Search Documents

By George C. Stone

WHEN George C. Stone, a Director of the Institute, and so well known to our Members in connection with the Institute's many activities was abroad in 1.919, he secured an interesting collection of these coins, which appeared in Zinc, a publication by the New Jersey Zinc Co. Regarding this collection of coin, Mr. Stone says: "During the war, all gold and most of the silver disappeared, making small change very scarce. As the French Government was fully occupied by the war, it allowed various Chambers of Commerce and other bodies to issue money, both paper and coins. Many of the latter were made of zinc, and I secured several while in Paris. We had all heard of the Belgian and German zinc coins, but I imagine few knew how many different kinds there were. The accompanying plates show both sides of those I got. I took all that the dealer had; but he said that there were a number of others in existence. The coins in the bottom line were issued by the Germans in Belgium during the war and all are still in common use. The first two in the next to the bottom line are German. All of the others were issued by Chambers of Commerce or corporations. A few have been nickel plated; these look and wear much better than the others. "Coins" made of pasteboard were also issued by similar bodies, also notes.

Jan 1, 1920

By I Hustwick

New Zealand Steel Mining Limited operates two independent sand mining operations on the West Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Waikato North Head 30 km south of Auckland supplies ironsand concentrate as the raw feed for New Zealand Steel's works at Glenbrook and Taharoa 70 km further south, exports ironsand concentrate to Japan.   Taharoa uses two sets of six low pressure Warman centrifugal pumps in series to load bulk ore carriers 3 km off shore through two underwater pipelines. Waikato North Head delivers the ironsand to Glenbrook 18 km through a 200 mm ID buried pipeline using two stages of high pressure positive displacement (HPPD) pumping.   A high level of operating and maintenance expertise has been developed since commissioning the two systems which are proving to be reliable, efficient and of minimal impact environmentally.

Jan 1, 1990

By B. K. Shibler

During a research program to develop improved methods for recovering elemental sulfur and useful sulfur compounds from secondary source materials, the technical literature was searched for pertinent articles on processing methods. This report summarizes results of the literature survey and describes the more important processes that have been used or suggested for recovering sulfur and sulfur compounds from all non-Frasch sources. The bibliography presented represents a survey of the available English language literature on the subject through 1958, with particular attention focused on the period 1950 through 1958. Engineering Index and Industrial Arts Index were the principal guides used in the survey of this period. Chemical Abstracts was used to a limited extent to identify a few key foreign articles and patents. The Sulfur Symposium (4)4 published in November 1950 by Industrial and Engineering Chemistry includes a broadly representative selection of the literature up to 1949. Therefore, this reference was used extensively to locate and list pertinent articles on processing methods reported in the period prior to 1950.

Jan 1, 1962

By Raymond W. Henn

The 31th annual short course ?Grouting Fundamentals and Current Practice? was held at the Colorado School of Mines, in Golden, CO June 7-11, 2010. The field demonstration portion of the course was conducted June 10 at wlh Construction Co.?s yard in Denver, CO. The full-scale field demonstration presents many types of drilling and grouting equipment in operation as well as numerous grouting methods performed under various field conditions.

Jan 1, 2010

By D. Tsweleng

In the Evraz Highveld production process, iron ore is prereduced in rotary kilns prior to charging into submerged arc furnaces (SAFs). Owing to the highly aggressive slags that are formed within the combustion zones of these kilns, chrome-oxide-containing lowcement castables have been used for some years in the kiln lining. Due to concerns around the potentially harmful effects should Cr(V1) be present in the spent linings, Highveld and its suppliers of kiln castables devoted time to developing alternative chrome-free lining materials. Such materials needed to be cost-effective and ensure good performance and improved kiln availability. This paper discusses all the parameters surrounding this development. Keywords Low-cement castable, chrome-oxide free, chrome (VI), titaniferous magnetite ore, rotary kiln, submerged arc furnace, open slag bath furnace, Evraz Highveld Steel & Vanadium Limited.

Aug 1, 2013

By T. C. Green

A two-phase program evaluated commercial proximity warning devices and then served to design and develop an automatic electrostatic field strength measurement device with improved performance. The Phase I program consisted of test and evaluation of three commercial proximity warning devices, all of which operate on the principle of electrostatic field intensity measurement for determining proximity to high voltage power lines. Performance testing of these devices utilized full-scale cranes and power line systems and a scale model facility. The evaluation results were reported in the Phase I report entitled "Evaluation of Proximity Warning Devices" dated 22 February 1980. Under the Phase II program, a microproressor-based data acquisition system was designed and developed to collect and measure field strength at distributed points around the crane boom. This unit (referred to as the Distributed Sensor AC Electrometer) measures the field strength about a crane boom using 17 distributed sensors. Keyboard control is provided for the equipment operator. Measured field strength values are displayed on a line printer and recorded on magnetic tape. Laboratory testing of this unit demonstrated performance characteristics and field strength measurement accuracy within the design goals. A Phase III measurements program is proposed using the AC Electrometer to map the field strength contours about power line configurations.

Jan 1, 1981

By J. R. Thoenen

This paper outlines briefly results of seismic measurements recorded in the vicinity of quarry blasting under practical operating conditions. The data cover field work done from January to the middle of August 1930, during which time records were made of 61 blasts in 19 quarries. Of the tests made, one was in biotite-gneiss, two in dolomite, two in a flintlike volcanic complex, three in gabbrodiorite, five in trap rock, and six in limestone. One quarry was in Alabama, two were in South Carolina, two in New York, four in Kentucky, five in Connecticut, and five in Massachusetts. Explosive charges ranged from 0.30 pound to 41,900 pounds, and the method of shooting varied from mud caps through hammer and wagon drill holes to churn drill holes and coyote tunnel shots.

Jan 1, 1937

By L. Mpolokeng, J. P. Labuschagne, H. Yilmaz

"An investigation into pillar cutting was carried out at a platinum mine on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex. The focus was on crush pillar design and implementation in order to ultimately improve the compliance percentage for pillar cutting. The major findings from the investigation suggest that the pillar cutting problem lies with the implementation of the design rather than the design itself. Observations of the practical issues underground that prevent good pillar cutting were made. After these issues had been identified, recommendations to rectify these problems and a few other issues identified during the investigation were provided. The recommendations are aimed at improving the pillar cutting compliance and reducing the likelihood of pillar bursts or pillar runs, which will ultimately create a safer mining environment. Paper written on project work carried out in partial fulfilment of BSc. Eng. (Mining Engineering)"

Jan 1, 2015

By R. J. Goodman, P. Lafleur

This paper presents a current interpretation and projections of recent statistics on raw materials availability based on familiarity with the Canadian steel industry and its development. Problems and opportunities are recognized and discussed.

Jan 1, 1976

By Donald R. Johnson

Apparatus providing simultaneous differential thermal analysis, thermo-gravimetry, and evolved gas analysis, has been developed by the Bureau of Mines specifically for thermal study of oil shale and other solid, natural fuels. The apparatus is described in detail, and simultaneous analyses on a single sample of an oil shale mineral, nahcolite, and a thermal analysis demonstration compound, calcium oxalate monohydrate, are presented to demonstrate the instrument's capabilities.

Jan 1, 1970

By S. Kittel, P. Galleguillos, H. E. Urtubia

The rougher flotation at Escondida consists of 80 cells of 100 m3 each, with injected air. Escondida has developed a system of automatic control of the rougher flotation using video cameras, which have been operating since 1997 for remote monitoring and manual control. Since 1999, an image processing software and a group of rules have allowed implementation of an expert system. To date, the expert system controls the superficial speed of each cell by adjusting the air flow and the froth depth of the flotation bank. Preliminary tests of the expert control on two of the eight rows gave 1.2% higher rougher recovery at a 92% degree of confidence. The proven benefits are already sufficient to move towards a complete plant implementation.

Jan 1, 2001

By O. C. Blade

Sales of diesel fuel in the United States during the post year and a half have increased greatly. In 1955 over 174 million barrels were sold of which 80 million (or 46 percent), were used by the railroads, and over 44 million barrels (25 ½ percent) of the fuel were used in trucks, busses, tractors, and heavy moving equipment. Vessels (12 percent), industry (9 ½ ), the military forces (4 ½ ), power plants (2), and oil companies (1/2 percent) account for the remainder. 2/ Dally deliveries of diesel type fuel from refineries averaged over 16,750 barrels during the first six months of 1956 in comparison with 15, 250 barrels during the corresponding period of 1955. 3/ Information on the properties of diesel fuel is very important to the petroleum industry, engine manufacturers, and consumers. To supply such information the American Petroleum Institute and the Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior, under cooperative agreement, are conducting annual surveys of diesel fuel oil produced in refineries in this country.

Jan 1, 1957

By T Leach, B Fulton, R Stewart

Gold mineralisation at Porgera is inferred to have been derived from a deep differentiated magmatic source which is capped by a series of (now tilted) inward dipping sills and stocks, which comprise the Porgera Intrusive Complex. An arc normal transfer structure provides a conduit, at tile intersection with an arc parallel structure, into which basic magma derived from tile deep melting of mantle material has been emplaced. Two phases of mineralisation display an association with late stage feldspar porphyry intrusives. Stage I carbonate-base metal-style gold mineralisation occurs as early quartz-sericite, then massive sulphide and late zoned Mn-Fe-Mg-Ca carbonate vein/breccias. Magmatic fluids derived from the deep magma source, are interpreted to have migrated along me margin of a feeder stock to the sills, and south to Waruwari. Stage II epithermal Au-Ag quartz-style gold mineralisation occurs as early fluidised breccias and carbonate veining, followed by zoned quartz-roscoelite-carbonate-gold vein/breccias, and late carbonate and/or sulphate open space infill. Magmatic fluids are interpreted to have utilised the same plumbing system as the late stage feldspar porphyry intrusive, and then migrated into the Roamane Fault which was dilated by; dextral rotation on elements of the transfer structure, normal faulting, and refraction around the competent footwall hornblende diorite. Bonanza gold is localised in a jog in the Roamane Fault, hangingwall splits and at intersections with cross structures. Bulk low grade Stage I gold has been deposited by the mixing of magmatic fluids with cool gas condensate waters, whereas high grade Stage II gold mineralisation resulted from the rapid quenching of mineralised magmatic fluids by oxygenated groundwaters.

Jan 1, 1995

By Sun Jiale

This paper presents a brief description of information construction technology for supported excavation to assure satisfactory performance of engineered system. As a successful example of application of the technique, quite a few troublesome problems, such as high groundwater level in soft ground and crowded buildings around the excavation, were solved satisfactorily in the construction of the new tower of Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Manison.

Jan 1, 1991

By Jochen Petersen, Thandazile Moyo

"The oxidative leaching of chalcopyrite in ammoniacal solutions has been evaluated using electro-analytical techniques. The anodic dissolution process has been established to be a seven-electron transfer process under nitrogen in ammonia–ammonium sulphate solutions and ammonia–ammonium carbonate solutions. The number of electrons transferred in the carbonate and sulphate salts suggests that the sulphur is oxidised to a thiosulphate intermediate and the copper and iron released as Cu+ and Fe2+. The Cu+ and Fe2+ is subsequently oxidised in solution in non-Faradaic reactions. The deportment of Fe2+ and S2O32- is affected by choice of the ammonium salt used in the leaching process. In the perchlorate salt, only five electrons are transferred, however observations made on the mineral surface after leaching do not support the formation of elemental sulphur. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy analysis of the mineral surface suggest presence of an iron–sulphur surface layer completely free of copper under the ammonia–ammonium sulphate conditions, an iron-rich surface layer under ammonia–ammonium perchlorate solutions and absence of surface layer build up under ammonia–ammonium carbonate solutions. INTRODUCTION Hydrometallurgical processes for copper extraction provide a viable route to recover the metal from mixed and low-grade ores, as well as overcome the environmental challenges faced by the traditional pyrometallurgical processes. Chalcopyrite is not only the most abundant of the copper sulphides, but also the most stable, making it recalcitrant to hydrometallurgical processes. Hence, hydrometallurgical processing of chalcopyrite continues to be an attractive area of research due to the vaguely understood surface chemistry of the mineral in different aqueous media. Different approaches to hydrometallurgical treatment of chalcopyrite can be carried out. These include thermal treatment prior to leaching, direct leaching and direct electrochemical leaching (Venkatachalam, 1991). Direct leaching of chalcopyrite can be carried out in various solution systems, as reviewed by Roman and Benner (1973) and Venkatachalam (1991). Ammoniacal solutions are attractive and effective lixiviants that form stable amine complexes with some base-metal cations while rejecting iron. Leaching of chalcopyrite in ammoniacal solutions in the presence of an oxidant is possible due to the stabilisation of copper(I) and copper (II) by ammonia at elevated pH levels. In oxygenated ammonia solutions, it has been suggested that chalcopyrite dissolves according to Equation 1 (Beckstead & Miller, 1977a):"

Jan 1, 2015

The Australian mining industry is at an interesting stage in its development. Of the large number of mining companies in Australia, some are still solely domestic in their focus, others have made their first tentative forays offshore, and others are global players of significance in tile world industry.   It is not long ago that the entire industry was almost exclusively domestic in its focus. Very few companies before the early 1980s had ventured offshore, and those that did so were considered quite risque. The initial moves were made mainly by large companies who could afford to lose the funds expended in getting started in a range of offshore locations.   Almost all offshore jurisdictions were considered to be high risk compared to the safety of home - I recall the extreme difficulty I encountered in the mid 1980s in endeavouring to persuade a Board to joint venture into an attractive gold opportunity in South East Asia.   One of the problems inhibiting the offshore development of the Australian mining industry was that some mining companies had had unfortunate experiences offshore. Others had heard of those who had had unfortunate experiences offshore and, as such, 'offshore' gained a bad name and the more risk averse boards and. management of the time simply put the whole idea into the 'too hard' basket.

Jan 1, 1995

By Morris Steinberg, John Wulff, Robert Kamm

IN powder metallurgy it has often been observed that shrinkage may occur in one direction and growth in another during sintering. Even in long-time sintering experiments the rate of shrinkage may be different in different parts of the compact. In the fabrication of some parts requiring a constant permeability it is even questionable in some cases whether pressing from one direction should be attempted. These observations require for their interpretation a more detailed study of green or pressed density than has heretofore been available. Usually average density measurements of the whole compact are made and in some cases carefully cut sections are measured. A different approach to the problem was first mentioned by Rakowski1 and also used by Balshin.2 Balshin's diagram is reproduced in Fig r and schematically shows the result of pressing three layers of metal powder with fine intervening layers of graphite. The retarding effect of the die walls and a qualitative example of the density distribution is evident. More quantitative information about the distribution of density within a cold-pressed powder compact would be useful in showing the variation in density in compacts as influenced by the type of powder, shape of die, lubrication during the process, and other variables. Furthermore, information about the cracking of cold-pressed compacts may be obtained from an analysis of the stress distribution within a powder compact, and some information about the stress distribution can be obtained in turn from the density and strain distributions. A more detailed report on some of the present experiments appears in reference 3. PRESENT INVESTIGATION In order to ascertain the density gradients in cold-pressed metal powders, a deformable lead grid within the powder was employed. After pressing in cylindrical dies the ejected compact was radiographed, giving a pattern of the deformed grid. From the radiograph density and deformation from point to point is readily measured. From the radiograph strain distribution and stress trajectories were also determined. The latter also permits the determination of the coefficient of friction at the die wall. This technique indicates that the densest part of a compact pressed from one side is at the top outer circumference and the least dense region at the bottom circumference near the stationary plunger. For some heights of compacts the density at the axis is such that the lower density is at the top rather than at the bottom. So irregular a density distribution is due primarily to die-wall friction. As the ratio of diameter to height of compact is increased the die walls play a correspond¬ingly smaller role. More uniform density

Jan 1, 1947

By R. K. Koch

The vapor pressures of liquid titanium and liquid platinum were studied under the Bureau of Mines program for the determination of thermochemical data on the transition elements. Beating was done in a 2-kw electron-beam furnace with a water-cooled copper crucible to contain the melt. Temperature was measured with a disappearing-filament brightness pyrometer. The vapor pressure data for liquid titanium in the range 2,008° to 2,379° K are represented by the least-squares derived equation [log p (atm) = 6.268 - 22, T] Two series of determinations were made on liquid platinum. Results of the first series are expressed by the least-squares derived equation [log p (atm) = 8.240 - 30,460T] for the range 2,0860 to 2,4200 K. Results of the second series are expressed by the least-squares derived equation [log p (atm) = 7.795 - 29,580 T] in the range 2,045° to 2,442° K. Third-law evaluations of each series gave mean standard heats of sublimation of 112.4 kcal/mole, 133.3 kcal/mole, and 133.8 kcal/mole for titanium first series on platinum, and second series on platinum, respectively. Second-law heats of sublimation and equations for heats, free energies, and entropies of vaporization were obtained from sigma plots of each data set.

Jan 1, 1969

Analysis for pillar extraction potential (A-PEP) is an intelligent tool, which could be used as a preliminary output indicator when considering the secondary extraction of regional support pillars in the Witbank and Highveld coalfields of South Africa. The safe and economic extraction of underground coal pillars is of paramount significance and importance to the South African coalmining industry to ensure continuity of supply of this fossil fuel. Pillar extraction practices in South Africa have been responsible a significant proportion of safety and fatality statistics in relation to its relative output (less than 5 per cent of total South African coal production) and, as a result, research was undertaken in local pillar extraction operations and extended to similar operations in New South Wales, Australia to assess a way forward for pillar extraction in South Africa. It was found that, although little in the way of new technologies has emerged in this field in the recent past, significant contributions could be made in the field of risk analysis to obtain a generic design methodology for pillar extraction in South Africa. The resultant A-PEP tool to assess pillar extraction potential is based on certain physical, risk and economic factors, which combine to indicate operational success in terms of economic, health and safety attributes. At the time of A-PEP?s development there was alack of operating underground coal pillar extraction operations, which made it difficult to validate its applicability. Since then, however, A-PEP has been successfully tested and validated against two unique underground coal pillar operations, which is the discussion of this paper. One operation is situated in the Witbank coalfield and is extracting pillars, which are 20 years old and at a depth of 80 metres below surface, while the other operation is situated in the Highveld coalfield-which is extracting 6 month-old-pillars underneath a massive dolerite sill at a depth of 220 metres. A-PEP has shown that its predictive nature is consistent the workings at both operations, irrespective of their unique conditions, and as such it can be successfully used as a mine planning tool. The A-PEP mine planning tool thus represents a positive step toward an integrated approach to underground coal pillar extraction when considering legal and operational aspects, which could form the basis for legislative guidelines when considering the future of pillar extraction in South Africa.

Jan 1, 2005

By Fookes R. A, Bunch K, Gravitis V. L, Watt J. S

The combustible volatile matter in coal mine roadway dusts (CVM) has been determined using x-ray backscatter techniques. The correlation between x-ray and chemical techniques is reasonably good for the 92 samples from collieries on the Bulli seam, and the maximum error expected at the maximum level of 11· 5 weight per cent CVM permitted in the N.S.W. Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1912, as amended, is about ± 2·5 weight per cent. This x-ray technique can be used only when the combustible volatile content of the coal matter (cvm) varies within a limited range, and a separate calibration is required for each coal seam.Portable equipment based on a radioisotope x-ray source ahd digital ratemeter makes possible simple and rapid analysis, and with adaptation to use in coal mines should lead to much more comprehensive testing- ofroadways and hence improved overall prevention of coal dust explosions.

Jan 1, 1977