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The refractory nature of residual gold in Kalgoorlie calcines is caused by occlusion in dense pyrrhotite formed by fusion within pyrite grains during decomposition. Fusion of pyrite increases as the rate of heating exceeds the rate of sulphur expulsion. By controlling these rates in relation to each other in a fluidised system fusion is limited and an expanded structure is formed. The increased area presented to cyanide solution, and the decreased diffusion distance, makes gold more accessible for extraction. Gold extraction from expanded pyrrhotite, before oxidation for porosity, is comparable with extraction from fully oxidised calcines from Edwards roasters. A method is suggested for standardised comparison of cyanidation residues.

Jan 1, 1957

By E. C. W. Perryman

The recovery of X-ray line broadening, hardness, and electrical resistivity from cold worked AI-Mg alloys has been investigated. The results, together with those from density measurements, suggest that magnesium atoms freeze in the excess vacancies formed by cold working, and that this affects the climb of dislocations during the recovery process. PREVIOUS work1, " has shown that while 1 pct Mg increases the activation energy for recrystalliza-tion, it decreases the activation energy for the recovery of mechanical properties and decreases the subgrain size both after cold working and annealing. A similar result has been reported by Varley2 for an A1-2 pct Mg alloy. With plastic deformation at high temperatures, McLean and Farmer' and Rachinger have found that magnesium appears to retard the motion of dislocations and, furthermore, they find little or no effect of magnesium on the size of subgrains formed during high temperature deformation. In view of the apparent contradictions as to the effect of magnesium on subgrain size, the recovery process in Al-Mg alloys has been investigated more thoroughly by studying the annealing out of X-ray line broadening, hardness, and electrical resistivity from alloys cold worked at room temperature. Material Used—The chemical analyses of the alloys are given in Table I. Fabrication—The material used was cold rolled 20 pct at room temperature, the grain size prior to the last cold rolling operation being similar to that used in previous work; i.e., 230. The experimental procedure for annealing, determination of X-rav half-veak breadth. hardness measurement, electEica1 resistivity, and density and metallographic examination was exactly the same as previously described." Variation of X-Ray Half-Peak Breadth with Annealing Time—Isothermal annealing curves at 100°, 200°, and 250°C were obtained for material cold worked 20 pct. The half-peak breadth of the (333) Ka, line directly after cold working is shown as a function of magnesium content in Fig. 1. Only with the 2.87 pct Mg alloy was overlapping of the a, and n.. reflections observed to any appreciable extent. To separate these, Rachinger's method' was used. Typical isothermal annealing curves are shown in Figs. 2 and 3 for 100" and 200°C, respectively. These curves are similar to those obtained previously for super-purity aluminum except that the

Jan 1, 1957

By E. J. Ripling, M. W. Toaz

Tensile tests were conducted on pure magnesium and on four commercial alloys over a variety of temperatures and strain rates. The high positive slope of the ductility vs testing temperature curves that is found over a short range of testing temperatures for these materaturerials was shown to result from the fact that the microstructure was not stable at these testing temperatures. Pure magnesium did not display a transition temperature, although its sub-room temperature ductility was low. This poor ductility resulted from a grain boundary weakness. The aluminum-bearing commercial magnesium alloys had a higher ductility than the pure magnesium. ness.Thealuminum-bearingcommercialThese alloys did exhibit a transition temperature and grain boundaries that were stronger than the grain material. Both pure magnesium and the commercial alloys began initiating cracks at strains equal to one half of their fracture strain. MAGNESIUM base alloys' enormous potential as structural materials lies in their high strength to weight ratios. At present, the high strength magnesium base alloys such as AZ-80, which will be discussed later, have about as high a tensile strength to specific gravity ratio as the highest strength wrought aluminum alloy, 75s-T6, and, of course, a much higher strength to weight ratio than structural steel. Further, since the magnesium base alloys develop their high strength to weight ratios with moderate strengths and extremely light weights, the ratio of load carrying capacity to the weight of many structures is relatively higher for the magnesium base alloys than their strength to weight ratios would indicate. This results because judicious increases in section size, such as increasing the depth of bending members or adding reinforcing ribs, can frequently increase the weight of a structure linearly while the strength and stiffness increase as the second or third power of the added weight. Strength and rigidity must be designed into lightweight structures by those techniques which establish multiaxial stress states. Consequently, strong, lightweight structures frequently also possess a greater propensity toward brittle failures. In order to insure against these catastrophic failures, an extra premium must be placed on ductility and toughness in light alloys. Current knowledge of the ductility and toughness behaviors—notched behaviors—of magnesium base alloys is limited.* Most of the magnesium base alloys * The state of present knowledge regarding the effect of testing temperature on mechanical properties has recently been summar-ized by Pritchard.' crystallize in the hexagonal system, so that they are expected to exhibit a tough and ductile to brittle transition temperature. Actually, a transition temperature behavior has been reported for commercially pure magnesium in the literature, but the characteristics of this transition temperatureh uggest that it may not be a transition in the usual meaning, but simply the onset of some thermal softening, a performance much like that which face-centered-cubic lead might exhibit slightly below room temperature. If transition temperatures do exist, such important questions as the manner in which they are affected by internal variables such as chemical composition and grain size, or the effect of external variables such as rate of straining or notch severity have never been investigated. The investigation reported upon herein was undertaken in order to define some of the mechanical behaviors of the magnesium base alloys better, to gain a better understanding of the influence of some of the above listed variables, and particularly to understand their effect on ductility and toughness better. Material and Procedure Material-—Pure magnesium and four commercial alloys were used in this investigation. The alloys were selected so that chemically they made up a series with approximately the same minor alloying

Jan 1, 1957

By Mark S. Childs

FRIEDENSVILLE orebody in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, lies in the south central part of the USGS Allentown Quadrangle. Physiographically the area is located in a small reentrant-known as Saucon Valley-of the Great Valley Province into the Reading Prong of the New England uplift. Saucon Valley itself is an oval-shaped lowland eight miles long and four miles wide, surrounded by ridges except where connected with the Great Valley through a breach in the rim known as Saucon Gap. These ridges, composed of Pre-Cambrian metamorphic rocks and Cambrian quartzites, rise some 500 ft above the valley floor. They are continuous with the New Jersey Highlands. The valley lowland is immediately underlain by lower Paleozoic dolomites and limestones. This area is one of low relief having a swing of approximately 100 ft, with an average elevation of 375 ft above sea level. The entire valley, which has a water shed of about 58 sq miles, is drained by Saucon Creek. This unit flows in a northeasterly direction to the Saucon Gap, where it discharges into the Lehigh River.

Jan 1, 1957

Coal Division Industrial Minerals Division Minerals Beneficiation Division Mining, Geology and Geophysics Division Elmer A Jones, President President-elect Will Mitchell, Jr, Past President J B Morrow, Eastern Regional Vice-President G Donald Emigh, Central Regional Vice-President J D Forrester, Western Regional Vice-President R B Ladoo, Treasurer John Cameron Fox, Secretary AIME 29 West 39 St, New York 18, N Y

Jan 1, 1957

Jan 1, 1957

BRADEN, the most southerly of the three big Porphyries in Chile and the first to start production (in 1910), is a remarkable mine. It would be interesting to know just how much it has contributed, and will contribute, to the earnings of the Kennecott Copper Corporation, which acquired 95 per cent of Braden stock in 1915 by an exchange of shares and which subsequently obtained the remainder. Because of this complete ownership no separate annual report is published (as is the case with Anaconda's South American subsidiaries, Chile and Andes). Income, taxes, operating costs, earnings, and other financial data, including the balance sheet, are consolidated with corresponding items applying to Kennecott's manifold operations in the United States and other foreign countries. If Braden were in the United States it would be possible to arrive at a pretty accurate estimate of revenue realized each year from the sale of copper simply by applying the average published market price to the production as reported by the company. However, because of the restrictions on sales imposed by the Chilean Government and the almost fantastic regulation of exchange rates in the past, no estimate of the sort would be reliable. This point is illustrated by the following comparison made by Charles R. Cox, president, in Kennecott's report for 1955: In each year, 1954 and 1955, Braden supplied about 30 per cent of Kennecott's total copper deliveries; but Braden's operations contributed 16.7 per cent of consolidated net income in 1955 against only 6.2 per cent in 1954. More will be said later about exchange rates, taxes, and restrictions, and the recent improvement in the situation. Of course another element of

Jan 1, 1957

By H. E. Ellis, O. L. Patterson, Granville Dutton

A large-scale water-injection program for the Holt Bryant reservoir of the Delhi field has been established by means of the new automatic multi-pool analyzer. The objectives of this program were to increase reservoir pressure and eliminate a cross-dip gradient of 200 psi. Pressure increases during the first 15 months of operation have allowed for increased oil production rates of 2,600 BID or 25 per cent. To determine the required water injection it was necessary to predict natural water influx ram. Elimination of the pressure gradients required the water-injection program to account for the fluid migration and pressure interaction between segments of the reservoir. An integral part of the ana1ysis included the determination of in-place volumes of oil and gas. The operation of the automatic multi-pool analyzer in determining the water-injection program is described. New features of the analyzer inc1ude an automatic maferial balance analog and a leart-squares computer for determination of unknown reservoir properties. Operational procedures are sufficiently simple to allow direct use by reservoir engineers on a routine basis. The rapidity and accuracy with which problems may be solved permit repeated ana1yses as a check upon reservoir performance. INTRODUCTION This paper describes the use of a new analog com- puter in determining the optimum injection program for a complex reservoir. The Holt-Bryant (Fig. 1) is the major reservoir in the Delhi field of Louisiana. Production is from the Tuscaloosa at subsea depths of 2,970 to 3,286 ft. The sand dips to the south and southwest from three to five degrees. The reservoir is approximately 12 miles long and varies in width from 1/2 to 2 miles. Various calculations have placed the initial volume of oil in-place in the wide range of 275 to 355 million STB. Two small gas caps were initially present in the reservoir. The Holt-Bryant reservoir was discovered in Dec.. 1944, and was fully developed with 188 producing wells by 1948. After development was completed, an east-west pressure gradient began to establish itself. This

Jan 1, 1957

By Alfonso Merlini

DIFFERENT explanations have been given by the two current theories of the annealing textures for the variation of annealing texture with the annealing temperature observed in rolled polycrystal-line aluminum,' copper,2 and brass, And in rolled single crystals of copperk and silicon iron.' The theory

Jan 1, 1957

By E. N. Cameron

GRAPHITE has been included in U. S. lists of strategic minerals since the problem of mineral deficiencies was revealed during World War I. Since 1918 the domestic graphite industry has led a precarious existence, and there has been much uncertainty as to the amounts of usable graphite of various grades that would be available from domestic sources in time of emergency. In 1950-1951 therefore, the writer, assisted by Paul L. Weis, undertook a review of domestic graphite sources for the U. S. Geological Survey.' The conclusions of this study are presented here, with a discussion of some technologic and politico-economic factors bearing upon the problem. Uses of Graphite: Natural graphite as marketed exhibits a wide range of properties, which determine the uses to which it is put. The most essential uses are in the manufacture of crucibles and related refractory articles, in lubricants and packing materials, and in the manufacture of batteries, foundry facings, pencils, and carbon brushes. Numerous specifications covering the mineral in its various applications must be met by producers and processors of graphite. The problem of supply is therefore not simply one of procuring a sufficient total tonnage, but the more difficult problem of procuring enough of each different grade to meet foreseeable needs. The amount of graphite required by American industry is not large. Ordinarily only a few thousand tons of strategic grades are consumed annually, yet the elimination of this small tonnage would have serious effects in several industries. Strategic Graphite: Since World War I, 60 to 100 pct of the country's annual supply of graphite has been furnished from imports. At present, natural amorphous graphite for use in pencils and batteries is produced largely from American-owned mines in Mexico. Graphite for foundry facings is obtained from a number of sources. Neither grade is a serious problem. High purity graphite for carbon brushes and for pencil leads, however, is imported, largely from Ceylon, in the form of amorphous lump graphite. Most of the flake graphite used for crucibles and related refractory articles is likewise imported, largely from Madagascar, and much of the lubricant and packing grade graphite used by industry is obtained from the same source. The strateg'ic grades of graphite are therefore amorphous lump of the Ceylon type, crucible flake, and flake suitable for lubricants and packing. Ceylon lump and Madagascar flake have for many years been accepted as standard by domestic consumers of graphite, and various essential manufacturing processes are geared to the use of graphite from these sources. Ceylon graphite as marketed is classified into several grades based on particle size and purity. Processing methods are said to be simple, but the products marketed are carefully graded and are consistent in their characteristics, an important matter to the consumer. Nearly all the graphite produced in Ceylon is from veins. Resources are reported to be large, labor is cheap, production costs are low, and world competition is slight—factors accounting for the commercial success of the graphite mining industry in Ceylon. Madagascar is reported to have deposits of the Ceylon type, but its output consists almost entirely of flake. Madagascar graphite as received in the U. S. is further processed by importing organizations, and a large number of grades are produced to meet industry requirements, especially those for crucible flake and for lubricant and packing grade flake. Madagascar crucible flake as marketed is noted for coarseness, uniformity, toughness, clean-

Jan 1, 1957

By R. P. Carreker

GERMANIUM is a member of that group of ele-nents—carbon, silicon, germanium, and tin-— that are currently of particular interest because of their interesting electrical properties. Near room temperature these materials of diamond cubic crystal structure are characteristically brittle. However, there have been several recent reports that germanium is not brittle at elevated temperatures These observations may be summarized as follows: 1—Germanium single crystals were observed to creep in bending under a maximum fiber stress of 6 kg per mm&apos; (8500 psi) at 500°C and above.&apos; The creep curves were sigmoidal, with an induction period that decreased with increasing temperature. 2—Germanium crystal bars have been bent 90" about radii ten times the bar thickness at 550°C.&apos; 3—-Audible clicks were heard when l/4 in. thick crystals were bent drastically at 450" to 500°C. No microstructural evidence of mechanical twinning was observed 4—Slip lines have been observed in tensile specimens deformed at 600°C, and are coincident with (111) planes, the close-packed planes of the diamond cubic structure.] The slip direction has not been established. 5—A germanium crystal has been compressed approximately 20 pct along a <110> axis at 700°C." The results reported subsequently were obtained in exploratory experiments intended to indicate some aspects of the behavior of germanium single crystals when tested in simple tension. Specimen Preparation A single crystal bar of n-type germanium was used. It was of purity corresponding to a resistance range of 2 to 20 ohm-cm. Tensile specimens were prepared by cutting small rectangular bars

Jan 1, 1957

By J. L. Gillson

THE big mass of anorthosite in the Lake Sanford district and the bodies of titaniferous magnetite that occur in a small area near the south margin of the mass have been described repeatedly, and the puzzling problems of the genesis of the rocks and ores have stimulated the deductive reasoning of geologists for a hundred years. Some of these men have taken a leading part1-15 in describing the anorthosite rock and forming hypotheses concerning its origin; some have contributed most to the study of the ore deposits;&apos;"= and some have made classical Studies3,4,21-27 introducing a basic approach to the problems of the anorthosite rock and genesis of the titaniferous magnetites. Much of the writing on the problems of rock and ore genesis has been based on physical-chemical reasoning rather than on field and microscope observations of the rocks and ores. Most of these geologists conclude that the anorthosite was formed by true magmatic crystallization, involving previous settling or squeezing out of ferromagnesian minerals from the parent magma. The associated gabbro is a separate segregation or later intrusion, and the lighter colored and finer grained facies of the anorthosite is either a chilled border zone of the anorthosite or the result of granulation by crushing of the coarse, dark blue rock of the main mass. This blue rock, called the Marcy type, is named after the higest peak in the range. The finer grained and lighter colored rock is called the White-face, after another mountain appropriately named for a cliff colored by this facies of the anorthosite. In explaining the genesis of the ores the authors have reached no general agreement, but all consider them to be dominantly the result of magmatic processes rather than the result of replacement by pneu-matolytic or hydrothermal processes. However, in the conclusions of two authors, Osborne27 and Ste-phenson," the reader is told positively that the ore minerals were introduced after the wall rock was solid and also that the oxides are later than the silicates. This seems to mean that the ore came in as a later intrusion, like a dike, since Osborne speaks of filter pressing and later injection of a residual magma. Stephenson agrees in general with Osborne but disagrees with his conclusion that ore does not grade into country rock. Singewald22 calls in "mineralizers" to participate in magmatic deposition. Stephenson ends his paper with a statement that replacement was the dominant process for the introduction of ore with anorthosite. Hence both Singewald and Stephenson call on pneumato-lytic or hydrothermal processes to supplement magmatic crystallization from a silicate melt, but they cannot quite bring themselves to state that the orebodies formed in that way. In their conclusions the ores are still magmatic segregations and magmatic injections and—almost as an afterthought— "replacements." According to Bateman18 there was a gravitational accumulation process of the iron silicates and oxides, which were injected later. Rambere explains the ores entirely on physical-chemical theory, as does Evrard.17 Buddington and associates,10 in a paper presented to the Geological Society of America in 1953, believe the facts observed prove that the magnetite-ilmenite formed at magmatic temperatures. The present writer&apos;s conclusions, given here, were first presented in 1947 in Industrial Minerals and Rocks.= Since the papers of Ramberg, Bateman, and Buddington, published after 1947, gave no recognition to those conclusions that differ from their own, the writer has taken an opportunity to restudy the area in the field, and to examine a number of microscopic sections, and now presents the evidence more thoroughly than he had an opportunity to do in the

Jan 1, 1957

By R. W. Smith, R. J. Charles

Fractions of glass particles in the size range 0.5 to 5.0 were prepared by an elutriator that operates in a centrifugal field. Although mean sizes of commercially graded abrasive powders were ten times greater than those of samples prepared by the elutriator, frequency size plots for elutriator samples compared favorably. Efficiency of separation was low and amounts of material recovered by the elutriator were small, but the method should find use in preparation of small amounts of sized materials for laboratory investigations. R. W. SMITH, Junior Member AIME, Research Assistant, Dept. of Metallurgy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is presently with Portland Cement Ass&apos;n., Chicago. R. J. CHARLES, Junior Member AIME, formerly Assistant Professor, Dept. of Metallurgy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is Research Associate, Ceramic Studies Section, General Electric Co., Schenectady, N. Y. TP 4261B. Manuscript, Jan. 31, 1956. STUDY of light adsorption, reaction rates, electro-phoresis, particle packing, and corrosion is hindered by lack of a suitable method of preparing small amounts of closely sized materials in the micron and submicron range. Most fractionation methods depend on some form of particle movement through a viscous media in which velocity of a par-

Jan 1, 1957

By J. W. Marx

A method is given for predicting the complete gravity drainage characteristics of arbitrarily long columns from centrifuge drainage measurements on reconstituted core samples. Oil residuals corresponding to hundreds of years of normal gravity depletion can be obtained in a few hours on the centrifuge. The gravity flow rate at any stage of the depletion process may be determined from the time correlation derived, and experimentally checked, in this study. INTRODUCTION Apart from the original observations of Muskat et al1, research publications2,3,4 on the subject of gravity drainage have been largely concerned with establishing in detail the saturation, S as a function of the height, z, in a draining column at any given time, t. Some form of numerical integration must be employed to obtain production rates and cumulative production even when S(z, t) is known. Furthermore, the relevant experimental work has been concentrated on drainage of a single wetting liquid from unconsolidated media. Since oil production usually concerns the drainage of a partially wetting liquid from consolidated media, in the presence of connate water, and since it is unlikely that sufficient information exists to establish S(z, t) in detail for any natural reservoir, the published research work appears to be, at best, only qualitatively applicable to production problems. With this in mind, the present study was undertaken by the writer. Experiments were planned whose results would have two advantages over existing measurements: 1. Observations were to be made on specific reservoir rock, reconstituted with formation water and formation oil. This would reduce their generality, from the research viewpoint, but increase their utility for production purposes. 2. The measurements were to be self-integrating, i.e., the phenomena were to be described and interpreted in terms of cumulative results. THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT It was commonly known that centrifuging a liquid bearing porous medium increases the drainage rates and minimizes capillary end effects. The specific problem lay in selecting an acceleration, a, such that the mean residual saturation of a model cylinder was equal to the residual saturation of an arbitrarily long prototype column when the latter was drained by earth gravity alone. The physical conditions required to permit a valid scaling of model drainage time, tm with prototype drainage time, t, may be stated as follows: (a) At t = tm = O, So = Smo; (b) At t = tm? 8 Sr. = Smr.; (c) For all intermediate values of t and dS/dt=dsm/dtm whenever S = Sm; (d) S(z) = Sm(z) = a constant when t = tm = 0. 1 Here S = T I S(z)dz, where h is the length of the « Jo cylindrical column being drained and the subscripts S,Sm, and refer to model, initial, and residual systems, respectively. The first three conditions mean, simply, that an 3 vs t plot will be numerically identical with an S, vs t, plot,

Jan 1, 1957

By I. Fatt

Relative permeability and relative electrical resistivity curves are obtained for networks of tubes with a tube radius distribution by means of a network of resistors used as an analog model. These curves are similar to those obtained from real porous media. The effects of pore size distribution and network structure on relative permeability and resistivity are demonstrated. INTRODUCTION Study of the dynamic properties of networks of single size tubes in paper IT&apos; of this series has shown that the network model has flow properties similar to those observed on real porous media. The comparison of properties of single size tube networks with those of real porous media cannot be carried far because very few porous media have uniform size pores. The capillary pressure curve from most porous materials such as soil, sandstone, and sintered glass indicate that these materials have pore size distribution similar to those shown in Figs. 5-1, 9-1, and 10-I.† To properly test the network model, it is therefore necessary to compare the dynamic properties of real porous media with those of networks of tubes in which the tube radii are distributed accord- ing to the distributions in the aforementioned figures. A network in which the tube sizes are distributed cannot be treated in the same manner as a network of single size tubes. In the single size tube network, the relation between tube geometry, flow resistance, and tube volume did not have to be known if the assumption was made that whatever relation did exist was the same for all tubes in a particular network. In a network of distributed tube size, the relation between tube geometry and flow resistance must be known or assumed in order to replace the tubes by equivalent electrical resistors. Relation of Tube Geometry to Flow Resistance The interchangeability of tubes and electrical resistors in the network model is possible because of the analogy between Poiseuille&apos;s law and Ohm&apos;s law. Poiseuille&apos;s law for a cylinder is q= pr4/8µl ?P.........(1) where q is the volumetric rate of flow, µ is the viscosity, ?P is the pressure gradient, r is the tube radius, and 1 is the tube length. Ohm&apos;s law is I=1/R?E..........(2) where I is the flux and is equivalent to the volumetric rate in Poiseuille&apos;s law, R is the resistance, and ?E is the voltage gradient. Both laws give the flux as a function of the potential drop and the resistance of the medium. By analogy then, 1/R=pr4/8µl ?P...........(3)

Jan 1, 1957

EASTERN VENEZUELA PETROLEUM Established December 15, 1954 Meets fourth Thursday each month at Chepa&apos;s Ice House in Anaco Glenn N Murchey, Chairman Jerome C Kearby, First Vice-Chairman J L Thompson, Second Vice-Chairman Thomas G Wall, Treasurer G J Clarke, Secretary Mene Grande Oil Co Apartado 3974 Caracas, Venezuela S K Wilkie, &apos;58, Section Delegate

Jan 1, 1957

By W. M. Aubrey, P. L. Steffensen

AUTOMATIC grinding control for ball mills in closed circuit with cyclones was developed for the concentrator of the Marmoraton Mining Co., a subsidiary company of Bethlehem Steel Corp. The concentrator, located at Marmora, Ont., Canada, treats an ore that analyzes 35 to 40 pct magnetic iron. Magnetite, the recoverable iron mineral, is concentrated by fine grinding and magnetic separation. The mesh of grind obtained in the plant is not determined by the point at which liberation is sufficient to yield a satisfactory grade of concentrate, but by the physical requirements of the downstream pelletizing operation. This is considerably finer than is metallurgically necessary. The concentrator has two identical units, each consisting of a rod mill in open circuit, followed by a ball mill in closed circuit with a cyclone and two rougher magnetic separators. The cyclone was chosen as a classifier because of its high efficiency on heavy gravity, magnetically flocculated material.

Jan 1, 1957

By Herman Blumenthal, Ronald Silverman

lnfiltrability of a porous Tic compact, produced by powder metallurgy technique, depends on the capillarity of the compact and the surface condition and nature of the individual particles. Capillary forces raise the liquid metal infiltrant into the interconnected pores of the compact and the complete filling of these pores is a function of their geometry as well as the wettability of the Tic particles. The paper deals especially with the improvement of this wettability through surface conditioning of the Tic particles. INFILTRATION, a technique for preparing dense powder metallurgy parts by filling the void spaces of a porous body with a liquid metal, has been used for the manufacture of titanium carbide-base cermets. Although the infiltration process was

Jan 1, 1957

By C. F. Knutson, Martin Felsenthal, J. D. Lung, J. D. Sudbury

This paper has been written to summarize the laboratory and field studies leading to injection of Pacific Ocean water into the Third Grubb formation. Laboratory tests for studying the permeabilities of cores to Pacific Ocean water are described. Resu1ts of these tests showed that the water could be successfully injected if it is chertzically stable, sterile, and properly filtered. Clay swelling was shown to be a comparatively minor factor in permeability reduction. Studies leading to development of an economical system for properly conditioning the ocean water are discussed. It was necessary to control pH, calcium carbonate deposition, bacterial growth, iron solubility. oxygen, and suspended .solids. A relatively simple system combining the use of sulifur dioxide, a quaternary rlmmonium chloride, and filtration was shown to adeqrrately control all these factors. This combination has not previozrsly been used as a water treating technique. Evaluation tests of the water conditioning system prior to injection are described, and results of such tests are presented. Control measures needed to insure a continusously adequate water treatment are reviewed. INTRODUCTION The utilization of sea water for waterflooding has only recently been attempted. Knowledge of treating requirements has been limited, and in most cases no water treating has been done. Prior to the initiation of the Third Grubb zone pilot water flood at Ventura, Calif.,1,2 extensive laboratory research was done in an effort to define the treatment necessary to provide a suitable injection fluid. Close coordination and cooperation between field and research personnel were found to be the foremost requisites in developing the most economical and practical method for treating ocean water. LABORATORY STUDIES Plugging Tendencies of Untreated Ocean Water A program of laboratory studies was initiated for the purpose of evaluating whether ocean water could be injected into the formation for prolonged periods of time without causing plugging of the pore spaces of the formation. Because of the fairly low permeability of the formation (averaging about 40 md), it was realized from the outset that a water of exceptionally high quality was needed. Ocean water used in the laboratory studies was carefully filtered through ultrafine fritted glass filters, having nominal maximum pore sizes of 1.4 microns. Permeability tests were then performed on representative core material from the formation. It soon became apparent in these tests that filtration alone was not a sufficient treatment for the ocean water. Prolonged injection of the filtered water caused rapid plugging of the core samples. The permeability decline of a typical sample is illustrated by Curve A in Fig. 1. The several factors which can contribute to this plugging tendency are briefly reviewed below: Interaction with Formation Clays An evaluation of clay swelling effects on liquid permeability was made using core samples from the Grubb formation. An oil was chosen for determining the reference liquid permeability because it would not tend to react with any clays that might be present in the formation. The samples were then extracted, dried, and resat-urated with either treated ocean water, formation water, or fresh water. Permeabilities to the various waters were then determined. Results of this test series are summarized in Fig. 7. The difference between the oil permeability and water

Jan 1, 1957

By Lonie W. M

The rapid development of the Australian steel industry over the past twenty years has greatly increased the demand for coking coal from the collieries owned by the Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd. and Australian Iron &amp; Steel Ltd. This in turn has called for an intensive and continuous programme of colliery expansion and new colliery development, along with the reorganization and modernization of existing collieries.This paper presents a general description of the factors involved and the techniques used in planning modern colliery development for the steel industry.PRELIMINARY GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONSIn any colliery development, preliminary geological investigations require a detailed and practical knowledge of the geology and characteristics of the coal-field as a whole. In the early stages of the investigations, probably the most valuable information is obtained from outside the particular area under review, rather than within it, and unless the geology of the coal-field is understood, the projection of the known information into the unknown area cannot be carried out with certainty.Because development of the coal seams from the outcrops has been an apparently simple matter and not subject to the risks involved in deep mine development, the geology of the New South Wales. coal-fields has not received the attention that major mineral resources warrant.Only the most accessible regions of the coal measures have been generally prospected, while the potential areas remain...

Jan 1, 1957