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By W. Mostowitsch, H. O. Hofman

In our investigation of the Behavior of Calcium Sulphate at Elevated Temperatures with Some Fluxes,' we incidentally studied the decomposition of ferric oxide when heated in a current of dry air. We found that at 1,500° C., with 15-min. periods of heating, Fe²,O³, hardly changed in weight, the greatest loss being 0.23 per cent., and we therefore concluded that the compound remained unchanged at 1,500° C. in a current of dry air. In a more recent experiment we heated Fe²,O³, in a current of dry air and found that there was a decided loss in weight. A new investigation upon the behavior of Fe², O³, using a larger amount of substance and heating for a longer period of time, revealed the fact that a measurable dissocia-

Jan 1, 1910

By David W. Brunton

From the old-fashioned " grab-sample " to the modern timing-device, which takes a machine-sample with mathematical precision, there is a wide gap, which was only crossed by many years of toil and unremitting endeavor. Even to-day, notwithstanding the advancement in the art, " grab-sampling " is still practiced—sometimes to afford the unscrupulous mine-promoter a basis for fairy-tales with which to entrap the too-gullible investor, and often by milling and smelting companies to determine the amount of moisture in custom-ores. The latter practice is almost as reprehensible as the former, and it causes more trouble and ill-feeling between seller and buyer than all other factors put together. -NO reputable concern to-day would think of attempting to determine by grab-sampling the amount of gold, silver, lead, or copper contained in an ore, and yet many buyers expect the miner to accept the results of grab-sampling in the determination of the amount of water contained in the ore, forgetting that accurate results are just as necessary here as in the determination of the metals, because the result determines the percentage of weight of the ore which shall be excluded and considered to have no value whatever. Samples for the determination of moisture should be taken with as great care as samples for the determination of metallic content, and in order to avoid the extra expense of a separate operation moisture-samples should be taken from the sample-safe. As the sample reaches the sample-bin in a smaller stream and by a more circuitous route than the " reject" travels in its path to the outgoing car, it loses more moisture en route, and a constant should be added to compensate for this difference. Carefullg ,con ducted experiments have shown that the differ.elice in loss of moisture between the two routes does not exceed 10 per cent. in summer and 7 per cent. in winter. For instance,

Jan 1, 1910

By N. H. Mannakee

[Secretary's Note.—At the Spokane meeting of the Institute, in discussion of President Brunton's address on "Modern Progress in Mining and Metallurgy in the Western United States," and at the request of members present, Mr. Ayres gave an oral account of his new separator, which is here published as an independent paper, partly because of its inherent importance and partly because it describes an improvement which did not originate in the Western United States, and therefore does not fall, strictly speaking, under the title of President Urunton's address.—R. W. R.] A brief history of the growth of the anthracite-coal preparation will give a better view-point from which to judge the present problem of separating slate from coal. At the beginning of the commercial value of anthracite, 70 years ago, only the pure portions, or " splits," of the veins were mined and shipped to market, and without any preparation or screening other than the selection, while loading, of the glassy lumps, and the rejection of the fine material and the slate that had strayed accidentally into the coal. The next step was the crushing or breaking of the coal (hence the name "breaker" as applied to the preparation-building), and the sizing of it by means of bars or revolving screens. This stage of its development marked the advent of the " breaker-boy " as a slate-picker, with his ever-increasing capriciousness. As the richer veins or a splits " became exhausted and the market demanded a still greater output, the less-pure " splits " and the thinner veins were utilized to produce the coal. Carrying as they do a far greater percentage of impurities, particularly when removing the pillars, it became necessary to build new and better equipped preparation-plants. Finally, we are now at the highest stage of complicatioii yet known to the art of coal-preparation. We are dealing with varying specific gravities, frictional difference, hardness, structure, and form in the pieces of coal and slate coming from many different veins, and

Jan 1, 1910

Jan 1, 1910

THOSE MARKED THUS * ARE MEMBERS, MARKED THUS ?ARE ASSOCIATES. THESE SIGNS DOUBLED INDICATE LIFE MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES RESPECTIVELY. THE FIGURES AT THE END OF THE ADDRESS INDICATE THE YEAR OF ELECTION. HEAVY-FACED TYPE SIGNIFIES HONORARY MEMBERSHIP. *AARONS, J. BOYD, Vivian Gold Mining Co., Ltd., Harris, West. Australia. '05 *ABADIE, EMILE R., Cons. and Min. Engr., 214 Union Savings Bank Bldg., Oakland, Cal. '76 ?ABBÉ, MAX F., Prest., Abbé Engineering Co, 220 Broadway, New York, N.Y. '07 ? ABBÉ, PAULO., Secy.,Abbé Engineering Co., 220 Broadway, New York, N.Y. '07 *ABBOTT, AI ARTHUR Morococlia, Peru, So. America. '95 *ABBOTT, CLARENCE Chief EDgr., Iron Mines, Dic Tennessee Caol, Iron & R. R. Co., Bessemer, Ala. '04 *ABBOTT, JAMES W., Min. Engr: Ploche, Lincoln Co., Nev. '94 *ABE, MASAYOSHI, Prof. of Mining, Imperial University Kyoto, Japan. '05

Jan 1, 1910

Table

Jan 1, 1910

By C. M. Weld

Attention has been turned recently to the exploration and development of certain large blanket-deposits of brown iron-ore in Cuba. The most conspicuous of these to-day, and the one upon which the most light has been shed, is the Mayari deposit, situated about 15 miles south of Nipe bag. Here the Spanish-Aniericau Co. has sole control over 18,500 acres of ore-bearing lands, reported by its engineers to contain 500,000,000 tons of ore. The necessary plant and equipment, with docks and railways, is now under construction for the early marketing of this ore. A similar deposit, and undoubtedly the next to be exploited, is the ore-field at Moa bay, where from 13,000 to 15,000 acres of ore-lands, immediately adjacent to the shores of an excellent harbor, have been generously covered by numerous mining-claims, practically all controlled by four large interests;. This deposit is now estimated to contain approximately 350,000,000 tons, on the basis of dried ore ready for shipment, a figure which may be increased when the western limits of the ore-deposit have been more accurately defined. Other deposits of the same type, but smaller and less accessible, are those at Cubitas, situated from 12 to 15 miles north of Camaguey city,

Jan 1, 1910

By F. Julius Fohs

Centrally located with relation to the largest iron- and steel-producing districts of the United States, the fluorspar-deposits of Kentucky possess increasing interest and importance. As typical of the numerous fluorspar-mines of Kentucky and Illinois, I have selected for description the Memphis, because it and others of its immediate group exhibit the conditions characteristic of all. I. The Memphis MiNe. This mine lies 5 miles NW. of Marion, in Crittenden county, Kentucky, a station on the Chicago and Nashville division of .the Illinois Central R. R. For the first mile and a half out of Marion we see only Birdsville or Middle Chester sandstones of Mississippian age. Then we cross a fault of about 850 ft. displacement, and the Ste. Genevieve oolite sets in. Beyond the fault, oolite is the predominant rock, except that the hills to the north have a capping of Cypress or lowest Chester sandstone, 80 ft. below which is an outcrop of from 6 to 10 ft. of Ste. Genevieve (Rosiclare) sandstone. Occasional sink-holes are noticed, and as the mines are approached evidence of faulting is again seen. A line of .crude head-frames and open-cut dumps, extending for more than a quarter of a mile, marks the Klondike vein. The open-cuts are from 15 to 20 ft. deep, and in most of them, from the surface down, was found the reddish gravel which is really fluorspar—some of it white or purple and crystal-clear (if the red clay is washed off), and some carrying iron and silica, and stained by waters from the decaying limestone walls. In one of these cuts, at a depth of 20 ft., white and purplish honey-combed fluorspar was found, in which the larger cavities are due to the leaching of limestone and calcite, and the minute ones to the leaching of zinc-hlende.

Jan 1, 1910

By Audley H. Snow

The general drift of the discussion as to the relative merits of pressure- and exhaust-fans has resulted, if we may judge from the prevailing practice, largely in favor of the latter. The subject has been hitherto treated, however, with special reference to highly gaseous mines, the effect of the form of ventilation upon dust-explosions having been too little considered. Even in mines containing practically no gas, dust-explosions may occur; and if, as I believe, pressure-fans are to be preferred for their effect upon dust, it may be worth while to reopen the debate, and to challenge the advisability of exhaust-ventilation under certain conditions. There are several forms of colliery-ventilation, which may be described as follows: Plain or simple pressure-ventilation, in which the fan acts as a pressure-fan, and the movement of coal is unobstructed at the surface by doors or equivalent devices in drifts or shafts, the traveling and haulage. thus being in the return-current. Plain exhaust-ventilation, in which the fan acts as an exhaust-fan, the movement of coal being likewise unobstructed at the surface, and the traveling and haulage being in the intake.

Jan 1, 1910

Prof. HEnRy Louis, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Eng. (communication to the Secretary*):—I welcome Mr. Hammond's paper as an attempt to give definiteness to the best modern professional practice. Such a codification of our professiollal ethics is urgently needed, seeing how widely the views of nlining engineers direr on some of the points raised; for example, I have no hesitation in performing a class of work, as to which Mr. Hammond seems to entertain some doubts, and, on the other hand, I strongly condemn a practice which he appears to recommend. I have not the least hesitation in making reports for vendors of mining-properties, and am constantly doing so; the best justification for this practice may be found in the fact that such reports have been repeatedly accepted by buyers as giving a correct representation of the facts of the case, which is all that should be demanded from any report. On the other hand, Mr. Hammond advocates that mining engineers should take payment for their reports in shares of a company to be floated upon the basis of such reports. I hold that this is ethically wrong, as even themost honest of men is liable to be unconsciously biased under these conditions. Indeed, I go much further, and maintain that a mining engineer who reports or advises upon mining-properties should never hold any mining-shares at all, or be himself interested in any mine, and this has been my consistent practice for many years. A man who hold shares in a mine, and is called upon to report upon a neighboring property or a similar mine, can never be wholly unbiased; and even if he could be, he would always lay himself open to the suspicion that he was giving a favorable report 80 as to enhance the value of the property in which he himself is interested, or an unfavorable report so as to stifle competition. It is quite as bad for the manager of a mine or the consulting manager to be interested, because he will have access

Jan 1, 1910

By Lewis T. Wright

It is commonly believed by metallurgists that in copper-smelting, the copper in the slags, which is irreducible by continued " settling," is retained in the form of " prills " of matte. I have frequently held well-settled slag in a molten condition for a long period without being able thereby to reduce the copper-content. The slag acted as though it contained a minimum of dissolved or combined copper that could not be settled out by gravity. I have used reagents, but without satisfying myself in what form this copper existed. The same slags, by fine grinding and elutriation, could not be separated into portions containing more or less copper than the average content. By treating copper-slags in an electric furnace a button of metallic iron and copper was produced, but the high temperature and the strong reducing-action of the furnace mere influences that suggest an explanation of a result not obtainable with ordinary smelting-temperatures. If all the copper in the slag were in the form of copper-matte, and not existing as a dissolved compound with some of the elements of the slag, then the other metals in the matte, such as gold and silver, should occur in the slag in the same ratio to the copper as to the copper in the accompanying matte. This reasoning led me to study the ratio of metals in the products of smelting, and, apart from the issues discussed in this paper, the research has proved both interesting and illuminative. On the assumption of a similar ratio of metals in matte and slag, if the percentage of copper in the slag accompanying a matte containing 50 oz. of silver and 1 oz. of gold per ton of copper was 0.3 per cent., or 96 oz. per toll of slag, there should be found 0.15 oz. of silver and 0.003 oz. of gold per ton of slag; but, in my experience, there is less silver and much

Jan 1, 1910

Elected Died 1882 *ABBOTT, ARTHUR V 1906 1903 * ADAMS, CHARLES C. 1905 1884 *ADDY, MATTHEW 1896 1894 *ALLFN R B 1896 1874 *AMIOT, H 1892 1886 *AMSLER, CARL 1894 1895 *ÅNGSTROM, CARL 1901 1895 *ARMSTRONG, JOHN F 1898 1882 *ARNOLDS, HUGO 1886 1875 *ASHBURNER, CHARLES A 1889 1872 *ASIIBURNER, WILLIAM 1887 1883 *ATKINS, C M , JR 1885 1897 *AYERS, WILLIAM 1898 1885 *BABCOCK, GEO H 1893 1884 *BAILEY, EDWARD 1889 1880 *BAILEY, JACKSON 1887 1900 *BALLOU, FRANKLIN 1903 1886 *BARNES, F W 1892

Jan 1, 1910

By Mark R. Lamb

The various methods of treating pulp in air-agitation tanks offer problems for experiment and study which are fascinating as well as practical. The usual method heretofore has been to fill each tank in turn, agitate the mixture the required period and then discharge the treated pulp into a storage-tank, from which it is drawn to the filter as required. A later method is to run the pulp from the tube-mill, classifier, thickener, or settler into the first of a set of tanks, and thence continuously or in series through the remaining tanks, finally drawing off the pulp to a continuous filter, or to a pulp-storage tank if the filter is of the intermittent type. It is this method which I propose to discuss here in a preliminary way, with the idea of going exhaustively into the examination of the results of a series of experiments in a later paper. It may be of interest to note that the design of a cyanide-plant has recently been completed in which the estimated cost of the agitation-tanks, storage-tanks, and pumps was 30 per cent. higher for the charge-agitation arrangement than for the series plan. The first question in studying the series method is, " What is the actual period of treatment undergone by the pulp ?" One first supposes that by chance some of the pulp may get through with little or no treatment, while other portions may stay in the tanks a needlessly long period. The former is not probable or even possible, and the latter is, practically, true

Jan 1, 1910

LIST OF MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO STATES AND TOWNS ALABAMA Aldrich, Aldrich, W F Anniston, Noble, A E, Smith, N B Aibacoche, Bradley, D II Bessemer, Fergusson, V Birmingham, Aldrich, T H, Aldrich, T H, Jr, Bowron, J, Bowron, C E, Davis, F H, Dimmick, F D, Hillman, McCarthy, M E , McCormack, McCrery, Ramsay, E, Shook, A M Bridge¬port, Wheeler, S K Ensley, McDonald, S, Shook, J W Fanbanks, Hamil¬ton, A L Helena, Squire, J Huntsville, Moss Lehigh, Toulmin Oxmoor, Green¬amyer, A G Plasma, Gage Rock Run, Garvin Sheffileld, Miller, D I Tuscaloesa, Lodge, J University, McCalley Woodward, Bukofzer, Woodward, A H ALASKA Dawson, Buck Douglas Island, Corbus, J P , Macdonald, J Hames, Le Wald, E A Jualin, Hoggatt, W B Juneau, Denby, Gaifield, Garside, Hamp¬ton, W H Rodman Bay, Phillpots Snettisham, Tisdale Sumdum, Thane Tel¬ler, Hirshberg, M R Treadwell City, Batcheller, J H , Kinzie Valdez, Esterly, G M Yukon, Dawson, Elmer, J M ARIZONA Bisbee, Clark, G C, Coombs, H L , Douglas, W, Hoatson, Parnall, S A, Pelton, R T, Ricketts, L D, Sherman, G F G, Smith, F W, Smith, H A Black Diamond, Bagge Blanchard, Cummins, Murray, J J Casa Grande, Rich¬mond, A B Clifton, Colquhoun, Grabill, Murray, H T , Plater, Smith, J D A, Veitch, Watson, W S Congress, Goodloe Crown King, Alexander, G E Douglas, Cornell, Kraemer, E L, Lee, G B, Rutherford, F Globe, Berray, Hoar, Snell Harrisburg, Smith, F C Jerome, Clark, W A, Thomas, C A Kingman, Treadwell, Wallace, J P Kirkland, Bretherton, G K Kofa, Lamp¬shire, J O , Pomeroy, H G Mayer, Haggott, E A Metca j, Blumenkranz, M , Forbes, D L H Morenca, Clark, C D, Fleming, J B, Honey man, Mills, C E, Wallace, L R Morristown, Stevens, H W Nogales, Glove, H G, Sandoval, A , Sandoval, P Octave, Rose, G W Phoenix, Armstrong, T , Butler, C E, Defty, Lindsay, L Prescott, Blauvelt, H , Bunker, C E, Claypool, W M , Drescher, F M , Fairbank, Nissen Tombstone, Gage, Poindexter, C L , Staunton, Walker, E W Troy, Cutting Tucson, Blake, W P, Burgess, De Lashmutt, I, McCleary, Mann, Prout, J W , Jr ARKANSAS Fayetteville, Purdue Fort Smith, Bache, F , Denman, H Little Rock, Fordyce, Scholz CALIFORNIA Alameda, Arents, King, L Arnador City, Downs, Tregloan Angeles Camp, Dig¬gles, R N , Kenney, C E Antioch, Belshaw Auburn, Coe, I J Ballarat, Thorns Berkeley, Abadie,, Christy, Dozier, Hall, F F , Hersam, Landfield, Lind¬say, L , Mansfield, N T, Morley, W S , Sharwood, W J Bag Oak Flat, Dron Bodae, Hamilton, W R, Hoover, T, Hoover, T J, Jackson, B L , Nutter , E, H Bullion, Power, H T Callahan, Scott, E H Campo Seco, Baird Cartero,

Jan 1, 1910

Jan 1, 1910

PROF RICHARD ÅKERMAN Stockholm, Sweden ANDREW CARNEGIR New York, N.Y. PROF HANS HOEFER Leoben, Austria PROF HATON DE LA GOUPILLIERE Paris, France PROF HENRI LOUIS LE CHATELIER New York, N.Y. M FLORIS OSMOND Paris, France PROF DIMITRY CONSTANTIN TSCHERNOFF St Petersburg, Russia PROF DR HERMANN WEDDING Berlin, Germany

Jan 1, 1910

By Charles R. Keyes

PAGE. I Introduction,........674 11. Occurrence............ 676 III. Geology of Death Valley BoRate-Region,....677 1. Surface.Relief ......677 2. Geologic Formations,....680 3. Geotectonics,..684 IV. FURnace Canyon Deposits..686 1. General Features..686 2. Geologic Structure..688 3. Ores.....690 4. Typical Section ...691 V. Lost Valley Deposits...693 VI. Mojave Desert Deposits..693 1. Distribution....693 2. Geologic Structure ........694 3. Ores............ 696 VII. Santa Clara Valley Deposits .699 1. Distribution....699 2. Geologic Structure..700 3. Ores.....700 VIII. Ventura County Deposits..701 IX. Geologic Occurrence of Borax .701 1. Original Sources...701 2. Solfataric Borax...702 3. Lacustrine Borax...703 4. Marsh Borax....703 5. Terranal Borax...704 X. Chemistry of Natural Borates.... 705 1. General Considerations.....705 2. Composition of Saline Waters...706 3. Solubility of Components....707 4. Time-Element in Water.Concentrations . 707 5. Effect of Temperature.....708 6. Effect of Pressure......709 XI. Occurrence of Other Commercial Salines,.... 709 I. Introduction. A complete transforrnation has taken place in the borax industry during the year 1908. A most remarkable factor in

Jan 1, 1910

By Edward W. Parker

If one is to place any credence at all in the reports published in the daily press, the subject of conservation has been a very lively topic of conversation during the past 60 days, and it does not appear that the temperature of the summer months has been in any way moderated by the discussion. It is a subject in which we are all vitally interested and to which, so far as our mineral resources are concerned, both the Institute and the Geological Survey have liberally contributed. The report of the National Conservation Commission, appointed by President Roosevelt, contains a series of papers on the conservation of mineral resources, all of which were prepared by members of the Geological Survey and were compiled largely from information previously collected by that Federal bureau in the performance of its regular duties. It is not the purpose of this paper to reiterate in extenso any of the material already published. The contributions of the Survey offcials to the Corn-

Jan 1, 1910

By A. A. Steel

DUring the summer of 1905 I was employed by the U. S. Geological Survey to investigate the geology, mining, and preparation of barite in most of the fields of the United States. The Eastern districts have been more or less completely described; the Virginia field in detail by Thomas L. Watson, in his paper, Geology of the Virginia Barite-Deposits,' and other fields in abstract, including statistics of production and references to current literature, by various authors.2 There have also been published a few details of the occurrence of barite in the lead-mines of Washington county, Mo.³ The other accounts of this district are erroneous and meager, and since this field is the most important one in the United States at the present time, a detailed description of the local geology seems doubly desirable. Barite-deposits are scattered over nearly the whole of Washington and adjoining counties, but the product is all mined from the areas indicated upon the sketch-map, Fig. 1, and is shipped from the stations of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railway, between Blackwell and Potosi, from 45 to 60 miles SW. of St. Louis. The topography is for the most part gently rolling, with slightly graded streams, usually less than 200 ft. below the higher hill-tops. Along Mineral fork and Indian creek are some steep bluffs and cliffs, affording good exposures of the

Jan 1, 1910

By D. H. Newland

During the year 1907 an investigation of the Clinton formation in New York has been carried out under the direction of the State Geologist, and a full account of the results has been prepared for publication.' The more important economic features of the report are summarized in the present paper. Previous knowledge of this, the type, section of the Clinton has been contributed mostly by Hall and Vanuxem in their reports for the Natural History Survey of New York, which were issued in their final form in 1842-43. Brief accounts of the ore-occurrences have been given by 13. T. Putnam? J. C. Smock: A. H. Chester: and E. C. Eckel.5 Prof. C. H. Smyth, Jr.,6 has discussed the origin of the Clinton ores in two papers, which, so far as the local occurrences are concerned, have removed all doubt that may have existed on that subject. Distribution of the Clinton Formation. The Clinton strata in New York State are restricted to a single belt, which extends from the eastern central part to the Niagara river, which it crosses, and thence continues for some distance into the province of Ontario. The New York

Jan 1, 1910