Search Documents

Still, the subject of iron ore is associated in peoples' minds mostly with the Lake Superior region and this is as it should be. The Minnesota Section meeting exposed the forces that over a period of two decades, 1950 to 1970, are revolutionizing the industry. The Lake Superior region has been at the center of these changes and has been deeply affected by them. The rise of foreign sources of iron ore that did not require beneficiation and taxation considerations were for a number of years a giant setback for the Lake Superior region and Minnesota in particular. However, the companies in this region have led the drive to improve the quality of ores which are culminating in the tailored pellet. This is a product in which iron content, silica, without significant impurities, is manufactured for optimum blast furnace performance. The oxide pellet does not seem to be the end as partially or prereduced pellets are closer at hand.

Jan 3, 1966

By Reger, B. David

FOR many years, the belief that the so-called "Clinton" sand of Ohio might produce. oil and gas, if it could be reached, has been prevalent in West Virginia. To test this theory, many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent and several extremely deep wells, including the deepest boring of the world, have been sunk at various points. With the exception of one well now completed through the sand and the possible exception of another still in progress, all of these wells failed to reach the goal, either through failure of funds or through drilling accidents. REVIEW OF DEEP DRILLING The subject of deep-sand oil and gas in West Virginia has already been discussed by the author1 and by White.2 In these papers, it was shown that the Upper and. Middle Devonian shales, lying between the Berea oil sand (basal Mississippian) and the Oriskany sandstone (Lower Devonian), thicken steadily from eastern Ohio across northern West Virginia and Pennsylvania; but it was stated that the same rate of thickening did not occur in that part of West Virginia south of the Great Kanawha River and in the adjoining portion of Kentucky. In spite of this great eastward thickening, the fact that both the Oriskany and "Clinton" sands, the latter of which is equivalent to the White Medina of New York, exist in great thickness all along the Appalachian Mountains farther east, was held as proof of their probable presence in the deep Appalachian basin.

Jan 3, 1925

By Thomas T. Read

The fact that certain types of ore-deposits have attained their present condition through the action of descending surface waters was, perhaps, first clearly pointed out by Posepny.l The oxidizing effects of such waters were discussed by Pen-rose,2 and many papers dealing with this phase of the subject have subsequently appeared. That secondary enrichment of sulphide ores, however, might be produced by descending surface waters was not clearly understood until after the copper-bearing veins of the Butte district, Mont., had been carefully studied by the geologists of the U. S. Geological Survey, although De Launay3 had suggested that sulphides might be transported from point to point and re-deposited in the zone above the level of ground-water. As a result of the study of the Butte district, two papers by geologists engaged in the work appeared within a short interval. The first by Weed: dealing with the enrichment of veins by later metallic sulphides ; and the second by Emmons; treating of the secondary enrichment of ore-deposits in general. In the latter paper it was pointed out that a typical vein of sulphide ores which has been subjected to the action of descending surface-waters exhibits four zones,—an upper or surface-zone, in which the changes hare been mainly of removal, the products being typically oxides; a second zone of oxide enrichment, in which the less soluble metals brought from above have been precipitated as carbonates or oxides; a third zone of sulphide enrichment,

Jan 1, 1907

By Mowry Bates

THE following example of the practical application of engineering geology is of interest in that it demonstrates the advantage of keeping accurate records of all wells, whether drilled by one's self or by others, together with the advantage gained by gathering such data during the process of development. The fault described was found in the autumn of 1915, during the hurried development caused by the discovery of the famous Gusher Bend pool in Red River Parish, Louisiana. The writer was at the time employed by one of the operating companies as geologist, and the example is a portion of the routine work. LOCATION The oil fields of northern Louisiana and east Texas are located in Caddo, Bossier, De Soto and Red River Parishes, Louisiana, and Marion County, Texas. A very narrow strip of the eastern portion of the latter is productive. The producing oil pools are known as the Caddo Field, in the northern part, and the De Soto-Red River Field, in the southern. The two fields are 60 miles apart. There are several gas fields between then, but no important supply of oil has been found, though there are several producing wells in the Anona chalk, locally called the chalk rock, in the Elm Grove gas field in Township 16 North, Range 11 West (see Plate 1).

Jan 5, 1918

By J. C. F. Randolph

New Granada, or, as it is known to its people, the Republic of Colombia, occupies the northwest corner of South America, and includes the Isthmus of Panama. Although it is one of our nearest neighbors, so little is known about it in the United States that the following notes regarding it, flowing from a year's professional residence, may be timely. It is bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea and Costa Rica, on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, on the south by Brazil and Ecuador, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Its extreme geographical limits are from 2' South latitude to 12' North latitude, and from 69 to 78' East longitude. In size, therefore, it is roughly 1000 miles from north to south, and 600 miles from east to west. After many political convulsions and revolutions, and a somewhat checkered history, the country consists to-day of nine departments, Panama, Bolivar, Magdalena, Cauca, Santander, Antioquia, Tolima, Boyaca and Cundinamarca. These departments are governed from the national capital of Bogota, although each has its own capital and departmental staff. The total population of the Republic is not more than 3,000,000 inhabitants, and these to a large extent consist of mixed races. Those who live in the hot belt are, as a

Jan 1, 1890

By John J. Borkert, Carl E. Gerity

In situ mining offers a new and proven method of exploiting sedimentary uranium deposits. The feasibility and economic evaluation of exploiting a uranium reserve by either open pit or underground mining should also include a similar study for in situ mining. This report compares the economics of mining several hypothetical uranium deposits at various depths, grades and reserve sizes by open pit and in situ mining. The evaluation process evolved establishing, where possible, common geological and logistical parameters to both methods of mining. The various assumptions that are unique to either open pit or in situ mining were also drafted, where possible, as equal and common functions to be used in each economic evaluation of the reserve models. After the various parameters were defined, they were programmed to an economic analysis of the various hypothetical uranium deposits by the selected mining method. From the vast array of cost evaluations, total capital and operating cost per pound U308 produced, DCF-ROI, and total net profits before State and Federal taxes were selected as the most meaningful results to compare. From the various geologic parameters used, it was determined that the economic viability of a mining venture is most sensitive to a depth-grade thickness ratio. The three selected evaluation products were plotted against the various depth-grade thickness ratios of the hypothetical uranium deposits. The results of the economic cost analyses show in situ mining generally to be a better method to maximize total net profits and to maximize return on investment.

Jan 1, 1979

By Martin J. Conway

DURING the past year, the intense interest shown by the metallurgical industry in the use of relatively pure oxygen has been evidenced by the number of papers dealing with its application and production. The reason for this interest is apparent when it is realized that, weight for weight, oxygen enters into the formation of steel equally with iron. In the manufacture of steel, approximately one ton of oxygen is required to produce one ton of ingots. Until the recent development of plants capable of producing oxygen at far lower costs than had ever previously been considered possible, the oxygen required for steel manufacture was used as it occurs in air, where it is associated with approximately four times its volume of nitrogen. Because of the diluent nitrogen more than 4 tons of total gaseous material per ton of steel must be handled rather than only approximately one ton required when pure oxygen is used. In addition, provision must be made to handle the large quantity of waste, gases resulting from the process. There are cases where the reduction in gas volume alone can justify the installation of an oxygen plant.

Jan 1, 1947

By Douglas R. Cook

The urgent need for new base metal ore discoveries was discussed by various authoritative exploration personnel at a CIM symposium on the future of the Canadian mineral industry held at Ottawa in 1967. Data presented at this meeting showed that approximately 150 new mines have started or restarted production in Canada since 1955. Over half of these mines were discovered prior to 1950. The distribution of Canadian ore discoveries during the last 15 years (shown in Fig. 1) illustrates a striking reduction in the discovery rate in recent years in spite of increasing exploration expenditures. These data indicate that $20 million is now spent in exploration for every significant metal deposit found, and evidently the cost of discovery is still rising. Even fewer discoveries are being made in some other important continental areas of the world such as Africa, Australia and South America. The discovery record in the U.S. is thought to be more rewarding than in Canada because the new deposits appear to be substantially larger. Fortunately, most good base metal ore deposits have attractive investment re- turns to justify large exploration expenditures. The magnitude of the exploration expenditures and the increasing need to develop additional metal resources justifies a critical review of the procedures used in the search for ore deposits. Of particular concern is the need to improve the use of exploration techniques in the attempt to obtain better discrimination and efficiency. There is a tendency by inexperienced exploration groups to think of any geological, geochemical or geophysical anomaly as an exploration target and ignore the fact that anomalies can result from many factors other than economic concentration of metals. The desire for a unique and favorable explanation of exploration data often results in too rapid a movement from the reconnaissance to the drilling stage without the use of all the relevant information.

Jan 7, 1968

By G. T. Brookman, P. B. Katz, D. K. Martin, J. A. Ripp

With the increasing emphasis on using American fossil fuel resources, more facilities are evaluating coal conversion. In addition, those facilities now using coal are considering better coal storage procedures to minimize negative environmental impacts. For example, rainfall and snowmelt on a coal pile produce a drainage stream high in acidity, suspended and dissolved solids, iron, sulfate, and trace metals. Usually, the characteristics of the runoff stream do not allow for direct discharge to streams and lakes. Detention in a holding pond and pH adjustment are traditional methods of treating coal pile runoff before discharge. Historically, this treatment methodology has been performed inefficiently without a good data base to assess how much runoff treatment is needed to meet effluent guidelines. A model was developed to simulate runoff volume and pollutant loadings under different rainfall conditions. This model will be used to size and design treatment works for coal pile drainage. The Ohio State University (OSU) version of the Stanford watershed model was selected as the base model. The OSU model simulates overland runoff in a rural area. It includes factors such as soil moisture, depression storage, infiltration, and flow to a ground water reservoir. TRC also used the OSU co-model for acid production in coal refuse piles as the basis for qualitative modeling work. A number of modifications were made to the OSU models to make them applicable to coal storage piles. The physical/chemical reactions included in the models are described in more detail in the project report. In addition, the models were altered so that a standard NOAA magnetic tape of historical meteorological data can be used as data input instead of requiring the user to create a data file. The resulting TRC coal pile drainage model is actually two models - a quantitative model, termed H2OTRC, and a qualitative model, TRCCOAL.

Jan 1, 1984

By Reed S. C. Rogers, Robin P. Gardner, Kuruvilla Verghese

The development and use of short-lived radioactive tracer methods for the onstream determination of residence time distributions in large-scale ball mills is described. Tests are reported on a pilot-plant ball mill with 0.43 m diameter and 0.86 m length and on an industrial mill with 1.83 m diameter and 2.74 m length. Tests with different tracer feed sizes indicate that the residence time distributions on both mills are independent of charge particle size. Similar tests are planned for a large ball mill of 4.57 m diameter and 9.30 m length. No safety problems were encountered in these tests and none are anticipated in tests of the larger mill.

Jan 1, 1981

By D. M. Hausen

The amenability of a given vanadium ore to any given treatment depends largely on the mineralogic combinations of vanadium in the ore. Quantitative data on vanadium mineralogy provide not only an objective basis for selection of proper treatment, but also may eliminate many time-consuming amenability studies whose results are empirical, at best. Vanadium is distributed through the interstices of mineralized sandstone ores in the form of oxidized vanadates, reduced oxides, and silicates. Oxidized vanadates, e.g., carnotite, tyuyamunite, etc., are most readily beneficiated by simple acid leaching. Reduced oxides are more slowly solubilized, but relatively amenable to most acid treatments. The layered silicates, roscoelite, mixed layered mica-montmorillonite, and chlorite, are least amenable to most acid extractions, and constitute an assemblage of vanadium- bearing clays that are common to many sedimentary deposits. Vanadium is combined principally as layered silicates in the clay fractions of many sandstone ores. Mineralogic studies in this paper are largely confined to clay minerals, and to their amenability characteristics in low pH liquors.

Jan 1, 1985

Jan 1, 1933

By Howard L. Hartman

Probably no aspect of underground excavation is as important or as neglected as the environment. The Committee on Rapid Excavation, formed by the National Academy of Engineering to study the technological needs for "rapid" underground excavation in tunnels, shafts, and mines of the future, encountered a blank wall in attempting to evaluate environmental needs. In fact, so little quantitative information on the extent of present-day hazards is available that projection of future environmental-control demands must await more adequate assessment of current hazard levels. Further, there are not even accepted tolerance standards for many environmental conditions, such as heat, noise, and illumination. Only certain atmospheric contaminants have been satisfactorily catalogued. Any technical study, therefore, which purports to examine the state-of- the-art on underground environmental control must, in reality, settle for a cursory survey of a rather nebulous subject. ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS To contend adequately with hazards in the underground environment requires some knowledge of their nature and characteristics. In this regard, it is helpful first to identify our concern: when, where, and to whom or what may environmental conditions constitute "hazards"? Table 1 summarizes considerations that are important in this regard. For the purposes of this Conference (and book), primarily directed toward the excavation process itself, the hazards of consequence occur during excavation (item A) and primarily within the excavation (item B). However, some attention must be given to external hazards as well, since these may affect excavation. The object of concern (item C) is mainly human safety, although property security is also important. Hazards occur in a variety of forms. If one is to devise suitable control

Jan 1, 1970

By Hsun Hu

Based on Kurdjumoiv-Sachs orientation relationship for the fee bee transformation in metals, the jirzal crystal orientation resulting from successive transformations of bee-fee-bee has been analyzed mathematically. There are 528 different variants; many of ther are crystallograpyically equirvalent. Specific examples show that, for equal probability of all the variants, the principal crystallographic axes [100 ], [110], and [111] of the initial bcc crystal can be transformed into vairous axes in the fina1 crystal However, fur each of these principal crystallographic axes, a continuous range of orientation within certain regions of the unit triangle is completely avoided by the finctl Crystals. For uses of higher indices, the final orientations are more uniformly distributed throughout the unit triangle. Results from the PI-esent analysis are in good agreement with preferred Oientations Observed in a zone-meltecl iron bar. THE allotropic forms of iron are characterized by the unusual fact that at both high and low temperatures a bcc structure is stable, whereas at intermediate temperatures (1400" to 910°C) the metal is fcc. Hence, during cooling from its melting temperature, iron undergoes successive phase transformations ofd—? —a with corresponding changes in the crystal structure of bcc — fcc -bcc. while numerous studies have been made in the past of the 1 — a transformation in iron and in various iron-base alloys, no information is available in the literature as to the mechanism of 6 — l transformation and the lattice orientation relationship between these two phases. Experimental difficulties have apparently prevented researchers from undertaking these studies. The laltice orientation relationship between the parent and the new phases of iron resulting from

Jan 1, 1965

By C. Dinis da Gama

In mining, all unit operations are closely interrelated, and the results of blasting are probably the key factor within that sequence. The drilling program prior to blasting is just as dependent upon the desired rock fragmentation as are the loading, hauling, and mechanical crushing operations which are economically and technically influenced by the results of blasting, namely, the size and scatter of the product. What is known today as optimum blasting is the process of designing a blast in order to obtain a certain degree of fragmentation so that overall mining costs are minimized. Applying this criterion often results in a different program than when an individual blasting pattern is chosen only on the basis of the lowest operational cost for that pattern, disregarding what comes before or after the blast. [Fig. 1] shows the characteristic variation of mining unit costs with the degree of fragmentation, or the maximum size of blocks obtained from blasting. From the figure, it can be seen that optimum breakage must correspond to the lowest total costs, but reducing drilling-blasting costs only does not achieve such an optimum solution. Methods of designing surface or underground blasting operations should comply with the optimization criterion, but this compliance is feasible only if a detailed mining system analysis is available. Therefore, predictions of costs of loading, transporting, and mechanical breakage of ore as a function of its size will define a narrow range of variation for drilling and blasting parameters in order to get the minimum total costs.

Jan 1, 1972

By Roy L. Zuber

Identification and analysis of mining hazards involves the correlation of accident, injury and illness information from all segments of the mining industry. It would not be feasible to process the volume of data involved without substantial reliance upon a computerized information system similar to that maintained by the Health and Safety Analysis Center. Numerous statistical programs are applied to the computerized accident-injury-illness data base to identify those mining tasks and associated activities which are responsible for most of the injuries and occupational illnesses. These programs are used to flag those mining tasks or conditions at specific mines or segments of the mining industry where either a significant increase in the injury/illness trend has been reported or where the number of injuries/illnesses related to specific mining tasks or conditions are high. Upon identification of those mining hazards which warrant further analysis, a computerized search of the coded accident data is performed to correlate the predominant categories by cause of injury or illness, source of injury, nature of injury, type of accident, etc. From this correlation, those factors most common to the conditions responsible for the hazard may be identified. Based upon analyses of this form, recommendations are made regarding the appropriate engineering, training, and/or operational improvements necessary to alleviate the hazard. In addition to mining hazard analysis, the computerized data base also has application in the area of optimum resource allocation. Computer programs have been developed to assist management in allocating resources based upon organizational requirements and historical accident - injury trends.

Jan 1, 1983

By W. Kauenhowen

The production of petroleum in Germany during 1932 totaled about 1,608,558 bbl., a slight increase over the 1, 602,517 bbl. produced in 1931. A decline, as shown in Table 1, occurred chiefly in the Volkenroda (Thuringia) field. The total production of the other fields (salt domes), however. reached a new record, about 21 per cent above 1931. Table 1.—Oil Production of Germany by Fields and Oil Provinces, 1928-1932 (Barrels of 42 Gallons)" Salt Dome Province __________________________________________________|_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1928 274,323 322,742 679 46,319 644,021 644,315 1929 310,891 337,582 10,535 67,578 719,901 720,069 1930 586,404 427,539 100,716 72,485 1,186,969 29,806 1,220,296 1931 506,548 403,634 213,549 116,088 1,242,598 360,885 1,602,517 1932 769,405 366,982 230 979 130,711 1,498,077 110,481 1,608,558 " Official figures published in Germany are given in metric tons. For the above conversion into barrels a factor of 1 metric ton equaling 7 barrels has been used. Includes a very small production from Hcide, Holstein. c Includes a very small production from Tegernsee, Bavaria, and Bruchsal, Baden. Nienhagen-Hanigsen Field In 1932 the Nienhagen-Hanigsen yielded about 51 per cent of the production from the four German salt dome fields. During 1932 the productive area was again extended, chiefly towards the northwest in the so-called north district, to which the present drilling activity is confined almost entirely. Since the discovery of the north district in 1928, about 45 wells have been drilled in it, of which only two were

Jan 1, 1933

By Donald L. Everhart

SOONER or later intelligent exploration for uranium leads to these questions: Where did the metallic ions that formed the orebodies come from? What processes and geologic factors were involved in ore replacement? These matters, of course, make a big difference in how best to look for orebodies. Before these questions are discussed it might be well to point out other factors bearing on the subject. The whole business of uranium exploration is only a little over ten years old, participation by the public is only about six years old, and real interest and activity by more than a few large mining companies has arisen only in the past two or three years. Throughout this short period, uranium exploration has been affected by the unique influences of necessary security measures and by division of the over- all job into individual projects by a large number of specialists in diverse fields. This has meant that a normal interchange of information on the nature of uranium deposits has really only just begun. Com- pared to the vast amount of published studies on iron, copper, lead, zinc, and gold deposits over the past 50 to 75 years, current knowledge of uranium deposits is in its infancy and much of the pertinent information is still scattered about in a number of unpublished sources. The volume of reports on all phases of uranium exploration is now beginning to mount at a remarkable rate, and geologists with widely varying specialized backgrounds in uranium geology are engaging in spirited debates over the origin of uranium and the relative importance of geologic controls of various deposits.

Jan 9, 1954

By William E. Hubbard

During the last decade the known reserves of petroleum in the United States have increased from about five billion to over thirteen billion barrels. From the standpoint of public welfare the existence of these known reserves presents an undeniably favorable picture, but viewed from the position of many a harassed operator the blessing has not always been considered an unmixed one. Along with this increase in excess reserves, curtailment of production has come into being as a matter of necessity and the principle of proration as a matter of equity. As a practical matter it has been considered necessary to curtail the production of old wells as well as that of new wells in a pool. The right of new pools to produce has been recognized, and the allowable for them has come partly from increased market demand and largely from the allowables already enjoyed by the developed pools. The natural result—a downward trend in daily per-well allowables—has been especially felt by Texas operators. This trend may be illustrated by Table 1, which comprises the five active areas in Texas, and from which may be noted the following: 1. The average daily allowable per well has decreased about 53 per cent in three years. 2. Of the 184,000-bbl. increase in total allowable for the five areas, 29,000 bbl. came from the increase in state demand and 165,000 from the combined allowables of the remaining pools in the state.

Jan 1, 1937

By H. A. Kursell

IN pre-war days, the mining industry of Russia occupied in the industrial life of the Empire a place of ever increasing importance. The peak of produc-tion was reached in 1913 and 1914, the years of greatest prosperity, and a rapid growth of the mineral industry seemed assured, especially as regards base-metal mining. Exceptions were the gold production, for which a gradual decline was anticipated, and the platinum out-put which was expected to remain steady. A greater productivity of labor, corresponding to better working facilities was noticeable, and the economic status of the working classes was constantly improving. The tremendous strain on Russia's economic life caused by the World War did not materially alter the prospects of the mineral industry and the fundamental changes began only with the revolution in the spring of 1917. Their scope and character are illustrated by the figures in Table 1 which compare, for the parts of the Russian Empire under Soviet (R. S. F. S. R.) control, the average mineral production of 1913 and 1914 with that of 1920, 1921 and 1922, as supplied by bolshevik sources.1The latter three years in Russia's history were characterized by the firm establishment in power of the Communist party as a new ruling caste. Silver, lead, zinc, tin, nickel, tungsten, barite, etc., were either produced in negligible quantities, or not at all. However, before the revolution the development of several argentiferous lead-zinc deposits in western Siberia had reached a stage which seemed to assure an appreciable output of the white metals for the near future.

Jan 7, 1923