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By William E. Ford, Edward Salisbury Dana

262. Parallel Grouping. - Connected with the subject of twin crystals is that of the parallel position of associated crystals of the same species, or of different species. Crystals of the same species occurring together are very commonly in parallel position. In this way large crystals, as of calcite, quartz, fluorite, are sometimes built up of smaller individuals grouped together with corresponding faces parallel. This parallel grouping is often seen in crystals as they lie on the supporting rock. On glancing the eye over a surface covered with crystals a reflection from one face will often be accompanied by reflections from the corresponding face in each of the other crystals, showing that the crystals are throughout similar in their positions.

Jan 1, 1922

By G. W. LAAiIBOURNE

FEW mines possess a history of more fascinating interest than the Ontario at Park City, Utah. The famous Bonanza's production record of over $50,000,000; the great extent of its workings; the remarkable character of its mineralization; the fact that recent discoveries have shattered preconceived theories of the geology of the camp practically assuring the half-century old property a future as active and as prosperous as the past make the Ontario one of the unique mines of the world. A mere accounting of the wealth created by this historic property not only exemplifies the great profits

Jan 1, 1925

By YANG TSANQ WOO

THE method of making coke that has been adopted at the Kaiping and other collieries in northern China resembles, to some extent, the familiar bee-hive oven process of the United States, except that a kiln with permanent sides is used instead of a closed oven, and the products of combustion are drawn off at the bottom, In building coke-kilns in China, two circular holes, 8 ft. 6 in. in diameter at the bottom and 13 ft. in diameter at the top, are excavated in the ground, both being .connected at the bottom by a flue as shown in Fig. 1. The sides and bottom of the kiln are lined with fire-bricks, and covered with a layer of fire-clay, and a rectangular opening, 6 in. by 8 in., connects the bottom of each kiln with the main flue. Around the edge of the hole, and overlapping the lining, is a wall of fire-brick extending .2 ft. 6 in. above the level of the ground. An open space 5 ft. wide is left in this wall, through which the coal is carried into the kiln and the resultant coke removed. This space, of course, is bricked up during the time that the coking operation is being carried on. The wall is pierced with nine flue-openings uniformly placed around the circumference, each intervening space in the wall being strengthened with a brick buttress, as is shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The floor of the kiln, as well as the main flue, is lined with fire-brick. Before charging the coal, it is first placed in shallow bamboo sieves, 2 ft. in diameter, and immersed in a trough 10 ft. long, and 3 ft. wide, fed with pit-water; in which it is washed by hand. Fig. 3 shows the manner in which the washing is done. From 25 tons of good " dust" coal, 22.5 tons of washed coal are obtained. When ready to charge the coal into the kiln a temporary cone-shaped flue of fire-wood and lump coal is first built to a

Nov 1, 1905

By Max Boehmer

The first and most lasting impression made upon the mind of him who examines a mine or a mining district consists in the observation that in each and every case there is an intimate association of the ores with the eruptive rocks in the dietrict. The mines in the Mississippi valley seem to be the only excep-

Jan 1, 1904

By Peter Stubbs

Mr. Agelopas is to be congratulated on a fine paper. Although the presentation was simple and concise, you will all appreciate that a great deal of hard work went into the development of this highly successful repair method. Earlier this year Bethlehem invited a group of our people to witness lug repairs at their Sparrow's Point plant. We have since made lug replacements on a trial basis using their method. The repaired moulds are now back in service. We will compare their performance with regular moulds and with moulds repaired by a technique developed by Dofasco weld shop personnel. I would like to explain briefly some of the various types of ingot mould repairs presently undertaken at Dofasco. The first problem will be familiar to most of you. The lower inside edge of a mould wall may be damaged by spalling, a runout or by the washing action of steel deflected from a badly worn stool cavity. We repair this type of damage by welding.

Jan 1, 1972

By I. E. Rosenzweig

GeophyGical prospecting by earth-resistivity methods is frequently applied to investigation of structural problems in geology. Fig. 1 indicates a scheme of the general arrangement used in these methods of measurements. The battery (or generator) E is connected with two "current electrodes" I1 and I2. The current of intensity J, supplied by this battery, passes through the earth between these elcc- trodes. A potential difference U will be measured between two other electrodes V1 and Vz, called "potential electrodes." According to the configuration of electrodes (Fig. I), the resistivity of a homogeneous soil results from the formula p — 2rca-j [1] where 1 C = -------------------------------------- a a 1 a a [2]

Jan 1, 1940

By I. E. Rosenzweig

GeophyGical prospecting by earth-resistivity methods is frequently applied to investigation of structural problems in geology. Fig. 1 indicates a scheme of the general arrangement used in these methods of measurements. The battery (or generator) E is connected with two "current electrodes" I1 and I2. The current of intensity J, supplied by this battery, passes through the earth between these elcc- trodes. A potential difference U will be measured between two other electrodes V1 and Vz, called "potential electrodes." According to the configuration of electrodes (Fig. I), the resistivity of a homogeneous soil results from the formula p — 2rca-j [1] where 1 C = -------------------------------------- a a 1 a a [2]

Jan 1, 1940

By R. C. FLEMING

G OLD MINING is enjoying a real revival in the West, and a considerable portion of the production is coming from small properties. The large mining companies of the world get most of the publicity, but in the last year the small gold property has often proved a more attractive field for the mining engineer looking for something to do. Old mines have been re- opened, prospects have been more closely examined, and many properties that were out of the running with the high commodity and labor costs of two or three years ago, have recently been making money for their operators. An interesting phase of this activity is the operation of so-called one-man mines. The west is dotted with these small properties, without the resources or reserves to warrant large-scale operation, but which return a living and often something over to one or two men who under- stand mining and simple methods of treatment.

Jan 1, 1932

By Frank J. Tolonen

BENEFICIATION of iron-bearing formations is one of the major problems of research at the Michigan College of Mining arid Technology. Funds for this purpose hate been supplied by the State of Michigan supplemented by contributions of labor and some supplies from the Federal Government during the depression. The iron-mining companies have cooperated in securing samples and have also furnished much valuable information relative to the various formations.

Jan 1, 1937

By Gram Curtis

The keen and close competition now ruling in the iron and steel manufacture requires imperatively, in the design and construction of the machinery employed, the fulfilment in the highest practicable degree of two cardinal conditions: economy of labor in operation, and durability. The daily pay-roll and the cost of repairs far outweigh in importance the interest on the first cost of this part of the plant. It is believed that the apparatus here described will be found to embody, in these respects, a substantial imprevement upon the present manner of handling ingots and moulds at our large steel-works. Although it includes a number of novel features, it consists essentially in the choice and grouping of certain approved economical devices specially suited to the particular service required. Fig. 1 is a plan, and Figs. 2 and 3 are elevations of parts of a Bessemer converting-house, together with a small portion of the blooming-mill—suficient to illustrate clearly the means and manner of handling the ingots and moulds. A short cable-road of simple form, somewhat similar to those used

Jan 1, 1892

By Frank Rieber

THE study of earthquakes long ago developed the fact that by studying the travel times of the various groups of waves from the same earthquake, as received on seismographs at varying distances, major discon-tinuities in the earth's crust could be reasonably well defined. Using this original discovery, and adapting the mathematical methods originally devised in seis-mology for determining the depth below the surface at which such discontinuities occur, other investigators were able to develop a new branch of seismology which promises to be extremely useful in extending the boun-daries of our information oil local conditions below the earth's surface. As an outstanding example of the applications of this work, we have the so-called "seismo-graph" exploration of the Gulf Coastal region, which has resulted in the discovery of a large number of salt domes, from many of which oil fields may be developed. The original seismological investigations, from which different major discontinuities in the earth's crust were deduced, as well as these later successful experiments in finding salt-dome structures, involve relatively simple problems. In each case we are dealing with surface materials in which elastic waves will be propagated with a fairly definite velocity. Under this material we have something very different, in which the elastic waves will be propagated with a much higher velocity. The transition from one medium to another is like-wise relatively abrupt. For example, in. the Gulf Coastal region the sedimentary formations have a velocity of 6000 or 7000 ft. per sec., while the velocity of elastic waves in the cap rock of a salt dome" may exceed 15,000 ft. per sec. Under such conditions, de-lineation of the formation is a relatively simple matter, and, furthermore, there is very little opportunity for ambiguous results.

Jan 9, 1928

By Sheldon P. Wimpfen

EVERYWHERE in mining circles the talk is of this new development of hard faced or insert bits which hints of many changes to come in mining practice and rock drill equipment. In the past fifteen years new equipment has appeared in rapid succession which brought one change after another in rock breaking practice. Detachable bits were an innovation which met with wide success. Blasthole diamond drilling has proven itself. Only recently, fusion piercing was announced as a possible solution to the problem of breaking taconite ores. For several years this interest in new methods has been growing and various experimental usages of tungsten carbides in rotary type rock drilling bits have been partially successful. American experts in rock drilling have been concerned with the subject for ten years but actual commercial practice was begun by European manufacturers and mining companies. At this time nearly every manufacturer of rock drilling bits is working on some type of an insert bit. On the Rand, European manufacturers are testing out various types of insert bits. The problems relating to rock drilling in South Africa vary greatly from ours. The bulk of the drilling there is limited to the 31/2-ft holes that are drilled for breaking the gold bearing reef ore. Rock drilling in most mines is far more diversified. Both drifting and ore breaking call for holes varying in length from 4 ft up to as much as 50 ft and more.

Jan 1, 1947

By R. H. Sweetser

The Committee on Evaluation of Coal for Blast-furnace Coke reports progress in the working out of the problem of evaluation. There has been no full meeting of the Committee but there have been several conferences with two or more of the members present, and the different members have expressed themselves freely on the five points that have been under consideration since the meeting of the Committee in New York on Feb. 16, 1932. The need of a method of coal evaluation, not only of coking coals but all other kinds, is obvious. Under NRA it becomes imperative that coals of the same size from the same seam be priced according to their variations in quality, especially in reference to cleanliness in respect to freedom from extraneous ash-forming materials. In looking over the correspondence that has passed between members of our Committee, it is evident that much of the confusion and misunderstanding would disappear if we could realize that practically all of the variations in value of coal from the same seam of coal are due to variations in the amounts of extraneous materials that are contained in the coal as it passes over the scales for shipment. It is not now a question with our committee as to the differentials in value, or in prices, between different kinds of coking coals or between noncoking and coking coals; our present problem is to arrive at the method for determining the scale of values of the coal from a certain coal seam according to the increase or decrease of extraneous ash and moisture from a predetermined base line adopted for that particular coal. The five points mentioned above are the same as discussed at the meeting in February, 1932, except that the temperature for determining the moisture content has been changed from 212" F. to 221" F., at the suggestion of Dr. A. C. Fieldner. The points are: 1. It is proposed that the coal industry adopt as a base line for evaluating all coals the analysis of the coal as it passes over the neighing device that determines the tonnage of coal bought and sold. 2. It is proposed that the Committee on Evaluation of Coal for Blast-furnace Coke approve the adoption of the base line for Pittsburgh seam coal presented by F. A. Jordan at the annual meeting of A.I.M.E.

Jan 1, 1934

Jan 1, 1923

Jan 1, 1923

WE the undersigned, being all persons of full age and citizens of the United States, and a majority residents of the State of New York, desiring to form a cor¬poration pursuant to the provisions of the Membership Corporations Law for the purpose of incorporating, as provided in Section 5 of Article I. of said law, the existing unincorporated association known as American Institute of Mining En¬gineers, do hereby make, acknowledge and file this Certificate for that purpose, and do Certify as follows I. That the American Institute of Mining Engineers is an unincorporated association organized and existing with the object of promoting the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals and metals and the welfare of those employed in these industries by means of meetings for social intercourse and the reading and discussion of professional papers, and to circulate by means of publications among its members and associates the informa¬tion thus obtained.

Jan 1, 1917

By R. Philip Hammond

MONAZITE has had a Cinderella-like history. Although nearly go per cent pure rare-earth compound (rare-earth phosphate) it was sought at first not for the rare earths but for the sake of a minor constituent-thorium. The thorium, essential for the Welsbach gaslight mantle, was present in only small quantities and the principal constituents, the rare earths, were largely discarded. Gradually, however, the rare earths have developed uses of their own and today have left the thorium far behind in value. OCCURRENCE Monazite was first produced commercially about 1886, in North Carolina, where it was collected in small sluices by farmers who found it in stream beds on their land. The deposits were later exploited on a larger scale, but were mostly abandoned in a few years, when monazite from Brazil came upon the market in far larger quantities. Domestic production ceased entirely in 1906. The Brazilian source is still active, together with Indian, Dutch East Indies, and Australian deposits. Several other localities in the United States have yielded monazite, but none of these has produced commercially as yet. Monazite occurs originally in pegmatites and gneisses, through which, unfortunately, it is scattered in highly dispersed form. All commercially useful deposits consist of transported monazite sands liberated by erosion and concentrated by the action of water, which has sluiced away lighter materials and concentrated the heavy (D = 5.0 to 5.2) grains of monazite, together with ilmenite, zircon, garnet, and other dense minerals. The Carolina deposits were in stream beds; most of the other deposits mentioned are on or near the seashore, where the action of the waves has served to concentrate the monazite. In most cases today, the sands are worked to obtain the ilmenite and zircon, as well as monazite. The minerals are separated by means of sluices, dry tables, and magnetic separators, and each is finally obtained nearly pure. No crushing or grinding is necessary. The concentrates are shipped in fiber bags. COMPOSITION OF MONAZITE As Table I illustrates, monazite is the anhydrous orthophosphate of the cerium [ ] group of rare-earth elements. A small amount of yttrium and terbium group phosphate is also present.* All the rare-

Jan 1, 1946

By M. D. Hassialis, Arthur F. Taggart

WARK1 observed some years ago that collector-coating reactions with xanthates and with fatty acids clearly follow paths parallel to those prescribed by the familiar mass-action law for reactions in dilute solutions. He proposed, therefore, the logical hypothesis that they are governed by the solubility=product principle. However, he went astray in the application of his proposal to collector coating by overlooking the fact that coating involves a heterogeneous reaction. A mistaken concept of the meaning of the word adsorption also entered. Wark thought that the concentration of metallic ion that must be used in setting up the solubility-product equation for the coating reaction was that which could be obtained by solution of the mineral. Since this is very low for sulphide ores, and since the amount of the collector ion necessary for coating produces an extremely low concentration, the resulting ion-concentration product, under conditions when coating occurs, is much lower than that which would indicate a saturated solution of the collector-coating compound. Hence he was forced to the position that the solubility product governing the coating is much smaller than the standard solubility product. To justify this position it was necessary to postulate a coating mechanism that did not obey the ordinary laws of chemical reaction. This Wark did by adopting the concept that adsorption is a property of matter, rather than merely a more or less ephemeral local concentration thereof. Thus he says (p. 142 of ref. I): "Adsorption is not a purely physical property of the solid surface, for the specific nature of the adsorbed molecule or ion is important." The result was that he destroyed the great potential utility of his postulate by tying it to this erroneous concept in the words (pp. 142, 143): "It will be obvious that the adsorption solubility product is less than the normal solubility product." The writers have found quantitatively in the case of galena and potassium ethyl xanthate, and semiquantitatively in the case of covellite and the same collector, that the coating reaction does follow the mass-action law to the extent that coating occurs when the ordinary solubility product of the coating compound is exceeded, and that coating does not take place under the reverse conditions. In the course of the investigation leading to the establishment of this fact it was necessary to work with xanthate concentrations so low (down to 0.0004 mg. per liter), that very long conditioning times, and bubble-contact times of as much as 16 hr. were necessary sometimes to follow the reactions. The results have led to some illuminating conclusions as to necessary collector concentrations in normal flotation operations, and the action of the frothing agent in connection therewith. The experimental work comprised. accurate determination of the standard solubility product of lead ethyl xanthate, development of a much less laborious

Jan 1, 1946

By O. C. Wheeler

In past years the exploration of the oil possibilities of Colombia has been confined to parts of three distinct physiographic provinces; namely, the coastal plains area near the Caribbean Sea, the Magdalena Valley and the upper reaches of the Maracaibo Basin near the Venezuelan border. During 1935, little exploratory work and no drilling was carried on on the coast, but there was considerable activity in the other two areas. In the Magdalena Valley, the Tropical Oil Co. continued its producing and development operations on the De Mares Concession. The Socony-Vacuum exercised the option it acquired in 1934 on Sr. Luciano Restrepo's concession adjacent to the Tropical property and north of the Sogamoso River. No wells have been started on the Socony's lands although, according to the terms of the lease, drilling must be started within the next two years. West of the Carare River and adjacent to the Tropical's southwestern boundary, the Sociedad Nacional del Carare denounced the lands formerly held by the Union Colombiana, whose lease automatically lapsed during the year owing to the company's failure to comply with its drilling obligations. In the same area, the concessions held by Callejas et al. and the Société Européene des Pétroles are also understood to have lapsed for the same reason. Holdings of other interests in the Magdalena Valley were inactive during the year. Near the upper part of the Maracaibo Basin, the Gulf, through its subsidiary the Colombian Petroleum Co., continued active exploration and development on its Barco concession. Colombian Petroleum Co.—The following information and that presented in the accompanying tables relating to the activities of the Colombian Petroleum Co. was supplied through the courtesy of Mr. E. S. Bleecker, chief geologist of that company. Four wells were completed during the year on the north Petrolea dome, where an attempt is being made to define the limits of the field. On the south end of the Petrolea anticline, one well, Petrolea No. 3, which might be classed as a wildcat, encountered a heavy flow of salt water immediately below the oil zone and had to be abandoned. A second location has been made 1 miles south of No. 3 and somewhat higher on

Jan 1, 1936

By O. C. Wheeler

In past years the exploration of the oil possibilities of Colombia has been confined to parts of three distinct physiographic provinces; namely, the coastal plains area near the Caribbean Sea, the Magdalena Valley and the upper reaches of the Maracaibo Basin near the Venezuelan border. During 1935, little exploratory work and no drilling was carried on on the coast, but there was considerable activity in the other two areas. In the Magdalena Valley, the Tropical Oil Co. continued its producing and development operations on the De Mares Concession. The Socony-Vacuum exercised the option it acquired in 1934 on Sr. Luciano Restrepo's concession adjacent to the Tropical property and north of the Sogamoso River. No wells have been started on the Socony's lands although, according to the terms of the lease, drilling must be started within the next two years. West of the Carare River and adjacent to the Tropical's southwestern boundary, the Sociedad Nacional del Carare denounced the lands formerly held by the Union Colombiana, whose lease automatically lapsed during the year owing to the company's failure to comply with its drilling obligations. In the same area, the concessions held by Callejas et al. and the Société Européene des Pétroles are also understood to have lapsed for the same reason. Holdings of other interests in the Magdalena Valley were inactive during the year. Near the upper part of the Maracaibo Basin, the Gulf, through its subsidiary the Colombian Petroleum Co., continued active exploration and development on its Barco concession. Colombian Petroleum Co.—The following information and that presented in the accompanying tables relating to the activities of the Colombian Petroleum Co. was supplied through the courtesy of Mr. E. S. Bleecker, chief geologist of that company. Four wells were completed during the year on the north Petrolea dome, where an attempt is being made to define the limits of the field. On the south end of the Petrolea anticline, one well, Petrolea No. 3, which might be classed as a wildcat, encountered a heavy flow of salt water immediately below the oil zone and had to be abandoned. A second location has been made 1 miles south of No. 3 and somewhat higher on

Jan 1, 1936