Search Documents

Discussion of the paper of George K. Burgess, J. J. Crowe, H. S. Rawdon, and R. G. Waltenberg, Finishing Temperatures and Properties of Rails. By Albert Sauveur, R. Trimble, William R. Webster, P. H. Dudley, George B. Waterhouse, M. H. Wickhorst, James Aston, E. F. Kenney, A. W. Gibbs, W. A. Aiken, and G. K. Burgess . . 767 Discussion of the paper of Albert Sauveur, Manganese Steel and the Allotropic Theory. By G. K. Burgess and J. E. Stead 787 Discussion of the paper of J. V. Emmons, The Surface Decarbonization of Tool Steel. By Albert Sauveur, Bradley Stoughton, E. G. Spilsbury, Oliver W. Storey, H. O. Hofman, and J. V..Emmons 790 Discussion of the paper of Richard H. Rice, Turbo Blowers for Blast-Furnace Blowing. By S. G. Valentine, W. McA. Johnson, L. Iversen, J. E. Johnson, Jr., Karl Nibecker, W. Trinks, Otto Banner, H. S. Braman, Arthur G. McKee, and Richard H. Rice . . . 794 Discussion of the paper of J. K. Furst, The Plant of the Duplex Process for Making Steel. By W. McA. Johnson, Arthur G. McKee, Henry D. Hubard, and Bradley Stoughton . . 810 Discussion of the paper of E. C. Harder, The Iron Industry in Brazil. By I. C. White and E. C. Harder 813

Jan 4, 1915

By Oliver Bololes

UNDER the able leadership of Samuel H. Dolbear, the Committee on Nonmetallic Minerals furnished a program of sixteen papers comprising three sessions. An outstanding accomplishment in technology presented at the first session by Benjamin L. Miller and C. H. Breerwood is the application of flotation to the purification of limestone used in cement manufacture. In place of selective quarrying to provide high-grade raw material, the quarry-run stone is pulverized and treated in froth flotation cells for removal of free silica and mica. Some advantages are cheaper quarrying, more complete utilization of quarry rock, avoidance of purchasing high calcium stone, lower fuel cost and improvement in the finished cement. Paul M. Tyler presented the general subject of milling methods as applied to nonmetal lies. He pointed out the importance of some of the more recent refinements in ore dressing, and urged the need of a wider appreciation of their possibilities. The gypsum industry of Canada was described by L. H. Cole. Crystal growth during the setting process was illustrated by moving pictures. The Coastal Plain and interior salt

Jan 1, 1935

By Bjorge, Guy N.

MINING method improve through the gradual process of evolution and in 1340 there were no marked outstanding innovations. On the other hand refinements of detail and betterment: in equipment design continued to progress. Among the most important changes have been the increased application of trucks and highway equipment, including tractors and bull- dozers, to open-pit mining as exemplified by Phelps Dodge's Morenci operations; the Mesabi iron range; and the Tri-State district. Mass or bulk handling contributed its part underground with slurhers and conveyors at Consolidated Coppermines and slushers at Climax; and in open-pit mining. conveyors found increased use on the Mesabi range.

Jan 1, 1941

The following is an incomplete list of members and guests who called at Institute headquarters during the period Feb. 10, 1918 to Mar. 10, 1918: W. G. Anderson, St. John, N. B., Canada. Charles E. Locke, Boston, Mass. L. M. Banks, Camp Meade, Md. E. T. Lednum, Joplin, Mo. P. E. Barbour, Albany, N. Y. C.' K. McDonald, Washington, D. C. Alan M. Bateman, New Haven, Conn. C. T. Malcolmson, Chicago, Ill. Graham Bright, Pittsburgh, Pa. Stuart B. Marshall, Badin, N. C. J. F. Callbreath, Washington, D. C. T. C. Merriman, New Haven, Conn. J. E. S. Clark, Riverside. Cal. Arvid E. Nissen, Gary, Ind. G. H. Clevenger, Palo Alto, Cal. Herbert G. Officer, Conway, S. C. George C. Crossley, Trenton, N. J. J. E. Parker, Bulawayo, Rhodesia, S. Afr. R. H. Eagles, Palmerton, Pa. Francis R. Pyne, Elizabeth, N, J. Charles Enzian, Pottsville, Pa. Alfred Hull Ramage, Joplin, Mo. Albert H. Fay, Washington, D. C. H. H. Stoek, Urbana, Ill. David B. Gemmill, Crown King, Ariz. G. M. Taylor, Colorado Springs; Colo. Ronald Harris, London, Ont., Canada. Charles Tubby, St. Paul, Minn. Wm. J. Hayes, Colombia. So. America. J. B. Tyrrell, Toronto, Canada. B. B. Hood, Chrome, N. J. Edmund W. Westervelt, Ymir, B. C. 0. P. Hood, Pittsburgh, Pa. Carl Zapffe, Brainerd, Minn. H. M. LaFollette, LaFollette, Tenn. W. S. Boyd, formerly superintendent of mines of the Ray Consolidated Copper Co., has been appointed assistant general manager. William Campbell, Professor of Metallurgy, at Columbia University, is acting as metallurgist at the New York Navy Yard.

Jan 4, 1918

By Albert Hill Fay

IN giving a sketch of the geology and mining of the tin-deposits of Cape Prince of Wales, a short description of the geographic and climatic conditions may be of special interest on account of this being a part of the world of which very little is known, even by the reading public. As shown in Fig. 1, the location of the Cape is lat. N. 65° 35' and long. W. 168°. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic ocean ; on the west by Bering strait and on the south by Bering sea. It is the western-most point of the mainland of North America, and to the west, across the strait, one can see East Cape, Siberia, which consists of a rugged, steep coast of granite cliffs. The climatic conditions are of interest because of the part they have had in the surface geology, and also because they affect mining from an economic standpoint. In connection with the climate and geography, it does not seem out of place here to quote a few lines from the prologue of The Wandering Jew, written by Eugene Sue, under the caption '1 The Land's End of Two Worlds."

Sep 1, 1907

By H. F. Yancey, M. R. Geer, C. L. Allyn, R. H. Eckhouse

W. M. Bertholf—This is an excellent report of a well-conducted investigation, of sufficient scope to provide generally useful information. Some years ago we had occasion to test the Humphreys spiral on the middling from our table plant. The conclusions reached in this investigation come as no surprise to us. In certain applications it is virtually impossible to improve on the spiral from the monetary returns point of view even though its "efficiency" may be low. We have noted that in all successful applications of the spiral the feed is "classified," hence we were somewhat disappointed in the showing the spiral made on the Poplar Ridge coal, the only one of the four which could really be considered the equivalent of a classified feed. As was noted in the paper, however, this coal contained a considerable amount of middle and high-gravity material, apparently more than enough to make up for the theoretical advantage of small particles in these categories. A comparison of particle size in the various specific gravity classes of the four coals is given in table XXV. Table XXV. Comparison of Particle Size in Various Specific Gravity Classes. (Unit size, 150 m to 0.105 mm) Black Eagle Clements Poplar Ridge Rosly,n 1.3 Float 7.47 10.60 8.68 9.66 1.3 x 1.4 7.89 7.96 7.58 8.20 1.4x1.6 7.24 8.36 5.58 6.85 1.6 x 1.8 7.98 8.31 3.42 7.33 Sink 1.8 7.85 7.13 5.09 7.41 Avg 7.69 10.08 7.15 8.38 This tabulation indicates that there was very little difference in the size of the various gravity fractions for three of the coals, Poplar Ridge varying the most. Examination of figs. 3, 6, 7, and 8 reveals a general similarity of behavior for all coals except Black Eagle. Would the authors care to speculate on the reasons for the difference in the distribution curve for the sink 1.60 material in the washed coal of fig. 3 as compared to the others? This difference is particularly noticeable in the 8xl4-mesh size. Was there a "shape effect"? J. D. Price and W. M. Bertholf—The performance data on three of the coals studied appear to be typical, but there are certain departures from the general pattern in the case of the Poplar Ridge coal which are large enough to deserve special consideration. For example: 1. Despite the high proportion of sink 1.60 material in the feed, it was not possible to make a corresponding proportion of high-ash reject. (See table XVI.) 2. Even though approximately 70 pct of the feed was 1.40 float with an ash content of 6.6 pct, and this

Jan 1, 1951

By R. H. Eckhouse, M. R. Geer, H. F. Yancey, C. L. Allyn

W. M. Bertholf—This is an excellent report of a well-conducted investigation, of sufficient scope to provide generally useful information. Some years ago we had occasion to test the Humphreys spiral on the middling from our table plant. The conclusions reached in this investigation come as no surprise to us. In certain applications it is virtually impossible to improve on the spiral from the monetary returns point of view even though its "efficiency" may be low. We have noted that in all successful applications of the spiral the feed is "classified," hence we were somewhat disappointed in the showing the spiral made on the Poplar Ridge coal, the only one of the four which could really be considered the equivalent of a classified feed. As was noted in the paper, however, this coal contained a considerable amount of middle and high-gravity material, apparently more than enough to make up for the theoretical advantage of small particles in these categories. A comparison of particle size in the various specific gravity classes of the four coals is given in table XXV. Table XXV. Comparison of Particle Size in Various Specific Gravity Classes. (Unit size, 150 m to 0.105 mm) Black Eagle Clements Poplar Ridge Rosly,n 1.3 Float 7.47 10.60 8.68 9.66 1.3 x 1.4 7.89 7.96 7.58 8.20 1.4x1.6 7.24 8.36 5.58 6.85 1.6 x 1.8 7.98 8.31 3.42 7.33 Sink 1.8 7.85 7.13 5.09 7.41 Avg 7.69 10.08 7.15 8.38 This tabulation indicates that there was very little difference in the size of the various gravity fractions for three of the coals, Poplar Ridge varying the most. Examination of figs. 3, 6, 7, and 8 reveals a general similarity of behavior for all coals except Black Eagle. Would the authors care to speculate on the reasons for the difference in the distribution curve for the sink 1.60 material in the washed coal of fig. 3 as compared to the others? This difference is particularly noticeable in the 8xl4-mesh size. Was there a "shape effect"? J. D. Price and W. M. Bertholf—The performance data on three of the coals studied appear to be typical, but there are certain departures from the general pattern in the case of the Poplar Ridge coal which are large enough to deserve special consideration. For example: 1. Despite the high proportion of sink 1.60 material in the feed, it was not possible to make a corresponding proportion of high-ash reject. (See table XVI.) 2. Even though approximately 70 pct of the feed was 1.40 float with an ash content of 6.6 pct, and this

Jan 1, 1951

CONTENTS PAGE. WHITE, DAVID.-Environmental Conditions of Deposition of Coal. Discussed by E. C. Jeffrey, George H. Ashley, Reinhardt Thiessen, S. W. Parr, David B. Reger, Wilbur A. Nelson, James F. Kemp, E. S. Moore, Homer G. Turner, David White, A. C. Noé, W. A. I. M. van Waterschoot van der Gracht 2 THIESSEN, REINHARDT.-The Constitution of Coal. Discussed by Edward C. Jeffrey, Reinhardt Thiessen, Ralph H. Sweetser, David White 12 TURNER, HOMER G.-Microscopical Structure of Anthracite. Discussed by E. S. Moore, Edward C. Jeffrey, Reinhardt Thiessen, H. J. Rose, James F. Kemp, David White, Clarence A. Seyler, A. C. Noé 14 JEFFREY, EDWARD C.-Coal in Relation to Coke. Discussed by H. J. Rose, David White, E. S. Sinkinson, S. W. Parr, James F. Kemp, Edward C. Jeffrey, Reinhardt Thiessen, Chas. R. Fettke 17 FRANCIS, W., and WHEELER, R. V.-The Resolution of Coal by Oxidation. Discussed by Edward C. Jeffrey, S. W. Parr, E. S. Sinkinson, Reinhardt Thiessen, David White 23 TIDESWELL, F. V., and WHEELER, R. V.-The Constitution of Coal. Discussed by David White, A. C. Fieldner 24 JOLLY, J., and WHEELER, R. V.-Organic Sulfur Compounds in Coal. Discussed by S. W. Parr 25 SINNATT, F. S.-Selective Combustion in Coal. Discussed by J. D. Davis, A. C. Fieldner, Geo. S. Rice, W. M. Grant, H. J. Rose, S. W. Parr, David White 25 COBB, JOHN W.-Nitrogenous Constituents of Coal. Discussed by S. W. Parr, H. J. Rose, Reinhardt Thiessen 28 PARR, S. W., and HOBART, F. B.-Coal and Oxygen. Discussed by J. D. Davis, W. T. Thorm, Jr., S. W. Parr, H. J. Rose, A. C. Fieldner, F. F. Jorgensen, David White, W. M. Grant 30 FIELDNER, A. C., and DAVIS, J. D.-Modern Views of Chemistry of Coals of Different Ranks as Conglomerates. Discussed by S. W. Parr, David White, Reinhardt Thiessen, A. C. Fieldner, Clarence A. Seyler 32 EBY, J. BRIAN.-Contact Metamorphism of Some Colorado Coals. Discussed by Geo. C. McFarlane, W. T. Thom, Jr 35 WHITE, DAVID.-Progressive Regional Carbonization of Coals. Discussed by A. C. Fieldner, Homer G. Turner, W. A. J. M. van Waterschoot van der Gracht, A. C. Noé 37 THOM, W. T., JR.-Moisture as a Component of the Volatile Matter of Coal. Discussed by A. C. Fieldner, S. W. Parr, Clarence A. Seyler, W. T. Thom, Jr., R. D. Hall 39

Jan 7, 1925

By AIME AIME

T HE Mining Methods Committee held its initial meeting* on Tuesday afternoon, with F. W. Bradley in the chair and W. Y. Westervelt as vice- chairman. The first paper to be presented was "A Plea for a U. S. Court of Patent Appeals," for which Kenneth W. Greenawalt ably pleaded. The paper (which was published in full in last month's issue) is so carefully prepared that no synopsis can do it justice. It discusses the opposed views of some patent lawyers and other lawyers and members of the judiciary as, for example, Chief Justice Taft who is quoted as saying in 1921: "I think it is a great deal better to take a first class lawyer and a first-class judge and make him a good patent expert than it is to take a patent expert and try to make him a first-class lawyer and a good judge." Mr. Greenawalt argued the need for specialized scientific and engineering interest and understanding to enable a lawyer or judge to prepare or interpret patent specifications and decide the originality necessary for a valid invention. He proposed the special U. S. Court of Patent Appeals to also counteract the costly confusion and injustice now ruling where a patent may be declared valid in the courts of certain States and invalid by the courts of other States.

Jan 1, 1930

By A. W. Fahrenwald

FLOTATION practice in Idaho is now about 13 years old. The advance has been steady during these 13 years. The operators have been alert to take advantage of the newest developments and they have themselves made a constant effort to improve their work. The metallurgical improvements are clue to the development of (1) better equipment, (2) better reagents, and (3) better understanding and control of the process. During the 8 years which the writer has been in this district, there has been continuous experimentation by several companies to improve the ore dressing by flotation methods. Gravity concentration has fought hard to hold its place, and although it is true that gravity processes have been improved during this period, nevertheless, in several of the important mills of the district the few tables that managed to hang on have finally given way. On the straight-lead ores, tables and jigs are still used; and, due to better classification, their hold on this job has been strengthened.

Jan 1, 1927

By J. P. Smith

Permian salt measures carry extensive lenses of soluble potash salts in north central Germany. Potash deposits of Oligocene age are found in the Upper Rhine Graben of Alsace (France), and in the Catalonian Basin of Spain. These deposits are found in a wide range of structural settings. Reserves are large, and the production of potash salts is an important phase in the economy of each of these countries.

Jan 1, 1950

By Francis Church Lincoln

I. SITUATION AND SURROUNDINGS. THE Promontorio mine is situated at the northern end of the Sierra San Francisco de Coneto, in the town of Promontorio, Partido of El Oro, State of Durango, Mexico. As shown in the sketch-map, Fig. 1, the nearest railroad station is Chinacates on the Mexican International Railroad, 82 miles north of the city of Durango. The mine is 16 miles north of the station by air-line. It is reached by means of a good wagon-road which first crosses the Guatimapé Plain, passing the ranches of San Antonio and San Julian, to Estacion-a distance of about 15.5 miles-and then entering the mountains crosses the Sierra to Promontorio-a further distance of 11.5 miles¬making in all a distance of 27 miles by road from railroad to mine. Promontorio is just beyond the summit of the range, at an elevation of about 8,000 ft. above sea-level, or 1,350 ft. above the Chinacates station. The Castillo de San Francisco, the highest peak in the Sierra, has an altitude of 10,000 ft., and the Promontorio road crosses the summit of the ridge at an elevation of 9,000 ft. by a pass just below this peak known as the Puerto del Almagre. The Promontorio mill is situated at Santa Ives, 2 miles by tram or 3 miles by wagon-road to the north of Promontorio and about 600 ft. lower. The Sierra San Francisco de Coneto decreases in height towards the north and west till it comes to an end at the Melchor Arroyo on the ranches of Melchor and Ramos. Beyond this arroyo another range, the Sierra de la Candela, begins. In the vicinity of the Promontorio mine the hills are very rugged and the surface is furrowed by ravines which contain running streams during the rainy season-July, August and

Jan 1, 1908

By Charles R. Keyes

Discussion of the paper of Charles R. Keyes, Bi-Monthly Bulletin, No. 19, January, 1908, pp. 1 to 31. BERNARD MACDONALD, Guanajuato, Mexico (communication to the Secretary*) :-Mr. Keyes's paper is very interesting to me because of my personal experience with the development of the ore-deposits of Lake Valley. Seeing that many of the important facts connected with the early history of the development of these mines are either now unknown, or have become more or less distorted, and thinking that it would be interesting as well as valuable to have these recorded as a historical supplement to Mr. Keyes's elaborate paper, I present the following narrative: In February, 1881, soon after the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé railroad made connection with the Southern Pacific at Denting, N. M., the Lake Valley properties were brought to the attention of New York and Philadelphia capitalists by John A. Miller, of Silver City, N. M. At that time silver was $1.10 all ounce and silver-mining was very attractive. Vast fortunes were being made in Leadville and other Colorado camps, and Tombstone was pouring out its millions. Lake Valley, like all' other mining-camps in their early history, had its drawbacks, but the railroad, then passing within 14 miles of it, mitigated many of these. The camp lay in the foot-hills of the Black range, in which the Apaches had their stronghold, and raided, when it suited their convenience, the surrounding country, killing the prospectors and pioneer settlers and stealing their cattle. This band of Indians was joined by the outlaws and desperadoes from the frontiers of Texas, Arizona, and Mexico, who collectively defied the United States soldiers, restrained, as the latter were, by the mollycoddles from the East. The brutality of the Indian raids through Arizona and New Mexico in those days would scarcely be believed now, but they stain in deep

Feb 1, 1909

By R. F. Sheldon

The discovery of the Carlin deposit was the result of discriminating geologic research and prospecting devoted to the objective of finding a gold deposit that could be mined by open pit methods. By the late 1950s, Newmont Mining Corp. was becoming increasingly concerned about the trend of rapidly rising underground mining costs unless bulk mining methods could be applied. The desirability of finding an open-pittable gold deposit was apparent. The attention of Newmont geologists was directed to Nevada by the publication of two papers: "Paleozoic rocks in North-central Nevada" (1958) and "Alinements of Mining Districts in North-central Nevada" (1960), both authored or co-authored by Ralph J. Roberts of the United States Geological Survey. John Livermore, geologist of Newmont Exploration Ltd., attended a talk given by Roberts in Ely, Nevada in the summer of 1961. These papers and the address by Roberts gave details concerning the Roberts Mountain overthrust, a 483 km (300-mile) long, shallowdipping fault which pushed clastic and volcanic rocks of early and middle Paleozoic age eastward over younger marine formations. Subsequent uplift and doming with consequent erosion had locally removed the upper plate strata exposing windows of lower plate carbonate rocks. Roberts noted that the principal mineral deposits of the region, including gold, were associated with these windows which exhibited a preferred alinement. In the summer and fall of 1961 Newmont's exploration geologists John Livermore and J. Alan Coope began a systematic examination of gold occurrences associated with these windows, aided by further discussion with geologists of the US Geological Survey. Attention was directed to the Lynn and Carlin windows, particularly to those formations lying immediately above and below the Roberts Mountain fault. It was appreciated at the time that many of the gold occurrences in the region were unusual in that no colours were obtained even when panning high grade samples. A large number of rock samples were collected and analysed using fire assaying procedures, and background values for gold were established. This systematic rock sampling resulted in the identification of a distinct area of anomalous gold values, and a block of claims was staked in late October, 1961. These claims, plus an adjoining optioned 32.4 ha (80 acres) of ground, cover the main area of the present Carlin gold mine. Prior to snowfall that winter, one of the bulldozed assessment pits required to establish a claim's discovery exposed 24 m (80 ft) of mineralization assaying 0.007 kg/t (0.22 oz per st) gold. In the spring of 1962 a program of trenching, sampling, and geological mapping followed by rotary drilling was underway. Other properties in the area were acquired. The generally undistinguished nature of the dolomitic siltstones and silty dolomitic limestones hosting the micron-sized gold particles, coupled with the lack of visually associated guide minerals, made identification of the gold bearing areas very difficult. The entire drill column had to be assayed to ensure that values were not overlooked, as very often sections that might be assumed to be waste turned out to be high grade. On September 10, 1962 a high grade intersection of 24 m (80 ft) assaying over 0.03 kg/t (1 oz per st) gold was encountered in the third hole drilled. An expanded program of both rotary and diamond drilling led to the further delineation of the ore body. By December 1963, the exploration program had established an initial reserve of 10 Mt (11 million st) grading 0.01 kg/t (0.32 oz per st) gold. A 1.8 kt/d (2,000 stpd) processing plant was constructed and the first gold bullion was poured in May, 1965, just two years and eight months after the discovery hole was drilled. REFERENCES Roberts, R.J., Holz, P.E., Gilluly, J., and Ferguson, H.G., 1958, "Paleozoic Rocks in North-central Nevada," Bulletin American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Vol. 42, No. 12. Roberts, R.J., 1960, "Alinements of Mining Districts in North-central Nevada," Professional Paper 400-B, US Geological Survey, Article 9.

Jan 1, 1985

W. H. PORTH, New York, N.Y.-I would like to ask what effect segregation of lead would have upon the corrosion of sheet zinc; also what effect would abnormal percentages of iron have upon the ductility of Sheet zinc? One of our difficulties seemed to be that the cells, when standing on the shelf, corroded. We have attributed this to local action in the zinc sheet. We would like to know whether the segregation of, these impurities in this sheet zinc will have any effect on the local action occur-ring in sheet zinc. Lately we have had difficulty in punching some sheet zinc, in that the sheets split in the die. The section that split seemed to have an abnormallly high percentage of cadmium and iron; would that cause it to become brittle? C. H. MATHEWSON.-Iron is one of the most unwelcome impurities when high ductility is the principal requirement in rolled zinc. High

Jan 12, 1919

By HUGH E. McKinstry

OPENING the sessions of the Mining Geology Committee, the program on postwar mineral controls drew a larger attendance than any other session of the entire meeting. In view of its general interest, the papers of this session, or a substantial portion of them, are printed elsewhere in this issue. Whether control of mineral resources can help to promote peace, how controls could be applied and to whom, are questions so far-reaching that naturally no pat answer was agreed upon. In fact the discussion took on something of the flavor of a debate between those who favor strict control and those who felt that attempting to ration nations in peacetime would defeat its own ends. Discussion from the floor emphasized the difficulties in administering any international control and the $64 question, that no one cared to answer, asked by a courageous young lady who was induced to mount the rostrum for the purpose, was whether the United Nations should exchange mineral controllers to police each other.

Jan 1, 1944

"Acta Metallurgical, C E Birchenall, Dec '58 Alfred Noble Joint Prize Committee F B Foley, Dec '61 American Association for the Advancement of Science J T MacKenzie, Dec '58, 0 B J Fraser, Dec '57 American Geological Institute Charles F Park, Oct '58, Arthur Montgomery, Oct '59 Committee on Government Relations American Power Conference J P Weir, T D Hess American Standards Association , Mining Standards Board E R Borcherdt, Jan '59, Otto Herres, '59, J K Richardson, Dec '58, Alternate E W Bullard

Jan 1, 1958

By O. W. Shimer, D. C. Helms, C. E. Brown

The early history and progress of anthracite stripping, from the first known operation at Summit Hill in 1821 through 1917, was covered in 1917 in a paper by J. B. Warriner,1 then chief engineer, now president of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Co., and stripping methods between 1917 and 1931 were the subject of a paper in 1931 by H. H. Otto,2 of the Hudson Coal Company. . The present paper is confined to methods used today on pitching beds in the western middle and southern anthracite fields. The anthracite industry, not unlike other large industries, had been affected for more than a decade by the adverse economic conditions of the country. High development and operating costs and the competition of other fuels caused some collieries to be closed temporarily, while others were permanently abandoned. In order to obtain a larger tonnage at a lower development cost, a larger stripping program was put into effect by many companies. In 1932, stripping operations accounted for 3½ million tons, or 7 per cent of the total anthracite production of the year, and in the next 10 years this increased until more than double that amount, or over 14 per cent of the total production, was from stripping operations. These figures represent the total production of the entire anthracite region; unfortunately, the figures have not been separated from the different fields. There are some operations in the southern and middle western fields where the tonnage obtained from stripping amounts to more than 30 per cent of the total colliery production. Stripping operations on pitching beds present difficult problems. Owing to the various geological formations, a different situation is encountered in nearly every stripping pit; and because of the proximity of an overlying bed, it is very often necessary to load the entire overburden into trucks and haul it out of the pit to the dump area, although back filling and casting is done whenever possible. Beds in the areas described in this paper pitch from 20" to 90 and some are on the invert in many sharp folds and faults. Planning The more successful strippings have had adequate engineering analysis. Some work is being done without much preliminary planning, but many strippings would have failed completely if close supervision by the engineering department had not been . maintained. Locations of stripping areas are determined as follows: I. By constructing cross sections over the areas and drilling sufficient diamond-drill or well drill holes to study the strata and to determine the location, thickness

Jan 1, 1944

By V. J. Decarlo, J. J. Gilman

POLISHING pure zinc differs somewhat from polishing less reactive metals. The problem is not that of finding a suitable reagent, but rather of producing the polish in such a way that the surface remains polished after it is removed from the polishing bath. In other words., the anodic film that is vital to the polishing mechanism' must be tightly adherent and nonporous. It is usually desirable that it be thin. Polishing solutions consist of proper proportions of an acid and a strong oxidizing agent. In electro-polishing, the external circuit acts as the oxidizing agent. The proportions are critical because the essential surface film must be maintained at approximately constant thickness during the polishing process. In the case of zinc, chiefly two oxidizing agents, chromic and nitric acids, have been used. The simplest polishing reagent is concentrated nitric acid. However, it has certain disadvantages. It tends to pit: an excessive amount of heat is evolved during polishing; and the oxide film that it produces is not very stable, so that the polished sur-

Jan 1, 1957

By H. A. BURK

THE ores of the Tonopah, district are hard, compact and' highly siliceous. They contain from .1 to 2, per cent. of sulfide material, of which argentite is the valuable mineral; occasionally pyrargyrite is found in the richer ore. The sulfide is, chiefly pyrite with small amounts of chalcopyrite,. and sometimes sphalerite. The ore also contains a small amount of gold-about 1 per cent. by weight of the silver present. The major gangue constituent is quartz but frequently considerable rhodonite-called by the miners pink manganese-is present. For primary crushing, jaw and gyratory crushers are used. These crushers are of such capacity that, in most cases, one 8-hr. shift will supply the mill for 24 hr. The Extension Co., at the Victor ore house, passes the ore through a 13 by. 24-in. Blake type McFarland crusher set at 13 in., and at the No. 29 re house, a 14 by 24-in. Blake type Traylor crusher is used. The ore is thus crushed to stamping size in one reduction. The capacity of each crusher is about 40 tons per hr.; the power consumption is 0.6 kw. per ton.

Jan 1, 1921