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By AIME

Rapid exhaustion of iron ore in Minnesota's Mesabi range has led the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. to develop the world's largest open quarry mine for magnetite iron ore, at Star Lake, N. Y. Already contributing more than one eighth of the total iron ore used by the Corporation, the expanding Benson mines are destined to become Jones & Laughlin's important source of ore within the next ten years. In 1947 over 650,000 long tons of high-grade ore was produced. Output this year is expected to reach 800,000 long tons and studies are under way to increase production further. The future of the Benson mines is assured as present indications show large reserves of ore. The property, briefly described in M & M for November 1943, then under

Jan 1, 1948

Lewis, B. LINDEMUTH, ?New York, N. Y.-I would like to confirm Dr. Howe's supposition that a process could be worked out for steel along similar lines. About 1 ½ years ago, F. D. Carney and myself were working on the elimination of columnar crystals which are particularly evident in nickel steel. We discussed rotation and varying speeds of rotation, but figured that with just rotation the steel would eventually catch-up to the motion of the mold and that the desired effect could not be obtained in that way, so we decided to alternate the direction of rotation. We rigged up in ordinary commercial turntable and on the same mounting attached a blast, furnace and mud gun, which is a simple steam cylinder, and mounted an 18-in. ingot mold on the turntable. The turntable had a stroke of about 10° to 12°, with stops at the ends. The steam cylinder would bang the table against the stops so that the stopping was so violent that it would tend to keep the metal in motion when the mold stopped and thus wash away any crystals that would form. We made quite a few interesting experiments; the results of which were that the columnar crystallization was entirely eliminated. At the same time we cast ingots in a similar mold, allowing the molds to remain stationary; these showed columnar crystals of from 2 to 4 in. in depth. The grain structure of the balance of the ingots, which were rotated, was very much finer than the grain structure of the ingots that were cast and allowed to cool slowly. The experiments were made on a 0.35 per cent. carbon nickel steel, which is probably more susceptible to columnar crystallization than any other. I think that the rolling properties and the forging properties of some alloy steels could be very much improved by a similar method, or some commercial method of casting ingots to eliminate this columnar crystallization.

Jan 5, 1919

By H. De Cizancourt

Peche1bronn.—So far Pechelbronn is the only producing district. Figures are given in Table 2 covering the main features of the field, but these figures call for the following remarks: First, Pechelbronn should not' be considered as a single unit, it appears, but as a succession of small oil fields, each of which is affected by very variable conditions. Consequently, certain figures concerning production per acre, production per acre-foot, pressure conditions and thicknesses of oil sands would be so misleading that they have been omitted here. Second, as regards production methods, attention is drawn especially to the fact that 42 per cent of the oil is extracted by the use of shafts and galleries and the remainder by pumping wells. Exploitation, formerly confined to Oligocene sands, has been extended recently to Jurassic and Triassic oil-bearing formations. Gabian.—This small oil field, discovered in 1924, is almost exhausted. Exploitation to date is restricted to three wells. There were no drilling activities in 1933. Exploration.—During 1933, two exploration holes have been started in France. The first, in the vicinity of Lavelanet (Ariége) on the Dreuille anticline, has reached the depth of 2400 ft,.; the second, in the Autun Permian Basin, is drilling at 1300 feet. Northern Africa Morocco.—Drilling operations have been on a large scale in Morocco. In the Gharb district (Souk el Arba area), the deepest well was abandoned in 1933 at 7014 ft. Small irregular productive horizons were encountered in the Miocene at shallow depth, oil and gas showing in the Eocene, but no commercial oil field has been discovered. In the Djebel Tselfat, near Petitjean, a small production of oil was obtained from a Jurassic horizon. In the meantime deeper formations are being explored and a new structure in the vicinity is being tested. In Eastern Morocco, a well is drilling near Taza. Production in Morocco, about 2400 bbl., has not been listed on Table 2, owing to its origin—exploration wells.

Jan 1, 1934

By H. J. Wasson

Published literature regarding the nation's oil reserve has been largely concerned with the estimated quantities in sight in known producing fields. This proved reserve has never been large in relation to demand. It has been the practice to consider the total future reserve (beyond that in sight within known fields) in the light of the broad potentialities of vast areas of partially explored sedimentary rocks, which are regarded as possible oil territory. Until recently, but little attention has been given to the rate at which the unexplored potentialities may be. converted into the proved reserve classification. To a certain extent, therefore, our contemporary viewpoint on the subject of national oil reserves is characterized by a pronounced contradiction. On the one hand, we measure known reserves as sufficient for only a few years of consumption—i.e., relative scarcity; on the other hand, we are confident that millions of unexplored acres will yield many new oil fields and that countless deeper productive formations underlie many of our known productive fields—i.e., infinite abundance. Of greater significance than the quantitative measure of either of these reserve classifications is the rate at which reserve replenishment must be accomplished in order to maintain an adequate time supply of proved oil reserves. The accumulation of geological data covering broad areas supports the belief that the remaining undiscovered oil reserve is exceedingly large. The distribution of oil in sedimentary formations of practically all ages, from Cambrian to Recent, is suggestive of almost unlimited possibilities; and the relatively small proportion of these possible areas that has been intensively explored in this country is a further index of the probable magnitude of the undiscovered future reserve. The implication that may reasonably be drawn from these observations is that oil, though distributed with less regularity and concentration than its related hydrocarbon, coal, nevertheless is a relatively abundant natural commodity of which the exhaustion appears remote. Final exhaustion of our oil reserve, if not infinitely remote, is a future contin-

Jan 1, 1937

By R. I. Jaffee, F. C. Holden, H. R. Ogden

ECENT papers dealing with the properties of unalloyed iodide titanium have been directed primarily at the determination of base-line properties for alloy investigations. Early work was limited to a few tests because of the limited availability of iodide titanium at the time. In the results of papers by Campbell et al.,1 Gonser and Litton,2 Jaffee and Campbell,3 inlay and Snyder,4 and Jaffee, Ogden, and Maykuth, data on mechanical properties are presented for unalloyed iodide titanium in the annealed and cold-worked conditions. Data are presented in this paper which show the effects of heat treatment on the structure and mechanical properties of commercially produced iodide titanium. Correlation is made between microstruc-tural variables and the mechanical properties. Experimental Procedures Melting Stock: The melting stock used was as-deposited iodide titanium, produced by New Jersey Zinc Co. The furnished analysis showed the following range of impurities: N, 0.004 to 0.008 pct; Mn, 0.005 to 0.013; Fe, 0.0035 to 0.025; Al, 0.013 to 0.015; Mo, 0.0015; Pb, 0.0045 to 0.0065; Cu, 0.0015 to 0.002; Sn, 0.001 to 0.01; Mg, 0.0015 to 0.002; and Ni, 0.003. Hydrogen content as determined by vacuum-fusion analysis was 0.0091 wt pct (0.44 atomic pct) after arc melting and fabrication. Nitrogen analysis on the arc-melted and fabricated titanium showed a content of less than 0.002 pct N. The average hardness of the furnished stock was Rf 70, or approximately 85 VHN. Melting Procedure: The as-deposited rods were rolled, sheared, and degreased in preparation for arc melting. The charge was arc-melted with a tungsten electrode in a water-cooled copper crucible under a positive pressure of high purity (99.96 pct) argon. The final ingot was approximately 2 in. in diameter and showed no increase in hardness over that of the initial stock. Fabrication: Heating for fabrication was done in air. It was begun by forging the ingot into a 3/4 in. diam rod, at an initial temperature of 1600°F. Scale was removed by sandblasting. The rod was then swaged to 1/4 in. diam at room temperature through a series of 20 dies, with approximately 10 pct reduction in area between each die. An anneal of 1 hr at 850 °C in air was given after the 1/2 in. die, such that the final cold reduction was 75 pct. Sections cut from this rod were used for test and microstructure specimens. Heat Treatment: Heat treatments were carried out in resistance tube furnaces with stainless-steel linings, under an atmosphere of gettered argon. As further protection against contamination, the specimens were packed in titanium turnings in a titanium sleeve. Control experiments have shown negligible hardness increases with this method, indicating that contamination from oxygen and nitrogen is slight. Three cooling rates were employed in this work; these have been designated as water quenching, argon cooling (to simulate air cooling under a controlled atmosphere), and furnace cooling. The cooling rate for an argon cool is 100°C per min for the first minute, with an average cooling rate of 35°C per min over a 15-min period. A furnace cool requires about 10 hr, with an average cooling rate of 3.6oC per min during the first hour, and an average cooling rate of 1.2°C per min over the 10-hr period. Microimpact Test: The specimen adopted was based on the cylindrical Izod Type Y specimen (ASTM, E23-41T). All dimensions were reduced to half scale, including the notch radius. Specifications are shown in Fig. 1. The specimen is held vertically in an adapter and broken as a cantilever beam. Impact tests were run on a constant-velocity (11.34 ft per sec) Tinius Olsen impact testing machine with a total available energy of 100 in.-lb. Tests were made to determine the correlation between this microimpact and the standard V-notch Charpy impact test. Curves showing impact energy as a function of temperature for both impact tests are plotted in Fig. 2. Transition temperatures, when they occur, are about the same for both impact tests. All three titanium-rich materials have the same conversion factor, 10. Tensile Testing: Tensile tests were conducted on Baldwin-Southwark testing machines using the 600, 2400, or 3000 1b range. Specifications for the test specimen were taken from the 1948 edition of the ASM Metals Handbook, and are shown in Fig. 1. Strain measurements were made using an SR-4 resistance gage (Type A-7) cemented to the reduced section in conjunction with a lever-type extenso-meter. Readings on the SR-4 strain indicator were

Jan 1, 1954

By E. C. W. Perryman

The wide grooves formed at the grain boundaries when high purity aluminum is attacked by hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide have been attributed by earlier workers to the high energy of the grain boundary material. The effect has been investigated for high-purity AI-Fe alloys with up to 0.055 pct Fe as a function of iron content and heat treatment. It is shown that the explanation given above is untenable, but that the results can be explained on the assumption that iron segregates to the grain boundary in solid solution. IN 1934, Rohrmann¹ showed that aluminum of 99.95 pct purity suffered intercrystalline corrosion when immersed in 10 to 20 pct hydrochloric acid, and that the susceptibility to intercrystalline corrosion depended upon the heat treatment given. The greatest susceptibility was found for specimens quenched from a high temperature (600°C) and the lowest susceptibility for specimens cooled slowly from that temperature. Lacombe and Yannaquis2 have shown that super-pure aluminum (99.9986 pct) annealed at 600°C suffers intercrystalline attack in 10 pct hydrochloric acid and that this attack is intensified by anodic dissolution in the same solution at a current density of 10 milliamperes per sq dm. No difference in extent of intercrystalline attack was found between the 99.993 and 99.986 pct Al, which led the authors to suggest that impurities played only a secondary role in the mechanism of intercrystalline corrosion. It was found, however, that the attack at the grain boundaries depended upon the relative orientation of the grains, large differences in orientation favoring rapid attack. Boundaries where the two neighboring grains were similarly orientated showed high resistance to attack as did boundaries between grains which were in twin relationship. These observations led Lacombe and Yannaquis to suggest that the intercrystalline attack was due to lattice discontinuities present at grain boundaries. Assuming that the grain boundary is a layer three to five atoms thick and has a crystal structure which is a compromise between the two neighboring grains it is clear that the discontinuities will increase with increasing difference in orientation between the neighboring grains and hence the increasing tendency to intercrystalline attack. Roald and Streicher³ investigated the effect of heat treatment of aluminum alloys ranging in purity from 99.2 to 99.998 pct on the corrosion resistance in 20 pct hydrochloric acid and 0.30N sodium hydroxide. They found that in hydrochloric acid the intercrystalline attack appeared to be determined by the type and quantity of impurities present and by the relative orientation of the grains. No difference in the susceptibility to intercrystalline attack was observed between specimens quenched and those furnace cooled, from 575°C. In 0.30N sodium hydroxide some materials exhibited intercrystalline attack, this taking the form of V-notches. Rohrmann¹ offered no explanation for the greater susceptibility to corrosion of material quenched from 600°C. It seems possible that this difference is connected in some way with a different distribution of impurity elements in the quenched and slowly cooled specimens. The fact that Roald and Streicher8 observed no difference between quenched and slowly cooled specimens may possibly be due to differences in either rate of cooling or silicon content or possibly both. Both these would be expected to have an effect on the distribution of impurity elements. Although the rate of cooling used by Rohrmann was slightly more rapid than that used by Roald and Streicher the position cannot be clarified because Rohrmann does not give the silicon content and Roald and Streicher give the silicon contents of only a few of their alloys. That Lacombe and Yannaquis2 found no difference in corrosion behavior attributable to impurities between the two materials they used may be because both were of high purity compared with the aluminum used by Rohrmann.¹ Although they found no difference in the corrosion behavior of their two materials it is possible that the results obtained by Lacombe and Yannaquis may, nevertheless, have been influenced by impurity distribution, since, on the transition lattice theory of grain boundary structure, it would be expected that sparingly soluble impurities would tend to segregate to boundaries where the orientation difference is such that there is a greater density of atomic sites of suitable size to contain them. It was considered worth while, therefore, to examine the corrosion properties of a series of materials of differing impurity content with the objects of confirming the experimental observations made

Jan 1, 1954

By Herbert Hoover

IT is always a pleasure for me to join in the Ameri-can Mining Congress, for not only has my own professional life been closely linked with the industry, but the Secretary of Commerce is specifically enjoined in the organic act creating the office to promote and foster the interests of the mining industry. And it is a vital part of our national life. It is one of those indus-tries without which. the nation could not go on for a week. It ranks second only to the agricultural industry in its contribution to our raw materials. Its production amounts to nearly 6 ½ billions annually, providing direct support to probably ten millions of our people through employment to about two million workers. But the in-dustry has a greater importance than even these figures indicate, for with agriculture, forestry, and water power it furnishes the raw materials upon which the whole work of our civilization rests. When the raw ma-terials of our mines emerge. from manufacture with the added expenditure of labor and capital upon them, they have a wholesale value of over fifteen billions of dollars. And in this, the second stage of their application, they give employment to another two million workers and support to about ten million more of our people. A large portion of these manufactured commodities must filter through the retail trade; their total value when delivered to the consumer exceeds twenty billions of dollars. And from this distribution arises the support of many more millions of our people. It is estimated that the products of agriculture when they reach . the consumer, with transportation, manu-facturing, and distribution costs added, have about the same value as the mineral industries-each of them thus contributing about one-quarter of our total na-tional income. No other continent has demonstrated its possession of such a magnitude of minerals as has ours, and such a bountiful distribution over our whole land. But our mineral resources differ in one essential from our other natural resources-they are not renewable. Agricul-ture, forests, and water power replenish their supplies from season to season. Some people conclude from the non-renewable character of the mineral supply that they must shortly be exhausted. The practical question is ,one of time, and time in these matters needs to be measured in generations, and apprehension of exhaus-tion needs to be tempered with many probabilities in-cluding the advance in technical methods of extraction. In some of our minerals, such as coal, iron, and building materials we can, through a knowledge of their geologi-cal structure and occurrence, make fairly good estimates of our reserves. We. know that they will outlast many generations of Americans. In non-ferrous metals and oil, geology affords us no great basis for an estimate of future supply. We only know of the occurrence of minerals of this type by actual exposure of them, and we can thus make no estimates except upon reserves which have been proved by actual development by the process of mining. To develop them ahead merely for national satisfaction of assured future supply would imply an unbearable waste of capital. The consequence is that in these groups there is never a demonstrable assurance of more than a few years' supply ahead of us. Yet we have never failed from year to year to find new deposits and extension of old deposits.

Jan 1, 1928

By J. Th. Erb

The total crude oil production of these islands, which in 1928 amounted to nearly 5,000,000 metric tons—about 36,500,000 bb1.—has again increased in 1929. The figures for 1929 are as follows: Metric ToNs† North Sumatra........................................ 369,930 South Sumatra........................................ 1,236,510 Java and Ceram....................................... 678,787 Dutch Borneo (including Tarakan)....................... 2,793,326 Sarawak.............................................. 759,700 Total............................................... 5,838.253 †1 metric tor1 = 7.36 bbl. on the average. This production, as far as the Dutch Islands are concerned, is owned partly by the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, the producing subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Concern, and partly by the Kolon-isle Petroleum Maatschappij (Standard Oil Co. of N. J.), while that of the British Protectorate Sarawak belongs to the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co., Ltd., of London. The increase in 1929 is due partly to more intensive drilling; the rotary system, which enables drilling to be done more quickly and to greater depths than was possible with the percussion system, has come into more general use. Further, considerable extensions have been made to some of the existing fields and several new pools have been discovered, which contributed in no small degree to the increase in production. Of particular interest is the fact that the ('Niam" (Nederlandsche Indische Aardolie Maatschappij), in which the Dutch Government has a large share and which company in 1928 was producing from only two fields in South Sumatra, has discovered a pool in North Sumatra and, moreover, has struck oil on the island of Poeloe Boenjoe near Tarakan (Eastern Borneo). The deepest well still drilling is in one of the fields of the "Niam" and has reached a depth of 2269 meters (7445 feet). Notwithstanding the tropical c1imate and the dense jungle in which most of the fields are situated, the most modern scientific methods are applied in exploration, in drilling, producing and refining.

Jan 1, 1930

By B. B. Cox

The Iraq Petroleum Company, Ltd. continued its systematic exploration and exploitation of the Kirkuk field on a unitized basis. Pressures, gas-oil ratios, oil-water level and oil-gas level remained satisfactory. All wells were produced by flowing and more than two-thirds of the crude was stabilized. The only exports from Iraq during 1937 were from the Kirkuk field. Mosul Oilfields, Ltd., through its operating subsidiary, the British Oil Development Company, Ltd., inaugurated an exploratory program to find lighter oil than the heavy, black, sulphurous reserve proved in the Qaiyarah-Najmah-Jawan-Qasab field. Deeper drilling in this field found a small reserve of 17" to 19" A.P.I. black sulphurous oil in the Pilsner (Upper Cretaceous). Ten structures outside the proved field were tested or were under test at the end of the year. In spite of this intensive program no reserve of lighter oil was discovered. The reserve at Qaiyarah-Najmah-Jawan-Qasab averages 16" A.P.I. with 6+ per cent sulphur from the "continuous limestone" (Lower Miocene, Oligocene, Middle Eocene) and from the Pilsner (Upper Cretaceous). The Khanaqin Oil Company, Ltd., a subsidiary of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Ltd., conducted the normal exploitation of its Naft Khaneh oil field and supplied the local Iraq market requirements. Slightly more than 31,600,000 bbl. of crude was produced in Iraq during 1937. The following table gives the total crude produced by the I.P.C. for export during the last four years. Year 42-gallon BarreL Increase over Preceding Year 1934 7,096,669 1935 27,014,904 19,918,235 1936 29,521,053 2,506,149 1937 31,171,476 1,650,423 " Converted at an average of 7.6 bbl. per ton. Published by permission of the Near East Development Corporation. Manuscript received at the office of the Institute March 11, 1938. * Geologist, Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc., New York, N. Y.

Jan 1, 1938

Discussion of the paper Of ROBERT H. BEDFORD and WILLIAM HAGUE, presented at the Salt Lake meeting, August, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 92, August, 1914, pp. 1807 to 1816. W. L. SAUNDERS, New York, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary *) . -Messrs. Bedford and Hague have given us a very interesting and practical paper. No better excuse for such a paper could be desired than the statement made that the expense of drilling. in this mine is one-third of the cost of delivering the ore at the mill. This statement. should be written in red letters, because it applies to a great many mines besides the one referred to and because it is generally true that in a mining plant, as also in papers read before the Institute, more attention by fat is given to the metallurgical side of mining than to the excavation of the ore, and no study of the excavation work is properly made that does not involve a careful inquiry into the merits of the rock drill used. Next in importance to the selection of a good rock drill, in a case where the actual drilling cost is one-third the cost of delivering the ore, is that. the drill should be maintained in order and kept up to its highest efficiency. The best rock chill may run down in efficiency through accidents, wear, or other conditions which are sometimes beyond supervision or control. The machine is usually in the hands of men who know how to get workout of it, not men who know how it works. The best drill runners are not machinists,. but miners. They could not tell you how the valve operates or the principle of the rotation, but they know how to get the work done. A testing machine, particularly the type described in this paper, may he of the greatest value in maintaining a uniform state of efficiency.

Jan 11, 1914

By C. B. Post, G. V. Luerssen

J. STEVENS*—The authors state that the contamination in the metal was due mostly to the ladle refractories. Did the contamination vary with different brands of refractories or different qualities in the ladle ? C. B. POST (authors' reply)—That would be expected. In our shop we have used a grade of firebrick which is fairly standard. We do use high refractory nozzles to combat this erosion and high refractory sleeves, but there is such a problem when you get a skull in a ladle you just cannot use these high refractory bricks; you rip out the whole ladle getting the skull cleaned up. The acid bricks form a glass, and you can pull the skull out when you do get them. I believe you might find variations among the different refractories depending on how much silicon is in the brick. This determines how much silica is going into the interface between the steel and the brick. Our brick is about 35 pet alumina and 65 pet silica. With a brick of 35 pet alumina in the slag patches new calculations would have to be made. R. PARDEE*—Where can you draw the line in determining the refractories as being a silica refractory ? C. B. POST—More silica than about 50 pet. I think perhaps that is generally the criterion. The brick we use is a good high grade fire brick. T. S. WASHBURN*--With reference to the higher silicon that is recommended as a result of this investigation, is it contemplated that the specified range would be raised to 0.40-0.60 pet silicon, or possibly 0.50-1.00 pet silicon? These higher silicon ranges would affect the physical properties of the steel and consequently there might be some complications with respect to educating the consumers to 'accept this revision of the conventional analysis. C. B. POST—It will take considerable work. Take AMS 6260 as an example. Ordinarily this specification calls for 60 or 75 manganese. Silicon has some

Jan 1, 1950

By C. H. Loux

This paper deals primarily with the advantages realized from the adoption of methods more suitable than those previously used. The improvements noted include: (1) modification of practice in shrinkage stoping, (2) use of sublevel caving over grizzlies, (3) improved haulage and loading, (4) use of contract wages wherever possible. The Washington mine is on Jonestown Hill, one mile south of Oxford, in northwestern New Jersey. It is producing 16,000 tons of concentrates a month, which are being shipped to the Alan Wood Steel Company's furnaces at Swedeland, Pennsylvania. History The first settlement in this region is reported to have been in 1735, and the magnetite ores were recognized immediately. The first furnace, built in 1741, began operation in 1743. During the Revolutionary War the output was chiefly used for making cannon balls, which, owing to the sympathies of the community, without doubt found their way into the hands of the British. This old furnace is still standing. Several important veins were soon developed, including the Martin, Strayley, McKinley, Adelaide, Welsh and Lanning. Mining was carried to a depth corresponding to the capacity of the pumps available. When these became inadequate, the workings were abandoned, and another vein was opened up. The Washington vein was probably discovered about 1850, and the first shaft started in 1854. In 1879, William H. Scranton made the first complete magnetic survey of the district and serious exploration of the deposit was begun. Rather indifferent success attended the earlier efforts of the many companies that attempted to mine and smelt the ore. In 1929 the property was leased by the Warren Foundry and Pipe Co. to the present operators, and the modification of practice then inaugurated is described in this paper. Geology These veins, like most eastern deposits of magnetite, are formed from, or are contemporaneous with, pegmatite intrusions into a gneissic country rock. The ore therefore follows the banded structure of the gneiss,

Jan 1, 1934

By C. Richard Tinsley

Like most minerals, coal is inherently a demand-limited commodity. The very sedimentary nature of its occurrence implies greater availability potential than demand. But this situation is overridden by economics among fuels, between coals, and within coal blends. Such considerations make coal forecasting a very hazardous profession indeed. THERMAL COAL If one thought that the lead times involved with a mining project were very long, one has obviously not been exposed to the planning process in the electric generation business - a process seriously confounded by shifts in load growth, environmental pressures, capital intensity, security of fuel sourcing, inter-fuel economics, and so on. But as a general rule, the near-term forecasts for thermal coal can reliably be based on a bottom-up, plant-by-plant analysis. Cement plant conversions can also be reasonably estimated next in order of reliability, although they have a much wider spectrum of coal qualities and fuel sources to choose from with a notably higher tolerance for sulfur and ash. Finally, industrial demand can be assembled from the estimates for conversions by pulp/paper plants, chemical plants, etc. The industrial sector is harder to estimate, since it may involve small boilers or dual-fired units. Assessing demand in the Pacific Rim is relatively a straightforward process in the near term because the major importing countries are all located on the Asian continent with either negligible or very minor (yet stable) indigenous coal production, (itself often operated on a subsidized basis). Furthermore, all imports are seaborne. These major importers are Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong with Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia up-and-coming consumers. The suppliers to this market all have substantial reserves to back up decades of exports to these countries. Australia, the US, Canada, South Africa, China, and the USSR dominate the supply side. The second oil-shock of 1979/1980 has convinced the importers that reliance on oil can be expensive and eminently interruptible. Thus, they are determined to diversify away from oil' to nuclear and coal for generating electricity and for coal for other purposes where possible. This trend is seen to continue even in the face of the oil glut worldwide and oil-price reductions in early 1982. But the importers are also convinced that reliance on one coal source and, in particular, one infrastructure route for the coal chain from mine to consumer can be equally expensive and interruptible. Strikes in the US and Australia; excessive demurrage at certain ports; relegation of coal to a lower priority on multiple-use railroads in the USSR and China; and concern over escalation on high-infrastructure or high-freight coal chains are among the risks worrying the importers. As a consequence, Pacific Rim thermal coal purchases are being allocated among supplier nations, between ports, and within each country. An example of Japan's shift away from Australia and toward the US and Canada is shown in the estimates in Table 1. But the confidence of the import estimates deteriorates sharply beyond the plant conversion timetables and construction schedules in the near term. If part of the second generation of coal-fired power plants can handle lower-energy coals, the field of suppliers could widen to accept sizeable tonnages from Alaska, Wyoming, Alberta, or New Zealand resources. These supply sources generally have some infrastructure or freight advantage to compensate for their lower quality and to compete on a delivered energy-unit basis. These also offer diversification in sourcing. And the possibility of coal liquefaction in Japan further widens the sourcing network. A great number of Pacific Rim coal forecasts have been generated, especially for Japanese thermal-coal imports which are expected to grow strongly in the 1980's. Since the Japanese themselves have not yet settled their energy policy, the exact numbers are hard to call. Nevertheless, at 50 million tonnes of imports in 1990, Japan would consume 50-60% of the total Asian thermal coal imports as shown on Tables 2 and 6. The next most important consumers are the "island" nations of Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong (see Tables 3-5). All three are embarking on power plant developments usually with captive unloading facilities, capable of accepting more than 100,000-dwt vessels. Korea, with no-indigenous bituminous coal, is not especially enamoured with US coals, which are deemed too heavily loaded by freight and infrastructure costs -- up to 70% of the delivered price. Thermal coal contracts are presently split to Australia (70%) and to Canada (30%). Korea Electric Power Co. is already considering second-generation boilers capable of burning lower-quality coals than the present standard. Korea does burn domestic anthracite.

Jan 1, 1982

By A. Eilers

The year 1874 marks a decided advance in the metallurgy of the West, in two directions. On the one hand, the technical management has been very materially improved, and on the other, the production has been largely increased over that of the previous year. The technical improvements of greatest importance are the introduction of condensation-chambers, or flues, at several works, and the further treatment of the lead matte produced in the ore smelting. These two are of general importance, and although by no means introduced at the majority of works, their adoption at the few where their great importance has begun to be understood will no doubt bring about their universal introduction. To these may be added a third step forward, which for some localities is vital enough, though for others it must still remain doubtful whether it is to be regarded as an improvement or not. This is the introduction, at several

By J. E. Papin

MORENCI ores contain as an average about 0.015 pct molybdenite, MoS2. Incidental to the concentrating operations applied for the recovery of copper minerals, approximately two-thirds of the molybdenite is floated and appears in the final copper concentrate. The economic importance of molybdenum and the success achieved in its recovery in milling operations elsewhere encouraged research directed toward its recovery in marketable form. Several procedures are utilized to effect separation of molybdenite from copper and iron sulphides, but only two have wide application. In the better known of these two methods the molybdenite in the copper concentrate is depressed in a flotation operation using soluble starch as the depressant. The tailing from this treatment thus becomes a low-grade molybdenite concentrate which after thickening, filtering, and low temperature roasting is repulped with water and subjected to additional flotation steps for recovery of the molybdenite. A thio-phos-phate collecting agent is employed in flotation of the copper minerals. Presumably the stability and lasting effects of that collector type necessitated the practice of depressing molybdenite followed by subsequent roasting to insure elimination of copper and iron sulphides from final molybdenite concentrate. The second important method of recovery is applied at various southwestern plants. In those plants xanthates are in use as copper collecting agents. It has been found that xanthates are relatively unstable and their collecting power for sulphides is destroyed by very simple procedures. The method generally applied is to subject the xanthate-acti-vated concentrate, in the form of a pulp, to prolonged heating using steam as the heating medium. A concentrate thus treated may then be subjected to a flotation operation for recovery of the molybdenite, using mineral oil collecting agents, and the copper and iron sulphides will be depressed. Neither of the above processes was applicable to Morenci concentrates. Morenci uses a thio-phos-phate collecting agent in its flotation operation. However, it was established that soluble starch was not a depressant for Morenci molybdenite; therefore the first step in that process was not applicable. AS would be expected the copper and iron sulphides in Morenci concentrates could not be depressed by the heating methods used on xanthate activated concentrates. Low-temperature roasting did eliminate the effects of the thio-phosphate but had to be rejected as uneconomic in as much as the tonnage of concentrates involved was too great. Preliminary research having established the above facts, it became obvious that new methods would have to be developed for the recovery of molybdenite from Morenci concentrates. A broad laboratory investigation was initiated along two general lines, both directed toward depression of copper and iron sulphides. One approach was through the use of water-soluble oxidizing agents with the objective of destroying the thio-phosphate in the concentrate and thus eliminating its collector effect. The other approach involved the use of soluble sulphides, which have long been recognized as sulphide depressants. These efforts resulted in laboratory processes which showed promise. Research was then extended to a pilot plant having a daily capacity of several tons of concentrate. This operation soon demonstrated that soluble sulphide—basically sodium polysulphide—when applied to a pulp made slightly acid with sulphuric acid, proved to be the most effective sulphide depressant. The rate of concentrate treatment in this plant and the low molybdenite content of the concentrate prevented carrying the process to a conclusion, namely, production of molybdenite concentrate of marketable grade. Laboratory treatment of pilot plant concentrate indicated that a marketable product could be made from it, given a tonnage suited to available cleaner flotation machine capacity. Accordingly, the molybdenite plant was enlarged to permit treatment of the total copper concentrate from the extension plant, maximum of approximately 800 tons per day. In the enlarged plant a major difficulty was encountered. No criteria could be established as a basis for control of the process. In the early stages of flotation, because of the small amount of molybdenite involved, there was no visual evidence of the relative floatability of molybdenite with respect to

Jan 1, 1956

By J. Chipman, J. B. Gero, T. B. Winkler

D. C. Hilty—This paper is a useful and timely addition to our store of quantitative data relating to manganese distribution between slag and metal in steel-making processes. For some time, many of us have suspected that the values of Kmn derived by Körber and Oelsen might be too low, and this paper now appears to confirm that suspicion. Application of the new constant to openhearth data should prove interesting. The manganese deoxidation curves of fig. 4 agree fairly well with direct measurements of isothermal solubilities of oxygen in liquid iron containing manganese that have recently been made at the Union Carbide and Carbon Research Labs., Inc. According to the solubility data just mentioned, however, the curves for 1550" and 1600°C lie much closer to each other than the authors have indicated. In other words, the solubility measurements suggest that the logarithm of the oxygen solubility is not a linear function of the reciprocal of the absolute temperature, as the authors have assumed for their calculations. It seems possible that this discrepancy may be due in part to the authors' use of the distribution coefficient, L,,, obtained from Taylor and Chipman's curve for the solubility of oxygen in iron as shown in fig. 2. Taylor and Chipman gave the equation of this curve as —6320 Log % 0 - ---T + 2.734 Their data, however, can be fitted equally well by a curve having the equation: 13.23 x104 1.18x10" Log % O = 36.350 -13.23x10 Moreover, this curve also fits the authors' oxygen distribution data somewhat better than does the linear curve of Taylor and Chipman. Its use in the derivation of Lo for calculation of the deoxidation curves by the authors' eq 15 causes the effect of temperature on the calculated curves of fig. 4 to agree quite well with the temperature effect that has been observed. An experimental determination of the temperature coefficient of the manganese reaction appears to be desirable. J. E. Stukel—Because the authors have done such an excellent job, my comments will be confined to additional information. Very shortly Professor T. L. Joseph and I will publish the results of a study of the reaction between molten manganese and silica. It was found that electrolytic manganese, melted in silica crucibles, reacted with the silica to form a silico-manganese alloy containing 18 pct silicon (1500°C) and a silica saturated MnO-SiO, slag. Therefore, the presence of silicon and its oxides in the Fe-Mn-0 system will affect the equilibrium. Carbon is also an important factor. The higher the carbon content of the iron the less ability manganese has to reduce silica. As a matter of interest, recently a study of the manganese equilibrium in carbon saturated iron and blast furnace slags was completed at Carnegie Institute of Technology. As a comparison to the present study, 2 to 5 hr were required to reach equilibrium and temperature was a much more important factor than slag composition in determining the (Mn)/(MnO) ratio. These results will also be published in the near future. It can be seen, therefore, that the results of this paper cannot be applied directly to openhearth studies without a degree of flexibility. J. Chipman (authors' reply)—With regard to the effect of silicon on the manganese constant, this effect is, of course, known. Much more data is needed in order to establish it accurately, and I hope we can look forward to having some accurate data on that. Mr. Hilty suggests that a three-term expression for the Taylor-Chipman solubility of oxygen in liquid iron might fit a little better than the two-term equation. I think that it would be too great a compliment to the precision of the data to employ a three-term equation, and I would still recommend the simple, two-term expression.

Jan 1, 1951

By Persifor Frazer

It was my intention to have directed the attention of the members of the Institute to a complete series of rocks representing the older and middle formations represented in Pennsylvania, but time has been insufficient for the purpose, and 1 have been unable, in the first attempts to reduce the sections of those rocks, which I have brought with me to this meeting, to the requisite thinness necessary for exhibiting the peculiarities of their constituent minerals. The rocks represented here belong to the various horizons already mentioned, and include gneiss, ferruginous gneiss, chlorite slate, quartzites, and hydro-mica slates, limestones, dolomites, ferruginous conglomerates, quartz conglomerates, " Potomac marble" (nether member of the Mesozoic series), dolerites, and a syenite. The order in which these are named is, roughly, the order .of geographical position in a section line from southeast to northwest, commencing at the intersection of the Northern Central Railroad with the Maryland line, and ending a few miles from the town of York, and a short distance within the marginal outcrop of Mesozoic red sandstone. In such a geographical section all the rocks above mentioned would be encountered in the given order except syenite, about which a few words are to be said in a moment. (But this is far from representing the rocks in their geological sequence.) There is nothing of unusual interest to present to your notice in these slates and quarteites. The limestones were carefully searched tinder 450 diameters microscopic power, but they show no signs of organic remaius. One section of a fine-grained Triassic sandstone contains a very beau- . tifully banded plate of quartz. But the objects of greatest interest at present are the specimens of trap. The more fine-grained and compact traps were collected from

By R. W. Raymond

Prof. Henry Lours, of Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, a distinguished member of this Institute and other technical societies, has recently sent to the Institution of Mining Engineers, and to the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, in Great Britain, a communication, the substance of which is as follows : Professor Louis calls attention to the absence of any recognized English term for the definite description of a frequent phenomenon—namely,the oblique position of an ore-body in the plane in which it lies. In this connection, Professor Louis says that in America the term " pitch " has been occasionally applied to this relation, and proposes that, in the literature of ore-deposits, it shall be hereafter restricted to this particular meaning, the angle of the pitch, like that of the dip, being always measured from the horizontal, and the dip being always taken at right angles to the strike, while the pitch is taken on the plane of the dip, in the direction of the strike. Thus, for example, in a vein or bed striking N-S., and dipping, say, 45' E., there might be an ore-body, the axis of which pitched northward, at an angle of 45O below the horizontal line, as measured on the plane of the inclosing vein or bed. If' the term " pitch " had this universally recognized meaning, the situation could be simply and perfectly expressed by its use, in connection with the general data of strike and dip. As Professor Louis says: "This suggestion has a certain practical value, and is not merely academic. Every mining engineer of practical experience in such types of ore-deposit will have met with cases, in which a vertical shaft has been sunk with the object of cutting the deposit, but has missed it, because the dip alone has been taken into account, while the pitch has been overlooked." He adds the acute observation that such an oversight is much likelier to occur with regard to a condition not definitely desig-

Jan 1, 1909

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

By Frank Firmstone

The furnace from which the brick here referred to were taken, was lined under my supervision and blown-in in May, 1902. It was 75 ft. high and 18 ft. in greatest diameter, and used coke to smelt a lean magnetic iron-ore. The lining was put in as follows:—First, blocks 14 in. long by 6 in. thick; second, 2 in. of loam; third, 13.5 in. of 9-in. fire-brick (one-and-ahalf brick wall) laid in English bond; fourth, red brick to within 2 in. of the iron shell; and fifth, 2 in. of slag-wool between the red brick and the shell. The brand of brick used has been known to me for over 20 years, and in my observation had always proved very durable, notably when used in a small furnace 50 k. high which treated the same magnetic. ore. On revisiting and examining the furnace in March, 1903, it was found that the whole of the lining of 14in. blocks at the top, and for an unknown distance (more than 20 ft.) below, had completely disappeared; and a few weeks later the 13.5-in. lining and the red brick at the top likewise vanished, and the furnace was blown out. N~twithstanding the complete failure of the lining higher up, measurements taken after blowing-out showed no unusual wear in the lower part of the furnace. The exact position in the furnace of the piece of brick-work used in the analysis, given below, is not known; but it came from between 30 and 40 ft. above the bottom. It had formed part of the 13.5-in. wall (no 14-in. brick remaining at that level) and consisted of parts of several bricks so firmly sintered together that fracture occurred indifferently through the joints and through the body of the brick. The joints could, however, be traced by a close examination. The surface which had been in contact with the material in the furnace was covered with a yellowish, translucent glaze, somewhat vesicular, and from

Jan 1, 1904