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By Raymond Ladoo

THE milling of talc, as is the case of many non-metallic minerals, until recently, has not received adequate technical consideration, for the talc industry has become of importance only within the last decade. At first, talc was used only in the massive form, for foot warmers, griddles, and so on, and milling methods were unnecessary. As the demand for ground talc increased, producers adopted the machinery used in the milling of flour; in fact, many talc mills were rebuilt flour mills. Improvement has been slow, but today several types of grinding and separating machinery are in use; many of them, however, are still inadequate and inefficient. To determine the best methods of milling talc, it is necessary to understand the essential properties a talc must possess to fit it for a particular use. For toilet purposes, whiteness, freedom from lime and grit, fineness of grain, and good "slip" are essential. As a paper filler or coating, the talc must be white, have a good slip, be free from grit and iron, uniform, and fine grained; freedom from lime is a disputed point. Fibrous talc is supposed to be superior to massive on account of the interlocking of grains in the paper, thus increasing its strength; this point, though, is in doubt. In general, talc for the paper industry need not be of as high quality or as fine grained as that used for toilet purposes. Talc is usually bought by sample, for which reason it is difficult to state the essential properties for use in paint, rubber, roofing, and so on. The adoption of standard screen tests and standard grades by producers is necessary before an accurate basis for manufacturing or selling standards can be established. Off-color tales might be utilized, as in Germany and-Austria, by the establishment of standard grades of colored tales.

Jan 1, 1921

By T. L. Joseph

THE United States Bureau of Mines has been studying the blast-furnace process for, about ten years. An experimental furnace was developed by the bureau in cooperation with the Minnesota School of Mines Experiment Station, University of Minnesota. Many data have been obtained and published.1 Royster, Joseph and Kinney§(48) found that the particle size of ore had an important effect upon the blast-furnace, process. Kinney(28) stated: Economy in blast-furnace practice depends largely upon efficient gas-solid contact in the shaft of the furnace. If efficient work is not done in the shaft, the hearth and bosh will not function properly. A condition may be readily imagined where the particles of ore in the shaft are so large that the time entailed in the descent of these materials into the bosh is not sufficient to permit proper reduction and preparation prior to the time the ore enters the bosh of the furnace. Another condition may be pictured where the density of the stock column and the flow of stock is such that the ore will take one course and the gas another. Both of these examples will result in insufficient contact between the gas and the ore. Unreduced ore will reach the hearth, and the gas which has not been efficiently oxidized will reach the stock line. The result is the use of an excess of carbon in the smelting process. It is obvious that fine ore particles occurring in the ore as charged, or . formed in the furnace due to heat and mechanical action, place a definite limitation upon the efficiency of the operation. There is also an economic loss of fine material as dust.

Jan 1, 1930

By H. Tanner, T. Heikkinen

In1950 studies concerning mining and milling of the approximately 17 million tons of ore remaining at Outokumpu revealed the surface facilities for economical treatment were inadequate. The two shafts would soon be too far from the mine workings. Moreover, in spite of several extensions, mill capacity was insufficient and recoveries were not satisfactory. Therefore it was decided in 1951 to sink a new shaft and to build a new mill and auxiliary surface buildings around the shaft. The new shaft was sunk near the center of the remaining orebody, about 650 ft from the ore to the footwall side. This location placed the main part of the shaft as well as the crusher rooms and the ore bins around the lower end of the shaft in the firm and strong mica-schist.

Jul 1, 1955

By Harold Earle Cook

The purpose of this paper is to state briefly the inspection requirements of the Bureau of Ordnance, the specifications governing the inspection, and the physical and chemical properties of the steel used in the construction of ordnance for our Navy. It would be of interest to evoke discussion on points in these specifications which do not tend to insure the production of the very best material for the purpose intended. In other words, what requirements of our specifications are useless and also in what manner are our specifications deficient? It might be well at the start to answer the first criticism of this paper which will probably be made, and that is that the title does not agree with the subject matter. Considering metallographic work as covering only the macroscopic and microscopic examination of metals, this paper will have gone beyond the subject; but it is believed that a broader definition of metallography is that it is the study of the relation of the internal structure of metals and alloys to their composition and to their physical and other properties. The internal structure of steel is dependent on its physical and its chemical properties. These physical properties are dependent on the chemical composition and the mechanical and thermal treatment of the steel. So it seems that this subtitle would not be entirely necessary and that the title " Metallography of Steel for Ordnance Purposes" would cover a study, not only of what we can learn of macroscopic and microscopic examination, but broadly of the whole subject of the specifications, the fulfillment of the requirements of which produce the structural conditions revealed by macroscopic and microscopic examination. I will refer but briefly at the beginning to the microscope and its uses in our inspection. It is only very recently that the Bureau of Ordnancc has furnished certain of its inspection offices with a portable Tassin outfit for the microscopic examination of steel. Since that

Jan 1, 1916

By G. E. Goodspeed

THE Cornucopia gold quartz veins form a parallel vein system traversing meta-morphic and granodioritic rocks. Field and petrographic evidence suggests that metasomatism has played an important role both in the emplacement of the grano-diorite and in the formation of the veins. Structurally the veins appear to be related to the major tectonic features of the Wallowa Mountains and to be narrow shear zones rather than filled fissures. Petrographic studies indicate a complex history of formation starting from initial alteration along fractures or joints followed by recurrent fracturing and a quartz-forming stage,-and closing with continued shearing and microbrecciation, which permitted the upward percolation of the later ore-forming solutions. The precipitation of ore minerals from these solutions formed ore shoots. Postmineral effects include the injection of Tertiary basaltic dikes, a slight amount of cross faulting, and some movement along the planes of the veins as well as oxidation. INTRODUCTION Cornucopia is in the southeastern part of the rugged Wallowa Moun-tains of northeastern Oregon. It was founded over 50 years ago following the discovery of its system of gold quartz veins. The major veins are roughly parallel and dip into the western side of Pine Valley, which drains the southern slope of the range. Previous operations had cut the upper portion of four major veins with two tunnels over 1000 ft. apart, when the present operating company drove a third tunnel, called the Coulter, at the level of the valley over 1000 ft. lower to intersect the most easterly major vein at over 6200 ft. from the portal.

Jan 1, 1939

By J. E. Lamar, J. S. Machin

INSULATING materials include a wide variety of nonmetallic mineral products such as exfoliated vermiculite, expanded gypsum, 85 pct magnesia, diatomite, asbestos, perlite, cellular glass, pumice, silica aerogel, expanded aggregates and mineral wool. Except mineral wool, most of these products, or the materials from which they are manufactured, are described in other chapters of this book. PROPERTIES OF INSULATING MATERIALS The insulating properties of the materials considered in this chapter result in general from entrapping extremely small pockets of air in such a manner that heat is not transferred by convection. The minimum heat conductivities of such insulating materials are slightly greater therefore than the conductivity of still air. In addition, conductivity varies with the overall density of the material, the temperature range in which the measurements are made, and the form into which the material is fabricated. However, the numerical value of heat conductivity should not be the sole criterion of an insulating material; for a particular application it may be advantageous to use a material of somewhat higher conductivity in order to secure other desirable engineering properties. This is especially true with certain materials that are used because of their refractoriness. Comparative insulating values of some commonly used insulating materials are shown in Table 1. In comparing the values presented in this table it should be borne in mind that heat conductivity varies with the mean temperature, with the overall density, and with the amount of moisture present. With fibrous or granular materials it varies with fiber or grain size and with the amount and kind of binder, if any is used. Under some circumstances it may vary with the arrangement of

Jan 1, 1949

By W. H. Brandt

THERE has been much progress in the last two decades in understanding the hardenability of steel. Roughly, the progress has been along two lines, which may be designated as empirical and fundamental. This empirical work has progressed to the point where steels may be manufactured to the desired characteristics quite closely and heat-treatment and application problems can be approached with considerable confidence. Particularly noteworthy among the empirical work is that of Grossmann,12 who has given formulas for calculating hardenability as a function of composition, and the establishment of the isothermal transformation curve by Davenport and Bain.13 The latter does not fall entirely in the class of an empirical study, for while it provides a means of presenting a tremendous amount of empirical data in the form of a single curve, it also outlines clearly the problems that face the fundamental investigator. The isothermal transformation curve shows clearly that the phenomena occurring in the neighborhood of the knee of the curve are those that limit the hardenability of steel. Above the knee of the curve, the product of decomposition of austenite is lamellar pearlite and fundamental progress has consisted chiefly of a detailed study of structure and formation of pearlite, largely at the hands of Mehl and his collaborators.1-5 They have shown that formation of pearlite proceeds by a process of nucleation and growth and they measured both the nucleation and growth rate. However, there is still a wide gap between our empirical knowledge and fundamental knowledge, owing largely to the fact that there is no satisfactory theory of nucleation rate or of growth rate. This paper is being written in an attempt to fill in a small part of the gap. A method was presented recently14 for calculating the velocity of edgewise growth of pearlite using an expression for the carbon concentration that satisfies the diffusion equation. The edgewise velocity of pearlite growth in a plain carbon eutectoid steel was calculated, using linear extrapolations of the ferrite and cementite solubilities. While the results are in fairly good agreement with the experimental facts, the calculated velocity of edgewise growth is smaller at 600°C. than G, the radial growth velocity of pearlite nodules, whereas one would expect it to be larger. In this paper the calculation will be repeated using a new extrapolation for the ferrite solubility, which gives better agreement between G and V, the calculated velocity of edgewise growth. A calculation will also be made of the effect of carbon content on velocity of edgewise growth, and the problems of calculating the effects of other alloying elements on growth rates will be discussed. It will be assumed that the mechanism of pearlite growth, established by Mehl and

Jan 1, 1945

By Keijiro Nishio

At a time of great antiquity when our Yomato tribe had not yet found its way throughout the country, there lived in Japan barbarous tribes of the stone age, whose dwellings were vertical caves covered with roof's of twigs and weeds. In a cave lately discovered at the village of Morita, 10 miles west from the port of Aomori, there were found pieces of micaceous iron-ore and psilomelane, with oval holes pierced from both sides. Apparently these objects were regarded as ornaments or curios, without being applied to any practical use. Among the traditions given in the Nihonshoki, an ancient history of Japan, there is one relating to the mining industry. According to this tradition, in the mythological age Izanami-no-Mikoto gave birth to Kanayamahiko-no-Mikoto, god of mines, and Amaterasu-Okami (the sun-goddess) was armed with swords. It came to pass at one time that she concealed herself in Ama-no-Iwato ("Heavenly Cave"), and several gods made contrivances to entice her out. Among them, Ishikori-dome, a smith, made a mirror with copper obtained from the Ama-no-Kagoyama, by means of a pair of bellows known as the Ama-no-habuki, which was made of a deer-skin. It is recorded also that Susanb-no-Mikoto, her younger brother, observed the abundance of gold and silver in Korea, where his descendants were to reign, and urged them to provide themselves with boats to convey them across the Sea of Japan. In the course of time he accomplished his object, proceeding to Korea with his son, Isotakeru-no-Mikoto. These accounts

Jan 1, 1913

By F. C. Pittman, D. W. Harriman, J. C. St. John

This paper mentions briefly the history of hydraulic jetting as applied to perforating and fracture initiation. It points out the advantages of hydraulic perforation and undercutting as an aid for creating a fracture at the point desired rather than depending upon the weakest point in the formation for breakdown. It describes early experimental work with jet nozzles in search of better nozzle materials. The effect of splash-back damage and its subsequent influence on jet body and tool design during this work is discussed. A series of cutting-rate curves for jets cutting steel and steel-cement-formation combinations is presented to show the effect of hydrostatic head and the point of diminishing returns with respect to cutting time. There is a series of photographs showing various types of rock formation in which perforation and undercutting tests were made. These stones were drilled and the casing cemented in place as in an actual well. The casing was perforated and circularly cut as if preparing for a fracturing job. The conclusion reached in the paper is that hydraulic jetting with sand-laden fluid can be used for perforating and undercutting casing, cement and formation rock for the intended purpose of inducing the formation to fracture at a desired point. INTRODUCTION Hydraulic jetting as a means of cleaning a formation during acidizing has been used for many years. The acid-jet gun was used to clean formation and for drilling cement from casing with acid. This tool was dropped to a seating ring installed on the tubing and could be retrieved by reverse circulation or wire line. In this process, the fluids were directed against the formation to clean and penetrate beyond the mud-damaged area. After the development of the hydraulic fracturing process, interest in jetting the formation with abrasive-laden fluid was renewed. The cutting action of abrasive fluid on pumping equipment, which is a well known problem, has been utilized to perforate and undercut casing, tubing and formation. In this process, surface areas are provided in the formation on which the frac- turing pressures may work to produce a fracture at the location desired. EQUIPMENT The tools used consist of bodies containing two, three or four jets in a single horizontal plane equally spaced around the circumference. The body is threaded to the end of a string of tubing and run into the well. In addition, an expendable tool is available that may be left in the hole after perforating and produced through until necessary to remove the tubing. The bottom of each tool is equipped with a ball-type back-pressure valve. The ball can be reversed to the surface and recovered. This allows reverse circulation so that loose sand which accumulated below the tool while jetting may be removed before the fracturing job. The present jetting tools are of such length that, when screwed together, the jets fall on 12-in. spacing. ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM Early work with nozzles indicated that hardened steel was not a suitable material for jets and that more durable material would be required. Ceramics were tried and found to be superior to steel but still too shortlived for most applications. Tungsten carbide, which was tried and found to be the best material available, is now being used for jet nozzles. Analysis of the problems presented by this process indicated that the following information was needed. 1. The effect of submergence on a jet stream and the effect of submergence on the cutting rate of a jet stream. 2. The cutting rate and depth of a jet stream in steel. 3. The cutting rate in various formations and point of diminishing returns. 4. Size of hole or slot cut in a pipe by a given jet. 5. Fluids and sands used. 6. The flow of various weight fluids through the jet nozzle and the discharge coefficients. 7. The type cut formed in the formation by the jet stream. 8. The stretch and contraction of tubing due to temperature and pressure. The cutting effect of a jet stream on a target in the atmosphere is rapid and spectacular as most of the

By Francis Foley

Small cracks in a plane normal to the axis of steels are found to be prevalent around the water hole of drill steels that have been in service for an unknown period of time. Cracks are not found on the exterior surface of the steels nor to any noteworthy extent even in the water holes of new drill steels. Undulations and serrations are found in the surface of the water hole in new steels; it is in the bottom of such defects that cracks appear to develop in used steels. The occurrence of the more serious of these cracks at the point in the steel to which it has been heated for forging or hardening is thought to account to a great extent for failures in that region. DURING the past, year, we have investigated the cause of 88 per cent, of the failures by breakage near the bit end of some 1-in. hollow, hexagon, drill steel used in a metal mine. This breakage in the region of the bit end of the steel was peculiarly interesting because we have been led to believe that breakage is most prevalent at the shank end of drill steels near the place where the steel is gripped in the chuck of the machine. Records from the mine showed, also, that the breakage was much more frequent in the short lengths of large gage than in the longer steels; this is shown graphically in Fig. 1. Because the shorter lengths of steels are usually those that have been made from broken pieces of long steels or from steels that have worn down in service, rarely being made from new stock, those who are wont to suspect steel of tiring and crystallizing in its old age through fatigue are quite apt to see in this instance an argument in favor of their idea. As usual, a careful examination of these steels reveals defects of a character hardly to be overlooked in favor of such a cause. The steel in question was rolled with a sand core and was of the usual drill steel composition: Carbon 0.85 per cent., manganese 0.60 per cent., silicon 0.25 per cent., phosphorus 0.02 per cent., and sulfur 0.02 per cent., with the exception that in some specimens there was vanadium, not exceeding 0.20 per cent.

Jan 3, 1924

By H. M. St. John, T. Rynalski, G. K. Eggleston

Maintaining a satisfactory structure in brass and bronze castings has always been a foundry problem of great practical importance. While metallurgists and scientific investigators have not entirely ignored this matter, it has received less of their attention than has been given to iron, steel and the wrought copper and aluminum alloys. Investigation in this field has probably been discouraged to some extent by the complicated nature of the alloys involved. Hundreds of alloys are in more or less common use, most of them containing copper, zinc, lead and tin in widely varying proportions. They also contain appreciable percentages of iron and antimony as impurities, and often phosphorus, which has been added as a deoxidizer and fluidifier. Small amounts of sulfur are usually present. It is not uncommon to find nickel, sometimes in rather substantial quantities. Traces of other metals are frequently present. So complicated and variable a mixture obviously offers difficulties in any investigation of the various factors that influence the structure and other properties of the casting. Incipient Shrinkage Bolton and Weigandl have called attention to a type of structure characterized by intercrystalline fissures and large dendritic crystals which are frequently tarnished to an orange or reddish brown color. This intercrystalline porosity they term "incipient shrinkage" and attribute to the presence of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere under which the metal was melted. The defective structure to which Bolton and Weigand refer has become a brass-foundry problem of major importance, because it occurs with distressing frequency in leaded brasses and bronzes when these are melted in a neutral or reducing atmosphere. Since the electric furnaces, now coming into general use in brass foundries, normally operate with such an atmosphere and, in fact, depend upon it in part

Jan 1, 1930

By Frederick O?Neil

SCOPE OF THIS REPORT THE object of this paper is to describe the present status and possibilities of liquid oxygen as an explosive based upon the investigations, research and practical work of the Ingersoll-Rand Co., and of the Air Reduction Co., from early in 1922 to date. The following work was done. 1. A study of the history and physical theory of L. 0. X. as an explosive. (No attempt will be made in this paper to give the history or theory, as this has already been covered by the literature on the subject.) 2. An investigation of the use and the practice with L. 0. X. in the iron mines of Lorraine where L. 0. X. has its largest application in Europe. Although L. 0. X. is extensively employed in the; iron mines of Lorraine, many of the mines using it exclusively, and blasting with it a total of approximately three million tons of iron ore per year, the fact that the mining practice in Lorraine1 is to drill comparatively shallow holes and blast only a few holes at a time, renders the data obtained there of very little value in estimating the possibility of replacing dynamite with L. 0. X. in American mining methods. In fact, in the iron mines in Lorraine, L. 0. X. replaced black powder, or its equivalent. 3. Laboratory research work on properties of absorbent materials. 4. Work in the Bureau of Mines explosive laboratory at Pittsburgh, Pa., on the properties of L. 0. X. cartridges. 5. Practical work underground with L. 0. X. cartridges in the Witherbee-Sherman iron mines at Mineville, N. Y. 6. Practical work in the quarries of the Calcite Quarry Co., Myers-town, Pa. 7. Practical blasting in several quarries and open-pit mines.

Jan 2, 1926

By A. Werenfels

After discussing the geology of the Limagne, the surface indications of petroleum, and the recent exploration, the author states that none of the wells were properly located and that oil possibilities of the Limagne have not been adequately tested. NO PETROLEUM, in commercial quantities, is found in France except the small production of the Pechelbronn field (Fig. 1) in Alsace, which produced 75,000 tons in 1923; therefore the test of the petroleum FIG. 1.-KEY MAP. prospects of the Limagne is most interesting. Under the superintendence of M. Termier, chief engineer of the French mines, a well near Crouelle (Fig. 2) was drilled in 1921 to a depth of 856.3 m. (2808 ft.); at different depths favorable showings were encountered. The well, however, was abandoned because of drilling difficulties. A second one is now being drilled near the same place.

Jan 12, 1924

By John Reynders

Our entry into the World War suddenly brought home to us in a startling way the vital importance of manganese. Since the war, much has been written and said upon the subject of manganese and a great deal of time and money have been spent in attempts to find an adequate substitute for this metal in the manufacture of steel; none has been found. It is true that ways are known by which it is possible to make small amounts of good steel without manganese; but taking into consideration the diminishing quality of iron ores and fuels. as' well as the increasing exaction of specifications for finished products, it may safely be assumed that high-grade manganese ore will be more and. more a necessity in the production of steel as time goes on. Taking world resources as a whole it may be well to point out that the problem of obtaining needed supplies of manganese from a strictly commercial viewpoint is now less serious than it was before the war. Formerly it was feared that world resources of high-grade manganese ore might be exhausted in a relatively short time, but, largely as a result of the stress laid upon the importance of manganese during the war, the world's available supply of high-grade manganese ore has been greatly augmented by new discoveries and fuller development of previously known deposits.

Jan 5, 1927

By Oscar Kuchs

IN January and February of the current year, at the Tooele plant of the International Smelting Co., Tooele, Utah, a modification of the usual method of converting, for the treatment of copper-lead matte from lead blast- furnaces, was developed and put into successful operation. In brief, the method consists in blowing molten matte direct from the blast furnaces in basic-lined converters, without the addition of siliceous fluxing ores, to the almost complete elimination of the lead contained, and to the production of copper bullion, the resulting lead fume being recovered by the filtration of the converter gases through woolen fume bags. The process is carried out in conjunction with the converting of reverberatory copper matte, the heavy iron slag, together with the copper precipitated, being transferred to converters blowing copper matte. The purpose of this transfer is to reduce the copper oxide formed, due to the necessary overblowing of the lead-matte charge, and to utilize, as far as possible, the value of iron from the lead matte, for the fluxing of siliceous dry ores. The final slag from the copper converters is then skimmed off and transferred molten to a reverberatory smelting furnace treating copper ores. This variation from general converting practice was the outgrowth of results obtained during 1913 when it was endeavored to convert copper-lead matte in the usual manner, with the direct addition of siliceous fluxing ores. To make clear the reasons lying back of the process it is necessary to recount at some length the results of operations during that year. In the design of the lead plant it was planned to treat the copper-lead matte from the furnaces by direct converting without reconcentration and thereby to recover the copper, silver, and gold as quickly as possible. A converter plant of ample capacity, treating copper matte, already being in operation, it was only necessary: to install a bag house, a fan, and the necessary flues to complete the equipment.

Jan 7, 1914

By M. R. Daly

In a recent paper on Geologic Structure in the Cushing Oil and Gas Field, Oklahoma,l Carl H. Beal has pointed out some interesting peculiarities in the distribution of the hydrocarbons and the disposition of the "planes of separation" between the oil and the water (water surfaces). Mr. Beal's principal statements on this matter may be, summarized as follows: I. In every important dome in the Cushing field, which has not been complicated by folding along its sides, the oil area in each of the three oil and gas sands studied (Layton, Wheeler and Bartlesville) apparently extends farther down on the long axis of the dome than it does on the steeper sides. The result is that water is encountered at a lesser depth below datum plane (sea level) on the steep sides of the dome than along the ends where the beds are more gently tilted. II. In the Layton and Wheeler sands (to which the detailed study of water surfaces has been almost entirely confined), the water surface is not level, but dips at a gentle angle (maximum dip 100 ft. to the mile) away from the center of the structure. This inclination existed prior to development, and it has been rendered greater by the rapid extraction of oil and gas. To these statements, the following observations are added: The dominant structural feature in the Cushing field is a broad north and south anticlinal fold, along whose axis the domes are distributed (Fig. 1, p. 897), and the more important oil areas in each sand lie on the west side of the field. In many cases, gas has been forced to the east side of the structure, sometimes as far as the water line. From the distribution of the oil and gas bodies, Mr. Beal concludes that the hydrocarbons in this region probably migrated from the west or the northwest. It seems as if these different features would be susceptible of some

Jan 1, 1918

By Joseph C. Mead, Alan Stanley

The MacIntyre Development of the National Lead Co. is located at Tahawus, N. Y. The operations involve the mining and concentrating of a titaniferous iron ore to produce an ilmenite concentrate and a magnetite concentrate. Construction of the MacIntyre plant was commenced during the summer of 1941,when world conditions threatened to cut off the supply of Indian ilmenite. An open pit mining operation was developed and the crushing and milling equipment put in operation in July 1942. A general description of the operation was given in the Adirondack Issue of Mining and Metallurgy for November 1943. The metallurgy of the mill operation was described by Mr. Frank R. Milliken,* Plant Manager, National Lead Company, MacIntyre Development, and presented at the AIME New York Meeting, February 1948. The magnetite concentrate produced in the milling operation was too fine (minus 20 mesh) to be used directly in iron blast furnace operation, and most of the magnetite had to be stockpiled in 1942 and 1943. In 1943, the Defense Plant Corp. built a Greenawalt sintering plant at Tahawus, N. Y., to put the magnetite concentrate in a more suitable form for use in the iron blast furnace. The Greenawalt sintering plant consists of three 10 by 25 ft sintering pans designed to produce 1800 gross tons of sinter per 24 hr. The vacuum to each pan is produced by two Greenawalt fans in series, pulling approximately 30,000 cu ft of air per minute at 50 in. water gauge vacuum. The plant started operation in August 1944. The present plant production averages 25 tons per operating pan hour (approximately 224 lb per operating hour per square foot of grate area) of plus 1 in. sinter. Raw feed to the plant consists of 61 pct magnetite, 4 pct anthracite coal culm, and 35 pct minus 1 in. return fines which are conveyed to a pug mill where the materials are mixed thoroughly and water added to give the mixture 5.5 to 6 pct moisture. The mixed prepared feed is conveyed to two 4 by 10 ft vibrating screens where the minus 1 in. plus 5/8 in. return fines are screened out and discharged into a surge bin for use as a hearth layer. The minus 5/8 in. prepared feed is discharged into another surge bin for use as prepared feed. A charge car, electrically operated, having a capacity of one charge of prepared feed and several charges of hearth layer, lays a thin layer of plus 5/8 in. return fines and 9½ in. depth of prepared feed into the pans. A fluffing roll and a vibrator on the car fluffs and spreads the prepared feed into the pans. An ignition car, electrically operated, ignites the top of the bed with a 30 sec flash burn. The 9½ in. bed sin-ters in approximately 13 min. Dumping the pan, and recharging and igniting the bed requires 2 min. To improve the quality of the ilmenite concentrate produced in the mill and to reduce the amount of titanium dioxide lost in the mill tailings and in the magnetite product, extensive research work and pilot plant operations have been done on grinding the crude ore to minus 65 mesh size (rather than to minus 20 mesh) and concentrating it by a combination of magnetic separation (for magnetite recovery) and flotation (for ilmenite re-covery). These tests have proved successful in increasing ilmenite re-covery and grade. With the development of the ilmenite flotation process to a stage where a full scale flotation plant was in the design stage, the problem arose of handling the 65 mesh magnetite concentrate that would be produced. In order to study and solve the problems of handling and sintering the 65 mesh magnetite in the sinter plant, a pilot sinter plant was secured from John E. Greenawalt. The effect of using 65 mesh magnetite in the sintering operations was then studied on the 2.4 sq ft test pan, operating under conditions as similar to the large plant as could be set up in the laboratory. A series of tests were run in the test pan on present sinter plant feed that had been mixed in the plant pug mill. An average production and an average quality of sinter produced in this series

Jan 1, 1950

By AIME AIME

I would like to ask Bob Merrill whether he considers that horizontal concave curvature of a slope has any stabilizing effect, such as Jenike 1 suggested several years ago. The stabilizing effect is due to the restraint offered to radial movement by the curvature. We found in laboratory tests that if we constrained the rock with the same stresses as those measured in the pit then it would sustain a maximum stress about two or four times greater than when the same rock type was unconstrained. We are therefore definitely of the opinion that a constrained situation in a slope is favorable towards stability.

Jan 1, 1967

By E. N. Mazza, H. S. Kalish

The effect of sintering types 302, 3028, and 430 stainless steel powder compacts in hydrogen and dissociated ammonia was investigated. It was found that sintering in dissociated ammonia resulted in as much as 0.5 wt pct increase in the nitrogen content of stainless steel even though the dissociation of the gas was complete. Sintering in hydrogen, on the other hand, reduced the nitrogen content of the stainless steel to less than 0.01 wt pct. In the case of the 302-type stainless steel, the low nitrogen content resulted in a material that was largely ferritic, whereas the high nitrogen content rendered the material fully austenitic. Sintering in dissociated ammonia resulted in lower density, generally lower tensile strength, less ductility, and higher hardness than sintering under equivalent conditions in hydrogen. The reduction of oxides on both stainless steel and iron particles was found to be effected by hydrogen partial pressure in the sintering atmosphere. Compacting pressure was found also to effect oxide reduction during sintering. DISSOCIATED ammonia often is used as a substitute'.' for hydrogen in sintering and in annealing, since economic advantages sometimes can be obtained by such a substitution. In addition, anhydrous ammonia contains very little impurity. Thus, dissociated ammonia gas is very dry whereas tank hydrogen often must be freed of oxygen and water vapor prior to use in many applications. The sintering of stainless steel powder compacts as well as bright annealing is well recognized as requiring a hydrogen atmosphere and for the foregoing reasons dissociated ammonia is frequently substituted. It has generally been overlooked, however, that the nitrogen in dissociated ammonia might have an important effect on the sintering process and on the properties of stainless steel compacts. Considered an inert gas in many applications, nitrogen, on the other hand, is very reactive with cer- tain metals. Dissociated ammonia could not be used for hydriding zirconium or titanium. Nitrogen reacts with columbium, tantalum, chromium, uranium, thorium, and many other active metals. Iron and iron-base alloys are, for the most part, inert in nitrogen but there are many borderline cases. It has been reported that stainless steel stabilized with columbium or titanium should not be sintered in dissociated ammonia.3 olybdenum has been reported as reacting with dissociated ammonia to a minor extent.' Although most of the reactions with iron-base alloys are attributed to the action of un-dissociated ammonia and the action of nascent nitrogen, Uhlig4 showed how readily pure molecular nitrogen reacts with and diffuses into 18-8 stainless steel at 1150°C. He also pointed out how readily nitrogen diffuses out of 18-8 stainless steel when heated in pure dry hydrogen, and these thorough investigations on the subject show that commercial stainless steels are nitrogen-bearing, since they are melted in air. The effects of nitrogen in stainless steel, particularly the 18-8 Cr-Ni type, previously have received considerable attention." In 1926, it was pointed out

Jan 1, 1956

ONE of the largest hard rock operations ever undertaken on the continent is part of the Aluminum Co. of Canada's gigantic British Columbia development in the mountainous wilderness back of the north coastal port of Prince Rupert. To provide electric power for the huge aluminum smelter under construction at Kitimat, 400 miles northwest of Vancouver, Alcan is reversing the flow of a 5000 sq mile drainage area by blocking the eastward-flowing Nechako River with the largest sloping clay core dam in the world. The backed-up waters of a 110-mile chain of lakes will be tapped at their eastern end by a 10-mile tunnel piercing a mile-high mountain range. From this tunnel water will pass through penstocks to a subterranean powerhouse after a drop of 2600 ft and empty into the Kemano River almost at tide water. A projected battery of eight turbine-driven generators will produce more than a million horsepower, although, initially, three generators of 140,000 hp each will be installed. Power will travel 50 miles across another mountain range, over a glacier, and across an arm of the ocean to what will ultimately be the world's largest aluminum smelter-a plant 2 ½ miles long. Ore smelted at Kitimat will come from Jamaica, but carving the tunnel, penstocks, and powerhouses cavern out of the heart of a mountain is so vast a job that most of the problems of a major mining operation are encountered. The powerhouse cavern alone is a big hard rock job. This chamber lies 1400 ft back from the mountain face and will eventually be 1100 ft long, 80 ft wide, and an average 118 ft high. Now under construction, the roof of this cavern will take the form of a parabolic arch. The prime contractors, Morrison-Knudsen Co. of Canada, are to excavate a length of 700 ft by May 1954. This section will provide a main control room, erection bay and space for eight generating units. The roof arch is to be lined with reinforced concrete and a plan now under study provides for concrete curtain walls separated from the rock sides of the cavern to prevent moisture accumulation. Cavern Excavation Excavation of the cavern began with the driving of an 8x8-ft exploratory drift 1500 ft long. Two horseshoe-shaped access and tailrace tunnels were bored to serve excavation work. These tunnels are approximately the same length as the exploratory drift and 25 ft high. The floors of both tunnels were graveled to permit the use of rubber-tired equipment. Eventually, the tailrace tunnel will be enlarged to 40 ft height to drain water from the turbine pits below the powerhouse floor. When the tunnels reached the cavern location, a mucking tunnel, approximately 25 ft square, was driven the projected length of the powerhouse at the floor level of the cavern. Another tunnel, 10 ft square, was carried in the same direction from the exploratory drift at the level of the arch spring line, 65 ft above the cavern floor. To connect these two tunnels, seven shafts 10 ft wide and approximately 80 ft long were driven through to the lower mucking tunnel, 65 ft below. These shafts were located on 120-ft centers, the length of the powerhouse cavern. Blasting is done from this upper tunnel to the final line of the roof arch. Two bulldozers, an International TD-24 and a TD-9, doze blasted material to the shafts where it drops to floor level. From here, the rock is loaded by Eimco loaders and power shovels into rubber-tired Koehring Dumptors and Euclid end-dump trucks. The arched roof section will be completely excavated and concreted before vertical blast holes are drilled down from the level of the arch spring line to the floor of the cavern. The arched roof section with its parabolic curve will have a width of 80 ft and a rise to the crown of 47 ft.

Jan 1, 1952