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By James Yancik

The Howe Coal Co. is mining the Oklahoma Lower Hartshorne bed which ranges in seam thickness from 38 to 42 in. and pitches approximately 7° to the northeast. The raw feed to the cleaning plant averages about 20% ash and 1.10% sulfur, being reduced in the cleaning process to 4.8% ash and 0.9% sulfur with a free swelling index of 8 or 8%. This coal rivals the Pocohantas seam in chemistry and coking characteristics but has better fluidity than the Pocohantas seam coal. The coal is presently being prepared for the Japanese steel market in an 85-tph pilot plant designed and constructed by Roberts & Schaefer. The cleaning-plant flowsheet is discussed in detail.

Jan 1, 1972

US 4,185,078-In the recovery of rhenium values from an aqueous sodium molybdate solution contained in the hydrometallurgical processing of roasted molybdenite, improved results are realized by using a described extractant consisting of a quaternary ammonium compound and benzene or other highly aromatic solvent which dissolves a quaternary ammonium-rhenium complex Essentially all rhenium is recovered from the solution and the extractant can be regenerated and recycled. This patent is a continuation-in-part of US Patent No. 4,049,771, dated Sept. 20, 1977. L R. Quatrini and M.B MacInnis, assigned to GTE Sylvania Inc. Jan 22, 1980. 6 pp (423-49). Flied. 7-19-78 (926,167).

Jan 1, 1982

New York Meets first Wednesday after first Tuesday of each month. J. E. JOHNSON, Jr., Chairman EDGAR RICKARD; Vice-Chairman D. M LIDDELL, Secretary, 7 Wall St., New York, N. Y. C. A. BORN, Treasurer JOHN V. N. DORR - LEWIS W. FRANCIS Boston Meets first Monday of each winter month. R. L. AGASSIZ, Chairman JAMES G. CARLETON, Vice-Chairman E. E. BUGBEE Secretary-Treasurer, -Mass. Inst. of Technology. Cambridge, Mass. W. E. C. EUSTIS G. A. PACKARD Columbia Holds four sessions during year. Annual meeting in September or October. W. H. LINNEY, Chairman OSCAR LACHMUND. Vice-Chairman LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, P. 0. Drawer 2154, Spokane, Wash. STANLY A. EASTON S. SHEDD

Jan 1, 1918

By E. D. Gardner

IN 1947 the metal-mining industry . passed through a year of readjustment; catching up on development work has caused production to suffer. Skilled labor has been short in most mining districts, notwithstanding the highest wage rate paid in the history of the industry. The trend has continued toward increased mechanization and refinements in practices and methods to increase the tons produced per man-shift. Improvements in procedures, however, have not kept pace with rising labor rates; and, in general, labor costs per ton mined have steadily increased since the war years. Prices of base metals have been the highest in a generation, but most producing companies can afford to pay the high wages. Capital expenditures have been approved for improvements to increase the output per man, both to reduce unit labor costs and to increase output. Surveys indicate a continuing

Jan 1, 1948

C. M. GARLAND,§ Chicago, Ill. (written discussion 11).-7--In the development of Mr. Traer's method for the low-temperature coking of Illinois coals, after the principles laid clown by Prof. Parr, it was soon demon-strated that, in order to yield a product of uniform volatile content, the coal must be coked in thin layers, and consequently must be handled in comparatively small volumes. This means, in the first place, that great care must he observed in the design of the coking chambers to prevent the loss of the products of distillation, and, in the-second place, that labor-saving devices must be utilized to the greatest possible extent in order to reduce the cost of handling.

Jan 12, 1918

New York Meets first Wednesday after first Tuesday of each month. J. E. JOHNSON, JR., Chairman EDGAR RICKARD, Vice-Chairman D. MI. LIDDELL, Secretary, 7 Wall St., New York, N. Y. C. A. BOHN, Treasurer JOHN V. N. DORR LEWIS W. FRANCIS Boston Meets first Monday of each winter month. R. L. AGASSIZ, Chairman JAMES G. CARLETON, Vice-Chairman E. E. BUGBEE Secretary-Treasurer, Mass. Inst. of Technology. Cambridge, Mass. W. E. C. EUSTIS G. A. PACKARD Columbia Holds four sessions during year. Annual meeting in September or October. W. H. LINNEY, Chairman OSCAR LACHMUND, Vice-Chairman LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, P. O. Drawer 2154, Spokane, Wash. STANLY A. EASTON S. SHEDD

Jan 8, 1917

By Frank C. Roberts

Neglecting the hydrogen and hydrocarbons, 1 will assume the following analysis as a fair average composition, by weight, of the waste gases escaping from a coke-burning blast-furnace: CO2............17.25 CO,............25.25 N,.............57.50 100.00 The 25.25 CO requires for combustion 62.6 of air, or 11.398 of oxygen, necessitating the passage of 48.202 nitrogen into the products of combustion. The latter, therefore, have the following composition: CO2,,............ 56.9 N,............105.7 Tile total specific heats of these quantities of the respective gases are 12.31 and 25.79, giving for the combined product, 38.1 approximately. That is, the product of combustion will absorb 38.1

Jan 1, 1889

By P. J. Clifford, A. B. Brown

The development of computerised mine planning has been hindered by the cost of processing the large data bases associated with mineral deposits and the inherent inconvenience of performing an interactive process on a time-shared computer. A dedicated computer is ideally suited for the purpose but reasonably priced micro/mini-computers have not had the capacity to store the volume of data or the processing capability required. Hardware development has cleared the way for the development of truly interactive mine planning software, covering the complete range of activities associated with mine planning, from geological assessment to short-term scheduling of operations, incorporating them into a single system using a common database. The integrated system, comprising software and dedicated hardware, adds previously unattainable speed, flexibility and clarity to the planning process because it has been tailored exclusively for that purpose.

Jan 1, 1983

Montreal, April 6-7. "Resilient" and "bullish" were the terms used by R. D. Mushlitz of Asarco and K. C. Hendrick of Noranda Sales Corp. respectively, to describe the near term prospects for lead and zinc. The two men delivered their predictions at a joint meeting of the Lead Industries Association and the Zinc Institute held here. In speaking before a packed audience, Mushlitz insisted that "the lead industry is far from the sedentary one which many would have us believe, and although it may be slow and tortuous at times, . . . it is a viable and progressive industry which won't give up easily to the various pressures. . . . and, in the long run, will prevail."

Jan 5, 1972

By J. Weertman

The paper of Gifkins and Snowden considers the interesting but difficult problem of determining the stress dependence of secondary (steady-state) creep at low stresses. These authors have concluded that at stresses below 250 psi (2 x 107 dynes per sq cm) the secondary creep rate of lead is proportional to the stress (viscous creep) and is not proportional to the stress raised to about a fifth power. The experimental data considered by them were obtained on tests conducted at room temperature and at 50°C. The lowest stress employed was 50 psi (3.5 X 106 dynes per sq cm). The authors pointed out the main difficulty in determining the stress dependence of creep at low stresses. The creep tests must be run for very long lengths of time. However they made no estimates of when an experimental creep rate determination must be rejected because it does not represent a true steady-state or minimum creep rate. In order to be certain that a creep curve is within the steady-state region, the total creep strain should be of the order of 0.1 to 0.2. For a creep test of a year's duration this requirement implies that a secondary creep rate smaller than about 10-3 per hr cannot be measured reliably. The corresponding creep rate for a 10-year test is 10-6 per hr. The creep rates of the tests that were considered by the authors to prove the existence of viscous creep were of the order of or less than 10-6 per hr. One can conclude reasonably that this data does not prove unambiguously that large strain steady-state creep rate of lead is proportional to the stress in the stress range of 50 to 250 psi (3.5 x 106 to 2 X 107 dynes per sq cm). Another technique can be used to obtain the stress dependence at low stress levels. The creep rate is a very sensitive function of temperature. The creep rate can be increased by very large amounts merely by increasing the temperature. We carried out steady-state creep tests on lead single crystals25 at temperatures up to 320°C. We were able to obtain creep rate data down to stresses as low as 35 psi (2.5 x 10' dynes per sq cm). Our smallest creep rate was 8 x 10-5 per hr. Thus we obtained large strain, steady-state creep rates to even lower stresses than were considered by Gifkins and Snowden. No evidence was seen for viscous creep. The creep rate was proportional to the stress raised to about a 4.5 power down to the lowest stresses. Since there is no reason to believe that changing the temperature should change the stress dependence of steady-state creep, we feel that large strain viscous creep does not occur in the stress range quoted by the authors for lead single crystals or large-grain polycrystalline samples of lead. This conclusion does not imply that viscous creep may nat occur in a lower stress range or in the same stress range for fine grain material or at creep strains very much smaller than 0.1. Support by the U.S. Office of Naval Research is acknowledged. Authors' Reply R. C. Gifkins and K. U. Snowden We thank Dr. Weertman for his discussion and although, as we hope to show, we do not agree with his reservations, we do concur in stressing the importance of ensuring that creep rates are reliably obtained. Dr. Weertman appears to be content to accept n = 1 for low stresses with fine-grained material but not for single crystals. We believe our results show that the former result cannot be accepted without also accepting the latter. We will also show that the probable errors in our minimum creep rates are insufficient to alter our conclusions, that the criterion proposed by Dr. Weertman is arbitrarily restrictive and his alternative experimental approach possibly invalid. 1) A principal result of our Fig. 1(a) is that n = 1 for polycrystalline specimens at room temperature and 50°C for stresses below -250 psi. There was evidence that crystal slip and grain boundary sliding contributed approximately equaily to the overall strain in this low-stress regime. This implies that either a) grain boundary sliding controls slip within the grains or b) both grain boundary sliding and crystal slip independently occur according to mechanisms which give n = 1. Alternative a does not seem acceptable, so we were forced to consider b. This led us to reexamine work on bicrystals by Strutt and Gifkins and plot curves Fig. l(b). Previously Strutt et al. (loc. cit.), had merged these points with others using the Zener-Holloman parameter and thus, we now believe, had been led to overlook the behavior where n = 1. Curves C and D in Fig. l(b) did appear to confirm the hypotheses that n = 1 for crystal slip at these low stresses and the sliding curve F was similarly of the expected form. It was comparatively easy to find a quantitative theory to account for n = 1 for sliding and the similarity of curves C and D to curve F (all obtained from the same set of specimens) led us to feel that the single-crystal curves were valid. 2) We believe the secondary creep rates for both the polycrystalline and single-crystal specimens to be in error by factors c2. In Fig. 6 creep curves for polycrystalline specimens of lead(1) and lead(II) are reproduced as curves a and b, respectively, and curve c is for a single crystal at 100 psi. It is clear that, although the attainment of secondary creep rate takes 2 years for a and 150 days for b, thereafter the curve is linear for periods of 7 and -1 year, respectively. The single crystal has a linear portion commencing after 20 and extending to 90 days. Creep extension was measured directly using a traveling microscope reading to 0.01 mm on gage lengths marked on the specimens; the gage lengths

Jan 1, 1968

By William Alden

A GREAT landslide occurred on June 23, 1925, in the valley of Gros Ventre River, about 35 miles south of Yellowstone National Park (Fig. 1). The relations of the north-easterly dipping rock formations of the slide scarp and of the dam formed by the slide are shown in the diagrammatic cross-section of the valley (Fig. 2). This generalized section is based on unpublished maps and notes by Eliot Blackwelder, in the files of the U. S. Geological Survey. FIG. 1.-MAP SHOWING SCARP AND DAM (LARGE DOTS) AND LAKE (CROSS-LINED) FORMED BY LANDSLIDE BLOCKING GROS VENTRE RIVER. (Scale 1, in. = 1 mile; contour interval 100 ft. From Grand Teton and Mt. Leidy topographic maps). Heavy rains and melting snow in the Gros Ventre Mountains had saturated clay layers in the Carboniferous strata, which dip toward the valley at angles of 18° to 21°, consequently an enormous mass of rock at the end of the north spur of Sheep Mountain became loosened and, on the afternoon of June 23, slid suddenly down into the valley. Within a few minutes this mass of debris-estimated as 50,000,000 cu. yd.-carrying

Jan 1, 1928

By F. W. Schroeder

AT the annual meeting of the Institute 2 years ago, a paper,1 " Requirements of Refractories for Open Hearths," was presented by F. W. Davis and G. A. Bole of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. In a brief foreword, D. A. Lyon stated that the paper was not to report the results obtained but rather to present an outline to serve as a basis for discussion. The essential parts of an open-hearth furnace were described and the conditions under which they operate. Some constructive discussion followed the reading of the paper. One of the first fellowship investigations undertaken by the Bureau of Mines in 1924 under the cooperative agreement with Carnegie Institute of Technology, through the Metallurgical Advisory Board, was to determine service conditions of open-hearth refractories. The present paper gives the results of this work which was done in the Pittsburgh district and was in charge of the authors. Material contributions in the form of data were contributed by E. N. Bauer, J. W. Campbell, G. H. Pfeiffer and A. Grodner, Carnegie Institute of Technology research fellows. The study covered 18 mos.

Jan 7, 1926

By Edward Sampson, Allan B. Griggs

SURVEYING of many holes drilled by the U. S. Bureau of Mines in the Metaline district has shown surprising deviations. The holes start in the Ledbetter slate (Ordovician) and pass into the underlying gently dipping Metaline limestone (Cambrian) at varying depths, locally in excess of 1000 ft. All holes start vertical, but one had deflected as much as 35° at a depth of only 300 ft. One hole was found to be deflected 70° at a depth of 1000 ft. These deviations were not indicated to the drillers by any action of the rods or machines. Analysis of the survey data in the light of the observed geology indicates that the holes deviate most in the Ledbetter slate and scarcely at all in the Metaline limestone. The upper part of the "limestone"' in most holes is a massive rock strongly altered by hydrothermal action and essentially homogeneous. The slate is only obscurely bedded but has a cleavage, varying from slight to strong, which is unrelated to bedding. Drill holes have deflected to become nearly perpendicular to the cleavage. Several plans and cross sections are submitted showing the behavior of various holes.

Jan 1, 1946

By Craig E. Saporito

INTRODUCTION Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has been very active recently with two major discoveries and its restructuring activities. This paper describes Freeport-McMoRan's businesses, the two major mineral discoveries, and exciting opportunities within the oil and gas operations. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES Freeport-McMoRan is the largest and one of the lowest cost fully integrated U.S. phosphate fertilizer producers. It is the second largest domestic Frasch sulphur producer. Freeport- McMoRan will become the largest domestic producer of Frasch sulphur when its Main Pass Block 299 sulphur deposit reaches full production in 1993. Furthermore, it is the largest transporter of sulphur produced by others. Its oil and gas activities rank among the largest U.S. independents in terms of production and proved reserves. The copper/gold operations in Indonesia are among the world's lowest cost. When expansion operations reach full capacity levels in 1992, the Indonesian copper/gold complex will be the fifth largest copper operation in the world. Operations are divided into three business segments that include: 1. Agricultural minerals, incorporating sulphur, phosphate rock and phosphate fertilizer activities; 2. Energy, including oil and gas activities; and 3. Metals, incorporating copper, gold and silver operations in Indonesia. In early 1989, Freeport-McMoRan announced the discovery of two world-class ore bodies; a sulphur deposit off the coast of Louisiana on Main Pass Block 299, and a copper/gold deposit -- the Grasberg in Indonesia -- approximately two miles away from the existing Ertsberg East operations. As a result of these major discoveries, Freeport- McMoRan decided to carry out a restructuring program. Its purpose was to sell $1.2 to $1.5 billion of non-strategic assets. Debt levels and associated interest expenses will be significantly reduced, and general and administrative expenses will be reduced, which will place Freeport- McMoRan in an excellent position to fund the development of the Main Pass Block 299 sulphur discovery, the Grasberg discovery, and oil and gas discoveries. This restructuring program also will allow Freeport-McMoRan to achieve the greatest future value for shareholders by focusing on its principal businesses (Figure 1). Strategic Restructuring • Sell $1.2 - $1.5 Billion Of Non-Strategic Assets • Significantly Reduce Debt • Significantly Reduce G&A • Fund Development Of Main Pass & Grasberg • Stronger Company; Positioned For Future Growth • Focus Is On Principal Businesses: - Sulphur/Phosphate Fertilizers - Indonesian Copper/Gold - Oil And Natural Gas Figure 1 - Strategic Restructuring AGRICULTURAL MINERALS Main Pass Block 299 Discovery The Main Pass Block 299 discovery has a proven reserve of 67 million long tons of recoverable sulphur. This is the largest known Frasch sulphur deposit in North America. The discovery increased Freeport-McMoRan's sulphur reserves more than five-fold, and is synergistic with the company's phosphate fertilizer assets. The

Jan 1, 1990

By Gerald A. Munson, Fremont F. Clarke

DURING recent years the use of lithium has expanded greatly in industrial, chemical, and metallurgical fields, while at the same time modernized methods of mining and refining lithium have increased production. Technical literature includes many papers describing the geology and mineralogy of lithium deposits. Mining and beneficiating problems, however, have not been thoroughly described. Published reports have failed to emphasize that one of the chief reasons lithium minerals were not extensively mined until recently is the difficulty of beneficiation. Four lithium minerals of pegmatites and the lithium-sodium-phosphate byproduct from the brines at Searles Lake, Calif., have been sources of lithium. Among the pegmatite minerals, only spodu-mene and petaline are known to occur in deposits large enough to support large tonnage operations. Spodumene, a lithium-aluminum-silicate, is the principal lithium mineral mined in the U. S. Lithium Corp. of America, during its rapid development and growth, has successfully employed three different methods of concentration: 1) hand sorting, 2) Heavy Media separation, and 3) froth flotation. Each method, though economic in its sphere, is becoming outdated as extractive techniques improve. The most recent development has taken place at Lithium Corp.'s new operation in North Carolina, where the extractive process yields lithium compounds directly from mined rock without an intervening concentrating step. Until 1954 Lithium Corp. mined only in the southern part of the Black Hills of South Dakota, where the various types of lithium-bearing pegmatite could be used to develop untried processes of beneficiation. Concentrates from these operations are shipped to the corporation's chemical plant in St. Louis Park, Minn., where actual extraction of lithium and production of commercial compounds takes place. Nature of Deposits The geology of the southern Black Hills pegmatite deposits is admirably presented by a U. S. Geological Survey publication.' Only the factors pertinent to exploitation need be mentioned here. Lithium Corp. has been interested primarily in three deposits, the Edison, the Mateen, and the Longview-Beecher No. 2. The history of these deposits dates back to the mining boom of 1880 to 1900 in the Black Hills, when most of the deposits were prospected for tin by the ill-fated Harney Peak Tin Mining Co. The three deposits described here, however, lay idle and unwanted until Lithium Corp. opened the Edison mine in 1943 and the Mateen and Longview-Beecher No. 2 in 1951. Edison Deposit: The Edison deposit is about a mile southeast of Keystone, S. D., on the northeastern flank of the Harney Peak uplift. The deposit consists of no less than four and probably at least six separate pegmatites that coalesce in a central mass from which the individual pegmatites finger outward and downward in complexly folded schist and gneiss beds of the country rock.

Jan 1, 1956

By A. R. Kinkel

THE Shasta copper-zinc district of northern California lies in the foothills of the Klamath Mountains at the northern end of the Sacramento Valley. It contains two main areas of base-metal ore deposits, the East Shasta and West Shasta districts shown in Fig. 1. The East Shasta includes the area from the Afterthought mine, near the settlement of Ingot on U. S. highway 299 East, to the Bully Hill mine, on the north side of the Pit River, 9 miles to the northwest. The West Shasta, a well-defined northeast-trending district about 8 miles long and 2 miles wide, west of the Sacramento River, Fig. 2, is the western part of the ore-bearing area formerly known as the Shasta copper belt. Referred to in the older writings as a copper arc, this belt was thought to form a crescent extending entirely around the head of the Sacramento Valley, the convex side to the north. Recent studies by the U. S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the California State Division of Mines show that there are two districts, one at each end of the so-called copper arc, which are distinct in geologic structure and ore occurrences, and that there is only sporadic and unconnected copper mineralization between them. Ore deposits of the two districts are similar in mineralogy, that is, they are largely massive pyritic ores containing copper and zinc with minor amounts of gold and silver, but the structure and structural control of ore deposition are different. The ores of the East Shasta district are replacements of steeply dipping shear zones in Triassic rhyolite and shale, whereas those of the West Shasta district are replacements of gently dipping rhyolite of Middle Devonian age and are essentially flat-lying. Thus there is marked lateral control of orebodies by shear zones in the East Shasta district and equally marked vertical control of orebodies by the stratigraphy in the West Shasta district. Geologic Setting The Paleozoic rocks of the West Shasta district range in age from Middle Devonian (?) to Missis-sippian. The oldest formation exposed is the Copley greenstone, probably Middle Devonian. It is composed of volcanic flows, volcanic breccias, and tuffs, all of mafic composition, but contains minor amounts of shale and rhyolitic tuff. Largely submarine in origin, it rests upon a base of older marine sediments, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 3. The lower part of the formation is made up principally of flows, many of which are ellipsoidal, and the upper part contains most of the pyroclastic material. The formation is at least 3700 ft thick. The Balaklala rhyolite overlying the Copley greenstone is made up of many rhyolitic flows and beds

Jan 1, 1956

By N. Brown

From the theories of flow and fracture it is shown that the difference in reciprocals of the transition temperatures (OK) is a quantitative measure of temper ernbrittlement. Experimental data are given which support this conclusion. STUDIES of temper embrittlement have been made with various viewpoints; some involved a study of the kinetics of the reaction,',2'" others were concerned with changes in the mechanical properties," . and still others investigated the structural differences between the embrittled and unembrittled states by means of the microscope," -ray ,' measurements of electrode potential," and electrical resistivity." In all these studies, the difference in impact properties was the criterion for distinguishing between the embrittled and unembrittled states. By common agreement the difference in transition temperatures is now taken as a measure of the degree of embrittlement, and this measure is used as the quantitative measure upon which studies of the phenomenon are based. Vidal and Jolivet"' suggested that the degree of embrittlement was the same whether measured by impact or by a slow bend test. Their conclusion was based on tests at constant temperature. Jaffe and Buffum" using the impact and slow bend test showed that, for a given degree of embrittlement, the difference in transition temperatures varied with the method of testing. Hultgren and Chang" showed that the difference in transition temperature produced by the V-notched Charpy impact test was not the same as the value produced by the keyhole-notched impact test. This is a very fundamental point because there can be no true measure of temper embrittlement unless it is invariant with respect to the test method. Theory The purpose of this analysis is to show how the transition temperature depends on the stress distribution and the state of the material. The criterion for fracture may be stated as follws: where iF is some function of the principle stresses and F is a critical condition depending on the state of the metal. Similarly yielding occurs when Where is another function of the prin-ciple stresses and Y is a critical value depending on the state of the material. There is some controversy as to the exact form of the function f,.(u,, u,, us) but most experimental data give the following criterion:= where 8, and 6, = 21 or 0. Combinations of 6, and 8, give the various criteria such as the normal stress, the hydrostatic tension, and the maximum shear stress laws. Agreement is general that the octahedral shear stress law adequately describes the yield condition. where the bracketed factor will be called the design factor and depends on the stress distribution. Whether the metal decides to yield or fracture is given by the condition that The effect of temperature and strain rate upon Y has been studied by various investigators, It has been shown by MacGregor and Fisher" that

Jan 1, 1955

By David R. Mitchell

THE mineral pyrite (or marcasite) occurs in coal beds as balls, lenses, veinlets and bands. Several million tons are wasted annually on the refuse dumps from coal mining and coal-preparation activities. Sporadic attempts have been made in the United States to recover this pyrite for manufacture of sulphuric acid but only a few plants have succeeded in recovering it on a commercial scale. Several chemical companies in the East became concerned about supplies of pyrite early in 1943, but by late summer of that year the situation had eased. If for no other reason than national security and self-sufficiency during war-time, methods of recovering pyrite from coal-mine refuse should be worked out and made available to coal-mine operators who are potential producers of pyrite. Eastern sulphuric-acid plants are particularly likely to have their sources of raw material blocked by war conditions, so that special studies to determine where supplies of pyrite can be obtained for these plants from inland sources are desirable. Davis's1 summarization of conditions during World War I gives the following facts: During those years, the shortage of pyrite became acute. Shipments of hand-picked pyrite were made from a number of coal mines in Illinois, Indiana, western Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania. A mechanical concentrating plant for separating pyrite from picking-table refuse was built at Danville, Ill., and operated for several years, and a small pyrite-concentrating plant treating washery refuse near Gillespie, Ill., operated for several months in 1918. The Consolidation Coal Co. of Fairmont, W. Va., constructed and operated a sulphuric-acid plant using pyrite recovered from coal-mine refuse. The U. S. Bureau of Mines during 1917-1919 made a comprehensive survey of pyrite-production possibilities from coal mines and estimated that there was a potential yearly production of 435,000 tons from Ohio and Pennsylvania and 928,000 tons from Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana mines. This estimate included only mines that could produce one per cent or more of their coal production as pyrite containing a minimum of 40 per cent sulphur. PYRITE PRODUCTION According to the Minerals Yearbook,2 approximately 660,000 long tons of pyrite was produced in the United States in 1941, with an average sulphur content of 42 per cent. The average value f.o.b. mines was $3.09 per long ton. Spanish pyrite, 48 per cent sulphur minimum, was quoted at 12 cents a unit c.i.f. U. S. ports, equal to $5.76 a ton for shipments of minimum sulphur content. Most of the pyrite produced in the United States is obtained as a by-product in the dressing of copper and zinc ores. Metal mines in the East making pyrite concentrate for the market or use in company-operated sulphuric-acid plants

Jan 1, 1944

By Carl Tolman, LeRoy Scharon, Harold Powers

THIS paper presents geophysical and subsurface data observed in the vicinity of Shafts No. 1 and and 5 of the National Lead Co. lead mines at Fred-ericktown, Madison County, Missouri, see Fig. 1. The area selected is an excellent example to illustrate the close correlation between geophysical data and geological facts as revealed by drilling and mining. Such close correlations make geophysical applications appropriate to the development of known ore-bodies as well as the exploration for new orebodies. In the past, magnetic and shallow electrical resistivity observations were made over limited areas in the Fredericktown lead district by the Missouri Geological Survey, with favorable results. The first extensive magnetic and electrical resistivity surveys were started by the U. S. Bureau of Mines in May 1945 in two areas located northwest and southwest of Fredericktown, as shown in Fig. 1. The results of these surveys were reported in April 1948 at Denver, spontaneous-polarization surveys were made over the property of the St. Louis Smelting and Refining Co. at Fredericktown by Sherwin F. Kelly Geophysical Services, Inc. Aeromagnetic surveys were completed in 1948 over the Fredericktown quadrangle by the U. S. Geological Survey. Since 1945 geophysical surveys have been an important part of exploration programs in the Fred- ericktown district. Such methods, magnetic and electrical resistivity, are now serving as guides in the further development of known orebodies. On an irregular pre-Cambrian igneous erosion surface Lamotte sandstone of upper Cambrian age was deposited, partially filling the topographic basins, see Fig. 2. Above and conformable with the Lamotte sandstone lies the Bonneterre formation, a dolomite with locally interbedded thin dolomitic limestones and shales at its base. This formation also only partially filled the topographic basins. The Bonneterre was overlain by the Davis, Derby, Doe Run, and Potosi formations, which are principally dolomite. Uplift, tilt, and slight warping has allowed erosion and weathering to remove most of the sediments overlying the Bonneterre, and in many places, not far from the mine, the Lamotte sandstone is exposed. This erosion has also exposed areas of pre-Cambrian igneous rock. The Lamotte sandstone, having been deposited on an irregular pre-Cambrian surface, is extremely variable in thickness and ranges from zero where it laps the pre-Cambrian rocks to 250 ft thick in the deeper basins. In the vicinity of the mines the Bonneterre dolomite ranges from zero where it wedges out against the pre-Cambrian igneous rocks to 400 ft thick. The ore deposits occur as a bedded disseminated type1 and are chiefly composed of galena and pyrite with minor amounts of chalcopyrite and siegenite. Heavy pyrite and marcasite mineralization may be found throughout the Bonneterre formation. However, there is little or no apparent association of these iron sulphide bodies lying above the ore hori-

Jan 1, 1954

By Luis Elek

DEVELOPMENT of the cement industry in Mexico began some 40 years ago. It has gradually reached great importance in the economic life of the country and has contributed greatly to the technical and economical advances which have been so noteworthy, particularly during the last 15 years. From a modest start, the industry now comprises 18 cement-producing plants having a potential annual capacity of approximately 14 million bbl. About half the plants were built and equipped with second-hand machinery during the last world war when no new machinery could be procured. They will hardly attain full production before being modernized and reconditioned, a job now under way in several of the plants. At present, the yearly consumption is only about 8 to 9 million bbl but is steadily increasing. This is only a fraction of the cement consumed in the U.S.A., which is about 250 million bbl per year, although on the basis of consumption per capita per year, the figure is 1/3 bbl for Mexico and 1 2/3 bbl for the U.S.A. Cement consumption in Mexico is well above the average of all other Latin American countries, with the exception of the Argentine, and considering the potentialities and undeveloped riches of Mexico, the road construction and irrigation works, it is fair to assume that the Mexican cement industry will still prosper and expand in spite of temporary setbacks in the future caused by-local events of economic or political nature. Portland cement is manufactured by burning a mixture of raw materials, one of which is mainly composed of calcium carbonates and the other of aluminum silicates. The most typical materials answering this description are limestone and clay, both of which occur in Mexico in many varieties. To be usable for cement manufacture limestone should contain at least 77 to 80 pct calcium carbonate. Lower grade limestone can be used for cement manufacture only if the lime content is increased by the beneficiation process, which has not yet been adopted by the Mexican cement industry. Most of the limestone used by Mexican cement plants has a calcium carbonate content of 90 to 95 pct and therefore requires addition of one or several correction materials. A typical composition of raw mix for cement manufacture is 85 pct limestone and 15 pct shale, clay or volcanic materials. Occasionally it is necessary to add a smaller amount of sand or other siliceous material to increase the silica ratio in the raw mix. Likewise, it is sometimes necessary to add 1 or 2 pct iron ore to facilitate fusion in the kiln and to obtain proper relation between alumina and iron oxide. After calcining and

Jan 1, 1952