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By W. D. Douglas, M. J. Hampshire, G. J. C. Young

This paper describes the replacement of a conventional filtration, clarification, and zinc precipitation plant by a carbon-in-pulp (CIP) electrowinning plant, with the objective of improving the recovery of gold from cyanide leached, acid plant calcines. The discussion covers early laboratory studies to the design and erection of the full-scale plant. Particular emphasis is placed on the problems encountered with commissioning and the strategies employed to solve them.

Jan 1, 1985

By C. E. Webber

The economical recovery of the valuable constituents from the effluent of gas-con-densate wells has developed into a problem of balancing the cost of recovery against the cost of compressing the residual gas back into the formation. A possible method of extracting the gasoline and distillate from the natural gas is by oil absorption at high pressures. In order to design and evaluate an absorption plant, fundamental data on the composition of the coexisting hydro- carbon vapor and liquid phases at various temperatures and pressures are essential. A review of the literature indicated that the necessary data for the design of such plants are lacking. The nearest approach to desired published data is that of Katz and Hackmuth,~ who experimentally deter-mined the composition of the coexisting vapor and liquid phases in a natural gas-crude oil system at pressures up to 3000 lb. per sq. in. and at temperatures from 40' to zoo°F. This paper presents the results of the experimental determination of the equilib-rium distribution of the hydrocarbons methane through hexane between natural gas and a typical absorber oil. The ranges of temperature and pressure chosen were from 33' to r8oUF. and from 100 to 5000 lb. per sq. inch. Materials The absorber oil was a typical naturally occurring, Straw-colored distillate that had previously been steam-distilled to an initial boiling point of 300 F. The physical and chemical properties, including the results of an Engler distillation, are presented in Table I. A large volume of this oil was obtained and it was used throughout the complete set of experiments. Table i.—Properties of the Absorption Oil Gravity .......................... . . 32.5' A.P.1. Molecular weight by benzene freezing- point depression.................. 183 Viscosity, poises; at 100°F........... 0.0a80 At 200°F...................... 0.0102 Composition, PeR Cent Aromatics........ 24.0 Naphthenes..... 36.7 unsaturates,Aromatics...... .I24.00.3 1 Parafins Naphthenes.....36.7 39.o EngLeR Distillation Per Cent /ncg. F. Per Cent Dez. P. Initial boilins rmint.. 300 I 60....... 523 5.................. 402 I 70....... 538 10.................. 421 180....... 557 20.................. 462 90....... 570 30.................. 480 1 95....... 623 40.................. 49 .................1 511 Residue, z .o per cent; loss, 0.3 per cent. See refrence I. The n-hexane was obtained from the Ohio Chemical and Manufacturing Co., Cleveland, Ohio. This liquid had a boiling range of from 149" to 152.6'F., with a density of 0.667 at 60°F. and a molecular weight of 85 by benzene freezing-point depression. The propane, isobutane, wbu-tane, isopentane and n-pentane were ob-ta,ined from the Philgas Department of the Phillips Petroleum Co. Certified analyses of these compounds showed their purity to be in excess of 99.5 per cent and they were riot further purified.

Jan 1, 1941

By C. E. Webber

The economical recovery of the valuable constituents from the effluent of gas-con-densate wells has developed into a problem of balancing the cost of recovery against the cost of compressing the residual gas back into the formation. A possible method of extracting the gasoline and distillate from the natural gas is by oil absorption at high pressures. In order to design and evaluate an absorption plant, fundamental data on the composition of the coexisting hydro- carbon vapor and liquid phases at various temperatures and pressures are essential. A review of the literature indicated that the necessary data for the design of such plants are lacking. The nearest approach to desired published data is that of Katz and Hackmuth,~ who experimentally deter-mined the composition of the coexisting vapor and liquid phases in a natural gas-crude oil system at pressures up to 3000 lb. per sq. in. and at temperatures from 40' to zoo°F. This paper presents the results of the experimental determination of the equilib-rium distribution of the hydrocarbons methane through hexane between natural gas and a typical absorber oil. The ranges of temperature and pressure chosen were from 33' to r8oUF. and from 100 to 5000 lb. per sq. inch. Materials The absorber oil was a typical naturally occurring, Straw-colored distillate that had previously been steam-distilled to an initial boiling point of 300 F. The physical and chemical properties, including the results of an Engler distillation, are presented in Table I. A large volume of this oil was obtained and it was used throughout the complete set of experiments. Table i.—Properties of the Absorption Oil Gravity .......................... . . 32.5' A.P.1. Molecular weight by benzene freezing- point depression.................. 183 Viscosity, poises; at 100°F........... 0.0a80 At 200°F...................... 0.0102 Composition, PeR Cent Aromatics........ 24.0 Naphthenes..... 36.7 unsaturates,Aromatics...... .I24.00.3 1 Parafins Naphthenes.....36.7 39.o EngLeR Distillation Per Cent /ncg. F. Per Cent Dez. P. Initial boilins rmint.. 300 I 60....... 523 5.................. 402 I 70....... 538 10.................. 421 180....... 557 20.................. 462 90....... 570 30.................. 480 1 95....... 623 40.................. 49 .................1 511 Residue, z .o per cent; loss, 0.3 per cent. See refrence I. The n-hexane was obtained from the Ohio Chemical and Manufacturing Co., Cleveland, Ohio. This liquid had a boiling range of from 149" to 152.6'F., with a density of 0.667 at 60°F. and a molecular weight of 85 by benzene freezing-point depression. The propane, isobutane, wbu-tane, isopentane and n-pentane were ob-ta,ined from the Philgas Department of the Phillips Petroleum Co. Certified analyses of these compounds showed their purity to be in excess of 99.5 per cent and they were riot further purified.

Jan 1, 1941

By E. Mcl. Tittmann

Deep-seated human instincts urge us to positively mark the passage of time. We celebrate the passage of each year. Years give way to decades, and decades to half centuries and centuries. At all these mileposts we are inclined to pause, take a look around and catch our breaths before embarking on the next leg. We are at such a point now and this meeting I am sure will give direction to the road ahead into the decade of the seventies. In looking around at this point, 1973, it is obvious to all of us that the environment in which we must mine, mill, smelt and refine lead and zinc has radically changed. These changes have, of course, occurred over a long period of time. They have, however, all been in the same general direction. They have all had the same motivation. The period of greatest contrast is probably the fifteen years just before World War II and the fifteen years following the end of that war. I thought that I might review briefly with you what seems to me to be four of the more important changes that have developed since World War II that profoundly affect our activities in the lead and zinc industry. I mentioned before that all these changes have been in the same direction; that is, they have all tended to restrict our freedom of action in pursuing our objective of producing lead and zinc on a competitive basis at a profit. Consequently, in discus- sing them you may think that I am merely viewing with alarm. This is not the intent. This is merely supposed to be an objective analysis. I think it appropriate before discussing these trends in de- tail to examine the position of lead and zinc today.

Jan 1, 1970

By H. J. Freyn

The American iron and settl manufacturer finds himself to-day barely at the threshold of enormous possibilities for practicing rational economy in the use of fuels.

Jan 1, 1915

By Frank Firmstone

The material described below was made at Furnace No. 2, Longdale, Va., Oct. 28, 1907, during a sudden derangement of working, in the course of which the furnace became entirely bridged over and for some time no solid material whatever descended into the hearth. This caused the hearth to become so completely emptied that, at the tuyere-level, a pricker put in at one tuyere could be seen by looking in at the opposite one. The tap-hole was opened and the iron got out with some difficulty. It ran sluggishly, throwing many sparks, but was not too thick to run into the chill-molds. Naturally, the product was assumed to be white iron, which is almost always produced under similar circumstances; but on removal front the molds it proved to be very strong and tough, although full of blow-holes. Most of these blow-holes bad bright, unoxidized walls. The iron could be drilled by using a "special steel" drill, the drillings curling up similarly to those of steel. An analysis by P. W. Shimer of this unusual product gave: Si, 0.019; P, 0.228; S, 0,39; Mn, 0.042; C, 2.366; and graphite, 0:000 per cent. A cast of iron made just before the disturbance contained P, 0.98, and Mn, 1 per cent. The peculiar product seems to have been decarburized in the hearth and, at the same time, to have lost much phosphorus and manganese, either by the action of the blast in the empty hearth, or, more probably, by. contact with the cinder rich in iron which was formed at the time. Unfortunately, no specimen of the cinder was preserved, so its composition cannot be given. It seems very remarkable that, with the furnace in bad condition, the temperature should be high enough to keep such

Sep 1, 1908

By Geo. H. Eldridge

This sketch of the Florence oil-field, presented to the Institute by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey, is accompanied with a map, Fig. 1, the topography of which has been taken from a field-manuscript of the Survey. The scale of the map and

Jan 1, 1892

By Fred N. Kissell, Maurice Deul

When coal is broken during mining, some of the methane trapped in the coal is released. Some recent investigations by the U.S. Bureau of Mines have shown that this methane released by breakage is only a small proportion of the total methane emission into the working section.

Jan 1, 1975

By S. C. Oliphant, C. R. Houssiere, George H. Fancher

DRILLING mud can be an item of great expense on the Gulf Coast. In order to understand the nature of a drilling mud, it is desirable to know the composition and size of the mineral particles that are present, The supercentrifuge has been adapted to the fractionation of mud, and this paper discusses the calibration and methods of operation and control. An alignment chart has been prepared, which was found useful in this work. Typical data are included, showing the comparative reliability of the method.

Jan 1, 1942

Discussion of the paper of EDWARD G. NORTON, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 97, January, 1915, pp. 93 to 102. G. D. HARRIS, Ithaca, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary *).¬Since I have on several occasions1 expressed at length my general views on this interesting subject, it seems fitting that I endeavor here to comment as briefly as possible on a few points suggested by the paper. Doubtless you all know of the rather extensive publications of Lachmann on mid-European salines and his scarcely successful, attempt to make the phenomena presented by our domes fit. into his "Exzeme" theory based on studies of European phenomena. This paper is a most welcome indication that scientific America is very much alive to the difficulties that have been encountered in attempts already made to explain the origin of the salt domes in the lower Mississippi embayment region. Praiseworthy, too, is the attempt to explain these phenomena by agencies still in operation. I may, perhaps, be permitted to state here that a former student of mine, and co-worker in Louisiana, A. C. Veatch, is now interested in the Algerian region, where it would seem similar dome-phenomena are to be found, and hopes may well

Jan 5, 1915

By H. C. Fiedler

X HE development of the cube-on edge secondary re-crystallization texture in Si-Fe strip requires that normal grain growth be restrained. It has been shown that the degree of restraint and hence the completeness of secondary recrystallization depends upon the size and number of second-phase particles, which in turn is dependent upon the prior processing history.1y2 The purpose of this note is to show that, for heats in which manganese sulfide particles are providing the restraint to grain growth, the choice of hot rolling temperature depends upon the manganese content. The making and processing of the heats to the final gage of 0.012 in. has been described.3 The compositions are given in Table I. Apparent in Fig. 1 is the decrease in the ability of strips hot-rolled from 1175°C to undergo secondary recrystallization as the manganese content increases. It has been shown that 1175°C is below the solubility temperature of 0.014 pet S in even the 0.038 pct Mn alloy: and the observed behavior is attributed to an increasing fraction of the sulfur forming large manganese sulfide particles at the heating temperature for hot rolling. This fraction of the sulfur is thus unavailable to subsequently form the small, uniformly dispersed particles which are needed to restrain normal grain growth. Since the sulfur is completely in solution at 1325°C,3 strips from all three alloys show strong secondary recrystallization behavior when hot-rolled from that temperature.

Jan 1, 1969

For many years the occurrence of gold in the Coeur d'A1ène region had been rumored among the pioneers of the Northwest. It is stated that as early as 1853 gold was discovered in this district by Donelson, of the Stevens expedition, but the hostility of the Indians prevented prospecting. In 1858, when Lieutenant John Mullan surveyed the military road across the Bitter hot mountains, the members of his expedition, most of whom had mined in California, noticed sundry outcrops of good-looking quartz, and some of them actually found gold, as is recorded in a letter that Mullan wrote, from Washington, in 1884. The first successful prospector in the Coeur d' Alène was Tom Irwin, who worked a quartz vein on the Mullan road in the spring of 1879. Two years later he met A. J. Prichard, who was engaged in the lumber business; he told him what he thought of the chances of placer mining in the upper reaches of the Coeur d7AlBne river. This was in 1881. Prichard became keenly interested, and himself found gold on several creeks, one of which is now known by his name, at a place close to the site of the town of Murray.* In 1883 Prichard located a number of claims, and shortly afterward he wrote a letter to the members of a Liberal League to which he belonged, inviting them to "secure the lion's share" of the mineral wealth he had uncovered. His letters caused a stampede from Montana and Colorado, and from South Dakota also, to the Coeur d'Alène gold belt in the summer of 1883. A town, named Eagle City, was surveyed; in 1884 lots sold at prices ranging from $200 to $2000. The buildings were made of logs and shingles. Shoveling of the snow in' front left s

Jan 1, 1932

J. S. UNGER, ? Pittsburgh, Pa. (written discussion ?).-Firebricks intended for, the same purpose, but supplied by different manufacturers, may be of entirely different clays, contain different proportions of flint, calcined and plastic clays; the particles may vary widely in size; the water used to make the brick will vary; the pressure in molding will vary, depend-ing on whether the brick is hand made or power pressed; and the degree of burning in the same kiln will differ. These variables affect the melting point and the strength of the brick when heated. An important property, of a firebrick is its ability to resist heat and, at the same time, weight or load without serious deformation. The soft-ening point and the melting point of a firebrick may be several hundred degrees apart, and two bricks may show considerable difference in their softening points, but the melting points may be approximately the same. Bricks are not usually employed at temperatures close to their melting points. If they must withstand very high temperatures, the firebrick is discarded and a brick of more refractory material is used. Under these conditions' it is doubtful whether the determination of the melting point of a brick has much practical value. If the determination of the melting point is necessary, the test should he made on a portion of the original brick and not on a specially prepared sample. A small triangular pyramid with a base about 1 1/2 in. and 3 in. high can be sawed from the corner of the brick with a thin-bladed car-borundum wheel, without injuring or destroying the size of particles, the bond, or degree of burning of the original brick. This specimen can then he compared with standard Seger cones or tested by any other method desired.

Jan 12, 1919

By J. W. Eckerd, P. S. Lewis, N. H. Coates

USBM designed, constructed, and operated an 18-in.-diam fluidized-bed combustor for highly caking coals to evaluate the method for possible application to power generation. In initial tests, combustion was carried on successfully, with carbon losses as low as 0.8%+ Coal ash was not satisfactory as a bed material, but mullite proved to be acceptable. Overall heat-transfer coeffients from the bed (-20 t 50 mesh mullite) to a water-cooled tube were about 75 Btuper hr-sq ft. Fluidized-bed combustion is being investigated by the U. S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) as a potentially cheaper method of firing power plant boilers. Lower combustion temperatures in fluidized beds—only 1400" to 1800°F-—should reduce fireside deposition and corrosion and nitrogen oxides production. Fluidized-bed combustion also offers possible advantages in the use of additives to control SO, emissions and amenability to processing of high-ash, high-moisture coals without special preparation. This paper describes development of a fluidized-bed combustor and the results of preliminary tests. Equipment and Procedure Fig. 1 shows the 8-ft-high combustor. A cone-shaped plate perforated by I/8-in.-diam holes supports the fuel bed and admits the fluidizing air; water passing through the 3/4-in. pipe extracts heat from the combustion bed. Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of the system. Coal is fed pneumatically to the base of the fuel bed. Combustion products are passed through two centrifugal separators to remove most of the entrained solids, then to a water

Jan 1, 1971

By Clyde Wyman

THERE has always been a question as to the extent to which oxidizable alloys might he recovered from charged scrap in the, acid electric furnace. While qualitative information was not lacking, the quantities that might be recovered and the conditions best suited for such recovery were not clearly defined. The present investigation was carried out to determine the efficiency of alloy recovery from residuals contained in the bath, especially in regard to the recovery of vanadium. A series of 24 heats was produced at the Burnside Steel Foundry Co., including medium manganese-molybdenum-vanadium, manganese-chromium, and grade B steels, in which vanadium recoveries from the residual vanadium were investigated. Recoveries of other alloys were also studied from the accumulated data. These heats were produced in a 5-ton acid-lined electric furnace. The analysis of metal and slag samples and the micrographs were prepared by the Research Laboratories of the Vanadium Corporation of America. In addition to the vanadium contained in the scrap charge, ferrovanadium was added to the charge and to the molten bath to bring the residuals up to the desired level. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) in one series of heats was added to the bath after meltdown, for the same reason. In addition to the general furnace practice, the slags of these various heats were treated with coke breeze, Ferrocarbo-S (silicon carbide), and aluminum dross to determine the effects of different reducing agents upon the alloy recoveries and upon the final product.

Jan 1, 1947

By Frederick G. Bulkley

That portion of the geological structure of the Leadville district which rests upon the Archæan is made up of sedimentary beds of Silurian and Carboniferous formation, consisting of many conformable strata of limestones, quartzites, and shales, which have a total present thickness of about five thousand feet. Interbedded with these strata are found, under somewhat fixed lams of regularity, sheets of intrusive igneous rock,' varying in thickness from a foot or two to several hundred feet. These consist for the most part of various types of felsite rocks, classed, by the sanction of common and long-continued usage, under the general term of porphyries. Mr. S. F. Emmons, in the abstract of his " Report upon the Geology and Mining Industry of Leadville," says in this connection : In their mode of occurrence the type-feature is that of intrusive masses, which are developed on a scale of unprecedented magnitude, and follow certain horizons with remarkable regularity.... It is probable that this mode of occurrence of eruptive rocks, viz., as intrusive masses which originally did not reach the surface but were forced up to a certain horizon and then spread out bettween the beds, is far more common than has hitherto been suspected by geologists. It is difficult to conceive of the conditions under which a fused mass could pry open strata to a width of one thousand feet or more, overcoming the weight often thousand feet of superincumbent rocks, and spread itself out in a continuous sheet between the beds to a distance of ten miles beyond the point or line of eruption. That they did exist, however, can be clearly demonstrated in this region.... In one single section over fifteen sheets, many several hundred feet thick, were counted between the Blue Limestone and the top of the Carboniferous. The region here under discussion is made up of a series of great

Jan 1, 1885

By Milton H. Ward

INTRODUCTION Historically, planning a mine involved the economic decision of whether to mine by open-pit methods or underground methods. The method selected was influenced by a number of factors, including size, tenor, and location of the deposit. If the project could not be justified by either underground or open-pit practices, it remained in fallow until economic conditions changed or technology advanced. Technology has advanced and the mining industry now has another option, that of in situ leaching. This method is on the threshold of becoming a commonly used alternative for production in many types of metal and mineral deposits. It will be utilized as the primary method for developing an ore body or as an adjunct to open-pit or underground operations. The following considers application of the technique to a deposit that had been partially exploited by open-pit methods. HISTORY The Big Mike Copper Mine is located approximately 30 miles south of Winnemucca, in Pershing County, Nevada. Interest in the property dates from the turn of the century, but little exploration was undertaken until the mid '60s. In 1967 Cerro Corporation acquired the property and initiated a major drilling effort. Ranchers Exploration obtained the property after this exploration program in late 1969 and confirmation drilling was undertaken. The deposit was delineated and it was determined that reserves amounted to about 100,000 tons of 10.0% massive copper sulfide ore and 700,000 tons of 2 .O% mixed oxide-sulfide ore. The ore body was a lenticular deposit, dipping at 50°. The massive sulfide mineralization was chalcocite and

Jan 1, 1974

By William Kent

More than twelve years were spent by Wöhler at the instance of the Prussian Government in experimenting upon the resistance of iron and steel to repeated stresses. The results of his experiments are expressed in what is known as Wöhler's law, which is given in the following words in Du Bois's translation of Weyrauch:* " Rupture may be caused not only by a steady load which exceeds the carrying strength, but also by repeated applications of stresses, none of which are equal to the carrying strength. The differences of these stresses are measures of the disturbance of continuity, in so far as by their increase the minimum stress which is still necessary for rupture diminishes." A practical illustration of the meaning of the first portion of this law may be given thus: If 50,000 pounds once applied will just break a bar of iron or steel, a stress very much less than 50,000 pounds will break it if sufficiently often repeated. This is fully confirmed by the experiments of Fairbairn and Spangenberg, as well as by those of Wöhler; and, as is remarked by Weyrauch, it may be considered as a long-known result of common experience. It partially accounts for what Mr. Holley has called the " intrinsically ridiculous factor of safety of six." Another "long-known result of experience"—although this has not, as the writer believes, been investigated by scientific experimenters—is the fact that rupture may be caused by a succession of shocks or impacts, none of which alone would be sufficient to cause it. Wrought iron will crystallize by repeated blows in service and become weaker than cast iron. Iron axles, the piston-rods of steamhammers, and other pieces of metal subject to continuously repeated shocks invariably break after a certain length of service. They have a "life" which is limited. Iron rods in bridges sometimes crystallize and break, although the rods in most of our iron bridges

Jan 1, 1880

It was a pleasure listening to this paper. Gary Works' problems were a lot more extensive than the trunnion bearing problems encountered at the Weirton Steel Division. In our two-vessel shop bearing failures are critical in that with a bearing failure on an operating vessel and the second vessel under rebuild, we are down until the vessel rebuild is completed or the bearing is repaired. The first bearing problem at Weirton occurred after we had been operating three years. The failure occurred during the 8th heat following "bum-in" of the vessel. Immediate steps were taken to change the damaged float bearing without an extensive search for the reason the bearing failed. Once the campaign was run out the bearings were inspected and found to be damaged. Field checks revealed that the bearing pedestals were not properly located and as a result the freedom of the float bearing was restricted. The trunnion pin end to end dimension had decreased due to distortion and deflection in the trunnion ring. These dimensions were within tolerances. The damage to our bearing was similar to that in the exhibits from U.S. Steel-Gary Works. Steps taken to correct what was found in the field checks were as follows: 1. The pedestals were relocated to center the bearings. 2. 4" diameter pins were installed to locate the housing in the pedestals. 3. The bearing pedestals were opened up to allow the bearing housing to move slightly in the pedestal. 4. Lubrication fittings for greasing between the bearing housing and the pedestal were installed.

Jan 1, 1972

By S. F. Bartram, G. A. Chase

COMPUTED X-ray diffraction powder patterns of YNi3, YNi5, and CbBe3 are available on request from either author.

Jan 1, 1968