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NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period Oct. 10, 1918, to Nov. 9, 1918. ALLER, FRANK D., Copper Met., Ore Purchaser, American Smelt. & Refin. Co., 120 Broadway, New York, N. Y. AVÈRY, PAUL W., Met. Engr., Esperanza Min. Co., Apt. 8, El Oro, Mex., Mexico. BAKER, CHARLES A., Leaching Foreman, Copper Leaching Plant, Anaconda Copper Min. Co., Anaconda, Mont: BREED, CHARLES H Met., Crown Cork & Seal Co., Baltimore, Md. CHASE, R. L., Min. Engr 102S First National Bank Bldg., Denver, Colo. EICHELBERGER, FRANK, Vice-pres. and Engr., New York-Montana Testing & Engrg. Co., Helena, Mont. GESTER, G. C., Geol., Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 616 Standard Oil Bldg., San Francisco, Cal. GRIFFIN, JOHN, Mgr., Anthracite Territory, The Dorr Co., Board of Trade Bldg., Scranton, Pa. HAYNES, ELWOOD Pres., The Haynes Stellite Co., Kokomo, Indiana. Hsi, T. C:.. Sec'y, Tayeh Iron & Steel Works, Tayeh, China. HYDE, AUSTIN T., Mgr., Keokuk Plant, River Smelt. & Refin. Co., 607 Franklin St., Keokuk, Iowa.

Jan 12, 1918

Jan 6, 1976

By Herbert Kynor

BY THE term mechanical mining is meant that operation, or series of operations, that replace the hand methods of mining. The first undercutting machine to operate in anthracite was placed in the Butler mine of the Hillside Coal & Iron Co., Dec. 23, 1910, by the Sullivan Machinery Co. The first Jackhamer used in the anthracite field was installed at the Wadesville colliery of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. in Oct., 1912, by the Ingersoll-Rand Co. The first longwall conveyor was installed at the Dodge mines of the Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western Coal Co. in March, 1912. The first mechanical scraper equipment was installed in the Seneca mines of the Lehigh Valley Coal Co. in January, 1914. The amount of anthracite mechanically mined since the first mining machine was installed in 1910a is as follows: PENNA. COAL Co. D. L. & W., SCRANTON TEMPLE HUDSON YEAR AND HILL- TONS COAL Co., COAL CO., COAL CO., TOTAL. SIDE COAL TONS TONS TONS TONS AND IRON, TONS 1920 372,737b 367,000d 322,892 74,127 371,878 1,508,634 1919 950,786 no record 306,616 81,575 319,356 1,658,333c 1918 917,778 744,966 24,880 44,756 288,781 2,021,161 1917 757,940 838,800 5,050 57,279 164,180 1,823,249 1916 286,780 860,663 13,960 114,173 101,475 1,377,051 1915 428,819 592,169 8,253 1,029,241 1914 219,188 153,896 373,084 1913 171,505 171,505 1912 124,267 124,267 1911 40,319 40,319 1910 1,184 1,184 a. A slightly greater production than shown was obtained as the tonnage from individual operations is not shown. b. Decrease due to strike conditions in 1920. c. Does not include tonnage of D., L., & W. d. D., L., & W. decrease in 1920 due to having less mining machines in operation. There are about 150 undercutters in use in the anthracite region, 80 mechanical loaders, and 10 longwall conveyors.

Jan 9, 1921

By Robert Lewis

THE Utah coal field to which the name Book Cliffs is applied runs in a northeast direction from Mt. Hilgarde, in Sevier county, along the escarpment of the Wasatch Plateau to the vicinity of Castle Gate, thence southeast along the Book cliffs, which lie to the north of and generally within sight of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad,. to the Colorado line. The Book cliffs form the southern escarpment of the West and East Travaputs Plateaus, and vary in height from 2,000 to 6,000 ft. At the base of the Wasatch and Book Cliffs escarpments is a broad plain known as Castle valley. The coal beds outcropping in the escarpments along this valley are worked on the largest scale of any in the State, and this particular area is known locally as the Castle Valley coal field. Geology The Book cliffs are capped by the Tertiary-Eocene-formation, consisting of varicolored shales; buff sandstone, conglomerate, and subordinate thin beds of limestone. Different sections show diverse stratigraphy. This is mainly the Wasatch formation, and lies unconformably upon the rocks of the Upper Cretaceous. Fig. 1 is a generalized section of the rocks of the. Book Cliffs field. The Mesaverde formation contains the cliff-making rocks of the Book cliffs, and is composed of massive sandstone interbedded with sandy shales and beds of coal and carbonaceous shale. The sandstone has greater resistance to erosion and the formation is characterized by escarpment ledges and cliffs. The shale is commonly sandy and is drab in color, but where it is associated with the coal it is usually carbonaceous. The sandstone is generally buff, though occasionally it is white, and in places red. The bedding ranges from thin to massive. In the lower part. of the formation the sandstone is red in

Jan 7, 1914

By F. P. Haver, M. M. Wong

When a mixture of chalcopyrite concentrate and lime is heated in air, the following reaction takes place: 2CuFeS2 + 4Ca (OH)2 + 8 ½ 02 ; 2Cu0 + Fe203 + 4CaS04 + 4H20. Ca (OH)2 is the only common reagent that will adequately control SO2 evolution in roasting. Other additives tried, including CaO, CaCO3, Na2CO3, NaOH, MgO, Mg (OH)2, and MgCO3, were not effective. All reacted with sulfur, but not to the extent that will be required to meet the new control regulations for sulfur oxide emissions. For example: when the concentrate was heated with the theoretical amount of limestone (CaCO3), about 55% of the sulfur was retained in the calcine; whereas use of the stoichiometric amount of Ca (OH), converted approximately 99% of the sulfur to CaSO1. In most of the experiments, Ca(OH)2 was formed by adding CaO to concentrates containing enough water to simulate filter cake from flotation circuit. This eliminated the need for drying the concentrate and utilized the heat of hydration of CaO.

Jan 6, 1972

By E. A. Anderson, M. L. Fuller

The copper-zinc phase equilibrium diagram has been the subject of many investigations. Until recently, however, the boundary of the terminal solid solution of copper in zinc (eta) has not been thoroughly investigated. This paper reports determinations of the solid solubility of copper in zinc at temperatures from 100' to 400' C., the course of the liquidus and solidus for the eta solid solution and determinations of the peritectic temperature and peritectic point for the reaction between epsilon and the melt to form eta. The liquidus of the eta phase was determined by thermal analysis and the solidus by the microscopical examination of specimens quenched from temperatures above and below the solidus. The temperature of the peritectic horizontal was obtained by thermal analysis and the composition at the peritectic point was determined by extrapolation of the solid solubility boundary of the eta phase to the peritectic horizontal. The solid solubility boundary of the eta solid solution was investigated very carefully. Particular care was used to achieve equilibrium in the alloys at each temperature selected. The X-ray, electrical conductivity and microscopical methods mere used in determining the solid solubility limits. The X-ray method measures the changes in the solvent lattice with increasing solute content and in this manner locates the composition of the alloy at which no further change in the solvent lattice takes place, the limit of solid solubility. The method of electrical conductivity measures the conductivity of the alloys of a graded series of compositions, whereby the solubility limit is indicated by a discontinuity in the conductivity-composition relationship. The microscopical method distinguishes, by direct inspection, between the homogeneous solid solution alloys and those having a secondary constituent in addition to the solid solution phase, and thus indicates from the examination of a series of alloys the solid solubility limit.

Jan 1, 1934

By D. F. Hewett

ALTHOUGH most persons will agree that an individual or a nation can profit from the experience of other individuals or nations, there is always room for debate over the degree of similarity of their past and present conditions and of their future problems. Noting the increasing interest that Americans are showing in our mineral problems, I have felt that we could profit from reviews of the experiences in mineral exploitation acquired by the industrial nations of Europe. Whether we can learn much from Europe's experience in exploiting such minerals as petroleum may be debatable, but certainly, with a record of metal production extending back nearly 3000 years, Europe should hold much of value for America. A trip to Europe in 1926 permitted me to visit 28 mining districts, of which about half are now or have been in times past outstanding sources of several metals. The districts range from England to Greece and from Spain to Poland. To summarize briefly my impressions of these mining districts, as well as such reactions to the thought and life of Europe as so short a visit permits, I shall only venture the opinion that Americans can review with great profit the ideas and actions of Europeans, with regard not only to the production of metals but to many expressions of life. I believe that America has made and is making new contributions to the art of living, as well as to the arts of mining and metallurgy, but in so far as Europe is and has been a laboratory of economic, social and political experiments, the results she has attained deserve the thoughtful attention of America. I have come to believe that many of the problems that harass Europe lie in our path not far ahead. I have therefore hoped that a review of metal production in Europe in the light of its geologic, economic and political background may -serve to clear our vision with regard to our own metal production.

Jan 1, 1929

By W. Wanjokow, H. O. Hofman

In the metallurgical treatment of most metallic sulphides it is usually necessary to carry on a roasting-operation. In some cases the raw ore will have to be roasted; in others the intermediary product, matte, produced in smelting the ore; again, both ore and matte may have to be subjected to oxidation at elevated temperatures. Most metallic sulphides, when given an oxidizing-roast, pass through the state of sulphate before they are converted into oxides. All metallic sulphates are completely decomposed by heat, with the exception of those of lead and bismuth, but the temperatures at which decompositions take place vary with the metals. Some metallic sulphates are converted directly into oxides, others first form basic salts. Alkali-earth sulphates show a behavior similar to that of metallic sulphates, while alkali sulphates do not part with their sulphur trioxide even at elevated roasting-temperatures. The older data on the decomposition of metallic sulphates by heat are only approximations. Thus Kerl' gives the order in which metallic sulphates are decomposed with increasing temperatures as (Ag2, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni, Co, Mn, Pb) SO,. More recent statenlents give definite temperatures and modify the formerly accepted order of decomposition. But the temperatures given by various observers do not agree. The reasons for this are to be found mainly in the method and manner of carrying out experiments. Four methods have been used: 1. Heating in an evacuated tube; 2, heating in a tube closed at one end, without air-cur-

Jan 1, 1913

By T. Egleston

ALTHOUGH the success of metallurgical operations depends so largely on the possibility of finding proper refractory materials, which enter so prominently into the cost of their operations, it can hardly be said that our knowledge of them is in a very satisfactory condition, or even that we know very much about them, beyond a few facts which have been gathered through their use. Experience, as a general thing, is an excellent master, but the requirements of * This article was written at the suggestion of the Committee of the Institute on Refractory Materials, with a view of calling attention to the anomalies and difficulties of the subject. It was hoped that its discussion would eventually lead to the appointment of a Commission, by the great metallurgical interests of the United States, to investigate the whole subject, since it is believed that a better and cheaper artificial product can be made than any now in use, and that many other important incidental results would be accomplished by such an investigation.

Jan 1, 1876

By Stuart S. Forbes

Changes and additions made to the Canadian Copper Refiners Ltd. electrolytic refinery between 1949 and 1955 are reviewed. The effect of high current density on current efficiency and section work is discussed. OPERATING and physical changes which have been made to the electrolytic tank house of Canadian Copper Refiners Ltd. suggest a review of present conditions. Previous papers1 a have described the general arrangement. Since then, expansion, closer anode spacing, and higher current densities have increased annual cathode capacity from 112,000 to 182,000 tons. A recent extension to the tank house, begun in the spring of 1954 and completed in August 1955, was undertaken to handle the monthly production of about 3,000 tons of anodes from Gasp6 Copper Mines. The anticipation of these additional receipts and large stocks of unrefined copper caused by the increase in custom smelting at Noranda made it necessary to increase production without immediately available additional cell capacity. Accordingly, from December 1954 through March 1955, the tank house was operated successfully at a current density of 24.0 amp per sq ft. Again, as of September 1955, one of the two tank house circuits is being operated at this high density. Although other refineries may operate at current densities higher than 24 amp per sq ft, none is doing so with anodes which contain silver and gold content as high as those being refined at Canadian Copper Refiners Ltd. General Arrangement The original building consisted of two parallel bays, each 660 ft long and 60 ft wide, with a 24 ft pump bay extending along the west side of the building. A previous expansion, completed in 1939, was to the west of the original building and consisted of two 60 ft parallel bays 240 ft long. The length of these two bays was extended in 1954 to 540 ft, adding one stripper and 12 commercial sections to No. 2 electrical circuit. Space is still available for an additional six commercial sections and one stripper section. Construction on these seven sections started in September 1955, and will be completed early in 1956. The tank house capacity will then be 206,000 tons of cathodes per year. In the two tank houses there is a total of 900 cells distributed as follows—commercial, 468; stripper, 36; total, 504 in the No. 1 tank house (No. 1 circuit): commercial, 360; stripper, 36; total, 396 in the No. 2 tank house (No. 2 circuit). Section arrangement consists of nine cells to a tier and two tiers or 18 cells to a section. Anodes, weighing 620 lb each, are cast with a Baltimore groove and are refined by the multiple system. Solution enters each cell through a bottom inlet at one end and overflows at the top of the opposite end. Rate of solution flow through the cells is controlled by valves at each section to 4.5 gpm. Electrical power to the tank house is now provided by nine 675 kw motor generator sets. Each set consists of a 135-12 v 5000 amp dc generator, driven by a 980 hp 2300 v synchronous motor. When No. 1 circuit is operated at 22,000 amp, five sets, at 4400 amp each, are connected in parallel. As the maximum allowable current on No. 2 electrical circuit has recently been set at 18,000 amp, only four sets are connected in parallel on No. 2 circuit. A tenth set, now being installed, will be reserved as a spare, for use in either circuit as required. Recent Changes In 1949, the annual capacity of the tank house was increased from 112,000 to 132,000 tons by closing the

Jan 1, 1957

By John Norton

THE tremendous increase in the use of metals that have been prepared by the various cold-working processes during recent years has greatly stimulated the investigation of problems concerned with the fundamental nature of these processes. It has been observed in practice that different methods of bringing about the same dimension changes in a sample result in a rather wide range of properties. Cold working reduces the ductility of a metal, or what is perhaps more nearly correct, its "working capacity," and naturally the manufacturer wishes to produce an article that has as large a working capacity as possible, and to produce it with the smallest number of operations, It has also been known for some time that cold deformation produces a parallel alignment of the crystal grains of a metal, and that the type of this preferred orientation depends to some extent at least upon particular processes employed in the deformation. The present investigation has for its purpose the study of the relations between the various factors of a cold-working process and the preferred orientation of the metal crystals resulting from this deformation. The work is chiefly confined to a study of cold-drawn seamless tubing.

Jan 1, 1932

By Frederick N. Rhines, Robert F. Mehl

IT has been shown elsewhere1 that the data on the rates of diffusion in solid metals are fragmentary and in many cases unacceptable. As a result, relatively little is known concerning the factors determining rates of diffusion and the variations in these rates with temperature. The first form of Fick's law (equation 1 below), ‡ in which the diffusion coefficient D is assumed invariant with composition, has been recognized for many years as only an approximation. The differential equation representing the second form of Fick's law (equation 4 below) has only recently been integrated by Matano,2 and unfortunately only in cases where a full diffusion-penetration curve (concentration-distance curve) has been obtained can the Matano solution be applied. The proper analysis of diffusion data is thus confined to the data of Grube and Zedele and of Zedele.§ These data are essentially for one temperature alone and do not furnish any information on the variation of the activation heat of diffusion, Q, with concentration: no information exists on the variation of Q with concentration within a singles olid solution field. 11 Much of the argument concerning the properties of metals that determine D and Q has been drawn from data in which variations of the quantities with concentration are unknown, for these data have been taken from experiments that could not furnish this information. Speculation concerning the properties of metals that may be effective in determining D and Q on the basis of data in which the chosen D and Q values are averages over wide concentration ranges of values at particular concentrations, ranges often of 100 per cent, is likely not to be fruitful.

Jan 1, 1938

By V. K. Zworykin

THROUGHOUT its development the science of electronics, like so many other branches of science and industry, has been indebted to the metallurgist. Metallurgy has provided the electronic engineer with conductors to furnish passage for electrons outside of his evacuated tubes; it. has developed tungsten and tantalum wires for emitting electrons and various refractory metals and alloys suitable for electrodes, which receive them and guide them within the tube; finally it has supplied ferromagnetic materials both for shielding electronic apparatus from magnetic fields and for forming highly concentrated fields for deflecting electron. Today I hope to show you that electronics has not been altogether ungrateful for this assistance. More specifically, I wish to indicate the role that the electron microscope, a relatively recent product of electronic engineering, is playing even now in the study of metals. Every metallographer is aware that his standard metallographic microscope will not reveal structural detail involving separations smaller than a certain fraction -at the very best a tenth-of a micron. This limitation, he knows, is a consequence of the fact that the wave length of the light employed for forming the image has this order of magnitude. It is, thus, a property of all light microscopes. To overcome it, a different imaging medium must be employed. The existence of such a medium became evident when it was demonstrated' that electrons were affected by magnetic and electric fields with axial symmetry just as light is affected by glass lenses; these fields, or "electron lenses," curve the paths of electrons reaching them from an object located on the axis of symmetry in such a manner that, at some distance from the lens, a true image of the object is formed, Furthermore, although a wave length may be ascribed to electron beams just as to light, this wave length is much shorter; for electrons accelerated through a difference of potential of 50 kilovolts, the wave length is only about one hundred-thousandth of that of visible light: Actually, the electron microscopes of today resolve detail one hundred times as fine as light microscopes; if the maximum useful magnification of the latter is taken to be a thousand, that of electron microscopes is one hundred thousand. THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE Since electrons are readily scattered and absorbed by matter, specimens to be observed in the electron microscope must be prepared to be less than one micron in thickness; furthermore, the interior of the microscope must be carefully evacuated to prevent collisions between the electrons and the molecules of the air. Finally, as already mentioned, the lenses are formed by axially symmetric magnetic or electric fields, and not by any material medium such as glass. Apart from these basic differences, the electron microscope closely

Jan 1, 1943

By C. M. Loeb, T. E. Norman

The use of ball, rod and tube mills for grinding ore, cement and other materials has grown so rapidly during the past forty years that the world's annual consumption of ferrous grinding media for these mills is now estimated to be between one half million and one million tons per year. Ferrous grinding balls constitute the major portion of this tonnage. Obviously they represent suficient value to justify thorough studies of the factors governing their performance. The selection of grinding balls is governed principally by: I. Quality (wear resistance, impact resistance, soundness, and the like). 2. Sources of supply and delivered cost. 3. Grinding characteristics or efficiency in the ball mill. This paper deals principally with the quality of ferrous grinding balls. In the study of these factors certain data relative to the fundamental nature of ball wear in ball mills have been obtained. These data are also presented and discussed briefly. The Development of a Suitable Wear Test A study of the fundamental factors governing the quality of grinding balls has been hampered seriously by the fact that a competent test has, in the past, involvetd the purchase of several hundred tons of halls of a specific type which were then run in one or more ball mills for a period ranging from several months' to several years' duration. Often, during the period of test, it became necessary to change operating conditions or the character of the ore fed to the test mill with the result that the rate of ball consumption changed and the test figures became of little value. Under such circumstances, progress in the development of better grinding balls, has been necessarily slow. Economic factors and variations in the quality of balls produced by different sources of supply generally make it necessary for each mill operator to determine for himself the most suitable type of balls for his mills. In our own ball mill grinding operations at Climax, Colo., we were faced with this problem. After we had run a few large scale wear tests at considerable expense we decided to investigate the possibilities of a small scale wear test which would be capable of testing numerous types of balls within a relatively short time. The most important requirement of any test is, of course, that it give results which can be used to predict accurately the wear in full scale operations. It was known that Ellis and his associates1'2 had developed a method of testing grinding balls by small scale tests run at the Ontario Research Foundation. Ellis' method of testing was used as a starting point in our investigations. In the course of our tests a number of modifications of the original method were found to be desirable so that, by an evolutionary procedure, a method of small scale

Jan 1, 1949

By C. M. Loeb, T. E. Norman

The use of ball, rod and tube mills for grinding ore, cement and other materials has grown so rapidly during the past forty years that the world's annual consumption of ferrous grinding media for these mills is now estimated to be between one half million and one million tons per year. Ferrous grinding balls constitute the major portion of this tonnage. Obviously they represent suficient value to justify thorough studies of the factors governing their performance. The selection of grinding balls is governed principally by: I. Quality (wear resistance, impact resistance, soundness, and the like). 2. Sources of supply and delivered cost. 3. Grinding characteristics or efficiency in the ball mill. This paper deals principally with the quality of ferrous grinding balls. In the study of these factors certain data relative to the fundamental nature of ball wear in ball mills have been obtained. These data are also presented and discussed briefly. The Development of a Suitable Wear Test A study of the fundamental factors governing the quality of grinding balls has been hampered seriously by the fact that a competent test has, in the past, involvetd the purchase of several hundred tons of halls of a specific type which were then run in one or more ball mills for a period ranging from several months' to several years' duration. Often, during the period of test, it became necessary to change operating conditions or the character of the ore fed to the test mill with the result that the rate of ball consumption changed and the test figures became of little value. Under such circumstances, progress in the development of better grinding balls, has been necessarily slow. Economic factors and variations in the quality of balls produced by different sources of supply generally make it necessary for each mill operator to determine for himself the most suitable type of balls for his mills. In our own ball mill grinding operations at Climax, Colo., we were faced with this problem. After we had run a few large scale wear tests at considerable expense we decided to investigate the possibilities of a small scale wear test which would be capable of testing numerous types of balls within a relatively short time. The most important requirement of any test is, of course, that it give results which can be used to predict accurately the wear in full scale operations. It was known that Ellis and his associates1'2 had developed a method of testing grinding balls by small scale tests run at the Ontario Research Foundation. Ellis' method of testing was used as a starting point in our investigations. In the course of our tests a number of modifications of the original method were found to be desirable so that, by an evolutionary procedure, a method of small scale

Jan 1, 1949

By H. C. Schultz, F. K. Middleton Hunter

Certain local conditions were known to govern in large measure the successful adaptation of liquid-oxygen explosives to the large-scale blasting at Chuquicamata. The wide variation in hardness of the rock at this mine makes necessary the use of several types of explosives. A locally manufactured, relatively cheap black powder is used in blasting the softer waste and capping material, where a thorough displacement breaks the ground sufficiently. Before the introduction of L. 0. X., an ammonia dynamite of about 65 per cent. strength was being used exclusively in the harder underlying orebody, where a strong disruptive as well as a displacement effect is required for breaking the ore. The L. 0. X., as developed for quarry work in the United States, has a practically pure carbon cartridge material, and the explosive has an extremely high rate of detonation, which should therefore cause it to develop usefully its full disruptive effect in hard ground. The individual blasts at Chuquicamata arc large, black-powder shots which dislodge masses of rock averaging 250,000 tons each, and dynamite shots which dislodge masses averaging 80,000 tons each. It was desirable, therefore, to attempt to displace with L. 0. X. the faster, higher-cost ammonia dynamite used in the smaller blasts. It was not considered practical to attempt to displace the low-cost black powder with 1,. 0. X., as estimated costs showed no probable saving if this were accomplished. Since it was desirable to continue shooting relatively large blasts for effective operation, it was recognized that larger storage facilities than had been in use would be needed for the liquid oxygen. Because of the difficulty of transporting and discharging large storage containers of efficient design, the better plan appeared to be storage and discharge of the liquid at the place of manufacture, and transportation of the filled soaking boxes to the blast. Present Liquid-oxygen Plant An experimental unit with a rated capacity of 75 liters per hour was erected during the latter part of the year 1926 to prove the effectiveness of L. 0. X. at this mine, its cost, and possible efficiency of large-scale storage of the liquid. With this experimental unit 200,000 tons of ore

Jan 1, 1928

By G. W. Preckshot, J. W. Gorman

MOLTEN metals offer an excellent medium for the study of molecular diffusion and interphase transfer. In the absence of intermetallic compound formation, solutions of molten metals are solutions of elements. Therefore, complicating factors such as molecular structure, dissociation, association, polarization, and so on, are generally absent. Further, metals remain in the liquid state over a wide range of temperature. Thus, the effect of temperature on transport processes can be studied in more detail. Although some data are available for the diffusion of metals in the molten state at high temperatures,"""".'!' the most useful and accurate data are those for the diffusion of various elements in mercury at room temperature. The effective radius of diffusion for the various elements in mercury may be calculated from the Stokes-Einstein relation.'-These calculated radii are compared with the atomic and ionic radii calculated from X-ray data on crystals." The effective radii of diffusion of the alkali and alkali-earth metals correspond to those of the neutral atom; those of cadmium, silver, lead, zinc, thallium, bismuth, and tin correspond to ionic radii; and those of copper and gold indicate larger radii due to association with mercury or more likely, faulty diffusion data. Independent evidence"' supports the notion that alkali metals are uncharged in amalgams. The concept of metals moving free of their conductance electrons in the liquid state has been discussed by Eyring, et al,'" in connection with studies on the viscosity of pure molten metals. Considering the approximate nature of the tabulated atomic and ionic radii and the variance in the diffusion measurements, the application of the Stokes-Einstein equation to the diffusion of metals in mercury gives gratifying results. It is noted that a number of these metals have article radii eaual to or less than those of the solvent mercury.".'*,"' Soba1,'" sing the inaccurate Roberts-Austin20 data, indicated that the effective radius of diffusion might well be a function of temperature. Additionally in studies of mass transfer between phases, many conflicting opinions have been expressed concerning the assumption of equilibrium at the interface." ,","," The results of the present work on the diffusion of solid copper in molten lead throws light on the tempera- ture variation of the diffusion radius as well as the extent of the interfacial resistance. The theoretical background and experimental procedure are presented here in detail. Results on other systems will be presented in subsequent papers. Nomenclature The following nomenclature is used in the paper: A—cross-sectional area of diffusion column, sq cm C, C,—concentration of solution and saturated solution respectively, g per cc D,D'—-diffusivity, sq cm per sec e—Naperian base h—ratio, k/D k—mass-transfer coefficient, cm per sec L—diffusion column length, cm n—series index q—flux, g per sq cm-sec r—radius, cm or A R—-gas constant t—time, sec T—temperature, K V—volume, cc w—weight of copper-lead alloy on copper cylinder WT—-total copper transferred to lead diffusion, column, g Z—distance from top of diffusion column, cm 2'—distance from copper-lead interface, cm (2' = L-2) u,,—roots of diffusion equation Mathematical Apparatus The model shown in Fig. 1 applies to the diffusion of solid copper into molten lead. Here Fick's first law may be written where all terms are defined in the nomenclature. It is assumed that the volume of the lead column is constant. This is justified since experimental densities compared favorably with calculated densities based on perfect interstitial mixing. Thus there is no counter diffusion of lead. It is clear that 2 in Equation [I] should be measured relative to the interface which moves relative to the diffusion cell but not to the liquid phase. Hence, the frame of reference is the plane of the copper-lead interface. The diffusivity calculated at constant volume, D", is that defined by Hartly and Crank" and is designated herein as D. No Interfacial Resistance—The two situations of the presence and absence of interfacial resistance will be treated. The simplest is the latter which re-

Jan 1, 1959

By Henning Nielsen

SIX weeks ahead of schedule, the International Nickel Co. of Canada Ltd. has brought a 30-mile rail line into the newly born town of Thompson, Manitoba. Its construction spurs the development of a rich new mining region slated to become the world's second largest nickel-producing area-exceeded only by Inco's Sudbury, Ont., workings. Two mines, the Thompson and the Moak Lake, will be opened to meet International Nickel's scheduled annual production goal of 385 million lb of refined nickel by 1961. Accomplishment of this aim will mean an additional 75 million lb of the metal available to consumers. In addition, stepped-up out- put of Inco's Sudbury holdings may increase this figure by another 25 million lb. (For an earlier report on these developments see MINING ENGINEERING News, January 1957).

Jan 12, 1957

By J. A. Norden

MUCH has been written concerning the hoisting equipment of various mines -throughout the country, but most of the literature on the subject, if not all, describes equipment of extraordinary capacity and the small and medium-sized outfits have been neglected. The hoisting equipment here described is capable 'of handling about 1200 tons per day. It has not been worked, to capacity, but 600 to 700 tons, together with men and materials, have been handled in two shifts without any great effort. Only one shaft extends from the surface to the lowest levels of the mine; see Fig. 1. It is composed of three compartments, two of which are used for hoisting and the third for water, air, and electrical lines, and for sinking purposes. In 1909, this shaft was raised from the 1000-ft. (304-m.) level to the 700-ft. There a station was cut and an air hoist installed. At this time all mining operations were confined to the upper levels of the mine; that is; above the 700-ft. The. ore was-dropped to this level through chutes from the 300-, 400-, 500-, and 600-ft. levels and then lowered in cars on cages to the 1000-ft., which is the main haulage adit, the mill and railroad bins being about 3000 ft. from the shaft. Orebodies were, in due time, developed on the 1000-ft. level and below. Therefore, in 1913, the shaft was sunk to the 1150-ft. level and thereafter sinking was continued at regular intervals until the 1500-ft. level was reached. But, hoisting from the 1300-ft. level was a difficult, and slow process with the antiquated air hoist, so, in 1916, it was derided to raise the shaft to the surface and install a modern, electrically operated hoist. This was completed early in 1917 and the hoist was in operation in March of that year.

Jan 8, 1920

By Per-Martin Sandgren, Alrik Anttila

LKAB's ores have specific mineralogical properties that make them especially suitable for the production of supergrade concentrates. Conditions are particularly good for this purpose at Malmberget, where a concentrate for high-purity sponge iron production has been produced for many years. This product assays approximately 71.5% Fe and 0.20% SiO2. Potential exists for still further improvement. In recent years, the production of fractioned concentrates has been started. The material lies within the size range 74-125 µm and the approximate chemical analysis is 71.4% Fe and 0.30% SiO2. Other special products are under discussion. Malmberget ores are also suitable for the production of high- purity direct reduction pellets with a SiO2 content below 1%.

Jan 1, 1983