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By G. R. Speich, S. A. Kulin

The isothermal formation of martensite at subzero temperatures has been studied in an austenitic stainless steel. The amount of martensite formed isothermally in a given time was found to follow a C-curve behavior with decreasing temperature. Since isothermal rnartensitic transformation occurs at temperatures above the true M. temperature of the olloy, the observed M. temperature is dependent on the cooling rate. It is believed that a general martensite theory must include the basic concepts of the strain embryo theory, and also the important role of thermal fluctuations. UNTIL recently the isothermal component of the martensitic transformation had been considered as a trivial effect in theoretical considerations of this type of transformation. One of the postulates used in defining a martensitic transformation was that the reaction was temperature dependent but not time dependent. Cohen and his associates1'2 were the first to report the isothermal formation of mar-tensite. They obsel-ved the time dependency of the martensite reaction at room temperature in plain carbon steels and certain tool steels. They found that a small amount of additional transformation occurred after the specimen reached the quenching temperature and that the rate of this isothermal transformation decreased rapidly with time. These authors considered this phenomenon to be a "tailing-off" of the main athermal reaction. Kurdjumov and MaksimovaL 5 studied the isothermal formation of martensite at subatmospheric temperatures in steels containing 0.6 pct C-6 pct Mn, 1.6 pct C, and in an iron-base alloy containing 23 pct Ni and 3.4 pct Mn. In each case it was found that both the initial rate and the total amount of isothermal transformation exhibited sharp maxima with decreasing temperature. They stated that it was possible to completely suppress the martensitic transformation in the 0.6 pct C-6 pct Mn steel by drastic quenching in liquid nitrogen. They interpreted their results in terms of a thermally activated process. The maximum in the rate of nucleation vs. temperature curve was assumed to be a result of the temperature dependence of the rate of growth of the martensite plates. It has been demonstrated," however, that martensite plates can form with great rapidity even at temperatures approaching absolute zero. In addition," attempts to confirm the reported suppression of the martensitic transformation by rapid cooling of a 0.6 pct C-6 pct Mn steel have proved unsuccessful. On this basis, and on other theoretical grounds, the validity of some of Kurd-jumov's results and conclusions is open to serious question. Cohen, Machlin, and Paranjpe' have proposed a theory of martensite formation based on the nucleation of strain embryos and a growth mechanism involving cooperative atomic displacements. According to this theory thermal fluctuations can make a strain embryo supercritical and thereby produce martensite isothermally. Das Gupta and Lement' have investigated the isothermal formation of martensite in a 17 pct Cr-0.7 pct C steel at temperatures below the ambient. They found that partial suppression of the martensitic reaction occurred on quenching into liquid nitrogen. That part of the reaction which can be suppressed is taken to correspond to the isothermal rather than the athermal part of the rnartensitic transformation. The initial rate of isothermal transformation for this steel was found to go through a maximum with decreasing temperature. This is in conformity with the findings of Kurdjumov and Maksimova for the steels used in their investigation. Das Gupta and Lement conclude that isothermal martensite formation occurs by the nucleation of new plates and is always preceded by some athermal transformation. An iron-base alloy containing 14 pct Cr-9 pct Ni was used in this investigation to study further the kinetics of the austenite to martensite transforma-

Jan 1, 1953

Jan 1, 1901

By W. B. Tucker

UNUSUAL interest has recently centered in the Mojave mining district of California, owing to new discoveries of gold ore at the Silver Queen mine, and subsequently at other neighboring proper- ties. These finds have proved that opportunities exist for the prospector even in old mining districts, where careful search may still be rewarded. The Mojave district is characterized by a group of small hills centering around Soledad Butte, four to six miles southwest of Mojave, in Kern County. This butte is 1250 ft. higher than the surrounding desert and 4000 ft. above sea level. Four miles west of Soledad Mountain are the so-called Middle Buttes, a group of flat-topped hills. Gold was first discovered in the district in 1894, and the following productive mines developed: Queen

Jan 1, 1936

By F. E. Smith, David R. Mitchell, B. M. Bird

DENSE-MEDIA processes utilize the familiar laboratory float-and¬-sink procedure on a commercial scale. Just as wood chips float on water and sand sinks, so coal floats and refuse sinks when placed in a medium intermediate in specific gravity between the coal and refuse. Liquids intermediate in specific gravity between coal and refuse used in commercial plants are of four types: (1) Organic liquids of high specific gravity-halogenated hydrocarbons; (2) dissolved salts in water; (3) pseudo liquids obtained by suspending solids, such as sand, in water, and (4) fluidizing a mass of sand or other solids by air currents. Those most widely used for cleaning coal are solutions of calcium chloride in water and a suspended-sand pseudo liquid. Laboratory float-and-sink testing is an intermittent operation during which every opportunity is given for particles lighter than the medium to float and particles heavier to sink. Commercial processes are con¬tinuous, vertical and horizontal currents of the separating medium occur as either part of the process or unavoidedly produced by the intro¬duction of feed and withdrawal of products, so that the exact separation of the laboratory technique is not duplicated by commercial processes. However, separations close to the theoretical are obtained in commercial machines by careful technical control of the process. Most machines in commercial installations are crowded to get as much out of the equipment as possible, so that careful technical control is necessary to get the recoveries and grade of product desired. Sizes usually cleaned are plus %6-in. or plus 3-in. in the United States and plus 36-in. in Great Britain. Coal as small as 1 mm. has been cleaned in some experimental installations. The separation of coal from refuse in sizes finer than about % in. is made difficult by viscosity effects and hence at the present time cleaning is confined to the coarser . sizes. Technical advances in the art of cleaning coal by dense-media

Jan 1, 1943

By T. K. Perkins, W. W. Krech

Jan 1, 1969

By O. C. Wheeler

In order that the series of reports on oil and gas in Colombia may be complete, the report for the year 1941, which was not available for Volume 160 of the TRANSACTIONS, is given here. The report for 1945 begins on page 4o6.

Jan 1, 1946

By John L. Schroder, Woods G. Talman

EXPERIENCE has shown that certain known natural conditions and other indefinite characteristics combine to make a mining area vulnerable to mountain bumps. Some of the known conditions are heavy overburden, an overlying stratum of strong non-elastic rock, a structurally strong coal seam that does not crush easily and yet is the weakest stratum in the series, and a floor stratum of more than ordinary firmness. The indefinite characteristics could include resistance of top or bottom of a coal seam to lateral flow, effect of immediate top and bottom strata, nature of the coal seam, and other factors about which very little is known. It is in this area that exhaustive study is needed to achieve positive control of the dreaded mountain bump hazard.

Jan 8, 1958

JOHN W. BELL,* Montreal, Canada (written discussion?).-Mr. Hardinge's "hammer" theory is, I believe, a sound one; but, unfortunately, at the very place in the Hardinge mill where there should ,be a large number of small "hammers," there is room for only a very few. The results in Mr. Van Winkle's paper seem to indicate that the practical development of the theory can best be accomplished by stage crushing, using cylindrical mills. It would be very interesting to know if any stage-crushing experiments have been made at Inspiration with Marry mills. Mr: H. Kenyon Burch says:1 "The Marcy mill also proved to be a most excellent intermediate crusher, handling as high as 800 tons of 3-in. feed and under, to pass an 8-mesh screen without return of oversize." It seems reasonable to suppose that a large part of this output would be a finished- product; consequently, if it were possible to send the oversize from two of the primary mills to one secondary mill using balls of small diameter, a considerable saving in power might be realized, provided it were not necessary greatly to enlarge the secondary mill. It does not seem reasonable to suppose that fine material can he crushed as quickly or as efficiently in a primary ball-mill as in a re-crushing mill especially designed for that work. Experimental data, of course, are essential in deciding questions of this kind.

Jan 4, 1918

By H. H. Waller, D. L. Monroe, D. P. R. Smyth

ORIGINALLY slusher drift development was conventional, advancing the drift full 10x13-ft size at 6 ft per round. This proved dangerous and costly because the weak fractured rock of the orebody cannot be left raw for any length of time without its reacting with air to cause spalling. With this method of drift development ground conditions were worsened by many blasts and the length of time it was necessary for the drift to remain open. The problem was practically solved by driving 5x7-ft pilot drifts, then enlarging to 10x13-ft raw size by slashing with 50 to 60-ft diamond drill holes. Calculated explosive charges are used to avoid wall and roof shattering. Still more recently jacklegs and sectional steel replaced the diamond drills, resulting in the same work for less than half the cost, see Figs. 1 and 2. Crosscuts at right angles to the main haulage drifts, which cross through the center of the ore-body, divide the ore into 200-ft blocks. Eight slusher drifts on 50-ft centers draw from one block. The slusher floor is 11 ft above the rail, inclined at 1 pct grade, and the top is 18 ft below the undercut. The finished slusher drift is 102.5 or 120 ft long, depending on whether it is north or south of the crosscut. Drawpoints are staggered on each side at 17.5-ft centers. The completed drift is concreted and has an inclined ramp and a vent at the back. When crosscuts and gangways have been excavated and concreted and slusher stations installed, slusher drift development is carried out in 10 clear-cut stages: 1—Pilot drift is driven full length, 5x7 ft. 2—Station is excavated at half-way point in pilot drift. 3—Pilot drift is enlarged to slusher drift size by drilling. 4—Lower part of slash is blasted and mucked for floor concrete. 5—Floor is poured. 6—Inside upper half of slusher drift is blasted, mucked, and concreted. 7—Outside upper half of slusher drift is blasted, mucked, and concreted. 8—Drawpoints are excavated. 9—Drawpoints are concreted. 10—Concrete ramp and sheave protection recess are constructed at back end of slusher drift. A 5x7-ft pilot drift is driven full length on the center line of the proposed slusher drift using a jackleg and detachable bits on 7/8-in. hexagon steel. A 10-hp air-driven slusher and 36-in. scraper pull muck directly into cars in the main haulage crosscut, see Fig. 2. Operations are on a three-shift basis. One man mucks the previous round, drills, and blasts his round in a shift. Average advance is 5 ft per shift. When the pilot drift is completed, 7 ft of drift in the center section is enlarged to full raw slusher drift size of 10x13 ft, for the set-up to drill long slash holes. The pilot drift is slashed to full raw size from this station with jacklegs and tungsten carbide chisel bits on 7/8-in. sectional steel. Crews line the holes without trouble, working from controls established by the engineers, and the pattern of holes for the slash is arranged to give the least shattering effect

Jan 1, 1955

By J. T. Ryan

SAFETY practice or the elimination of accidents in our coal mines is specifically a problem of management. It cannot be delegated to any governmental agency except that the various coal-producing states do and should have some minimum safety standard laws. However, the legislative method of attempting to control mine accidents is ineffective because of the delay between the necessity and the action. It will always be impossible to keep our various state mining laws up to date; and when the law says you must do a certain thin there is a tendency to do this and no more. Unless the scheme for setting up state regulations is so flexible that when a new hazard develops it can be immediately and adequately covered and the whole responsibility for accident elimination placed undivided on the

Jan 1, 1937

By Leo Wolrnan

IN the relations that exist between capital and labor in this country, there is a bright as well as a dark side. After many years of distressing conditions of labor and a plentiful supply of propaganda, it is doubtful that the doctrine of the class struggle, however defined and stated, has been embraced by any influential and numerous elements of our population. Extreme and uncivilized methods of conflict, whether they be the labor spy as used by the employer or the sit-down strike by organized, labor, have come to be abandoned as the result of the pressure of sober and distinterested public opinion. Unwise terms of our law of trade unions and the unbridled zeal of its administrators show some slight signs of being revised in the light of 'experience and the protests of the law's own beneficiaries. At the point where labor policy touches economic conditions, the two powerful factions in the American labor movement appear to look with a less friendly eye on the bewildering succession of economic experiments and to have a deep nostalgia for a simpler and more prosperous economy.

Jan 1, 1938

By Werner Joseph, Richard R. Knobler

When the first batch of refined copper ingots was cast at Mantos Blancos in January 1961, eight years of exploration, development and metallurgical pioneering by Mauricio Hochschild & Co. had come to a successful conclusion. This Chilean copper deposit, located in the Atacama Desert 30 miles from Antofagasta, is now producing approximately 20,000 tons of copper per year. The Mantos Blancos deposit has been known since 1912 and various attempts had been made to work the high-grade zones before the present operation was started. The major drawback of the ore to any previous development was its chloride content which varies between 0.4% and 1.5% C1. Although the chloride ruled out the conventional leaching-electrolysis scheme, it did lend itself to the process of precipitating the copper as cuprous chloride.

Jan 1, 1962

By COREY C. BRAYTON

PACIFIC COAST steel and iron industries can now take care of all the western and export demands except for heavy structural shapes, thick plates, rails, alloy tool steels, and a few other items. In. 1902 all of our steel came from St. Louis and Milwaukee and points still farther east. A small quantity at that time came from foreign countries. Early mining in the West was, broadly speaking, prior to the steel age. 'Wood for structures and iron for castings were almost exclusively used. Forgings were made of rolled iron that came from the East and foreign countries. San Francisco was, from the early days of mining, the manufacturing center for mining and milling machinery of all types and held that position until the .nineties, when eastern competition began to be felt. Even today in the old mining camps of the West, and many abroad, you will find machines and equipment with familiar San Francisco manufacturers' names. ..Iron, either rolled or cast, entered into their manufacture, for steel castings did not come into general use :until the nineties.

Jan 1, 1929

By William C. Harrigan, William D. Nix

Dynamic measurements of Young's modulus have been made for poly crystalline Ni-W alloys from room temperature to 800°C. The alloys studied range in composition from pure nickel to Ni-10 at. pct W. The results indicate that Young's modulus decreases linearly with temperature above the Curie temperature. The rate of change of Young's Modulus with temperature mas found to range from 104 psi per "C for pure nickel to 0.82 x 104 psi per °C for Mi-10 pct W. At all temperatures the elastic modulus decreases with increcrsing tungsten content up to 1 at. pct W, and increases as the tungsten content is increased above that level. Young's modulus decreases slightly as the carbon content is increased from 0.002 to 0.09 wt pct C THE knowledge of the elastic modulus of metals and alloys is important for a number of reasons. The first and most obvious reason comes from the need to predict elastic deflections under given loading conditions. A second and somewhat more subtle reason comes from the fact that the elastic properties of an alloy must be known before a proper account of the mechanisms of plastic deformation can be made. This is especially true for high-temperature creep of crystalline solids. Sherby and his coworkers have shown that the high-temperature steady-state creep rates of crystalline solids are inversely related to the elastic modulus1,2 and that the temperature dependence of the elastic modulus must be taken into account if reliable determinations of the activation energy for creep are to be made. In addition, measurements of the elastic constants of solid solutions are needed to allow one to assess the modulus interaction contribution to solid-solution Strengthening.3-5 Pelloux and Grant6 have demonstrated that substantial solid-solution strengthening at room temperature and elevated temperatures occurs when refractory metal solute atoms are added to nickel. While the high-temperature elastic properties of pure nickel have been measured by a number of authors,7-10 the elastic properties of nickel-based refractory metal alloys have not been determined. The purpose of this paper is to report on measurements of Young's modulus of polycrystalline Ni-W alloys at elevated temperatures. It is expected that these measurements will be valuable to studies of the mechanical properties of nickel-based refractory metal solid solutions. I) EXPERIMENTAL Young's moduli of polycrystalline samples were determined by a dynamic method in order to reduce high- temperature anelastic and plastic relaxations. The samples were forced in transverse free-free vibration; that is, both ends of the sample were unrestrained and the vibration was transverse to the long axis. The fundamental resonant frequency was determined by the Forster method.11 The analysis of this type of vibration which was formulated by Rayleigh,12 Timo-chenko,13 and pickett,14 and reviewed by Fine," leads where fn is the resonant frequency of the nth mode, r is the radius of the circular cross section. L is the specimen length, ßn is 1.5056 for free-free vibration in the fundamental mode of vibration, 6 is the mass density, and E is Young's modulus in the axial direction. This equation can be transformed into: E = 9.17605 x 10-6(L/D)E/Lf2 [2] where E is Young's modulus in psi, L is the length in inches, d is the diameter in inches, W is the weight in grams, and f is the resonance frequency in cps. Eq. [2] was further modified in order to take account of the thermal expansion of the samples. The resulting correct term is: where the thermal expansion coefficients for nickel and tungsten, respectively. Xw is the atom fraction of tungsten in the sample and T is the temperature in "C. The treatment of the thermal expansion coefficient as a linear function of composition seems sufficiently accurate since an error of 25 pct in the expansion coefficient will result in only a 0.3 pct error in the modulus at 1000°C. A) Apparatus. The equipment for this investigation has been described by Lytton et al.16 Several modifications of the equipment have been made. The most significant change involved replacing the detector crystal transducer with a magnetic transducer. A phonographic magnetic transducer was employed as a sensing device since the contact pressure necessary to produce a stable signal is much less than that for a crystal transducer. This magnetic transducer is also not affected by conditions of high temperature and vacuum which are present in these experiments. The vacuum was 10-5 torr at room temperature and about 5 x 10-4 torr at 900°C. This was sufficient to prevent surface contamination of the samples during the tests. The samples were heated in an elliptical furnace with a quartz lamp at one focal line and the sample at the other, as described by Lytton et a1.16 The temperature of the sample was measured by monitoring the

Jan 1, 1969

By C. D. King

DURING the 30-year period spanned by these annual Howe Memorial presentations, many lecturers could proudly claim a kinship either as a student or an associate of the man whose memory we honor. Although it has been my good fortune to have attended many of these annual lectures, it was not my privilege to have known Henry Marion Howe personally. However, his great repute as teacher and scientist was known to all undergraduates of my day and the later years have enhanced my appreciation of his wisdom and foresight. Those who knew him well have said he derived particular pleasure from speculations on the future world of metallurgy. For this reason, I feel that perhaps he would not be unsympathetic to a lecture in his honor which departs from the highly instructive scientific presentations made in the past by so many able Howe Memorial lecturers, and which is concerned more with the practical phases of various steelmak-ing processes and some speculations on their future form and relative importance. The word "revolutionary" is frequently applied to each seemingly important improvement in the production of steel ingots, but in retrospect these changes, impressive as they appear at the time, are merely steps of progress. In the hundred years from the inception of tonnage steelmaking, only three processes can be truly classified as revolutionary. They are the pneumatic process, known in this country as the bessemer process; the reverberatory method called the open hearth process; and, the electric furnace process. There have been many variations and combinations of the three fundamental methods, but they remain truly the only revolutionary methods in steelmaking since its early history. Everything else has been evolutionary, in effect. doing the same things that we have done in the past but doing them better, correcting our errors through experience, and slowly but inevitably reaching a higher state of accomplishment. It has often been said that coming events cast their shadows before, and the production of steel ingots is no exception. As a result of the unrelenting demands of World War I1 and the years that followed, truly impressive progress has been made in steel ingot production. The incessant pressure for immediate results during this period required the employment of initiative and daring, as in few past decades, and many developments were brought to fruition. Of equal importance is the possible effect on future steelmaking methods of the many ideas initiated but still in formative stages. Fig. 1 portrays ingot production in the United States by the three fundamental processes over a period of 75 years and is interesting because it poses some questions as to future trends. The early ascendancy of the bessemer, its replacement in importance by the open hearth process, the amazing growth of the latter, and the recent challenge of the electric furnace are evident from the chart. Management is fully aware of these changes, but is even more interested in the future trends. Our concepts of the relative importance of the more recent developments and their possible effect on future processes may perhaps be best exemplified by a specific, hypothetical problem. Let us assume management is contemplating a new ingot producing plant with an output of 100,000 net tons per month, located in an area where some purchased scrap may be obtained but where by far the largest component will be own-produced blast furnace iron. Management requires a process or combination of processes which will yield highly uniform quality characteristics in the ingot form, and represent the soundest selection in investment and operating cost. Under these conditions, the obvious selection for the past four decades has been the open hearth process but, in view of more recent developments, management may believe that it is no longer permissible to disregard other possibilities with impunity. Accordingly, to be assured of the best possible selection, they request that you review not only the possibilities of utilizing the conventional open hearth, duplex, bessemer, and electric furnace methods, but also the more recent developments, such as the turbo-hearth, the Linz-Donawitz method, the Perrin modifications, and other possibilities. With this background, one might then appraise the relative importance of these methods to meet a specific need, and concurrently speculate on the forms that future ingot processes will assume and the relative importance of these processes.

Jan 1, 1955

By L. C. Brown, S. K. Behera

The diffusion rate in Ag-Sb couples is sensitive to con~pressive load with the width of Ag3Sb, the only phase present in the diffusion zone, increasing with stress up to 800 psi and remaining constant above this. Kirkendall marker experiments show silver to diffuse much faster than antimony in Ag3Sb and incipient porosity may therefore develop at the Ag/Ag3Sb interfnce restricting the transfer of atoms from the silver into the diflusion zone. Application of compressive stress reduces the tendency for porosity to develop and so increases the growth rate. In a recent paper Brown et al.1 observed a significant increase in the thickness of Cu2Te in Cu-Te diffusion couples on application of a compressive stress as low as 20 psi. Similar stress effects have also been observed in the Fe-A1,2 Al-u,3 arid cu-sb4,5 systems. It has been suggested that the increase in growth rates of intermetallic phases in these systems is due to a decrease in the amount of Kirkendall porosity with applied stress. In the present paper, results are presented of the effect of compressive stress on diffusion in Ag-Sb, together with a detailed examination of the Kirkendall effect. The Ag-Sb phase diagram6 shows that antimony has a moderate degree of solid solubility in silver, 5.7 at. pct at 350°C, but that there is essentially no solubility of silver in antimony. There are two intermediate phases— (hcp7) from 8.8 to 15.7 at. pct Sb and Ag3Sb (orthorhombic8) from 21.8 to 25.9 at. pct Sb. EXPERIMENTAL Diffusion couples were prepared from fine silver of 99.95 pct purity and from antimony of 99.7 pct purity. Both the silver and antimony were produced in the form of discs 1/2 in. in diam by approximately $ in. thick, with surfaces ground flat to 3/0 emery paper. Diffusion anneals were carried out in the apparatus previously described.1 A compressive load was applied to the diffusion couple through a lever arm system, with a reproducibility estimated to be ±10 psi. All runs were carried out in a protective hydrogen atmosphere. Following the diffusion anneal specimens were sectioned and polished and the width of the diffusion zone was measured metallographically. Composition profiles were measured using an electrostatically focused electron probe with a spot size of 10 , counting on Sb L radiation. Corrections for matrix absorptiori and fluorescent enhancement9 were not required. S. K. BEHERA, formerly Graducate Student, Department of Metallurgy, University of British Columbia, is now Postdoctoral Fellow, Whiteshell Nuclear Laboratories, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Pinawa, Manitoba. L. C. BROWN, Junior Member AIME, is Associate Professor, Department of Metallurgy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Manuscript submitted June 14, 1968. IMD RESULTS Fig. 1 shows an electron probe traverse of a typical diffusion zone. In all couples examined only one intermediate phase was observed and the composition of this phase, 23 wt pct Sb, was in good agreement with the composition of Ag3Sb, 23 to 28 wt pct Sb. The presence of this phase was confirmed by X-ray diffraction of filings taken from the diffusion zone. The probe traverses showed no detectable solid solubility in either the silver or the antimony although the phase diagram indicates that some antimony, up to 6.5 wt pct pct Sb, should be in solid solution in the silver. However the width of this portion of the diffusion zone would be expected to be very small in view of the low diffusion coefficient in the silver, 4 x 10-l6 sq cm per sec at 350°C, 10 compared with that in the Ag,Sb, estimated as 3 x 10-8 sq cm per sec in the present work, and this region would therefore not be expected to be seen in the probe traverse. Application of stress resulted in a significant increase in the width of the diffusion zone, Fig. 2. At 350°C, the thickness of Ag3Sb increased from 250 at 0 psi to 400 p at the limiting stress of 800 psi, indicating an apparent 150 pct increase in the diffusion coefficient. Similar behavior was also observed at 400°C, indicating that the stress effect is not characteristic of just one temperature. The growth of Ag3Sb at 350°C and at various stresses is shown in Fig. 3. In every case the growth rate was parabolic indicating diffusion control. The kinetic curves all passed through the origin showing that delayed nucleation of Ag3Sb was not responsible for the stress effect and that it was a real growth effect. A series of tests were carried out in which diffusion was allowed to take place at a lower stress following an initial high stress diffusion anneal. Speci-

Jan 1, 1969

By executive order of the President, dated June 25, 1918, the investigation of matters relating to gas warfare, which had been initiated by the Director of the U. S. Bureau of Mines early in 1917, and had been continuously maintained and improved since, that time, was transferred to the recently created Division of Gas Warfare of the War Department. On the occasion of this transfer, both the President and the Secretary of War took occasion to speak most highly of the efficient service that had been rendered by the Bureau of Mines. It gives us great pleasure to reproduce here a letter from the President and from the Secretary of War, bearing on this subject and also to append a brief review of the work of the Bureau of Mines, prepared by its Director, Mr. Van H. Manning. The White House, Washington. June 26, 1918. MY DEAR MR. MANNING: I have had before me for some days the-question presented by the Secretary of War involving the transfer of the chemical section established by you at the American University from the Bureau of Mines to the newly organized Division-of Gas Warfare in which the War Department is now concentrating all the various facilities for offensive and defensive gas operations. I am satisfied that a more efficient organization can he effected by having these various activities under one direction and control, and my hesitation about acting in the matter has grown only out of a reluctance to take away from the Bureau of Mines a piece of work which thus far it has so effectively performed. The Secretary of War has assured me of his own recognition of the splendid work you have been able to do, and I am taking the liberty of enclosing a letter which I have received from him, in order that you may-see how fully the War Department recognizes the value of the services. I am to-day signing the order directing the transfer. I want, however, to express to you my own-appreciation of the fine and helpful piece of work which you-have-done, and to. say that this sort of team work by the bureaus outside of the direct war-making agency is one of the cheering and gratifying evidences of the way our official forces are inspired by the presence of a great national task. Cordially yours, Dr. Van. H. Manning, WOODROW WILSON. Chief, Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior. War Department, Washington, June 25, 1918. MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: In connection with the proposed transfer of the chemical section at. American University from the Bureau of Mines to the newly constituted and consolidated Gas Service of the War Department, which you are considering, I am specially concerned to have you know how much the War Department appreciates the splendid services which have been rendered to the country and to the Army by the Department of the Interior, and especially by the Bureau of Mines under the direction of Dr. Manning. In the early days of preparation and organization, Dr. Manning's contact with scientific men throughout the country was indispensably valuable. He was able to summon from the universities and the technical laboratories of the country men of the highest quality and to inspire them with enthusiastic zeal in attacking new and difficult problems which had to be solved with the utmost speed. I do not see how the work could have been better done than he did it, and the present suggestion that the section now pass under the direction and control of the War Department grows out of the fact that the whole subject of gas warfare has assumed a fresh pressure and intensity, and the director of it must have the widest control so as to be able to use the resources at his command in the most effective way possible. The proposal does not involve the disruption of the fine group of scientific men Dr. Manning has brought together, but merely their transfer to General Sibert's direction. Respectfully yours, NEWTON D. BAKER.

Jan 9, 1918

By J. M. Johns

INTRODUCTION The Climax Mine is located on the continen¬tal divide, on Fremont Pass, about 145 Km south west of Denver, Colorado. Molybdenum, along with the by products, tungsten, tin, and pyrite are produced from both the open pit and under¬ground operations. The underground operation utilizes a panel caving mining system, and produces in excess of 27,000 mt per day. In the mid 1930's, the Climax mine began changing from a grizzly level layout to the slusher drift system which is still in use to¬ day. Over the years, the slusher drift layout has been refined to correct, improve, and sim¬plify minor operational problems. In common with most older hardrock mines, the development equipment used at Climax was the standard rail mounted, pneumatic mining machinery. This type of equipment remained in use, at least to some degree, until about four years ago. For production, 112 Kw electric slushers were used, while mine traffic was rail with trolley locomotives. Beginning about ten years ago, Climax began

Jan 1, 1981

By Roy C. Kirkman

Dear Editor: It is with great pleasure that I read Mr. Howard M. Wells article in the December 1978 issue of MINING ENGINEERING entitled: "Optimization of Mining Engineering Design in Mineral Valuation." Mr. Wells very adequately presents the case and point that there are a great number of variables which must be analyzed during an economic evaluation of an FUND RESOURCE, such as copper or uranium. I wish to take this opportunity to suggest that, given today's economic climate, decision making takes place under conditions of uncertainty and that this uncertainty justifies our need to examine each one of the parameters entered into the evaluation model. It is my contention that the influence of the tonnages and grades as well as their distributions, have the most profound effect upon the results of an evaluation. Everyone concerned with the evaluation of FUND RESOURCES realizes that as metal prices decline or stagnate with sharply rising direct operating costs, cutoff grades (Gc) must increase according to the equation below which Mr. Wells uses: Gc = Total Operating Cost/(Market Price X 20 X Recovery) However, historically, we have seen cutoffs move dramatically lower in both the copper and uranium industries for the past decade. Henceforth, this established the metals industry most important argument for processing greater tonnages of lower grade materials from disseminated deposits (refer to paper by Kirkman, Roy C.). These disseminated deposits, created by either concentration processes (uranium) or dispersion processes (copper, gold, molybdenum), have log-normal grade distributions (Fig 1). Gross profits are rising, but unit profits are falling. The industry has created longevity through economy of scale, i.e., mining vast tonnages of low grade. In order to develop the great tonnages necessary to prove economic viability, we must examine alternatives at the low-end of the tonnage grade relationship. Notice from [Fig. 2] that as we move further to the right away from line A-B drawn tangential to the average grade curve at 45°, total profits will increase (given fixed annual production capacity) and unit profits decrease. The theoretical optimum operating point is where: [ ] At this point my observation is that slight shifts in production capacity bring about greater changes in profitability due to greater grade changes. Therefore, the best financial risk evaluation is obtained by totally revising the mining engineers methods and fixing the financial parameters such as discount and interest rates. A 10% shift in either of these two parameters will not cause near the same variance in economic viability as will a change on the GRADE-TONNAGE curve [(Fig. 2)].

Jan 1, 1980

McCulloch, Leon.-Experiments with Sherardizing. Discussed by Fred. L. Wolf, Willis M. Peirce, Jesse L. Jones, O. W. Storey, David R. Kellogg, William H. Finkeldey, L. H. Marshall 2 Bassett, W. H. and Davis, C. H.-Spectrum Analysis in an Industrial Laboratory. Discussed by C. S. Brainin, C. H. Davis, W. H. Bassett, George K. Burgess, George K. Elliott, Leonard Waldo, Keivin Burns 8 Roast, Harold J. and Pascoe, Charles F.-Arsenical Bearing Metals. Discussed by Jesse L. Jones, William A. Cowan,. William K. Frank, William M. Corse, Harold J. Roast 10 Bain, Edgar C.-Crystal Structure of Solid Solutions. Discussed by Ancel St. John, Edgar C. Bain, Paul D. Merica 14 Peirce, Willis M.-Studies on the Constitution of Binary Zinc-base Alloys. Discussed by George K. Burgess, Willis M. Peirce, D. H. Ingall, J. L. Haughton, K. E. Bingham 16 Webster, William R.-Application in Rolling of Effects of Carbon, Phosphorus and Manganese on Mechanical Properties of Steel. Discussed by George B. Waterhouse, J. O. Liebig, Ralph H. Sweetser, H. T. Morris, F. D. Carney, W. P. Barba, John H. Nelson, George K. Burgess 19 Barba, W. P. and Howe, Henry M.-Acid Open-hearth Process for Manufacture of Gun Steels and Fine Steels. Discussed by W. J. Priestley, Haakon Styri, C. T. Patterson, Harry Brearley, W. P. Barba, George F. Comstock, Alexander L. Feild 24 Kellogg, David R.-Electrolytic Deposition of Iron for Building up Worn or Undersized Parts. Discussed by Jesse L. Jones, William Blum, C. R. Hayward, George K. Burgess, C. P. Perin, David R. Kellogg 33 McQuaid, H. W. and Elm, E. W.-Effect of Quality of Steel on Case-carburizing Results. Discussed by H. J. French and L. Jordan, W. J. Priestley, M. H. Schmid, A. E. White, H. J. Stagg and S. C. Spalding, Henry S. Rawdon, J. S. Vanick 35 Phillips, Arthur and Davenport, E. S.-Malleableizing of White Cast Iron. Discussed by Samuel Epstein, H. A. Schwartz, A. E. White, R. S. Archer.... 58 Priestley, William J.-Effect of Sulfur and Oxides in Ordnance Steel. Discussed by Harry T. Morris, William J. Priestley, C. P. Perin, James H. Gray, W. P. Barba, Haakon Styri, Frank D. Carney, W. L. Harbrecht, George F. Comstock, E. J. Janitzky 67

Jan 5, 1922