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By Lawrence P. Bonicatto

The steel industry's increased demand for higher grade pellets has caused the pellet producers to investigate methods of upgrading their product and the Hanna Mining Co.'s Groveland plant on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is no exception. The low grade iron deposit is a complex mixture of magnetite and hematite with chert, quartz, jasper and various iron silicates.1 Beneficiation is by Humphrey spirals and anionic flotation of the iron minerals.2 Flotation of the spiral tailings makes up about 75% of the concentrate, while a minor amount of concentrate (less than 3%) is produced in magnetic circuits. The concentrate is pelletized at the rate of 1.6 million tpy. The initial concentrating facilities were constructed in 1958 and the concentrate was marketed as sinter feed until a pelletizing plant was added early in 1963. Grade improvement soon became a high priority research project, and several methods of concentration were investigated.

Jan 3, 1968

By AIME AIME

MEMBERS of the Engineering Education Committee held two meetings at Joplin preliminary to the opening of the main meeting there. The first was held on Sunday afternoon. It was attended by all who had arrived early enough and as among the dozen or' fifteen who were present the heads of a half dozen schools of mines were included it was a representative gathering. C: H. Fulton, chairman of the Committee presided and T. T. Read acted as secretary of the meeting. The chair., man reminded those present that last year there had been some discussion as to the advisability of the proposal, made by Edward Steidle, that a, separate society, devoted to education in the mineral industry, he organized. Many .people had felt that there are already so many societies in existence to demand one's time and attention, that it would be a mistake to add to their number and the counter suggestion had been made that the work of this committee could be so reorganized as to meet all the needs that a separate society could fill. He therefore presented for discussion these four' questions: (1) Shall a subcommittee .be appointed to study, and report in February, 1932, the possibility of the reorganization of the work of the Engineering Education Committee into the equivalent of an' Institute division; (2) if the work is so reorganized what shall be the relation of the work of the Committee (division) to the work of the-Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education; (3.): what are the, cardinal objectives of education for the mineral industry; and (4) what should be done as regards the movement in some institutions to plan their work-in the light of that being done in other institutions, for example, in geophysics?

Jan 1, 1931

By William R. Webster

This is a subject which our Institute has made peculiarly its own. In the first volume of its Transactions the analysis of steel received attention, and every subsequent volume has borne witness to the acuteness and industry of our members in the investigation of this subject. The keynote mas struck, in this as in so many other lines of progress, by A. L. Holley, in his paper on " Tests of Steel," read at the Easton meeting of October, 1873 (Trans., ii., 116)—an essay which may rank as a classic by reason of .its elegant form, logical force, and clear prevision of all the bearings of its theme, Taken together with the brief report of the discussion which followed it (in which Dr. Drown emphasized the effects of heat-treatment and mechanical handling, and Dr. Sterry Hunt the importance of minute variations in chemical composition, and of possible isomeric and allotropic conditions), it constitutes, after the lapse of twenty-five years, an admirable and adequate introduction to the long list of technical papers which have succeeded it. Three years later came the epoch-making papers of Dr. C. B. Dudley on the relation between the chemical composition and physical properties of steel rails, which, with the voluminous discussion they evoked, constitute a special volume, published by the Institute, and full of useful suggestions. If Dr. Dudley could be induced to resume this investigation, he would doubtless be able to solve many points still uncertain or disputed. But I cannot undertake to review the history of this subject, as represented in our Transactions—still less to restate all the contributions to it which have been made in books or in papers before other technical societies, since the initiative was taken by the Institute. My more modest purpose is to indi-

Jan 1, 1899

By HERRBERT HOOVER

I AM glad to join with my fellow-members in this celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. It would be a difficult task to measure the blessings brought by this association through the stimulation to invention, the improvement of methods, the adequate training of engineers and the advancement of knowledge in a large sense. During its span of life it has contributed a great part in the development of an art into a mighty profession upon whose capacity and fidelity rest so much of human progress. "I feel especially honored that the association should, through the beneficence of Mr. Lauer, have established a new distinction among engineers, and should have designated me as its first recipient. The purpose of this medal is to mark the public service of men who have gone outside their strictly professional work to interest themselves in civic and humanitarian affairs. And the engineers have something to contribute to public service. . "With the development of our great national tools -our engines, our railways, our automobiles, our airplanes, our steamships, our electric power and a score of other great implements, together with the supplies of material upon which they depend-the engineer has added vastly to the problems of government, for government must see that the control of these tools and these materials is not misused to limit liberty and freedom, that they advance and do not retard equality of opportunity among all our citizens.

Jan 1, 1930

By Albert F. J. Bordeaux

(Cleveland Meeting, October, 1912.) THE immediate vicinity of the sea-shore, affording special facility for the exportation of ores, makes it possible to work certain mines in the Vladivostok district, which, in more remote places of Siberia, would remain unproductive. Outside of the city of Vladivostok the population is small and the country is very little prospected. Additional discoveries of valuable deposits like the large body of calamine which has recently been opened in the neighborhood of earlier worked lead-silver ores, in the Tetiuhe valley, are still in the field of possibilities. For many years gold alone was produced, in part from the coastal rivers and in part from a quartz-vein on Askold island near Vladivostok. But the production is diminishing, and prospectors are looking for other rivers in the interior, such as the tributaries of the Ussuri. These rivers are now more accessible than formerly, due to the slow but gradual development, of colonization by the Russian peasants. The few natives of the country, called Orodjones, are of the Chinese race. They resemble the North American Indian and are hardy fur-hunters. They have given some attention to placers and have already shown good specimens of gold-dust from the rivers Iman, Bikin, Noto, etc. Coal-mining was begun in the Vladivostok region more than 20 years ago, but in a somewhat irregular way. The industry is not as yet important and the best coal-seams are badly prospected, or ire even neglected. Copper, lead, and iron exist in several places. The amounts give some encouragement to the anticipation that the discoveries will give rise to important metallurgical works. I here present a review of the various deposits, based upon such safe information as is in hand, when I have not drawn upon my personal observations. Fig. 1 is a snap of Eastern Siberia, showing the mineral deposits.

Oct 1, 1912

COUNCIL OF SECTION DELEGATES Nicholas A D'Arcy, Jr, Chairman (Southern California Section) Charles Chapman, Vice-Chairman (Florida Section) Ben H Parker, Secretary (Colorado Section) Frontier Refining Co Boston Bldg Denver 2, Colorado

Jan 1, 1956

By J. C. Branner

(New York Meeting, February, 1012.) DURING the past two or three years I have seen statements regarding the first discovery of fullers' earth in this country that seem to require correction or modification. One appears again in the Mineral Resources of the United States for 1909, part II., p. 738, where it is said that ? fullers' earth was first discovered in the United States at Quincy, Fla., in 1893." In this connection the following bit of unpublished history concerning fullers' earth in the State of Arkansas is worthy of attention. In April, 1891, when I was State Geologist of Arkansas, a Swede named John Olsen, formerly a copper-miner in Michigan, but then living south of Little Rock, brought me a sample of what he thought was fullers' earth. He reported that it was from near the town of Alexander, the locality being 1 S. 13 W., section 8, SW. quarter of the SE. quarter. My chemist, Dr. R. N. Brackett, analyzed the material, and reported: Per Cent. Silica, . . SiO2., . 63.19 Alumina, . AL2O3, . 18.76 Iron, . Fe203 7.05 Lime, . Ca0 0.78 Magnesia, . . MgO 1.68 Potash, . K2O 0.21 Soda, . . Na2O 1.50 Loss on ignition, . 7.57 100.74 Water at 110° to 115° C. = 7.84. Another sample from about the same locality, also brought by John Olsen, on analysis by Dr. Brackett gave

Jul 1, 1912

By EL HANAF

The exploratory program initiated in Egypt in 1937 by four major oil companies was well under way early in 1939. Extensive gravity-meter surveys were carried out in the Sinai Peninsula and the Eastern and Western Deserts. Seismic and magnetometer work vas conducted on a restricted scale. The data collected justified wildcat drilling on structures located geophysically and/or geologically.

Jan 1, 1946

By Theodore B. Comstock

The paper of Mr. S. F. Emmons on the structural relations of ore-deposits, presented at the Boston meeting in February last, having been, as I am informed, unavoidably delayed in publication, was not distributed in the preliminary edition to members until immediately before the sheets of Volume XVI. of the Transactions, containing it, were sent to press. Consequently, I saw it for the first time too late to offer any comments which might have accompanied it in that volume. This is my justification for present-

Jan 1, 1889

Safety and health are no longer secondary responsibilities but must be of paramount concern to every mining operation, according to Anthony J. Thompson, an attorney with Hamel, Park, McCabe & Saunders of Washington D.C. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) forecasts an estimated 19,000 inspections during 1979, and the economic and psychological impact of these inspections may he significant. To illustrate his point Thompson reviewed the experiences of a relatively large operation during a recent MSHA visit. The inspector was on the premises for two months, issuing between 250 to 300 "significant and substantial" (s&s) citations. During the most intensive period, about one month in duration, the operation experienced a production loss estimated between 2500 to 3000 tons; an accident rate up 30% over the previous month and 20% over the same month in the preceding year; 100% of the safety director's and safety engi¬neer's time was devoted to the inspection; 50% of top level management's time; and 90% of the mid-level or front line supervisory's time.

Jan 11, 1979

By H. E. Nold

THIS paper is an effort to explain in a simple manner the fundamental principles involved in examining a clay deposit for both quantity and quality and in operating a clay mine, either open-pit or underground, SO that the best quality of finished material can be made from the raw material available. The writer is aware that what is recommended in this paper is everyday practice in many refractories plants and in some other heavy-clay products plants, but observations made while visiting practically every clay mine in Ohio have convinced him that the practices herein discussed are not as widely used as their importance warrants. It is true that the problem of mining for quality is more acute in refractories plants than in most heavy-clay products plants, yet some of the latter are finding it profitable to pay more than ordinary attention to the selection and blending of their raw materials. It is hoped that this short paper may prove helpful to some who are now finding it difficult to produce a uniform product of as high quality as their clay deposit seems to warrant. The coordination of the work of the clay mine or pit with the manufacturing plant, to the end that the best product possible be made from the raw material available, presupposes a rather intimate knowledge of the clay deposit. The knowledge must include not only information of the amount of clay available but also rather detailed information about both vertical and horizontal variations in quality of the clay. This information should cover three things: quality, quantity, and location. Sampling Undeveloped Deposits In the case of an undeveloped deposit with a shallow overburden, pitting may be the cheapest way of testing. For thick deposits or deposits with rather heavy overburden, the diamond drill, using a double core barrel, offers the best means of testing. When using the diamond drill in clay testing, it is doubtful whether it pays to take less than 2-in. cores; it is difficult to get complete cores with smaller drills, and the quantity of material obtained with smaller cores is not sufficient for the necessary tests.

Jan 1, 1929

By H. E. Nold

THIS paper is an effort to explain in a simple manner the fundamental principles involved in examining a clay deposit for both quantity and quality and in operating a clay mine, either open-pit or underground, so that the best quality of finished material can be made from the raw material available. The writer is aware that what is recommended in this paper is everyday practice in many refractories plants and in some other heavy-clay products plants, but observations made while visiting practically every clay mine in Ohio have convinced him that the practices herein discussed are not as widely used as their importance warrants. It is true that the problem of mining for quality is more acute in refractories plants than in most heavy-clay products plants, yet some of the latter are finding it profitable to pay more than ordinary attention to the selection and blending of their raw materials. It is hoped that this short paper may prove helpful to some who are now finding it difficult to produce a uniform product of as high quality as their clay deposit seems to warrant. The coordination of the work of the clay mine or pit with the manufacturing plant, to the end that the best product possible be made from the raw material available, presupposes a rather intimate knowledge of the clay deposit. The knowledge must include not only information of the amount of clay-available but also rather detailed information about both vertical and horizontal variations in quality of the clay. This information should cover three things: quality, quantity, and location.

Jan 1, 1929

By E. T. Dumble

DuriKg explorations made for the Pacific Improvement Company in the early part of this year, deposits of natural coke, of such extent and excellent quality as to be worthy of record, were found in the Santa Clara coal-field. This coal-field lies in the neighborhood of La Barranca, a small town, 95 miles northeast of Ortiz, on the Sonora railway. The coal-beds are exposed in the drainage-basin of Calera creek, which empties into the Yaqui river opposite Toniche; and the old mining town of Turahumari is nearly at the center of the field. Without going into a detailed geological description, it Will be sufficient to say that the entire area is underlain by rocks of Triassic age, much disturbed in places, and cut through and covered by eruptive rocks of various kinds and ages. The coal-beds occur in a series of interbedded sands and clay, in the upper half of the sedimentary Triassic rocks. Below them is a great series of quartzitic sandstoiles and very sandy slates, and above them are other sandstones, and the eruptive member of the group, viz., the Lista Blanca formation', described in my paper on the " Geology of Sonora," presented at the New York Meeting of February, 1899.* Speaking very broadly, these sands and clays, with their included coal-beds, dip about 30 degrees S.E. This gives their outcropping edses a 3J.E.-S.W. direction. The general dip

Jan 1, 1900

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 S. 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 bills 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 micaccous or talcoid slates forming the walls of and horses in the veins. This

Jan 1, 1881

By William Fraser

SINCE the operative word in the subject on which I have been asked to speak is "international," I need hardly emphasize before such an audience as this that it is one which calls for some discretion on my part at the present juncture of world affairs, since, in some respects, it may not be devoid of a controversial aspect. For though the war is over, it has left behind it a sorry state of health in the political and economic complex of the world we live in; and however different may be the impact of these factors on each of us, yet none of us can any longer hope to devise a system or policy to escape from much of its controversial heat, or evade the obligation of doing what we can to diminish it. I would like, therefore, to consider with you how one great form of world enterprise whose range is coextensive with material civilization itself-that is, the Petroleum Industry-can make and is competent to make, a contribution to international health; for it is now an agreed commonplace that oil is arterial in the world's system and we need no telling that a healthy body needs healthy blood. Before embarking on my subject, let me assure you that I have no need to be told that this country before all others-and for obvious reasons is the major sounding board of opinion in matters affecting most aspects of the petroleum industry-technical, economic, national and international (but, may I please add parenthetically, not to the exclusion of quite a

Jan 1, 1947

By Charles B. Dudley

While working, during the summer of 1877, upon the "Chemical composition and Physical Properties of Steel Rails," the results of which are given in my report with this title, I was struck with the surprising wear which some of the rails, which would ordinarily be called soft rails, had endured. At that time I knew of no chemical measure of softness except low carbon, and I found that a numher of rails with low carbon had endured as high or higher tonnage, with apparently as little loss of metal by wear, as those with higher carbon. My own work on steel rails that summer did not embrace any definite experiments as to the amount of metal worn off the rail per million tons which had passed aver it; and so I could get no more definite answer from that work, to the question at the head of this paper, than was given by comparing the appearance of the worn section of the rail with its tonnage. This comparison, however, served to arouse in my mind the query, whether the commonly received opinion as to the relation between the hardness and wearing power of steel is correct, as applied to steel rails. This opinion, if I am right, is: the harder the steel, the better will be the wear, and the limit of hardness is simply one of safety; hard, brittle steel being, of course, more liable to break than soft, tough steel. The query, although aroused, did not bear any immediate fruit, and, as will be evident to any one reading it, the report above referred to was written with the commonly received opinion in mind. Since that time I hare collected a little information upon this subject, which I should be glad to submit to the Institute, if for no other purpose, for the sake of arousing attention, and directing study to the question of hardness versus wear in steel rails. Before making known this information, howevcr, permit me a few words in reference to hardness. How shall we measure the hardness of steel ? Of the various ways of getting indications as to the hardness of steel, which are known, three mill serve our present purpose. These are: 1st. High carbon. It is generally agreed, I think, that at least within proper limits, the greater the amount of combined carbon in a piece of steel, the harder the steel, and I need not do

Jan 1, 1879

By Chas. B. Dudley

WHILE working, during the summer of 1877, upon the "Chemical Composition and Physical Properties of Steel Rails," the results of which are given in my report with this title, I was struck with the surprising wear which some of the rails, which would ordinarily be called soft rails, had endured. At that time I knew of no chemical measure of softness except low carbon, and I found that a number of rails with low carbon had endured as high or higher tonnage, with apparently as little loss of metal by wear, as those with higher carbon. My own work on steel rails that summer did not embrace any definite experiments as to the amount of metal worn off the rail per million tons which had passed over it; and so I could get no more definite answer from that work, to the question at the head of this paper, than was given by comparing the appearance of the worn section of the rail with its tonnage. This comparison, however, served to arouse in my mind the query, whether the commonly received opinion as to the relation between the hardness and wearing power of steel is correct, as applied to steel rails. This opinion, if I am right, is: the harder the steel, the better will be the wear, and the limit of hardness is simply one of safety ; hard, brittle steel being, of course, more liable to break than soft, tough steel. The query, although aroused, did not bear any immediate fruit, and, as will be evident to any one reading it, the report above referred to was written with the commonly received opinion in mind. Since that time I have collected a little information upon this subject, which I should be glad to submit to the Institute, if for no other purpose, for the sake of arousing attention, and directing study to the question of hardness versus wear in steel rails. Before making known this information, however, permit me a few words in reference to hardness. How shall we measure the hardness of steel ? Of the various ways of getting indications as to the hardness of steel, which are known, three will serve our present purpose. These are: 1st. High carbon. It is generally agreed, I think, that at least within proper limits, the greater the amount of combined carbon in a piece of steel, the harder the steel, and I need not do

Jan 1, 1879

By J. P. Witherow

MR. BIRKINBINE'S description of the bad working and sudden chilling of the Warwick Furnace last summer, seems to me quite phenomenal in blast-furnace practice. During my connection with the management of blast furnaces for many years, in the anthracite, coke, and raw-bituminous coal districts, such a case has never come under my notice. It seems to me that the scaffold in the zone of fusion could not have established itself (so that the whole power of the engines, with a blast pressure ranging from 12 to 18 pounds per square inch, could not penetrate), unless the furnace was previously badly scaffolded and bridged in some of its upper sections, from 15 to 30 feet above the hearth level, either in the zone of chemical action or the beginning of the zone of fusion. Such a "barrier to the upward gaseous currents would cause a suspension of combustion which may have superinducedd the scaffold that is assumed to have existed in the zone of fusion. It is Difficult to conceive' that an agglomerated mass almost across the section of the lower bosh should have formed all at once, if the furnace was free and porous for the reaction of the gaseous currents above. Therefore, I think, the Warwick furnace was by no means in as free, open, and fine internal condition at the time the trouble commenced as the description of its regular working would lead us to suppose. I do not question the accuracy of the statements relative to the output of iron, etc. I merely claim that the phenomena., as described, could not have been almost instantaneously developed, unless there had been an incipient seaffold and lodgment above the zone of fusion. I would state my hypothesis to be that the stock lodged or collected in some of its upper sections during the process of blowing-in, on which, as a basis, more or less accumulations may .have lodged, and thus, indirectly, caused the formation of the suc- * This paper was not presented to the Institute in its present form, but is based on remarks, in discussion, by the author on Mr. Birkinbine's paper on, a Short Blast at the Warwick Furnace, and Mr. Witherbee's paper on Two Scaffolds at the Cedar Point Furnace.

Jan 1, 1881

By Ralph H. Sweetser

Carbon in pig iron is not only essential but, ordinarily, it is the most abundant metalloid present; iron without carbon could not be pig iron. Carbon in pig iron has been accepted, but seldom specified. How it gets into the pig iron as it is being smelted in the blast furnace, and why just about so much of it enters into the pig iron in certain blast furnaces, and more of it,; or less of it, enters the pig iron in other blast furnaces, or in the same blast furnace under varying conditions, are problems that have not yet been satisfactorily solved. During my own practical blast-furnace experience, I collected analyses of pig iron, including the graphitic and combined carbon, and recorded them in reference to the percentage of silicon present, having in mind the generally accepted explanation that "silicon drove out the carbon." To this actual experience, I have added some analyses given to me by J. B. Rogers, who was superintendent of the blast furnaces of the Ashland Iron & Mining Co., Ashland, Ky., and was making "silvery iron" at the time. These analyses are shown in Table 1. The analyses do not tell the whole story, but they show that with Pocahontas beehive coke, the total carbon was generally high. The data relating to the composition of the slag are lacking but my own customary practice was to have a rather basic slag. During my experience in making pig iron for the Bessemer and open-hearth departments, there were times when the steel men would complain about some mysterious quality in the pig iron that caused bad steel, in spite of the fact that the percentages of silicon, sulfur, phosphorus and manganese were within the specifications. Many reasons were advanced for this undetermined "poison" in the pig iron, but the favorite one offered by the steel men was that the blast-furnace man had "oxidized" the pig iron at the tuyeres in his eagerness to get big production and low cost. To these complaints of the users of steel-making pig irons were added those of the gray iron-foundry men and the malleable iron men. These groups are unaninlous in their conclusions that the trouble lies with the blast-furnace men; but there is not yet any harmonious conclusion as to the exact cause and remedy.

Jan 1, 1927