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By Carl S. Westerberg

Coal preparation practice and trends follow, among other factors, production trends in any given area. Considering an area the size of a state, some broad predictions may be made after a review of the annual production records. As this paper is concerned with coal cleaning in Utah, data on its production record are pertinent. Table 1 shows the percentage relation of coal production in Utah to the national total as a single figure up to 1935 which includes all recorded production. From 1935 through 1947 these data are presented by years. It is evident from these data that the production of Utah coal is ascending. The reason for this trend is industrial growth in the West resulting in a population shift which accounts for more people than the normal increase would supply together with Utah's relatively fortunate geographical location and its abundance of good-quality coal. Utah is also hopeful of supplying more coal in the future for West Coast power generati0n.l

Jan 1, 1949

By Hans Lundberg, Basil T. Wilson, H. Steuart Scott

FOR the benefit of those readers who may not be in close touch with present practices in the geophysical prospecting for ore, brief reference will fiat be made to the advantages and shortcomings of the methods to be discussed. Magnetic and electric methods are generally accepted as the most useful for ore prospecting. By magnetic methods, magnetic intensities that are not normal may be recorded and outlined. From these can he located concentrations of such highly magnetic minerals as magnetite or pyrrhotite, which sometimes occur in such large masses that they are of economic value in themselves. More often. however, these magnetic min¬erals are associated with others, such as copper, zinc, lead, gold, and silver, which, if existing in sufficient concentration and quantity, may constitute valuable ore bodies. It is therefore only when pyrrhotite and magnetite are present in these bodies that the magnetic method can be used to indicate their presence.

Jan 1, 1945

By AIME AIME

THE fall meeting of the Petroleum Division, held at Tulsa, Okla., on Oct. 11 to 14, devoted two days to technical sessions and two to field excursions. A representative attendance of 250 to 300 engineers and operating officials engaged in oil production marked the sessions and paid close attention throughout to a notable series of highly technical papers. Restricted as the program was to consideration of production problems only, the time proved too short for discussion or even the presentation of the 20 papers submitted. Much informing and pertinent discussion none the less took place, and the sentiment was general to the effect that the meeting was one of the best ever held by the Division. The meetings were held in the auditorium of the Municipal building and local arrangements were well looked after by the Mid-Continent Section of the Institute and the Oil and Gas Association. The combination of the three organizations served to bring together engineers and operators most usefully. F. Julius Fohs, chairman of the Division, presided at the sessions on Monday. Tuesday morning John M. Lovejoy of the local section took over this responsibility in the absence of T. E. Swigart, who was detained in California. The afternoon session was presided over by A. G. Heggam of the Oil and Gas Association and the Tuesday evening banquet by W. C. Franklin of the same organization.

Jan 1, 1926

By James E. Little

(Wilkes-Barre Meeting, June, 1911.) OF the several extensive deposits of brown iron-ore in Cuba, including those of Mayari and Moa, that of Mayari was the first to be systematically explored, and was selected as the scene of the first operations in the development of this class of ore. Construction-work, begun in the spring of 1907, involved the building of 16 miles of standard-gauge railroad and two large double-track inclines, the installation of mining-machinery, a nodulizing-plant, power-plant, shops and shipping-facilities, and the dredging of an extensive basin for deep-draught vessels. Unusual weather-conditions delayed the completion of portions of this work so that the entire plant was not in operation until December, 1909. The ore in its natural state contains a very large percentage of water, which increases to some extent with the depth below the surface. Near the surface it is red in color, with somewhat granular structure. The color gradually changes with depth, finally reaching a bright yellow. The consistency also changes towards, the bottom to a clay-like, sticky mass. The relative proportion of red and yellow ore is quite variable; in some places the yellow reaches close to the surface, while in others the red extends almost to the underlying serpentine. Fig. 1 is a map showing the Mayari division of the Spanish-American Iron Co. The ore lies on an irregular plateau about 15 miles long and 5 miles wide at the widest point, entirely covered with pine trees and brush, which grow directly on the ore. The elevation at the northern extremity, which is approached by the railroad, is about 1,700 ft. above sea-level. At the southern end the general elevation is about 2,000 ft. Ore is removed by means of scraper-bucket excavators and steam-shovels, these machines loading into special standard-guage, side-dump steel cars of 100,000 lb. capacity. A short haul

Aug 1, 1911

By F. C. Stanford

THE work of an engineer is to direct natural forces so that they bring about the results that he wishes to secure. Heretofore he has concerned himself chiefly with physical forces and inanimate objects, until he has secured a truly marvelous degree of control over them. The great problem of the present age is to secure a like degree of knowledge and control of the human factor. Progress has already been made along this line, but, it is only a beginning. Wilhelm Ostwald says that scientific knowledge enables a man to be a true prophet; but it must be remembered that a good many people do not seem to be able to maintain a high average in prophecy. In short, the average of knowledge is not equal to the average needs of the present time, but continually fails to keep pace with it. It has been aptly said that the really essential need of the period is for more brains; if we only had sufficient knowledge and sagacity we could not only solve all difficulties, but prevent them from arising. This generalization holds good for an industrial organization. The most vital need of the management is for more brains. The logical course for an engineer in charge of an industrial organization is, therefore, to direct whatever forces may be at his command toward the development, training, and guiding of all the brains in his organization. This is easier said than clone, for it involves the carrying on toward two objectives, the maximum of productive work, and the development of the individuals who perform it. This is essentially like the rebuilding and enlarging of a plant, keeping it in full operation the while. On the other hand, if the aim is merely for maximum production from an organization, without offering opportunity for development, the final outcome will necessarily be like that f a plant that is driven at full capacity without stopping for repairs or improvements; it eventually becomes so run down that either a complete rebuilding is necessary or else it has to be abandoned.

Jan 2, 1918

By A. A. Brant

Mining men, quite as exploration minded as petroleum interests, are in the position where most of the exposed crustal portions of the earth have been examined, where the demand for metals is high and likely to continue so, and yet where, perhaps, the tools fail for the economic exploration of many of the possible mineral areas more deeply covered with drift, alluvium, and later formations. At the same time the incentive exists to create acceptable substitutes for many of the duties of metal. The problem of the economic exploration of possible mineral-bearing areas is hence a vital one. In oil exploration, the absence of surface or shallow occurrences and the high cost of test drilling has led to the intensive study of geophysical techniques. Hence the development of the seismic method with its high certainty factor and its adaptability to standardized procedure.

Jan 1, 1949

By Heinrich 0. Hofman

A T THE meeting of the Board of Directors on June 24, Prof. Heinrich O. Hofman was elected an honorary member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. Professor Hofman is best known to the world at large for his publications, and in this respect he is to this generation what Schnabel was to the previous one. The first edition of Professor Hofman's "Metallurgy of Lead and Desilverization of Base Bullion"; was published in 1893; the fifth edition in 1898. In 1913, he published his work on "General Metallurgy;" this was followed by "Metallurgy of Copper" in 1914, and a revised and enlarged edition of the "Metallurgy of Lead" in 1918. "Metallurgy of Zinc and Cadmium" is now in press. He also published, through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "An Outline of the Metallurgy of Iron and Steel" for students' use. Since the founding of "Mineral Industry" in 1892, he has been continuously the annual contributor on the metallurgy of lead, and all Institute members know that his contributions to the TRANSACTIONS have been liberal in the extreme. It is through this medium that the results of the extensive research work, which he has always carried on in connection with his work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have been published. Of the greatest importance are his papers dealing with the formation temperatures of slags, but many other metallurgical subjects have been covered.

Jan 1, 1921

By AIME

WILLIAM WALLACE MEIN, known to his intimates as "Will" or "Billy", is a mining engineer who has taken the fundamentals of successful mining--operating, engineering, and financial-and applied them to the founding of new industries. Born in Nevada City, Calif., in 1873, Will Mein grew up in an atmosphere of mining, and began to develop his sound judgment in a practical way before starting his formal technical education. As a young man he supplemented his early observations by helping his father, Captain "Tom" Mein, on mining work in California and Alaska. He then went with his father to the Rand, and after a period of milling experience as operator and shift boss he became, in 1894, manager of the chlorination of gold ores at the Robinson mine.

Jan 1, 1947

By JAMES A. VEASEY

SINCE the World War, excepting for a few brief periods of relief, the American petroleum industry has been obliged to meet its important economic responsibility to this nation hampered by the maladjustment that inevitably follows a marked and unwholesome over-production of its raw material, crude oil. Despite the warnings of the Federal Oil Conservation Board and the endeavors of many of the leaders in the business to stem the flow of oil from the wells of the country, the evil ,not only persists but, at the moment, seems more malignant than ever before. Unless the local and temporary restraints on drilling and production now in effect in California, Wyoming, Texas, and Oklahoma are continued, and, indeed, unless stricter and more comprehensive measures of the same sort are imposed and adhered to by the industry in those States, over-production in the enterprise during the current year will be more pronounced than in any other period in history.

Jan 1, 1929

By J. M. Mutmansky, Y. J. Wang, H. L. Hartman

Procedures for determining the operating point that results when a fan is connected to a mine and placed in operation have been a source of confusion for decades. A variety of techniques have been proposed, often to the detriment of the practicing ventilation engineer trying to apply the techniques to the many mine/fan matching problems encountered in the engineering of mine ventilation systems. This paper proposes some different assumptions and definitions that simplify the problems in determining the operating point. As a result, a set of procedures is provided for determining the operating point of a mine/fan system when the outlet areas of the mine and fan are known. To simplify the development of procedures for determining the operating point for a mine/fan combination, the authors suggest that the mine pressures be redefined and then used in such a manner that the conservation of energy is ensured. This provides the basis for the recommendation that the fan operating point be determined using the fan total pressure and the system total pressure characteristics. This procedure can be applied to fans in the blower, booster, and exhaust positions equally well, and to both single-fan and multiple-fan networks. Another advantage is that the method is applicable to fans with or without an evase.

Jan 1, 1986

By AIME AIME

NAPOLEON'S dictum that an Army travels on its stomach has not changed in this present war, but the things an Army's stomach calls for would be more than strange to Napoleon. Today one of the main articles of diet for the mechanized army is oil and gasoline, and the chief and most efficient source of 'apply overland is the pipe line. It was a flexible 4-in. pipe line that supplied the voracious appetite of tanks, trucks, jeeps, and planes across the North African desert. and it is the 1800-mile pipe line from Calcutta to Kunming, Yunnan Province in China, the longest in the world, that supplied oil and 100-octane gas for the trucks, tanks, Jeeps, and planes fighting on the Assam-Burma-China front in recent months. Completion of this approximately 1800-mile pipe line to China over rivers that had never been bridged, over hill that towered 9000 ft., and over swamps

Jan 1, 1945

By Hollis Peacock

THE Bingham area in the West Mountain mining district on the eastern slope of the Oquirrh range, some 28 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, has been the most consistent producer for the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company, production having been continuous, except for minor interruptions, since the organization of the United States Mining Co. in 1899. This production has come from fissures and mantos largely within limestone members aggregating something less than 10 per cent of a thick quartzite sequence of Pennsylvanian age which has been warped into an open syncline plunging northwesterly. Bedding on the easterly limb dips 10°-45° but steep-ens to 90° and even overturns on the westerly limb. Ore bodies cluster about the more northerly of two elongate interconnecting stocks of monzonite which have risen in an axial position within this syncline. Largely within the more northerly of these stocks is the low-grade copper ore body exploited in the Utah Copper open cut of the Kennecott Copper Corp. The values, in seams, minute fracture fillings, and disseminations of pyrite and silica, pervade not only the stock but adjacent sediments, and form a nebulous, sprawling mass which both mineralogically and geographically is the center of the district. The more southerly of the twin stocks appears to be comparatively inert and without obvious relation to mineralization. which

Jan 1, 1948

By A. K. Sinha

The market for thermal coal has recently been growing rapidly and it is projected to continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Both the national and international markets often demand high-Btu low-sulfur thermal coal in order to minimize the cost of utilization and meet the environmental restrictions. High quality thermal coal can be prepared to compete in the utility market by desulfurizing the high-Btu midwestern coal and blending it with low-sulfur western coal which is usually low in Btu content. The methods that can be used for optimizing the coal preparation plant operating parameters for physically desulfurizing coal are presented.

Jan 1, 1985

By S. R. du Toit, W. J. Oberholzer, M. I. Watson, D. G. Krige

The objectives, essential features and implications of the 'random' and 'deterministic' types of ore value surfaces are examined as well as the basic requirements for a satisfactory prediction model. The 'random' method used on the South African gold mines and based on observed auto-covariance patterns is briefly discussed as well as its justification in preference to the 'deterministic' approach. Various mathematical models for auto-covariance patterns are examined for the one-dimensional case. It is also shown that these patterns as estimated for ore values in certain mines agree closely for various sizes of ore unit. In two case studies the variations in gold, uranium and ore thickness covariance patterns are examined and compared with certain geological features established independently from sedimentological studies.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. V. W. REYNDERS

NOT only is your toastmaster silver-tongued in his references 'to myself, but he is also quite in the habit of "saying it in silver." I have analyzed with some care his statistics of the world's silver production, which have been distributed here along with the menu, although frankly from the point of view of most of us, the distribution rather than the production of silver is of immediate concern. Unlike the performers by whom we have been entertained between courses, the rest of us on the program will have to do without costume or musical accompaniment, which as my friend Rains can testify puts an artist under severe strain. I am entitled by right of office and of precedent to receive your attention for ten minutes. The Governor, who appears on the program as a speaker; however, has asked me for five minutes of my time, and Senator Thomas has insinuated that he would appreciate one-half of the remainder, wherefore, I must ask your close attention to the very brief remarks that I am able to make under such restricted circumstances. To begin with, I want you to believe that I am approaching the task set by your toastmaster with misgivings. In looking over the Institute records relating to the Salt Lake City meeting of 1914 for some precedent as to what I ought to say, I found but one reference-and that of the following indefinite char¬acter-" and Friday night there was a hilarious banquet to 350 members and guests."

Jan 1, 1925

By AIME AIME

DURING my senior year at college a professor said to his class that a student who failed to obtain a passing grade in that certain subject could not graduate with his class and that his diploma would be withheld until the failure had been removed. In that way for four years a diploma had been made to appear to us as the objective in attending college. We grew up to think that a diploma was the means of providing employment; consequently, a diploma could not be jeopardized and, heeding the professor's remarks, we resolved to put forth special efforts and make good. During one of our class periods this same professor digressed briefly from his prepared lecture in metallurgy and advised the boys to join a national technical society. He spoke with earnestness and sincerity. After class we students discussed those remarks. We concluded that the professor had not convinced us. We were already members of technical societies at school and saw no need of joining another. In fact, even up to that moment a society had never indicated to any of us that joining it had any relation to landing a job, and we were fully aware that joining another society meant paying out more money, for fees and dues, which money we then needed to buy food, clothes, and perhaps a new slide rule. Furthermore, we knew that joining a society was not part of the curriculum and, therefore, the diploma could not be withheld if we did not follow the advice. Our conclusion was that we would not join but would concentrate on our work that assured getting our diplomas.

Jan 1, 1936

By H. J. Ramey

Conventional calculation of total system isothermal compressibility for a system containing a free gas phase involves, among other things, evaluation of the change of oil and gas formation volume factors and the gas in solution with pressure. Preferably, this information should be obtained from laboratory measurements made with particular oils and gases. Often, experimental measurements are not available. In this case, it is necessary to obtain pressure-volume-temperature relationships from general correlations such as those of Standing' for California oils. In order to speed estimates of compressibility, generalized plots have been prepared of the change of both oil formation volume factors and gas in solution, with pressure from Standing's correlations. A generalized plot for estimating the change in the two-phase (oil and gas) formation volume factor with pressure is also presented. Usually, the effect of gas dissolved in reservoir water upon the total system compressibility is neglected for gas saturated systems, due to the low solubility of gas in water. Results of this study indicate that the increase in total system compressibility caused by solution of gas in water is often as large as the compressibility of wafer, and can be magnitudes larger for low pressure systems. Generalized results for estimating the change of gas in solution in water with pressure are presented in tabular and graphical form. INTRODUCTION During the past decade, pressure build-up and drawdown techniques have gained an important place in reservoir engineering. Build-up and drawdown analyses are only two special applications of the broad field of transient fluid-flow theory. All solutions of transient fluid-flow problems contain a parameter called the total system isothermal compressibility. This property of fluids and porous rock is a measure of the change in volume of the fluid content of porous rock with a change in pressure, and it may vary considerably with pressure. Evaluation of total system isothermal compressibility is not difficult, but it is tedious and time-consuming. Often compressibilities are estimated roughly, or transient flow methods are neglected completely. The benefits of using accurate system compressibility in properly-executed build-up or drawdown analyses are: 1. Better planning of pressure build-ups may be achieved to avoid unnecessary loss of revenue due to excessively long shut-in periods, or to shut-in periods too short to yield useable data. 2. Better and more reliable estimates of static formation pressures for reserves estimates and rate performance estimates. 3. Reliable information for evaluation of well completion effectiveness, and planning and interpretation of well stimulation efforts. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the nature of the total system isothermal compressibility, and to present useful methods for estimation of compressibility, particularly for systems containing a gas phase. DEVELOPMENT Numerous publications have presented solutions to transient single-phase flow of slightly compressible fluids, stressing pressure build-up applications. In transient flow, a compressibility* term arises to permit volume content of fluids in porous rock to change as pressure changes. The basic nature of the compressibility term is usually taken for granted. Problems arise in practical applications of transient fluid theory because most published works consider only one flowing fluid—in an ideal porous system containing only one fluid. In 1956, Perrine2 presented an intuitive extension of single-phase flow pressure build-up methods to multiphase flow conditions. Later, Martin- established conditions under which Perrine's multiphase build-up method had a theoretical foundation. Perrine has shown that improper use of single-phase build-up analysis in certain multiphase flow situations can lead to gross errors in estimated static formation pressure, permeability and well condition. It is likely that, much pressure build-up data for oil wells should be analyzed on the basis of multiphase flow. For both single-phase and multiphase build-up analysis, the isothermal compressibility term in dimensionless time groups often should be interpreted as the total system compressibility. All real reservoirs contain one or more compressible fluid phases. In addition, rock compressibility can contribute in an important way to the total system compressibility. The proper total system compressibility expression may contain terms for compressibility of oil, gas, water, reservoir rock and terms for the change of solubility of gas in liquid phases.

Jan 1, 1965

By C. D. Hall

This paper may be divided into two main parts: (1) analysis and data to show that Eq. 6 adequately correlates the authors' experimental data, and (2) the assertion that Eq. 20 "should permit scale-up with data taken from one pipe diameter for Newtonian, inelastic non-Newtonian, and viscoelastic fluids, such as dilute polymer fracturing fluids, which produce considerable pressure reductions." The authors might well recommend that this broad grouping of fluid types could be correlated by using Eq. 6 (requiring data from at least two pipe diameters). On the other hand, Eq. 20 is only shown to be adequate for conditions within the range of the present data set. Specifically, predictions by Eq. 20 for diameter scale-up to casing sizes would give larger deviations than implied in Table 2, and scale-up for some other fluids that give large drag reduction could be grossly in error. The description of a class of fluids "which produce a diameter family of straight parallel lines on a log (d?p/4L) vs log (8 v/d) plot. . ." defines a necessary condition for using Eq. 6; i.e., that s shall be constant for each fluid. The proposal that Eq. 20 is applicable to turbulent flow of such fluids is equivalent to saying that the spacing of these parallel lines, with A being constant, will be found to correspond to m = -1.20 for all such fluids. Table 1 shows the values of m derived from data on 16 non-Newtonian fluids. The key statement of this paper is that the diameter exponents "do not vary significantly from . . . -1.20." In statistical terms, this says that the m value for each fluid, which was obtained from all the measurements made on that fluid. has not been shown to be different from the arithmetic mean of the m values for the 16 fluids tested. This implies that the group mean, -1.20, is a more reliable value to use for an individual fluid than is the m value derived from the data on that fluid alone. No statistical test is described to support the key statement that the diameter exponents do not vary significantly from -1.20. Such a test would have to take into account that each individual m value is shown to correlate the pressure gradients for its fluid, with only about 3 percent standard deviation over the diameter range covered. That is, the m value is not the result of a single independent measurement. Thus, it would not be sufficient, or valid, to compare the deviation of one of the m values with the variance of the 16 values of m about their mean. An alternative interpretation of the key statement is that the diameter exponents do not vary appreciably from -1.20; i.e., that using -1.20 does not cause serious inaccuracy. Table 2 seems to be offered in support of such an assertion. However, such a statistical treatment (1) is unnecessary and (2) cannot lead to any valid scale-up generalization. The amount of error introduced by using a 1"wrong" value of diameter exponent — i.e., -1.20 instead of m — is determined by Eq. 6. The ratio of the pressures predicted by Eqs. 6 and 20 for scale-up from ds in small pipe to d, in casing is The pressure for 30-percent calcium carbonate slurry (m = -1.112) in 10-in. ID pipe would be predicted 30 percent higher by Eq. 6 than by Eq. 20, if based on tests in 0.5-in. ID pipe. The data set tested in Table 2 represents only a limited sample of pipe diameters (ratio of about 4:l) out of the population of diameters that would

Jan 1, 1970

By C. H. White

Discussion of a Paper by Mr. C. H. White, read at the Atlantic City Meeting, February, 1904. (Annual Meeting, February, 1005.) ARTHUR JARMAN, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (communication to the Secretary*) : All designs for modern metal¬lurgical and chemical laboratories should provide each student's desk with a hood or cupboard for the removal of fumes, but I doubt the advisability of placing air-baths and similar apparatus close to the hot plate. It seems to me that unless the draft be exceptionally strong the fumes from ordinary wet assay work will corrode the iron-work of the fittings, in which case the baths would have to be removed to a general desk in order to lighten the work of the laboratory attendant. Since the laboratory described by Mr. White has been in use for two years, I should like to ask if any inconvenience has resulted from this corrosion. If not, it is certainly an important improvement to have the air-baths and similar apparatus placed -on the student's desk. The hoods described by Mr. White are supplied with a good draft by means of a fan, which gives them a great advantage over those at the metallurgical laboratory at the University, Sydney, in that no doors to the hood are needed. Each hood in the laboratory at Sydney is connected by a glazed earthenware drain-pipe with a vertical flue, 20 ft. high, having a lighted gas jet at the bottom to assist the draft. Although the draft is good, fumes of sulphuric acid cannot be drawn o$ unless the doors of the hood are lowered more than half-way. In my opinion, a fan should be used for the purpose of creating the draft, and glazed drain-tile should invariably be used for the flues because no other material possesses the same advantages. I know of a recent instance in which a laboratory containing

Mar 1, 1905

By T. W. Guy

The increased moisture due to water-spraying for coal dust control is of interest even for mines from which the coal is to be wet-washed before screening, because in many cases wet coal dust materially de- 20-mesh X 0 sizes as pct ROM average ............................... 6.3 pct Range 2.3 to 9.5 pct 20-mesh X 0 sizes as pct 3/8 X 0 sizes average........'...................... 18.9 pct Range 12.7. to 23.9 pct creases the loading efficiency of men and equipment at the faces. It also causes a serious increase in the normal wear and deterioration of all equipment with which it comes in contact. It is important to the consumer if it increases his as-received moisture. No attempt will be made in this paper to cover the entire subject of water-spraying of coal for dust control. It will be confined to discussion and data on (I) percentages of dust in bituminous coals, (2) moisture increases due to spraying for dust control in mines or plants by methods which have proved satisfactory for periods of one to five or more years, and (3) a few suggestions for research. Size and Percentage or Coal Dust The U. S. Bureau of Mines1 classifies as coal dust all bituminous coal passing a 20-mesh sieve (0.0328 in. square opening). The percentage of such dust to be found in ROM coal, of course, varies widely with the characteristics of the seam, and with the methods used in the mining and in the preparation of the coal. ROM screen analyses of 12 U. S. coals selected at random from personal files given in Table I show: A few other screen analyses examined indicating 40 pct or more of 20-mesh X 0 dust in 3/8 in. X 0 sizes were not included because of uncertainty that they were representative. The number of results in Table I is not sufficient to give a reliable estimate of the average, or of the range to be expected, but it indicates that in every case the coal dust is a relatively large percentage of the total ROM coal, and, of course, a progressively larger percentage of resultants as the larger sizes are separated for marketing.

Jan 1, 1949