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By AIME AIME

A SIDE from the technical sessions held as noted elsewhere, the chairman of the various sub-committees of the Mining Methods Committee, together with a few other specialists, were invited to a conference with President Bradley, which was held on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 20. The general plan of a comprehensive series of comparable papers descriptive of mining practice in various parts of the country, launched by this committee some seven years ago having been adopted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, the feeling was general that the Committee could safely 1eave.that part of its work in these capable hands and turn its attention to other matters. The plans of the Bureau were presented as below by Charles William Wright of the Bureau.

Jan 1, 1929

Sixteen executives, technicians and operative personnel from the French mining industry, now touring mining operations in the U.S., will wind up their visit to this country at the AIME Annual Meeting. Traveling under ECA auspices, they will be in Denver on Feb. 5, Salt Lake City, Feb. 8 to 13, Bonne Terre on Feb. 16. Four of the group are engaged in bauxite mining, nine in lead and zinc, two in pyrites mining. All are interested in American mining equipment and methods, and hope to contact manufacturers' representatives in the various areas they visit. A $600,000 manganese pilot plant is expected to be put into operation by Sept. 1, by the Bureau of Mines at Boulder City, Nev. S. R. Zimmerly, chief of the Bureau's metallurgical div. for the region, recently completed the mill design and flow sheet; and the Bureau is awaiting steel priorities before building. Ore from the Artillery Peak area, 60 miles south-west of Kingman, Ariz., will be used in the mill. Construction will be handled by Rex Lloyd of Boulder City.

Jan 2, 1951

By W. E. C. Coxe

AT the meeting of the Institute in Philadelphia, in June, 1876, it was my pleasure to read a paper on the "Manufacture and Endurance of Iron Rails." I then spoke of some trial rails which had been placed in the down track of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, over which passed, in addition to merchandise and passengers, most of the heavy coal traffic of that company. One of these rails, made at the Philadelphia and Reading Rolling Mill in 1870, and then placed in the track, was removed in 1876, after having carried about 55,000,000 gross tons, and was on exhibition at the Centennial Exhibition. A piece of this worn rail, twisted cold, was also shown there. One of the same series of rails was allowed to remain in the track until 1878, and short sections of this rail, as well as one not worn, to show its original shape, are presented for your inspection. A comparison of the two will show that the top of the head or tread has worn down 3/16 ths of an inch during its nine years of service. It carried in that time 67,000,000 gross tons of freight, passengers, cars, and engines. This rail was made in the usual way of manufacturing iron rails at the Philadelphia and Reading Rolling Mill. The head was made from puddled iron bars, piled, heated, and rolled into bars, 4 1/2 and 3 inches wide by 1 inch thick, these bars, breaking joints, were made into a pile in section 9 inches square, heated and rolled into slabs 9 inches wide and 2 inches thick; the balance of the rail-pile was made of 4 1/2 and 3-inch bars, rolled from two-thirds old rails and one-third puddled iron, the

Jan 1, 1880

By Charles Hart

In this paper it is the author's intention to show the extent and character of foreign ores now known to be available; these deposits may be in active production or held in reserve until economic conditions may make them active. He hopes to show the relation existing between these ores and the American supply, and which of the former are now producing or will in turn come into production when our better ores have been exhausted. This phase of this discussion must of necessity include some data as to the present rate of consumption and a study of the changes we may expect here and abroad in the general steel trade and its sources of supply in raw materials. It is obvious that the occurrence of coal, ore and limestone in relation to one another and the proximity of a market are the elements in control of this feature of the problem. If the foregoing situation is favorable, all the other questions may be solved, for it is clear that with proper basic conditions finance, labor and operations will fall in line. We present a short outline of the present methods of carrying on the foreign iron ore trade, believing that it is of general interest in comparison with our own highly specialized methods, and that with the exhaustion of our better ores we will be compelled to seek a part of our supply abroad. A partial list of iron ores, with incomplete analyses (Table I), is added, to give a better understanding of the general situation and explain to some extent the reason for things being as they are in the iron and steel trade of the world and to help in bringing this paper to an informing conclusion. The question of the world supply of iron ores has been a subject for study on the part of geologists and engineers for many years, and found its best results in the Eleventh International Geological Congress, appropriately held at Stockholm, Sweden, in 1910. The proceedings are published in two volumes and are undoubtedly the best records available on this subject at the date of publication. It should be borne in mind, however, that much has happened in the 20 years since these figures were assembled. There is just as much known ore at present as at that time, minus the quantity consumed, plus newly discovered reserves. The World War had great effect upon this situation; during that time explorations were greatly reduced and the settlements after the

Jan 1, 1929

By R. B. Russell

The expansion coefficients of hexagonal (a) zirconium have been calculated from the lattice expansionparameters of both coefficientsofhexagonallow and high hafnium alloys in the range 0° to 600°C. It is found parametersofboththat the coefficients are straight-line functions of the temperature and that the effect of hafnium is to depress the mean coefficients by about 1 pct at room thattemperature and 9 pct at 600°C. The cubic (ß) form was stabilized so that its coefficient could be determined from 400' to 900°C. COEFFICIENTS of thermal expansion for hexagonal-close-packed (a) zirconium were determined up to 600°C (1112°F), without any interference from the effects of preferred orientation, by measurement of the lattice parameters obtained from a symmetrical back-reflection focusing X-ray camera. This paper combines the results for a 1.2 atomic pct hafnium alloy from an earlier report' with those for hafnium-free zirconium. The problem confronting the investigator is essentially that of getting sharp, high-angle diffraction lines which represent the material at a known constanl. temperature and chemical composition. In order to do this, it was necessary to use the proper X-ray emission wave length (Co K was chosen) and to have a fine-grained metal whose atomic spacings would be free from effects of cold work (the specimen was annealed) and to prevent a changing composition owing to gas absorption during the heating of the metal to temperature (the sample was heated in a vacuum). A summary of the effect of temperature on properties is listed in Table I which gives data for ordinary zirconium, as well as new values for the low hafnium metal. The coefficients of the linear thermal expansion that have been reported are given in Table 11. The discrepancies shown may be explained perhaps by the effect of preferred orientation, and McGeary and Lustman2 have done this successfully for sheet metal. The differences in texture cannot explain all the differences in expansion coefficient shown in Table II. liesults by the author agree most closely with those of Kroll.3 Chemical analysis of the high hafnium metal pre- viously reported1 showed that it was 98.22 atomic pct (97.40 wt pct) pure. The low hafnium metal was dehydrogenated Westinghouse crystal bar, designated SMZ-137A. Its analysis was as given in Table 111 (chemical analyses 5377, 5431, and 5432).

Jan 1, 1955

By Arthur L. Crawford

PLAGER gold is perhaps the most difficult of the common mineral deposits to evaluate. Not only are the erratic pay streaks a source of never-ending uncertainty, but the spotty distribution of the gold in iso¬lated nuggets is a perpetual source of error and disappointment to the sampler. Experienced engineers have long realized this difficulty and have been wary in predicting assay values except in the most general terms, and then only after extensive and usually expensive sampling. During the past year I have had the opportunity of checking a number of gold placers, and from the results obtained I believe that the microscope may be employed to advantage in placer sampling.

Jan 1, 1933

By Harold Price

ONE year ago, that is in January, 1923, there had not been constructed a single oil-storage tank of 55,000-bbl. or more capacity with a completely electric welded roof and bottom. Today, there are at least fifty 80,000-bbl. storage tanks completed, or nearing completion, on which both the roofs and the bottoms are electric welded. It is the purpose of this paper to describe, in a general way, the construction of these FIG. 1.-ELECTRIC-WELDED SEAMS AND RIVETS OF BOTTOM IN 55,000-BBL. TANK AT EL DORADO, KANS., SHOWING ALSO PATCH PLATE WELDED TO BOTTOM. welded roofs and bottoms, and to give their advantages over riveted construction. All of the following data and conclusions were obtained from observations made during the welding of tanks by the Welding Engineering Co. at Texas City, Tex., and Tonkawa and Burbank, Okla. As far as can be determined, the first electric welding on large tankage was completed in May, 1922. At that time the Empire Companies of Bartlesville, Okla., discovered a badly leaking bottom in a 55,000-bbl. tank at El Dorado, Kans. They had considered concreting this bottom, but because of the much smaller cost, decided to try electric welding; so a- contract was given the Welding Engineering Co. of Bartlesville, Okla. In this instance, no new sheets were added, the bottom being repaired by electric welding of all seams and rivets, Fig. 1. In some places where the original rivets were missing, the holes were filled by welding; patch plates were also added at certain badly worn spots. This tank has since been in service over a year and half, but no other

Jan 6, 1924

By M. H. Richman, W. D. Sproul

THE indexing of a field-ion micrograph is in many cases similar to the indexing of the poles of a stereo-graphic projection.* If one has a standard projection as a guide, the task of indexing is relatively simple. In this way, field-ion micrographs of bcc and fcc wires have been oriented from projections available in most any text on X-ray diffraction. These books always illustrate the projections for the bcc and fcc structures and even for a particular hcp structure. There is no "standard" hcp projection because the angles between planes depend on the c/o ratio of the unit cell. In order to index field-ion micrographs of hcp metals, one must compute the angles between various planes—a rather laborious task. In recent work,, we have had to identify the structure and index the orientation of field-ion micrographs of the compounds WC and W,C. To overcome the problem of computing angles by hand or calculator, a program was written in Fortran lV for use on the IBM 360, Model 50 which will compute all angles between planeswith indices (hlklll) and (17,k,l2) in the range from (447) to (444) for any given c/o ratio. The program, which is more specific than that of Camp and clum, was so written as to take advantage of the multiplicity of the hexagonal system, and, for the limits defined above, only 26,649 values out of a possible 265,721 values had to be computed. This is a 90 pct saving in time (and cost) and was accomplished in the following way. Because the lattice parameters of the hexagonal crystal system are defined such that: a = b * c [1] the I index does not enter into the multiplicity (i.e., it cannot be transposed with the h or k indices), and all possible values of h and I, from 4 to 4 must be used—a total of eighty-one combinations. The index h2 varies the most—it must assume values from - Ill,: to 3Ihl. The indices kl and k2 are always equal and vary

Jan 1, 1969

By D. S. Pye, J. P. Gallus

Successful hydraulic pressure treatment of oil and gas wells that have long producing intervals, multiple pay zones, fluid thief zones, or natural or induced fractures has long been a serious problem plaguing the petroleum industry. High fluid-injection rates, straddle packers, ball sealers, and either liquid or solid additives to the treating fluids are being used to cope with this difficult and costly problem.l-6 The use of ball sealers and straddle packers is limited, in practice, to wells that have been completed with perforated cemented casings or liners. Well stimulation with ball sealers and straddle packers is usually successful as long as the cement remains competent. The other techniques of diverting are used with all types of completions. However, there are two significant disadvantages of the high rate method: excessive horsepower requirements, and the need of large treating-fluid volume. Consequently, most well stimulation techniques that involve diverting depend upon ball sealers or granular materials. Liquid diverting agents, and some of the solid ones in use today, frequently will cause formation damage. On the other hand, the most popular particulate diverting agents often are so soluble in the treating fluid that they become largely ineffective; their particle size is severely reduced as they dissolve while being transported through thousands of feet of pipe to the formation face down hole. In our attempts to deal with the shortcomings of these diverting agents, we experimented with a large variety of potentially suitable deformable materials the solubility of which could be controlled. Following are the criteria for the diverting agent sought: 1. The material must be effective in reducing fluid loss to thief zones, including existing fractures and very high permeability layers in the formation to be pressure treated. 2. The material must have enough strength to bridge under the treating pressure. 3. The material must be insoluble or slowly soluble in the treating fluids so that the particles retain sufficient size to be effective after they reach the formation face. 4. The material must be completely soluble in the produced oil or condensate liquid so that it can be removed readily; it must not cause formation damage. A number of products consisting of various polymers blended with waxes and other solid hydrocarbons were examined. All these materials satisfied the criteria for a diverting agent and also exhibited some degree of plastic deformability. On the basis of initial tests of strength and hardness, several blends of wax and polymer were selected for extensive testing in the laboratory and the field. These compounds have congealing temperatures ranging from 140 to 190F; they are insoluble in water and soluble in oil. They conformed, therefore, to the criteria specified for a theoretically superior diverting agent. Laboratory and field tests were conducted using these wax-polymer materials to demonstrate that the use of a deformable diverting agent can significantly improve fluid diverting performance. Data in this

Jan 1, 1970

By G. T. Engel, W. G. Gruzensky

Jan 1, 1960

By V. Koump, T. F. Perzak, R. G. Olsson

Jan 1, 1965

By K. A. Gschneidner, O. D. McMasters

DgIel-ential thermal, nretallographic, and X-ray paramzetric methods were used to establish the Yb-Pb phase dingram. The terminal solid solubilities in the system are less than 0.2 at. pct. Lead additions lower the 792°C transformation tewzperature of pure ytterbiun~ at 787°C by means of an inverted peritectic veaction. Ytterbium additions raise the 327oC melting point of lead to 329°C by means of a perilectic reaction. Three intermetallic compounds Yb2Pb, YbPb, and YbPb, melt congruerttly at 1246", 1116o, and 740°C. respectively. YbsPb3 forms by a peritectic reacliorz at 1250°C. YbzPb crystallizes in the PbCh (C23) type structure and the orthorhombic latliceo constants are a, = 7.478. bo = 5.225, aud C0 = 9.549A. YbsPbs crystallizes in the hfnsSi3 (D8a) type structure. The hexa~nal lattice constants for this phase are a, = 9.325 and co = 6.92d. YbPbl crystallizes in the cubic AuCU3 (Ll2) type structure with a: = 4.8628 + 0.0008A. YbPb is diwrorphic with the structure change occurring al 507°C upon healing. The crystal structures of the two forttzs were not determined. Eulectic reactions occur at 5.1 at. pct Pb and 769oC, 41.5 at. pct Pb and 1086oC, and G8.0 at. pct Ph and 717°C: RELIABLE information concerning the alloying behavior of most of the rare-earth metals is scarce. A systematic study of the rare earth-lead alloy systems now in progress is an effort to supply such information. Determination of the phase diagram of the Yb-Pb alloys is the first step of this study. Variations in the valence of normally divalent ytterbium may be studied by comparing the characteristics of the Yb-Pb alloys to those of the trivalent rare earth-lead and of the divalent alkaline-earth-lead systems. Of particular interest are the melting temperatures of the intermetal-lic compounds since these are known to be high relative to the melting points of the constituent metals. Crys-tallographic and magnetic susceptibility data for the rare earth-lead alloys are to be included in the comparative study. Results from this and subsequent investigations should provide a better understanding of alloy formation. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Materials. The major impurities in the ytterbium and lead used in this investigation are listed in Table I. The lead was obtained from Cominco Products, Inc., and was specified to be 99.99 pct pure. The ytterbium was prepared in this laboratory by the lanthanum reduction of the oxide followed by a distillation of the ytterbium. Alloy Preparation. The alloys were prepared by

Jan 1, 1968

By R. F. Mehl, C. E. Birchenall

SINCE Maxwell1 first considered the self-diffusion process in 1872 its importance in the kinetic theory of matter has been recognized. Until the discovery of isotopes in 1913, a direct measurement of this quantity seemed impossible. The only information that could be gathered indirectly was for gaseous systems for which the kinetic theory was well developed. When methods of direct observation be-came available, investigations on self-diffusion were carried out in condensed phases. In metals these data are presumably of potential importance in the study of recovery, recrystallization, creep, sintering, and related phenomena. Following the pioneer work of Von Hevesy2 and his collaborators, who determined the rate of self-diffusion in lead with the naturally occurring thorium B isotope, several metals have been investigated. Pb, Ag³, Au.6,5, and Cu6,7,8,9 are examples of isotropic crystals existing in only one phase modification. Anisotropy of diffusion has been demonstrated in Bil6 and Znll. This paper is a study of a single metal in two allotropic forms and also of self-diffusion in a body-centered cubic lattice. Despite the fact that the measurements in each of the papers cited on self-diffusion in copper seem to be internally consistent to about 10 to 15 pet, the curves reported by different authors differ by factors of 2 to 4 at the same temperatures. This uncertainty may account, in part, for the failure to establish a successful correlation between the self-diffusion rates and other physical characteristics of the metals. No satisfactory theory of metallic self- diffusion has as yet been proposed to account for all the existing data and to permit estimation in other metals. Experimental Part: Two units of radioactive iron were used in these experiments, each a mixture of Fe53 and Fe59 (12). Fe53 decays by K electron capture and the emission of an X ray with a half life of about 4 years. Fe59 emits two beta spectra, one with a maximum energy of 0.26 Mev, the other 0.46 Mev, and gamma rays of 1.1 and 1.3 Mev, with a half life of about 44 days. They were present in nearly equal concentration initially. The composite half life started at about 50 days and increased as the Fe59 decayed, leaving Fe55 relatively more abundant. After aging a year, the half life was too long to measure significant decay in a month. The absorption properties also changed with time. Because of the importance of the absorption coefficient in the diffusion calculations, it was necessary to determine this quantity frequently over the period during which these experiments were carried out. This correction was unsuspected at the time of publication of notesl3 on this work and accounts for the discrepancy in alpha iron and for part of the discrepancy in gamma iron.* * The data in the present paper supersede those given in the notes entirely. In one note the scale of log D was inadvertently reversed. In addition to the correction for the drift in absorption coefficient, the D values for gamma iron at low temperatures were high owing to insuficient correction for diffusion occurring during heating and cooling through the high temperature part of the alpha range at a rate much slower than that employed in the runs reported here. The high temperature alpha rates are much higher than the low temperature gamma rates and correspond to large equivalent times at these temperatures. These experiments were discarded and new measurements taken. Independent experiments with the same activity units indicated a radioactive contaminant in the iron, but exhaustive attempts to isolate and identify it chemically failed. These experiments? indicate † These experiments will be discussed in a later publication from this laboratory. that the contaminant represented only a trace of little importance in the diffusion results. The active iron was plated from an iron chloride solution. Enough of the solution was dropped on a 1% in. square of filter paper to wet it thoroughly.

Jan 1, 1951

By Hermann Wedding

It is now fourteen years since we German ironmasters, in considerable number, visited the United States on the occasion of the Philadelphia Exposition, and found the iron metallurgy of this country, as must be frankly confessed, in an advanced stage of development not previously suspected by us. At that time the United States already occupied, as now, the second rank, with Germany in the third, the product of pig-iron for that year being, in Great Britain, 6550, in this country, 2093, and in Germany, 1850 kilotons.* This relative position has not been changed. The present annual product of the three countries is, in round numbers, Great Britain, 8380, the United States, 7790, and Germany, 4530 kilotons. But the proportion of the United States, which was, in 1876, but 15 per cent. of the world's product, has now advanced to 30 per cent. When we left America in 1876, it was not only with gratitude for cordial hospitality and for the liberality with which our professional colleagues here had opened to our inspection whatever was worthy of notice in our special field, but also with the conviction that we had collected a great treasure of new and interesting information which we could utilize for the benefit of our German Fatherland. Particularly the achievements of the never-to-be-forgotten Holley in the field of Bessemer practice, set us an inspiring example for imitation in our own country. As an expression of our thanks in more practical fashion, I attempt in this paper to sketch what we have done in Germany since

Jan 1, 1891

By George S. Rice

Ten years ago: October, 1914, the author had the privilege of giving an illustrated address on investigations of coal-dust explosions1 to this Institute at one session of its fall meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa,. On the following day, the members had the opportunity of seeing a large-scale explosion test at the Experimental Mine near Bruceton, in which the explosion was made to follow a predetermined path by means of rock-dust barriers of various types, which had prevented the explosive waves from reaching the outlets of the mine by the shortest paths.2 There was also shown a ((home-made" rock-dusting machine discharging the dust from a flexible nozzle, and a cement gun operated for the quick erection of a fire or ventilation stopping, such as might be put up after an explosion. Following that paper, there was presented a paper by J. Taffanel, Director of the Lìévin testing station in the Pas de Calais, which reviewed the French coal-dust investigations.3 A paper4 by Howard N. Eavenson contains lists of explosions that occurred in North America and Great Britain, from early in the 19th century to 1912; in France to 1903, and Belgium to 1909. Although explosions still occur, we are hopeful that we have entered a happier freedom from these visitations, as the result of increased knowledge of the causes and means of prevention. Looking back over coal-dust investigations, there appear to have been periods of advance and of stagnation. Coal-dust Investigations From the earliest times of coal mining, which chiefly affected Great Britain as the first nation to take up coal mining on a large scale, to the beginning of the 19th century, no one thought of coal dust as an explosive agency; firedamp was the cause dreaded. It was believed, when Sir Humphrey Davy invented his safety lamp in 1815, that a solution had been found for the prevention of mine explo-

Jan 1, 1925

By M. Prats

Most of the information available on the heat efficiency of hot fluid injection processes, both water and steam, has been obtained from calculated temperature distributions in the pay zone and adjacent formations. The usual approach has been to write the heat balance equations in terms of the temperatures, and then to introduce whatever simplifications are necessary to help obtain an analytical or a numerical solution. In either case, the assumption has often been made that the vertical thermal conductivity in the flooded interval is infinite, so that the temperatures within the flooded interval are then independent of vertical position. Because it was first made by Lauwerier,l and has been used extensively since, this assumption will be referred to as the Lauwerier assumption. Excellent reviews of the literature on the heat efficiency of hot fluid injection processes have been given by Spillette,2 Flock et al.,3 and Ramney.4 Of course, the most significant contributions take into account the effect of a finite vertical thermal conductivity on the vertical temperature profile. The most general analytic expression for the heat efficiency of a hot fluid injection process is that of Antimirov5 who considers injection of a heated incompressible fluid into a reservoir through an arbitrary number of wells. The rate of heat injection into the reservoir, as well as the injection temperature, is an arbitrary function of time. The geometry of the horizontal flow is arbitrary, although the reservoir is considered to be of uniform thickness and properties and to be of infinite areal extent. Heat transfer within the reservoir is by horizontal convection and conduc- tion, and by vertical conduction. In the formations adjacent to the flooded interval, heat transfer is by conduction in any direction. Thus, the available expression for the heat efficiency due to hot water injection has been developed for rather general conditions. This degree of applicability has not been obtained for other thermal recovery processes. By making the Lauwerier assumption we have been able to obtain expressions for the heat efficiency that are essentially independent of the thermal recovery process, be it steam, hot-water, or underground combustion. Clearly, then, the approach followed here is more restrictive than that of Antimirov5 in that it uses the Lauwerier assumption. At the same time less restrictive assumptions are made about the horizontal heat transfer mechanisms, either in the flooded interval or in the formations adjacent to it. The main difference between our approach and that of other investigators is that the heat balance in the pay zone is expressed for the pay zone as a whole rather than for a volume element within it. The Lauwerier assumption is introduced after the problem is developed along these lines as far as possible. The details of the development of the heat efficiency are given in the Appendix, while the main features of the model are discussed in the next section. Results and their implications are discussed later in a separate section. The Model Certain assumptions have been made to determine

Jan 1, 1970

By Frank Foote, V. H. Nordstrom, Eric R. Jette, Bernard Queneau

The nickel-chromium alloys form the base for many industrial heating alloys, so that this system is of considerable practical importance. The literature on these alloys, however, contains much conflicting evidence, not only regarding the solubility limits of the terminal solid solutions at different temperatures but even regarding the number of phases existing in the system. Part of the difficulty undoubtedly arises from the fact that chromium of sufficiently high purity has been available only during the last few years. A second and possibly even more important difficulty arises from the ease with which chromium reacts with silicon and carbon compounds and the atmosphere to form silicides, carbides, nitrides and oxides. Pilling and Kihlgrenl in 1929 reviewed the existing scanty information. They did not consider the diagram by which they summarized the various bits of information to be entirely satisfactory. Matsunaga2 investigated the system by thermal analysis, microscopic examination and other means. Electrolytic nickel of 99.9 per cent purity and thermit chromium containing 0.30 per cent Al, 0.40 per cent Fe, 0.25 per cent Si and 0.04 per cent C were used. A Tammann furnace with hydrogen flowing through it was used for melting. Sekito and Matsunaga3 reported an X-ray investigation, presumably on these same alloys, which, as far as can be judged from the abstract, essentially confirmed the thermal and microscopic results. Nishigori and Hamasumi4 found compositions for the terminal solid solutions in equilibrium at the eutectic temperature which agreed fairly

Jan 1, 1934

By J. H. Polhems, R. B. Brackin, D. B. Grove

THE heavy media separation process plays an outstanding role in the concentration of 4000 tons of zinc ore per day at the Mascot mill of the American Zinc Co. of Tennessee. Of the total tonnage, 72 pct is treated in the heavy media separation plant to reject 56 pct of the ore as a coarse tailing, which has a ready market. Concentrates from this separation are beneficiated further by jigging and flotation. Approximately 25 pct of the total zinc concentrate production is made in the jig mill. Jig tailings are ground and pumped to the flotation circuit where the balance of the production is made. Fig. 1 shows a generalized flowsheet of the mill. The Mascot ore is a lead-free, honey-colored sphalerite in dolomitic limestone, with lesser amounts of chert and some pyrite. A mineralogical analysis is given in Table I. After 10 years of successful operation with galena medium and treatment of nearly 10,000,000 tons of ore, a decision to convert to ferrosilicon was made early in 1948 because of the increasing price of galena and consequent high operating costs. The conversion was made on Nov. 6, 1948, and the results obtained since that time have shown remarkable improvement over those made with galena. The Table I. Mineralogical Analysis of Mill Feed, Pct Calcium carbonate 49.5 Magnesium carbonate 35.2 Iron oxide and aluminum oxide 1.5 Zinc sulphide 4.5 Insoluble 9.3 100.0 Table II. Comparative Data, Galena and Ferrosilicon Ferro- Diner-Gelenaa siliconb ence Operating costs per ton milled, ct. 21.21 9.12 12.09 Medium consumption per ton milled, lb 0.80c 0.15 0.65 Reagent consumption per ton milled, lb 0.45 0.02 0.43 Tailing assay, pct Zn 0.310 0.297 0.013 Concentrate. oct Zn 12.08 10.33 1.75 Heavy medla ieparatlon recovery. pct 89.38 90.22 0.84 Mill feed rate, tons per hr 153 166 13 Heavy mesa separation feed rate. tons per hr 100 10 0 Tons milled per heavy media separation man shift 350 620 270 Mill feed to coarse tailings, pct 51.0 56.7 5.7 Lost mill time, pct 5.6 5.0 0.6 Power consumption, kw-hr per ton 2.06 1.92 0.14 a 1947. " First 6 months of 1950. c Net consumption after deducting credit for reclaimed waste galena. Consumption of new galena was 1.320 lb per ton milled. For entire life of galena operation, a credit of 40 pct of the value of the new galena added was realized from the sale of waste galena. comparisons given in this report cover the first 6 months of 1950 as representing the ferrosilicon operation, and the year 1947 as representing the galena operation. This was the last full year in which galena was used exclusively and is representative of the best work done during the 10 years of operation with this medium. After only 2 years' operating experience, with ferrosilicon and treatment of 1,807,585 tons many advantages have been revealed and are summarized in Table 11. Development Prior to the introduction of the heavy media process, all the mill feed was crushed through 5/8 in. and treated by jigging. A finished tailing assaying 0.66 pct Zn was made on rougher bull jigs, and cleaner jig tailings were ground for treatment by flotation. The first test work on the sink-and-float method of mineral beneficiation was carried out at Mascot in 1935, using a 3-ft cone and galena medium for batch tests. The following year a 6-ft cone was installed for pilot-plant work. This unit became a part of the mill circuit on March 1, 1936, and handled a gradually increasing tonnage in the next 2 years as the process developed to the point where it could treat all the + 3/8-in. material in the mill feed. Coarse jigging was then discontinued on March 1, 1939, and all coarse tailings have been made by the heavy media separation plant since that time. Feed Preparation: The original feed preparation plant consisted of a drag washer followed by two 4x10-ft Allis-Chalmers washing screens. A surge bin and two additional 5x12-ft AC washing screens were added in 1943. Use of primary and secondary washing screens was found essential to provide the cleanest possible feed for the cone and thereby avoid excessive contamination of the galena medium. Improved washing was obtained by replacing the drag washer with a 7x20-ft Allis-Chalmers scrubber, shown in Fig. 2, which has been in service since May 1944. Throughout the life of the galena operation, delivery of extremely muddy ore to the mill overloaded the medium cleaning system, and it frequently was necessary to cut off the feed and clean the medium for several hours until its normal viscosity had been re-established. The cleaning circuit

Jan 1, 1952

By A. A. Stripling

The Cretaceous limestone wells of the Mara/Maru-caibo Dist. of Venezuela are extremely prolific producers. To maintain production on cessation of natural flow, large scale gas-lift operations were commenced involving high production rates on caring Flow. For the design of these gas-lift installations it was essential to have some knowledge of the pressure gradients involved in casing flow, so that the required injection pressures, optimum gas injection raws, etc., could be forecast. This paper presents a method of calculating these annular pressure gradients. Basically the method makes use of an energy balance equation coupled with an empirical energy loss factor derived from field data. The calculations have been put in a form suitable for "punch card-type" calculating machines. A set of gradient curves for Mara/Maracaibo conditions covering flow rates up to 12,000 B/D, and GOR's of 500 to 2,000 cu fd/bbl is presented. From these curves the flowing BHP can be predicted from surface data and the vertical pow performance under varying conditions of gas injection can be estimated. The method has been applied to La Paz and Mam gas-lift operations for over three years and has given consistently accurate results. INTRODUCTION The Cretaceous limestone fields of the Mara/Maracaibo area in Venezuela are characterized by the presence of widely distributed fissure systems. Under these conditions individual wells frequently have extremely high potentials and such wells are generally flowed on the casing-tubing annulus in order to reduce the pressure loss in vertical flow. To maintain production on cessation of natural flow, an extensive gas-lift system was planned. As a first approach to this gas-lift design problem, an attempt was made to construct a set of empirical flowing gradient curves from the available subsurface pressure data. Such a method has been used successfully for tubing-flow conditions in California by Gilbert'. Unfortunately, the empirical construction of casing-flow gradient curves presents additional difficulties, as pres- sure bombs cannot bc run in the casing-tubing annulus against high rates of flow. Thus, the Full flowing gradients cannot be defined by actual measurement and the best that can be done is to obtain spot pressures at the tubing shoe. Under these conditions a vast accumulation of BHP data is required to construct a set of gradients. To the La Paz and Mara fields the majority of the available flowing pressure measurements fall into a relatively narrow GOR range, in the neighborhood of the solution ratio. While there appeared to be reasonable prospects of constructing gradient curves for this limited range, measurements at higher GOR's, which were of major interest for gas-lift operations, were relatively few and the prospects of constructing empirical curves cor~spondingly remote. As an alternative approach, the possibilities of a mathematical analysis of vertical flow conditions were investigated. May and Laird2fV n 1934 presented an excellent analysis of the vertical-flow conditions in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.'s fields. Their analysis was based on an energy-balance equation and calculated the losses due to kinetic energy, friction and slippage separately. By combining these losses with the total calculated available energy, the required depth-pressure traverse could be deduced. On applying the method to La Paz conditions, good results were obtained for tubing flow at high tubing-head pressures. However, for lower wellhead pressures (300 psi and under) the discrepancy between calculated and measured values increased appreciably. It was considered that this was probably due to energy losses caused by slippage or liquid hang-up in a continuous gas phase, for which it was difficult to visualize any analytical approach. In 1952 Poettmann and Carpenter4 presented a method of pressure gradient calculation which, while based on an energy-balance equation similar to that employed by May and Laird, made no attempt to evaluate the various components making up the total energy loss resulting from irreversibilities of flowing fluids. Instead, they proposed a method of analysis which assumed that all significant losses for multiphase flow could be correlated in a form similar to that of the Fanning equation for frictional losses in single-phase flow. They then derived an empirical relationship linking measurable field data with a factor which, when applied to the standard form of the Fanning equation, would enable the energy losses to be determined. The total available

By Albert Sauveur

The following propositions and corollaries are intended to present, as concisely as possible, some of the evidences gathered while studying the microstructure of steel. Each proposition is accompanied by photo-micrographs showing the structure of illustrative samples. But it must be understood that the special instances thus chosen for illustration are by no means the only ones on the examination of which the propositions are based. On the contrary, they have been taken almost at random among a great many, in some instances more than a hundred, similar cases. Proposition I. A slow and undisturbed cooling from a temperature x or higher produces crystallization. Plate L, Plate II., Fig. 1, and Plate V., Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 show the crystalline structure of several pieces of steel. Plate I. reveals this structure in the center of a slowly-cooled Bessemer ingot, 1.5 feet from the top. Plate II., Pig. 1, is from a small 2-in, square testingot of the same heat, slowly cooled. Plate V., Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 show the structure of different parts of steel rails. The original photographs were all magnified 70 diameters, and have been reduced in engraving to 63, or to 55 diameters, as shown in the plates. Proposition 11. Undisturbed cooling from an initial temperature lower than x is not accompanied by crystallization. Plate III., Fig. 5, shows the structure of a piece of rail-steel forged from a white heat until it had fallen to dull-red. The structure is almost amorphous. Practically no crystallization has taken place during the subsequent cooling. Corollary.—Pieces of steel finished at a temperature lower than x do not take a crystalline structure.

Jan 1, 1894