Search Documents

By A. J. Bartlett

Island Creek conditions are generally referred to as ideal; yet, as at all other properties, there are all known hazards of coal mining. The hardest of these hazards to combat is the human element. The basic thought in the minds of the management of these properties is to produce coal with the utmost safety, and it has impressed upon its supervisory force that it does not want a ton of coal unless it can be produced safely. This company has instituted a mine inspection department, which reports direct to the general manager, arid all matters pertaining to safety come under the direction of this department. Through the medium of the inspection department, the management is kept in touch with the actual conditions existing in general at all mines. Inspections are made regularly arid continuously; that is, at all times while the mine!: are in operation some sections of some mines are being examined. These inspections cover all active and inactive workings. Miners are contacted in their working places and other employees at their respective, work. A thorough check is made to see that the state mining laws are complied with and that company safety rules arc being observed. Night shifts receive the same attention as day shifts. All violations and dangerous practices are brought to the attention of the plant supervisory force with suggestions and recommendations; major hazards of emergency nature are taken up immediately with the management. Periodical inspections are also made of all tipples, preparation plants, dumping and hoisting equipment, to see that all machinery is properly guarded, and walkways and platforms properly fenced; conditions of equipmcnt and mechanical defects are also reported. Reports of inspection are written in letter form and in such a manner as to give the management a picture of the existing conditions at the time of inspection. Copies of inspection reports are forwarded to the superintendents with the general manager'? comments. It has been said, "There is nothing under God's heaven that justifies. your creation or your citizenship but this gospel: ' That the next greatest

Jan 1, 1938

Mining Methods GERALD F. SHERMAN, Chairman CHARLES F. JACKSON, Vice-chairman Alluvial Mining CLINTON BERNARD H. R. NORSWORTHY - O. B. PERRY Open-cut Mining Iron MAX H. BARBER J. A. MACKILLICAN Copper MICHAEL CURLEY R. B. TEMPEST Underground Mining Iron C. H. BAXTER TENNEY C. DESOLLAR Copper W. B. DALY R. W. THOMAS

Jan 1, 1936

By Philip S. Morse

THE Australian lead-smelting plants began to use charges carrying high zinc percentages somewhat earlier than was common with American plants. When lead smelting first started in Australia the immense deposits of oxidized lead at Broken Hill were available but later these oxidized ores became exhausted and were replaced by sulfides. This was before the days of flotation and these sulfides when concentrated carried about 1 per cent. of zinc to 6 per cent. of lead. The works of the Sulphide Corpn. at Cockle Creek was perhaps the pioneer in high-zinc slags but the Port Pirie plant of the Proprietary Co. was a close and very able second and has continued the work to the present time. The Cockle Creek lead furnaces remained in operation until shortly after the war when most of the Broken Hill companies combined and took over the Port Pirie plant to treat their concentrates. As it was the practice both at Cockle Creek and Port Pirie to carry 20 per cent. or more of lead on the charge, it was found that under these conditions of large amounts of zinc in the charge, good roasting was absolutely necessary and matte production was unwise. The Hunting-ton-Heberlein system of roasting was introduced and later the Dwight & Lloyd process. In this way, by roasting the sulfide portions of the charge as thoroughly as possible and making no matte, a method of smelting was developed where the slag over long periods carried as high as 20 per cent. ZnO without serious furnace troubles, and slags carrying even up to 33 per cent. ZnO have been reported. The zinc slags were not very different in appearance from the ordinary slags produced in American practice except that they gave off more smoke and fume on tapping. The slag usually ran hot and freely, coming from the tap in a full stream. Normally there was little crust on the sides of the furnace and the tuyeres gave no trouble though they were always rather dark. At the works of the Sulphide Corpn. it was the custom, on account of the labor situation, to shut down the furnaces during the Christmas holidays, thus giving a campaign of about 12 months. The furnaces at the end of the run usually showed no crust on the sides, though crusts always occurred at the back and front ends. A furnace campaign of 22 to 23 months has been made at this plant where both sides of the

Jan 1, 1929

By J. C. McCarthy, J. B. Stone

AT Fresnillo a series of veins that has yielded very large quantities of silver and other metals has been developed over a length of 6500 ft. and to a depth of over 3000 ft. In the course of this work striking changes in the mineralogy and metal content of the principal veins have been disclosed and are well illustrated by assay data and ore reserve calculations. This paper describes those changes and suggests their bearing on theories of ore deposition. LOCATION The Fresnillo mines and the adjacent city of Fresnillo are in the central part of the state of Zacatecas, 35 miles northwest of the capitol city of Zacatecas, once a great silver-mining center whose total production is said to place it fourth in the world. Another famous old silver district, Sombrerete, lies northwest of Fresnillo. Fresnillo is connected by a 5-mile branch with Fresnillo station on the Mexican National Railways line from Juarez to Mexico City. Lying near the southwestern edge of the central plateau of Mexico, Fresnillo ís surrounded by a semi-arid rolling plain from which rise widely scattered low hills. One of these is Proaño hill, an inconspicuous elevation rising barely 300 ft. above the plain, but in and around Proano hill are the Fresnillo mines, and it is marked now by a great gash cut by glory-hole mining. HISTORY According to an account written in 1834 by Francisco García, then Governor of the state of Zacatecas, Fresnillo was discovered in 1554, and a presidio was established there in 1568 to protect travelers on the road between Zacatecas and Sombrerete. Little is known of the earliest mining at Fresnillo, which seemingly began soon after its discovery, but by piecing together various accounts, it appears that mines there were working in 1717 and were notably active ín 1751 under an administrator named Murguía, who left detailed notes describing them. In 1757, however, the mines became inactive because of difficulties with creditors and no doubt also because of increasing water troubles, and they remained abandoned until 1830. In 1830 the mines at Fresníllo became the property of the State of Zacatecas because the interest of Governor García had been aroused by the long disregarded notes of Murguía. Under García's energetic leadership the mines were reopened, and silver production began in 1832 ín spite of serious difficulties, including abnormal rains and an epidemic of cholera. In 1835 English capital was sought to allow installation of steam-driven Cornish pumps at the two principal shafts and to build the great hacienda de beneficio (the present Proaño hacienda). The company formed in 11835 (Cia. Zacatecano Mexicana) operated successfully until 1872, when its career was brought to an end by the political and economic disturbances

Jan 1, 1942

By C. J. Sparks, J. C. Ogle, E. A. Starke

DEFORMATION of cold-rolled fcc metals and alloys produces one or the other of two types of rolling textures, usually referred to as the copper type or the brass type. The pure fcc metals, with the exception of silver, develop the copper-type texture when rolled at room temperature. Silver, brass, and many other alloys develop the brass-type texture. Transition from one texture type to another can also occur. Solute additions to pure copper cause a transition from the copper-type to the brass-type texture.' Varying the deformation temperature also produces texture transitions. Copper rolled at -196°C developed the brass-type texture2 and silver rolled at elevated temperatures, 200°C, developed the copper-type texture.374 The work of Haessner,' Smallman and Green,6 and Hu and coworkers3'4 seems to have established an apparent correlation between the type of rolling texture (and the texture transition) and the stacking-fault probability. Thus materials with low stacking-fault energies are thought to develop the brass-type texture while high stacking-fault energy materials develop the copper-type texture. Mikkola and cohen7 measured by X-ray diffraction techniques the stacking-fault probability, a, in the ordered and disordered fcc alloy Cu3Au. Unexpectedly, ordered specimens showed about twice the stacking-fault probability as the disordered ones. Marcinkowski and Zwe118 also found stacking faults in ordered Cu,Au, but not in the disordered CusAu. More recently, Camanzi and coworkers9 have shown that the intrinsic stacking-fault energy of Cu3Au undergoes a considerable decrease (approximately 100 ergs per sq cm) when passing from the disordered to the ordered phase. In general, deformation reduces order'' but some of our measurements showed that some long-range order still remains in Cu3Au after cold reduction by rolling 80 pct. From the above considerations Cu3Au offers the possibility of studying the texture transition in fcc alloys without varying either the temperature or the composition. If the stacking-fault energy correlation is correct, an initially ordered alloy should develop the brass-type texture during rolling while a disordered alloy should develop the copper-type texture. The present communication describes some initial results of experiments designed to investigate this possibility. The rolling textures of ordered and disordered Cu3Au samples were determined after various amounts of deformation. The ordered sample had an initial long-range-order parameter of S = 1, determined from X-ray diffraction. The grain size of both the ordered and disordered samples was the same, and the initial textures of both were also identical and approximately random. No obvious differences in the deformation textures of the ordered and disordered materials were detected up to 35 pct reduction and the (111) pole figures of Fig. 1 resemble that of pure copper. However, with reduction larger than 35 pct and less than 50 pct, a marked deviation from the copper texture was noted in the ordered material. The newly developed orientation was close to the (110)[i12] ideal orientations re-

Jan 1, 1970

By Renato G. Bautista, KNona C. Liddell

A model of the reaction of chalcopyrite, CuFeS2, with Fe3+ and with 02 is considered. Homogeneous solution phase reactions are assumed to be always at equilibrium throughout the dissolution of the mineral. The dissociation of USOb- and several complexation reactions involving cu2+, Fez+ and Fe3+ are incorporated in the model equations. The relative importance of Fe3+, 02, and H+ as oxidants and the role of solution equilibria are assessed and the implications for leaching practice discussed.

Jan 1, 1981

By William E. Horst, John H. Bassarear

A technique is described which simplifies the standard procedure for measuring the Bond work index of a specific ore and illustrates how to overcome the strict requirements regarding feed size distribution normally encountered in operating plants. Actual results obtained from various process streams in a copper concentrator are presented and the grindability data are discussed in relation to the observed plant performance. This type of information can be used to gain a better understanding of plant behavior and to assist in the evaluation of plant modifications and process control studies.

Jan 1, 1977

By H. Van F. Furman

There has been considerable discussion of late as to the best method of determining the silver-contents of sulphides of silver resulting from the leaching of silver-ores, and also as to the relative merits of the crucible- and the scorification-method for the determination of the silver-contents of ores. Owing to the great depression in the silver-market, these are questions of considerable importance, at the present time, to both the producer and the smelter and refiner. In the hope of throwing some further light on this subject, the following experiments were recently made by the writer:

Jan 1, 1896

By W. C. J. van Rensburg

Exploration of unconventional mineral resources is stimulated by uncertainties about the cost and security of conventional resource sup- plies. Costs of the latter are likely to increase as a result of inflation, higher energy costs declining productivity, a lack of sufficient investment in politically volatile areas, or through cartel-like action. Exploration of unconventional resources is likely to be delayed by these same factors, insufficient research and development facilities, and a decline in capital formation. World economic growth is likely to be slow, so there will be more emphasis on material conservation. Therefore, the incentive to explore for unconventional resources may be reduced.

Jan 1, 1983

By D. B. Barker, D. C. Holloway, J. F. Cardenas-Garcia

Tround International Inc. is currently developing a hard rock drill that uses a salvo of three frangible projectiles to prefracture the rock ahead of a conventional tri-cone bit. This paper reports on a series of experiments conducted for Tround to study the fragmentation enhancement possible through the use of an optimally timed and spaced salvo of projectiles. In this study the complex three-dimensional problem was simplified to a two dimensional salvo impact problem in a transparent brittle plate of glass. The use of high speed photography and dynamic photoelasticity was then used to study the development of the impact damage zone and the various interactions of the stress waves.

Jan 1, 1982

By J. Avraamides

Many of the current methods for producing metallic silver particles having specific characteristics involve several steps, are time consuming and subject to contamination. The novel non-aqueous chemistry of silver and copper is used in a simple two step process capable of producing high purity silver powders of specific size and shape. The chemical basis of the process involves the manipulation of the equilibrium -- Cu(I1) + Ag [=]Cu(1) + Ag(1). The addition of at least 50% (V/V) acetonitrile (CH3CN) stabilizes both Cu(1) and Ag(1) ions in aqueous sulphate medium, and the metallic silver dissolves. Removal of the volatile nitrile by distillation reverses the equilibrium and silver powder is precipitated. The nature of the powder depends on the presence of additives such as gelatin, thiourea and polyacrylamide.

Jan 1, 1984

By R. J. Greaves

High-resolution seismic reflection profiling can be used to evaluate detailed structural and stratigraphic features of coal prospects. Since most coal prospects are relatively shallow, less than 1000 m (3000 ft) deep, high sampling rates in space and time can be used effectively to improve vertical and lateral resolution of seismic data. The case study presented here shows how seismic data was used to evaluate the Wyodak coal at a prospective coal gasification site. The data were used to map the detailed structure and thickness of the coal and to search for lateral discontinuities, such as pinchouts and faults. An important find was a paleochannel cutting across the base of the coal seam, which was later confirmed by drilling.

Jan 1, 1986

By Alten F. Grandt

What is prime farmland? Can such land, once it has been surface mined for coal, be restored so that it will produce corn, soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa? What methods or practices are necessary to bring about restoration within a reasonable time so that crop yields will be equivalent to or higher than those of unmined prime farmland under high levels of management? These questions concerned land use researchers in Illinois as early as 1948 when the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station experimented with growing cultivated crops on surface mined land in St. Clair County (Grandt, 1949). This research was done almost thirty years before requirements of Public Law 95-87 were passed by the US Congress and signed August 3, 1977.

Jan 1, 1982

By John P. Bernardi, Ralph B. Hall

Past and present phosphate production in the central Florida phosphate district has been predominantly from the unique Bone Valley formation. As these lucrative reserves are depleted, production will shift to the Hawthorn formation in all areas, but particularly so within the southern extension, where vast potential reserves of low grade phosphates exist. Use of existing plants can be extended for some years by mining deeper into the underlying Hawthorn formation, and by mining previously ignored peripheral areas if erratic combinations of the two formations. Hawthorn Production, as compared to the Bone valley, will be characterized by lower grade; lower tonnage yield, lower pebble percent of product, higher mining ratios, higher slimes (- 150 mesh) content, and more complex mining and beneficiation problems. Geological control and more sophisticated operational procedure; will become increasingly more important as the lower quality reserves replace Bone Valley production.

Jan 1, 1981

(Members are urged to send in for this column any notes of interest concerning themselves or their fellow-members.) Members and guests who called at Institute headquarters during the period May 10, 1916 to June 10, 1916: G. Aertsen, Philadelphia, Pa. Hennen Jennings, Washington, D. C. Frederick C. Alsdorf, Wickenburg, Ariz. H. M. LaFollette, LaFollette, Tenn. A. H. Anderson, Worcester, Mass. E. T. Lednum, Chicago, Ill. J. H. Batcheller, Mattapoisett, Mass. Francis Church Lincoln, Reno, Nev. Arthur B. Clark, Sheridan, Mont. H. Mortimer-Lamb, Montreal, Canada. J. Murray Clark, Toronto, Canada. Andrew W. Newberry, San Francisco, Cal. J. H. Collier, Oakland, Cal. C. E. Pettibone, Cleveland, 0. H. S. Emlaw, Spring Lake, Mich. Heinrich Ries, Ithaca, N. Y. E. L. Estabrook, Platteville, Wis. C. S. Robinson, Youngstown, 0. James W. Hambleton, El Paso, Tex. - M. K. Rodgers, Basin, Mont. James Henderson, London, England. E. J. Rossbach, St. Louis, Mo. G. P. Hulst, East Chicago, Ind. J. B. Tyrrell, Toronto, Canada. William F. Jahn, Riebeling, Mont. G. B. Waterhouse, Buffalo, N. Y.

Jan 7, 1916

By B. W. Frazier

AT a recent meeting of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, during a discussion upon the compression of air, attention was called to an apparent anomaly in the phenomena attending the compression. At a subsequent meeting this apparent anomaly was explained by Prof. Herschel, and all the facts observed shown to be strictly in accordance with the laws of thermodynamics. Upon reading the report of the discussion in the published transactions of the society, it occurred to me that an attempt to determine mathematically the amounts of energy (whether in the form of heat or of work) expended and absorbed in compressing air, and causing it to perform work by expansion, might prove of use to some who have not access to any treatise upon the application of the laws of thermodynamics to the compression of air, and who have not the time or the inclination to make such application for themselves. The apparent anomaly noticed was this: If air be compressed, and at the same time, by the sufficient application of a cooling medium, kept at a constant temperature, the indicator diagrams in the

Jan 1, 1874

By S. F. Shaw

Fox some time it has been more or less recognized within the industry that a scientific control of flowing wells would result in increased production and a greater ultimate recovery of oil. About two years ago it was proposed by the writer that this control should follow principles worked out by him while handling large air-life operations. In the case of wells that had ceased to flow where a large quantity of liquid was present, the use of these principles would result in a large increase of production by using compressed air or gas to flow the well; in the case of a well flowing naturally it would take the form of controlling the gas associated with the oil, resulting either in immediate increase of production or in a reduction of the gas consumed per barrel of oil, and in both cases would result in a greater ultimate recovery from the sand. The Roxana Petroleum Corp., appreciating the advantages to be obtained by a scientific application of the principles of the air lift to oil wells, recently engaged, for a limited time, the services of the writer to work out some of the problems involved. The work was carried out at Braman, Garber and Tonkawa in Oklahoma, and at Oxford in Kansas. Following some suggestions of the writer a well was also equipped by the Roxana company at Smackover by A. S. Field.

Jan 11, 1926

By R. S. Busk

A PREVIOUS paper1 has summarized the effect of A all metallic elements on the lattice parameters of magnesium. The present paper deals with the effect of temperature on the lattice parameters and the way in which that effect is modified by alloyed elements. The experimental techniques for sample preparation, exposure to the X-ray beam, measurement of line diameters, and calculation of the parameters were the same as reported in the previous paper. The temperature of the specimen was raised by surrounding the mounted compact with a conical Glas-Col,* the base of which was sealed with Saran film. In this way the temperature of the specimen could be raised to 200 °C, which was the maximum desired in the present study. Control of temperature was effected by maintaining a constant, desired voltage to the resistance coils of the Glas-Col through a Variac. Temperature was measured by an iron constantan thermocouple embedded in the body of the specimerl so that the thermocouple bead was within 1/16 in. of the surface exposed to the X-ray beam. Variation of temperature during an exposure was less than + 1/4 oF. A series of eight alloys, consisting of pure Mg, Mg+Ag, Mg+Al, and Mg+Sn were studied. All percentage values are in atomic percent. The results are given in Table I. The density values given in Table I were calculated from the lattice parameters, using an equation due to Foote and Jette:"

Jan 1, 1953

By G. C. Wallick, W. R. Foster, J. G. Savins

Inasmuch as the differentiation and integration methods represent different modes of rheological analyses, a dual scheme of analysis using both methods should lead to a generalized method of data analysis. A dual differentiation-integmtion method of analysis is applied here to the Poiseuille flow of a variety of ideal Generalized Newtonian and viscoplastic models. Using machine-processing techniques, the result is a spectrum of response patterns which are expressed in terms of certain derivative functions. It is shown that these characteristic functions form the basis of a highly-sensitive analytic technique for optimizing the selection of the most appropriate functional relationship between shear rate and shearing stress. INTRODUCTION In the first paper of this series, Savins, Wallick and Foster1 presented an historical review of the salient features of the differentiation method of rheological analysis in Poiseuille flow, and also indicated how the method could be applied to problems involving plane Poiseuille flow. It was shown that the differentiation and integration methods, although basically not incompatible, do represent different modes of rheological analysis. This suggests that valuable background information regarding the probable response characteristics of real data obtained with the differentiation method can be obtained from an integration method-differentiation method analysis of the response of a variety of ideal rheological models. The present paper describes how this dual method of analysis has been applied to suites of idealized models representing a wide variety of Generalized Newtonian and viscoplastic behavior which have received attention at various places in the literature.

By Hans Haalck

PRACTICAL or applied geophysics-as we designate the border region between physics and geophysics on one hand and practical geology on the other-has as its object the application of physical or geophysical methods of investigation to problems of practical geology. Its field of operation comprises all methods of physical measurement that are used in the problem of determining, from the geophysical influences of the subsoil that can be measured at the surface of the earth, the special characteristics of the association of strata, faults, etc., to detect the presence of deposits and to investigate underground structures. It therefore represents an aid, a physical method of research in practical geology, and is inseparably connected with geological studies; for this reason, it is also called geophysical prospecting. Formerly research methods of practical geology were based on observation exclusively: first, on the observation of the strata and formations at accessible parts of the surface of the earth, especially in shafts, borings and mines if such were available; then on the observation of the tectonic conditions in so far as these were already known at places directly visible; and finally, by estimation of the importance of formations of the terrane. Later, there were added in special cases, analytical chemical crystallo-graphical, petrographical and similar investigations of rock samples which were taken from the places under consideration. The knowledge thus obtained is of value and is expanded by hypotheses and constructions that are supported by geological theories of origin and by laws of the sequence of formations and rock systems, which are based on long experience.

Jan 1, 1928