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By Michael Perch, Charles C. Russell

The fact that coal is a complex organic material and heterogeneous in composition has made its study extremely difficult, particularly in regard to obtaining a fundamental concept of the processes involved in the formation of coke. It has been stated1 recently that coals are natural polymers and that in a complex reaction such as occurs during carbonization the differences between coals are quantitative and not qualitative. Such being the case, it would be expected, therefore, that a series of coals subjected to exactly the same conditions of coking would produce results that should be related quantitatively to the chemical analyses of the individual coals. In the past, however, this fact was not generally recognized and consequently many empirical test methods were devised for testing coals. The interpretation of the results obtained depended upon comparing a set of data with other data on coals of known characteristics. The testing procedure had to be conducted in precisely the same manner each time and not the least requirement in making the interpretation was experience. The test methods varied from those utilizing a gram of coal to the plant-scale tests in which one or more ovens were charged with the test coal. The aim had been principally to find some simple, inexpensive means by which the coke-making and other properties of coal could be predicted. It is not necessary to emphasize the importance of these endeavors, for anyone acquainted with the problems involved in the selection of coals for making coke is well aware of the time and expense involved in making a series of definitive tests. Several attempts have been made to derive formulas for such predictions. The relations of both ultimate and proximate analyses to coke physical properties and byproduct yields have been studied. Lowry and co-workers1 correlated statistically the U. S. Bureau of Mines-American Gas Association assay test results with coal analyses, using 90 coals and coal blends. Parry,² Spooner,3 and Gabinskii and Krym4 made similar correlations. Lowry concluded that there were definite relationships between the proximate analyses of the coals and the yields and properties of the products. Although this statistical study was made on test results from carbonizing coal in a cylindrical steel retort, the conclusions are important and provided one of the first steps in the simplification of this complex subject. Studies should be made of other references on this subject just cited. Studies of the coking process reported in the literature frequently were confined to a small number of coals, and very few have included coals from various ranks. It would seem logical, however, that a program for studying factors involved in the formation of coke should be based on a number of coals selected from each of the various classes or types of coking coal. The possible use of the scheme of classifi-

Jan 1, 1950

By H. Landsberg

SUBSIDENCE caused by mining operations has been a matter of interest for the mining engineer for just 111 years, since the Belgian Committee for study of subsidence in the city of Liege submitted its first report in 1825. This interest is fairly expressed in the enormous amount of literature that has since appeared on this subject. A bibliography, probably far from being complete, which preceded this study as a pre-liminary survey, comprises more than 800 titles. In spite of this fact the problem remains today as acute as it has ever been. The questions of as good a recovery as possible of the national resources, the safety of the operations, and the protection of private and public property are the important angles from which to look at the problem.

Jan 1, 1936

By H. N. Herrick

THE flow characteristics of drilling muds, as described in this paper, and the method given for solving problems relating to the flow of these muds through pipe and accessory equipment, are based on a conception that drilling muds are plastic solids like paints or greases; not liquids. The data presented in this report have been obtained from studies of California muds, chiefly those used in the Kettleman Hills field, by the Producing Department of the Standard Oil Company of California. Although no claim of scientific exactness is made for the formulas and diagrams, since the data upon which they are based, are not. complete even for California muds, the method has proved to be a convenient means for estimating, closely enough for practical purposes, the pressures required to force muds at various rates through pipe systems in which they are handled. Certain approximations have been made to simplify the procedures so that they can be used easily in the field.

Jan 1, 1932

By M. L. Fuller

THE fundamental mechanism of the deformation of zinc has been thoroughly described by several prominent investigators, particularly Mark, Polanyi, and Schmid,1 Mathewson and Phillips,2 and Schmid and Wasserman.3 The deformation of zinc occurs primarily through slip along basal planes {00. 1 }, and secondarily through twinning on pyramidal planes of the form { 10.2). In addition to these basic studies on single crystals, there have been a number of determinations4,5 of preferred orientations developed in rolled, polycrystalline zinc. In no case, to our knowledge, has there been described the development of oriented struc-tures in zinc as a result of a, systematic series of rolling treatments. The work included in the present paper shows the changes in orientation produced in a zinc alloy by successively increasing degrees of cold-rolling reduction. This alloy has the same crystal form, hexagonal close-packed, as zinc, but its susceptibility to hardening for a given degree of working is much greater because of its higher recrystal-lization temperature.

Jan 1, 1934

By E. D. Williamson

DURING the wartime rush to prepare the glass necessary for the needs of our army and navy, the problem of the temperature control of the annealing kilns became most serious. The narrow limits of strain allowable (all the specifications called for less internal strain than the average of the previously used German glass) made necessary a very exact procedure and the methods had to be used on a much larger scale than theretofore. At the Charleroi plant of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., the members of the staff of the Geophysical Laboratory, which was cooperating with the company, had occasion to study the methods available, and reached a number of conclusions (many of them by no means new except in their application) that may interest and assist those who have to meet similar problems in other fields. The following is a short account of the essential features of the system of temperature control evolved, along with a rather abridged statement of the reasons that led to the adoption or rejection of various schemes.

Jan 8, 1919

Spencer Gulf takes off from the Great Australian Bight cutting a 200 mile deep wedge of water into the South Australia coastline. A pale winter sun shines yellowly on the choppy surface of this body of water which is progressively more salty as it approaches Port Augusta at the head of the Gulf. Once Port Augusta thrived as a grain port and the speedy clipper ships began or ended their legendary races there. On the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, farm land spreads away from the water's edge. The western side of the gulf meets marginal grazing land of acacia tree and salt bush. Part way down the gulf, there are two industrial towns facing each other from opposite shores; Port Pirie on the east and Whyalla on the west. These towns are like half brothers, the common parent being the founders of Broken Hill Pty. Ltd., (BHP) who began lead smelting at Port Pirie and discovered iron ore near Whyalla needed for the lead smelting process. The iron deposits later became the inspiration for BHP's iron and steel business.

Jan 10, 1964

By Reed S. C. Rogers, Robin P. Gardner, Kuruvilla Verghese

The development and use of short-lived radioactive tracer methods for the onstream determination of residence time distributions in large-scale ball mills is described. Tests are reported on a pilot-plant ball mill with 0.43 m diameter and 0.86 m length and on an industrial mill with 1.83 m diameter and 2.74 m length. Tests with different tracer feed sizes indicate that the residence time distributions on both mills are independent of charge particle size. Similar tests are planned for a large ball mill of 4.57 m diameter and 9.30 m length. No safety problems were encountered in these tests and none are anticipated in tests of the larger mill.

Jan 1, 1981

By George H. Cook

(Read at the Wilkes-Barre Meeting, May, 1877.) AT first sight this subject seems to belong to pure theoretical geology, but examination will soon show that it has important practical and economic interest to the mining engineer. The conclusion that all the northern portions of our country, as well as of the eastern continent, have, in the later periods of geological history, been covered with a thick bed of ice, is now accepted by geologists. This bed of ice, except in its greater magnitude, was like the modern glaciers of the Alps, and other mountains which extend above the line of perpetual snow. The marks it has left upon the surface show that it was comparatively thin on its southern. edge, but that its thick¬ness was much greater a little further north, and that it was several thousand feet thick at its heaviest parts. This variation of its surface would give it a descending slope towards the south, and cause the mass of ice, like a semifluid substance, to move in that direction.

Jan 1, 1878

U.S. Steel Uncovers Massive Iron Ore Deposits in Nevada United States Steel Corporation has confirmed that mineral investigation in Lyon County, Nevada. has been under way since 1960. Confirmation followed press reports of a statement attributed to a Nevada State inspector of mines to the effect that the Corporation has found a major iron ore deposit that may also contain copper ill West Central Nevada. Drillings over the years in a number of locations have indicated extensive iron ore bodie containing a possible quarter of a billion tons of ore of a basically magnetite composition. analyzing less than 40% iron, which would require beneficiation for commercial use. Some of these deposits are deep- lying while others would permit open pit mining. These bodies contain copper in quantities of approxiimately 0.3%. More recent drilling in another area has disclosed evidence of additional deeply-lying deposits of a lower fe content but with more promising indications of copper. A realistic estimate of fe and cu ore reserves cannot be made until more drilling is completed.

Jan 1, 1970

By Charles Sanford, William B. Schmidt, Eugene Moroni, John Murphy, Richard Bullock

An industry/government team sponsored by the Dept. of the Interior completed a study tour of the underground coal mining industries in Great Britain and Germany to review new and emerging coal mining technology. The group found that differences in tradition, mining conditions, and industry capabilities have led to different approaches in technological developments, many of which have the potential for application in U. S. mining. Both countries are working to improve materials and procedures for roadside pack wall. The British are developing a pump-packing system in which bentonite, water, stone, and a special cement are pipelined to the pack area to form a low strength compressible pack wall. The German industry is using anhydrite or blotzdammer to form a high strength pack wall. Both countries are using full-face tunnel-boring machines. The German industry has had considerable success with shield-type longwall supports.

Jan 1, 1977

By Paul H. Johnson

Chemical mining may be defined as the use of chemicals in extracting metal values from in situ broken or unbroken ores within a mine. The present means for the generation and regeneration of sulfuric acid or sulfuric-ferric sulfate solutions are inadequate for most applications. This report describes a pressure oxidation process for the generation and regeneration of these solutions from pyrites and spent iron sulfate leach liquors. While recent mining developments such as solution injection, caving, and conventional and nuclear blasting, have provided new and better means for the per-colation of leach solutions through rock masses, little has been done to reduce cost and improve the quality of the leach solutions that are required. A leach solution for chemical mining should meet certain requirements. It should be 1) inexpensive on either a small or large tonnage basis, 2) capable of selectively leaching the desired ore minerals contained in a particular ore, 3) of the proper strength or quality to do the job of leaching in an underground environment and 4) amendable to simple and inexpensive metal recovery steps. It is also important that the capital investment be low for the solution generation and; or regeneration plant.

Jan 8, 1965

By O. C. Wheeler

There was an increased amount of activity in the oil business in Colombia during 1934 over that of the past several years in point of production, development and exploration. The Tropical Oil Co. continued to be the only company operating on what may be called a commercial basis, although the Gulf, through its subsidiary, the Colombian Petroleum Co., was actively engaged in exploratory and developmental work on its Barco property in eastern Colombia. The Socony Vacuum interests acquired an option from Sr. Luciano Restrepo on a concession in Las Monas-Sogamoso River area and carried out geological investigations on these lands during the year. Colombian Petroleum Company The activities of the Gulf in exploration and development in Colombia during 1934 were confined to the Barco concession. The following information is furnished through the kindness of Mr. E. S. Bleecker, Chief Geologist of the South America Gulf Company. Two strings of tools were kept in operation throughout the year on the Petrolca (Tarra) structure. Three wells were completed, including one deep test, all of which were producers from one or more of the three zones which have been defined in the Lower Cretaccous limestone formation. On the Rio de Oro structure, some 45 miles northwest of Petrolea, a complete camp has been established on the Catatumbo River, about

Jan 1, 1935

By J. H. Brophy, A. I. Prill

The authors have previously investigated the solid-state activated sintering of tungsten powder with various Ni-Cu additions.' Log shrinkage vs log time plots showed changes in slope from 4 to x at intermediate times during the sintering process. This was attributed to a change in the rate-controlling mass-transport process from solution of tungsten into the tungsten-alloy interface to diffusion of tungsten in this interface. It was postulated that the melting of the activating layer should not affect this transport process. However, the superposition of rearrangement due to the presence of a liquid phase complicates the data analysis. It is the purpose of this note to apply the analysis of Prill, Hayden, and rohy' to account for "rearrangement shrinkage'? in liquid-phase sintering of the W-Ni-Cu system. This results in "solution-precipitation stage" shrinkage plots which were comparable to those obtained in solid-phase activated sintering of the same system. If one assumes total shrinkage to be the sum of rearrangement and solution precipitation, the effects can be isolated easily.2 This results in the general equation:

Jan 1, 1967

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

By Franklin Bache

There seems to be in the public mind, and even in the minds of some coal-operators not experienced in mines subject to dust-explosions, a feeling that there has been somet-hing mysterious at the bottom of a number of recent American colliery-exploaions. It has been declared in cases of accidents in mines regarded as particularly well equipped, in which every preventive precaution was said to have been taken, that the explosions were incomprehensible, and resulted from causes beyond the present knowledge of the practical coal-operator. But it is safe to say that no explosion has taken place which could not be explained by reasons well understood by most operators. The U. S. Geological Survey Testing Laboratory, recently inaugurated at Pittsburg for the reported purpose of investigating scientifically the matter of explosions in mines, will discover no new explanation of explosions. It can, however, co-ordinate the previous investigations of similar boards in England and on the Continent; and it may do a vast amount of good by promulgating widely, and in a form comprehensible to the most unlettered miner, certain facts and obvious deductions that cannot but have an effect in reducing the number and extent of the mine-disasters which, in the last few years, have been so terrible in frequency and magnitude.

Jan 1, 1910

By A. L. Field

Previous Publications THE first report on the slag viscosity work of the Bureau of Mines was made by one of the authors 1 in 1916. It was concerned chiefly with, the method of measurement. A paper 2 on this phase of the work was presented to the Institute in February, 1917, and a similar paper 3 was communicated to the Faraday Society. Purpose and Scope of the Slag Viscosity Tables Following the development of a suitable method, the next step in the investigation was the measurement of slag viscosity over a wide range of temperature and composition, and the arrangement of this experimental data in the form of tables for the use of the blast-furnace operator. It is believed that this information, if used intelligently, should help the operator to reduce losses in production caused by off-grade pig iron, to improve fuel economy, to promote operating efficiency, and to extend present-day practice to meet the increasing need of smelting lean and complex ores. In the experimental part of the work it was early observed that the temperature-viscosity relations of a slag were determined, for practical purposes, by the relative proportions of the three major constituents, lime (CaO), alumina (Al203), and silica (Si02), provided the percentage

Jan 12, 1917

By Frank C. Roe

Two cogent and ubiquitous facts have supported a constant search by the ore processing industry for better wear resistant materials in equipment. First, designs and types of equipment change or improve continually to meet the economic and physical demands of different and/or leaner ores. Second, practically all equipment is subject to impact and abrasion conditions that probably are more severe and extensive than in any other industry. Development and testing by operators and equipment manufacturers alike, has produced an extensive variety of longer lasting metal alloys, rubber, plastics, ceramics and other materials to improve equipment performance under different specific conditions. The need for diversified materials becomes obvious upon the simple realization that no two beneficiation operations are identical. Among the variables in the handling of ore are: 1. Size and weight of ore particles. 2. Hardness and sharpness of ore particles. 3. Concentration of ore particles in liquid or gas suspension. 4. Velocity and direction of particle impact toward equipment surface. 5. Coefficient of friction between ore particles and equipment surface. 6. Temperature of operation. 7. Chemical environment of operation.

Jan 12, 1967

By F. A. Hill

Coal mining in the State of Washington offers many interesting problems for the mining engineer, due to the varied physical conditions occurring in different fields, and often in, the same mine. The different coal seams worked in the same mine commonly require different mining and transportation methods for economical operation. The coal measures have inclinations ranging from 5° to vertical, and in the same mine the dip of the coal may vary from 30° to 50°. In all fields, the seams are extensively faulted, folded, and sheared. The quality of the coal produced ranges from brown lignite to bituminous- coking coal, the following being typical analyses: Lignite Sub Coking Coal bituminous Moisture 23.5 14.30 0.57 Volatile hydrocarbon 31.0 33.03 23.57 Fixed carbon 37.4 41.30 65.55 Ash 8.1 11.37 10.31 100.0. 100.00 100.00 Very little of the coal contains as much as 0.75 per cent. sulphur. The brown lignites occur mostly in Lewis and Thurston Counties, and, as a rule are very cheaply mined. This coal has been successfully used in locomotives of the Oregon & Washington Railroad, after equipping them with specially designed fireboxes. The sub-bituminous coals occur in all the coal-mining counties. Their cost of production varies widely, according to the character of the formations, the pitch, and the wall conditions. This makes a fairly good steam coal, but the lump is used mostly for domestic trade, after grading into lump, nut, and pea.

Jan 4, 1918

By B. J. Steblay

Roof bolts are the primary means of supplemental support in coal mines and are widely used in other mines. Presently, post installation loads are measured infrequently on only about 10% of the bolts by using standard torque wrenches that limit accuracy to about ± 30%. Because mine roof bolts are long, slender, non-uniformly sized, roughly forged, placed in a difficult environment, and subject to severe bending on installation, researchers have been unable to use ultrasonic reflection techniques to measure strain. A complete measurement system has now been assembled by the US Bureau of Mines, Denver Research Center. Obstacles such as bolt preparation, transducer mounting, reliable reflection, and calibration have been dealt with. The seemingly simple concept of measuring the time of flight of an ultrasonic pulse to a reflector is actually complex due to the need to measure to 0.0025 mm (0.0001 in.) accuracy, the sensitivity of velocity to temperature, and stress, and the stability required to make measurements over several years.

Jan 1, 1986

By Dilip K. Paul, Charles H. Jacoby

The economic importance of salt domes has been recognized throughout the world, primarily because of oil and gas accumulations on their flanks, and to a lesser degree, for the value of their salt and potash. Recently they have become of value as hosts for cavities used to store hydrocarbons. In the near future we believe that their main value will be a source of geothermal energy. Although tremendous effort has been expended on the understanding of the geology and physical characteristics of the strata intruded by salt domes, relatively little energy has been exerted in the comprehension of the salt dome itself. Salt domes have long been recognized as a geological heat anomaly. With respect to other sedimentary rocks, salt is a good conductor of heat. Expressing values in 10-3cgs units, sedimentary rocks vary from 1.0 to 8.0; metamorphic rocks from 5.2 to 8.4 and igneous rocks from 3.1 to 9.8. Rock salt in its pure form has a thermal conductivity of 17. Thus a salt dome can be expected to act as a conduit bringing heat vertically from deep within the earth's crust.

Jan 5, 1974