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By Max W. Ball

THE geologist or mining engineer, whose work takes him into the western United States, whether for the Government or private enterprises, is likely to be called upon to classify public lands as to their mineral character, or to review such classification already made, usually by a Government geologist or mineral inspector. The public-land law covering the matter is clear and logical, and a knowledge of its simpler principles is necessary to intelligent classification work. There are two classes of cases in which a classification of lands as mineral or non-mineral may be required: .first, cases in which lands classified as mineral will be retained by the Government and lands classified as non-mineral alienated; second, cases in which lands classified as mineral will be alienated and lands classified as non-mineral retained.

Jan 1, 1921

W. H. PORTH, New York, N.Y.-I would like to ask what effect segregation of lead would have upon the corrosion of sheet zinc; also what effect would abnormal percentages of iron have upon the ductility of Sheet zinc? One of our difficulties seemed to be that the cells, when standing on the shelf, corroded. We have attributed this to local action in the zinc sheet. We would like to know whether the segregation of, these impurities in this sheet zinc will have any effect on the local action occur-ring in sheet zinc. Lately we have had difficulty in punching some sheet zinc, in that the sheets split in the die. The section that split seemed to have an abnormallly high percentage of cadmium and iron; would that cause it to become brittle? C. H. MATHEWSON.-Iron is one of the most unwelcome impurities when high ductility is the principal requirement in rolled zinc. High

Jan 12, 1919

By Ray W. Carpenter, Ralph Hultgren, Raymond L. Orr

Heats of formation of Au-Zn alloys of compositions Au3Zn and AuZn were rneasured at several temperatures by liquid tin solution calorimetry. The data for Au3Zn show that much smaller heat and entropy effects are associated with the a2- a1 transformation than for the a1 - a transformation. This result is consistent with reported X-ray diffraction studies which indicate that the a1 and (a2 phases have ordered structures which only slightly differ, whereas the a phase is disordered. The heat of formation of AuZn(ß') does not change significantly between 322o and 8000 K, confirming that the ß' alloy remains highly ordered to high temperatures. Not many measurements have been made of the energies of order-disorder transformations in alloy phases. In many cases these energies may be conveniently determined by measuring heats of formation as a function of temperature. Many alloy phases approximately obey Kopp's law of additivity of heat capacities; as a consequence their heats of formation do not change with temperature. In ordered alloys, however, a decrease in degree of order with increasing temperature will contribute an endothermic component to the heat of formation. Thus, for ordered phases where other anomalous contributions to heat capacity in the alloy or its pure components are absent, a measured change in the heat of formation may be attributed to the energy of disordering. A portion of the Au-Zn phase diagram1" is shown in Fig. 1. The composition AuZn(ß') has a well-ordered superlattice structure of the CsCl type at room temperature. The alloy is considered to remain ordered to its melting point,1 although, from X-ray diffraction data and electromotive force measurements of zinc activities, Terpilowski3 concluded that considerable disordering began at -673°K. The Au3Zn composition is a disordered fee solid solution (a) at high temperatures. Between 693o and 543oK, the ailoy orders to form the a1 phase, having a structure based on the L12(AuCu3) type, but with a regular distribution of ordering faults in the c direction, making it tetragonal. Below 543oK, the alloy orders further by means of slight atomic shifts, without diffusion, yielding a complex long-period orthorhom-bic superlattice structure, a2.4-7 Heats of formation of Au3Zn(a2) and AuZn(ß') were measured at 363°K by Biltz et al.8 by aqueous solution calorimetry. Heat capacities of several alloys between 14.9 and 38.4 at. pet Zn in the range from 373" to 723°K were measured by Iwasaki ef al.6 Stoichiometric Au3Zn, however, was not included in the alloys measured, the nearest composition being 26.1 at, pet Zn. Also, the heating rate used for the measurements, 2 deg per min, may not have permitted equilibrium to be reached in the neighborhood of the transformations. Heat contents of solid and liquid AuZn were measured between 488o and 1138°K by Kubaschewski.9 It was decided to determine the ordering energies of Au3Zn and to check on the possible disordering of AuZn by measuring the heats of formation of these alloys at several temperatures. The present paper reports measurements by liquid tin solution calorimetry of the heats of formation of the three phases of Au3Zn at temperatures within their regions of stability, and of AuZn at a low (322°K) and a high (800°K) temperature. EXPERIMENTAL Alloy Preparation and X-Ray Examination. Ten-gram ingots of Au3Zn and AuZn were prepared by melting weighed amounts of gold (99.95 pct Au) and zinc (99.99 pet Zn) together in sealed evacuated Vycor tubes at 1060°K, followed by rapid quenching. The resulting ingots were homogenized at 900°K for 10 days. The Au3Zn alloy lost no weight in preparation, the loss from the AuZn alloy was enough to introduce an uncertainty of only 0.1 at. pet in its composition. Filings for X-ray examination were taken from various parts of each ingot and strain-annealed at 723°K for 20 min in vacuo. The Au3Zn filings were quenched rapidly to retain the disordered phase. Diffraction patterns were determined with an X-ray dif-fractometer using copper Ka radiation.

Jan 1, 1968

By W. M. Albrecht, W. D. Klopp, R. I. Jaffee, B. G. Koehl

Kinetic studies were made of the reactions of tantalum with oxygen, nitrogen, and air at 400o to 1500°C. The tantalum-oxygen reaction is linear from 500° to 1250°C. The tantalum-nitrogen reaction follows a cubic rate law at 400° to 700°C and a parabolic rate law at 800" to 1475°C. The reaction behavior in air is initially parabolic followed by a transition to linear behavior. In the search for high-temperature materials, considerable interest is being shown in the refractory metal, tantalum. It is the third highest melting metal with a melting point of 2996°C. Also, tantalum has excellent ductility, making it one of the most workable refractory metals. In considering high-temperature applications of tantalum, the oxidation kinetics of the metal must be known. Such information also serves as a basis for the development of corrosion resistant tantalum-base alloys. Therefore, this study was made to investigate the reaction of tantalum with air, nitrogen, and oxygen. LITERATURE Several oxides of tantalum have been reported. The pentoxide, Taz05, is the only oxide of tantalum whose identity has been established. A high-temperature modification, aTa2Os, has been reported by several investigators.1-4 A low-temperature phase, ßTa2O5, undergoes an allotropic transformation at 1320o to 1350oC. 5-8 Four other oxides of tantalum have been reported. The oxides TaO2, TaO, and Ta4O have been reported by schonberg.9 A suboxide Ta2O, was observed by Wasilewski 6. However, the presence of oxides lower than Ta2O5 is questioned by Lagergren and Magneli.7 In oxidation studies, vermilyeal0 and Peterson, et al.,12 reported one possible phase intermediate between Ta and Ta2O5. Only Ta2O5 was formed in the tantalum air reaction, as reported by Michae1.l3 Several studies have been made on the kinetics of the tantalum-oxygen reaction. vermilyeal4 investigated the range 50° to 300°C and found that the rate of growth of a thin adherent oxide film could be described by the Cabrera-Mott theory. Gulbransen and Andrew15,18 studied the reaction kinetics of tantalum in oxygen pressure of 1/10 atm at 250° to 450°C. At all temperatures the reaction followed the parabolic rate law for periods up to two hours. The oxidation behavior in the range 500" to 1000°C was found to be linear at oxygen pressures of 0.2 to 600 psi according to Peterson. et al.l1 At very low pressures (1 x 10-3 to 2 X lo-' mm of Hg) Gebhardt and seghezzi17 reported linear oxidation at 800° to 1500°C. The reaction of tantalum with air is similar to the reaction with oxygen. Studies have been made by Waber, et a1.,12 and Michae1.l3 Two nitrides of tantalum, TaN and Ta2N are known. Their structures have been determined by Brauer and Zapp 18,19 The tantalum-nitrogen reaction kinetics have been investigated by Gulbransen and Andrews. 15, 16 The reaction follows the parabolic rate law at 500° to 850°C at a nitrogen pressure of 1/10 ,atm. At the same temperature, the tantalum-nitrogen reaction is much slower than the tantalum-oxygen reaction. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES Material— The material used in this study was high-purity, electron-beam-melted tantalum obtained from the Temescal Metallurgical Corp. The hardness of the as received ingot was 76 Vhn. The analysis of the material is given in Table I. Methods—Cylindrical specimens of tantalum approximately 0.9 cm in diam and 0.5 cm in length

Jan 1, 1962

By AIME AIME

AN unusually interesting meeting devoted to the discussion of the ways and means of improving coal mining practice, through the larger use of machinery underground, was held in the Auditorium of the Engineering Societies Building on March 11. The meeting was organized by the Materials Handling Division of the A. S. M. E. and held under the auspices of the Metropolitan Section of that Society and the National Coal Association. The New York Section of the A. I. M. E., which had been invited to participate, found itself unable to do so formally because of a conflicting date for its March meeting but informally did its part to aasure the success of the meeting. As a result of the discussion at and preceding the meeting, the National Coal Association, through Walter Barnum, chairman of its research committee, has asked the A. S. M. E. and A. I. M. E. to join the Association in a study of the present problems of the bituminous coal industry. Messrs. Harry L. Gandy, Calvin W. Rice and H. Foster Bain have been selected to act as a committee which shall develop plans for a joint program.

Jan 1, 1926

By Walter E. Hopper

The Caddo oil-field, shown in Fig. 1, is located in Caddo parish, northwestern Louisiana. The known producing territory of oil is covered by townships 19 N, 20 N, 21 N, 22 N, and ranges 15 and 16 W., shown in Fig. 2. The center of the field may be taken as Oil City, 24 miles north of Shreveport, on the Kansas City Southern railway. Shreveport is the second largest city in the State, and is the connecting point of five railroad-lines. Drilling at the present time, however, is going on all over northern Louisiana, especially in Caddo and the neighboring parishes. During the winter of 1908-09 I spent 'four months in the Caddo field, under the direction of the Louisiana Geological Survey and the U. S. Geological Survey. II. History and Development. Natural gas escaping at the surface is found at numerous places in northwestern Louisiana. At Shreveport, the plant of the Shreveport Ice & Refrigerating Co. has been lighted by natural gas for 20 years. The well was drilled for water, but was abandoned on account of the gas. A test well, put down in 1905 near the western limits of Shreveport, was driven to 1,650 ft., and encountered indications of gas and oil at various depths, but did not succeed in finding enough to be profitable. Attention was first attracted to the Caddo field in 1895 by indications in water-wells from 40 to 60 ft. deep, in which the pressure of natural gas was noticeable. This indication of gas in a shallow well led to the drilling of the first well in the Caddo field, the old Savage Brothers & Morricell, or the Caddo Lake Oil and Pipe Line No. 1. The rig for this well was erected in May, 1904, and drilling began in June, 1904. The well was bailed Mar. 23, 1905, with a small amount of oil. It was deepened July, 1905, and converted into a "gasser" Jan. 3, 1906. It was abandoned January, 1907. In consequence of the finding of oil in the Savage well, drilling-operations were pushed with energy; and in April, 1905,

Jan 1, 1912

By L.L. Wyman

The exact nature of the changes that take place in the iron-nickel alloys, giving rise to the interesting and useful expansion alloys in the Invar range, has yet to be fully understood. Similarly, the ternary iron-nickel-cobalt alloys, which also possess such commercially useful expansion characteristics,1,2 are concerned with transformations that appear to be identical with those found in the parent iron-nickel alloys. The investigations on iron-nickel alloys in the range 26 to 29 per cent Ni have been reported by several authors3-9 wherein it is shown that there are factors other than temperature, such as stress and grain size, which play an important part in determining the temperature at which the low-temperature transformation takes place. It will be shown in this paper that the ternary iron-nickcl-cobalt alloys having nickel contents comparable to the alloys mentioned above behave in a parallel manner. The alloys in the range of 26 to 31 per cent Ni and 16 to 21 per cent Co have a coefficient of expansion of about 4.0 X 10-6 per degree Centigrade, and the alloys in this range of composition find considerable application in making glass-to-metal seals, because these expansion properties so well match commercial glasses. The behavior of these alloys is not a simple matter, for it has been observed in alloys of 28.5 per cent Ni and 18.5 Co that severe working ran cause the appearance of a second phase having a needlelike structure similar to the martensite structure in carhon steels. Fig. 1 shows the change brought about in an alloy of this composition when a strip of this material was cut with tin shears. This second phase has been identified as the body-centered cubic alpha phase, and it is the purpose of this paper to describe the results of some of the preliminary investigations in the study of the changes involved in these alloys. Materials The past work on these alloys has concerned itself primarily with materials made by the usual casting procedure and involving the use

Jan 1, 1939

By L. L. Wyman

The exact nature of the changes that take place in the iron-nickel alloys, giving rise to the interesting and useful expansion alloys in the Invar range, has yet to be fully understood. Similarly, the ternary iron-nickel-cobalt alloys, which also possess such commercially useful expansion characteristics,1,2 are concerned with transformations that appear to be identical with those found in the parent iron-nickel alloys. The investigations on iron-nickel alloys in the range 26 to 29 per cent Ni have been reported by several authors3-9 wherein it is shown that there are factors other than temperature, such as stress and grain size, which play an important part in determining the temperature at which the low-temperature transformation takes place. It will be shown in this paper that the ternary iron-nickcl-cobalt alloys having nickel contents comparable to the alloys mentioned above behave in a parallel manner. The alloys in the range of 26 to 31 per cent Ni and 16 to 21 per cent Co have a coefficient of expansion of about 4.0 X 10-6 per degree Centigrade, and the alloys in this range of composition find considerable application in making glass-to-metal seals, because these expansion properties so well match commercial glasses. The behavior of these alloys is not a simple matter, for it has been observed in alloys of 28.5 per cent Ni and 18.5 Co that severe working ran cause the appearance of a second phase having a needlelike structure similar to the martensite structure in carhon steels. Fig. 1 shows the change brought about in an alloy of this composition when a strip of this material was cut with tin shears. This second phase has been identified as the body-centered cubic alpha phase, and it is the purpose of this paper to describe the results of some of the preliminary investigations in the study of the changes involved in these alloys. Materials The past work on these alloys has concerned itself primarily with materials made by the usual casting procedure and involving the use

Jan 1, 1939

By D. L. McElroy

SAFETY in coal mining received especial attention by the public in general and the mining industry in particular during 1940 and early in 1941, owing primarily to the six explosion disasters which occurred last year with a total of 276 fatalities. This was the largest number of fatalities due to explosions in bituminous coal mines since 1928, when 347 lives were so lost. But facilities due to explosions have had a definite decreasing trend since 1907, in spite of bad years such as 1917, 1924, 1932, 1937, and 1940. Although the upswing in explosion fatalities in 1940 is lamented by all, none will admit it represents a trend and it will serve mainly to stimulate ways and means of further reducing these disasters.

Jan 1, 1941

By John Birkinbine

(New Haven 'Meeting, February, 1909.) AWAKENED public interest in efforts to conserve natural resources will certainly be appreciated by the members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and a discussion upon conservation may well form a part of one of the Institute meetings, for the records of papers and discussions which appear in the 38 volumes of its Transactions are replete with evidence of effort's in this direction. Every process which reduces the fuel consumed or the power applied per unit of product; every utilization of waste material, or employment of that formerly rejected, to obtain something of value ; every feature of construction or operation which lessens the labor required or increases the output per employee, is an advance in the direction of true conservation. This may not appear from the records of late conferences or from published articles, in which the effort seems to be concentrated upon reducing the consumption and presenting to the people of the country estimates of exhaustion of natural resources. I rejoice in the awakening of public interest in a matter so important for the present and future welfare of our nation; I appreciate the possibility of much good following conferences of the Governors and delegates from various States and from national societies; and I recognize the interdependence, not only of different States, but of contiguous nations. In fact, the marvelous development of transportation by land and by water, and the decreasing rates at which commodities can be moved great distances, have in many cases practically obliterated geographical boundaries, and nearly every country on the globe can either market its product in other lands or draw upon them for raw or manufactured materials ; hence, conservation is an international subject.

Apr 1, 1909

By Samuel H. Dolbear

NOT WITHSTANDING the extremely low ebb of business activity, the nonmetallic industries have fared somewhat better than some other branches of mining. The average price level in nonmetallics, although far from satisfactory, has resisted any cataclysmic fall such as has been suffered by copper and other metals. Stocks, also, though too abundant, represent no corresponding overhang of the market, which should result, in some branches, in a more rapid recovery. Research work has continued in some industries with interesting developments.

Jan 1, 1933

By Dr. O’Neil Thomas J., Donald W. Gentry

"If you can hold a board of cross directors In happiness against their gauzy schemes; If you can dodge the wrath of the electors Till dividends will flow as in their dreams; If you can make a mine pay from the grass roots No matter what the time or place or year; Then on my soul until the final blast shoots We'll add the title "MINING" when we call you "ENGINEER. " -From Wayne Darlington, "The Mining Engineer, " The Engineering and Mining Journal, Vol. 98, Sept. 26, 1914, p. 587. REASONS FOR THIS CHAPTER Up to this point in the book the material presented has addressed the fundamental parameters associated with the evaluation of mining ventures and other investment alternatives. The procedures and techniques illustrated represent the basic approach to project evaluation, particularly when considering the normal engineering economic analysis of investment proposals. The evaluation procedure is complicated, however, when dealing specifically with mining-related investment proposals. These complicating factors are invariably directly related to the many special characteristics of the mining industry. Many of these special features such as tax policies, revenue and cost estimation, and ore reserves have been addressed in previous chapters. In addition to the many special features of mining which directly impact, in a quantitative manner, the various line items in the pro forma income statements of a cash flow analysis, other features of mining affect evaluation procedures in a more general manner. The main purpose of this chapter, then, is to provide an exposition of some of these more qualitative factors. We hope this will enable the reader to recognize these factors in mine evaluation practice and to make suitable adjustments in his or her analysis.

Jan 1, 1984

By Sam Tour

OF the new alloys achieving commercial prominence during the year, an aluminum-silicon magnesium casting alloy, which is similar in many respects to the 4 per cent copper alloy, developed about 1921, which has attained such a wide field of service, may be mentioned. The new alloy, like the old, is a heat-treatable type and develops about the same physical properties. The alloy casts easily and is relatively insensitive to high pouring temperatures. Its ability to produce substantially leak- proof castings is noteworthy. A second casting alloy development is the new Aluminum Co. of America No. 132, "Lo-Ex" piston alloy, a result of nearly eight years of research. The alloy contains about 14 per cent silicon and varying amounts of nickel, copper, and magnesium. It exhibits a low coefficient of expansion and thus permits small piston clearances. Its lower specific gravity is a further advantage.

Jan 1, 1932

By J. A. Retty

IN the Labrador iron fields two concessions, totaling nearly 24,000 square miles, have been staked out and commercial-grade deposits delineated. The Newfoundland-Labrador concession, owned by the Labrador Mining and Exploration Co. Ltd., is a 20,000-square-mile tract in the upper basins of the Hamilton and N askaupi Rivers which drain into Lake Melville. The New Quebec licensed area is 3900 square miles, owned by the Hollinger North Shore Exploration Co. Ltd., lying to the northwest of the northwestern part of the Labrador concession. It includes the upper basin of the Swampy Bay River and part of the upper basin of the Whale River, both of which drain into Ungava Bay. Both of the above-named companies are controlled by Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines Ltd. with The M. A. Hanna Co., of Cleveland, holding a minority interest. When exploration was first undertaken in 1936, the only published map of the area was that prepared by A. P. Low in 1895. It showed only the main watercourses and gave only a rough, general idea of the geology. The numerous lakes of this vast area had to be first sketched and then mapped. Since then, extensive geological and topographical surveys have been conducted by the Labrador company, work which is normally done by Government branches. The object of the work was to examine the area and gradually eliminate unfavorable or less favorable prospecting ground. With this object in view, geological

Jan 1, 1948

By Sherwin F. Kelly

MANY baffling problems of crustal geology-of warping and folding, elevation, subsidence, and great dislocations of the earth's surface-may now be on the verge of yielding to the science of geophysics. Electric, magnetic, gravitational, geothermal, and seismic methods are being turned to the gathering of geological evidence buried by deep layers of rock, or lying beneath the waters of the oceans. In this hope, B. L. Miller expresses the opinion that these geophysical studies will sup- ply useful data bearing-on some of the more theoretical problems of North American geology. Among these for example, is the explanation of how Appalachia disappeared. This ancient land mass is supposed to have foundered beneath the Atlantic Ocean after the close of the Paleozoic era and the question arises, was it warped or faulted downward? The geophysical data, though meagre, indicate that the surface of the dense, basal rocks, the probable remnant of ancient Appalachia now underlying the Continental Shelf, slopes downwards to a depth of some two miles below sea level at a distance of 140 mi. from shore: thus suggesting that the subsidence was the result of warping downward rather than abrupt faulting.

Jan 1, 1938

By Enrique Touceda

For a number of years prior to the world war, the firm of Geo. H. Thacher & Co., of Albany, N. Y., was engaged in the manufacture of marine and other gray-iron castings. At the outbreak of the war the firm decided to specialize in the manufacture of propeller wheels. It attacked the problem, therefore, from a foundry point of view, seeking to produce a casting that would be so accurate that no subsequent machining would be required on the blades, also from the point of view of the ship builder. There were two general methods of manufacture, the shortcomings of which have been freely acknowledged. In the sweep method, the nowel, or bottom half-mold, for each blade is swept up by a spindle beam and pitch race, while the top half-mold for each blade is built up individually. In the pattern method one individual blade, with the hub or hub portion, is mounted on a spindle and the individual blade mold formed, the pattern is then rotated on the spindle to the position for the next blade, etc. In rare cases wheels were made from a solid pattern. Owing to the cost of the pattern, its failure in many instances to be correctly made, and (when made of wood) its early and sure distortion the disadvantage of this pratctice is obvious, while metal patterns in most instances were prohibitive in cost. In these methods both green-sand and loam molding was practiced. The casting produced by either method can be considered only as a blank from which the propeller must be machined. The back surface of each blade must be chipped to the templet and through this procedure chipped to such accuracy as will be required for a static balance. Inasmuch as the work done by the machine tool is confined to the driving face of the blades, not only is perfection most difficult, but corrosion will be greater because of the removal of the dense skin of the casting and the local strains set up by the pneumatic tool in chipping. To produce a finished 9-ft. propeller for a Navy destroyer required from 8 to 21 days of foundry work and about the same length of time for the machining. Through the use of the Thacher process, only as many hours are required, besides it is possible to produce a finished casting in perfect conformity with any particular propeller-wheel design.

Jan 1, 1922

By Enrique Touceda

For a number of years prior to the world war, the firm of Geo. H. Thacher & Co., of Albany, N. Y., was engaged in the manufacture of marine and other gray-iron castings. At the outbreak of the war the firm decided to specialize in the manufacture of propeller wheels. It attacked the problem, therefore, from a foundry point of view, seeking to produce a casting that would be so accurate that no subsequent machining would be required on the blades, also from the point of view of the ship builder. There were two general methods of manufacture, the shortcomings of which have been freely acknowledged. In the sweep method, the nowel, or bottom half-mold, for each blade is swept up by a spindle beam and pitch race, while the top half-mold for each blade is built up individually. In the pattern method one individual blade, with the hub or hub portion, is mounted on a spindle and the individual blade mold formed, the pattern is then rotated on the spindle to the position for the next blade, etc. In rare cases wheels were made from a solid pattern. Owing to the cost of the pattern, its failure in many instances to be correctly made, and (when made of wood) its early and sure distortion the disadvantage of this pratctice is obvious, while metal patterns in most instances were prohibitive in cost. In these methods both green-sand and loam molding was practiced. The casting produced by either method can be considered only as a blank from which the propeller must be machined. The back surface of each blade must be chipped to the templet and through this procedure chipped to such accuracy as will be required for a static balance. Inasmuch as the work done by the machine tool is confined to the driving face of the blades, not only is perfection most difficult, but corrosion will be greater because of the removal of the dense skin of the casting and the local strains set up by the pneumatic tool in chipping. To produce a finished 9-ft. propeller for a Navy destroyer required from 8 to 21 days of foundry work and about the same length of time for the machining. Through the use of the Thacher process, only as many hours are required, besides it is possible to produce a finished casting in perfect conformity with any particular propeller-wheel design.

Jan 1, 1922

By Eugene McAuliffe

THE last obtainable figures of the value of the coal mining investment are those contained in the U. S. Census Reports, from data gathered in 1919. The values shown therein and set forth below cover lands and equipment and do not include distribution and marketing facilities. The working capital necessary to meet pay rolls to purchase material and supplies and workmen's compensation insurance are likewise excluded.

Jan 1, 1926

By E. A. Holbrook

MINING Metallurgy, and Petroleum Engineering department in our colleges are facing a crisis; indeed, conditions that threaten their very existence. Unless the Army, Navy, and War Manpower Commission change their present policy, within two years mineral industries education as now carried on will die, because no ablebodied students will be left in the course. If this is the decision of our responsible governmental agencies we of the mining schools must perhaps accept it as a war measure. It might be well however, for the executive of our mining metallurgical, and oil companies to look ahead a, to where they are to recruit a supply of young technically trained engineers. You can no more operate a mine, a steel plant or an oil company without trained engineers than you can operate a battleship without mechanical and electrical engineers.

Jan 1, 1943

By Douglas Bunting

(Wilkes-Barre Meeting, June, 1911.) WITH the gradual exhaustion of the upper veins in the anthracite coal-fields, the problem of mining at greater depths acquires increasing importance and demands the consideration of a number of important factors, one of which is the greater earth-pressure and the consequent necessity of stronger support o for the roof. Under the pillar-and-chamber system, almost exclusively followed in the Northern anthracite-field, the highest economy in mining is generally secured by leaving, on first mining, pillars only sufficient to support safely the overlying strata. As to the necessary size of such pillars, the opinions of mining experts are widely divergent. In establishing the width of chambers and pillars, the thickness of vein and its depth below the surface have received little consideration. For. instance, it has been quite usual to work both overlying and underlying veins with the same width of chambers and pillars, when the lower vein was two and one-half times as thick, and twice as fits below the surface, as the upper. In view of the generally-accepted theory that the crushing-strength of coal-pillars of the same base-area becomes less with increased height, it is probable, in this instance at least, that the most economical mining has not been secured. This question of adequate pillar-support is economically less important down to about 800 ft. than at greater depths; and it is with reference to mining at these greater depths that the study of the subject here presented has been prompted. The necessity of leaving larger pillars, involving greater mining-costs per ton and also smaller yields per acre, is one of the troubles of deep working. To mine without leaving adequate pillar-supports will result, sooner or later, in a squeeze. Limited areas, it is true, have been mined at certain widths of

Sep 1, 1911