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By J. B. Austin

In considering so complex a process as the smelting of iron in the blast furnace, there is obviously no single method of calculating efficiency that gives a complete appraisal of the performance of the furnace in all its several functions; such a comprehensive view as is required to evaluate producing ability and manufacturing costs for a given furnace is obtained only by considering a group of efficiencies, each of which measures the performance of the furnace from a specific point of view. For instance, there is the rate of consumption of coke per ton of iron produced, which is probably the most frequently considered, and is certainly one of the most important of the group; there is the efficiency of recovery of iron charged; and there is the efficiency of utilization of energy, both chemical and thermal, in some respects related to the former two yet in other ways independent of either. In each of these cases, the calculation can be made on the basis of the actual input of material or energy, or it may be based upon a comparison with the minimum amount of material or energy that would be required by a "perfect" furnace; that is, an imaginary ideal furnace analogous to the perfect steam engine used in thermodynamic calculations, when this furnace is operating under optimum conditions. Moreover, the furnace itself can be considered either as an apparatus for smelting iron or, taking a somewhat less common point of view, as a gas producer yielding iron and slag as by-products. Some of these efficiencies are more useful than others, yet all are instructive; for a knowledge of them not only leads to good engineering practice from the standpoint of control but also discloses limits to possible improvement in performance and indicates the lines along which improvement is most likely to be profitable. Estimates of some of these efficiencies have appeared from time to time in the literature, but many of them are open to objection because they are based on data of uncertain accuracy or because they have been caleulated without due regard to the thermodynamic principles involved. Moreover, so far as the author is aware. no general survey of the blast furnace comparing its performance in all the aspects mentioned has been made.

Jan 1, 1938

By S. F. Shaw

The Sierra Mojada mining district is situated in western Coahuila, about 8 km. east of the Chihuahua state line, and about one-half way from the northern to the southern extremity of the state. It is at the terminus of the Mexican Northern R. R., 125 km. northeast of Escal6n, Chihuahua; also about, 240 km. due west of Monclova, Coahuila. The altitude is approximately 1500 m. above sea level. The Sierra Mojada valley is about 10 km. long, from east to west, with a width of 1 to 2 km. It is approached from the east through the Puerto del Oro, where the Mexican Northern R. R. enters the valley; the slope from west to east is gentle. The Sierra Mojada, of which about 300 m. is an almost vertical wall, bounds the valley on the south side; on the north side, the slope to the crest of Sierra Planchada is more gradual, rising only 200 or 300 m. above the valley. Water is relatively scarce in the district, and there are no running streams. The rainy season, usually beginning at the middle of June, lasts through July, and occasionally into August or September. In some years the rains fail entirely. The slope of the ground is such that nearly all the water immediately runs off. The arroyos along the flanks of the mountains are not very deep, but in heavy rains, sometimes approaching cloudbursts, a tremendous volume of water rushes down them, carrying large boulders. A certain amount of seepage collects in the agglomerate, lying below the conglomerate, and is retained in the local fractures. Some shallow wells have been sunk in this agglomerate, and one well over 150 m. deep was sunk on the Volcan ranch, supplying about 76 1. (20 gal.) per min. A considerable supply of water is collected in large earth reservoirs in and below the town of Esmeralda. In ordinary years this supply will last until January or February, after which the Volcan well has to be depended on until the next rainy season. Vegetation is scarce, aside from scanty scrub oak and other brush in the mountains, and a few mezquite, locust, pepper, and cottonwood trees

Jan 1, 1923

By S. F. Shaw

The Sierra Mojada mining district is situated in western Coahuila, about 8 km. east of the Chihuahua state line, and about one-half way from the northern to the southern extremity of the state. It is at the terminus of the Mexican Northern R. R., 125 km. northeast of Escal6n, Chihuahua; also about, 240 km. due west of Monclova, Coahuila. The altitude is approximately 1500 m. above sea level. The Sierra Mojada valley is about 10 km. long, from east to west, with a width of 1 to 2 km. It is approached from the east through the Puerto del Oro, where the Mexican Northern R. R. enters the valley; the slope from west to east is gentle. The Sierra Mojada, of which about 300 m. is an almost vertical wall, bounds the valley on the south side; on the north side, the slope to the crest of Sierra Planchada is more gradual, rising only 200 or 300 m. above the valley. Water is relatively scarce in the district, and there are no running streams. The rainy season, usually beginning at the middle of June, lasts through July, and occasionally into August or September. In some years the rains fail entirely. The slope of the ground is such that nearly all the water immediately runs off. The arroyos along the flanks of the mountains are not very deep, but in heavy rains, sometimes approaching cloudbursts, a tremendous volume of water rushes down them, carrying large boulders. A certain amount of seepage collects in the agglomerate, lying below the conglomerate, and is retained in the local fractures. Some shallow wells have been sunk in this agglomerate, and one well over 150 m. deep was sunk on the Volcan ranch, supplying about 76 1. (20 gal.) per min. A considerable supply of water is collected in large earth reservoirs in and below the town of Esmeralda. In ordinary years this supply will last until January or February, after which the Volcan well has to be depended on until the next rainy season. Vegetation is scarce, aside from scanty scrub oak and other brush in the mountains, and a few mezquite, locust, pepper, and cottonwood trees

Jan 1, 1923

By R. W. Cahn, C. D. Graham

The rate of growth of a single grain growing into a strained aluminum single crystal, measured by the conventional heat-cool-etch technique, is shown to decrease with time at temperature. The growth rate measured by means of X-rays, with the sample continuously at temperature, is found to be linear. Evidence is presented to show that the decreasing growth rate obtained by the conventional technique is due to abnormal recovery in the strained grain, and that the recovery in turn results from the heating and cooling cycles, rather than from the effects of etching. The experimental apparatus is described in an appendix. FREQUENTLY, the rate of grain boundary motion during recrystallization is determined by heating a sample to a known temperature for a given time, cooling to room temperature, and etching to reveal the boundary position. The cycle of operations is repeated as many times as necessary to establish the rate of boundary motion. Although this heat-cool-etch technique has been used by a number of workers over a period of many years,'-!' other investigators have encountered difficulty with the method."'. " They have attributed the erratic results to the effects of repeated heating and cooling, or of etching, or both, and have adopted an alternative experimental procedure in which a number of identical samples are employed, each sample being cooled and etched only once. This alternative method ove1.comes some difficulties, but introduces others. In particular, the incubation periods of the observed grains are unknown: any effect of crystal orientation on growth rate cannot be determined easily. A preferable method would be to measure the motion of a recrystallizing grain boundary with the sample at temperature without etching," but such measurements have in the past been restricted to nonmetals. This paper describes the construction and operation of a device, the goniometer furnace, with which the position of a moving grain boundary between a recrystallizing grain and the strained single crystal into which it grows can be measured by means of X-rays, with the sample maintained continuously at temperature. Goniometer Furnace The operating principle of the goniometer furnace is shown in Fig. 1. The sample, in the form of a bicrystal strip, is surrounded by a furnace, not shown in the sketch, and can be rotated about the two axes A and B which intersect at the point where the X-ray beam strikes the strip. The strip is oriented so that one of the two grains gives a strong Bragg reflection, which is detected by a suitably placed Geiger-Miiller counter coupled to a counting-rate meter When the strip is moved parallel to its own length in the furnace, arrow C, so that the X-ray beam strikes the second grain, there is in general no strong reflection. By noting the position of the strip at which the drop in Geiger counter reading occurs, it is possible to determine the position of the boundary. Measuring the change in boundary position with time at temperature gives the rate of growth of the recrystallizing grain. Details of the construction and operation of the goniometer furnace are given in the Appendix. Measurements showed that the temperature in the furnace was uniform within ±10°C over its working length of about 28 cm. The temperature at the measuring position, i.e., at the point where the X-ray beam struck the sample, was estimated to be constant within ±2oC. Using the goniometer furnace, the position of a stationary boundary could be measured with a reproducibility of ±0.3 mm. At elevated temperatures, 500" to 625"C, with the boundary in motion and the X-ray reflection less sharp, the estimated accuracy of each measured boundary position dropped to about ±1 mm. Experimental Results The test pieces were single crystals of 99.6 pet A1 —principal impurities 0.19 pet Fe and 0.12 pet Si— 1 mm by 1 cm in cross section and 6 to 10 cm in length, grown by the strain-anneal method. This relatively low purity material was used because of the difficulty encountered in producing strain-anneal single crystals of very high purity—99.996 pet—

Jan 1, 1957

By Joseph E. Pogue

THAT the domestic consumption of gasoline displays a marked seasonal variation, with a low in the winter and a high in the summer, is well known. It is logical to expect that the nature of the variation has itself been undergoing a change as a result of improvement in roads, general employment of closed cars; and growth of mass haulage; but so far as I am aware the change in seasonal variation has never been investigated and measured. It is the purpose of this paper to present the method and results of such an investigation undertaken as a contribution to the technique of planning operating schedules now so prominent in connection with the functioning of the industry under a Federal quota system. For the method employed I am in-debted to the suggestions and help of Frederick R. Macaulay', who kindly looked over the work sheets; and credit is due Barnabas Bryan, Jr., for assisting in the computations and the graphic work. Ideas for the approach to the problem were also derived from an article by Aryness Joy, and Woodulief Thomas of the Division of Research and Statistics of the Federal Reserve Board*-.

Jan 1, 1934

By Carl R. Davis, J. L. Willey, S. E. T. Ewing

The first tube-mill on the Rand was put into operation in May. 1904, at the Glen Deep Mine. From that time onwards, tube-mills were added to various plants, although little was known regarding the capacity of a given tube-mill when working on banket ore. Within a few years, however, the so-called standard size (length of shell, 22 ft. 0 in.; diameter, 5 ft. 6 in.) was generally used until the last year or two. Practically the only exceptions were about 30 tube-mills having a length of 16 ft. and a diameter of 6 ft., and a few open-end mills of the roller-supported type. Most of the information obtained during the last 15 years has been obtained with mills of the standard dimensions. The adoption of the tube-mill as an accessory to the stamp mill was rapid; and where 3 tube-mills were working on the Rand at the end of 1904, 244 were in use seven years later.' By 1910, good practice provided 1 tube-mill for 20 stamps of 2000-lb. falling weight. The horsepower of the motors driving the tube-mills had increased from 80 to 100 and then to 125 at this date. Broadly speaking, current practice at that date aimed at a ha1 product of which 60 per cent. was suitable for sand treatment and 40 per cent. for slime. The sand grading was +60 mesh, 6 per cent.; +90 mesh, 25 per cent.; — 90 mesh, 69 per cent.; and the slime grading +200 mesh, 2 per cent.; —200 mesh, 98 per cent. It was recognized comparatively early that the tonnage of — 90-mesh product produced by a tube-mill per 24 hr. was a convenient measure of

Jan 1, 1925

By J. B. Sellers, G. R. Haworth, P. G. Zambas

Rock mechanics research was carried out in the Anvil Points mine, Rifle, Colo., in the period 1964-1968, with the dual purpose of providing oil shale to the retorts of six major oil companies and to perform research on mining cycle operations to maximize extraction under safe conditions. An 80% extraction ratio within the mining area proved feasible. Test results provided data on optimum pillar and roof design. Studies of mine orientation showed that the mining headings should take into account the prevailing joint patterns and also the directions of the principal in-situ stresses acting in the region.

Jan 1, 1973

By Andrews Allen

THE large increase in the wages of mine workers makes it imperative that all factors tending to limit production per miner be eliminated, if possible. The trolley and storage-battery locomotive, mining machine, hoisting engine, mining system, etc. have increased the possible output per man. But this output is still limited by the capacity of the hoisting engine and cable and by the size of the mine car. The superiority of skip hoisting in metal mining is shown by its almost universal adoption. By varying the size of skip and the rope speed, any desired hoisting tonnage can be secured and, since only one kind of material is handled and breakage is unimportant, the loading of the skips can be easily and cheaply effected from bins into which the cars are dumped. The cars may then be designed to fit the conditions in the mine instead of being a compromise between hoisting and mining conditions, very likely suiting neither. In coal mines, the usual practice has been to hoist the car to the surface, either on platform or self-dumping cages. Of late years the number of skip-hoisting plants in coal mines has been rapidly increasing, but there is more or less inertia to overcome in establishing so radical a change in practice; also the earlier skip operations were not uniformly successful. As a result, it became evident that metal-mining practice would require radical modification before skip hoisting could be successfully used in coal mining.

Jan 2, 1921

By R. S. Hooper

In attempting to describe recent mining developments at the Bunker Hill mine, it may be well to recall first the old days of hand mining when holes were laboriously drilled by hand to a maximum depth of three feet, and were shot one or two at a time, in order that the miner could take advantage of every slip, crack or bedding plane, and so save as much drilling as possible. Broken muck, of course, was loaded by hand shoveling into wheelbarrows or small cars, and heading advances or stope tonnages were governed by the number of men that could find room to work in any given place. The first big improvement over these old methods was the introduction of the reciprocating type of air-powered rock drill. This innovation, crude as it was, enabled the miners to set up a machine and drill a complete round of holes in one shift; but broken muck was still loaded by hand, and the size and rate of advance in headings were limited by time required to remove the broken rock. The next improvement of consequence was the appearance of the hammer-type rock drill, which greatly increased drilling speed over the reciprocating type, and made possible the completion of a full cycle in one shift, by the use of crossbars in headings, and permitted drilling and mucking to be carried on at the same time. Rock drills continued to improve as time passed, and finally the smaller and more efficient mucking machines appeared on the scene, and it became possible to muck out a round of broken rock and have a clean setup for one or more drill columns and machines. A complete cycle of mucking, drilling, and blasting was completed in one shift with an average advance of five feet. These conditions prevailed for several years, but as the mine grew deeper, the distances to transport the workers grew longer, and this fact together with the shortening of the working day, soon presented the problem of attempting to complete a cycle of operations in a shift of only six hours at the working faces. Anticipating this condition, the operating heads at the Bunker Hill had started an intensive study of more and better mechanization, and over a period of comparatively few years have adopted and placed in service methods and machines that make it possible for a three-man crew to consistently advance headings seven by nine feet in cross section, at the rate of eight feet, and more, per shift, doing all the mucking, switching, drilling and loading. These improvements consist of the following major items: I. The development of a light, flexible, easily transported jumbo equipped with pneumatic columns (Fig I), that has decreased the "setting up" and "tearing down" time an average of 11/2 hr per shift, Or 25 PCt of the available working time. These jumbos were developed at the Bunker Hill mine by members of the staff and consist of two pneumatic columns attached to a suitable carriage. They fold

Jan 1, 1949

By C. K. Stoddard, R. G. Knickerbocker, E. T. Leidigh, R. R. Lloyd, K. L. Mattingly

During July 1941, a study was initiated at the Boulder City Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines on proposed methods for the production of magnesium metal. The major emphasis was placed upon development of a process that required minimum reliance upon the sale or utilization of by-products to meet economic competition from processes already in operation. It was felt that only through the development of such a process could the nation's vast resources of dolomite and low-grade magnesite that are contiguous to large blocks of firm power be properly utilized. During the course of exploratory tests on electrolytic and electrothermic processes, it was noted that fused magnesium chloride would dissolve appreciable quantities of magnesium oxide in the presence of small amounts of boric oxide. The use of such a solution in an electrolytic cell employing a graphite anode and a steel cathode caused the deposition of magnesium at the cathode and the evolution of carbon oxides at the anode with minimal amounts of chlorine The original results were sufficiently encouraging to justify further investigation on an enlarged scale, since the process seemed to present advantages over other proposed processes.1,2 for the direct use of magnesium oxide in a fused chloride electrolyte. When work oil a larger scale was initiated it was found that the addition of boric oxide to the electrolyte resulted in dispersion of metal and constantly decreasing current efficiency. However, by this time solubility studies had shown that magnesium oxide was sufficiently soluble in magnesium chloride melts containing no boric oxide to effect the same anode reactions, and development work was continued. Over two years of development work have been carried out, and considerable work remains to be done. It is desired to emphasize the fact that many of the difficulties met require a long period of continuous operation before they become serious enough to affect operation of the cell. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper is one of many reporting on various aspects of the Bureau of Mines' program initiated in August 1939 by passage of the Strategic Minerals Act the scope of which was greatly expanded by subsequent legislation. Some of these papers are published as war minerals reports. others as bulletins, technical papers, reports of investigations

Jan 1, 1949

By J. S. Fulton

THOSE who live in steel-mill towns are so accustomed to the sight of flames spouting from the mouth of a Bessemer vessel that they seldom pause to think of the amazing process behind it. Actually cold air is being blown through a hot liquid and, instead of cooling it, raises the temperature of the liquid. When coffee is too hot to drink, we know that blowing on it will cool it, so it was no wonder that when Henry Bessemer (or William Kelly, as your patriotism chooses) first proposed this cycle of steel production, he was considered mad. When Bessemer and Kelly started their investigations around 1852, there was not much practical knowledge of metallurgy and, in consequence, there was wide variation in the product made by their process. It was appreciated that the silicon, carbon and iron were all potential fuels, but not until Mushet discovered the beneficial effects of having manganese in the pig iron did the process really become commercial. Bessemer's patent of 1855 covered a crucibleful of liquid iron into which a refractory tuyere was lowered and the blow started. Since that time virtually every conceivable form of vessel, bottom arrangement, tuyere size and location have been suggested or tried. There have been stationary vessels with fixed bottoms, that were side, top or bottom blown; tilting vessels with two sets of side tuyeres at different elevations; vessels like a three-compartment septic tank; vessels of a cylindrical form supported on the long axis with tuyeres along the side submerged by a partial rotation of the vessel (this type continues in copper refineries) ; portable vessels to make the blow in a ladle over a mold in a foundry; a combination of a cupola and converter in one shell, and various other arrangements. But in all these experiments, compressed air for the blast was presupposed and there was little discussion of the quantity or quality of the air delivered to the tuyeres. At one time or another various practices that now are forgotten have been tried or suggested: for instance, the use of inert gas at the end of the blow; the addition of fuel to the blast; the use of hot-blast stoves; the drying of the air to a minimum moisture in the blast. Except in the last-named method little attention was paid to the quality or quantity of the air blown. PHASES Of the many papers published on various phases of the Bessemer process, nearly 170 according to one bibliography, over go per cent were concerned with the metallurgical phase and less than 10 per cent discussed various sections of the pneumatic phase. Since the two phases are coincidental, apparently nine times as much thought has been given to the result as has been given to one of the causes of the Bessemer process. Is it not possible that if more attention had been paid to the pneumatics so many papers would not have had to be written on the troubles in the metallurgical phase? A study of published papers and conversation

Jan 1, 1941

Jan 1, 1890

Jan 11, 1950

By H. S. Munroe

The native copper of Lake Superior occurs in the form of fine grains and scales, disseminated in small percentage through the copper-bearing rock ; and in large and small masses, from a few pounds to several hundred tons in weight. Formerly the bulk of the copper came from the mines of Ontonagon and Keweenaw counties, producing mass copper. At present these mines furnish less than one-tenth of the total product, and fully one-half of this is from a single mine. The masses are usually found irregularly distributed in nearly vertical fissure veins, and require much dead work; in sinking, drifting, and stoping for their development. The risk and expense attending the working of these mines have made them, with few exceptions, anything but profitable.

Jan 1, 1880

By A. W. Dana, F. J. Shortsleeve, A. R. Troiano

The phenomenon of flake formation which may occur during cooling or room temperature aging of large steel sections is caused by a combination of hydrogen and stress. As such, the transformation characteristics of austenite in a particular section play a major role in the occurrence of flakes. Isothermal and continuous cooling studies demonstrated that flake formation is particularly sensitive to nature, distribution, and relative proportions of the microconstituents in the cooled sections. In the absence of transformation stresses, abnormally high hydrogen contents could be tolerated without flaking. Flakes were not found in the absence of transformation stresses. No correlation existed between average hydrogen content and flake formation where cooling stresses were low. Hydrogen in the steel was a necessary but not sufficient condition for flake formation. DESPITE a long history of laboratory and commercial investigations, the mechanics of hairline crack or flake formation in large steel sections remains unresolved. Recent publications1-5 emphasize that flaking is still a serious problem.* immediate cause of flaking is the pressure exerted by entrapped hydrogen gas that collects in small internal cavities or voids during cooling. When the temperature of steel is low enough to preclude extensive plastic flow, the cavity pressures cause local brittle fractures (flakes). 2—The microsegregation and transformation stress theory. According to this theory, flaking results from stresses arising from the volume changes accompanying the formation of martensite and/or low temperature bainite after a large portion of the section has transformed at elevated temperatures. The proponents of the hydrogen theory suggest that stresses from other sources may be additive to the stresses produced by hydrogen and may, in some cases, provide the increment of stress necessary to produce flakes. However, the critical aspect of this theory is that no stress, except that produced by hydrogen pressure, is believed to be sufficient in itself to produce flakes. For practical considerations, this means that the only safe thermal cycle is one that reduces the hydrogen content to some low critical level below which flaking will not occur regardless of the state of transformation. On the other hand, the transformation stress theory does not rule out the embrittling effect of hydrogen. This theory simply proposes that flaking does not occur in the absence of transformation stresses. With the transformation stress theory as a basis, commercial antiflaking cycles would be designed to complete the transformation of austenite prior to cooling to ambient temperatures. Both of these theories appear compatible with industrial experience. Antiflaking cycles, such as cooling at extremely conservative rates or soaking for periods of time in the upper subcritical temperature ranges prior to cooling to ambient temperatures, may allow the following: 1—diffusion of hydrogen out of the section and, as a consequence, reduction of the hydrogen content to some safe minimum value (hydrogen pressure theory) and 2—complete decomposition of the austenite at rela-

Jan 1, 1956

By Molly Gleiser

The standard free energies of formation of some gaseous metal oxides together with those of their condensed oxides have been plotted against temperature. The heats of formation of the gaseozcs oxides are tabulated. An explanation is given of the use of the data to predict the importance of the gaseous metal oxides at high tenzperatures. RECENT mass spectrometric work1 has resulted in the detection of several hitherto unknown gaseous oxides and the measurement of their free energies of formation. Of especial interest is the fact that several of the refractories in common use either as crucibles or furnace tubes, and metals used in Knudsen cells and in furnace windings, have been found to have one or more stable gaseous oxides. In view of the present emphasis on high-temperature techniques, the development of vacuum metallurgy.z heating by electron bombardment and plasma jets, and the resultant shift to ever higher temperatures, it is no longer possible to plan experiments without taking into consideration the significance of the presence of these gases in the system, the reactions they undergo. and their contribution to the vapor pressure. A good example of what went wrong in earlier work, when the existence of these gaseous molecules was not yet known, is presented by the work of Hoch, Nakata, and Johnston. Hoch and coworkers attempted to measure the vapor pressure of solid ZrO2 by letting the vapor in equilibrium with zir-conia effuse from a tantalum Knudsen cell. The free energies of formation of solid zirconia and tantala are such that a short calculation showed that the reaction

Jan 1, 1962

By I. C. White

Only two factors appear to be directly responsible for the geographic distribution of sulfur in the coal fields of West Virginia: these are the stratigraphic position of the coals in question, and the eastward or westward location of the deposits. There appears to be a progressive increase in the sulfur content of West Virginia coals from the oldest Peqnsylvanian deposits in the Pocahontas, New River, and Kanawha Groups of the Pottsville Series up through the Allegheny, Conemaugh, and

Jan 1, 1920

By Eric Jette

IN order to control a chemical process by other than empirical, rule of thumb methods, two types of knowledge concerning the reactions involved must be available: (1) the thermodynamics of the reactions, and (2), by no means less important for efficient operation, the mechanisms and kinetics of the reactions. Information on the thermodynamic side enables the operator to decide upon initial and final conditions, whether heat must be .added or removed from the system, whether the reactions proceed farthest in the desired direction at high pressure or low, etc. Knowledge of the mechanisms involves the determination of the individual steps by which an initial set of reactants, under given conditions, proceed to give the desired final products and kinetic studies upon which the mechanisms are based give the speed at which each of these reactions or steps take place. Thus thermodynamic studies of a 'reaction enable the operator to control the direction and extent to which the reaction can proceed, while kinetic studies enable him to control rates and thus the time' efficiency of the operations. The thermodynamics set the limit to which the reacting system approaches; the kinetics tell how fast the system actually approaches this limit. The two types of information are complementary and not antagonistic even though in discussing the mechanism the introduction of thermodynamics is entirely needless and generally of no assistance, while in thermodynamic studies mechanism need not even be mentioned.

Jan 1, 1931

By Michael B. Moolman

Both conventional and nonconventional process alternatives for gold recovery from cyanide heap leach solutions are discussed in terms of possible flowsheets. Conventional process alternatives include carbon adsorption and zinc dust precipitation, while nonconventional process alternatives include resin ion exchange, solvent extraction, and direct electrowinning. These strategies for gold recovery are compared on the basis of technological features and on the basis of process economics: Review of the technology status and process economics suggests that improvements for conventional process alternatives are possible and that further development of nonconventional process alternatives is warranted.

Jan 1, 1984

By W. O. Crosby

Washington Camp, in Santa Cruz county, Arizona, is a small and little-known mining-district situated on the lower, eastern slope of the Patagonia mountains, about 20 miles east of Nogales and a like distance south of Patagonia Station on the Sonora railroad, which connects at Benson, 83 miles from Nogales, with the main line of the Southern Pacific. This district is also about 4 miles north of the international boundary, 35 miles west of Bisbee and 40 miles north of Cananea, in Sonora. The topography of the district, which lies at a general elevation of 5,500 ft. above the sea, is only very moderately rugged, and presents no obstacles to mining-operations. Although some of the claims of the camp, including the Pride of the West,, Belmont and Holland, were extensively worked for silver 25 years ago, they passed, at moderate depths, as in so many other districts, out of the argentiferous lead carbonate and sulphide, into zinc, copper and iron sulphides ; and for two decades the camp was abandoned and almost forgotten. In recent years, however, its apparent possibilities as a copper-producer have led to a revival of mining-activity; but not, as yet, with conspicuous success. Although economically relatively unimportant, the deposits of Washington Camp are, mineralogically and structurally, nevertheless, typical examples of ore-bodies developed in connection with the garnet ledge now recognized as a normal feature of granite-limestone contacts; and, in the opinion of the writer, this is an instance where a minor example is yet essentially normal and capable of throwing important light upon the origin and genetic relations of the type.

Jan 1, 1906