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By William E. Bonini, Eugene A. Hickok

IN the course of an investigation directed toward expanding ground-water facilities in Essex and Morris counties, New Jersey, the Board of Water Commissioners of the city of East Orange authorized a seismic-refraction survey1 for the purpose of delineating bedrock topography below unconsolidated overburden. Results of the survey were highly satisfactory and led to the preparation of a comparatively detailed bedrock contour map. Knowledge of the bedrock depth and configuration was an important aid in selection of sites for test drilling. The portion of the East Orange Water Reserve under consideration is in the flood plain of the Passaic River about 10 miles west of Newark, N. J. The flood plain is about 175 ft above mean sea level and is bordered by low hills rising to elevations of approximately 250 ft. The bedrock underlying the Water Reserve consists of sandstone and shale of the Triassic Brunswick formation and is covered everywhere by deposits of unconsolidated glacial outwash sand and gravel, lacustrine clay, and recent river silt as much as 150 ft thick. Yield of wells in the sandstone and shale averages 100 to 200 gpm. Since production wells constructed in the sand and gravel aquifer in the buried river valley shown on the contour map (Fig. 1) yield 300 to 1400 gpm, it was proposed to locate additional production wells in this buried valley, where the yields per well would be maximum.

Jan 4, 1958

By R. P. Rothwell

AT this our first meeting I beg to call the attention of the members of our Institute to what is certainly a question of the greatest possible importance to the industries we represent; and more particularly to the welfare of the coal and iron trades : I refer to the enormous waste of coal in mining and in its preparation for market, as now practised in our anthracite coal-fields. It is a fact which many of you can certify to, that we are wasting fully one-ha f of all the coal in the veins we are now working, and there are cases, which might be mentioned where this proportion, immense as it is, has been greatly exceeded. The popular belief that our deposits of anthracite coal are "practically inexhaustible," is very far from being founded on facts. On the contrary, supposing the present rate of increase in the production to be maintained, it is probable that a maximum yield for our coal-fields would be attained in about fifteen years ; there are in fact some of our smaller basins where the principal veins are nearly exhausted and the production has already attained its maximum. There are others, again, where the depth attained-and it must be borne in mind that we commenced working at the surface outcrop-moderate though it is (scarcely ever reaching eight hundred feet), has so increased the cost of mining as to imperil the capital invested, and though it requires but little foresight to predict the time when the difficulties of mining will be very considerably increased by reason of the greater depth, greater quantity of water, fire-damp, and other fruitful sources of cost, yet, ignoring these recognized facts, we continue to waste more than one-half of the coal where it is obtained with the least danger, expense, and trouble, that is, near the surface-either above water-level or at a moderate depth below it. The inspection of almost any accurate mine map will satisfy you that, on an average, we leave fully one-third. of the coal in the ground as pillars to support the roof; in some places more than one-third thus remains, while it is very rare that less than one-quarter is left. In almost every case this coal is absolutely lost, for it will very rarely pay to reopen gangways and lay roads to it after that portion of the mine has been abandoned. Is it necessary in all cases to support the roof, and where it is, may not some artificial

Jan 1, 1873

By W. T. Thom

ALL engineering education is faced by certain basic problems, three of which seem to have particular present importance in geological engineering training in general, and in respect to training for oil field geoexploratory work in particular. PROBLEM I The first of these problems has to do with present and future educational objectives and with the numbers and qualities of the men who should be coming out of our geoexploratory training programs. Before the war we needed ever-increasing numbers of graduates at the Bachelor's level and a very much smaller number of men who had reached the Doctorate degree. Now, with more difficult, more extensive, and more costly exploratory work; with a rapid expansion of company "staff" activities, and with the initiation of many new research organizations and laboratories; it is clear that men of exceptional ability will be more and more in demand, and that the schools will need to carry a greater proportion of their students through to the Ph.D. degree. PROBLEM 2 Assuming that the mineral industries will need an increasing supply of well-qualified Ph.D.s for future geoexploratory work (staff, line and research), can the schools expect to provide this supply of able Ph.D.s merely by expanding the proportion of B.S. and B.A. majors who go on through to the doctorate stage of training? And the answer is definitely "No "-as the situation stands at present. Most A.B. graduates are years short of the preparations in basic science and elementary engineering prerequisite to effective graduate study in the geoexploratory fields (paleontology excepted), and similarly many of the annual crop of B.S. graduates lack adequate training in English; in ancient and modern history; and in the modern principles of labor and public relations. Indeed, several basic problems of undergraduate curricular organization and integration remain to be solved before most recipients of a Bachelor's degree will have that sound and broad educational foundation prerequisite to graduate training on a really effective basis. It is for these reasons that we have continued to experiment with our geological engineering program at Princeton, in an endeavor to provide a pilot-plant demonstration of a suitably broad and flexible undergraduate curriculum. PROBLEM 3 But assuming that the schools can and do get undergraduate curricula set up in proper phase and scale to meet needed enrollment quotas for graduate training, what about the most urgent part of our whole mineral-industry educational problem? What about finding and bringing into mineral-industry training those youngsters of superior ability who are, by potential or known inclination, especially well-qualified for geoexploratory work?

Jan 1, 1947

By Emby Kaye

IT is the purpose of this paper to outline briefly some of the considerations that enter into the economics of so-called recycling, the generic designation of the relatively recently developed process by which a condensate† is separated from gas-distillate gas at high pressure and the residual gas returned to the reservoir. This subject necessarily embraces not only a discussion of factors that should be considered in projecting a recycling operation, such as estimating reserves, investment and operating costs, but also a comparison of condensate with other types of petroleum. The place of condensate in its relation to the total supply of crude oil is pointed out as well as certain logical methods of product disposal. The cost of drilling wells and lease maintenance is not pertinent to this discussion because income and revenue are in this paper confined to that retained by the plant or plant operator for supplying processing facilities for the gas. Before the development of recycling a great many gas-distillate gas fields in Louisiana and. Texas provided no income to their owners. When gas was sold from these reservoirs it was accompanied by irretrievable losses of condensate in the formation. The understanding of the function of retrograde condensation resulted in the introduction of a new commercial petroleum recovery process for these hitherto unexploited fields and now permits the conditioning of this type of wet gas field for the sale of dry gas therefrom without waste. SOME ECONOMIC FACTORS The study of a gas-distillate field for possible exploitation necessarily involves the critical appraisal of a number of elements, chief of which will be discussed here: (I) estimate of distillate in place, (2) estimate of distillate that can be brought to the surface, (3) available market, (4) costs. The considerations affecting the estimating of distillate reserves. in place are in the main subject to the same errors as are involved in determining dry gas reserves. Determinable data including acreage, sand thickness, reservoir pressure, reservoir temperature, porosity and connate water provide the basis for calculating the volume of gas in place. Ample allowance must be made for connate water, which may occupy from 20 to 35 per cent of the pore space of the sand. The factor of supercompressibility is to a considerable extent nullified by the reservoir temperature. It has been considered well advised to allow this factor to serve as a cushion. With the gas reserves calculated, it remains only to assay the distillate content of the gas. Those familiar with the handling of "wet" gas at high pressure readily appreciate the variables in sampling gas from

Jan 1, 1941

By AIME AIME

IT IS not necessary to travel hundreds of miles from New York City to see examples of modern mining methods applied in tunnel work. In the various subway jobs, for instance, underground work is done on so large a scale as to justify the oft-quoted remark that here is the world's greatest mining camp. In such cases, however, the size of the excavation makes wholly disproportionate comparison with the haulage drift or adit level of the West. But in West Orange, N. J., Antonio -DiMarco is driving a tunnel from two headings on opposite sides of First Mountain, under contract with the town of West Orange, which is similar in nearly every respect to the type of work that must be done at the mines, and merits description as an example of fast and economical tunnel driving under conditions commonly met with by the mining engineer in more inaccessible parts.

Jan 1, 1931

By J. H. Frye, R. M. Treco, J. W. Caum

IT has been suggested that: "Insofar as the hardening due to a solute depends upon the increase of lattice parameter produced by it, it is reasonable to suppose that this hardening might be related to the resistance which the pure solvent would offer to increase in its parameter."1 It was further suggested that this hypothesis might be examined by comparing the hardnesses of analogous silver and copper alloys, since the stress necessary to produce a given lattice expansion is quite different in the two metals. Suitable data 2,3,4 are now available on these alloys, and we shall proceed to an examination of the hypothesis quoted above. HARDNESS, LATTICE PARAMETER AND IONIC OVERLAP Increase in ultimate Meyer hardness has been plotted against increase in lattice parameter in Figs. I and 2, It is believed that most of the values are accurate within the limits indicated by the rectangles, These data are also presented in Table I. Ultimate Meyer hardness, Pu, is defined by the equation: [P" - D2] where L = load, D = diameter of an impression having the same diameter as the testing ball, which in this case is 4 mm. Increase in lattice parameter is defined as the difference between the lattice parameter of the solid solution and that of the pure solvent. The curves in Figs. I and 2 are based on equal solute concentration and an equal degree of plastic deformation pro¬duced by the testing ball. Hardnesses are corrected to a constant grain size for copper and silver alloys, respectively, and these two grain sizes are approximately equal. Furthermore, all solutes are from the same period of the B subgroup of the periodic table as their solvent. [ ] The question arises as to whether or not lattice parameter is the only factor controlling the hardness of these alloys. There

Jan 1, 1943

By Halbert Powers Gillette

FROM the known laws of physical chemistry I believe it can be shown that progressive mass movement of water solutions in channels has seldom been the means of ore-concentration in veins. It is my purpose in this paper to show that the force known as “osmosis” has been the principal factor in ore-formation. Convection-currents have doubtless supplemented osmosis, and the two working together have been the agencies that have gathered the scattered particles of rare minerals into the larger masses which are called ore. Osmosis is commonly thought of as a vague, feeble force that causes slow diffusion of dissolving matter through the solvent. That it is a measurable force, often of great intensity, few know, except those who are familiar with the laws of modern physical chemistry. Therefore, I may be pardoned for going briefly into the elementary mathematics of osmotic pressure and of convection-currents. The velocity of water moving through any channel is given by the Chézy formula: (1) v = c [/rs], in which r is the hydraulic mean radius; s, the slope of the channel in which gravity is the sole propulsive force; and c, the coefficient of roughness of the sides of the channel. From this formula it is evident that the smaller the channel, the smaller the velocity of water under a constant head. In rock-crevices, therefore, where the head is constant, water moves much more slowly than in large fissures, and in moving through sand or porous rock it is to an even greater degree retarded. Hence, if a mass of water-saturated sand be heated, the finer the sand-grains, the more slowly will the temperature rise at parts remote from the source of heat. Conversely, cooling is retarded the smaller the interstices or channels through which the convection-currents move. The importance of this

Jan 1, 1913

By Simon Ash

THE coal-mining districts of Washington are mainly west of the Cascade Mountains; Fig. 1. The mines are on the foot hills of the slope, the lignite fields of Lewis and Thurston counties extending into the valleys west of the mountains. An exception is the Roslyn field, a small but important area on the eastern slope. If western Washington is divided into three areas from north to south, the bituminous coal fields and most of the active operations will be found largely in the middle area. The southern portion contains lignites over a large area. In the northern portion, mining is practically restricted to one mine, the Bellingham, which is working a subbituminous coal seam near the city of Bellingham. The degree of alteration that the coal of a particular field has undergone may be gaged roughly by the position of the field with reference to the Cascade Mountains. The lignites of Tenino, Tono, Mendota, and Castle Rock, on the railway line connecting Seattle and Portland, occur in a region, of low relief, in which the Eocene coal measures have suffered only minor disturbances. Subbituminous coals occur in the foot hills, as at Renton, Newcastle, and Bellingham. Coals high in fixed, carbon are found nearer the mountains, where. the measures have been sharply ,tilted and folded, as at Black Diamond and Carbonado. The two typical anthracite fields are located still higher, in the rugged mountains where outcrops appear both in deep gorges and on ridges at elevations approaching 5000 ft. At. Carbonado is found the only semianthracite seam worked on a commercial basis. The occurrence of this seam in a region of bituminous coal is due to the nearness of an igneous sill, which has changed its character from bituminous to semianthracite.

Jan 3, 1925

By Michael Bradbury

INTRODUCTION A major change in financing exports in recent years has been the decreased importance of subsidized export credits, following the commitment of the OECD countries to eliminate the subsidy element. Subsidized export credit rates are now often more expensive than market rates as the financing for exporters has decreased in volume and importance. The forfait market, in recognition of this decreasing importance, provides a rapidly expanding source of nonrecource finance for exporters. The following is a step by step guide to what it is, how it works, its benefits and problems. WHAT IS FORFAITING? Forfaiting is not new. It has been used in Europe for about 25 years to provide export finance for both capital goods and commodities without recourse to the exporter. Although long the preserve of exporters in Germany, and more lately Italy, forfaiting is now used increasingly by exporters in Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Scandinavia. It is a fairly simple operation with easy straight-forward documentation. The transaction involves the purchase by the forfaiting bank of a bill of exchange or a series of bills without recourse to the exporter. These bills will have been drawn by the exporter, accepted by the importer, and will usually bear the unconditional guarantee of the importer's bank. They are normally drawn payable at intervals during the credit period agreed between importer and exporter and are purchased at a discount by the forfaiter. The exporter thus obtains his cash payment and the importer receives his credit period. The forfaiter collects the amount of the bills as they mature directly from the importer. Credit periods vary, depending upon the type of goods and the country and commercial risk of the importer. The period is generally between one and five years with six monthly maturities. The usual forfait currencies are US dollars. Deutschmarks and Swiss francs and others, such as sterling, French francs, and the Scandinavian currencies are being used more frequently. CHOOSING FORFAITING Most types of financing require the continued involvement of the exporter in the financial side of the transaction during the credit period. Forfaiting has certain comparative advantages. In particular, it is possible to forfait 100 percent of the risk without recourse to the exporter, unlike government sponsored export finance schemes, where some retention of the risk by the exporter is required. In addition, exports from country sources do not present problems and forfaiting can also cover trade within the EEC. Other benefits for the exporter are: (a) The exporter's balance sheet is improved; debts are turned into cash thus improving the liquidity of the company and enhancing its cash flow. And there are no contingent liabilities for bills of exchange. (b) If the sales contract is in a foreign currency forfaiting removes the risk to the exporter of adverse movements in foreign exchange during the credit period. (c) Fluctuations in interest rates during the credit period can be ignored since in forfaiting the transaction is usually done on fixed interest rate terms on a discount basis. (d) The political and transfer risks are taken by the forfaiter. (e) The commercial risk is taken by the forfaiter. (f) The costs of administration and collection etc. during the credit period are removed.

Jan 1, 1985

By E. S. Porter

The techniques of particle-size measurement are of particular importance in the manufacture of portland cement. A range of sizes, from a close approximation to Fred C. Bond's "theoretical infinite" (represented by raw material in the quarry) to particles smaller than one micron is represented in the process. Moreover, similar size-reduction operations are performed on both natural and synthetic materials, the former relatively inactive in water and the latter quite reactive. This means that aqueous sedimentation systems for particle-size analysis are applicable only to some of the materials involved in the process. A brief review of the process should be useful to place the measurement techniques described here in perspective. (Fig.l) Raw materials are quarried, crushed and transported to storage at a maximum size usually of a few inches. Typical materials are limestone and clay or shale, with small amounts of other materials used to adjust the plant mix to the concentration of lime, silica, alumina and iron oxide required.

Jan 6, 1962

By B. M. Larsen

SEVERAL articles have recently been published discussing the conditions necessary for accurate measurements of temperatures in the open-hearth steel furnace. In the course of a study of refractories service conditions in steel furnaces, the present writers have taken tempera; tunes in several open-hearth shops in the Pittsburgh district. The conclusions, as to conditions necessary for accurate measurements of temperature, are somewhat at variance with those of other investigators. The subject is closely connected both with the close-control of steel-making and the prevention of overheating of the silica refractories used in roofs and walls. It is becoming more and more important to obtain furnace temperatures of fairly definitely known accuracy. At present, the most useful instrument for such measurements is the disappearing-filament type of optical pyrometer. This method of measurement has formed the basis of most other discussions on the. subject and was also used by the writers.

Jan 8, 1926

By R. L. Segall

AN unusual thermal etch figure in copper is described and an explanation in terms of twinning is suggested. A flat polycrystalline specimen of OFHC copper cut from a rolled sheet was electro-polished in orthophosphoric acid and annealed at 950°C in a vacuum of approximately 10-3 mm Hg for 2 hr. The specimen was found to be thermally etched, the markings on the surface being consistent with the assumption that they were the traces of the (111) planes which are developed preferentially because they have the lowest free energy. However, on one grain (the grain shown in Fig. 1) the traces formed an almost regular pentagon and at first sight it seemed unlikely that they could all be (111) traces. These traces were studied further because it was thought that they might be a type of growth spiral. A fringe pattern showed that this was not so, the grain being sensibly flat and the only features having steps were the striations and the faint curved line passing out from the center of the pentagons. To obtain some additional information, the specimen was deformed in tension. The effect of the stress was first to cause the appearance of lines running from the centers to the apexes of the pentagons and then to tilt the five segments so formed. At a much greater stress, appreciable slip appeared on the grain; these effects can be seen in Fig. 2. The micrograph was taken at a fairly late stage in the deformation and the tilting is quite marked. The magnification is the same as in Fig. 1, and although some slip can be seen it could be observed better by varying the illumination and using higher magnifications. In each segment of the grain, slip (which takes place on the (111) planes) was parallel to the side of the pentagon in that segment. The marked changes in direction of slip from segment to segment seemed to be incompatible with the presence of a regular array of subgrains. These results suggest that some of the five segments were twins. If this is so, since the twinning plane in copper is the (111) plane, the radial lines must be traces of the (111) planes on the surface. From the symmetry of the striations about the radial lines, these planes must be almost perpendicular to the surface. The angle between <III>directions in face-centered-cubic copper is 70&apos;32&apos;. If, in Fig. 3, OAB (triangle 1) is taken as matrix and OA, OB are (111) planes viewed edge on, then AB is in the correct direction to be the trace of either of the other two (111) planes on the surface. If triangle 2 is the twin (about the (111) plane perpendicular to the surface and containing OB) of triangle 1, then once again it can be shown that all lines are traces of (111) planes. Similarly, triangle 3 is the twin of triangle 2, 4 of 3, and 5 of both 4 and 1. (The sequence is, of course, quite arbitrary.) However, if this were the case there would be a discrepancy of 7&apos;20&apos; to be accounted for. It is suggested that the faint curved line passing outward from the center of the pentagon represents either a low angle boundary or a sixth small twin. The slight step shown by the fringes at this line might be an indication that the former is the case. This explanation does not account for the coincidence of obtaining a grain whose surface must be so close to (110) and obtaining the curious twinning described previously; it would be of interest to find a specific mechanism for this.

Jan 1, 1958

By Jesse O. Betterton

In the Parkes process of lead refining, after desilverization has been completed by means of zinc additions, there will remain in the lead from 0.5 to 0.6 per cent zinc. At this stage in the refining practically all impurities are reduced to refined lead specifications except zinc and antimony. All excess of copper and nearly all the arsenic goes out with the silver. Silver remaining should not exceed 0.1 oz. per ton. It thus remains only to remove zinc and antimony to produce refined lead. The older practice was to complete refining by means of oxidation processes in reverberatory furnaces. Essentially this consisted of heating the lead to 1200&apos; to 1300" I?. and allowing it to come in contact with a considerable excess of air passing through the furnace, or accomplish the same result by blowing the lead with steam by means of pipes introduced for that purpose, at the same time allowing air to enter the furnace. Usually some procedure involving alternate oxidation and reduction with fine coal or coke was employed in order to reduce the weight of dross or skim finally removed from the furnace. This practice had many elements of weakness in that the main flour of lead, after the preceding expensive operations had been performed, and the whole refining process nearly completed, was subjected to an operation at a comparatively high temperature, which involved much lead loss if the furnaces were not on bags, and the production of 3 to 5 per cent of the weight of the lead as dross or skim, which had to be resmelted and the lead either refined or produced as antimonial lead. In addition, the operating expense of the process was a considerable item. The process of dezincing with chlorine was developed as a substitute for the foregoing described oxidation process, and finally resulted in such advantages as nearly equal operating costs, a practical elimination of the lead loss, and the direct production of a very valuable byproduct, zinc chloride, that may be sold as such or retreated for its zinc and chlorine contents, both of which can be reused in the refining processes. Essentially this process consists of circulating the lead by means of a pump in a kettle through a closed reaction cylinder, gaseous chlorine entering the reaction cylinder with the stream of lead from the pump. Molten zinc chloride is thus produced and is discharged together with

Jan 1, 1937

By E. H. Hamilton

WHEN starting a series of experiments on the use of powdered coal in lead blast furnaces to replace coke, I realized that in copper smelting the problem is simpler because the sulfur recovers the copper in the form of matte. In lead smelting there are greater difficulties because a reducing atmosphere must be maintained in the active, zone corresponding to each tuyere in order to get the best recovery of lead. Therefore, the feed of powdered coal must be quite regular, uniform and under control. The molten products issuing from the taphole are the resultant of the work of all the tuyeres and it can readily be con-ceived that one part of the furnace may be forming slag with a higher lead content than the slag formed in other parts of the furnace. At first, we used only one tuyere situated on the back of the furnace. This was for the purpose of getting all of our regulations under the regular operating conditions. We tried every known system of feed and found they were not dependable and our present system was finally worked out, and so far as we know, is the only working system that will give uniformly good saving in lead blast furnaces. We placed a Bristol self-recording thermometer on the feed floor. This gives a 24-hr. continuous record of the temperature of the gases leaving the furnace. We put a self-recording gage on the "15-lb." air used in the injector. A second recording Bristol gage was put on the low-pressure air (40 oz.). I realized that it was necessary that we should know the exact weight of coal going into each tuyere and that it should &apos;be under observation at all times. L. W. Kirk was assigned to the problem and developed the open sight feed and the distributor, so that we now have the coal being fed into each tuyere in sight of the men in charge. We have an apothecary&apos;s balance beside the furnace, and the operator takes the pan and inserts it under the stream of falling powdered coal for one minute, and places the pan on the scale, the other scale pan having weights indicating the desired amount to be fed to each tuyere per minute.

Jan 10, 1922

By R. C. Mahon

THE importance of ground water control in glacial drift overlying mines is widely recognized. Adequate handling of the problem results in considerable saving in overall pumping costs, as the cost of pumping the larger quantity of water under low heads from surface wells is more than offset by the decrease in the quantity of water to be pumped from the mine under high heads. Eliminating or partly reducing seepage of water through the ledge reduces moisture content of the ore, a factor especially important in iron ore mines, where a reduction of 1 pct in moisture effects a very material saving. An important though indeterminate saving is also brought about by the elimination of water in the working places underground. The Homer and Wauseca mines of Hanna Coal & Iron Co. at Iron River, Mich., cover 480 acres. When these mines were started it was possible to operate on only one 40-acre tract, as the depth of water over the remainder of the property was too great to permit operation. Although the average depth of the ground water over the area being mined at that time was less than 50 ft it was necessary to pump 1200 gpm from the mine, the greater part from a depth of 750 ft. The slate footwall and graywacke hanging wall are almost impervious, and it was apparent that seepage into the mine was mainly through the iron formation in which the orebodies were located. Analysis of the water in the iron formation showed it to be of the same character as that in the glacial drift, while the water in both walls was heavily mineralized, also indicating that the water passed much more freely through the iron formation. The first attempt to take off the water above the ledge was by means of drainage drifts driven 15 to 20 ft below the ledge, Fig. 1. Various schemes were used to get the water into these drifts: 1—Holes 15 to 20 ft long were drilled from the back of the drifts to the ledge, but these were difficult to drill and blocked easily. 2—Sections of the drifts were blasted down. This gave a large flow for a time but eventually almost total blockup occurred. 3—Raises 4x4 ft were driven above the drifts to within 8 ft of the

Jan 1, 1955

By John Alden

A CONSIDERABLE PROPORTION of the tonnage of aluminum used today has at some stage during its manufacture, been rolled. I. For one, therefore, was particularly pleased to hear that this Society was to hold a symposium on rolling of nonferrous metals. Metallurgists can well afford to direct their close attention to the metallurgy involved in this important operation. To one who has seen today&apos;s high production rolling mills for aluminum it is difficult to realize that the first aluminum rolling mill For sheet was installed a scant 55 yr ago, in 1892. This mill was a three-stand train of 2-high mills, driven by a steam engine and was operated for many years successfully rolling aluminum sheet. Mills for the rolling of aluminum rod were installed in 1899 to meet the demand For manufacture of electrical conductor wires and cables. Bars and rods in straight lengths were also made. While these mills were the first built for rolling aluminum products of these types some rod had previously been rolled on brass and copper mills. Not until many years later, in 1929, however, Were facilities provided for the rolling of structural shapes, such as I-beams and channels. Growth of the aluminum sheet business and the necessity for economical manufacture soon brought the realization of the economies resulting From-the rolling of sheet in long lengths and coiling it. A five-stand continuous mill driven by a steam engine, was in operation late in 1907. This took aluminum slabs coating from

Jan 1, 1948

By Dennis V. D’Andrea, Robert C. Steckley, William C. Larson, Richard A. Dick

A fragmentation experiment was performed in cooperation with Duval Corporation in a porphyry copper molybdenum deposit near the Sierrita pit south of Tucson, Ariz. A 10-hole test blast was detonated to establish relationships between blasthole spacing and the resulting fragmentation. Blastholes were 9 in. in diameter and 110 ft deep. The 10 blastholes contained a total of 17,400 lb of aluminized slurry blasting agent in 50-ft columns with 60 ft of stemming. Blasthole spacings of 25, 20, and 15 ft were tested. Diamond drill core examination was the primary method used to determine the condition of the rock before and after blasting. Topographic surveys were used to measure the rock swell produced by the blast and a fragment size distribution was obtained for the rubblized material on the surface. The rubble zone at the surface was ideal for in situ leaching. Fragmentation to depths of 110 ft was excellent from the 15- to 20-ft blasthole spacing patterns. Good breakage was also produced by the 25-ft pattern although the effects of the blast were not as obvious. In situ leaching tests were not conducted. However, based on size consideration only, all three blasting patterns produced adequate breakage for successful leaching.

Jan 1, 1974

By Hugh D. Pallister, Richard W. Smith

The Alabama flake-graphite industry has flourished only in times of war when importations of foreign graphite for crucible use have been greatly curtailed or cut off. World War I was a boom period and in 1918 some 30 plants produced 7,795,475 lb. of flake graphite. The industry languished following the war and no graphite was produced from 1929 to 1939. The Federal Bureau of Mines began investigating the Alabama graphite deposits in 1940 and worked out modern recovery methods that were applied to production during part of World War II. A prospecting program disclosed reserves of over 25 million tons of graphitic schists. In 1942 the War Production Board authorized the enlargement of the only plant then producing flake graphite and the construction of two new plants. Production of flake graphite from these three plants in 1943 is estimated at 8,100,000 lb. Increased imports from Madagascar late in 1943 shut down one of the new plants and curtailed production at the other. Alabama flake graphite has not yet been able to compete with Madagascar graphite for use in the manufacture of any but small graphite crucibles. The future of the industry must depend on meeting the higher carbon content demanded for other uses.

Jan 1, 1945

By Hans Lundberg

IN ORDER to comprehend the help and information that may be expected from electrical prospecting, it is necessary to have at least a general knowledge of the methods and principles involved in preparing and interpreting results obtained in the field. Electrical prospecting is rather complicated, both in theory and practice, and in order to make a brief description clear to the practical mining man it has been necessary to idealize and generalize the problems, at the risk of having such simplification criticized by the theoretical man. This simplification must not be misinterpreted as showing a lack of theoretical knowledge. FIG. 1.-FLOW OF CURRENT IN AND AROUND A CONDUCTING BODY. For its operation, electrical prospecting mainly depends on the fact that most metallic ores conduct an electric current much more readily than barren rocks. If an electric current flows through a block of ground within which a body of chalcopyrite is enclosed in country rock of schist, the current will find less resistance to its passage through the chalcopyrite than through the schist, even though the passage through the latter be much shorter. This is because the longer path through the chalcopyrite offers less resistance, owing to the superior electrical conductivity of the chalcopyrite (Fig. 1).

Jan 1, 1928

By P. de Vitry, Willis P. Mould

THE wire saw is a tool not less than 60 years old, probably nearer 100 years old. It was developed in Europe and is reputed to have originated in Belgium. Frombold is said to be the original patentee. [ ] Wire sawing equipment, as indicated in Fig. I, is very simple. It consists of a three-strand wire cable, usually 3/16 or 1/4 in. in diameter, or a single flat ribbon of medium hard, tough, alloy steel twisted into a helix of those diameters, made to form an endless belt of any length up to several thousand feet. The wire is guided into the cut by sheaves mounted in slides on steel columns situated close to either end of the cut. The feed motion usually is controlled either by gravity or by hand-operated feed screws. The steel columns or "standards" range from 15 to 30 ft. in length. At the top is a swiveled arm supporting a sheave similar to the traveling sheave below. Immediately under the swivel-mounted sheave is a guy plate or collar with shackles attaching four chain or wire-rope guys with suitable tightening devices, or with two guys and two jack legs for supporting the standard vertically or at any desired angle. The usual drive is by a 10-hp. motor through a gear reducer, on which are mounted two grooved sheaves, one of which is keyed and the other free running on the shaft. Tension is provided by a car running on a track in line with the driving sheave

Jan 1, 1946