needed in highly fractured rock which will usually break along its own numerous fracture lines.

Jan 8, 1965

By F. W. Warnaars

The Los Bronces copper deposit is located on the west side of the Andes Mountains in central Chile about 54 km (34 miles) northeast of Santiago. The deposit consists of a hydrothermal breccia complex that was emplaced in the western part of an earlier porphyry copper mineral system. This system exhibits propylitic, sericitic, silicic to potassic hydrothermal alteration with disseminated and stockwork copper-molybdenum sulfide mineralization over an area of about 12 km2 (5 sq. miles). The Rio Blanco Mine, about 800 m (0.5 miles) east of Los Bronces, is an underground block caving mine located in the central part of this system. The mineralization at Rio Blanco is characterized by one of the highest primary copper grades known for porphyry copper systems. Present mining at Los Bronces is from an open pit located in the northern part of a hydrothermal complex that is composed of at least seven different copper-bearing tourmaline breccia pipes. Together these pipe form one large contiguous body about 2 km (1.2 miles) long and 0.7 km (0.4 miles) wide at the surface. This body crops out at elevations of between 3.5 and 4.1 km (2 and 2.5 miles) above sea level. Each breccia pipe has a characteristic shape, matrix, type and degree of mineralization and alteration. Quartz, tourmaline, specularite, anhydrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sericite, chlorite, and rock flour are present in significant quantities in most breccia matrices. The clasts consist mainly of quartz monzonite, andesite, and minor amounts of quartz latite porphyry. The seven different breccia pipes are identified, from oldest to youngest, as Ghost, Central, Western, Infiernillo, Fine Gray, Anhydrite, and Donoso. The breccias coalesce, interfinger, or display gradational contacts. In places they form sharp contacts with each other and with the surrounding intrusive or volcanic host rocks. Early breccias are disrupted or cut by subsequent breccia events. Explosive emplacement was followed by collapse after the release of hydrothermal pressures. The Los Bronces breccia complex has sharp contacts with the surrounding intrusive stock and andesites. These contacts dip inward on the north, west, and south margins. The eastern contact is nearly vertical and/or dips slightly outward and suggests a westward tilting of the body of about 15° after emplacement. The breccia complex is not fully explored at depth, but is known to extend at least below the 3 km (2 mile) elevation in its central eastern part, about 1 km (0.6 miles) below the highest breccia outcrop. Primary copper sulfide minerals are most abundant in the Donoso and Infiernillo breccias where the matrix consists mostly of tourmaline, quartz, sulfides, specularite, and/or chlorite with minor amounts of rock flour, sericite, and clay. The volume of the matrix material is mostly smaller than in the other breccias. Secondary enrichment enhanced the primary copper grade in the southern two-thirds of the Los Bronces breccia complex and in much of the surrounding porphyry system. Primary grades of 0.3% to 0.5% copper have been enriched to approximately 0.9%. This enrichment may extend from surface outcrops to a depth of more than 500 m (1, 640 ft) in more permeable parts of the breccia complex. A leached and oxidized capping of variable thickness covers a large part of the enriched layer and exceeds 300 m (984 ft) at one location. The shape and depth of the enrichment blanket and the capping suggest that the enrichment process is still active.

Jan 1, 1983

By E. P. Pfleider, D. H. Yardley

Layers of magnetic taconite of above average magnetic iron content extend down dip on the Mesabi Range to depths beyond the reach of open pit mining. A selected layer with thickness of 75 to 100 ft underlies many square miles. Such a selected layer can provide over 50 million tons of recoverable concentratc per square mile, at lower concentration ratios than in the present open pit taconite operations. The system contemplated would consist of large scale underground quarrying by a lane and pillar method. Working heights would be 60 to 100 ft; room widths, 50 to 75 ft; and productivity targets, about 40 tons per man-shift. The most critical problems would he roof control and blasthole drilling. The successful operation of large open pits and concentrating plants for treatment of magnetic taconites indicates that the basic techniques and economic problems of pellet production have been solved. The open pit reserves are large, but they are not necessarily available in sufficient quantity or quality to provide an adequate raw materials base for all potential producers. Furthermore, as the more easily available open pit crudes are used up, the pits will become deeper, stripping costs per ton of concentrate will increase, and recoveries will decrease as leaner crudes are utilized. The time will come when supplementary and replacement reserves of magnetic taconite will be required. One way these can be obtained is by underground mining of the down-dip extension of the Mesabi magnetic taconites, especially those layers averaging well over 25% recoverable iron. A key point in such a proposal is the possibility of realizing substantial savings by beneficiating an ore of 30% magnetic iron at 2.5 to 1 ratio of concentration. This contrasts with current practice in Mesabi commercial taconite plants, where the ore averages 22 to 25% magnetic Fe, with concentration ratios of about 3.0 when producing 61% Fe pellets. Two factors which favor the eventual development of underground taconite mining are: 1) the desirable physical structure and high grade of taconite pellets in general and 2) the improved engineering techniques in underground mining. Experience in large scale room and pillar mines demonstrates that, given strong rock strata immediately above a high grade mining

Jan 1, 1963

Jan 1, 1953

Jan 1, 1953

By H. Leslie Bullock

From aluminum to zirconium, the quantitative preponderance of quartz as a gangue material is well recognized. lf this material is to be efficiently removed, its variations must be understood. Variations with temperature are especially important. Too little attention has been given to the thermal polarization of quartz. Under closely controlled conditions, electrostatic upgrading is very reliable. For efficient separation, contact charges must be fostered and charges due to radiation, surface coatings, or thermal polarization avoided. This paper lists thermal transition points of quartz and shows their effect on actual separations. Simple separation tests with all factors except temperature held constant are recommended for determining transition points. With silica making up more than 27% of the earth's crust, its oxides comprising more than 59% of all igneous rocks, and quartz accounting for most of the main free oxides, the mining engineer is in constant contact with quartz, which may occur as a valuable mineral to be purified or, far more frequently, as a gangue material to be removed as completely and economically as possible. As a means of effecting such purification or removal, dry beneficiation is becoming more and more desirable owing to local water scarcities, wet waste disposal problems, or freezing conditions. One method that has been gaining particularly rapid acceptance is electrostatic beneficiation, or the separation of dry free-flowing materials by means of opposite surface charges, differences in potential, or differences in conductivity. Electrostatic beneficiation dates back to the 1870's, but only in recent years have newly developed methods and apparatus and a growing knowledge of solid-state physics widened the field for its economical application. Because the term "electrostatic beneficiation" has been rather loosely used in the literature, it has come to include both electrostatic and electrodynamic procedures. Attracting type separators, however, in which oper- ation is based on differences of surface charge or potential, are truly electrostatic, because the separation occurs in a substantially static field set up between oppositely charged surfaces. Separations with this type of equipment may occur at potentials as low as 1000 v and seldom require potentials as high as 30,000 v. In the new contact charge dielectric separators1 the variation in charge is produced by continuous contact and separation of the particles in the moving feed stream and these charges are fostered by the use of non-conducting support and feed surfaces and by handling the feed in the form of streams of appreciable depth. This favors uniformity of feed and allows higher production rates. The distinctive surface charge differences are set up on the separation of the particles according to Coehn's Law,2 which states that equal and opposite charges are generated on the separation of any two materials in contact and that the substance having the highest dielectric constant will be positively charged. The basic contact charge concept is reliable, but all electrical charges are transient and modified by the electrical conditions of the surroundings. Pyro-electric, photoelectric and radiant effects may modify or totally destroy the contact charges necessary for efficient separation, or contact with conducting surfaces may neutralize them. Such hostile conditions must be carefully guarded against, since they have led to many costly failures in the past. The most consistent difference in surface charges to insure good separation is produced by repeated uniform contact and separation of particles in the moving stream. The thickness of the feed stream possible with this method reduces the effect of contact with the supporting surfaces, but as some contact is inevitable, the best results may be assured by having the dielectric constants of the supporting surfaces between the dielectric constants of the substances to be separated. In general, the hard smooth surface of quartz makes it an ideal substance for electrostatic separation from most minerals. For instance, with calcite, starting with a feed containing 1.9% acid insolubles, one can produce a concentrate containing 0.30% acid insolubles with a tailings containing 21.7% acid insolubles and a yield of 92.8%. The color can be held at 92 or above and the tint at 1.7 or lower. Working with specularite iron ore, laboratory work has given a concentrate of 68.8% Fe., with an iron unit recovery of 96.7%. Excellent results are also in pros-

Jan 1, 1969

By Royal B. Jackman, Carle R. Hayward

Two comprehensive papers have appeared regarding the forms of copper that occur in smelter slags, one by Frank E. Lathe1 and the other by C. G. Maier and G. D. Van Arsdale.2 These authors comment on other published results and draw conclusions from their own investigations. The development of X-ray examination of minerals and improvement in high-power microscopic methods make it possible today to get additional evidence by means that were not available to earlier investigators. The present work was confined to reverberatory slags obtained from five different plants. Some definite conclusions were reached regarding the forms of copper present in these slags. In most cases these agree with some of the findings of Maier and Van Arsdale but new methods of attack were used in the investigation. Conclusions of Previous Investigators Various important conclusions reached by previous investigators are summarized in the following paragraphs, arranged chronologically. William A. Heywood:3 Slag losses increase with grade of matte but with the same grade of matte losses decrease as the acidity of the slag increases. Lewis T. Wright:' Slag losses are only partly due to prills of matte. It is suggested that part of the copper is dissolved in the slag. J. Parke Channing9 A considerable part of the copper enters the slag as silicate or oxide and not as sulfide. C. A. Grabill:6 Slag losses are both physical and chemical. Physical losses, due to poor settling, gas flotation and slight differences in specific gravity, are small under normal conditions. Chemical losses may- be due to formation of oxides or to solution of metals and sulfides. The last is considered the most important. John W. James:' The copper in converter slag is largely the oxide and as such enters the reverberatory slag when converter slag is added to the charge.

Jan 1, 1934

By Norman Brown, J. V. Rinnovatore

Substructures in explosively deformed and annealed ß brass have been examined by electron microscopy. In the explosively deformed condition, the structure contains a large density of straight screw type dislocations. Subsequent annealing up to 300oC produces low angle boundaries, which are characterized by superlattice dislocations, and expanded and contracted nodes. Evidence is given where two a(111) superlattice dislocations combine to form two a(001) superlattice dislocations. It is also shown that annealing at 400°C the networks disappear and that quenching from 400" C produces square and circular prismatic dislocation loops that lie on (100) and (111) planes, respectively. THE purpose of this work was to determine the effects of explosive deformation and subsequent annealing in a superlattice using electron microscopy. One of the first observations of explosively deformed structures was made by Hornbogen1 on a iron. Hornbogen found that screw dislocations were most prominent in the explosively deformed structure. He explained this result by suggesting that the edge components of dislocation loops move with the velocity of the shock front leaving a trail of extended screw components. Kressel and Brown2 observed explosively deformed Fe3A1, which is basically a body-centered type of superlattice in terms of dislocation geometry, and found that, as in the case of iron, screw dislocations were most prominent. It was also observed2 that, in cold-rolled and explosively deformed nickel, screw dislocations did not predominate, but rather a uniform network of dislocations was present in which the orientation of the dislocations was random. (Cell structures also have been observed by Nolder and Thomas3 for copper and by Johari and Thomas* for nickel). Kressel and Brown2 discussed the difference between dislocation morphology for bee and fee metals in terms of dislocation mobilities. They suggested that edge dislocations have a greater mobility than screw dislocations in bee metals but not in fee metals. Thus, the idea offered originally by Hornbogen1 is not valid since it should apply equally to fee and bee systems but does not. The results of recent work by Mikkola and cohens on explosively deformed Cu2Au are consistent with other observations for fee metals. They found that dislocations were randomly arranged but there was no significant cell formation. At high shock pressures, deformation twins are produced in fee metals.' High pressures in bee metal should induce the bee — fee transformation while the metal is under pressure. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The Cu-Zn alloy used in this work contained 51.4 wt pct Cu. Specimens of 0.5 in. diam and 0.012 in.

Jan 1, 1968

By G. L. F. Powell

Bulk samples of silver have beat undercooled lo a large degree in contact with crystalline siliceous and ceramic oxide materials, indicating lhat stable oxides and oxide compounds are not the heterogeneous nucleants which normally catalyze cryslallization within a feu degrees of the equilibrium freezing point. Since 400-g samples were undercooled 250°C in contact with cristobalite, it is concluded that the undercooling required for homogeneous nucleation of sil11er is greater than 250°C. Undercooling was Jacilitated by precleaning the crucibles with a high-fires -sure blast of gas. IN numerous experiments on the undercooling of metal melts it has been assumed that a solid glassy surface, being non crystal line, will have no effect in catalyzing crystal nucleation from the melt. Conversely, it is usually accepted that any crystalline surface, in contact with a metal melt, will catalyze nucleation of metal crystals from the melt at degrees of undercooling less than that at which homogeneous nucleation will occur. Both these assumptions were implicit in the claim that homogeneous nucleation was observed in experiments1'2 on the undercooling of small metal droplets (10 to 100 mp diam). The droplets were thought to be freed of suspended crystalline particles which would otherwise catalyze heterogeneous nucleation. They were supported on flakes of silica glass which were assumed to be amorphous, and therefore incapable of acting as substrates for heterogeneous nucleation. In later experiments, large samples of molten metal were undercooled to temperatures similar to those achieved by the droplet technique by melting in a fused-silica crucible3 or a boro-silicate glass slag.4 Since these samples were usually fully enclosed in glass at the moment of freezing, it seemed possible that nucleation was homogeneous when maximum degrees of undercooling were achieved, despite the large size of the samples (up to 500 g). In experiments on the undercooling of silver5 the metal was contained in vitreous silica crucibles, the

Jan 1, 1968

By E. C. Tveter, R. B. Tippin

The separation of minerals by heavy liquids is a standard laboratory technique which goes back at least 50 years, but commercially economic application of this principal to ore concenfration has been prevented by problems of liquid recovery. Recent investigations which demonstrate the different types of liquid-solid systems on various ores using the two major heavy liquids - methylene bromide and tetra-bromoelhane — are discussed in this article. As a result of these studies, over-all liquid recovery, and especially desorption of heavy liquid from the mineral surface, was improved by the use of surfactants as well as both thermal and mechanical energy. The examples given in the article indicate that heavy liquids which should find major commercial use in ore concentration are now available. The sink-float process using a heavy liquid medium has long been recognized as a nearly perfect method of mineral separation based on the differences in density of the minerals. The use of heavy liquid separation (HLS) offers the potential of an ore dressing method that provides the maximum possible natural concentrate grade and high recovery. In addi- tion the process requires no water, causes no waste disposal problems, and is extremely simple — the crushed ore is merely introduced into a liquid whose density is between that of the minerals to be separated. The minerals lighter than the liquid float while those heavier than the liquid sink. As such, HLS has become a standard laboratory tool but major commercial application has been prevented by the requirement for complete recovery of the heavy liquid, imposed by economics and materials handling hazards. Investigations, both in the United States and abroad, have shown that improved liquid stability as well as improved chemical engineering techniques brighten the future for HLS in ore dressing. The available commercial heavy liquids suitable for mineral separation cost from $2.00 to $20.00 per gallon1 and on this basis alone their complete recovery is economically desirable. Possibly of even greater importance is the fact that any residual heavy liquid remaining on the products could create a serious toxicity hazard. Consequently, to make the process commercially attractive requires (1) essentially complete removal of the liquid from the ore products and (2) optimum recovery of the liquid for reuse. Until recently these two stipulations have remained as obstacles but laboratory and pilot plant research now in progress suggests that these may soon be overcome. Various heavy liquid recovery systems have been proposed to meet these requirements and might be classified into one or more of the following three general classes: Solvent Wash (Fig. 1): The dissolution of the heavy liquid from the ore with a less expensive solvent,

Jan 1, 1969

By R. W. Parsons

wben a displacement front encounters an isolated permeability heterogeneity, it will be perturbed. The details of this perturbation will depend on the beterogeneity size and shape, the Permeability contrast, and the mobility ratio. This paper deals with the displacement front behavior for one, simple, mathematically tractable model: a circular permeability discontinuity and unit mobility ratio. The progress of an initially planar front is shown for four permeability contrasts: k2/k1 = 0, 5/2, 2, m. The front distortion is more pronounced than streamline and isopotential distortion and it approaches a constant shape downstream from the discontinuity. INTRODUCTION The impact of reservoir heterogeneities on oil displacing processes depends upon the variation of the heterogeneous property (frequency distribution), its disposition (spatial distribution), and the inherent stability of the displacement mechanism.l The interplay of these factors plus the impracticability, if not impossibility, of describing a natural rock system in any detail makes exact displacement front movements difficult to determine. It is useful, however, to be able to qualitatively visualize what heterogeneities will do to a displacement front. In this respect certain simple models that can be treated analytically are of value. The following analysis will show the displacement front behavior for one such model. MODEL DESCRIPTION The flow field is two-dimensional and infinite in extent. The fluid flow is single phase, steady state and unidirectional at x, y = 2 m, or before insertion of the discontinuity. A circular permea- bility discontinuity is placed at the origin. Porosity and thickness are the same within and exterior to the heterogeneity. This is exactly the same model that was used by Greenkorn et al. to check analytically Streamlines as determined by Heie-Shaw flow models and finite difference computer techniques.2 FRONT POSITION CALCULATIONS The results of displacement front calculations are presented in Figs. 1 through 4 for four different permeability contrasts: k2/kl = O, %, 2, m. The times corresponding to the front locations are the Same for the 0 and cases! and for the 1/2 and 2 cases. The determination of front positions at various times is based on known analytical expressions for velocity potentials ().2 and stream functions ().2 These expressions are in terms of the x and y

Jan 1, 1969

By T. H. Dunn, P. L. Menaul

This paper discusses the results of an investigation made to develop a method of combatting corrosion of subsurface oil-well equipment caused by brines containing hydrogen sulphide. Carbon monoxide, aldehydes, and certain cyanide compounds were found by laboratory tests to effectively inhibit corrosion of steel by sulphide brines. Experiments were made for one year in eight wells in West Texas fields using formaldehyde as an inhibitor. It was found that the inhibitor treatment successfully prevented the severe corrosion previously experienced in these wells, and effected important net savings in operating costs. Introduction Corrosion of oil-field equipment has long been a problem in areas producing sour crudes. These areas include the major fields of Arkansas, Western Kansas, West Texas and New Mexico. Corrosion in these fields is caused primarily by the chemical action of hydrogen sulphide in the presence of water and by electric currents entering the wells through flow lines. Hydrogen sulphide is noncorrosive to iron or steel in the absence of water but under the usual conditions prevailing in oil wells where more or less water is present, hydrogen sulphide is very corrosive. This type of corrosion occurs over the pH range below 9, which includes all natural oil-field brines. If air is present in addition to hydrogen sulphide and water, corrosion proceeds at an extremely rapid rate. It was reported several years ago that a string of oil-well tubing was literally dissolved within 50 days where an air lift was used on a well producing considerable water and hydrogen sulphide. Air is generally absent in wells producing sour crude. After hydrogen sulphide corrosion starts, it proceeds with increasing severity and its correction becomes progressively more difficult. This characteristic of sulphide corrosion has been attributed to the formation of galvanic couples between the iron and steel equipment on one hand and the products of corrosion on the other.' Severe corrosion of subsurface oil-well equipment leads to a multitude of troubles. In addition to destruction of costly equipment, producing sands often are damaged by flooding with water leaking through corroded casing; bad mechanical conditions may develop in a well due to obstructions caused by corroded equipment lost in the hole, or partly collapsed casing; pumping operations are interfered with, and severe emulsification problems may result from the homogenizing action of corroded balls and seats.% A typical case of severe corrosion caused by hydrogen sulphide was reported in Howard County, Texas, where it was necessary to pull tubing once a week to repair leaks after the tubing had been in use for only one year. On one well in this area a string of tubing was pulled 11 times in 8 months; 11 joints of tubing being replaced because of leaks. In Ector

Jan 1, 1946

By T. H. Dunn, P. L. Menaul

This paper discusses the results of an investigation made to develop a method of combatting corrosion of subsurface oil-well equipment caused by brines containing hydrogen sulphide. Carbon monoxide, aldehydes, and certain cyanide compounds were found by laboratory tests to effectively inhibit corrosion of steel by sulphide brines. Experiments were made for one year in eight wells in West Texas fields using formaldehyde as an inhibitor. It was found that the inhibitor treatment successfully prevented the severe corrosion previously experienced in these wells, and effected important net savings in operating costs. Introduction Corrosion of oil-field equipment has long been a problem in areas producing sour crudes. These areas include the major fields of Arkansas, Western Kansas, West Texas and New Mexico. Corrosion in these fields is caused primarily by the chemical action of hydrogen sulphide in the presence of water and by electric currents entering the wells through flow lines. Hydrogen sulphide is noncorrosive to iron or steel in the absence of water but under the usual conditions prevailing in oil wells where more or less water is present, hydrogen sulphide is very corrosive. This type of corrosion occurs over the pH range below 9, which includes all natural oil-field brines. If air is present in addition to hydrogen sulphide and water, corrosion proceeds at an extremely rapid rate. It was reported several years ago that a string of oil-well tubing was literally dissolved within 50 days where an air lift was used on a well producing considerable water and hydrogen sulphide. Air is generally absent in wells producing sour crude. After hydrogen sulphide corrosion starts, it proceeds with increasing severity and its correction becomes progressively more difficult. This characteristic of sulphide corrosion has been attributed to the formation of galvanic couples between the iron and steel equipment on one hand and the products of corrosion on the other.' Severe corrosion of subsurface oil-well equipment leads to a multitude of troubles. In addition to destruction of costly equipment, producing sands often are damaged by flooding with water leaking through corroded casing; bad mechanical conditions may develop in a well due to obstructions caused by corroded equipment lost in the hole, or partly collapsed casing; pumping operations are interfered with, and severe emulsification problems may result from the homogenizing action of corroded balls and seats.% A typical case of severe corrosion caused by hydrogen sulphide was reported in Howard County, Texas, where it was necessary to pull tubing once a week to repair leaks after the tubing had been in use for only one year. On one well in this area a string of tubing was pulled 11 times in 8 months; 11 joints of tubing being replaced because of leaks. In Ector

Jan 1, 1946

By Oscar Glaeser

THE United Verde Copper Company's mine is at Jerome, Ariz. The orebodies are of the schist replacement type, the main sulfide mass being a large lens-shaped body approximately 7 acres in cross-sectional area. In general, the mineralization is found along the iron schist contact, with the orebodies extending about 1000 ft. along this contact and varying from a few feet to 250 ft. in width. Three types of ore are mined; schist porphyry and the so-called "heavy" or "massive sulfide" ore. Approximately 50 per cent. of the total tonnage mined at present is of the latter class. A representative analysis of this ore indicates 42 to 46 per cent. sulfur. Because of the high sulfur content, blasting in this ore is an extremely hazardous operation. Not only does it endanger the lives of men who may be in the mine at blasting time but it also becomes a potential fire menace when timber is in close proximity to shots being fired in these massive sulfides. The origin of the fires of 38 years ago, embers of which are glowing to this day, may perhaps be attributed to dust explosions due to blasting in the massive sulfides of those, early square-set stopes.

Jan 1, 1930

By James W. Shaffer

Aluminum is the most abundant metallic element of the earth's crust and is a constituent of nearly every type of rock (Clark, 1924, p. 13). The sources of aluminum and aluminous material most commonly used by modern industry are the bauxitic raw materials consisting of bauxite, bauxitic clay, and aluminous laterites. These are mixtures of hydrated aluminum oxide minerals and mineral impurities. End Uses Bauxite is used as an aluminum ore and in the manufacture of refractory products, aluminous chemicals, and abrasives. Other raw materials are used for aluminum ores, but their use is minor compared to bauxite. Refractory products made from bauxite are synthetic mullite, high-alumina fire bricks, castables, monoliths, cements, and ramming mixes used by the iron, steel, and cement industries. Chemicals made from bauxite are aluminum sulfate and sodium aluminate for water treatment and aluminum chloride used in refining crude petroleum. Among the abrasive products made from bauxite are coated abrasives, sharpening stones, and grinding wheels. Special grades of bauxite are used in the decolorization and clarification of raw sugar and lubricating oils. Bauxite has been used for road surfacing but mainly because other material was not more readily available. Perhaps the oldest use of bauxite and aluminous laterite is for a building stone. Ancient temples and more recent structures in India have been made from these and some varieties are suitable for decorative stone. Geology Mineralogy and Properties – Bauxite is a mineral raw material composed principally of one or more hydrated aluminum oxide minerals and impurities of silica, iron oxide, titania and elements in minor or trace amounts. The hydrated aluminum oxide minerals are gibbsite, boehmite and diaspore. Corundum is not included as a bauxite mineral although it does occur in some bauxite deposits. Boehmite and diaspore are both alumina mono-hydrates and have essentially the same composition, but diaspore has a greater hardness and a higher specific gravity because of a more tightly bonded and compacted atomic structure. Gibbsite is an alumina trihydrate mineral. Properties of bauxite minerals are shown in [Table 1].

Jan 1, 1975

By Charles M. Brown, Russell Franks, W. O. Binder

Occasionally in the application of the austenitic chromium-nickel steels to corrosive conditions, failures have occurred by cracking without serious general over-all attack of the metal. As pointed out by Foyt and Scheil(1),2 and by Scheil, et al.(2) as well as by Hodge and Miller(3), the stress-corrosion failures that have occurred have been limited in number, and have taken place only when the steels were exposed to certain corrodents. These investigators have stated that while stress- corrosion cracking can be intergranular in nature and originate at the grain boundaries of the austenitic chromium-nickel steels, it can also take place in trans- granular fashion. They have shown that the cracking may be either initiated at the grain boundaries and may propagate along grain boundaries for some distance and then suddenly extend across grains, or it may begin in a transgranular fashion and suddenly proceed along grain boundaries until the cracking stops. Their data further show that when austenitic stainless steel is subject to intergranular attack, stress will concentrate and cause cracking in service. These investigators have studied the effect of the metals titanium and columbium which are added to the steels to impart immunity to intergranular attack, and molybdenum which is added to improve resistance to general corrosion.

Jan 1, 1945

By B. M. Larsen, T. E. Brower

An increasing amount of attention is being paid to the possible influence of oxygen, in its several modes of occurrence in steel, upon some of the properties of the metal; but clearly investigations along this line are unlikely to yield significant results until reliable analytical methods for the determination of oxygen have been established. This paper presents some results of a study of an improved Ledebur method which aims to determine a definite portion of the oxygen; namely, that which presumably is present in diffusible form in the solid steel. These more or less preliminary results lead us to believe that the oxygen so determined has some significance; their presentation at this time will, we hope, stimulate discussion of, and focus attention upon, certain rather neglected aspects of the problem. Considerable work has been done recently on methods of estimating inclusions and on the vacuum-fusion method for oxygen; with results which, however, are of somewhat questionable significance. It is commonly presumed that the oxygen in a bath of molten steel in a furnace is present partly as a separate phase consisting of suspended particles of oxides or silicates, partly in solution, the latter being probably the more important. Upon addition of a deoxidizer, it reacts with some portion of the dissolved oxygen and precipitates it as additional suspended particles; the oxygen not eliminated in this way, which remains in solution in the liquid steel, may be regarded indifferently either as dissolved oxygen or as dissolved FeO. When the steel is poured, some of the suspended particles rise towards the surface, others remain trapped in the finished steel, appearing as nonmetallic inclusions in amounts corresponding usually to about 0.01 to 0.03 per cent Oz in the steel. The dissolved oxygen may be partly eliminated as CO during freezing of the ingot, but some remains either in solution or in part precipitated as FeO. Finished steels may thus contain oxygen in several forms: (1) In non-metallic inclusions which are probably quite insoluble in the solid metal at all temperatures; (2) in solid solution which at lower temperatures may be supersaturated; (3) in FeO particles produced by relief of this

Jan 1, 1932

By B. M. Larsen

AN increasing amount of attention is being paid to the possible influence of oxygen, in its several modes of occurrence in steel, upon some of the properties of the metal; but clearly investigations along this line are unlikely to yield significant results until reliable analytical methods for the determination of oxygen have been established. This paper presents some results of a study of an improved Ledebur method which aims to determine a definite portion of the oxygen; namely; that which presumably is present in diffusible form in the. solid steel. These more or less preliminary results lead us to believe that the oxygen so determined has some significance; their presentation at this time will, we hope, stimulate discussion of, and focus attention upon, certain rather neglected aspects of the problem. Considerable work has been done recently on methods of estimating inclusions and on the vacuum-fusion method for oxygen; with results which, however, are of somewhat questionable significance. It is commonly presumed that the oxygen in a bath of molten steel in a furnace is present partly as a separate phase consisting of suspended particles of oxides or silicates, partly in solution, the latter being probably the more important. Upon addition of a deoxidizer, it reacts with some portion of the dissolved oxygen and precipitates it as additional suspended particles; the oxygen not eliminated in this way, which remains in solution in the liquid steel, may be regarded indifferently either as dissolved oxygen or as dissolved FeO. When the steel is poured, some of the suspended particles rise towards the surface, others remain trapped in the finished steel, appearing as nonmetallic inclusions in amounts corresponding usually to about 0.01 to 0.03 per cent 02 in the steel. The dissolved oxygen may be partly eliminated as CO during freezing of the ingot, but some remains either in solution or in part precipitated as FeO. Finished steels may thus contain oxygen in several forms: (1) In non-metallic inclusions which are probably quite insoluble in the solid metal at all temperatures; (2) in solid solution which at lower temperatures may be supersaturated; (3) in FeO particles produced by relief of this

Jan 1, 1932

By M. R. Geer, H. F. Yancey

WITH the exception of pneumatic processes and ii few special beneficiation methods of comparatively limited application, all mechanical coal-cleaning and mineral- dressing processes involve the admixture of solid particles with a liquid, generally water. Upon completion of the beneficiation process the solids must be reclaimed from the water. With coarse particles separation of solids from water is accomplished readily by the simple expedient of screening, but recovery of fine solids presents a much more difficult problem. Thickening and dewatering are practiced so generally, both within the mineral industry and else- where, that they have been the subject of study through the years and a number of processes for making the solid-liquid separation have been developed. Dorr-type thickeners have been standard equipment for many years, and more recently driers employing centrifugal force have gained in popularity. 1 A cyclone device employed to thicken the loess suspension is a novel feature of the loess heavy-medium coal-cleaning process developed by the Netherlands State Mines in the thirties. The cyclone thickener was first mentioned by Driessen2 in 1939 in a paper describing the loess process and has been the subject of two more recent reports by the same author.3 The cyclone does not differ greatly from cyclone dust collectors used in this country for years, except that it is operated wet rather than dry. Advantages of the cyclone over other thickening devices are its simplicity of construction, high capacity, and the fact that, having no moving parts, it is simple and inexpensive to operate. The Bureau of Mines became interested in the cyclone after one of the present authors observed it in operation in the Netherlands in 1945. The first experimental work with the cyclone conducted by the Bureau of Mines was an investigation of the unit functioning as a heavy-medium cleaner for fine coal-a use for the cyclone that was conceived long after it had been perfected as a thickener. The results of this investigation were published last year.4 The present investigation deals exclusively with operation of the cyclone as a thickener. OBJECT AND SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION Although the cyclone thickener has been dealt with in three reports by Driessen, its use as a thickener was not the principal subject of any of these reports and therefore neither the cyclone itself nor its operation was described completely. The design of the cyclone was described only in a very general way, only limited operating results were given, and virtually nothing was disclosed about the influence of the various possible operating variables. Moreover, the Netherlanders apparently had employed the cyclone exclusively for thickening loess and had not employed it on coal slurries. One English colliery has used a cyclone to thicken coal slurry,5 and as it appeared that

Jan 1, 1948