Search Documents

By P. L. Weston, S. E. Khalafalla

A systematic study was made by the Bureau of Mines on the effect of so me hypothesized accelerators for the process of wustite reduction in carbon monoxide. When small concentrations of promoter materials in the order of 0.69 at. pct were added to the reducible charge, the rate of reduction to iron was increased. Promotion phenomenon prediction was made in light of a suyface reduction mechanism with the aid of Vol'kenshtein's effect regarding the propagation of crystal lattice disturbances by small amounts of relatively larger interstitial ions. The acceleration produced by a typical promotor, such as potassiunl, increases with protnoter concentration up to a maximum, beyond which the reduction rate decreases. Concentration for maximum promotion depends on the nature and physicochemical properties of the promoter. The extent of reduction rate enhancement is found to be directly proportional to the atomic volume and electronic charge of the additive. DESPITE the enormous volume of literature on iron oxide reduction, very little is reported concerning additive or impurity effects on this important metallurgical process. The beneficial effect bf calcium compound additions on the reducibility of iron oxide sinters has been reported by Tigerschiold,1 vor dem Esche,2 and Edstrom. Doi and Kasai~ found that the addition of lime or limestone to iron ores helps to break up any unreducible compounds, such as fayalite or ilmen-ite. and thus free the combined iron for reduction. Schenck et al. 5 suggested that the increased reduction rate obtained when adding lime could be accounted for by the instability of wustite in the presence of lime. Acid-base slagging reactions resulted in wustite disproportionation according to The dicalcium ferrite formed will yield iron and calcium oxide during reduction. Regenerated calcium oxide dissociates more wustite. This mechanism has been used by Seths and white7 to explain their experimental results. Recently, Strangway and ROSS' attributed the calcium carbonate acceleration of iron oxide agglomerate reduction to increased porosity, both initial as well as that developed during reduction. Aside from calcium carbonate, or oxide, no other promoter was noted in the literature, except for a brief mention by Barrett and woodg on the effect of sodium carbonate and aluminate as activators for the hydrogen reduction of magnetite at 600°C. The present investigation systematically studied a host of other promoters, including calcium and sodium, in an attempt to elucidate the mechanism by which promotion takes place and to fit the results into a simple chemical model. To attain this goal, the effect of promoter physical properties, such as atomic volume, electronic charge, and concentration are related to wustite reduction kinetics in this paper. Wustite reduction to iron, rather than the overall hematite reduction, was chosen since this reaction is known to be the slowest, and hence the rate-deter mining step for the overall iron oxide reduction process. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Raw Materials and Their Preparation. The pure or impregnated wustite pellets were prepared from minus 400-mesh chemically pure hematite powders. A known weight of hematite was thoroughly and uniformly mixed with a calculated weight of the additive. The mixed paste containing 35 wt pct water was gradually heated from 400" to 1200° C and fired at 1200°C for approximately 4 hr in an air atmosphere. After cooling, the sinter was pulverized to minus 100 mesh and pelletized into minus 4- plus 5-mesh spheres. Pellets were fired, similarly to the paste mix, air-cooled, sized, and stored. An appropriate weight of the charge (20 g) was placed in a zirconia reduction tube maintaining a uniform oxide bed height of 1 cm and a cross section of 7.1 sq cm for all of the test runs. The samples were supported in the vertical reaction tube by a bed of fragmented insulating firebrick plus 3- to 6-mesh alumina beads. The hematite was then transformed to wustite by reduction with a 30 pct CO2-70 pct CO gas mixture at 1000°C in a globar furnace. Complete conversion to wustite was ascertained by a continuous infrared gas analyzer recording the CO-CO2 content of the effluent gas until no carbon monoxide was absorbed from the inlet gas, and inlet-outlet gas analysis remained constant for 30 min. The wustite sample was then reduced with 100 pct CO at 100WC. From the recorded data, an initial rate of reduction was determined by the initial slope of the graph percent reduction vs time. In order to estimate the accuracy of the data, five separate determinations of the reduction curve of pure wustite, under otherwise identical conditions, were performed. The maximum deviation from the average reduction at 14 min amounted to 2 2 pct reduction. This deviation corresponds to 3.8 pct variation based on the percent reduction of the sample. Aiiy impurity effect below the limits of this maximum deviation was considered a spurious result. If the effect exceeded + 4 pct, then it was considered as a positive one. Considerable care was exercised in determining the initial rate from the slope of the initial segments of the curve. Each reduction curve was examined separately on large graph paper and the best tangent to the curve at zero time was drawn. The slope of this tangent was taken as a measure of the initial fractional reduction per minute. Although the time required to reach 50 pct reduction may be of special practical significance, initial rate measurements are invaluable in fundamental studies. These rates provide a measure of the process kinetics on the initial

Jan 1, 1968

By A. F. Nylander, J. H. Jensen

Magnesium, in its combined forms, is the sixth most abundant element and the third most abundant metal in the earth's crust, but it is so reactive that it is never found in nature in the elemental state. As part of the rock-forming minerals like magnesite, dolomite, olivine, and serpentine, it is combined in virtually insoluble forms. As part of soluble minerals like kainite (KC1 MgS04 - 3H20), leonite (K2S0, MgSO, 4H20), langbeinite (K,SO, 2MgS04), and carnallite (KC1 . MgCl? 6H20), it is found in evaporite deposits, generally of marine origin, deep within the earth's crust. Since these minerals are soluble, they are found only in deposits protected from the percolation and leaching action of ground waters by an insoluble and impermeable mantle. Usually this mantle is from several hundred to many thousands of feet thick. Finally, as a solute in marine-like brines, magnesium is common in surface and subterranean waters throughout the world. The oceans, which contain 0.13% Mg, illustrate the inexhaustible nature of the reserve. The recovery of magnesium from the rock-forming minerals, usually by thermal decomposition, and from dilute brines such as sea water by precipitation with lime, are frequent industrial practices. But the recovery of magnesium as magnesium chloride from evaporites or natural brines of concentration greater than sea water has been of little industrial significance for economic and technological reasons. The present US capacity is preponderantly based on the sea-water magnesia process with thermal reduction capacity in second place. No present magnesium capacity is dependent on recovery from the stronger natural brines. But projected capacity, although still weighted in favor of the sea-water magnesia process, is partly based on the recovery of magnesium chloride as a byproduct of potash operations.

Jan 11, 1964

By R. W. Jenkins

RACKLESS equipment is being used by the T Coplay Cement Manufacturing Co. to develop a folded limestone deposit economically and safely with inexperienced men. Cost and quality of development stone results in a saving when it is used instead of outside sources of limestone. This favorable cost has been attained by following a methods development and training program described in this paper. It is expected that further savings in favor of the mined stone will be made when stopes now being prepared are in production. The present equipment will be used for loading from stope draw points. The limestone is blended with quarried cement rock to serve as raw material for Portland cement, first produced in this country by Coplay Cement Manufacturing Co. from a process developed by its president, David 0. Saylor, in 1873. For many years the cement rock alone or with a small amount of added limestone was used for raw materials. Later as specifications were raised and the richer portions of quarries were depleted, limestone from outside sources was required in increasing amounts. In 1925 D. J. Uhle, the general manager, began to prospect company property for limestone. It was known that the argillaceous cement rock was underlain by crystalline high calcium limestone. After an extensive drilling program it was found that there were large reserves of limestone underlying a recumbent syncline exposed in the south wall of the company's No. 3 cement rock quarry. A quarry was started on the vertical limb of this fold in 1927, and by 1930 the full requirement of the plant was met. After 1945 production diminished because of the occurrence of dolomite beds in the south wall. The quarry floor was then 135 ft below the cement rock level and 285 ft below surface. In 1949 Gerald I?.

Jan 1, 1955

By Fred B. Brost

In 1976, a decision was made to install a conveying system to transport ore 10.3 km (6.4 miles) from the new Eisenhower mine to Twin Buttes. The system, supplied and installed by Cable Belt Ltd., of England, represents a radical departure from conventional conveyor systems. The driving tension is applied through two endless wire ropes while the belt acts only as the carrying medium. Features of the system are a single 2240-kW (3000-hp) drive and a 60° angle bend. Construction was completed in two years and full production was attained alter several mouths operation.

Jan 12, 1979

By Luther W. Bahney

(San Francisco Meeting, October, 1911.) LIME is the alkali that is almost universally added to the solutions in the cyanide process of gold- and silver-extraction for maintaining the so-called, protective" alkalinity. It is produced by the burning of limestone. The value of lime for this purpose depends upon the percentage of calcium oxide contained, which is determined by three factors : 1, purity of the limestone used; 2, degree of the burning-temperature and the period of burning; and 3, length of time of storage of burned material and the condition stored, and whether it has been damp or wet during the storage. These three factors render uncertain the quality of lime bought in the open market. In the United States, lime bought from reliable manufacturers, who thoroughly burn a pure limestone and deliver at once to the consumer from the kilns, may be of a fairly-high and uniform composition ; but in Mexico and Central America, where it is purchased from many small producers, who often start with a poor grade of limestone and burn it in small crude kilns with as little fuel as possible, the quality of the product is quite variable. In consideration of the foregoing, it is apparent at once that there is a great need for a rapid technical method for the valuation of the lime to be used in a cyanide-plant. The determination of calcium by the gravimetric method, with the necessity of determining also the proportion of carbon dioxide, silica, and iron, requires too much time, and is usually out of the question for an isolated plant unequipped with a skilled chemist and, the necessary apparatus. The calculating of all the calcium so found to calcium oxide, although sometimes done, is manifestly very inaccurate.

Nov 1, 1911

By William E. Ford, Edward Salisbury Dana

1. Normal Class (28) Gypsum Type 2. Hemimorphic Class (29) Tartaric Acid Type 3. Clinohedral Class (30) Clinohedrite Type Mathematical Relations of the Monoclinic System Crystallographic Axes. - The monoetinic system includes all the forms which are referred to three unequal axes, having one of their axial inclinations oblique. The axes are designated as follows : the inclined or clino-axis is a; the ortho-axis is b, the vertical axis is c. The acute angle between the axes a and c is represented by the letter 0; the angles between a and b and b and c are right angles. See Fig. 331.

Jan 1, 1922

By R. P. Carreker, R. L. Fullman, J. C. Fisher

THE existence of the phase TiAg has not been reported previously. Other investigators have denied the existence of compounds in the Ti-Ag system.13' However, phases of equi-atomic proportion have been reported by Raub, et al.' in the (similar) systems of titanium with gold and copper and zir- conium with silver. Raub's work indicated that titanium and silver are immiscible in the liquid state. No evidence of this was found although a very wide melting range exists which makes the preparation of homogeneous alloys difficult. TiAg is apparently formed by a peritectic reaction between /3

Jan 1, 1954

By M. A. Bryant, J. C. Goodwin, T. B. Faddies, L. D. Kornze

The Mercur Gold Mine is located 56 km (35 air miles) southwest of Salt Lake City in north central Utah; In July 1981 Getty Mining Company made the decision to put Mercur into production. The first gold bar was poured in April 1983. This paper provides details on: 1) the history of the camp, 2) past production, 3) geology of the deposit, 4) the exploration and development program, 5) ore reserve estimates, 6) detailed geologic pit mapping, 7) production blasthole sampling techniques and 8) the use of geostatistics (kriging) in handling assays and gold extractions to produce the required mill feed.

Jan 1, 1985

By Gary E. McIntosh

This paper will discuss a US Bureau of Mines project designed to assess and predict the impacts which surface coal mining will have on the regional shallow groundwater system in the Powder River Basin. The primary objective will be met through the accomplishment of the following: (1) The design and establishment of a regional network for monitoring shallow groundwater systems in the basin; (2) monitoring the direction and rate of flow, water quality, and aquifer characteristics of the shallow groundwater systems; and (3) development of a regional groundwater simulation model, with appurtenant subroutines to determine local effects.

Jan 4, 1979

By Harold W. Smith

Ore beneficiation via grinding and flotation has traditionally been considered an art because, until recently, the beneficiation plants that operated effectively were those run by skillful personnel who had acquired an "eye" and a "feel" for the process. Today, thanks to technological developments of the past five to ten years, ore beneficiation can be tackled more scientifically. In properly chosen applications, two developments that can bring significant operational and control improvements to concentrating plants are: • X-ray fluorescent spectrometers-that continuously measure chemical composition of flotation process streams, and • Minicomputers-that are relatively inexpensive and highly reliable in data gathering and process control.

Jan 11, 1974

By M. P. Nackowski, Armond H. Beers, W. T. Parry

Three hundred soil samples were collected on a one-mile grid in a 400-square mile area of the Oquirrh Mountains, Utah, including the Bingham-Lark, Ophir, Rush Valley, and Mercur mining districts. The soil samples were analyzed for copper, lead, zinc, silver, molybdenum, manganese, and iron by X-ray fluorescence using arsenic as an internal standard. Anomalies coincide in most cases with the mining districts. However, in the Mercur district no anomalies were detected. Also samples collected one mile from the Bingham mine barely reflect this major producer. No samples were collected within the Bingham mine area.

Jan 1, 1973

By Frederic P. Dewey

Having shown1 the difficulty of assaying so-called cyanide bullion and the extreme variations often found in the results, an investigation was undertaken to discover, if possible, the causes of these variations by a series of tests upon the specific action of various metals during cupellation. Zinc.—In order to test the effect of zinc, 48 assays were made in sets of 6, 2 rows of 3. The charge for the middle cupels consisted of 500+ mg. Au, 1,125 mg. Ag, 10 mg. Cu. To the end cupels 50, 75, 100 and 125 mg. Zn were added, and a set of each proportion was cupelled with 4 and 8 grams Pb. The cupels were assayed and showed the following gold contents in milligrams, the figures being arranged as the cupels stood in the muffle: In many instances the zinc does not appear to affect the cupel gold, but various exceptions are apparent, generally in the cupels in the back row. With 100 and 125 mg. Zn, in some cases the Zn burned with its characteristic flame' before it could alloy with the other metals. Also, less fusible oxidized lumps were observed during the cupellation and some cupels showed a scum. In order to lessen the premature burning out of the Zn, an alloy of 2 parts Ag to 1 part Zn was used. A uniform charge of 500+ mg. Au,

Jan 1, 1918

By AIME AIME

FOUR separate groups of conveyors are installed in the Morenci Reduction Works as follows: (1) Ore-handling conveyors from the primary crushing plant to the coarse ore bin, from the coarse-ore bin to the secondary crushing plant, and from the secondary crushing plant to the ore bin in the concentrator plant. (2) Conveyors in the mill section of the concentrator plant. (3) Conveyors handling concentrate from the filter plant to the bedding plant, and from this plant to the smelter. (4) Conveyors handling flux and custom ore in the smelter crushing plant and to the bin at the bedding plant.

Jan 1, 1942

By Erkki Laurila

INVESTIGATION of the methods of analyses for magnetite and ilmenite in the Otanmäki iron-titanium ore and respective mill products has resulted in certain improvements in the methods conventionally employed. The outcome of the investigations is summarized as follows: 1-Development of a diamond-drill core analyser for the determination of magnetic susceptibility of drill cores containing magnetic minerals. 2-Development of a magnetite-ilmenite analyser for pulverized products. 3-Development of a potentiometric method of chemical analysis for the determination of iron, vanadium, and titanium in succeeding steps from one test sample. 4-Proposal for a continuous and automatic magnetite assay method.

Jan 9, 1951

By F. M. Sandoval, R. E. Ries, J. F. Power

Returning the original soil material to the surface of smoothed mine spoils is a practical means of restoring agricultural productivity. Research has established that high-sodium spoils in North Dakota: (1) must be covered with about 70 cm of soil material to achieve maximum production; (2) top-soil must be segregated and spread separately from subsoil; (3) potential production depends on the quality of the soil material returned; and (4) erosion and upward salt movement must be controlled for sustained production. Erosion is best controlled by reducing final grades as much as possible during the smoothing process followed by prompt establishment of vegetation.

Jan 12, 1979

By Gary E. McIntosh

This paper will discuss a US Bureau of Mines project designed to assess and predict the impacts which surface coal mining will have on the regional shallow groundwater systems in the Powder River Basin. The primary objective will be met through the accomplishment of the following: (1) The design and establishment of a regional network for monitoring shallow groundwater systems in the basin; (2) monitoring the direction and rate of flow, water quality, and aquifer characteristics of the shallow groundwater systems; and (3) development of a regional groundwater simulation model, with appurtenant subroutines to determine local effects.

Jan 1, 1980

By John D. Erickson

The concepts of long-range, open pit planning presented here are not new. The new idea is how the factors that control the location of the final pit limits can be considered altogether as one large, simultaneous equation. The X, or unknown quantity that is being solved for, is a long-range pit design that fulfills the desired objectives. The objectives of a final pit plan are determination of the extent and location of ore reserves, the allowable stripping necessary to uncover the ore, the final pit surface intercept, final pit topography and the contained metal values in both ore and waste.

Jan 4, 1968

By T. Y. Yan, W. F. Espewheid

The various ion exchange reactions occurring during restoration of formations contaminated with ammonia during in situ uranium leaching are reviewed. Data are presented on the restoration of a previously leached laboratory packed column wing lime saturated brine. Although this restoration fluid selectively and effectively removed the ammonia, 24.5 pore volumes are required to reduce the ammonia concentration from 500-3 mg/L (29- 0.18 gr per gal). The essence of NaCl in the restoration fluid at levels in formation water is beneficial in improving the selectivity of the system for NH4+ removal and reducing Ca + + ion consumption

Jan 1, 1984

By G. J. Cardwell

The rock and mineral analyst will be called upon to determine both the major and minor constituents in materials as varied as rocks, soil, sediments, concentrates and various liquids. These analyses will have interactions requiring extraction, matrix modification, and background correction. Analytical methodologies include classical gravimetric methods, such as fire assay, emission spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, atomic absorption, inductively coupled plasma, and neutron activation. With these capabilities the analyst can be called on to determine three-fourths of the elements in the periodic table. How can the earth scientist pick the method best suited for his particular sample?

Jan 1, 1984

By R. Schuhmann

Distribution of material in the fine sizes of a comminution product generally is well represented by the empirical equation [ ] in which y = cumulative percent finer, x = particle size, = distribution modulus, and k = size modulus. Charles found that the energy consumption in comminution is usefully expressed by another empirical relation, [ ] in which E = energy input per unit volume of material, A = a constant, k = size modulus based on Eq. 1, and n = a constant; ( 1-n) is the slope of a plot of log E vs log k. Holmes has presented energy equations similar to Eq. 2.

Jan 2, 1960