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By M. Handley

The Witwatersrand Basin contains by far the most gold ever found, and has hosted mining from its discovery in 1886 to the present. For many years, South Africa was the world’s largest producerof gold, nearly all of which came from the Witwatersrand. Since 2000, South Africa has fallen back several positions because of declining gold output. There are many complex and varied reasons for this; however, declining gold resources in the Witwatersrand Basin are not one of them. As far as the author knows, there are no qualified estimates in the literature of gold remaining in the Witwatersrand Basin. This paper collects mining data from several sources and then, using elementary gold accounting and error analysis, attempts to estimate the amount of gold remaining in the Witwatersrand Basin. It includes gold underground in existing and defunct mines, in evaluated ore resources, and dumps. Compiled data from 1887 to 2019 shows that 50 200 t of gold were produced by Witwatersrand mines, while it is estimated that a further 48 100 t remainunderground, both within and outside of mine leases, a further 1 600 t on the surface in tailings,and an unknown amount in rock dumps. Nearly all of this gold will remain inaccessible with current mining methods, and major technical developments in mining will be necessary before any of the gold can be categorized as a code-compliant resource or reserve. To win this prize, the mining industry will have to rethink its approach to mining, both in old mining leases and in the unexploited ground. It will also have to find effective means of preventing gold theft and informal mining, which are on the rise.

Apr 5, 2023

By Louis H. Meece

The romance of the River lives on in the tales of Mark Twain; and many Americans still think of the Mississippi River in terms of the steamboats loaded with passengers, gamblers and cotton. Yet for many years, coal has been a major cargo on the American waterways. Currently, about 100 million tons a year of coal is handled in some part of its journey from mine to destination by barge. The bulk of this traffic has been on the Ohio River System and the Upper Mississippi River System in years past. Now we have a new entry. Over the past 10 years various movements of coal have developed down the Mississippi River to power plants at Memphis and along the Gulf Coast, and a small amount of metallurgical coal has moved down the Mississippi River for export to Japan since 1970. But in 1980 a brand new player came on the scene. 1980 was a momentous year for the American coal business. Historically, we have exported about 50 million tons a year of metallurgical coal to the world's steel mills. Just before and after World War I, we also had a fairly healthy export trade in steam coal; and again in the late forties, we supplied large amounts of coal to Europe until domestic production could recover from the ravages of World War II. But since the early fifties, the name of the export game has been metallurgical coal. Starting in the mid seventies, something began that was almost totally missed by the American coal industry; and that was the growth in the use of coal first in Europe and now in the Far East as a steam product and as an alternative to petroleum products. As these world coal markets began increasing, the U.S. at first was thought to be noncompetitive because ocean rates were still very low. For example, as recently as 1977, Australian coal could be moved all the way from Australia to the Gulf Coast for $12.50 per metric ton. Coal exporting countries were Poland, Australia and South Africa, except for the continuing exports of U.S. high quality metallurgical coal. But then came the second oil shock, and all of the sudden that $12.50 rate from Australia to the U.S. Gulf became $25.00. And then suddenly and almost unrecognized by the American industry, American coal was in fact competitive at overseas destinations because of the drastic change in trade patterns brought on by the doubling and tripling and quadrupling of bunker fuel prices for ships.

Jan 1, 1982

By E. T. Stephenson

Wert and Marx1 pointed out that a straight-line relationship exists between the activation energy of a relaxation process and the temperature at which the maximum relaxation occurs. The data available at the time indicated that this relationship held for a number of Snoek peaks, several grain boundary peaks, and pair relaxation in a brass. Theoretical justification for the observed relationship was found in the following equation, which Wert and Marx derived from the theory of interstitial atomic diffusion coefficients:' where AH is activation energy, R is the gas constant, T is the internal friction peak temperature, v is the interstitial atomic frequency, f is the frequency of the applied stress, S is entropy of activation. More accurate internal-friction data on interstitial diffusion in bcc metals have become available since Wert and Marx's paper. Table I gives activation energies calculated by several authors from a combination of elastic aftereffect data and the peak temperatures at several frequencies of measurement. (In the case of Fe-C and Fe-N, the referenced authors5'7'8'10 also used high-temperature diffusion data.) However, diffusion experiments at 150°C and above1'-13—rather than anelastic techniques—were used to determine the activation energy of hydrogen diffusion in Fe-H. In order to plot this recent data as a AH vs T graph we calculated the peak temperatures of the systems listed in Table I (with the exception of Fe-C, Fe-N, and Fe-H) by using published values3'' of AH and Do. These calculated peak temperatures varied by only a few degrees from experimentally determined peak temperatures. The calculated values were felt to represent the better average. A number of investigators have found the peak temperatures in Fe-C and Fe-N to be 38 to 40°C and 20° to 24°C, respectively. The values of 39" and 22°C (312° and 295°K in Table I) were determined by carefully executed experiments.6'8 The hydrogen peak temperature has been measured at 1 cps,12 20 cps,14 and 35,000 cps.15 All hydrogen peak temperatures were adjusted to 1 cps for Table I using AH = 3000 cal per mole. As Fig. 1 shows, the data of Table I fit a straight line at least as well as the earlier data used by Wert and Marx. Linear-regression analysis was applied to the data in Table I. The Fe-H data was omitted because the activation energy has not been experimentally determined in the temperature range of the peak. The analysis yields the equation: with a standard error of 860 cal per mole. The agreement of the data in Table I with the Wert-Marx equation is excellent. Strict application of Eq. [I] forces the linear regression analysis through the origin. In this case, the analysis gives a slope of 62.1 cal per mole per deg, and a standard error of *890 cal per mole. With this value, it follows from internal-friction theory that Hence, Do varies by only 30 pct among these bcc-interstitial systems. Thus, a concept suggested originally by Wert and Marx1 is confirmed by recently published data. The

Jan 1, 1965

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 E. Shekarchi

The mineral industry of Afghanistan improved substantially in 1976 as asbestos production was begun and feasibility studies were made of possible copper and iron and steel industries. The remarkable event of the year was the introduction of Afghanistan's 7-year economic and social development plan which covered the years 2976-82. The 7-year plan established ambitious goals for a gross national product (GNP) annual growth rate of 6.3% during its duration. To achieve this target, large increases in expenditures for economic development were programed in virtually every sector of the economy. Foreign assistance, in particular, was expected to finance a large share of new development projects. The major components of the plan were the development of transportation (highways and railroads), oil and gas exploration, construction of a copper smelter to exploit the copper deposits near Kabul, and development of an iron and steel industry to exploit the rich iron ore deposits in the central part of the country. Exports during the plan period were to continue to be principally agriculture products and natural gas to the U.S.S.R.

Jan 1, 1980

When the writer first began his search for the early history of coal he was amazed at the paucity of information in literature about it, and while after six years many of the reasons for such a scarcity are understood, there are still many cases, even within the last two centuries, when one who can appreciate the tremendous part coal has played in the development of modern times, finds it hard to realize how little attention was paid to this material in those early clays. Occasionally a traveller or observer is found who foresaw how valuable coal was to be when industries were developed, but these were few and to most of those recording its occurrence it was just another mineral. George Washington was farsighted in his view of the development of this country and the need for means of transportation across the mountain barrier, but it was at least sixteen years after he must first have known of coal before he made any reference to it in his journals. He did, however, knowingly or not, select some valuable coal properties in the lands lie obtained in the West. This was then almost entirely an agricultural country, and what industries there were found a great abundance of wood fuel within easy access, there were no steam plants, and all iron was made with charcoal; in fact, the "captive mines" of the iron industry then were large timber "plantations," and when these were exhausted the furnace usually was abandoned and another one built elsewhere, as transportation of charcoal was quite expensive. Along the seaboard the cities and industries began to import coal from England and Nova Scotia early in the eighteenth century, but until the war of the Revolution began the total quantity of coal used yearly in this continent did not exceed nine thousand tons. In 1800 only two places, Pittsburgh and Richmond, Virginia, were using coal to any extent for domestic purposes and it was much later. than this that the amount of coal used in Philadelphia, New fork, and Boston exceeded that of wood. Practically all of the early travellers and writers mentioning coal are noted in the following pages. Several Englishmen who were evidently familiar with its use and value at home, mention its presence as being of great future promise to the young nation, but to nearly all it was more or less of a curiosity and the smoke caused by its use an abomination, and it

Jan 1, 1942

By P. H. Tumialán

Dado que la mayor ocurrencia de depósitos de plomo y zinc en el Perú provienen de yacimientos hidrotermales filoninanos, cuya ubicación se encuentra en la zona de Cordillera Occidental, es necesario realizar un estudio donde se aborde el origen, la evolución y relación de ubicación geológica de dichos yacimientos y así mostrar las áreas potenciales de contener concentraciones minerales. Para ello, se evalúa la mineralización del plomo y zinc con relación a la tectónica de placas, los yacimientos relacionados a los rasgos mordo estructurales, la distribución de las provincias metalogenéticas con relación a los rasgos geológicos peruanos y la petrogénesis relacionado a la metalogenia del plomo-zinc en el Perú.

Oct 14, 1980

By F. Pošepný

Part I.—General Facts and Theories. PAGE 1. Systems of Classification Employed Hitherto, . . 199 2. Standpoint and View of the Present Paper, . . . 206 3. The Xenogenites in General, ...207 4. The Subterranean Water-Oirculation, . . . 212 A. The Vadose Underground Circulation, . . . 213 Filling of Open Spaces Formed by Vadose Circulation, . . 217 B. The Deep Underground Circulation, . 220 Ascending Waters Encountered in Mines, , 222 Related Phenomena near the Surface, . 225 Mineral Springs at the Surface,. . 230 Chemical Constitution of Mineral Waters, . 232 Minute Metallic Admixtures in Mineral Waters, . . . 238 Alterations Produced by Mineral Springs, . 240 Structural Features of the Deposits of Mineral Springs, . . 244 5. Origin of Ore-Deposits in the Deep Region, . . . 247 Manner of Filling of Open Spaces in General, . . . 254 Part II.—Examples or Classes of Deposits. 1. Ore-Deposits in Spaces of Discission, .. 264 General Features and Illustrations, a. Ore-Veins in Stratified Rocks, .. 269 Clausthal, 269; Andreasberg, 270. b. Ore-veins in the Neighborhood of Eruptive Masses, 271 The Erzgebirge, 271; Przibram, 272. c. Ore-Veins Wholly Within Large Eruptive Formations, 274 Hungary, 274; Dacian Gold-field. 275; Verespatak, 276; Vulkoj, 276 ; Comstock lode, 278.

Jan 1, 1894

By C. J. Badenhorst

The primary focus of management today is safety, or preventing negative, generally irreversible, events of acute duration. The outcomes of safety-related events are usually visible and can evoke strong emotions if the results are severe. Experts now see that occupational illness and disease also result in significant emotional and financial toll to workers, their families and communities, and to their employers. Effective health and safety management must include acknowledging the importance of occupational health hazards and the proportionate application of resources to address those issues. Improvement in workplace conditions and decrease or elimination of illness and disability are due to actions within the workplace and result from the implementation of risk prevention and control measures. However, success may only be visible months or years later and may require interventions that have to be maintained over prolonged periods. This demands continuous, co-ordinated effort to ensure sustainability of diverse occupational health programmes and the relevant management systems. Too often occupational health is not seen as being part of the general management of business, but rather the function of a medical practitioner somewhere off site in a clinic. Integration of occupational health management systems with other management systems within an organization is essential for its success.

Jan 1, 2004

By H. C. Ko

The Bureau of Mines maintains an active program in thermochemistry to provide thermodynamic data for the advancement of mineral science and technology. As part of this effort, the standard enthalpy of formation at 298.15 K, ?Hf°, for 2CdO-CdSO4 was determined by HCI acid solution calorimetry to be -345.69 ±0.61 kcal/mol.

Jan 1, 1983

By N. Christensen, B. Augland, T. H. Johansen

Samples of an Fe-Nb alloy were brought to equilibriurtr with hydrogen-methane mixtures in the temperature range from 950° to 1050°C, and subsequently analyzed on their carbon contents. The solubility pvoduct L = [%Nb] [%C] may be represented by the equation Approximate solubilities indirectly assessed through hardness measurements have been included from a previous report. These data are shown to be in a fair agreement with the present solubility measurements. IN an investigation based on hardness measurements by de Kazinczy, Ms, and pachleitnerl the molal heat of solution of NbC was estimated to 11.5 kcal per mole. This value was considered rather small, and an investigation using a similar technique was carried out. The results indicated a heat of solution about 35 kcal per mole.2 At this stage it was decided to determine the solubility under conditions of true equilibrium . During the course of this work a similar investigation was published by Smith. 3 His heat of solution, 41.6 kcal per mole, is not very different from the value resulting from the present work (42.5 kcal per mole). Our solubility product, on the other hand, is at considerable variance with that reported by Smith. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed below. Mori, Tokizane, and saheki 7 have studied the behavior of niobium in commercial steels, with special attention to the formation of niobium carbide, nitride, and sulfide. Assuming a carbide composition Nbco.87 based on X-ray diffraction and chemical analysis of residues extracted from Fe-Nb-C-S alloys, the molal heat of solution of niobium carbide was estimated to 35.2 kcal per mole. MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT The chemical analysis of the materials is given in Table I. Electrolytic iron* was used in the preparation of

Jan 1, 1968

President Robert M. von Storch, General Superintendent, Coal Mines and Quarries, Columbia-Geneva Steel Division, United States Steel Corporation, Dragerton, Utah, called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. in the absence of John Peperakis, Past President, who was usable to attend because of a mine fire. He welcomed the members with a paper entitled "With Serene Confidence." He also showed a short movie, "The Waiting Harvest," with his speech. Following the president's speech, the first business meeting of the Institute was held. Secretary-Treasurer Fred Whiteside presented the Treasurer's Report. Motion made by Mr. Whiteside, second by Stan Shubart that this report be accepted. Motion carried. Because the minutes of the last meeting were published in the Institute's booklet, the reading of the minutes was dispensed with, and the President announced the members of the various committees: General Chairman ? Charles M. Schloss

Jan 1, 1958

By Ernest Ph. Hérivel

The mine and treatment plant of the Teziutlan, unit of the Mexican Corporation, S. A., are located at Aire Libre, in the District of Teziutlan, near the northwest edge of the State of Pueblo, Republic of Mexico. The property is leased from the Teziutlan Copper Co. The town of Teziutlan is the terminus of a branch railroad starting from Oriental Junction or the Mexico-Jalapa-Veracruz narrow-gage system of the National Railways of Mexico. A branch line 18 km in length from Teziutlan to Aire Libre belongs to the Teziutlan Copper Co. and is leased and operated in conjunction with the mine.

Jan 1, 1933

By Diuvanaia Dias

No presente trabalho busca-se avaliar o comportamento do solo virgem e com os resíduos, compactado, uma alternativa para área de Construção Civil. O estudo tem o objetivo de avaliar o solo (classificado como solo laterítico); e solo composto de polipropileno reciclado (rPP) e pó de madeira (PM); caracterizando a forma física e mecânica de rPP/PM para aterro. Neste trabalho, investiga-se a influencia dessas adições no comportamento mecânico de camadas compactadas de solo, avaliando o efeito do teor de composto rPP/PM. As amostras de polipropileno reciclado (rPP), e serragem (PM), foram separadas cada uma em 10%, 20% e 30%, e aquecidas juntas, após o aquecimento misturadas ao solo. Sendo classificado como solo de baixa compressibilidade (ML), caracterizando um silte argiloso. Segundo a classificação HBR, tem-se P200 < 35%, LL > 40, IP < 10 e IG =0, assim o grupo de classificação pertence ao grupo A-2, subgrupos A-2-5. Os resultados de Índice de Suporte Califórnia (ISC) do solo em estudo foram de 41% para amostra de solo e 130% para amostra de solo mais compósito.

Aug 17, 2017

By W. T. Benson

In May l942, the Bureau of Mines started exploring for manganese on the Black Poch manganese property, Esmeralda County, Nev., to determine possible reserves of manganese in the deposits. The work was done by the Bureau in cooperation with the Federal Geological Survey and comprised a study of the geology, mapping the area, and exploring by trenching, test pitting, and sampling. All ore bodies were examined and sampled, and the three most important areas were explored by trenching and test pitting. This report notes the location, ownership, and history of the deposits; explains the physical features of the district; mentions briefly mine workings and metallurgy; and describes the geology and ore bodies. The Bureau erected a temporary camp, repaired 5 miles of temporary road, constructed 1,000 feet of new road, dug 3,173 foot of trenches with a vertical crone section of 4 x 10 feet and 91 test pits with a cross section 3 x 6 feet, averaging about 6 feet deep, and cut 134 samples.

Jan 1, 1950

By Jr. Smith

Silver-gold ratios were studied at the Tayoltita epithermal vein deposit using channel sample, channel sample line, stope, ore body and vein sample populations. The ratios are highly variable among individual channel samples (25:1 to greater than 500:1) with both high and low values randomly distributed within ore bodies and veins. Whole vein ratios for the fourteen most important ore producing structures range from 44:1 to 105:1, and show zonal distribution relative to two small granitic stocks, low values closest to the intrusives. The zoned nature of the deposit suggests that the stocks, apophyses of an underlying batholith of Late Eocene age, were the heat engines which powered the hydrothermal system responsible for ore deposition.

Jan 1, 1978

By Howard E. Banta

From Alaska to Florida and California to Maine, the National Forest System (NFS) is host to unprecedented levels of prospecting and development. The NFS is large (191 million acres), geologically attractive from the mineral standpoint and relatively unexplored. Significant recent finds and developments involve silver, gold, platinum group metals, molybdenum, cobalt and phosphates. Exploration and development are closely regulated, but most of the NFS is open. The Forest Service endeavors to be a good host to the mineral industry, but increasingly is asked or forced to delay or disapprove mineral projects to protect the environment.

Jan 1, 1984

Watershed Jll in Jefferson County, Ohio we instrumented in 1977 as one of three watersheds established for the purpose of investigating surface mining and reclamation effects upon local hydrology, sediment discharge, and sediment and water quality. Each watershed was less than 50-acres in size, and was in a different geologic setting within southeastern Ohio. Surface runoff and ground¬water levels were monitored. Samples were taken for sediment determination and chemical analysis prior to mining. Monitoring and sampling continued through the period of watershed disturbance caused by mining and reclamation activities, which began in May 1980 at Watershed Jll. A psuedo-postreclamation period followed the initial cessation of man-machine activity on the watershed. A second reclamation effort occurred in the fall of 1981 and was to be followed by a third in 1982 after observations ceased. A true final postreclamation period was not monitored at this site, because the erosion control practice (terrace diversions) failed after each reclamation. Watershed Jll was a small pasture and wooded watershed with sandstone and shale above the mined coal seam prior to mining. A clay layer under the coal supported a perched saturated zone, termed the top aquifer for convenience. A lower underclay supported a second saturated zone called the middle aquifer. A lower perched aquifer had been dewatered by previous deep mining. After about three years of premine data and about two and one-half years of mining reclamation and psuedo-postreclamation data, the following general observations may be made: 1. The mining-reclamation phase was very short, and the postmining period was characterized by erosion failures and remedial disturbances that kept the watershed condition and size in a state of change. It was impossible to collect sufficient data to confidently characterize the hydrologic-sediment-chemical aspects of the mining period or of a postreclamation period and, most importantly, of the future watershed after its various properties and characteristics have ceased adjusting to its severe disturbance and reconstitution. 2. A seeding of wheat followed by grasses and legumes was not a particularly successful reclamation practice in terms of stabilizing the new soil. Numerous rills and small gullies developed in spite of installed diversions. 3. Storm runoff rates and yields at the watershed outlet increased from the premine, (phase 1) to the mining-reclamation (Phase 2) periods, and remained at or near the Phase 2 level through the postreclamation (Phase 3a) period. 4. The top aquifer changed in physical and chemical character as a result of mining and was becoming reestablished as the project drew to a close; but it is impossible to predict its final configuration or character. 5. Dewatering of the top aquifer resulted in a complete cessation of baseflow because the middle aquifer water table lay below the elevation of the watershed outlet. 6. The top and middle aquifers were merged in one area of the watershed where the upper coal underclay was disturbed. 7. Failure of the diversion terraces and their outlet obscured the effects of the reclamation practice upon sediment concentration and yields. There was little difference in sediment concentrations between Phases 2 and 3a. 8. Drinking water standards were met by surface waters throughout the period of observation except for two samples that exceeded the nitrate-N allowable level of 10 mg/l. 9. In all Phase 3 surface-water samples, iron concentrations were within the limits established by OSM, and manganese concentrations exceeded the regulation level only once. pH fell below the lower regulation level of 6.0 between 10% and 20% of the time. 10. The chemical quality of sediments was generally about the same after reclamation as before mining, with the exception of organic carbon, which decreased.

Jan 1, 1983

[Abbott, Jay Union Supply Co., 5460 Colo. Blvd., Denver, Colo. 80022 Achziger, Ronald H Midwest Rubber Co., 6404 E. 39th Ave., Denver, Colo. 80207 Adams, Bob Energy Fuels Corp., Box G, Steamboat Sprlngs, Colo. 80477 Adams, David Empire Energy Corp., Box 68, Craig, Colorado 81625 Adams, Dell H Consolidation Coal Co., 3300 One Oliver Plaza, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222 Adams, Douglas K General Electric Co., P.O. Box 2331, Denver, Colorado 80201 Adams, Kenneth L Arch Mineral Corp., 33 Carnation, Belleville, Ill. 62221 Ahlborg, William Joy Mfg. Co., 1911 Denver Club Bldg., 518-17th St., Denver, Colo. 80202 Albert, Darrell Safety Appliances Co., 400 Penn Center Blvd., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15235 Albrechtsen, Ray H Mountain States Resources Corp., 1399 So. 700 East, Suite 11, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105]

Jan 1, 1975

By M. Nagamori, A. J. Plumpton

"A low-grade concentrate from the Crevier Township, Quebec, containing 1.8% Ta205 and 13.7% Nb205 was reduced with carbon at 1600°C, and niobium and tantalum were selectively absorbed in liquid iron. To slag off the zirconia-rich gangue, some silica and lime were added as flux. Metallic iron was added in such a way that the combined contents of TaC and NbC did not exceed 20% in the ferroalloy . Up to 95% of the niobium, and up to 80% of the tantalum contained in the concentrate were recovered in the metal. The ferroalloy was ground finely and dissolved in 2 wt % sulphuric acid to leach out iron and silicon preferentially. The insoluble residue consisted principally of NbC and TaC, the calcination of which yielded an enriched concentrate comprising 80% Nb2O5 and 8% Ta2O5. The insoluble residue could also be chlorinated to obtain an impure liquid of Nb2Cl5 and TaCl5. Process variables and their effects are discussed in terms of higher metal recoveries in the smelting.IntroductionPresently, about one-third of the world production of tantalum comes from the pyrometallurgical reprocessing of tin slag, a by-product of tin smelting, containing sometimes 2 to 10% Ta205 and about the same amount of Nb205. Upon heating tin slags with carbon at about 1600°C in an electric furnace, tantalum and niobium oxides are converted to TaC and NbC, which are absorbed by the coexisting phase of molten metallic iron(1,2). The Fe-Nb-Ta-C melts cannot be decarburized by oxidation because of the preferential formation of Nb and Ta oxides over CO gas(3). So, the ferroalloys containing tantalum and niobium carbides are commercially treated by acid-leaching and I or chlorination to eliminate iron and thus permitting the eventual recovery of purified tantalum and niobium oxides(2).Absorbing Ta and Nb carbides in molten iron was first proposed and demonstrated by Zimmerley and Back(4) in 1957 in order to recover selectively tantalum and niobium from lowgrade concentrates. The process was successfully applied to the electric furnace smelting of tin slags by Hunter and Fursmant(5) over a period preceding 1965."

Jan 1, 1985