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By Harrison, Henry Fay

The study of an entirely new series of alloys may be undertaken from a desire to obtain knowledge applicable to the perfection of industrial alloys, or merely to test certain theoretical considerations. In the case of antimony-tellurium alloys, the theoretical side only is at present important; but it is hoped that the results of this investigation may have some industrial value, at least indirectly, by furnishing one more example for comparison when studying commercial alloys. The statement is found in various places that antimony is isomorphous with arsenic, bismuth and tellurium; but very little experimental evidence has been offered in support of this assumption. All four metals crystallize in rhombohedra, and the ratio of the axes a: c is approximately the same—which seems to indicate, but does not prove, their isomorphism. The close association of these metals in minerals also seems to indicate that they are isomorphous. There are, however, certain differences in their properties which render this coriclusion somewhat doubtful, and it is therefore desirable that inde-

Jan 1, 1902

By C. B. Gillson, Henry Fay

For several years past, investigations on the chemistry of tellurium have been carried on in the laboratory of this institution. The methods of preparation of pure telluriumf and the estimation of tellurium‡ have been studied, and an attempt to determine the atomic weight of tellurium is now in progress. All these problems had been investigated, however, along purely theoretical lines; and it was thought desirable to study the more practical application of the metal, which can now be had in considerable quantities as a waste product in the refining of copper-ores. In its physical and chemical properties tellurium is very similar to antimony, and it was thought

Jan 1, 1902

By Edwin Ludlow

For many years, coal has been known to exist in the valley of the Sabinas river, in the State of Coahuila, and for about 15 years it has been worked by the Mexican International Railway Co., which opened mines for its own fuel-supply when the railway was built, and has been mining continuously ever since. The coal-basin worked by this company lies along the Sabinas river, principally on the SW. side. It covers a wide area and has been carefully prospected, but only in a few parts have the beds been found sufficiently thick and regular for economical operation. This Sabinas basin was considered the only one in this field, until, in the Spring of 1899, the Las Esperanzas basin was found by Messrs. J. L. Elliot and E. D. Peters, who were in Mexico looking after some copper-properties. After a further examination by Mr. James T. Gardiner, of New York, the Mexican Coal & Coke Co. was organized in June, and active work was begun on Nov. 5, 1899. The coal-field of Las Esperanzas, situated in the State of Coahuila, about 85 miles SW. of Eagle Pass, Texas, adjoins and runs parallel with the Sabinas basin—an anticlinal separating the two outcrops by about 2 miles. Fig. 1 is a sketch-map of a part of the basin. The coal-formation is in the Upper Cretaceous, and corresponds with the Laramie measures of the United States. The following geological section, taken in Nogales canon, shows the measures between the massive limestones forming the Sierra de la Santa Rosa and the outcrop of the coal: Section. Feet. Limestone,...Unknown. Blue shale,.........110 Shale and sandstone,.. 60 Bed of fossiliferous shale,. 60

Jan 1, 1902

By Harry Huntington Miller

In spite of its recognized irregularities, the cyanide-assay for copper has always been popular among volumetric methods, being easy and rapid, and reasonably accurate when the solution tested contains nothing but pure copper and ammonium salts. In order to secure this condition, however, especially in operati~ig on low-grade ores, tailings and slags of complex composition, it is the practice to precipitate the copper from the ore-solution,—usually by means of metallic zinc or aluminum. The copper thus precipitated in the metallic form must be dissolved again; and the separa tion is never, in practice, complete, since an appreciable amount of the copper remains behind in the first solution, and the second solution always contains some of the other metals of the gangue; so that the result is at best but partially satisfactory. On the other hand, if this course is not pursued, but (as is

Jan 1, 1902

By Luther Wagoner

For a number of years I have, at odd times, tried to perfect a method of assay sufficiently delicate to find and estimate minute quantities of gold and silver. The object in view was to examine rocks remote from veins or mineral areas, in order to test the probability of the lateral-secretion theory. Having succeeded in measuring approximately the amount of gold and silver contained in one cubic centimeter of sea-water, I present a detailed account of the method employed, with some of the results obtained. General Method of Assay. The use of purified lead without other flux, blowpipe methods, extraction by cyanide, and measurement of the beads by the microscope. Purged Lead. The method of testing is by cupellation. On a properly prepared cupel, it is easy to cupel and find a bead of 0.002 mm. diameter. Such a bead of silver weighs about 1 part of a milligramme. A bead 0.02 mm. in diameter weighs about 1/24,000 mg., and a close approximation can be made to its weight. It is desirable that the lead used in the assay should be low in silver so as to avoid large correction, but as the parted

Jan 1, 1902

By Norberto Dominguez

In the year 1820 a commission, assisted by Sr. C. Fernando de Ainada, was appointed by Sr. Jose Ramon Mila de la Roca to report on the condition of the mining region of Parral, in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, where in recent years the mines of Batopilas have reached an important development under American management. The object of the inquiry was to provide Sr. De la Roca with facts to support a project for reopening mines that two centuries before had produced a large amount of silver. Although this plan failed, many facts of interest in the history of the mines were presented.. Much of the report dealt with questions that had only local application or were restricted to the conditions of labor and equipment in the opening of the nineteenth century. The historical part is presented in the following paragraphs: Abstract of the Report. Notwithstanding the difficulty of forming a just estimate of the system of mines in this mineral group in the valley of Senor Sail Jose del Parral without an examination of each of them, that which we shall say in a general way will suffice to convey an idea of their value and of the urgent necessity of reopening them. If this is undertaken, we believe the results will be of the highest consequence to the Republic, as well as to this immediate locality. The group of the Villa del Parral covers the mineral territory in which the village of that name was located. Its moantains contain large metallic veins, from which, as from the trunk of a tree, depend others much more slender, locally called ,fibras, crossing and interlacing each other in many directions. The first and oldest of these very rich deposits of gold

Jan 1, 1902

By F. L. Grammer

In these day, when anthracite is less extensively used as a blastifurnace fuel than it was a generation ago, and managers endeavor to maintain regular and known ore-mixtures, the " freezing " of tuyeres, cinder-notch or iron-notch is infrequeut; and, consequently, the oil-burner or " kerosene blowpipe "* is seldom employed; and furnace-foremen have, to a considerable degree, forgotten their former cunning and persistency in the use of the drill and sledge. Still, in starting new or abandoned plants with untrained labor, and in running some of our large 100-ft. furnaces, slips, resulting in very cold furnaces, may occur, even under experienced managers. During my superintendence of the Cleveland, O., blast-furnaces, such a misfortune, owing to a dearth of trustworthy foremen, was experienced; and our electrician, Mr. Thomas Martin, proposed to open the tuyeres and cinder-notch by means of the heat of the electric arc. We have heard that the surface-cracks or marks developed in rolling heavy plates have been closed by electric welding, as by a soldering-iron, and also that an electric burner has been employed at some German blast-furnaces; but the experiment was quite novel to us; and I think it constituted one of the first, if not the very first, successful application of this device, for the purpose named, in the United States. †

Jan 1, 1902

By Robert T. Hill

PHYSIOGRAPHICALLY, Mexico provinces, which are, in a manner, distinct economic areas. These may be denominated, (1) the Gulf coastal plain; (2) the Cordilleran plateau; (3) the Sonoran, and (4) the Tehuantepecan province. Fig. 1 shows the approximate boundaries of these provinces. The first is the continuation of the coastal plain of Texas and the Gulf region in general, which, except for prospective oil and lignite, has little of interest for the mining engineer.

Jan 1, 1902

By José G. Aguilera

With the imperfect knowledge that me have of the geology .of the country in general, and of the numerous mining districts in particular, it is impossible to present an accurate idea of the geographical and geological distribution of the mineral deposits of the Mexican Republic. But, notwithstanding this, it is elear that the deposits are concentrated in limited regions of the country, and that certain deposits are so closely associated as to indicate, beyond doubt, a genetic relationship. The mineral deposits are numerous, and the most of them are found in the western part of the country in a zone following a SE.-NW. direction from Oaxaca to Sonora. In the eastern

Jan 1, 1902

By T. F. Witherbee

The Iron Mountain, situated three-quarters of a mile NE. of the limits of the City of Durango, rises abruptly from a level plain, and trends N. 83' E. Fig. 1 gives a view of the mountain, with the company's iron-works. There are indications that the vein or deposit of iron-ore extends also about two leagues across the Murca ranch, in the same general direction. The Iron Mountain proper is divided into two great lenses by a horse of cantera or eruptive rock, some hundreds of feet in width.

Jan 1, 1902

By Ferdinand H. Regel

Concentrating-machinery has been wonderfully improved during the past few years both in technical efficiency and in economy of power; and, in the writer's opinion, the prosperity which the mining industry has of late enjoyed is due in large part to this improvement. Many properties are yielding handsome profits at the present time which were considered, a few years ago, too low in grade of ore to be profitably operated; and I think that fully half of these once worthless properties owe their successful development to recent improvements in concentrating-machinery. The present paper calls attention to a jig and an ore-classifier of new design, invented by Mr. John Klein, and already used in the lead-region of SE. Missouri, and in the Philipsburg dis-

Jan 1, 1902

By Walter G. Perkins

In the assay of copper-bearing material for gold and silver, the elimination of copper before the final cupellation is of course essential, because any copper left in the lead-button will carry gold into the cupel; and a method which will effectively remove the copper with the smallest amount of manipullation is desirable. The scorification method is often rendered long and tedious by the necessity of repeatedly re-scorifying the button— to say nothing of the risk of losing Au—Ag thereby incurred. An ore carrying, for instance, 10 per cent,. of copper and only 0.1 or 0.2 oz. gold per ton, cannot be scorified with accurate results, because so many portions would have to be taken in order to get enough gold for weighing. On the other hand, the crucible method, with potassic nitrate and nails, would not do at all in such a case, because all the copper would be reduced by the nails, and (if the charge were 0.5 A. T.) this would defeat cupellation, by causing cupel-absorption of gold. In matte-assays, more concentrated value permits the determination of gold from smaller portions, and thus diminishes the difficulty experienced with ores. The method here described has been severely tested, during use for more than a year, and hart never failed hitherto, in the assay of any ore or product to which it has been applied. It is not proposed as perfect for every variety of ore or matte—probably no method would be that; but it is believed that, intelligently used, with the modifications dictated by practice, it will give better results, with less expenditure of time and labor, than any other known to the writer.

Jan 1, 1902

By Arthur S. Dwight

From the latest and best literature on lead-smelting, little can be learned concerning the present state of the art of mechanical feeding in the United States. H. O. Hofman, in his Metallurgy of Lead (5th ed., 1899), briefly describes the main features of the system in use at Pueblo, Colo., and later (p. 235) says " the only successful mechanical feeding, as far as the writer is aware, is that found at the works of the Pueblo Smelting and Refining Co." H. F. Collins, in his Metallurgy of Lead and Silver (London, 1899), covers American practice pretty thoroughly; but as to mechanical charging, he says: "The German plan of taking off the gases by means of a small iron pipe suspended in the center, and the plan of charging by means of cup and cone, as in iron blast-furnaces, have both been tried, but have not found favor, chiefly on account of the difficulty of obtaining free access to the furnace-shaft for barring, etc., with such devices."' . H. W. Hixon, in his Notes on Lead and Copper Smelting (3d ed., New York, 1900), gives a description and drawing of the Hixon feeding device, as originally installed at East Helena. Evidence that this system of feeding has passed its experimental stage, and deserves more serious consideration than it has heretofore received, is furnished by two large plants—the Pueblo and the East Helena—of the American Smelting and Refining Co., where mechanical feeding has been in continuous and successful operation for a considerable period; one new plant now erecting at Salt Lake City, Utah, and one old one belonging to the same company, the El Paso works, now being rebuilt after a disastrous fire, in both of which mechanical feeding is to be a prominent feature ; one new plant of an independent concern at Torreon, Mexico, which will adopt mechanical feeding; and a number of other smaller plants, among

Jan 1, 1902

By Victor M. Braschi

The railroad history of Mexico began with the first presidential term of General Diaz. Concessions for the building of railroads had been granted in former years; indeed, an exclusive privilege was granted, August 22, 1837, to Francisco de Arrillaga for the construction of a railroad from Mexico to Vera Cruz, with a branch to Puebla, and other concessions were granted from then on at various periods; but the year 1877 was the real beginning of the regular and constant decelopment of the railways of Mexico. The programme laid out at that time by the new government, and responded to by the nation, was to develop its natural ele-

Jan 1, 1902

By Jesus P. Manzano

The report of which this paper is a summary was made in 1890 for the Compania Investigadora Mexicana y Americana. Since the region examined covers 900 sq. kilom., chiefly of wooded arid rocky hills, almost without roads, and for the most part uninhabited, While the examination had to be made in two months, of which period more than 15 days were continuously rainy, I need not say that this account is not complete and thorough. I. Geography and Topography. The center of this zone, 19 kilom. SW. of San Luis Potosi, is situated in lat. 21° 24' N., and long. 2° 3' W. of Mexico City. The altitude ranges from 1866 m. (that of San Luis) to . 2816 m. (that of the Realito mountain), in the Sierra de Sail Luis. The topography is hilly—partly wooded, partly bare. The principal more level areas are the Bledos valley on the south, and portions of the haciendas of Tepetates, San Fran cisco and Santiago, on the west. The water-supply is scanty. The two streams that cross the Zone, the Santiago and Bledos rivers, carry water nearly the year through, though much reduced in the dry season. Other streams are torrents of less importance. All the waters of the valley and Sierra of Sail Luis arc absorbed or sink, not passing beyond Soledad de los Ranchos. The Continental di vide is within the Zone, some waters going west to the Pacific, others east to the Gulf of Mexico. II. Geology. Concerning the geology of this district I condense the fol lowing from the memoir, Las Minas de Guanajuato, prepared for the Minister of Fomento by Senor Pedro Lopez Monroy, mining engineer, with which I am entirely in accord. He says, ill substance:

Jan 1, 1902

By Ezequiel Ordoñez

The two mining districts of Pachuca and Real del Monte, well known for their antiquity and the extraordinary richness of their veins, are situated, 3 miles apart, only 62 miles north of the City of Mexico—the first being on the western, and the second on the eastern slope of the Pachuca range of mountains which bounds the great valley of Mexico. Close to the celebrated mining region of Pachuca is located the city of the same name, capital of the State of Hidalgo, at 2460 meters above sea-level and 20° 07' 35" North latitude, with 35,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom work in the mines; the remainder being Government employees, merchants, and a small number engaged in less important industries. The city extends along both sides of the canada which carries the waters of the river called "Avenidas de Pachuca," the banks of which are united by four bridges at regular intervals. The attention of the traveler approaching the city is first attracted by the appearance of the mountains, barren of vegetation, bounding the city with rocky cliffs and steep declivities, the grades of which serve as foundations to the irregular and varied groups of houses. Above these are the dumps, and, close by them, the mouths of the shafts, covered with conical tile roofs. The smoke of the chimneys, the noise of the mills and the appearance of some of the constructions reveal at first glance the industrial character of the place. At the left of the entrance to the canada, the mountain of San Cristobal, celebrated for the famous vein of Xacal, one of the richest and earliest exploited in the district, rises 450 meters above the city.

Jan 1, 1902

By Carl R. Davis

The cost of mining during the past history of these mines has been excessive, principally by reason of the inefficiency of labor under the wage-system. The amount of labor performed per man was unsatisfactory; and Mr. Edmund B. Kirby, the general manager, decided to adopt the contract-system as a remedy. For this purpose the method now in use was devised by the writer (then and now the superintendent), as best adapted to the local conditions. On March 12, 1900, this system was presented to the miners of the War Eagle and the Center Star. The issue remained unsettled for several weeks,

Jan 1, 1902

By M. P. Boss

Of the two methods of mechanical reduction—that of percussion and that of abrasion—it is not easy to say which was first employed by primeval man. The stone hammer and the flat or hollowed stone used for grinding are found together in the remains of prehistoric periods. But the use of the maray, or bucking-stone, developed from the hammer, was probably introduced later than that of crude millstones. Diodorus Siculus, the Roman historian of the first century B. c., mentions such millstones as used in the mines of Egypt to pulverize material which had been previously broken in a mortar. The invention of the arrastra for fine grinding is declared by some authorities to have been made by Bartolomeo de Medina, at Pachuca, Mexico, about A. D. 1557—which is quite probable. Being the first to amalgamate silver on anything like a business scale, he must have felt the necessity for oregrinding apparatus of greater capacity than the old primitive millstones; and the arrastra was thus the natural successor of the millstone. It is very unfortunate that the archives of Pachuca, which has made so much history in ore-treatment, were destroyed in some one of the many insurrections for which, also, the place is renowned. The first application of the stamp to the crushing of rock is asserted by some writers to have been the invention of a Saxon nobleman named Von Maltitz, about the year 1505. Better authenticated reference, however, is made to one Paul Gronstetter, a native of Schwarz, and called an ingenious worker, who, in the year 1519, established at Joachimsthal a process of wet stamping and sifting. Two years later, a larger plant was established at the came place. It is said that he had previously introduced the same device at Schneeberg. How much of the invention was due to Gronstetter is not certain;

Jan 1, 1902

By Manuel Valerio Ortega

This Mexican amalgamation-process, invented in 1557, at Pachuca, by Bartolome de Medina, has been widely discussed in America and Europe, but thus far there is no universal agreement as to all the chemical reactions involved. Having been, after many trials, the first to succeed in effecting the amalgamation of silver-ores by the same mechanical means, but doing without one of the chemical substances which had been considered indispensable in the practice of 300 Sears, I am led to offer these notes as a contribution to the discovery of an exact theory concerning the patio process. My treatment for silver- and gold-ores being protected by letters-patent in this country, the United States, France, Peru, Bolivia and Chile, I may speak freely concerning its materials and manipulation. I. Patio-Amalgamation. The ore extracted from the mine is sorted by pepenadores, who break the large pieces with hammers, rejecting those which contain no ore, set aside the very rich to be smelted, and deliver the rest to be crushed and pulverized for direct amalgamation in the patio. The broken lumps, of about fist-size, are first ground in Chilean mills, and then reduced, in arrastras or tahonas, to fine slime. After the lama or slime has acquired a suitable consistency by the evaporation, through the sun's heat, of a part of the water which it contained, it is spread upon the patio or amalgamating-floor, where it is mixed with 5 or 6 per cent. of common salt. The next day a certain amount (depending upon

Jan 1, 1902

By James W. Malcolmson

This paper treats of the history and development of the Sierra Mojada mines in the north of Mexico, the character and extent of the ore-deposits, and the methods of mining the ore. The growth of the smelting industry in Mexico in recent years is, to a large degree, due directly to the output of the lead-bearing ores from the Sierra Mojada mines, and at the present time (1901) new smelters are being built, looking to this district for their supply of lead-ores. These mines are located in the southern part of the State of Coahuila, in the Republic of Mexico, in latitude 27 24' N. and longitude 103O 43' W. of Greenwich. The last account of the Sierra Mojada published in our transactions was contributed by Mr. Richard E. Chism, in October, 1886.* Since that time some 3,000,000 tons of ore have been extracted from the mines, and much additional information has been developed regarding the mineral deposits. Since 1886, the Mexican Northern railroad, 78 miles in length, has been built from Escalon, connecting the camp with the Mexican Central railway, a trunk-line from El Paso, Texas, to Mexico City. The distances by rail from Sierra Mojada to the principal smelting-centers are as follows : To Torreon, Coahuila, Mex., 179 miles; to Monterey, Nuevo Leon, Mex., 422 miles; to El Paso, Tex., U. S., 494 miles; to Aguas Calientes, A. C., Mex., 522 miles; to San Luis Potosi, 8. L. P., Mex., 644 miles; to Pueblo, Colorado, U. S., 1158 miles; to Argentine, Kans., U. S.,

Jan 1, 1902