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By J. C. Rengel

Why and how the nuclear industry entered the electric power generation business is discussed in terms that nuclear energy was an undoubtedly additional energy resource and that it had promise of becoming a virtually inexhaustible generating power if breeder reactors could be devised. The growth of nuclear power, its total generation capacity, are related to the need of increasing energy requirements. The use of atomic energy for power generation will grow if it can compete economically with other fuels. The rate of growth, the time scale and direction of technical development is dependent on ore supplies. It is predicted that by 1980, 50% of all new power installations will be nuclear stations. INTRODUCTION Ten years ago, the nuclear industry was virtually unborn, the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 had just been signed, and peaceful applications of atomic power was little more than a phrase. Serious discussion of the practical application of nuclear energy to electric utility installations in the West was highly unlikely. The questions: Why and how did the nuclear industry enter the electric power generation business at all?; What is the predicted growth of nuclear power?; What technological changes do we predict?; How will the above changes affect the utilities? will in part be answered by this paper. WHY NUCLEAR POWER? The only justification for the West as for any other section of the country for atomic power is economics. Whatever energy source will provide the lowest generation cost will prevail; the only electric utilities which have shown an interest in nuclear power are those to whom it means lower generation costs. It is true that the Government sponsored the development of this technology long before there was any evidence of better economics; but a Government must take a very long-range view and it is the only type of organization that can afford to look more than twenty or thirty years into the future. The Government looked at projections such as shown in Fig. 1, which shows various rates of energy consumption, and matched these against estimates of fossil fuel resources. This showed that we will exhaust our low-cost fossil fuel supplies within 75 to 100 years and our total known fuel supplies within 150 to 200 years. The decision to invest in nuclear energy rested, therefore, on two arguments: a) It was undoubtedly an additional energy resource; and b) It has promise of becoming a virtually inex-haustable resource if breeder reactors could be devised if, while generating power, the reactors would produce more fissile materials than they consumed. This decision produced an unexpected bonus: nuclear power became competitive with fossil power much earlier than had been expected and, as shown in Fig. 2, forced the coal industry to take a hard look at its own position. I believe that the drop of coal prices shown here is the direct result of the entry of nuclear power into the energy supply business. At this point, it ought to be explained why and under what conditions nuclear power can be cheaper than fossil power. Fossil fuel cost to the utility is composed of two factors: a) Mining; and b) Transportation. As a result, the cost of fossil fuel to the utilities varies from 126, 106 Btu to 306, 106 Btu and higher. Nuclear energy is highly concentrated and the transportation factor becomes insignificant. Today the cost of nuclear fuel to the utility ranges between 156

Jan 1, 1967

By J. Paces, E. Miller, K. L. Komarek

The resistivity was determined as a function of temperature over the composition range from pure cadmium to 40 at. pct Cd. Melts with cadmium contents less than 85 at. pct had negative temperature coefficients of resistinity. On cooling below a transition temperature close to the liquidus temperature, the slope of the resistivity-temperature curve changed sharply. The activation energy calculated from the slope was 0.07 ev above the transition temperature and 0.14 ev below. The resistivity vs composition curve shows two maxima corresponding in composition approximately to CdSb and Cd3Sb2. THE relationship between the structure of a liquid and that of the crystal formed on solidification is at present not well-under stood. Various experimental determinations of the properties of liquids indicate that deviations from random atomic arrangements in liquids occur and that the properties of a solid and of its melt are closely related. Thermody-namic activities of liquids usually show negative deviations in systems where compound formation occurs in the solid,' and X-ray data indicate that close-packed solids and their melts frequently have nearly the same coordination number. Electrical resistivities and viscosities of liquids frequently exhibit maxima at compositions corresponding to compounds in the solid state. It should be of interest to study systems which have both stable and metastable compounds in the solid, and to determine if the short-range order in the liquid is affected by the existence of the metastable solid phase. The Cd-Sb system exhibits such a metastable phase. The phase diagram is shown in Fig. 1.3 The stable system has one intermetallic compound, CdSb, crystallizing in the orthorhombic crystal structure, with a melting point of 456°C. The metastable system also has one compound, Cd3Sb2, melting at 420°C and crystallizing in the monoclinic structure. Metastable alloys transform to the stable crystal structure in the temperature range from 250o to 350°C. Several distinct indications of very strong short-range order in the liquid phase have been reported in this system, with a close relation between the ordering in the liquid and the existence of both the stable and metastable solid phases. Scheil and Baach4 have observed distinctly different vapor pressures for liquid Cd-Sb alloys depending on whether the liquid solidified to the metastable- or stable-phase configuration. They observed an unusually sharp increase of the activity in a limited temperature interval immediately above the liquidus temperature of stable alloys, followed by a sudden decrease in slope to what they considered normal values. On cooling, the activity data reproduced the values in the normal range but then deviated from the values obtained on heating. They also observed that specimens of the stable phase upon melting and resolidifying always crystallized in the stable crystal structure as long as the melt was not heated to more than 485° to 525°C; otherwise solidification to the metastable phase occurred. However, in a later investigation, these results were not reproduced (13). The resistivity of liquid Cd-Sb alloys has been investigated by Matuyama 5, Oleari and Fioram, 8 and Belaschenko (141, but only above 500°C, the temperature region where Scheil and Baach observed no vapor-pressure anomalies. The data of Matuyama and of Oleari and Fiorani are reproduced in Fig. 5 and show a maximum in resistivity at 50 at. pct Cd. The data of Oleari and Fiorani, however, show the maximum as being rounded, and their values in general are slightly higher than those of Matuyama.

Jan 1, 1964

By J. Hudy

An investigation has been made to determine the applicability of the Cendrex X-ray instrument for the measurement of the ash contents of washed bituminous coal products. The results obtained for selected products from five preparation plants in the northern Appalachian region are described. Emphasis of the study was placed on low-ash bituminous coals suit-able for utility or metallurgical markets. There was good agreement between the results obtained by conventional ash determination methods and by the Cendrex for all the products tested. A principal disadvantage of coal in competition with other fuels has been its inconsistent quality, especially with respect to ash content. Mine rnechanization and production from coalbeds of inferior quality have accentuated this failing. Present quality control methods in coal preparation plants are inadequate because (1) control samples taken over a production shift only serve to give the average quality of the product, (2) conventional sampling and analysis data are usually not available at the time a shipment is scheduled, and (3) the plant operator does not have the use of such data when the coal is being processed so that operating conditions may be adjusted for correcting variations in quality. Thus, the development and use of continuous-control monitoring instruments is of prime importance. The Federal Bureau of Mines arranged to investigate an instrument using x-rays for rapid continuous ash determinations. Developed by the Dutch State Mines and first described in 1958,' this instrument, which has found widespread acceptance in Europe, is designed to provide ash analysis of any desired coal feed or product stream with only a five-minute time lag between sample collection and analytical results. With limit controls, this unit could be used to feed back signals to preset the separating gravity of coal washers, control the ratio of various coals needed to produce an acceptable blend, and permit the sorting of a washed product into two qualities, one which is below and the other which is above a prescribed ash content. This unit can also be used discontinuously for rapid determination of coal samples taken in the usual manner. THEORY Di jkstra and Sieswerda of the Dutch State Mines studied the effect of chemical composition and ash content on the absorption coefficient of coal with the transmitted radiation method.' They found that with an X-ray wavelength of 1.79 A and values calculated for the absorption coefficients of ash and combustibles, the absorption coefficient of coal gave a linear relationship when plotted against the ash content. Thus, a method of measuring the absorption coefficient of coal could also be used to measure the ash content. However, practical attempts to measure the ash content of coal by comparing the intensities of the transmitted X-rays failed. The absorption coefficient of coal can also be obtained by irradiating a layer of coal with x-rays and measuring the intensity of the diffused reflection (backscatter method). The relationship between the diffused reflection and the ash content is actually hyperbolic but approximates a straight line over a narrow range. A measuring circuit that balanced the difference in intensity of the reflected radiation from a standard surface against that from a coal sample was used. By plotting this difference of reflected radiation against the ash content, a curve which approximated a straight line over a range of 8 percentage points of ash was obtained. DESCRIPTION OF EQUIPMENT The apparatus performs two distinct functions: (1) the preparation of the sample to a suitable size consist and moisture content for delivery to the x-ray element, and (2) the measurement of the ash content by the x-ray element. In a continuous operation the coal sample is delivered to a conditioner where it is dried to a maximum of 1% surface moisture and pulverized in a high speed mill to -48-mesh. This material is fed, at a rate of 250-300 gpm onto a rotating disk, shown in Fig. 1, where it is mixed with material already present. The mixture is rotated on the disk and

Jan 1, 1969

By William G. Kegel

Apart from a usable product and good mining conditions, the greatest asset for a profitable coal mining organization is an effective mine maintenance program. The first step in achieving this is to have good mechanics-or men who want to be mechanics and are interested in knowing, more about the design and control of the machines in their charge. A good mechanic's knowledge and ability result from ambition, curiosity, and determination. Starting with these qualities, the aspiring mechanic can launch his career by learning all he can about mechanics, electricity, and hydraulics. Though the path is rough, the end result is rewarding. Mining machinery probably receives as much, if not more, abuse as any other heavy equipment in use today. Considering the conditions under which much of the repair work must be done, it is essential that the mine operator has the best men and tools to perform the work. Mining machines, from their inception, have utilized the electric motor; and down through the years of mechanization, this power source has undergone many changes to better adapt it to the job. The first motors used were direct-current (d-c) motors since d-c power was the most economical power source for mining at the time of early mechanization. These motors were large open-type machines which are seldom used in modern mining. Because of the mine environment, the d-c motor has been reduced in size to better suit the application in mining machines and is now manufactured with dust-tight or explosion-proof enclosures. The d-c motor is constructed with either (or both) series and shunt fields located on the stationary part of the motor (stator) and an armature coil wound on the rotating part of the motor (rotor). Power is supplied to the armature by brushes which are held stationary and make sliding contact with the armature. The brushes requires regular and careful maintenance because worn or defective brushes will cause heat or arcing which can destroy the motor. D-c motors can be used as d-c generators when mechanical power is supplied to them by the rotating

Jan 1, 1981

By Frederic Becket

IN a recent article,1 which described the softening effect of columbium in plain high-chromium steels, the authors stated that their investi-gations had shown columbium to be also a particularly valuable inhibitor of intergranular corrosion in steels of the 18 per cent chromium, 8 per cent nickel type. It is the purpose of the present paper to record some of the results obtained through the introduction of columbium to the austenitic chromium-nickel steels. The damaging effects of this type of corrosion have become so widely known as to restrict considerably the applications of the steels under consideration, and therefore there is little question of the importance of the goal to be attained. Numerous contributions concerning the susceptibility of the aus-tenitic chromium-nickel steels to intergranular corrosion have appeared during the past few years, and among others who have dealt construc-tively with the subject are such well-known authors as Strauss and Houdremont of Germany, Hatfield of England, and Bain in the United States. Different theories have been propounded as to the cause of intergranular corrosion, and various remedial measures have been proposed, the majority of which involve the use of addition agents. Titanium is the addition agent at present most generally employed, as suggested by Houdremont and modified as described by Bain, Aborn and Rutherford.2 Little has been published on the effects of holding these steels for long periods at the relatively lower temperatures in the presence of

Jan 1, 1934

By W. D. Robertson, E. G. Grenier, V. F. Nole

The electrical, mechanical, and corrosion cracking properties of an age-hardenable Cu-Ni-Si alloy have been studied over a range of time, temperature, and deformation states for the purpose of determining the relationship between the properties and the structural state. The precifitate has been identi3ed as and the sites of preferred precipitation have been located by electron microscope studies of the structures developed by various combinations of heat treatment and plastic deformation. An extreme form of deformation banding has been observed in the aged alloy that results in high strain concentration in bands lying parallel to {111} planes. These bands are the structural paths along which transcrys-talline cracks propagate in the deformed alloy. The observations provide a basis for a general mechanism of transgranu-lar corrosion cracking of face-centered cubic alloys in terms of stacking fault probability. AMONG the age-hardening copper alloys the copper-nickel-silicon (Silnic Bronze) type is outstanding in exhibiting a high strength combined with a considerable capacity for cold working, a relatively high conductivity, and a low to negligible susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking. It is not a new alloy and it has been the subject of a number of investigations,1-5 which were made primarily to establish practical composition and heat treatment limits. The structural characteristics of the aging processes in this alloy have not previously been studied in detail. This particular investigation was undertaken to explore, in detail, and over a wide range of conditions, the properties obtainable by various combinations of working and heat treatment and to correlate structural changes with the observed mechanical, electrical and corrosion properties. MATERIAL AND PROCESSING Eight different commercial heats of the alloy were made and used in the investigation. The range of composition among the eight heats is shown in Table I. Billets, 8 by 24 in., were cast into water-cooled molds, extruded to 1.687-in. rod, and quenched in water after extrusion. Extruded material was rod rolled to 0.750 in., annealed at 1450° F for 2.5 hr, and quenched in water. Subsequent working operations were performed by tandem rolling to various sizes depending on the degree of reduction required. Final cold-working operations were performed by drawing to a uniform size of 0.187 in. diam and straightening by a roller straightening machine (Lewis). The combinations of heat treatment, working and aging that were investigated are summarized in Table 11; the various treatments were performed in the order given in each row of the table, and they will be subsequently identified by the symbols shown in the first column. SOLUTION TREATMENT All material investigated in the cold-worked condition, or cold worked prior to aging, was solution

Jan 1, 1962

By Francis C. Krauskopf, Carl E. Swartz

Metallurgists differ considerably in their opinions regarding the effect, if any, of small amounts of iron pyrites, or other iron compounds on zinc sulfide ores during the roasting operation. As a result, the literature on this subject expresses many conflicting ideas. The ore, previously crushed to pass through a 1-mm. screen, dries in the roasting kiln, losing water up to 200° to 300° C. At 150° C. iron pyrites begin to lose sulfur. As the temperature increases, while the ore is passing to the hotter part of the furnace, the sulfur burns to sulfur dioxide, leaving the metals as zinc oxide and ferric oxide. These two substances then interact to form zinc ferrite, a compound, yellow brown in color, having the general characteristics of a spinel. Like magnetite, another spinel, zinc ferrite is insoluble in alkalis and dilute acids. As a result, when leached with 10 per cent. sulfuric acid solution, zinc values tied up in this compound remain behind History In the electrolytic recovery of zinc from its ores, the roasted ores are usually leached with a 10 per cent. sulfuric acid solution. When the zinc ore contains iron pyrites as an impurity in an appreciable amount, the actual yield of metallic zinc is much lower than a theoretical calculation would indicate. Further, losses of zinc are, in a rough way, directly proportional to the amount of iron pyrites or other iron compounds present. When the iron is present in the ore in an isomorphous relation to the zinc, as in the case of a marmatite, a greater amount of zinc remains insoluble than when present as a true pyrite or marcasite. Work on the insoluble residues obtained from leaching of the calcines shows that the zinc lost is intimately tied up in this residue. Some investigators have suggested a definite compound, such as zinc ferrite; others merely a mixture of zinc and iron compounds. As early as 1851, Pelouze(')' prepared calcium ferrite by fusion of calcium oxide and ferric oxide. Ebelman, 2) about the same time, prepared

Jan 1, 1928

By Ellis Clark

Within the last ten years the progressive party of China, headed by Li Hung Chang, the Viceroy of Chi-Li, has been making great efforts to develop the mining resources of that country, and particularly those that are within reasonable distances of the sea-board. Attention was first paid to the coal-deposits, especially those at KaiPing, which have been placed on a profitable basis with an output of 1500 tons per day, under the energetic management of Mr. Claude Kinder, M.I.C.E., and the successful financiering of Tong King Sing. These coal-mines were described in a report by Kwong Yung Kwang, edited as a paper for the Institute (Duns., xvi., 95.) The attention of the leaders of the progressive party has for the past five years been turned also toward the development of the precious and related metals—gold, silver, copper and lead. De-

Jan 1, 1891

The greatest mining center in the state of Utah is the incorporated town of Bingham about twenty-five miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The principal industry of this vicinity, prior to the early fall of 1863, was lumbering and the first saw-mill in the state was built near the mouth of Bingham Canyon. Early in the fall of that year. George B. Ogilvie discovered gold and shortly afterward the first mining district in the state was organized. Some writers place the discovery of gold in the canyon in the late fifties. If this be so, however, the matter was kept extremely quiet because no mining was engaged in until after Ogilvie's discovery. Bingham was a placer mining camp, producing about one million dollars' worth of dust and nuggets from placers up and down the canyon and in Bear Gulch until early in the seventies, or about ten years after the discovery of gold, when a large body of argentiferous lead ore was discovered and soon after heavy shipments were made from a half dozen or more properties.

Jan 1, 1925

By Frank L. Gaddy

Falls of roof account for over 50% of the fatalities that occur in coal mines in the U.S. Thus, roof control is one of the more important phases of underground mining. In reality, the control of roof influences the system of mining and is a major determinant of the width and spacing of working places, operations at the mining face, ventilation control, and surface subsidence. Frequently, the control of roof is the largest single cost item. Roof control is a never-ending task, not only at the working face and throughout sections where men are working, but along haulways and airways that must be maintained for the life of the mine. This is because roof, even the best of roof, slowly deteriorates, so it must be frequently examined, with corrective support applied when needed. As coal is excavated, stresses are set up in the roof became the previous equilibrium is upset, resulting in pressures that cause fractures and slight, movements that are, frequently, hard to detect. Unless the immediate roof, in the excavated area, is given support by artificial means, it might fall or there might be a succession of falls, varying from a thin scale to several feet, depending on the nature of the top. Exceptions to this are those rare mines, or sections of mines, with hard, strong, nonweathering roof that requires no support. GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF ROOF There are two broad types of roof as far as support is concerned, the immediate roof above the coal and the main roof. Artificial support for mining purposes is only concerned with the immediate roof as nothing except large blocks of solid coal, or massive concrete, will support the main roof. The immediate roof is generally a few feet thick but can vary from inches to 20 ft or more. There are examples of where there is no immediate roof as the massive main roof lies directly on the coal bed, but this is rare. Impossibility of supporting the main roof and all of the cover

Jan 1, 1973

By M. A. Jones

Performance of a pilot flood in eastern Kansas indicates improved recovery and accelerated production resulting from mobility ratio control obtained by adding a high moleculur weight polymer to injected water. Ultimate pilot flood recovery of the 75-cp reservoir oil is anticipated to he 350 bbllacre-ft during the six-year flood life. Cumulative recovery to date totals 242 bbl/acre-ft after 30 months of injection. Reservoir parameters and flood performance are disc~rssed in detail to provide a case history relating to the feasibility of polymer flooding. INTRODUCTION The Vernon Polymer flood of the Brazos Oil & Gas Co., located in Sec. 2, 24 S., 16 E., Woodson County, Kans., was begun in late Oct., 1963. Injection of a 500 ppm solution of Pusher* polymer was initiated in a 15-acre pilot to determine feasibility of improving oil recovery by mobility ratio control. Performance to date and the anticipated recovery of 115,000 bbl from the 329 acre-ft pilot indicate efficient displacement of the viscous reservoir oil. Dependence of flood recovery on the displacing fluid-displaced oil mobility ratio has long been recognized. Displacement efficiency of the reservoir oil decreases with increasing mobility ratio. Therefore, economic reduction of this parameter is an attractive approach to improving oil recovery. particularly from viscous oil reservoirs where mobility ratios are often quite high. Waterflood mobility ratios can be controlled by dilute solutions of certain polymers'; which provide a displacing fluid with considerably reduced mobility. Reservoir parameters and flood performance are emphasized in this paper to provide data relating to polymer flood applicability. THEORY The polymer used in the Vernon pilot exhibits the property of unusually high resistance to flow through porous media.'.' A small concentration in injected water effects a mobility reduction considerably beyond that predicted from increases in bulk viscosity as measured in a capillary or rotating cup viscosimeter. Water mobility in the subject flood is reduced by a factor of 7.55 with the addition of 500 ppm Pusher chemical to injected water while the bulk viscosity is increased from 1.03 to only 1.40 cp at 75F. The exact flow mechanism causing resistance to flow has not been established; however, it is observed only in tortuous flow systems and appears to be influenced by brine properties, rock properties and oil saturation. Consequently, mobility reduction is estimated from flow studies for a given sample of reservoir rock and is expressed in terms of a "resistance factor".' This parameter is defined as the ratio of brine mobility to polymer solution mobility measured at residual oil saturation: RF= ?m/?p= (km/µm)/(kp/µp)M.......(1) where RF = resistance factor (dimensionless) k*. and A, = mobility of water and polymer solution, respectively k,,, and k,, = water and polymer permeability, respectively (darcies) µie and µp = viscosity of water and polymer, respectively (poise). Eq. 1 is similar to the expression commonly used to relate the relative mobility of the water bank at residual oil saturation to oil-bank mobility at irreducible water saturation: where M =mobility ratio of water to oil (dimension-less) A, = mobility of oil k, = permeability to oil (darcies) )i* = oil viscosity (poise). From Eqs. 1 and 2 it is apparent that the polymer-solution-to-oil-mobility ratio can be approximated by dividing the brine-to-oil ratio by the resistance factor RF: Mpn=M10/RF...........(3) where M,-, = mobility ratio of polymer solution to oil (dimensionless). This simplified presentation assumes no dilution of the polymer solution by connate water. Also, the presence of a connate water bank separating the polymer solution from the displaced oil is not considered. Displacement of oil by waterflooding is increasingly dominated by viscous forces as the viscosity of the oil displaced increases. When the oil mobility is less than that of the injected water, the oil-water interface is not a piston-like front.3,' Instead, instabilities occur at the flood front in the form of viscous fingers which tend to penetrate the less mobile oil bank. The magnitude of these protrusions, or the degree of channeling, increases

Jan 1, 1967

By F. W. Jessen, G. F. Sears

Cavities in massive salt for the purpose of storage of liquid hydrocarbons have assumed a prominent position in recent years. This paper describes a program to facilitate leaching operations for the formation of specifically shaped storage cavities. Various forms and sizes of cavities may be possible through use of the techniques developed. INTRODUCTION The creation of large under ground storage facilities for natural gas and liquified petroleum gases has been practiced for many years. Use of cavities obtained through solution of salt for this purpose is a fairly new and novel approach, but has gained increasing importance due mainly to the economics of this type of mining operation opposed to hard rock mining or surface and pit storage.1 The idea of controlling the shape of any cavity dissolved from massive salt has not been a prime consideration of companies engaged in the formation of storage space. This has been due mainly to an insufficient knowledge of the mechanics of the leaching process and a dearth of published information dealing with both the desirability and ease of control possible for this type of operation. Two distinct advantages are readily ascertainable. From a stability standpoint (i.e., the ability of the completed cavity to withstand stress imposed by overburden pressure and lateral tectonic stresses) a controlled cavity may be generated which will yield the most favorable attitude to these external forces and remain in operable use for longer periods of time.2 A second advantage is that for a given volume, a sphere (which is one controlIed shape possible) represents the minimum surface area exposed. This may become more important in the future when dealing with refrigeration and product losses in underground cavities. The basic solution mining process, without regard for controlling the final shape, is quite simple in that the equipment and materials required to dissolve a cavity in a salt dome or layered salt section are a source of fresh water, a circulating pump, several strings of tubing and a means of disposal of the return brine. To add control measures involves the use of an inert blanket material above the position at which solution proceeds. Initially the annulus of the largest wash pipe is filled with this blanket down to the top of the proposed cavity. The bottom of the proposed cavity is determined by the depth of the original drilled hole or a blanking plug. The blanket material is added incrementally in stages and displaces the water in the enlarging cavity downward. Where the blanket material has displaced the water, no further solution takes place. The rate at which to add this controlling blanket material so as to be able to form specifically shaped cavities of any particular size is of considerable importance. THE PROBLEM It is desirable to have as much information as possible as to the behavior of the mining operation since visual observation obviously is impossible. It would be advantageous, for example, to have a step-by-step program showing how much salt is to be removed, at what rate and the time required. This type of program would facilitate procurement of surface equipment and provide for proper management of manpower requirements, as well as yield a host of intangible benefits. As mentioned earlier, only rule-of-thumb estimates were available until recently and made this type of pre-planned operation haphazardous at best. Recent work3-' has done much to clear up the ambiguities and inaccuracies attendant to solution mining of salt and has helped to place the operation on a more scientific basis. This study attempts to correlate much of the information thus far developed into a complete mining program; to extend the idea of controlled solution mining to include not only spheres, but solid conic sections of the ellipsoidal variety; and to refine the computation of the rate of removal of salt during the various stages of mining. Dommers3 and IIemson4 made extensive laboratory

Jan 1, 1967

By Forbes Rickard

Gilpin County, the cradle of mining in Colorado and the Cornwall of North America, is too well known to need much introduction; get, for the benefit of those not familiar with the district, it may be well to premise that it comprises a tract of country of about 122 square miles, lying between the counties of Jefferson, Boulder and Clear Creek, and hounded on the west by the main range of the Colorado Rockies. It is located centrally in the State, 40 miles west from the city of Denver. During the 38 years since the first gold-discovery, Gilpin county has contributed about eighty million dollars in gold and silver to the world's supply of these metals. Many mining districts have had their rise and decline in half this time; but, very far from being exhausted, this mining district is still in the ascendant; its output is increasing (it was $3,600,000 for the year just closed), and it was never more prosperous nor productive than to-day. Taken generally, there does not exist anywhere in the world so great a number of permanent veins within so small an area as in this district. Gilpin is practically a " poor man's camp." Its veins, with few exceptions, outcrop at the surface. In the oarlier---days of the camp these outcrops were worked in many instances by sluice-mining; particularly is this the case with regard to the veins of the Russell gulch. Discoveries are still made in the heart of this district, and the productive area is every year extending its limits. The districts of Yankee Hill, Hawkeye and Pine Creek, which used to be isolated, are now part and portion of the one gold-field of Gilpin county. Within the last year sensationally rich gold-discoveries have

Jan 1, 1899

By R. L. Doan

WHEN the Plutonium Project was started in the spring of 1942 there was no technology to produce uranium metal of the required purity. Not only was there no such metal available; no one knew how to make it or fabricate it after it was made. Since this time vast technical effort has been ex-pended in the atomic energy field. A short 15 years later the metallurgy of uranium is probably better known than that of any other metal, with the possible exception of steel. At the beginning of the 1942 drive to obtain pure uranium metal the most available raw material was black uranium oxide (U3O8) of about 92 pct purity from the Great Bear Lake region of Canada. It took only three months for the project chemists to develop a process for bringing the purity of this oxide up to 99+ pct and another three months for Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. of St. Louis to build the purification plant and get it into operation. In early summer of 1942 the purified brown oxide (UO2) started moving to the Metal Hydrides Co. in Beverly, Mass., and to the Westinghouse Research Laboratory in Bloomfield, N. J., both of which had been granted Government contracts to try to make pure uranium metal.

Jan 9, 1957

By F. L. Wolf

THE catenary system of line construction possesses so many desirable characteristics from the operating standpoint that it has wide application for all types of electric traction. Many steam roads are electrifying sections of their lines, and in most cases are operating both steam and electric locomotives over the same track. This' means that the overhead catenary system is subjected to the severe corrosive action of locomotive smoke, and data concerning the resistance of various alloys to this form of corrosion are very desirable from every point of view. Reliable and specific information and data on the subject of corrosion due to steam and smoke from locomotives are extremely meager and, on this account, extensive service tests, together with accelerated tests, have been made on a number of commercial metals and alloys. The observations and data recorded in this paper are the result of a, preliminary test which was started in 1923 and which has been carried on to the present time. The recognition of the need for even more detailed and accurate data has resulted in the undertaking of another test which has been in progress for about a year. The result of this test will be published in due course. Some years ago The Ohio Brass Co. was asked by one of the large steam railroad companies to furnish data on construction details for a catenary system which it was considering for one of its divisions. The selection of, materials which would give the necessary physical characteristics as well as withstand the severe corrosive action of locomotive gases caused electrical railroad engineers considerable concern. At that time, there were available no specific or authentic data on these important questions: no systematic investigation of the problem appeared to have been made, even though its importance was generally recognized. Such observations as had been made were crude in that they had been limited largely to visual inspection which too frequently is most misleading. However, the scattered information which was collected gave important clues as to how best to start an investigation.

Jan 1, 1930

By John G. Tate, George W. Nicolson, James L. Bruce

For more than 25 years modern mining has been carried on in the Island of Cyprus, Mediterranean Sea, by the Cyprus Mines Corp. of Los Angeles, Calif. The general features of these operations have been described.' From 1935 to June 30, 1940, top slicing in the Mavrovouni mine produced in excess of 2,000,000 long tons. The rate for the last part of this period was approximately 50,000 tons per month. Description of Ore Bodies The shape Of the Ore body now being top sliced in the Mavrovouni mine is an inclined irregular pyritic pipe or chimney of large dimensions) extending from unknown depths below the bottom level at elevation 250 ft below sea level) to the highest level at elevation 400 ft above sea level. The present surface above the ore body lies between 550 and 650 ft elevation. Undoubtedly the Ore body extended to surface and was Mined by the ancients by opencast and underground methods. The old pits were gradually filled up by erosion until now they show as slight depressions in the topography. The largest area of the Ore body is at elevation 170 ft below sea level, where the horizontal section is almost elliptical, with a width of 600 ft and a length of 1000 ft. Below this elevation the shape of the ore body continues to be elliptical but with reduced dimensions. Above this elevation it rises flatly towards the south with a substantial depression in the upper-side of the chimney and irregular ridges or wings rising on each side. It gradually grows smaller as it rises. The ore body is a pyritic replacement of andesitic extrusives which occur as flows and pillow lavas. With the exception of the upper portions of one or two small offshoots rising from the main ore body, all ore is completely surrounded by andesite. Most of the andesite lying above the ore body is covered by marl and Clay sedimentaries of Miocene and later age, The Miocene is presumed to be older than the ore mineralization. That portion of the andesites which lies between the sedimentaries and the ore body has been broken by slumpage, and weathered, and iron-Stained by the descending meteoric waters, It is a mass of crushed material that caves and follows downward readily as the top-slice stopes retreat. The main ore body is a heavy cupreous pyrites mass assaying on the average about 4.0 pet Cu; 48.0, S; and 42.0, Fe. In places the copper drops below 1.0 pet. on the borders of this heavy sulphide ore body lie disseminated cupreous pyrites ore deposits of large dimensions. some portions of these appear to be closely related to the heavy sulphide ore, as the ratio of copper to pyrite is about the same. The greater part of the disseminated ore, most of which lies immediately to the east of the main Ore body, contains less than 0.10 pct Cu and about 25.0 to 30.0 pct S. 'This probably can

Jan 1, 1949

By Oswald J. Heinrich

(Read at the Philadelphia Meeting, February, 1878.) DURING the last twenty years much has been done to investigate and define the Mesozoic formation of the United States along the Atlantic States, as well as in the Territories. The investigations of Professors Hitchcock, Emmons, Hayden, H. D. Rogers, and those now in progress in connection with the geological surveys of Penn-

Jan 1, 1878

By John F. Wiggert

DURING the early years of Homestake operations, shaft signaling from the cage tenders to the hoisting engineers was done by mechanical means. Small steel cables or jointed steel rods were suspended in the shaft compartments and counterbalanced with weights or springs. These cables or rod strings were connected to the mechanically operated gongs at the engineers' stations by means of bell cranks and steel wires. The system was simple and economical and served the purpose well until the mine reached a depth of 1000 ft., then the system became slow and cumbersome and required a considerable amount of muscular effort to operate it with much speed, because of the inertia of the heavy moving parts. The mechanical signaling was superseded by a simple electrical system consisting of a single pair of wires in steel conduit for each shaft compartment. In the shaft at each station a pull switch was connected to the wires. The switches were operated by means of bell cords, which extended from station to station. This electrical system was a great improvement over the mechanical one, but it had one serious drawback, which also applied to the older system; namely, the engineer did not know where a signal originated. Later on this signaling was improved to overcome this drawback, and to give the engineer a positive indication of a signal's origin. In this system a separate return wire from each pull switch is carried to an annunciator at the engineer's station, where it indicates the signal's origin. While the annunciator system used by Homestake is very safe and reliable, it has the inherent drawback of all wire-connected systems in that it is impossible to send a signal from a moving cage. A number of years ago Homestake became interested in the possibility of using some sort of radio transmission for shaft signaling. The company did much experimental work with purely radio signal transmission, but no practical way was discovered to use radio transmission in a mine shaft for signaling to or from a cage. Therefore, all efforts were directed to devising a practical way of using the hoisting rope as part of the circuit. It was realized that the return circuit from the rope would need to be through electrostatic coupling between the cage and the earth or ground sides of the shaft, because the guides would not always be wet enough to make possible good electrical contact between the cage and earth, therefore relatively high-frequency alternating current was chosen as the medium of transmission. Soon a practical system was developed for transmitting an electric current from a moving cage over an electric circuit of which the hoisting rope was a part. A high-frequency electric current is used as a carrier to transmit the signals or mes-

Jan 1, 1941

By Waldemar Lindgren

I. Introduction............790 II. Geological Feature*:........793 The Gold-Bearing Fissure- Veins........793 Contact Melamorphic Deposits.........798 Classification According to Age........ 799 Introduction...........799 Pre-Cambrian Deposits.........800 Cretaceous Veins of the Pacific Coast...... 801 Late Cretaceous or Early Tertiary Deposits (Central Belt).. 802 Tertiary Deposits..........804 Conclusions,...........808 III. Detailed Descriptions:.........811 United Stater...811 Alaska.. ..812 Arizona,..814 California ..816 Colorado .. ..818 Idaho...823 Montana...825 Nevada...829 New Mexico,..........831 Oregon...833 South Dakota..834 Utah...836 Washington.. 837 Wyoming..838 Appalachian States..........839 British North America..........840 Mexico ....843 I. Introduction. The precious metals. gold and silver. are the basis of the monetary systems of the world. It is. therefore. natural arid inevitable that widespread interest should be manifested in their

Jan 1, 1903

By R. M. N. Pelloux

This study of aluminum-copper alloys had two aims: 1) To determine the effect of the amount and distribution of a second phase, CuAl2, on the creep-rupture strength, ductility, and fracture characteristics of the alloys. The work of Gemmell and grant' on single-phase aluminum-copper alloys provided a basis for the present study. 2) To attempt to provide a relation between the microstructure and strength of two-phase alloys deformed at comparatively high temperatures (greater than 0.45 T,). The creep behavior of the two-phase magnesium alloys Mg;Ce and Mg-A1, has been treated by Roberts. 9 In work reported by Sully and Hardy4 and by Underwood, Marsh, and Manning~ on A1-Cu two-phase alloys, and also in a portion of the work of Gemmell and grant,' aging took place during the creep tests. 'In the present work, overaged aluminum-copper alloys were subjected to creep deformation at two temperatures, 500 and 700OF. The overaging treatments to produce the precipitate dispersions were performed prior to the test, at temperatures which were the same as the ultimate respective test temperatures. Hence, the present study is concerned with the creep behavior of stable (in contrast to "underaged") two-phase A1-Cu alloys, i.e., alloys in which no depletion of the solid-solution matrix occurred during: creep. MATERIALS AND PROCEDURE A 2 and a 3 pct Cu alloy, supplied by Alcoa, were studied; Table I shows the compositions. The grain size of the specimens, 0.9 to 1.0 mm, was achieved by annealing the machined test bars for 2 hr at 1000°F, followed by furnace-cooling to 900°F, and homogenizing for 4 hr. Both compositions are in the single-phase condition at 900°F. Two types of overaged dispersions, termed "over-aged I" and "overaged 11" were prepared after the grain size and the homogenization anneals. The overaged I alloys were prepared by quenching to room temperature after homogenization, aging at either 500' or 700°F for 72 hr, and air-cooling to room temperature. The overaged I1 alloys were prepared by furnace-cooling after homogenization, to either 500' or 700°F, and holding at the necessary temperature for 72 hr. The times for furnace-cooling from 900°F to 700° and 500°F were, respectively, about 2 and 3.5 hr. The structures of the A1-2 pct Cu alloys are shown in Fig. 1 (overaged I) and in Fig. 2 (overaged 11). A comparison of Figs. 1 and 2 shows that in the overaged I alloys the precipitate particles along the grain boundaries are much more closely spaced and the grain boundaries are straighter than they are in the overaged I1 alloys. Further, the particle size and spacing in the grains are smaller than in the overaged I1 alloys. Microstructures of the A1-3 pct Cu alloys have not been shown; the structures of these alloys differed from those of the A1-2 pct Cu alloys only in that the distribution density of the particles was greater. The creep specimens had a gage section 1 in. long with a diameter of 0.155 to 0.195 in. Before testing, specimens were electropolished in a solution of 100 cc glacial acetic acid, and 30 cc of 60 pct perchloric acid, at 40' to 50°F, at 24 v. The specimens were kept refrigerated prior to testing to avoid precipitation at room temperature. Constant stress creep tests were conducted; the load was applied 75 min after heating of the specimens to test temperature had begun. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Creep-Rupture—Fig. 3 shows the log stress-log rupture life plotfor the overaged alloys studied, and also for the underaged A1-2 pct Cu alloy.' At 700°F, the stress-rupture life relationship is nearly independent of both the amount of precipitate (i.e., composition) and of the type of overaging treatment (i.e., precipitate dispersion). At 500°F it is apparent that the increase in rupture life that was ex-

Jan 1, 1960