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By Robert Greenwood

The advent of the space age and its promise of interplanetary flight has prompted new ideas for propulsion systems that will allow maximum energy with minimum fuel weight. The use of cesium as the source of energy for such rocket flights has been found desirable. Theoretical efficiency of a rocket fuel is measured in terms of specific impulse, defined as the number of pounds of thrust per pound of propellant consumed per second. Specific impulse is usually expressed in seconds (the number of seconds for which one pound of fuel would produce one pound of thrust) although it is really a measure of total energy, not of power. The most sophisticated chemical fuels have a specific impulse of 300 to 400 sec; liquid hydrogen heated by nuclear reactor has a specific impulse of 1000 to 1200 sec. Specific impulses as high as 20,000 sec, however, are theoretically attainable with the ion rocket, in which free cesium ions are accelerated across a voltage drop and ejected at high velocity.' Characteristics of the system have been sketched by Boden. The desirable properties of an ion propellant are: 1) low ionization potential, 2) low boiling point, and 3) high atomic weight. Alkali metals best fulfill these requirements, and Table I indicates the superiority of cesium. The use of heavy complex ions such as UCl; is ruled out by their instability and other disadvantages.

Jan 5, 1960

By William Glenn

Almost beyond doubt, the most important contribution to the assaying of copper yet made, is that of Mr. Eustis (Bans., xi., 120) on the " Comparison of Various Methods of Copper Analysis," which indicates in a manner for which the assayer cannot but feel grateful, how a copper sample ought to be treated from the moment it enters the laboratory until the copper is finally weighed. Admitting, as the present writer is inclined to do, that this paper establishes, as the official standard, the method of electrolysis, we may note as one of the few details which it does not finally fix, the kind of battery most desirable for precipitating the copper upon platinum. In this respect each assayer appears to be a law unto himself, while all feel more or less " shaky " as to the results. Classsen seems to suggest a remedy when he directs the measuring of the -gases liberated by the battery employed. But, in fact, that measure is not a constant in the Bunsen elements which he prescribes for copper determination. Furthermore, measuring gases necessitates more machinery and labor than the average assayer has a stomach for. It is, however, but just to Classen, to whom we owe so much, to reeall that he wrote more especially for students in the schools.

Jan 1, 1889

Every 12 minutes, a cable operated skip car appears from beneath the desert surface of Arizona's Papago Indian Reservation. The Papagos have become quite used to the car, particularly those whose paychecks depend upon its regular appearance. The 24-ton capacity skip or tramcar hauls copper ore out of the North Decline of Hecla Mining Company's new mine about 30 mi south of Casa Grande. While there's nothing particularly glamorous about the skip itself, the railroad system upon which it travels is interesting because of the unconventional way it was built.

Jan 6, 1974

By Shirley Mason, L.G. Huntley

The predominant sedimentary formations in Colombia are those of Tertiary age. They form the floor of the Magdalena Rivcr valley and the coastal plain that borders the Caribbean Sea: this is also true of the southern part of the narrow coastal belt of the Pacific coast.

Jan 1, 1923

By W. D. Roberts

INTERGRANULAR corrosion of metals and alloys has been extensively investigated and the current conclusions are summarized in the Symposium on Stress-Corrosion Cracking of Metals.' It appears, however, that the relative importance of the various factors involved in the mechanism is still obscure. Several recent, independent studies, in combination with available X ray data op preferred orientation, indicate that there may be a direct correlation between relative orientation of contiguous grains and susceptibility to intergranular corrosion. The object of the present note is to show the nature

Jan 1, 1951

By David A. Wracher

A geologist may produce for himself a surprisingly accurate photo base map and stereo coverage at low cost without the use of expensive equipment and complex photogrammetry. If care is taken and the program well thought out, good results can be expected. The only equipment necessary in this method is a small format (small negative size) camera, a few rolls of film and the appropriate filters. A light aircraft, with an opening in the bottom, is preferable so that the pictures can be taken vertically and from inside - the aircraft. The method will produce high resolution prints at large scales in the range of 1: 1200 to 1:7200.

Jan 11, 1973

By Shirley Mason, L. G. Huntley

The predominant sedimentary formations in Colombia are those of Tertiary age. They form the floor of the Magdalena Rivcr valley and the coastal plain that borders the Caribbean Sea: this is also true of the southern part of the narrow coastal belt of the Pacific coast.

Jan 1, 1923

CHAIRMAN (J . E. JOHNSON, J R., New York, N. Y.).-It may be n matter of some interest that sodium cyanide is now being made commercially by melting together in an electric furnace calcium cyanide with a common salt, which produces calcium chloride and sodium cyanide. It seems to me entirely possible that you have here about the same results that would be obtained by melting calcium chloride and ordinary cyanide together, only you obtain it a good deal cheaper. There is no doubt about that reaction once it is being carried on on a large industrial scale for the manufacture of cyanide for other uses. I think probably the same, thing takes place here, with the possible exception of lowering the melting point due to the presence of the calcium chloride.

Jan 5, 1919

By Merlyn B. Buhle

FOR the past 20 years electrical earth resistivity exploration has been used in Illinois in many phases of study undertaken by the State Geological Survey, chiefly in locating and outlining deposits of water-bearing sand and gravel from which to obtain ground water for municipal and industrial supplies. At least 43 municipalities in the state derive their total water supply from deposits of sand and gravel discovered by resistivity methods. These deposits occur in both Quaternary and preglacial valleys and within much of the glacial drift which covers .a large portion of the state

Jan 4, 1953

The petition for the formation of a Tulsa Section was granted. The final budget for the year 1917, and the tentative budget for the year 1918, were adopted. The Secretary was instructed to continue to send the Bulletin to all members whose dues have been remitted on account of their being in the war service, but to hold the Transactions and send them on request to the address furnished for the purpose. The issues of the Bulletin were presented to the Federal Fuel Administration, at its request, with the compliments of the Institute. Fifty-nine Members, five Associates, and fifteen Junior Members were elected. The resignation of one member was accepted. The clues of four members who are on active duty at the front were remitted. An extension of time for the payment of clues was granted to four members, upon request.

Jan 2, 1918

By Alfred Weiss

Approximately 850 delegates from 24 countries met in Tokyo, Japan, May 24-27, for the second MMIJ-AIME Joint Meeting in 55 years, to exchange technical knowledge and experience in the fields of exploration, mining, metallurgy and petroleum engineering. The first such meeting was held in 1917 in Kyoto, Japan. Although the Mining and Metallurgical Institute of Japan was the sponsor, the entire meeting (machinery exposition, technical program, and tours) was a joint effort of the two institutes.

Jan 7, 1972

By D. Brabec

Previous studies have demonstrated the possibility of using aqua regia-extractable copper and zinc in plutonic rocks in exploration geochemistry. The present investigation compares this method of extraction with hydrofluoric-perchloric acid attack and bisulfate fusion in terms of precision and discrimination between high and low concentrations. Statistical treatment of data shows that the overall performance of the aqua regia method compares very favorably with other methods of attack.

Jan 1, 1972

It appears that Utah is about to add another mining district to its already impressive roster. This time it is the Great Salt Lake, whose high-mineral content waters are being subjected to intensive study aimed toward the recovery of potassium, magnesium and lithium compounds by solar evaporation techniques. Among the firms conducting such experiments is Lithium Corporation of America, which, in a joint venture with West Germany's Salzdetfurth A.G., is operating evaporating ponds and running engineering tests at a site near Little Mountain, about ten miles west of Ogden. Here, on the clay flats along the northern portion of the lake, LCA holds leases and options totalling about 55,000 acres in the Bear River Basin.

Jan 7, 1966

By W. Randolph Van Lewis

In determilling the relative rate and in fi~lding the point where different inlpurities containecl in copper-matte are eliminated during the process of a converter-blow, the follo~ving results were obtainecl : A converter was selected which was starting on its sccolld charge. The first charge after lining had finished its copper " hot," and conseqaently no copper was adhering to the sides of the lining. All the copper and granulated slag from the previous charpc mcrc dumped, thus removing ally possibility of " salting " the matte to be tested. The coliverter worked fast and well during the entire test. Periods of ten minutes were selected. The converter mas brought from the stack to secure each sanlple of matte to be

Jan 1, 1904

By M. Semchyshen, G. A. Timmons

P. A. Beck (University of Illinois, Urbana, 111.)—An interesting result of this work is the fact that in cold rolled molybdenum sheet complete loss of work hardening is obtainable on annealing, without change in texture. The retainment of the cross-rolling texture on soft-annealing is particularly significant, since this is essentially a single orientation texture, where texture retainment could be achieved by only one of the two niechanisms which produce this effect in aluminum,16 namely by recrystallization in situ. Recrystallization in situ was originally discovered by Collins and Mathewson (1940) and by Crussard (1944) as a phenomenon taking place on annealing in relatively mildly deformed single crystals of aluminum. It now appears to be a major (in many cases the major) mechanism of annealing of severely cold rolled poly-crystalline material, not only in aluminum,le but in metals as different in character as beryllium," tita- nium,'" and molybdenum. All these data now confirm the general validity, at least for more or less pure metals, of the interpretation of the annealing process given a few years ago by Smith.'" The whole question of recrystallization is now reopened. Indeed, it appears that recrystallization, as defined traditionally, may not occur at all, since at the time "deformed material" is absorbed by "recrystallized grains," it has already become completely strain free by recovery and "recrystallization in situ."

Jan 1, 1953

By H. Margolin, E. Ence

A. J. Goldak and J. Gordon Parr University of Alberta) —Margolin and Ence's paper reached us only a few days after we had submitted a paper on the structure of Ti2Cu to the AIME. Here, however, we only wish to point out an error in the paper (page 321): "Karlsson has reported the crystal structure of the first intermediate phase occurring in the Ti-rich portion of the Ti-Cu system to be face-centered tetragonal." Karlsson actually reported the structure of Ti3Cu (i.e., "the first intermediate phase") to be primitive tetragonal with four atoms per lattice point: Cu at 0, 0, 0; and Ti at 1/2, 1/2, 0; 0, 1/2, 1/2; and 1/2, 0, 1/2. Thus, Karlsson suggests a primitive lattice with an ordered arrangement of atoms located at corners and face-centers: Ence and Margolin suggest a random body-centered tetragonal structure—-with which our results agree. E. Ence and H. Margolin (azlt1zo.l-s' reply)— We do not agree that Karlsson has not reported the structure of Ti3Cu as face-centered tetragonal. The fact that Cu atoms are located at the corners and titanium at the face-centers does not indicate that the lattice is not face-centered. We are pleased that the discussers' results agree with our own.

Jan 1, 1962

By W. R. Ingalls

MANY years ago, I expressed the opinion, in writings and otherwise, that it was possible to desulfurize zinc blende autogenously, i.e., without the use of extraneous fuel, and that at some time this would be accomplished. This opinion was based on thermal calculations and also on observations of the behavior of blende during roasting in different ways, all of which observations tended to confirm the theoretical calculations. Among such observations were things like the following: Once in carrying out the stall roast of cupriferous pyrites as a regular metal-lurgical operation, I was minded to charge a stall with lump blende, ranging from walnut to egg size, as I recollect, following the same procedure as with pyrites, and setting fire to the kindling wood, observe what would happen. The blende charge ignited well enough and bravely began to burn, quite actively the first day, at a diminished rate the second day, while on the third day burning ceased and the charge quickly became cold. It was just like trying to set a grate full of anthracite afire with insufficient kindling wood. The volume of air drawn through the stall was too great, quickly cooling the entire contents below the ignition temperature, which means, of course, that burning ceased.

Jan 12, 1922

By Francis Laur

BAUXITE, at first considered as a mineralogical curiosity without importance, now attracts daily increased attention from mineralogists, geologists, and manufacturers. The metallurgy of aluminum, which has entered with the advent of electrolysis upon a new phase within the last few years, requires every day larger quantities of pure alumina, and this can only be obtained from bauxite, which is, of known substances, the richest in free alumina. Bauxite has been mined since 1872 in France, whereabout 200,000 tons have been produced, and where, as a natural consequence, its deposits, qualities, and applications have become known. Within a few years past, discoveries of important deposits of bauxite have been made in the United States and Canada, and this almost entirely new subject has thus acquired an additional interest for the mining engineers and metallurgists of the American continent. A brief summary of the available data concerning it appears likely, therefore, to be appropriate and valuable.* I.—HISTORICAL. It was in 1821 that the famous chemist Berthier discovered at Baux (Bouches du Rhône) a hydrate of alumina (varying from 66 to 79 per cent. in its contents of the oxide) mixed with silica and

Jan 1, 1895

Insoluble slimes are present in nearly all sylvinite ore bodies and must be removed prior to potash flotation because they adsorb excessive amounts of potash flotation reagents and cause low potash recoveries and grades. The problems associated with insoluble slimes will become more pronounced as high grade-low insol potash ores are depleted and lower grade ores containing high insols are processed. The most common commercial practice for insoluble slimes removal is mechanical desliming (hydroclassification); however, most of these desliming circuits were designed to treat sylvinite ores containing less than 4 percent insoluble slimes. As Mr. Banks mentioned in his presentation, higher insoluble slimes concentrations (>4 pct) in the mill feed overtax the mechanical desliming circuit and result in excessive brine and potash losses. Increasing the capacity of the circuit would require redesigning of the entire potash circuit and additional costly equipment. Because of mineralization and liberation properties of the high insols sylvinite deposits, the expansion of the desliming circuit may not economically maintain high potash grades and recoveries. Selective flocculation-flotation is an excellent alternative for removing insoluble slimes from potash ores. Cominco's ore, containing 4.5 to 8 percent insoluble slimes, is particularly amenable to the slimes flotation process, probably because of the absence of expanding-type clays such as montmorillonite. The overall potash recovery of 86 percent and low slime flocculant and collector dosages of 0.03 to 0.04 pound reagent per ton of feed is good evidence of the success of the process. If appreciable montmorillonite were present, the metallurgy would not be as favorable and reagent consumptions would increase significantly.

Jan 1, 1979

By R. F. Hewlett

All ore reserve estimates are based on some system for assigning an area of influence to each drill hole. Commonly used methods of calculation are the polygonal, triangular, statistical analysis, and cross-sectional. Each of these methods is based on different volumetric considerations and the weighting of grade with tonnage varies with each method. Because the characteristics of each mineral deposit are different, a preliminary survey of these characteristics should be made for each individual deposit to determine which method or methods should be used. In this project the several methods were not only compared with one another, but also against actual production records. Basic data was derived from a mined out portion of the Silver Bell pit near Tucson, Ariz. All calculation was carried out on a digital computer, and the first step was development of computer programs which would yield the desired information. The second step was the coding of input data into punched card form. Cost and speed of computer operation were measured, and these results are given with the computer program summaries on page 38.

Jan 1, 1961