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By Warren E. Wilson

PRESENT-DAY design of launders is essentially an art depending to a marked degree upon the experience of the designer, whose problem is that of determining the dimensions of a conduit that will transport the pulp within the physical limitations of the plant and in the most economical manner. This paper has been prepared in an effort to place launder design upon a more scientific basis. A method is developed from elementary principles and presented in a form that may be used directly by the designer in determining launder dimensions.. The equations that are developed are believed to represent an advance over older ones, in that they give due consideration to all the pertinent variables, either including them in the analysis or showing that they may be neglected within the limits of applicability of the equations. Experimental data from several sources are used in evaluating the coefficients that are not determined in the mathematical analysis. On the basis of the material presented, it is concluded that launders may be designed with a much greater degree of accuracy than previously believed possible, when due consideration is given to all the factors involved in the problem. However, a great deal of work still remains to be done in the laboratory before a complete answer to all the questions in launder design can be made available. HISTORY OF LAUNDER DESIGN Among the references1-11 are cited accounts of many experiments that have been conducted in an effort to advance the knowledge of the flow of liquid-solid mixtures in flumes and pipes. With three notable exceptions, this work was carried on in such a manner that the results have limited value in solving the general problem, since not all the pertinent variables were measured and controlled. The exceptions are found in the works of Blue,6 Gilbert,7 and Blatch,11 who exercised great care in controlling and measuring all the significant quantities involved in the experimentation. It is notable that much of the work done by men directly connected with the mineral industries1-4 lacks somewhat in completeness, owing apparently to preconceived notions concerning the factors that determine the flow. For example, many measurements on flow in pipes and flumes carrying liquid-solid mixtures determined only the slope and percentage of solids, with no mention of size of particles, depth of flow, roughness of channel or specific gravity of solids. Material in current handbooks8,9 and textbooks is based largely on the experimental work cited above. Although most discussions of the topic-include statements that the results to be obtained by using the data presented are limited by the fact that all variables have not been considered, it is

Jan 1, 1943

By David P. Shoemaker, Clara Brink Shoemaker

The I phase was discovered by Bardos, Malik, Spiegel, and Beck1 in the V-Ni-Si system at 1100°C and in the Mn-Co-Si and Mn-Ni-Si systems at 1000°C. Kuzma and Hladyshevskii2 and Kuzma, Hladyshevskii, and cherkashin3 have reported a new phase, which they named the S phase, in the Mn-Co-Si and the Mn-Ni-Si systems at 800°C at approximately the I phase compositions. The powder diffraction diagrams of the I and S phases, compared by Bardos el al.,1 are related but show distinct differences in relative intensities. Professor Paul A. Beck kindly sent us a specimen of the (v-Ni-Si) I phase for single-crystal study. Precession and Weissenberg diagrams taken with a tiny single-crystal fragment showed that the structure is monoclinic with a large unit cell. The cell dimensions were refined from a powder diffraction diagram taken with CrKa radiation in a 57.3-mm camera with our computer program LSCELP4 using only the indices of those reflections that were observed on Weissenberg diagrams (hnl, with n = 0 through 9 and n = 12) and precession diagrams (Okl, lkl, Izk0, hkl, hk2). Table I shows the agreement obtained between the l/d values calculated with the final values for the cell dimensions and the l/d values observed by Bardos et al .1 for I(V42Ni33Si25), by US for I(V41Ni36Si23), and by Kuzma and Hladyshevskii2 for S(MnpCoSi). The powder patterns contain many broad and diffuse lines. In fact practically all powder lines observed are near-superpositions of several reflections. The refinement program is not set up to handle several reflections contributing to one observed line: the position of each line is refined with the aid of one set of indices only. The final values for the cell dimensions were obtained from the lines of strong or medium intensity with the indices indicated by asterisks in Table I: a0 = 13.403(6), bo = 23.336(15), co = 9.129(6)A ß = 99.11(6) deg The standard deviations (given in parentheses) are those calculated by the refinement program from least-squares theory and do not take into account that the lines included in the refinement may not have been correctly indexed in every case or that the position of a line may also be partly determined by the overlapping reflections. The agreement between the calculated and observed I phase patterns is fairly good, although some discrepancies occur. Not all observed lines could be indexed with the incomplete set of sin-

Jan 1, 1968

By Guillermo V. Borquez

INTRODUCTION The basic factors that influence the selection of a mining method are the geometry of the ore deposit and the strength of the ore and surrounding rock. These factors usually determine the ore recovery and dilution of the deposit under analysis. For the purpose of this paper we will consider a generalized case of a block caving system and the sequence of the analysis needed to optimize ore recovery. The analysis presented is intended for the preliminary planning stage. The critical factors involved in the caving process are identified and the methods for evaluating the suitability of a particular deposit to the caving method of mining are outlined. The mine design is approached by identifying the two most important, dimensions: the size and spacing of the draw points. These dimensions are estimated from a simulation model which takes into account the ore recovery, the incremental value of the ore recovered, and the safety conditions of the operations. The model estimates the number of draw points required to extract efficiently and safely the broken ore from the caving area. This number is found in the range where the net incremental value of the ore is maximized and the probability of pillar failure does not exceed the limit which is acceptable for a safe mining operation. A mining method and its design are in a continuous process of optimization. This process is unique for each deposit because of the many parameters involved; therefore, a back analysis of the operations should be performed when possible. These analyses will indicate if the ore body responds in a predictable manner to the parameters contained in the geological, fragmentation, and draw point models. SELECTION OF ALTERNATIVE MINING METHODS The selection of a mining method best suited to define the minable ore reserves of a given deposit involves consideration of the geometry of the ore deposit and the strength of the ore and surrounding rock. These two factors are usually sufficient to determine the ore recovery and dilution of the deposit. After analyzing the geological reserves and defining the limits of the deposit, either an open pit or an underground mining method can be selected to define the minable ore reserves. The sequence of steps to follow in the selection of a mining method is presented in Figure I. From an economic point of view, the strip- ping ratio is the determining factor for the selection between an underground or open pit method. In turn, the stripping ratio is a function of the grade distribution and con- figuration of the ore body. In order to obtain a preliminary estimation of the stripping ratio, a parametric analysis could be applied, such as the approach used by Professor E. P. Pfleider (1972) and summarized in Table 1.

Jan 1, 1981

By M. Muskat, H. H. Evinger

A METHOD has been developed whereby one may calculate the productivity factors of producing formations from a knowledge of the reservoir conditions. Account is taken not only of the heterogeneous character of the gas-oil flow system but also of the detailed variations with pressure of the shrinkage and viscosity of the oil, the solubility of the gas in the oil, and even the variability of the gas viscosity and the deviation of the gas from ideal behavior. Curves are shown giving the results of numerical calculations on the production rate as a function of the pressure differential for a high-pressure and a low-pressure system, three values of gas-oil ratio being treated in each case. Curves are also given showing the variation with distance from the well of the pressure, oil saturation, and permeability. The effect of connate water is briefly discussed in relation to the apparently large discrepancies between the calculated and observed productivity-factor values. INTRODUCTION The significance of the productivity factor as a measure of the capacity of an oil-bearing formation to produce is well recognized; for it is the composite and integrated resultant of the physical properties of both the porous medium and the fluid stream passing through it with respect to the ease with which the particular petroleum fluids present in the formation can flow through it and into producing wells. The most direct method of determining the productivity factor of a well consists, as is well known, in the simultaneous measurement of reservoir-pressure differentials and rates of production and the expression of the data in terms of rate of flow per unit pressure drop.1 Actual measurements carried out in this manner on producing wells have given factors that generally lie in the range of 0 to 100 bbl. per day per pound pressure drop. This wide range arises not only from variations in permeability but also from the varying sand thickness of producing formations. One of the aims of developing a theory of the mechanics of oil production obviously is that of predicting what the productivity factor should be from a knowledge of the individual characteristics of the producing formation and the fluids produced. For homogeneous fluid systems passing through a porous medium into a producing well, it has been known for some time that the steady-state rate of liquid flow Q is given by the formula:* [ ] where k is the sand permeability, h its thickness, µ the liquid viscosity, [Ap] the pressure drop between the well and the distant parts of the reservoir, in particular that at a radius [ro ]and [r ] is the well radius. This gives the productivity factor: [ ] which will have a numerical value for a liquid of I centipoise viscosity of 0.9316 or

Jan 1, 1941

By W. W. Smeltzer

The linear formation rates of wustite films have been determined over the temperature range 590° to 1030°C using a vacuum microbalance technique. These rates are dependent directly on the partial pressure of carbon dioxide, Activation energies for film and scale formation in carbon dioxide and oxygen atmospheres are equivalent to either the dissociation energies of carbon dioxide and oxygen, or the activation energy for the diffusion of cation vacancies in wustite. Of the metals, iron is the most widely used basic constituent of durable alloys despite its intrinsic property of converting at a relatively rapid rate to the oxides from which it is derived. This property has accounted partially for many investigations on the oxidation of iron at low and high temperatures. Interpretation of the results have been complicated by formation of multilayers containing the various oxide phases. To aid in elucidation of the oxidation kinetics, measurements have been carried out in this investigation on the growth of the wustite surface layer. There are several studies directly related to the objective of this investigation. The growth of multilayer scales has been demonstrated to be diffusion controlled in oxygen at atmospheric pressure over the temperature range 450" to 1200°C by Davies, Simnad, and Birchenall.' To gain an insight into the diffusion mechanism, Himmel, Mehl, and ~irchenall' determined the self-diffusion coefficients of iron in wustite, magnetite, and hematite. These results were used to evaluate the oxidation rates of iron and its oxides, taking as a basis the theoretical parabolic rate equation developed by Wagner., The evaluations were compared to experimental data and were shown to provide essential confirmation of this theory. Fischbeck, Neundeubel, and salzer4 have demonstrated that the oxidation of iron in carbon dioxide and other atmospheres at high temperature obeys a linear relationship. Because the Arrhenius temperature coefficients of the reaction rate constants changed at the A, point they concluded that the passage of iron into the oxide controlled the reaction. This viewpoint has been accepted by Benard and ~albot' to explain the occurrence of linear rates in oxygen before the onset of diffusion-controlled parabolic oxidation. This basic premise of a rate-controlling reaction at the iron/oxide interface has been questioned recently by Hauffe and Pfeiffer.' Since the formation of wustite may follow a linear or parabolic relationship depending on the pressure of the gaseous re-actant, they propose that linear oxidation is determined by a chemisorption reaction while parabolic oxidation is controlled by diffusion. As confirmation of this viewpoint, Hauffe and pfeiffer6 and Pfeiffer and ~aubmeyer' have established that the linear scaling constants of wustite formation at 1000°C in carbon-dioxide or low-pressure oxygen atmospheres

Jan 1, 1961

A LARGE attendance at the annual dinner of the Institute, to be held this year on Tuesday eve-ning of convention week, is already assured. Presentation of the Douglas, Hunt and Saunders medals will attract unusual attention since not only in Blaylock, Mathews and Hoover the Institute will be honoring men who have made notable contributions to the advance-ment of their profession, but as to one of them each person as he passes down the reception line will be won-dering whether in renewing acquaintance with our past-president and present Secretary of Commerce, he is not greeting the next president of the United States. Elsewhere in this issue accounts of the professional careers of these three men appear as also of the two younger men, Charles H. Herty, Jr., and P. H. Royster, who are to receive the Robert W. Hunt and the J. E. Johnson awards. Institute honors go for technical achievement, but the Institute will be proud and happy if the nation should later confirm its own judgment by placing larger responsibilities on one of its members. The medals are to be presented at the annual dinner following the President's reception and preceding the dance. There will be no. other speeches and since the occasion falls on Carnival Night a particularly gay evening is anticipated. The event will be at the Wal-dorf as usual, and members are urged to return prompt-ly the reservation cards sent them by mail. Other entertainment features will include a Smoker, Monday evening at 8.15, held at Mecca Temple and in charge of a new committee with Fred Kay of the Petro-leum Division as chairman. He promises that vocal music will not be allowed to interrupt conversation. Lunch will be served each day on the Fifth Floor of the Engineering Societies Building, and ten special luncheons and dinners have been arranged for particu-lar committees and groups as shown by the detailed program. The Woman's Auxiliary has laid out a gen-erous program including luncheons, teas, a theater party on the night the men folks go to the Smoker, visits to museums and, not the least important, a round of the leading shops. The Excursion Committee is arranging for an excur-sion sure to be of interest. The American Smelting and Refining Co. has opened its great Perth Amboy plant to the Institute, and on Thursday, Feb. 23, a party will be taken to it by bus traveling through the Holland Tunnel en route. Full opportunity will be afforded those interested to see the workings of the ventilation system of that great public work. If a sufficient number indicate interest, arrangements will be made for group excursions to other plants in the vicinity of the city.

Jan 2, 1928

By G. W. Nabor, M. Mortada

The effects of anisotropic or directional permeability on the areal sweep efficiency and the flow capacity are examined. The paper points out the importance of taking directional permeability into consideration in planning a flood. It analyzes the two-dimensional flow pattern associated with the skewed line drive for a unit mobility ratio. The direct and staggered line drives are treated as special cases of the skewed line drive. Analytical expressions are developed for the areal sweep efficiency at breakthrough and the flow capacity. They are related to the spacing between like wells, the distance between a row of injectors and the nearest row of producers, and the degree of skewness of the line drive. The latter quantity is defined such that it is equal to zero for the direct line drive and equals one-half for the staggered line drive. The areal sweep efficiency and the flow capacity depend also on the orientation of the flood pattern with respect to the principal axis of anisotropy. The paper provides a simple method for determining the areal sweep efficiency and the flow capacity for a formation in which the permeability in the bedding plane is anisotropic. INTRODUCTION Directional or anisotropic permeability is manifested by the ability of the formation to conduct fluids more readily along certain preferred directions. This situation occurs in many producing formationsl-4 and is usually attributed to depositional features in which the sand grains are oriented in a preferred direction. In some cases it results from the formation of a major and a minor fracture system. 4 Directional permeability should be taken into account in many phases of the production and exploration activities. Recognizing its existence in the formation of interest and planning accordingly can lead to increased recovery and substantial savings. For instance, the areal sweep efficiency in a water flood depends to a great extent on the orientation of the flood pattern with respect to the principal axis of permeability. Anisotropic5 permeability is specified by the directions of its three principal axes and the permeability along each axis. The principal axes of permeability are mutually perpendicular. This paper deals with the areal sweep efficiency at breakthrough and the flow capacity for formations with aniscltropic permeability. The flood pattern considered consists of alternate rows of injecting and producing wells. The rows of wells are parallel and form a developed, skewed line drive which is illustrated in Fig. 1. The staggered and direct line drives are treated as special cases of the skewed line drive. PRELLMINARY CONSIDERATIONS The formations considered in this paper are assumed to be of uniform thickness and porosity. The permeability is uniformly anisotropic, with each principal axis of permeability maintaining

By J. J. Bowman

The term "secondary aluminum" frequently is used loosely and often is considered synonomous with "inferior quality." Under war conditions, when every pound of material must contribute its share to the job at hand, this type of thinking is most unfortunate. Actually, given a supply of segregated scrap, an experienced smelter can produce remelted ingot of good quality, comparing closely to the analysis of the original material, and of considerable value of the war effort. The alloys he can produce are, of course, somewhat controlled by the analysis of the available scrap and, by the very nature of things, some of his production is not suitable for indiscriminate use. However, remelted scrap ingot provided about 273,2 per cent of this country's domestically-produced 1942 aluminum supply and probably will comprise about 39 per cent of the 1943 supply. (Canadian production is excluded from these figures.) That this part of the supply remains important is indicated by a recent report that "requirements" for the second quarter of this year were about 14 per cent greater than the supply, even though that supply will be almost twice the prewar annual production. (And those requirements, incidentally, were prepared after many conservation measures had been taken into account.) Since W. Bonsack recently has published a paper2 on the effects of the various alloying elements and impurities on the properties of aluminum, and such con¬siderations really are the important ones in a discussion of the metallurgy of secondary aluminum, it is planned to restrict this discussion more to a consideration of the sources, general characteristics and possible uses of these materials. For the purpose of this discussion, mill (or run-around) scrap may be disregarded and only plant scrap and obsolete scrap considered. Plant scrap, of course, is that scrap which is generated during the production of some part or assembly from a fabricated form of aluminum, such as sheet, tubing, forgings, castings or the like, and it may consist of solids (including rejected parts or subassemblies) or of machinings. To the extent that the several alloys are effectively segregated and the material is properly identified, the composition after remelting can be rather closely controlled or predicted. Obsolete scrap, on the other hand, is the "junk" which accumulates because of the wearing out or breakage of some piece of equipment. Although it is almost always in the form of solids, the accumulation includes many different alloys (often in the same assembly) and may include a considerable amount of nonaluminum material. The "metallics" recovered from drosses also contribute a portion of this class of material. The composition after remelting, therefore, may vary over rather wide limits and can not be very accurately predicted in any specific instance. SEGREGATION OF PLANT SCRAP Unfortunately, perhaps, it was not very common practice before the war to

Jan 1, 1943

By E. J. Duggan

THE mine and mill of the Climax Molybdenum Co. are at Climax, Colorado. Climax is on Fremont pass directly on the Continental Divide, at an elevation of 11,400 feet. DESCRIPTION OF ORE The Climax ore-bearing rock is essentially an altered and highly silicified granite, fully half of the gangue being quartz. Molybdenite is the only mineral of economic consequence and most of it is intimately associated with quartz in the form of fine veinlets and stringers. Other minerals are molybdite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite. While the molybdite may be readily extracted by hydrometallurgical methods, its content is too low to make such operations profitable. The pyrite content ranges from 2 to 5 per cent and that of the chalcopyrite from 0.03 to 0.05 per cent. There is not enough copper to make its recovery attractive and one of the metallurgical problems is the elimination of it and the pyrite from the product. On account of the close association of the molybdenite with the quartz and the necessity of eliminating the pyrite and chalcopyrite from the final product, fine grinding followed by flotation is the only feasible method of concentration. HISTORY Construction of the first milling unit was started in 1017 and it was operated during parts of 1918 and 1910. In the postwar years, there was almost no demand for the product and production was at a standstill until 1024. The Company's research campaign to develop the use of the metal began to show results in that year. From 1926 to 1932 production ranged from 500 to 1200 tons per day. In 1931 an additional mill section was built and production was gradually increased until in 1934 and 1935 about 3000 to 4000 tons was milled per day. This tonnage overtaxed the milling facilities, and as the demand for molybdenum was growing constantly, additional milling equipment was needed. In 1936 and 1937 another crushing plant, six additional mill sections and the necessary auxiliary plants were constructed and brought into operation. This plant was designed to mill I0,000 tons per day, but it was not long before 12,500 tons was being treated during periods of peak demands. During the summer of 1941, to meet defense needs, the mill has been required to treat 15,500 tons per day. This has been accomplished with little plant expansion and at no loss in recovery, as will be described later. To increase capacity still further, one more primary section is now being built. This will bring capacity to 18,000 tons per day, which can be stretched to 20,000 tons at a small sacrifice in recovery. CRUSHING There are two crushing plants: No. I, of 5000 tons capacity (flowsheet in Fig. I) and No. 2, of 15,000 tons capacity (Fig. 2).

Jan 1, 1942

By D. C. Porterfield

-4s a result of world economic conditions brought about by the European war and the consequent loss of European markets for Venezuelan crude, production in Venezuela decreased from 205,433,000 bbl. in 1939 to 186,134,000 bbl. in 1940, or 9.4 per cent. This decline interrupted a steady annual increase in production from the country, which had been continuous since 1932. The Maracaibo Lake Basin in western Venezuela accounted for 135,738,000 bbl. during 1940, or 73 per cent of the total, as against eastern Venezuela's production of 50,396,000 bbl., or 27 per cent of the total for the country. Corresponding figures for 1939 were 167,688,000 bbl., or 82 per cent of the total from the Lake Basin, and 37,744,000 bbl., or 18 per cent from the east. These comparisons indicate the increasing importance of the newer developments in eastern Venezuela, but it is unlikely that production from the east will ever exceed that from the west. In all, 429 new wells were completed in Venezuela during 1940 as compared to 438 in 1939. Of the 1940 completions, 411 were in proved areas and 18 were wildcats; 389 (95 per cent) of the exploitation wells drilled were producers, I was a gas well and 21 were dry holes, while 6 (33 per cent) of the wildcats drilled were producers and 12 (67 per cent) were dry; 263 of the exploitation wells and 4 of the wildcats were in the Maracaibo Lake Basin and 148 exploitation wells and 14 wildcats were in the east, mostly in the State of Anzoategui. Exploration of the light-oil areas in the Tia Juana and Lagunillas fields was con- tinued during the year with favorable results. Along the lake shore, drilling was confined principally to fill-in wells in the La Kosa, Tia Juana, Laguni!las and Bachaquero fields, although some important semi-exploratory drilling was done in the Pueblo Viejo area between Lagunillas and Bachaquero fields. The only other developments of particular interest in the west were the successful completion of a step-out well lying to the south of the former southern limit of Mene Grande field, which adds considerable proved acreage to that field; and the failure of two wildcats that were drilled near the Colombian border to determine whether the productive sands of the Petrolea field in the Barco Concession, Colombia, extend into Venezuelan territory. In the east no new fields were discovered during the year, although five wildcats were completed as producers. Three of these, Guario No. I, Jusepin-56 and LM-I (Leona), discovered important extensions to previously proved areas and the remaining two, Cantos-I and SPN-I (Socororo), were subsequently proved to have tapped productive sands of small extent and operations in these areas have been suspended. The greatest activity in the east was concentrated in the Oficina field, where 105 new wells were completed during the year and production was increased from 22,540 bbl. per day during January 1940 to 57,627 bbl. per day during December 1940. Important development work was also done in the Jusepin. San Joaquin and El Koble fields.

Jan 1, 1941

By C. E. Birchenall, F. N. Rhines, L. A. Hughes

A. J. Shaler—I should like to congratulate the authors on the presentation of this paper, which we have been awaiting a long time. The view they have taken of the sintering process, namely that voids are comparable to particles of a second phase capable of dissolving to a slight extent in the metal phase, is an interesting but dangerous one. Pines has given a first-order solution of the problem and Has predicted a decrease in the concentration of pores near the surface. The authors of the present paper have experimentally demonstrated the second-order effects, that is, the diffusion of the space phase between voids of different sizes, and also the movement of atoms from highly curved parts of a void to less curved regions of the same void. I have recently calculated the rate of vapor-phase transport within odd-shaped pores in copper at 850 °C and found that probably at that temperature volume flow is the more rapid shape-changing mechanism. The authors of the present paper have found that at 1000°C, vapor-phase transport is dominant. There is no disagreement here, I think. The dominant phenomenon can easily be different' in different temperature ranges and with different pore shapes: I used a cylinder going to a sphere, not a tricuspid going to a "triple cuspidor." But there is some danger in the other art of the explanation, that is, in the study of the diffusion of vacancies from a pore to its neighbors and to the outside. A vacancy is very different in dimension from an atom. When it moves, it carries a field of elastic strain. This has to be taken into account. A concentration gradient of vacancies can cause them to diffuse. But in the absence of such a gradient, they can be made to diffuse by a field of stress. What happens in some of our experiments, and it is most noticeable in the shrinkage of synthetic cylindrical pores, like the tubes we have been working with, may be broken down into the following steps. (1) The presence of a surface establishes a vacancy concentration gradient, as Dr. Kuczynski and the present authors have shown. (2) Vacancies then diffuse in order to decrease this gradient. (3) In so doing, they cause an elastic field to be built up in such a direction as to oppose the diffusion, so that it slows down until it reaches a steady-state rate. (4) The steady-state flow is due to the fact that the surface tension acting on curved surfaces applies a stress to the system which itself mechanically causes vacancy diffusion. What I have said is that the diffusive types of flow of the authors and of Dr. Kuczynski are transient phenomena which soon stop if the pores are large. We are then left with a mechanical problem only, and our researches have not yet disclosed just what the mechanism of flow is; it may be a slip process, or it may take place by a vacancy diffusion of the type Nabarro has de-

Jan 1, 1951

By Walter Renton Ingalls

Metallurgical literature has no record of any ore beneficiated for cadmium alone, and the cadmium of commerce is derived from zinc ore, with which cadmium is generally associated. Zinc ores free from cadmium—e.g., the ores of the Franklin and Stirling mines, New Jersey, and of Broken Hill in Rhodesia—are rare. Blende concentrates of 50 to 60 per cent grade have contained (in production of important tonnage) as much as I per cent Cd, which is unusually high. The concentrates from the Tri-State district average from 0.3 to 0.4 per cent Cd, which is high. The concentrates from mines west of the Rocky Mountains seldom are higher than 0.2 per cent. In the periodic system of the elements, cadmium is in the same group with zinc. Its properties and compounds are similar. Its metallurgy is also similar. Cadmium has a melting point of 320°C. and a boiling point of 778"C., while the melting point of zinc is 415'C. and the boiling point gos°C. These conditions, together with the lower reduction temperature of cadmium oxide, indicate means for. separating cadmium from zinc. Cadmium in spelter is viewed, if not as an impurity, at least as an alloying element that may be objectionable, its special effect being hardening. However, for some purposes, a little cadmium in spelter is desired, and 0.4 per cent may be permissible, even in spelter for rolling. Cadmium in spelter for brassmaking is completely volatilized at the temperature of that process, and in bygone days an immense quantity of cadmium must have been lost in the fumes from these furnaces. Pyrometalltjrgy—Early Cadmium compounds, sulphide and oxide, being more volatile than the corresponding compounds of zinc, loss of cadmium begins to occur from the first furnace operation. In normal roasting, even with Tri-State ore, this loss may not be very high. Raw ore, assaying 0.4 per cent Cd, may be expected to give a roasted product of the same assay, which would imply a cadmium loss of about 15 per cent. Roasted ore, assaying 0.4 per cent Cd when distilled at ordinary furnace temperature, yielded spelter containing about half of that in the ore charged. The first draw of spelter under these conditions may assay 0.8 per cent Cd (accounting for 22 per cent of the cadmium recovery) and after the several draws of spelter have been equalized the cadmium content may average 0.35 per cent. If, therefore, 2000 lb. of blende averaging 0.35 to 0.4 per cent Cd is roasted and distilled, there may be obtained 1000 lb. of spelter, assaying 0.35 per cent Cd or 3.5 lb. content, which entering into Prime Western spelter will be sold at the spelter price. It will be observed from the outline hereinbefore (summarizing conditions prior to the introduction of sintering) that the main loss of cadmium occurred in the distillation process and by failure to condense, which could be ameliorated by attaching a prolong to the condenser, thus collecting

Jan 1, 1944

By D. F. Kaufman, E. D. Levine, L. R. Aronin

ThE primary slip plane in hcp metal crystals can usually be inferred from the c/a ratio. Basal slip is the primary system at room temperature for zinc, cadmium, magnesium, cobalt, and rhenium, all of which have a c/a ratio greater than 1.60. Zirconium and titanium, on the other hand, each with a c/a ratio of 1.59, deform primarily by (1010) [ll20] prismatic slip. The increasing tendency toward prismatic slip in these materials is generally thought to be associated with the increase in atomic density on (10i0) as c/a is reduced. Beryllium, with a c/a ratio of 1.57, would, according to the above scheme, be expected to exhibit prismatic slip. However, in beryllium of commercial purity, the primary deformation mode at room temperature is basal slip.' The ratio of critical shear stress for prismatic to that for basal slip at room temperature is approximately 5:l. The critical shear stress for prismatic slip decreases quite rapidly with increasing temperature, however, and at 500°C the ratio is approximately unity. The apparently anomalous behavior of beryllium has led to speculation that prismatic slip in this material may be restricted by an anisotropic effect of impurities,' and that, if beryllium could be purified to a sufficient extent, prismatic slip might predominate at room temperature. In such a case, the conditions under which basal cleavage can occur would be suppressed, and enhanced low-temperature ductility might result. With the advent of the floating-zone method for purification of beryllium,3 it has become possible to determine experimentally the effects of purification on basal and prismatic slip. Tensile tests were performed at room temperature on single crystals oriented favorably either for basal or prismatic slip. The crystals had been purified to various extents by zone-refining, employing procedures that have been described elsewhere.4 Relative purities of the crystals were estimated by measuring the ratio of electrical resistance at 4.2"K to that at 298°K. Typical values ranged from 0.40 for commercial-purity material to 7.7 X 10"4 for crystals prepared from vacuum-distilled beryllium and subjected to six zone-refining passes. The purity dependence of the critical shear stresses for basal and prismatic slip is shown in Fig. 1. In the purity range studied, the critical shear stress for basal slip is decreased from 1.4 to 0.14 kg per sq mm. The critical shear stress for prismatic slip is decreased from 6.7 to 5.3 kg per sq mm. The decreases in critical shear stress for each deformation mode, therefore, are approximately equivalent. No purification anisotropy is observed. Because of the absolute magnitudes of the critical stresses, the ratio of the critical shear stress for prismatic slip to that for basal slip actually increases from 5:l to 38:l at the highest purity level studied. It is evident, therefore, that basal slip is the primary deformation mode in high-purity beryllium. This fact must be accounted for in any rationalization of the deformation behavior of hcp metals. This work was performed at Nuclear Metals, Inc., under the sponsorship of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

Jan 1, 1964

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. comprises a Gold Division at Joutel, Quebec, and a Silver Division at Cobalt, Ontario. In 1979 the Silver Division milled 41,700 mt (46,000 st) of ore at a recovered grade of 139 g per mt (4.06 oz per st) for a production of 5,816 kg (187,000 oz) of silver. The 100 -year -old mining, camp of Cobalt has long been noted for its high-grade silver ores, and now seems to be on the threshold of being revived with several companies operating in the area. In 1979, the Gold Division milled at the rate of 27,200 mt per month (30,000 st) and processed 333,000 mt (367,000 st) at a grade of 6.58 g per mt (0.192 oz per st) with a mill recovery of 91.670 to produce 2,013 kg (64,700 oz) of gold. The average total cost per ton milled was $22.10 per mt ($20.05 per st) which was $3.66 per g ($1 13.90 per 0s). These figures make Agnico-Eagle one of the lowest cost producers in North America. Gold occurrence in the Joutel ore is fine-grained and contained within sulfide facies composed mainly of pyrite with minor pyrrhotite. Two underground mining methods are employed with long hole stoping accounting for about 75% of the ore mined and shrinkage stoping the remainder. Ore from underground is hoisted into a 545 mt (600 st) coarse ore bin from where it is conveyed to a 45 mt (50 st) surge bin ahead of the 10-51 Hydrocone crusher. Crushed ore is then screened to make a 13 mm (112 in.) product with the oversize being recrushed in a 7-60 Hydrocone. Mill feed is conveyed to two 900 mt (1,000 st) fine ore bins. The Hydrocones were installed as part of a new crushing plant in March of 1980 and have contributed substantially to an increase in mill capacity. Space has been left to install a third crusher in the future. The fine ore bins discharge to a 2.75 m by 3.66 m (9 ft by 12 ft) rod mill, followed by a 3. 7 m by 5.5 m (12 ft by 18 ft) ball mill in closed circuit with a Krebs 380 mm (15 in.) cyclone to produce a 7070 minus 37 micron (400 mesh) .flotation feed. This pulp is first treated in a 34 cu m (1, 200 cu ft) Maxwell flotation cell and then in an additional twelve 2.8 cu m (100 cu ft) cells. Combined flotation concentrates are reground to 9070 minus 37 microns (400 mesh) in a 1.8 m by 4.9 m (6 ft by 16 ft) ball mill in closed circuit with a single Krebs 254 mrn (10 in.) cyclone. Flotation tailings are sent to the tailings dam. Reground concentrates are then aerated with lime to a single Pachuca and thickened in a 16.75 m (55 ft) diameter thickener with the addition of diesel fuel to render any activated graphite inert to adsorption of

Jan 1, 1981

By D. C. Porterfield

-4s a result of world economic conditions brought about by the European war and the consequent loss of European markets for Venezuelan crude, production in Venezuela decreased from 205,433,000 bbl. in 1939 to 186,134,000 bbl. in 1940, or 9.4 per cent. This decline interrupted a steady annual increase in production from the country, which had been continuous since 1932. The Maracaibo Lake Basin in western Venezuela accounted for 135,738,000 bbl. during 1940, or 73 per cent of the total, as against eastern Venezuela's production of 50,396,000 bbl., or 27 per cent of the total for the country. Corresponding figures for 1939 were 167,688,000 bbl., or 82 per cent of the total from the Lake Basin, and 37,744,000 bbl., or 18 per cent from the east. These comparisons indicate the increasing importance of the newer developments in eastern Venezuela, but it is unlikely that production from the east will ever exceed that from the west. In all, 429 new wells were completed in Venezuela during 1940 as compared to 438 in 1939. Of the 1940 completions, 411 were in proved areas and 18 were wildcats; 389 (95 per cent) of the exploitation wells drilled were producers, I was a gas well and 21 were dry holes, while 6 (33 per cent) of the wildcats drilled were producers and 12 (67 per cent) were dry; 263 of the exploitation wells and 4 of the wildcats were in the Maracaibo Lake Basin and 148 exploitation wells and 14 wildcats were in the east, mostly in the State of Anzoategui. Exploration of the light-oil areas in the Tia Juana and Lagunillas fields was con- tinued during the year with favorable results. Along the lake shore, drilling was confined principally to fill-in wells in the La Kosa, Tia Juana, Laguni!las and Bachaquero fields, although some important semi-exploratory drilling was done in the Pueblo Viejo area between Lagunillas and Bachaquero fields. The only other developments of particular interest in the west were the successful completion of a step-out well lying to the south of the former southern limit of Mene Grande field, which adds considerable proved acreage to that field; and the failure of two wildcats that were drilled near the Colombian border to determine whether the productive sands of the Petrolea field in the Barco Concession, Colombia, extend into Venezuelan territory. In the east no new fields were discovered during the year, although five wildcats were completed as producers. Three of these, Guario No. I, Jusepin-56 and LM-I (Leona), discovered important extensions to previously proved areas and the remaining two, Cantos-I and SPN-I (Socororo), were subsequently proved to have tapped productive sands of small extent and operations in these areas have been suspended. The greatest activity in the east was concentrated in the Oficina field, where 105 new wells were completed during the year and production was increased from 22,540 bbl. per day during January 1940 to 57,627 bbl. per day during December 1940. Important development work was also done in the Jusepin. San Joaquin and El Koble fields.

Jan 1, 1941

By E. Stamboliadis

Dithiophosphates are reaction products of phosphorous pentasulfide with various organic compounds such as phenols, alcohols, mercaptans, dioalcohols, amines, and nitrides. The products with alcohols are commercially known as "aerofloats" and these are investigated in this presentation. It appears that the formation of insoluble metal dithio phosphates is responsible for their collecting properties with minerals." In this aspect they are very similar to xanthates.3 The solubility of metal dithiophosphates depends on the number of carbon atoms in the organic chain of the corresponding alcohol. An empirical mathematical model is presented here. It allows one to predict the number of carbon atoms necessary to ensure that a certain metal dithiophosphate will form at a selected pH value of the water solution. The Nature of Dithiophosphates Dithiophosphoric acid is the product of the reaction of phosphorus pentasulfide with an alcohol, as shown in the following equation: [P2S3 + 4 ROH - 2 (RO)2 PS2H + H2S (1)] where R stands for a hydrocarbon chain. The acid so produced can be neutralized by a base to produce the corresponding salt as shown in the following: [(RO), PS2H + NH- (RO)2 PS, NH,. (2)] In this aspect dithiophosphates are similar to xanthates, the only difference being the substitution of the tetravalent carbon atom in the xanthate polar group by a pentavalent phosphorus atom in the dithiophosphate group. This difference implies at least two characteristics: (1) that there are two hydrocarbon chains associated with the polar group so that an increase in the number of carbons of the single chain is expected to have a pronounced effect on the flotation properties, and (2) that the bond between the sulfur and the central atom is stronger than in the xanthate group. This probably leads to a decrease in both the polarizability of the electronic cloud of the sulfur and the interaction with cations.3 However, what is lost in the dithiophosphates by having a weak polar group can be gained by an increase in the number of carbons as will be seen later. Taking into account the size of the atoms involved in a dithiophosphate molecule, as listed in Table 1, It is possible to draw an approximate diagram of its structure as shown in [Fig. 1]. It is assumed here that the length of the single hydrocarbon chain is equal to that of the corresponding alcohol. Preparation and Purification Acid dithiophosphates can be prepared, as previously mentioned, in accordance with Eq. 1. The rate of this reaction is too slow at room temperature and can be improved by increasing the temperature to about 60° or 80°C7 or by evacuating the system. In our investigation evacuation was performed by a water aspiration pump. The dithiophosphoric acid so produced is liquid and dissolves in the alcohol. At the end of the reaction the product is filtered from the remaining P2S3; and dissolved in petroleum ether. By blowing anhydrous ammonia gas into the ether phase the ammonium salt forms as a white precipitate and can be sepa-

Jan 1, 1977

By R. W. Fenn, H. A. Lepper, W. R. Hibbard

A. J. Shaler—I should like to congratulate the authors on the presentation of this paper, which we have been awaiting a long time. The view they have taken of the sintering process, namely that voids are comparable to particles of a second phase capable of dissolving to a slight extent in the metal phase, is an interesting but dangerous one. Pines has given a first-order solution of the problem and Has predicted a decrease in the concentration of pores near the surface. The authors of the present paper have experimentally demonstrated the second-order effects, that is, the diffusion of the space phase between voids of different sizes, and also the movement of atoms from highly curved parts of a void to less curved regions of the same void. I have recently calculated the rate of vapor-phase transport within odd-shaped pores in copper at 850 °C and found that probably at that temperature volume flow is the more rapid shape-changing mechanism. The authors of the present paper have found that at 1000°C, vapor-phase transport is dominant. There is no disagreement here, I think. The dominant phenomenon can easily be different in different temperature ranges and with different pore shapes: I used a cylinder going to a sphere, not a tricuspid going to a "triple cuspidor." But there is some danger in the other art of the explanation, that is, in the study of the diffusion of vacancies from a pore to its neighbors and to the outside. A vacancy is very different in dimension from an atom. When it moves, it carries a field of elastic strain. This has to be taken into account. A concentration gradient of vacancies can cause them to diffuse. But in the absence of such a gradient, they can be made to diffuse by a field of stress. What happens in some of our experiments, and it is most noticeable in the shrinkage of synthetic cylindrical pores, like the tubes we have been working with, may be broken down into the following steps. (1) The presence of a surface establishes a vacancy concentration gradient, as Dr. Kuczynski and the present authors have shown. (2) Vacancies then diffuse in order to decrease this gradient. (3) In so doing, they cause an elastic field to be built up in such a direction as to oppose the diffusion, so that it slows down until it reaches a steady-state rate. (4) The steady-state flow is due to the fact that the surface tension acting on curved surfaces applies a stress to the system which itself mechanically causes vacancy diffusion. What I have said is that the diffusive types of flow of the authors and of Dr. Kuczynski are transient phenomena which soon stop if the pores are large. We are then left with a mechanical problem only, and our researches have not yet disclosed just what the mechanism of flow is; it may be a slip process, or it may take place by a vacancy diffusion of the type Nabarro has de-

Jan 1, 1951

Open pits and quarries are the major sources of all hard rock tonnages mined today. Normally, ore is fractured from the pit bench face by blasting and then truck-hauled to a primary crusher on the pit rim for conveying to the concentrator; overburden (or waste) is generally truck- hauled from the pit to dump areas. This system of truck haulage of blasted ore and waste accounts for some 25 to 50% of total mining costs in a typical open pit operation and commonly is the largest single cost factor. In an effort to reduce these costs mining companies are continually replacing their older and smaller trucks with larger ones and at the same time are studying conversions to conveyor haulage, since this method of transport seems to offer possibilities of lower costs per ton of material handled. In these studies it seems logical to consider installing these conveyors as close as possible to the mining face for maximum use of conveyors and minimum use of trucks, since a conveyor is much less labor intensive than a trucking system. However, direct loading onto a conveyor near the retreating bench face is impractical because of excessive lump size. Consequently, it is conventional practice to load the blasted rock into trucks at the face for haulage to the crusher. After crushing, the rock is fed onto a conveyor. The closer the crusher is to the mine, or if it is in the mine, the shorter the truck haul and the greater the potential for cost saving. At first appearance, in-pit conveying might seem to be an obvious solution, yet many mining companies have considered such a move while few have implemented it. To determine why, it is necessary to consider the factors influencing such a decision. A conveyor system tends to be capital intensive but can have a lower operating cost per ton than trucks. Trucks, on the other hand, tend to cost less to buy but more to operate; thus, economics tend to favor the conveyor if it can be operated close to capacity and if a sufficiently large tonnage can be passed over the system to mitigate the effect of its high capital cost. In a typical hard-rock, open-pit mine it is necessary for a variety of reasons to mine several faces of both ore and waste at the same time; and any mining system must have sufficient flexibility to permit loading from one face or another at short notice. This makes it impractical to place small mobile crushers and their consequent network of conveyors at each working face. To date no alternative has been found to using trucks for bringing all rock of the same class to some convenient marshalling point from which it may be crushed and conveyed from the pit. Another advantage of trucking when compared to conveying is flexibility. Many mines wish to deliver their shot-rock to different locations, depending on the mineral content. For instance, a typical copper mine may have to simultaneously mine milling ore, leach ore,

Jan 1, 1978

By H. L. Brunjes, G. B. Gould

The softening temperature of coal ash, as determined in the laboratory, has been used for years as an indication of the tendency of coal to form clinker and slag. It has not, however, provided an index of unfailing and complete reliability for forecasting the relative performance of different coals, even in the same plant and under the same conditions of operation. A large amount of investigation has been done in attempts to account for this, but practically all of this has been in the direction of studying the chemical constitution of coal ash. Much has been learned, but without much progress toward a better practical application of knowledge to the selection of coal. There has always seemed to be an important factor that eluded discovery. It has long been recognized that the ash-softening temperature as determined in the laboratory had one weakness, in that it represented the temperature at which a thorough mixture of the whole ash of the coal would melt, the mixing having taken place before the heal was applied. This does not, of course, simulate what takes place in practice. With certain exceptions, which will be noted later, almost all of the investigations that have been made, especially the chemical studies of coal ash, have likewise dealt with a mixture of the whole ash in the coal. The present investigation differs from these fundamentally in its approach to the problem. It started from the observation that some clinkering and slagging obviously takes place in a boiler furnace at temperatures below the laboratory-determined ash-softening temperature of the coal. Knowing that coal as it is shipped to market is a heterogeneous mixture of diverse mineral substances, each of which may act independently of the others in the initial stages of clinker and slag formation, it seemed logical to investigate separately the softening temperature of the ash in physically separable portions of the coal, and to determine the relative quantities of ash contributed by each portion. While the data are far from complete, covering as they do only a few coals, and while the conclusions to be reached from the data at this stage arc, in some measure, speculative, they are presented at this time because

Jan 1, 1940

By W. W. Gorr, R. Smith, E. H. Wyche

THE combination of high strength and corrosion resistance of cold-worked 18 Cr, 8 Ni steel has been advantageously utilized for some time, particularly in aircraft and rail car structures. There are, however, certain limitations on the use of such materials because the high strengths can be obtained only by cold-working, limiting the available products to sheets, strip, wire and tubes. The authors sought to overcome these limitations by resorting to precipitation-hardening, which has been used so successfully in nonferrous metallurgy but only to a limited extent in iron-base alloys. Accomplishment of this objective not only overcame the limitations, but also effected certain improvements in mechanical and other properties. This paper is an account of the development by Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation of a precipitation-hardening 18-8 stainless steel (called Stainless W? and tentatively identified as type 322). A description is given of its composition and metallurgical characteristics, heat-treatment, physical and mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW STEEL For a considerable length of time the authors were unable to determine the mechanism of the precipitation-hardening process that had been noted by Ffield 18,19 in 18-8 Ti or 18-8 Cb after cold-working and reheating to moderately elevated temperatures. All known variables were exhaustively studied, but with little success. However, results began to indicate that chemical composition was the most important variable, particularly the ratio of austenite-forming to ferrite-forming elements. The investigators 'then focused their attention upon the composition, and, in particular, upon the element titanium and its mode of alloying in the presence of other elements. A heat was obtained that could not be brought to the softness level of annealed 18-8. The response to cold-straining and aging* was very marked by previous standards, and, more important, cold-straining was found to be entirely unnecessary to produce the precipitation-hardening effect. The chemical composition of this heat was: C, 0.06 per cent; Mn, 0.54; P, 0.016; S, 0.016; Si, o.58; Ni, 7.28; Cr, 17.6o; Ti, 0.90; Al, 0.17. For some time the development work, particularly on composition, was carried

Jan 1, 1946