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By Warren K. Kourt

Many important discoveries of mineral deposits have been made as a result of routine exploration for oil and gas. Through the presentation of three hypothetical case histories, including cost data, the author shows how mineral evaluation can be performed during routine petroleum drilling operations and how mining companies and oil companies or oil operators can cooperate in such endeavors.

Jan 1, 1972

By R. D. Coleman, A. E. McIlhinney, C. E. Capes

Problems of unstable operation in continuous balling circuits may be traced to the random generation of seed agglomerates. This has been verified during the continuous operation of a laboratory balling drum with internal recycle described previously by the authors. The cyclical behavior of a balling circuit was also investigated using a simple numerical computer model. Changes are suggested in the design of balling equipment to improve stability.

Jan 1, 1976

By James Douglas

Once—and fortunately only once—before this occasion, was it my sad duty to express the loss we had sustained in the death of an eminent member. Dr. T. Sterry Hunt* was a student of chemistry who, by his investigations into the properties of the elementary bodies, had assisted emineiltly in the progress of the technical arts, and, more than any American of his generation, had helped to lay the foundations of chemical geology. William Earl Dodge, whose death we deplore to-day, occupied a rank not les~ importaiit in the army of industrial workers

Jan 1, 1904

By Edward R. Mueller

The application of a simple analog computer constructed in a home workshop has registered a 10% to 15% gain in truck productivity at the mammoth Pima mine, located 35 km (22 miles) south of Tucson, Ariz. The newly installed dispatching board enables the truck control foreman to make near-optimum dispatching decisions and to monitor each individual truck, identifying any that are off schedule.

Jan 8, 1977

By L. L. Anderson, R. E. Wood, W. H. Wiser

Western bituminous coal can be processed to low sulfur liquid fuels by fast reactions. A process (LEFCO) under development at the University of Utah uses coal and catalyst under hydrogen pressure to convert 60 to 70%of the coal matter to fuel liquids and gases. Coals have been processed in small diameter (less than %in.) tubes and at reaction residence times of less than 10 secs. Effects of process variables on the yield and quality of products have been studied. General features of the process and the properties and characteristics of the products produced are presented. Special features of the process that distinguish it from other liquefaction processes under development are also discussed.

Jan 1, 1977

By Erwin S. Sperry

Brass or bronze chips, grindings, buftings, washings, and miscellaneous scrap metal sooner or later find their way into the hands of the so-called metal-smelter or " refiner," whose refining or smelting operation consists simply in melting the material, adding the requisite amounts of other metals, and then casting it in the form of ingots, which are afterwards sold

Jan 1, 1899

By A. Sauveur

At the New York meeying of the Institute, February, 1914, Professor Hopkinson and Sir Robert Hadfield presented an important paper entitled Research with Regard to the Non-Magnetic and Magnetic Conditions of Manganese Steel.

Jan 1, 1915

By Carl R. Davis

The cost of mining during the past history of these mines has been excessive, principally by reason of the inefficiency of labor under the wage-system. The amount of labor performed per man was unsatisfactory; and Mr. Edmund B. Kirby, the general manager, decided to adopt the contract-system as a remedy. For this purpose the method now in use was devised by the writer (then and now the superintendent), as best adapted to the local conditions. On March 12, 1900, this system was presented to the miners of the War Eagle and the Center Star. The issue remained unsettled for several weeks,

Jan 1, 1902

By W. F. Mullen

WITH few exceptions, unit operations in the Pennsylvania slate industry in 1950 did not differ appreciably from production methods described by Behre1 and Bowles 2-4 several decades ago. Many traditionally picturesque but relatively inefficient hand operations continued to contribute to high operating costs in an industry in which the margin of profit, for various reasons, was admittedly low. As part of a general program in which the Pennsylvania State College has been assisting the slate industry to solve some of its problems, time and method studies were used in an effort to determine the bottlenecks of production flow. The results are as applicable to other stone industries as they are to slate.

Jan 12, 1951

By James D. Cribbes

The .paper examines some variables which influence the quality of iron ore pellets, and which may be modified to meet the specific requirements of blast furnaces and direct reduction processes. Quality parameters defining pellet physical strength, size structure and reduction behavior considered important by the operators of blast furnaces and direct reduction processes are listed. Laboratory results are used to illustrate how feed preparation, and pellet chemistry car1 be altered to meet these specific quality criteria and some aspects of the economic impact of quality demands on the pelletizing operation are discussed.

Jan 1, 1977

By Randall J. Essex

A massive mudslide blocked a river in Utah, impounding a 61 m (200 ft) deep lake. Under emergency conditions, a system was designed and constructed to: (1) drain the impounded lake; and (2) provide a permanent diversion for the river around the mudslide. The system consisted of a low level tunnel, a connecting vertical shaft daylighting close to the lake shore, control valves mounted within the tunnel, and an inlet channel between the lake and the shaft. This paper focuses on the problems and concerns surrounding the inlet channel excavation and the stabilization of the remaining vertical rock walls.

Jan 1, 1984

POSITIONS VACANT (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons.) A copper company in Arizona desires a young engineer to assist the superintendent and take charge of the surveying, sampling and assaying. A graduate mining engineer with a few years' experience in mine surveying and sampling preferred. Salary, $125 to start. No. 10. A company in Quebec desires a metallurgist familiar with copper smelting to remodel an old plant and carry on experimental work to determine whether its ore can be smelted profitably in the district. No. 11. A foundry making a specialty of medium and light weight. steel castings of high grade waists a competent man as assistant manager capable of taking complete charge of production in the absence of the general manager. No. 12.

Jan 3, 1914

By E. E. Brownson

This paper will be confined to the treatment of methods as applied in the laboratory of the Boston and Montana Reduction Department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. at Great Falls, Mont. As the electrolytic plant of this company operates at a current density of approximately 35 to 40 amperes per square foot when running up to capacity, the arsenic and antimony content of the anodes delivered to the plant is of considerable importance as bearing on the purity of the refined cathodes turned out. Owing to the rather high relative percentage of antimony, it has always been the custom to determine antimony as well as arsenic in all forms of copper. Thus, anodes have been analyzed in which the antimony was about equal to the arsenic, although the average shows about 2 parts of arsenic to 1 of antimony. In the refined copper the relative proportions of the two impurities vary considerably, but probably in the average are about equal. In this latter case, the percentage of the two is SO small that ordinarily no attempt is made to separate them, the report of analysis showing percentage of As and Sb combined. Although rapid and exceedingly accurate determinations of arsenic may be made by means of various distillation schemes, the determination of antimony, either by itself or together with arsenic, has always been more or less cumbersome and has required a considerable amount of time. By the methods, details of which follow, the determination of arseluic and antimony, either separated as in the case of anodes or together in case of refined copper, is accomplished in 24 hr. from the time the sample is received by the chemist. As to the accuracy of the results obtained, it can be quite positively stated that in this respect these methods are very satisfactory, much more so than any heretofore employed in our work, and when the rapidity of determination is considered, the results are very accurate.

Jan 1, 1914

By D. R. Piteau, A. MacG. Robertson

Strength, permeability, and deformational properties of a rock mass are influenced and often controlled by the geological discontinuities within the mass. These properties are often determined by physical tests conducted within and on portions of the rock mass under consideration. Any extrapolation of these test results to other portions of the rock mass assumes that a similar pattern of discontinuities, having similar properties, exists throughout the region of extrapolaion. A survey in which various joint properties of interest are measured may be conducted to sample the joint population of the mass. Suitable data manipulation and handling techniques are developed to permit the definition of the joint population of the rock mass. The validity of the extrapolation of test results may then be assessed.

Jan 1, 1974

By A. J. Phillips, C. H. Mathewson

BERYLLIUM, magnesium, zinc and cadmium, together with mercury, constitute a coherent sub-group of the periodic system and these metals, excepting mercury, have been studied in sufficient detail by the new X-ray diffraction methods to prove their common adherence to the hexagonal close-packed type of crystal structure with a progressive increase in axial ratio as we pass through the group from beryllium to cadmium. The first four columns of Table 1 summarize the data on crystal structure of these metals reported in the International Critical Tables.1 The last two columns are based on results obtained in the present investigation. [ ] Twinning has often been observed in zinc and cadmium. The general aspects of this twinning are abundantly illustrated by photomicrographs, diagrams, etc., in the papers by Romig, and Mathewson and Phillips reported to this Institute in 1927.2 A determination of the composition

Jan 1, 1928

By P. Linehan, J. F. Wiss

Vibration and air blast noise from blasting were evaluated during a research program sponsored by the US Bureau of Mines. Blast variables were studied wing small scale model (SCM) tests to evaluate specific variables as well as interactive effects, followed by experiments with production blasts at the surface coal mines. Experimental data showed that the primary variables affecting the ground vibration amplitude are the charge weight per delay and the length of delay interval. Blast variables having a significant effect on the overpressure amplitude include the charge weight per delay, the length of delay, burden and spacing, stemming amount and type, direction of initiation, charge depth, and amount of detonating cord and cover.

Jan 1, 1983

By Douglas W. Fuerstenau, Kalanadh V. S. Sastry

Mathematical considerations of green ball growth in a balling device by the mechanisms of layering new feed onto seed or recycle pellets are presented. An experimental procedure was developed for investigating the agglomerate growth by layering in which the addition of feed to a batch of seed pellets was made cyclically. Using this procedure, the layering growth mode under partial feed consumption and no seed generation conditions was investigated experimentally in a laboratory balling drum as a function of such operating variables as moisture content of the material, feed rate, and the size distribution of the seed pellets. The experimental results were analyzed in the context of the model equations and the layering growth constant was estimated as a function of the operating variables.

Jan 1, 1978

By Charles Willard Hayes

Shortly after the discovery of black phosphate on Swan creek, in Hickman county, Tennessee, prospectors familiar with the Florida phosphate came to the region and began the search for rock similar to that found in Florida. Among these was Mr. E. Slattery, who located at Linden, in Perry county. He gave a piece of the Florida rock to Mr. C. C. Sutton, and the latter discovered on Tom's creek a deposit which bore a strong

Jan 1, 1896

By Roland W. Rammler

With oil consumption increasing more rapidly than known reserves in industrial countries, there has been a growing interest in the production of synthetic crude oil. The main starting materials for such production are coal, oil shale and tar sand, all of which occur in enormous quantities in North America. A process sequence suitable for all three of these starting materials incorporates a preliminary retorting step to produce oils for subsequent hydrotreating. For this retorting step, a technique known as the Lurgi-Ruhrgas process has proven highly efficient. The process has been commercially used for the flash carbonization of coal and has also been tested in pilot- plant experiments with oil shale and tar sand.

Jan 1, 1970

By Chi-shing Wang

Recently the U.S. Bureau of Mines has undertaken a research project to develop the mechanical roof pulling technique as a method for evaluating the effectiveness and the comparative advantages and disadvantages of various roof bolting systems for underground coal mines, based on the characteristic responses of bolted mine roofs to a prescribed external loading system. Two preliminary experiments of the test method were conducted in the Bureau's Safety Research Coal Mine (SRCM) at Bruceton, Pa., and further trials are underway. The fundamental concept of the test method, the design of test rigs, and the experimental results are summarized in this progress report.

Jan 1, 1976