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By Ferid Kromer

This paper is the first in a series which will describe geology, mining methods, and production costs of some, of Turkey's more important minerals. In this paper the economically significant minerals-chromite, meerschaum, and magnesite-of the Tagtepe district are described. The cost data presented are believed by the author to be the first made public on Turkish chromite mining.

Jan 1, 1950

By OTTO HERRES

TITANIUM is estimated to be the ninth most plentiful element, ranking after iron, aluminum, and magnesium, and ahead of copper, lead, and zinc. Vast quantities of titanium are widespread throughout the world in ore deposits and beach sands. Before the war, processing plants were operated in England, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Russia, Australia, United States, and Japan. In spite of its widespread occurrence, however, the U. S. Department of Justice has held the titanium industry to be a world monopoly and action was taken in the Federal court during the summer of 1945 to enjoin international patent and marketing agreements and to restore free competition. Possibly the rather surprising lack of public familiarity with this industry of international importance arises from its astonishingly rapid development and growth in the strong hands of some of the greatest chemical companies in the world, including the important foreign companies, Imperial Chemical Industries (British), Montecatini (Italian), I. G. Farben (German), and Titan Kogko Kabushiki Kaisha (Japanese). The rapid growth of the titanium industry in the United States is indicated by a tenfold increase of ore imports in the 1930 to 1940 decade before the war began to affect shipments from overseas. The fact that the industry formerly derived practically all ore for chemical processing in American plants from foreign sources probably also accounts for lack of general public knowledge of titanium. In 1939, to meet the requirements of increasing demand for the white pigment. titanium dioxide, more than 250,000 tons of titanium concentrates moved to this country, principally from the Travancore coast of India where the ilmenite concentrate from the beach sand runs as high as 60 per cent in titanium dioxide. Global warfare put a stop to shipping and thus gave rise to the development of titanium mining on a substantial scale in the United States during 1941.

Jan 1, 1946

By Karoly C. Kocsis, Kyle A. Scalise, Marcelo Bandeira Teixeira

Understanding the effects of various ventilation and climatic parameters on the work conditions and comfort in underground mines is critical for efficient ventilation system design and cost savings and to ensure the health and safety of mine workers. To understand the effects that the thermal damping effect (TDE) and the thermal flywheel effect (TFE) have on the ventilation system design and potential cooling system, this paper compares and analyzes the wet and dry-bulb temperatures at the bottom of an intake shaft using two modeling software packages, Ventsim™ and Climsim™. The comparison shows the consequences and importance of taking into account the TDE/TFE when predicting the climatic conditions in future underground mines, especially when deciding on whether a cooling system should be employed in order to provide adequate climatic conditions in the production stopes, dead-end development headings, and throughout the mine. Ventsim™is able to account for the TFE, while Climsim™does not. Both software packages have their uses and are used within the mining industry, but it is useful to understand their limitations and where the future of underground climatic modeling will lead.

Oct 9, 2020

By AIME

A GEOLOGIST --one versed in geology, the science which treats of the history of the earth and its life, especially as recorded in the rocks; that is Webster's definition. William Embry Wrather-one of the country's foremost geologists who heads the U. S. Geological Survey; this is the 1948 President of the Institute. He has studied the geology of areas on the face of the earth as far-flung as Texas and the Balkans, and now heads the world's largest staff of geologists. Vital statistics on Dr. Wrather would show his place of birth as Brandenburg, Ky., the year 1883. He will celebrate his threescore and five years of full living the twentieth of this month. As is usual in biographical sketches of this nature, the formative years of youth, and in many ways the most important years of one's life (since professional tendencies as well as many important personal decisions are evidenced before the teens are left behind) are passed over with the mere fact noted that a degree was earned at such and such educational institution. And so we note that Dr. Wrather received his Ph.B. degree at the University of Chicago in 1907, and followed up that degree with two years of graduate study.

Jan 1, 1948

By Lendall P. Warriner, Blandford C. Burgess

Jasper County lies just north of the geographical center of Georgia, bounded on the west and north by the Ocmulgee River. The county seat, Monticello, is approximately 65 miles east-southeast of Atlanta and 40 miles north of Macon. It is served by the Macon-Athens branch of the Central of Georgia Railway Co. and by five paved highways converging from adjoining county seats. Farming and lumbering are the principal local occupations. About half the county is covered with pine and mixed hardwoods; a large part of the forested land is owned by the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture in its Piedmont Land Utilization Project. The topography is one of gently rolling field and forest with occasional hills rising 100 ft or: more above the creek beds. Though annual rainfall is in the neighborhood of 60 in., most of it falls in torrential downpours of short duration which tend rapidly to erode the red soil and convert the country roads to greasy tracks of red mud.

Jan 1, 1949

By C. A. LINDBERG

Several new methods have been developed on the Iron Range to remove the material adhering to truck bodies in freezing weather. A machine known as a Gradall, incorporating the features of digging both above and below the horizontal, digging angle of blade control, full revolving, travel almost anywhere, and operated by one man, has proven successful in trials at body cleaning. Several of these units are in use with great saving in box-cleaning costs and improvements in efficiency of the truck operation with full capacity boxes. In addition to their winter use, the same machines have been used for ditching and excavating in the summer with great saving. The latest method of combating this freezing problem is to carry the exhaust from the engine through the body, making use of the tremendous heat that is now being wasted. To do this, the present wood sandwich which is used between the bottom of the box and the wear plate is removed and replaced with angles or channels run lengthwise of the box and spaced to permit gases to flow between or through them and also provide a good sup- port for the wear plate. The channels or angles are cut a little short on each end to form a cross passage that permits the gases to flow through the area. In the front end, openings are made in the wear plate and connect to a manifold created by welding a plate across the whole front of the box, spaced from the original end by the original vertical reinforcing angles at that point. The body being described is for a Euclid truck which is the only truck that has been adapted to this body-heating idea to date. At the rear of the truck, the holes from the cross passage are made in the bottom plate of the body and lead into a triangular-shaped body cross member under the scoop end of the truck.

Jan 1, 1949

By AIME

WILLIAM WALLACE MEIN, known to his intimates as "Will" or "Billy", is a mining engineer who has taken the fundamentals of successful mining--operating, engineering, and financial-and applied them to the founding of new industries. Born in Nevada City, Calif., in 1873, Will Mein grew up in an atmosphere of mining, and began to develop his sound judgment in a practical way before starting his formal technical education. As a young man he supplemented his early observations by helping his father, Captain "Tom" Mein, on mining work in California and Alaska. He then went with his father to the Rand, and after a period of milling experience as operator and shift boss he became, in 1894, manager of the chlorination of gold ores at the Robinson mine.

Jan 1, 1947

By E. C. Houston

The phosphate ores mined in middle Tennessee typically consist of granular rock phosphate particles disseminated in a clayey matrix. In the TVA plant near Columbia, Tenn., the phosphate ore is mined, made into a slurry with the addition of a small amount of sodium hydroxide as dispersant, and treated in a hydroseparator to remove minus 10 micron material. The hydro-separator underflow, comprising a rough concentrate, is transported by pipeline to the plant; the hydro-separator overflow, comprising a tailing, is flocculated by addition of calcium sulphate and is discharged to settling ponds at a rate of about 1400 gpm. Sedimentation in the ponds produces a clarified effluent, which may be recycled for use as process water or discharged to surface drainage. This method of tailing treatment is not entirely satisfactory since poor sedimentation characteristics of the tailing result in poor ultimate utilization of pond storage volume.

Jan 1, 1949

By R. M. Briney

A RETURN to nonwar conditions characterized the year 1946. The acquisition and forced use, under Government auspices, of low-grade and uneconomic ores, both foreign and domestic, ceased in 1945, but there was some carry-over into the early months of 1946. The world shipping situation delayed the procurement of some foreign ores, but conditions were improving by the end of the year. No actual shortage of any important alloy was experienced, hence the industry was able to make prompt shipment of orders placed. Price levels of ferroalloys, which had remained virtually constant through the war years, were forced upward, with increases on specific products as conditions necessitated. Standard ferroman-ganese and low-carbon ferrochrome were notable exceptions in that their price did not change. No new ferroalloy smelting plants were constructed. The Defense Plant Corp.. sold the works at Ashtabula, Ohio, to the Electro Metallurgical Co. A new type of ferroalloy furnace was described at the Birmingham meeting of the Electrochemical Society. Known as the "Elkem Rotary Furnace" it is distinguished by a rotating shell. The whole furnace, including shell, refrac-

Jan 1, 1947

By Robert Hamilton Morris

FATE, rather than planning, put Bob Morris into coal mining. He was a farmer's son, born at Plattsburg, Ohio, just 68 years ago (Feb. 28, 1878) though he could easily pass for ten years younger. Before he was ready for high school the family moved to Columbus, seat of Ohio State University, whose course in mining engineering attracted him because lie thought it the broadest of the engineering courses. He really wanted to be a steel metallurgist but it was a coal-mining company that offered him a job when he graduated, and this circumstance directed his entire future professional life. To. be sure it wasn't such a glorious opportunity so far as pay went -$40 a month-but his employer, the Modoc Coal & Mining Co., Modoc, Ohio, was developing a new shaft mine, thus offering some good experience. In 1902, after a year's experience, he was made superintendent of the property. Then in 1903 the Continental Coal Co. at Glouster, Ohio, offered him a better job as their chief engineer, which he retained until 1905, at the same time joining the A.I.M.E.

Jan 1, 1946

By Travis A. Davidsavor, David A. Provost

A segment of high-pressure steel petroleum pipeline needed to be replaced on a hillside and beneath a waterway within an existing right-of-way containing multiple petroleum pipelines. The pipeline replacement required excavation of sedimentary rock to allow placement of the new pipe. As a result of an existing right-of-way limitation, steep slopes, and hard rock, blasting would be required as close as 7.8 meters (25 feet) from two operating pipelines.

Feb 1, 2020

By Hugh H. Waesche

OF all the military services, the Signal Corps is the most concerned with piezoelectric minerals because of its function as a supply service to the strategic and tactical military forces. Consequently this paper is written from the point of view of one associated with that organization. The Signal Corps is responsible for the research, development, and supply of communications, radar, and components to the using services of the Department of the Army and to some extent the other branches of the National Defense Department. Their work therefore includes the study of the sources, characteristics, and application of quartz and other piezoelectric materials. These materials have become a vital consideration in strategic planning and are essential for efficient tactical operation by all the Armed Forces. The Signal Corps at the beginning of World War II was responsible for both Army Ground and Air Force electronic equipment. Since that time this Army service organization has probably done more in the development of frequency control devices using piezoelectric materials than any other group.

Jan 1, 1949

By Philip J. Shenon

IN 1947 the mining industry strove desperately to regain operating normalcy. During the first part of the year the industry in this country was plagued with labor shortages, strikes, and portal-to-portal lawsuits. Then followed the uncertainty of Government policy with respect to subsidies and tariffs; and the long and bitter controversy as to whether we are a nation of mineral "haves" or "have-nots." As the year progressed the labor supply impoved somewhat and the Taft-Hartley law brought partial relief to strike-troubled industry. The uncertainty with respect to tariffs was partly answered by President Truman on April 29 when he announced the suspension of the 4¢ import duty on copper until March 31, 1949, and later, near the close of the year, by the announcement of the tariff agreement signed by the United Nations at Geneva. By this agreement tariff rates are to be adjusted downward, or "bound" at their present levels, for three years, on commodities amounting to some 60 per cent of United States trade. Effective Jan. 1, 1948 the rate of duty will be substantially reduced on ores, concentrates, or metals of zinc, aluminum, copper, manganese, tungsten, iron, steel, barytes, nickel, cadmium, and antimony.

Jan 1, 1948

By Thomas L. Kesler

Essentially all of the barite produced in Georgia has come from the Cartersville district in the northwest part of the state. The earliest recorded shipment of ore, 60 tons, was made in 1894.1 With the exception of the four-year period 1931 to 1934, the separate yearly output has been recorded and published since 1915, whereas the total yearly output of the United States has been published since 1880. The separately recorded production of Georgia (Cartersville) through 1947 is 2,232,544 short tons valued at $14,900,746,2 but unpublished data on the period 1931 to 1934, plus the estimated unrecorded output prior to 1915, make the actual total about 2,400,000 short tons. This is about 21 pct of the total production of the United States, which, through 1947, is 11,328,440 short tons valued at $71,683,386.2

Jan 1, 1949

By Myron Read

DURING the past 25 years, mining engineers have seen the development of a multitude of specialized engineering curricula in the mineral industry field. Bachelor degrees are now !ranted in the fields of mineral dressing petroleum engineering, geological engineering, fuel technology, and many others. These fields were all, previously considered to be part of a mining enginieer's work and elementary phases of them were included in mining engineering curricula. Their emergence has left some mining engineers with the fear that nothing will he left for a purely mining engineer to teach, or that mining engineering graduates will be unable to complete in any of these fields with the more specialized students and thus will have neatly restricted employment opportunies. A secondary reaction has been that if students who began to say that the pining engineering curriculum taught everything but mining, since so many of :he subjects that had always been udedAuded in the mining engineering curriculum now were fields in their own right.

Jan 1, 1946

By Simón Díaz-Quezada, HUMBERTO ESTAY

The heap leaching process has been widely used for recovering different metals since its first application at the end of the 1960s. In Chile, copper production via heap leaching has accounted for between 30 and 40% of annual copper production over the past 10 years. This level of production has been achieved through and supported by the use of a mathematical relation, known as the leaching ratio (LR) or irrigation ratio (IR), which relates operational parameters with metal extraction in a heap leaching operation. This ratio has been used to develop leaching column tests, to scale up results from the laboratory to industrial operations, to design new heap leaching plants, and in metallurgical control and production estimation. In spite of the widespread industrial use of this relation, few scientific studies mention it. This is due to its simplicity and basic theoretical foundations. This disparity between industrial practice and scientific research could lead to operational decisions which lack substantial theoretical support, and to scientific studies which have limited industrial impact. Against this background, several questions arise about the use of the LR: What are the constraints on the use of the LR? Are there practical advantages with respect to reported kinetic models? What is the main reason that industry prefers the use of the LR over kinetic models, which enjoy greater theoretical support? In order to guide its future use, this paper describes the leaching ratio and its current uses and limitations, through a literature review and case studies.

May 2, 2020

By Nikhil Dhawan, Amit Barnwal

The present study reports a processing route to recover metals from integrated circuits of discarded random access memory (RAM) units containing ~ 66% printed circuit boards and ~ 33% integrated circuits. The integrated circuits are manually separated, grounded, classified, and subjected to water fluidization for the effective separation of metals. The significant separation was achieved via water fluidization, and the underflow fraction was magnetically separated. The magnetic fraction was thermally exposed in a muffle furnace, and the process optimization was carried out using a Box-Behnken statistical design. The detailed characterization at subsequent steps significantly aids the understanding of metal-plastic separation and enrichment. A concentrate containing 97% metals (Fe-59%, Ni-9.5%, Cu-7.7%, Sn-13.4%, Pb-5.6%, Ag-1.6%) with 96 wt% recovery can be recovered from discarded IC units. The process pursued is simple, adaptable, and environment-friendly, and the product can be used in conventional smelters.

Jun 23, 2020

By JULIAN HINDS

Industrialization is raising the standard of living of people everywhere. The common man is demanding and getting more of everything. Perhaps more markedly than most other things, he is consuming more water. A hundred years ago water for domestic use, in all but a few large centers, was lugged from wells in buckets. This still is true in many rural areas, even in the enlightened United States of America. but pumps and pressure systems are rapidly replacing the "old oaken bucket," even on farms and in isolated country homes. Nevertheless, many still fail to see water as a ?commodity? in the same sense that coal, lumber, fertilizer, and bread are considered as commosities. Water is too frequently taken for granted.

Jan 1, 1949

By Robert P. Koenig

FOR the first time other than on occasion of war the people of the United States are experiencing full-scale participation in world affairs. Public concern has seldom been so involved with conditions and events beyond our own continental limits. Our interest is not wholly of recent origin. Over the years the activity of the United States as a world power and an important trading nation brought about the widening of our political interests and the progressive interrelation of our economy with that of the rest of the world. Some may see in our present phase of world-wide activity the natural consequence of our continued growth. Such observers must also be aware that within recent years our importance in world affairs has been considerably increased. For within the space of an extremely short period events have occurred that have literally jet-propelled the United States into the role of a leading participant in the conduct of world affairs. Little of the choice of this role was left to us. The decline of power in western Europe, the ascendancy between the Elbe and the Pacific shore of an obviously antagonistic force, our earnest endeavor to secure international control of atomic energy, the necessity of providing relief and rehabilitation to war-ravaged areas, and the police work that must be done in occupied territories are problems which have risen in great measure without our help-but they cannot be solved without it.

Jan 1, 1948

By H. L. Teicliman, E. M. Sipprelle

ENACTMENT of Public Law 290 by the 78th Congress authorized the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, to conduct an experimental program to develop the technology for obtaining oil from oil shale. In adopting and later extending this legislation, the Congress recognized the impending necessity of supplementing ground petroleum reserves with synthetic fuels. Under the provisions of this legislation, the Bureau of Mines, among other things, was charged with the responsibility of developing mining techniques, methods, and equipment for mining the oil shales of the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

Jan 1, 1950