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Jan 7, 1951

By F. B. Plummer

PRODUCING operations abroad during 1940 were shrouded in the fog of war. Little, if any, concrete information is available, and the data that issue from the belligerent countries are too frequently distorted for military purposes, for the volume of supply of gasoline and fuel oil has become an important strategic secret. Despite this lack of information signs indicate the spread of a slow paralysis which is gripping producing operations in foreign countries. Only in the Caribbean area are developments proceeding normally and even there the destruction of the Western European market is being seriously felt. This creeping paralysis is being brought about partly by the serious shortage of materials so necessary for drilling and other producing operations such as steel, machinery, and the like-together with a scarcity of that prime munition of war-money. Markets too have been curtailed by the operation of exchange control as all exchange is needed to support war efforts. As a result, gasoline is tightly rationed in all belligerent countries. The growing casualties in shipping are fast restricting the water-borne trade in petroleum, but have had a local stimulating effect in some areas where the risk is less or where water-borne transport can be efficiently used as for instance Trinidad and Egypt. The type of product needed for war effort, particularly the great demand for aviation gasoline, has changed the schedules of .refinery operations. As a result of all these influences the world oil picture outside the United States- has vastly changed during the year.

Jan 1, 1941

By Raymond B. Ladoo, C. A. Stokes

T is unfortunate that the word "economics" has -¦¦ come to mean, in the minds of many people, a sort of half-baked mixture of New Deal philosophy and bookkeeping. It may mean anything from mine cost keeping to the theory of gold as a monetary standard. As applied to the industrial mineral industries as a whole it means to us an integrated study of all of the technical, geographical, market, financial, and other factors which determine whether or not a given enterprise has a sound chance of making a business success. Of course it is impossible to generalize too freely in this large group of industries which go to make up the nonmetallic minerals. This group includes such dissimilar products as crushed stone and ca- pacitor mica, phosphate rock and spinning fiber asbestos, roofing granules and potash salts, borate minerals and monumental granite. Yet in many respects their economic problems are similar and, at the same time, far different from those of the metals and of petroleum and coal. These basic differences are almost never recognized by people outside the industries and are rarely appreciated even by metal mining engineers. But in many instances these economic factors are fully as important as, if not more important than, technologic problems. It has been a long fight to get an intelligent and wide-spread appreciation of sound technology in the nonmetallic mineral industries. The importance of the economic side of the problem has yet to be widely understood and appreciated. The problem was outlined in considerable detail by one of the authors some 18 years ago in a long series of articles* and he has since prepared numerous talks

Jan 1, 1951

By Herman Poole

When finely divided ferrous sulphide, FeS, is roasted at a moderate, carefully-regulated temperature, the iron and sulphur are oxidized, the first products being probably ferrous oxide and sulphurous acid. In the presence of oxygen of the air the ferrous oxide soon becomes ferric oxide, and, in the presence of oxygen and the ferric oxide, the sulphurous acid oxidizes to sulphuric acid. These facts are well known, having been established by Plattner many years ago. As a further reaction, some of the sulphuric acid parts with a portion of its oxygen to oxidize more ferrous oxide to ferric oxide, and a portion of it escapes uncombined, or else unites with the iron oxides to form sulphates. Ferrous sulphate is usually soon oxidized to ferric sulphate, and if the heat becomes sufficient, this is then decomposed into sulphuric acid and ferric oxide. As a result of these reactions a mass of more or less pure ferric oxide is formed which is generally made porous by the escaping gases and, if rabbled properly, practically all the sulphur is expelled. If ferric sulphide or ordinary pyrites, FeS2, is roasted, a portion of the sulphur sublimes and usually burns to form sulphurous or sulphuric acid, although at times and under favorable conditions, some of the sulphur is driven off uncombined, and can be collected as such. Under ordinary methods of roasting, however, only a small portion escapes combustion. By the combustion of the sulphur an increase of heat is developed and, as a consequence, the reactions mentioned take place more rapidly and actively,—more sulphuric acid is formed and the oxidation is more complete—nearly all the iron being left as ferric oxide with practically no sulphate or ferrous oxide. When the iron sulphide is in lumps the roasting proceeds generally as with fines, but with some changes due to mass. The

Jan 1, 1906

By H. T. Matson

IN the Northern Rhodesia copper fields the size of the orebodies and the exceptionally consistent values over great distances made it possible to outline the ore with drill holes spaced at 1000-ft. intervals; in some cases, 2000-ft. intervals.. Owing to the fact that the size of the deposits made it very evident that much outside capital would have to be called in to develop them and, owing to the wide spacing of the holes, it was essential that the sampling of drill holes be as accurate as possible, so that outside examining engineers could adopt the results as trustworthy within the limits of accuracy of the drilling method. With this object in view, the field staffs of the Selection Trust group of companies have studied for the past three years, and are still studying, drill sampling in a very thorough manner, and for this reason it is felt that these notes may be of interest to engineers or students who are, or in the future may be, in charge of drilling operations. The orebodies in this field lie in shales and sandstones, more or less indurated, in the lower strata of the Roan series, and the copper mineralization is in the form of sulfides predominantly, with some oxidized copper minerals. Those interested in the geology and history of the area can find full details in a recent paper by Anton Gray and Russell J. Parker.1

Jan 1, 1930

By John B. Mertie

MONAZITE formerly was described as moribund, but, in the light of recent developments, it is no longer so. It is the common source of the rare earths and thorium, both of which are becoming progressively important in industrial and other applications. Moreover, by the action of foreign governments, the sources on which the United States has depended for its supply are now either restricted or cut off entirely. Monazite has thus become a scarce mineral and processors in this country are endeavoring to acquire it from all available sources. RARE EARTHS AND THORIUM The rare earths proper, as defined by spectroscopists, are the oxides of cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, prometheum, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutecium, with atomic numbers ranging respectively from 58 to 71. Chemists include with the rare earths scandium, yttrium, and lanthanum, with atomic numbers respectively of 21, 39, and 57. Thorium, with an atomic number of 90, is analogous to lanthanum, in that it precedes a second group of elements, whose oxides constitute the "rare earths of higher order." These are protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium and curium, with atomic numbers ranging respectively from 91 to 96. The last four mentioned are artificially prepared elements that so far have not been detected in nature. The rare earths with odd atomic numbers, except europium and lutecium, have no natural isotopes; and the two exceptions have only two isotopic forms. Those with even atomic numbers have from 4 to 7 natural isotopes. Samarium148 is radioactive, disintegrating over a half- life of 1.4 X 10 11 years with the emission of alpha rays. Lutecium176 is weakly radioactive, disintegrating over a half-life of 2.4 X 1010 years, with the emission of beta and gamma rays. At least 64 radioactive isotopes of the rare earths proper have been artificially prepared. Thorium is a strongly radioactive element, with a half-life of 1.39 x 1O10 years, which disintegrates through a series of 14 isotopes of 10 elements. The two longest lived and most important of these are

Jan 1, 1949

By Robert Glass Cleland

WITH the acquisition of the Nichols Copper Company ' and the development of the large Copper Products manufacturing and selling organization, the Phelps Dodge Corporation had attained two of its important goals. But at that particular time both its immediate and long-range prospects were giving the company serious concern. The financial panic that began late in 1929 was growing worse instead of better. Neither raw materials nor finished products could find a market. In 1932 the price of copper fell to the almost unprecedented figure of four and eight tenths cents a pound. Domestic production of copper in the United States was further threatened by a large low-cost output from the mines of Africa and the Andes. Canadian copper mines, with their large yield of other valuable metals from the same ores, added to the difficulties of the American companies. After a hard-fought campaign, however, the producers of domestic copper finally induced Congress to levy a duty of four cents a pound on copper imported into the

Jan 1, 1952

By D. M. Deason, R. M. Chhatre, G. Y. Onoda

INTRODUCTION The treatment of colloidal suspensions is a subject of increasing interest in mining and benefication (1). Colloidal suspensions are not readily operated upon by mechanical and physical methods useful with coarse suspensions, such as filtration, thickening, and flotation. This is because colloids are strongly affected by interfacial and interparticle forces that may be large compared with, and resistant to, external forces. The degree and type of interactions between colloids can be modified by small additions of reagents such as coagulants, flocculants, dispersants, and immiscible liquids. These alterations in turn change the properties of the suspension and provide possible opportunities for transforming suspensions to a more favorable condition for a given processing operation. Phosphate slimes are an example of a colloidal system of interest today. In the mining and beneficiation of phosphate rock in Florida, slimes are a waste product. The phosphate ore (called matrix in the industry) is slurrified hydraulically and pumped to a beneficiation plant, where the -150 mesh material is removed by cycloning from the coarser phosphate rock and silica. The resulting -150 mesh slurry, called phosphate slime, is pumped to large impoundments. The solid content of the slime entering the impoundment is around four weight percent, and over 80% of the solids is less than one micron in size. The immediate problems with phosphate slime relate to their disposal (2, 3). The disposal problem is associated with the very large volumes and the poor dewatering characteristics of the slimes. To have sufficient impoundment volume, large earthen dams are built around the mined areas. The volume above ground level approaches and

Jan 1, 1980

By Hillary W. St. Clair

An equation is derived for the rote of reaction of a sphere of metal oxide in a restricted enclosure through which a reducing gas is flowing. The equation takes into consideration the reaction rate coefficient, transport through the gas and through the porous shell of reduced oxide, the rate of gas flow, THIS paper describes a mathematical study of the chemical and physical processes that determine the rate of reduction of solid metal oxide with a reducing gas. The study was a part of a theoretical study leading to the development of a mathematical model for the simulation of the thermochemical behavior of the iron blast furnace. An essential feature of such and the volume of- space surrounding the sphere available for gas flow. The equation is applied to experimental data on vote of reduction of iron oxide in hydrogen. The equation serves as a model for predicting the course of reduction of a particle of. metal oxide in a shaft furnace. a model is an adequate mathematical relationship defining the rate of reaction in terms of all the important chemical and physical phenomena that affect the rate of reaction. This includes not only the reaction rate coefficients, equilibrium ratios, gas composition, and temperature, but also the relevant physical properties of the oxide, rate of gas flow, and relative volumes occupied by gas and solid. In many previous experimental studies of the rate of reduction of oxides by hydrogen or carbon monoxide, the rate of reduction was assumed to be controlled primarily by the chemical reaction at the

Jan 1, 1965

By S. F. Ramseyer, E. A. Steigerwald

INFILTRATED structures represent composite materials which are capable of combining high-temperature strength with adequate low-temperature toughness and thermal shock resistance. Although copper- and silver-infiltrated tungsten structures are actually being used in rocket nozzle hardware, adequate understanding of the fracture mechanics of these composite systems is not available. Specifically the relative importance of the strength, ductility, and modulus of the infiltrant in determining composite properties is not known to the extent that optimum composites can be selected. The major portion of experimental effort in the area of composite strength has been devoted to fiber-reinforced systems1 or to systems where a discontinuous phase is imbedded in a relatively ductile matrix.2'3 In the case of high-temperature systems, which are composed of a relatively brittle matrix, such as tungsten or an oxide, a continuous phase exists for the propagation of a crack. The method by which the presence of a conjugate ductile continuous phase influences the gross properties of the composite represents an area which requires further investigation. This technical note presents results which evaluate the effect of infiltrant strength on the strength of the tungsten-base composite. A tungsten matrix and copper-base infiltrant were selected for the initial studies because of the ease of fabrication. Tungsten structures with nominally 20 and 30 pct porosity were evaluated. The porosity was controlled by varying the initial powder size and a ratio of open-to-total porosity greater than 95 pct was obtained by selective sintering cycles. The processing sequence involved hydrostatic pressing followed by a 72-hr presinter in hydrogen at 2000° F and a final sinter at 4000°F for 4 hr in vacuum. The 20 pct porous structure was obtained

Jan 1, 1965

By Raymond B. Ladoo, C. A. Stokes

T is unfortunate that the word "economics" has -¦¦ come to mean, in the minds of many people, a sort of half-baked mixture of New Deal philosophy and bookkeeping. It may mean anything from mine cost keeping to the theory of gold as a monetary standard. As applied to the industrial mineral industries as a whole it means to us an integrated study of all of the technical, geographical, market, financial, and other factors which determine whether or not a given enterprise has a sound chance of making a business success. Of course it is impossible to generalize too freely in this large group of industries which go to make up the nonmetallic minerals. This group includes such dissimilar products as crushed stone and ca- pacitor mica, phosphate rock and spinning fiber asbestos, roofing granules and potash salts, borate minerals and monumental granite. Yet in many respects their economic problems are similar and, at the same time, far different from those of the metals and of petroleum and coal. These basic differences are almost never recognized by people outside the industries and are rarely appreciated even by metal mining engineers. But in many instances these economic factors are fully as important as, if not more important than, technologic problems. It has been a long fight to get an intelligent and wide-spread appreciation of sound technology in the nonmetallic mineral industries. The importance of the economic side of the problem has yet to be widely understood and appreciated. The problem was outlined in considerable detail by one of the authors some 18 years ago in a long series of articles* and he has since prepared numerous talks

Jan 1, 1951

By J. W. Rutter, K. T. Aust

Competitive growth of recrystallized grains into striated single crystals of zone-refined lead produced preferred orientations of the coincidence type after annealing at 175°C, but not at 300°C. This preferred orientation development was found to result from the higher mobility and lower energy of large -angle coincidence boundaries compared to large-angle noncoincidence boundaries. These mobility and energy difference provide a useful basis for explaining many cases of preferred orientation observed in annealed metals. DURING a study1 of the mobility of grain boundaries in zone refined lead, it was observed that the temperature dependence of the grain boundary migration rate is smaller for large-angle, coincidence-type grain boundaries than for large-angle noncoincidence ("random") boundaries. This observation is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1, which shows log rate of grain boundary migration vs reciprocal absolute temperature for two large-angle boundaries. The upper curve refers to a coincidence-type boundary of the sort discussed by Kronberg and Wilson.2 While the mobilities of these two boundaries are similar at 300°C, the coincidence-type boundary has a greater mobility, by a factor of about: four, at 175°C than does the noncoincidence boundary illustrated in the lower curve. The observation described above suggested a simple experiment for testing the role of grain boundary mobility in the development of preferred orientation in annealed, high-purity lead. On the basis of this observation, it would be expected that if a large number of grains of different orientations are growing competitively, and if relative grain boundary mobility is a controlling factor, then the specimen procluced by boundary migration will contain crystals having random orientations if annealing is done at 300°C, while preferred orientations of

Jan 1, 1962

No review of underground mining should begin with anything but the new world safety record set at the Grace underground iron mine of Bethlehem Steel at Morgantown, Pa., on Friday, November 12. There had not been a disabling injury (an injury which keeps an employee away from his next scheduled shift) for 550 working days. In all, 2,660,080 man-hours had been worked by nearly 950 employees without a disabling injury. The record was wrested from Johns-Manville's Jeffrey mine at Asbestos, Que. At 3 p.m. Friday, December 3, miner Stanton E. Friend was completely buried under several feet of coarse rock, fortunately sustaining only cuts and multiple abrasions. But with his fall, the accident- free period came to an end at 2,778,600 man-hrs worked without a disabling injury-the new record!

Jan 2, 1966

By Oscar Weiss

STILFONTEIN and surrounding areas gave negative results in all prospecting attempts since about 1904 when Goerz and Co., a forerunner of Union Corporation Ltd., first drilled in the region and on the farm Stilfontein. Subsequent efforts by African and European Investments Co. and Anglo American Corp. from 1934-37 were completely unsuccessful. Holes drilled by these companies on the farms Rietfontein, Hessie, and Palmietfontein were stopped in the Lower Witwatersrand system without finding payable reefs.

Jan 10, 1951

By R. W. Bond

The gas-lift is a comparatively recent development in the Oklahoma and Kansas fields. It was used to some extent in the old Dilworth field several years ago, but the first extensive installations were made in the Tonkawa and Garber fields in Oklahoma early in the year 1926. Compressor Equipment During the early development of the system, the equipment used generally consisted of small tandem compressors of about 250 cu. ft. per min. displacement, driven by automotive-type gas engines, using a short belt drive. These compressors were first installed at the individual wells largely as an experiment. After the experimental installations had proved the method a success, it was considered economically advisable to centralize the compressor equipment in strategically located stations. However, as the information in regard to "gas-lift flowing life" was anything but definite, and the most optimistic estimates in regard to it did not exceed six months, portability of equipment was still the first consideration in the minds of many operators, who continued to install srnall semi-portable com-pressors in their centralized stations. As electric power became available in the fields, the electric motor came rapidly into use as the prime mover for the small compressors. The operating cost of this motor is greater than that of the automotive-type gas engine for the same power output, but the greater continuity of service tends to balance the extra cost. Aside from the semi-portable units, a number of strictly portable compressors were used. These consisted of automotive-type gas engines direct connected to vertical compressors. The unit was assembled on one base and could be mounted on wheels or skids as desired. The chief objection to these, in the writer's opinion, was their small capacity— approximately 150 cu, ft. per min.—which made it necessary to use two, three, and sometimes more units per well, thus making the installation rather costly. However, they have been found valuable for test purposes and emergencies, where installation time is an important factor.

Jan 1, 1928

By H. A. Dierks

PENNSYLVANIA's anthracite region lies in the heart of the richest and most densely populated area of the U. S. Nearly 70 million people live within a radius of 500 miles, in which 130,000 manufacturing plants employ more than 8 million workers. The region comprises some 3000 sq miles and contains 484 sq miles of coal measures, which folding and erosion have divided into four separate and distinct fields, known as the Northern, Eastern Middle, Western Middle, and Southern. One million people live in the anthracite region proper, and their prosperity depends to a great extent on the anthracite industry, which produces more than $200 million in new wealth for the U. S. each year. Nearly 80 pct of the tonnage shipped out of the region is handled by nine railroads, which depend on this traffic for a large part of their revenue. It follows that the economic health and the very existence 0: this industry is of real concern not only to the region itself but also to the state of Pennsylvania and the country as a whole. Anthracite mining is one of the oldest mineral industries in America. About 1760 burning rock or stone coal was discovered on the hillsides of northeastern Pennsylvania. Within a few years a systematic search for coal bed outcrops was under way, and hand mining was begun. At first production was very limited, since anthracite was difficult to burn and was not readily accepted as a fuel. Pennsylvania anthracite is one of the densest and hardest of all coals, and its content of volatile matter is low. Consequently it does not ignite easily and it burns without smoke. About 1808 Judge Fell of Wilkes-Barre burned anthracite in an open grate fireplace and demonstrated proper handling of an anthracite fire. From

Jan 1, 1958

By A. S. Richardson

VENTILATION of the Butte mines has long been a rather difficult problem because of the natural high temperature of the rock. With increase in mining depth, higher rock temperatures have been encountered, and this has caused a constantly growing demand for more effective ventilation measures. During recent years the hazards of dust in mine air have been more clearly recognized, and have necessitated the adoption of dust-prevention methods. To meet these ventilation problems in the mines of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., a mines ventilation department was organized in 1918, to act under the direction of the general superintendent of mines. At the present time, under normal operating conditions, the force employed includes the ventilation engineer, two chief assistant ventilation engineers and eight assistant ventilation engineers. The activities of the department are, briefly: (1) planning and supervising operation of the general ventilation system; (2) planning and supervising the operation of dust-prevention measures, together with dust sampling and related microscopic work for the quantitation of the dust samples and determination of particle-size distribution; (3) the design and development of air- conditioning methods to meet present exceptionally severe temperature conditions and in anticipation of future requirements. To a large extent the technical features of the ventilation methods have been described in earlier papers by the author. This paper is written mainly to summarize past accomplishments bearing most closely on health and safety, with a somewhat more detailed account of the dust- prevention measures that have been developed comparatively recently. FACILITATING FLOW OF AIR As a basic requirement for the safety of the men, all ventilation plans are subject to a ruling that the main operating shafts must be maintained as inlet air courses. Under this condition, a safe, fresh-air escapeway is assured if a fire occurs within the mine, and the shaft is available as a base for fire-fighting operations. Control of the direction of air flow is

Jan 1, 1938

By C. A. Heiland

FOR the past three years, the senior writer has carried out, with inter-ruptions, a series of investigations into the characteristics of prospecting seismographs of a wide variety of construction. Early in 1932, a com-plete equipment was developed for both refraction and reflection observa-tions; its first function being, however, the application in reflection shooting. The performance of the equipment proved to be highly satis-factory in a series of field tests' which were carried out by the junior writer, whose services were loaned to the Colorado School of Mines by courtesy of the Plains Exploration Co. in Denver. The various problems that were encountered in the construction of the equipment, in its application in the field, and in the interpretation of the results, are fully treated in Publication 47 of the Department of Geophysics of the Colorado School of Mines. Its first part deals with the various problems encountered in the design of the instruments, and presents a discussion of such topics as the free and forced oscillations of damped and undamped mechanical seismographs, the action of oscil-lographic recording instruments and amplifiers, the characteristics of electromagnetic seismographs, and the requirements of damping, natural frequencies and static magnification for the pickups, amplifiers and oscillographs used in refraction and reflection seismographs. Further-more, a detailed discussion of the various methods of static and dynamic tests of seismic receivers, and a description of the reflection equipment developed at the School of Mines is presented. Unfortunately, a delay has occurred in the publication of the first part of this investigation concerning the instrument problems. There-fore, the second part, dealing with the field problems, is herewith pre-sented first.

Jan 1, 1933

By George A. Lamb

AMONG the main interesting developments in the coal market have been the changes that have taken place between the consumer groups. Important signs of these changes began to appear many years ago, but in a modest way, and were apparent only to the few fuel experts making broad statistical determinations. It is doubtful, however, that any of these experts appreciated the significance of their early findings, and perhaps none had the imagination to consider how extensive these changes might be eventually with respect to solid fuels sales and distribution. (Reference here will be principally to bituminous coal.) Railroad Fuel Major changes in coal use did become pronounced after World War II, and it did not take an expert to see what was taking place and how serious the impact was likely to be. First, was the case of the steam and diesel locomotives. The railroads had been considered the best coal customers; they were steady and large purchasers and usually paid a better price than most others. Railroad fuel provided the basic mine realization and it often was the source for operating cash during general market slumps. It was the outlet for 20 pct of the bituminous coal production, as much as 110 million tons in 1946.

Jan 2, 1957

By James J. Norton, Lincoln R. Page

Effective methods for determining grade and reserves of pegmatites in advance of mining have been developed in recent years. When intensive work began on the economic geology of pegmatites during the early years of World War II, it was widely believed that grade and reserves could be estimated only in a most general way. The literature indicated that not all pegmatite deposits are unpredictable, but statements emphasizing unpredictability and irregularity seem to have been more widely accepted. Many standard references reflect the prevailing opinion that minerals are unsystematic in their occurrence in pegmatites. Pegmatites have been de- scribed as "notorious for their irregular structure," and minerals within pegmatites as "irregularly distributed," "irregularly disseminated,'' of "erratic occurrence," "proverbially erratic in distribution," "characterized by extreme irregularity in size and distribution of the essential minerals, and variety and proportion of the accessory minerals, and "spotty."

Apr 1, 1956