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By Gordon B. French

Occidental's in situ retorting process for oil shale has many advantages over the conventional, underground mine and surface retort. Only a portion of the oil shale is mined and transported outside where it blends with the oil-shale talus found in the area. Spent shale is retained underground without surface disposal problems. The process consumes no water from outside sources. Noise and dust levels are kept at a minimum. As many of the facilities as possible are located underground. More oil is produced from a given area than conventional surface processing. Additional energy can be recovered by using conventional turbines to generate electrical power of magnitude of three to four times required by the operation.

Jan 1, 1977

By Akira Yazawa, Alžbeta Gubcova

RECENT lead-smelting techniques have tended toward use of high-grade concentrates with minimum amounts of flu, accompanied by profitable employment of roast reaction.1-5 In order to better understand these smelting processes, thermodynamical calculations have been carried out on the Pb-S-0 system, and the results obtained have been presented in isothermal reaction diagrams in which log Ps, and logPo, were the axes. The diagram thus constructed seems to be more convenient to grasp the equilibrium aspect than those published hitherto.6-8

Jan 1, 1968

By Howard N. Eavenson

In 1926 the Clover Splint Coal Co. acquired a lease on 1793 acres of coal lands situated in Harlan County, Ky. about two miles above the end of the Clover Fork Branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad at Louellen. This property contains several coal seams near the foot of the mountain, which are excellent coal but too thin to be very attractive now, and carries about 968 acres of the High Splint seam 1375 ft. vertically above the stream and slightly more than three-fourth mile from it. This High Splint seam produces a high percent- age of large lump, is very low in ash and sulphur, stands transportation and stocking exceedingly well and has an excellent reputation as a high-grade domestic bituminous coal. To develop this tract it was necessary to build an extension of the railroad slightly over two miles long, and, in addition to the usual mining equipment and machinery, to build enough houses, with the necessary store and other buildings, to accommodate all of the employees. The topography made construction expensive, so that it was important to keep the cost as low as possible, in order that the proposition might be financially attractive.

Jan 1, 1932

By E. F. Evoy

The uranium deposit of Gunnar Mines Ltd. is on south shore of Crackingstone Peninsula in the Beaverlodge area of northern Saskatchewan. The property spans St. Mary's Channel, a narrow waterway separating the mainland from a group of islands in Lake Athabasca. The mine property, consisting of 12 claims and 7 fractions, was staked in July 1952 by A. O. Zeemel and W. J. Blair. Diamond drilling commenced in the fall of that year and continued until the spring of 1954. In that interval, some 70,000 ft of drilling outlined an orebody plunging from the surface south-ward to a depth of 1000 ft below the shore of St. Mary's Channel. The last 9000 ft of drilling was through lake ice, and when this was interrupted by spring breakup, sufficient ore reserves had been established to warrant the present operation. Surface drilling was therefore terminated.

May 1, 1956

By Lawrence Adler

The authors are to be complimented on using a novel and potentially helpful technique to analyze the effects of mine roof trusses. However, some criticisms of their application and analysis seem appropriate to further its acceptance. This discussion will deal with the normal structural analysis format covering: 1) material. 2) load, 3) structure, and 4) analysis. It will then briefly review the testing procedures and finally cover miscellaneous items. That the analytical and testing results admittedly disagreed by several orders of magnitude, indicates a need for improved understanding. The introduction of data determined previously was not assisted by references to "Interim" or "Preliminary" reports. This material should have been concisely reformulated for the open discussions that Transactions encourage. In addition, many important simplifying assumptions are tacitly made without recognition, and much less, an attempted justification.

Jan 1, 1979

By Robert H. Richards

Very little has been published recently on this subject in the mining journals or proceedings of societies. The attention of experts has been diverted perhaps by the demands for pan amalgamation of refractory ores. Yet free milling ores occur in many localities, and it may be interesting to have on record some data as to details of running a small test-mill, especially as details of results do not seem to be accessible to stndents and investigators. Küstel, in 1863, under battery amalgamation, dismisses the subject by stating that "amalgamation on copper-plated platforms, troughs, and other copper fixings" is " very imperfect, and mostly abandoned." J. Arthur Phillips says, in 1867, under placer mining : " A well-amalgamated copper plate is considered as effective for

Jan 1, 1880

By Kalanadh V. S. Sastry, D. W. Fuerstenau

A locked-cycle balling procedure has been designed to simulate continuous, closed- circuit balling drum operation in the laboratory. By this method, it is possible to simulate the surging in green-ball production rate and circulating load that is experienced in industrial balling circuits. Through an investigation of the effect of feed rate on the stability of the locked-cycle, balling process, it was found that higher feed rates lead to increasing instability in the process. An analysis of the experimental ,results is presented and the utility of the locked-cycle experimental technique for evaluating the stability of an industrial balling drum operation is discussed.

Jan 1, 1976

By Donald W. Gentry

The recently established SME-AIME Education Board has completed its first full year of operation, and its six constituent committees-Accreditation, Career Guidance, Continuing Education, Educational Statistics, and Scholarship-have been extremely active in identifying and initiating programs to serve the educational needs of the Society of Mining Engineers and its members. The Continuing Education Committee-primarily concerned with the needs and problems associated with providing a continuing education program for SME members-is responsible for: (1) determining the need for short course offerings; (2) developing needed courses, along with new means and opportunities of presentation; and (3) scheduling and evaluating course presentation. In response to this charge, the committee has sponsored two short courses at the SME-AIME Fall Meeting in St. Louis and three short courses at the AIME Annual Meeting in Denver. Its major effort, however, has been directed toward the 1978 SME-AIME Fall Meeting to be held in Orlando, Fla., where 18 days of short-course instruction have been scheduled. A portion of these courses will be presented prior to the meeting, with the remainder to be presented in Nassau, Bahamas, immediately following the meeting.

Jan 7, 1978

By J. Laskowski, Z. Sadowski

The properties of quartz, calcite, magnezite and dolomite suspensions prepared from -30 µm size fractions of these minerals have been investigated. Selective coagulation of the quartz-calcite, quartz-magnezite and quartz-dolomite binary suspensions was possible at the pH values slightly above those for the i.e.p. of the carbonate minerals. The tests revealed that quartz suspensions were not flocculated by the anionic flocculants, whereas the same polymers were flocculants for calcite, magnezite and dolomite. Selectivity in the flocculation of the quartz-calcite, quartz-magnezite and quartz-dolomite binary suspensions was not, however, satisfactory because of the activation of quartz by ca2+ and Mg2+ ions. Dispersing reagents can be used to improve the selectivity of flocculation.

Jan 1, 1980

By Edwin H. Olson, Morton Smutz, Charles J. Baroch

IN 1949 an orebody containing some 10 billion lb of recoverable rare earth metals was discovered in the Mountain Pass district of San Bernardino County, California.1 The following year Molybdenum Corp. of America purchased a number of claims at the deposit and a mill on the property which had been constructed to process the district's gold ores. Average composition of ore from the San Bernardino deposit is less than 0.1 pct ThO2, 25 to 35 pet calcite, 10 pet rare earth oxides, 15 to 20 pet silica, and 30 to 40 pet barite.2 Rare earth content of the ore analyzes 50.7 pet CeO2, 4.2 pet Pr6O11, 11.7 pet Nd2O3, 1.3 pet Sm2O3, and 34.3 pet La2O3, and others.2

Jan 3, 1959

J. A. Mathews,* Syracuse, N. Y. (written discussion?).-It is interesting to note how frequently we hear of some process that is going to revolutionize the tool-steel business. I don't know why it is, but every one seems to have it in for us poor tool-steel men. About 15 years ago, a good-sized plant was built in Syracuse for the manufacture of cast tools of malleable iron. The promoter of the scheme claimed to have a secret, process that had been given to him by a tramp to whom he gave a lift along a dusty road. The widows and orphans invested liberally in the securities of the company without consulting the men established in the machine-tool business in Syracuse. About two years later, when the sheriff's sale occurred, the secret, which was carried on the books of the company as an asset valued at $2,000,000, brought $15 at auction. A little later another concern started on the theory of replacing scrap high-speed steel with new high-speed steel tools made therefrom. All the tool-steel companies have made a practice of purchasing high-speed

Jan 5, 1919

Optimism over the continued growth of coal ex- ports received a significant shot in the arm September 18 at Norfolk, Va., when huge, new ship coal-loading facilities of the Norfolk & Western Railway were formally dedicated before a large audience of American and foreign dignitaries. Guest of Honor at the occasion was Christian A. Herter, Special Representative for Trade Negotiations, who, in a speech, stated, "The prospects for the expansion of our coal exports are excellent. The competitive pricing and high quality of our coals, whether for the production of coke for steel mills or for the generation of electric power, have won the respect of consumers everywhere in the world. Last year, the United States coal industry exported over 40 million net tons. . . . There are excellent reasons to believe that by 1970 we shall be exporting at double this rate."

Jan 10, 1963

By D. A. Dukelow

By using the U. S. Steel oxygen sensor to measure the oxygen content of the steel, deoxidation practices have been developed for silicon-killed fine-grain steel produced by the basic oxygen process. Measurements of oxygen content taken at final turndown are related to the amount of the aluminum addition to the ladle necessary to obtain the desired aluminum analysis for proper grain refinement. In comparison with heats deoxidized by the standard approach, which is based on carbon content, the heats deoxidized according to the oxygen-sensor-based schedule showed a 25 percent decrease in variability from the desired aluminum content. As more heats of a particular grade are made, it is expected that improved quality will result in decreased rejections and better analysis control. Sensor-based deoxidation schedules are also being developed for semikilled, rimmed, and capped steels.

Jan 1, 1972

By A. G. Metcalfe, R. P. Elliott, F. A. Crossley

THE texture method (utilizing monochromatic copper radiation) was applied to determine the orientation of the columnar grains of two vacuum cast beryllium ingots of 3 in. diam. Samples were mounted in a fixture as illustrated in Fig. 1, which permitted rotation and translation in order to approximate the method used for wires. The specimens were aligned so that the major axes of the columnar grains were parallel. Rotation was around the growth direction. After each translation the specimen holder was rotated 2 deg (1 deg for the samples from the second ingot) until a range of 30 deg on either side of the vertical was covered. The speed of translation was 1 mm per sec. A representative Debye pattern is shown in Fig. 2. The pattern was compared with theoretical patterns for various orientations. Also shown in Fig. 2 is the disposition of reflections on the (10i0), (0002), and (1011) Debye rings for the two possibilities that growth is either in the <10i0> or <ll30> direction. It is apparent that no significant preference for the direction of columnar growth is indicated. It is considered that the lack of a preferred orientation is due to the occurrence of the phase transformation (reported by Martin and oore&apos; to occur above 1250 "C) which masked the original solidification orientation. This research was supported by the United States Air Force under Contract No. AF 33(616)-5911, monitored by the Materials Central, WADD, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Jan 1, 1962

Jan 12, 1950

By Howard E. Parkinson, John N. Murphy

The past five years have seen communications techniques and hardware developed by the Bureau of Mines and its contractors increasingly brought into use in U.S. mines. The Bureau philosophy has been to help develop and introduce new hardware that goes as far as possible toward meeting the mining industry&apos;s needs. The Bureau programs are also designed to provide continuous fallout of new communications capabilities which are introduced to the mine operators as they occur. As more progress is made in meeting mine communications needs, it is hoped that the mining industry will readily adopt the equipment and techniques that it finds most useful in meeting its individual needs. This paper reports on recent advances achieved in the development of improved mine communications systems. In May 1975 the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) conducted a mine communications technology meeting to provide a brief overview of the USBM communications technology developments in the past 5 yr. This meeting lasted for 1 1/2 days. Therefore, I have elected to narrow this paper to a brief review of recent underground mine communication developments. The following will be discussed: 1) Ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio for fan hole drill operators;

Jan 1, 1978

By Luther Lennox

DURING the last few years, one of the great problems in the milling of all ores has been that of crushing. This subject involves not merely the cost of the operation, but also the selection of the proper degree and character of crushing to yield the best metallurgical results on the given ore. Considering the diversity of machinery, one is led to wonder at the variety of crushing methods employed, even when realizing that metallurgy demands varying products. In an attempt to investigate the relative crushing resistances of a number of ores now being milled in this country and Alaska, the management of the Portland mills requested samples of average mill-run of ore from various companies. The request met with a ready response, indicating the desire of all operators to gain information on the subject. The difficulties involved in this investigation were numerous, lack of time for outside problems during this strenuous period being a serious one. Also, we were unable, in the time, to obtain a correct 150-mesh . screen; in the screen analyses tabulated and plotted herewith, the 150 mesh screen was used merely to protect the 200-mesh screen, not to ascertain points on the curves.

Jan 8, 1918

By Paul R. Smith

Preparation for flotation begins with dragline mining, pumping, washing, screening, and desliming. Slimes, nominally -150 mesh material, constitute large quantities of phosphate and water which are a disposal problem. Older techniques involve sizing at about 35 mesh for separate coarse and fine treatment. The plus 14 mesh fraction does not require concentration. Coarse treatment includes agglomerate spiralling, belt flotation, thickening, scrubbing with sulfuric acid, de-oiling for reagent removal, and cationic flotation of fine quartz. A recent trend is to screen at coarser than 35 mesh size and eliminate coarse particle treatment, sacrificing some grade of this product. Techniques for flotation concentration of the fine size fraction are discussed.

Jan 1, 1976

By Cornelius F. Kelley

SEVENTY-FIVE years ago, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 22 men of vision banded together to initiate this great organization. Ideals and emotions mingled and united in the declaration of a twofold purpose: first, the more economic production of minerals and metals, and second, the promotion of greater safety and welfare for each man so employed-tacit recognition of the inseparability of humanitarian and utilitarian concepts of world progress. The members and honorary members then, as now, were mining engineers and associates from allied walks of life. Under the able guidance of David Thomas, our first president and outstanding ironmaster of the time, there were elected 46 members and associates, and the foundations of the Institute were laid. Conceived in a turbulent postwar era, the problems then faced had some similarity to those we face in this time of war-bashed uncertainty. With a Civil War behind them and once again dedicated to a spirit of national endeavor, they surveyed the landscape, then surged ahead toward a beckoning industrial horizon. That effort has never been relaxed. Poised upon the threshold of a new century, rancher, banker, engineer and businessman paused to contemplate and evaluate his natural endowments. Surrounded by immeasurable God-given wealth, necessity inspired

Jan 1, 1947

By Robert D. Pehlke, Kazuhisa Okajima

ThE prediction of the activity coefficient for a solute in a multicomponent liquid metallic solution based on measurements in the related binary systems has been the object of study for some time, particularly in iron-base alloys.1,2 Very few measurements, however, have been made on nonferrous systems; furthermore, measurements made for the specific purpose of testing various prediction equations are almost nonexistent. The measurements here described of the activity coefficient of cadmium in liquid lead alloys were directed toward this goal. One of the most direct means by which the activity coefficient can be calculated has been based on the independent influences of each solute. When solute metals i,j, k, and so forth are present, the activity coefficient, y, of one of these (i for example) may be expressed as a product of factors which represent the effects of each of the other components:

Jan 1, 1964