Search Documents

By Wayne E. Hall

The Darwin mining district of California, 160 miles north of Los Angeles, has yielded an estimated $45 million in lead, silver, zinc, and copper since 1875. The deposits are in silicated limestone of Pennsylvanian and Permian age close to a stock of horn- blende-biotite-quartz monzonite. Steep left-lateral strike-slip faults that strike N 50" 70" E served as feeder channels for the ore solutions, and minor folds, favorable beds, and faults close to the feeder channels localized the orebodies. The orebodies are irregular, steep, pipe-like replacements that cut across bedding, bedding replacements, and fissure fillings in a calc-silicate country rock consisting mainly of wollastonite, grossularite-andradite garnet, idocrase, and diopside. Near surface the ore consists of a soft, crumbly mass of cerussite, hemimorphite, jarosite, limonite, and some secondary copper minerals. The primary ore consists of galena, sphalerite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite with smaller amounts of andorite, matildite, scheelite, tetrahedrite, and a high silver- lead-bismuth-selenium-bearing galena.

Jan 9, 1959

From "Knots and Lashings," of Oct. 10, 1918, the military publication of Canadian Engineers' Training Depot, St. Johns, Que. During the early hours of Sunday morning last (the 6th inst.) there passed from our midst one of the most affable and estimable officers who, during our brief connection with the Depob, it has been our fortune to meet. Sidney A. Lang was born in Ontario in the year 1884 and lived in Toronto for a number of years. He ahtended Toronto University, where he displayed remarkable ability, and after graduating followed the profession of mining engineer. Being young and endowed with the spirit of adventure, he followed his profession in the mines of Chile and Peru; he could speak Spanish fluently. Always a reserved man, of refined tastes, it was difficult to induce him to relate some of his adventures in those countries so shrouded in mystery and romance. He joined the Canadian Engineers in Toronto as a sapper and shortly after came to this Depot.

Jan 1, 1920

By Norman P. Goss

The Chairman.—Thank YOU, Mr. Goss Gentlemen, I believe we have heard one of the finest papers, especially since Mr. Goss has been very generous in his frank discussion of continuous casting. One point he has brought out which 1 think some of us have not thought through to the same extent that he has—that the continuous casting process offers the small producer an opportunity to compete with the larger, more conventional and presumably better established industries. The meeting is now open for discussion. Are there any questions concerning the first two papers? J. A. Malone.*—I should like to ask Mr. Goss whether there is any special problem involved in the first part, the upper part of the mold before he gets to the first graphite lubricant area. N. P. Goss.—You mean in the forming chamber where chilling first takes place? J. A. Malone.—Yes. N. P. Goss.—So far I have not had any trouble in this part of the setup. My only

Jan 1, 1945

WHEN one leaves the busy street and enters a library, the closing of the door behind him marks his passage into another world. Outside is the world of phenomena and appearances-of thronging pedestrians bustling about their business, of gregarious sights and sounds, of insistent auto-mobiles. Inside, on dusty shelves, is the stored learning of civilized man-the recorded ideas of countless generations. It is somewhat of a magic world. Here are the theories and secrets for which thousands of men toiled and gave their heart's blood. To produce one book on one phase of an ob-scure-subject may have required the best efforts of a group of men unique in their period. To prove one theory, or es-tablish a single application of a theory, may have taken the devotion of a genius who sacrificed his life to his work. This theory is perhaps stated in one paragraph of unassum-ing type, and the library contains millions of such para-

Jan 11, 1927

(Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute of members or other persons introduced by members) Young mining engineer, and geologist, member, technical, graduate with four years' varied mining experience in the West and Southwest as miner, surveyor and engineer. Past 18 months, work in mine geology, mapping and examinations. Would prefer assisting consulting engineer or work with exploration company in foreign service. Unmarried. Age, 28. No. 331. Member; aged 35, married, with 10 years' experience in the Southwest, thoroughly competent to take full charge of mining and milling operations. Particularly fitted to handle either gold or tungsten producers. At liberty February 1. Will go anywhere. No. 340. A member wants a roving commission to examine old mines of the Mother Lode in. California, especially those which can be bought for their taxes. Some of these mines are reported to contain large quantities of low-grade ores which can now be treated at a profit. No. 341.

Jan 2, 1917

JAMES ASHWORTH, Livingstone, Alberta, Can. (written discussion*).-About the year 1878, the writer commenced to experiment on safety lamps, the results of which will be found in the Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers 1879-1880, the Transactions of the Manchester Geological and Mining Society, and in the technical press. He has also made a careful investigation of the flame caps produced by chemically prepared methane when mixed with air in accurately measured percentages. Before the conclusion of these experiments he personally fitted the hydrogen gas test to a special pat-tern of the Ashworth-Gray patent safety lamp. Later, as pure hydrogen gas was not always available, the writer constructed a safety lamp that would separately burn oil and alcohol; and still later, a somewhat similar lamp to burn alcohol only for specially testing low percentages of methane. This lamp was known As the Ash-worth alcohol safety lamp.

Jan 12, 1919

The Howe Memorial Lecture, in memory of Henry Marion Howe, Past President of the Institute, was authorized in April, 1923, as an annual address to be delivered by invitation under the auspices of the Institute by an individual of recognized and out- standing attainment in the science and practice of iron and steel metallurgy or metallography, chosen by the Board of Directors upon recommendation of the Iron and Steel Division. The follow- ing were the Howe lectures and lecturers for the years indicated: 1924 What is Steel? By Albert Sauveur. 1925 Austenite and Austenitic Steels. By John A. Mathems. 1926 Twenty-five Years of Metallography. By William Campbell. 1927 Alloy Steels. By Bradley Stoughton. 1928 Significance of the Simple Steel Analysis. By Henry D. Hibbard. 1929 Studies of Hadfield's Manganese Steel with the High-power Microscopa By John Howe Hall. 1930 The Future of the American Iron and Steel Industry. By Zay Jeffries. 1931 On the Art of Metallography. By Francis F. Lucas.

Jan 1, 1937

By Milton Glicken

The airborne geophysicist is a busy man these days. In his plane he may have the airborne magnetometer, the airborne scintillation counter, and the airborne electromagnetic surveying system. Each of these is an independent tool, but all require additional auxiliary equipment for locating the aircraft in space: recording altimeters and Shoran or aerial cameras. Now there is still another piece of equipment, the airborne magnetic gradiometer, an accessory to the magnetometer. To understand its uses, consider the function of the magnetometer itself. Aside from detecting magnetic ore, the airborne magnetometer finds greatest use in spotting intrusions of igneous material. Where there is enough contrast in magnetic susceptibility of igneous rock and adjacent formations, it outlines the intrusion. Certain minerals also influence the magnetometer directly, but with the exception of magnetite and possibly one or two others, their effect is weak and can be detected only when there is sufficient ore and the magnetometer flight passes very close to it.

Nov 1, 1955

By Howard E. Kremers

Since the discovery of the first-known rare earth elements more than a century ago, these metals have always been of academic interest. It is not so well known, however, that a rather stable, respectably large industry based on rare earths and their related materials has been in operation for more than 60 years. Rare earths, of course, are the elements having atomic numbers 57 through 71--lanthanum through lutetium in the periodic table. The most important commercial members of this group are mixtures of the lower atomic-numbered rare earths, and cerium. Although yttrium is not a rare earth, it occurs with rare earths and its properties are so similar to them that. it must be included in a discussion of these elements. In addition, thorium is important to most producers of rare earths because their ores generally contain this element. Thorium extractive metallurgy and technology is closely related to rare earth chemistry due to the frequent similarity of properties.

Jan 4, 1962

By T. M. Morris, R. M. Edwards

Digital and analog computers are being used at an accelerated rate for the control of processes. A digital computer can store information concerning a process and when it is fed certain information concerning the material to be processed it can rapidly scan its "memory" and put out information concerning the settings on the plant controls to be used to handle the feed material. An analog computer does not ordinarily store information. It uses an electronic analog to simulate part of a process and the electronic analog can detect changes in the process, and by actuating controls, it can keep the process operating under desired conditions. In order to utilize the speed at which these computers operate it is desirable to obtain information concerning the behavior of feed material as near the head of the process as possible so that changes in operation of the process can be made before the material has passed through the processing equipment.

Jan 8, 1964

By J. A. Benell

DIOXIDE of silicon, commonly called silica, is one of the greatest single constituents of modern in-dustry. It is brought most clearly to the mind when we consider the various kinds of sand and their rela-tion to industry. The major portion of.all sand is silica, and should be its principal component part in building materials. As an abrasive for cutting, polish-ing and sand-blasting, sand serves a vital purpose in many industries. Even lumber is now being sand-blasted, to cut away the softer grains of wood, leaving the harder grains in relief. The result not only in-creases the beauty of the wood, but adds to it an ap-pearance of antiquity. The common uses of silica in industry may be classified about as follows: Chemical industries-filtering medium; manufacture of carborundum; manufacture of water-glass. Paint-inert extender. Mineral fillers-wood filler; filler in rubber, hard rubber, pressed and molded goods, phonograph records.

Jan 5, 1928

Thirteen Directors, the Secretary, and seven guests were present. The formation of a Philadelphia. Section was discussed. The proposed rules for admission of additional societies to membership in Engineering Council were approved. An invitation was extended to the American Institute of Metals to become affiliated with the Institute upon the general terms proposed in the report of the Joint Conference Committee of the American Institute of Metals and the American Institute of Mining Engineers. The request of the Iron and. Steel Committee to hold a meeting in Milwaukee during the week of Oct. 7, 1918, was granted. The reports of the Treasurer and Finance Committee were accepted. A change in the By-laws was proposed. Thirty Members, two Associates, and four Junior Members were elected. The status of two Junior Members was changed to Member. The resignations of seven members were accepted. The clues of two members who are on active duty at the front were remitted. One member was reinstated to membership.

Jan 5, 1918

ON presenting the medalist, J.. V. W. Reynders said, in part: "Far the greatest progress in the art of steel-nuking has occurred in the production of lighter forms such as tool steels and steels entering into the moving parts of machinery generally, and particularly into the con-struction of automobiles and airplanes. In this highly specialized field in which the study of alloys and heat treatment has brought about such fundamental changes of design and practice, Dr. Mathews has achieved a ranking position. "As the technical head of the largest producer of special steels, his laboratory conclusions are frequently but a few steps removed from practical exploitation. The experimental determinations of yesterday must be sufficiently conclusive to form the basis for the specific plans of today, and to warrant commercial production tomorrow. His is not the complacent atmosphere of theoretical speculation, but one in which practice fol-lows close upon the heels of scientific research.

Jan 3, 1928

By T. M. Chatard, Cabell Whitehead

The Republic mine, situated forty miles from Marcus, a station on the Spokane Falls and Northern Railroad, in the northeastern part of the State of Washington, was located in 1896, but no development-work was dolie until the spring of 1897. While much of the ore mined since then has been rich enough for shipment to smelters, a method of locally treating the lower-grade ores soon became a matter of prime importance, because only about 40 per cent. of the values could be recovered by plain amalgamation, even with ores assaying 4 to 5 ounces of gold per ton. Experiments with cyanidation, in various ways, led to the adoption of the Pelatan-Clerici process and the erection on this system of a 10-ton experimental plant, which was later increased to a capacity of 35 tons per day. The extractions by this process showed much improvement over previous work, especially when the ore was crushed to

Jan 1, 1901

By William P. Blake

Travelers in the desert regions of the southwestern portion of United States, especially along the valley of the Colorado of the West, can hardly fail to note that most of the rocky outcrope of the harder rocks have a uniform prevailing blackness of the surface, in strong contrast with the normal color of the interior of the rock when freshly broken. For example, the granitic or gneissic rocks of Pilot Knob, below Yuma, are blackened beyond easy recognition. So also rocks upon the lower Mojave in California are so thoroughly blackened, as if painted, that ordinary gneiss can scarcely be recognized without breaking it so as to show the interior color and structure. The discoloration is not confined to the rocky outcrops in place, but is found upon boulders and upon the loose rounded pebbles which strew the surface of the mesas along the Colorado river. These fragmentary rocks partake of the general blackening.

Jan 1, 1905

By R. V. Horrigan

High purity ZrC14 (25 to 200 ppm of metallic impurities) can be readily prepared in simple apparatus by thermal decomposition of alkali chlorozirconate fused salts at 500° to 600°C and at atmospheric pressure. Suggested phase diagrams for the systems NaCI-ZrC14 and KCI-ZrCI, are presented. ALKALI chlorozirconate compositions — anhydrous fused mixtures of ZrCl4, NaC1, and KC1— are manufactured commercially and are used by the magnesium industry to introduce zirconium into magnesium alloys. Zirconium refines the grain size and improves the physical properties of many important magnesium alloys. In the course of working with chlorozirconate compositions of high ZrCl4 content, it was noticed that these salts decomposed progressively itwaswith increasing temperature to yield considerable amounts of a ZrCl4 sublimate of high purity together with a solid chlorozirconate residue. Further research led to: 1—improvements in the

Jan 1, 1956

By P. E. Cavanagh

SINCE the 1930's' the production of iron ore in Canada has increased from zero to about 15 million tons per year. In the same short period of about 25 years, the steel industry has doubled in output, while the consumption of steel has also doubled. In the 1930's all Canadian steel was made from imported iron ore, whereas today, Canada is exporting considerably more iron ore than she imports. It appears certain that the production of iron ore in Canada will at least double in the near future, and should be over 45 million tons per year at the end of the next 25 years, in 1980. It also appears certain that most of this iron ore will be exported to the United States, with some proportion going to Europe. In this situation, it is logical and proper at the present time for Canadians to consider means of converting some of all of this Canadian iron ore into semi-finished or finished products in Canada.

Jan 6, 1958

By Vassiliki G. Stavropoulou

Although plane-strain is the preferred method of analysing many rock mecahnics problems, little is known about the behaviour of rock under this loading condition. A simple and inexpensive apparatus has been built for laboratory testing of rocks in plane-strain conditions. A thorough .investigation of the specimen geometry and the friction end effects showed that the results can be considered as reliable. The behaviour of a brittle sandstone in the simplest plane-strain condition [(03 = 0)] is significantly different than that of the uniaxial compression [(02 = U3 = 0)]. The plane-strain values of the Young's Modulus and the Poisson's Ratio are decreased in comparison to the corresponding uniaxial values. Dilatancy is also reduced in plane-strain, whereas the pre-failure brittleness of the rock increases. The most dramatic effect of the plane-strain condition is that on the strength of the sandstone, which increases by 49 per cent in comparison to its uniaxial compression value.

Jan 1, 1982

We would like to thank Mr. Mandolesi for his informative paper on rails from strand cast steel. The chemical and structural properties of the strand cast steel were of particular interest to us. We would like to supplement his excellent report with some of Inland's findings from our Caster with submerged nozzles and strands reduced in line from 7" x 7" to 5-5/8" square cross section. Inland has conducted extensive segregation studies on AISI 1049 steel - Fine Grain 0.50% carbon and 0.75% manganese. Based on approximately 80 heats, our normal segregation pattern results in analyses of .49% carbon in the center, and 0.50% carbon at the midway and edge position. The sulfur analysis averages .025% in the center, .027% midway, and .026% at the edge. Note the slight negative segregation between the center and midway position. This steel, being lower carbon and probably cast nearer the liquidus, resulted in less segregation than the 0.80% carbon rail steel.

Jan 1, 1972

By J. A. Eisele, D. J. Bauer, L. E. Schultze

Approximately 100 million mt of magnetic reject tailings, which contain apatite and about 1% yttrium and rare-earth elements, exist in the eastern U.S. as a result of iron ore mining operations. At the present time, no economic process is available for recovering yttrium from this material. The U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) studied the problem to determine if an effective low-cost method could be found, thereby increasing our domestic yttrium reserves. [Fig. 1] is a line drawing of a photograph taken during microprobe analysis of a sample of the tailings, and shows the distribution of yttrium. Typical analysis of this material is 0.14% yttrium and 1.1% rare-earth elements (mainly lanthanum through neodymium). Over half of the yttrium is present as a hydrated Ca-Y silicate deposited along interfaces in the grain structure; whereas, the remainder of the rare-earth elements occur as Ca-Fe-RE silicates. The remaining yttrium and rare-earth elements are in solid solution with the

Jan 1, 1977