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Coal Division Mineral Industry Education Division Industrial Minerals Division Minerals Beneficiation Division Mineral Economics Division Mining, Geology and Geophysics Division Council R C Stephenson, Chairman (Ind Min Div), M D Cooper (Coal), H F Yancey (Coal), S D Michaelson (MBD), Will Mitchell, Jr (MBD), J R Van Pelt, Jr (MIED), S S Cole (Ind Min Div), J D Forrester (MGGD), L E Shaffer (MIED), E L Clark (MGGD), C W Merrill (MED), E H Robie, Acting Secretary, 29 West 39 Street, New York 18, New York

Jan 1, 1955

By Wesley G. Josephson

THE MINING PROPERTY of the Argonaut Mining Co., Jackson, Calif., is one of the oldest on the Mother Lode. A vein outcropping on a hill in this section could not long elude the eye of the forty-niner, so it was first discovered in 1850. From that time until 1893 the Pioneer mine, as it was then called, limped along under various poorly equipped and financed operators who tried tapping it by trenching and tunneling. Then the Argonaut Mining Co. took over the property and sank the present 65° inclined shaft in the hanging wall of the vein. The mine workings have now reached the 6000-ft. level, which is 5283 ft. vertically below the surface, or just 3 ft. over a mile. The total production of the mine is uncertain, because of lack of early records, but from 1893 to 1932 it is known to have produced in excess of $17,000,000.

Jan 1, 1932

ALTHOUGH the first colonists in the area that is now the United States, whether Spanish, French or English in nationality, were usually keenly interested in the possibilities of mineral wealth, it is a curious and interesting fact that none of them happened upon the mineral deposits that eventually were to make this the greatest mineral-producing country; up to 1800 it would probably have been rated as rather poor in minerals. Spanish explorers traversed the southeastern United States with- out finding the Appalachian gold deposits that aroused so much interest in the early nineteenth century; Coronado sought in vain for the seven golden cities of Cibola; and the important gold deposits of California were not discovered until the political sovereignty of the region had passed from Mexico, which had held it for three centuries. The French also held Canada for nearly two centuries (and the British for another century) without finding the mineral deposits in Ontario and Quebec that now are so important. Though they knew of the copper of the Keweenaw peninsula, the lead ores of Wisconsin and Missouri, and the coal of Illinois in the seventeenth century, these deposits were all too remote for exploitation. In the area held by Great Britain, iron smelting was planned at Jamestown as early as 1619 and was actually begun at Lynn, Mass., in 1643. The industry grew slowly, at first, but had reached considerable importance before the Revolution. Commercial bituminous coal mining began about 1750 in Virginia but anthracite mining in Pennsylvania was not started until 1800. As a result there was naturally little interest in the technical aspects of mineral production here before 1800 by any except the few people who were actually engaged in it. Students of natural science were much interested in minerals, however. The activities of those who rank as geologists are so thoroughly covered in

Jan 1, 1941

Discussion of the paper of ALBERT SAUVEUR, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 93, September, 1914, pp. 2439 to 2449 G. K. BURGESS, Washington, D. C.-This very instructive contribution by Professor Sauveur to our knowledge of that puzzling substance, Hadfield's manganese steel, should not only be read in connection with the paper of Messrs. Hopkinson and Hadfield referred to by Professor Sauveur (Bulletin No. 87, pp. 513 to 530, March, 1914); but one should also have in mind, as throwing much additional light upon the questions raised, two papers recently presented before the Iron and Steel Institute, the one by Sir Robert Hadfield (Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute No. II, 1913) on Heating and Cooling Curves of Manganese Steel, the other by Messrs. Hadfield and Hopkinson (ibid., No. I, 1914) treating of the Magnetic and Mechanical Properties of Manganese Steel. We then have brought together for this substance, the thermal, magnetic, and mechanical properties as well as the resulting microstructure, for the definite heat treatments described, and in particular after long annealing between 500° and 700° C. Sir Robert Hadfield and Professor Hopkinson see in the properties found for manganese steel (of C = 1.25 and Mn = 12.5 per cent.) a demonstration of the untenableness of the allotropic theory of iron, whereas Professor Sauveur reaches the contrary conclusion, that some of the facts observed can be explained only in terms of the existence of beta iron in steel of this composition. There is another possible hypothesis: namely, that these several series of experiments shed no light on the subject of the allotropy of iron, or at least as regards the existence of beta iron. However heretical it may sound, I am inclined to this last belief.

Jan 4, 1915

By Arthur F. Taggart

In 1900, Elmore found that if an acidulated pulp was stirred up with an oil which was relatively insoluble in and lighter than water, and the mixture was allowed to stratify, much of the sulfide would be found hanging to the lower surface of the floating body of oil and could be skimmed off or overflowed with it. The action of the flotation agent here is twofold, first to select the sulfide from the gangue—what today is called collection—and second, to buoy the collected sulfide away from the gangue. The action in collecting is illustrated by Fig. 1: which contrasts the behavior of drops of oil brought, under water, to the surfaces of gangue and sulfide particles, respectively. The oil displaces water from the surface of the sulfide; the water displaces oil from the gangue surface. If, instead of considering the solid particles the fixed parts of the system of oil, water and solids. we consider the oil and water fixed and the solids presented to the surface of contact, the condition will be as shown in Fig. 2; the sulfide tends to be drawn into the interface and the gangue to be excluded. The sulfide particles are held in the oil-water surface by the tension of this surface. The buoyant effect is supplied by the oil droplets in bringing the sulfides to the water surface, but not in holding them there. Gas as Buoyant Medium of Flotation In 1906 Sulman. Picard and Ballot discovered a practical and substantially fool-proof method of doing what Everson, in 1886, and Fro-nlcnt. DeBavay Bessel and Elmore had been doing in the intervening years, viz.: using gas in place of oil as the buoyant medium for flotation, but retaining oil as the agent. To all of these inventors "oil," with no qualification as to its kind and no true understanding of its function, was the important thing. Hut they placed on the oil an additional burden viz.: froth-making, and it soon became apparent that not all oils were suitable for the dual purpose. As a matter of fact, it is probable that each of these inventors knew only one suitable oil at the time he wrote his patent, but used the generic term in the patent with the usual idea

Jan 1, 1928

By AIME AIME

MATTERS pertaining to mine ventilation were, taken up at the annual meeting Wednesday morning with E. A. Holbrook in the chair. In the absence' of its author, G. E. McElroy, the first paper, entitled "Economic Size. of Metal Mine %Airways," was read by title by the chairman. The second paper, "Intermittent Mine Ventilation," by Oscar A. Glaeser, was 'abstracted by Dan Harrington. It related to metal-mining practice, being inapplicable to coal mining, of course. B. F. Tillson asked how the ,quantity of air was measured and con- trolled in the different splits and Mr. Harrington stated that an anemometer presumably was used and that split- ting was controlled by adjusting the steel doors to the desired position by means of screws. George 'S. Rice asked if the fan were underground, and Mr. Harrington replied that it was. Although he had at, one time recommended that it be placed' on the surface, certain factors led the management to keep it underground, a. location that has several advantages in this particular case.

Jan 1, 1932

By William P. Blake

The occurrence of siderite in beds of considerable thickness in the clay formations of Martha's Vineyard, Mass., may have some economical importance, and is at least interesting in a scientific point of view.

G. A. ROUSH,* South Bethlehem, Pa. (written discussion?).-Mr. Frey is correct in his impression that ice floats, but "frazil" ice happens to be the exception to the rule. The requirements for the formation of

Jan 12, 1919

By V. R. Garfias

After a series of fruitless negotiations, the Mexican Government, on March 18, 1938, decreed the expropriation of several oil companies, and took possession of the properties, offices and records not only of the expropriated companies but of others not legally expropriated. This condition prevails to date.

Jan 1, 1939

By V. R. Garfias

After a series of fruitless negotiations, the Mexican Government, on March 18, 1938, decreed the expropriation of several oil companies, and took possession of the properties, offices and records not only of the expropriated companies but of others not legally expropriated. This condition prevails to date.

Jan 1, 1939

By F. M. Lewis, R. B. Bhappu

In 1977 a paper was presented which reviewed the cost trends in producing copper by conventional processes for five years, 1972 through 1976. In this paper these costs have been updated to include the years 1977 and 1978.

Jan 1, 1982

Preliminary plans of this meeting, together with a most interesting series of papers that have been received or promised, were published in the May Bulletin. The plans are being carried out enthusiastically and hospitably by the Colorado members and all indications point to an interesting and valuable meeting.

Jan 6, 1918

Jan 1, 1926

By Robert E. Tally

THE membership of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers is composed largely of technicians, operating engineers, and executives in the mining, metallurgical and petroleum industries. The Institute also has its student, junior and associate membership and its Woman's Auxiliary. Primarily, it is a technical society, devoting itself largely to the encouragement of progress within the industries it represents, and to the discussion and dissemination of facts regarding this progress to its membership. The wisdom of this policy is reflected by the prestige and position which the society has gained, not only .among its members but throughout the entire mining world.

Jan 1, 1932

Henry D. Hibbard, Plainfield, N J. (communication to the Secretary*):—This very interesting history is a valuable addition to our knowledge of the basic process and its introduction to this country. In addition to the attempts noted in the paper which were made here to establish the basic Bessemer process, and the experiment with the Siemens-Martin process at the Otis works, there were others made with the latter-named process at about the same date, all of which failed or, at least, were discontinued. The first attempt which survived was that of Carnegie,

Jan 1, 1911

By Fred C. Bond

SIX years have passed since the last grindability table was published.1 In that time the list has been increased with many new tests, and the development of the new Third Theory of Comminution2 has made possible the reduction of all results to a consistent work index value. In this tabulation all grindability and crushability test results are given in terms of the work index, with formulas for reversion to the older units if desired. The average values for 57 different classes of materials are listed in Table I. The total number of work index values listed is 1211, and the overall average work index is 14.42.

Jan 3, 1953

By H. A. Wilmeth

IN 1955, before planning an accelerated stripping program, Chino Mines Div. began an engineering study to improve data for estimating truck haulage costs for any future haulage layout. The study aimed to develop: 1) significant unit costs, 2) a method of estimating travel time from which truck needs and future stripping rate could be determined, and 3) yardsticks of performance to measure haulage efficiencies. It was suggested that to provide significant unit costs, expense accounts should offer management two types of cost control information-unit cost yardsticks with which monthly unit costs could be compared and unit costs for estimating future expenses for any haulage layout.

Jan 5, 1958

By Sam Rosenblum

The anomaly ratio is obtained by dividing the analyzed value of an element by the anomaly threshold value of the element. The sum of anomaly ratios for all anomaly elements in a sample may be compared with similar sums for other samples, so that samples having the greatest anomaly- ratio totals can be recognized easily. In partial or full suites of ore elements the we of anomaly ratios is more meaningful than use of analyzed value because the ratios quickly indicate how use of analyzed values because the ratios quickly indicate how anomalous some elements are, and call attention to samples and

Jan 1, 1982

On October 20, 1964, in his Waldorf Towers suite, death came to Herbert Clark Hoover, 31st President of the United States. At his bedside were his two sons, Allan A. and Herbert Hoover, Jr. Many years of humanitarian and public service earned him the gratitude of millions here and abroad. The Nation mourned his death. For the mining fraternity and AIME in particular, the life of Herbert Hoover held particular meaning. During the years from 1895 to 1914 when he was actively engaged in mining, he conducted himself with extraordinary competence, energy and integrity. In the years following, when his qualities of administration and leadership literally forced him into the limelight, he continued his interest and lent his talents for the benefit of the engineering profession.

Jan 11, 1964

By HARRISON W. CRAVER

THE principal purposes of library-catalogs are to enable a reader to find a book of which the author, the title, or the subject is known; to show what the library has. by a given author, or on a given subject; and to assist in the choice of a book, as to its edition, or as to its character. The author, in a narrow sense, is the person who writes a book; in a wider sense it is applied to him who is the cause of the book's existence, e.g., editor, translator, compiler, etc. Bodies of men, societies, and countries are, from a cataloging point of view, con¬sidered the authors of their official publications, memoirs, transactions, etc. All names selected as author names are arranged in strict alphabetical order. A subject catalog fulfills its purpose by entering or registering each book under the name of that subject or topic of which the book chiefly treats. It may or may not be alphabetical in arrangement. If the arrangement is not alphabetical, the catalog is commonly called a classed subject catalog, although this name might with equal propriety be applied to some alphabetical arrangements.

Jan 1, 1920