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By G. M. Wilemon, J. G. Davis, R. G. Swanton, B. J. Scheiner

The US Bureau of Mines has conducted investigations on extracting phosphate values from wastes generated during the mining and beneficiation of phosphate matrix. These wastes may contain up to one third of the phosphate originally present in untreated ore. Samples of wastes were air-dried and leached using 93% sulfuric acid in the presence of methanol. Evidence for the formation of a calcium sulfate hemihydrate coating that hinders complete dissolution of phosphate is presented. Solid-liquid separations were enhanced when flocculation was effected using poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) in conjunction with hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) or hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC). A conceptual flowsheet for a proposed process using an acid-alcohol leaching technique is presented.

Jan 1, 1991

By B. G. Hicks

The Manapouri Power Project is located in New Zealand's South Island Fiordland. The project is being constructed for the New Zealand Ministry of Works. Construction began in 1963 and is scheduled' for completion in 1969. The project will divert water from the natural, glacially carved Lake Manapouri, at Elevation 580, through vertical- penstocks into an underground powerhouse 364 feet long, 127 feet high, and 59 feet wide excavated about 700 feet below ground surface and about 560 feet below the present lake level. The possible ultimate power installation will produce 700 megawatts from turbines located in the underground machine hall. The turbine flow will discharge through the 6-mile, 30-foot diameter tailrace tunnel into a fiord arm of the Tasman Sea. The rocks in the project area are primarily Paleozoic Fiordland Complex gneiss, schist, amphibolite, and marble intruded by granitic rocks and pegmatite. Shear zones have been encountered in the tunnels and machine hall. These produce water and occasionally require steel support. The machine hall arch was stabilized entirely by rock bolt reinforcement. Rock mechanics instrumentation has been used throughout the project both for pre-construction design calculations and to monitor tunnel rock loads and movements of the machine hall roof and walls. About 28 miles of the 100-mile transmission line will be constructed across glacially oversteepened slopes and debris or swamp filled valleys between the power plant and the eastern edge of the mountainous area. Steep glacially carved rock slopes and locally unstable glacial till complicated construction of the transmission line access roads.

Jan 1, 1968

By W. H. Geis

The following pages summarize the causes that led to the suggestion of unit operation of the paloma field, the organization of com-mittees, preparation of the Paloma Operators Agreement and the reasons for rejection of the plan. Introduction Long ago an Austrian physicist observed that under certain conditions the condensation of a liquid from gaseous mixtures resulted from pressure reduction. Some 50 years later he would have known that his research was not in vain. He would have seen a group of serious operators and engineers seeking to apply that principle to a conservation . program for unitized production in the Paloma gas field—but he would also have been saddened to see that forces unsympathetic to the application of science in oil production, with little or no appreciation of modern methods and the advantages of cooperation, so far have prevented the adoption of that program. Soon after the Paloma field was discovered it was realized that all the hydrocarbons in the reservoir existed in the gaseous phase. This condition was confirmed over a large area. Therefore, if the field was to be properly exploited with the greatest ultimate recovery of condensate, the hydrocarbons in the reservoir must be produced in the single or gas phase. They must be cautiously extracted with the least possible reduction of the natural pressure. If this could be accomplished, or if artificial pressure control were utilized, the condensation and underground loss of the valuable distillate would be preventable—otherwise it would not be. Wholehearted cooperation of all oper-ators was required in order to accomplish the conservation purposes of the program. To this end the production engineers of the several companies concerned lent their time and talents. They fully investigated the physical relationships of the products within the complicated gaseous mixture, prepared extensive reports on the subject and drew up a reasonably efficient plan of operations, which now is commonly called the "Paloma Unit Plan" but actually was entitled "The Paloma Operators Agreement." All of the engineers were not in perfect agreement on all the features of the plan, or even on all the engineering principles. However, it is safe to say that on all the important or essential factors there was a unanimity of opinion, particularly as to the objectives. These were fairly simple and reduce to one controlling item, "pressure control" by cycling or recycling. Organization The principal operators initiated the program by calling a meeting of all the lessees in the area, at which an organization was perfected, known as the "Paloma Operators Committee." Various subcommittees were appointed to expedite the work, including an "Engineering Committee." These func-tioned in a businesslike manner, frequently reported to the superior committee and

Jan 1, 1942

By N. V. Peterson, R. S. Mason

Pumice, pumicite, and cinders are all products of explosive volcanic eruptions. Pumice and pumicite are produced by the violent expansion of dissolved gases in a viscous silicic lava such as rhyolite or dacite. Pumice is a light-colored, cellular, almost frothy rock made up of glass-walled bubble casts. It may occur as coherent, massive blocks composed of highly vesicular glassy lava in either a flow or vent filling, or it may be more or less fragmented by violent eruption. Pumicite has the same origin, chemical composition, and glassy structure as pumice differing only in particle size. Particles less than 4 mm in diam are designated pumicite. Pumice is usually found relatively close to the vent from which it was erupted while pumicite may be carried by winds for great distances before settling as an accumulation of fine-grained ash or tuffaceous sediment. Volcanic cinders are the reddish to black vesicular fragments that pile up during explosive eruptions of volcanoes of basaltic composition. Most deposits of cinders occur as cones or mounds of stratified fragments that range in size from a fraction of an inch to several inches in diameter. Individual cones or mounds of cinders may be several hundreds of feet in diameter and as much as 500 ft high. Properties The properties that make pumice and pumicite useful in industrial applications include: low-bulk density, good heat and sound insulating properties, and excellent abrasive capability. Cinders, even though less cellular and somewhat heavier, also have a variety of industrial uses. Uses The main use of pumice and cinders continues to be in the construction industry as road-surfacing material, railroad ballast, building block aggregate, in lightweight structural concrete, and as plaster aggregate. Both pumice and pumicite continue to be used as abrasives for polishing glass, metal, leather, stone, and wood. Some scouring powders and soaps also contain pumicite. Minor uses include fillers, absorbents, carriers for insecticides, catalyst carriers, filters, and soil conditioners. Pumicite is also used in sizable quantities as a pozzolanic additive in monolithic concrete where it increases the workability, strength, and durability of the concrete and reduces the heat of hydration. Volcanic cinders are generally denser and more coarsely cellular than most pumice. Markets for cinders include aggregate for road construction and surfacing and in lightweight concretes, particularly blocks. Some producers having access to both pumice and cinders offer a variety of blends of the two materials to block manufacturers. Most pumice deposits are unconsolidated and usually have a minimum of overburden. Mining is by open pit and can be easily carried out with conventional loading equipment. Sometimes air-drying precedes hauling to a crushing and screening plant which yields the size product desired. Multiple bins at railroad hauling facilities permit blending if desired. Pumice for abrasive use may require more sophisticated processing by fine grinding and air classification before being bagged for market. Block pumice in economic quantity and quality is limited to a few geologically young

Jan 1, 1975

By C. Law McCabe, R. G. Hudson

The Knudsen cell has been employed to determine the free energy of formation of Mn7Cs in the temperature range 800" to 950°C. A value of 66,440 cal was found for hH°o for a-manganese. Measurements of the pressure of manganese over a mixed carbide, (Fe,Mn),C, points to a power relationship between aun7cs and N.4,. RECENTLY Kuo and Perssonl have reported that the carbide of manganese which is in equilibrium with graphite at temperatures up to 1100° C is Mn7Ca. There are no published data on the thermo-dynamic properties of this compound. In order to determine the stability of Mn7Ca, it appeared that, by obtaining the pressure of manganese above 8-manganese and also above Mn,C, in equilibrium with graphite, the free energy of formation of Mn7Ca from 8-manganese and graphite could be obtained. In addition, the vapor pressure of manganese, reported by Kelley From data of Bauer and Brunner,' is subject to some uncertainty and further determinations of the vapor pressure of manganese seemed warranted. In this investigation of the pressure of manganese vapor above pure manganese and also above the carbide of manganese in equilibrium with graphite the apparatus used is the Knudsen orifice cell. The same apparatus, experimental procedure, and method of calculating the pressure was used in this investigation as in one previously reported.~ Care was taken to insure that the cells were at constant weight before using them in a run. The manganese charged in the cell was CP grade powder, carbon free, obtained from the Fisher Scientific Co. A spectroscopic analysis of the manganese after appreciable amounts of it had vaporized from the Knudsen cell showed that no element was present in sufficient quantities to contribute to a weighable weight loss or to decrease the vapor pressure of manganese to any appreciable extent. The spectro-graphic analysis was 0.002 pct Cu, 0.05 pct Fe, 0.002 pct Pb, and 0.002 pct Ni. 8-manganesea is the allo-tropic form of manganese which was present in the cell at temperatures used in this investigation. The manganese carbide, Mn,Ca, was made in the following way: In a closed graphite cell manganese powder was added to graphite powder, which was made from graphite rods for spectrographic use. The manganese powder was the same as that described previously; 5 pct excess graphite was added over that required for the formation of Mn7C,. The mixture was heated in a closed graphite cell for approximately 20 hr at 1350°K under vacuum. X-ray analysis revealed that there was no manganese present after this treatment, but that the lines due to Mn,C, were present. In order to prove that there was no volatile carbide of manganese which was effusing out of the cell, the following experiment was performed: A graphite effusion cell containing graphite power, in excess of that to form Mn,C, of a desired amount, was brought to constant weight on heating at 1228°K. The required amount of manganese was accurately weighed and then added to the graphite effusion cell. The cell was placed in a vacuum at 1228°K for one week, which was the time calculated for the manganese to have effused completely, assuming instantaneous formation of Mn,C8. The cell was then weighed again. This experiment was carried out on two different occasions and both times the weight loss of the cell came within 1 pct of the weight of manganese originally charged minus the weight of manganese left in the cell, as determined by chemical analysis. These data are summarized in Table I. This agreement is considered to be within experimental error and is taken as proof that no carbide of manganese is volatile in this temperature range. It was established, by X-ray analysis, that Mn,C, formed before appreciable amounts of manganese vaporized from the metal powder which was charged. The identification of the carbide of manganese which was present in the Knudsen cell in equilibrium with graphite and manganese vapor was carried out by Kehsin Kuo at the University of Uppsala. He established that the authors' sample, which was submitted to him for analysis, contained the phase

Jan 1, 1958

By Howland Bancroft, Louis S. Cates

WE have come a long way since the order of the day was the chance discovery of mineral deposits, breaking rock with fire and water, melting metals in open fires in holes in the ground or in primitive furnaces, digging pits to collect. oil seepages, burning eroded coal outcrops to develop heat, and so on. During the past 5500 years, gradual improvements in methods and equipment have come about, explosives have been developed and used, steel has been used in increasing quantities and effectiveness as its physical and chemical characteristics, and composition have been altered and made to serve specific ends, hand equipment has given way to almost completely mechanized operation Thus, by the aid of mechanical equipment, one person is now able to move several thousand times as much material as one person was able to move a relatively few years ago. When this Institute was formed 75 years ago, the Suez Canal had been open to traffic but three years. It had taken ten years to complete and was built under the direction of French engineers by workers of whom many were girls. During the first four years of construction, these workers dug up the sand with their fingers, threw it into rush baskets, carried the load a hundred feet or so and dumped it 2 (With the termination of forced labor, dredgers completed the digging of the channel.) At the present time there is in use in the United

Jan 1, 1947

By R Skirrow, E Bastrakov, A Mauger, P

A new rapid spectroscopic core and chip logging and imaging system developed by CSIRO was evaluated by PIRSA and GA on a wide variety of mineralised properties in South Australia, including the Emmie Bluff, iron oxide copper-gold-style prospect on the Stuart Shelf. During a three-month campaign in South Australia in 2003 the system logged over 50 000 metres of core from the State Core Library, company prospects and mines. The new system uses automated core tray handling, continuous visible and infrared spectroscopy, and digital imaging, to characterise and identify dominant mineral species on core, chips and pulps, at spatial resolutions of ~1 cm (spectral data) and ~0.1 mm (image data). The system can log up to 1000 m of core per day and several thousand metres of drill chips. Mineralogy is pre-interpreted using specialised identification software trained on a selected suite of minerals showing characteristic absorption features within the measured spectral range. On core from the Emmie Bluff iron oxide copper-gold prospect, 470 km NW of Adelaide and 80 km SSE of the Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au deposit, the spectral mapping system was able to characterise a number of alteration zones enveloping the sub-economic Cu-Au mineralisation. These consist of distal white mica phases showing decreasing Al content towards mineralisation, a zone of increased iron oxide content in the hangingwall to mineralisation, and a zone proximal and coincident to Cu-Au mineralisation that is enriched in chlorite with variable Mg/Fe chemistry. Additionally the results show background spectral characteristics that mimic the magnetite distribution.

Jan 1, 2004

By A. Perucho, J. P. Harrison, A. Bedi, L. Alejano, L. Lamas, A. Sofianos, A. M. Ferrero, R. Migliazza, R. Olsson, J-F. Mathier

"In 2010, the Eurocode for Geotechnical Design, EN-1997-1:2004 (CEN, 2004), informally known as Eurocode 7 or EC7, became the Reference Design Code (RDC) for geotechnical design – including rock engineering design – within the European Union (EU). EC7 is one standard within the comprehensive Structural Eurocode suite, which as a whole has been also adopted by a number of other countries beyond the EU. EC7 is thus becoming a key design standard for geotechnical engineering worldwide.As part of the Structural Eurocode suite, EC7 requires designs to adhere to the principles of Limit State Design. However, it is not clear that current rock engineering design practice can satisfy this requirement. In addition, evidence is accumulating that EC7 is currently difficult to apply to, and may even be inappropriate for, rock engineering design. These issues may be due to the fact that the development of EC7 to date took place without any formal input from the international rock mechanics and rock engineering community.In early 2011 under the auspices of CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation / European Committee for Standardisation), EC7 entered a formal period of maintenance which was aimed at improving the applicability and ease-of-use of the Code. This maintenance cycle will conclude in 2020 with the publication of a revised version of EC7.This paper describes a number of critical aspects for rock engineering in the context of EC7, inparticular the following:– the history of the Structural Eurocodes and the concepts they embody;– the nature of Limit State Design and the challenges and opportunities it poses for rock engineering design;– the formal means by which the Structural Eurocode maintenance cycle proceeds;– the plans currently being developed for improving EC7 with regard to rock engineering design and construction;– the unique and vital opportunity for the entire international rock mechanics and rock engineering community to comment on the Code and make suggestions for its improvement."

Jan 1, 2015

By R. H. Sweetser

At the Buffalo meeting in October, 1898 (Trans., xxviii., 865), our Secretary, Dr. Raymond, in speaking of the obstacles he had encountered in securing contributions to the Transactions from members in practice, said : " It is the disinclination of many members to communicate incomplete or partial or preliminary results. They are going to write, ' some day,' a thorough and monumental paper; and meanwhile they prefer to communicate nothing.... It is the difficulty to which I have just referred that I have encountered in a wide correspondence with members, undertaken for the purpose of securing contributions of fact and opinion concerning the special subject of this discussion.... Almost none of them seem to recognize the value of preliminary, incomplete and indecisive reports of practice, as laying the foundation for a thorough' inquiry." This remark was made in immediate reference to a discussion concerning blast-furnace tuyeres; but, notwithstanding this appeal from the Secretary, little has been recorded regarding the distribution, the penetration, and the pressure of the blast at the tuyeres and inside the iron blast-furnace. I am therefore encouraged to contribute the following incomplete and crude observations of the blast-pressure inside the hearth. At the suggestion of J. H. Frantz, the general manager of the Columbus Iron & Steel Go., a test was made at the East furnace of the company to determine whether there was any difference in blast-pressure at the different tuyeres. The apparatus used for this test was not sensitive enough to give accurate results. It consisted of a small pressure-gauge mounted on a 3/8-in. gas-pipe. A hollow plug, fitting into the peep-hole of the tuyere-cap, prevented the blast from blowing-out during the test. The test-pipe was held in place by means of the handle on the outer end.

Jan 1, 1910

By Joseph M. Dawson

Although eight new fields were discovered along the south central fault-line district of Texas during 1938, only one can be considered as of major importance. and as a whole the year was one of no very great development. Several prospects, particularly two, were condemned through drilling, which had been considered important for probable Edwards limestone production. The oil produced was approximately the same as during 1937; namely, about 9 million harrels. This, of course, does not represent potential production but that allowed under proration. The year witnessed the very rapid decline of operations and interest in Austin chalk production. It has been found that only in rare instances mill chalk production pay for itself, because the wells decline extremely rapidly and the recovery per acre, formerly estimated at 2500 bbl., is now considered to he around 1000 barrels. There was an intent interest in the drilling arid producing of edge and abandoned properties in the three Edwards lime producing fields; namely, Luling, Salt Flat and Darst Creek. Many good wells were completed on properties formerly considered below the water level or produced beyond the economic limit The Edwards is penetrated only a few inches and a very small charge of acid is used. The results have been surprisingly

Jan 1, 1939

By A. Zhecheva

A commercial titanium alloy Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo has been gas nitrided in this work, in pure nitrogen atmosphere in order to improve its surface properties. The nitriding was performed at two different temperatures, 950 and 1050°C, and for different periods of time. The influence of the initial surface roughness on the diffusion process and on the surface properties of this material was studied. The influence of the processing parameters of gas nitriding on the surface roughness, phase modifications and the microstructure of the nitrided layers has been analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. Microhardness profiles were obtained on cross-sections of the samples after gas nitriding applying a Knoop indenter.

Jan 1, 2004

By H. I. Aaronson

THE TTT-curve for the beginning of transformation in hypoeutectoid steels containing appreciable amounts of relatively strong carbide-forming alloying elements often exhibits a "bay" at intermediate temperatures. In many of these steels, proeutectoid ferrite is the initial product of the decomposition of austenite not only at temperatures above the bay but also in an appreciable temperature range below the region of the bay. Hultgren has postulated that ferrite formed above the bay, termed "orthoferrite", contains the equilibrium concentration of alloying element at temperatures above the eutectoid range, and the extrapolated metastable equilibrium concentration at lower temperatures. The ferrite formed below the bay, on the other hand, termed "paraferrite", was assumed to inherit completely the bulk alloy content of the austenite without regard for the compositional requirements of equilibrium. As shown schematically in Fig. 1, the two types of ferrite were taken to have different Ae3 temperatures and different C-curves on a TTT-diagram. Their different kinetic behaviors were thus considered responsible for the bay in the TTT-curve for the proeutectoid ferrite reaction in this type of alloy steel.

Jan 1, 1962

By Jerry Rowe

There are numerous examples of historic and recent mines that have no closure system or have poorly designed closure systems. These mines may contaminate water resources, land resources and cause significant impacts to human health and the environment. As a result of these problems, many regulatory agencies around the world require that mine closure systems be implemented to manage ARD and protect water resources. In this sense, the paper discusses some of the key elements that need to be evaluated when selecting a mine closure system. These include the specific site climatic, hydrogeologic, hydrologic and geochemical conditions that must be considered for closure design. Two examples of innovative mine closure systems that have been implemented to take advantage of site specific conditions to effectively manage water are provided. The mine closure systems incorporate passive measures to control ARD (acid rock drainage) and protect water resources.

Sep 21, 2013

By G. J. Wolga, W. W. Tyler, A. C. Wilson

THE physical properties of uranium have been reviewed by Katz and Rabinowitch.1 Their review includes thermal conductivity data for ternperatures above 375°K. Recently, Mendelssohn and Rosenberg' have published data on the thermal conductivity of uranium from 2" to 20°K. Our measuremerits indicate the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity in the temperature interval from 20" to 300°K. Electrical resistivity and thermoelectric power were measured on the same sample. The material studied was normal uranium which had been heated at 700°C in a lead bath for 10 min and then quenched in a water bath held at 50°C. From this material a rod M in. in diameter and 2 1/2 in. long was machined. Two 0.040 in. holes were drilled into the rod 1 3/4 in. apart. Copper-constantan thermocouples for temperature and potential measurements were soldered to copper pins which were pressed tightly into these holes. Details of the equipment and experimental techniques used in making the measurements have been described elsewhere." Fig. 1 shows micrographs of a section of the sample studied. Fig. la was taken with unpolarized light and shows impurity inclusions, probably uranium carbide. Fig. lb, showing the same field, was taken with polarized light and gives some indication of the grain size and twinning within the grains. Experimental Results Thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity data are shown in Fig. 2. Table I shows values of

Jan 1, 1954

By Henry Howe

W. E. RUDER, Schenectady, N. Y.-In 1913 I presented a paper before this society on Grain Growth, and at that time it seemed to me that the only explanation for grain growth was that of critical strain. I do not think I published the photographs at the time, but I made some experiments on the effect of stretching sheets of metal. This allowed for fairly accurate determinations of the amount of cold deformation, At the time I worked-with silicon steel because one could see the change in grain growth with the naked eye. I stretched about 10-samples from 0.5 per cent. to 10 per cent., and, after heating to 1,050° C., I found that the maximum grain growth occurred at about 2 ½ per cent. cold deformation. This I designated "the critical strain" for maximum grain growth. About a year ago I talked with Prof. Jeffries, who explained to me his ideas of grain growth. It occurred to me that it would be a very easy thing to check the strain hypothesis against the strain and temperature hypothesis, if we took a certain number of these strips, strained exactly alike and heated to different temperatures; in that case the maximum grain growth ought to appear at a different percentage of deformation for each temperature. These experiments showed that there was, as Mr. Jeffries shows in his present paper, a decrease in germinative temperature with increased cold deformation. The samples were stretched from ½ to 8 per cent. and heated for 10 hr. in hydrogen. Samples were introduced into a furnace previously heated to temperature. A maximum grain growth was obtained at 5 per cent. deformation, when heated to 750° C.; at 2 ½ per cent. when heated to 800' C.; at 1 1/4 per cent., if heated at 950°C.; and at 5/8 per cent.. when heated at 1,100° C. This shows very clearly that the germinative temperature decreases with the increase in cold deformation. The growth was very much more marked, however, at the high temperature, i.e., the grain grew more rapidly and attained a much larger size than at lower temperature. In considering the photographs (Fig. A) those along the lateral edges should be ignored because.

Jan 4, 1917

"Large scale open pit mining and quarrying operations dictate safe and reliable pit wall stability. The current approach of employing the particle velocity-scaled charge distance approach to estimate and minimize damage to residential structures is considered inadequate to protect rock slopes. This study utilizes close-in blasting vibration data as input to an advanced 2D numerical code to study its applicability to serve as a predictive tool in terms of blast-induced rock slope failure. Two tri-axial accelerometer stations, consisting of high-frequency and high-amplitude (20 kHz, 100g) sensors, located within ~100m of the blast, but at two different bench levels, were used to monitor a production blasting in a quarry. The production blast consisted of double-decked explosive loads in 155 mm (6 in) diameter holes, with an inter-deck delay of 42 ms, and each deck consisting of 130 kg (285 lb) of emulsionexplosive. The blasting vibration data obtained at the two bench levels were critically analyzed, and thevibration results served as input to the numerical model consisting of a single rock block with a 45 degree persistent joint plane but with specified strength properties, significantly different from that of the intact rock. The model was able to characterise progressive accumulation of damage in the form of micro-cracks along the joint surface as a function of the vibration load from successive explosive decks. The results showed that such a numerical model can serve as a very good diagnostic and predictive tool, when backed up by careful vibration monitoring and further supported by detailed slope monitoring."

Jan 1, 2017

By S. A. Braley

DRAINAGE water from coal mines is probably the most serious water pollution problem today, varying in importance according to location of the mines and geological structure. Drainage may be either acid or alkaline in character. Acid discharge, the most severely detrimental to a stream, is caused by natural oxidation of the sulfuritic material (FeS2) in the strata associated with the coal seam. Since the acid is the result of a natural reaction the acid water differs because it does not cease with abandonment of the mining operations. There is no known economical method of neutralizing acid mine water or any practical method to prevent oxidation of exposed pyrite. Since production of acid from a mine does not stop when mining stops, the total quantity produced depends entirely upon the excavated areas. The increasing volume of acid water in many mines has greatly increased operating costs. Pumping is expensive and acid mine waters are destructive of all equipment, especially metals in pumps and piping, and necessitate the use of corrosion-resistant materials. Discharge of the acid mine drainage into streams neutralizes their normal alkalinity, causes them to become acid, and produces an environment unfavorable for aquatic life and unsuited for industrial or domestic use without costly treatment.

Jan 1, 1957

By G. L. Hundley

An anhydrous chlorination process has been developed by the Bureau of Mines for the production of copper, ferric oxide, and sulfur from chalcopyrite. The first part of the process is a chlorination step in which elemental sulfur and a mixture of iron-copper chlorides are produced. This paper describes the second step of the process in which the copper and iron chlorides are reacted with oxygen to selectively convert the iron chloride to ferric oxide and chlorine leaving the copper in the chloride form. The chlorides are pulverized and dropped countercurrent to a flow of oxygen in a vertical 20-cm-diam. reactor at 800° C. By leaching with brine, the copper chloride may be separated from the insoluble iron oxide and reduced to copper powder by electrowinning. It has been demonstrated that 70 to 80 pct of the iron can be converted to oxide in a single-stage operation with a chlorine content in the offgas of 80 pct. After removal of the oxygen, this chlorine could be recycled to the chlorination step. A two-stage operation will convert 98 to 99 pct of the iron in the mixture to insoluble oxides. The offgas from the second stage contains 70 pct chlorine.

Jan 1, 1974

By D. S. Choi, D. L. McCain

INTRODUCTION Coal is forecast to be an increasingly important and economical source of energy for the future as the supply of oil and gas declines relative to overall energy demand and perhaps in absolute quantities produced. With the decline in productivity, especially in underground mining, in the early seventies coinciding with the need to produce greater quantities of coal for market, a gradual change from room-and-pillar mining to longwall mining has been taking place in the United States. Consolidation Coal Company (Consul) produces about 50 million tons of coal per year with approximately 66% being from underground mines. Most of the mines are located in the Appalachian Region in the States of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, and in Ohio and Illinois. Coal is produced by the room-and-pillar mining method with continuous mining machines in addition to an increasing number of longwall mining faces. Continuous mining machines will continue to be used for driving longwall development entries as well as in areas where partial extraction must be practiced in order to support the overburden rock because of surface structures or in areas that cannot be subsided, or where unfavorable geologic conditions limit the application of the longwall mining methods. ROOM-AND-PILLAR MINING METHOD Some background in the room-and-pillar mining method may be helpful to provide perspective. This method has been widely practiced since the beginning of coal mining in the region. It is a flexible system because it can provide either partial or nearly complete extraction, and coal pillars can be left where needed to support surface structures or oil or gas wells or because of unfavorable geologic conditions (Choi, Dahl and McCain, 1980).

Jan 1, 1983

Jan 1, 1923