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By T. R. McMillan, R. D. English

An engineer's education is a lifetime pursuit, a fact which the Society of Mining Engineers of AIME recognizes through its Education Board. Created in 1977 and comprised of six standing committees, the Board addresses several broad areas of responsibility: Continuing education; professional accreditation; statistical reporting; career guidance; scholarships; and educational publications.

Jan 9, 1979

By E. A. Holbrook

AT the meeting of the Committee on Engineering A Education of the Institute at the New York meeting last February, it was brought out that the number of men graduating in mining engineering from our colleges at the present time is not sufficient to meet the ordinary needs of the mineral industries. Following the meeting, Samuel S. Wyer, consulting engineer of the Fuel-Power Transportation Educational Foundation of Columbus, Ohio, prepared a pamphlet called "Mining Engineering's Appeal to High School Seniors." Under the auspices of this Foundation the pamphlet is being sent to every high school in the United States. The pamphlet does not in any way paint glowing word pictures of the profession; rather it is a statement of the importance of mining engineering in our present-day civilization, together with the requirements in young men who are looking forward to an engineering career.

Jan 1, 1930

By William B. Plank

THE growing dependence of our vast industrial civilization (:n mineral products demands today, as never before, the highest technical skill in those who produce these product-;. That the duty of training the engineers, whose responsibility it is to produce these mineral products efficiently and in sufficient amount, falls directly on the schools of mining is beginning to be more fully recognized. The Institute, realizing this fact and that its future membership depends largely on the annual accretion of young men, is showing a keen interest in the problems of the mining schools and in the work of its Committee on Engineering Education. The Committee has, during the past several years, considered the problems connected with the training of men for the mineral industry, whether these have been problems of college training, or placement of the young engineer in the industry, or personnel training after he enters the industry. The field of interest and discussion has been as broad and varied as the mineral industry itself. Coal mining, metal mining and metallurgy have been discussed and the papers on these subjects have been outstanding contributions to the literature on mineral education.

Jan 1, 1931

By Ferron A. Olson

Occasionally it is good to consider the past, assess the present and project the future. Curriculum, enrollment, matriculation of graduates and changes in industry which influence mineral education are all relevant for determining what changes will be needed in educational institutions to support growth and development in the United States. It would appear likely that with environmental pressures, energy needs with present stress in fossil fuels and general societal needs for metals and minerals that mining and metallurgical engineering faces a period of growth and may be on the threshold of a new era with a vitality that has not been enjoyed for several decades. The following information is based on material obtained through questionnaires received from twelve schools accredited in mining or mineral engineering (out of 18 in the U.S.), 2 not accredited and 5 which no longer have mineral engineering disciplines. The schools presented do not include the smaller nor larges of the undergraduate programs in mining engineering.

Jan 8, 1972

By William B. Plank

For the first time in four years the number of mineral engineering students in the 228 engineering colleges of the U. S. and Canada exceeds 10,000. According to figures just released by the American Society for Engineering Education, the current enrollment of all engineering students is 222,178. The total of 10,274 mineral engineering students, undergraduate and graduate, is a 4% pct increase over a year ago. Total engineering is 11 pct larger than last year, about the same as in 1949-50, and 24 pct above 1950-51.

Jan 4, 1955

By Wolfgang O. Gluschke

INTRODUCTION Virtually all countries have general legislation covering most aspects of mining and mineral processing, including investment and tax laws, safety and health regulation, and specific rules applying to exploration reporting procedures. Yet most developing countries negotiate individual agreements with foreign investors for major mineral projects, in particular when all or part of the expected output is exported. Such agreements are known under several different names, as for example concession agreement; technical assistance agreement or service contract; management agreement; production sharing contract; joint venture; or contract of work. The objectives and conditions governing such contracts are as diverse as these titles are. While a mining project is only one among a large mumber of similar undertakings in industrial countries, in most developing countries such projects usually have a dominating position within the country's economy. The general legislation is often inadequate and insufficiently detailed to cover all aspects of large projects with extensive foreign inputs and international markets. Therefore, the need for specific arrangements. Specific arrangements may also become necessary due to the complexity of markets for mineral products, the large number of participants - equity partners, suppliers, financial institutions, buyers, etc. - or economic and political conditions in the host country and fiscal regulations in the home country of the investors. Most agreements are concluded between governments, or government agencies, in developing countries and private industry headquartered in developed market economies - Canada and the United States of America in North America, Western European countries, Japan, South Africa and Australia - or, in some instances, with state-owned firms in these countries. There are fewer agreements between developing countries and the centrally planned economy countries - Eastern Europe and the USSR - which cannot be considered here because of absence of adequate information. Agreements can be concluded at any of the different stages from exploration through closing of a mine. While most contracts are negotiated at the time when a potentially viable ore body has been delineated and investigated sufficiently to anticipate a realistic time for commencement of production, other agreements start with "grass-roots" exploration, during operation of a mine, smelter or refinery or, exceptionally, after a temporary shutdown. While several major provisions are included in all types of agreements, others are covered in much more detail (or not at all) in some contracts reflecting the specific work programme of each project. While it is realized that subdivision and classification of complex contractual relations is necessarily arbitrary to a certain extent, such grouping is useful in practical terms, especially for the non-specialist. The following discussion, therefore, will start with a description of the major forms of contractual relation - concession, investment contract, joint venture, management agreement, service and production sharing contracts. Major issues covered in all, or almost all, agreements will then be dealt with. These include stages of development, corporate structure and control, fiscal arrangements, infrastructure development and environmental law, and dispute settlement and renegotiation. FORMS OF CONTRACT RELATIONS There has been marked change in the type of agreement entered into during the 1960s (and before) and the early 1970s and the period thereafter. While straight "concessions" - granting of exclusive rights to foreign investors over a certain deposit or areas with little restriction or well-defined obligations - were the rule during the first half of this century, more complex agreements have evolved since. Some of these cover every conceivable aspect, foreseen or only possible, and define rights and obligations of all partners to the last detail. Over the years, agreements have without doubt become more beneficial for the developing host countries, in part as a result of well-publicized nationalizations, as for example in Chile, and in part due to changed attitudes in all countries

Jan 1, 1985

By C. K. Leith

In discussing the subject of mineral exploration, one is tempted to resort to reminiscence. I could tell of many missed opportunities, but I propose rather to outline certain changes in the methods and conditions of exploration which present new problems to the mineral explorers of today. Our subject might appropriately be called The Passing of the Old Time Prospector. The first question that presents itself is whether the job of mineral exploration is not already pretty well finished. The current market surplus of most minerals and the present overcapacity for production, with their attendant financial troubles, naturally raise the question whether the accumulation of reserves has not gone far enough for the present, and whether further exploration should not be left to some future time when consumption shall have caught up. Unquestionably we have gone far in the conquest of our physical environment, and the fear of shortage of minerals is less than formerly. For the time being there is no great need of further supplies for the world as a whole of many of the great essential minerals, coal, oil, copper, zinc, silver, and others. For a few minerals, such as gold and lead, the known future world supplies are not yet large enough. For all minerals the distribution is so unequal among the nations that exploration will continue in deficient areas in the attempt to make nations self-supporting.

Jan 1, 1932

By Arthur B. Cummins

Mineral fillers are employed in United States industries to the extent of more than seven million tons annually, valued in excess of a hundred million dollars. This substantial usage involves a wide variety of mineral materials. To this may be added products manufactured from minerals, such as carbon black, portland cement, lime or chemically precipitated calcium carbonates, which would add substantially to the total. The purposes for which fillers are used differ considerably. Minerals used as fillers are mostly silicates, silicas, and carbonates as referred to hereinafter. The term "mineral filler" has various meanings in mineral technology and in the arts. Fillers are comparatively inert and their action is mainly physical. Materials that are employed primarily for chemical reactivity, or for pigment or abrasive functions ordinarily would not be considered to be fillers when used for these purposes. Nearly all filler usages are based on advantages which are gained by desired modification of composition properties or by improvements in processing. A simple definition for a filler is an inert material that is included in a composition for some useful purpose. This definition may be amplified or made more specific for each of the filler usages, the major ones of which are: paints, paper, plastics, rubber, bituminous compositions, pesticides and fertilizers. There are in addition a whole host of minor usages. Powdered minerals when employed as components in paints, varnishes and lacquers are considered as extender pigments or low refractive index pigments. In paper, the term loading material as well as filler is used; in pesticides, the terms diluents and carriers connote different functions. For bituminous compositions, rubber and plastics, the usage of the simple word "filler" is more usual, but the designation loading material is sometimes used. Minerals Used as Fillers Most of the industrial minerals, and many rock powders are employed to some extent for different filler uses. These usages vary from year to year depending on availabilities, costs, technologic trends and advancements. For the major applications, however, and for the more particular requirements at any given period, there are general trends which favor a more or less restricted group of filler products for each of the major consumer fields. This selection of materials is determined by the characteristics of the individual filler products, their effectiveness in fulfilling the primary function or functions for which they may be employed, and the cost after incorporation in the finished product. The mineral-bearing materials of major importance as fillers are: limestones, clays of several types, talc, pyrophyllite, mica, barite, diatomite, crystalline silicas, asbestos, slate and other rock dusts. Others of secondary importance include: gypsum, vermiculite, phosphate rock, perlite, and pulverized wastes, such as slag and fly ash. A considerable number of other minerals are used to lesser extent. Among these minor mineral materials are: feldspar, pumicite, wollastonite,18 tripoli, nepheline syenite,6 coal, altered volcanic rock and others.2 Indeed, most mineral materials, when reduced to fine particle size may have some potential usage as fillers, depending on their properties, availability and price. On the other hand, the more exacting filler requirements

Jan 1, 1960

By Arthur B. Cummins

POWDERED nonmetallic minerals and rocks of many different types are used extensively in industry for incorporation in compositions and manufactured products The term "mineral filler" is commonly employed to designate a material that is used for a specific purpose but not as an essential or reactive component Such a definition is not without objections, and it is indeed difficult to define fillers in any fully satisfactory manner, since the term has come to have so many different meanings and to cover such a wide range of uses. A filler is defined, for the purposes of this chapter, as a substantially inert material not specifically employed as a reactive or essential component, the primary function of which is to modify the properties or processing of a composition of matter or fabricated article Emery1 has emphasized that fillers change the properties of the product but are themselves unchanged in compounding or use The term "filler" appears to be rather general when referring to usages m bituminous compositions, rubber, composition floorings, fertilizers, plastics, textile finishes, and some others. In paper manufacture, in the paint industry and with insecticides, other terms are frequently employed, as is indicated, herinafter By placing emphasis on the function of the material used in modifying the properties of the composition or article, it is believed that a more useful classification of filler products and their applications may be derived. FUNCTIONS OF MINERAL FILLERS All of the manifold functions of mineral fillers cannot be listed in a summary review. A survey of the uses for these materials, however, shows that in nearly all cases the powders are employed to modify the properties of a composition of matter or those of a fabricated article, or to perform some useful function In the manufacture of either. A generalized list of these useful functions may be given is follows 1 To Modify Optical Properties Color Surface texture Opacity Brightness and gloss (as in paper and plastics) Flatness (as in lacquers and paints)

Jan 1, 1949

By Kefton Teague

The minerals discussed in this section have experienced a gradual, although not spectacular, growth in general. Obvious exceptions are the gradual decreasing use of talc and bentonite as filler materials, partly because of availability and relatively lower sales price of competitive materials. Mineral fillers and filter minerals are used principally in those countries that are heavily industrialized. Except for diatomaceous earth of filter grade, most industrialized countries are reasonably self-sufficient in the various filler and filter minerals. Prices of the various mineral commodities during the period 1950-1970 increased approximately as follows: barite, 43%; diatomaceous earth (filler), 49%; diatomaceous earth (filter), 55%; fuller's earth, 55%; talc. 77%; and bentonite, 94%. Actual usage of these mineral commodities as fillers and filters, during this period, showed changes approximately as follows: (1) Decrease-fuller's earth, 6%; talc, 15%; and bentonite, 29%. (2) Increase-barite, 113%; diatomaceous earth (filler), 150%; and diatomaceous earth (filter), -194%. A relationship between the amount of the various fillers and filters used and price increases is apparent. For example, barite increased only 43% in price, but its use as a filler has increased by 113%. On the other hand, talc, which increased 77% in price, decreased in filler use by 15%; and bentonite, which increased 94% in price, has decreased for filler and filter purposes by 29%. The actual decrease in the use of some of these commodities is not entirely caused by an increase in price. Competitive materials frequently have made substantial gains in the various filler and filter markets. For example, much of the bentonite used in the late 1940s and early 1950s for clarification of mineral and vegetable oils has been replaced by competitive materials. BARITE Occurrences and Sources In the United States, barite is produced from about 14 states, listed in approximate order of importance as follows: Missouri, Arkansas, Nevada, Georgia, Alaska, Tennessee, Kentucky, California, New Mexico, North Carolina, Washington, Idaho, South Carolina, Texas, and others. During the 20 years ending in 1970, almost equal amounts of barite were produced from Arkansas and Missouri. Within recent years, Nevada has replaced Georgia as the third leading barite--producing state. West Germany is second to the United States in barite production. Other important barite-producing countries include: Mexico, USSR, Italy, Greece, Canada, and Ireland. Ireland has become an important barite producer only recently. Barite is obtained from vein and cavity fill-

Jan 1, 1976

By Alden Emery

SHEET-ASPHALT paving mixtures are composed of three constituents: sand, mineral filler and asphalt. An average composition of such a mixture is sand 75 per cent, filler 15 per cent, and asphalt 10 per cent, figured on a weight basis. The structural strength of the mixture at normal or high temperatures depends mainly on the mineral aggregate (sand and filler), which consti-tutes the entire framework. The filler is the finely divided mineral matter largely passing a 200-mesh sieve, added to carry the sand grading down into infinitely fine particles and so reduce voidage and increase density. The asphalt imparts cohesiveness and tensile strength, gives a certain degree of plasticity, and waterproofs the mixture.

Jan 1, 1933

By A. H. Lindley, R. Shorr, Frazier M. Stewart, F. Crerie

The mineral industry, so important to industrial development, faces a major challenge in creating the most effective financial structure to provide funds essential for seeking, evaluating, developing, and extracting minerals. The acquisition of funds for mineral development and plant erection do not differ greatly from fund-raising in nonmineral ventures because risks are essentially comparable. High-risk exploration funds, however, are more difficult for the mineral industry to acquire. With the world's ever-increasing appetite for minerals, the internally generated cash of major oil and mining companies cannot be expected solely to maintain the world's mineral supply. The augmented costs, risks, and difficulties of exploration have been shared increasingly by the smaller independent operator and by private and public participation drilling programs within the petroleum industry over the past 30 years. Only recently has the mining industry awakened to the need for utilizing exploration and development funds derived from sources other than established mining and banking circles. Almost from its inception, the oil industry was forced to drill deep holes through overburden without the aid of a mineral "outcropping" which required geological, and in subsequent years, geophysical interpretation. The poorly financed, nontechnical prospector, who depended on a mineral outcrop, was not to play an important role in oil exploration as he did in mining. Because of the high cost of drilling and the demands for technical judgment to locate an exploration drill hole, corporate and sophisticated private funds generally financed oil discoveries. When external funds were subsequently required, these financially sophisticated explorers would turn to the banking community from which came numerous ingenious innovations, taking cognizance of existing tax laws. Like the oil explorer, the miner is now faced with probing below the surface, relying solely on regional geology and geophysical anomalies. The day is gone, for practical purposes, when the prospector discovers a deposit from a mineral outcrop. There is little doubt that the mining industry will now follow the course taken by the petroleum industry in acquiring external funds if it is to meet the future raw material requirements of the world. The oil industry has been able to attract bank funds more readily than the mining industry after a mineral discovery has been made because: (1) with few exceptions, an oil discovery can be placed into commercial production and will generate cash at much less expense and time than a mine; and (2) generally, costs of oil production, the value

Jan 1, 1976

By E. Ackerman, L. Y. Tu, S. C. Sun

The use of ultrasonics in forming emulsions is not new. As early as 1927 Wood and Loomis' reported preparation of emulsions with ultrasonics. In 1935 Rschevkin and Ostrawskyz described the use of great ultrasonic power in producing fine emulsions of various oils and paraffin in water. Recently Oyama and Tanakahmployed ultra-emulsification to increase the effectiveness of sodium ethyl xanthate in flotation of chalcopyrite and galena. An emulsion is a two-phase system consisting of two incompletely miscible liquids, the one being dispersed as finite droplets in the other. The dispersed liquid is known as the internal or discontinuous phase, and the surrounding liquid is termed the external or continuous phase. There are two types of emulsions; one is oil-in-water (O/W) and the other water-in-oil (W/O). The word oil refers to the liquid other than water. Circumstances exist in which the emulsion type is not clearly defined, and the internal and external phases both contain portions of the opposite phase. This is said to be a dual emulsion. Among the many hypotheses', 6v proposed for the formation of emulsions, the Bancroft's adsorbed film or double interfacial tension theory is widely accepted. Bancroft ""educed that in the process of emulsification the interfacial tension between oil and water is lowered by the formation of an emulsifying film, which contains the adsorbed molecules and/or ions from the emulsifying agent and the two liquids.

Jul 1, 1955

Within the last century, and largely during the latter half of it, the increase of our knowledge of the development of man, both in his search for a livelihood and for power, and in the growth of his reason and conscience, has been greater than all we had known before. The great interest in all kinds of archaeological work and the many excavations made of buried and long forgotten places has put at our disposal historical records not available, and in many cases not known before, and a study of these and other records of human progress from paleontological and geological sources has given us a much broader view of what we call "civilization" than was possible even a short time ago. The old idea that men were created with fully developed minds, speech and reason has yielded to the view that in the upward progress of the human race the development of the mind and reason has been a comparatively recent occurrence, as we think of the half million, and probably more, years that have passed since our earliest records of man were made. The traits that come to us without effort

Jan 1, 1935

Within the last century, and largely during the latter half of it, the increase of our knowledge of the development of man, both in his search for a livelihood and for power, and in the growth of his reason and conscience, has been greater than all we had known before. The great interest in all kinds of archaeological work and the many excavations made of buried and long forgotten places has put at our disposal historical records-not available, and in many cases not known before, and a study of these and other records of human progress from paleontological and geological sources has given us a much broader view of what we call "civilization" than was possible even a short time ago. The old idea that men were created with fully developed minds, speech and reason has yielded to the view that in the upward progress of the human race the development of the mind and reason has been a comparatively recent occurrence, as we think of the half million, and probably more, years that have passed since our earliest records of man were made. The traits that come to us without effort

Jan 1, 1939

By E. A. Holbrook

IN my thirty years of educational work in the mineral industries and other engineering fields, this past year has been the most unusual and difficult one. Contact with educators from other schools leads to the conclusion that the same situation is countrywide. The first of our difficulties came from the shortsighted policy of the Selective Service in taking out of the colleges, continuously, all engineering students as soon as they had reached their eighteenth birthday. England, Canada, and Russia, too, even in the midst of their critical war situations, had the good sense to keep their young engineering brains in college, for they realized the vital necessity of a steady flow of engineering graduates into the war industries and into the postwar peace industries. As a result of the policy of our Government, our engineering schools were left with only a handful of students who had been rejected for military service. Our colleges, faced with the prospect of several years without students and without income, hastened to give leave of absence to many of their competent teachers who quickly were taken into industry and in many instances are now being retained there at higher salaries than colleges are accustomed or able to pay their teaching personnel. We are finding it most difficult to induce these men to return to their former engineering teaching work. In my judgment, it will take us three or four years to restore our engineering departments to their former level in quality of instruction.

Jan 1, 1946

By James R. Cudworth

OUR colleges and universities have met many difficulties during the past year. From a period of small enrollments and depleted faculties, the educational institutions have passed quickly to a period of the largest enrollments in their history with inadequate facilities and staffs. The results of the shortsighted policy of the Selective Service system which drained the technical schools and universities of many of the students who were potential teachers are now being felt. The movement of faculty members into positions in industry during the war years has resulted in many of them forsaking permanently the educational field for the higher salaried positions they now occupy. Competition is keen between the educational institutions, and between the institutions and industry, for technically trained men. Dean Holbrook's statement in last year's annual review that he thought it would take three or four years to restore our engineering departments to their former level in quality of instructors is even more convincing today. Somehow, the institutions must not only reach their former level in quality of instruction but they must also increase the quantity of their staffs to meet the demands of the ex-service men and the high school graduates for engineering education. The enrollments in the mineral industry fields of mining, metallurgical, geological, petroleum, and ceramic engineering, although greatly increased, are not expanding as much as in the more widely known fields of electrical, mechanical, aeronautical, and civil engineering. In fact, many educators are tremendously worried about the segregation of so many young men in a relatively few fields while the needs of others will remain unanswered.

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1934

By Arthur Notman

YEAR ago, the Committee on Mineral Economics ventured to predict a more realistic attitude by the public toward the folly of seeking to have more by making less under the guidance of the Blue Eagle. A unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of the United States has now laid that embattled bird to rest. De rnortuis nil nisi bonum. In spite of dire predictions of disaster to follow its early demise, the metal industries and many others have improved substantially. One could name many indications of that improvement, and on the strength of stock-market activities might assume

Jan 1, 1936

The Mineral Industry, Published by McGraw-Hill Book Co, New York, N Y. The Mineral Industry is an annual review of the mineral industry It is a standard and complete reference on the mineral industry for the year covered Through the cooperation of the A I M E its publication in 1933 was made possible Mineral Industry for 1930 contains sections devoted to the production, consumption, trade, market, uses and technology of the following headings: Abrasives, aluminum and bauxite, antimony, arsenic, asbestos (b), asphalt, barium and strontium, chromium (b), coal and coke, cobalt (b), copper, diatomite, fluorspar, gold and silver, graphite, gypsum, iron and steel (b), lead, magnesite, manganese, mica, molybdenum, nickel, petroleum and petroleum products, phosphate rock (b), platinum group metals (b), potash, precious and semiprecious stones (b), quicksilver, radium (b), uranium and vanadium, slate (b), sodium salts, sulfur, pyrite, sulfuric acid, talc and soapstone, tin, titanium and zirconium, tungsten (b), zinc, minor metals, minor nonmetals, ore dressing and coal washing (b). Sections marked (b) have appended a bibliography of recent literature on the subject. Each section is written by an acknowledged expert. Other volumes contain similar material Prices -The Mineral Industry, 1892-1930, vols. 1 to 39. Complete sets of this work, uniformly bound, except vols 25 and 26,

Jan 1, 1933