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By Douglas Bunting

In the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania, mine fires occur with more or less regularity and their existence is an ever-present hazard in coal mining. In all probability 90 per cent. of the mine fires can be ascribed directly or indirectly to the ordinary miner's open lamp. Other causes may be smoking, electrical installations, gas explosions, gas feeders, and the communication of fire to the outcrops from ash dumps, culm banks, timber and brush fires. Fires in pump rooms, engine rooms, and barns have been largely eliminated as a result of the Act of Assembly, approved June 15, 1911, which provides that all inside buildings, including engine rooms, pump rooms, barns, etc., shall be constructed of incombustible materials. Smoking of pipes, cigars, and cigarettes should be prohibited in the mines and too much care cannot be exercised in preventing fires by enforcing all rules designed for that purpose. Mine fires that involve underground fighting are invariably dangerous, and all fires, irrespective of the method pursued in extinguishing them, involve property loss and expense. Each fire generally presents a more or less original problem, dependent on the particular conditions. Generally mine fires may be divided into two classes: Those occurring in inaccessible workings and those occurring in accessible workings. The methods pursued in extinguishing or controlling mine fires are as follows: (I) direct attack, (2) smothering by sealing, (3) flushing with silt or other solids, (4) flooding with water, (5) cutting off, (6) surrounding with incombustible materials, (7) digging out by stripping from the surface. Most fires arc extinguished in their incipiency by direct attack and failure to extinguish by this method is due to late discovery, lack of water, and facilities for fighting, or improper procedure in the initial attack. Should the method first pursued be unsuccessful, careful consideration should be given in determining next the method to be adopted; then the work should be carried on as rapidly as possible and under the supervision of the most competent persons. Materials and supplies should be furnished without delay and in sufficient quantities for the work to be accomplished.

Jan 1, 1922

By F. R. Morral, E. P. Miller

Hot-dipped heat-treated zinc coatings on sheet steel were examined with X-rays. The phases identified were compared with those listed in the modern literature 01 the zinc-iron system. The zeta (FeZn13) phase is shown to correspond to the phase found by Schueler (1925) in heat-treated zinc coatings. An investigation was undertaken to determine the phases present in hot-dipped heat-treated zinc coatings on steel sheets and wire. This kind of coating on wire was studied some years ago by Schuelerl by microscopic and chemical methods. He reported a new phase, FeZn10. Later, Clark and Stillwell,2 using X-ray crystal analysis, identified a new phase in ordinary galva. nized wire, which was assumed to be the FeZn10 phase. Since the extensive review of the iron-zinc alloys presented a few years ago,3 much new work has been published, some of which5-l6 was too late to be included in the recent edition (1939) of the American Society for Metals' Handbook.4 Figs. 1 and 2 are reproductions of the latest iron-zinc diagram proposed by Schramml1 as a result of his investigations by microscopic, thermal, magnetic susceptibility and X-ray methods. Table 1 summarizes all the known published X-ray data of the phases Present. The solubility of iron in zinc has been determined by x-ray methods.10 In the same manner the homogeneity range of the P phase was studiedlo using the principle that the parameter of an intermetallic compound changes while the concentration of One of the constituents changes. Schramm10 has found some 80 alpha lines in X-ray powder photograms of phase d1, and from these he believes that this phase is related to the P phase. Previous investi-

Jan 1, 1941

By E. P. Miller, F. R. Morral

Hot-dipped heat-treated zinc coatings on sheet steel were examined with X-rays. The phases identified were compared with those listed in the modern literature 01 the zinc-iron system. The zeta (FeZn13) phase is shown to correspond to the phase found by Schueler (1925) in heat-treated zinc coatings. An investigation was undertaken to determine the phases present in hot-dipped heat-treated zinc coatings on steel sheets and wire. This kind of coating on wire was studied some years ago by Schuelerl by microscopic and chemical methods. He reported a new phase, FeZn10. Later, Clark and Stillwell,2 using X-ray crystal analysis, identified a new phase in ordinary galva. nized wire, which was assumed to be the FeZn10 phase. Since the extensive review of the iron-zinc alloys presented a few years ago,3 much new work has been published, some of which5-l6 was too late to be included in the recent edition (1939) of the American Society for Metals' Handbook.4 Figs. 1 and 2 are reproductions of the latest iron-zinc diagram proposed by Schramml1 as a result of his investigations by microscopic, thermal, magnetic susceptibility and X-ray methods. Table 1 summarizes all the known published X-ray data of the phases Present. The solubility of iron in zinc has been determined by x-ray methods.10 In the same manner the homogeneity range of the P phase was studiedlo using the principle that the parameter of an intermetallic compound changes while the concentration of One of the constituents changes. Schramm10 has found some 80 alpha lines in X-ray powder photograms of phase d1, and from these he believes that this phase is related to the P phase. Previous investi-

Jan 1, 1941

By H. B. Pulsifer

.ABOut 1.5 varieties, or tnodifications, of the best rnagnesiurn available were prepared and subjected to etching tests, then examined for micro-structure. Of the 30-udd etching reagents that were tried, nearly half, mostly ammonium salts, etched the metal satisfactorily. The surfacing and etching of magnesium is shown to be a very simple and quick operation. The density and hardness of magnesium were determined. The most interesting new observations relate to the finding of the hexagonal etch figures, the crystal laminations, and the fact that the metal is plastic, cold, when restrained or quickly deformed. Under slowly applied pressule cold metal deforms slightly, then shears to fracture without plastic flow. The chief structural features of magnesium arc presented in two reduced photographs and 30 photomicrographs. Materials Tested There are only two sources in the United States from which new metal can be procured: the American Magnesium Corpn. and the Dow Chemical Co. No pronounced structural or property differences in the metals from these two companies were disclosed by the work of this investigation. The following materials were obtained from the manufacturers: 1. Massive crystals of distilled metal (American Magnesium Corpn.). 2. Rods of hot-extruded metal, ½-in. squares and 5/8-in. rounds (American Magnesium Corpn.). 3. Sheet magnesium, 0.005-in. thick (American Magnesium Corpn.). 4. Cast stick metal, 13/8-in. dia. (Dow Chemical Co.). 5. Magnesium-aluminum alloy, hot-rolled plate, ½-in. thick (American Magnesium Corpn.). From these materials, were prepared: 6. Sections from a furnace-cooled ingot made from clistilled crystal. 7. Cold-strained pieces from (6), (4) and (2). 8. Pieces cold-squeezed to fracture from (6), (4) and (2). 9. Hammer-struck pieces from (6), (4) and (2). 10. Steam-hammer struck pieces from (6), (4) and (2). 11. Sections from furnace-cooled ingot of the magnesium-aluminum alloy.

By R. J. Linney

Reserve Mining Co. produces 5 million tons of iron ore pellets per year. The finished product runs about 65.50 pct Fe, with 7.75 to 8.00 pct SiO2. Less than 12 pct arrives at the blast furnaces smaller than % in. This plant was originally designed to produce 3.75 tons annually—not 5 million. To handle the increased tonnage a fifth fine crushing line was added, and some very minor changes were made. When production can be stepped up 33 1/3 pct without extensive additions or changes—within the short period of a year—basic engineering has been sound. Operators of the plant consider it the best design job they have seen or heard of, and competent authorities have said that start-up was quicker and easier than for any previous large-scale minerals beneficiation plant. One big advantage is the elbow room allowed. Generally speaking, there is an eternal conflict between operator and designer over space. The designer has his costs per cubic foot, and he is keenly aware that if he permits the number of cubic feet to rise unnecessarily, total costs will be too high. But this was a new operation, and on a large scale. There were no proven standards to go by. Realizing this, Reserve's engineers provided ample and efficient access to machinery, allowing extra space for unanticipated situations. In three years of production this planning has paid off handsomely. Gravity Flow Saves Time and Money: This plant is on a rocky hillside, the car dumper about 270 ft above Lake Superior. In locating buildings and placing machinery the designers mad= good use of gravity flow, at considerable financial savings. In the concentrator building from rod mills to filters, gravity carries the material between all stages of the operation except one—the closed circuit pumping of concentrate between cone classifiers and ball mills. Since no machine is located directly above any other, an observer can stand on the truck ramp adjacent to the offices and laboratory and see practically every phase of activity in the huge building. The first mill section started in August 1955. After a day's run several modifications were made on auxiliary chutes and launders where spillage had occurred. This procedure was followed for the first

Jan 1, 1960

By W. E. Keck

THERE is a considerable tonnage of iron ore in the Menominee Range Michigan that is unsalable only because it has too large a content of sulphur. Beneficiation of such ore is economically desirable, as a rela-tively large quantity of finished concentrate would be obtained (deleteri-ous sulphur mineral content being generally less than 5 per cent) and because large blocks of such ore have been developed incidentally during search for low-sulphur ore. Research on the flotation beneficiation of these high-sulphur ores consisted of: (1) a study of the flotative properties of the principal min-erals in a nearly puree state, (2) flotation of synthetic mixtures of these pure minerals and (3) application of this experimental information to samples of the ores. Gypsum in iron ores is extremely deleterious; but when sufficiently free from impurities it is a valuable commodity. In 1934, the United States produced 1,500,000 tons of calcined and uncalcined gypsum valued at $13,700,000'. Of this quantity and value, Michigan produced approxi-mately 19 per cent4. Thus this investigation may also prove to be of interest in connection with the gypsum industry if minerals separation, such as flotation, becomes necessary in the future processing of gypsum. Data on the flotative properties of gypsum would also be of interest to the science of flotation because such information has been extremely limited. The technical literature reveals one reference to the flotation of gypsum, in which was discussed the use of the mineral, with several others, to determine the relation between the floatability of minerals and the pH of the flotation solution2. This investigation necessarily was not comprehensive in regard to gypsum, but it did show that the mineral could be floated with oleic acid under varying pH conditions.

Jan 1, 1937

By D. J. Jr. McAdam

Fort the past five years, an investigation of the endurance properties of metals has been in progress at the U. S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station, Annapolis, Md. As a result of the investigations at this Station1-5 and other laboratories6-11 "endurance limits" of practically all kinds of carbon and alloy steels have been determined and have been correlated with other physical properties, especially with tensile strength. About a year and a half ago, the investigation at the Naval Experiment Station was shifted to non-ferrous metals. As a result, several papers discussing the endurance properties of numerous non-ferrous metals and alloys, especially the alloys of nickel and of copper12-16 have been published. In these papers, stress-cycle graphs illustrate. the endurance properties of each individual metal and alloy, and other graphs illustrate the effect of cold working, heat treatment, and chemical composition on endurance and other physical properties. Endurance tests of non-ferrous metals were made by the machines used in the endurance tests of ferrous metals. 1-4 The specimen for the rotating-cantilever tests, which has been described, 1,2,13 has a conical surface, with taper so adjusted that the stress is nearly uniform over a length of about 1 ½ in. Alternating torsion tests were made with the machine of the inertia types17 and usually by an accelerated-fatigue method.12 As the rotating-cantilever endurance limits of metals are about twice the alternating-torsion endurance limits, the former values are more generally useful in correlating the endurance properties of nonferrous metals. In several recent papers by the writer13-16 correlation of the endurance properties of a number of non-ferrous metals has been discussed.

Jan 10, 1925

By Charles E. W. Bateson

The Mojave mining district is situated in a group of small hills centering around Soledad peak, in the Mojave desert, Kern county, Cal. These hills are about 4.5 miles SSW. of Mojave, a railroad town at the junction of the Santa Fé and Southern Pacific railroads. The town of Mojave is about 50 miles north of Los Angeles, to which it is connected both by telegraph and by rail. The distance on the Southern Pacific railroad is 102 miles, covered in 3 hr. and 45 min. by express train. A sketch-map of this region is shown in Fig. 1. The Mojave district is relatively isolated. The only other mining towns in this section of California are Randsburg and Johannesburg, in a district (containing the well-known Yellow Aster mine) at the northern end of a low range of hills, which begins about 20 miles NE. of Mojave, runs nearly N. for 35 miles, and varies in width between 3 and 6 miles. As will be seen later, the origin and formation of these hills are not the same as those of Soledad peak. II. Climate and VEgetation. The climate and vegetation of the Mojave district are typical of the arid regions of the southwestern United States. During the winter and spring there is some rainfall, and the tempera ture is generally from 60" to 70" F. in the day-time. The rainfall in the spring is often very considerable for short spaces of time, and cloud-bursts are not infrequent. In summer there is continual sunshine, with temperatures, as a rule, exceeding 100" F. in the day-time, while 115" F. in the shade of a house is not at all unusual; but at night the temperature falls considerably. No rain falls during the summer. The vegetation

Jan 1, 1907

By C. Schlumberger

SINCE the beginning of .the year 1928 the senior authors and their associates have applied a series of procedures which makes possible the detailed study in situ of the formations traversed by a drill hole before the casing has been landed. They have given the name "electrical coring" to the ensemble of these processes, which now replace in a large measure the mechanical coring performed by the drillers, and permit the gathering of bottom-hole data hitherto unobtainable. Three years have elapsed since the technique and interpretation of these measurements emerged from the experimental stage and entered the field of industrial application on a large scale. The total length of drill holes so far surveyed by the authors and their associates, all over the world, amounts to several millions of feet. Practical and strongly built equipment has been evolved, which permits the examination in a short time of an open hole several thousand feet long. No comprehensive paper has yet been published discussing the essential principles of the processes applied and bringing into evidence their economic interest. This is the object of the present paper.1 Numerous examples of field work performed under varied geological conditions are given, constituting a concrete illustration of the services rendered by the new methods. The study in situ of the formations penetrated by a drill hole is based on the measurement of a given physical factor or parameter associated with these formations. Generally. the measurements are made syste-matically along the whole length of the open hole. The physical factors or parameters which are now utilized by us to this end are: (1) the resistivities of the rocks; (2) their porosity; (3) their electrical anisotropy; (4) their temperature; (5) the resistivity of the muds. In order to

Jan 1, 1932

By Jack White, Ralph B. Adair

The Mufulira mine in Northern Rhodesia is 13° south of the Equator and at an altitude of 4100 ft above sea level. The concentrator was planned in 1930 to treat about 10,000 tons of ore per day, but before construction work had gone very far the size of the plant was reduced to 1500 tons daily capacity. Then just as the construction was finished in December 1931, the price of copper did not warrant the commencement of operations and it was not until October 1933 that the mine re-opened. Extensions have been made to the plant in 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1940 and finally in 1945. The capacity of the plant when the 1945 extension is completed will be 9500 short tons per day. The various extensions have been carried out with the minimum confusion and with great skill on the part of the designers and the erection engineers. In dealing with the plant in this paper it is proposed to give an outline of the present practice and only to refer to past practice when it is considered of particular interest. Ore Treated The ore consists of fine grained highly siliceous, felspathic and argillaceous quartz- ites, the latter containing graphitic carbon and locally termed graywacke. These rocks are considerably altered near the surface and on the fringes of the ore body. Despite extensive efforts at mixing, both underground and in the crushing plant, many sudden changes of ore take place in the mill feed. The minerals are chalcocite, bornite and chalcopyrite with relatively unimportant amounts of malachite, native copper, azurite, covellite and chrysocolla. Gold is present at about I oz to a thousand tons, and silver at about 2 dwt. per ton. With increasing depth the nonsulphide content or,, as commonly termed locally, the oxide content of the ore is decreasing and is now less than 0.25 pct against a high of 0.77 pct- Crushing Operations The first stage of crushing is done under. ground where the oversize from I2-in. grizzlies is fed to a 56 X 72-in. jaw crusher. At the Selkirk shaft two 10-ton skips deliver the run of mine ore at a rate of 450 tons per hour to the 400-ton capacity shaft bins. One 6 ft wide Ross chain feeder and one locally made air-operated finger feeder feed the two 30-in. McCully crushers. Ahead of each crusher is a 6 X 9-ft spring grizzley spaced at 5 in. on a 35O slope. Neither the Ross chain feeder nor the finger feeder is entirely satisfactory and for the wet, muddy and sticky ore that has to be handled it is planned to replace these with two 6-ft wide apron pan feeders. The McCully crushers deliver a minus 5-in. product, at a.rate of over 500 tons per

Jan 1, 1949

By Albert F. J. Bordeaux

Alluvial gold was first discovered in Guiana in 1852, in the sands of the Arataye river, by Paulino, a Braziliaii convict. During the following years, gold was found also in the rivers Orapu, CirubQ, etc. In 1873 the famous placers of the Sinnamary system were opened: Saint-Elie, Dieu-Merci, Adieu-Vat, and Couriege. This group of mines has produced nearly $10,000,000, according to official records, not including the gold that escaped the taxes. The discoverer was a mulatto named Vitalo. Except in a few rich spots, the gold was rather evenly distributed along the creeks. In one instance, gold was found in the red dirt from the slope of a hill, which, after transport to the creek, gave an amount of 150 kilograms. The placers of the Mana system, Enfin, Elysee, Pas-Trop-Tot, date from 1878, and their production has been about %g5,000,000. In 1888, the Awa placers, along the boundary bet.ween the French and Dutch Guianas, on the Maroni and its tributaries, were discovered. They have yielded $12,000,000. The only industrial company, the Dutch Guiana Freiich Minillg Co., produced in 15 years about 2,500 kg. of gold, worth $1,500,000. From 1893 dates the famous Carsewene discovery, in territory then in dispute between France and Brazil. A settlement was made recently in favor of Brazil, by arbitration of the Switzerland State Council. Carsewene is said to have produced about $18,000,000 in six years (1894-1900), but not even one-fourth of tho production went through French Quiana and

Jan 1, 1911

By R. E. Grace

WHEN an Fe-C alloy, partially reacted to pearl-ite, is quenched rapidly enough to suddenly stop the growth process, it may be expected that any carbon concentration gradients will freeze in situ in the newly formed martensite. A short tempering treatment should precipitate finely dispersed iron carbide particles in approximately the same distribution in which carbon existed during the growth process. Examination with the electron microscope of areas of tempered martensite adjacent to the pearlite-martensite interface should reveal the existence of preferred areas of precipitation. Fig. 1 is an example of an electron micrograph used in this study. Small sections of a commercial steel (0.9 pct C, 1.6 pct Mn, 0.25 pct Si) were austenitized at 945°C in air for 45 min, furnace-cooled to 697°C, iso-thermally reacted to pearlite for 30 min, and quenched into iced brine. Two samples were tempered 5 and 20 min, respectively, in air at 498°C and were subsequently quenched in water. The samples were mechanically polished and etched in 1 pct picral. Collodion replicas were made by the conventional technique; these were shadowed with chromium at about 650' from the horizontal, and electron micrographs were taken at a linear magnification of 14,200X. Prints were made at a magnification of 44,100X. Lineal analysis of the prints was made as a function of the interlamellar spacing and volume percent of iron carbide. Straight lines were drawn into tempered martensite between adjacent lamellae at a distance S/4 or S/6 apart, where S is defined as the interlamellar spacing measured at the pearlite-martensite interface. The volume percent of iron carbide was measured along each of these traces with a "gage length" of S/10. The results of analyses of two samples are shown in Table I. The area included between the S/2 and S distance from the interface could be considered homogeneous within the sensitivity of the measuring technique. This value was used as a proportionality factor to evaluate an arbitrary carbon content of homogeneous austenite, and also as a parameter by which error in measurements could be evaluated. Results of the lineal analysis are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 4 shows the statistical nature of the interlamellar spacing for all lamellae measured in this

Jan 1, 1954

By J. H. Frye, S. G. Holder, E. E. Stansbury

Internal friction studies on annealed and cold-worked pure silver and alloys of silver with 4.5 atomic pct each of Cd, Sn, and Sb are reported. Small amounts of cold work, introduced by stretching pure silver, decrease the internal friction; large amounts of cold work, by wire drawing, cause this decreased internal friction to rise. Results of severol anneoling histories on the room-temperature in-ternal friction indicate a rather complex recovery and recrystallization behavior. A rather system-atic alloy effect is observed for the elements of Period V-B in silver in both the annealed and cold-worked states. DURING recent years internal friction measurements at very small stress levels have been interpreted in terms of structural models and mechanisms occurring within the metal or alloy.These measurements have been made over wide ranges of frequency of vibration and of temperature. While the effects of impurities, alloying, and plastic deformation have been studied by numerous investigators, no investigations of the effect of a series of solutes related by their position in the Periodic Table on a given solvent seem to have been reported. The present paper reports internal friction measurements on silver and on certain silver-base solid solutions to determine the values of room-temperature internal friction associated with varying amounts of plastic deformation and after different annealing

Jan 1, 1957

By L. S. Darken

Measurements of the electrical conductivity, the thermal electromotive force, and the deviation from stoichiometry by thermogravimetry were made on ferrous oxide (wüstite) single crystals as well as on poly-crystalline samples in the temperature range of -900" to 1330°C. In the region defined by T 2 1000°C and 1.05 5 O/Fe 5 1.10 the electrical conductivity was shown to be proportional to the sixth root of- the oxygen partial pressure and to be linearly dependent on the deviation from stoichiometry. The absolute Seebeck coefficient of single and polycrystalline wüstite was shown to be independent of temperature in the above region and a p to n transition of the Seebeck coefficient was observed at O/Fe = 1.09 in polycrystalline wüstite. Analysis of the results showed that the predominant defects in wüstite in the above region were doubly ionized cation vacancies. The analysis also ruled out the existence of complexes of the type postulated by Roth, except that below 1000°C there is some evidence of 'association of defects. Of the three oxides of iron (FeO, Fe3O4, Fe2O3) only FeO (wüstite) can exist within a wide range of the ratio O/Fe. This has been shown by several investigations of the phase diagram using for instance chemical analysis of quenched samples'-4 or thermogravimetric measurements. 5,8 Darken and Gurry's1 data for example in the temper- ature range 1100o to 1400°C show that the lowest O/Fe ratio obtainable for FeOl +. is about 1.045 and that the existence range extends to O/Fe = 1.20 at 1400oC. On the basis of detailed analysis of thermogravimetric measurements made by Vallet and Raccah6 the existence of three varieties of wüstite at elevated temperatures was suggested by these authors and by Kleman. It is well-established that wüstite has a NaCl structure with vacant cation sites.3, 8 From a neutron-diffraction study of wüstite samples quenched to room temperature Roth9 concluded that defects in wüstite are mostly complexes composed of two cation vacancies and one interstitial cation in a tetrahedral site. The atomic arrangement in the vicinity of such a defect is similar to that in magnetite, where each occupied tetrahedral site is surrounded by four vacant octahedral positions disposed at the corners of a tetrahedron, so arranged that each vacancy is shared by two tetrahedral cations. Thus there is an average of two vacancies per interstitial. Recent X-ray diffraction measurements made by Smuts10 on quenched wüstite samples confirmed the results of Roth's neutron-diffraction experiments. Roth's model of defects in FeO can be regarded as a solid solution of Fe3O4 in FeO; salmon1' used this defect model to calculate the activity of Fe3O1 in FeO at high temperature and claimed good agreement with the results obtained experimentally by Darken and Gurry.' Each missing cation in wüstite is accompanied by two trivalent cations, thus preserving charge neutrality. The "holes" which differentiate between the Fe 2+ and Fe3' states of the ions in octahedral positions can overcome the attractive field of the cation vacancies, and are then free to move through the crystal as charge carriers. A similar picture holds for COO, NiO, andMnO.l2, 13 Localization of the charge carriers in transition

Jan 1, 1968

By V. C. Allen

THE Tri-State Zinc, Inc., Galena, Ill., was confronted with the problem of securing ore from a deposit because the hoisting shaft was several thousand feet from the mill. The orebody is several thousand feet long, averaging 200 ft in width and 60 ft in height and opened up by vertical shafts some 300 ft deep. Mining is by the room-and-pillar method. During the initial operation the ore was loaded by conventional electric 1/2-yd boom-and-dipper shovels and hauled to the shaft by 8-ton diesel trucks. This underground ore loading and hauling was well adapted to the conditions and productive of low costs per ton. However, with the mill situated as mentioned, a triple handling of all broken rock was necessary: l—from the stope to the shaft by truck, 2—up the shaft by skip br can into the surface hopper, and 3—by truck from the surface hopper to the crushing plant at the mill. In addition to the repeated handling, serious troubles were encountered during the winter because of freezing in the shaft hopper. Consideration was given to either moving the mill to the new orebody or to the construction of a second mill. The presence of other orebodies to be mined at a later date made the first alternative impractical while the capital outlay for a second mill, when the present plant of approximately 850 tons per day was deemed sufficiently large for the total reserves, made the second alternative also unwise. It was decided to retain the mill in the originals location and continue to move the ore to it. The idea of driving an inclined adit from the surface to the bottom of the orebody suitable for truck haulage and big enough to allow the passage of all mechanical equipment was conceived. Among the apparent advantages of such an incline were: 1— Direct haulage from the stope to the mill without rehandling. 2—Elimination of virtually all grizzlies. Trucking from underground to the mill would do away with all hoppers, chutes, gates, and skips and make the maximum rock size dependent solely on the size of the shovel dipper at the mine and the crusher opening at the mill. 3—Less secondary blasting would be needed. 4—Ease of transporting equipment and supplies underground. Shovels and trucks could be taken through the incline intact. 5—Equipment could be brought to the surface for repairs and servicing without loss of time. The same advantages of ease in moving would be present in the handling of men, steel, powder, and supplies. 6—There would be far less difficulty in increasing the amount of tonnage that could be moved by truck up an incline than would be found in attempting to increase the capacity of a shaft. 7—All the broken ore in the stopes would serve as bin capacity, as it would take the breakdown of all of the loading and hauling equipment to have the same effect as a delay in shaft hoisting. 8—All danger of men being trapped in the mine as a result of shaft fire or power stoppage would be eliminated. 9— Virtually all trouble from severe winter conditions would be eliminated by the direct haul underground to the mill. The decision was made to proceed with the driving of an inclined adit. The topography of the surface between the orebody and the mill was such that it was possible to locate the portal at a point 170 ft above the mine floor and 1800 ft horizontally from the central point of the orebody to the south and 2500 ft from the mill to the north. A grade of 10 pct was found to be optimum for continuous truck haulage when the various factors of speed, safety, and truck maintenance were all considered. The incline as driven was consequently 1700 ft long on 10 pct grade and 12 ft high by 17 ft wide in cross section. The tunnel-driving equipment was chosen so that it could be used in mining after the completion of the tunnel. Drilling was done with a jumbo with two Joy jibs mounting 3-in. drills, loading with an Allis-Chalmers diesel-powered, front-end loader of approximately 11/4-yd capacity, and hauling by Koehring Dumptor trucks of 8-ton capacity, diesel-powered. The width of the tunnel allowed the end loader and Dumptor to be placed abreast. Since the Dumptors can be driven either forward or backward with equal facility, loading was accomplished without turning around either machine throughout the loading operation. The crew in addition to the tunnel foreman was comprised of three men per shift at the start and in the later work, four men. Each crew could perform any part of the working cycle. If the drilling was completed and the round blasted in the middle of a shift, the same men would proceed with the loading and hauling. Since the mine already had been drained to the bottom levels, no water was encountered. At the halfway point the tunnel was widened for approximately 100 ft to permit trucks to pass. The total cost of the tunnel excluding the capital outlay for equipment, which was all continued in use in the subsequent mine operation, was $60,363.00 or $35.50 per ft. The tunnel was completed at the end of June, 1949 and has been in continuous use since that time. In the five months from July to November inclusive, 106,049 tons have been transported to the mill or an average of 835 tons per day. No unforeseen disadvantages have been encountered and the advantages which had been predicated before the adit's construction have been more than realized. As previously mentioned, the deposit is worked by the room-and-pillar system with occasional faces up to 125 ft high. Except in driving development drifts when diesel-powered, front-end loaders such as were used in the tunnel are employed, all shoveling is done by Yz-yd boom-dipper type shovels electrically driven. These units need a width of 25 ft and a height of 14 ft in which to operate. All hauling is by diesel trucks, mainly Koehring Dump-tors. Roads are maintained with caterpillar tractors and a road grader. The tonnage output from the

Jan 1, 1952

By Mark E. Emerson

INTRODUCTION A long time has passed since geologists encountered encouraging mineralization in their regional exploration program for base metals deposits. Detailed drilling during the following two field seasons served to delineate the configuration of the deposit. Various statistical techniques were employed to provide confidence levels regarding the extent of the reserves and to categorize them according to whether proved, indicated or inferred. At this juncture, it appears that the company has an orebody. Time elapsed? - three years; money spent? - $2.5 million. Much remains to be done before the orebody becomes a mine. The company urgently needs to develop new orebodies to replace its existing mines which are being depleted. It therefore has expended sizable amounts in exploration, the life blood of the company. A staff of specialists is maintained to evaluate new projects and to conduct feasibility studies. The scale of new mining projects today is beyond the resources of most mining companies. Bank financing, therefore, is often vital if the company is to survive. The following scenario describes how a company goes about evaluating mine projects and what is needed to meet lender's criteria in securing the needed financing. MINE PLANNING Now that the company engineers have taken over the project, their concern is no longer with finding ore but in developing it. An exploration shaft has been put down and a tunnel driven into the orebody to verify, on a large scale, what has been seen so far only in pencil- like drill cores. A large tonnage bulk sample is mined and shipped off to an independent metallurgical process laboratory for beneficiation testing. The budget is expended to cover engineering studies. Preliminary capical and operating costs are developed in- house and profitability studies are made based or1 assumptions concerning the markets for the main product and the indicated gold, silver, and other by-products. Time elapsed? - four years; cost to date? - $3.5-$4.5 million. The staff prepares its own pre-feasibility study. After review, the Executive Committee authorizes management to proceed with full-scale studies. The task is to make preliminary designs and to develop definitive capital and operating cost estimates. Specialized consultants will be engaged to study slope stability for the open pit and rock strength if underground recovery proves more feasible. If it is near the sea, an oceanographic report might be commissioned to see if the tailings can be disposed of off shore. Environmental impact studies are commissioned from a firm familiar with government requirements and regulations in this important area. The company subscribes for an expensive multi-client study of the supply- demand-price outlook for the product to support its own long-range price forecast. Now all the numbers are available to make a definitive appraisal of the value of the project. Cash flow analyses and sensitivity studies follow. Reams of computer printouts are generated. Time elapsed: five years. Amount spent? - up to $9 million, depending on the size, complexity and attractiveness of the project. Marginal projects always take longer. Finally, an engineering and construction (E&C) company is given the task of integrating and compiling all the data into a feasibility study. The results of dozens of reports, memoranda, computer printouts, and charts are boiled down to one final summary report of a few hundred pages together with conclusions and recommendations. After thoughtful review at a board meeting, the directors authorize management to proceed with detailed engineering work - provided that

Jan 1, 1985

By J. T. Ryan

SiR Humphry Davy's epoch-making treatise delivered on Nov. 9, 1815, before the Philosophical Society of London, first announced and demonstrated a flame safety lamp for detecting methane in mine air. Coal mining was known in England as early as 1180, more than 600 years before the advent of a safe lighting and gas-detecting appliance. Mining, no doubt, took place first in outcrop coal, and danger from gas did not become apparent until the workings became deeper and more extensive. Davy's lamp did much to increase the safety of miners, and a modified Davy lamp is still widely used for detecting the presence and approximate amount of combustible gas in mine air. No factor in coal mining has improved more rapidly during the past 15 years than safety measures. This progress came about not only as a result of the workmen's compensation laws now in force in most of the states of the Union, but because the research work of the U. S. Bureau of Mines had demonstrated some dangers incident to coal mining which were not considered to be serious matters prior to that time. Electric power and explosives are necessary but potential hazards in American coal mines. A general mechanization program is now under way, while the mines are growing deeper and more extensive. Consequently ventilation problems are more complex and a demand has been created for positive detecting devices for carbon monoxide as well as methane. Scientists and manufacturers, working hand in hand during the past 10 years, have invented and developed appliances which make systematic and effective examination of mine air possible. The object of this paper is to describe briefly the approved testing devices in use today, with the hope that they may lead to the saving of life. Two Groups of Dangerous Coal Mine Gases Dangerous coal mine gases may be placed in two groups: (I) those that are dangerous because of their explosive properties, and (2) those that are dangerous because of their toxic properties. Methane (CH4) is the important gas of the first group, and in so-called gaseous mines constantly exudes from the coal and rock; it may accumulate and form an explosive mixture. The explosive range of methane-air mixtures is well defined. The low limit is 5 per cent., the high limit 15 per cent., and the most explosive

Jan 1, 1927

By J. J. Beeson

Fox the past fifty years or more, the structural features of the Cordilleran mountain system of western United States have presented some most interesting problems. Any geologist or engineer living in this region, or even making occasional examinations. of the mines, will lose much of interest and importance if he is not familiar with the literature. Some of the greatest works on geology have been the, result of studies carried on in sections of this region. Among the more important of the earlier works are those of Dutton,1. King,2 Gilbert,3 and Powell;4 of the more recent Lindgren,5 Ransome,6 Spurr,7 Butler,8 and others have contributed much. Many of the papers are largely of scientific interest but even these lay the foundation for the commercial application of the broader features of the geology. I have read many of these works with the keenest interest and pleasure; in fact, some have been read until some of the more important findings seem to be my own. In this paper, however, it is my aim to accept credit for little more than the labor of assembling some of the ideas of others. This is done with the hope that an interesting and valuable discussion will be the result. If some of the ideas presented should

Jan 9, 1925

By Å. Sterten, R. Tunold, J. Brun, K. Dalatun

The subjects of this study are two corrosion phenomena familiar to operators of aluminum plants employing Soderberg anodes of the vertical type, namely the sul-fide scale formation observed at the steel contact spikes and the corrosion wear observed at the lower edge of the gas collecting skirts. The causes of these corrosion phenomena are discussed on the basis of observations from practice and measurements on commercial cells as well as on laboratory experiments. It is concluded that the anode spike corrosion is mainly due to the attack by sulfur compounds contained in the anodically evolved gases and that this attack is greatly promoted by cracks and pores in the anode carbon embedding the lower spike ends. The corrosion of the gas collecting skirt is mainly attributed to anodic dissolution of the iron during occasional contacts with the melt. ANODE SPIKE CORROSION The visible result of this corrosion is the formation of a brittle loosely adherent scale on the lower ends of the mild steel spikes maintaining the electric contact to the carbon anode, Fig. 1. The thickness of the scale usually varies from 0.5 to 3 mm, but in some cases scale of about 10 mm thickness has been observed by the writers. During the spike pulling, usually repeated every 3 weeks, part of the scale often loosens and remains in the anode carbon, resulting in contamination of the aluminum with iron. This corrosion has been attributed to reaction of the iron with gaseous sulfur compounds originating from the anode paste materials.'-4 This paste usually consists of 70 pct precalcined petroleum coke with 1.2 to 1.4 pct S and 30 pct coal tar pitch containing 0.5 to 0.7 pct S. During operation the gasification of the anode materials takes place in two ways: First, gases are evolved by the gradual baking of the anode paste added on top of the anode. Due to the sealing effected by the upper semifluid zone of the paste, these gases, containing sulfur compounds from the pitch, are forced downward through pores and cracks in the rigid anode carbon. At the temperatures of the zone of the lower ends of the spikes, 700" to 900°C, the original components of the baking gas must undergo decomposition, similar to that taking place with the production of coal gas, resulting in a gas mixture consisting mainly of H2 and CH4 with small percentages of H2S as the main sulfur compound.5 Second, the anodic reaction results in a mixture of C02 and CO, the total quantity of which is about 15 times that of the baking gas. These anode gases must carry the entire sulfur content of the carbon gasified by the anodic reaction. Henry and Holliday6 have shown that COS is the main sulfurous component of the anode gases from Soderberg cells. Soderberg anodes usually exhibit a network of vertical cracks, frequently traversing from one spike to the next one and to the outside of the block and widening downward to the working face of the anode. In addition the anode carbon, particularly that below the spike ends, is rather porous, as indicated in Fig. 1. It therefore seems probable that the anode gases also may partly penetrate to the spike ends. As the anode is partly immersed in the melt, the static pressure of this must forward this penetration. I) SPIKE SCALE COMPOSITION A great number of freshly extracted spikes from industrial plants were inspected and samples of the scale collected for examination. Before analyzing the samples a thin iron oxide layer, formed by air oxidation of the outside of the red hot scale immediately after spike pulling, was removed. On the average the Fe/S ratio found by these analyses corresponded to I the composition FeSl. oo7. X-ray powder patterns showed no oxide and otherwise agreed with those found by Haraldsen7 for iron sulfide with 50.00 at. Pct

Jan 1, 1970

By F. W. Jessen, N. Mungan

The plastic flow characteristics of clay water suspensions were first recognized by Binghaml in 1916 and further studied by Ambrose and Loomis' in 1931-1932. Many physical and chemical properties of clay suspensions are deeply influenced by particle size distribution as well as by the exchange cation. Separation of a number of fractions is particularly helpful in making a detailed study of a suspension. A limited amount of work has been conducted on the effects of particle size on specific properties of mud drilling fluids. A knowledge of particle size distribution is essential for a better understanding of fundamental properties of clay suspensions, particularly viscosity and gel strength. The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of particle size on the viscosity and gel properties of clay suspensions and to determine any changes in mineral composition accompanying variation in size. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Numerous methods may be used to fractionate a poly-dispersed clay suspension into nearly mono-dispersed systems. Particles larger than 44 micron (325-mesh) may be obtained by wet screening. For sizes from 44 to 1 micron, the fractionation may be accomplished by sedimentation, elutriation plus microscopy,' or turbidimetry.6 When dealing with systems which contain a major portion of particles below l-mi-cron size, slit ultramicroscopy,7 centrifuge methods of Svedberg,5 eams,9 and McBain,l0 and X-ray methods" may be employed. The Sharples super centrifuge has been proved suitable for the economical separation of suspended particles of submicron range.12,13,14 Three-hundred and forty-five gal of 1 per cent by weight Aquagel suspension was mixed in a high-speed 5-gallon mud mixer and the suspension was allowed to stand in 5-gal glass bottles for 30 days to assure full hydration. All particles larger than 44 microns were removed by wet screening. Five fractions in the range of 44 to 1 micron were obtained by sedimentation. The Sharples super centrifuge method described by Hauser and Reed.13 Norton and Speil,14 Ha user and Lynn,15 and Hauser and Schachman,10 as employed to yield five fractions of submicron size. A super centrifuge operation chart prepared by Fancher, Oliphant, and Houssierre12 was used to determine operating conditions for the desired particle ranges. The clay suspension, after removal of all material above 1-micron size, was centrifuged. During rotation of the bowl, the particles were deposited on a thin plastic liner which fit closely inside the bowl. After passing 5 gal of suspension through the centrifuge, the liner was removed and the particles on the liner were scraped off, remixed and recentrifuged. This was repeated five times. Thus, Fractions H, I, K, and L were obtained. The finest fraction, M, remained in an approximately 0.4 per cent suspension. Water was evaporated under reduced pressure from this suspension to yield the finest particles. Results of the fractionation are included in Table 1. In order to achieve proper orientation and humidity conditions for X-ray diffraction analysis, the following procedure was employed. The dilute suspensions were placed on glass slides and allowed to dry at room temperature. This was repeated several times. Previous to measurement each sample first was placed in a water desiccator for half an hour and then allowed to stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. thus yielding an equilibrium condition of about 52 per cent relative humidity. The relative humidity of the room in which the X-ray diffraction was carried out was maintained at approximately 50 per cent so that there was no change in the spacings during the X-ray examination. Samples