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By R. E. Phelan

WHILE 1931 was a most important year in the history of Canadian copper smelting and refining, nevertheless, due to the low price of copper and the in- ability of the International Nickel Co. to market its full capacity of nickel. the production of both copper and nickel was considerably less than the total installed capacity for the production of these metals. IIY the nor- mal course of events, 1931 should have seen a great increase in the production. of both copper and nickel in Canada, because the large extensions to both the copper smelting plants and the copper and nickel refinery capacity, which had largely been completed in the year 1930, should be showing their effect.

Jan 1, 1932

By T. S. Lundy, J. I. Federer

Chemically purified Zr95and Cb95 have been used in determining self-diffusion coefficients in the bcc phase of iodide zirconium over the temperature range of 900o to 1750°C. The temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficients could not be described by the usual Arrhenius-type equation over the entire temperature range. Values of the apparent frequency factors (D0)a and activation energies (Q)A for ZR95 varied from 4.8 x 10-6 to 2.5 x 10-2 sq cm per sec and 20,700 to 46,900 cal per mole, respectively, between 900°and 1750°C. Similarly, for Cb95, values of (Do) a and (Q)A varied from about 2.4 x 10'5 to 0.25 sq cm per sec and 26,500 to 56,800 cal per mole, respectively. The data may be described in terms of the a to ß transition temperature of 1136 °K and the absolute temperature of the diffusion anneals by the following eauations: SEVERAL studies on the diffusion of Zr95 in zirconium have been reported.1"5 The values of the constants contained in the usual Arrhenius-type equation for describing the temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient, D = Do exp [- Q/(RT)], are summarized in Table I. The reported values of Do, the frequency factor, and Q, the activation energy, are seen to vary by factors of about 60 and 1.6, respectively. Examination of the data from any one study indicated reasonable consistency of measurements. The large discrepancies of over-all results, therefore, cannot be explained on the basis of experimental scatter. One possible explanation for the differences in results could be a varying impurity content of the zirconium. Another possibility is that the radioactive daughter, Cb95, influenced the values of some of the determined diffusion coefficients. Therefore, the first of the three purposes of this study was to reconcile the large differences in diffusion results that have been obtained. Several empirical relations have been proposed to relate the diffusion coefficients in solids with physical properties, such as the absolute melting point, the heat of fusion, and the heat of sublimation.

Jan 1, 1963

By M. H. Richman, W. D. Sproul

THE indexing of a field-ion micrograph is in many cases similar to the indexing of the poles of a stereo-graphic projection.* If one has a standard projection as a guide, the task of indexing is relatively simple. In this way, field-ion micrographs of bcc and fcc wires have been oriented from projections available in most any text on X-ray diffraction. These books always illustrate the projections for the bcc and fcc structures and even for a particular hcp structure. There is no "standard" hcp projection because the angles between planes depend on the c/o ratio of the unit cell. In order to index field-ion micrographs of hcp metals, one must compute the angles between various planes—a rather laborious task. In recent work,, we have had to identify the structure and index the orientation of field-ion micrographs of the compounds WC and W,C. To overcome the problem of computing angles by hand or calculator, a program was written in Fortran lV for use on the IBM 360, Model 50 which will compute all angles between planeswith indices (hlklll) and (17,k,l2) in the range from (447) to (444) for any given c/o ratio. The program, which is more specific than that of Camp and clum, was so written as to take advantage of the multiplicity of the hexagonal system, and, for the limits defined above, only 26,649 values out of a possible 265,721 values had to be computed. This is a 90 pct saving in time (and cost) and was accomplished in the following way. Because the lattice parameters of the hexagonal crystal system are defined such that: a = b * c [1] the I index does not enter into the multiplicity (i.e., it cannot be transposed with the h or k indices), and all possible values of h and I, from 4 to 4 must be used—a total of eighty-one combinations. The index h2 varies the most—it must assume values from - Ill,: to 3Ihl. The indices kl and k2 are always equal and vary

Jan 1, 1969

New York Meeting, October 16 and 17, 1913.-The One Hundred and Sixth meeting of the Institute for the reading and discussion of professional papers will be held in New York City, on Thursday and Friday, October 16 and 17, 1913. Headquarters will be at the Institute office in the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West 39th Street. The sessions will be held in one of the assembly rooms of the building. Because of the many valuable papers on iron and steel obtained with the assistance of the Iron and Steel Committee, which papers could not appropriately be presented and discussed at the Montana meeting, this October meeting of the Institute is held for the purpose of reading and discussing these papers, most of which will be printed and distributed in advance. The members of the following societies have been invited to attend the meeting, and several have accepted and declared their intention of taking part in the proceedings: American Society for Testing Materials, American Iron and Steel Institute, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, American Foundrymen's Association. The meeting will be conducted under the auspices of the Iron and Steel Committee, and the latest revised program of the proceedings will be found on page xi, under the notes of this Committee.

Jan 10, 1913

Jan 1, 1967

By Robert Forsyth

As the latest plant on a large scale, the new Bessemer works of the North Chicago Rolling Mill Company, at South Chicago, presents some features of interest to steel-makers, I have ventured to lay before the Institute a short description of that plant, and some* remarks upon the practice there. At the time the South Chicago works were designed the adoption of the basic process in this country seemed imminent. Experience in Europe had demonstrated the perfect success of the process technically, and the question of its commercial value was one which, for any particular works, would have to be settled by its special advantages for procuring the necessary ores and basic materials. Under the circumstances, it was thought best at South Chicago to so arrange the plant as to allow the introdnction of the basic whenever it became advisable, and to make such other changes from the standard type of Bessemer plant as the state of the art seemed to demand and to foreshadow. As the use of metal direct from the blast furnace, while generally condemned by experts here, was in such successful practice in Europe (particularly in connection with the basic process), there was no doubt about its feasibility, while its economy in fuel and labor made it especially attractive to the Western manufacturer. It was accordingly decided to build a direct-metal plant adapted to the basic process. The ingots made were to be rolled into rails at one heat, and were to be of such size (12 inches square and long enough for three and four rails) as to be readily and quickly handled by the rolling machinery proposed. This small size of ingots, and the large number cast from each heat of 10 tons, made it necessary to provide a good deal of room in the casting-pit—much more than in any previons plant—and to put down extra facilities for handling ingots. To meet the delays incident to the basic process—to insure that one vessel should be always blowing if necessary, and to provide opportunity for current repairs to linings, etc.—it was decided that three vessels should be used, and, to properly concentrate the work of

Jan 1, 1884

By C. W. EICHRODT

NUMEROUS requests for the suspension of publicity make difficult the preparation of the annual review of copper metallurgy for 1934. In the United States, sales allocations indirectly have set restrictions on the scope of activities of producers and refiners, and necessitated closer cooperation between secondary and primary producers. However, the feeling exists that preparations for a return of intense competition should not he neglected, and careful investigations are being conducted for ways and means of improving industrial positions and production methods. In all probability, efficiency in technique and equipment will prove of far greater importance in the near future than production capacity, and many important developments in copper metallurgy later will be found to have been born during the current year.

Jan 1, 1935

Jan 1, 1961

By Francis Church Lincoln

I. SITUATION AND SURROUNDINGS. THE Promontorio mine is situated at the northern end of the Sierra San Francisco de Coneto, in the town of Promontorio, Partido of El Oro, State of Durango, Mexico. As shown in the sketch-map, Fig. 1, the nearest railroad station is Chinacates on the Mexican International Railroad, 82 miles north of the city of Durango. The mine is 16 miles north of the station by air-line. It is reached by means of a good wagon-road which first crosses the Guatimapé Plain, passing the ranches of San Antonio and San Julian, to Estacion-a distance of about 15.5 miles-and then entering the mountains crosses the Sierra to Promontorio-a further distance of 11.5 miles¬making in all a distance of 27 miles by road from railroad to mine. Promontorio is just beyond the summit of the range, at an elevation of about 8,000 ft. above sea-level, or 1,350 ft. above the Chinacates station. The Castillo de San Francisco, the highest peak in the Sierra, has an altitude of 10,000 ft., and the Promontorio road crosses the summit of the ridge at an elevation of 9,000 ft. by a pass just below this peak known as the Puerto del Almagre. The Promontorio mill is situated at Santa Ives, 2 miles by tram or 3 miles by wagon-road to the north of Promontorio and about 600 ft. lower. The Sierra San Francisco de Coneto decreases in height towards the north and west till it comes to an end at the Melchor Arroyo on the ranches of Melchor and Ramos. Beyond this arroyo another range, the Sierra de la Candela, begins. In the vicinity of the Promontorio mine the hills are very rugged and the surface is furrowed by ravines which contain running streams during the rainy season-July, August and

Jan 1, 1908

By R. J. McNally

THERE are three primary plant nutrients—nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—expressed in any fertilizer compound as percent N, percent P 2 O 5, and percent K 2 O, in that order. This article will be concerned with the first two. The chief source of P 2 O 5 is phosphate rock. As found in the western states phosphate rock is essentially tricalcium phosphate-calcium fluoride (fluor-patite). As such, it is quite water insoluble.

Jan 1, 1957

By W. G. Matteson

The Gulf Coastal plain of the southern United States is that area bordering for a large part, the Gulf of Mexico and extending inland and northward to the main interior highland region. It is more or less V-shaped and includes the States of Florida, extreme southern Alabama, all .of Mississippi and Louisiana, the eastern and southern half of Arkansas, and the eastern, southeastern, and southern portions of Texas. While the contents of this paper apply to. the Gulf Coastal plain in general, they are intended to refer more specifically to that portion of the plain included between the 90th and 97th meridians, and the 29th and 33d parallels, an area that may be described geographically as comprising western Mississippi, all of Louisiana, part of eastern and all of south-eastern Texas. It is within this area that numerous and prolific oil pools have been developed during the last 17 years.

Jan 2, 1918

Jan 1, 1967

Map

Jan 1, 1958

By Thomas P. Forbath

THE sudden realization that known sulphur reserves amenable to mining by the Frasch hot water process are nearing exhaustion focused attention on widely scattered surface deposits throughout the world. These deposits are not necessarily of lower sulphur content than ores located underneath Louisiana or Texas salt domes which usually average about 30 pct sulphur disseminated in limestone matrix. Their near surface occurrence, however, renders exploitation by the Frasch process impossible. As is well known, the Frasch process depends on the presence of 500 to 1000 ft of overburden and cap rock above the sulphur deposits to permit melting underground sulphur in place by diffusing hot water under pressures of 200 to 600 psig in the formation and raising the molten sulphur to surface by air lift. This process renders possible the production of pure sulphur which is 99.5 pct pure without any subsequent treatment. Surface deposits contain sulphur in the same range of concentrations as the salt dome deposits, i.e., from 10 to 50 pct sulphur, associated with various gangue materials such as silica, limestone, and gypsum. The pirincipal distinction, then, does not lie in the percentage of sulphur contained in the ore, but in the geological nature of the deposit. A recent study' of the world sulphur supply situation estimated 1950 sulphur production in the free world countries at 5.6 million long tons, of which the United States produced 5.2 million tons, or 93 pct of the total. While America's domestic needs alone would have been covered by national production, about 1.4 million tons were exported during the same year. Despite all the steps which are being taken to restrict use of elemental sulphur and to force the fullest possible development of alternate sulphur sources here and abroad, the deficit in elemental sulphur production will probably increase with time. As a result of intensive prospecting for oil throughout the Gulf Coast area discovery of significant new salt domes is held unlikely. With the growing scarcity of sulphur and what appears to be an inevitable rise in price, recovery from deposits not amenable to Frasch-process mining assumes greater economic importance. Untapped Reserves The most important deposits in this category are located in Sicily, where elemental sulphur occurs in Miocene limestone and gypsum formation. Sulphur content of these ores ranges from 12 to 50 pct with an estimated average of 26 pct. Although quantitative estimate of these reserves is not available it is held that they exceed 50 million tons of sulphur. Similar deposits occur also on the mainland which contribute about one-third of Italy's total current annual production of 230,000 tons, but these are known to be nearing exhaustion. Significant surface deposits of volcanic origin are located in South America, Japan and western United States, silica being characteristic gangue con-stituent. The largest of these deposits are in South America. More than 100 extend over a zone 3000 miles long, paralleling the west coast of South America. 'Total sulphur content of these deposits has been estimated to be as high as 100 million tons. The main islands of Japan also possess at least 40 known volcanic sulphur deposits with probable reserves of 25 to 50 million tons.' Prospected reserves in western United States might amount to 2 million long tons, principal deposits being located in the northwestern part of Wyoming, southern Utah, and eastern California. Volcanic deposits of lesser importance are found around the Mediterranean, in Turkey and Greece, and in Africa, Egypt, Abyssinia, and Somaliland. Beneficiation Methods Different methods of beneficiation have been used in these various locations. In Italy the Calcarone kiln and Gill regenerative furnaces are used exclusively. Both utilize heat liberated by burning part of the sulphur in the ore to liquify or vaporize the remaining sulphur, which is recovered by solidification or condensation. The Calcarone kiln is of conical shape, generally 35 ft in diam at base and 18 ft high. A kiln of 25,000 cu ft capacity burns for about two months and yields about 200 tons of sulphur. The Gill furnace consists of a series of chambers with domed roofs. Sulphur is burned and melted in one chamber at a time and the hot combustion gases are used to preheat the ore charge in the subsequent cell. These furnaces operate on a cycle of 4 to 8 days. The recovery yield of both systems is about 65 pct. Sulphur losses amount to 25 pct through the combustion to sulphur dioxide; about 10 pct is retained in discarded calcines. Ores containing less than 20 pct are not considered suitable as furnace feed. These methods are not only wasteful because of the low recovery obtained, but represent a serious atmospheric pollution problem. Sulphur produced ranges from 96 to 99 pct purity and thus does not match Texas or Louisiana sulphur. Owing to the present shortage, sulphur in the Middle East sells

Jan 1, 1954

By J. L. SILSBEE

THE existence of large saline deposits in that flat arid basin, known as the Great Salt Lake Desert, has long been recognized, but the extent and great commercial value of these deposits has not been generally appreciated. That a very considerable interest has recently developed is indicated by the fact that about 263 prospecting permits-each covering about 2560 acres of land in this Desert-have been issued under the Potash Leasing Act (Act of 0ct. 2, 1917-40 Stat. 297), and patents granted on approximately 40,000 acres. It is reported that patents and leases have, or will be applied for on an additional 80,000 acres in the basin. , Tests have been made on probably less than 10 per cent. of the total area of the basin, but these have proved a practically unlimited supply of brine available -sufficient, probably, to. furnish the potassium and magnesium chloride requirements of this country for at least a hundred years.

Jan 1, 1925

Jan 1, 1967

By AIME AIME

THAT the copper industry is in serious straits is admitted. So are the lead and zinc industries, and both lead and zinc are tariff protected. Conditions in the Western lead, zinc and silver mining districts are desperate. These are illustrated by the present disastrously low prices of these metals compared with the levels of two and three years ago and by the comparative rates of metal production and the present activity of the western mining camps. The January production of copper was 32.2 per cent of the 1929 average rate, of steel was 32.3 per cent of the 1929 average, while January production of pig iron was only 27.6 per cent of the monthly average of 1929. The copper industry is only one of many industries that are suffering in this tragic depression. It has been exceedingly prosperous and will be prosperous again when business recovers. Its difficulties are not unique and it does not deserve the tariff equivalent of a dole. The burden of subsidizing through an effective tax or tariff the minority group of high-cost mines would be a heavy one on the consuming public of the United States. On the basis of 1929 consumption figures, an effective 5c. tariff would result in an increased copper bill to the country of over $109,000,000, of which the electric manufacturers would contribute $26,000,000, the telephone and telegraph companies $16,000,000, and the automobile manufacturers $14,000,000. And of this total bill, only $33,000,000 would go to those who are urging a tariff and the balance of $76,000,000 would be paid to those who do not admit either its necessity or usefulness under present conditions.

Jan 1, 1932

By S. J. CRAIGHEAD

IN 1912 the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company made a large investment in a number of coal properties in Utah and in 1915 a subsidiary, the United States Fuel Co., was organized to take over these properties. Operations started in 1916 and the Company soon became, and remains, one of the major coal producers of the State. It now produces approximately one million tons of coal annually, which is about 22 per cent of Utah's output. The U. S. Fuel Co. owns large reserves of good coal and is in a position to expand operations with the industrial growth now taking place in the West. Traveling through the Western States, one is struck by numerous advertising signs portraying the picture of jovial Old King Cole of nursery rhyme fame. His rotund figure and beaming countenance are the symbols of Utah King Coal, the product of the King mine of U. S. Fuel Co. King Coal is a by-word of quality coal throughout all the Western States.

Jan 1, 1948