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By D. J. Reed

Concord coal mine near Bessemer, Ala., built, owned, and operated by Tennessee Coal & Iron Div., U. S. Steel Corp., produces only a metallurgical grade for use as coke in blast furnaces of the division at the Fairfield and Ensley works. Capacity of the operation is approximately 800 tph, half of which is delivered to the coke and coal chemical plant at Fairfield after beneficiation to metallurgical grade coal. The remaining portion of the mine run is rock and refuse removed during preparation. Concord mine coal is hoisted to the surface coal preparation plant by an underground slope conveyor. The slope conveyor is 2449 ft long and has a lift of 729 ft. At time of installation the Concord mine slope conveyor was the largest single conveyor unit ever made with respect to belt horsepower and total lift. After several years it became necessary to determine the cause of slope conveyor cover wear.

Nov 1, 1956

By C. B. Foraker

THE Magma mine, of the Magma Copper Co., at Superior, Pinal County, Arizona, is 68 miles east of Phoenix and 21 miles west of Miami, Arizona, on highway U. S. 180. Temperatures and Underground Waters Surface Temperatures.—The average surface dry-bulb temperature at Superior is 72.4°; wet-bulb, 57.4°; with an indicated relative humidity of 38 per cent. The average yearly rainfall from 1921 to 1936, inclusive, was 18.74 in. The maximum condition of the atmosphere is in June, July and August, and the minimum is in January and February. The surface temperatures, of course, influence the temperatures of the downcast shafts; however, the variation between winter and summer causes a difference of only 2" to 3" in the stopes and working places that are not close to the intake shafts. Average atmospheric conditions are shown in Fig. 1. Rock Temperatures.—Rock temperatures on the deeper levels of the mine are as follows:

Jan 1, 1940

By C. B. Foraker

THE Magma mine, of the Magma Copper Co., at Superior, Pinal County, Arizona, is 68 miles east of Phoenix and 21 miles west of Miami, Arizona, on highway U. S. 180. Temperatures and Underground Waters Surface Temperatures.—The average surface dry-bulb temperature at Superior is 72.4°; wet-bulb, 57.4°; with an indicated relative humidity of 38 per cent. The average yearly rainfall from 1921 to 1936, inclusive, was 18.74 in. The maximum condition of the atmosphere is in June, July and August, and the minimum is in January and February. The surface temperatures, of course, influence the temperatures of the downcast shafts; however, the variation between winter and summer causes a difference of only 2" to 3" in the stopes and working places that are not close to the intake shafts. Average atmospheric conditions are shown in Fig. 1. Rock Temperatures.—Rock temperatures on the deeper levels of the mine are as follows:

Jan 1, 1940

By Frank V. Hicks

THE following paper-in no sense a technical paper-is a summary of a safety campaign instituted by a coal-mining company to improve an unfortunate safety record. The experience should be suggestive equally to coal and metal-mining companies. With few precedents to follow in the beginning, the course was charted by trial and error. The endeavor, often disheartening, finally resulted in the capture of the most coveted safety trophy in the mining industry, "The Sentinels of Safety," awarded by the Hercules Powder Co. of Wilmington, Del., through the U. S. Bureau of Mines. The period described covers the 10-year interval, 1924 to 1933, the year 1933 being that for which the award was made. The coal company considered has produced annually for a number of years an average of 2,750,000 tons of coal, employing at various times from 1.800 to 3000 men. Prior to 1924, the

Jan 1, 1935

Research and Development, once considered a luxury item only for well-heeled companies, has in the last two decades come into its own as a vital contributor to the fortunes of electronic, automotive, chemical and aerospace firms. In terms of money and talent poured into research, the mining industry is still far behind those industries. Although the U.S. Bureau of Mines, plus various mining and manufacturing firms and universities have made notable contributions to mining technology, the historical pattern of mining R&D shows a heavy reliance on the results of research in other industries. It is difficult to tell whether this pattern will change significantly in the future, but there is evidence of a growing awareness by mining officials that greater R&D efforts are going to be required not only to meet the nebulous demands of tomorrow's world but to meet the ever-present, mounting pressures being generated by "intra-metals" and "inter-materials" competition.

Jan 1, 1968

By M. W. Cox, V. F. Hollister

Exploration for metallic mineral deposits is carried on by those special adaptations of methods which the explorer believes will yield most economically or satisfactorily the particular answer sought. In this project the usual methods of geologic observation, recording, and interpretation, when combined with magnetic geophysical methods and geochemical soil sampling, led to disclosures of appreciable zinc mineralization where none was visible in surface exposure. Since 1945 considerable work has been done with geochemical prospecting methods, chiefly in determining the presence and distribution of various elements existing in minor amounts in rocks, soil, vegetation or waters of mineralized areas. Such work, in which the U. S. Geological Survey has taken the lead, finds a ready place in the field repertoire of the exploration geologist as a supplement, not a substitute, for other methods. The Chollet project was carried out in 1951 by the American Smelting & Refining Co. near its Van Stone mine in northern Stevens County, Wash., in the area shown in Fig. 1

Oct 1, 1955

By G. B. Gibbs

Various semiempirical equations which relate defect-formation energies and entropies with elastic and thermal properties of a metal crystal are shown to be related by a simple model for lattice energy. An illustrative comparison of theory with experiment is made using self-diffilsion data for fee metals. SEVERAL workers have related the free energy of defect formation with elastic and thermal properties of a crystal lattice, particularly elastic bulk modulus and Debye temperature. The present note shows how the various approaches are related by a simple model for lattice energy. A comparison of theory with experiment is given using the self-diffusion parameters of fee metals. 1) A MODEL OF THE CRYSTAL LATTICE The internal energy per atom in a metallic lattice may be written U=Ui-Ue [1] where Ui and Ue refer to ion-ion interaction and valence electron energies, respectively. The volume per atom V has an equilibrium value 52 for which

Jan 1, 1968

By Oswald J. Heinrich

(Supplementary Paper.) IN conclusion of a series of deep exploration-borings with the diamond drill, I beg to submit the following statements, supplernentary to those in my former papers on this subject: Since my communications read at the St. Louis Meeting, in May last, I have finished two more borings, one terminating at the depth of 922 feet 7 inches, the other at the depth of 715 feet 6 inches. The results in regard to time and expenditure have been highly favorable and fully confirmatory of my opinion stated in previous

Jan 1, 1875

By Frank C. Appleyard

Southwest of the town of Saltville in western Virginia is Plasterco, a small village that has been a source of gypsum production since 1815. Boasting the deepest underground gypsum mine in the world, Plasterco has been the site of mining operations by United States Gypsum Co. for more than half a century. And although its own ore supply is dwindling, Plasterco's position as a source of gypsum and gypsum products has been ensured by the recent opening of the nearby Locust Cove mine, one of U.S. Gypsum's newest projects. In the early days, production of gypsum at Plasterco was very small, the primary use of the mineral limited to that of "land plaster"-ground gypsum spread on the land to sweeten the soil. Initial mining was confined to surface outcrops containing gypsum, but the construction of a local plaster-producing calcining plant in the late 1800's coupled with al- most total depletion of the surface rock spurred the start-up of underground operations.

Jan 3, 1965

By Robert Stefanko

Longwall mining which has a long history abroad, was used only on a limited scale in the United States until less than 20 years ago. Modern longwall mining in this country can be said to have begun in 1960 with the first installation of self-advancing props in a coal mine in southern West Virginia. In Europe, because of adverse natural conditions, longwall mining is frequently the only practical method, but, in the United States, the system has had to compete economically with highly productive room-and-pillar systems. However, because it is inherently continuous, it has greater productive potential than room-and-pillar systems, and, therefore, although only about 5% of the total U.S. underground production today is the result of the longwall system, its growth potential is great. As mining, by necessity, progresses deeper and must be done under poorer natural conditions, less opportunity will exist for the room- and-pillar system, and the longwall system will have to be used.

Jan 1, 1981

By Lauren A. Wright

General prosperity marked the industrial mineral industries of the U.S. and Canada in 1962. For most commodities, production and sales exceeded 1961 figures, and for several commodities, all-time production peaks were reached. Many millions of dollars were spent on exploration for and development of industrial mineral deposits, construction of new plant facilities, and expansion and modernization of existing plants. This generally satisfactory state is attributable mostly to a continuing high rate of building and heavy construction. However, for large segments of the industrial mineral field, 1962 was a year of increasingly severe competition and of problems, either existing or potential, of overproduction and overcapacity. Such problems are of particular concern to the asbestos, cement, potash and sulfur industries. As in years past, the trend continued toward larger-scale operations to permit lower production costs per unit of material mined, toward more stringent quality controls and toward marketing methods that provide greater efficiency and customer convenience.

Jan 2, 1963

By W. D. Lacabanne

DRILLING fluids as an aid in drilling holes into the earth have been in use successfully for more than a half a century. Originally used in a primitive fashion in water well drilling before the turn of the century, drilling fluids came into their own in 1901 when they were incorporated as an indispensable part of the newly invented rotary oil drilling method. Since drilling fluids have been the basic factor in successful modern oil well drilling, at- tested by the dramatic growth of the U. S. petroleum industry, their study and development have naturally taken place in the oil industry. An abundance of engineering and scientific literature has appeared on the subject of drilling fluids. Application to Exploration Drilling The drilling fluid system is understandably called the heart of the rotary oil drilling rig. Any other type of rotary rig, such as the diamond drill, should benefit by the incorporation of mud fluids in the drilling scheme.

Jan 12, 1954

By H. R. Steacy, A. H. Lang

Growth of general interest in uranium during the last ten years has been unparalleled in mining history, outranking the popular gold rushes and mining booms of bygone years. This is not surprising, considering the spectacular advances in nuclear research and the fact that a small amount of uranium can provide great quantities of energy for peaceful purposes. There are, however, a number of misconceptions and exaggerations regarding uranium. Many novices have highly exaggerated ideas of the ease of finding workable deposits, as opposed to mere occurrences, and reports of insignificant discoveries are sometimes given much publicity. Beginning about ten years ago mining for uranium has assumed a major place in Canadian and U. S. mineral industries. Uranium is now high on the list of metals produced in Canada. The gross value of uranium production in Canada in 1958, when additional plants now under construction are operating, will probably exceed 180 million dollars.

Jun 1, 1956

By Richard B. Greenwalt, John M. Bertram, George E. Aiken

Agglomeration developments in the iron ore industry of North America over the past twenty years are closely related to shifting patterns in commercially acceptable ore grades and even the definition of iron ores. As early as WW II the rich Mesabi hematites were depleted, ending a 50-year era of direct shipping ores that included reserves of an estimated three billion tons. Decreasing ore grades and rising costs began to force the closing of many underground iron mines and processes were being developed to use domestic low-grade iron deposits. This resulted in the rapid development of iron ore beneficiation processes and signaled the coming trend toward concentration, sintering and pelletizing. Yet even today when agglomeration facilities are treating 90 % of the Mesabi Range product much remains to be done in keeping world-wide competitive forces in check and in ensuring the long- term utilization of these expansive ore supplies in an up-until-now captive U.S. market.

Jan 10, 1973

By Paul H. Lu

This report by the Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, presents several practical and inexpensive types of rock mechanics instrumentation for ground control around longwall panels. Application of these critical parameters, determined by this instrumentation, to the design and modification of rational longwall-mining systems is also discussed. In order to design or select an optimum mine structure or system, realistic and precise values of the design parameters must be determined in operating mines by measuring (1) existing ground stresses, (2) mining induced load transfer, and (3) strata movements as well as deformation moduli and rock strengths. Based on these parameters, rational and realistic criteria for mine design can be established by conducting case studies. It was found that several basic design parameters can be easily measured or determined in situ with simple, inexpensive, and practical instruments such as hydraulic borehole pressure cells, automatic recording convergence meters, automatic recording multiple-anchor-point extensometers, and hydraulic pressure recorders.

Jan 1, 1982

By Arthur F. Johnson

THE principal costs of making a pound of aluminum are for 9 kw-hr of electricity and for 1.9 Ib of the oxide (A1203) called alumina. A pound of alumina is made by digesting 2 or 3 lb of bauxite in hot caustic solutions, settling and filtering out the oxides of silicon, iron, and titanium and precipitating and calcining the A1203 as a pure, white powder. The cost of foreign bauxite delivered at an alumina plant in the U.S. may equal or exceed the cost of its chemical treatment to make alumina. Some of the principal factors affecting costs in the utilization of foreign bauxites are: transportation from mine to market, mineralogical and physical composition of the bauxite, thickness of the bauxite beds and their clay and forest overburden, amen- ability of the bauxite to beneficiation and to caustic extraction of the alumina, and lastly size of bauxite deposits and rate of mining employed.

Jan 6, 1954

International Trade in Nonmetallic Minerals. BY J W FURNESS AND E W PEHRSON (Man &. Met, Sept, 432 2500 words) International trade in nonmetalic minerals (exclusive of fuels) is dominated largely by fertilizer raw materials such as phosphate rock, potash, nitrates, sulphur and pyrites and the miscellaneous group of minerals including asbestos, mica, graphite, fluorspar and china clay Cost of trans¬portation deters any substantial movement of the building materials which usually occur widely in nature and are thus available near consuming centers at relatively low cost This paper, which presents a summary for 1932 of the world production, consumption and principal trade relations of asbestos, china clay, fluorspar, graphite, gypsum, mica, phosphate rock and potash illustrated by world charts, is based on an original study of 15 nonmetallic minerals conducted by the U S Bureau of Mines Practical and Legal Aspects of Mme Financing See METAL MINING Economic Significance of High-grade Concentrates See MILLING AND CONCENTRATION

Jan 1, 1937

John Eliot Allen has been made acting head, dept. of geology, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, N. Mex. He had been associate professor of geology. Robert B. Anderson has accepted a position with the U. S. Steel Co., Gary, W. Va., as assistant to the superintendent, No. 2 mine. [ ] Donald L. Archibald has joined the sales dept. of the Ellicott Machine Corp., Baltimore. He formerly had been associated with the Joy Mfg. Co., St. Louis. J. C. Boswell has been appointed manager of the Fairbanks dept., United Smelting Refining & Mining Co. J. B. Metcalfe has been appointed assistant to the president. G. Howard LeFevre was elected vice-president and general manager of metal sales and R. N. Hunt, vice-president and chief geologist was elected a director. R. B. Earling, vice-president and general manager of Alaskan operations, has retired but. will con¬tinue to serve on the board of directors. J. D. Crawford has been appointed general manager of Alaskan operations.

Jan 1, 1952

THERE are two general classes of problems in connection with electric furnaces. First, those relating to the best utilization of the electrical power inside the furnace; second, those connected with the bringing of the electrical power to the point where it is to be utilized. Referring particularly to the latter class of problems, many calculations have been made, covering a wide variety of furnaces, to check the electrical capacity and power factor found from test. The following analysis, made for the purpose of determining the maximum capacity and approximate performance of a new furnace, to operate at 160 volts on a 60-cycle circuit, may be of interest. The first characteristic necessary to determine is the inductance, since this is the factor that limits the amount of power which can be put into the furnace. Inductance is calculated from the dimensions of the furnace, according to formulas of the U. S. Bureau of Standards,1 as

Jan 10, 1918

By Bruce H. Gardner, Stephen A. Miller, Shosei Serata

The Bryan Mound salt dome in Freeport, Texas, has some of the largest and oldest solution caverns in the U.S. There are a total of five caverns of varying shapes and sizes randomly distributed throughout the salt dome. When the caverns were converted from a brine production to an oil storage operation, the effects on long-term stability of the caverns and inter-cavern behavior were analyzed to evaluate the future safety of the storage operation. The analysis was based on a worst-possible-case scenario, including accidental wellhead pressure loss. The impact of this pressure loss upon the thinnest partition between the two closest caverns was analyzed, using a case example of storing lightest weight LPG, thereby creating maximum differential pressures between these two caverns. The finite element method with the REM computer code was utilized for this analysis. Results of the analysis illustrate the basic mechanisms of the long-term behavior of the multiple caverns in the LPG storage operation.

Jan 1, 1985