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By John Hays, Hammond

IT is both a pleasure and an honor to be a guest of the Institute and I thank you, Mr. President and fellow-members, for giving. me the opportunity of meeting you this evening. My esteemed friend, President Smith, has requested me to do a bit of "reminiscing" as to the earlier years of my career as a mining engineer, which has now covered a period of fifty years. Let me reassure you by promising that my narrative will not include all the experiences I have had over that long period. You will, I trust, pardon what might seem egotistical but I do not see how a personal narrative could well be otherwise.

Jan 1, 1928

By Robert W. Elayer

In August 1973, Fluor Utah, Inc. was awarded a contract by the Office of Coal Research (now part of the Energy Research and Development Administration), Department of the Interior, for the examination of the unique problems of large-scale surface coal mining to supply coal conversion complexes. The project consists of two phases: (I) data base development and organization and the formulation of a mathematical computer modeling system for surface mining; and (II) computer manipulation of the data base in accordance with the model to formulate several typical preliminary mine and preparation plant designs. Phase I is scheduled for completion by the end of July 1975 and Phase II is scheduled to be complete by the end of January 1977. This paper briefly discusses the effort for only one aspect of this project-the foundation for geologic modeling developed in Phase I. The Phase I task of geologic modeling can be broken down into two subtasks: (1) identify areas containing sufficient resources of surface-minable coal to support at least one large-scale mining complex, and (2) characterize the coal deposits in these areas for computer storage and retrieval. Identification of Resource Regions The basic production design criteria for large-scale surface mining, as stated in the contract, is the production of 75,000 tpd, or more, of bituminous coal. Based on a constant total Btu delivered to the preparation plant, daily production requirements for the different coals are as follows: Bituminous Coal 75,000 tons Subbituminous Coal 99,500 tons Lignite 143,500 tons Although surface mining on this scale is presently non-existent, it is deemed that future operations, in order to meet the increased energy demands, will have to look forward to much larger scale mining complexes. These tonnage requirements are meant to be used only for the delineation of general areas suitable for large-scale surface mining, termed "Strippable Coal Resource Regions." They were determined largely from the latest complete detailed coal resource estimates of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Nine strippable coal resource regions, containing over 100 billion tons of strippable coal resources, were identified [(see Fig. 1)]. The delineation of these regions was based entirely upon estimates of surface-minable coal resources and the production design criteria for large-scale surface mining. If surface-mined coal was combined with underground production, or if smaller production rates were specified, then other areas which were omitted here would be included in the regions. Changing the outline of the regions, however, would not add any new mining situations to be studied in Phase II. Characterization of Coal Deposits The second subtask involved the general characterization of the coal deposits contained in the strippable coal resource regions. The geological information gathered

Jan 1, 1976

By C. H. Mathewson

(New York Meeting, February, 1916) DURING the past year considerable work dealing with the mechanical properties and microstructure following the anneal under uniform conditions of certain types of commercial rolled brass has been done in this laboratory. Since these experiments were conducted with the active cooperation of the Bridgeport Brass Co., involving free use of its product, and have thus furnished information which is characteristic of some of its special mixtures, full publication of the numerical relationships and comparative results encountered does not seem justifiable. Some of the more general features of this work are, however, available and it is our present purpose to use the material in question, along with some results of special tests, in discussing the characteristics of recrystallization as related to the degree of hardening by strain and the ordinary annealing variables. We desire to make acknowledgment of the many courtesies extended by Mr. Charles Ferry, Metallurgist of the Bridgeport Brass Co., and the value of his cooperation, which has greatly stimulated the study of brass in this laboratory. A clear and systematic presentation of the principal relations between temperature and time of anneal, the changing physical properties and microstructure and the degree of previous reduction by cold-rolling, was first made, in the case of rolled brass and copper, by the French engineer, C. Grard,1 in 1909, although much fragmentary information of this general character had appeared earlier and the main facts involved were undoubtedly known to many brass specialists through their own private research. From this work, it appears that in the cartridge mixture (67 per cent. copper, 33 per cent. zinc) the properties imparted by cold-working within the limits, 13 to 75 per cent. reduction of area by rolling

Jan 1, 1916

By J. E. Berg

THE geology of the Coeur d'Alene mining district is so familiar to every one interested in mining that I will only note as an introduction that the main producers are mines whose orebodies lie in the Revett or Burke quartzites ; that the known orebodies in the eastern part of the district all lie north of the Osburn fault; that the Prichard formation is quite generally looked upon as being unfavorable for lead deposits ; that the monzonite intrusive mass extending north from Gem to Sunset Peak, and over into Cedar Creek divide, is considered to have been the prime agent in the crea-tion of our orebodies, and that diabase dikes are a quite common feature at most of the properties with which I am familiar. Some of the exceptions to these statements may be mentioned. The Interstate-Callahan mine is considered the exception disproving the alleged relation between large ore-deposits and the Prichard formation, but this property was primarily a zinc producer, with lead secondary, though of sufficient tonnage to be a valuable product. A second interesting occurrence in the Prichard worth calling to your attention is the Jack Waite property, on Tributary Creek, north of Murray. This vein lies at a low horizon in the Prichard forma-tion, and the ore differs essentially from others in the same horizon elsewhere in that it is a clean, medium to coarsely crystalline, lead ore carrying very little zinc, about one ounce silver to ten units lead, and is accom-panied by a clean quartz gangue or vein filling. I believe that quartz was the primary mineral in the fissure, and that the lead ore was deposited in the vein as a replacement of the quartz.

Jan 7, 1927

By W. L. Saunders

THE world's greatest producing area is, geographically, in the midland region of North America about the Great Lakes. This area, with but one- third of the nation's population, produces, with the exception of tobacco and cotton, three-quarters of the principal staples. It provides the surplus or export grain, meats, dairy products, steel and leading minerals. The social and political condition of a nation is determined by its industrial efficiency, and the share of the commerce of the world obtained by a nation is fixed more by the economy of its transportation than by any other factor. It is an economic maxim that: The total cost is the cost of production plus transportation cost. The cost of carrying 1000 tons by water or 100 tons by rail is equal, over the same distance

Jan 1, 1921

By Dudley L. Davis, E. C. Peterson

INTRODUCTION THE Darwin District is 30 miles east of Olancha which is 220 miles north from Los Angeles via U. S. Highway No. 6. The ore deposits occur in the Darwin hills that have been elevated above the Darwin Plateau by typical basin and range-type faults. Some of these faults have been active quite recently as shown by the displacement of Quaternary (?) basalt flows and the rejuvenation of erosion in Darwin wash. The ore bodies occur as fissure fillings and replacement of favorable beddings in a thick series of Paleozoic limestones, dolomites, shales and quartzites. Rich oxidized lead-silver ores were discovered in the early seventies. By 1875, Darwin had a population of about 5000, and by 1880 several small mills and smelters had been built. Early exhaustion of surface ores, the isolated location of the district, and fluctuation of metal prices caused intermittent operations until World War II. The district production is estimated at about $3,000,000 prior to 1900 and perhaps $4,000,000 between 1900 and 1945 when Anaconda purchased the major producing mines. For the past two years, daily production has averaged 75 tons of direct shipping and 150 tons of milling-grade ore. At present, 300 tons of mixed oxide and sulphide ore are treated by flotation, the oxidized lead minerals being activated by addition of sodium sulphide after galena and sphalerite have been recovered from the circuit. Extraction averages 85 pct of the lead, 80 pct of the silver, and about 33 pct of the zinc in a bulk concentrate. The mill is designed so that minor changes permit selective flotation of pyritic lead-zinc ores encountered at depth. GENERAL GEOLOGY The oldest rocks in the Darwin hills are a series of Paleozoic limestones, dolomites, shales and quartzites probably Pennsylvanian in age. These rocks have been intruded on the west by the Coso granite batholith and on the east by a granodiorite stock. Numerous sills and dikes grading from orthoclase granite to gabbro are exposed in the underground workings. The sedimentary rocks have been considerably folded and faulted, the most prominent structure being a northwest pitching anticlinal fold, the crest of which lies just west of the ridge line of the Darwin hills. The east limb of this fold has been intruded by the granodiorite stock and east of the stock the sediments show several closely spaced anticlines and synclines. The minor flexures on the west flank of the major fold are structurally important in localizing the ore in the Defiance and Essex mines of the Darwin group. There are three principal systems of faulting and fissuring, most of which are post-intrusive and premineral in age, with minor amounts of postmineral movement. The Darwin tear fault is the largest, most persistent fault in the district. It strikes N 60 to 95°W, dips steeply south and is traceable for about 1o miles. It is a normal

Jan 1, 1947

By S. F. Ravitz

IN his excellent book on the Principles of Flotation, Wark' makes the following significant statement concerning the theory of flotation: Two questions of first-rate importance must be considered . . . First, it must be decided whether the sulfide minerals require a collector in order that they may float, or whether as has been claimed, they possess an inherent floatability and need no collector. Second, it must be decided whether the xanthate type of collector can react with or be adsorbed by the unchanged sulfide minerals themselves, or whether, as many claim, reaction with the collector is dependent upon initial oxidation of the mineral surface. In the theory of flotation there are no two questions of greater importance than these. Ravitz and Porter' presented evidence that galena can be floated without a collector, and even without any reagent, provided oxidation products are thoroughly removed from its surface. They found also that thoroughly cleaned galena floated faster when xanthate was used than when a frother alone or no reagent was used, and that, without a collector, the recovery decreased gradually upon exposure of the mineral to air. Their work, however, has met with considerable criticism. I(127).3-6 This paper is presented to answer the objections that have been raised, and to present additional data that confirm their results. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The apparatus used to provide oxygen-free conditions for flotation has been described in detail by Ravitz and Porter. An atmosphere of purified nitrogen was maintained within the apparatus; all water and solutions used were freed of dissolved air, and could be transferred where desired by the use of nitrogen pressure; nitrogen was used as the gaseous medium for flotation. The flotation cell was essentially a glass cylinder 15 cm. long and 4.6 cm. in diameter. Near the bottom was sealed a fritted glass filter, which broke up the gas into small bubbles, and 6 cm. above this filter was a side arm through which the froth overflowed. The pulp was agitated by a glass impeller, which entered the cell through a mercury seal. For each test 17 grams of galena and 75 ml. of water were placed in the cell, after which the speed of the impeller and the rate of gas flow were adjusted. Water was added gradually during the test to keep the froth level at the proper height. The mineral was prepared and cleaned in the following manner. Exceptionally pure galena was crushed by hand on a clean bucking board, screened to - 150+ 200 mesh, and deslimed on a zoo-mesh sieve with a fine spray of water. It was then boiled on a hot plate for a number of hours with several changes of the desired cleaning solution, after which both the solution and the mineral were placed in the "mineral flask" of the apparatus. The cleaning solution was drained off, and the mineral was boiled with oxygen-free water

Jan 1, 1940

By W. A. Hooker

This portion of Mexico is quite beyond the ordinary routes .of travel, and is seldom visited. Its mines have not the record of enormous wealth which has recently attracted foreign capital to other parts of the republic; but for many centuries it has been a mining country, and at some periods evidently a productive one. In 1881 the writer visited the State and spent some time in the inspection of the mines. The absence of published information regarding its mining industry is his apology for presenting to the Institute these notes on the subject. Oaxaca is, with one exception (Chiapas), the most southerly of the Mexican States. It extends from latitude 18o 20' to 15' 45' N.— about 180 miles, by some 300 miles, in an east and west direction, and embraces a large part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The coast-line is wholly on the Pacific. The State has an area of 27,470 square miles, nearly that of the State of Maine, and a population estimated at one million, or thirty-six to the square mile. The great continental Cordillera which farther north and west expands into broad table-lands, is here converged into narrower limits and occupies the greater portion of the country; the main

Jan 1, 1887

By AIME AIME

A REQUEST for information as to the details of activities of the Engineering Council was made by the Joint Conference Committee for the benefit of the new American Engineering Council. , This request was complied with, and the scheduled reply so succinctly sets forth the activities of the old Council as well as the scope of possible activities of ,the new Council, about whose efforts there has been much discussion, .that it' is given herewith in full, except the 'budget which is summarized.

Jan 1, 1920

By L. F. Pett

ALTHOUGH Kennecott's orebody has long been outlined, it is still necessary to define further its limits. This mine, long an advocate of churn drill methods, recently supplemented its practice by using a diamond drill. So far, the diamond drill holes have been along the main canyon floor which traverses the mine area. This zone, highly fractured, is cut by numerous friable quartz veinlets encountered within the porphyry. These veinlets, formed by filling contracted porphyry fractures with hot, siliceous, mineral-bearing solutions, are often more highly mineralized than adjacent porphyry. They pulverize on contact, yielding only slight amounts of core.

Jan 7, 1951

By Herbert W. Graham

IRON ORE is widely distributed throughout the world. Ores sufficiently high in iron content to be practical for the operations of iron and steel making occur in so many places that it is only by the accident of political subdivisions that any given nation does not have adequate and suitable iron ore. Data prepared by various authorities show that in the Lake Superior region alone there are reserves of 1,200,000,000 tons of iron ore of an iron content and at the level of production cost to which the industry has been accus tomed. At an annual consumption of 80,000,000 tons these reserves will last fifteen years. Taken alone these figures would be alarming, but over a considerable period of years the total reserve tonnage has been more or less steadily increased by improvement and extension of mining and beneficiation methods. The rate of depletion of reserves has been only about one third of the rate of consumption. On this basis the cheap high-grade ores of Lake Superior would last 45 years.

Jan 1, 1947

By AIME AIME

THE Petroleum Division opened its proceedings on Wednesday morning, with two simultaneous sessions on engineering and economics. The first paper at the engineering session, over which A. W. Ambrose presided, was "Underground Surveys of Oil Wells," by Alexander Anderson of Los Angeles, Calif., was presented by John Suman of the Humble Oil & Refining Co., Houston, Texas. Following this, the paper of E.'H. Griswold of the Mailand Oil Co., Houston, Texas, was presented by C. V. Millikan of the Amerada Petroleum Corp., Tulsa, Oklahoma. Following the presentation of these two interesting papers a general discussion followed on the subject of "Crooked Holes." The discussion was entered into by F. H. Lahee, Sun Oil Co., Dallas, Texas;'Messrs. Bigelow of Tulsa, H. W. Hixon of New York City, Van Court Warren of Los Anyeles, Calif; H. L. Wheeler of St. Louis, Mo.; R. R. Brandenthaler, United States Bureau of Mines, Bartlesville, Okla.; H. H. Riggs, Indiana Territory Illuminating Oil Co., Bartlesville, Okla.; C. V. Millikan and John R. Suman

Jan 1, 1929

By G. Y. Chin, M. T. Dolan, W. L. Mammel

We have obtained by computer methods the solutions of the Taylor analysis1 for axisymmetric flow in bcc metals. Four modes of slip have been treated in detail:2-4 (111), {112}(111), {123}( 111), and a mixture of all three. In addition to obtaining anisotropy of strength data for randomly oriented or textured polycrystalline material,4 we have also obtained the lattice rotation resulting from slip on the predicted systems. The patterns of lattice rotation are essential to an improved understanding of texture development during deformation. The present note shows the results of lattice rotation for 5 pct axisymmetric compression, for fifty-two axial orientations distributed at 5-deg intervals throughout the standard stereographic triangle. The data are presented in Figs. 1 to 4 for the four modes of slip. The lattice rotation is indicated by a vector, the ends of which correspond to the positions before and after the deformation. The different vectors emanated from a given orientation represent different combinations of five slip systems that satisfy Taylor&apos;s minimum shear criterion.&apos; Fig. 1 shows the results for {110}< 111> slip. They are similar to those obtained by Bishop5 for the case of (111 )(110) slip in axisymrnetric tension, since in axisymmetric flow the sense of lattice rotation for {111)( 110) in tension is the same as that for (110) (111) in compression. The pattern of lattice rotation may be divided into three regions: region A in which the rotation is toward [100]; region B, toward [lll]; and region C, toward either [ loo] or L lll]. Although some slip combinations in region C lead to [1101, the latter is not stable as continued activity of the same combinations will eventually move the axis toward [loo] or Llll]. It may also be noted that [loo] is itself not stable. However, close inspection of the vectors in region A shows that it is impossible for an axial orientation within A to rotate outside its boundary. Hence after heavy compression, all orientations from A and some from C are expected to form a diffuse band in the [100] vicinity. By far the largest region is B. Here all orientations rotate to [lll], which is a truly stable position. Thus the [111] texture component is expected to be rather sharp. For the case of (112 }( 111) slip, Fig. 2, region C is enlarged at the expense of A, with B about the same as for {110}( 111) slip. A significant difference, however, is that [loo], as well as [Ill], is now truly stable. Fig. 3 shows the results of slip on {123}( 111) systems. Region B is substantially enlarged at the expense of C, with A being intermediate in size between the {110}(111) and {112}(111) cases. Like the case of {110)( 111) slip, [100] is itself unstable. However, the lattice rotations here are confined to less than 5 deg; hence it may be considered "stable" for practical purposes. Finally, Fig. 4 shows the results of mixed slip. Here region B is the largest, and C the smallest, of all the cases considered. Both [loo] and [ill] are stable. The behavior of the three corner positions is, in fact, identical to the case of {112)( 111) slip, Fig. 2; it turns out that in these positions for the mixed slip case, all the active slip systems (based on Taylor&apos;s criterion) belong to pure {112}( 111) .4 In summing up the results for the four modes of

Jan 1, 1968

By E. I. Larsen

Powder metallurgy has been described as being "as old as the pyramids and yet as new as the latest bomber." While this may be true literally, it has been only in the last Io or 1 5 years that widespread use has been made of this method of fabricating various articles One of the first items fabricated by powder metallurgical methods on a commercial scale was electrical contacts, which were fabricated from metal powders as early as 1920. The reason why these contacts have been made for so many years by powder metallurgy is because the compositions of most of these materials arc such that they could not be made by the conventional methods of melting, casting, rolling, drawing, etc. Classes of Contacts In general, electrical contacts fabricated from metal powders fall into two classes, both from the point of view of the method of fabrication and the components that make up the chemical composition. One class is composed of silver or copper and a refractory metal such as tungsten, molybdenum, or compounds thereof such as carbides. The second class contains a predominant amount of silver and a semi-refractory material such as cadmium oxide, nickel, cobalt, or graphite. Electrical contacts of the first class have been developed primarily as facing materials for heavy-duty circuit-interrupting devices. This class of material unites the high melting point, high boiling point, great resistance to electrical erosion, and the refractory characteristics of molybdenum, tungsten, or their carbides with the high thermal and electrical conductivities and low contact resistance properties of silver or copper. The second class of material is used for lighter duty or specialized applications such as heavy-duty, direct-current aircraft relays. Varieties Electrical contacts fabricated from metal powders are made in a wide variety of compositions, shapes, and sizes. In general, the sizes of electrical contacts fabricated from powders vary from contacts weighing approximately 0.001 oz. up to those weighing 3 to 4 Ib., the contacting face being as small as 0.001 sq. in. up to approximately 6 sq. in. in area. The shapes consist of: sound or rectangular buttons, some of which have radii or bevels on the contacting faces; rings, cups, rectangular bars, the contact face of which may have a radius across the width and/or at one end; and form-pressed pieces of a wide variety such as angles, both acute and obtuse, irregular shapes comprising a radius blended into a flat, which in turn may have steps. The size or shape of the contact is dictated principally by the mechanical design of the manufacturer, who in turn may have problems to be met such as: (I) size, weight, or space limitations; (2) electrical conditions such as blowout coils arc chutes, baffies, gas passages.

Jan 1, 1945

By Maurice L. Pinel, Thomas T. Read, Thomas A. Wright

THE erroneous, but until recently widely prevalent, belief that iron castings were first made in Europe in the fourteenth century has been adequately refuted in a number of earlier papers;1,11,12 but except for an unpublished metallographic study by the late William Campbell, and a phosphorus analysis by T. A. Wright of the metal of the Han dynasty cast-iron stove described by Laufer,2 nothing was known of either the chemical composition or the metallographic structure of the metal of any ancient iron casting, although data on castings of recent manufacture are abundantly available. The metal of the stove, which had been buried in a grave for at least 15 centuries, was so corroded that it seemed inadvisable to publish the results on it until more and better specimens from other ancient castings could be obtained. During a journey through China, extending from Peking in the north to Canton in the south and Cheng-tu, Ssu-chuan, in the west, in the late summer and autumn of 1936, one of us (T. T. Read) was fortunate enough to obtain, and bring home for study, nine castings, all more than 1000 years old, of which the date of manufacture is precisely known because of inscriptions cast in them, another that lacks a dated inscription, but of which the date, as explained below, can be otherwise established, and a specimen from the largest iron casting ever made," which is also dated. The period covered by this suite of specimens extends from 502 to 1093 A.D. In addition, a sample was obtained from a casting of date unknown, but which was certainly cast before 1000 A.D. and possibly as early as the third century A.D. A detailed description of these specimens is as follows: 1. 502 A.D. A pair (right and left) of recumbent lions (Fig. 1). Base 7 ¼ by 14 3/8 in., height over-all 5 ½ in., weight 26 lb. each. The translation of the inscription on the base is: "Made on the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month of the third year of Ching Ming of Great Wei" (Sept. 11, 502 A.D.).

Jan 1, 1938

By W. C. Ellis, E. S. Greiner, M. E. Fine

C. H. Samans and W. R. Ham (Chicago, Ill., and Dix-field, Maine, respectively)-—For several years we have been studying transitions of this basic type in metals, alloys, glasses, etc. Usually, however, they are not so clearly marked as those which the authors have found, and hence are much more difficult to determine accurately. Since our studies indicate that most of them occur virtually unchanged (as far as temperature is concerned) regardless of the form in which the element appears, we believe that they are a characteristic of the atom. Specifically, we believe that there is an additional rotational degree of freedom possessed by the nucleus which has not been considered heretofore. This nuclear rotation is made up of several components, each related to the several quantum shells of electrons. In chromium there are four of these shells and hence four separate series of characteristic transition temperatures. The lowest temperature at which any transition occurs, based on the present state of our computations, is 125°K, 4° higher than the authors&apos; value of 121°K. A convergence of this series, we believe, shows up at the higher temperature of 2085 °K, surprisingly close to the transformation temperature of 2103°K recently announced by N. J. Grant of M.I.T. for a body-centered to face-centered transformation in chromium. Likewise, our computations indicate a temperature of 311°K for the second transition temperature, reported by the authors as 310 °K. A convergence of this series, we believe, shows up at a higher temperature as the melting point at 2163°K. Although our work on these series must, in a sense, still be regarded as empirical, since we do not understand fully as yet just what the series mean, it is based on a reasonably firm picture. The individual constants, from which the various series are computed for each element, comes directly from the X-ray K absorption limit. Furthermore, the same basic method has accounted for transformation and melting temperatures in about 50 of the chemical elements, which is all we have tried thus far. In many cases the only known transformation is the melting point, but in others the occurrence of transformations or other transitions, equally as well marked as those of the authors, has been pointed out by others. These observations have assisted us greatly. Consequently we were very pleased to see the authors&apos; excellent work in finding these two transitions in chromium. With these confirming data, our picture of this element is clarified considerably, so we expect that at least some of our work can be published in the near future. R. C. Ruder (E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Cu., Wilmington, Del.)—The authors&apos; interpretation of these transitions in terms of 3d to 4s electronic structure transitions is most interesting. It would be interesting to have additional experimental evidence of such transitions from the temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient in the neighborhood of the property changes discussed in this paper. Simple theory15 suggests the Hall coefficient as a measure of the free electron (or s electron) concentration per unit volume. It has been shown that for paramagnetic&apos;" and ferromagnetic1? metals the simple theory is in fact too simple. However, the existence of a discontinuity in the Hall coefficient would provide information which should aid both in our understanding of these transitions and the significance of the Hall coefficient in these metals. It was rather surprising that no significant paramagnetic effects were observed. In this connection the recent work of McGuire and Kriessman18 is cited. They measured the magnetic susceptibility of chromium from 20" to 1460 °C. They also observed no large change in the susceptibility although there might be a change in slope in the vicinity of the 40 °C transition. The existence of these 3d to 4s electronic transitions has been discussed in connection with the paramagnetic susceptibility behavior of nickel and nickel alloys.&apos;"-" Assuming a correspondence principle between classical and quantum mechanical paramagnetic theory and using classical theory to calculate the effective Bohr magneton number from the Curie constant for substances obeying the Curie-Weiss law," it is found that the effective magneton number is a function of temperature. The process of calculation involves the inverse of the differential of the 1/x4 vs. temperature curve so that good and numerous data are necessary to obtain significant results. The data of Fallot23 show a discontinuous increase of about 12 pct in the effective magneton number between 850" and 900 oC, followed by a continuous increase up to the melting point. The data of Sucksmith and Pearce24 show a possible 8 pct increase. The older data of Terry25 and Weiss and Foex26 show a continuous increase. It is possible that small amounts of impurity atoms change these electronic transitions significantly. Fallot&apos;s23 data on a nickel alloy with 4.5 atomic pct Fe indicate that the discontinuity occurs around 1300 °C. Systematic investigation of the transition metals for transitions of this nature should provide information which would be very valuable for our understanding of these metals. The absence of antiferromagnetic structures in chromium has been shown by Shull27 using neutron diffraction techniques. M. E. Fine, E. S. Greiner, and W. C. Ellis (authors&apos; reply)—The remarks by Drs. Samans and Ham are certainly very interesting, in particular those pertaining to the close agreement between the theoretically calculated values for transition temperatures in chromium and the experimental values reported by a number of investigators. This is a remarkable achievement and we shall look forward to a more detailed presentation of the method followed in their calculations. We do not believe that the transition in pure chromium near 40 °C remains temperature invariant with alloying, as was reported by Samans and Ham for a number of the substances that they studied. We have not done any work with alloys but base our belief on the results of earlier studies in which less pure chromium was included and considerably lower transition temperatures were observed. The transition tempera-

Jan 1, 1952

By Paul A. Taylor

MUCH information concerning pegmatites which was thought to be true a few years ago has been proved false, and what is now actually known about some pegmatites is not true of many others. The erratic and seemingly unpredictable structure and variable composition of this class of mineral deposits has been widely emphasized. Even parts of the same pegmatite body exhibit marked differences in texture, mineral composition, width, and attitude. Constructive geological thinking in respect to pegmatites now aims to establish general laws rather than to stress the confusing diversity of features having no special economic significance. Substantial progress has been made in classifying different types of these deposits according to general features, internal structure, mineralogy, and origin. In some cases it has even been possible to block out tonnage reserves in advance of mining. It is still easy, however, to make highly erroneous predictions after a preliminary examination of a pegmatite prospect. Pegmatites are important to the economic well being of the country and to its military security. They furnish virtually all the feldspar, strategic mica, beryl, columbium, tantalum, and caesium utilized in the United States, as well as sundry other minerals and significant amounts of lithium and rare earth minerals and gems. With the exception of vermiculite, occasional ilmenite-rutile, and perhaps soda-lime feldspar and garnet deposits, basic pegmatites are of little economic importance. Consequently in this paper, as in common parlance, the term pegmatite generally relates to coarsegrained acidic rocks or what is aptly called giant granite. Available data indicating the size and importance of the production and trade in specified pegmatite minerals are summarized in Table I. Geological Features Much of the latest thinking on the economic geology of pegmatites is now available in a 115-page monograph&apos; by a group of experts who participated with geologists of the Federal Geological Survey in the widespread wartime investigations. Doubtless the most significant feature of the monograph is indicated by the title, The Internal Structure of Pegmatites, but it also contains a vast amount of other new information and includes the assimilated concepts of many earlier writers, whose works are given in a comprehensive list of references. The shape, size, attitude, and continuity of many pegmatite bodies is controlled by the structure of the older rocks in which they occur. If the older rocks are easily penetrated, e.g., biotite schist, most of the pegmatites in a given district will be found outside the parent granite mass as exterior pegmatites. Marginal pegmatites are more prevalent if the older rocks are massive, unsheared, and sparingly jointed. Networks of pegmatites are abundant in highly-jointed rocks. In strongly foliated schists the bodies are usually lenticular, whereas in highly-folded areas they assume tear drop, pipe or pod-like, bow-shaped, or sinuous forms. Jahns2 recognizes five major shape classes: l—dikes, sills, pipes, and elongate pods; 2— dikes, sills, pipes, and pods with bends, protuberances, or other irregularities; 3-—trough-or scoop-shaped bodies with or without complicating branches; 4—bodies with the form of an inverted trough or scoop; and 5—other bodies, including combinations of the above and miscellaneous shapes. Many pegmatite deposits are scarcely big enough to be recognizable as such. Most of them, in fact, are small tabular deposits less than 4 in. wide and usually without economic concentrations of minerals. On the other hand, some pegmatites are more than a mile long and over 500 ft wide. The ratios of length to breadth range from 1 : 1 to 1 : 100. Although the vertical dimension bears no invariable relationship to strike length, tabular deposits or large lenses are often symmetrical enough to show nearly as much continuity down dip as in their horizontal extension, and some pipes or pods are amazingly persistent in the vertical plane. Small pegmatites often string along a fairly definite trend line; in a given district major bodies may lie roughly parallel, and where only a few of them do not, the erratically disposed bodies generally differ in composition from those conforming to the regular pattern. This does not apply, however, in all districts. Characteristically, pegmatite veins pinch and swell or split into branches. When they pinch out entirely it is often possible to find a new body by prospecting the extension of the strike or dip, but the chances of finding a hidden deposit are ordinarily too uncertain to justify much subsurface prospecting. Diamond drilling may yield valuable information as to the continuity of known deposits whose upper portions are well-exposed. Some deposits, in fact, can be proved up for hundreds of feet by surface trenching and then intersected by drill holes at various depths like any other vein-like deposit. Others twist and branch, apparently defying all efforts to explore them short of actual mining.

Jan 1, 1954

By Oliver Bowles

PRICES of quartz sold in the United States in 1938 ranged from $1.15 to $36,000 a ton. This startling variation was due simply to the differences between glass sand and rock - crystal, materials that are virtually the same in composition. It illustrates the complexities in qualities, uses, and values of industrial minerals. It is generally stated that mineral deposits are exhaustible resources which can never be replaced when depleted. This statement is no longer true with respect to certain industrial minerals now recovered in increasing quantities from that most inexhaustible of all sources of supply, the ocean. Salt has long been obtained from sea water, particularly on the Pacific Coast, and reference was made a year ago to the large bromine recovery plant at Wilmington, N. C. Now the Westvaco Chlorine Products Corp. is operating a large plant at Newark, Calif., having a capacity sufficient to recover daily from the ocean raw materials that will produce 60 tons of various magnesium products. Lime is used to precipitate the magnesia from salt-water bittern. The products are chiefly magnesium carbonate for chemical uses, periclase and other refractories, and oxychloride cement for flooring.

Jan 1, 1939

By R. Adair, W. R. Hudspeth, W. T. McDaniel

D. C. Ralston (U. S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C.)—Flake mica can be beneficiated by a wider variety of methods than almost any known mineral. However, most of these methods are not recorded. It is therefore a pleasure to find a written record of another application of a new method of beneficiation. The fact that the Humphries spiral gives a concentrate containing the mica flake mixed with the slime and small grit has forced a further separation by screening, in which the finest of the flake will pass through. Fine flake has its uses and if mixed with slimes or clay is recoverable reliably only by flotation. This loss must be charged against the spiral. On the other hand, the new muscovite mica paper recently brought out by General Electric Co., can be made only with grit free flake larger than 50 mesh. It is of interest to learn from the authors whether the washing of the flake on a 50 mesh screen can take the grit content below 1 pct, to meet this new demand. Must another degritting process be used on the flake, like electrostatic treatment of the dried material? H. D. Snedden (The Humphreys Investment Co., Denver)—When recovering mica in the spiral, gangue particles coarser than 16 mesh can be rejected more readily when operating at a high pulp density (35 pct solids) or a low volume rate (—15 gpm). A launder screen as used by Lehigh Coal Co. has proved very satisfactory to partially dewater the mica concentrate and to reject any gangue slimes it may contain. Under certain conditions mica cleaning in the spiral can be improved by reagentizing the spiral feed, the object being to insure wetting of the gangue minerals and to agglomerate or prevent wetting of the mica particles. R. B. Adair (authors&apos; reply)—The grit content of the mica recovered on Humphreys Spirals varies with the fineness of the launder screen used to clean the mica product. Normal practice has been the use of 80 mesh screen, which will produce a mica product of acceptable grit content for most purposes. By using a 50 mesh screen, and increasing the screen area per ton of feed, it is felt by the authors that a mica of 99 pct plus purity could be obtained. This statement would hold only in the case of mica feed which was well de-laminated, and free from "clay balls," (semikaclinized feldspar), which tends to follow the mica through the process.

Jan 1, 1952

By Edward Steidle

NOTHING stands still. We go forward or backward. As a distinct group of educators, our immediate concern is with the preparation of young men and women for participation in the mineral industries on a professional basis. I am going to have the temerity to state emphatically that for a long time as a whole we have remained in a static position. We are now confronted with the choice of advancement or retrogression. We are still in a position to make a choice and our ultimate fate will depend upon the course of action we elect to follow. Wars always have been great catalysts and social and scientific advancements mature under military stimulus in a fraction of the time normally consumed. We are now in the midst of a conflict whose duration or final effects cannot be estimated. However, the record already demonstrates that this war as never before is a mineral war in which incentive, strategy, and outcome are directly related to the distribution and utilization of minerals. The inevitable result is a drain upon our resources now reflected in our record production and a growing public consciousness of the importance of minerals in the role of human affairs. It is evident that we must seek new mineral frontiers beyond the borders of the United States and take every other precaution to forestall a "have-not" position in the world.

Jan 1, 1943