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By M. J. Pool, P. J. Spencer, R. V. Miner

The partial molar heat of solution of rhodiunz in liquid lin and Rh-Sn alloys has been measured as a function of rhodium concentration at 700" , 725" , 750" , and 775°K. The values at infinite dilution are very exo thermic, ranging from -29,950 to -28,260 cal per g-atom Rh at 700" and 775"K, respectively. At the solubility limit the heat of solution becomes sharply nzore exothermic and has permitted the liquidus boundary to be accurately established at each temperature. From the measurements in the two-phase region of liquid Plus RhSn, the heat of formation of RhSn,has been determined. A large increase in the heat of formation between 725" and 750°K suggests the possibility of a phase transformation in this compound. V ERY few measurements have been made of the heats of solution of transition metals in liquid tin; yet those values that are available are of great interest because of their very large exothermic nature. For example, the heat of solution at infinite dilution of palladium in tin has been measured as about -26,000 cal per g-atom (625" to 800°~),' while the heat of solution at infinite dilution of platinum is even more exothermic at -28,591 cal per g-atom (914°K).' These values are of the same order of magnitude as the heat of formation of many intermetallic compounds and as such clearly indicate that very strong bonding must exist between the solute and tin atoms in the liquid solutions. Rhodium might be expected to display similar solution characteristics in tin in view of its close electronic resemblance to palladium and platinum. Since no thermodynamic data are available for Rh-Sn alloys, rhodium was chosen as an appropriate solute for further investigation of transition-metal systems with highly exothermic heats of solution at infinite dilution. EXPERIMENTAL The heat of solution of rhodium in dilute Rh-Sn liquid solutions was measured as a functlon of rhodium concentration at 700°, 725", 750°, and 775°K. The liquid-metal solution calorimeter used in this work has been fully described elsewhere. At the start of each series of measurements, the solvent bath consisted of about 0.5 g-atoms of 99.9+ pct pure tin. To this was made a number of small rhodium additions, about 0.0005 g-atoms each, and the heat of solution was measured for each. Rhodium of 99.9+ pct purity in powder form was used in order to promote rapid dissolution in the liquid tin. The powder specimens were contained in tin foil stated to be purified (lead-free). This foil was found to have no measurable heat of solution in pure tin so the effect of any impurities could be neglected. The energy equivalent of the calorimeter was experi- mentally determined by dropping tungsten and/or tin specimens at intervals during each series of rhodium drops. The tungsten and tin used were 99.95 and 99.999+ pct pure, respectively. The only heat effect due to a tungsten drop, or a tin drop at low rhodium concentrations in the bath, is the sensible heat of the specimen. The heat content of these materials is well-established and is presented in the compilation of Hultgren et al. 4 As the rhodium concentration in the tin bath increases a small heat effect arises from the reaction: Sn (liquid, T) — & (soln, T) where T is the temperature of the tin bath. Where necessary, this heat of solution of tin was determined by Gibbs-Duhem integration, and corrections were made to the heat effect of the tin calibration specimens and the tin foil containing the rhodium specimens. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The calculated values of the heat of solution of rhodium in dilute Rh-Sn alloys as a function of composition are shown graphically in Fig. 1. The values have been corrected for the sensible heat of the specimens, initially at 273"K, and apply to the reaction:

Jan 1, 1969

Dr. Rausch, from your vantage point as educator, engineer, and corporate executive, what would you say is the most fundamental need that must be satisfied for the continuing welfare of our society, our industry and our profession?

Jan 3, 1977

By W. Rogers Wade, Alfred Wandtke

The Pilares mine of the Moctezuma Copper Co. is situated at Los Pilares de Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico, about 75 mi. (120.7 km.) south of the international boundary and about 7 mi. (11.26 km.) east of the town of Nacozari de Garcia. It is situated at an elevation of 5000 ft. (1524 m.) in one of the northward trending ridges that form part of the mountain mass that culminates in the Sierra Madre de Mexico. To the east, south, and west, the topography is rugged and diversified; to the north less diversity exists, ranges of mountains rise sharply out of almost level ground and give the basin range structure characteristic of the Southwest. The climate is dry, the average rainfall of 15 in. (38 cm.) being confined almost entirely to the months of June, July, and August. The winter consists of a few days of disagreeable weather when a little snow may fall; the remainder of the year is thoroughly delightful. Vegetation is typical of a semi-arid region. In the canons near the mine, where water flows intermittently, willows thrive; on the northern slopes of some of the mountains and in some of the broader canons pines may even become abundant. The dominant rocks are flows and pyroclastics which are cut by dykes, stocks, and batholiths. The mountain just west of Nacozari is, in part, composed of limestone of an unknown age which occurs as a syncline and is undoubtedly a part of a prevolcanic land surface. Overlying the limestone and faulted against it, are the volcanics; cutting the limestone is a coarse biotite granite. Whether the granite is older or younger than the volcanics has not been definitely established. No attempt has been made to differentiate the rock types of the volcanic~, of which there are exposed 3000 ft. (914 m.) in thickness of basic and acid flows (andesites, latites, and rhyolites) and andesite and latite tuffs and breccias. The latite breccias, the youngest of these volcanic~, cover the highest mountains in the immediate vicinity. The

Jan 1, 1920

By Chung Yu Wang

During the time I was in charge of this mine, from 1914 to 1915, I had occasion to read the interesting papers by T. T. Read and C. M. Weld about these deposits, to find how far their observations corroborated mine. To quote from the paper on "The Mineral Production and Resources of China" by T. T. Read:' "The iron ores at Tayeh * * * * lie along the contact between a marble and an intrusive body of a dark gray syenitic rock. * * * * At one place it is slightly magnetic, apparently having been partly reduced to the magnetic oxide by the action of reducing solutions, which have deposited small amounts of copper and iron sulphides along the foot wall." To quote from the paper on "The Tayeh Iron Ore Deposits"2 by C. M. Weld: "I find the orebodies described as occurring along an approximately E-W contact between hornblende-granite and limestone. * * * * The granite is a granitoid rock consisting essentially of quartz, potash-feldspar and hornblende."' These quotations show the differences of opinion entertained by two observers. My own study of these interesting deposits has been intermittent amid the manifold duties devolving upon a superintendent. General DescriptLon of the Deposits The deposits are situated to the west of the Yangtse River, being connected with the river by a standard-gage railroad of 66 li (18.16 miles, 26 km.) in length, as shown in Fig. 1. The general topography of the region is of mature age, showing broad valleys with sluggishly meandering streams. These deposits are worked as two mines, named the Tieh Shan Mining Department and the Teh Tao Wan Mining Department; the former consisting of three orebodies more or less connected, named Tieh Man Kan, Sha Mau Tze and Lung Tung, and the latter consisting of Chang Pei Shan, Sze Tze Shan, Ta Shih Men, Yeh Chih Ping and Tsin Shan, also more or less connected, as shown in Fig. 2.

Jan 1, 1918

By Wheeler O. North

The United Eastern Mining Co.'s property is in the Oatman, Gold Roads mining district of Mohave County, Ariz. The mine and mill are 26 mi. (41.8 km.) southwest of Kingman, the nearest railway connection. The ore consists of a mixture of calcite and quartz with some andesite. The values, which are mainly gold, alloyed with approximately 34 per cent., by weight, of silver, are extremely fine so that fine grinding is a most important factor in extraction. The milling process, briefly, consists of single-stage, coarse-crushing, two-stage ball milling in cyanide solution, followed by combined mechanical and air agitation, and by straight counter-current decantation. The Merrill zinc-dust precipitation method is used to recover the values, and is preceded by the Crowe vacuum treatment of the solution. The most notable features of the plant are the absence of filters, and the use of short peb mills loaded with steel balls, for fine grinding. As originally designed, the capacity of the mill was to be 200 tons per day, although the grinding end was to be capable of handling double that amount. By adding extra agitators and thickeners and by some alterations to the grinding end, the daily capacity has been raised to 285 tons. This, it is hoped, may be increased to 300 tons during the warm months of the present year. Tonnage Milled per Day 1917 average....... 234; maximum month.... 272; minimum month..... 146 1918 average....... 253; maximum month,... 276; minimum month..... 217 As this article primarily deals with plant operations, those interested in the mechanical description are referred to the article by Mr. Otto Wartenweiler,1 the designing engineer, which gives the details and costs of design and construction. The following changes have been made since that article was published: Two special simplex Dorr classifiers have been substituted for the two duplex Callow screens and bucket elevator, which classified the Marcy discharge and returned the oversize for regrinding. Three Dorr

Jan 1, 1920

By J. H. McCormick

THIS plant, near Marysville, Mont., was planned to treat the ore from the Piegan and Gloster mines, the latter being one of the early and famous producers of the Marysville district. When the mill was closed in 1888, treatment consisted of stamp milling, followed by pans and settlers for pan amalgamation. The extraction was evidently poor; because, a few years later, thousands of tons of tailings were re-treated by the ranchers in the valley below the mill, by the then new cyanide process, and gave a handsome profit. In 1914, the present owners, after laboratory tests and an experimental mill run, decided upon the following treatment: crushing to 40 mesh in cyanide solution, concentration, amalgamation, classification, and cyanidation of sands by leaching, and of slime by agitation and decantation in charges. The ore averaged about $7 per ton, gold and silver, the ratio of weight being 1 oz. gold to 7.56 oz. silver. The ratio of gold and silver in tailings was 1 oz. Au to 36.6 oz. Ag; the quartz vas sharp and, sandy, however finely ground, and rather difficult to slime. The mechanical 'equipment was a No. 5 Symons gyratory crusher; three 10-ft. Lane slow-speed Chilean mills; one Wilfley roughing and one finishing table; one submerged-type Akins classifier; five 26 by 10-ft. fir leaching tanks; one 24 by 7-ft. Dorr thickener; four 14 by 16-ft. Dorr agitators; four 6-compartment double-row zinc-boxes having compartments 18 in. wide, 18 in. deep, and 34 in. long; Johnson zinc lathe; acid and vacuum filter tanks for treating precipitate; roasting furnace; and Case tilting No. 275 crucible furnace for melting precipitate. The mill is driven by electric power supplied by the Montana Power Co. at the following rates, per kw.-hr.: 200 to 300 hp.,.0.68 c.; 300 to 500 lip., 0.61 c.; 500 to 750 hp., 0.55 c.; plus $1 per month per installed motor horsepower.

Jan 8, 1918

By T. A. Rickard

Clement Le Neve Foster was born at Camberwell on March 23, 1841, his father being Peter Le Neve Foster, who was secretary of the Society of Arts for 26 years. As a boy of 12 he was sent to school at Boulogne, receiving a preliminary education there; and in 1857, when only 16 years old, he took his degree of Bachelor of Science from the University of France. In October of the same year he returned to London and entered the Royal School of Mines, which was then in Jermyn Street. He distinguished himself by winning a scholarship and a medal, and by securing his degree as Associate of the Royal School of Mines in the abbreviated period of two years. This was followed by a year at the Bergakademie at Freiberg; subseque1:tly he visited several mining districts in Germany and Hungary. On returning to England, in November, 1860, he received from Sir Roderick Murchison an appointment upon the Geological Survey. During five years he was engaged in field-work, first on the Wealden beds in Kent and Sussex, and then in Derbyshire and Yorkshire. At this time his evenings were largely devoted to reading for a degree from London University. In 1861 he matriculated, obtaining the Bachelor of Science in 1863, with honors in biology and a University scholarship in geology; in 1864 he passed the two examinations entitling him to the Bachelor of Arts degree, and in 1865 he received the degree of Doctor of Science. In 1865 he succeeded Mr. Richard Pearce as lecturer to the Miners' Association of Cornwall and Devon. At the same time he became the curator to the museum of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall at Penzance, a member of the council in 1873, and a life-member in 1874; he made frequent donations to the museum, besides contributing several valuable papers to

Jan 1, 1905

By Chung Yu Wang

DURING the time I was in charge, of this mine, from 1914 to 1915, I had occasion to read the interesting papers by T. T. Read and C. M. Weld about these deposits, to find how far their observations corroborated mine. To quote from the paper on "The Mineral Production and Resources of China" by T. T. Read:' "The iron ores at Tayeh lie along the contact between a marble and an intrusive body of a dark gray syenitic rock. * * * * At one place it is slightly magnetic, apparently having been partly reduced to the magnetic oxide by the action of reducing solutions, which have deposited small amounts of copper and iron sulphides along the foot wall." To quote from the paper on "The Tayeh Iron Ore Deposits"2 by C. M. Weld: "I find the orebodies described as occurring along an approximately E-W contact between horn-blende-granite and limestone. * * * * The granite is a granitoid rock consisting essentially of quartz, potash-feldspar and hornblende." These quotations show the differences of opinion entertained by two observers. My own study of these interesting deposits has been intermittent amid the manifold duties devolving upon a superintendent. General Description of the Deposits The deposits are situated to the west of the Yangtse River, being con¬nected with the river by a standard-gage railroad of 56 li (16.16 miles, 26 km.) in length, as shown in Fig. 1. The general topography of the region is of mature age, showing broad valleys with sluggishly meandering streams. These deposits are worked as two mines, named the Tieh Shan Mining Department and the Teh Tao Wan Mining Department; the former consisting of three orebodies more or less connected, named Tieh Man Kan, Sha Mau Tze and Lung Tung, and the latter consisting of Chang Pei Shan, Sze Tze Shan, Ta Shih Men, Yeh Chih Ping and Tsin Shan, also more or less connected, as shown in Fig. 2.

Jan 3, 1917

By P. T. Carter, A. B. Murad, H. B. Bell

The distribution of manganese and oxygen between molten iron and FeO-MnO-SiO2 slags not saturated with SiO2 has been determined and used to calculate activities of MnO and SiO2 in MnO-SiO2 slags. These were found to be intermediate between the corresponding activities in FeO-SiO2 and CaO-SiO2 slags. THE equilibrium constant for the reaction between molten iron containing manganese and slags containing FeO and MnO, namely: FeO(slag) + Mn = MnO (slag) + Fe(1iquid) is most conveniently represented by: (MnO) Kmn== (FeOHMn] [Fe] is omitted, since for dilute solutions of manganese in iron, afe is approximately constant. When activities are used for (MnO), (FeO) and [Mn], Kmn is a true equilibrium constant and will apply to all types of slags, but when weight percentages are used, the values obtained for Kmn for different slags vary considerably. The equilibrium between iron containing manganese and relatively pure FeO-MnO slags has been investigated by several workers;1-4 the most recent investigation reported is that of Chipman, Gero, and Winkler.4 Their results, corresponding to slags containing up to 4 pct SiO2, were represented by the equation: 6440 log KMn = +2.95 In this case both slag and metal may be assumed to be ideal solutions, therefore the values of Kmn so derived represent the true constant for the manganese reaction. As the molecular weights of MnO and FeO are almost equal, weight concentration of these oxides may also be used in the above expression. Acidic oxides such as SiO2 and P2O5 affect the activities of FeO and MnO differently, so that when total concentrations by weight of FeO and MnO are used in the above expression for Kmn the values obtained are no longer constant. These will be denoted by K'mn. Körber and Oelsen5 investigated the manganese reaction using silica-saturated iron-manganese-silicate slags and found: 7940 logK'mn =3.172 This corresponds to Kmn values much higher than those obtained for pure oxide slags. The results of Körber and Oelsen, and Chipman, Gero, and Winkler are summarized in Table I. In the present investigation it was decided to study the manganese reaction using iron-manganese-silicate slags not saturated with silica, and which fell mainly between the orthosilicate join 2FeO . SiO2 - 2MnO.SiO2 and the FeO-MnO side of the ternary system FeO-MnO-SiO2. It has been shown" that the phases present in solidified slags of this part of the diagram are (FeO, MnO) and (2Fe0.Si02, 2Mn0-SiO,) solid solutions. Such an investigation would be of interest in deoxidation and also gives information on activities in liquid slags. This equilibrium has not as yet been investigated successfully. Hilty and Crafts7 attempted to examine this reaction in a rotating crucible furnace, but were unable to obtain suitable slag samples. In the present investigation one series of experiments was carried out in a rotating crucible furnace, because the success of Taylor and Chipman8 with such a furnace in their study of oxygen distribution between molten iron and (CaO, MgO) — FeO-Si0, slags suggested that it would minimize contamination of the slag by the crucible material. A second series was carried out using a wire-wound resistance furnace. Rotating Crucible Furnace Experiments In all cases the metallic charge consisted of 800 to 1000 g Armco iron containing 0.02 pct C, 0.03 pct Mn, and traces of Si. Manganese and silicon additions consisted of electrolytic manganese (99.9 pct)

Jan 1, 1953

By Ellis Clark

THE mining town of Pribram is situated in Central Bohemia, on the western slope of the Heiliger Berg, 30 miles southwest from Prague. Birkenberg, the village in which most of the shafts and ore-dressing establishments are situated, is built on a mountain of the same name. It is about a mile from Pribram, is 1700 feet above the sea, and is surrounded by graywacke rocks of Silurian origin, which are intersected by greenstone dikes, and in the southerly, southeasterly, and southwesterly direction are bounded by granite. The graywacke formations consist on one side of graywacke sandstone and quartzite, and on the other of graywacke slates. These last are separated from the first in the immediate vicinity of the mines by a graywacke seam converted into clay. For many years this so-cal led clay seam (lettenkkluft) was considered as a boundary of the ore deposits in both zones of graywacke. The graywacke formation is divided according to its hardness, structure, texture, and color, into fine, coarse, compact, slaty, whitish-gray, reddish-gray, and black graywacke. The, miner divides the formation into four divisions. The first or lowest division, which is in contact with the granite, consists of a fine-grained dirty gray slate; the -second is a very fine to a very coarse schist, white to reddish-gray in color, and rich in quartz, but containing little mica; the third consists of a slate with a contused cleavage, which has a dirty gray, dark gray, and very often black color and is often graphitic in its composition ; the fourth consists of a fine to coarse-grained graywacke schist, of a grayish-white or reddish-gray color, and rich in quartz. The cleavage in all four divisions strikes from northeast to southwest, and the dip is sometimes northwesterly, sometimes southerly, and often vertical. All four zones are cut through by a great number of diorite and greenstone dikes and chimneys. The thickness of these dikes, which are of

Jan 1, 1881

By ARTHUR THACHER

PRIMITIVE man supplied his wants as they arose; as he became more civilized he anticipated them by producing more regularly and storing the products for future use. This tended to cheapen' production and prevent ' violent fluctuations and therefore tended to increase consumption. In order to anticipate our wants, we must know what these wants will be, and this can be .determined only by statistics. 'While we have made great progress in gathering statistics, they are still far from what they should be; especially metal statistics. We determine fairly, well the amount produced, but this does not answer all inquiries because of the erratic conditions of mining, it is necessary to carry larger stocks of metals than of most other articles; moreover, as metals are more or less durable, it is difficult to determine the actual consumption. We often count under consumption what is being produced and sold, while the actual consumption is what is being worn out.

Jan 1, 1921

By T. Suzuki

LABOR. conditions have finally caused rock-drilling machines to supplant hand drillers in the Japanese mining industry, and have encouraged this study. During a period of three years 25,000 tests were made on 67 different American, Japanese, and European rock drills, using, respectively, the Paynter testing machine, and drilling in granite and limestone. Recorded were: air consumption, speed of rotation, torque of rotation, foot-pounds of striking energy, air pressures, input horsepowers, and speed of rock penetration. The author expresses his views on the interrelation of these factors and offers theoretical support, as well, by formulas based upon the mechanics of impact. He discusses the different designs of the valves, cylinders, piston hammers and rotation devices involved in the different types of rock drills, with respect to their merits and defects and offers conclusions about the factors that should be considered in the new design of a superior rock drill. The author's mathematical demonstrations and arguments for a value of "best feed clearance" of the drill bit from the rock are based upon the hand-operated screw-fed type of hammer drill. Automatic feeds have not been considered in this paper except for the tests on one drifter with air feed, 10 air-feed stopers, and some hand-held blockholers. The following classes of drills, with one of each model, size, or type, were tested: 23 heavy drifters, 34 light drifters and hand-held drills, and 10 stopers. They represented the following makes and models: 40 from the United States—namely, Ingersoll-Rand 18, 148, L-74, 24-70, N-72, N-75, R-72, 26, BAR-33, BCR-430, DCRW-23, RA-12, CA-31, CC-11; Denver 7, 107, WT-21, WT-31, WT-331, WT-337 (models WT with motor rotation, screw feed), 11, Waugh 93, 95; Waugh 16; Sullivan DR-6, DW-64, T-3; DP-321, DP-331; DA-21, DT-44, DT-421; Gilman AX-321 (motor rotation and air feed); Cleveland D-5; AIBQ, 44-SWR,

Jan 1, 1940

By T. Suzuki

LABOR. conditions have finally caused rock-drilling machines to supplant hand drillers in the Japanese mining industry, and have encouraged this study. During a period of three years 25,000 tests were made on 67 different American, Japanese, and European rock drills, using, respectively, the Paynter testing machine, and drilling in granite and limestone. Recorded were: air consumption, speed of rotation, torque of rotation, foot-pounds of striking energy, air pressures, input horsepowers, and speed of rock penetration. The author expresses his views on the interrelation of these factors and offers theoretical support, as well, by formulas based upon the mechanics of impact. He discusses the different designs of the valves, cylinders, piston hammers and rotation devices involved in the different types of rock drills, with respect to their merits and defects and offers conclusions about the factors that should be considered in the new design of a superior rock drill. The author's mathematical demonstrations and arguments for a value of "best feed clearance" of the drill bit from the rock are based upon the hand-operated screw-fed type of hammer drill. Automatic feeds have not been considered in this paper except for the tests on one drifter with air feed, 10 air-feed stopers, and some hand-held blockholers. The following classes of drills, with one of each model, size, or type, were tested: 23 heavy drifters, 34 light drifters and hand-held drills, and 10 stopers. They represented the following makes and models: 40 from the United States—namely, Ingersoll-Rand 18, 148, L-74, 24-70, N-72, N-75, R-72, 26, BAR-33, BCR-430, DCRW-23, RA-12, CA-31, CC-11; Denver 7, 107, WT-21, WT-31, WT-331, WT-337 (models WT with motor rotation, screw feed), 11, Waugh 93, 95; Waugh 16; Sullivan DR-6, DW-64, T-3; DP-321, DP-331; DA-21, DT-44, DT-421; Gilman AX-321 (motor rotation and air feed); Cleveland D-5; AIBQ, 44-SWR,

Jan 1, 1940

By Fred J. Miller

FRED J. MILLER was born in Ohio, in 1857. He had a common and high school education, supplemented by personal study and special instruction. After serving a 4-year apprenticeship and working in various capacities in machine shops, he became a contributor to mechanical journals and finally a member of the editorial staff of The American Machinist, where he remained for twenty years, the last ten years as editor-in-chief of the magazine, and vice-president of the publishing company. On retiring from journalism, he was for nine years general manager of a group of typewriter factories, and was then commissioned Major of Ordnance in the U. S. Army, being stationed during most of his service at Rock Island Arsenal, where he organized the Civilian Service Division of the Arsenal. He is now a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the War Claims Board at Washington. Major Miller became a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1890, and has always taken an active interest in its affairs, having served on a number of important committees, and as a member of Council from 1904 to 1907, inclusive. He was elected President in December, 1919.

Jan 1, 1920

By F. Clerf

BLAST-FURNACE practice in France is determined more or less by the character of the ores used. Some French ores are siliceous and others are calcareous, therefore by proper burdening a self-fluxing mix can be used. This is not always clone, as, for instance, at the Caen furnaces of the Société Métallurgique de Normandie, where the Soumont ore of Normandy is used, which is a carbonate. This ore is crushed and calcined at the mines, yielding a product that is porous and well sized for blast-furnace consumption. The lines of the Caen furnaces are given in Fig. 1. Originally these furnaces had 16 tuyeres; six are plucked and these tuyeres are set in the lower part of the bosh. Operating data on these furnaces are given in Table 1.

Jan 1, 1937

By George A. Connell

BORAX, a sodium borate and the principal sodium salt of boric acid, has been surrounded with romance and with a certain amount of mystery. Its early history is not entirely known but it has been contended that Marco Polo in his travels in the Orient introduced this material to the West during the Middle Ages. Without doubt its first source was from Central or Eastern Asia and perhaps from Tibet. The well-known fluxing properties of borax probably introduced its earliest use that of a soldering flux in the manufacture of jewelry. This use, as well as the remote location of most borate deposits, added greatly to the romance associated with the thought of borax. COMPOSITION The common element in all borates is boron but this element has never been discovered as such in any deposit, because of its great affinity for oxygen. Incidentally, this makes its manufacture extremely difficult and expensive. Elemental boron undoubtedly has many properties that make it quite valuable but the extreme cost involved in producing it from its oxidized form prevents its general use or manufacture. The common element in all borates is boron but this element has never been discovered as such in any deposit, because of its great affinity for oxygen. Incidentally, this makes its manufacture extremely difficult and expensive. Elemental boron undoubtedly has many properties that make it quite valuable but the extreme cost involved in producing it from its oxidized form prevents its general use or manufacture. The common element in all borates is boron but this element has never been discovered as such in any deposit, because of its great affinity for oxygen. Incidentally, this makes its manufacture extremely difficult and expensive. Elemental boron undoubtedly has many properties that make it quite valuable but the extreme cost involved in producing it from its oxidized form prevents its general use or manufacture of disodium tetraborate (Na2B4O7.10H2O), and, further, can be considered as the acid salt of monosodium metaborate. However, the term "acid salt" might imply that borax gives an acid reaction in solution, which is not true, since solutions of borax are decidedly alkaline, giving a pH of 9.2. Boric acid, also known as boracic acid, has the chemical formula H3BO3; it occurs in nature as the mineral sassolite. Sassolite has been

Jan 1, 1949

By Max Kraut

UNTIL VERY RECENTLY the flotation process has not found much application in the treatment of gold ores. No appreciable improvement has been made lately in the technology of this application; but the possibilities of flotation have been more fully appreciated. Excellent results were obtained long ago, but few operators paid much attention to them. For instance, in 1915 extensive experiments were carried out by Mr. Beauchamp and Minerals Separation on ores from the Dutch-Sweeney mine near Jimtown, Calif. The ore contained gold-bearing pyrite and laboratory tests indicated a 10c. tailing on a $6 head. In 1918 a 300-ton flotation mill using Minerals Separation machines was built based on the results obtained. However, when the mill began full-scale operation, mill heads did not come up to expectation, being only $4; also the-tonnage was considerably less than had been expected. Flotation mill tailing assayed 15c., indicating a recovery of over 96 per cent, so that excellent metallurgical results were obtained. The operation was a success but the patient died.

Jan 1, 1932

By E. P. Hindes

The total amount of oil produced in the state of Oklahoma during the year 1928 was 242,286,400 bbl., as compared to 273,372,650 bbl. in 1927; 177,650,000 bbl. in 1926; and 167,900,000 bbl. in 1925. The year 1928 ranks second to 1927 in which more oil was produced in the state than in any previous year. The large in in 1927 and 1928 was due principally to the development of the Greater Seminole district. The decrease of approximately 31,000,000 bbl. in the 1928 production as compared with the production in 1927, was caused by a drop of nearly 8,500,000 bbl. in the Seminole district production and a more or less normal decline in the production of practically all the other older and more settled fields. During 1928 approximately 1800 producing wells were drilled in Oklahoma, which yielded during the year approximately 90,000,000 bbl. of oil. The average initial production of these wells was 850 bbl. per day, and the average daily production per well for the year was 137 bbl. The average daily production per well of the total number of wells producing in 1928 was 10.9 bbl., which is a 13.5 per cent. decrease from the 1927 average of 12.6 barrels. At the close of 1928 a total of 95,400 producing wells had been drilled in the state, and approximately 61,000 were still producing. The grand total amount of oil produced in the state from the time the first well was drilled up to and including 1928 was 2,553,000,000 bbl. The production in 1928 was 9.5 per cent. of the total oil produced in the state. Texas led all other states in 1928, with a production of 251,835,200 bbl. Oklahoma was second with 242,286,400 bbl., and California was third with 231,982,600 barrels. Fields outside Greater. Seminole District Practically all the old settled fields in Oklahoma experienced a normal and expected decline during the year 1928. The fields showing the most, pronounced decline as compared to 1927 were: Burbank, which dropped from 15,230,400 to 11,939, 150 bbl.; Tonkawa, from 7,692,000 to 4,952,900 bbl.; Garber, from 5,056,300 to 3,139,400 bbl., and Wewoka, from 6,188,-800 to 2,450,400 bbl. There were no new extensions, discoveries of

Jan 1, 1929

By James E. Harding

The usual method of sampling mineral deposits is to drill holes and assay the sludge or core. Though the results thus obtained may not represent the true average value of the deposit, it is on these results that estimates of practically all large orebodies are made. In a large number of cases, the results of exploitation fall far short of the estimated value of the orebody. The standard method of making these estimates is to find the cubic contents of triangular prisms, in the apexes of which the drill holes are placed, by. multiplying the surface area by the average depth of the ore in the three drill holes and then multiplying the cubic contents by the specific gravity of the ore or rock to find the tonnage. The assay value is found by dividing the sum of the products of the depth of ore in each hole and the corresponding assay value by the sum of the depths of the ore in the three holes. As the latter part of this method is subject to many mathematical errors, it should not be depended on. Some engineers, therefore, use a discount factor, but as this factor is either arbitrarily selected or is obtained by obscure methods, the results are no better than guesswork. The standard method is correct when the drill holes are so laid out that the triangular prisms are equilateral in cross-section. But as ore deposits cannot always be drilled into at regular intervals and because of the human factor, if many holes are drilled, triangular prisms of all degrees of angularity are produced. In such cases it is necessary to assume that the influence of the different holes is not the same in all directions, which assumption of course is absurd. The area of the triangular prism is usually found by scaling; an ore-body of sufficient size to justify churn drilling is too large to be handled conveniently on maps having a scale larger than from 1000 to 1 to 1,500 to 1 and maps of such scales cannot be accurately measured. A variable is thus introduced in the first operation. In addition, the scaling is frequently done from blueprints, which sometimes shrink as much as 4 per cent. between printing, washing, and drying. The error due to scaling may be eliminated by surveying the location of each hole and

Jan 1, 1922

By C. W. Sherman, N. J. Grant

The correlation of the high temperature chemical properties of slag-metal systems with some easily measured property of either slag or metal at room temperature has been the goal of both process metallurgists and melting operators for many years. There are several rapid methods for estimating various constituents in steel in addition to the conventional chemical methods which are quite fast, but these do not reveal the nature of the slag as a refining agent, which is of primary interest to the steelmaker. Furthermore, there are several methods for examining slag, the three principal ones being slag pancake, petrographic examination, and the previously mentioned chemical analysis. The main objection to the last two is the lime required to make a satisfactory estimate of the mineralogical or chemical components. The objection to the first is the inadequacy of the information obtained. A new technique has been developed by Philbrook, Jolly and Henry1 whereby the properties of slags are evaluated from an aqueous solution leached from a finely divided sample of slag. It is known that the pH or hydrogen ion concentration (of saturated solutions that have dissolved certain basic oxides, notably calcium oxide) will indicate a pronounced basicity. Philbrook, Jolly and Henry devised the pH measurement technique in order to supply open hearth operators with a fast, reasonably accurate method of estimating slag basicity. They offered the method as an empirical observation and made no claims as to its theoretical justification. The results were presented as an experi-metally observed relationship which applied over an important range of basic open hearth slags. They found that, in plotting the measured pH against the basicity, the best relationship existed between the pH and the log of the simple V ratio, CaO/SiO2. Extensive investigation also showed that there were several variables in the experimental technique that influenced the results and necessitated following a standard procedure to obtain reproducible pH readings. These variables were: 1. Particle size of the slag powder used. 2. Weight of sample used per given volume of water. 3. Time of shaking and standing allowed before the pH was measured. 4. Exclusion of free access of atmospheric carbon dioxide to the suspension. 5. Temperature of the extract at the time the pH was measured. In subsequent investigations of the pH method by Tenenbaum and Brown2 and by Smith, Monaghan and Hay3 the general conclusions of Philbrook's work were reaffirmed. It was the object of the present investigation to extend the technique to a point where it could be used to evaluate slags of all types. Experimental Results PARTICLE SIZK OF SLAG POWDER A large sample of commercial blast furnace slag of intermediate basicity (V-ratio 1.15) was selected for the study. The slag had been put through a jaw crusher until all of it passed through a 20 mesh screen. Five fractions of this crushed material were separated, -20 to +40, -40 to +60, -60 to +100, -100 to +200, and -200 mesh. A representative sample of 0.5 g was removed from each fraction and the pH determined using the method of Philbrook. Check pH analyses on the sample fractions varied due to the different amounts of shaking. To eliminate this variable, a mechanical shaker was employed. In order to know the exact time of contact between the slag and water, it was found necessary to filter the extract at the end of the shaking period. Using the mechanical shaker and a filtering apparatus, similar runs were made on the five fractions for contact times of 5, 10, 20, and 40 min. Random checks gave reproducible results within 0.02 pH. The data are plotted in Fig 1. It can be seen from the plot that each slag fraction is hydrolyzed to an extent that is roughly proportional to the surface area exposed to the water. The (—100 to +200) mesh material changed very little in pH after 10 min. shaking time. The curves are symmetrical and lie in proper relation to one another. The —200 mesh curve appears to be somewhat flatter than the others, but this can be attributed to the portion of very fine material that is not present in the other fractions. The closeness of the (-100 to +200) mesh curve to the —200 mesh curve and the fact that a —100 mesh sample would contain amounts of slag down to 1 or 2 microns in diam were considered sufficient reasons for selecting a —100 mesh sample as representative of the whole sample of slag for the purposes of this investigation.

Jan 1, 1950