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By J. S. Kennedy, A. A. Lerew, C. M. Judson, G. L. Simard

DITHIOPHOSPHATE collectors are commonly used in the flotation of sulphide minerals. Studies of the interaction of a typical dithiophosphate collector with galena surfaces have been previously reported from. these laboratories." These fundamental studies were carried out by employing phosphorus labeled radioactive dithiophosphate. Radioactivity determinations then could be used to measure readily and accurately the small concentrations of dithiophosphate that, are present under conditions of flotation processes. Measurements were made on ground mineral, determining the amount sorbed indirectly from the concentrations in solution; and studies were also made with single crystals, determining the amount sorbed directly by counting the crystal surface. The rates, isotherms and reversibility characteristics of dithiophosphate sorption, the competition between phosphate and dithiophosphate for the mineral surface, and the exchange of sorbed dithiophosphate with dissolved dithiophosphate were studied. These studies have now been extended by sorption measurements in flotations with a Fagergren, machine. For this work, the selective flotation of galena and sphalerite from quartz was chosen, using ammonium di-(sec-butyl) dithiophosphate as. the collector, sodium cyanide as depressant for sphalerite, and copper sulphate as an activator for sphalerite. While the selective flotation of galena and sphalerite using a single dithiophosphate collector is not typical of flotation practice (two different collectors are generally used), it was found that a reasonably good separation could be obtained by using zinc sulphate with the sodium cyanide in the galena flotation and by cleaning the sphalerite concentrate or by carrying out the sphalerite. flotation in an alkaline medium. Data of practical importance on the distribution of collector between the concentrates, tailings, and solutions were obtained, particularly with regard to the effect of copper sulphate and sodium cyanide. In addition to the. selective flotation of galena and sphalerite from quartz, single flotations of galena-quartz and sphalerite-quartz mixtures were carried out, along with blank flotations on quartz alone. The present paper describes the results of these experiments. As in previous papers, the term sorption is used to designate uptake of collector by the mineral, without implication as to the nature of the processes involved. Experimental Materials: The mineral system was a ground synthetic mixture of galena, sphalerite, and quartz. The galena was from Galena, Kans., and contained 75 pct lead (theoretical 85.6 pct Pb for PbS); the sphalerite, from Ottowa County, Okla., contained 63 pct zinc (theoretical 67.2 pet Zn for ZnS) ; and the quartz from Klondike, Mo., analyzed as 99.97 pet SiO2. Sulphur labeled radioactive di-(sec-butyl) dithiophosphate was prepared from S82 supplied by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory on allocation from the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission. The synthesis consisted of precipitating barium sulphate, reducing the barium sulphate to barium sulphide, acidifying to form hydrogen sulphide, and oxidizing the hydrogen sulphide with iodine to elemental sulphur.

Jan 1, 1952

By Arthur S. Huey

AS the end of the collegiate year approaches, the problem of student employment again becomes acute. This subject divides itself into two phases: (1) employment prior to graduation and (2) employment following graduation. "Experience is the best teacher," according to the old adage, and the student needs all that he can get. He is afforded every opportunity to reap from his books the theories and principles of scientific and engineering practice, and occasionally he is privileged to make field trips to observe the practical side of the subject. But it is not enough for one to know the theory and to observe its application; it is also desirable for the student to get the feel of the tools during his training Such opportunities can only be afforded the student if the major companies cooperate with the universities in giving the student part-time and vacation work.

Jan 1, 1932

Jan 1, 1882

By O. N. Cole, R. E. Davis, T. D. Brotherton

Pvfoperties of rubidium and cesium are compared with those of other alkali metals. Methods for the preparation of rubidium and cesium metal are reviewed briefly, ad hazards and safety precautions required in handling rubidium and cesium metal are described. SimPle methods for handling laboratory quantities of elemental rubidium ad cesium under oil and under argon are illustrated. CESIUM and rubidium were both discovered by Bunsen and Kirchoff in the years 1860 and 1861. Cesium was discovered while Bunsen and Kirchoff were making a spectrographic study of spring water from Durkheim, Germany. It was the first element discovered by this technique. The element was given the Latin name "caesius" for sky blue because of the color it imparted to flames. Elemental cesium was first prepared by Setterberg in 1881 through electrolysis of a molten mixture of cesium and barium cyanides.' In 1861, Bunsen and Mirchoff discovered rubidium while making a spectrographic study of the alkali content of lepidolite ore from Saxony. Two prominent dark red lines appeared in the spectrum and so the element was named "rubidius" or dark red. In 1861 Bunsen and Kirchoff first prepared elemental rubidium through the electrolysis of molten rubidium chl~ride.~ The alkali metals are very similar in their chemical and physical properties. They are the most active metals, and all exhibit a single oxidation state of one. They are so reactive that they are never found in nature in the elemental state. The reactivity of he metals increases with atomic number. Rubidiurn and cesium ignite spontaneously in air and react explosively with water. This extreme reactivity makes necessary special equipment and techniques for the safe preparation and use of the metals. The cation: of Group IA can be separated from the metallic cations of other groups with relative ease, but the separation of the individual alkali cations is much more difficult because of their close chemical similarity. This close chemical and physical similarity of alkali metals can be inferred from the atomic radii, oxidation numbers, and ioni-zation potentials shown in Table I. A difficult but the most practical physical method of separating the elemental alkali metals from one another is by distillation. Only lithium has a boiling point sufficiently far-removed from the boiling points of the other alkali metals to make this method of separation feasible without elaborate and expensive equipment. This method is not used, however, for lithium because it possesses sufficient chemical dissimilarity from the other alkalies for it to be separated relatively easily as lithium hydroxide monohydrate or as lithium carbonate. Francium, the last member of the group, has no known stable isotopes. The naturally occurring

Jan 1, 1962

By R. B. Gavert, David J. Mack

ROOM- and elevated-temperature compression tests were made on the binary 3/2 electron compounds AuZn, CuAu, AgZn, AgMg, AuCd, and NiA1. These compounds possess either the B2 CsC1-type ordered structure or the A2 bee disordered structure represented commonly as ß and ß on equilibrium phase diagrams. In testing at room temperature, cylindrical specimens 0.508 cm by 0.330 cm diam were seated directly on an instron compression load cell (CF 0 to 10,000 lb). At elevated temperatures, testing included a special apparatus with a furnace heat source and a protective atmosphere.' The specimens were strained at a rate of 1 pet per min. The compounds were prepared from 99.99 pet or better high-purity elements. Vacuum and/or argon cover gas was used throughout the mixing, melting, and specimen drawing processes. The generally equi-axed specimen grains varied in size from 0.5 to 1.5 mm for the five different compounds. The stress-strain curves in compression showed

Jan 1, 1968

By James W. Dally, William L. Fourney, Anders Ladegaard Peterson

For the past 3 years, the authors have been conducting research sponsored by the National Science Foundation (RANN) to improve the process of excavation by drilling and blasting. The approach followed has been experimental where the development of stress waves and fractures initiated at the bore hole have been investigated in order to obtain a complete understanding of the dynamic Fracture process. The second step in the approach has been to introduce modifications in the drill and blast procedure which will permit closer control of the fracture process.

Jan 2, 1978

By R. Al-Hussainy, H. J. Ramey

Previous gas well test analyses have been based mainly upon linearizations of ideal gas flow results, although a method for drawdown analysis based upon real gas flow results has been proposed. Linearizations based upon ideal gas flow require estimation of gas physical properties at Tome sort of average pressure, and implicitly involve the assumption that pressure gradients are small everywhere in the reservoir. A new real gas flow equation has been developed by means of a substitution which couples presTure, viscosity and gas law deviation factor. This sub-stitution has been called the real gas pseudo-pressure. Use of the real gas pseudo-pressure leads to simple equations describing real gas flow which do not contain pressure-dependent gas properties, and which do not require the assumption of small pressure gradients everywhere in the flow system. Equations required to determine flow capacity, well condition and static formation pressure from pressure drawdown and build-up tests with the real gas pseudo-pressure concept are presented. Also shown are applications of the real gas pseudo-pressure to back-pressure testing, the gas materials balance and rigorous determination of average gas properties for previous gas flow equations. Included are sample calculations for well test analyses. INTRODUCTION A recent study' of the flow of the transient flow of real gases in ideal radial systems showed that it is possible to consider gas physical property dependence upon pressure by means of a substitution called the real gas pseudo-pressure. The substitution has the advantage that it enables engineering solutions for steady and transient flow of real gases that are more accurate and general than those previously available. The solutions are particularly important for the case of gas flow in tight, high-pressure formations under large drawdowns. Even for more ideal flow conditions, the real gas pseudo-pressure concept leads to important rules for finding average gas physical properties pertinent for older well test analyses. Ref. I provides a detailed study of the theory behind the real gas flow correlations to be used in this paper. The purpose of this paper is to provide necessary engineering forms for use of the real gas flow results, and to illustrate applications. The following considers flow of real gases in an ideal radial flow system. It is assumed that: (1) formation thickness, porosity, water saturation, absolute permeability, temperature and gas composition are constant; (2) gas compressibility and density are functions of pressure as described by the gas law pv = znRT; (3) gas viscosrty is a function of pressure; (4) effective permeability to gas may be a function of pressure to account for liquid condensation; (5) condensate is immobile; and (6) the formation has no dip.

Jan 1, 1967

By Eckley B. Coxe

(WITH FIGURES ON PLATES II, III, AND IV.) I DESIRE to call the attention of the Institute to two deep vertical shafts, which are now being sunk in Schuylkill County, Pennsyl¬vania, about 1 1/2 miles north of Pottsville. These shafts are of interest to the mining engineer, not only on account of the novelty of the method of sinking adopted, which promises to produce a revolution in that branch of mining engineering, but also as examples of the manner in which such work should be undertaken. GEOLOGICAL SKETCH OF THE TERRITORY TO BE WORKED BY THE SHAFTS AND REASON FOR SINKING THEM. The Mammoth or E Vein of the anthracite coal-measures in that part of the Schuylkill region near and north of the town of Pottsville lies at a great depth below the surface, and has, in consequence, never been worked in that locality.

Jan 1, 1873

By J. Szekely

A rrlethod is presented for the estitnation of oxygen pickup by teettzed molten steel streams. Of the mechanisrt~s considered for oxygen absorption, physical entrainment appeared to be the most significant. The estent of this physical entrainment may be calculated by the application of boundary layer theory. It was found that the values of oxygen pickup thus predicted were in wry good agreement with data reported in the literature, in the case of short, well-defined metal streams. This entrainment model does not provide an adequate description of oxygen pickup by long streams, exoosed to external winds and where breakup of the streatn is likely. WheN molten steel is teemed into a mold or tundish it will absorb oxygen contained in its environment. Recently interest has been expressed in the measurement and possible prediction of the extent of this oxygen absorption: this interest owes its existence to two principal factors: a) the desirability of providing a quantitative assessment of the role played by the absorbed oxygen in impairing the quality of (vacuum degassed. stainless, or continuously cast) steel; b) the need for providing guidelines for stream protection methods. The purpose of this communication is to suggest a simple method for the prediction of oxygen absorption by continuous metal streams and to compare the predicted values with the data available in the literature. It is hoped that this method may provide at least an initial framework for the interpretation of additional data that might become available. FORMULATION Consider a continuous metal stream falling into a molten metal pool as depicted in Fig. 1. This system may absorb oxygen due to the following two mechanisms: 1) physical entrainment of gases (including oxygen) into the molten pool where reactions. thus absorption, will occur; 2) mass transfer (convec:tive diffusion) of oxygen to the metal stream. 1) Physical Entrainment. The physical entrainment may be calculated by using the concept of the diaplace-ttzent tlzickness of the laminar boundary layer, which will be stated briefly in the following.&apos; When a fluid flows past a solid surface, a portion of the fluid close to the surface is retarded due to fric-tional forces. This region in which the velocity of the fluid differs from that in the main stream is called the boundary layer. An illustration of this is given in Fig. 2 where it is seen that the thickness of the boundary layer increases as we move along in the x direction. In the laminar region, when Re, < 10&apos; the thickness of the boundary layer is given by the following relationship: f =4.64 Re;1" [1] where 61 is the boundary layer thickness, x is the length along the leading edge, Us is the velocity of the free stream, (i is the viscosity of the fluid (gas in this instance).

Jan 1, 1970

THE preceding chapter has recorded the initiation of mineral industry education during the period 1890-1910 in numerous institutions that had not previously offered it. It should also be emphasized that in many institutions where instruction had begun before 1890, as recorded in earlier chapters, but had not yet become firmly established, this period was one of marked growth and development. This was not universally true, however, for at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington (St. Louis), Iowa, Vanderbilt and Tennessee, and at the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania, mineral industry instruction was being dropped during this period, instead of gaining in strength. It is necessary to emphasize this, because writers on the subject have not infrequently attempted to make a much too simple correlation between mineral discovery or production and the intensity of student interest in mineral industry curricula. It would naturally be true that periods of large mineral production would, in general, coincide with cycles of business prosperity, and the latter are conducive to starting new ventures, educational as well as business. It should be equally evident that opportunities for business and professional success might, in such periods, appear to increase at a more rapid rate in industries other than mineral, or in the utilization of minerals rather than in their production. The author has not been able to perceive any simple and clear relation between interest in mineral industry education and mineral discovery, production, and utilization, or general business prosperity. On the contrary, the more the problem is studied the more complex the factors involved in it appear to be. In a later chapter an attempt will be made to analyze them in more detail

Jan 1, 1941

By Frank Peterson

THE manufacture of gasoline by extraction or precipitation from the natural gases in which it is found, the present status of. the industry, its past development and future extensions; offer a subject which is so broad that to handle it in its entirety would require a voluminous paper. The writer will, therefore, attempt to concentrate the essential matter of the subject for a general presentation, giving some of the most interesting details of the factors that are important to the industry. This industry has drawn liberally on the principles of physics and chemistry, and, to a large extent, has had to adapt such information as is most useful-not from data recorded with reference to petroleum, but from data recorded with reference to general treatment of other materials. Because of the complex character of the petroleum series of hydro-carbons and the fact that data, such as solubilities, vapor pressures, etc., of the different petroleum compounds have not been determined, we are still working by rule of thumb in. some essential phases of the industry. Furthermore, the difficulties of determining such data are almost insurmountable. We have not one,, but two butanes to deal with-not one, but several, pentanes, hexanes, heptanes, and, as we ascend in the series the complexity and multiplication of isomers increases at such a rate as to make the task of isolating and studying their physical characteristics almost beyond the hope of possible attainment. The industry is the connecting link knitting the interests of oil producers and refiners into a much closer relationship than ever existed .prior to its inception and development. The relation between the producer and the refiner of petroleum prior to 1910 was. a rather antagonistic one in a commercial sense. It was to the interest of the producer of crude petroleum to sell it for a maximum consideration; the refiner&apos;s interest was to obtain the same product for a minimum consideration; therefore, each side of the business transaction retained within his own hands as far as possible the trade secrets of his business. Each side maintained an attitude of cold-blooded business sympathy only for the other. Cas-

Jan 12, 1917

HENRY M. Howe, Bedford Hills, N. Y (written discussion*).¬Mr. Foley&apos;s explanation of this interesting occurrence is perfectly reasonable. Possibly a word explaining the phenomenon more in detail may not be amiss. In the act of solidification each drop as it starts to solidify splits up into a half drop poorer in carbon and another half drop richer in carbon than the drop itself. The half drop poorer in carbon solidifies and attaches itself to-the already solid walls, whereas the half drop richer in carbon remains molten for the excellent reason that it is richer and hence is more fusible than the original drop, and hence in turn is wholly fusible at the existing temperature. Under usual conditions, as when the steel solidifies in a mold of any form, the successive molten half drops thus enriched in carbon remain present and by their enrichment progressively raise the carbon con-tent of the remaining molten mass, out of which successive half drops are continuously solidifying and attaching themselves to the already solid walls. Because the molten mass thus. becomes progressively richer

Jan 10, 1919

By B. Ladanyi, G. Archambault

It is generally recognized to date that a rational stability analysis of slopes and foundations in rock masses is a desirable but still rather remote goal of rock mechanics.1 In principle, a slope analysis is possible provided the original state of effective stress in the ground is known and the shear strength of the earth material can be clearly defined. In a macroscopically continuous earth medium such as soil, the two basic ingredients of the stability analysis in most cases can be assessed with sufficient approximation. A much less favorable situation exists when the slope is composed of a macroscopically discontinuous medium such as rock mass containing one or more sets of geological planar structures. In such a case, both the original effective stresses and the overall shear strength of the mass are much more difficult to determine. As for the former, it is only recently that certain calculation methods and solutions concerning the stress distribution2 and the seepage forces3 in a discontinuous medium have been proposed. As the strength behavior of the rock mass is concerned, much valuable effort has been made in recent years toward reaching a proper understanding of the phenomenon of rock mass failure under stress. Probably one of the most complete investigations of the problem to date has recently been made at the University of Illinois. The study resulted in establishing a first useful working hypothesis of the shear behavior of a regularly jointed rock mass, proposed by Patton in 1966.4 The main purpose of the work described in this chapter is to establish a more general framework for the shear behavior of rock mass, one that would be directly related to some basic rock parameters and would also

Jan 1, 1970

By S. R. Rao, J. Leja, K. S. Moon

A prolonged grinding of sulphide ores in steel mills appears harmful to flotation recovery and selectivity whenever xanthates are used as collectors. Particles finer than about 10µm show a pronounced decrease in floatability. A supposition was made that the cause of the reduction in floatability of ground sulphides is the presence of metallic iron abraded during grinding and deposited on the ground particles. Electro- chemical measurements were made of mixed potentials developed by different sulphide-mineral electrodes (galena, chalcopyrite, pyrite, marmatite, pyrrhotite) in xanthate solutions, without a direct con- tact or in contact with a metallic iron electrode. These measurements showed that without a galvanic contact between the sulphide and the iron, the values of mixed potentials were in the vicinity of the xanthate/dixanthogen redox potential. When contact with iron was established, the mixed potentials shifted towards the more negative reducing or cathodic values. The shift was greater the higher was the ratio of the surface areas: iron electrode to sulphide electrode. Further, the shift in mixed potentials was greater the more reducing were the conditions on the sulphide electrode. Chemical analysis of reaction products produced on the surfaces of sulphides and in the bulk solution showed that less thiosulphate was formed in all of the sulphide-xanthate systems and that more elemental sulphur was detectable on the pyrite and marmatite surfaces. Adsorption of xanthate parallels the amount of thiosulphate formed with which xanthate is exchanged by metathesis. If the supply of oxygen is limited, the demand for oxygen by the abraded metallic iron competes with that by the valuable sulphide, resulting ultimately in poorer hydrophobicity. If excessive amounts of pyrite or pyrrhotite are present as well, the conditions are so reducing that there is little adsorption of xanthate ions on the valuable sulphides to make them hydrophobic and floatable. The presence of increased quantities of sulphur on pyrite or marmatite is responsible for a non-selective flotation. Flotation tests on synthetic mixtures with and without metallic iron powder in the feed confirmed the above conclusions from electrochemical and chemical measurements.

Jan 1, 1976

By Wallace Pratt

INTRODUCTION IRON-ORE deposits in the Philippine Islands became the subject of official record as early as 1664. Undoubtedly iron ore was known and recognized by the Filipinos long before the earliest Spanish records. It is even possible that the Filipino practice of smelting iron ore is, like the native copper smelting, older than the Spanish conquest of the islands. The first records have to do with the magnetite-hematite ores near the towns of Santa Inez and Bosoboso in Rizal Province, from 15 to 20 miles east of Manila. The magnetite-hematite ores of Bulacan were exploited in 1783. Similar ores near the town of Mambulao in Camarines Province yielded a number of specimens to be exhibited in Spain in 1834. With the exception, then, of the lateritic iron ores on the eastern coast of northern Surigao, the true nature of which was not recognized until 1914, the important iron-ore deposits of the Philippines had all been discovered before the islands came under the dominion of the United States. Indeed, in the Spanish documents relating to the history of iron mining are statements which, if their accuracy be not questioned, leave us in the Philippines today with much less iron ore than the Spaniards found. To quote, for example, a report submitted to the Superior Government in Spain in 1835 by one of its emissaries, Don Lorenzo Calvo: "The Philippine Islands, most excellent Sir, possess iron and exhibit it in nearly every known mineralogical combination, and in such abundance that the cordillera of the island of Luzon, from Montufar Point in San Bernardino Straits to Cape Bojeador, is composed of no other mineral than iron, its ranges, of the third order, being in content and structure totally iron of the best quality, the more valuable in that its combinations are such as to facilitate its fusion and to render its reduction to metal simple."

Jan 2, 1916

By A. W. Demmler

RECENTLY, Chaudron,&apos; Montariol,2 and their co-workers published the results of their studies on zone-refined aluminum. They found their material to be capable of recrystallization at —50°C, but gave no data as to the percentage reduction or time required. Their material was found to be practically non-work hardening at room temperature, but after 96 pct cold work at a low temperature and storage in liquid nitrogen it was found to recrystallize to coarse grains in less than 3 hr at 20°C. Recently, a study was made of the room temperature recrystallization characteristics of zone-melted aluminum. An ingot 14 in. in length, with a 3hx3 in. cross section, was made in an extremely high purity graphite boat under an atmosphere of dried commercial argon. It was made by first passing the molten zone along the ingot of 99.99+ pct A1 15 times. At this point, the most impure 3 in. (the end toward which the eutectic forming impurities migrated) were replaced with more of the original starting material, and 15 more traverses were made. Each traverse of the zone along the ingot required approximately 3 hr. Three ingots were prepared in this identical fashion and the chemical analyses were made spec-trographically on two of these ingots, rather than on the one used in this investigation. The analyses were made at 1 in. intervals along the ingot, in duplicate. Over the purest 5 in. of the ingot, which were most important in this investigation, there was found an average composition of <0.00004 pct Cu, <0.0003 pct Fe, <0.0001 pct Si, and <0.0001 pct Mg. In addition, the following elements were not detected spectrographically even in the more impure end of the bar: manganese, zinc, nickel, chromium, titanium, vanadium, lead, tin, boron, beryllium, bismuth, gallium, zirconium, cadmium, antimony, cobalt, and molybdenum. The original ingot was given several cold reductions, with intermediate anneals in order to refine the grains. Owing to the extreme length resulting and the ease of deforming the material plastically, it was cut into eight equal lengths and identified as shown in Fig. 1, with the highest numbered section at the purer end (that enriched with peritectic formers). Section 6 was used in the exploratory work and was found to be of exceptionally high purity, giving more rapid rates of room temperature re crystallization than any previous aluminum studied at the Alcoa Research Laboratories. This fact suggested that the entire midsection of the ingot might be of very high purity. Accordingly, section 4 was chosen for the next study. A portion of it was rolled to cold reductions of 10, 25, 40, 60, 75, and 90 pct at room temperature, and the re-crystallization of each specimen was followed by X-ray pinhole transmission photographs. The other portion received the same treatment, except that both the specimens and the rolls were maintained at 160°F in the process of rolling. The latter ortion was retarded in its recrystallization as compared to the former, probably due to the stress relief effect of the warm rolling. Both of these portions of the fourth section were found to recrystallize at a considerably slower rate than did the sixth section.

Jan 1, 1957

By J. L. Jernegan

In the summer and fall of 1875, the author was present during a short smelting campaign at the Hall Valley works, and having had occasion to make a number of chemical analyses of the ores, fuel, and fluxes, deems that the results of the same, and also an account of the smelting operations, may be found of interest to members of the Institute. The mines and reduction works of the Hall Valley Silver—Lead Mining and Smelting Company (limited) are situated at Hall Valley, Park County, Colorado. The smelting works are located about half way from the mouth to the head of the above-named valley, and the mines high up on the mountains, near its head. The three principal mines of the company are the Whale, Leftwick, and Coldspring. They are all on different veins, running parallel to one another, with a general trend from southwest and northeast. The

By John A. Ruppert, John E. Conley

Shortages of cinders, largely resulting from industrial plants converting to fuel-oil, together with an enhanced building activity, have seriously affected the cinder block and lightweight concrete manufacturers. In the search for other sources of lightweight aggregate, various clays, shales, slates and natural occurring lightweight rocks such as pumice, scoria, volcanic ash and the like have received special attention. Methods and equipment for producing suitable lightweight aggregates have been considered. In addition to an expanded use of the rotary kiln, the traveling-grate and continuous-sintering machines are being installed in many localities.

Jan 4, 1950

Discussion of the paper of PAUL BILLINGSLEY, presented at the New York meeting February, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 97, January, 1915, pp. 31 to 47. JAMES F. KEMP, New York, N. Y.-Mr. Billingsley has spoken so concisely that we may not realize the many important topics which he has passed in review and upon which lie has thrown much illumination. The exact determination of the age of the granite, itself, is one. If we were to look over a geological map containing the region of Butte and 25 years old, we would find this coarsely crystalline mass assigned, as were others of its kind, to the pre-Cambrian, or as we used to say, to the Archean. In the course of time it was found to be later. The Butte Special Folio, 1907, described it as post-Carboniferous and possibly post-Laramie. Mr. Weed in Professional Paper No. 74 of the U. S. Geological Survey (1912) placed it as probably Niocene because of its relations with the andesite, which was believed to be Eocene. Mr. Billingsley now by a very neat demonstration circumscribes it more definitely and we recognize that it must be latest Cretaceous or earliest Eocene. We see, however, that extensive field observations, ably correlated, were necessary to establish the conclusion. For some years all familiar with Butte have known that there was a central area the veins of which carried copper ores in a quartz gangue; and that outside this area there were veins carrying silver ores in a gangue of manganese minerals. Mr. Sales&apos;s able and detailed paper, read at the Montana meeting, August, 1913, not only corroborated these relations, but emphasized the transitional character of the intermediate or passage zone. Mr. Billingsley is now able to show from observations at increasing depths, the tendency of the copper ores to appear deep down in the veins

Jan 5, 1915

By Benjamin N. Webber

Many of the auriferous placers of the arid Southwest differ widely from the standard types of stream and eluvial deposits of more humid regions, although exhibiting some of the features of each. This divergence in characteristics is of geological and economic importance and appears sufficient to warrant the consideration of these placers as a class distinct from both stream and eluvial deposits. It is hoped that the consideration of these auriferous gravels as a distinct type of deposit will facilitate recognition of morphological and economic features that might remain obscure if these deposits were viewed in the light of stream or eluvial placers whose type locality is a more humid environment. "Bajada placer" is proposed as the designation for this type of placer deposit. Bajada is the Spanish term for slope and is used locally in the Southwest to indicate the lower slope of a mountain range, the portion consisting of rock debris and standing at a much lower angle than the rock slope of the range proper. It has been used in a geologic sense by Schraderl and others. The type locality of bajada placers is the Sonoran Desert,2 where they occur on the bajada or rock debris slope of desert ranges. Stream placers are represented in the Southwest, but most of them lie within the mountain topographic province, the Mexican Highlands2 section of the Basin and Range physiographic province. Eluvial placers may occur in the mountainous semiarid Mexican Highlands but are almost unknown in the extremely arid Sonoran Desert, as mountain slopes are generally too steep to permit the accumulation of any considerable mantle of residual debris. Since their salient distinctions are almost wholly the result of formation under conditions of extreme aridity, bajada placers are largely confined to the Sonoran Desert, although a few occur in the adjacent Mexican Highlands. They may be modified by the action of ephemeral streams, in which case the placer gravels of these arroyos approach stream placers in type and habit of occurrence, but their relation to an arid environment and the bajada type is usually apparent.

Jan 1, 1935