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By Leonard Larson

DURING several years immediately preceding the adoption of wet-charge smelting at McGill, various necessary conditions affecting this procedure, such as plant rearrangement and the metallurgical nature of the concentrate produced at the concentrator, were fully considered. Wet-charge smelting is not altogether novel to the recently reconstructed smelter at McGill. A number of years prior to this improvement, when flotation methods were initiated at the concentrator, large tonnages of wet and (at that time) sticky flotation concentrate were charged directly into the reverberatory furnaces, because of the difficulty in handling the entire tonnage in the roasters. The plant had excess reverberatory units and this surplus furnace capacity was utilized to smelt raw flotation concentrate. During the years 1927 and 1928, a number of actual operating furnace test runs were made to determine in principle the feasibility of wet-smelting operation. Results were encouraging, and in November 1932 the roasting plant was shut down. For some time thereafter the wet feed was delivered directly to the reverberatory side-charging calcine hoppers already in place. Feeding the wet material through the old calcine hoppers and charge holes into the furnace involved considerable labor, but under the conditions existing at that time it was desirable to continue wet smelting even under the handicap of this laborious procedure. The smelting plant during this period was on a curtailed production basis, operating only about 15 days per month. The alternate starting up and shutting down of the roasting plant presented a difficult problem and charging the wet material directly to the furnace entirely eliminated this difficulty. The roasting plant was never operated thereafter. EARLY PROCEDURE Fig. 1 shows the general layout of the smelting plant before the smelter was remodeled. Under this arrangement, all concentrates and fluxes except converter flux were delivered in cars to wooden storage bins, which paralleled the roaster building. The material to be roasted was dis-

Jan 1, 1938

By H. M. Chance

Within the last 10 years the subject of mine taxation in its relation to coal-mining interests has come to have growing importance, not only to those engaged in the mining of coal, but also to the owners of land underlain by coal.

Jan 1, 1915

By Richmond Bennett

Airborne geochemistry became a reality with the advent of a high-sensitivity air¬borne gamma ray spectrometer with large volume NAI(Tl) crystal detectors. The high-sensitivity spectrometer measures small variations in the concentration of potassium (as Ks°), thorium (as Tl308) and uranium (as Bi.214) along the flight lines in the area surveyed. Hydrothermal dispersion patterns are indicated by anomalous measured values of the concentrations of potassium, thorium, uranium, or their ratios. In two recent Australian survey areas, copper mineralization was located along favorable structures within hydrothermal dispersion patterns delineated by airborne geochemical surveys. In metamorphic terrane where there had been po¬tassium metasomatism, the hydrothermal dispersion patterns were indicated by high potassium/uranium ratios (K40/Bi). In a sedimentary environment that had been intruded by a stock, the path of hydrothermal fluids was indicated by uranium (Bi214), thorium (TV'), and uranium/ thorium (Bi214/Tl208) ratios.

Jan 1, 1972

By Roswell Johnson

THE principle of sliding or graduation in royalties is accomplished either by the block, period, cumulative, or class method. The block method calls for a very low royalty rate on all oil produced up to. a certain amount. This amount would normally be that which is believed to suffice to repay the cost of the well. A higher rate would be charged after the well is making a profit. This method, common in many industries, is peculiarly inadaptable to any industry such as this where the productivity per day of the units gradually and inevitably decreases. This, for reasons given later, is because it forces an early abandonment of the well and so offends against conservation. In the period method, the royalty rate is changed by some definite amount when the well produces less than a specified quantity per day or other given unit of time. While simple to explain, it operates badly because a great deal is made to depend upon a small reduction in production, whereas the reduction as a matter of fact declines rather erratically owing to the exigency of lease management, connecting of tankage, and vagaries of the gaugers. These disadvantages are obviated by the cumulative method. In this method, all the production less than a certain amount per week has one rate of royalty, or none at all, and the oil produced in excess of that amount pays an additional rate of royalty. In the long run the calculation is probably no greater than with the period method, for simple tables will be published and printed in the oil papers that can be cut out, enabling quick readings to be made. Even without the table the calculation is easy with the few royalty rates, two or three, which would be used. In this method, the amount paid in royalty declines gradually, rather than suddenly as in the period method.

Jan 6, 1915

By Peter J. Tarkoy

A commonly encountered difficulty in subsurface mapping and surveying of joints is the presence of steel conduits and rails, power lines and magnetic rock. Their presence often complicates and occasionally precludes the use of magnetic instruments such as a geologist's compass. An instrument was designed and built to overcome this problem by relating joint orientation geometrically to a known tunnel axis, track, or laser beam. Because of the unknown effect of magnetic bodies of rock, steel and high potential power lines, it becomes difficult or even impossible to make necessary compensations to compass readings. Therefore, relating a joint orientation directly to magnetic or true north seems impractical in underground joint surveying. But since the orientation of mine openings and tunnel alignments is generally surveyed and accurately known, it would appear to be a more practical axis of reference.

Jan 10, 1973

In 1974, iron pellet production in the Great Lakes region reached the 53-million-tpy level, accounting for more than 88% of the nation's pellet production. By 1978, pellet output from the Great Lakes district will climb to at least 78 million tpy. To achieve this 50% increase in output, the US iron and steel industry is investing at least $1.25 billion in new mines and pelletizing plants, mostly in Minnesota and Michigan. The biggest effort is concentrated in the Mesabi Range of Minnesota, the heart of the US steel industry's major iron ore source: here, plans for two new taconite plants-one by Hibbing Taconite Co., and the other by Inland Steel Mining Co.-and three major expansions of existing facilities are already under way to boost Minnesota's total iron pellet capacity from the current 41.2 million tpy to 65 million tpy by 1978. The facilities being expanded are those of US Steel Corp. (Minntac operations), Eveleth Taconite Co., and National Steel Pellet Co.

Jan 11, 1975

The Commissioner of Education has issued a call for a public conference on business training for engineers and engineering training for students of business. This conference, national in scope and character fully representative of all interests, will be held in Washington, D. C. on June 23 and 24. Educational institutions, commercial organizations, and educational and engineering societies will be given an opportunity to state their views. Engineers, educators and business men will be invited to discuss the following major topics: Business Training for the Engineer; Engineering Training for Commercial Enterprises; Significance of the. War Experience for Engineering Education; Training of the Engineer for Foreign Projects. This conference has been called on behalf of the Conference Committee on Commercial Engineering. This Committee is composed of administrative professors in engineering and commerce from several of the large educational institutions and representatives from the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, The American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, American Society .of Mechanical Engineers, and a committee f fifteen on Educational Preparation for Foreign Service.

Jan 6, 1919

By Max Boehmer

After 30 rears of development and after an output of $350,000,000 in value of gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper, there has not been published a satisfactory explanation of the origin of the immense deposits of the Leadville district. The original examination and survey of Leadville by members of the U. S. Geological Survey was a 'most magnificent piece of work, but their attempt to explain the origin of the ores was based upon the then-accepted theory of lateral secretion, originated by Sandberger, which theory was afterwards disproved in many cases by further development in numerous districts. This theory contended that the ore in the veins had been leached by surface-waters from the eruptive rocks in the immediate vicinity, and it had its origin in the fact that the neighboring eruptive rocks all contained, to an appreciable degree, the several metals found in the ore-deposits. But the practical miner, reasoning in a simple manner from the condition of things as he found them underground, soon discovered the fallacy of this proposition. He reasoned that, in the case of the Leadville deposits, this theory could not be true, because, if the ores were leached from the overlying eruptive rocks by surface-waters, they would as a matter of necessity be controlled by the action of gravity, and the main bodies

Jan 1, 1911

By Peter J. Conroy, Julianne H. Gyarmaty

INTRODUCTION The current study is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) on-going subsidence research program. The long-term objective of the DOE program is to develop analytical methods of subsidence prediction applicable over a broad range of geologic and mining conditions encountered in the United States. The DOE currently has several contracts in progress to develop a sound data base that can be used in the development of predictive models. Dames & Moore is currently under contract to DOE to collect and analyze detailed subsidence and hydrologic data from a coal mine employing longwall mining methods in the Eastern Coal Province. Work under Contract No. DE-AC22-80PC 30335 began in October of 1980 and will continue through September of 1984. The contract includes monitoring of two adjacent longwall panels. This paper summarizes the surface monitoring work that was performed through February of 1982. Mining of the first of the two panels (3 off 3 north) was completed on February 3, 1982. Results of the surface monitoring through completion of this panel are presented and discussed. SITE DESCRIPTION The mine being studied is located in eastern Ohio. The site is west of the Ohio River, approximately 56 km (35 miles) south of Wheeling, West Virginia. The topography of the unglaciated region

Jan 1, 1982

By Robert Anderson

The diffraction of x-rays by cold-worked and heavily polished surfaces of metals gives, no evidence of an amorphous state and typically perfect crystallographic diffraction' patterns are obtained. Severely cold-worked metals, reduced as much as 98 per cent. in area, give true crystallographic diffraction patterns, and polished surfaces of large single crystals of metal give typical crystallographic patterns. The conclusion is drawn, on basis of x-ray evidence, that metals are fragmented on cold work and polishing and not amorphized. THE purpose of this paper is to report evidence, regarding, metal: structures, that is contradictory to the amorphous-metal, hypothesis of Beilby, and particularly evidence that is opposed to the proposition that a vitreous amorphous layer is produced by polishing a piece of metal. According to the theory of Beilby, which has been developed, by Rosenhain and others, polishing a piece of metal greatly affects the condition of the metal at or near the surface polished, making that surface entirely different in character from the metal beneath. A vitreous amorphous surface film is said to be formed. The polishing process, on the basis of Beilby's explanation, is well known-and does not' require discussion here, but it is advisable to seek the precise meaning of,., the term "amorphous." According to Beilby, "amorphous means. Non-crystalline in the most intimate sense of the word'; the molecules are not marshalled in crystalline order and orientation." According to Rosenhain, the amorphous condition is that assumed by a metal when, the .crystalline arrangement is completely broken up so that the atoms exist in a state of disorderly arrangement similar to that ;which exists in the liquid state. Thus, from the point of view of the phase rule, the "amorphous phase" is regarded as being identical with the liquid phase. Amorphous metal is often likened to an undercooled liquid. A crystalline substance is one in which the atoms are arranged in space according to some definite repeating geometrical pattern. The existence of amorphous metal has not been definitely proved.

Jan 1, 1925

By Bruce A. Kennedy

This is an opportune time to examine the disposition of practical rock mechanics in the mining industry. The rock mechanics world has put on steam with publication of a number of books and the organization of a large number of symposia and teaching seminars. SME has just published Stability ill Open Pit Mining. proceedings of a conference held In November 1970 in Vancouver, R.C. R book entitled Planning Open Pit Mines covering the entire range of open pit mining with emphasis on slope stability has just been published by the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. The Thirteenth Symposium on Rock Mechanics was held at the University of Illinois. Urbana-Champaign, during the last week of August. The University of British Columbia's Division of Continuing Education is holding a symposium and specialty seminars on stability in open pit mining during the first week in November. A tremendous planning effort has started to organize the Tl3ii.d Congress of the International Society of Rock Mechanics in Denver in 1974. This meeting is held every four years in the country of origin of the president of the Society. This third congress comes to the U.S.A. with Leonard Obert of the 17. S Bureau of Mines as president of the Society. The previous two were held in Lisbon. Portugal and Belgrade. Yugoslavia.

Jan 1, 1971

By Swapan Bhattacharya

United States federal and state regulatory authorities require underground mine operators to adopt adequate measures to minimize material damage to the surface caused by mine subsidence. This paper presents an approach to define and determine the extent of material damage due to subsidence from underground coal mining. The basic steps involved in the development of adequate criteria have been enumerated together with the approaches and methodologies used.

Jan 1, 1984

By J. W. Miller

One of the major problems confronting coal producers in this highly competitive era is whether or not the potential profit to be made from the products of coal flotation would warrant the capital investment required for the necessary equipment. The author supplies two theoretical cases to illustrate methods for computing such costs.

Jan 3, 1961

By E. Lancaster-Jones

THE gravity magnitudes obtained by means of observations with the Eötvös balance in the field are necessarily resultant or total effects due to all abnormalities of mass distribution, including even the effects due to the ellipticity and rotational motion of the whole earth. Since the object of the survey is to isolate the effects which arise solely from some particular subterranean feature, and to deduce therefrom the configuration and extent of this feature, the first step is to eliminate from the observed effects all those due to "disturbing" (i, e., unwanted) features, whether above or below the surface of the ground. The disturbing features have different characteristics, according to their situation relative to the center of the balance and to the horizontal plane through the foot of the balance, or station point; this diversity was recognized by Eötvös, who divided the total effects into so-called Normal, Terrain, Topographical, Cartographical and Subterranean effects. This classification has been adhered to by most subsequent investigators, but the writer prefers to employ the term "three-dimensional," which really indicates the essential character of the class of effect known as "Subterranean," at any, rate from the standpoint of the computer of effects. Before disturbing effects can be eliminated, the features must be measured up or surveyed, whether by topographical, mining, or boring methods, and then the effects of each feature calculated and subtracted from the total observed effects. After this the problem of interpreting the residual effects will itself necessitate the computation of the assumed feature, or even a series of trial features.

Jan 1, 1928

The Committee on Papers and Publications has set June 1, 1919, as the closing date for the receipt of manuscripts intended for the Chicago meeting, which is to be held in September, 1919. Manuscripts must be received by the Secretary on or before this date. If they are sent through members of the technical committees they must be sent to those committees long enough in advance to be forwarded and in the hands of the Secretary by the time specified.

Jan 4, 1919

By Zay Jeffries

THE metallic products of today represent the temporary end point of the efforts and interplay of thousands of years of the human struggle for existence, for pleasure, for conquest, for defense, for improvement in the standard of living, and for the satisfaction of that irrepressible urge to discover and utilize the materials and laws of nature Each metal has gained its place in the sun in severe competition with all other materials, be they metallic or nonmetallic Each serves better than any other for certain purposes. The compromise between cost and properties usually determines the selection of a metallic product for a given use. There are exceptions, as in wartime when the availability at a certain place at a certain time may far outweigh the ordinary economic considerations. In many instances superior properties are vastly more important than cost. If this were not so, the metal industry, for practical purposes, would be the iron industry. The use of 38,000,000 metric tons of newly produced nonferrous metal during, the five-year period from 1940 through 1944 is ample evidence that the special properties of these many metals have great economic value. In fact, our extensive industrial advances would have been quite impossible without the great range and variety of properties and combinations of properties of the nonferrous metals. This observation is not made to detract in the slightest way from the dominant role played by iron and steel. During the past century the production of pig iron has constituted well over 90 per

Jan 1, 1947

By Hugh Tiemann

(San Francisco Meeting, September, 1915) THE desirability of employing the centigrade scale for the measurement of temperatures is becoming more and more recognized in this country, particularly in view of the fact that this scale is used almost exclusively in technical papers and publications-exclusively in those published in French or German. There are, however, a large number of factories and laboratories which still employ the Fahrenheit scale. It therefore frequently becomes necessary to convert one into the other and the accompanying chart (Fig. 1) has been found very convenient for this purpose.

Jan 6, 1915

By P. Payson

Intergranular corrosion in corrosion-resistant chromium-nickel steels has been widely discussed in the last few years. So far as the author knows, nothing has been published which definitely shows that this tendency can be eliminated, although suggestions have been made that a remedy is possible if certain specifications are satisfied. Strauss, Schottky and Hinnüberl suggested an increase in chromium content to an extent that would prevent the impoverishment of chromium on carbide precipitation sufficient to cause impaired corrosion resistance in the matrix. Pilling2 suggested an increase in nickel, so that the stability of the austenite matrix would be increased. Aborn and Bain3 say that "intergranular attack—may be eliminated by preventing carbide precipitation (e. g., by lowering the carbon content or somehow raising its solubility) or by precipitating it permanently under conditions which will not remove chromium from solid solution so drastically at any points." In a later paper Aborn and Bain4 state that many different metallic elements, tungsten, vanadium, copper, aluminum, molybdenum, titanium and zirconium, have been added in small percentages to increase the stability of these alloys, but that it has been reported that according to the copper sulfate test these added elements act only to retard the intergranular corrosion. and that increased nickel and chromium contents have similar effects. Newell5 showed that the lower the quenching temperature before reheating, the less severe was the intergranular attack.

Jan 1, 1932

By Edgar Marburg, William R. Webster

The desirability of bringing about greater uniformity in specifications governing iron and steel is generally recognized, and has found expression within recent years, in the efforts of numerous technical societies in that direction. When the International Association for Testing Materials was organized at Zurich in 1895, a committee was appointed, charged as follows: " On the basis of existing specifications, to seek methods and means for the introduction of international specifications for testing and inspecting iron and steel of all kinds." The American representation on this international committee consisted originally of five, and now of eight members. In view of the magnitude and importance of the subject, the Executive Committee of the American Section of the International Association for Testing Materials, since incorporated as the American Society for Testing Materials, appointed a committee of 34 members, including the American members of the above-named international committee, to frame standard American specifications for iron and steel. This committee reported on specifications for (1) Structural Steel for ridges and Ships; (2) Structural Steel for Buildings; (3) Open-Hearth Boiler-Plate and Rivet-Steel; (4) Steel Rails; (5) Steel Splice-Bars; (6) Steel Axles; (7) Steel Tires; (8) Steel Forgings; (9) Steel Castings ; (10) Wrought-Iron. These specifications were designed to be fairly representa-tive of the best current American practice, and were adopted by letter-ballot of the Society in August, 1901. The leading engineering societies have participated at various times in the discussion of these specifications and have lent valuable assistance through the appointment of special committees on like, or closely related, subjects. The American Society of Civil Engineers discussed the spec-

Jan 1, 1905

By J. W. Axelson

CRUSHING has always been a major operation in the chemical and metallurgical industries, yet little is known about the theory of crushing, and today, the design of crushers is still based almost entirely on empirical knowledge and accumulated practical experience. In view of the increasing national need for the economic working of poorer grades of ores, the lack of a fundamental under- standing of this unit operation hardly presents a satisfactory situation. Basic investigations of crushing have been concerned mainly with three phases of the problem, 1-the mechanism of the fracture process itself, 2- the particle size distribution of the crushed product, and 3-the relationship between the energy input and the amount of new surface produced. Probably adequate information on these phases will be required for a comprehensive understanding of the process of crushing. A bibliography covering these phases will be given as well as a review of the work done in recent years at the University of Minnesota on the relationship between the energy input for crushing and the amount of new surface produced.

Jan 12, 1951