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By Arthur L. Murray

"While serving as surgeon with rescue car No 11 of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, the writer visited the principal metal-mining camps of Utah during the latter part of 1919. In visiting the mines, meeting and conversing with miners, and talking over the medical situation with physicians in the various camps, the number of cases of lead poisoning encountered was great enough to attract attention.With a view to procuring more definite information as to the number and distribution of cases of lead poisoning throughout the State, a study of the records of the State Board of Health was undertaken. Utah had no ordinance re¬quiring the reporting of occupational diseases, so it was not possible to secure data an cases A study of the mortality records by years gave the following results.:Year Deaths from lead poisoning.1910,11911,01912,21913,11914,61915,41916,11917,31918,11919,2These few deaths would seem to indicate a fairly low case rate, but when it is realized that lead poisoning is rarely an immediate cause of death and that the train of sequelae in this disease frequently leads to chronic involvemeets of the digestive, nervous, circulatory or genito-urinary systems, it is apparent that the number of deaths showing lead poisoning as the cause can not be taken as an index of the cases prevalent. The time elapsing between the presence of the active signs of lead poisoning and the terminal illness from pathologic conditions excited by lead absorption may be years, and the initial cause, lead poisoning, is frequently lost sight if entirely, hence the death certificate shows no evidence of the primary cause."

Aug 1, 1921

Homestake's Bulldog Mountain Operation near Creede, Colorado, in the San Juan Mountains at an elevation of nearly 2,750 m (9,000 ft), is subjected to short summers and long cold winters. Creede’s history dates back to 1889 when silver ore was discovered; and by 1892 production of over a million dollars per month was being shipped from mines located along the Amethyst Fault. The Bulldog Mountain Fault remained relatively untouched by the early prospectors. The United States Geological Survey recognized the potential of this fault in 1960, which led to the staking of many claims over the structure. Homestake leased properties in 1963 and in mid- 1964 a tunnel was started at the 2,956 m (9,700 ft) level with encouraging mineralization being encountered. In 1968 a decision was reached to build a flotation mill of 318 mtpd (350 stpd) capacity. The erection of the mill was completed in early 1969, six years after the first exploration was begun. Since initial start-up, extensive drifting has been done on several separate levels. Two underground hoist installations serve the various levels and many thousand feet of vertical mining operations. Due to the unconsolidated nature of the vein, a new unique underhand cut-and- fill mining method was developed. This procedure is the reverse of the normal cut-and-fill and proceeds from the top down under cemented sand fill, which, while expensive, has greatly reduced s toping hazards. Prior to 1977, a considerable quantity of silver was lost in the slime fraction of the ores processed because of oxidation and other inherent characteristics of individual minerals. Due to Homestakefs favorable experience in treating the slime fraction of the Lead, South Dakota gold ores, experiments with leach methods to recover silver from the slimes by Carbon -In -Pulp offered' the potential for additional silver recovery. Work was begun on the Carbon-In-Pulp plant in April 1976 and completed in December of that year at a cost slightly exceeding $2 million. The C. I. P. plant was designed for 136 mtpd (150 stpd) of current plant slimes plus 227 mtpd (250 stpd) of slimes dredged from the old tailings during the summer season. The sand fraction of the flotation

Jan 1, 1981

By W. W. Adams

"The fifth annual National Safety Competition conducted by the United States Bureau of Mines to determine the best safety records at mines and quarries during the calendar year 1929 has been concluded, and the general results of the contest are presented herewith. To the winner in each of the five groups into which the contestants were divided there has been awarded the bronze trophy 'Sentinels of. Safety,' donated by the Explosives Engineer magazine. The trophy for bituminous coal mines was won by a mine in Alabama; that for metal mines by an iron-ore mine in Michigan; that for nonmetallic mineral mines by a salt mine in New York; that for quarries and open-cut mines went to a limestone quarry in Michigan;. the trophy provided for anthracite mines was, of course, won by a mine in Pennsylvania, as all of the anthracite mines participating in the contest are situated in that State.Winners of the trophies were selected by a committee of sward in accordance with rules governing the contest and on the basis of accident records furnished by the various companies to the Bureau of Mines. These records were summarized by the bureau and the results submitted to the committee. Members of the committee are W. H. Cameron, managing director of the National Safety Council. William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor; James F. Callbreath, secretary of the American Mining Congress; T. T. Read, Vinton professor of mining of Columbia University and editor of 'Mining and Metallurgy'; C. B. Huntress, executive secretary of the National Coal Association; A. J., Curtis, assistant to the general manager of the Portland Cement Association; A. T. Goldbeck, director of the engineering bureau of the National Crushed Stone Association.Thirty-four States were represented in the l29 contest. Among the plants which participated were 68 bituminous coal mines, 29 anthracite mines, 54 metal mines, 19 nonmetallic mineral mines, all of the foregoing being underground mines, and 141 quarries or open-cut mines. A total of 106,533,006 man-hours of work was reported by all of the companies. Accidents during the year numbered 7,008 and represented a period of disability equal to 986,306 man-days. Hence the accident-severity rate for all plants combined represented 9.3 man-days of disability for each thousand man-hours of exposure to hazard. Similarly, the combined accident-frequency rate for all plants showed that 66.3 accidents occurred for every million man-hours of exposure to hazard. Both of these rates indicated an improvement over the combined rates for all plants in the previous year's contest. The reduction in the accident-severity rate centered chiefly in the metal mine group, though all except the quarry and open-cut mine group shared in the reduction; the improvement in the accident-frequency rate was in all croups except anthracite and metal, the rate for the former having increased while that of the latter remained unchanged."

May 1, 1930

The New England Fold Belt forms the easternmost and youngest section of the Tasman Fold Belt System of eastern Australia. From middle Palaeozoic to Early Cretaceous time it was the site of extensive episodic calc-alkaline magmatism related to W-dipping subduction. The oldest rocks may have formed at least partly in a volcanic island arc, but from the Late Devonian, the fold belt developed as a convergent Pacific-type continental margin. For Late Devonian-Carboniferous time, parallel belts representing continental margin volcanic arc, forearc basin and subduction complex assemblages can be recognised. Major dextral transform faulting may have offset parts of the fold belt in the Late Carboniferous. In addition, some structural blocks which appear to be out of place in the overall palaeogeographic setting are possible exotic or suspect terranes. A great variety of lode deposits ranging in age from middle Palaeozoic to Early Cretaceous is present in the New England Fold Belt. The vast majority of these are related to emplacement of extensive granite plutons and eruption of continental silicic volcanics in Late Permian-Late Triassic time. However, volcanogenic massive sulphides and volcanic hosted epithermal gold-silver deposits in older rock sequences include one major orebody (Mount Morgan) and several important ones (Mount Chalmers, Cracow, Silver Spur, Cangai and Halls Peak). Some problematical deposits are best classified as metamorphic-hydrothermal. These include gold-bearing quartz reefs and stockworks in sedimentary host rocks, the most important of which are at Gympie, and antimony-gold- tungsten mineralisation in the New England area, mainly at Hillgrove.

Jan 1, 1987

By Kazutami Imai

Effects of heavy metal ions on the growth and the activities of iron and sulfur oxidation of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans were investigated. Mercuric, silver, and stannous ions inhibited both of the growth and the iron- oxidizing enzyme system of the bacterium. On the other hand, uranyl ion inhibited the growth, but it gave almost no effect on the iron-oxidizing enzyme system. The inhibitory effect of uranyl sulfate on the growth of the bacterium is intensified on lowering the cultivating ' temperature from 28 ºC to 7 ºC. In the concentration of 10-3M, cadmium and copper ions inhibited colloidal sulfur-oxidizing activity of the cells 69 and 52 %, respectively, though they did not inhibit the iron-oxidizing activity at all in the concentration. On the contrary, stannous chloride did not givr any effect on the sulfur-oxidizing activity of the cells, though it inhibited the iron-oxidizing activity 55 % in the concentration of 10-3M. Several differences were observed among the cytochrome systems of cell-free extracts of the cells grown on iron and on sulfur.

Jan 1, 1976

By L. A. Panek

When rock is subjected to a load it is deformed. Ordinarily this is observed in a mine as the displacement of one point with respect to another-the deflection of the roof, which may be observed as a convergence between roof and floor; or the extrusion of material from the rib, which may be observed as a decrease of the distance between the rib and the post of a timber set. The effect of excessive pressure may be a rockburst if the rock is strong, or it may be "squeezing" ground if the rock is "soft". Some desirable effects of high stress (high in relation to strength) are the caving of roof in a longwall mining operation, the caving of ore in block caving, and the decrease in mechanical energy required to break down the mineral seam in a retreating pillar-robbing operation. In any case, whether the observable effect of rock load is desirable or undesirable, it is a displacement, and depends on the following four factors:

Jan 3, 1961

By Atalla YM

Steel rolling mill product finishing pro cesses gradually become or often already are unsuited for current production and marketing conditions. Indications are made as to what has been done to (i) rectify situations of this kind and, (ii) to reduce both product finishing time and costs. The principal features of two separate case studies are reviewed, these being (a) the finishing-end of B.H.P.'s Newcastle o.2 Merchant Mill and, (b) a mixed functions finishing yard and warehouses group (known as he Merchant Mills Loading Yard) which has been perating for a number of years. The areas in ach case are identified as a system while the arious functions, principal product streams nd processing equipment are respectively iden- ified as sub-systems and system elements. etails are given of the models used in each Sub-system dependency on the system as a le is traced by means of an information and ision analysis or by time studies and the sonableness of the system elements is deter- ed by computer programming or by simple com- ison methods. The-accumulated data is used derive improved mill finishing-end or Load Yard,functioning concepts according to pro- rules whilst at the same time considering

Jan 1, 1975

By F. P. 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 hydrocarbons 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'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 1, 1918

By D. Harrington

The Bureau of Mines was created in 1910 largely to determine methods of preventing coal-mine explosions; the Bureau's studies have proved that coal dust, except possibly that of some grates of anthracite, can initiate an explosion in the absence of gas and that its ability to extend or propagate an explosion of either gas or dust has been responsible for nearly all of the widespread explosions that have taken place in bituminous and other nonanthracite mines in the United States in the present century. It is believed by many persons that all atmospheric dusts may be harmful if breathed in large enough quantities for long enough time; bituminous coal dust is generally considered to be essentially harmless physiologically, yet there is abundant evidence of definite damage from inhalation of bituminous dust mixed or unmixed with the dust of other materials. Attention un¬questionably should be given to allaying dust in bituminous mines, especially at principal dust-producing sources. This publication enumerates some of the sources of dust and describes practical methods of employing water as one of the most effective of the known methods to allay dust in bituminous mines.

Jan 1, 1938

Although copper production established a new record, lead and zinc registered gains, and iron production held steady, the mixed trend in metallic and nonmetallic mining and generally lower prices in 1961 resulted in a net decline in the total value of domestic mineral production. According to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the value of metals produced in this country during the year was approximately $1.9 billion, a decrease of $117 million from 1960; the value of nonmetallics was about $3.7 billion, a $14 million decrease. The following report of mining and mineral developments during 1961 is based on USBM and industry sources. Aluminum Output Dips from 1960 Record Government reports indicate that the domestic primary aluminum industry produced approximately 1,880,000 tons, equivalent to 77% of this nation's capacity. This production is about 6% below the 1960 record output of 2,014,498 tons. Shipments of primary metal ingot slightly exceeded the quantity produced.

Jan 2, 1962

By X. L. Song

A large amount of tailings in concentrators bring a series of problems to the environment and society. It is significant to reclaim the huge tailings and reuse them in industries in order to utilize mineral resources adequately. Primarily Lead-Zinc tailings with a certain quality of clay and feldspar were used to produce ceramic tiles by sintering method under specific technical conditions. By testing the properties of the ceramic tiles, it was shown that the amount of Lead-Zinc tailing used in the tiles was 60%~70%, and the mechanics properties were good. The optimum proportion parameters were Lead-Zinc tailing 60%, clay 35%, feldspar 5%, and the maximum flexural strength of tiles was up to 38.2MPa when it was sintered at 1090? for 30min. Its flexural strength, water absorption and thermal shock resistance reached the State Standard of GB/T4100.4. The product is suitable to be used in pavements and paths of parks.

Jan 1, 2014

By AIME AIME

MINING geology was granted two sessions, Wednesday morning and afternoon, Feb. 17. The morning session, at which H. Foster Bain presided. first considered Paul M. Tyler's paper, "Economic Notes on Steel-making Alloys." The elements used in these important alloys are chromium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, phosphorus, silicon, titanium, tungsten and vanadium. Edward Sarnpson and C. K. Leith asked whether chromite concentrates could be used, Mr. Tyler replying that they could if not too high in iron. G. W. Pawel said that they were used at Niagara Falls, nlixecl with coarse ore. In reply to a question asked by A. O. Hayes, Mr. Tyler said that molybdenum had not affected the price of tungsten. After this discussion, E. S. Moore's paper on nickel was considered. H. Foster Bain thought that nickel is well controlled and in good hands, technically and politically. The popular stainless steel in America is the 18:8 Cr-Ni metal. In Germany a Cr-Mn steel has possibilities. It is easy to make, cheaper. has better workability, will stand 85 per cent reduction between heats.

Jan 1, 1932

By E. T. Turkdogan, P. Grieveson

Molten silver is equilibrated with silicon nitride at 1400°C in nitrogen + hydrogen gas mixtures, and from the solubility data the activity coefficient of silicon is found to be 1.76 at silicon concentrations below 1 pct. Using this value, and that available from the silicon cmbide solubility measurements, together with those derived from the phase equilibrium diagvam, the activities of silver and silicon are estimated for the entire composition range. The main feature of the activity data is that there is a pronounced positive deviation from ideality. The activity of silver in molten silver containing up to 5 pct Si was determined by Schadel, Derge, and Birchenall1 by measuring the vapor pressure of pure silver and of the alloy over a temperature range of 850º to 1050°C. They deduced from their results that there is a positive deviation from Raoult's law and that the activity coefficient of silver increases with decreasing temperature. However, as pointed out by Kubaschewski and Catterall,2 their activity coefficients are much too high, giving silver activities greater than unity. At a later date McCabe and Birchenal13 showed that the previous vapor pressure data on silver4 were high by a factor of about 1.3; presumably a similar error must have occurred with the vapor pressure measurements on the Ag-Si alloys. The activities of silicon and silver calculated by tager' from the phase diagram and by Gibbs-Duhem integration, respectively, show a positive deviation from Raoult's law for silicon activity and positive and negative deviations for the silver activity. According to these computations, at infinite dilution of silicon ygi = 1.12 at 1420°C. d'Entremont and chipman6 measured the solubility of silicon carbide in molten silver at unit carbon activity; the equilibrium silicon content is found to be Nsi = 0.017 ± 0.002 atom fraction for 1420°C. Using the data of Grieveson and Alcock7 for the free energy of formation of silicon carbide from pure silicon and graphite, the activity of silicon for unit activity of carbon and of silicon carbide is asi = 0.0308 at 1420°c; therefore for the above solubility data on silver, YSi = 1.81, which is somewhat higher than that given by Hager. Use is often made of silver alloys in the measurements of activities of solutes in metals where silver has a very low solubility; in fact, Ag-Si and Ag-A1 alloys have been used in the past for such purposes. In an attempt to gain more thermodynamic data on molten Ag-Si alloys, measurements have been made in the present study on the solubility of silicon nitride in molten silver; the results on these solubilities are given in this paper together with a detailed discussion of activities of silver and silicon. SOLUBILITY OF SILICON NITRIDE The standard free energy of formation of silicon nitride is known with a reasonably high degree of accuracy. According to the measurements made by Hincke and Brantle8 and by Pehlke and Elliott,' the following are the free energy data for the standard states of solid Si3N4, liquid silicon, and Nz at 1 atm pressure:

Jan 1, 1963

By Sandip K. Mukherjee, Anthony W. Laurito, Madan M. Singh, Jon C. Volkwein

In the past, little attention has been paid to the costs of ventilation, since it seldom represented a significant portion of the total mining cost. However, in recent years adverse mining conditions and increases in power charges have caused ventilation costs to rise. The federal regulations have set minimum standards for volumetric airflow rates in underground coal mines. As a mine develops, the air volume and pressure requirements increase. There are several methods by which the quantity of airflow to the mine and working faces can be increased. Some of the methods include (1) increasing main fan output or replacing the main fan by a new higher capacity fan, (2) reducing leakage across stoppings and overcasts, (3) adding a new ventilation shaft or borehole, (4) reducing resistance to airflow by reducing the resistance factor of the individual airways, increasing the number of airways (especially the parallel airways), or re- arranging the air courses by using the available entries, and (5) using auxiliary ventilation systems. This paper addresses the cost-benefit analysis of several of these alternatives as applied to a large operating coal mine located in southern Illinois. Pressure and quantity surveys were conducted under-ground, and measurements were taken at the main exhaust fans on the surface. The existing ventilation network was modeled by using the Penn State ventilation simulator. The input data included the configuration of branches, resistance of each branch (including a component for shock losses), and changes in pressure and volume. The results of the simulation were compared with the survey data to check the merits and accuracy of the model network. The net- work was designed to take into account shafts, major entries, overcasts, regulators, gob areas, working faces, and major leakage paths. The model network served as the basis for the cost analyses of networks designed for increased airflow. The applicable alternatives for increasing airflow were simulated. Performance data obtained from these simulation runs were utilized to conduct the cost-effectiveness analysis. The costs for each f the alternatives included capital, operating and maintenance costs. These costs were expressed as annual costs in terms of dollars per cfm of circulating air, taking into account the economic life associated with each of the alternatives. The benefits were expressed as increased airflow quantity in the critical sections. The result of these analyses show that for the short-range plans evaluated, the most cost-effective way of increasing airflow at this mine would be to reduce leakage through stoppings and overcasts.

Jan 1, 1982

By George H. Jones

NO STRANGER phenomenon exists in the American mining industry today than the so-called bootleg anthracite industry in Pennsylvania which now produces probably close to 15 per cent of the total hard coal out- put of the State. Instead of being what - was first thought to be a temporary condition, countenanced because of the desperate condition of some of the miners at the depth of the depression. it is thriving now as never before. Re- ports of it have penetrated all over the world, as exemplified by inquiries concerning it in Durban, South Africa mentioned by John C. Cosgrove in his article in the July MINING AND META LURGY.

Jan 1, 1939

By Yang Zhao, Tao Xiu-xiang, Chen Song-jiang

"China is rich in low-rank coals that account for 45.68% of existing coal reserves in China. The clean and efficient utilization of low rank coals is of great significance for ensuring the effective energy supply and promoting economic development and environmental protection. In order to solve the difficult problem in flotation of low rank coal, it has become the focus of research in the related field that oily bubbles instead of air bubbles are taken as a carrier in flotation to improve the attachment efficiency and recovery of low rank coal. In this paper, low rank coal slime collected from Shendong mining area was used as the experimental material, and it focused on the characteristics of oily-bubble flotation process of low rank coal. Additionally, difference in conventional flotation and oily-bubble flotation was discussed. The induction time between air bubbles, oily-bubbles and fine low rank coal particles was measured. The results indicated that the induction time between oily-bubbles and coal particles was obviously lower than that of air bubbles. By comparing the foam height of air and oily bubbles, it was found that the amount of oily bubbles is less than air bubbles, causing relative low flotation rate of oily-bubble flotation at initial stage. Besides, the maximum foam height and half-life of air bubbles and oily-bubbles were measured respectively. The results showed that the stability of oily-bubbles was higher than that of air bubbles, which is benefit for the enrichment of concentrates. The clean coal water recovery of oily-bubble flotation is lower than that of air bubble flotation, which indicated oily-bubble flotation is lower in water entrainment. INTRODUCTION China is the largest energy consumer in the world, accounting for 23% of global energy consumption in 2016 and 27% of global energy consumption growth. Whereas coal is taken as the major primary energy source and its share of China’s primary energy consumption is 62% in 2016, in which the low rank coals, such as lignite, long-flame coal, weakly caking coal, and non-caking coal, accounted for about 50% of total coal production capacity (China’s energy market in 2016, BP). Moreover, the exploitation and utilization of low rank coals and other coals that are difficult to float have been an important strategy for China’s sustainable development of the coal industry (Liu et al., 2014). However, the combustion of low-quality coals leads to a serious environmental pollution. In addition, the deterioration in geological conditions of coal resources, and the increasing improvement in the mechanization for mining significantly caused the increased amount of fine coal."

Jan 1, 2018

By W. J. Deutsch, W. J. Martin, R. J. Serne

At the termination of mining, the quality of ground water in the ore-zone aquifer must be returned to a condition predetermined by the permitting agency. To immobilize the redox-sensitive elements (e.g., uranium, arsenic, selenium, molybdenum), it has been suggested that a reducing agent be circulated through the leached ore zone. We have conducted laboratory experiments to test the ability of sodium sulfide as such a reducing agent. Sodium sulfide lowered the redox potential of the effluent such that insoluble minerals containing the redox-sensitive elements should be stable. The uranium concentration of the solution decreased by more than three orders of magnitude. In column experiments, by the time 10 pore volumes of the sulfide solution had flowed through, sulfide minerals were forming. The experimental results indicate that the addition of sodium sulfide should cause chemical reduction of the leached sediments, thereby producing long-term stability of the ground-water/sediment system.

Jan 1, 1988

A system for rapid on-line determination of weight percentage coal in slurry and weight percentage ash in coal has been developed at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, University of Queensland. The gauging system is suitable for use with coal flotation slurries or slurries having a maximum particle size of about 1 millimeter. The system is based upon measurement of gamma ray transmission; radioisotope sources emitting photons of two widely different energies are employed. The inaccuracies of measurement that would normally result from variable amounts of air entrained in the slurry are substantially reduced by pressurising the slurry to approximately 2MPa (300 psi) using a Mono pump. The equipment can be used to make measurements on more than one slurry stream by pumping streams sequent- ially. The system is being tested at the Peak Downs Mine of the Utah Development Company in Central Queensland. This paper describes the theoretical principles of the gauge design, the experience gained to date in the commissioning of the equipment, including the installation of a PDP 11/03 computer, and the progress made in developing satisfactory interpretations of the gauge count-rate output.

Jan 1, 1978

By E. A. Gulbransen, W. S. Wysong, K. Andrew

INTRODUCTION THE reaction of carbon in solid solution in a metal with the surface oxide film on many metals may be inferred from thermodynamic calculations for high vacua and high temperature conditions. Holm1 has recently shown that oxide films may be removed from ferrous materials by heating in a vacuum at high temperatures and that carbon is the essential element in the reaction. Considerable work has been described in the literature on the decarburization reaction. Several general references may be noted.2,3,4 However, the nature of the mechanism involved in the decarburization is not well understood. Our interest in this reaction resulted from many attempts to degas and to reduce by pure and dry hydrogen the surface oxides 0n strips of various types of chrome-nickel alloys. Some of the early experiments on the behavior of 13 pct chrome-iron in vacua of the order of 5 X 106 mm and at a temperature of 600°C have been reported.5 These experiments showed a slow reaction with the residual oxygen or water vapor in the system and no reaction with hydrogen. This is in accord with thermodynamic data which would lead to the prediction that it is extremely difficult to maintain a hydrogen atmosphere at 600°C pure enough to reduce Cr203 formed on the surface. The crystal structure of the superficial oxide film formed on 13 pct chrome iron and Nichrome V has been investigated in the thin film range by Gulbransen, Phelps and Hickman,6 and shown to be Cr203. It was surprising to us to note that when a specimen of Nichrome V containing approximately 80 pct nickel and 20 pct chromium was heated to 850°C in a high vacuum, the specimen' lost weight. The rate of weight loss was very temperature sensitive. A study of this reaction in vacua and in a hydrogen atmosphere is the subject of this communication. TYPE REACTIONS Let us consider the various reactions which may occur when a metal is heated in vacua, in a hydrogen atmosphere, or in an oxygen atmosphere. The number and kind of reactions will depend upon the chemical nature, of the metal, its alloying constituents and the location of the alloying constituents. The metals used in this study are chrome-nickel alloys of the heater type. They consist essentially of chromium, nickel and iron, small amounts of carbon, silicon and manganese and traces of zirconium, calcium, aluminum and magnesium. The trace elements are added to improve the lifetime and other characteristics of the alloy when used as a heater. Seven of the more important reactions with which we are going to be concerned here are as follows: [I. Metal • (gas) ;--* metal + gas - degassing of the metal 2. xM(s) + y ½ 02(g) tom- M.0„ (s) – oxidation]

Jan 1, 1948

By W. I. Nelson

This paper describing the mining practices at the Engels mine is one of a series being prepared by the United States Bureau of Mines on mining practices, methods, and costs in the various mining districts of the United States. The Engels Copper Mining Co. operates two mines about 3 miles apart in Plumas County. Calif. Both mines send ore to the same mill, and the methods of the larger, or Engels mine, are described in this paper. Between 800 and 1,000 tons of 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 per cent copper ore are mined daily from this mine by a shrinkage method. Connection is made with the Western Pacific Railroad at Paxton by the Indian Valley Railroad, which is 22 miles long and operates a daily mixed train to the mine.

Jan 1, 1930