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Jan 1, 1970

By Charles Jones

IN the winter of 1902, while occupying the position of mining and examining engineer for the Mountain Copper Co., Ltd., of Keswick, Cal., I had occasion to discuss with the General Manager, among other things, the question of the enormous waste of sulphur in smelting cupriferous, pyrite ore, and to cast about for means to utilize this waste or to render the fumes innocuous to vegetation. The decreasing rate of production of California farms, the consequent need of fertilizers, and the opportunity thus offered to utilize large quantities of sulphuric acid in the manufacture of superphosphates naturally brought the subject to the practical and commercial side of phosphates. I was informed that the company had made efforts to find phosphates in the West, without success. I advised as a start placing inquiries for phosphate deposits on the Pacific coast in the current mining ,journals. This was done, with the result that in January, 1903, from an advertisement in the Mining and Scientific Press we got track of a deposit in Rich county, Utah, through T.J . Wilson, of the Southern Pacific railroad in San Francisco. As soon as snow in the mountains would permit, in May, 1903, I undertook an examination of the property, with the result of recognizing the importance of the find, in spite of its lack of facilities for transportation at a commercial figure. On June 15, 1903, I concluded my report by saying, "This may be one of the world's deposits of phosphates." On Nov. 17, 1903, I concluded my report for the season in the following words : " I have now no hesitation in saying that I believe the Carboniferous formation so largely developed in the Wasatch mountains of Utah and the mountains of the Great Basin will prove to be one of the greatest storehouses of phosphoric acid in the world."

Jan 10, 1913

Four years of intensive exploration effort by Newmont Mining Corp. came to a climax May 27 in Carlin, Nevada, when local, state and federal officials joined with company officers at a dedication ceremony saluting the start-up of the firm's wholly- owned subsidiary, Carlin Gold Mining Co. Before an invited audience at the plant site, Newmont's President Plato Malozemoff and Nevada's Senator Howard D. Cannon pushed a lever and watched the new melting furnace rotate until a brilliant orange-red stream of molten gold poured forth from its mouth. Two 1200-oz bricks of bullion were poured that day, and they are the first of many that will lift this mine into the number two slot among U.S. gold producers and fourth among all gold mines on the North American continent. Although Newmont Mining first entered the gold mining business in 1929 in Grass Valley, California, the Company had operated no gold producers since the well-known Government directive L208, issued in 1942, closed down U.S. gold mines for the duration of World War 11. Now it is back in the business in a big way-a $10 million mine and plant capable of producing 200,000 oz. per year. All the gold from the Carlin operations is earmarked for the U.S. Mint in San Francisco.

Jan 7, 1965

By Sir Robert Hadfield

SINCE the writer has been intimately connected with the development of manganese steel for many years, some remarks upon the early work with regard to the rolling and forging of this material might he of interest, and particularly as to the question of rails of special quality and of superior wearing qualities. In a paper on Iron Alloys, with Special Deference to Manganese Steel, read before this Institute at the International Engineering Congress in Chicago in 1893,1 the writer mentioned that, about 20 years ago, his firm in Sheffield produced railroad material, such as tires and axles, of forged and rolled manganese steel, thus showing that this product could be manipulated and worked up into the various required forms. The tires illustrated in the paper referred to above formed a particularly difficult class of work to produce in a special steel, but no special obstacles were met with Although there was no difficulty at that time in making and producing manganese steel in various forms, forged, rolled or pressed; nevertheless, on account of its higher expense, sufficient encouragement

Jan 2, 1914

By E. Northcott, F. N. Oberg

By electrostatic separation, course Florida pebble phosphate, too lou-grade to find a ready market, can be upgraded to a satisfactory saleable product. Pebble running from 60 pct bone phosphate of time may be upgraded to 73 to 77 pct BPL depending on the mineralogical. structure of the pebble and the nature of the silica innpurity. High-grade concentrates from Florida pebble phosphate deposits have long been recovered by wet methods. When work was begun in the field, only the coarse pebble (generally +1 mm) was re- covered. In the 1920's a froth flotation process was developed to separate quartz from the finer phosphate fractions, but this method proved unsatisfactory for treating the intermediate fraction (—1 mm +35 mesh). Consequently various other processes were adapted, including agglomerate tabling and spiral separation of reagentized feed. Today the three processes are used—washing and screening for coarse pebble, tabling or spiraling for intermediate sizes, and flotation for —35 mesh material.

Jan 1, 1959

Abbey, Robert Graham, District Mgr. The W W. Sly Mfg. Co,. 50 Church St, New York, N. Y. '21 Abbott, A. N., Mines Supt., Mazapil Copper Co., Ltd ..Concepcion del Oro, Zac., Mexico. '23 Abbott, Argyle Campbell, Dev. Dept, E I du Pont de Nemours & Co, Wilmington, Del. '29 Abbott, Clarence E., V.P, Charge of Raw Materials, Tenn. Coal, Iron & R. R. Co, 1242 Brown-Marx Bldg, Birmingham, Ala. '04 Abbott, Louis Benjamin, Chief Engr., Elkhorn Div., Consolidation Coal Co, Jenkins, Ky. '15 Abeel, George H., Jr., Cons. Min. Engr Box 427, Santa Monica, Cal. '18 Abel, Albert E., Asst. to Pres, Valley Mould & Iron Corp Hubbard, Ohio. '19 Abel, Raymond L., Asst. Prof., Dept. of Pet Refin., Univ. of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pa. '28 Abell, Leo M., Research Engr, Sullivan Concentrator Chapman Camp, B. C., Canada. '31 Abernathy, George Elmer, Prof. of Geol. & Min . Kansas State Teachers College, Pittsburg, Kans. '20 Aborn, Robert H., Research Lab, U. S. Steel Corp. Lincoln Highway, Kearny, N. J. '19 Abozeid, Mahmood, Dept. of Mines & Quarries Cairo, Egypt. '26 Abraham, Arthur W. Box 1466, Bakersfield, Cal. '20

Jan 1, 1923

A record $18.7 billion worth of metals, non- metals and fuels was produced in the U.S. during 1962, according to a year-end estimate from the USBM. The 1962 total value, based on preliminary statistics compiled by the Bureau, was nearly $600 million more than in 1961. Most minerals gained both in value and volume of production during 1962 according to information collected by the Bureau. All mineral fuels except anthracite showed increases. Among nonmetallic minerals- other than fuels-gains exceeded losses by two to one. Metal production held steady as gains and losses balanced.

Jan 2, 1963

By William Paxton Hewitt

Mineral deposits of western Utah and eastern and central Nevada have produced in excess of $8,500,000,000 since 1871. Through 1965, Bingham Canyon had produced over $4,600,000,000 and seven other camps over $100,000,000 each, principally from base metals. In addition, they yield iron and uranium ores; contain the world's largest beryllium reserves; and have produced the United States' most important gold discovery in 25 years. The area is famous for its silver production and its bonanza-type precious metal deposits, but such production has become unimportant. The area's greatest producers of metallic wealth are base-metal deposits in limestones and porphyry-type copper ores. In contrast to silver's decline, gold production has been rising-the result of by-product operations at Bingham Canyon. The area also contains gold deposits in which the gold is so finely disseminated it is not recoverable by panning. The area's gold ores frequently are associated with realgar, cinnabar, and carbon. The ore deposits generally are attributed to Tertiary intrusives,* but, at Mountain City, they may be related to Paleozoic volcanism. Mountain City has yielded rich chalcocite from quartz-pyrite-chalcopyrite bodies in siliceous sediments. Regional stratigraphy and structure are difficult to interpret, 69 per cent of the area being obscured by alluvium or volcanics. In general, central Nevada consists of chert, shale, silty sandstones, lavas, and pyroclastics; eastern Nevada and western Utah of many alternations of limestone, shale, and sandstone. Central Nevada has been structurally active since late Devonian. Although granitic stocks may have intruded eastern Nevada and western Utah prior to the Cretaceous, these areas remained quite stable until affected by the Laramide Revolution. Precambrian exposures, occupying 3 per cent of the area, have not been important hosts. However, the question is raised as to whether Precambrian carbonates, properly situated with respect to invading mineralizers, might yet prove to be important. This paper describes 16 precious metal camps, 6 limestone replacement districts, 2 silver-base metal vein deposits, and 9 miscellaneous types and discusses briefly the 11 * Some ores, as at Ely, are associated with intrusives of. Cretaceous age. major camps that are described in detail in this Volume.

Jan 1, 1968

By C. A. Stetefeldt

FoR the convenience of those who do not care to enter into the details of this long essay, I begin with a summary of the most important results it presents. The extraction of silver by the lixiviation-process from ores which have been subjected to a chloridizing-roasting, is based upon the fact that silver chloride is easily soluble in solutions of sodium or calcium hyposulphite, and that silver is precipitated from such solutions by an alkaline sulphide, with regeneration of the hyposulphite salts. In case the ore contains lead a large portion of the latter is and dissolved, lead sulphate being soluble in hyposulphite solutions. If, at the same time, copper is present, the sulphides precipitated from the solution, contain silver, copper, and lead, a combination of metals not desirable for subsequent treatment. Mr. E. H. Russell, of Park City, Utah, is the inventor and the patentee in the United States and several foreign countries of a new lixiviation-process, based upon the chemical facts discussed in this paper. Mr. Russell has discovered that lead can be completely separated from a sodium hyposulphite solution, as lead carbonate, by sodium carbonate or purified soda-ash, without precipitating any copper or silver. After decanting the solution from the lead carbonate, silver and copper are obtained from it in the usual way. This method of separating lead prohibits the use of calcium poly-sulphide as a precipitant for the sulphides, because any calcium entering the regenerated lixiviationsolution would also be precipitated as a carbonate with the lead by soda-ash. Hence, a sodium sulphide must be employed. A full investigation has demonstrated that this is by no means detrimental. Sodium sulphide and hyposulphite are more advantageously used in the lixiviation-process than the corresponding calcium-salts. Another defect in the lixiviation-process consisted in the necessity of a very perfect chlorination of the silver in the ore, because silver in

Jan 1, 1885

By F. C. Wagner, E. P. Klier, D. E. Nulk

The presence or absence of plastic strain at a cleavarage surface is a question of much importance, and upon its answer depends future possible theoretical work. To investigate this question back-reflectinn X ray patterns were obained on the cleavage facets of ferrite grains. The test set-up consisting of FeK colli- mated radiation, single grain material and stationary cassette and specimen will not lead to a diffraction pattern, in general, but is an ideal arrangement for the exami-nation of surface effects. A pattern taken on hydrogen purified

Jan 1, 1949

By Walter O. Snelling

Discussion of the paper of WALTER 0. SNELLING, presented at the San Francisco meeting, September, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 100, April, 1915, pp. 695 to 704. A. C. McLAUGHLIN, San Francisco, Cal.-It seems to me that Mr. Snelling's work, if it is what it appears to be, is one of the most important contributions to petroleum technology that has been brought out iii the last 25 years. If his end products are what they seem to be, he has made a discovery, which, in my judgment, will revolutionize the petroleum industry. As to industrially carrying out these processes I do not think there is the slightest difficulty, for I have had some work recently where crude oils were handled successfully at a temperature of 750°F. and pressure of 750 lb. per square inch. WILLIAM A. WILLIAMS, San Francisco, Cal.-What metal did you use, Mr. McLaughlin? - A. C. McLAUGHLIN.-Ordinary seamless tubing, extra strong. WILLIAM A. WILLIAMS.-Tests were made in Dr. Rittman's experimental plant at Pittsburgh, upon samples of residuum furnished by Mr. Bell, the residuum being the remainder of the crude oil after the lighter fractions had been removed. After the material had been run through Dr. Rittman's plant, yields of from 43 to 58 per cent. of material, boiling under 150°C. were obtained. The distillate had a peculiar odor, due to the presence of benzene, toluene, and other unsaturated hydrocarbons. W. N. BEST, New York, N. Y.-What is the difference between the Rittman and the Snelling process or system? WILLIAM A. WILLIAMs.-The fundamental difference is that reactions take place under relatively higher temperatures and pressures and with none of the oil present in its original or liquid state, while the reactions secured by Mr. Snelling and other investigators have been from the liquids in the presence of some vapors. Under such conditions as Mr. Snelling operates, the temperatures and pressures used are limited and the flexibility in the control of these variables is extremely limited when compared with the Rittman process.

Jan 1, 1916

By Arthur L. Walker

DURING my trip around the world last year, covering a total of 45,000 miles, I saw many things of especial interest from an engineering viewpoint. Sailing from New York, I went through the Panama Canal, down along the west coast of South America, then over the Peruvian and Bolivian Uplands; thence to the celebrated copper mines of Chile; across the Andes, to Buenos Aires, then to Rio Janeiro; across the Atlantic to Lisbon, Portugal; through Spain to the Rio Tinto mines; across southern Europe to Italy; thence to Alexandria and Cairo; up the Nile to Assouan, to Palestine through the Suez Canal, Red Sea and across to Bombay; up to the country of the Moghul Emperors; then to Calcutta, from which point I shipped to Singapore, as having crossed the Equator twice, I wished to shake hands with it again; thence to Shanghai and Pekin; up to the Great Wall of China, back to Nanking and up the Yangtse to Hankow; then back and eastward across the Pacific Ocean. The climatic changes were sudden and severe; there was winter where, for me, it should have been summer and vice versa. The weather man was very kind, however, and until I was near the Aleutian Islands there were only three rainy days in a total of 220.

Jan 1, 1924

By R. M. Kuralt

CONCESSION from the Chilean government granting the company use of the Rio Salado water stipulates that a minimum of 35,000 metric tons of such salty water must be diverted from the Salado daily, and be disposed of in a manner not to contaminate the Rio Loa to the east of its confluence with the Rio San Salvador at Chacance, Fig. 1. Consequently, the selection of a suitable site for the sulphide plant tailing disposal had the additional problem of the disposal of excess brackish waters. Studies of the terrain in the area directly to the south of the plant indicated that construction of tailing ponds would be costly, and generally unsatisfactory due to excessive slope of the ground, lack of flanking hills, danger of raising the groundwater level thus causing springs along the Antofagasta-Bolivia railroad; and the possibility of creating a dust nuisance at the plant site or at Calama due to blowing sands. Further to the southwest the San Salvador river canyon offered some possibilities and surveys were made at sites A to D, inclusive, Fig. 1. Here again costly dams would have been necessary to impound the tremendous quantity of tailing produced by the new plant, and provision would have to be made to handle a considerable flow of water through the disposal area to the west of the Rio Opache. Additional surveys were made in the area to the southeast of the plant which brought to light the existence of a natural basin of about 14 1/2 square miles, flanked by low-lying hills, and requiring only the most rudimentary dams to close the outlets at the western end. It has been estimated that the Salar de Talabre, as this basin is called, has the ultimate storage capacity of 1 billion tons of tailing with dam heights of only 60 ft. Pipe Line Layout After the decision had been reached to use the Salar de Talabre for the main disposal area various methods were considered for transporting the tailing from the 300 ft diam thickeners to the disposal site, 17.7 miles away. The first plan was to construct a. concrete launder on a 11 pct grade but a survey of this grade line indicated it would not lead directly into the Salar but would terminate somewhat to the north, and from that point on the slope would be considerably less than 1 pct along a natural watercourse. A slope of 2 pct or even 2 ¼ pct in such a rough watercourse or ditch is the ideal, judging from the success of operations at Cananea. Since a simple ditch is the most economical vehicle for the transportation of tailing, it was decided to use one with a 2 ¼ pct grade for as much of the distance as was possible with the existing terrain and to construct a concrete headbox, or forebay, at the terminus of the ditch to supply a steel pipe line leading the rest of the way into the Salar. Referring to the maps of the Chuquicamata area outlining the tailing disposal system, Figs. 1 and 2, one can trace the flow of the tailing from the thickeners to the Salar as follows: The 8-in. spigot pipes from the thickeners (1) discharge into a concrete sump feeding a concrete launder with a 2 pct slope. The launder carries the tailing into a concrete junction box (2) located south of the sulphide plant. The purpose of the junction box is to provide emergency facilities for diverting the tailing flow from the main disposal area to the emergency area. It also provides a junction point for the launder from the sulphide plant's future east extension. The box is fitted with a pair of radial gates controlling flow into the main tailing ditch (6) or the emergency ditch (3) which terminates on the pampa. All ditches are of the same cross section, namely 4 ft wide at the bottom with 1 : 1 side slopes and with a minimum depth of 21/2 ft. Where the nature of the ground demands it, the ditches are lined with stone rubble. The overflow from the plant's 10 million gal reservoir (4) is led into the main tailing ditch by way of a spillway ditch (5). The main ditch terminates in a trashscreen fitted, concrete forebay (7) which serves as a headbox for a 24 in. O.D. x 3/8 in. wall, Dresser coupled, steel pipe (10) and a 12 in. x 8-gage spiral welded, wedge-lock coupled, steel pipe (8). The forebay is fitted with two compartments, one for each pipe, and flow into each is controlled by radial gates. Each compartment is fitted with a 6-in. drain pipe controlled by a rubber pinch valve. To protect the forebay from the abrasive effects of the tailing, the sides of the compartments will be lined with old

Jan 1, 1952

By E. B. Brauer, W. Hurst, J. D. Clark

Because of drilling, completion, and workover practices, the permeability around a wellbore generally is different from the permeability of the formation. The zone with the altered permeability is called "skin" and its effect on the pressure or flow behavior of the well is called "skin effect". Hawkinsl has shown that the radius and the permeability of this zone are related to the skin by: If the permeability in the skin zone is less than that of the formation, the skin is positive; if it is more than that of the formation, the skin is negative. If the two permeabilities are equal, s is zero; that is, there is no skin. Van Everdingen2 and Hurst3 have given mathematical solutions to the case of a zone of reduced permeability around the wellbore. This skin effect is illustrated in Fig. 1. They treat the positive skin as a zone of reduced permeability of infinitesimal thickness around the wellbore. When applied to a well with negative skin, however, their solutions lead to the calculated flowing well pressure which is smaller than the formation pressure, i.e., an injection situation. This is a physical contradiction. In this paper, it is shown that this mathematical difficulty can be overcome by assuming an effective wellbore radius larger than the actual wellbore. Existing solutions2"4 are modified to include the effect of an enlarged wellbore radius, and thus enable the engineer to deal with negative as well as positive skins. Theoretical Development Van Everdingen and Hurst,4 through the use of Laplace transformation, obtained the following expression for transient fluid influx into a wellbore: The values for QtD, reported extensively by van Everdingen and Hurst,4 are obtained from the following integral:

Jan 1, 1970

By George Burrell

J. S. HALDANE, M. D., F. R. S., Oxford, England (communication to the Secretary?).-The valuable paper of Messrs. Burrell and Gauger is of special interest to me as, through the courtesy of the management, I had an opportunity of visiting the Portland mine, Cripple Creek, in 1911, in connection with the investigations on acclimatization to high altitudes, carried out on Pike's Peak, near Cripple Creek, by Professors Yandell, Henderson and Schneider, Dr. Douglas and myself.1 The analyses of one or two samples of the vitiated air were entirely confirmatory of those of the authors. A fatal accident owing to two men being lowered down a shaft filled with the gas had occurred in a neighboring mine just before our visit.

Jan 12, 1916

By Ellsworth Daggett

In the first paper on the Russell process presented by Mr. Stetefeldt, in May, 1884 (Transactions, xiii.), the process was treated from a purely theoretical standpoint.. 111 his second paper of October, 1886 (Transactions, xv,), the details of the plant, the chemicals used, and the manipulation in both mill and laboratory were treated. The aim of the present paper is to present economical results recently attained, new data affecting the preparation and manipulation of ore in the mill, and a more complete and systematic scheme of laboratory work. This paper is compiled mainly from Mr. Russell's notes of his own experience. Many of these notes, particularly those relating to work at Cusihuiriachic,* Mexico, have been upon work directly under the personal observation of the compiler, who takes pleasure in thus presenting to the Institute, data and considerations of much interest and value pot only to users of the Russell process, but to mill men generally. The description of the chemicals used and of the preparation of the mill-solutions being' in part the same now as when Mr. Stetefeldt's second paper was published, some use is here made of portions of that paper. No theoretical matter is here given. For a treatise containing also the theory of the process the reader is referred to Mr. Stetefeldt's complete work on " Lixiviation of Silver Ores by Hyposulphite Solutions," now in preparation. To facilitate the consultation of this paper, the following synopsis and index is prefixed. The figures in parenthesis indicate the page of this paper on which the subject is treated.

Jan 1, 1888

By W. L. Dumoulin

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

Jan 8, 1919

The Institute has prepared a list of Societies' publications, magazines, . etc., which were duplicates and were discarded at the time of the consolidation of the libraries of the three Founder Societies. These books will be disposed of about March 1, 1916 by the Board of Directors of the Institute through the Library Committee. If, meanwhile, members who have incomplete sets of these books, or for any other reason desire to secure some of them, they are asked to communicate immediately with the Secretary, as this is in unusual opportunity to secure books at a very low price. American Gas Light Journal, viols. 31 to 39. American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Transactions, vols. 5 to 26. American Machinist, vols. 3 to 20, 22 to 29. American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, vols. 2 to 10, 21 to 24, 26 to 33, 39 to 49, 52, 55, 58, 74. Index, viols. 1 to 21. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Transactions, vols. 1 to 28. Index, vols. 1 to 20, vols. 1 to 25.

Jan 1, 1916

By John Freeman

THE tensile properties of steels at elevated temperatures have been studied by numerous investigators,1 primarily for the purpose of determining their suitability for structural uses. Tests with this objective have been confined largely to the temperature range of approximately 20° to 500° C., because of the rapidly decreasing tensile strength at the latter temperature. Tests have also been extended to higher temperatures for the purpose of determining the most suitable forging range. This temperature range is also of theoretical interest. The phenomenon of increased tensile strength and decreased ductility in the so-called "blue-heat" range, approximately 200° to 300° C., is well known. It was suggested to the Bureau early in 1926 that a study of the properties of rail steels in this temperature range might prove of interest in relation to the studies of transverse-fissure failures in rails. There were available from another investigation3 several new rails from several different heats made to approximately the same specification requirements, the complete manufacturing histories of which were known. It was decided to determine, at least in the preliminary series of tests, only the ultimate tensile strength, elongation and reduction of area, because of the difficulty, time and cost involved in determining the proportional limit and yield point at elevated temperatures.

Jan 1, 1930