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By I. Iwasaki, K. A. Nataratjan

In a previous paper, ozone was shown to remove residual xanthates in flotation pulp solutions as well as to destroy the xanthate coating on bulk copper-nickel sulfide concentrates before differential flotation (Iwasaki and Malicsi, 1985). The oxidation and decom- position mechanisms of xanthate solutions in the presence of commonly used oxidants such as oxygen, chlorine, hypochlorite, bromine, iodine, and hydrogen peroxide at different pH levels have been reported in the past (Rao, 1971). Most of these studies have been restricted to xanthate solutions of pH less than 10. Very few references are available on xanthate decomposition in highly alkaline (pH > 12) solutions (Jones and Woodcock, 1983; Philipp and Fichte, 1960; Tipman and Leja, 1975). No systematic study of xanthate oxidation by ozone has been reported, although its use in flotation has been recognized of late (Allegrini et al., IWO; Ishii et al., 1970; Matsubara et al., 1978). To improve the efficiency of ozone use in flotation, it is essential to understand the mechanisms involved in the decomposition of xanthates with ozone, more specifically, to establish the stoichiometry and decomposition rate. In the present work, a preliminary attempt was made to investigate the effect of pH on xanthate decomposition, and probable mechanisms of xanthate oxidation with ozone.

Jan 1, 1986

By C. Jackson, J. J. Harrington

The pH control system at Kennecott Copper Corporation's Nevada Mines Division concentrator consists of two independent systems, lime dilution and lime addition. Lime dilution is accomplished in a mixing tank where slaked lime and water are introduced proportionately. The desired dilution of the milk of lime is determined by the electrical inputs provided by eight pH probes, one per grinding section. The inputs are averaged and applied to a time base generator. The summation output of the time base generator determines the proportion of lime and water that are to be mixed and applies this input to a voltage sensitive switching device. The switching device provides a signal to one of two relays which will add either slaked lime or water, dependent upon the summation output. The entire cycle is based on a 2-min repetition rate to allow for sufficient mix time. Responsivity is controlled by maintaing a limited maximum solution level in the mix tank. Lime addition is controlled independently within each grinding section. The electrical input from the pH probe in a given section controls the solenoid valves which provide lime to each of the ball mills. The valves remain open within a time range capable of maintaining the pH of flotation feed at a given set point.

Jan 1, 1978

The following Nominating Committee having been already appointed and approved by the Executive Committee in accordance with authority vested in the Executive Committee by the Board of Directors, was approved by the Directors: John V. N. Dorr, Chairman, Percy G. Beckett, J. W. Hutchinson, Julian Kennedy, William H. Linney, Charles W. Merrill, and E. Gybbon Spilsbury. The question of the purchase of Liberty Bonds, as well as that of bringing to the attention of the members the advisability of the purchase of these bonds, was referred to the Finance Committee. Sixty Members, four Associates, and thirty-six Junior Members were elected. Two Members were reinstated. Eight resignations were accepted.

Jan 7, 1917

By O. W. Shimer, D. C. Helms, C. E. Brown

The early history and progress of anthracite stripping, from the first known operation at Summit Hill in 1821 through 1917, was covered in 1917 in a paper by J. B. Warriner,1 then chief engineer, now president of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Co., and stripping methods between 1917 and 1931 were the subject of a paper in 1931 by H. H. Otto,2 of the Hudson Coal Company. . The present paper is confined to methods used today on pitching beds in the western middle and southern anthracite fields. The anthracite industry, not unlike other large industries, had been affected for more than a decade by the adverse economic conditions of the country. High development and operating costs and the competition of other fuels caused some collieries to be closed temporarily, while others were permanently abandoned. In order to obtain a larger tonnage at a lower development cost, a larger stripping program was put into effect by many companies. In 1932, stripping operations accounted for 3½ million tons, or 7 per cent of the total anthracite production of the year, and in the next 10 years this increased until more than double that amount, or over 14 per cent of the total production, was from stripping operations. These figures represent the total production of the entire anthracite region; unfortunately, the figures have not been separated from the different fields. There are some operations in the southern and middle western fields where the tonnage obtained from stripping amounts to more than 30 per cent of the total colliery production. Stripping operations on pitching beds present difficult problems. Owing to the various geological formations, a different situation is encountered in nearly every stripping pit; and because of the proximity of an overlying bed, it is very often necessary to load the entire overburden into trucks and haul it out of the pit to the dump area, although back filling and casting is done whenever possible. Beds in the areas described in this paper pitch from 20" to 90 and some are on the invert in many sharp folds and faults. Planning The more successful strippings have had adequate engineering analysis. Some work is being done without much preliminary planning, but many strippings would have failed completely if close supervision by the engineering department had not been . maintained. Locations of stripping areas are determined as follows: I. By constructing cross sections over the areas and drilling sufficient diamond-drill or well drill holes to study the strata and to determine the location, thickness

Jan 1, 1944

By Richard E. Chism

If internal commotion can be called life, the Mexicans have certainly lived more in the last seventy-five years than any other people. To the oppression of the Spanish viceroys succeeded the sanguinary tumults of the Revolution of Independence, after which the Supreme Congress bequeathed its heritage of uncertain power to the empire of Iturbide, the only one ever established by Americans upon American soil, with an American at its head. That shortlived reign mas followed by years of ceaseless, bloody, and, to the superficial observer, meaningless revolutions—the deeper political and ecclesiastical significance of which it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss. Then came foreign intervention, the ill-fated Austrian's brief supremacy, and the final triumph of the patriot cause under rugged old Benito Juarez, who crowned the victory of arms by a series of reforms breaking forever the temporal power of the Church and ushering in the calmer era which has lasted from the first accession of Diaz to the present day. During all those troublous times, the revolutionary ocean, that rolled so deeply over all other relics of Spanish dominion, had left almost unaltered the ancient laws of Spain, still lifting themselves above the tide, like landmarks of a flooded world. Many of these laws were obsolete ; some were absurdly inadequate to the demands

Jan 1, 1886

By J. E. Flinn, S. A. Duran

The steady-state creep behavior of poly crystalline cad mi inn was studied over a temperature range of (1.56 to 0.94 Tm. Two distinct mechanisms were found to occur over this temperature range. They were described by: where and represerqt the minimum strain rates corresponding to the low- and high-temperature regions, respectirely. The two regions of constant acti11ation energy were connected by a transition region where the strain rate was controlled by both mechanisms acting in parallel. At temperatures below a transition temperature of about 0.7 Tm the agreement between the activation energy value for creep and that for self-diffiision suggests a rate-controlling mechanism of dislocation climb. For cadwzium, steady-state creep at temperatures above 0. 7 Tm appears to be controlled by another mechanism, perhaps involving the behavior of dislocation jogs. FRENKEL et al.1 studied the high-temperature creep of polycrystalline cadmium and reported an activation energy of 21 kcal per mole for the 0.5 Tm < T < 0.8 Tm range. Based on observations of creep rate at only two temperatures, a value of 22.1 kcal per mole was determined by Medbury. These two investigations were for the purpose of showing agreement between the activation energy for creep and that for self-diffusion, reported3 as 18.2 and 19.1 kcal per mole, respectively, for diffusion parallel and perpendicular to the hexagonal axis. Gilman4 investigated prismatic glide in single crystals of cadmium over a higher-temperature range of 0.72 to 0.93 Tm, and found an activation energy of 29 kcal per mole. He also reported5 an activation energy higher than that of self-diffusion for prismatic glide in zinc single crystals deformed at temperatures near the melting point. This value was in good agreement with those found for an equivalent temperature range by Flinn and Munson6 and by Tegart and sherby7 for polycrystalline zinc. These two independent studies also disclosed at lower temperatures another value of activation energy near that for self-diffusion. It would be expected from the creep results on zinc and single-crystal cadmium that creep studies on polycrystalline cadmium, extended to temperatures near the melting point, might yield an activation-energy value higher than the 22 kcal per mole value found in earlier studies. The purpose of this paper is to report the steady-creep behavior of polycrystalline cadmium over a temperature range of approximately 0.5 to 0.9 Tm EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The cadmium used in this study was obtained in the form of as-cast rods, 0.5 in. diam, through the courtesy of the Bunker Hill Mining Co. The material was of 99.995 pct purity, as determined by spectro-chemical analysis. The creep specimens, which were 0.250 in. diam by 0.400 in. long and annealed at 300°C for 45 min to produce a stable average grain diameter 0.25 mm, were tested in compression using an apparatus similar to that described by Sherby.8 The specimen temperature was controlled to within ±0.5°C with the help of appropriate constant-temperature baths. The applied stress was maintained within 1.0 pct of the desired value by the additions of lead shot at fixed strain increments. No barreling was observed over the strains encountered during testing. Isothermal creep tests9 were used in the study with only a few differential temperature tests10 run for comparison purposes. Steady-state creep data were obtained over a temperature range of 60 to 287°C (0.56 to 0.94 Tm) at five stress levels ranging from 28.1 to 140.6 kg per sq cm. RESULTS The minimum or steady-state creep rate may be described by an equation of the following form:" where i is the minimum strain rate, S is the structure factor, F is a stress function, Qc is the energy of activation, T is the absolute temperature, and R is the gas constant. The minimum strain rates obtained in this study for cadmium were recorded on a semilogarithm plot as a function of the reciprocal absolute temperatures for the various stress levels, as shown in Fig. 1. This figure shows a characteristic transitional behavior" with a parallel interaction of two mechanisms. It is obvious that the activation energies corresponding to the individual processes are insensitive to stress because the curves are parallel. The discrete activation-energies values for the low- and high-temperature regions for the various stress levels are reported in Table I, and were determined by the least-mean-square method. For the low-temperature region, an activation energy of 20.7 ± 0.6 kcal per mole was obtained, and for the

Jan 1, 1967

By Moshe Sheinkin, Douglas E. Julin

Large tonnage operations face many problems in adequately planning ahead for future years production. In order to maintain desired levels of production, such problems as source of tonnage, man- power and equipment requirements, tailings disposal and water requirements must be anticipated. Of course, before any of these problems can be analyzed, daily tonnage requirements and its source must be determined. Looking ahead for one year or even two or three is usually not sufficient time to adequately prepare an area for production. Because of the sequence of mining and the multilevel nature of the 42,000 tpd Climax mine in Colorado long-range planning must be on a ten-year basis. By using a ten-year base, adequate time is allowed to gain access and prepare a new level for production. Usually eight years will be required for this phase of the initial mine preparation. Once production has been started on a level and access to the area is available, three years is usually sufficient to prepare a new block for production as long as it follows in the normal sequence of mining.

Jan 4, 1967

By P. P. Gregory

Natural petroleum gas occurring in the oil-bearing reservoirs is found to exist either as free gas associated with the oil and/or in solution in the oil. In some virgin fields practically no free gas is encountered under the reservoir conditions of pressure and temperature, although in other fields a considerable section of the "pay" horizon is occupied by free gas. In other words, a given oil field may or may not have a gas cap before the exploitation takes place. However, when the reservoir pressure is reduced to a point below the critical saturation pressure by withdrawals of fluids from the producing formation, the gas dissolved in the oil inevitably begins to come out of solution and becomes free gas. Under the controlled methods of production and drilling, a portion of this gas is produced with the oil to the surface and a portion of it remains within the reservoir to accumulate at higher structural levels toward which it migrates by virtue of its low specific gravity. The rate of growth of a gas cap in a given structure depends primarily upon the rate of decline in the reservoir pressure. If the rate of pressure decline is rapid, the gas cap likewise will grow rapidly. On the other hand, shrinkage in the gas-cap area was noted in some fields in which reservoir pressures wereincreasing. Determination of Gas-oil Contact and Thickness of Gas Cap The gas-oil contact can be conveniently located in the process of drilling a well and by electrical logging. However, very little can be found in the petroleum literature concerning methods of predetermining gas-oil contacts in producing reservoirs. Therefore, the writer feels justified in describing briefly a simple, workable, and inexpensive method of determining gas-oil contacts and outlining the limits of gas-cap areas in a field where such knowledge may be essential for efficient production and development operations. The method involves the determination of the following data: (I) Structural data, such as the depth or elevation of the top&apos; of "pay" horizon; (2) reservoir pressures; (3) tubing and casing pressures at the well head; (4) static oil-pressure gradient; (5) static gas-pressure gradient. These data can be secured with a minimum of expense, inasmuch as the

Jan 1, 1938

By Cleveland Meeting

Jan 1, 1945

By N. A. Gokcen

EQUILIBRIA in the reactions between gases and liquid metals have been the subject of many interesting investigations. The experimental realization of true equilibrium, however, is questionable in certain cases due to the lack of conclusive studies in reaction rates. It -will be shown here that a systematic interpretation of rate studies with the analysis of prevailing experimental conditions leads to valuable practical information. The reactions of particular interest are: H2(g) +S(inFe) - H2S(g) [1] H2(g) +O (inFe) =H2O(g) [21 2H2(g) + SiO2(s) = 2H2O(g) + - (inFe) [3] The usual and perhaps the most convenient method of investigation may be illustrated with reaction 1. A stream of gas mixture consisting of H2 + H2S is passed over or bubbled through the liquid metal at constant temperature. The ratio of H2S/H2 in the entrant mixture is fixed in each experimental run, and, therefore, the composition of melt varies until the establishment of equilibrium. The purpose of this paper is to derive a formula expressing the minimum time required for the establishment of equilibrium and to compare the calculated values from such a formula with the available data. Equations Reaction 1 is used for the purpose of illustrating the derivation. Let E represent the equilibrium and X the nonequilibrium sulphur in weight percent at any time t in minutes. For the sake of simplicity, it is first assumed that E > X although the results are of general applicability without restriction. It has been shown by Morris and Williams&apos; that within a difference of 1 pct S or less, i.e., E-X5 1.00, the value of K&apos;1 = Ph2s/Ph2.S% is very nearly constant. The maximum ratio of available Ph2s/Ph2 = H,S/H,, from which sulphur can be absorbed by metal, is equal to H2S/H2 in equilibrium with E (which equals H2S/H2 in the entrant gas), minus H,S/H, in equilibrium with X. Thus: Available H2S/H2 = EK&apos;1 - XK&apos;1 [4] Eq. 4 expresses that sulphur can be absorbed by metal from the H2S/H2 in the entrant gas until the gas leaving the metal assumes a value of H2S/H2 which is in equilibrium with the dissolved sulphur X at that time. H,S constitutes up to approximately 1 pct of the gas mixture. Its disassociation into H2 and SL is about 1 pct at 1600°C, hence, the H2S/H2 impinging on the surface of metal is very close to that in the entrant gas. The rate of flow of hydrogen entering the reaction chamber is kept constant experi-

Jan 1, 1954

By M. R. Campbell

Coal is the geological product of entombed vegetal tissues. This view of its origin led Stopes and Wheeler to define it as "mummified plants." They evidently intended this term to be used in a broad way and to mean the preservation of the organic material, as such, regardless of the means employed to accomplish the purpose. The term " coal" should be regarded, therrfore, as broadly generic, and applicable to all accumulations of vegetal tissues as soon as they are covered and protected either by water or by earthy material. In this sense peat should be regarded as the first stage of coal formation and the term coal should include the resultant products of transformation in all other stages of the process until they have lost all resemblance to the original matter from which they were derived. If this idea of the development of coal is accepted and it is admitted, as the geologists claim, that the forces which produced this transformation of the coal have been active since vegetation began to grow upon the land, and are still in operation, it is obvious that somewhere in the world there are all gradations of this material from peat just forming in the swamps of today to graphitic anthracite which presumably marks the most advanced stage that can be recognized with certainty as belonging to the series. Some of these coals, particularly those occurring in the upper part of the series, are fairly well known because they are the ones that are most widely distributed and have been mined and utilized most extensively. On the other hand, the coals in the lower part of the series are but little known because they are not so abundant and, owing to their relative inefficiency, have been only slightly exploited and utilized, especially in regions where the better coals are abundant. The result of these conditions is that much research work has been done on coals of the higher ranks and a great body of facts regarding their physical and chemical properties and the uses to which they are best adapted has been accumulated, but little information is available regarding the coals of the lower ranks. Many able scientists, particularly chemists, have attempted to bring some order of the chaos of coals of various compositions and uses by

Jan 1, 1930

By Smith Bracewell

First evidence of bauxite in Jamaica resulted from an analysis of a soil sample collected at Bull Savannah in 1938 during a systematic local investigation of the island&apos;s soil types. Results of subsequent work indicated the possibility of the occurrence of deposits of commercial grade and dimensions, and in 1942, with a view to emergency development of the deposits as a war measure, the Jamaican Government declared all bauxite in the colony to be Crown property.

Jan 10, 1958

By Homer W. Riley

ANTHRACITE SMALL power-driven, toothed, cast-iron rolls were used first to break anthracite in 1844. Prior to that time, men with hammers, who stood on perforated cast-iron plates, broke the large lumps into commercial sizes. In order to convert run-of-mine into the various sizes required by the anthracite industry, about 20 million tons must be broken, annually, into smaller sizes. This phase of anthracite preparation is of major importance, because the degradation accompanying reduction in coal sizes should be kept at a minimum. The exclusive use of toothed rolls for that purpose indicates that comminution by rolls is the best solution of the problem. Many improvements have been made in tooth design, but the most important was a reduction of the peripheral speed of the rolls from 1000 to 300 ft. per minute. The higher speed was based upon and approximated the velocity of a falling piece of coal when it entered the rolls, Exhaustive roll tests at the slower speed showed that the same size reduction could be affected with less degradation. The adoption, therefore, of slow-speed, compound geared rolls, especially for breaking the larger sizes, became quite general after 1912. A high-speed roll is shown in Fig. 1 and a slow-speed roll in Fig. 2. Anthracite Crushing Problems.-Crushing anthracite presents the problem of selecting a series of rolls that will produce the greatest percentage of the prepared sizes of nut and over. The size distributions to be expected are shown in Table 1. Coal breaking and crushing practices in anthracite breakers involve the use of equipment for comminuting the following classes of material: 1. Run-of-mine-plus 6 ½ -in. coal. 2. Sized coal-steamboat, broken, egg, stove, nut, and pea. 3. Flat coal--coal that is flat and hence not suitable for the market. 4. Bone--a piece of laminated coal and slate, crushed for the purpose of reclaiming the coal. 5. Breaker refuse, reduced to a size suitable for flushing into a mine for back-filling purposes.

Jan 1, 1950

By B. H. Caudle, L. G. Davies, I. H. Silberberg

This paper presents a method of predicting the recovery and performance of a five-spot steam injection project, in which a realistic approach to pattern sweepout efficiencies is made. Published methods for radial systems were modified for the five-spot pattern by approximating the stream lines with straight lines radiating from the injection well and then converging to the producing well. In each radial segment, the position of the steam front and the temperature profile ahead of the steam front were determined by heat balance equations, which included an estimation of heat losses to surrounding formations. The location of the saturations behind the cold water front was determined from a Buckley-Leverett solution to the material balance equation. Results from this program show steamflood recovery in a five-spot pattern to be considerably less than that predicted for true linear or radial flow systems. For a specific reservoir containing 900-cp oil, a steamflood in a purely radial flow system was predicted to recover more than 75 percent of the original oil in place when 2 PV of water had been injected as steam. A five-spot steamflood with otherwise identical properties was predicted to recover 10 percent of the original oil in place when 0.15 PV of water had been injected as steam and to recover almost no oil thereafter. A cold water five-spot flood in this system was predicted to recover approximately W percent of the oil in place with I PV of water injected. For a five-spot pattern in an example reservoir with 10-cp oil, steam injection similarly showed lower ultimate recovery than water injection but no improvement in recovery rule. Introduction The thermal recovery method considered in this study is steam injection in a five-spot pattern. Pattern steam injection has been given little attention in the past, possibly because of some rather obvious disadvantages. Unless steam temperature is maintained throughout the entire swept area, the process will revert to simple waterflood with all heat being lost prior to reaching the oil bank. Also, the oil viscosity reduction takes place near the steam front and not around the producing wellbore, so that low producing rates must still be endured. This is the reason for the success of the steam stimulation, or cyclic injection, in which the fluids are produced from the same well used for injection. On the other hand, steamflooding can offer some advantages. Oil displacement is by four methods: (1) mechanical displacement by the condensed water, (2) viscosity reduction of the crude oil, (3) swelling of the crude oil, and (4) distillation of the crude oil in the steam zone. Although dependent upon the crude, laboratory experiments have shown displacements up to 80 percent by steamflooding. In addition, steam is a good heat transport medium, since it is cheap and has a high heat content. Previous Investigations Previous publications have reported methods for predicting recovery in a steamflood for linear and radial systems. Since no pattern sweep efficiency is taken into consideration, the recovery even from a radial system must be greater than from more realistic geometries such as the very common five-spot patterns. Probably the broadest coverage is given by Willman who reported experimental results and offered a method of predicting recovery for a radial flow system. They concluded that both hot water and steam injection recover more oil than an ordinary waterflood, and that steam injection could yield recoveries "as much as 100 percent greater than by water flood." They also concluded that both the heat requirements for a reservoir and the residual oil remaining in the reservoir after steam injection were independent of the amount of oil originally in place, that short exploitation times were desirable, and that a high percentage of net sand in the reservoir with a high initial oil saturation was desirable. The method assumes that the flood occurs in three concentric cylindrical zones: (1) an inner steam zone, (2) a central hot water zone, and (3) an outer cold waterflood zone. Displacement in the steam zone is based on laboratory-determined residual oil saturations while the hot water and cold water zones use the conventional Buckley-Leverett equations. Although the results shown by Willman et al. are for a radial system flowing out from the well to an assumed external circular boundary, their equations did

Jan 1, 1969

By Roy J. Greenfield, Charles H. Stoyer

A geophysical survey was made in Kylertown, Pa., in an area where the ground water is polluted with acid mine drainage. Since acid mine water is a good electrical conductor, both direct-current electrical and electromagnetic loop methods were examined for their ability to determine the subsurface electrical conductivity structure and from this to imply the location of the acid water. Consistent results were obtained with the two methods and the interpreted subsurface resistivities were consistent with the electrical resistivity measured for water samples. It was demonstrated that fracture traces which act as conduits for ground water flow can be located with electromagnetic surveying methods. Thus geophysical methods for measuring subsurface electtrical resistivity can be used to advantage for monitoring the environmental impact on the ground-water system of acid mine water.

Jan 1, 1977

By Gary Mack, Donald E. Scheck

To help management keep key machines or processes at peak efficiency, draglines, shovels and blast hole drills have been equipped with micro- processor based monitors. The dragline and shovel monitors log operating data such as energy consumption, bucket position, cab rotation and the clock time of key elements within each cycle as well as maintenance information. The output consists of maintenance and management data such as the number of cycles, average cycle times, swing angles, depths and downtimes. Extensive experimentation has shown that a blast hole monitor can provide a log of each blast hole in which the hard to fragment zones are indicated. The logs are printed on board the drill and serve as the design basis for decked loading of the holes. As a result, the fragmentation of the overburden has improved markedly with the same or less powder consumption. This material is based upon work supported in part by the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior under Grant Numbers G1115006, G1115391 and G5 105006. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior.

Jan 1, 1983

By C. F. Smart

THE heat treatment of the bronze composed of 88 per cent. copper, 10 per cent. tin, and 2 per cent. zinc, has been investigated by H. S. and J. G. S. Primrose,1 and also by the U. S. Bureau of Standards.2 The results obtained by H. S. and J. G. S. Primrose on dry-sand castings subjected to reheating followed by air cooling, or by quenching in water, are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The values for tensile strength have been FIG. 1.-EFFECT OF QUENCHING ON DRY SAND CASTINGS (H. S. AND J. G. S. PRIMROSE.) converted from tons per square inch to pounds per square inch. Figs. 3and 4, have been plotted from values obtained by the Bureau of Standards on material of the same composition and treatment. Both investigations show that the ductility of the cast bronze is improved by heating to 700° C. and cooling in air, the strength not being impaired by this treatment. They are not in agreement, however, as to the effect of quenching, Messrs. Primrose reporting a decrease, and the Bureau of Standards an increase, in both strength and ductility when the cast bronze is heated to 600° or 700° C. and quenched.

Jan 9, 1919

By Paul D. Merica

DURING the Dark Ages, when metallurgy was practiced by the alchemists, any unusual or disturbing variation in metallurgical operations was ascribed to the, presence, in the metals or ores, of an evil spirit, and it was necessary to exorcise and drive it out "by suitable incantations. In this day of science and of engineering, things still incomprehensibly go wrong in the metallurgist&apos;s work shop. The metallurgist is even now not unwilling to lay the blame for many such experiences at the door of something which intellectually- much resembles an evil spirit, "gas in the metal." The presence of gases in his metal, he knows, occasions him many very definite troubles which he can clearly distinguish and diagnose-why may it not be also responsible for those which he cannot so well understand?

Jan 1, 1931

By C. Hertzler

The difference of means of milling characteristics by rock and ore type is tested in a statistical manner in the paper. The null hypothesis being tested is that the sample means of two different populations are equal. It is assumed that the null hypothesis is true when performing the test. Because of this, acceptance of this hypothesis leads to the conclusion that the sample means of the two different populations are equal (or there is no significant difference between the sample means), not that the samples come from the same population, as the author asserts. Rejection of the null hypothesis leads to the conclusion that the sample means of the two different populations are not equal. A P value for this test is reported in Table 2 and is incorrectly identified as the probability that the two samples came from different populations. Actually, what was recorded was 100(1 - p) where p is the usual p-value. The usual p-value measures, on a scale of zero to one, the extent to which the data agree with the null hypothesis. It is the probability of observi" a value of the test statistic (Z score) that is at least as contradictory to the null hypothesis as the one computed from the sample data (McClave and Dietrich 11, 1982). The author makes no mention of the fact that were these tests to be conducted together, the chances of determining that the null hypothesis is not true when it is really true are increased considerably (Snedecor and Cochran, 1980). This is a multiple comparisons problem and should be dealt with accordingly. The usual methods involve adjusting the level of the individual tests. Table 2 reports an incorrect 100(1 - p) value in the comparison of concentrate grades for other rock types with .30 to .69% Cu vs other rock types with .70 + % Cu; 86% should be 98.6%. Although the article can be criticized for poor data presentation and discussion of that data, the point the author makes regarding the use of these statistics in the ore reserve estimation process is well taken. It does not appear that inaccuracies in the statistical interpretations have hindered that usefulness.

Jan 1, 1985

By Marlin J. Veesaert

Urban quarries offer one of the greatest opportunities for profit in nonmetallic mining with limited financial risk-if properly evaluated, planned and developed to meet market needs. Location, with respect to market, is the prime consideration. Geologic considerations and quality of rock are nearly as important. Cost factors and return on investment (ROI) are the principal financial considerations. Risk of capital is determined by weighing all factors that should be considered and how well judgments are based on information acquired. It is a simple, true axiom of business that an investment must be founded on amount of capital required with its expected return plus profit, expertise required to operate, and time involved. Urban quarries generally offer excellent stone product market opportunities. Costs of land with mineral containment and processing operations are much greater than in rural areas. Environmental problems have become increasingly severe. Competition from other quarries in the market area is usually directly proportional to the profit attractiveness. Risk of capital (initial, developmental and operational) can be evaluated and reduced only by thorough analysis of the entire situation. Time and money expended on planning and preliminary investigations probably represent the most productive investment of available company resources. Basic Reasons to Establish a Limestone Quarry Profit Motive: Certainly the dominant and overriding motive must be that of attaining a reasonable profit. In certain situations a quarry firm may acquire land, necessary rezoning (if required), and satisfy all of the other prerequisites preparatory to beginning operations but delaying the actual development.

Jan 1, 1980