Search Documents

By W. J. Reagan

IN a study of the life of ingot molds, it is essential to eliminate all of the variables. In the commercial manufacture of steel this is almost an impossibility. In this study many of the variables have been eliminated, and because of the unusually consistent furnace practice, with small variations in the type of steel manufactured, and a similar type of mold design for all ingot sizes, it is possible to determine with some degree of accuracy the cause of variations in ingot-mold life. All of the ingot molds in this study were used in the production of basic open-hearth killed steel with chemical analyses within the following range: C, 0.50-0.85 per cent; Mn, 0.60-0.80; Si, 0.20-0.30; S, 0.04 max.; P, 0.04 max. All ingot molds were of the closed-bottom type and used for bottom casting only. None of the molds in the study failed from cutting of the sides due to top casting; in fact, on only rare occasions are any molds used for top casting. The general type of this mold is shown in Fig. 1. All sizes have rather a heavy band of metal, about 6 in. wide, at the top to give mechanical strength at this point, and all have cast lugs. Cross sections of the vari-ous sizes from top and bottom sections are shown in Fig. 2. Ratios of wall thickness to ingot weight, ratio of ingot diameter to ingot length, and other figures of interest are shown in Table 1. In. the majority of cases, the cause of failure in this type of mold is due to heavy fire cracking on the "flats" at a point from 3 to 6 in. from the bottom radius of the mold. Fig. 3 pictures this type of failure. The start of failure at these points usually begins with a very small section of the interior surface becoming involved. As a rule, a section of 1 or 2 sq. in. is the first noticeable 'indication that mold failure is taking place. Gradually the small section increases until a sizable cavity develops, causing a protuberance on the bottom of the ingot, which eventually becomes too large to be stripped. The mold is then removed from service. At the time of failure, this cavity often reaches a size of about 5 sq. in. and about 1/2 in. deep. Sometimes cavities are found on only two or three sides and at other times all twelve sides appear to be involved.

Jan 1, 1936

By E. C. Franz

IN an effort to understand high cycle fatigue, as well as to study the mechanism of fracture in general, a number of researches have been undertaken whereby the fracture properties of a metal have been determined under conditions of repeated cyclic prestsain employing high strains with relatively few cycles. Liu, Lynch, Ripling, and Sachs' showed the effect of a definite strain history consisting of small increments of tensile or compressive prestrain upon the flow and fracture characteristics of metals after a limited number of repeated loadings. Liu and SachsW emonstrated by cyclic straining of the aluminum alloy 24s-T4 that the least reduction in ductility was obtained when the compressive stress was nearly equal to the tensile stress. Attempts have been made to correlate the reduction in ductility under such prestraining with conventional fatigue data, as was done by Liu and co-workers.' The following research was conducted to determine if such reduction as has been noted could be correlated with conventional fatigue data or whether the effect resulted from causes extraneous to the basic mechanism of fatigue failure such as strain aging. It might be pointed out in this connection that the reduction in ductility has occurred in alloys that might be susceptible to strain aging or similar behavior, such as alloy 24s-T4. In the present investigation, the test specimens were prepared from the aluminum alloy 75s-T6 and annealed electrolytic copper. Alloy 75s-T6 is a complex precipitation hardenable alloy, whereas electrolytic copper would not be expected to exhibit strain aging effects, particularly at room temperature. The experimental procedure consisted of prestraining test specimens repeatedly by increasing tension in small increments to various total prestrain values, followed by testing to failure in a tension test. The prestraining as well as the final testing was performed on a tensile machine using special fixtures9 0 maintain concentricity of the specimens. After prestraining, the specimens were unloaded as rapidly as possible and immediately reloaded so that the total time lapse between strains was held to a few seconds. Logarithmic or true natural strain was used in all calculations. The results are presented in Figs. 1 and 2. In Fig. 1, the retained ductility, area after prestrain area at fracture is plotted against the tensile prestrain, initial area area after prestrain as abscissa with the number of stress reversals executed to attain the required prestrain plotted as parameter. Several specimens that fractured during

Jan 1, 1955

By Paul A. Schafer

BALATOC mine, the principal gold-producing mine in the Philippines, is 10 miles southeast of Baguio, in the Cordillera Central of northern Luzon.1 The region is a deeply dissected plateau, ranging in altitude from 3000 t0 5000 ft. above sea level. The rocks consist chiefly of granodiorite, diorite, and remnants of metamorphosed sediments, cut by dikes of andesite porphyry and quartz-diorite porphyry. All are intruded by a volcanic breccia plug, oval in horizontal section, about 3200 ft. long and 2300 ft. wide, which is the north central part of the mineralized area. Three main vein systems have been developed (Fig. 1): q6, 231 and 364, which strike about N.70°E. and dip 5o to 90°S. Each system is a braided zone consisting of many individual components. They are disturbed by a series of premineral faults or shear zones striking about N.45°E. Twelve of these produce important effects on the persistence, character, and quality of veins. From west to east the faults are named (after claims): Hog, Big Gun, Bull, Pine, Lolita, Bar No. I, Bar No. 2, Curt, Sun, Helen, Itoe, and Frog. They are early breaks formed prior to the N.70°E. vein fractures. Mineralization occurs on them but, with several prominent exceptions, they are too low grade to mine. A number of northwesterly striking faults complete the structural pattern. Although they are relatively abundant, the effect on the veins is so small that they do not present any problems in mining or development. All of these faults that have been observed are later than the N.70°E. veins and offset them to the left. NORTHEAST FAULTS The early northeast faults* are notably continuous in spite of their small displacements, 20 to 100 ft. Frequently they appear so weak that their importance is masked and their identity clouded. The gouge along any of these faults may vary from exceedingly weak at one point to very strong at another point only a short distance away. In other words, the amount of gouge depends on the changes of attitude of the fault plane, and is no indication of the extent of the movement. Places where walls are spread apart are filled with gouge squeezed from tight places. Also, mineralization sometimes obscures fault gouges by replacement. The mineralization of northeast faults has produced several important ore bodies; namely, 231 west on Pine fault and q6 vein on the same fault. To a smaller extent, Lolita, Curt, Bull, Bar No. I, and Sun

Jan 1, 1942

By Clyde Williams

A MAN who is a first-class metallurgist, engineer, and scientist and an outstanding organizer, administrator, and executive and who, at the same time, has an innate ability to "make friends and influence people" everywhere he goes is an exceptional personality at any time. And if such an individual can retain this combination of virtues during a great war despite the fact that the Government loaded him with enough work and responsibility for three such men. he is a most exceptional personality. And if he can keep his head and maintain an unfailing sense of humor during the trying war years and, while dealing with hundreds of jittery metallurgists and metalworkers, with Army and Navy brass, and with red-tape-entangled war agencies by the dozen, he is a rare personality indeed. Such a man is Clyde Williams, director of Battelle Memorial Institute. who will be President of AIME in 1947. The Institute is fortunate in having him as its mentor during what may be a critical and important year.

Jan 1, 1947

By J. A. Clum, R. W. Heins, T. D. Tiemann

The use of Na-montmorillonite clay hinders (Western Bentonite) in the pelletizing of iron ore concentrates is well established as is the idea that alternative binders must be found. 1-6 This note summarizes work done7 in evaluating a Wisconsin montmorillonite clay binder. The clay occurs in irregualr beds overlying the Prairie du Chien Dolomite and the St. Peters Sandstone near Hersey, St. Croix County. The raw Wisconsin clay contained 65% quartz and 35% clay minerals. The Na20to CaO ratio was 0.234. Suspension viscosity tests of the raw clay gave results only slightly better than water alone, even after treatment with activator materials. Sedimentation treatment reduced the quartz in the decantate to 5% after 240 min (four hours). Twenty minutes of sedimentation produced a decantate with 27.5% quartz which was found as effective as the 5% quartz decantate in pelletizing behavior. The 20 min decantate was used in subsequent tests. The decantate was filtered and dried at 110°(230°F). The minus 200 mesh portion of this was added directly to the magnetite concentrate. Pellets were made in a laboratory sized disc pelletizer from pastes consisting of ore concentrate, balling water (9%) and binder (clay, or clay + resins, or resins). The pastes were premixed in a Waring blender. The binders were: (1) 1% of a commercially used Western Bentonite; (2) 1 % or 3% of the Wisconsin clay (raw, or 20 min decantate); (3) 20 min decantate washed with activator solutions, (to exchange Na for Ca in the clay); (4) decantate with activator added in the balling water; (5) decantate with organic resins; (6) organic resins. Measurements of the 0.46 m (18 in.) Green Drop Number, the Dry Strength and the Fired Strength (fired at 1260°C (2300°F) for 30 min) were made. The dry and fired compressive strengths were determined on an Instron testing machine using a C-load cell and a F-load cell, respectively. The cross-head speed was 0.004 m/sec (0.1 in./min) for both. The results of each measurement were averaged for 15 pellets. A summary of those results is presented in [Table 1]. More detailed results and procedures are presented in another report.7 In addition to the effects on pellet strength due to various binders the effect of varying magnetite concentrate characteristics is noted in [Table l]. There, a few comparative data are shown for Cornwall, PA Magnetite, which has a generally liner particle size than the Black River Falls magnetite which was used for most of the tests.

Jan 1, 1979

The Rio Tinto - Cerro Colorado operation was the first major cyanide plant built out of South Africa since the Carlin and Corte mills came on-stream in 1965 and 1969. Its flowsheet was presented in the original monograph, "Gold and Silver Cyanidation Plant Practice, " published in 1975, with a brief description of the plant but without the operating costs. The authors have recently received these data and it was believed worthwhile to present them in this volume along with the aforementioned flowsheet. The Cerro Colorado ore deposit is located at Minas de Rio Tinto in the province of Huelva, Spain, approximately 88 km (55 miles) north- west of Seville. The previously mined copper ore bodies lie on either side of the deposit which is mainly copper ore. The crest of the deposit is a capping of "gossan" containing hematite, limonite, gold, and silver. Separate facilities for primary crushing, concentration of copper ores and cyanidation of gold-silver ores are provided. Fine crushing is common to both ores. The run-of-mine open-pit ore is fed from a stockpile via a surge bin and apron feeder to a jaw crusher. After crushing to minus 150 mm (6 in. ), the ore is washed in a rotary scrubber to remove the clay material ahead of fine crushing. Minus 6 mm (1/4 in. ) screen undersize is pumped directly to the grinding circuit with the screen oversize being crushed to minus 19 mm (3/4 in. ) for feed to the primary ball mill; this is followed by two subsequent stages of ball mill grinding to 80% minus 43 microns (325 mesh). Grinding is with water only; no cyanide is used. After thickening, lime is added to the first two of seven Pachuca tanks for conditioning ahead of cyanide addition in each of the five remaining Pachuca tanks. This flowsheet indicates rapid cyanide consumption and the need to maintain a high strength cyanide solution for silver extraction. Agitation for dissolution of the gold and silver is followed by standard CCD practice employing four 67 m (220 ft) washing thickeners in series, with repulping between each thickener. A departure from American and Canadian practice is the use of Stellar filters developed in South Africa for pregnant solution clarification and recovery of zinc-gold-silver precipitates. The precipitate is treated with acid for zinc removal, the sludge filtered in presses, dried, calcined and smelted to produce dore bullion of 900 fineness containing 12% gold and 78% silver.

Jan 1, 1981

By George P. Hulst

Prior to 1914, there was little demand for antimony in this country; its use was limited almost entirely to the manufacture of type and bearing metals. Practically no antimony ore was mined here, the market being supplied principally from China, and the alloy was produced by a direct mixing of lead and antimony. The great world war, with its demand for shrapnel in hitherto undreamed of quantities, precipitated a great boom in the price of antimony. Nominally quoted at 6 c. to 7 c. in 1914, the price increased by leaps and bounds to 45 c. in March, 1916. Under the stimulus of high prices many small mines were opened, for it became profitable to work ores containing as low as 20 per cent. antimony. High-grade sulfide ores (stibnite), containing 55 per cent. to 60 per cent. antimony, were received from Bolivia, China, and Alaska. Low-grade sulfide ores, running from 20 per cent. to 45 per cent., were produced in Nevada, California, Idaho, Utah, and Mexico; much of this ore was fairly rich in silver. The principal oxide ores came from Mexico and Oregon. The following analyses are representative of various types of antimony ore: Sb Pb Cu AG AU SIO2 Be S CaO Zn As Oxide ore.......... 25.09 46.02 0.95 0.40 10.98 0.30 0.22 Sulfide ore......... 55.20 15.12 1.05 19.87 0.40 0.25 Sulfide ore......... 37.16 11.30 0.10 34.0 7.60 0.50 17.05 7.40 0.36 0.10 Sulfide ore......... 41.55 18.00 0.20 76.0 0.04 5.60 0.25 18.17 0.85 0.25 0.10 The International Lead Refining Co. fortunately was equipped to handle these ores through residue and blast furnaces. The charge consisted of a variety of sulfide ores containing Sb 20 to 60 per cent. and SiO2 6 to 45 per cent., oxide ores containing Sb 20 to 40 per cent. and SiO2 10 to 45 per cent. Secondary materials, such as battery plates, battery mud, lead oxide, paint, etc., together with refinery skims, softener skims, and other refinery byproducts, were treated along with the antimony ore to furnish the lead required. All silver-bearing antimony ores were treated in the residue furnace, the sulfur, iron, and copper forming matte that carried part of the silver, the balance going into lead bullion. The antimony slag produced was sufficiently low in silver to warrant being smelted in the blast furnace to antimonial lead.

Jan 1, 1921

By Joseph Newton

MUCH the same story can be told about the copper industry for the year 1944 as for the three preceding years. Operators report few or no technical changes at their plants and the main endeavor has been to maintain high production with existing equipment. No large new installations have been made to increase plant capacities and apparently over-all copper production has passed its maximum. The present decline in copper production results partly from the severe labor shortage. As is true of most industries; the outstanding fact about the copper industry during the past few years has been its tremendous and sustained production which has been maintained in spite of serious shortages in material. labor, and technical personnel. The figures in Table I give a concrete example of how production has been increased at one large smelter in the United States-the Garfield plant of the American Smelting and Refining Co. at Garfield. Utah. These figures, reported by W. G. Rouillard. superintendent. give the production of the Garfield plant for the five years 1940-44 inclusive. The total blister production

Jan 1, 1945

By James P. Kimball

Jan 1, 1885

By William F. Boericke

CONSIDERABLE waste of oil and grease in lubricating motors and other machinery results from the use of bearings that are not totally enclosed. There is also the likelihood of damage to the bearing through the accidental introduction of grit or dust both in the oiling process and after, unless the cover is entirely dustproof. With the ordinary sleeve bearing that is only partly enclosed, it is generally easier for a careless attendant to cause trouble through neglect than with the ball bearing type, which from its design, must be totally enclosed to give effective service, and needs a minimum of attention. At one of the large mining companies which has taken a leading part in reducing unit costs and pioneering new developments in mining machinery, ball bearings have been gradually supplanting the conventional type of sleeve bearings on many of their motors, centrifugal pumps, and other machines in the mines. This innovation is not recent, as substitution of ball bearings on mine motors was first tried out by this company in 1909. Since then an increasing number of such bearings have been put in. They are now favored because of increased operating efficiency and reduction in lubrication costs.

Jan 1, 1926

By P. G. Nahin, A. Grenall, R. S. Crog, W. C. Merrill

A progress report of an experimental investigation into the role of clay in reservoir performance is presented. The Paper gives some of the reasons for considering clay as a significant component and outlines the objectives of a broad field of stud) which it is intended to pursue. Descriptions of the analytical methods used are given; these include X-ray diffraction. elec tron miscroscopy, thin section petrography, infrared spec-troscopy, and cation exchange analysis. A suite of the more important clay minerals has been assembled and characterized l~y these methods for use as standards in core analysis. From the data obtained it appears that although no one method of analysis is diagnostic for all of the clay minerals the infrared technique shows considerable promise in this direction. For the present, one or more supplementary methods should be used to confirm the clay mineral identifications. The methods of analysis are applied to field cores taken from repesentative and widely differing strata especially as regards their susceptibility to damage by fresh water. well.; completed in the stevens and Gatchell zones in San Joaquin valley are I,articularly clear-cut examples of this behavior with stevens zone wells being more adversely affected by fresh water. cores from these zones have been studied and are discussed. It appears that differences in this behavior can be ascribed to differences in the nature of the contained clays. The value of the infrarecl spectra of the clay fractions in establishing the identity of the predominant clay minerals is given particular emphasis. INTRODUCTION It is a challenge to the technical resources of the petroleum industry that when the economic limit of production is reached, from 40 to 70 per cent of the oil in California reservoirs remains unproduced even by use of the best presently known methods of recovery. The magnitude of this abandoned volume of oil can be appreciated when it is considered that to 1950 in excess of 8 billion bbll has been produced from California reservoirs with estimated economically recoverable reserves in known fields and pools totaling nearly 4 billion bbl.24 If for every barrel of oil produced there is at least another barrel still in place, it is evident that the revenue obtained from the recovery of only a .few per cent of this volume would repay the cost of the required research manyfold. From well completion experience. production behavior, and a growing body of laboratory data it now appears certain that the mineral composition of a producing stratum has an important bearing on the productivity and ultimate yield. In addition to the organic component and water, the cores con,ist of gravel, sand. silt, and clay" in diverse variety of (a, composition and (b) texture. It is the composite effect of these two factors which is probably responsible in large measure for the way in which the oil flows to the well. The role of the clay and fine-size accessory minerals is not clear but there is a growing opinion, based on their physical and chemical properties, that it is a significant one. of particular importance are the prime facts: 1. The silt and clay fractions of the reservoir matrix possess the highest surface area per gram, and 2. The silt and especially the clay fractions are the most chemically reactive of the inorganic constituents present. Only within the last few years has the knowledge of clay mineralogy and the techniques of identifying the clay minerals reached such a stage as to enable reliable inquiry into the composition of argillaceous sediments.2,8,10,11,12,16,26 It is the purpox of this and succeeding papers to add to the fund of information on the role which these materials play in the production of petroleum from California formations by correlating their presence and associated properties with observed reservoir behavior. In the present paper attention is directed to their possible influence on damage by fresh water. OBJECTIVES The attack on this problem divides naturally into two broad phases: 1. Determination of the nature of the clays and their relationships to the other mineral components, and 2. Determination of the physico-chemical relationships between the clays and the interstitial fluids. In the work described in this paper the emphasis has been on phase 1, which stems logically from the necessity of identifying and understanding the materials to be dealt with in Phase 2. Based on the authors' present opinion that not all of the minerals which occur in oil-bearing formation are of equal importance in their effects on the flow and recovery of oil, it was decided to focus attention first upon the clay minerals content and then. later perhaps. work into the field of the normally larger size non-clay minerals and fractions. The

Jan 1, 1951

By W. C. Merrill, P. G. Nahin, A. Grenall, R. S. Crog

A progress report of an experimental investigation into the role of clay in reservoir performance is presented. The Paper gives some of the reasons for considering clay as a significant component and outlines the objectives of a broad field of stud) which it is intended to pursue. Descriptions of the analytical methods used are given; these include X-ray diffraction. elec tron miscroscopy, thin section petrography, infrared spec-troscopy, and cation exchange analysis. A suite of the more important clay minerals has been assembled and characterized l~y these methods for use as standards in core analysis. From the data obtained it appears that although no one method of analysis is diagnostic for all of the clay minerals the infrared technique shows considerable promise in this direction. For the present, one or more supplementary methods should be used to confirm the clay mineral identifications. The methods of analysis are applied to field cores taken from repesentative and widely differing strata especially as regards their susceptibility to damage by fresh water. well.; completed in the stevens and Gatchell zones in San Joaquin valley are I,articularly clear-cut examples of this behavior with stevens zone wells being more adversely affected by fresh water. cores from these zones have been studied and are discussed. It appears that differences in this behavior can be ascribed to differences in the nature of the contained clays. The value of the infrarecl spectra of the clay fractions in establishing the identity of the predominant clay minerals is given particular emphasis. INTRODUCTION It is a challenge to the technical resources of the petroleum industry that when the economic limit of production is reached, from 40 to 70 per cent of the oil in California reservoirs remains unproduced even by use of the best presently known methods of recovery. The magnitude of this abandoned volume of oil can be appreciated when it is considered that to 1950 in excess of 8 billion bbll has been produced from California reservoirs with estimated economically recoverable reserves in known fields and pools totaling nearly 4 billion bbl.24 If for every barrel of oil produced there is at least another barrel still in place, it is evident that the revenue obtained from the recovery of only a .few per cent of this volume would repay the cost of the required research manyfold. From well completion experience. production behavior, and a growing body of laboratory data it now appears certain that the mineral composition of a producing stratum has an important bearing on the productivity and ultimate yield. In addition to the organic component and water, the cores con,ist of gravel, sand. silt, and clay" in diverse variety of (a, composition and (b) texture. It is the composite effect of these two factors which is probably responsible in large measure for the way in which the oil flows to the well. The role of the clay and fine-size accessory minerals is not clear but there is a growing opinion, based on their physical and chemical properties, that it is a significant one. of particular importance are the prime facts: 1. The silt and clay fractions of the reservoir matrix possess the highest surface area per gram, and 2. The silt and especially the clay fractions are the most chemically reactive of the inorganic constituents present. Only within the last few years has the knowledge of clay mineralogy and the techniques of identifying the clay minerals reached such a stage as to enable reliable inquiry into the composition of argillaceous sediments.2,8,10,11,12,16,26 It is the purpox of this and succeeding papers to add to the fund of information on the role which these materials play in the production of petroleum from California formations by correlating their presence and associated properties with observed reservoir behavior. In the present paper attention is directed to their possible influence on damage by fresh water. OBJECTIVES The attack on this problem divides naturally into two broad phases: 1. Determination of the nature of the clays and their relationships to the other mineral components, and 2. Determination of the physico-chemical relationships between the clays and the interstitial fluids. In the work described in this paper the emphasis has been on phase 1, which stems logically from the necessity of identifying and understanding the materials to be dealt with in Phase 2. Based on the authors' present opinion that not all of the minerals which occur in oil-bearing formation are of equal importance in their effects on the flow and recovery of oil, it was decided to focus attention first upon the clay minerals content and then. later perhaps. work into the field of the normally larger size non-clay minerals and fractions. The

Jan 1, 1951

By Arthur A. Center

AT the beginning of 1944 it was expected that the production of metallic zinc in the United States from domestic and foreign concentrates would exceed the 1943 figure though domestic production of concentrates was expected to drop below the 1943 rate, mostly in the Tri-State area. Imports of concentrates were estimated to more than take care of such deficiency. North American concentrate production, available for import to the United States or elsewhere during the year, was estimated at over 200,000 tons recoverable zinc content; South American at about 65,000 tons; Australian at about 50,000 tons. Production of both concentrates and metal in the United States, however, did drop, attributable in considerable part to man-power shortage in the industry. However production exceeded consumption, which fell off, and stocks of metal increased. These stocks have increased since the middle of 1942 but production and consumption are coming nearer to a balance. The A, B, and C premiums, which have played an important part in keeping up domestic production of concentrates, extend only to the middle of 1945 by present legislation. Congress is being asked for their continuance during the war and

Jan 1, 1945

By J. J. Foster

MOST of us will, I think, agree that never before in the history of the coal industry has the human side of our business been so important as today. Since, even in wholly mechanized mining, labor cost is such a large percentage of out total cost we are all deeply concerned not only about the present attitude of our employees but particularly about the future, when the industry returns to a "survival of the fittest" basis. Many things could and should be done about our employee relations in the coal business. Failure to recognize these obligations and do something about them may lead to serious consequences, the least serious of which will be the loss not only of many of our better employees but a large portion of our potential employees, as they graduate from our schools to other in¬dustries. Some of these things should be handled by the industry as a whole whereas others should be done by individual companies. Due to varying conditions and size of organizations it would, at best, be necessary to vary a program to meet the individual needs of each operator.

Jan 1, 1945

By E. A. Holbrook

IN view of what has happened in - the past three years, it seems incredible that industrial corporations continue to write to engineering and mines schools for "promising members of the graduating class," or, indeed, that they even send representatives to the colleges to interview engineering graduates. Certainly, by this time, every company should be aware of the fact that recent engineering graduates are almost nonexistent and the number is not likely to increase within the next several years. At the February, 1945, annual meeting of the Local Section delegates of the A.I.M.E. in New York, W. B. Plank, professor of mining engineering at Lafayette College, summarized well the situation of the colleges by titling his talk "The Lost Generation of Engineers."

Jan 1, 1945

[Officers and Committees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers 1 Officers and Staff of the AIME 2 Officers of AIME Sections Predominantly Petroleum in Membership 3 Society of Petroleum Engineers By-Laws 5 Alphabetical List of Members 9 Geographical List of Members 110 List of Members by Companies 127 Advertisers' Index 137]

Jan 1, 1961

By Vince Poxleitner, John Delaney

Introduction In the mining industry, comminution typically begins in the mine with a blast of explosive to break rock so that it can be handled by the avail- able equipment. Though the breaking of the rock is essential for material handling in the mine and plant, this is not the only reason for ore reduction in the mineral industry. Comminution is primarily required to liberate minerals from ore so that they can be concentrated into valuable products or to prepare minerals, such as talc, for market as mined. The size of the equipment used for comminution ranges from small to massive. Regardless of equipment size, the power required to reduce the rock is a major expense. Years ago, mineral deposits could be mined more selectively and required less grinding to produce saleable products. However, as richer deposits were depleted, it has become necessary to mine low-grade deposits, with the valuables dispersed throughout the rock. Comminution equipment evolved in physical size and capacities to meet the new mine and process requirements. A modern, modestly sized mining operation, with a capacity of 25.000 TPD may use crushers two stories high weighing over a million pounds, SAG mills 36 feet in diameter driven by dual motors putting out 10.000 horse- power, and ball mills over 16 feet in diameter . Because of the increasing size and weight of modern equipment, the builder is faced with the problems of erecting massive foundations and field assembling equipment on these foundations. As equipment costs and plant construction costs increase, builders are finding that owners are asking for more detailed progress and cost data. Comminution construction projects are generally classified as grass roots plants or expansions or modifications to existing plants. It is estimated that 60-702 of the jobs involve existing plants. Today ' s costs for construction of small, new comminution plants can reach tens of millions of dollars; larger plants can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Modifications, on the other hand, usually run from a few thousand to several million dollars. Though many problems are common to the construction of both new plants

Jan 1, 1982

By Reno Sales

INTRODUCTION. THE geology of Butte possesses especial interest on account of the magnitude of the ore deposits, their extraordinary richness and persistence in depth. Since its discovery in the early 60's the district .has yielded, in round numbers, 6,000,000,000 lb. of copper, 260,000,000 oz. of silver, 1,250,000 oz. of gold, and a large but not definitely known number of pounds of zinc. This enormous metal production has been derived from an ore tonnage estimated roughly at 65,000,000 tons. At the present day, most of the important mine shafts have reached a depth of. 2,400 ft., while several are more than 3,000 ft., deep. At these-great depths rich bodies of copper ore are being exploited, showing no diminution in metal content as compared with the ores of the higher levels. The present (1913) daily rate of production is approximately 14,000 tons, of which 13,250 tons may be regarded as copper ore, although a small percentage of this is minable only because of the presence of

Jan 8, 1913

By Robert L. Frantz

Progress and improvement continue to be the bywords of a dynamic coal industry. The industry continues to gain strength and expand its horizons in the face of competition from atomic energy and the problems of restrictive legislation. The direct contribution of coal mining and transportation to the national economy is about $3 billion a year ac- cording to a study made by the National Coal Policy conference. Coal remains the backbone of the power industry producing almost two-thirds of all the electrical energy generated by fossil fuels and one-quarter of all the energy consumed in the nation. Power supplied by electric utilities increased 6.9% last year. The chairman of the Federal Power Commission predicted a 7.5% growth rate until 1980 for the nation's electric output. Some 80,500 MW of fossil fired power plant capacity are on order or under construction before 1974, compared to a present capacity, all sources, of about 290,000 MW. The comparable new additions of nuclear power plants is expected to total about 51,000 MW.

Jan 2, 1969

By Nicholas J. Grant, Oliver Preston

A series of dilute solid solutions of a1uminum and silicon in copper, in powder -form, were internally oxidized, compacted, and extruded, to produce Cu-A12O3 and Cu-SiO2 alloys with 0.1 to 12 vol pct of oxide. Room-temperature tensile tests, creep-rupture tests from 450oto 850°C. conductivity measurements, and recrys-tallzzation studies were made. Oxide particle size and interparticle spacings were determined in an effort to relate the structure to measured strength values by means of known dispersion strengthening theories. A new dispersion strengthening theory, based on the effect of the dispersed phase on the retention of strain energy from the deformation step, zs proposed for this type of alloy, THE study of dispersion strengthening is of partitular interest in high-temperature materials technology in view of the excellent creep-rupture Properties and thermal stability achieved with SAP.1-5 Considerable effort has been devoted to this study in recent years, and encouraging results have been obtained in a number of systems.6 In general, the most

Jan 1, 1962