Search Documents

By J. D. Exner

With the introduction of rotary drilling in the Gulf Coast area, some thirty-two years ago, and its subsequent spread to other producing localities in the United States, there has been a constant change in the design of equipment. Only the general features remain, namely the rotating drill stem and the circulating mud. Only recently have the properties of mud and their behavior received attention from petroleum engineers, but circulating problems in present deep drilling demand further study and understanding. It is the purpose of this investigation to determine the relative changes in the apparent viscosity of muds with changes in temperature and to discover other physical effects due to heat. Very little information has been published regarding the effects of temperature on the viscosity of drilling muds. Maustl states: "The viscosity of most muds is decreased on heating, but the interesting thing is that the degree of flocculation is also increased on heating. There will be a greater tendency to seal off formations at high temperatures than at low temperatures." With regard to the effect of temperature on viscosity and yield point, Herrick2 states: "The variation of yield point and viscosity of mud with temperature.....is not very clearly brought out by the data available. Both appear to decrease slightly with increasing temperature up to 200' F." The experimental results presented in this paper further emphasize this point. Two types of viscosimeters are available for measuring the apparent viscosities of drilling muds: the efflux tube type as used by Herrick3 and Marsh, and the torsional type such as the McMichael or the Stormer viscosimeters. Because of its extensive use in measuring the apparent

Jan 1, 1933

By Raja V. Ramani, Ralph W. Barbaro

This paper presents an application of a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model to the problem of locating a centralized coal preparation plant and determining the production schedule for the mines. The system used for illustrating model application is hypothetical but realistic. It consists of three mines, two potential preparation plant sites, heavy media processing plant, and one market. The goal is to maximize the total profit of the system while satisfying the coal delivery schedule over a three year period meeting both quantity and quality requirements (ash, sulfur, and heat content). In addition to the base case, four different scenarios are analyzed. These four modifications are: (1) removing the flotation circuit from the preparation plant and sending all of the fines directly to the clean coal, (2) lowering the quality of coal from one of the mines, (3) applying discounts to the unselected site to improve its competitive position, and (4) adding a new mine. A detailed discussion of the base case and the effect of these four alternatives is presented.

Jan 1, 1983

By J. B. Nau

A short time ago some interesting experiments concerning a new steel-making process in the open-hearth furnace were made by the writer at the Croton magnetic mine, N. Y.

Jan 1, 1892

By H. E. Wilborg

This chapter deals with those sands employed by the foundries for the manufacture of cores and molds used in the casting of such common metals as steel, gray iron, ductile iron, aluminum-based alloys, and copper-based alloys. Most metal is cast in "green sand" molds in which the sand mixture, consisting primarily of silica, clay, and water, forms a plastic material. This plastic material is rammed around a pattern in a split box called a flask, then the box is separated, the pattern is withdrawn, and the metal poured. These green sand molds are broken apart when the metal has solidified. The sand is then remixed and a new mold made for the next casting. To a lesser extent silica sand is mixed with resins or oils and, after forming, the mixture is hardened either by heat or chemical reaction. In any case, the foundry mold or core is used just once before being broken up and remixed for manufacturing another core or mold. By far the greatest consumption in the foundry is of those types of sand high in silica, low in clay (under 0.5%) and occurring in numerous locations thoughout the United States.

Jan 1, 1975

By J. P. Savely, D. E. Nicholas, R. D. Call

Progress in the technology of slope design over the past 15 years now permits the selection of rational slope angles if suitable data on geology, hydrology, and rock properties are available for a specified project. Although a full-scale slope design study remains the best course of action, there are situations where an extensive study is not feasible due to time or budget constraints. Two typical examples are: (a) selecting pit slope angles for a preliminary feasibility study at the exploration stage; and (b) coping with a slope failure in an operating mine. In both instances, slope angles must often be chosen on the basis of data that are currently available or can be readily obtained. All too often during exploration programs, a feasibility study is initiated shortly before the decision deadline to drop the property or proceed to purchase. If the only existing data at this point are a few cross-sections at odd angles showing ore and waste contacts or a dog-eared map of the surface geology, there may not be time to collect and organize sufficient information for the design of slope angles. On the other hand, if during the drilling program geologic cross-sections were constructed and the structural data compiled in tabular form, rational slope angles could be computed within the allotted time.

Jan 4, 1977

By V. J. Decarlo, J. J. Gilman

POLISHING pure zinc differs somewhat from polishing less reactive metals. The problem is not that of finding a suitable reagent, but rather of producing the polish in such a way that the surface remains polished after it is removed from the polishing bath. In other words., the anodic film that is vital to the polishing mechanism' must be tightly adherent and nonporous. It is usually desirable that it be thin. Polishing solutions consist of proper proportions of an acid and a strong oxidizing agent. In electro-polishing, the external circuit acts as the oxidizing agent. The proportions are critical because the essential surface film must be maintained at approximately constant thickness during the polishing process. In the case of zinc, chiefly two oxidizing agents, chromic and nitric acids, have been used. The simplest polishing reagent is concentrated nitric acid. However, it has certain disadvantages. It tends to pit: an excessive amount of heat is evolved during polishing; and the oxide film that it produces is not very stable, so that the polished sur-

Jan 1, 1957

By ir. H. Eraly

The allocation of miners to teams, and of teams to production faces, is complicated by the high degree of absenteism of miners in Belgium. Therefore, the exact knowledge of who is actually present at the beginning of a shift and of the exact skills of those present, enables the foremen and mine captains to constitute their teams before all men go down into the mine in the most effective way possible. This paper describes the system of attendance recording and of displays which the foremen use to constitute their teams and/or to interrogate the personnel data base in order to do so. It shows how the foremen dialogue with the computer, to change the function of a miner within a team, to another team, or the function of a team as a whole. The implementation of the system, data bases, and data communication equipment and procedures, is described. The benefits obtained are presented for each level of the company: foremen and team supervisors, engineers, mine management.

Jan 1, 1977

By Rodolfo V. de la Cruz

The in situ deformability of rock masses is determined by relating the applied load to the radial displacements of points on the borehole wall that are outside of the loaded surfaces. The external displacement method includes the steps in which: a) radial displacement sensors are installed to measure the change in length of a diameter of a borehole; b) unidirectional self- equilibrating pair of forces perpendicular to the direction of radial displacement measurements are applied on opposite sectors of the borehole wall, and; c) using elastic theory, the in-situ deformability of the rock mass can be related with the applied loads and measured radial displacements. The displacements outside the loaded surfaces are comparatively smaller in magnitude than displacements inside the loaded surfaces. These displacements, however, are sufficiently large and can be measured precisely by commercially available linear displacement sensors. Loads are applied by a conventional borehole jack. Existing methods for measuring the in situ deformability of rock masses yields unreliable results due to complex boundary stresses, small and varying contact areas, and the existence of fractures. It was shown that in the external displacement method, the effect of boundary pressure distribution and contact area are negligible. Also, since the displacements measured in the external displacement method were due to materials that are deeper inside the rock mass, borehole fractures have less influence on the calculated deformation modulus.

Jan 1, 1982

Elected Died 1895 ABBOTT, AI ATTHUR 1908 1882 ABBOTT, ARTHUR V 1906 1905 ABE, MASAYOSHI 1909 1903 ADAMS, CHARLES C. 1905 1906 ADAMS, JOHN C. 1913 1905 ADAMS, WILLAMS 1909 1903 ADAMS, W. EDWARDS 1910 1884 ADDY, MATTHEW 1896 1906 AFFLECK, WILLIAM A. 1911 1889 AKERS, WILLIAMS A. 1906 1905 ALABASTER, RUPPERT C. 1911 1899 ALBERGER, LOUIS R. 1911 1894 ALLEN R B 1896 1905 ALLEN, R. SCOTT 1906 1886 ALLISON, ROBERT 1916 1874 AMIOT, H. 1892 1886 AMSLER, CARL 1894 1898 ANDRSON, JOHN W 1905 1895 ÅNGSTROM, CARL 1901 1887 ARCHBALD, JAMES 1910 1900 ARLETT, GEORGE H 1906 1895 ARMSTRONG, JOHN F 1898 1905 ARNOLDS, LEO F. 1917 1882 ARNOLDS, HUGO 1886 1875 ASHBURNER, CHARLES A 1889 1872 ASIIBURNER, WILLIAM 1887 1883 ATKINS, C M , JR 1885

Jan 1, 1923

By John V. Beall

HEAVY-DENSITY separation processes, a commercial application of the sink-float test used in mineralogical laboratories for the separation of mineral particles by their difference in specific gravity, are the biggest development in mineral dressing since flotation, which was at about the same stage of development thirty years ago. The scope of their application has broadened and, though still in the development stage, they are being accepted in a constantly increasing number of commercial installations. This progress in mineral beneficiation is especially satisfying when we realize that our high-grade ore deposits are fast disappearing and a big factor in determining whether a hole in the ground is being sat upon by a liar or an honest citizen is how economically the ore dressers can concentrate comparatively low-grade ores. As early as the middle of the nineteenth century attempts were made to use aqueous salt solutions in a heavy-liquid separation for cleaning coal. But the original and recovery costs of these liquids were high and further, the fact that they were corrosive, unstable, and toxic added to the difficulty in using them.

Jan 1, 1948

By R. L. Wiegel

The generation of operating information for mineral beneficiation processes has become more sophisticated as a result of the use of improved laboratory analytical techniques, some of which provide multiple component assays, as well as the introduction and gradual industrial acceptance of process sensors for the measurement of flow, density, size, and chemical composition. In general, however, the mineral processing engineer's ability to tie together this wealth of information has not kept pace with these developments. In fact, in almost all existing plants, the metallurgical inflow-output balance, wed to indicate current process performance, is still being calculated from only a small portion of the information routinely available. There is substantial activity in the development of techniques for using all available process information to significantly improve the reliability of the metallurgical balance. While the use of these improved techniques does require access to computing facilities and a slight change in perspective on the part of the mineral processing engineer regarding the inviolability of process information, there are numerous practical benefits to be derived from their application. In addition to summarizing some of the concepts basic to these techniques, this paper describes the experience of the author in applying one of these advanced metallurgical balance techniques to a variety of pilot plant and commercial plant flowsheets during the past eight years.

Jan 1, 1983

By A. Brown

RAPIDLY rising world demand for mineral pro- ducts has accelerated depletion of the more readily accessible ores, particularly those of premium grade. Operations must proceed at a faster rate to deeper horizons, where there are problems of ground control that restrict economic recovery of the mineral and introduce new hazards to mine personnel. For some of the new Canadian mining fields severe problems of ground stress are still in the future, but much of Canada's mineral output comes from well established mines that have reached considerable depths. It must also be anticipated that the depletion of premium grade ores will eventually necessitate mining low grade material at competitive cost, and unsolved problems of ground control can materially increase costs. Studies of ground stress phenomena in underground workings are therefore considered a present-day necessity, especially since these investigations must be a long-term effort owing to the highly complex nature of the problem and the difficulty of making full-scale observations.

Jan 8, 1958

By Patrick H. O’Neill

The Choco placers, mined continuously since the earliest expeditions of the Spanish conquistadors, were exploited by the Indians prior to the conquest. Platinum is found in varying percentages with gold throughout the Choco placers and is found in minor percentages in some placers in other parts of Colombia. The Choco Department is on the west coast of Colombia between the western range of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean and extends from the San Juan River north beyond Panama to the Caribbean. The first reference in European literature to platinum was by Julius Caesar Scaliger in 1557. He did not assign any name to it but referred to it as an infusible metal found in the mines in the New World. The Spaniards had given it the name platina, which is the diminutive for plata, the Spanish word for silver. Don Antonio de Ulloa first recorded the name while on an official visit to the Choco from Spain in 1735.

May 1, 1956

By R. P. Smith

The diffusivity of carbon in iron, cobalt, and alloys of 89.7 and 79.3 wt pct Co has been determined by a decarburization method for the temperature range 850° to 1100°C. The Plots of log D us 1/T for the two Fe-Co alloys are linear through the region of the Curie temperature, showing that, unlike some cases of substitutional diffusion, carbon diffusion in these alloys is not affected by electron spin order. RECENT investigations1-' have shown that for substitutional diffusion in iron the change in diffusivity with temperature does not follow an Arrhenius equation, at temperatures near the Curie temperature. Data on the diffusivity of carbon in a iron5"9 indicate that this anomaly does not exist for interstitial diffusion; however, this has not been definitely established. Since cobalt and Fe-Co alloys, 80 to 100 pct Co, have Curie temperatures in a temperature range convenient for carbon-diffusion measurements they are suitable systems for studying the relation of interstitial diffusion and the Curie temperature. EXPERIMENTAL The carbon diffusivity, D, was determined by a decarburization method. The diffusion cylinders, made from small vacuum melts of electrolytic cobalt and plastiron, were about 0.76 cm diam and 6.3 cm long. A small amount of carbon was added to each melt to keep the oxygen content as low as possible. The cylinders were first treated with a hydrogen-3 pct water vapor mixture at 1100°C to constant weight, then carburized to the desired initial carbon content with a suitable CO-C02 gas mix-

Jan 1, 1964

By R. G. Brown

Tars paper will present a general description of the different mineral belts in the Butte City region (limited, however, to the copper and contiguous silver veins) such as may serve to give an intelligent idea of the distribution and characteristics of the deposits, forming thus a groundwork of information, which it is hoped will have value, when later writers enter into particularized detail.

Jan 1, 1895

By Frank A. Hill

A visitor to the Northern anthracite coal-field in 1844 wrote: " History and song have hallowed the valley of Wyoming, and everything pertaining to it seems wrapped in an atmosphere of romance." Song and history have since been almost forgotten in the rush of enterprise and business energy, while the invested capital which has built 160 colliery plants, producing last year 17,031,826 tons of coal and giving employment to 50,000 men and boys, lends an atmosphere the inspiration of which is the very sustenance of prosperity and progress. The fundamental cause of this great valley's financial strength, however, rests on the fulness of its mineral wealth. Its mountains surround and its cities are built upon anthracite coal. Its foundation, physically, financially and socially, is coal. Its geology has governed its growth and developed its greatness. In 1768, ten years, prior to the celebrated Wyoming massacre, two Connecticut Yankees, named Gore, settled near Wilkesbarre, Luzerne County, and, burning Pennsylvania anthracite in their blacksmith's forges, were the first to utilize it as a fuel. Its first use in the household was also at Wilkesbarre, where, in 1808, Judge Fell burned it in an open grate. Carbondale, Wilkesbarre, and Scranton were early recognized as the coal centers of the field.

Jan 1, 1887

By R. P. Rothwell

About thirty miles north of the city of Belleville (which is situated on a branch of Lake Ontario), and in the township of Marmora, Ontario, there is found a belt of gold-bearing quartz veins, which present geological mineralogical, and economic features of great interest to the profession. The district in which these veins are found is characterized as a rolling country, with low rounded hills of syenitic granite, overlain on the flanks of the hills by Silurian limestones, which lie in nearly horizontal beds, and in some places are so fine in texture as to afford lithographic stone of a fair quality. The gold-bearing veins run north and south through this belt of syenitic granite, and are quartz-filled true fissures, with micaceous or talcoid slates forming the walfs of and horses in the veins. This

Jan 1, 1881

By J. Wesley Pullman

It is stated by Dr. Tuttle in a paper read before the New Jersey Historical Society, that the celebrated Dickerson mine at Succasunna, Morris Co., N. J., yielded ore, about as early as 1710, for use at the Whippany forge, on Rockaway River, between Rockaway and Boonton. The ore was, for some time, free to all who chose to dig it. The tract embracing the Dickerson mine mas taken up, on account of its minerals, in 1713 or 1714, by John Reading, who sold it in 1716 to Joseph Kirkbride. John Jackson built a forge in 1722 on the Rockaway River a mile west of Dover. The ore here worked was probably chiefly from the Dickerson mine, but a portion may have been Hibernia. Hon. E. D. Halsey, of Rockaway, K. J., writes me: It is quite possible that the ore was at first taken from the outcrop of Hibernia by anybody who wanted it. The property first had an owner, May

Jan 1, 1886

By L. D. Rickets

The principles on which an art is founded are usually few and necessarily basic in nature, but he who wishes to achieve the power to select his aides and give success to important undertakings that may be entrusted to him in the future must ordinarily undergo years of drudgery in order to gain the experience that will enable him to distinguish such fundamentals through the haze of reenforcing detail that clothes and tends to disguise them. This especially applies to those who would dream dreams that may come partly true. Professor Henry B. Cornwall of Princeton was a graduate of Freiberg with mining experience in Mexico. He was my friend and mentor during my college life. In 1883 I finished my postgraduate course and had two offers of work to consider. His advice is very clear in my mind today. It was essentially as follows: I know something of the mines of Mexico and have crossed through the mountains of the West. The West possesses a vast area of mountain and valley. California has long had its gold mines, the Comstock and Gilpin County followed and now comes the discovery of Leadville. I believe the West, will become a great mining country. You can choose now to teach here or go to the mountains. Were I in your place I would go West and identify myself with mining.

Jan 1, 1932

By J. L. Lamon, W. Crafts

P. Coheur and L. Habraken—We read this paper with great interest and are glad to congratulate the authors for their valuable work, supplying an important contribution to the mechanism of tempering on the carbides in vanadium steels. We are in a good position to appreciate this work since we have been studying, for more than a year, Cr-Mo steels of a composition similar, but less highly alloyed (namely 0.1 pct C, 3 pct Cr, 1 pct Mo). Our results are quite in concordance with the authors', however, we wish to point out that it is very interesting to use equally the electron microscope in order to observe the variations of microstructure in steels. We have studied simultaneouslv the evolution of the carbides in situ with the electron microscope, and, after extraction, again with the electron microscope, and then with X-rays. The first results which we have obtained have been communicated at the Congress of Delft (July 1949) and at the "Journbes de la Metallurgie" in Paris (October 1949). These may be summarized as follows: After tempering with varying either the tempering temperatures or the tempering times, the carbides show two evolutions. The first one is connected to the carbides existing in the steels, principally in the boundaries of the grains. For some groups of steels these carbides may coalesce and for other groups they may

Jan 1, 1951