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THE man who forgot to mail the letters his wife gave him was for once justified at Tulsa, for envelopes, scratch paper and tablecloths were all in demand and through the two days of the meeting of the Petroleum Division, pencils were busy everywhere sketching out diagrams, drawing curves, figuring, or just taking notes. Those attending took the serious papers seriously, and discussion was wide-ranging but pointed. Despite the highly technical character of the papers presented, the chairmen had never to call for discussion; it was only necessary to say the paper was open for it. Both days the meetings lasted until after five in the afternoon, and it was enthusiastically voted to advance the meeting hour on Friday, in order to give more time. In all, ten papers, abstracts of which appeared in MINING AND METALLURGY for October, and copies of all but two of which were available in print, were presented in the two days, and no more could have been handled to advantage in that time. All but one of these dealt with problems of production engineering. That, the opening paper, was a general review of demand, supply and price in 1928, by Campbell Osborn, in which he argued for the price control of production and showed how the economic conditions determined development. J. Elmer Thomas presented a carefully prepared review of the same data, but came to somewhat different conclusions as to trend, and J. E. Pogue pointed out that in recent years it has been the manufacturing rather than the producing industries that have been notably profitable. These and other discussions were too long to be reported here, but will be printed in full later.

Jan 1, 1928

By D. S. Gleason, D. E. Severson, D. R. Skidmore

Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co. has modified the German Pott-Broche process, on which patents date back to 1927, to produce on a bench scale liquid products by solution hydrogenation of coal. A continuing program of lignite solution-hydro gena-tion experiments is directed toward investigating coal solution reactions, determining favorable conditions for the solution refining of lignite by the Pott-Broche process, and investigating some of the uses for the de-ashed product obtained from lignite The German Pott-Broche process1" on which patents date back to 1927, has been modified by the Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co., a Gulf Oil subsidiary, to produce on a bench scale liquid products by solution -hydrogena-tion of coal." The objectives of the present effort are to investigate coal solution reactions, to determine favorable conditions for the solution refining of lignite by the Pott-Broche process, and to investigate some of the uses for the de-ashed product obtained from lignite. This paper is a summary of results to date in a continuing program of lignite solution-hydrogenation experiments. The coal solution reaction program has several principal aims. The first of these is to determine whether lignite can be successfully dissolved in solvents that might be practical for commercial development. The second object is to determine whether the solvents function after successive cycles of use, recovery, and reuse. It seems necessary to the economics of a potential commercial process that the solvent be recycled. Third, it is desired to learn something about the distribution of the ash constituents between cake and filtrate. The extent of ash removal is important. The nature and quantity of mineral matter passing through the filter may determine end-use marketability. For certain use applications, trace quantities of certain minerals can be objectionable, e.g., titanium and vanadium must be very low in electrode carbon for aluminum production. The Solution Reaction The coal solution Process involves an extremely complex system of chemical reactions. An initial solvent such as anthracene oil is a mixture of hundreds of different compounds with a boiling range of roughly 500" to 750°F at atmospheric pressure. The coal macro-molecule is broken down by thermal decomposition and solvent action into myriads of different compounds, some the same as those comprising the solvent. This similarity in structures opens up the possibility of production and subsequent recovery of solvent. Some solvent is inevitably lost by reaction. Regeneration of solvent was not a problem in the early German Pott-Broche plant. The coal refinery was an integral part of a petroleum refinery complex and replacement solvent was readily available. A coal refinery using lignite, however, might be isolated from other hydrocarbon processing facilities and the regenerability of solvent could be vital to the economic success of the venture. Several structural features of the solvent molecules have been cited as important to the coal solution process.'. The first of these is aromaticity of the material, the second, ability to transfer hydrogen to another molecule, as for example the ability of tetralin to transfer hydrogen and be converted to naphthalene. Finally, the presence of hydroxyl groups on aromatic rings within the molecule, i.e., phenolic character, seems beneficial. Mixtures of pure compounds have been tried by various investigators. Mixtures of o-cresol, a phenolic substance, and tetralin were found to dissolve bituminous coal better than either substance alone.3 This maximum solubility was not found with lignite." Hydrogen contributes to the reaction by hydro-genolysis and by combining with free radicals and molecular "loose ends" to stabilize the compounds formed in coal depolymerization. High boiling point, and correspondingly high molecular weight, seems to be a property which improves solution potential for coal with a given type of compound.' The maceral components of the coal appear to have an important bearing on its ease of solution. The fusain portion is quite inert to solvent action, but the an-thraxylon material dissolves quite readily.3 The hydrogenation reaction can be improved by the use of a catalyst; commercial hydrogenation catalysts having been found effective. Although cost is involved in the use of catalyst and catalyst recovery, the resulting saving in time and perhaps lowered temperature or pressure might justify their use in the solution refining process and decrease the total process costs. Apparatus and Procedure The coal solution runs were made in a 1-gal stainless steel stirred autoclave. The autoclave was provided with thermocouple wells and a transducer to permit continuous recording of temperature and pressure. The autoclave stirrer was magnetically driven, eliminating the leakage inherent with a rotating pressure seal. For runs in which a catalyst was used, the catalyst in the form of beads was placed in a wire mesh container mounted on the stirrer shaft. A control system programmed the heatup and reaction cycle. The permissible heating rate was 5°F per min because of the need to minimize thermal stress in the autoclave body. The temperature was raised at that rate until the reaction temperature was attained and then the temperature was held constant for the desired length of time. The maximum temperature seldom exceeded the average run temperature by more than 15°F.

Jan 1, 1971

By Richard M. Foose

Most of the roofing granules produced in Pennsylvania are made by two companies at three plants. The Advance Industrial Supply Co. has three quarries and a mill at Gladhill Station, in southern Adams County. The Funkhouser Company is actively engaged in mining, quarrying and milling at Charmian, about one mile west of Gladhill Station, and at Delta, in southern York County. These three plants produced approximately 100,000 short tons of granules in 1943. The production of rooling granules in 1937 for the whole country was only about 500,000 tons, generally indicating the large growth of the industry since that time. The fundamentals of producing roofing granules were discussed comprehensively by G. W. Josephson in a paper before the Industrial Minerals Division in October 1943 (TP 1725, this volume page 460). The purpose of this paper is to describe the actual methods of mining the rock and milling it to make roofing granules, as practiced by the three Pennsylvania plants. Mining and Milling Funkhouser Company (Delta) The Funkhouser Company, near Delta, in southern York County, Pennsylvania, operates three joined quarries and a mine in the Peach Bottom slate. The joined quarries extend 1200 ft. in a northeast-southwest direction along the strike of the slate cleavage and are about 200 ft. .wide. The working face is about 45 ft. high. The quarrying operation is rather simple: Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers, I-in. and 1 1/4-in., with hollow drill steel, are used to undercut the quarry face with 10-ft. holes. The face is "blown" and allowed to slump on the quarry floor. Loaded by a Marion electric shovel into trucks, the shattered rock is taken to the primary crusher 2500 ft. away. In addition to the normal quarrying operations, a drift into the northeast wall of the middle quarry was begun about 1935, and has advanced about 2000 ft. since then. Rooms have been driven at angles to the drift along choice beds of slate. The drifts and rooms have a roof more than 35 ft. high and the main drift and rooms are all more than 40 ft. wide. There is no cribbing at any place in the mine. Several of the rooms were driven upward on a 5' slope and in some of them there was stop-ing. Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers are used, and only wet drilling is practiced. When visited in January 1940, an electric shovel was operating at the head of the drift, scooping up the slate blasted out of the working face. This, too, is trucked to the primary crusher. Some of the better quality slate is saved for making slate shingles. The primary crusher, which is a No. 30 McCulley gyratory, receives the slate from the trucks and crushes it to about a-in. size (Fig. I). This product travels by a 30-in. belt conveyor to Niagara vibrating screens with 2-in. holes. The minus a-in. product moves to a storage silo by bucket

Jan 1, 1948

By Richard M. Foose

Most of the roofing granules produced in Pennsylvania are made by two companies at three plants. The Advance Industrial Supply Co. has three quarries and a mill at Gladhill Station, in southern Adams County. The Funkhouser Company is actively engaged in mining, quarrying and milling at Charmian, about one mile west of Gladhill Station, and at Delta, in southern York County. These three plants produced approximately 100,000 short tons of granules in 1943. The production of rooling granules in 1937 for the whole country was only about 500,000 tons, generally indicating the large growth of the industry since that time. The fundamentals of producing roofing granules were discussed comprehensively by G. W. Josephson in a paper before the Industrial Minerals Division in October 1943 (TP 1725, this volume page 460). The purpose of this paper is to describe the actual methods of mining the rock and milling it to make roofing granules, as practiced by the three Pennsylvania plants. Mining and Milling Funkhouser Company (Delta) The Funkhouser Company, near Delta, in southern York County, Pennsylvania, operates three joined quarries and a mine in the Peach Bottom slate. The joined quarries extend 1200 ft. in a northeast-southwest direction along the strike of the slate cleavage and are about 200 ft. .wide. The working face is about 45 ft. high. The quarrying operation is rather simple: Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers, I-in. and 1 1/4-in., with hollow drill steel, are used to undercut the quarry face with 10-ft. holes. The face is "blown" and allowed to slump on the quarry floor. Loaded by a Marion electric shovel into trucks, the shattered rock is taken to the primary crusher 2500 ft. away. In addition to the normal quarrying operations, a drift into the northeast wall of the middle quarry was begun about 1935, and has advanced about 2000 ft. since then. Rooms have been driven at angles to the drift along choice beds of slate. The drifts and rooms have a roof more than 35 ft. high and the main drift and rooms are all more than 40 ft. wide. There is no cribbing at any place in the mine. Several of the rooms were driven upward on a 5' slope and in some of them there was stop-ing. Ingersoll-Rand Jackhamers are used, and only wet drilling is practiced. When visited in January 1940, an electric shovel was operating at the head of the drift, scooping up the slate blasted out of the working face. This, too, is trucked to the primary crusher. Some of the better quality slate is saved for making slate shingles. The primary crusher, which is a No. 30 McCulley gyratory, receives the slate from the trucks and crushes it to about a-in. size (Fig. I). This product travels by a 30-in. belt conveyor to Niagara vibrating screens with 2-in. holes. The minus a-in. product moves to a storage silo by bucket

Jan 1, 1948

By Henry Louis

The object of the present paper is to describe a primitive method of gold-extraction, practiced by a small colony of Chinese in the district of Tomoh, one of the Siamese-Malayan States. This district has been worked for gold about 150 years, but has been only twice or thrice visited by Europeans, who are looked upon with a good deal of jealousy by the miners. The gold-district, covering not more than 10 square miles, is situated about Lat. 5' 47l N. and Long. -101' 39 E., on the headwaters of the river Teluban. It is a very mountainous region, lying on the northern flanks of the great range that forms the watershed between the rivers Patani, Kelantan, Teluban, etc., on the north and Perak on the south. The gold occurs in narrow veins and leaders of quartz, intersect- ' ing and intercalated among irregularly upheaved and contorted, highly metamorphosed, micaceous and chloritic schists. These veins vary between 3 inches and 3 feet in thickness, and are sometimes very rich. The geology of this region is thus very similar to that characterizing gold-regions all over the world; if must, however, be.

Jan 1, 1892

By Zay Jeffries

A SURVEY of rare metals and minerals for the past year places uranium as one of two partners, the other being the neutron, in what historians will probably say is the greatest discovery in physics at least during the year and probably for a consider- ably longer period. The uranium atom has been made to divide into parts somewhat after the style of reproduction of the amoeba. When an amoeba divides into two parts, however, it produces two amoebae substantially alike and each substantially like the parent: furthermore, there is no considerable change of energy when this happens. When the uranium atom divides it yields other atoms such as barium and krypton with the complete destruction of the original uranium atom but with the liberation of a tremendous amount of energy. This will be discussed more at length later.

Jan 1, 1940

One of the results of the work of the Committee on Precious and Base Metals is that the present Bulletin is as large as some of. the annual volumes of Transactions of the Institute, and we extend our. compliments and thanks to the Committee and express to the members thereof and to. the authors, who have so bounteously given of their time and information, the. sincere gratitude of the Institute. In order to get all these papers printed and distributed to the membership in advance of the meeting, it was necessary to divide the work between two printers. This accounts for the discrepancy in the pagination of the Bulletin; and we also ask the indulgence of our readers in case errors have crept into this preliminary edition during the period of unusual pressure. Program of the Butte Meeting.-The program of the Butte meeting will include six technical sessions for the presentation and discussion of papers and five half-clay visits to mines and metallurgical works. The following program is practically in final form, with slight additions which may be necessary later. Every effort will be made to have papers presented and discussed on scheduled time, so that members who are unable to attend the entire meeting may so plan their trip as to hear and discuss papers in which they are especially interested.

Jan 8, 1913

By John A. Church

In the year 1874, when the price of pig-iron was still high, that staple product became the subject of discussion in the newspapers and among those philosophers who are determined to know the "reason why" for all things. The object of the inquiry was to find out Why iron did not fall in price as much as some other things had fallen. Indeed, there seemed to be an impression that iron and gold ought to move on nearly parallel lines, for the fact was constantly brought forward that iron then cost twice as much as it did before the war, though gold had returned to within twelve or fifteen per cent. of its former value. After some time the papers, by what seemed to be nearly unanimous consent, reached the conclusion that the maintenance of high prices was the work of the furnace proprietors, who, as the result of their shrewdness, were pocketing enormous profits. No proof was given to support this opinion, and the figures of cost and sale that were produced were of the most general kind, and used in the most vague manner. Visiting the president of the Thomas Iron Company, whose great works at Hokendaqua and Catasauqua, in Pennsylvania, are so well known as the largest and among the best conducted in America, I found him quite willing to meet the vague suspicions of the newspaper wiseacres, by a publication of the figures contained in the furnace-books of his company. These were accordingly given to the world through the Engineering and Mining Journal, and attracted the general attention they so well deserve. Though my own name became connected with these statistics, from the fact that I used them as the basis for the first attempt ever made to calcalate the furnace economy of an American works, I can, without the suspicion of egotism, say that the statistics referred to are the most valuable contribution the literature of American blast-furnace work has yet received, for their interest is independent of personal considerations, and due entirely to the fact that they represent faithfully the details of practice in one of the most prominent American works. They are an exact transcript of the furnace-books, and form a body of accurate information of the greatest value to the metullurgical student. Their importance is shown by the fact that though the theoretical conclusions which I based upon them have been several times attacked, not one of my critics has made the slightest contribution to

By John A. Church

IN the year 1874, when the price of pig-iron was still high, that staple product became the subject of discussion in the newspapers and among those philosophers who are determined to know the "reason why" for all things. The object of the inquiry was to find out why iron did not fall in price as much as some other things had fallen. Indeed, there seemed to be an impression that iron and gold ought to move on nearly parallel lines, for the fact was constantly brought forward that iron then cost twice as much as it did before the war, though gold had returned to within twelve or fifteen per cent. of its former value. After some time the papers, by what seemed to be nearly unanimous consent, reached the conclusion that the maintenance of high prices was the work of the furnace proprietors, who, as the result of their shrewdness, were pocketing enormous profits. No proof was given to support this opinion, and the figures of cost and sale that were produced were of the most general kind, and used in the most vague manner. Visiting the president of the Thomas Iron Company, whose great works at Hokendaqua and Catasauqua, in Pennsylvania, are so well known as the largest and among the best conducted in America, I found him quite willing to meet the vague suspicions of the newspaper wiseacres, by a publication of the figures contained in the furnace-books of his company. These were accordingly given to the world through the Engineering and Mining Journal, and attracted the general attention they so well deserve. Though my own name became connected with these statistics, from the fact that I used them as the basis for the first attempt ever made to calculate the furnace economy of an American works, I can, without the suspicion of egotism, say that the statistics referred to are the most valuable contribution the literature of American blast-furnace work has yet received, for their interest is independent of personal considerations, and due entirely to the fact that they represent faithfully the details of practice in one of the most prominent American works. They are an exact transcript of the furnace-books, and form a body of accurate information of the greatest value to the metallurgical student. Their importance is shown by the fact that though the theoretical conclusions which I based upon them have been several times attacked, not one of my critics has made the slightest contribution to

Jan 1, 1876

ALABAMA Anniston.-Bretz, J. A. Carrington, F. G. Gerber, A. B. Klugh, B. G. Semple, R. A. Ashland.-Barton, .J. Bessemer.-Abbott, C. E'. Ball, T. L. Beaver, J. J. Ferguson, V. Salmon, H. S. Sehaber, C. F. Whatley, W. J.

Jan 1, 1923

By Arthur Lake

Within the past few months I have had occasion to visit and examine the area of country in Gunnison county locally called the Gold Belt and extending from the Cebolla river on the west to the head of Taylor Park and the Sawatch range on the east. The region including the "belt" may be hided topographically into two parts, a northern and a southern one. The former is characterized by lofty mountains and deep canons, with occasional parks and wide valleys. Most of it is included in the granitic system of the Sawatch range, with local patches of the Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks, more or less traversed by great bodies of porphyry and other eruptive rocks. The southern portion, on the other hand, is characterized by comparatively low, rounded hills of schist and sahistose gneisses, underlain by coarse, massive granite, which outcrops locally in small, and sometimes in large, patches. These hills also sometimes form table-lands by reason of overflows of lavas, such as andesitic breccia, rhyolite, trachyte and basalt. The leading geological feature is that of a schistose area of width and extent unusual for Colorado. These schists and gneisses are of pre-Cambrian age; but whether assignable to the Algonkian or to some older system has not been determined. The granite which occasionally outcrops from beneath these schists is, I think, of true eruptive character, since its mode of occurrence indicates a once molten, or at least highly viscous or plastic, condition. Thus, we may observe, included in its mass, numerous fragments of schist, almost like a coarse, volcanic breccia. Again, at its immediate contact with the schists, which often stand vertically upon it, the pediments of the latter are fused into the granite, and granite tongues and veins run up amongst the schists, as only a molten or viscous

Jan 1, 1897

By Robert D. Pehlke, Robert G. Blossey

The solubility of nitrogen in liquid iron alloys containing chromium and nickel has been measured in the temperature range 1550° to 1700°C at nitrogen pressures to 1 ah. The solubility surface has been determined for the iron corner of the liquid metallic ternary to 21 pct Cr and 11 pct Ni. The nitrogen solubility increases markedly with increasing chromium concentration. The effect of nickel and the bilinear effect of chromium and nickel are less pronounced. The solubility data are presented, and interaction coefficients are determined from them. THE solubility of nitrogen has been determined in liquid Fe-Cr-Ni binary and ternary alloys. The work in this laboratory has been directed toward a relatively limited composition range, that is to 20 pct Cr and 10 pct Ni. Humbert and Elliott1 studied the entire ternary; but their investigation was, understandably, limited in this region. The region considered here is of the greatest commercial interest. Knowledge of the solubility in these alloys is important for accurate control of the nitrogen levels in various stainless alloys. Also, the solution behavior is of theoretical interest because of its deviations from ideal dilute solution rules at moderate chromium levels. The nitrogen solubility in the iron binaries has been reviewed extensively by Pehlke and Elliott,2 particularly with respect to the dilute solution interaction parameters. More recently, there has been some interest in accurate descriptions of solute interactions in non-dilute solutions. Most of the investigators have adopted a power series fit to accommodate any non-linearity of the data. The Taylor series expansion is adopted here, using Scimar's notation3 for the interaction coefficients. An alternate method, instead of requiring higher-order expansions, is to restrict the range of the composition variables. A planar solubility surface may be fitted to the data and its range of validity determined. If the axes of this region are displaced from the usual origin—the solvent pure iron—a change in standard state is required for the solution reaction. The standard state for nitrogen in iron is commonly taken as the hypothetical 1 wt pct solution of nitrogen in pure iron. However, for an alloy of appreciable solute concentration, e.g., 13 pct Cr or 18 pct Cr-8 pct Ni, it would be convenient to use that base composition as the solvent and redefine the solution reaction in terms of that particular solvent. A brief derivation follows, defining the free energy of solution in an alloy solvent. Following the treatment by Darken and Gurry,4 for a nitrogen pressure of 1 atm: N (pure component) = N (1 wt pct in solvent) [l] AG=RT ln100/ wt pct N in solvent Taking this reaction for an alloy solvent less the same reaction for a pure iron solvent the relation between nitrogen in pure iron and an alloy is: N (1 wt pct in Fe) = N (1 wt pct in alloy) [2] AG = RT[ln(wt pct N in Fe) - ln(wt pct N in alloy)] Adding ½ N2(g) to each side and subtracting N (1 wt pct in Fe) = ½N2(g), the total free energy for solution of nitrogen in an alloy, referred to nitrogen at infinite dilution, is given by: ½N2 (g) = N (wt pct in alloy) L3] AG°3 = -RT ln(wt pct N in alloy )PN =1 atm Interaction parameters have their usual meaning when ?G°/RT is differentiated with respect to the proper composition coordinate. If desired, the dilute alloy treatment may be utilized with the new reference composition as the solvent. This has. indeed, been done by Small and pehlke5 in their analysis of nitrogen solution in liquid 18-8 alloys. The Sieverts' technique was used for this investigation on an apparatus previously described.6 The materials used in this program were: Ferrovac-E iron, 99.95 pct, Crucible Steel Co.: chromium, 99.95 pct, Union Carbide Metals Co.; nickel, 99.9 pct, International Nickel Co. Recrystallized alumina crucibles were used with no evidence of crucible-melt reaction. RESULTS The locations of the ternary compositions investigated are shown in Fig. 1. The data of Turnock7 and small8 have been alluded to in other papers.5'6 There were no departures from Sieverts' law observed for

Jan 1, 1969

By Edward H. Robie

OF the current Adirondack iron mine development, the Benson Mines operation of the Tones and Laughlin Ore Co. (Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. wholly owned subsidiary) is the last to go into operation. Following an active construction program in 1943, the mine. concentrator and sintering plant were scheduled to enter production in the fall. This description therefore cannot include any operating data, and details of equipment and flowsheet have not as yet been released.

Jan 1, 1943

Although the mining industry faced ever-increasing risks and uncertainties in 1974, it nevertheless pushed ahead with considerable rapidity in exploring and developing new orebodies-while expanding and improving the technologies of mining and exploration. Prepared by the SME Mining and Exploration Division, this section of the annual review covers the pertinent worldwide developments in the fields of geochemistry, geology, geological engineering, open pit mining, underground mining, rock mechanics, operations research, and solution mining.

Jan 2, 1975

By Charles E. Weaver

During the past few years there has been considerable activity in prospecting for oil and gas in several parts of western washington. From time to time seepages of oil or emanations of gas have been reported from various places. Several companies have been organized for the purpose of drilling, but only a part of these have actually begun operations. In certain localities very small seepages of oil occur, but up to the present time no oil or gas in commercial quantities has been obtained. In order to determine the conditions which may be favorable or unfavorable to the occurrence of petroleum it becomes necessary to know the character and extent of the geological formations in which such deposits might occur. In other regions where producing wells have been developed it is possible to know what formations contain the oil and what structural conditions influence its concentration in reservoirs or zones. It is usually possible to determine those strata which contained the materials from which the petroleum may have been derived and also the position and distribution of the more porous sandstone belts into which it may have collected. Detailed stratigraphic surveys may even determine the depth at which a certain known oil-bearing zone may be tapped at any particular place. It is also possible to recognize those formations which are presumably barren of oil, as well as those which are absolutely so. In new regions far distant from any of those which are now producing or have produced in the past, it becomes absolutely impossible to foretell whether oil may exist in commercial quantities or not. Assuming that such deposits do exist, it is extremely difficult to predict at what depth the produciqg zone or zones occur. However, in prospecting in a new and unexplored region, use should be made of such laws as have been found to govern the occurrence of petroleum deposits in other well-developed fields. Such deposits in their world-wide distribution are found almost exclusively associated with sedimentary rocks. Areas composed predominatingly of igneous and metamorphosed rocks are to be rcgarded as extremely unfavorable localities for the occurrence of commercial deposits of oil or gas. Assuming that such oil deposits are

Jan 1, 1916

By B. M. Larsen, T. E. Brower

A perspective is presented of the steel plant sulphur distribution and elimination problem from coal to liquid steel ready for teeming, giving distributions of sulphur over a range of coke sulphur content, and some methods of sulphur control, in the blast furnace, external desulphuriza-tion between blast furnace and open hearth, distribution between fuel, slag, and metal, and methods and limitations of control of sulphur in the open hearth furnace. AS a part of the 1951 AIME symposium on sulphur in steelmaking, it was thought that a discussion of the distribution of sulphur throughout the whole series of operations, from coal and ore to finished steel ingots, might have some value in giving a perspective on the whole problem. The following discussion is an attempt to present such an overall picture. The order is that of the actual plant operations, beginning with a very brief consideration of the coking process. Sulphur in Coal and Coke Since by far the largest source of sulphur entering the steelmaking cycle is in the coal used to make coke for the blast furnace, it would seem reasonable to eliminate some of it, either from the coal, or the coke, or during the coking process. This has appeared impracticable up to the present, at least, for two main reasons: the low activity of the organic sulphur in either coal or coke, and because of price limitations involved in treating a low cost material such as coke. A variable portion, usually M or less, of the sulphur is present in coal in the form of pyrites or similar compounds, and a large part of this sulphur may be removed in the coal washery. Most of the sulphur, however, is normally present as "organic" sulphur, intimately associated with the coal structure. Its distribution prevents any separation by mechanical means. Its low activity makes improbable ' any rapid chemical removal, although hydrogen will remove sulphur from both coal and coke. Thus, prolonged recirculation of coke oven gas in the coking process would tend to leave a smaller percentage of the total sulphur in the coke residue. Table I shows a typical distribution of sulphur from coal into products in the coking process. As the sulphur in the coal increases, the sulphur in the coke tends to increase in about the same proportion. Sulphur in the Blast Furnace The best picture of the situation in the blast furnace is provided by a sulphur balance of raw materials entering, and of products leaving, the furnace. The difficulties in accurate weighing and sampling of the variable solid materials entering this process, and the number of hours required for the raw materials to descend through the furnace under variable operating conditions, make it difficult to obtain an accurate balance. However, balances made over periods of weeks or months tend to average out some of these uncertainties. Table I1 presents three typical sulphur balances similar to a number that the writers have calculated. In most of these the slag volume calculated from the sulphur balance is, in some instances more, and in other instances less, than the value corresponding to the best input and output balances of the other slag constituents (lime, silica, alumina, etc.). Probably the greatest source of error in these calculations is the sulphur content of the slag. Despite some possible inaccuracies the balances of Table II show rather definitely the following points: 1—That 87 to 95 pct of the total sulphur input is in the coke and 95 to 97 pct of the total sulphur output is in the slag. Also, that if any sulphur leaves the furnace with the gas it is relatively small, amounting to a possible 1 pct or less. 2—At the lower sulphur coke level of 0.86 pct the total amount of sulphur charged is 15 Ib of sulphur per ton iron increasing to 26 lb per ton at the higher sulphur, intimately associated with the coal struc-rare burdens containing sulphur-rich ores will the total sulphur burden fail to be nearly proportional to the content in the coke used. 3—The 7 to 9 pct of the total sulphur input from the limestone of furnaces B and C is due to the relatively high sulphur content of the stone, 0.226 and 0.265 pct, respectively. In the case of furnace A, the sulphur content of the limestone was only 0.06 pct which resulted in only 3 pct of the total sulphur input coming from this source. It is rather interesting to compare the sulphur balances of a typical ferromanganese furnace with

Jan 1, 1952

By J. F. Smith, J. R. Ogren, N. J. Magnani

The uapor pressrcres of magnesium over binary alloys of magnesium with twelve of the yare-earth eletnetzts have been measured by the Knudsen effuion method in the temperature range 675° to 910°K. These vapor-pressure measurments were combined with data concerning the tevtrlitzul magnesium solubility and the vapor pressure of pure magnesinm to evaluale the standuvd free energies of pluase jormation. These free-etzergy values indicate that the CsCl structures of the heacy rave earths tend to be somewhat less stable than those of the light rare earths. This dif-]eying- behaviov covrelates with differences which have been obsevz~ed in other alloy systetns wherein a phuse appeurs, disappeavs, or changes crystal stvucture as the atomic number of the rare-earth com-ponent is changed. This behauior also appears to correlate with the struclurul rariations within the rare-earth elements themselves, and it is speculated that cariations in the spatial extent of the 4f orbitals are responsihle. STUDIES of the phase relationships and crystal structures in the binary systems between rare-earth metals (lanthanons) and magnesium are extensive but far from complete. However, the currently available information1-10 does produce a rather interesting pattern. This is illustrated in Table I. If one excludes europium and ytterbium from consideration because of their generally atypical behavior, it can be seen from the table that the phase relationships in the magnesium-rich regions show a distinctly different pattern for the lighter lanthanons as compared to the heavier lanthanons. For the lighter lanthanons, LnMg2 phases occur from lanthanum to gadolinium with the cubic MgCu2 structure, LnMg3 phases occur from lanthanum to terbium with the BiLi3 structure, and magnesium-rich phases occur from lanthanum to gadolinium with stoi-chiometries between Ln5Mg42 and LnMg12. In contrast, for the heavier lanthanons, those LnMg2 structures which have been examined have the hexagonal MgZn2 structure, LnMg3 phases have not been observed beyond terbium, and the magnesium-rich phases occur with the a manganese structure near a stoichiometry of Ln5MgZ4. The heavy lanthanon-magnesium systems thus appear to be analogous to the Y-Mg system""2 wherein YMg has the CsCl structure, YMg2 has the MgZn2 structure, and the region Y4Mgz5-Y5Mg24 has the a manganese structure, and no other intermediate phases are observed. Similarity in alloying behavior between yttrium and the heavy lanthanons occurs commonly, and on this basis it seems likely that LnMg2 phases will be found with the MgZn2 structure in the binary systems of dysprosium, thulium, and lutetium with magnesium when the appropriate investigations are made. In the case of the magnesium-rich phases of the lighter lanthanons, only the Ce-Mg phase relationships have been investigated thoroughly and in detail, and until similar investigations are made for the other systems there will remain questions as to which magnesium-rich stoichiometries represent equilibrium phases and what systematic variations occur in the sequence from lanthanum to gadolinium. Thus the data in Table I show that only the LnMg phases occur with the same crystallographic structure throughout the sequence from lanthanum to lutetium. It was speculated that the relative stability of these LnMg phases might vary from one lanthanon to the next in such a way as to presage the differences which occur among the more magnesium-rich lanthanon-magnesium phases. On this basis the present investigation of the thermodynamics of phase formation was Gndertaken for the LnMg phases. PROCEDURE AND RESULTS A generalized phase diagram for the lanthanon-rich portion of a lanthanon-magnesium alloy system is shown in Fig. 1 where ß represents a high-temperature bcc

Jan 1, 1968

By AIME AIME

THE first meeting" of the Iron and Steel Division was held Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 17, with nearly 100 men present and C. B. Murray as chairman. This was a round table discussion of iron ore beneficiation and of its relation to blast-furnace operations, and only one paper was presented, by Clyde E. Williams. Mr. Williams discussed the future of the Lake Superior district in its relation to the iron and steel industry. He stated that although estimates had shown that the total life of the present known iron ore reserves of the Lake Superior district was 20 to 30 years and that many believed that as a result of this depletion foreign ores would be brought to the Atlantic Seaboard, thus causing a displacement of the steel industry to the East, he believed that the Lake Superior district would continue to be the important producer of iron ore used in this country for decades beyond the predicted time before the exhaustion of the present known reserves. He described the three general types of ores that required concentration and pointed out the needs for research and the proper methods to be used in processes for the beneficiation of these low-grade materials. He discussed the effects of fine concentrates and the use of agglomerated ores in the blast furnace. This general summary led to interesting and valuable discussion on the various economic, ore-dressing, and blast-furnace problems in large-scale development of beneficiation. Perry Harrison described recent developments in sintering and the properties of iron ore sinter. T. B. Counselman and W. H. Coghill discussed the merits of classification of iron ore previous to tabling. Robert Faulkner and J. E. Little described the beneficiation plant of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

Jan 1, 1931

By Roman Y. Poderny, Vladimir V. Rjevskii

In the USSR, the Moscow Institute of Radio Electronics tronics and Mining Electro-Mechanics (MIRGEM) has started what it hopes will become a nationwide movement to educate mining students in the precise specialties that industry has come to require. Courses for mining engineers, the MIRGEM faculty proposes, should dovetail as exactly as possible with specific jobs available in the mining profession. Acting upon this thesis, MIRGEM revised its own curriculum in 1962 and has since presented an over-all plan for Soviet mining education before two mining school conferences as well as the Ministry of Higher Education and a number of major Soviet industrial ministries. The plan was universally approved with some suggested revisions. SOVIET MINING EDUCATION TODAY At present, mining education in the Soviet Union covers the exploitation of solid minerals and raw materials, including coal as well as ferrous and nonferrous metals. The extraction, storage, and refining of oil and gas is treated as a separate discipline. In all, there are 33 Soviet universities and institutes that train mining engineers for careers in the industrial, research and educational fields.

Jan 9, 1966

By Richard P. Rothwell

IN the pear 1881, I visited San Domingo, in the interest of French capitalists, to examine and report upon certain "concessions" of gold-bearing gravel and quartz veins, on the Isabella and Jaina rivers and their tributaries. This district is periodically reported to he extraordinarily rich, and there is oast around it the glamour of the mysterious shipments of gold, credited, in romance and in more or less romantic history, to Columbus and the Spaniards of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Since considerable sums of money and several valuable lives have been lost in the unsuccessful search for its profitable mines, it seems desirable to place on record Borne of the information collected concerning the value of these famous gold fields, with the hope of facilitating the work of those who may hereafter be called on to investigate these claims, and of preventing the unnecessary waste of capital. It is needless to add that the capitalists for whom my investigations were made abandoned the enterprise they had in view,although no doubt similar schemes will be brought forward many times in the future, as they have been in the past, under the fervent advocacy of too sanguine enthusiasts. Since the time of the Spanish occupation of the Island of San Domingo, in 1497, when Columbus Found the natives wearing ornaments of gold, more or less of the precious metal has been obtained annually by washing the gold-bearing sands of several of its streams. It is said that during the Spanish domination, when the native Indians were held in the most abject servitude, a certain amount of gold was required of each one as the rault of his labor. Uuder this

Jan 1, 1882