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By George G. Griswold

The Parkes process of lead refining is based on the fact that when zinc isemixed with molten lead bullion, it forms an alloy with the silver and gold. This alloy freezes at a higher temperature and is of a lower specific gravity than the lead. With proper regulation of the temperature, the alloy solidifies and floats on top of the lead bath, from which it is removed and the silver, gold, and zinc recovered. The alloy should contain the maximum amount of silver (Ag2Zn,). The usual practice is to make two additions of the zinc. The first addition gives an alloy, or zinc crust, the zinc of which is saturated and is treated for the recovery of its zinc and silver; the crust from the second addition contains an excess of zinc and is used for the first addition on the following kettle. The crust produced depends on a number of items: purity of bullion, temperature, care with which kettle work is performed, addition of zinc, pressure used in expelling lead from crust, etc. It is desirable to make the concentration of silver in the zinc crust as high as possible; otherwise an undue amount of byproducts is produced, which greatly increases the cost of refining. It was formerly considered good practice to make a concentration of 20 :1. That is to say, if the lead bullion assayed 150 oz. dorê per ton, the assay of the retort bullion recovered from the zinc crust should be 3000 oz. per ton. As a matter of fact, the concentration should never, except on bullion assaying over 300 oz., be so low, and with low-grade bullion it should be 50:1. In one lead refinery where, ordinarily, the work was good, on a bullion averaging about 200 oz. per ton, a concentration of 24:1 was common; but how it was obtained was known only to the foremen. Changes occurred, and under new foremen the kettle work fell off badly; the problem then was to bring about this greater concentration. As is customary, the refincry had a "schedule" for its 60-ton kettles, which gave the number of pounds of zinc required for all possible assays, on both the first and the second zincing. Using this schedule, high temperatures

Jan 1, 1924

By J. H. Swisher

The rate of internal sulfidation of austenitic Fe-Ti alloys in H2S-H2 gas mixtures is controlled primarily by sulfur diffusion, with counterdiffusion of titanium playing a minor role. At temperatures below 1100°C, enhanced diffusion along grain boundaries becomes important. The rate of internal sulfidation at 1300°C is approximately equal to the rate computed from the sulfur diffusion coefficient. The diffusion coefficient of titanium in y iron has been determined from electron microprobe traces in the base alloy near the subscale interface. The solubility of sulfur in Fe-Ti alloys has been measured in the temperature range from 1150° to 1300°C. The equilibrium sulfur content is found to increase with titanium content, due to the large effect of titanium on the activity coefficient of sulfur. The Ti-S interaction becomes stronger as the temperature decreases. TITANIUM as an alloying element in stainless steels is an effective scavenger for interstitial impurities, carbon in particular. Titanium is known to form stable sulfides; however extensive thermodynamic data on the Ti-S system are not available. Schindlerova and Buzek1 have shown that the Ti-S interaction in liquid iron is moderately strong. There have been no previous studies of the Ti-S interaction in solid iron. Internal sulfidation of Fe-Mn alloys was the subject of a recent investigation by Herrnstein.2 He found the rate of internal sulfidation to be an order of magnitude greater than predicted from available solubility and diffusivity data. A satisfactory explanation for the discrepancy could not be given. In the present study, the solubility of sulfur in austenitic Fe-Ti alloys was measured using a standard gas equilibration technique. Fe-Ti alloy specimens were also internally sulfidized. The rate of internal sulfidation was measured as a function of temperature and alloy composition. Supplementary electron micro-probe measurements were made to provide additional information on the nature of the internal sulfidation process. EXPERIMENTAL The starting materials were alloys containing 0.12, 0.24, 0.38, and 0.54 wt pct Ti. The alloys were made in an induction furnace by adding titanium to electrolytic iron that previously had been vacuum-carbon-deoxidized. The major impurity in the alloys as determined by chemical analysis was carbon. The carbon content of the alloys averaged about 100 ppm; metallic impurities were presented in concentrations of 50 ppm or less. Specimens were made in the form of flat plates, 0.03 by 2 by 4 cm for the equilibrium measurements and 0.5 by 1.5 by 3 cm for the rate measurements. The experiments were performed in a vertical resistance furnace wound with molybdenum wire and containing a recrystallized alumina reaction tube. In the gas train, flow rates of the reacting gases were measured using capillary flow meters. The source of H2S was a mixture of approximately 2 pct H2S in H2, which was obtained in cylinders from the Matheson Co. A chemical analysis was provided with each cylinder. The H2-H2S mixture was diluted with additional hydrogen to obtain the desired ratio of H2S to H2, and the resulting mixture was diluted with 30 pct Ar to minimize thermal segregation of H2S in the furnace. Argon was purified by passage over copper chips at 350°C and subsequently over anhydrone. Hydrogen was purified by passage over platinized asbestos at 450°C and then over anhydrone. The H2-H2S mixture was purified by passage over platinized asbestos and then over Pas. The samples used in the solubility measurements were analyzed for sulfur by combustion and iodometric titration. The subscale thickness in the internally sulfidized samples was measured on a polished cross section, using a microscope with a micrometer stage. Electron microprobe traces for titanium in solution were made on several samples that had been internally sulfidized. A Cambridge microanalyzer was used, and the known titanium content at the center of the specimen was used as a calibration standard. The procedure for the microprobe measurements will be described further when the results are presented. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Equilibrium Data. Fig. 1 shows the sulfur concentration as a function of gas composition for three alloys equilibrated at 1300°C. The dashed line is based on data published by Turkdogan, Ignatowicz, and pearson3 for pure iron. The breaks in the curves are the saturation points for the alloys. The fact that the initial slope decreases with increasing titanium content indicates that titanium interacts strongly with sulfur in solution. To obtain information on the composition of the precipitating sulfide phase, the measurements described in Fig. 1 were extended to higher sulfur partial pressures. These results are shown in Fig. 2. (The initial portions of the curves are reproduced from Fig. 1.) The highest PH2s /pH2 ratio used is believed to be below the ratio required for the formation of a liquid sulfide phase. Time series experiments were used to study the approach to equilibrium in the samples. It was found that equilibrium with the gas phase was reached in less than 4 hr at 1300°C.

Jan 1, 1969

By E. S. Bardwell, Roy H. Miller

During the period extending from May, 1922, to September, 1923, the copper-refining furnaces of the Great Falls Reduction Department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. at Great Falls, Mont., were operated exclusively with pulverized coal as fuel. The installation was made first as an experiment. It proved successful from the start and was abandoned solely because fuel oil from the Sunburst field became available at a price sufficiently low to be more desirable from an economic standpoint. The equipment required for pulverized coal has, however, been kept intact and is available for immediate use should the oil supply fail. Inasmuch as pulverized coal had been used on two large reverbera-tory smelting furnaces and was, at the time we were considering its application-to the copper-refining furnaces, being used on the Wedge furnaces roasting zinc concentrate for the electrolytic zinc plant, we were equipped with a coal-pulverizing plant of ample capacity to supply pulverized coal for the furnace refinery. The only problem was to devise suitable means for transporting pulverized coal from the pulverizer plant, located in the smelter building, to the refinery about 3000 ft. distant and about 150 ft. above the level of the pulverizer plant. When studying this installation, it should be borne in mind that the layout represents an adaptation suited to the existing conditions at this particular plant. The installation was entirely satisfactory and uniformly dependable but might be modified to advantage from an operating point of view if an entirely new installation were being planned. Fuel Supply The use of the local coals, high in ash and sulfur, was abandoned some time before coal-dust firing was attempted. Local coals from the Great Falls field carrying an average of 4 per cent. sulfur and 22 per cent, ash were used with fair success in the small furnaces in use prior to 1916. In the 250-ton furnaces, however, the time lost in grating and removing clinker from the fireboxes, as well as the difficulties incident to the high-sulfur content of the fuel, became serious and recourse was had to the

Jan 1, 1927

By C. M. Fellman

AVAILABLE data for the first nine months of the Year indicate that accident occurrence in metal mining was well on its way to an all-time low for 1939. However, the relatively rapid pickup in mining production in the fall will be likely to boost both accident occurrence and also accident rates. Results of the National Safety Competition for 1938, the fourteenth of its kind conducted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, were published in August, 1939. W. W. Adams, statistician of the bureau, states that "with 345 mines and quarries competing, more than in any previous year except 1931, the contest revealed low accident rates at many of the enrolled plants and, which is even more remarkable, it revealed 113 mines and quarries at which no lost- time accidents occurred during the con- test year." The National Safety Competition provides a means whereby mines and quarries may engage in active competition to stimulate their safety programs. Companies in the contest can compare their records with those of similar plants operating elsewhere and thereby determine to what extent their safety programs are successful. The Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association gave over 150 awards for safety performance in the mineral industries in 1939 and a remarkable phase of these awards was the considerable number given to individual miners who had worked fifty or more years without sustaining a lost-time accident.

Jan 1, 1940

By Sir Robert Hadfield

(New York Meeting, February, 1913.) THE Hadfield method of producing sound steel ingots has been the subject of a paper 1 read before the Iron and Steel Institute, so that it will be unnecessary to describe it fully here. The object of the method is to make possible the production of steel ingots in which the pipe is almost entirely obliterated, and it is applicable particularly to the production of sound ingots, from which good rails could be rolled. The method in brief consists in casting the ingots on cars, usually with the small end down. Each ingot mold is provided with a sand top, rammed up in the well-known manner. After the mold is filled to the desired height with steel, a layer of slag about 0.5 in. thick is placed upon it and the balance of the mold is then filled with charcoal. Then, through suitable piping, an air blast is directed in numerous jets upon the charcoal, which is burned thereby, the combustion supplying additional beat to the top of the ingot, which helps to keep the top fluid and to retard its solidification, while the lower parts are rapidly losing heat by its transfer to the mold. By-one plan the ingots are cast in molds placed upon bogies, movable trucks, or platforms, in the position A, Fig. 1. The ingots are cast vertically on bogies, say four or more ingots on each bogie, as may be found most convenient, and the upper surface of the steel is maintained in a molted condition during the transit of the ingots from the casting pit to the stripper. This is effected by a series of air pipes, for example, three in number, with jets or holes on the under surface of such pipes, placed preferably horizontally, arranged in such a manner as to cause jets of air to impinge on the upper surface of the ingots. These holes or jets are made throughout the entire length of the overhead pipes, the length of such pipes being

Jan 4, 1913

By Paul M. Tyler

MINOR industrial minerals included in this chapter are: the alum minerals, bromine, calcium chloride, epsomite and other natural magnesium salts, iodine, meerschaum, quartz, industrial crystals other than quartz (Iceland spar, tourmaline, fluorite, selenite, mica), and nonfuel gases (air, helium, carbon dioxide). ALUM MINERALS The alums comprise a series of double sulphates (or selenates) isomorphous with potash alum, which, according to a ruling of the Pennsylvania courts, is the only product commercially described simply as "alum." Common alum occurs in nature as kalinite (K2SO4- A12 (SO4) 324H2O). The mineral mendozite (Na2S04) 3.A12 (SO4)3- 24H2O) is soda alum; tschennigite (NH4)2SO4.Al2 (SO4)3.24H2O) is ammonium alum; and there are about a dozen other native alums and related double sulphates. Alunite (alumstone or alum rock) has the formula Al2(SO4) 3.K2S04.4A1 (OH)3 and alunogen, Al2(So4) 3.18H20. Saline residues, found wherever natural water is evaporated, may contain sulphate of alumina, which for most uses is the essential ingredient of alum. Mineral wells and springs that emerge from beds of pyritiferous shale are typically astringent and at times form local deposits of alum, generally as incrustations. Acid waters acting upon aluminous rocks may form sulphates of alumina. The alums of commerce, as well as aluminum sulphate (concentrated alum), are produced principally by treating bauxite with acid, but they have been made also on a substantial scale from clay, cryolite, pyritic slates, schists, lignites, alunite, and leucite. Alum shale-chiefly clay, pyrite, and (usually) carbonaceous matter-was extensively used in England as a source of alum for more than two centuries. In France, pyritic lignites mixed with sand and clay were burned in heaps to red ash, the leach Liquors from which, after treatment with ammonia, yielded alum and copperas. Processes have been developed for making alum or aluminum sulphate from such diverse materials as feldspar, aluminous phosphate minerals, greensand, and mixtures of mica and

Jan 1, 1949

By Donald R. Mason, Daniel F. O’Kane

DIFFERENTIAL thermal analysis measurements have been used to determine the ZnTe-In2Te3 pseudo-binary phase diagram. Since ZnTe and In2Te3 are both semiconductors, any intermediate compounds formed in this system should also be semiconductors according to the rules delineated by Mooser and pearson.1 The compound ZnIn2Te4 was first reported by Hahn et a1.2 and it has subsequently been prepared and characterized electrically by several workers. A brief summary of this work has been presented by Mason and O'Kane3 who also report that the compound appeared to melt peritec-tically. The Zn-Te phase diagram has been investigated by Kulwicki4 who found that ZnTe has a melting point of 1290° + 2°C. The In-Te diagram published in Hansen' contains significant errors, and has been redetermined by Grochowski et al.6 However, both sources agree that the melting point of In2Te3 is 667°C, with the latter authors reporting the previously observed solid-solid transformation occurring at about 550°C. Hahn ef al.2 reported lattice-parameter values for the ZnTe-In2Te3 system. The 67 mole pct ZnTe-33 mole pct In2Te3 composition was the only

Jan 1, 1965

By Robert B. Sosman

ONE of the most neglected fields for physicochemical education as well as for research is that of high-temperature phenomena. Few universities or technical schools give instruction in the physical chemistry of substances at high temperatures. On the contrary such instruction is almost entirely confined to the region between the freezing and boiling points of water. This field should be extended to a much wider range of temperatures, both low and high. Such an extension is logical, sound, feasible, and practical.

Jan 1, 1943

By R. Adair, W. R. Hudspeth, W. T. McDaniel

ANEW method for concentrating the flake mica either from present washing plant tailings or from new feed has been developed. In this paper, flake mica refers to that which occurs in weathered granites, alaskites, pegmatites, and schists in a form too fine to be considered sheet mica. It ranges in size from 1 in. or more down to 200-mesh or finer and occurs with kaolin, quartz, and partially kaolinized feldspar. Scrap mica, a term often used indiscriminately to describe everything other than sheet mica, will be used to denote the waste product from sheet mica mines and fabricating plants. Both flake and scrap mica are used in the mica grinding plants to produce wet-ground or dry-ground mica, although some flake mica recovered from clay mining operations is fine enough to be marketed without grinding. Until 1930, ground mica was made almost entirely from scrap. From 1930 until 1935 a gradually increasing amount of flake mica was mined, and most of this was sold without grinding. A large percentage of this mica was recovered from clay washing plants. In this type of operation the recovery of any sheet mica was .of secondary importance and was considered a byproduct. North Carolina produces more flake mica than any other state, accounting for 73 pct of the total domestic production.' In the following review of current practice in jig plants, there is no intention to disparage these operations. Within the limitations under which they were built, they are examples of mechanical ingenuity. The term jig plant is a carryover from early practice since there are no jigs in operation at the present time. Current practice, as shown in Fig. 1, is based on successive stages of differential crushing with rolls followed by trommel screens to remove the more easily crushed gangue minerals. The oversize mica product then is usually dried, and passed through another set of dry rolls and a final screen to remove the remainder of the grit. This process is effective in recovering up to 50 pct of the mica in the original ore, the balance being lost in the screen undersize, usually —% in. Jigs and tables were at one time used to treat this screen undersize and were capable of recovering a part of the mica larger than about 60-mesh.V ine mica lost in these plants is normally washed away in streams and can be considered irrecoverable. There are ten or more washing plants in the North Carolina area that are losing approximately 50 pct of the mica in the feed. Since the three cooperating agencies, the Asheville Minerals Research Laboratory of North Carolina State College, the North Carolina Dept. of Conservation and Development, and the Tennessee Valley Authority, are concerned with conservation of minerals, they have investigated means for improving the efficiency of these mica plants. The mica industry has been cooperating fully with the laboratory to establish a more efficient method of recovery for flake mica. Choice of Methods The initial investigation was concentrated on finding a means of reducing the losses from plants now using the conventional flowsheet shown in Fig. 1. To accomplish this it would be necessary to collect the screen undersize products through the plant and remove from them the mica from Vs in. down to

Jan 1, 1952

By C. B. Manula, R. Venkataramani

Application of computers to present-day open-pit mining with bucket wheel excavators (BWE) is discussed. The development of the wheel excavators and their use in mining are discussed along with the necessity for building a computer model of the bucket wheel and the mathematical formulation of the problem. The simulation procedure, testing the model, and test results are summarized. Even though the mining industry in 1966 produced more ore than ever before, current extraction rates are only a fraction of what is expected in the later years of the 20th century. Nearly 90% of all metals and mineral products consumed last year was recovered by open-pit mining. This has placed great pressure on this segment of the industry which has, consequently, resulted in some spectacular developments. With increasing size of projects, the need for increased sophistication of engineering, planning, management, and administration of modern mining installations has never become more apparent. The design of complete systems for the mine and plant that fit the mold of today's business and social environments is undergoing an evolutionary process. Traditional concepts in mine development and operations are being sidestepped in favor of new ideas and principles. As the overburden thickness increases, materials handling presents a major problem to mining companies, especially those concerned with the mass production of ore and waste from low-grade deposits. The profit margin here is likely to be significantly less as to take chances with capital investment. Constant efforts are needed to improve upon productivity if the ore is to be economically mined. The development of vast low-grade deposits and thick overburden deposits calls for better tools to handle the enormous amount of materials. A natural solution to this problem is the use of bucket wheel excavators (BWE), which employ a continuous cutting head to feed the materials handling system. High productivity, versatility, economy of operation, and adaptability to most types of haulage systems combine to make BWE's attractive for large earth-moving operations. "Operating costs are being pushed down by the impact of giant haulage units, by high-speed conveyors, and computerized railroads. Matching all these with the continuous output of BWEs, one can visualize increased production at much lower costs." Historical Background The wheel excavator, which was patented in Germany in 1913, made its first appearance in an open-pit lignite mine in 1920. From this early beginning, however, BWEs were slow coming into practice. Initial developments were dampened by many design problems. From 1936 onward, major developments in design improved the wheel's ability, capacity, and versatility. A literature survey shows that wheel excavators are being used in Australia, Zambia, South Africa, the Congo, India, Indonesia, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Great Britain, Guyana, Yugoslavia, Morocco, Germany, Canada, and the U.S. for mining and loading chalk, lignite, clay, sandstone, phosphate, broken ore of iron, coal, shale, loose and semi-loose rock overburden.' A recent LMG* BWE at work in a German lignite mine weighs 6790 tons with an hourly capacity of 11,000 cu m. Although the BWE has wide applicability, its application to new mining areas poses a problem. Because of the large capital investment involved in BWE application and the narrow profit margins in mining low-grade ores or coal at depth, little margin of error can be tolerated in the selection, design, and operation of these machines. The questions that need to be answered prior to installation of a BWE for a mineable deposit are: 1.) What are the anticipated BWE performance characteristics? 2) Which method of BWE operation is most efficient? Attempts to answer these questions require a thorough knowledge of the mining system and the BWE operation. One approach is the building of a computer-ori-ented simulation model to determine how information and policy create the character of the BWE system under consideration. BWE Operation Modern BWEs generally excavate in blocks. Fig. la shows a BWE working in an established cut. The wheel is positioned to travel on the pit floor in line with the top edge of the old highwall. As it advances, a new highwall is exposed in the direction of excavation. Digging is done by rotating the wheel, swinging it from side to side in long parallel arcs, and "crowding" into the bank, by advancing the entire machine, or by the travel of the digging boom if an automatic crowd is available (Fig. lb). A second way by which the wheel can be advanced into the bank is by the falling cut method. A brief description of each of these methods follows. Cut with a Crowding Machine: At the end of every swing, the digging boom can be extended by the thickness of cut desired and the boom swung back in the reverse direction. Obviously, the thickness of bank excavated does not vary with the boom position; therefore, the slewing motion of the boom is fairly constant for uniform output. The thickness through which the digging boom can be advanced into the bank is theoretically calculated from the formula'

Jan 1, 1971

By Dr. T

THE application of electricity in the extraction of metals has hithcrto been chiefly confined to the electrolysis of dissolved or fused compounds of these by varios methods. The power of electric currents to generate intense heat in their passage through a resisting medium has, however, long been known, and the late W. Siemens thereby succeeded in fusing considerable quantities of steel. But it was reserved to Messrs. Eugene 11. and Alfred H. CoWles, of Cleveland, Ohio, to take a new step in the metallurgic art by maKing the heat thus produced a means of reducing in the presence of carbon the oxides not only of the alkaline metals, but of calcium, magnesium, manganese, aluminium, silicon, and boron, with an ease that permits the production of these elements and their alloys with copper and other metals 011 a commercial scale. In the apparatus devised and now employed by the Messrs. Cowles, a column of fragments of well-calcined charcoal, so prepared and arranged as to present the requisite electrical resistance, is imbedded horizontally in finely pulverized charcoal, and covered by a layer of the same material coarsely broken, the whole being arranged in a box of fire-brick, covered with perforated tiles and opened at the ends to admit two carbon electrodes an inch and a half in diameter.

Jan 1, 1886

By L. J. Buck

Lead smelting in the ore hearth, first practiced in Europe, whence the traditional name "Scotch hearth, and later developed in America to its present efficiency, is based upon the roast reduction process and is applicable to relatively high-grade galena concentrates. The roast reduction process embraces not only the roast reactions: 2PbS + 70 = PbO + PbSO4, + SO2 PbS + 2PbO = 3Pb + SO2 PbS + 2PbSO4 = Pb + 2PbO + 3SO2 but also, by reason of the addition of extraneous fuel, the reduction reaction: 2PbO + C = 2Pb + CO2 Thus in the ore hearth the roasting of lead sulphide, forming lead oxide and lead sulphate, the reaction of lead oxide and lead sulphate with lead sulphide producing lead, and the reduction of lead oxide by carbon producing lead, go on simultaneously. The Ore Hearth Function of the Ore Hearth.—The ore hearth, through the roast reduction process, provides for the extraction of lead and the immediate disposal of the smelting products—fume, hearth slag and lead, all of which are subsequently treated as follows: the fume is recovered in the flue system and baghouses, mixed with concentrates, and returned to the ore hearth in the form of ore mix; the hearth slag is smelted in a blast furnacc for the further recovery of lead; and the lead is refined and cast into a marketable product. Concentrates Amenable to Ore-hearth Smelting.—Only concentrates that are high in lead content, 70 per cent or more, are ordinarily considered amenable to ore-hearth smelting. Silica should not exceed 2 per cent and iron is allowable only to 4 per cent. These slag-forming constituents occlude both sulphide and mctallic lead, prevent the elimination of sulphur and decrease the lead extraction. Lime and magnesia are beneficial in that both favor a dry slag, promote elimination of sulphur, and prevent occlusions of metallic lead.

Jan 1, 1937

By E. P. Palmatier

RECENTLY a cooling system has been in process of installation on the 3400 and 3600-ft. levels of the Magma copper mine at Superior, Ariz. The general system of ventilation employed at this inclined-vein mine is as follows: Ventilating air enters the shafts on the western side of the mine. Booster fans at each level each deliver approximately 38,000 cu. ft. per 'min. to the drifts. This air passes diagonally upward to the upper levels of the mine on the eastern side, where it passes up the shafts to large exhaust fans on the surface. Owing to the dip of the vein, all operations on the eastern side of the mine are above the 2500-ft. level, and those on the western side below the 2500-ft. level. At present, 2500 lineal feet of new drifts are being driven-on each of the 3400 and 3600 levels. The rock temperature is about 135°F. Until the new installation is completed, ventilating air for the two levels is supplied through Flexoid tubing from small booster fans -on the 3200-ft. level. The air picked up by these booster fans has a dry-bulb temperature of approximately 85°F. and a wet-bulb temperature of 82°F. By the time this air reaches the end of the Flexoid tubing at the 3600-ft. level, the dry-bulb rises to 101°F. and the wet-bulb to 86°F. The conditions at the head of the new drift were 102' dry-bulb and 93' wet-bulb.

Jan 1, 1937

By Joseph B. Umpleby

WHEN the Cushing field flooded the oil market in 1914 and 1915 with a daily output equal to nearly one-third of the world's production, the situation was soon corrected by increased consumption, and the price of crude oil rose from 45 c. per barrel in, February 1915 to $1.10 in December of the same year-the highest price paid in the Mid-Continent field up to that time. The intensive search for oil during the following seven years failed to disclose a single new ,field equal to Cushing, and many observers concluded that the rapidly increasing number of wells contributing to the world's output, each declining roughly 20 per cent. a year, combined with the rapidly increasing con¬sumption of petroleum, made it highly improbable that any field would; be found again sufficiently large to seri¬ously affect the oil market. That seven exceptional fields should then be discovered simultaneously is a remarkable coincidence. Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs, and Powell, each exceeded Cushing in daily output and reached the apex of their production during a year when Burbank, Tonkawa, - Smackover and Huntington Beach each contributed several times the daily output of the average new pool. This unexpected and tremendous flood of flush production could only have the effect of depressing price and greatly adding to stocks throughout the country. It was particularly depressing in the Mid-Continent as the new oil from California proved of attractive refining grade and because of cheap transportation by water easily undersold Oklahoma crude in the eastern markets.

Jan 1, 1924

By C. Max Bauer

THE most important development in the petroleum industry in Montana, during 1924, was the bringing in of the Hepp well on May 12, by the Midwest Refining Co. This followed three years of active prospecting and drilling in the state by this company. The well is located 35 miles west of Billings, in Stillwater County, and makes a high-grade paraffin oil from the Dakota sand at a. depth of 3825 ft. After flowing for several months at the rate of 150 bbl. per day, the well has been shut in for lack of storage, awaiting further development in the field. TABLE 1. Production Cat Creek and Kevin-Sunburst Fields Month Kevin-Sunburst Pipe- Estimated Cat Creek Pipeline Estimated line Runs Fuel Oil Used Runs Fuel Used January 3,214 0 133,400 140 February 3,250 0 134,248 490 March 11,989 595 163,129 910 April 116,897 1,155 125,918 980 May 179,726 2,310 152,179 770 June 126,131 2,697 122,270 910 July 132,173 2,170 118,034 770 August 202,001 2,695 142,313 1,120 September 187,201 2,135 110,012 350 October 162,589 1,995 121,683 350 November 130,392 2,520 139,900 350 December 107,465 1,780 124,169 0 Total 1,363,028 20,052 1,581,255 .7,140 There are two producing oilfields in the state-the Cat Creek and the Kevin-Sunburst, which produced a total of 2,971,475 bbl. in 1924. The only other field of proved value is Soap Creek, which contains a heavy black oil and is shut in for lack of marketing facilities. Gas is produced for local use at Havre, Chinook, and Baker, and a carbon-black plant is located at Baker.

Jan 3, 1925

YEARS ago, when metal mining was more an adventure than a well-organized business, it was often said (with some color of truth) that unless a mine could stand bad management or mismanagement, it was not much good. Today, the natural excellencies of an ore deposit are merely a challenge to the engineers to exploit it as skillfully, as efficiently, and as profit- ably as possible. A vast amount of competent and imaginative engineering management (which includes economic analysis no less than the technologic arts of mining ore and treating it) has been required to make New Cornelia the smooth-running and successful operation that can be seen at Ajo today. New Cornelia was acquired by the Phelps Dodge Corporation when it absorbed the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company in 1931. Next to Morenci, it doubtless is the corporation's biggest asset. It in no way detracts from the achievement of Phelps Dodge engineers to say that they had an admirable ore deposit to work on. New Cornelia ore, as mined, is relatively low in grade and the deposit is by no means the largest of the Porphyries; but it has these attractive features : (1) It is peculiarly suitable for opencut mining because: (a) The overburden of waste rock lying above the ore deposit was (it has long since disappeared) almost negligible. (b) The deposit is roughly circular in horizontal section, with the horizontal dimensions four to five times as great as the maximum thickness. (Nevertheless, eventually some underground mining may be desirable.)

Jan 1, 1957

By C. E. Julihn

Technology concerns the ways of doing things; mineral technology the ways of performing operations required for obtaining minerals from the earth and extracting their valuable constituents for man's use. At any particular time, technology is relatively fixed, as everyone tries to adopt the way of doing things that has proved most profitable; but improvements evolve from minor changes here and there, and occasion- ally entirely new methods are discovered. Technologic improvement thus characterizes any long-time view of the mineral industries. Its test lies always in reduction of costs; there is no other incentive for the adoption of new methods. Reduction in cost of producing metal from ore decreases, in turn, the amount of metal that must be obtained from ore in order to pay for its production. An advancing technology thus is characterized by utilization of ores of lower and lower grade. A very important result of this is an increase in the gross quantity of metal obtainable at any price level, since the earth's crust contains vast amounts of very low-grade ores and relatively insignificant amounts of very high-grade ores. Technologic advances have, therefore, been the means of rendering the metals both cheap and abundant. Though concern as to possible exhaustion of the world's ore deposits is warranted, it is conceivable that a transcendent technology of the future might supply metal requirements from what we

Jan 1, 1932

By F. C. Sturges

For some time mining engineers have been interested in the possibility of using small diameter shafts, sunk by core drilling, as aids to ventilation and as emergency escapeways. The possibilities are interesting to contemplate, but new methods involve unknowns, and interest tends to remain passive until these unknowns are, solved. Recently we have completed two 36-in. diam core drilled shafts, and wish to make the data on these available to the industry. Both shafts were drilled for the McLain Fire Brick Co., one at its Buckeye mine and the other at its Colonial mine. Both mines are in the fireclay underlying the Lower Kittanning coal. Both mines have been in operation for a number of years and have required expensive maintenance work on return airways. It was decided that considerable savings could be effected by short-circuiting the air to the surface through small shafts. It was also realized that these holes, located near the present workings, would be of added value as emergency escapeways. Originally, 48-in. diam shafts were considered, but actual computations showed 36-in. diam shafts were more than ample at both mines. The shaft at the Buckeye mine is 240 ft deep, and that at the Colonial mine 258 ft deep. Both holes were started in the lower part of the Conemaugh formation and penetrated Conemaugh and Allegheny strata. The holes were started through the unconsolidated materials overlying bedrock by constructing a concrete collar with a wall thickness of 8 in. Then the shafts were drilled by the shot-core drill method. An annular groove was cut in the rock by the abrading action of chilled steel shot run under the shoe of the core barrel. The drilling was done in stages, the core barrel drilling the groove for a certain distance depending on conditions encountered, and then the cores broken off and taken out in sections. The core barrel had a 36-in. o.d. and the finished diameter of the shaft measured almost 37 in. The major questions that could not be answered until the completion of the first shaft were, (I) how much ground water would be encountered, how would it hinder the drilling, and how difficult would it be to seal off, and, (2) how would the walls of the hole stand up. The holes of course could .be cased or lined, but that is considerable added expense in any shaft.

Jan 1, 1949

By Rossiter W. Raymond

THE most important event in the history of mining in the United States was the discovery of gold in California, which led to the rapid development, not only of a new industry, but of a new empire. The settlement of the Pacific slope was making but slow progress under the inducements of a scanty commerce in furs and hides. The liberal grants offered by the government to agricultural pioneers in Oregon had attracted to the Willamette valley and other favored points in that territory a limited population; but the government of the Mexicans in California was positively unfavorable to enterprise. It is true that gold was known to exist in the country. Rumors of it were current among the trappers, and placers had actually been worked in what is now Los Angeles County ; but the padres of the neighboring mission of San Fernando had discouraged the business as demoralizing to their flocks ; and the existence of the precious metal was not widely known; still less was its distribution north¬ward suspected. The discovery of gold, January 19th, 1848, at Sutter's saw-mill, on the south fork of the American River, afterward famous as Coloma, in Eldorado County, was the beginning of the new epoch. This discovery was made by James Wilson Marshall, a partner in the mill, who observed in the debris washed down by the tail-race a glittering fragment of a mineral unknown to him. Suspecting it to be gold, he sought for further specimens, and obtained, in the course of a few days, several ounces of it. Tests subsequently

Jan 1, 1875

By Rossiter W. Raymond

The most important event in the history of mining in the United States was the discovery of gold in California, which led to the rapid development, not only of a new industry, but of a new empire. The settlement of the Pacific slope was making but slow progress under the inducements of a scanty commerce in furs and hides. The liberal grants offered by the government to agricultural pioneers in Oregon had attracted to the Willamette valley and other favored points in that territory a limited population; hot the government of the Mexicans in California was positively unfavorable to enterprise. It is true that gold was known to exist in the country. Rumors of it were current among the trappers, and placers had actually been worked in what is now Los Angeles County; but the padres of the neighboring mission of San Fernando had discouraged the business as demoralizing to their flocks; and the existence of the precious metal was not widely known; still less was its distribution northward suspected. The discovery of gold, January 19th) 1848, at Sutter's saw-mill, on the south fork of the American River, afterward famous as Coloma, in Eldorado County, was the beginning of the new epoch. This discovery was made by James Wilson Marshall, a partner in the mill, who observed in the debris washed down by the tail-race a glittering fragment of a mineral unknown to him. Suspecting it to be gold, he sought for further specimens, and obtained, in the course of a few days, several ounces of it. Tests subsequently