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By J. P. Newell, R. W. Storey

AUGER mining is a form of continuous mining in that it completely replaces with a one-cycle operation the older conventional cut, drill, shoot, and load method of mining. Relatively new, having been utilized only within the last few years, it is even more continuous in its production of coal than some other forms of continuous mining being practiced in this country today. There are at present coal recovery .augers in operation working along strip-mined highwalls from the outside. This paper will deal with underground mining, specifically with an experiment which was carried out with a machine developed for this purpose. The location of this experiment was in Pike County in eastern Kentucky in the upper split of the No. 3 Elkhorn seam. Coal height was 32 in. and roof conditions were very bad, with 10 in. of soft draw slate coming down with every cut in conventional mining. The coal is high-grade bituminous, excellent for metallurgical coking. Underground auger mining fills a need for a method of recovering coal in thin seams, under bad roof conditions or in split seams. In many cases it might save money by eliminating the handling of excessive quantities of rock. In fact, if the coal can be recovered, as in the case of this experiment, without mixing with any impurities outside the seam, it may be possible to load or ship a satisfactory product with little or no preparation or cleaning expense. The need for some economical method for recovering coal from thin seams is becoming more pressing as the more profitably mined seams are exhausted. Basic Principles of Auger Mining The principles of the auger, or screw conveyor, have long been used in drilling small diameter holes for blasting and other purposes. These same fundamentals apply to large diameter drilling. However, considerably more attention was given to designing a cutting head that would not pulverize the coal and consequently would require a minimum of power to drive it. The head, as designed for this job, consists of a cylinder 25 in. in diam with steel bits set in 3 positions spaced around the forward rim. A conventional coal drill bit, at the head of a bursting cone in the center of the cylinder, trails the forward rim slightly, see Fig. 1. The bursting cone and auger connections are anchored to the cutter barrel by 3 arms spaced at 120 This head design proved to be very satis-

Jan 1, 1952

By Roy G. Mead

BECAUSE of its magnitude, and the type of occurrence, the deposit of boron minerals in the Kramer district, Kern County, California, is unlike any other in the world. Discovery of this vast deposit has brought about many changes in the borax industry, so a discussion of the geology, and the occurrence, would not be complete without a brief history of the development of the borax industry. Until the discovery of boron minerals in the desert regions of California and Nevada some seventy years ago, borax was imported from Tibet and India, principally for medicinal purposes, at almost prohibitive prices. Following the discovery of commercial deposits of boron minerals in California and Nevada, and the subsequent development of new uses for borax and boric acid, the consumption has steadily increased until today borax is used in some form or other in every household.

Jan 1, 1933

By Richard Hamburger

Calculating machines permit the use of the more rapid cotangent and semigraphic solutions of plane triangulation. The results of these methods are as accurate as those of other methods. Simple adjustment of the net, and ease of calculation encourage more complete field work. Errors in field work or in computation are easily localized.

Jan 2, 1950

By E. H. Rennhack

THE presence of sufficient quantities of the inter- stitial elements, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen is known to decrease sienificantly the room-temperature impact resistance of titanium. Hydrogen does not appear to affect impact strength unless present

Jan 1, 1959

By H. F. Yancey

COAL mine operators recognize coal as an abrasive material, because the wear of drilling, cutting, and conveying equipment is reflected as a cost item for replacement of parts. Similarly, industrial consumers of coal experience abrasive wear on all coal-handling equipment. Operators of pulverized fuel plants are doubtless most keenly aware of the abrasiveness of coal, because under the high contact pressures developed between coal and metal in pulverizers, abrasive wear is increased many fold. Moreover, experience in operating pulverized fuel plants has demonstrated that some coals are much more abrasive than others.

Jan 3, 1951

By John J. Porter

The requirements of the standard specifications under which Portland cement is sold have materially increased within the past 10 years, but practically all companies are now furnishing cement better than these requirements; in some cases exceeding them by nearly 100 per cent. From a sales standpoint, it is desirable to have a product that is uniform to a high degree and free from occasional quality troubles. A failure in quality, even if it affects only a few hundred barrels out of a yearly output of a million or more, is apt to be talked about in the trade and to affect the salability of the entire output. For these reasons, there has recently been great activity along the lines of quality control and improvement; and some of the most interesting problems of the industry are in this field. From the manufacturing standpoint, the quality of cement is chiefly a matter of uniform and proper chemical composition of the raw mix fed to the kilns plus proper burning in the kilns; the fineness to which the cement is ground, the proportions of gypsum, the method of seasoning, and the like are contributory factors. Uniform chemical composition of the raw mix has been one of the most difficult problems to solve. Most plants will use from 1000 to 3000 tons of rock per day and in but few cases is this material as it lies in the quarry even approximately uniform in composition. The problem, then, is to quarry and mix this raw material in such a manner that every handful passing through the kilns will have practically the same analysis as every other handful. To accomplish this purpose there are two methods of preparation: the wet and the dry. In each process, a stone storage is the first requisite of a successful plant. This storage place may handle the stone before or after crushing; its capacity may vary from two to three days' up to several months' supply, but it should be so designed that it can be filled as desired by the chemist and drawn at such points as will give a mixture of the various kinds of stone coming from the quarry and a reasonably uniform material going to the mill. The size of the storage place and the method of handling should be varied according to the nature of the material.

Jan 1, 1925

By Dan White

Stress measurements taken at Climax, El Teniente, Henderson, Lakeshore and Urad mines indicate that the deposits cited are generally subject to an inclined stress field that can be highly anisotropic. The horizontal stresses vary significantly between deposits and exceed the measured vertical stresses at Henderson and El Teniente mines. Experience at Henderson, Lakeshore and Urad mines is used to suggest a relationship between cavability and the premining stress. In poorly fractured, high strength rock masses, high stresses can assist the caving process. In well fractured, low strength rock masses, caving is ensured by breakage along fracture planes. The relationship between ground weight and the premining stress is also investigated. Ground weight problems appear to be most related to the competence of the ground rather than the magnitude of the premining stress as supported by experience at Climax and El Teniente mines. Recent developments in block caving favor the extraction of poorly fractured, high stressed rock. Accompanying the development of these deposits are new problems such as rock bursts. These pose particular problems to mine designers in that no experience currently exists in combatting rock burst problems at block caving mines.

Jan 1, 1984

By A. J. M. Ross

BACKFILLING of stopes and other underground openings in the Homestake mine with sand tailings was undertaken primarily to reduce surface subsidence, which was wrecking much of the surface plant and a substantial part of the town, and to make possible maintenance of openings into the top of pillar stopes as mining progressed. The progress of this type of filling has been rapid and the results very satisfactory. Sand is now used in filling timbered stopes, shrinkage stopes, and abandoned drifts and crosscuts. A permanent pipe-line system for transporting sand tailings into the mine by gravity has been installed. The close filling of all stopes has resulted in important benefits other than the two major ones. The ore bodies in the Homestake mine occur as replacements in one distinctive layer of the metamorphosed pre-Cambrian sediments along a group of minor folds that together form a complex anticline that pitches at 35º to 40º to the southeast. The ore bodies are extraordinary for their magnitude. Widths of over 300 ft. have been mined and continuous ore has been followed for over 1200 ft. along the strike on some of the upper levels. Mining has been by shrinkage stoping with square-set mining of crowns and pillars. In the standard plan, shrinkage stopes 60 ft. in the direction of strike and the full width of the ore have been taken up to within 25 ft. of the level above. After filling, the crown has been mined by square-set methods, as have also the 40-ft. pillars between shrinkage stopes. In former days, when the supply of ore seemed inexhaustible, the mining of pillars was allowed to lag far behind because of the high cost. Many pillars were rather badly fractured on the level and in some places between levels. Coarse waste was used for backfilling all stopes, but in pillars it became increasingly difficult to maintain haulageways for the transportation of this fill over the top of the stopes as mining progressed The cost of maintaining these crosscuts was excessive and in many pillars practically impossible. Therefore it became the practice to fill pillar stopes by tapping the back and sides of the stopes.

Jan 1, 1939

By Ralph W. Bailey, William B. Price

ARSENIC, antimony and phosphorus are now used in the brass industry as standard inhibitors in preventing dezincification in [ ] condenser tubes. This subject has been thoroughly covered by Barry,1 who described the testing procedure by total immersion of suitable specimens in a I per cent cupric chloride solution at definite temperatures. Effects of dezincification were then determined by loss in tensile strength and elongation of the test specimens after definite periods of immersion. In the crystallography of the chemical elements as tabulated by William Hume-Rothery,2 phosphorus (metallic), arsenic, antimony and bismuth are placed in group V-B and the type of crystal lattice for arsenic, antimony and bismuth is given as rhombohedral. The Metals Handbook3 [ ] lists them as "rhombohedral hexagonal," with the additional notation that for arsenic this is the ordinary form at 20°C.; other modifications known or probable at other temperatures. In view of these statements and of the fact that phosphorus, arsenic and antimony are effective in increasing the resistance to dezincification, it was natural to assume that bismuth would act in the same manner. A series of tests was therefore carried out employing the methods described by Barry. Much to our surprise, bismuth did not inhibit dezincification, but rather seemed to accelerate it. Tensile-test speci-

Jan 1, 1942

By John W. King, S. Ralph Austin

Spurred by recent forecasts of greatly increased demands for uranium by 1980 and beyond, interest is once again focusing on America's western uranium deposits. One of the principal producers in this area is the Gas Hills district in Wyoming, the site of approximately 12% of the known uranium in the U.S., including past production and current reserves. Located on the south flank of the Wind River Basin, the Gas Hills deposits have been recently studied by the Atomic Energy commission for clues to and guides for discovering similar-occurring ores. The ore deposits are confined to a permeable sandstone unit, up to 350 ft thick, at or near the base of the upper Wind River formation of early Eocene age. The uranium occurs in three principal north- south "ore trends," each of which is about six miles long, one mile wide, and separated from each other by approximately three miles (Fig. 1).

Jan 5, 1966

By Donald R. Williamson

Ore estimation at Cyprus Pima mine begins with estimating average copper grades for mine model blocks. Accuracy of the estimates has been checked four times in the last several years by comparing the estimates with arithmetic averages of corresponding blasthole (BH) assays. The data file now contains 3.567 estimated blockgrades and more than 10,000 blasthole assays. These data were compared by straight-line regression analysis at appropriate intervals as the body of data grew. Arithmetic averages of the estimates differed each time from arithmetic averages of the BH averages by nearly the same amount. More significantly, regression curves of the new total sets of data did not change position appreciably showing that copper grade estimates of blocks in all grade ranges from the lowest to the highest grade ores remained in error by nearly the same amount. Other studies revealed that core hole assays of the dominant ore type are biased and that that bias almost equals the error in estimation. Discovery of constancy in error indicated that regression analysis could be a means for correcting estimates of average block copper grades. A correction for estimated block grades was developed. It required determining which regression is appropriate for the particular problem, and a mechanism that is demonstrably sound. This paper describes the problem and the solution: No comparable study has been, found in the literature. Two other applications of regression analysis to metal grade comparisons are presented. Each adds a bit of support to a generalization which was suggested by correction of average block copper grades, namely, when performance of an estimate is to be evaluated, the variable taken to be the yardstick for the performance should be regressed on the estimate.

Jan 1, 1980

By John A. Putnam, Morrough P. O’Brien

DATA on the physical and thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons have been made available in recent years but the formal method of applying these data to flow in porous media appears not to have been fully developed. By making usual thermodynamic assumptions and employing existing data on permeability to two-phase flow, Darcy's law may be applied to obtain the flow characteristics for representative combinations of flowing medium and geometry. The numerical examples presented herein are based on hydrocarbons for which complete physical and thermodynamic data are available under equilibrium conditions. INTRODUCTION Thermodynamic data are obtained in the laboratory under equilibrium conditions and their application requires the assumption that equilibrium also exists during flow. This assumption is at least usual in engineering analyses, though not easily justified in many instances, and will be followed here. In regard to hydrocarbons, laboratory experience in determining the pressure-volume-temperature relationships indicates that gas-liquid mixtures must often be stirred vigorously for periods of 15 to 20 min. before reaching equilibrium. On the other hand, boiling and condensation are known to occur on solid surfaces and the large surface exposed to the flowing substance by a porous medium may bring about rapid approach to equilibrium. For the purpose of providing at least a guide to experimentation and a standard for later comparison with experimental results, it will be assumed that the phases present in cross sections perpendicular to the direction of flow are in thermodynamic equilibrium. Another assumption usually made in the solution of problems of flow in porous media is that the fluid remains at a constant temperature; i.e., isothermal flow. This assumption is arrived at by considering the porous medium and surroundings to be an infinite heat source and the rate of heat flow to be infinite at a boiling front. Its validity depends in large measure upon the character of flow, the number of components, and the physical and thermodynamic properties of the fluid. However, the assumption of isothermal flow represents a limiting case. The other limit can be represented by the assumption that the fluid is thermally isolated; i.e., irreversible adiabatic. The thermodynamic process characterizing the actual flow of a given fluid system probably lies somewhere between these two limiting cases and might be thought of as a flow system in which the confining walls are maintained at a constant temperature. For isothermal flow the solid material of the porous media is considered as the infinite heat source capable, without loss in temperature, of giving up heat to the fluid as the latter tends to cool by expansion. For the thermally isolated system, the solid material is considered to give up no heat to the fluid. In the intermediate case the impervious walls confining the porous media are at constant temperature from which heat is transferred along various paths, solid and fluid, throughout the porous media. It would appear that an actual petroleum-

Jan 1, 1941

By A. Lubinski, J. E. Hansford

Jan 1, 1965

By Ian Wark

MERCAPTOBENZTHIAZOLE and its sodium salt are marketed under the trade names Flotagen and Flotagen S respectively, for use as collectors for cerussite and other minerals. The structural formulas for sodium mercaptobenzthiazole and for sodium ethyl xanthate are: Chemically there is a resemblance between the two compounds, though the free acid (mercaptobenzthiazole itself) is much more stable than xanthic acid. Both are readily oxidized, e.g., by iodine to disulphides, and can be estimated by iodometric titration. Qualitatively they are similar as collectors in flotation, although there are quantitative differences between them that may be important in practice. It is deduced that the influence of the nitrogen atom is subordinated to that of the sulphur atoms, and that the dominant group of these compounds is the mercapto group -SH or -SNa. The general method of investigation has been based on contact tests. Two temperatures, 10° and 35° C., have been chosen, and with a standard concentration of 20 mg. per liter of mercaptobenzthiazole (i.e., of the free acid) the influence of alkali, cyanide and copper sulphate on contact at sulphide mineral surfaces has been studied. This standard concentration corresponds to about 19 mg. per liter potassium ethyl xanthate; it brings out the differences between the minerals better than a higher concentra-

Jan 1, 1939

By G. P. Hulst

The Parkes process lead refinery of the International Lead Refining Co., at East Chicago, was built by the International Smelting & Refining CO. to treat the lead bullion produced by its Tooele plant, at Tooele, Utah. The plant was designed and constructed under the direction of the writer. Ground was broken Apr. 16, 1912, and exactly six months later the plant was in operation and lead was being cast. The capacity of the plant, running 25 days per month, is 5,000 tons. The four products of the plant are common lead, corroding lead, antimonial lead, and Dore bullion. The site is an area, 64 acres in extent, lying north of 151st Street, between McCook Avenue and the Canal. The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal, and Pennsylvania Railroad enter the yard at the plant. There are five storage tracks and space for storing 100 cars in the yard. the main lead to the storage tracks passes over a 100-ton track scale on entering the yard.

Jan 1, 1915

By Frank E. Shepard

Electric power in mining-operations is now successfully applied to haulage, hoisting, lighting and pumping; and until lately, drilling was the one department of mining in which an electric source of energy had not been introduced. Drilling by electric power has been the field for much investigation and several forms of electric-drills have been tried; but in the severe service of rock-drilling many dieculties have been encountered, and the heavy cost of repairs has caused a deep prejudice against this system of drilling. In the majority of electric rock-drills previously placed on the market, two principal factors have been considered; first, a portable electric motor usually of heavy pattern, coupled to the driving-mechanism of the drill proper by means of a flexible shaft; and second, the coupling of some form of reciprocating cross-head to a piston by means of a spiral spring, the drill-bit being fastened to the piston-rod by some suitable form of chuck with fastening bolts and nuts. In this latter form of drill, the cross-head has a fixed stroke, while the piston with drill-bit attached is allowed a variable stroke through the

Jan 1, 1904

By W. G. Fischer, S. R. Felde

Trona ore at the Westvaco, Wyo., mine of FMC Corp. has been obtained by room-and-pillar methods since the mine began operation. The flat- lying, 10-ft thick trona (Na2CO3.NaHCO3.2H2O) is covered by 1500 ft of weak shale and sandstone, and extraction of pillars on the retreat quite often throws large amounts of weight onto development workings. Weak shales in the roof and floor fail rapidly, and the mine ribs slough to such an extent that mining often becomes very difficult. When this occurs, efficiency goes down, costs go up, and the risk to men and machinery increases greatly. Difficult mining conditions in the early '60s forced a re-evaluation of all presently known mining techniques in bedded deposits. Many room-and-pillar mining plans were compared with the system in use at that time, but none of them offered a better solution to the roof control problem. Longwall techniques were also seriously considered, but machinery was not available that would cut the hard trona seam and still maintain the productivity obtained from room-and-pillar sections. However, since roof control in the longwall methods appeared to be more satisfactory than that found in room-and-pillar techniques it was believed that a new technique using the longwall principle and based on rock mechanics should be tried rather than previously known pillaring methods.

Jan 4, 1966

By J. B. Umpleby

The function of gas in the development and production of oil has far-reaching consequences that should be emphasized. The technical aspects of the subject have recently had a great deal of attention but less thought has been given to fundamental concepts underlying oil and gas law and the many customs and practices that have grown up in the industry. I shall review briefly the advance in knowledge of the subject and attempt to relate these concepts to legislative, judicial and operating problems. Early writers on oil and gas in Pennsylvania noted their close association in oil pools and their contemporaneous decline in output; also, that as gas pressure decreases so does production, that new offset wells reduce the output of existing wells, and even that tubing a well lengthens its flowing life. Expanding gas was deduced as the principal expulsive force. These fundamental observations had been made at least as early as 1880.1 They were treated, however, as academic considerations and did not greatly influence law or practice for many years except to instill into all operators an urgent desire to hasten offset drilling in order to obtain as much of the flush as possible. The most noteworthy later advance in knowledge came in 1926 when Beecher and Parkhurst published their paper on Effects of Dissolved Gas upon the Viscosity and Surface Tension of OiL.² This paper added to the old idea of an expelling force the concept of a modifying agent that actually changes the physical characteristics of the oil and facilitates its movement through the pore spaces of the reservoir rock. Largely since the publication of this paper, intensive study and concerted effort have been given to means of using to a maximum, in producing oil, these combined properties of gas. This is shown clearly by the number of papers dealing with the subject, and the new and revived terms now widely used to express thought, such as the expressions gas energy, reservoir pressure, reservoir energy, gas-oil ratio, bottom-hole pressure, beaning, tapered tubing and back-pressure. These terms, some of which are

Jan 1, 1932

By C. H. Jr. Herty

DURING the past few years frequent reference has been made to a certain type of iron known generally as "bad iron," "dirty iron," etc., both by steelmakers and producers of iron castings.1 Open-hearth operators have claimed that such iron was entirely within the specified limits as to ordinary analysis but it was difficult to make good steel from it. It has been suggested that unreduced material in the iron is responsible, also that most trouble is experienced with the iron when the blast furnace is delivering a product whose analysis is more or less variable. Other reasons suggested are the use of scrap or borings, unsintered flue dust in the burden, a cold hearth, too high a proportion of unsuitable grade of ore, or the form of the carbon in the iron. Accordingly, a subcommittee was appointed at the fall meeting of the Open-hearth Committee of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers held in Pittsburgh in October, 1926, to investigate the reasons for the occurrence of this bad iron and suggest methods for preventing its appearance. This committee enlisted the cooperation of the U. S: Bureau of Mines Experiment Station at Pittsburgh in undertaking a study of pig-iron quality as affecting the open hearth. The following is a report of the findings to date:

Jan 1, 1929

By R. C. Buehl, J. P. Morris

ACTIVITY values for sulphur dissolved in liquid iron and slags as functions of composition and temperature are needed in applying thermodynamics to sulphur-control problems in iron- and ' steel-making. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of carbon on the activity of sulphur in the metal phase. The method employed was the same as that used in an earlier investigation' concerning the effect of silicon on sulphur activity in liquid iron. A study was made of the conditions of equilibrium in the reaction between hydrogen gas and sulphur dissolved in iron-carbon alloys. The chemical equation for this reaction can be written as follows: S (in liquid Fe-C alloy) + H2 (gas) = H2S (gas). It was found that the activity coefficient of sulphur in liquid iron increases as the carbon content increases. At 2.3 pct carbon and 1600 °C, the activity coefficient of sulphur is twice its value in carbon-free iron, and at carbon saturation it is more than six times as great. The effect of temperature on sulphur activity was found to be small. Previous work on the reaction between hydrogen gas and sulphur dissolved in liquid iron has been reported by several investigators2,³,4 but only recently have studies been made of the effect of alloying elements. Silicon1 is known to have a pronounced influence on the activity of sulphur in iron, its effect being similar to that shown by carbon as described in the present report. Kitchener, Bockris, and Liber-man5 recently have published a preliminary report of their work on the effect of carbon on sulphur activity in iron. Their experiments were made at 1570°C and carbon saturation in the melt. Under these conditions they found that the activity coefficient of sulphur was approximately doubled by the presence of carbon. This is a much smaller effect than that found in the present work. Experimental Method: The apparatus and procedure were essentially the same as those used in the earlier investigation of the effect of silicon on sulphur activity.' Briefly, the method was as follows: A molten iron-carbon alloy was brought to equilibrium at constant temperature with a mixture of H2 and H2S of constant composition by bubbling the gas through the metal. Samples of the melt were

Jan 1, 1951