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By E. E. White

In August, 1911, I read a paper before the Lake Superior Mining Institute1 on surveying and sampling diamond-drill holes. The present paper gives a more thorough descriptiou of these methods, together with a few changes and notes suggested by further experience. Since August, 1911, the methods, used constantly by the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., have been developed to a higher degree of efficiency, and have given great satisfaction. Until a few years ago but little attention was paid to the determination of the actual course of drill-holes, to the accurate sampling' and analysis of the material, or to the scientific location of the drill-holes. It has now been common practice for several years in many districts to test the inclination of drillholes by etching glass tubes with hydrofluoric acid, but the direction of deviation from the vertical has not often been determined. Methods of determining the direction by means of a compass were first developed in connection with drilling in Victoria. The latest method used on the Rand in South Africa has been recently described by John I. Hoffman.2 In the same paper Mr. Hoffman describes an ingenious method of wedging-off a drill-hole so as to start new holes at several successive points. By this means a hole can be deflected in any desired direction, and the curvature can be controlled to a considerable extent, provided the rock is soft enough to permit the hole to be wedged off. Unfortunately, in the Lake Superior district, the jasper iron-formation is so hard that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to do this. I tried to deflect one hole so as to avoid drill-rods stuck in the hole, by using a

Jan 1, 1913

By Charles M. Rolker

The main tin-producing regions of the world are known to be England, Australia and the Dutch East Indian possessions, chiefly Banca and Billiton. During recent years, the tin of the Malay Peninsula, exported from Penang and Singapore, has been coming prominently to the front. France, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Spain, South America, Russia and China still present insignificant figures. The conspicuous part which the Dutch possessions in the Indian Archipelago have taken in supplying the world with tin, is well known. Tin was discovered in Banca as early as 1710, and has been produced there ever since; but the supply has been most important since Banca came fully into the possession of Holland, in 1821. In Billiton and the adjoining island of Singkep, the existence of tin was known prior to 1822.* The Lingganese knew of its existence in the valley of Embalong, from creeks and streams in the neighborhood of Tima and Simper hills, on Billiton and also on Singkep island, but the prevailing superstition that tin-mining brought misfortune, influenced them to let this industry lie idle. The attempts of the Dutch government to test this question were lukewarm, perhaps by reason of the fear of reducing, through new discoveries, the price of Banca tin, and the island was abandoned in 1826, leaving only a military post. In 1850, Dr. Crookewit, a chemist and naturalist, was sent out to verify the rumors that tin existed in Billiton. His report was unfavorable; but in 1851 Mr. C. De Groot, a mining engineer, found tin readily, and the active work on Billiton dates from that time. Less than 600 tons were produced during the first ten years, and 3000 tons in the next decade. Billiton tin-mining is done by

Jan 1, 1892

By N. V. Hansell

The preparation of low-grade iron-ores by concentration, whether or not followed by an agglomeration of the concentrate, has in the United States only recently been recognized as a metallurgical process of vast economical importance for its iron indust.ry. This importance of the process lies not only in the fact that it makes possible the use of ores heretofore discarded on account of their low iron-content or their too high percentage of elements deleterious in the iron industry, but also in its produetion of a raw material for the blast-furnace that is more uniform in its physical character and chemically purer, with a higher iron-content, than the general run of natural ores. When mixed in the burden of the furnace, it lowers the amount of coke and fluxing-stone required per ton of pig-iron produced. The furnace-operations become more regular and more easily controlled. The pig-iron is of higher quality and more uniform in character. In brief, it is becoming recognized that the beneficiating of the natural iron-ore, even if it makes the furnace-ore higher in cost per unit of iron entering into the burden, may mean a lowering of the production-cost of the pig-iron and an improved product. At the present time, the Lake Superior district furnishes about 80 per cent. of all the iron-ore yearly produced in the United States. If the Southern States arc exempted the percentage runs as high as 93 per cent. These ores are showing a steady decrease in grade from year to year. For the past 10 or 15 years this falling off in the average grade has been about 0.5 per cent. a year. The lowered grade of ore means an in-

Jan 1, 1913

By Charles H. Fulton

There are comparatively few accurate data on the melting-or the freezing-point temperature of metallurgical slags, or on related physical phenomena, such as fluidity near the melting-point, specific heat, latent heat, etc. With the exception of the work of H. 0. Hofman,' and some older work by R. Akerman, P. Gredt, and H. M. Howe, no information is available that is of direct interest to the metallurgist. Hofman's valuable work is the only one that refers to slags produced in the metallurgy of copper and lead. The classic work of J. H. L. Vogt,2 who views slags from the standpoint of physical mixtures (solutions in which the entities are minerals), has opened up a new field in the study of slags, and has placed the investigation of such properties as melting-temperatures, etc., on a rational basis. The recent work of A. L. Day, E. T. Allen, and W. I?. White, of the Carnegie Institution, at Washington, and of European investigators3 on certain systems of silicate minerals confirms the value of the investigation of silicate series from this standpoint, and it is my aim to apply this method to metallurgical slags, in order to gain exact data of value in metallurgy. The work recorded in the present paper is the result of an investigation of reverberatory-furnace slags made for a Western smelting company to determine exactly the influence of change in composition, within comparatively narrow limits, on the melting-point. For a general discussion concerning the mineralogical character of slags and the principles on which this investigation is based, reference should be made to other work: for the subject is too large to be stated in this paper, except very briefly in the following outline:

Jan 1, 1913

By C. A. Stetefeldt

Jan 1, 1892

By Alex G. McKenna, Thomas M. Drown

The unsatisfactory character of most, if not all, of the processes for the direct determination of alumina in the presence of iron and phosphoric acid, and the sharpness with which both the iron and phosphoric acid can be determined, have led chemists to rely mainly

Jan 1, 1892

By J. E. Johnson

Charcoal-iron is quantitively so unimportant compared with coke-iron, that its qualitative importance for many industrial purposes is entirely unkriown to many coke-furnace-men, and to the great majority of the inembers of this Institute. To explain this qualitative importance, and explain some of the fact,ors that affect the quality, are the objects of this paper. A brief review of' the commercial conditions governing the charcoal-iron industry is a necessary preliminary to any adequate treatment of the subject. The advent of coke-iron, which transformed the whole iron industry commercially, left intact a limited production of charcoal-iron in the East and South, which has been conducted almays on the basis of high cost and high quality, with correspondingly high selling-price. In the Northwest, particularly in the Lake Superior district, the development has been along totally different lines, for which the close proximity of the great iron-ore deposits and the great forests of that region mere responsible. When the great white-pine forests were removed there were left behind large areas of hardwood and hemlock, to which little attention was paid in the prosperous years of the white-pine industry. But when the latter declined, the demand for lumber, and the presence of lumber-men, probably more skilled than any others in the world, caused the gradual introduction of these woods into commercial use. It was a matter of ancient knowledge that hardwood made an excellent charcoal, and to utilize the cordwood left after the saw-logs were removed, by converting it into charcoal and using it to smelt ore from the adjacent mines, mas an obvious step. In some cases the establishment of the furnace occurred in-

Jan 1, 1913

By W. H. Adams

Shortly after becoming one of the van-guard of mine-developers in the State of Virginia, during the year 1883, I called the attention of the Institute to certain deposits of pyrites, which have been largely worked since. In all cases these deposits are covered with iron-ore (limonite), extending 40, 50 or 60 feet from surface to water-level. The several classes of brown iron-ores are found almost continuously along a prominent ridge of mineral-bearing slates, which can be traced from the James river northeasterly to the North Anna, the Rappahannock and the Potomac rivers, crossing the counties of Louisa, Spottsylvania and Stafford. Outcrops are plainly discoverable from end to end of this belt, also, in places, to the right and left of it, and at intervals there are evidences of workings, some of them for known purposes and others of unknown age and meaning. These old workings have an interest aside from the minerals they may contain or may have yielded. I have been engaged during the past five years in the collection of facts concerning them, which might determine definitely the site of those iron-furnaces, placed by tradition within reach of " the towne called Germanna," which were the first ever built in this State or on this continent. The events which led to the establishment of this important industry are sufficiently narrated in a paper written by Mr. R. A. Brock, Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society, and printed in the Proceedings of the National Museum, 1885, page 77, from which I quote the following : " To Virginia, the first of the English settlements in America, belongs the honor of inaugurating within her limits, as a colony, that most important industry, iron manufacture. "The London Company contemplated a variety of manufacturing enterprises from the very beginning of its authority; prominent among them was that of iron. In 1610 Sir Thomas Gates testified before the council of the Company at London, that in Virginia ' there were divers minerals, especially iron-oare,' lying upon the

Jan 1, 1892

By W. A. Barrows, Carl Zapffe

Jan 1, 1913

By F. E. Lucas

This paper is offered with considerable diflidence, since some of the statements made may not agree with the opinions of other members of the Institute. What I give is the result of some years of experience in the operation and construction of coke-ovens, and observation of plants in America and Europe. Although my title is " The Manufacture of Coke," I have found it impossible to do justice to the subject without touching on a number of points which, while not strictly involved in the making of coke, yet are of paramount importance from an economic standpoint. There are, indeed, many points of interest, on each of which a separate paper of considerable length might be written, but the scope of my paper will permit me only to touch lightly some of them, in the hope that what I say will promote a full discussion on the whole question. Those of us who are interested in the manufacture of coke are under an obligation to the American Institute of Mining Engineers, which has opened its meetings to the discussion of this subject. I do not believe that there is any question to-day more worthy or more in need of discussion. When geologists and mining-men tell us that, at the present rate of consumption, our coal-fields will be exhausted in a few generations, me should welcome any means that will conserve these deposits as far as possible, and give us the greatest amount of heat or power from every ton mined. I shall try to show that much can be done in this direction through the by-product coke-oven, and that it should stand second to none as an economic factor in the industrial world. I shall here deal exclusively with the by-product oven, except for the comparative statement I hare prepared, showing the saving to be effected by coking in by-product instead of beehive orens. It should be borne in mind that this comparison

Jan 1, 1913

By William Campbell

The structure of iron and steel, though the object of so much study and research for the past 25 years, is by no means thoroughly understood. In the first place, we have three or more distinct iron-carbon thermal diagrams, each with its own supporters, and each representing a theory of the structure and constitution of cast-iron. In the second place, by reason of the fact that austenite, the solid solution of carbon in iron, decomposes in the solid state into ferrite, or pure iron, and cementite (Fe3C), and that quenching from above this transition-range, no matter how rapid, cannot entirely prevent the change and thus preserve the austenite by itself at ordinary temperatures, it happens that under the microscope we find, in addition to the ferrite, Fe3C, and austenite, which the thermal diagram of steel requires, a series of transition-products with distinctive structures, to which have been given the names martensite, troostite, sorbite, etc. Now these transition-products, in addition to the solid solution, austenite, have been the source of much controversy, at times very bitter. One side would insist that, say, troostite was an entity, which the other side would deny, pointing out that it must be a transition-mixture, with a particular structure. That austenite was a solid solution of carbon in iron has been denied by one school; we have been told that Fe24C dissolved both Fe3C and Fe, and thus gave rise to a whole series of quenching-pro-ducts—all this in spite of the fact that no matter how the thermal diagrams differ in regard to cast-iron, they all agree in regard to the solid solution, austenite, for Fe24C finds no place on the diagram. Thus it happens that while the authorities fight both in regard to the iron carbon diagram and the structures met with in hard-

Jan 1, 1913

By T. A. Rickard

Among the gold-deposits discovered in recent vears none is more extraordinary in richness or interesting in structure than that of the famous mine at Mount Morgan. At a time when but few Australian mines were known to the world outside the colonies, Mount Morgan was quoted as an occurrence, unusual not only in its origin (for it was said to be dye to geyser-action) but also in the purity of its gold. The mine is situated just within the tropics, twenty-six miles southwest of Rockhampton, in central Queensland. Queensland attained in 1889 the first place among the gold-producing colonies of Australasia, a position previously always held by Victoria. In that year Queensland produced 737,822 ounces, while Victoria cape second with 614,838 ounces. Of the four chief mining districts Rockhampton stood first, as the following figures show: Quartz crushed, Yield,. Average per ton, Tons. Ounces. Oz. Dwt. Rockhampton ,....81,138 340,669 4 4 Charters Towers,.. .. 109,328 165,551 1 10 Gympie,.....106,625 112,847 1 1 Croydon,.....29,423 51,156 1 15 It should be added that Queensland has but little alluvial mining, the total output from this source in 1889 being only 5044 ounces, none of which came from the four principal gold-fields. Leaving out Rockhampton, the output of which is practically that of the Mount Morgan mine, it will be noted that the more northerly goldfields show the highest average (Gympie being furthest from and Croydon nearest to the equator). This is largely explained, however, by the increased cost of milling, due chiefly to the want of water for batteries and the consequent economical necessity of selecting high-grade material only for crushing. During the year ending November 30, 1889, the Mount Morgaq

Jan 1, 1892

By E. T. Dumble

For many years there have been occasional reports of the discovery of gold from a belt of the coast country of Texas which is underlain by deposits belonging to the lower Eocene. For the most part they have been treated as newspaper reports and no examination or record of them has been made. Among such, it may be mentioned that in 1896 there was a flurry over reported gold-discoveries west of Luling and elsewhere in this belt, and in 1903 some prospect-shafts were sunk on the Gon-zales branch of the Galveston, Houston & San Antonio railway, 3 miles below Harwood. During 1912, further discoveries have again brought the matter to our attention, and it may be of interest to record the facts as we have found them. Some years ago specimens were sent me, which were said to have been taken from certain beds on Gazley creek, and concentrated by washing in a rocker. In them were several particles of gold sufficiently large to be visible to the eye. Under the microscope they showed to be, with few exceptions, sharp cornered, and not rounded as is usual with placer-gold. They were not filings, however, but their sharpness seemed rather to be due to a recent freeing from their matrix. One or two grains were rusty, and one copper-hued, but the most of them were tolerably bright. On examining the material of the samples small grains or fragments were found, of a yellowish brown color, which seemed to be of a finely-granular structure—possibly a sandstone. In these fragments I found particles of gold, one of them being large enough to be visible without a lens. Gazley creek empties into the Colorado river just north of Smithville, and for a few miles north of that place its banks show, beneath the deposits of more recent materials, the sands and clays of the Lignitie division of the Eocene, with lignite, shells of iron, etc.

Jan 1, 1913

By C. A. Stetefeldt

Metallurgical processes cannot be conducted successfully With out the aid of analytical chemistry. The great perfection of Iead smelting in the West, for instance, has only been accomplished by the analysis of ores, fluxes, slags and all products of the furnace. Ores are mixed and fluxed to obtain a slag of desired composition. Account is even taken of the composition of the ashes obtained from the coke. The " muscular " smelter has left the field forever! This state of affairs has been induced by sharp competition, i.e., by a com plete separation of the industries of mining and reducing ores, not by the liberality and wisdom of directors and stockholders to pro vide laboratories and engage chemists, or by their love for scientific investigation. It would be considered absurd, at present, to run a lead-smelter, a blast-furnace for pig-iron, or a Bessemer plant without the assist ance of a well-equipped laboratory and a chemist; but it is con sidered quite sufficient to provide amalgamation- or lixiviation works merely with a crude assay-office, and an assayer who is paid less than a laborer in the mill. In my opinion, this will change in the near future. By the ex clusion of Mexican lead-ores, and their growiring scarcity in the West, smelters have been forced to raise their charges on so-called dry silver-ores, and cannot handle the latter now in such unlimited quantities as formerly. The inevitable result must be that the sur plus of these dry silver-ores, especially those of low grade, will be reduced by processes cheaper than smelbing; and here the introduc tion of lixiviation has an excellent field, provided the muscular lixiviator has an able chemist for an assistant. It is to be regretted that so little analytical work has been done in lixiviation. We know almost nothing of the composition of roasted ores before and after lixiviation; of the constitution of the first wash water and of lixiviation-solutions after prolonged use; of the chemistry of sodium and calcium sulphides; of the col-hposition

Jan 1, 1892

By C. M. Weld

In the course of my professional work in China during the fall of 1907, I had an opportunity to visit the iron-ore mines at Ta-yeh in Hu-pei province (long. 114O 50t E., lat. 30' 20t N.). It occurs to me that a rescript and discussion of my notes taken at that time should be of interest, particularly as supplementing the exceedingly interesting recent paper of Thomas T. Read on The Mineral Production and Resources of China.' Ta-yeh is situated near the right bank of the Yangtze river. The mines are at an average distance of about 16 miles from the river-port Shi-hui-yao, which in turn is some 70 miles SE. of Hankom. The ores are shipped to the works of the Han-Yeh-P'ing Iron & Coal Co. at Hanyang, as also very largely to the Japanese government iron- and steel-works at Wakamatsu, Japan. Smaller qnantities have been exported to the Pacific coast of the United States. These ore-deposits have been briefly noticed in a number of publications, but, so far as I know, Mr. Read's description, in his chapter or1 the iron-ores of the Chinese Empire,2 contains the first attempt to define their geological character. In his more recent paper Mr. Read follows very closely the text of his earlier description. To quote briefly from the recent paper, he says : " The iron-ores at Ta-yeh .... lie along the contact between a marble and an intrusive body of a dark-gray syenitic rock." He refers to a figure which exhibits in plan, but not in section, the relative positions of the syenite, ore-bodies, and limestone. The contact is seen to trend approximately E-W., with the syenite on the north and the limestone on the south. " The syenite lies to the north of the marble, and a few miles farther north the marble again appears, iron-ore again being present along the contact." No litho-

Jan 1, 1913

By John Jermain Porter

In taking up this subject it is first necessary to define our terms. Efficiency, in its engineering usage, means the ratio between actual and theoretical results, and efficiency-records thus involve the use of scientifically determined standards with which all results are compared. Scientific management is the methods used in increasing efficiency, and includes the use of efficiency-records. Efficiencj-records do not alone constitute scientific management, but they are necessary to it, and any so-called system of management which is not based upon standards and standardization is fundamentally wrong. An efficient management and efficiency-methods in management are not the same thing. There are some people who have an instinctive genius for management and accomplish results without exactly knowing how they do it. Such a manager may obtain a very high efficiency without the aid of scientifically determined standards. On the other hand, it sometimes happens that poor results will accompany the use of efficiency-recorcis, due to a weak or indifferent management, which fails to make use of the information acquired. Efficiency-records are only a tool, and like other tools are worthless unless used. The ordinary cost-sheet and production-statement do not go far enough. They tell what has been done, but give no information as to how well it has been done. It is true that the man who is familiar with the industry and the plant in question may draw inferences and form a general idea of good work or bad work, but it can only be a very general and hazy idea. Comparisons with previous records or records of other plants are unsatisfactory, since there is nothing to show the cause of the differences. Efficiency-records supply this need. They compare actual

Jan 1, 1913

By Henry E. Wood

In my opinion, the concentration of minerals by flotation is the most interesting problem in ore-dressing, and will command eventually far more consideration than it has at present. For many ores it furnishes a complete method of concentration absolutely independent of specific gravity, and thus simplifies the milling of many difficult combinations. Not having to recognize the influence of specific gravity, we are also able to dispense with some of the complications resulting from classifying-conditions. Where flotation cannot be used for a complete separation of the minerals from the gangue, it will be found, in nearly all cases, to save those portions which are generally lost by reason of their fine state of division. For this reason, it should be looked upon mainly as an aid to general concentration, although there are many ores so well adapted to flotation that more than 90 per cent. of the valuable metals can be recovered from them in one operation by this process. In presenting the results of my investigations in flotation, I have endeavored to theorize as little as possible. That side of the subject has been extensively discussed by others. My earliest work with flotation was done in 1895, when I used various oils, grease, soap, etc., with results that were remarkable. I did not realize then that with water alone equally good separations could be made. Up to 1906, my endeavors were confined to attempts to keep the concentrates on the tables well wetted and away from exposure to the air. In common with others, I observed that when there mas any obstruction in the wash-water on the table of sufficient size to divert the water to either side, the concentrates collected, and, on exposure to the air, would promptly float away. This convinced me that the sulphides were all good "swimmers," and that if,

Jan 1, 1913

By R. W. Raymond

Recent literary labors have led me to the compilation of the following tables and estimates, which may possess interest for my colleagues in the Institute, and which are here submitted without comment.

The fall meeting of the Institute of Metals and Iron and Steel Divisions was held at Cleveland, Ohio, Oct 20-22, and was a part of the National Metal Congress The registration at the technical sessions was more than 450 and the attendance at the dinner of the two Divisions on Wednesday evening taxed the capacity of the dining room Albert Sauveur was the dinner speaker, his subject, "Metallurgical Reminiscences "

Jan 1, 1937

By N Elith

Coal is a valuable energy source in New Zealand and has been mined from the West Coast for over 100 years. Stockton Mine is New Zealand's largest opencast coal producer supplying around 1.5 Mt of hard coking and thermal coal to international markets annually. The Stockton Plateau forms an extensive, gently inclined dip slope on erosion resistant Lower Eocene Brunner Coal Measures unconformably overlying basement rocks. The dip slope rises 600 - 1000 masl, locally dissected by fault scarps and present-day fluvial systems, some of which are deeply incised. Within the Mt Augustus Mining Block overburden comprises of a 30 - 40 m thick sequence of fluviatile, coarse to granular coal measure sandstones. High quality coking coal is preserved as a gently dipping, 10 - 12 m thick seam. High and sometimes very steep cliffs of jointed overburden shape the skyline escarpment, above steep forested slopes and gullies. As mining has progressed at Mt Augustus individual coal blocks are progressively becoming more technically challenging. This paper outlines the scientific approach taken by Solid Energy International and mining contractors to carefully unlock many thousands of tons of coal whilst protecting nearby flora and fauna from the impacts of dislodged rock and other blasting side-effects. The strategy involved: an expert-driven onsite risk assessment,formulation of a management plan to manage impacts,conducting an in situ vibration research program, andanalysis of results and operational designs to eliminate potential environmental problems.

Jan 1, 2003