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By Richard L. Gordon, Charles J. Johnson

Electric power demand doubles about every ten years, and because of the associated burgeoning fuel requirements, power stations absorb over half of the coal output in the United States. Throughout the 1960's, demand for coal utilized to generate electricity grew at an average annual rate of 6.5% but coal producers held back greater expansion because they expected nuclear plants to proliferate faster than they actually did. Even so, the growth rate is expected to continue at the 1960's rate until at least 1976. The continuation of the 6.5% growth rate beyond 1976, however, will require additional orders for coal-fired plants during the early 1970's. In fact, plants consuming a total of 130 million tons of coal must be ordered in the next few years. If the requisite plants materialize, total 1980 coal output for electrical power generation will be approximately 600 million tons.

Jan 1, 1971

By John Fayerweather

Here is a challenge to industry to meet the need for management training for the men now passing from essentially technical work into managerial responsibility . . . And a program to handle the job. The purpose of this article is to throw out a challenge both to industry and to educators-a challenge to meet a crying need for management training among the young mining engineers of our nation, the men from 25 to 35 years old who are passing from essentially technical work into managerial responsibilities. It is the author's suggestion that these men could profit tremendously from the intensive training in management subjects which could be provided by short programs in mining administration. The challenge is to mining educators to provide such programs and to the mining industry to support the programs and to release their men to receive the training they need. Such a proposal clearly requires sound supporting arguments.

Oct 1, 1956

By P. Somasundaran, I. J. Lin

There are several methods described in the literature for the determination of the order and the rate constant for the flotation of minerals. These often involve some type of computational or graphical procedures. A relatively simpler method developed on the basis of a technique used by Chang" in chemical kinetics is described in this paper. Chang's technique, like most others in chemical kinetics," is based on the law of mass action which states that the rate of a chemical reaction is proportional to the active masses of the reacting substances at any given time. Application of this law to the flotation of minerals would involve the adaptation of the terms "flotation" for "chemical reaction" and "floatable amount of the minerals" for "the active masses of the chemical reactants." There are indeed a large number of physical processes controlling the actual flotation rate. The most inefficient one of these could be considered equivalent to the slowest reaction in a series of chemical reactions. If variables such as aeration rate and agitation are kept at constant levels, the rate of flotation under free flotation conditions (i.e., conditions under which the suspension is dilute) will be given by the following equation: where C is the concentration of the floatable minerals in the pulp at any given time t, K is the rate constant, and n is the order of the reaction. If we represent the floated fraction of the floatable mineral at time t as m (0 m - 1) and C at t = 0 as Ca, integration of Eq. 1 yields

Jan 1, 1974

By J. W. White, J. M. Richardson

Mass balance calculations on industrial grinding circuits are routinely performed during circuit design as well as during post-installation evaluation of operating circuits. Though such routine mass balances are straight- forward, a systematic approach can yield substantial long-term benefits. This chapter presents and evaluates several approaches useful for achieving various circuit design objectives and also considers several methods for reconciliation of data collected around an operating circuit. Numerical examples illustrate the basic concepts and techniques.

Jan 1, 1982

The following rules, upon approval by the Board of Directors, shall serve as guides in the practical applications of the Bylaws for the operation of the Institute and have the full power and effect of Bylaws, however, these rules may be changed, modified, re¬pealed or amended when deemed necessary by the Board of Directors Any change or alteration of these Rules shall be published in the Journals of the Institute within three months after such alteration is adopted ARTICLE I-ORGANIZATIONS OF THE INSTITUTE Section 1-Societies Rule 1-Governing Body Each Society shall form its own governing body composed of an Executive Committee, or similarly designated executive body, duly elected officers, and a Nominating Committee for the nomination of Institute officers as provided by the Bylaws of AIME and of each Society approved by the Board In all correspondence and printed matter the Society Boards of Directors shall be specifically identified For ex¬ample, the Mining Board of Directors or the Board of Directors of the Society of Mining Engineers Using simply the "Board of Directors" could cause confusion

Jan 1, 1960

By E. C. Rien

When the electrical system for a surface or open pit mine is designed, four major considerations should be satisfied in the following order: safety, reliability, flexibility, and cost. Careful planning initially will make expansion for future growth economical as well as possible without extended shutdown of operations. Electrical requirements in surface and open pit mining can be divided into three categories: main substation, plant power, and pit distribution. These systems are integral to each other, but will be dealt with separately here. 11.2-1. Main Substation. A main substation for a mining operation may vary from a 500 kva transformer supplying 480-v power to motor-driven pumps and conveyors, to a 50,000 kva substation serving a large beneficiation plant or a large strip mining operation. Regardless of size, it should be designed with the realization that a failure of the main substation will totally shut down the operation (Fig. 11.2-1.). Location of a main substation usually is a compromise between expense of running the incoming high-voltage transmission lines and the voltage drop of long secondary runs. Based on a geological survey for immediate and future areas of excavation, the main substation should be located as near to the center of load as possible. The site should be out of the blasting area, readily accessible to authorized personnel, and situated where prevailing winds will keep it free from dust or snow. DISCONNECTS AND OVERLOAD PROTECTION. The main substation should have a primary disconnecting device-either a pole top gang-operated switch and fuses of adequate interrupting capacity or, preferably, an oil circuit breaker with properly coordinated relay protection.

Jan 1, 1968

The Committee on Papers and Publications has set June 1, 1919, as the closing date for the receipt of manuscripts intended for the Chicago meeting, which is to be held Sept. 22 to 27, 1919. Manuscripts must be received by the Secretary on or before this date. If they are sent through members of the technical committees, they must be sent to those committees long enough in advance to be forwarded and in the hands of the Secretary by the time specified.

Jan 5, 1919

By William H. Radford

Having worked some rather lorn--grade gravel during the past season at a small profit, I give the actual figures, in the hope that other mining engineers interested in this line of work may be thereby induced to do the same, in order that we may all get more data on this little-ventilated subject. The property here referred to is situated in one of the northern counties of California, where hydraulic mining is still permitted by the courts. The water-right belonging to the mine is a good one, furnishing water during about nine months, whenever there is an average rain-fall, and a fair proportion of the precipitation is in the form of snow. The ditch, about 11 miles in length, is cared for during the rainy months by two men, and during the rest of the year by one; and the water cost last season, delivered at the mine, 0.69 cent per miners' inch. The season commenced in November, 1899, and ended the last of July, 1900. During this time, 655,657 miners' inches (an inch equals 1728 cu. ft. in 24 hours) of water were used for piping, and for sweeping the bed-rock at the end of the season. From actual surveys, this amount of water washed down 1,251,399 cu. yds. of material, consisting of pay-gravel lying on the bed-rock, and varying in thickness from a few inches to 8 ft., and practically barren top-material, consisting of mountain slide, carrying considerable broken rock, clay, and soil. The banks varied in height from 50 to 130 ft., the average height being 63 ft. The grade of the sluices was 7 in. to 12 ft., the boxes being paved with block-riffles 12 in. deep. Long bed-rock cuts extended from the heads of the sluices to within a few feet of the banks, and were kept practically to grade as the work advanced. At first, electric drills were used on this work; hut as it was found that heavy blasting shattered the rock too much, and caused slips, these drills were

Jan 1, 1902

Report of the Secretary GENTLEMEN Herewith are transmitted reports from the Treasurer and of the principal standing committees of the Institute. To these special reports members are referred for details as to the year's work. Despite the unfavorable business conditions obtaining throughout the year, the Institute was able to carry on its various activities without curtailment and without drawing on the surplus accumulated through previous years. In fact, small additions were made to the Life Membership and various other funds. It is highly desirable that such additions should continue to be made, especially to the Life Membership fund, for reasons reported last year. At present, money must be used from current receipts in order to enable the Institute to fulfill its obligations to those who on joining the organization commuted their dues by a single payment. In addition, with the passage of years the number increases of those who have paid dues forty years or more and who, by reason of age or disability, are unable longer to practise their profession. These men have supported the Institute through their active professional life and it would be a pity to lose them as members through resignation or for failure to keep up their dues. In accordance with the By-laws the Board has authority to advance such members, on application, to the Honor Roll of Senior Members and to relieve them from further payment of dues. It has been the policy of the Board to do this liberally, but to keep up this, as well as to meet other obligations, it is necessary for money to be provided. It has been estimated by the Treasurer that nearly $50,000 additional should be placed in the Life Membership fund as soon as possible to meet these obligations without using current income and to that end it is necessary, not only to avoid running behind currently but to earn, if possible, some surplus each year. The small amount transferred to the Life Membership fund from surplus this year was, as a matter of fact, made possible by certain members paying personally bills that were properly chargeable to the Treasury. Such generosity is common among those active in Institute work and probably no year would have closed with a surplus except for it.

Jan 1, 1929

By W. E. Bruce, R. J. Morrell, James Paone

This chapter is a partial summary of an investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) made in response to a recent request by the Assistant Secretary, Water and Power Development of the U.S. Department of the Interior, for a comprehensive review of horizontal boring technology related to underground power-line installation. This review is concerned primarily with 3 to 36-in. diam horizontal holes from several hundred to several thousand feet in length. An electric power system consists of three essential functions: generation, transmission, and distribution. The generation component includes the generating station and step-up substation; the transmission component includes the transmission line and stepdown substation at typical voltage levels ranging from 69 to 345 kv for underground lines and 69 to 500 kv for overhead transmission lines; the distribution component includes the distribution line carrying the commonly used voltages of 120, 208, and 240 v, the distribution transformer, and the line to the service customer.l The Federal Power Commission reports that 1600 miles of underground transmission lines of 60 to 345-kv capacity are now in service in the United States. By 1980, it is estimated that approximately 3000 miles of trans- mission lines will have to be placed underground.2 The cost of burying electric transmission lines underground in metropolitan areas, approximately 30 miles from the center of each of the most populated cities, will exceed $1.5 billion with the methods now available. The wide spread in unit costs of overhead and underground transmission lines narrows as right-of-way costs for overhead transmission in congested areas increase. Improved methods of underground emplacement will certainly reduce this difference in costs and even further favor underground emplacement. Also, in the future, overhead transmission lines will probably not be permitted in highly built-up areas.

Jan 1, 1970

By T. H. Troller

FOR a long time propeller-type fans have been considered a very adequate means to move great quantities of air against small static pres-sures. They have been in use for this purpose in mines, as well as in other installations. For static pressures of over 2 or 3 in. of water, the centrifugal blower almost ruled the field until very recently. Some attempts were made to use a number of propellers in line. Such arrange-ments made it possible to obtain pressures higher than 2 in. of water, but they complicated the construction and increased its expense, and the efficiencies were not improved. The more recent development of propeller-type fans has been decidedly influenced by the intensive aerodynamic research in connection with aeronautical development, which has taught us, in particular, how to use airfoils properly. The characteristic that makes an airfoil so valuable is the fact that when it moves through the air a high force component, the "lift," acts on it vertical to the motion, while the "drag" in the direction of the flow is small. The ratio of lift to drag is approximately 20 to 1 at the angles at which the profile is used in practice. An element of the turning blade, the movement of which, relative to the air, is mainly in the direction of the plane of rotation, thus experiences only a small "drag" FIG. 1.-DIAGRAM OF FORCES ON WING SECTION. opposing its rotation, and for this reason a relatively small torque is required at the driving shaft. At the same time there is a strong force component at 90° to the plane of rotation. This force is parallel to the propeller axis in the direction opposite to that of the flow of air, with a correspondingly high pressure increase.

Jan 1, 1936

By J. F. Nicholas

THE angles between the crystallographic planes in cubic metals were originally given by Bozorth and have been republished many times. Recently, Salkovitz2 tabulated the angles for the hexagonal metals (magnesium, zinc, and cadmium). he most commonly used metal which does not fail into either of these groups is tin, which has a tetragonal structure with an axial ratio of c/a = 0.54558 (99.99 pct purity, 25°C).² ccordingly, Table I has been prepared giving the possible values for the angle, 4, between planes of the types {HKL) and {hkl). The formula used was: Hh + Kk + LI — cos? = —--------------—-----------— A [(H2 + K2 + L2-a2c2(h2 + k2 + r;)] All angles are given correct to the nearest minute as this is sufficient for all practical purposes. Every angle depends in a different way on variations in the value of c/a, but even in the worst cases a variation of about 0.0003 in this ratio is needed to vary an angle by l', which corresponds to a temperature change of 20 °C or can be caused by impurities.

Jan 1, 1952

By E. J. Hammer

Crushing and grinding of gypsum demands con- trolled processing to a fineness suitable for further treatment of the mineral into end products, and into various sizes of material which are themselves saleable products. The majority of gypsum tonnage ultimately ends up in stucco for wallboard. Therefore, mineral reduction is normally designed toward this end, but it is done in a manner that permits drawing off intermediate products to meet various customer requirements. This forces companies into compromises at times in equipment installations. Normally, 5 to 6 different sizes intermediate to the end product are marketed and these are generally the fineness of material to be used as stucco for wallboard. These sizes are produced by controlled crushing, grinding and sizing. How Ore Characteristics Guide Processing First, gypsum as a mineral (CaS0;2H,O) is number two on the Mohs scale two of hardness; only talc is softer, Despite being soft, gypsum is tough, a factor which is of critical importance when developing equipment specifications. In addition, of the increasing volumes of rock handled, the associated and included impurities such as anhydrite, silica or lime- stones are found to be relatively abrasive.

Jan 1, 1970

By Nick Barton

Simple methods for estimating the shear strength of rock joints and waste rock are reviewed. For the case of rock joints, the methods are based on a quantitative characterization of the joint roughness and the joint wall strength. Size-effects are found to reduce the peak strength of large joint samples to values below the ultimate or so-called "residual" values measured in the laboratory. Tilt tests and surface profiling on natural size blocks within the jointed rock mass are recommended for obtaining scale-free properties. The joint parameters obtained can be used to model complete strength-displacement-dilation behavior if this level of input is required. Large scale tilt tests can be performed with advantage on both rock joints and waste rock. The behavior of these two materials is surprisingly similar. Both are influenced by the size-effects on the compression strength of the rock, and both have similar log-linear relationships between effective normal stress and the peak drained friction angles. The resulting high values of friction near the toe or close to a slope face in either material can be misleading.

Jan 1, 1983

Officials of the State Department have expressed their hope that a considerable number of technical men will take the examination for consular service. The Department recognizes that the interest of the United States will be served best if technical men are made available through these examinations for vacancies at points where their training will be of special value. Industrial engineers who have passed the con-sular examination will be assigned to industrial centers of Europe or South America. Mining engineers, chemists, electrical engineers, etc., will be assigned to industrial centers requiring special training.

Jan 11, 1919

By W. G. Fischer

This paper attempts to close the gap between extensive rock testing with field measurements and the mine operator's need for safe mine layouts and alternatives. It was found that many of the variables that influence mine geometry and worker safety are relatively unimportant while others are critical. The development of empirical relationships that tie the critical variables to the safe useful life of a trona mine layout and observations made in 140 production areas where the variables were researched over a 15-year period are discussed. The concepts presented may have applicability in mine design for other bedded deposits.

Jan 1, 1986

By Charles F. Manness

In the great increase of product which has been accomplished in the American Bessemer plant, through improvements in machinery and refractories, and by more perfect skills in their manipulation

Jan 1, 1881

By Robert F. Shurtz, William J. Verner

Three basic questions must be answered by an engineer performing an economic analysis of a mineral property: (1) How much can the company afford to pay for the property; (2) At what rate should the property be mined; (3) What will be the return on the investment. These questions often defy reasonable analysis, because at the point in time at which they must be answered little may be known about the grade of ore and the reserve tonnage. The purpose of this report is twofold. First, to derive a method of determining purchase price, rate of production and return on investment which is valid under varying conditions of ore grade and tonnage reserve; and, second, to apply this method to the Margay deposit in an attempt to evaluate it as a business enterprise. This is an actual economic analysis of an existing nickel-copper deposit fictitiously named the Margay. It was carried out for a mining corporation and proved to be the determining factor in the subsequent purchase and development of the property. All data referring to costs, quality and quantity of ore, etc., are accurate and truly represented. Prices used are obsolete but the method is not dependent on those variables. Basic assumptions for the analysis are given in Table I, page 71.

Jan 11, 1966

By Sylvain Pirson

THE main value of earth magnetic measurements, outside of certain mining problems, resides in the study of deeply buried tectonic phe-nomena related to regional and local geology. Magnetic surveys are a necessary complement of gravimetric measurements, especially of pen-dulum surveys. To date, magnetometer, prospecting has been used chiefly in the study of sedimentary basins where petroleum structures are associated with the uplifted basement rocks. There are, in the literature, innumerable articles dealing with such surveys as applied to oil geology but few treat of broad geological features related to regional magnetic disturbances of the earth field. An important piece of coordina-tion work has been made by Jean Jung1 for the magnetic and gravimetric measurements made in France and their geologic significance. A similar attempt at correlation of the known geology with the anomalies of the vertical component of the earth magnetic field has been made for the United States by George B. Somers2. Taking the magnetic vector as a whole, W. P. Jenny' made a coordination of magnetism and geology for the main producing oil states of the United States. A more detailed study along the same lines is published by A. Van Weelden4 for southern Oklahoma and northern Texas; in this work magnetic and gravimetric measurements taken at stations as close as one mile apart are compiled and compared to the regional geology of the Ouachita-Amarillo uplifted area. From the literature mentioned, it is evident that reliable interpretation of magnetic anomalies can be arrived at only when the magnetic stations are numerous and cover the area in a close net of measurements, therefore the works of Somers and Jenny, based on sparsely distributed Government measurements, can be regarded only as preliminary programs indicating lines along which further work should be done, whereas the coordination made by Van Weelden is an example of the contribution to the knowledge of regional geology that can be arrived at by the use of applied geophysics.

Jan 1, 1935

By Frank Ruskey, Richard G. Burdick

Many problems associated with potential hazards in a proposed mining area may not be adequately appraised because of the complexity of trying to evaluate them in terms of production requirements. Frequently, encountered hazards have to be dealt with by day-to-day operational schemes that require the miner to either force a way through them or avoid them by blocking off the area in which the hazards are known to exist. These considerations, after the mine is in full production, can be costly to the mine operator and can increase the danger to the miners. A hazard-evasion computer program for mine planning that will appraise proposed mine layouts on the basis of existing or potential hazards has therefore been developed. The program is intended for use during the planning phase of a mine, where it should assist the mining engineer in making decisions in mine design, With the output from this program, the mining engineer should be able either to corroborate his judgments made on the basis of mining experience or to find unanticipated solutions to design problems. The program tests hundreds of possible solutions to a mining layout, and by sorting out the 10 best (based on a criteria of minimum-abandoned-coal) limits the number of choices that need to be considered and appraised for applicability to a given mine scheme.

Jan 1, 1976