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By R. L. Curfman

WHEN the Uranium Reduction Co. mill was put on stream in October 1956, one of the many operational problems was that the sand-slime separation circuits could not produce a satisfactory RIP feed, inasmuch as production greatly exceeded de- sign capacity. The original cyclone portion of the circuits consisted of two stages of three 14-in. cyclones in each circuit, as shown in the condensed flowsheet. The high percentage of +325 mesh material in the over- flows of these 14-in. cyclones was not consistent with good operation, and flow rates per ton of ore were high, indicating that not enough of the total solids in the ore was being rejected as sands. It was inferred by members of the metallurgical department that returning the underflows, or sand fraction, from these cyclones back into the drag classifiers was the primary reason for dirty feed.

Jan 7, 1958

By Arthur Knapp

THE law of supply and demand is, in general terms, that law which governs the price of any commodity in an unrestricted competitive market. There are several variables which, for the purpose of this discussion, will be defined only as they apply to the petroleum industry: Production: The volume of petroleum that is moved from leases. Stocks: The volume of petroleum that is in the hands of the tank farm and pipeline companies. Inventory: The value of the stocks at the market. Consumption: The indicated delivery of oil to others than those who hold stocks. Demand: The potential absorbing power of the consuming market. Demand is the expression of the needs of the consumer and may depend on the economic value of the oil to the consumer. In times of low prices, the demand is the same as the consumption but during periods of high, prices or deficiency in supply, the demand may be greater than consumption. A general expression of the law is, as follows: Production or consumption Some relation between stocks and or controls price or demand inventory

Jan 3, 1924

The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M., except on holidays. It contains about 70,000 volumes and 90,000 pamphlets, including sets of technical periodicals and publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library, through its Library Service Bureau, can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information will receive especial attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and photographic copies of articles on mining and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining maps, and to furnish general information on the geology and mineral resources of all countries. All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the information received may be what is desired and not include collateral matter which may not be of interest. The time spent in searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more promptly and in more usable shape.

Jan 3, 1918

By Jerry A. Selvaggi, Richard B. Jacob

The High Gradient Magnetic Separator (HGMS), also known as the High Gradient Magnetic Filter (HGMF), is an effective device utilized in magnetic separation. This method of separation is gaining popularity in the separation of submicron material containing feebly magnetics. The most common use of this type of separator is in the removal of iron stained particles to improve the brightness of kaolin clay. Potential areas for use of this magnet include: (1) desulfurization of coal (2) the clean-up of mill effluent (3) removal of fine particulate matter from municipal and indus¬trial waste (4) desulfurization of oil Design, operation, and applications of this separator are further dis¬cussed in papers by R. R. Oder (1975), and R. R. Oder and B. I. Horst (1975). This device is a system composed of an iron enclosure of high per¬mability material housing a set of electrical coils, a canister en¬closing a magnetic matrix (stainless steel wool), an electric power supply and a hydraulic system to maintain specified operating tempera¬ture conditions. See Figure 1.

Jan 1, 1984

The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M., except on holidays. It contains about 70,000 volumes and 90,000 pamphlets, including sets of technical periodicals and the publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library, through its Library Service Bureau, can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information will receive especial attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and photographic copies of articles on mining and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining maps, and to furnish general information on the geology and mineral resources of all countries. All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the, information received may be what is desired and not include collateral matter which may, not be of interest. The time spent in searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more promptly and in more usable shape.

Jan 4, 1917

The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M., except on holidays. It contains about 70,000 volumes and 90,000 pamphlets, including sets of technical periodicals and the publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library, through its Library Service Bureau, can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information will receive especial attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and photographic copies of articles on milling and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining maps, arid to furnish general information on the geology and mineral resources of all countries. All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the information received may be what is desired and not include collateral matter which may not be of interest. The time spent in searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more promptly and in more usable shape.

Jan 10, 1916

By Raja V. Ramani, Jan M. Mutmansky, Ralph W. Barbaro

This paper discusses the effect of the computer revolution on Penn State's facilities and personnel and provides a short history of computer applications in mining in the Department of Mineral Engineering. The computer era began in 1955 at Penn State when the engineering faculty built a sizeable vacuum-tube computer. Since that time, a succession of machines has introduced many changes and presented a variety of opportunities and problems to the university's computer personnel and to the community of users. This paper discusses both the changes in computers and the accompanying problems that occur in a university computing environment. A historical summary of computer simulation programs developed within the Department of Mineral Engineering is presented along with information on computer applications in ventilation, statistics, mathematical programming, coal preparation, and other areas. Finally, computer plans for the future are discussed in terms of the develop- ments in the Charles B. Manula Computer Library and in terms of ongoing and future computer-related research projects.

Jan 1, 1983

By C. A. Stetefeldt

The hacienda Sauceda is one of the largest and finest haciendas in the vicinity of the City of Zacatecas, Mexico, and is said to reduce ores by the Patio process more cheaply than any other establishment. It receives its supply of ore from the San Acacio mine. This mine has been for some time, like most of the Zacatecas mines, out of bonanza, and yields, at present, ore of rather low grade. The silver occurs principally as silver-glance, ruby-silver and native silver, associated with pyrites of iron and copper, and some galena and zinc-blende, in a gangue of pure quartz, which takes the form of amythyst whenever the ore is of high grade. All the ore, as it comes from the mine, is broken by hand into small pieces, and sorted before it is delivered to the hacienda. Here it is first crushed dry in Chili mills, and then ground wet in arrastras to an impalpable powder. The sulphurets not decomposed in the patio process are separated in the settlers from the tailings and concentrated by hand. By roasting them in a reverberatory furnace with carbonate copperores, "magistral" is obtained. All machinery is driven by mulepower.

Jan 1, 1885

At a meeting of the Associated Engineers, with Columbia Section in charge, a discussion of the metric system was led by-Mr. F. A. Ross. While the majority of the engineers present favored resolutions seeking compulsory adoption and use of the system at the end of 1924 it was believed the engineers present should not undertake to speak for the entire membership and upon suggestion of Mr. J. B. Fisken the resolutions were laid over to be acted upon at a later meeting. The resolutions are as follows: WHEREAS the Great War has drawn the United States into a permanent and close relationship with the other nations of the world and opened the way to an unlimited foreign trade; and WHEREAS more than-70 per cent. of all nations have discarded their arbitrary standards of weights and measures and have made the use of the decimal, or metric, system obligatory; and WHEREAS the United States still clings to an antiquated, complex, cumbersome, and wholly illogical system of weights and measures, consisting of a duodecimal and fractional arrangement of arbitrary units, instead of definitely determined and correlated units following the decimal system; and

Jan 8, 1919

The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M., except on holidays. It contains about 70,000 volumes and 90,000 pamphlets, including sets of technical periodicals and publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library, through its Library Service Bureau, can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information will receive especial attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and photographic copies of articles on mining and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining maps, and to furnish general information on the geology and mineral resources of all countries. All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the information received may be what is desired and not include collateral matter which may not be of interest. The time spent in searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more promptly and in more usable shape.

Jan 11, 1917

By J. O. Whitely

IT is difficult to give a refining outline that may be followed for any and all combinations of the platinum metals; different combinations require different methods of attack. This paper does not pretend to go into all of the reactions of the metals of the platinum group, but will outline the commercial refining of platinum scrap. TYPICAL PLATINUM SCRAP As a concrete case, let us take 100 oz. of miscellaneous scrap, made up of jewelry scrap, dental scrap and laboratory ware. This lot will contain some platinum, palladium, iridium, ruthenium, rhodium, gold, silver and copper. The first problem is to get all of the metals in solution. If the scrap is principally platinum, palladium and gold, a treatment with aqua regia is the course to pursue; but if the scrap contains alloys high in iridium or ruthenium, aqua regia will act too slowly. In the case in hand, we are going to presume that we have scrap high in iridium and ruthenium, and proceed accordingly.

Jan 1, 1928

The importance, validity, and acceptability of the Paley Report has become the great issue of the minerals industry. A 12-man panel made up of representatives of various facets of the industry sat down at the 1952 Mining Congress Show in Denver in an attempt to clarify the many opinions currently held concerning the report. Howard Young, deputy administrator of the Defense Materials Procurement Administration, noted that the report had caused more discussion and serious thinking than any other government report, He did not subscribe to the "have not" principle, however, but called it a "need more" principle. Horace M. Allbright, president of U. S. Potash Corp., believes industry should continue to develop the report. He cited the editorial appearing in the September, 1952 edition of Bining Engineering,,, "Don't Let It Die," as expressing his feelings. Edward Snyder, president of Combined Metals Reduction Corp., says the statistics used in the report were used to promote a false international policy. He sees the report as a master plan for the development of the superstate. He also stated that the-ore reserves given in the Pales, report represent only 10 pct of what is actually available.

Jan 1, 1952

By R. H. Ernst, H. R. Ogden, D. J. Maykuth

AT present, no theories exist which allow prediction of the effect of alloying additions on the thermoelectric properties of metals. Nevertheless, Battelle and others1 have observed that, at high temperatures, the peak thermal electromotive-force output (relative to a platinum standard) occurs with metals in Group VI of the Periodic Chart. The authors suspected that this peak was associated with the fact that maximum electronic bond stability is achieved with these metals which have six bonding electrons per atom. On the basis of current electron-concentration theory for transition metals and alloys:' it was surmised that the addition of valency electrons to metals of Groups IV and V (accomplished by the addition of metals from Groups VI, VII, or VIII) should progressively increase the thermoelectric-power output of the resulting alloys until an alloy composition is reached at which the number of valency electrons per atom is six. A further increase in the ratio of valency electrons per atom should then decrease the thermoelectric power. In contrast, the addition of bonding electrons to Group VI, VII, or VIII metals should decrease their thermoelectric power since the electron per atom

Jan 1, 1965

In 1936 the Institute established the Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal, which will be awarded from time to time "for distinguished achievement in improving the technique and practice of finding and producing petroleum." These awards will be sponsored by the Petroleum Division. Captain Lucas was a pioneer in the oil industry, one of the early wildcatters and a leading mining and petroleum engineer. He was famous as the discoverer of Spindletop. He became a member of the Institute in 1895 and in 1913 was the first Chairman of the Petroleum and Gas Committee of the Institute, the forerunner of the present Petroleum Division. He also headed the Committee in 1914, 1917 and 1918. The first medal was presented at the annual dinner in 1937, Feb. 17, to J. Edgar Pew. The personnel of the Committee on award as appointed in February, 1937, is as follows: John R. Suman, Chairman Until Feb., 1938 Until Feb., 1939 Hallan N. Marsh R. OgaRRio Russell 6. McFarland H. H. Power John R. Suman CaRl A. Young Until Feb., 1940 Until Feb., 1941 W. B. Heroy Joseph Jensen C. V. Millikan John M. Lovejoy J. Edgar Pew Carroll H. WEgemanN Members ex-officio R. C. Allen John W. Finch Axtell J. Byles H. B. FUQUA

Jan 1, 1937

The work that has formerly been done by the Waste-reclamation Section of the War Industries Board has been tranferred to the Department of Commerce and will be continued as the "Waste-reclamation Service" of this Department. The plan contemplates the establishment of a national waste-reclamation system-comprehensively organized, effective and systematic, and animated by a sympathetic understanding of the purposes and principles of the Service. It is the expectation of the Service that the work will be taken over by the several municipalities or other local governments and made permanent through the creation of a department or bureau for the salvage of waste materials. The local Waste-reclamation Council should be composed of representatives of cooperating national organizations, selected by the mayor; or chief executive officer of the city, town, or village. It will be the duty of the Council to inaugurate an educational campaign to conserve materials so as to make less waste, together with a reclamation movement that shall reclaim the residue of waste in the community, thus conserving the resources of the country both in man power and in materials. The most important materials to reclaim at the present time are: paper, steel, copper, wool, iron, brass, cotton, zinc, aluminum, rubber, babbitt metal, tin-foil, lead, tin and leather.

Jan 8, 1919

By C. S. Chang

PEARL starch, a corn starch prepared with a minimum of alteration, is a good selective depressant for iron oxide minerals.1 From what is known of the complex chemistry of corn starch, there is evidence that it consists of a mixture of saturated giant polymeric molecules, both straight and branch- chained, the constituents consisting of glucose units with hydroxyl radicals as active or polar groups. To add to the existing knowledge of the chemistry of the flotation process, it is desirable to ascertain the effects on the corn starch as an iron oxide depressant when some of the hydroxyl radicals are replaced by other active groups that are common to flotation reagents. The ideal way to carry out this investigation would be to test reagents containing different active groups derived from corn starch. The preparation should be such that the reagents possess the same degree and location of substitution and are ac- companied by little or no degradation of the starch molecules. This, of course, is almost impossible to realize, as it is difficult to control the degree and location of substitution as well as to prevent degradation of the starch molecule during preparation.

Jan 9, 1954

Harrison W. Craver, Director The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M., except on holidays. It contains about 70,000 volumes and 90,000 pamphlets, including sets of technical periodicals and the publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library, through its Library Service Bureau, can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information will receive especial attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and photographic copies of articles on mining and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining maps, and to furnish general information on the geology and mineral resources of all countries. All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the information received may be what is desired and not include collateral matter which may not be of interest. The time spent in searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more promptly and in more usable shape.

Jan 5, 1917

ENGINEERS AVAILABLE (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons.) Member, aged 25, recent graduate, with some experience in laboratory of steel plant, desires position as metallurgist or assistant in copper, aluminum, or steel works. No. 118. Member, aged 52, technical graduate, with 20 years' experience as engineer with coal-mining companies, desires position as engineer or superintendent of coal mine. No. 119. Member, aged 39, technical graduate, with extended experience in surveying, assaying, milling, and copper smelting, desires position along cyaniding, concentration, or copper-smelting lines. No. 120. Member, aged, 38, technical graduate, with several years' experience in research work, in mine operation and as professor of mining engineering, is desirous of engagement in planning concentration and metallurgy of odd and difficult ores. No. 121. Member, aged 32, graduate M. I. T. in mining and metallurgy, at present and for last five years superintendent of Western lead smeltery, will consider engagement with solid company, if opening promises advancement. Specialty, smelting of lead ores, high in lead and zinc content. Ten years' experience in the operation, design, and erection of a large lead plant. Now desirous of bettering position.. No. 122.

Jan 8, 1914

By John V. Beall

If you will be patient, we will explain how our plans to research the fishing possibilities of the Buffalo River following the SME Fall Meeting turned out, in general, to be an extension of the main theme of that meeting and, in particular, to confirm an astute observation on research made by Australian T. R. A. Davey in his Award-acceptance address at the Pb-Zn Research Luncheon. Buffalo River State Park is reached via Yellville where we tried without success to find one Odie Tollett who had been recommended as a boat liveryman. However, Mrs. Leon Dodd, in the Park, outfitted us nicely with a 17-foot aluminum canoe. Rain had dominated the recent weather of the Ozarks in northwestern Arkansas. So, under a leaden sky and intermittent showers, we stood on the bank of the turgid Buffalo demonstrating to our spouse, Sylvia, how to cast. Of course, with the water up and the sediment, the outlook for catching fish was bad. Sylvia said, however, "Oh, I get it. Let me try. Umm, like this I got one!" Sylvia reeled in a pretty ten-inch brown trout. "The poor thing, let's throw him back."

Jan 1, 1970

By Zay Jeffries

A MORE complete interpretation of the amorphous theory in metals is given than has heretofore been offered. It is believed that Le Chatelier, Tammann, and Heyn, at present the ablest opponents of the amorphous theory, will not he able longer to continue their beliefs that surface tension alone can account for all the observed variations in the properties of single constituent metals. It is strongly advocated that the properties of any solid substance be studied from the standpoint of the number of constituents present, the quantity and arrangement of each constituent, and the properties, of each constituent. Each deformable crystalline constituent by plastic deformation will produce amorphous material, thus changing the properties. Considerable attention is given to the variations in properties of the amorphous and crystalline phases of any substance. These are summarized as follows: 1. The cohesion of the amorphous phase of a substance is substantially zero at the melting point while the cohesion of the crystalline phase is considerable at the melting point. With decrease in temperature, the cohesion of the amorphous phase increases at a faster rate than that of the crystalline phase; this differential rate of change of cohesion holds between absolute zero and the melting point. At a certain temperature

Jan 2, 1919