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By C. Chamberlain

The Telfer Project, Australia's newest, largest, and most remote gold mine treats 480 kt of ore grading 9.33 g/t derived from open pit mining operations. Coarse gold is recovered by gravity concentration with jigs and further upgraded wing a continuous strake launder table, and by amalgamation. Remaining gold is recovered in a cyanide circuit and incorporates flat bottom air agitators, counter current decantation (CCD) and stellar filters for clarification and precipitate removal. Overall recovery into a bullion averages 98%. The mill incorporates a number of design features that allow for maximum efficiency and security wing a minimum number of operation personnel.

Jan 1, 1983

By Charles Means

A THOROUGHLY modern coal-handling system has been installed at the Pittsburgh Terminal R. R. & Coal Co.'s new No. 8 shaft, or Coverdale mine, about 11 mi. (17.7 km.) from Pittsburgh on a spur f the Montour R. R. The Pittsburgh seam, which is the one worked, is reached at a depth of 342 ft. (104 m.). Power is delivered to the mine at 22,000 volts over a transmission line of the bow-arrow type of construction. A private telephone line connecting the various mines and the main office in Pittsburgh is carried on the same poles. The high-tension line is brought to an outdoor, step-down, transformer substation, where three 833-kv.-a., single-phase, 60-cycle, oil-insulated, self-cooled transformers reduce the potential to 2300 volts. The transformers are protected by electrolytic, aluminum-cell lightning arresters, horn gaps, and choke coils. High and low-tension busses, together with fuses, choke coils and air-break horn-gap switches with their remote-control operating mechanism are mounted on a substantial structural-steel tower 25 ft. (7.6 m.) in height. MINE SUBSTATION The transformer substation is adjacent to a pressed-brick building that houses direct-current substation equipment together with switchboards, etc., for the control and distribution of power. This building also contains the hoist for the men and supplies.

Jan 9, 1921

Jan 1, 1970

By Hermsdorf, Richard P. E.

AMONG the newer lead smelting and refining plants of the country is that of the United States Metals Refining Co., at Carteret, N. J. Not only is the technical practice here modern and efficient, but exceptional care is taken to assure healthful operating conditions for the employees. One large building houses the entire department, which includes, as its chief units, one reverberatory smelting furnace, one blast furnace, two softening furnaces, one utility reverberatory furnace, two Faber du Faur retorts, five 120-ton kettles, three 60-ton antimouial lead kettles, and one 5-ton kettle for experimental purposes. There is a 10-ton overhead crane in the kettle aisle, which is also used for shipping lead. Other auxiliary equipment is referred to in the outline of operations. A general plan of the plant is shown in Fig. 2, and a general view in Fig. 1. Primary smelting operations are conducted in a 30 by 11-ft. reverberatory furnace with bottom, roof, and upper walls of clay brick, magnesite

Jan 1, 1934

By Philip S. Mathews

THE tremendous stimulus given to the mining industry by the gold and silver policy of the present administration has found the capital market for mines ill prepared to afford practical means of financing. Particularly has this been true of the host of abandoned high-cost producers and prospects which increased gold and silver prices have made potentially profitable. In a comparatively short time, experience has demonstrated abundantly that valuable properties have frequently failed to secure capital, while questionable properties have drawn to themselves and their promoters more of the public moneys than their prospects justify. Singularly enough the fault is usually attributable to faulty financing. Discussion and study of this problem are vital to the industry.

Jan 1, 1936

By M. B. Bever, A. K. Jena

THE heats of formation ?H at 273°K of the compound AgMg as a function of composition have been measured by solution calorimetry.1 The value at the stoichiometric composition is -4.41 kcal per g-atom. From electromotive force measurements2'3 the heat of formation at 773°K of stoichiometric AgMg has been determined as -5.19 kcal per g-atom.4 The combination of these two values results in an unusually high negative temperature coefficient of the heat of formation d?H/dT = ?Cp = -1.6 cal per g-atom-OK. By contrast, published heat contents of the compound AgMg and the component elements above room temperature5 indicate that the temperature coefficient of the heat of formation of AgMg is nearly zero. In this communication calorimetrically measured heats of formation of A.K.JENA,Junior- MemberAIME,andM.B. BEVER,Member AIME, are Staff Member, Division of Sponsored Research, and Professor of Metallurgy, respectively, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. Manuscript submitted July 1, 1968. IMD AgMg below room temperature are reported and the temperature dependence of the heat of formation is discussed. The heat effects of additions of samples of the compound AgMg containing 50.1 at. pct Mg to liquid tin-rich solutions at 623°K were measured in a solution Calorimeter.6 The heat effects of additions plotted against the average of the atom fractions of solutes in the solution before and after each addition were a linear function of composition from which the heat effect at infinite dilution was obtained, Table I. The calorimeter was calibrated by additions of tin; the heat content (H623°K - H273°K) of tin was taken as 4.08 kcal per g-atom.4 The heat effect at infinite dilution of an addition of where heat of formation of AgMg at T°K, T = temperature from which samples are added (78°, 195°. and 273°K), Xi = atom fraction of i in AgMg, ?Hi = relative partial gram-atomic enthalpy of i in tin-rich solution.

Jan 1, 1969

Jan 1, 1968

By W. L. Dumoulin

A RATHER detailed description of the entire plant and leaching process was given in a paper recently presented to the Institute,1 so this paper will cover briefly only the crushing practice of the New Cornelia Copper Co. for the year, 1918. The ore, which is mined by steam shovels and loaded in side-dump cars, passes through two crushing plants. These crushing plants were constructed to crush the ore required by a leaching plant of 5000 tons daily, capacity, during a crushing period of 16 hours. The primary plant reduces to less than 3 in. (76 mm.) and the secondary plant, to ¼ in. (6.35 mm.), which is sufficiently fine for satisfactory percolation of solution through the ore in the leaching tanks, and to give good extraction. The ore is then conveyed to the leaching tanks by a system of 28-in.. (71-cm.) belt conveyors. On the way to the leaching tanks, it passes through an automatic sampling plant, where a 1-per cent. sample is taken. From the primary crushing plant, the ore is conveyed by two 36-in. (91-cm.) belt conveyors to a 10,000-ton steel storage bin, with a reinforced-concrete flat bottom. The ore discharges from the bottom of this bin onto four 20-in. belt conveyors, which deliver it to the four units of crushers in the secondary crushing plant. There is no storage bin between the mine and the primary crushing plant. The ore breaks very coarse, is very hard, and contains a great many boulders, some as large as 4 ½ by 4 1/2 by 10 ft. (1.3 by 1.3 by 3 m.). Jams form in the bowl of the coarse crusher in the primary crushing plant, as a consequence, and are freed by means of an immense steel hook operated from a 40-ton electric traveling crane.

Jan 8, 1919

By C. BARING HORIVOOD

(Chattanooga Meeting, October, 1908.) THIS paper is intended, in the light of recent investigations, to call attention to some of the essential features of good practice in sampling and mine-valuation. Mine-sampling may be divided broadly into two classes : (1) development-sampling and computation of ore-reserves; and, (2) stope-sampling and estimation of stope-values. DEVELOPMENT-SAMPLING. It is with development-sampling only that this paper deals-the term development being taken to mean the opening-up of a mine by cross-cuts, drives, connections, etc., preparatory to actual extraction of the ore for milling. In development-sampling the work of the sampler and the consequent estimation of the probable value of the mine or portions of the mine, as the case may be, cannot be verified until a later period, when the ground thus sampled has been exploited; hence, extreme care and accuracy are essential. Moreover, the development-sampler has to foresee and allow for contingencies which may arise when stoping is started. It follows that the sampling, in development-work, demands familiarity with the conditions likely to be encountered later in actual mining. In stopes, on the other hand, sampling is clone under actual working-conditions, and the sampler's valuations are immediately checked by the gold-output, or in some cases by a second sampling of the broken ore. A stope-sampler therefore need not be an experienced miner, though he should possess sound technical training and work accurately. Should he be somewhat inexperienced, be soon has his errors discovered for him, and learns to avoid them. Taking these facts into account, it is obvious that a mining company employing two or more samplers should

Jan 1, 1909

By B. O. Pickard

With more than a score of shafts and numerous stope openings to the surface, all inter-connected underground; with underground temperatures high, often exceeding 100' wet bulb; with an ore presenting a dust health-hazard; with certain rocks giving off inert gases; with an altitude of 6000 ft. above the sea level and a dry desert climate, the Tonopah mines offered an interesting problem to the student of metal-line ventilation. Tonopah is not an old mining district, relatively speaking. It was discovered in 1900 and Tonopah soon was a boom camp. Ry 1910 the mines of this district had paid many millions of dollars in dividends. At the time of the 1921 ventilation study, mining had passed its peak of production and the operators were striving to reduce costs, to discover new orebodies, and to attract desirable workmen. In 1925, the camp was operating on a still less prosperous basis, but the several managements had not relaxed in their efforts to keep the mines on a paying basis, neither had they lost their faith in the ability of the mines and the price of the silver to "come back." Early in the fall of 1921 the Bureau of Mines was invited by the mine operators at Tonopah, Nev., to make a detailed study of the underground air conditions in the Tonopah silver district. D. Harrington, chief engineer of the Safety Service Division of the Bureau, who was then directly supervising the ventilation studies, detailed district engineer B. 0. Pickard, mining engineer E. D. Gardner, surgeon C. E. Kindall, and petrographer IT. Insley to carry on the study. G. S. Rice, as chief mining engineer of the Bureau of Mines, was in general charge of the work. Upon the completion of the study each operator was furnished a report on conditions in his mine. In 1925, a supplemental study at Tonopah was made by the district engineer at the request of several of the operators, and each operator advised on the changes in his respective air conditions and recommendations for improvements. Recently, several of the operators gave the

Jan 1, 1927

By R. S. French, W. R. Hibbard

FOR tensile deformation, if the stress value is defined by the ratio of the load to the actual area, and the strain value by the natural logarithm of the ratio of the immediate length to the original gauge length of the sample, the resulting data when plotted with logarithmic coordinates result in a linear relation extending from the initial plastic yielding through the maximum load and in some cases, such as for copper and brass, to fracture'.'. The normal form of the curve, therefore, is a parabola, satisfying the following equation: S = Kem [1] where S and e represent true stress and strain, K is a constant, and m is a coefficient evaluating the slope of the curve and designated therefore as the strain hardening coefficient. Hollomon² has reported that this coefficient is a function of the yield strength as effected by grain size in alpha brass, and the carbon content and heat treatment of steel. In the case of steel, the value of the proportionality constant is a function of the carbon content. It was further shown in that paper2 and also by Low and Prater -hat, if the power relation between stress and strain remains valid, the strain hardening coefficient m, is equal to the strain at the maximum or necking load. Thus, an added significant feature is that this coefficient may serve as an index of the capacity for deformation prior to localized necking and subsequent fracture, e.g. drawability. The constant K may be defined as the strength of the material at unit strain. Together the K constant and the m coefficient describe an alloy's physical properties as far as strength and ductility are concerned for a particular yield strength and, in the case of steel, a particular carbon content. The work of Lacy and Gensamer4 gives data on alloy ferrites from which very close estimates of the strength of ternary and higher iron alloys have been made. It was the purpose of this investigation to develop similar data for commercial copper base alpha solid solution alloys. Preparation of Specimens Commercial binary alloys of copper with aluminum, beryllium, cadmium, nickel, silicon, tin and zinc were investigated. In addition, laboratory castings were made of a 1 pct silicon alloy and a 2 pct aluminum alloy to complete these particular series. Two types of copper were used, oxygen free OFHC and tough pitch FC. The analyses of these alloys are shown in table I. Standard ASTM sheet tensile specimens were used to determine the usual physical properties of each alloy and to obtain stress data at strains from 0.0005 to 0.01. Small (1/4 in. x 3 in. x tk.) samples

Jan 1, 1951

By A. F. Brock

The cut-and-fill mining methods in use in the mines of The International Nickel Company of Canada Limited, at Falconbridge Nickel Mines Limited, in the Sudbury District, and at McIntyre Porcupine Mines Limited in the Porcupine District, are typical of the general cut-and-fill practice in both the base-metal mines and the gold mines in the Province of Ontario. The following pages describe the methods in use. HORIZONTAL CUT-AND-FILL STOPING Horizontal cut-and-fill stoping, as practiced in the mines of The International Nickel Company of Canada Limited, falls into two main classifications: (I) transverse cut-and-fill stoping, where ground conditions or wide ore bodies make it necessary to establish narrow stopes and pillars across the width of the ore body; (2) longitudinal cut-and-fill stoping where ore body widths and ground conditions allow safe mining of the full width of the ore body. Transverse Cut-and-fill StopiNg General Stoping Layouts Stope and Pillar Widths.—For transverse stoping, experience has indicated that narrow stopes and pillars, 27 ft. 6 in and 22 ft., respectively, are most satisfactory. These width are multiples of 5 ft. 6 in., which is the center to center dimension of a standard square set. Thus any stope, or block of stopes, can be readily converted from cut-and-fill to square set-and-fill if ground conditions should warrant such a change. Formerly, pillars were established 16 ft. 6 in. wide, the equivalent of the width of three square sets, with the intention of extracting the pillars by mining an overhand slice one set wide and an underhand slice two sets wide. However, subsequent experience proved that a two-set overhand slice is so much more efficiently mined than a one-set slice, and 22-ft. pillars have been made standard. Chutes.—The stope chutes are established on the longitudinal center line of the stopes and are spaced at 22-ft. centers from footwall to hanging wall. The footwall chute is usually from 5 to 10 it. from the footwall of the stope. It is offset where necessary at an angle of 52° and vertical chutes are carried from the offset at 22-ft. centers. In sections of the ore body where a flat hanging wall would cut off hanging-wall chutes within a few cuts of the sill, it has proved to be more economical to use temporary chutes or slushers, or both, for these first few cuts, rather than to el permanent chutes at the hanging wall.

Jan 1, 1946

By L. V. Wade

Abstract-US Bureau of Mines efforts under longwall research programs to develop the capability to predict support requirements for longwall/shortwall support systems are discussed. Ground control studies are being conducted in conjunction with several longwall/shortwall demonstration projects. Geologic, support performance, and strata behavior are being documented on these projects. A hypothesis is presented for the prediction of support requirements.

Jan 11, 1978

By James Paul

BEGINNING in December, 1933, and continuing to the close of April, 1934, large sums of money were expended in the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia through the conduct of Federal and State Civil Works Administration, financed by the Government as a part of the President's recovery program to furnish employment to mine employees idle as a result of the economic depression. PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT The protection of the public health against the pollution of public water supply by acid mine drainage was the incentive that prompted the request that the sealing of abandoned bituminous coal mines be made a Federal project. A paper before the Central Section of the American Water Works Association, Wheeling, W. Va., on Aug. 24, by E. S. Tisdale, Chief Engineer of the West Virginia Department of Health, tersely says: In October, 1933, the combined experience of the U. S. Bureau of Mines and the U. S. Public Health Service and the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky resulted in a report being filed in Washington, first with the Public Works Administration and later with the Civil Works Administration, where it was favorably acted upon, calling for these governmental agencies under the direction of the U. S. Public Health Service to expend $1,500,000 in a unified effort to seal abandoned coal mines in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and six other states farther down along the Ohio river. The report referred to was embodied in a petition that was signed by the chief engineers of the State Departments of Health of the several states contiguous to the drainage area of the Ohio River. The project as established under Federal supervision became interstate with respect to the several states involved, and upon the termination of the Federal project on Feb. 15, it was authorized as a State C.W.A. project, effective Feb. 20, under the supervision of the State Departments of Health and the State C.W.A. Administration, which continued to March 29, and was succeeded by the S.E.R.B. of the R.W.D. from April 2 to April

Jan 1, 1935

By AIME AIME

FOR many years it has been the invariable custom of the Institute, in addition to its annual meeting in February, to hold a technical meeting in the fall in some mining or metallurgical center in the West. As the activities of the Institute have increased, and especially since the absorption 'of the American Institute of Metals, there have for a number of years been two fall meetings. Never before in the history of the Institute have there been three meetings in addition to the annual meeting in February; in 1920, however, three important fall meetings are to be held. The general Institute trip will be made this fall to the Lake Superior iron and copper country. Members will leave Buffalo on August 20 by steamer, visit the copper mines in and about Houghton, the iron mines of the Marquette and Iron Ranges of Michigan and the iron mines of the Mesabi Range in Minnesota, and' return to Buffalo by steamer on September 3. Technical sessions will be held at Houghton, Minneapolis and Duluth. For a long period it was customary for the Institute to visit the Lake Superior country about every seven years. This trip, however, will be the first visit since 1904. The unprecedented development in both copper and iron mining in this section during this period will make this trip of unusual importance. In addition, a notable series of papers will be presented.

Jan 1, 1920

By R. H. Harrington

The definition of precipitation-hardening1 is well understood and its principles have been subjected to study for some time. However, the variation of properties with double aging, combined with strain-hardening, gives promise of new and useful phenomena. Properly to understand these distinctions, definitions of these terms are necessary. Precipitation-hardening1.—This reaction usually depends upon an alloy having such a composition that it consists only, or in major part, of but one phase, a solid solution, at a high temperature, so that, upon slow cooling, this solution breaks down into two phases, the solid solution and a compound. By heating the alloy to the temperature for maximum solution of the compound, quenching, and reheating to a suitable lower temperature for critical dispersion precipitation of the compound, useful properties of the alloy may be developed to a maximum. Double Aging.—Dougle aging in part is similar to the process for precipitation-hardening, consisting of heating a precipitation-hardening alloy to the solution temperature, quenching, reheating to the suitable dispersion precipitation temperature, strain-hardening, and again reheating to a suitable temperature to develop certain useful properties to a maximum. The strain-hardening may be induced by two methods: (I) a rate of cooling from the first reheat may suffice to strain the solid solution lattice of the alloy; or (2) the alloy may be cold-worked to a suitable degree between the two reheats. Pkecipitation-hardening of Copper-cobalt-beryllium Alloys1.2 The composition of principal interest is that of 2.6 per cent Co, 0.4 per cent Be, 97 per cent Cu. The alloy has been developed commercially and, with certain reasonable precautions, ordinary brass-foundry practice suffices to produce an alloy of high quality. Preliminary Precipitation-hardening Study.—Samples were cut from a I-in. round rod cast in a graphite mold. These samples were then

Jan 1, 1937

By J. E. Burke, C. W. Mason

In attempting to study precipitation from a tetragonal lattice, using solid solutione of bismuth in tin, it was found that although a Widmanstätten pattern is observed1,4 only a qualitative analysis of the orientation relationships is possible, because of the unusual structural changes that accompany the precipitation process. Microscopical Studies Alloys were made from Chempur tin (Standard samples 42b and 426, National Bureau of Standards), and bismuth (Kahl-baum C.P.) by melting weighed quantities together under palm oil, stirring well, and castilig in a heated graphite mold. The polishing and etching techniques employed largely govern the visibility of the structural changes. The preliminary surfacing operations were similar to those recommended by Villela and Bergekoff,5 through Behr-Manning 3/0 abrasive papers, lubricated by a solution of paraffin in kerosene. A rough metallographic polish was next given, using a thin cotton cloth charged with relevigated alumina (maximum particle size of about 4µ) and soap solution; repeated etching and polishing served to remove disturbed metal. For high-power examination better preparation was necessary. It was found that on such soft metals the threads of the fabric, rather than the abrasive, cause most of the scratching. Cotton outing flannel, which had been brushed so that the nap lay down, was fairly satisfactory, but a heavy grade of silk velvet (not the noncrushable kind) was found to be better, especially after some use. A better procedure was as follows: The metal lap was warmed slightly, and a 4-in. circle of woolen broadcloth was cemented to its center by a thin film of melted paraffin. The broadcloth was then moistened with water, and a 30 to 40 per cent solution of sodium hydroxide heated to about 50°C. was poured over it, allowed to stand for I to 2 min. and then washed off. It was neither necessary nor desirable to remove all the sodium hydroxide from the cloth, since its etching action aided in the removal of the flowed layer from the sample. The cloth was then charged with a paste of the relevigated alumina in water. Since this lap did not remove deep scratches, it was necessary previously to polish the specimen on some material such as the silk velvet. The sodium hydroxide softens and partly gelatinizes the woolen lap covering, permitting a scratch-free polish, but its action continues, and the cloth deterioratcs after about 24 hr. This is not serious, because a new lap can be prepared in about 5 min., and only small pieces of cloth are used. Etching with a strongly acid solution of ferric chloride was found satisfactory for removing the flowed layer. For the final etching, the most satisfactory reagent was that of Tafls,7 the formula for which is: FeC13.6H2O, 2 grams; HC1, 5 c.c.; H2O, 30 c.c.; C2H5OH (95 per cent), 60 C.C. This etchant reveals differences in com-

Jan 1, 1942

By J. E. Burke, C. W. Mason

In attempting to study precipitation from a tetragonal lattice, using solid solutione of bismuth in tin, it was found that although a Widmanstätten pattern is observed1,4 only a qualitative analysis of the orientation relationships is possible, because of the unusual structural changes that accompany the precipitation process. Microscopical Studies Alloys were made from Chempur tin (Standard samples 42b and 426, National Bureau of Standards), and bismuth (Kahl-baum C.P.) by melting weighed quantities together under palm oil, stirring well, and castilig in a heated graphite mold. The polishing and etching techniques employed largely govern the visibility of the structural changes. The preliminary surfacing operations were similar to those recommended by Villela and Bergekoff,5 through Behr-Manning 3/0 abrasive papers, lubricated by a solution of paraffin in kerosene. A rough metallographic polish was next given, using a thin cotton cloth charged with relevigated alumina (maximum particle size of about 4µ) and soap solution; repeated etching and polishing served to remove disturbed metal. For high-power examination better preparation was necessary. It was found that on such soft metals the threads of the fabric, rather than the abrasive, cause most of the scratching. Cotton outing flannel, which had been brushed so that the nap lay down, was fairly satisfactory, but a heavy grade of silk velvet (not the noncrushable kind) was found to be better, especially after some use. A better procedure was as follows: The metal lap was warmed slightly, and a 4-in. circle of woolen broadcloth was cemented to its center by a thin film of melted paraffin. The broadcloth was then moistened with water, and a 30 to 40 per cent solution of sodium hydroxide heated to about 50°C. was poured over it, allowed to stand for I to 2 min. and then washed off. It was neither necessary nor desirable to remove all the sodium hydroxide from the cloth, since its etching action aided in the removal of the flowed layer from the sample. The cloth was then charged with a paste of the relevigated alumina in water. Since this lap did not remove deep scratches, it was necessary previously to polish the specimen on some material such as the silk velvet. The sodium hydroxide softens and partly gelatinizes the woolen lap covering, permitting a scratch-free polish, but its action continues, and the cloth deterioratcs after about 24 hr. This is not serious, because a new lap can be prepared in about 5 min., and only small pieces of cloth are used. Etching with a strongly acid solution of ferric chloride was found satisfactory for removing the flowed layer. For the final etching, the most satisfactory reagent was that of Tafls,7 the formula for which is: FeC13.6H2O, 2 grams; HC1, 5 c.c.; H2O, 30 c.c.; C2H5OH (95 per cent), 60 C.C. This etchant reveals differences in com-

Jan 1, 1942