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By F. Weinberg

WHEN impure Zn (< 99.99 pct)&apos;&apos;Z or Zn-Cd alloys3 are progressively solidified, a cell or "corrugation" substructure4 is produced in the solid, with a high impurity or solute concentration along the cell walls. When these materials are polished and suitably etched, etch pits are often observed along the cell walls. For the Zn-Cd alloys these etch pits have been associated with decorated dislocations, present in the corrugation boundaries to accommodate the lattice strain. In the course of an investigation of Zn-2 pct Au alloy, molten metal of this alloy was poured into cold water and the resultant solid pieces were sectioned, polished and etched with a Cr0 ethant. An extremely regular cell pattern was observed on the etched surface, similar in general to the corrugation structure previously reported for impure zinc and Zn-Cd alloys. At higher magnification, regularly spaced pits were observed along the cell boundaries. An example of the regular cell pattern at the center of a specimen is shown in the center and lower portions of Fig. 1; the top of the figure shows the pattern near the specimen surface. Typical etch pits in the cell walls are shown in Fig. 2. It was surprising that a cell pattern as regular as that shown in the center of Fig. 1 was produced at the very rapid solidification rates used (estimated as > 1 cm per sec). In addition, the distribution coefficient for the Zn-Au system is greater than 1. Accordingly, the center of the cells should be rich in solute and should etch

Jan 1, 1963

By N Robb

This paper gives an account of the laboratory testing, plant testing and final inclusion of the two-stage sulphuric acid leaching process in the Milliken mill. Operational results for September, 1962, are presented, showing a uranium extraction of 95.5 per cent, with a saving of some 16 lbs. of 100 per cent H~S04 and some 9 lbs. of lime per ton milled. Methods for effecting further improvements in the process are indicated. HISTORY P RIOR to the incorporation of two-stage leaching, the process for the treatment of uranium ores at Milliken consisted of a single-stage sulphuric acid leach, followed by a solution recovery step involving washing in thickeners and two-stage filtration. The thickener overflow solution was subsequently concentrated and purified by ion exchange, and the uranium was recovered, by two-stage precipitation, as ammonium diuranate. Figure I illustrates this flowsheet. For satisfactory extraction of uranium from the. Milliken ore, a high residual acidity, of the order of 40 grams per litre of free acid in the discharge solution, must be

Jan 1, 1963

By W. W. Weller

Heat-capacity measurements of sodium dimolybdate (Na2Mo207) and sodium ditungstate (Na2W207) were conducted over the temperature range from 51° to 298° K. The entropies of the two compounds at 298.15° K were calculated from the heat-capacity values and were used, in conjunction with other entropy data, to evaluate the entropies of formation of the compounds from their constituent elements and oxides.

Jan 1, 1963

By J. E. Moyle

The costs of labour and electric power are of prime concern to almost all industrial enterprises, and various methods of reducing their impact on production costs are constantly being developed. Automation is one of these schemes, and has received a good deal of attention in the past few years. In the mining industry, compressed air is almost universally used, and its cost is significant. Although the compressor machinery now in use has achieved a high degree of development, the hazard of explosion and fire still exists in these systems. There is thus considerable resistance in some quarters to suggestions that such installations can be safely and successfully automated. The Milliken power plant consists of two 30,000 lb. /hr. fully equipped high-pressure boilers, four H.P. air compressors, a steam turbine for stand-by power, and several L.P. compressors and vacuum pumps. With the installation of automatic and protective equipment in the machinery section, the shift force has been reduced from three to two men.

Jan 1, 1963

By A. Pomianowski

A spectrophotometric study of xanthate solutions alone and their mixtures with equimolar amounts of alkyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CnTAB) has established the additivity of ultraviolet spectra (190 - 400 my) for potassium ethyl xanthate (KEtX) and C12TAB. No obvious effect of C12TAB addition on the decomposition rate of KEtX was observed. The kinetics of collector abstraction by copper, nickel and sphalerite powders were studied in 10-5 - 10-3M solutions of KEtX alone and in equimolar mixtures of KEtX and C12TAB. Presence of C12TAB caused a 2 - 3 fold increase in the amounts of xanthate (equivalent to many monolayers) abstracted by copper and, nickel powders but had no effect on the abstraction of xanthate by unactivated sphalerite. The adsorption of C12TAB itself from the mixed solutions was very low, at most ore monolayer only, and was not influenced by the nature of the solid powder used. The results are interpreted in terms of molecular associations and synergistic action of xanthates and quaternary amines.

Jan 1, 1963

By Charles W. Huggins

Knoop hardness indentations were studied and measured with the electron microscope on TiB2, HfC, and A1B12 crystals. A detailed description of replicating the indentations using collodion and Faxfilm is made. A John Hopkins grating having 28,800 lines per inch was used to accurately determine the magnification used on the electron microscope. The primary objectives were to prepare carbon replicas of hardness indentations, to measure the indenations accurately, and to compare the results with those obtained with the light microscope. The resulting data showed excellent agreement between the measurements made on the replicas with the electron microscope and those made with the optical microscope. The replicas made from collodion showed slightly better agreement with the light optical values than did the replicas made from Faxfilm.

Jan 1, 1963

By W. M. Hirthe, E. H. Greener, D. R. McCann

It has been proposed1&apos;2 that, at low temperatures, point defects are a strengthening factor in inter-metallic compounds whereas, at high temperatures, the deformation is diffusion-controlled and, therefore, an increase in the concentration of point defects tends to soften or increase the plasticity of a compound. More recent investigations, including those of Bloem and Kroger&apos; on PbS, Kramers and smith4 on TiO, and Nadeau5 on LiF, have extended this concept to ionic crystals. Rutile (TiO2) is a tetragonal transition metal oxide which has a defect structure over at least the compositional range. The defect in near-stoichiometric rutile is either an oxygen ion vacancys or a titanium ion interstitial.&apos; This investigation does not contribute to resolving the defect question but either defect would satisfy the results obtained. Six specimens having the same orientation, see Fig., 1, utilized in an independent investigation1&apos; were cut with a diamond saw from a single-crystal boule purchased from the Linde Co. Three specimens were annealed in air at 1200°C for 4 hr and slowly cooled to room temperature in a period of 12 hr. The remaining specimens were reduced in a vacuum of l0 mm Hg at 1200°C for 4 hr and cooled at the same rate in vacuum. The reduced specimens were weighed before and after reduction and, assuming the weight loss to be oxygen, the corresponding oxygen-to-metal ratio is 1.998. All specimens were chemically polished and etched utilizing the techniques described by Hirthe, Adsit, and Brittain." The specimens were embedded in acrylic resin and mounted on a leveling vise in a Kentron micro-hardness tester. A 200-g load was applied to a Knoop indenter with a descent time of 18 sec and a dwell time of 20 sec. Eight indentations were made on a near (171) surface, approximately 3 deg from the (lii) plane, for each orientation of the major axis of the indenter relative to the crystal structure. The dependence of microhardness on orienta-

Jan 1, 1963

By L. S. Castleman, H. A. Froot

A study was made of the growth kinetics of B-brass layers in a-brass us y-brass diffusion couples in which both phases were saturated in the 6 phase. It was found that useful estimates can be made of the difhsion coefficients at the ß-phase interfaces from interface displacement data, which are relatively easy to measure experimentally; also, a useful estimate can be made of the mean heat of activation for diffusion from layer growth data. The effects of pressure on layer growth kinetics were explored and found to be consistent with a vacancy model for diffusion in 6 brass in both the disordered and ordered temperature range. 1 HE study of multiphase diffusion receives relatively little attention in comparison with that devoted to diffusion in homogeneous materials. Of the hundred or so papers on diffusion written each year,&apos; only a few are devoted to the subject, and it is the rare review article2,3 that devotes any space to multiphase diffusional phenomena. This is unfortunate, since the metallurgist frequently encounters practical situations involving cementation processes such as cladding, protective coating of metals, and so forth in which he needs guidance of a fundamental nature. The investigation of multiphase diffusion phenomena is complicated by the fact that one must consider reactions at phase interfaces as well as the migration of atoms within the individual phases; these reactions cause the interfaces to be displaced within the diffusion zone. The relative displacement of two adjacent interfaces corresponds to the growth of an intermetallic layer, and it is not difficult to determine experimentally the kinetics of layer growth. In the past few years it has been pointed out4,5 that valuable fundamental information may be gained about diffusion coefficients and the concentrations at interfaces through a study of their motion. Accordingly, it is the purpose of this paper to report the results of an investigation of interface motion in a simple multiphase binary system. In the work reported herein, attention was focussed on the growth of a 6 -brass layer in a diffusion couple prepared from a- and y-brass compositions saturated with respect to the 6 phase. This particular system was chosen for a number of reasons. First, the bcc ß-brass phase is disordered for all compositions at temperatures above 468°C and becomes increasingly long-range ordered for all compositions at temperatures below 454° C;6,7 thus, the effects of a variation in order on interface displacement could be determined. Second, diffusion coefficients have already been obtained as a function of temperature in the ß phase both in the ordered and disordered Re- and a theoretical picture of the mechanism of diffusion in this and other ordered solutions is emerging.11&apos;12 Third, some thermodynamic data are available for the a-, ß-, and ?-brass phases,13,4 and these data could be used to gain insight into questions of phase equilibria and concentrations at phase interfaces.

Jan 1, 1963

By P. G. Shewmon

A novel technique for determining the surface energy (?) and its derivative with respect to orientation, (?&apos;) is described. Essentially it involves the &apos;floating" of a wedge on the substrate, said wedge being made of a material which is not wet or only slightly wet by the substrate, i. e., as a greased needle "floats" on water. A thermodynamic analysis of a system in which the wedge is supported entirely by surface energy is given. If the original suyface is not at a cusp orientation, the surface tension is directly measurable from the groove angle formed. If the original surface is at a cusp orientation, there may or may not be a groove depending on the relative value of ?&apos; and the weight of the wedge. Experiments primarily on copper and silver showed that sapphire, quartz and refractory metal wedges were wet while graphite wedges were not. The technique was demonstrated to work using graphite wedges, but the results obtained were not as eccurate as those obtained by other workers using the wire-creep experiments. It is concluded that the technique might prove most useful with non-metals where ?&apos; is large and filament creep experiments would be quite difficult. If an absolute value of the surface free energy (?) of a metal is to be determined, the most reliable methods used to date measure an average over the various orientations exposed on a polycrystalline sample. For example, ? for silver, gold, and copper have been measured by determining the force required to just keep a thin wire,&apos; or foil,&apos; specimen from contracting under the influence of ?. Herring 3 has predicted and experiment confirms, that the sensitivity of this method is inversely proportional to the grain size.&apos; Thus it cannot be used to measure ? for a particular orientation by using a foil single crystal or a very coarse-grained specimen. An accurate value if ? for tungsten averaged over a range of orientations has been determined using a field emission technique. The same techniques cannot or have not been used to measure ? for non-metallic solids, and as a result the values available are much less accurate.4 This Paper resents a means of making an absolute determination of ? for a particular surface orientation on any solid, as long as the given surface orientation does not break up into other orientations during an anneal. Experimentally ? is found to vary with orientation and at a few low index orientations it is found to have a cusped minimum, i.e., the derivative of ? with respect to the orientation of the surface changes discontinuously at the low index orientation, see Fig. 1. The slope of a plot of ? vs orientation (herein designated ?&apos;) is called the torque on the surface, since it tends to rotate the exposed surface toward the low index orientation, or if the surface is at the cusp orientation it opposes any force tending to rotate the surface out of the low index orientation. The ratio ?&apos;/? has been determined for a few metals, but in cases where this ratio is high there is presently no means of determining either ?&apos;/? or the absolute value of ?&apos; for the orientations present on an annealed surface. The technique discussed herein also provides a means of determining an absolute value of ?&apos; for those orientations which deviate only infinitesimally from a cusp orientation. It should work best on surfaces where ?&apos;/? is large; that is, for cases where no other technique is available for measuring ?&apos;. Aside from trying to learn more about surfaces through measuring ? and ?&apos;, the primary reason for wanting values of ? or ?&apos; is to study adsorption. From measurements of the variation of ? for a particular orientation with the concentration of an impurity, one can obtain the number of impurity atoms adsorbed per unit area (Ti) on that orientation using the Gibbs adsorption equation.&apos; where µi is the chemical potential of the adsorbed impurity. Thus, if absolute values of ? could be obtained for the free surface of a given surface orientation as a function of µi, ri could be determined for the given orientation. Furthermore, by equilibrating a grain boundary with the given surface at various values of ki, one could also determine ri for the grain boundary. Similarly Robertson 6 has pointed out that if y is taken to be a continuous function of and µi, then a2 ?/a @a µ2 = a2 ?/a pi a +. Thus, at all orientations away from cusps the following equation holds From a measurement of ?&apos; vs ki, it is thus possible

Jan 1, 1963

By Smortchevskyk N. J.

THIS paper describes the electrical features of the locomotive now (August, 1962) under construction for Craigmont Mines. Intended for non-specialists, it avoids details of design and calculations interesting to electricians only. The paper is divided into three sections. The first deals very briefly with the mine layout and with operating conditions -existing and expected. Reference is made to economic considerations leading to the selection of the type and size of locomotive, as well as to traction diagrams and the calculations. This material is not included in the paper because of its length and because it does not represent anything new. The second section deals with engineering and economic considerations and shows, in some detail, why the A.C. system was chosen. The third section describes the basic components of the locomotive, including the voltage regulator, the rectifiers, the control arrangement and the filter, and deals with considerations affecting the selection of their rating and design. A concluding sub-section describes, very briefly, the track and trolley details and the power distribution switchgear.

Jan 1, 1963

By Nickson NM, Lancucki CJ

X-ray diffraction and differential thermal methodshave been used to determine the mineralogy of some clays used by the heavy clay industry in the Adelaide area. A detailed analysis has been made of the mineralogy and. particle size distribution of eighteen samples from beds&apos; in two pits in~the Recent seaiinents in the Adelaide plains, of six white clays.: developed from the weathering of the Adelaide series of `sediments and, of ,four -Recent alluvial clays from a pit in the Mount Lofty ranges south of Adelaide. Structural clay products &apos;in the Adelaide area are manufactured from mixtures of these clays:, so the mineralogy and particle size distribution have been determined of eighteen clay mixtures used to make red bricks, cream bricks,. facing bricks, pipes and tiles. Knowledge of this mineralogy is important in understanding the ceramic behaviour of the clays.

Jan 1, 1963

A method for determining the relative degree of oxidation of concentrate samples was established, and various surface-active materials and protective systems were examined as oxidation inhibitors. Sodium oleate was-the most effective of the materials tested, and a plant trial

Jan 1, 1963

By L. D. Keller

The application of hydraulic concentration to large scale operations has been effectively accomplished by the use of the SiphonSizer. Operation has been simple, automatic and essentially trouble free. The use of the primary desliming SiphonSizer on magnetic taconites has shown an improvement in grade of concentrate and an increase in recovery over conventional hydroseparators. Magnetic concentrates have been further deslimed and upgraded in SiphonSizers by floating a coarse middling product away from the heavier concentrate. The application of the Siphon-sizer to closed circuit grinding has met with only partial success to date. Hydraulic concentration of minerals has been practiced for a good many years. Until recently, however, the practice has been limited to equipment using a multiplicity of small pockets and relatively low tonnages and flows. The adaptation of the SiphonSizer to the concentration and classification of magnetite has changed this concept. Some fifty commercial units varying in size from a 16-ft diam circular unit to a 25x100-ft rectangular unit are currently in operation on magnetic taconites. Additional units up to 38 ft diam are under construction. Depending upon the application in the flowsheet, upgrading varies from 0.75% to 14% Fe in a single stage. To those not familiar with taconite processing, the importance of the struggle to remove economically as much silica as possible may not be fully appreciated. Perhaps some figures pertaining to transportation costs will underscore this important process. If the silica content of the concentrate from a 10,000,000 ton per year plant could be reduced by I%, a savings in boat freight, at $2.00 per ton, would amount to $200,000 annually! THE SlPHONSlZER The SiphonSizer, as illustrated in Figs. lA, 1B and 2, is a hydraulic classifier in which the hydraulic water is distributed uniformly across the bottom of the vessel by means of a system of headers (1 and 2), jet pipes (3), and nozzles (4). The depth of the teeter bed is automatically maintained by the siphon-float assembly. The feed is introduced through a feed well (5) and separated into two fractions by the effects of rising water and the density of the teetered bed. The magnetite fraction is discharged by the siphon (12) while the fine slime and light middling overflow a peripheral weir (9) to the overflow launder (6). The bed depth is controlled automatically by float valves (7), which are responsive to changes in the height of clear water supported in the superelevation tubes (8) by the density of the teetered bed. On top of the float (7) is a needle valve (10) which permits

Jan 1, 1963

In April, 1961, a large pillar was removed by blasthole mining methods at Inco&apos;s Murray mine. More than half a million pounds of explosives were used to break 2,120,000 tons of ore in a single underground blast. The 5, 10 2-inch boreholes, involving 435,815 feet of drilling, were loaded over a three-week period, using conventional explosives and short-period electric caps. From this blast, more than half a million tons of ore have been removed to date (April, 1962) through slusher trenches situated in the footwall of the ore body. T HE Ontario Division of The International Nickel Company of Canada, Limited, operates six underground mines and two open pits in the Sudbury district in the north-central part of the Province. This paper describes the removal of a large pillar at the Murray mine (Figure 1), where 2,120,000 tons of ore were broken in a single underground blast by the blasthole mining method. This is the largest underground blast achieved to date (April, 1962) at Inco mines.

Jan 1, 1963

By J. J. Kramer, W. A. Tiller, G. F. Bolling

THE axial orientations of columnar crystals in unidirectionally solidified ingots of zone-refined zinc and tin have been examined using the techniques recently described by us.&apos; Both metals had an initial purity of 99.999+ pct before zone refining and satisfied all qualitative guides for very high purity after zone refining. Fig. 1 presents the orientations of the columnar crystals for tin and zinc, respectively. For tin, there is a preference for grains growing in the [I101 direction, i.e., the dendrite direction.&apos; For zinc, a weak preference for the [0001] direction is seen (a random population in the unit triangle would give equal density on either side of the 60-deg circle centered on [0001]).&apos; There was no apparent evidence for dendritic growth in either metal. These results, and those previously reported,&apos; confirm the recent investigation by Hellawell and Herbert of casting textures observed for zone-refined lead, zinc, and tin.4 The preferred casting orientations for these metals in both the impure and zone-refined states are given in Table I. In the experiments on zone-refined lead,&apos; it was shown that two separate textures existed: a preferred (111) nucleation texture existed at the chill surface and a preferred (111) texture developed during solidification. Either effect is sufficient to produce the result recorded in Table I. Similarly the results recorded for tin and zinc may be attributable to either a preferred nucleation or a preferred growth phenomenon and additional experiments are required to separate these two possible explanations. Hellawell and Herbert&apos; attribute their results to a preferred growth process and account for it on the basis of a "layer-growth" model proposed much earlier by one of the present authors.5 An equally satisfactory growth model would be that based upon anisotropic surface energies. However, both of these growth models would indicate that the preferred growth direction for very pure metals should be normal to the plane of closest packing in the metal. This is consistent for zinc but, contrary to the conclusion of Hellawell and Herbert, it is not consistent for tin since here the (100) is expected to exhibit a greater density of packing than the (110). Although tin is expected to exhibit an anisotropy of thermal conductivity, we would expect the thermal conductivity to be the same in the [1101 as the [l00]

Jan 1, 1963

By B. D. Cullity

A distribution of residual stress after plastic elongation is proposed, in which the bulk of the material is strained in compression and a very small portion in tension, This distribution is shown to account both for the X-ray observations and for the effect of plastic straining on magnetic losses in silicon steel. The regions left in compression are tentatively identified with the interiors of the sub-grains revealed by the electron microscope. THIS paper is concerned with the general problem of the nature of the residual stress which is produced in metals by plastic elongation. A particular stress distribution will be suggested which accounts for the main X-ray diffraction observations which have been made. It will also be shown that certain magnetic measurements made on silicon steel can be understood in terms of this stress distribution. X-RAY OBSERVATIONS Uniform straining of a crystal lattice (macro-strain) causes a diffracted X-ray beam to shift its position, and nonuniform straining (microstrain) causes line broadening. If a bar of metal is plastically elongated in the longitudinal x direction and then unloaded, diffracted X-ray lines are observed to be both shifted and broadened.&apos;-= Although the observed line shift indicates the presence of macro-strain, experiments have shown that no macrostrain, in the usual engineering sense of the term, exists.5"7 For example, removal of a layer from one surface of a stretched and unloaded bar does not produce curvature in the remainder of the bar 5&apos;7 Fig. 1 shows the variation of lattice strain in the x direction, as determined from X-ray line shifts, with the applied stress in the same direction. The curve ABC is the normal stress-strain curve of the material, AB being the elastic portion and BC the plastic. In the elastic region AB, the strain measured by X-rays, called the lattice strain, and the strain measured mechanically are both proportional to the applied stress, and both return to zero when the applied stress is removed. Above the elastic limit the lattice strain would be expected to continue to increase along the line BD. Actually, it increases less rapidly with respect to stress, or even decreases, as shown by BE. If the applied stress is then decreased, the lattice strain decreases along EF, which is parallel to AB. As a result, there is a compressive residual lattice strain FA after unloading. STRESS DISTRIBUTION. Since a stretched and unloaded bar does not contain macrostress, it follows that the observed line shift must be due to a special distribution of mi-crostress. Such a distribution is shown in Fig. 2, which shows the variation of the stress u, across a stretched and unloaded bar. The material is assumed to consist of two kinds of regions: regions C, stressed more or less uniformly in compression, comprising the bulk of the volume of the material and responsible for the observed diffrac-

Jan 1, 1963

By Douglas N. Kendall

There are three definite steps in the making of a mining industry in any country. These are as follows: Step A - Geological Mapping This step covers the basic geological mapping of the country at scales of 1/250, 000 up to l/50, 000. This step eliminates territory and directs the exploration teams to the areas of potential interest. Step B Prospecting This step includes all phases from detailed geology through geophysics and drilling up to the point of proving that an economic ore body exists. Step C - Mine Development This is the expensive step, involving the creation of the mine, including shaft-sinking, ore treatment plant, etc.

Jan 1, 1963

By D Marshall

The sub-level blasthole benching method of mining has been proved to be economical at Willroy Mines. How-ever due to the nature and attitude of the wall rock, this method is susceptible to serious hanging-wall dilution of the ore. Attempts to solve the dilution problem by various means were not satisfactory until long Stressteel bars were employed as rock bolts. The adoption of this de-vice does not require any special skill, and has become routine in the under-ground operation. Since the inception of this method, the dilution of the ore has been greatly reduced and the ov1!r-all costs of controlling this dilution are much lower. INTRODUCTION T HIS is a report describing the successful use of long Stressteel bars as rock bolts in preventing l1anging-wall failure and consequent dilution in open stopes. Willroy Mines Limited is located (Figure 1) near the town of Manitouwadge, Ontario, approximately l1alf-way between Sault Ste. Marie and Port Arthur.

Jan 1, 1963

By G. W. Birge

Twenty-eight samples, representing the Pittsburgh, Lower Kittanning, Stockton-Lewiston, Coalburg, Winifrede, Cedar Grove, Peerless, No. 2 Gas, Powellton, and Eagle beds, were carbonized by the Bureau of Mines--American Gas Association (BM-AGA) method, and yields of products and physical properties of cokes were determined. Expanding characteristics of 22 of the samples were determined in the Bureau of Mines sole-heated oven. The Kanawha County coals tested were high-volatile A bituminous in rank, with dry, mineral-matter- free fixed- carbon contents ranging from 53.9 to 66.3 percent. With few exceptions, they were chemically satisfactory for metallurgical use, and most of the coke-strength indexes were within the industrially accepted range for high-volatile blending coals.

Jan 1, 1963

By A D. Turnbull

In Canada, although some research on extraction metallurgy is carried out by the universities and by government, the primary responsibility for the research necessary to the mining industry rests on the industry it-self. Automation is coming more slowly to the mining industry than to others, partly because of the problems of instrumentation. Operations research methods are, however, coming into use. Some new developments in the extraction of aluminum, in iron and steel, in pyrometallurgy and in pressure leaching of nickel, copper, zinc and lead are briefly outlined. Mention is made of uranium and the reactive metals. The importance of the by-product metals, notably antimony, bismuth, gallium, germanium, indium and tellurium, in the development of the electronics industry is also mentioned. The trend toward co-operative research by groups of producers, to develop markets for their products, is noted. In conclusion, there are a greater number of trained scientists, as well as larger amounts of scientific knowledge, available to the mineral industry than ever before, and, if properly used, this will result in great benefits to the industry and to Canada.

Jan 1, 1963