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By H. E. T. Haultain

The study of rock crushing or grinding in tube-mills is difficult on account of the large size of the units employed in the field and the large number of variables entering into the problem. Three or four years ago, in the laboratory of the Department of Mining Engineering of the University of Toronto, a serious effort was commenced to study the matter under laboratory conditions. Experiments were carried on in a cylindrical tube-mill 18 in. long and 12 in. in diameter, inside measurements,

Jan 1, 1923

PRESIDENTS DAVID THOMAS 1871 R W RAYMOND 1872-1874 A L HOLLEY1875 ABRAM S HEWITT 1876 T STERRY HUNT 1877 ECKLEY B COXE 1878 - 1879 WILLIAM P SHINN 1880 WILLIAM METCALF 1881 RICHARD P ROTHWELL 1882 ROBERY W HUNT 1883 JAMES C, BAYLES 1884-1885 ROBERT H RICHARDS 1886 THOMAS EGLESTON 1887

Jan 1, 1923

By R. L. Braun, D. L. Leach

Laboratory experiments simulating in-situ copper recovery from primary sulfide ores in sulfuric acid systems pressurized with oxygen are reported. Copper extraction and acid consumption data are correlated with temperature in the range 50 to 150°C and quenched pH in the range 0.25 to 2. Adverse changes in the chemical composition of the leach solution and the formation of gangue-mineral alteration products and secondary sulfides can severely limit the extraction of copper above 90°C. Keeping the pH below the self-buffered value of about 2 and the temperature below about 110°C produces the maximum extraction rates. Forcing the pH too low not only results in excessively high acid consumption but may also limit the extraction of copper at temperatures above 100°C.

Jan 1, 1977

By H. E. T. Haultain

The study of rock crushing or grinding in tube-mills is difficult on account of the large size of the units employed in the field and the large number of variables entering into the problem. Three or four years ago, in the laboratory of the Department of Mining Engineering of the University of Toronto, a serious effort was commenced to study the matter under laboratory conditions. Experiments were carried on in a cylindrical tube-mill 18 in. long and 12 in. in diameter, inside measurements,

Jan 1, 1923

By Walter A. English

CONTENTS PAGE Introduction. By WALTER A. ENGLISH 1 Theory of Seismic Reflection Prospecting. By WILLARD H. TRACY 2 Instruments for Reflection Seismograph Prospecting. By ARTHUR NOMANN 9 Seismograph Field Operations. By FRANK ITTNER 15 Determining Geologic Structure from Seismograph Records. By P. C. KELLY 22 INTRODUCTION BY WALTER A. ENGLISH,* MEMBER A.I.M.E. THE four papers making up this symposum have been prepared espe-cially for those who have no knowledge of seismograph prospecting. To many people mathematics is a formidable subject, and many are discouraged from studying seismograph prospecting under the mistaken assumption that the mathematical requirements are severe. In the papers presented here there is not a single mathematical equation. We believe that considerable competence in dealing with some of the most important problems of this work can be attained without any mathe-matical training whatever. At the present time, there is a real need for interpretation of results by persons thoroughly competent to bring geologic experience and imagination to bear on data that are subject to multiple interpretation from a strictly physical viewpoint. Likewise, those charged with the responsibility of planning seismo-graph exploration campaigns would do well to become familiar with as . much as possible of the technical aspects of the work. They would then be in better position to judge of its success in individual cases. It has often been said that the seismograph is a new structure-finding tool for the geologists to use. Using a tool and using its product are two different things. One does not use an automatic screw-threading machine when he buys a box of screws at the hardware store. Neither does the geologist

Jan 1, 1939

By C. W. Lawr

THE ores mined by the Santa Gertrudis Co. at Pachuca, Mexico, are mainly silver-bearing; they also yield some gold and carry a little copper. Strong cyanide solutions are used to dissolve the silver and gold, and the mechanical loss of cyanide at the tailings filter has been considerable. Prior to the year 1923, the pulp, after agitation, was given a 35 to 37-min. wash with barren solution in a Butters-type leaf filter; the discharged slime cake was repulped and pumped into eight Merrill self-sluicing slime presses in which the slime was given a further wash with barren solution for 25 to 35 min., followed by a 10-min. water wash. At that time the barren solution titrated around 0.350 per cent. free KCN and 0.500 per cent. total KCN. (Aero brand cyanide is used.) It can readily be seen that a 10-min. water wash would leave considerable cyanide in the filter cake, which of course was a total loss. This averaged 0.522 kg. (1.15 lb.) KCN per ton of solution. As the daily discharge to. the dam was 1600 tons1 of slime of a 2: 1 ratio of liquid to solid, the value of this mechanical loss of cyanide was an important item and its recovery held alluring possibilities.

Jan 1, 1929

By Roy E. Thomas

Soon after the Waelz p1an.t for the fire concentration of low-grade zinc ores was put into operation in the early part of 1929 at Katowice, it was found that the conveyor equipment for transporting the hot residue from the furnace dust chambers was inadequate. Hand tramming with water cooling was used for a time, but that method was injurious to the workmen as well as costly. The problem was to find some practical mechanical means of conveying flue dust at temperatures of from 450" to 600°C. as it was drawn from the dust chambers. After considerable preliminary investigation it was decided to install pneumatic equipment for conveying the hot materials to a central mixing plant, where it would be mixed with slime and from which it would be returned to the furnace feed hoppers. The first pnenmatic equipment was installed in 1930, and has been in successful operation since that time. The pneumatic method of transportation has shown a considerable saving in operating costs over the former methods of dust handling and a decided improvement in working and hygienic conditions at the plant, through the elimination of the dust hazard. Additional pneumatic equipment mas installed in 1933 for conveying the furnace fume from the baghouses to the roaster plant. At the same time pick-up lines were provided for collecting the cleanings from the vertical and horizontal cooling pipes that are between the furnace dust chambers and the baghouses. The latter installation has practically eliminated a dusty and costly hand-tramming operation. A third extension was made to the pneumatic system in 1938 for conveying 'the zinc-lead-cadmium fume from the roaster-plant baghouses and flues to a new re-treatment plant for secondary products. The success of pneumatic conveying at the Waelz plant was the determining factor in the decision to install another pneumatic unit at the Saeger zinc-roasting and sintering plant. The new unit at Saeger was installed early in 1938 for the transportation of flue and Cottrell dust, small amounts of flotation concentrates to the sinter machines, and

Jan 1, 1944

By W. S. Keyes

(Read at the Amenia Meeting, October, 1877.) EASTERN NEVADA. THE State of Nevada, known par excellence as "the Silver State," occupies the major portion of the wide plateau, or so-called Great Basin, lying between the Sierra Nevada range on the west and the Wahsatch range of the Rocky Mountains on the east. It extends from the 114th degree to the 120th degree of longitude, west of Greenwich. It is limited, on the north, by the 42d degree of latitude, and on the extreme south by the 35th degree of latitude. Its general shape is that of an irregular parallelogram, from which the lower or southwestern portion has been cut off by a diagonal southeasterly line; the missing portion forms a part of the State of California on the west. The Great Basin is made up of a succession of low hills, or minor mountain ranges, running very nearly north and south, with long valleys between them. All of these mountains are more or less metalliferous. On the western rim, marking the eastern flank or foothills of the Sierra, we find granites, porphyries, and propylites. Here we note the great Comstock lode, with its free-milling gold and silver ores, and still further south the once prominent and the now reviving gold and silver-bearing districts of Esmeralda County, Nevada, and of Morro County, California. Next, at some distance to the east, we find the mining districts at and near Unionville, in Humboldt County. Still further to the east we find the Battle Mountain copper-silver district, north from the railroad, and southerly therefrom the Austin or Reese River, Belmont, and other districts. Still further east and north of the railroad, we find the Tuscarora, a new district of very

Jan 1, 1878

By Howard Scott

Invar is the preeminent low-expansion metal by virtue of the fact that it can be prepared with a zero coefficient of expansion at atmospheric temperature. This fact suggests that there is little room for improvement in the expansion properties of the low-expansion nickel steels. The inference is true, however, only so far as the expansion at and near atmospheric temperature is concerned, because the expansivity of invar starts to increase rapidly on heating above 100" C. and soon reaches the value of copper. Guillaumel met this situation by increasing the nickel content above that of invar. By that expedient, alloys having low expansivity under higher temperatures were obtained, but not without a large increase in minimum expansivity. The increase in minimum expansivity with increasing nickel content severely limits the technical applications of these alloys at high temperatures. Prospects of improving the expansion characteristics of the nickel steels is offered by alloying. Search for an advantageous alloying addition by analogy with other alloy systems, however, is not productive because the low-expansion characteristic is unique with that system. The rule of mixtures usually gives a fair value of the expansivity of other solid-solution alloys, but in the iron-nickel systems gives a value of 18 X 10-6 per deg. C. whereas the actual value is 1 X 10-6 per deg. C. Apparently suitable additions are not to be deduced from such ingenuous considerations. Recognition of the fact that the temperature range of low expansivity in nickel steels is terminated with loss of magnetism affords a more promising basis for the selection of an advantageous element. One may expect from that fact that additions of nonmagnetic elements to the iron-nickel alloys are detrimental to the low-expansion characteristic. Indeed, carbon, manganese, silicon, copper and chromium are detrimental to the expansion properties and no nonmagnetic element is reported to be beneficial. From the same viewpoint, the addition of a magnetic metal offers prospects of improvement. As two of the three ferromagnetic elements are already present in the

Jan 1, 1930

By T. Sterry Hunt

WET processes for the extraction of copper from its ores have of late attracted much attention, especially in Europe, where the use of oupriferous iron-pyrites as a' source of sulphur prevails. These processes present an additional interest, when, as is often the case, the copper-ore's to be treated contain one or both of the precious metals, since the complete separation of these from copper, either in the dry or the moist way, is, as is well known, one of the difficult problems of metallurgy. The principal wet processes hitherto in use for the extraction of copper from its ores, may be included under three classes : I. Those in which the copper in snlphuretted ores is rendered soluble in water by calcining them, after a preliminary roasting which removes the greater part of their sulphur, with a portion of common salt, by which the copper is converted into a chloride (Long-maid and Henderson), or with sulphate of soda, by which sulphate of copper is formed (Monnier). Allied to these is the method by which a portion of the copper is got as soluble sulphate by roasting without addition, a process which is sometimes modified and rendered more complete by re-roasting the lixiviated residues with the addition of a portion of raw sulphuretted ore (Bankart). II. Those methods in which free chlorhydric or sulphuric acid is used to dissolve the copper- from oxidized or roasted ores. These, while simple and efficient, are too costly, except in certain localities where chlorhydric acid is a waste product. Related to them is the plan which consists in exposing the oxidized and moistened ores to the slow action of sulphurous acid mixed with air, by which a soluble sulphate of copper is formed. It has been proposed to decompose the solutions of sulphate or chloride of copper by sulphuretted hydrogen, thus separating the copper as sulphide, and using the liberated acid to dissolve fresh portions of oxidized copper. It is, however, the almost universal practice to throw down the copper from its solutions, however obtained, in the metallic state by the use of iron, either scrap-iron or iron-sponge; although in some instances

Jan 1, 1882

By T. Sterry Hunt

Jan 1, 1882

Part 1. Coal Part 2. Industrial Minerals

Jan 3, 1977

By Prof. B. Hopkinson

Introduction.-A short time ago Professor Stoughton asked the writer if he would present a paper for the February meeting of our Institute. In reply to this suggestion, some notes have been prepared relating to the subject mentioned in the title. It is to be hoped they may be of interest to our members. The research now described is the joint work of Prof. B. Hopkinson, F. R. S., and the writer. Those interested in the subject will find further data in a paper entitled The Magnetic and Mechanical Properties of Manganese Steel, which will probably be read at this year's May Meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute in London. This paper was submitted to the Institute in October last, and advance copies will shortly be available. The present paper has been drawn up by the writer on this side the water, and he has not had time to communicate with Professor Hopkinson with regard to the statements or opinions expressed herein. While the writer believes that Professor Hopkinson would in the main agree with the statements herein set forth, it should be understood that apart from the actual work described he is not otherwise responsible. The experiments described have been carried out on the material known as manganese steel, which one of the writers of these notes discovered in 1883. A paper by him describing this material was read before this Institute in 1893, entitled Iron Alloys, with Special Reference to Manganese Steel. It is not necessary to describe manganese steel nowa-days; its qualities are so well known, and its use throughout the world is on a very extensive scale.

Jan 3, 1914

By L. H. Duschak

Electrolytic zinc produced from sulfate solution and with pure lead anodes is always contaminated with a small and varying percentage of lead. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the characteristics of several lead alloys and their influence on the products of electrolysis and power consumption. The study of alloyed anodes has been a matter of interest for some years. Tainton, Taylor and Ehrlinger prepared a highly interesting paper' on this subject a year ago, in which the effects of silver-lead and some ternary alloys of lead-silver-tin were described, and the presentation of any paper on insoluble anodes will owe much to the inspirational results achieved by Dr. Colin G. Fink and Li Chi Pan in their work on insoluble anodes for the electrolysis of brine,2 and to other published papers by Dr. Fink and his coworkers embracing the development of the copper-silicon-manganese anode for the production of electrolytic copper and the general subject of anode development. The present paper describes a study of various combinations of 10 metals. The general plan of the work provides for the fabrication of the alloyed anode, its adequate conditioning by preparatory electrolytic operation, the production of cathode zinc and its analysis, the determination of the anode polarization, and other features. A list of the anodes tested, showing composition and polarization at various current densities together with the lead assay of the cathode zinc, is shown in Table 1. Determination of Anode Polarization In the determination of anode polarization under operating conditions it is essential that the anode area used be restricted to the side facing the cathode, in order that these measurements may be referred to a definite current per unit of area. It becomes necessary, therefore, to insulate the inactive face of the anode, to prevent the leakage of lines of force

Jan 1, 1930

There are two types of shovels currently used primarily as mining tools-the stripping shovel and the quarry-mine (Q-M) shovel. The two types have basically the same features, the main difference being in size. The stripping units are giant four-crawler shovels that operate by placing overburden alongside in a mined-out area. The Q-M units, on the other hand, are two-crawler shovels that usually load into trucks or trains. Powering Systems A typical stripping or Q-M shovel is fully electric, receiving power through a trailing cable that is connected to a large motor-generator set with multiple generators. In the full Ward-Leonard system, each generator furnishes d-c power to separate motors which drive the mechanisms for the principal motions of the shovel-hoist, crowd and swing.

Jan 10, 1967

By Eric J. Bradshaw

For several hundred years the petroleum industry has flourished in Burma and at the close of the eighteenth century there were over five hundred producing wells in the Yenangyaung field. These were laboriously dug by hand and were exceedingly primitive, yet even today a small part of India's total production is obtained from hand-dug wells. The Indian Empire, the cradle of the oil industry, today produces but an unimpressive fraction of the world's supply of petroleum, not because the size of her contribution has diminished, but because it has remained more or less stationary while other countries have far outstripped her during the prodigious increase in the world's production of petroleum in recent years. Though for the past 10 years the total production in India has been remarkably constant, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain this output and at any rate from the older fields a slow decline may be anticipated unless new productive horizons are discovered. Production figures for the 10 years 192&1929 (the last year for which figures are available) are given by fields in Table 1. Crudes of Burma and Assam The bulk of India's production comes from the Yenangyaung and Singu fields, from which the crudes are very similar, the only important difference being that the oil from the Singu-Yenangyat structure contains a higher percentage of lighter fractions. The Burma crudes resemble that of the Panhandle of Texas and have a high content of solid paraffin, though strictly speaking the oil is of mixed base with a low content of asphaltum. With the exception of the negligible production from Sabe, the Burma crudes do not require dehydration; the sulfur content is very low and is innocuous. A small amount of naphthenic acids occurs in the kerosene and intermediate oil fractions while the lubricating fraction is practically free from acid. The ash content is low and the average A.P.I. gravity of mixtures of Yenangyaung and Singu oil is 36.4. Burma crudes require only light refinery treatment and practically dl the fractions are merchantable. Part of the gasoline supply is stripped

Jan 1, 1931

By N. Brown, H. Green

The effect of quenching temperature and of aging temperature and time on compression stress-strain curves of ß brass was investigated. Age softening occurs at a rate which decreases with decrease of quenching temperature below the critical temperature for ordering. The activation energy for softening is 15,400 cal per mol. No matter how rapidly brass is quenched or what the temperature from which it is quenched, practically complete order is obtained at room temperature. It has been demonstrated that with respect to the specific heat,',' electrical resistivity," X-ray diffraction, and microstructure, the slowly cooled and rapidly quenched specimens are the same and that complete long range order exists in both cases. However, Smith" showed that the hardness of ß brass depended upon the cooling rate and the temperature from which brass is quenched. Smith showed that the hardness was a maximum for specimens quenched from about 445 °C and that the as-quenched structure softened at room temperature at a rate depending upon the temperature prior to quenching. This softening after quenching is in this paper referred to as age softening. The results of this investigation are qualitatively the same as the findings of Smith. However, a more detailed analysis of these phenomena has been possible since the stress-strain curve offers a more sensitive index of the state of the metal than hardness. It is the purpose of this paper to show how the mechanical properties are related to the ordering of ß brass. A 200-lb ingot made from electrolytic copper and electrolytic zinc was extruded to 1/2in. rod. Chemical analyses at frequent intervals along the rod showed that the alloy contained 51.5 pct Cu with the greatest impurity being iron, at 0.01 to 0.001 pct. To obtain a constant test material, the 1/2in. extruded rod was warm-rolled to % in. diameter at 200°C and then recrystallized to a grain size of 2.0 mm. The specimens for the compression test were % in. high and % in. in diameter. The specimen ends were polished on 600 metallographic paper and coated with Molykote for a lubricant. The compression rig consisted of an anvil resting on the machined table of the Baldwin Southwark testing machine and a plunger fixed to the movable cross

Jan 1, 1954

By Jesse O. Betterton, Y. E. Lebedeff

AS a matter of the most widespread interest to lead-refining metallurgists, the process of desilverizing lead originated by Parkes is the most fundamental step in lead refining. While this basic operation, in addition to effecting a practically complete recovery of gold and silver, is also a great purifying operation and a governor on the purity and uniformity of the final refined lead, it has the important deficiency that no bismuth is removed in the operation. The problem of finding a satisfactory, inexpensive method for removal of bismuth that would fit in with the basic desilverization step has been one of enticing interest for lead-refinery metallurgists for many years. Of late it has become one of imperative interest, and while many attempts and much progress have been made, it is probably fair to say that metallurgical progress thus far is only catching up with commercial requirements. The Pattinson process, an original competitor of the Parkes process for desilverization, has received much attention for its possibilities for bismuth removal. Bismuth concentrations in the Pattinson process fall far short of the silver concentrations and as a result too many operations are required and a crawl in grade in the kettle units is experienced which requires periodic correction. Altogether, it has proved too expensive a remedy, from the cost standpoint of both installation and operation. The Betts electrolytic process is a fully satisfactory remedy but its present status in the field of lead refining is more a matter of bismuth removal than preference as a refining system, except, of course, in instances particularly favorable to the basic requirements of the process. The Betts process, of course, is essentially different from the Parkes process, and very difficult to associate therewith to any economy except in minor ways. Accordingly, where economy dictates the Parkes process, and this is true of far the greater portion of the world's tonnage, the adoption of the Betts process primarily for bismuth removal is apt to prove an expensive remedy on account of its normally higher cost of operation, inelasticity of the equipment for variable tonnages, and high per ton cost of installation.

Jan 1, 1937

By Thomas Leonard Watson

I. Historical. Barite has been mined for many years in various parts of Virginia, probably the earliest mining-operations being in Prince William county, within 600 ft. of the Fauquier county line, about 4 miles south of east from Catlett, a station on the Southern Railway. It is claimed that the mineral was mined here as early as 1845. Mining-operations in Campbell and Pittsylvania counties in the Piedmont region, and near Marion in Smyth county, in the southwest Virginia Valley region, were begun about 30 years ago. The mining and milling of barite on a commercial scale in Tazewell and Russell counties are more recent, and commenced about 15 years ago. II. Geographical and Geological Distribution. Barite occurs in many counties in the State, as shown in Fig. 1, but the industry has been confined to only a few of them. Its occurrence is noted in two of the three major divisions of the State—namely, the Piedmont region east of the Blue Ridge, and the Paleozoic area west of the Blue Ridge. In the Piedmont region the mineral has been mined in the following counties: Bedford, Campbell, Louisa, Prince William, and Pittsylvania. In the region west of the Blue Ridge, composed of Paleozoic sediments, barite has been mined in Montgomery, Russell, Smyth, and Tazewell counties. Of the counties mentioned, Bedford, Campbell, and Pittsylvania of the Piedmont region, and Russell, Smyth, and Tazewell of the Valley region, have been the principal producers. In 1906, operations were confined to five counties—Bedford, Louisa, Pittsylvania, Russell, and Tazewell—but in the first two counties named there was no production, the work being solely development.

Jan 1, 1908

By John S. Johnson, Thomas Fraser

SIZING is the process of separating mixed particles into groups of particles all of the same size, or into groups in which all particles range between certain definite maximum and minimum sizes. In coal preparation, sizing is generally accomplished by passing the coal over screens. Separation by differential settling in air or water currents has been adapted to the special field of separating very fine sizes, and these processes are in commercial use to a relatively small extent in the coal industry. Separation with screens is a very old industrial practice. Agricola described the use of screens for ore treatment in the middle ages. In the literature of the British coal industry references were made to the screening of coal as early as 1589, but the practice of extensive sizing for the market did not become general until the last half of the nineteenth century. In America, the practice of sizing developed first in the Pennsylvania anthracite region, beginning with the use of rakes' in the mine working places to recover coarse coal. This mining procedure left the fines in the mine. Preparation outside the mine started with the installation of station¬ary cast-iron plates with 4 to 6-in. square holes. The run-of-mine coal was dumped upon the platforms, the large pieces of rock were picked out by hand, and the large lumps of coal were broken with hammers. The term "breaker," which still applies to the anthracite-preparation plant, originated with this practice, but the term is no longer descriptive of the entire function of the plant. In 1884, the first power-operated anthracite coal breaker' was erected by Gideon Bart at his colliery at Wolf Creek near Minersville, Pa. This plant utilized a system of rolls for breaking the coal and revolving screens for sizing. The plant was driven by a steam engine. It 'could handle

Jan 1, 1943