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By A. T. Yu

As the first loads of Noamundi iron ore rumbled into the new 54-in. Gyratory Crusher on March 30, 1968, one of India's largest and most modern iron ore processing complexes began operations. The completion of the $13 million mining and processing complex brought to a successful conclusion the second chapter of a phased expansion program initiated in 1958 by India's gigantic Tata Iron and Steel Co. The completed complex will yield annually 2.5 million tons of washed, sized ore and sinter fines destined for Tata's furnaces at Jamshedpur. Hewitt-Robins Div. of Litton Industries was awarded the turnkey project on the basis of world- wide competitive bids. Eighty miles southwest of the city of Jamshedpur, Noamundi lies on an approximate geographic grid of 22º-5' latitude north and 85º-30' longitude east. The mine is approximately 600 ft above sea level.

Jan 11, 1968

By Joseph A. Holmes

(Pittsburg Meeting, March, 1910.) AT the Mining Experiment Station of the U. S. Geological Survey, in Pittsburg, an investigation of the process of combustion is being carried on in a specially-designed furnace having an unusually long combustion-chamber. This work is conducted by a committee consisting of H. Kreisinger, mechanical engineer; Dr. J. C. W. Frazer, chemist; and Dr. J. K. Clement, physicist. The problem, essentially one of physical chemistry, is extremely interesting to all who are concerned in the burning of coal or the construction of furnaces. The main object of these experiments is to ascertain the relation between the amount of the volatile combustible driven from the coal and the combustion-spaces necessary to burn it completely. Our best steam-coals vary from 15 to 45 per cent. of fixed combustible. The greater part of the latter is burned on the grate; but the volatile combustible leaves the freshly-charged coal and must be burned in the combustion-space. If this space is not large enough, the volatile combustible will leave the furnace only partly burned, and the result will be a considerable heat-loss and a smoky stack. Strictly speaking, the factor which determines the completeness of combustion of the volatile matter, after it has been mixed with a certain amount of air, is the length of time the mixture is allowed to remain in the combustion-space; but this length of time depends on the extent of the space itself. Let us suppose, for instance, that, when a given coal is burned at a certain standard rate, the volume of the volatile combustible driven off per second is 10 cu. ft. Adding, say, 10 cu. ft. of air, the volume of the resulting burning mixture is increased to 20 cu. ft. If the combustion-space is 20 cu. ft., the burning mixture will stay in it,

May 1, 1910

By AIME AIME

ON the afternoon of Feb. 20 of this year a new volcano was born in the center of the State of Michoacan, Mexico, about 100 miles inland from the Pacific Coast. Creation of this new mountain - forming crater began on an almost flat cultivated field at the south margin of a small basin about a mile in diameter and having an altitude of approximately 6800 ft. above sea level. This basin is connected to a gently inclined plain that forms the Parangaricutiro valley, the chief town of this municipality, bearing the same name as the valley, being situated three miles from the site of the new crater. The village of Paracutin, from which the new volcano received its name, is about one mile to the northwest of the crater. From the City of Mexico to the volcano is a distance of 330 miles. The paved highway running from Mexico City to Guadalajara, by way of Toluca and Morelia, is left at Carapan; from here another paved branch highway goes to Uruapan. The town of Paracutin is reached by a narrow dirt road 18 miles from Uruapan and connects with a road leading to Parangaricutiro where horses may be hired for a 40-minute trip to a place where visitors can enjoy a magnificent view of the volcano. It is possible to get within half a mile of the point of eruption in this manner.

Jan 1, 1943

By G. H. BUCHANAN

ALTHOUGH the nomenclature of the chemical tools of flotation is probably familiar to you, it will do no harm to review it; . In order to make the terms more real I have employed an illustration which likens flotation to an old-fashioned balloon ascension, such as we witnessed in boyhood at the county fair. The mineral to be floated is the aeronaut, conspicuous in his gilt-spangled tights, who is to be separated from you and me and the other small boys who are standing about, said boys being the g-a-n-g-u-e, or g-a-n-g, as we would have spelled it. The oil film surrounding the bubble is the counterpart of the silken fabric of the balloon, and bubble and balloon will rise for. the same reason, namely. that the fluid outside it is heavier than the fluid within. In flotation reagent nomenclature the material of which the bubble is made is called the "frother.",

Jan 1, 1930

By Thomas L. Kesler

Essentially all of the barite produced in Georgia has come from the Cartersville district in the northwest part of the state. The earliest recorded shipment of ore, 60 tons, was made in 1894.1 With the exception of the four-year period 1931 to 1934, the separate yearly output has been recorded and published since 1915, whereas the total yearly output of the United States has been published since 1880. The separately recorded production of Georgia (Cartersville) through 1947 is 2,232,544 short tons valued at $14,900,746,2 but unpublished data on the period 1931 to 1934, plus the estimated unrecorded output prior to 1915, make the actual total about 2,400,000 short tons. This is about 21 pct of the total production of the United States, which, through 1947, is 11,328,440 short tons valued at $71,683,386.2

Jan 1, 1949

By Jim F. Lemons

INTRODUCTION A nickel doesn't buy much anymore. That's even true in the cost of recovering nickel -- the commodity. A 5[C] per pound (11 [c] per kilogram) increase in the nickel price won't cover a 10-percent increase in fuel costs for processing laterite ores, nor will it cover a 10- percent increase in wages for recovering nickel from a sulphide ore. It won't even cover a 5- percent increase in the capital cost necessary to mine and process ocean nodules. The basis for this statement and a quantitative analysis of the variations in costs to recover nickel from different types of nickel ores will be discussed in this paper. During the early part of the 1970's, the interest in nickel and its potential development was shifting from Canada to the Pacific Basin area. Canadian growth rate was slowing and each additional increase in nickel capacity was very expensive (Argall, G.O., 1970). Laterite ores were attractive to developers since they were easy to mine at a low labor cost, and technologies were being developed that would allow the recovery of nickel in marketable forms (Mohide, T.P., Warden, C.L., Mason, J.D., 1977). During the last decade, new laterite production was achieved in the Philippines and Botswana, and a significant increase in production from Indonesia and New Caledonia occurred. However, recent reports on nickel identify numerous problems plaguing the industry, i.e., high energy costs that are forcing shutdowns (INCO, 1980), (Mohide, T.P., Warden, C.L., Mason, J.D., 1977), high Canadian sulphide mining labor costs (Anon., 1976), and rapid inflation of nickel capital costs (Anon., 1981b). No definitive study has been made to determine how sensitive the total cost of production is to rising energy, labor, or capital costs, or to identify to what extent increased byproduct revenues could be used to offset these production costs. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effects of increases in energy, labor, capital costs, and by-product credits on the future cost of production from nickel reserves and/or resources. METHODOLOGY OF ANALYSIS In order to evaluate the sensitivity of nickel production costs to changes in energy, labor, and capital costs, and in byproduct revenues, an analysis was made of existing and proposed nickel operations, their costs, and their sensitivity to change. The data for these analyses were obtained from numerous sources including international govern¬ment and university publications, professional journals, company reports, private communications, U.S. Bureau of Mines contracts, and estimates by Bureau of Mines personnel. These data were collected, in part, as an ongoing effort of the U.S. Bureau of Mines Minerals Availability System (MAS) to systematically measure and classify identified mineral resources according to their respective extraction technologies, economics, and commercial availability. The MAS Program is currently evaluating the present and potential availability of nickel to the United States in relation to mining, beneficiation, smelting, refining, leaching, transportation, infrastructure, environment, land use, labor, productivity, technology efficiencies, operating capacities, deposit life, and political factors. As a summary of this data, the following briefly describes nickel ore types as each relates to energy, labor, capital, and byproducts. Sulphide Operations Nickel is currently available from sulphide deposits. Roughly 55 percent of the current world nickel production in market economy countries is from sulphide ores, although only about 20 percent of the known land-based nickel reserves and/or resources are sulphides (INCO, 1981). In 1979, the Western World sulphide reserves were estimated at about 9.2 million metric tons of nickel (Little, A.D., 1979). Sulphide ores are typically mined underground, thus resulting in high mining costs; however, these ores can often be upgraded by flotation prior to final nickel recovery and require about one-third of the energy required to recover nickel from laterites (Anon., 1981c). In addition, nickel in sulphide ores may be associated with economically recoverable byproducts, which include copper, cobalt, gold, silver, and other precious metals. Laterite Operations Forty-five percent of current nickel production is from laterite deposits. Laterite deposits account for 80 percent of the known land-based nickel reserves and/or resources (INCO, 1981). In 1979, the Western World laterite reserves were estimated at over 35 million metric tons of nickel (Little, A.D., 1979). Nickeliferrous laterites are residual soils formed by weathering, typically under tropical or near tropical conditions. They can be easily mined by open-cut methods, but generally cannot be beneficiated; thus, recovery of nickel must entail processing of the total mined ore. Usually, these ores have high moisture content (20 to 30 percent by weight) that result in additional fuel costs to dry the ore. Nickel silicates, garnierites, are, processed by pyrometallurgical methods; limonite nickel oxides are normally leached. Byproduct cobalt is not recovered from most ferronickel operations, and is only recovered to a limited extent from many leach operations.

Jan 1, 1982

By H. P. Wheeler

WHEN Germany invaded Poland in September, 1939, the only operating helium plant in the United States was that near Amarillo. Texas, supplied with helium-bearing natural gas from the near-by Cliffside gas field. Today the Bureau of Mines has five plants capable of producing more than 25 times the prewar helium output of the Amarillo plant. Two of the plants have received Army-Navy "E" flags for their part in the faraway "Battle of the Atlantic," where heliumfilled Navy blimps chased Adolf Hitler's submarines away from American shores. Meteorologists, watching balloons carried high into the stratosphere by helium, determined weather conditions that influenced the selection of D-day and dates for other military operation. Demand for helium doubled overnight when the Navy decided to expand its lighter-than-air activities; and as the blimp patrol proved effective, the helium demand became ever greater. A tribute to the success of the Bureau of Mines in meeting the demand for helium was paid by the late Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, in a letter to the Secretary of the Interior on April 10, 1944. Secretary Knox wrote, in part,

Jan 1, 1945

By Michel T. Halbouty

The area for which oil and gas developments in South Texas are reported for 1940 in this paper covers the same counties that were included in the reports for 1938 and 1939, with the addition of LaSalle County. LaSalle County is includcd in the Laredo district of South Texas, which totals seven counties for that district. The Corpus Christi district remains the same, with nine counties. The two districts together comprise what is known as the South Texas area for this report. Continued exploration along established trends and beyond proven field limits during 1940 provided South Texas with new fields and new producing levels at a rate of discovery fairly comparable with the high records set during recent years. The wells drilled in the counties within this district (including LaSalle) numbered 1656, approximately 8 per cent below the 1801 figure of last year. However, rank wildcats totaIed 336, an increase of 17.5 per cent compared to the 286 drilled in 1939. Therefore, since new field discoveries numbered 25 in 1940 against 29 in 1939, the rate of new field discoveries in 1940, based upon rank wildcats drilled, was I/I3.4 while that of 1939 was I/9.86, which shows a decrease of about 25 per cent in the rate of new fields. The rank wildcat tests in 1940 gave the following results: 18 produced oil, 4 produced distillate with gas, 3 produced. only gas, and 3r1 were dry holes (Table 5). Of the 1320 tests drilled in already proven fields or as extensions to pro+en areas (representing a decline of 12.8 per cent from last year's total of 1515 tests), 1048 produced oil or distillate, 60 produced gas and 212 were dry holes (Table 4). Of the producers, 50 found new sands or crude-in-distillate-sands in existing fields. Among the several fields subjected to extensive development were: Colorado, Jim Hogg County; East White Point, San Patricio and Nueces County; Rincon and Sun, Starr County; Glen, Webb and Zapata Counties; Wade City and Orange Grove, Jim Wells County; Stratton and South Clara Driscoll, Nueces County, and Aransas Pass, San Patricio and Aransas Counties. The development of important crude reserves on structures formerly considered primarily distillate fields has probably been the most important phase of the year's operations in South Texas. The Rincon, Stratton, Agua Dulce, Wade City, Odem and Robston fields provided the new crude sand discoveries. At some places crude production was opened by exploratory wells that found new sand horizons; in others by flank wells that found already discovered distillate sands sufficiently low to provide crude production. Rincon, Starr County, with its multiple sands, is now believed to be one of South Texas' largest crude-oil reserves. Offshore drilling showed important results during the year, including the discovery of two new submerged fields and the extension of the East White Point field into offshore Nueces County. The new marine fields are: East Flour Bluff) 76

Jan 1, 1941

By Michel T. Halbouty

The area for which oil and gas developments in South Texas are reported for 1940 in this paper covers the same counties that were included in the reports for 1938 and 1939, with the addition of LaSalle County. LaSalle County is includcd in the Laredo district of South Texas, which totals seven counties for that district. The Corpus Christi district remains the same, with nine counties. The two districts together comprise what is known as the South Texas area for this report. Continued exploration along established trends and beyond proven field limits during 1940 provided South Texas with new fields and new producing levels at a rate of discovery fairly comparable with the high records set during recent years. The wells drilled in the counties within this district (including LaSalle) numbered 1656, approximately 8 per cent below the 1801 figure of last year. However, rank wildcats totaIed 336, an increase of 17.5 per cent compared to the 286 drilled in 1939. Therefore, since new field discoveries numbered 25 in 1940 against 29 in 1939, the rate of new field discoveries in 1940, based upon rank wildcats drilled, was I/I3.4 while that of 1939 was I/9.86, which shows a decrease of about 25 per cent in the rate of new fields. The rank wildcat tests in 1940 gave the following results: 18 produced oil, 4 produced distillate with gas, 3 produced. only gas, and 3r1 were dry holes (Table 5). Of the 1320 tests drilled in already proven fields or as extensions to pro+en areas (representing a decline of 12.8 per cent from last year's total of 1515 tests), 1048 produced oil or distillate, 60 produced gas and 212 were dry holes (Table 4). Of the producers, 50 found new sands or crude-in-distillate-sands in existing fields. Among the several fields subjected to extensive development were: Colorado, Jim Hogg County; East White Point, San Patricio and Nueces County; Rincon and Sun, Starr County; Glen, Webb and Zapata Counties; Wade City and Orange Grove, Jim Wells County; Stratton and South Clara Driscoll, Nueces County, and Aransas Pass, San Patricio and Aransas Counties. The development of important crude reserves on structures formerly considered primarily distillate fields has probably been the most important phase of the year's operations in South Texas. The Rincon, Stratton, Agua Dulce, Wade City, Odem and Robston fields provided the new crude sand discoveries. At some places crude production was opened by exploratory wells that found new sand horizons; in others by flank wells that found already discovered distillate sands sufficiently low to provide crude production. Rincon, Starr County, with its multiple sands, is now believed to be one of South Texas' largest crude-oil reserves. Offshore drilling showed important results during the year, including the discovery of two new submerged fields and the extension of the East White Point field into offshore Nueces County. The new marine fields are: East Flour Bluff) 76

Jan 1, 1941

By Carleton Ellis

(Presented at a meeting of the New York Local Section of the Institute, Apr. 12, 1912.) I. INTRODUCTION. THE problem of the influence of hot surfaces upon gaseous combustion is one which, from a purely scientific stand-point, has engaged, for many years past, the attention of Prof. William A. Bone, of Leeds University and the Imperial College, London; and as his recent work has been the direct outcome of earlier scientific investigation, it will be appropriate, by way of introduction, to review briefly the present position of science with respect to this important subject, as stated by Professor Bone. One may perhaps best arrive at an understanding of the term " ?flameless " or " surface " combustion by considering certain facts which differentiate it from the more familiar processes of combustion as they occur in ordinary flames. All hot surfaces have an accelerating influence upon chemical changes in gaseous systems. If, at any temperature, a gaseous system, A, tends to pass over into another system, B, contact with a solid at the same temperature will accelerate the process. To take a very simple example, if a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen in their combining proportions (electrolytic gas) were maintained in an inclosure with smooth glass walls at a temperature of, say, 450° C., there would certainly be a tendency to form steam, but the rate of change would be negligibly small. If, however, there were brought into the system some porous solid material at the same temperature, so that a large surface was exposed to the gases, the rate of change would at once be rapidly accelerated in the layer of gas immediately in contact with the hot surface. Steam, the product, would diffuse outward from the surface, and the supplies of hydrogen and oxygen at the surface would be renewed by diffusion inward. Thus combustion would proceed heterogene-

Sep 1, 1912

By Hiroshi Oikawa, A. G. Guy

Recent experimental evidence has shown that it is often incorrect to neglect the reactions occurring at an interface with respect to the diffusion reactions. By introducing reaction-rate constants and k for the transfer of components 1 and 2 between the a and b phases, a phenomenological description has been devised for the coupled processes of diffusion and in-terfacial reaction. An illustrative example has been analyzed with the aid of a suitable computer program. The results indicate that for kab values on the order of 10'1 cm per sec and Ð values of about 10¯10 sq cm per sec, the interfacial reactions are significant during the first 10 2 to l0 6 sec of a diffusion experiment. Among the observable effects of the interfacial reactions in this case appear to be the burying Kirkendall markers and an anomaly in the initial shifting of these markers. THE study of diffusion between two phases is especially important because of its direct connection to phase transformations. For example, the transformation of austenite to ferrite involves diffusion in the a and ý phases and also an interfacial reaction (trans formation) at the a/? interface. If ferrite and aus-tenite are the two members in a diffusion couple, the same two reactions occur during the diffusion process. The numerical values obtained for the diffusion coefficients and interfacial-reaction constants from diffusion experiments can then be employed to predict phase-transformation behavior. Refinement of the calculations of phase transformation is also suggested by the present method for treating two-phase diffusion. In the recent paper by Nolfi et al.' only the solute com ponent is considered in the interfacial reaction accompanying a phase transformation. The present analysis demonstrates that both components must be considered. It is generally recognized that reactions of some kind must occur at the interface in a two-phase diffusion couple, but usually it is assumed that the interface reaction occurs so rapidly that its effect on the overall process is unobservable because the slower diffusion process determines the kinetics of the process. However, Seith and Heumann 2 pointed out that effects of the interfacial reaction should always occur in the early stages of diffusion, and recently Eifert et al. 3 have shown that interfacial reactions influence the composition and motion of the interface in a/ß Al-Cu diffusion couples during the entire course of prolonged, high-temperature treatments. A general procedure for handling the combined processes of interfacial reaction and diffusion in a binary, two-phase system is to introduce kinetic coefficients for the interface reactions and to develop the system of equations governing the interlinked processes of diffusion and interface reaction. The resulting equations, although not amenable to solution in closed form, can be usefully manipulated by a digital computer. INTERFACIAL REACTIONS IN TWO-PHASE DIFFUSION Consider the general case of diffusion between two solid solutions, a and ß, which are adjacent phases in a binary system, Fig. 1. Two semiinfinite bars having compositions c1 and c0ß are jointed at x = 0. If concentrations are expressed in volume fraction,4

Jan 1, 1970

By Don Masson

MUCH has been written and many prophecies made on the subject of plastics as a replacement for metal, and the extent to which these materials will compete with each other for peace- time markets. (Metal is used in a broad sense to include all types.) But although certain synthetic resin materials have made considerable headway in war production, this change to plastics can hardly be regarded as a serious threat to the mining and metallurgical industries. Even today, the total yearly tonnage of plastic materials is approximately only 1 per cent of that of steel, and only a small fraction of this might be considered as actually replacing steel. However, these figures must not be taken as indicating that the importance of plastics in fields hitherto considered exclusively the territory of metals is negligible-far from it. Considering the comparatively minute tonnage of plastics now being produced in comparison to the output of metals, the number of applications where plastics have augmented or aided the sale of metals is considerable.

Jan 1, 1944

By CLARESCE CARLETON SEJIPLE

(Wilkes-Barre Meeting, June, 1911.) AT a number of mines in eastern Nicaragua, 3.5- and 5-ft. Huntington mills are used for grinding gold-ore after a preliminary breaking in jaw-crushers. The smaller mills are made sectional to facilitate transportation to the more difficultly accessible mines. The capacity of the smaller mills is about 20 or 25 per cent. that of the larger, but in proportion to the quantity of ore ground they require more power and are subject to greater wear. The notes herein given are from records of the performance of the larger mills, but, in general, apply to the smaller also. THE NATURE OF THE ORE. The ore occurred as a series of flat veins in a highly-decomposed rock, probably alaskite. The primary mineralization comprised pyrite, pyrrhotite, marcasite, chalcopyrite, and quartz; the oxidation-products of which were chiefly hydrated iron oxide or limonite, chrysocolla, azurite, and malachite. The kaolinization of the feldspar of the country resulted in the admixture of a great quantity of clay with the oxidized ore. The quartz was sandy, imbedded in the clay; and probably the greater part represented the residue from the crushed rock in the fissures after leaching, and kaolinization of the feldspar. There was little vein-quartz in the unaltered primary sulphide ore. Only the oxidized ore was mined for the gold that it contained in amounts that averaged $4 per ton. No specks of gold were ever seen in the ore, and the gold obtained by panning was always exceedingly fine. The amalgamation-bullion was about 800 fine in gold and 60 to 80 in silver. The ore delivered at the mill contained from 5 to 15 per cent. of moisture; during the rainy season the quantity was much greater. The moisture and clay made the ore so sticky that it had to be raked over steeply-inclined grizzlies; it hung in the ore-bins,

Oct 1, 1911

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