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Mining headlines in 1952 dealt mainly with expansion as the industry aimed for an ever increasing production to meet the nation's needs. Huge sums were expended for equipment, research, and development. Headlines told part of the story. Negotiations between San Manuel Copper Co. and the RFC finally resolved in a $94 million loan for the development of low grade Arizona ores. Magma Copper, parent firm was to supply an additional 8 million. Kennecott Copper Co., deepening its Deep Ruth Shaft of its Ruth, Neyy mine, announced that the shaft would be in full production in 1953.

Jan 2, 1953

Jan 1, 1942

By A. D. Hughes

C. W. MERRILL*—Mr. Hughes' paper not only is very well presented but is most timely in that it covers a subject of vital interest to the United States. Tin is one of the strategic metals which has not been found here in appreciable quantities. The total United States tin output since the first recorded production over 100 years ago would not supply current consumption for a fortnight. On the consumption side, tin is extremely important in national defense because of its use in tin plate which, in the form of tin cans, makes it possible to feed properly the armies that the United States recruits from its civilian population in emergencies. Moreover, the internal combustion engines so important in powering tanks, planes, and other war machines, require large quantities of tin alloys for bearings and for soldering. These considerations, along with the fact that Malaya, historically, has been the leading source of tin to the United States, make the kind of information that Mr. Hughes has presented so ably. a matter of vital interest. Your Chairman, Mr. Romanowitz, in his introduction, referred to the fact that I had been a member of the United States delegations to the three meetings of the International Tin Study Group. Some cominents on the Group's objectives and deliberations may be of interest. When it appeared that the International Tin Committee, the prewar producer's cartel, might soon revive its operations and extend its control agreement beyond the expiration date of Dec. 31, 1946, the United States Government became interested in some kind of an international trade organization concerned with tin which would give the consumers' interest equal representation with the producers' interests. An international meeting was called in London in October 1946 to consider this problem. I did not attend that meeting hut the result of the meeting was the organization of the International 'Tin Study Group which

Jan 1, 1950

This month, Foote Mineral Co. will start to commercially recover tin in the area of Kings Mountain, North Carolina. For 50 years there have been intermittant efforts to recover it but it has finally become economic as a by-product in the mining and concentrating of the associated lithium ore. An unusual deposit of a nonmetallic mineral which is high in sericite, low in quartzite, and similar in physical characteristics to pinite, has been discovered by the Summit Mining Corp. in Adams County, Pa. Work is in progress to determine its suitability for ceramics, fillers, and extenders for insecticides.

Jan 10, 1951

By J. E. Burke

Recent investigations have elucidated many of the phenomena of the grain growth process, but have also revealed some conflicting and unexplained results. Beck and his co-workers 1,2,3 have shown that grain growth continues with continued heating at one temperature until the average grain size approaches the thickness of the specimen. Plotting the logarithm of the average grain diameter, D, against the logarithm of the annealing time, t, they find the straight line relationship given by the equation: D = Ktm [,] with possible small deviations at short annealing times. K and n are constants at constant temperature. On the other hand, Wa1ker4 finds that, in alpha brass) the rate of growth falls off more rapidly than indicated by Eq i after long annealing, so that an equilibrium grain size is approached. Burke5 showed, using Walker's data, that time and temperature for grain growth are apparently related through an activation energy, H, according to the relationship: ] where h and tz are the annealing times necessary for the average grain size to increase from Do to D at temperatures T1 and T2 and R is the gas laws constant. In the case quoted, H had the value 60,000 cal per mol. The apparent validity of this relationship, at least up to 700°C, and the approximate value of H were later confirmed by Beck3 The results obtained by Beck Kremer, Demer and Holzworth2 for aluminum and aluminum-magnesium alloys could not be satisfied by such a relationship, since the slope of the isothermal curves increased with increasing temperature. These data indicate and Beck, Holzworth and HuV ater demonstrated expcrimentally that the only apparent factor controlling the rate of grain growth at constant temperature is the grain size. While many of the phenomena have been elucidated, a reasonably quantitative explanation of the process is lacking. There exists uncertainty even as to the primary driving force for grain growth, although there is a considerable body of indirect evidence that the interfacial energy of the grain boundary is responsible.7,8,io Making implicit use of this assumption, several authors14,16 have pointed out that grain boundaries should migrate toward their center of curvature. Harker and Parkerg have advanced this concept furthest, and show that one can expect grain boundary migration to occur only when the grain faces are curved, or when they meet at non-equilibrium angles. When the face is curved toward a grain A, for example, the atoms in the surface of grain B, on the other side of the boundary7 are on the average more surromded by the atoms of their lattice than the atoms on the surface of grain A. Because of thermal motion, the atoms at the interface will sometimes be attached to grain A and

Jan 1, 1949

By H. D. Wilde

At the Sugarland and Raccoon Bend fields in the Gulf Coast area, all wells are drilled with rotary tools and the casing is always set in cement that is placed by the circulation method. After the cement is set, the rotary mud that fills the hole is not withdrawn or bailed out; consequently, it is not customary to give the cementing job a direct test either by putting pressure on the hole to see whether the cement will hold or by observing whether an effective water shut-off is secured. About three years ago, this company started the practice of coring the cement left in the bottom of the casing and examining the core thus secured. If the core was hard and strong, the cementing job was judged a success but if the core was incoherent, soft, and crumbly, the job was considered a failure. Of course, there were intermediate types of cores and it was not always a simple matter from this examination to decide whether the job was a success or failure. After about two years, a summary of the core examinations that had been made indicated that of cementing jobs made at depths of 1000 ft. or less, 60 per cent.. were failures; of those between 1000 and 2000 ft., 80 per cent. were failures, and of those between 3000 to 6200 ft., 100 per cent. were failures. This sta,rtling table emphasized the need of the study of the conditions under which the wells were cemented and of adopting means to reduce the percentage of failures. In addition to these core tests, two wells gave direct evidence that the cementing jobs were not always successful. In one, a four-year-old well at Goose Creek, the casing was perforated, and when fluid was circulated some of the old cement wss brought to the surface. Most of it was powdery and the few chunks that were brought up were soft and crumbly. The other was a well at Raccoon Bend which during a blow-out brought a number of chalky, soft and crumbly pieces of cement to the surface. Suggested Explanations of Cementing Failures Efforts were made at once to explain the causes of these cementing failures. As all of the cements used were of a high grade and gave

Jan 1, 1930

By A. D. Zunkel, A. H. Larson

Equilibrium arsenic contents of Pb-As alloys in contact with PbO-As2O3 slags containing less than 30 mol pct As2O3, were determined at 650°, 700: and 750 C in an inert at?rzosphere. In this temperature range, the arsenic content of the alloy increased with increasing temperature in the single-phase liquid slag region and decreased with increasing temperature in the two-phase slag region and the single-phase solid-solution slag region. The PbO-As2O3 phase diagram below 22 mol pct As2O3 was determined by thertrzal analysis and by application of a log ?As2O3/?PbO vS log XAs2o3 /x3pbO plot determined from the equilibrium actiuity data. The resulting phase diagram was not well-defined since the eutectic temperature was not detected in the thermal analysis experiments, although a region of terminal solid solubility of As2O3 was found. Results from the phase diagram determination are compared with an existing diagram in the literature. THIS experimental investigation is an extension of a study by the authors1 on the slag-metal equilibria in the systems concerned with commercial lead refining processes such as softening and dross fuming. The first part of this investigation was a study of the slag-metal equilibria in the Pb-PbO-Sb2O3 system. The only experimental work previously done on the Pb-PbO-As2O3 system was by Pelzel2,3 in which the phase diagram for the PbO-As2O3 system was determined below 50 wt pct As2O3 and the equilibrium constant for the reaction 3Pb + As2O3 + 3PbO + 2As was determined as a function of temperature. No slag-metal equilibrium data have been determined. It is due to the scarcity of information regarding the Pb-PbO-As203 system that this work was undertaken. This paper describes the determination of the slag-metal equilibria in the Pb-PbO-As203 system by equilibrating Pb-As alloys with PbO-As2O3 slags in an inert atmosphere, the effect of 1 wt pct additions of bismuth and copper on the slag-metal equilibria, and the PbO-As2O3 phase diagram both by thermal analysis and the use of the slag-metal equilibria data. EXPERIMENTAL Materials. The materials used in this investigation were analytical reagent-grade and assayed as follows: 1) 99.8 pct PbO (0.014 pct insoluble in CHJCOOH, 0.02 pct not precipitated by H2S, 0.1 pct CaO, and 0.08 pct SiO2); 2) 99.95 pct As2O3; 3) 99.99 pct Pb; 4) 99.0 pct As; 5) 99.99 pct Cu; and 6) 99.97 pct Bi. Room-temperature X-ray patterns revealed no detectable impurities in any of these materials. Apparatus for Equilibrium and Thermal-Analysis Determinations. The resistance-heated crucible furnace used in this investigation employed nichrome elements and was mounted so that it could be raised to surround the reaction tube during each experiment and, subsequently, lowered. A schematic diagram of the apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. Each charge was heated in a 3+-in.-OD by 31/2-in.-high 416 stainless-steel crucible placed in a 41/4-in.-1D by 18-in.-long fused-silica reaction tube which was closed at one end. On a shoulder around the crucible was placed a 3: -in.-OD by 12-in.-long open-end fused-silica condenser tube. The open end of the reaction tube was covered by a water-cooled brass cap with ports for 1) admitting an inert atmosphere to the system through a stopcock, 2) introducing a stainless-steel, motor-driven, paddle stirrer into the crucible, 3) evacuating the system with a mechanical vacuum pump, and 4) sampling the melt with Vycor sampling tubes. The brass cap was fitted to the open end of the reaction tube with a silicone gasket and collar clamp. The furnace temperature was controlled by a Barber-Coleman Capacitrol controller and a chromel-alumel thermocouple. Due to the corrosiveness of the melt, the controlling thermocouple also served as the measuring thermocouple. The temperature of the melt was calibrated against the controller temperature and was checked periodically during each test with a Vycor-enclosed calibrated chromel-alumel thermocouple. The temperature measurement and control can be considered accurate to ±3°C. Procedure. The charge placed in the crucible for each experiment consisted of 1000 g of Pb-As alloy and 300 g of PbO-As2O3 slag. The crucible was then placed in the reaction tube, the condenser tube was placed on the shoulder of the crucible, the silicone gasket and brass cap were fitted on the open end of the reaction tube, and the entire system was evacuated and filled with argon ten times. After the last flushing, a positive argon pressure of 1 psig was impressed on the system. The furnace was then raised to sur-

Jan 1, 1968

The 114th (New York) Meeting of the Institute will be held in the third week of February, 1917. The Committee on Papers and Publica- tions has set Dec. 1,1916, as the closing date for the receipt of manuscripts intended for this meeting. Manuscripts must be received by the Secretary on or before this date. If they are sent through members of the technical committees they must be sent to those committees enough in advance of the time to be forwarded and in the hands of the Secretary by the time specified. While Dec. 1, 1916, is the final closing date, it is a great advantage to get papers in as much before that time as possible as it enables them to be submitted in proof form to their authors. Papers received on or before

Jan 10, 1916

ALABAMA Aldrich -Thomas, D A Altoona -Cain, J Anmston-Cowie, L K Walmsley, W N White, H E Bankhead -Terentieff, V E Bessemer -Abbott, C E Ball, E M McKenzie, W C, Jr Mitchell, F R Morgan, C Thompson, N E Birmingham -Adams, J H Adler, J E Aldrich, T H Aldrich, T H , Jr

Jan 1, 1923

By James J. Bean

Although determining and controlling specific gravity of operating medium in a heavy-media plant manually presents no problem, there are advantages to automatic recording and control. The two installations discussed employ the usual method of measurement. Pneumatic control with band control and reset features is used to regulate dilution water and hence specific gravity. Difficulties have been mechanical in nature and associated with obtaining a proper sample and maintaining tight air connections in bubble-tube piping.

Jan 3, 1950

By John F. Abel

At the spring meeting of the Open Pit Division of AIME's Arizona Section, I was asked a question which indicates the acceleration of technical advancement. The question was: "How does an engineer at a properly keep abreast of what is new?" The fact that some 200 Arizona AIME members were at the meeting is a testimonial to the desire of these men to do just that- keep abreast. There is a great deal of talk in academic circles about the built-in obsolescence of an engineering or scientific education, too. About 100 commencement speakers every spring are sure to admonish the graduates that education is a continuing thing. Mining engineers are a small fraternity. We keep informed by talking to one another. Talking shop is valuable but there is no substitute for reading.

Jan 1, 1970

Jan 1, 1881

By Lars Rossemyr, Terkel Rosenqvist

The equilibrium Mn + 2 IiCl = MnCl2(g) + H2 has been studied at 1090°C for pure manganese and for Mn-Si alloys. For this reoction a standard free energy of Fo1363, = - 19,700 i 300 col ioas found. Combined with other thermal data, the standard free energy of the reaction Mn(s, ß) + Cl2 = MnCl2(g) was derived: Fo=- 56,140 + 9.78 T log T - 40.10 T For the formation of the various manganese silicides the following free energies were obtained. 5 Mn + 3 Si - M1z5Si3 ?F°1363 = -41,500 i 1500 cal Mn + Si - h.lnSi ?F°1363= -10,000 i 500 cnl Mn + 2 Si = MnSiz ?F°1363= -11,500 ± 500 cal In the search for a method suitable for the study of thermodynamic properties of certain alloy systems, it was found that the heterogeneous equilibrium between the alloy and a gas mixture consisting of hydrogen chloride, hydrogen, and volatile metal chlorides has considerable advantages. In addition to giving thermodynamic information about the alloys, such measurements may be used to derive thermodynamic data for the volatile metal chloride itself. The present paper gives some results which were obtained for manganese silicides and manganous chloride. Similar studies are presently being carried out for the iron silicides. The phase diagram of the Mn-Si system is rather well known,' but no information exists to the authors' knowledge about the thermodynamic properties of manganese silicides or about the chemical activities in molten Mn-Si alloys. At elevated temperature, manganese may react with hydrogen chloride according to the equation: Mn(s, ß ) + 2 HC1 = MnC1, (g ) + H2 [ 1] with the equilibrium constant The value of K, may be determined from measurements of the gas composition in equilibrium with pure manganese. When this value is used in connection with measurements on manganese alloys, the chemical activity of manganese in the alloy may be derived. Initial calculations showed that around 1000" to 1200°C the equilibrium constant K1 has a value of a few thousand, i.e., the reaction is shifted far to the right. In order to study this rather unbalanced gas composition, a flow method was used in two slightly different modifications. For all experiments with manganese silicides and for some experiments with pure manganese the apparatus shown on Fig. 1 was used. A bed of the metal or alloy was placed in a tube furnace. The refractory tube had an internal diameter of 14 mm and the bed was 75 mm long. Electrolytic manganese of high purity and silicon, 99.95 pct Si, were used as raw materials. All alloys were prepared by melting weighed amounts of the elements in a high frequency induction furnace in argon atmosphere. The melting was done in a silica crucible which was placed inside a graphite shell. The alloys were crushed to - 10 +40 mesh and analyzed chemically. Also, for the pure elements, the same size fraction was used. A controlled gas mixture of purified hydrogen and from 3 to 12 pct HC1 was passed through the bed where it reacted with manganese according to Eq. [I]. The volatile manganese chloride was collected in a condenser placed in the cooler part of the furnace tube. The gas mixture before and after the furnace was sampled and analyzed by absorption of

Jan 1, 1962

By Harrison R. Cooper

Computer process analysis and control techniques are overcoming major hurdles to acceptance in the mineral industry. With the growing list of new advances characteristic of a rapidly maturing discipline, management of the companies on the leading edge are keenly aware of the advantages of using computer methods in process applications. Significant advancement is already evident in such technical areas as operations research, mathematical modeling, statistical methods, and computer-based procedural techniques. The early advances during the past decade are already documented in prior symposium proceedings of this series. Thus, the currently active areas of the advancing technology are emphasized here. This section deals with applications in pyrometallurgical and kiln processes. The two sections which follow deal with concentrating operations from two points of view: 1) mathematical modeling, and 2) on-line control. In the metallurgical field, emphasis on developing effective process computer applications for the steel industry began in the late 1950's. Simulation techniques also received substantial attention. The steel industry was soon joined by the cement industry in the development of computer methods for process applications. Computers were in use for feed-material blending and kiln control in the early 1960's. Computer development in other pyro processes, such as aluminum reduction and glass-making, also marked significant advances by the mid 1960's. Aluminum smelter potline control is a nearly universal application at this point, and the development of glass furnace computer process control represented a recent important technical advance in digital control techniques. Steel Hot strip rolling was the earliest significant process computer application in the metallurgical industry. Computer control of rolling mill operations is now a steel mill standard component, particularly in plants newly placed into production. 1, 2 Initial computer installations principally carried out procedural routines in setting mill clearances for production lot control. Recent developments are leading toward feedback control based on mathematical model techniques. 3

Jan 1, 1969

By Earl A. Trager

The broad picture of world petroleum production at the present time is one of an excessive supply. In any consideration of corrective measures to be applied in the future, it will be necessary to include all the producing areas of the entire world. To illustrate, United States production during 1931 was 48 million barrels1 less than 1930, whereas world production exclusive of the United States increased, owing principally to increases in Russia, Rumania and Persia. Domestic Peoduction Let us first consider the domestic production situation. Due to the fact that United States production was maintained below current demand, about 40 million barrels of oil were withdrawn from storage during 1931. Consumption increased about 1.5 per cent over 1930, which is less than the recent annual rate of increase of 8 to 11 per cent. If the machinery to prevent waste in the petroleum industry operative for more than a year will continue during the coming year and drilling is held to the 1931 level, there will be a decided improvement in the domestic situation by the close of 1932. This will be due in large measure to the drastic reduction in exploratory work and drilling which has been in effect for more than a year. Looking ahead for two or more years, probably there will be a shortage of domestic production in relation to domestic demand, unless there are discovered several large pools comparable to Oklahoma City or East Texas. Were the United States isolated, our problems in so far as petroleum production is concerned might be considered well along the road to recovery. To maintain this perspective will require the cooperation of foreign producers in the future, or protection of United Statcs markets from foreign invasion. Let us review briefly the present situation in the United States. East Texas has been the most important factor during 1931. The large initial production of individual wells and the rapid rate of drilling

Jan 1, 1932

By W. C. Coons, E. H. Rennhack, R. A. Perkins

THE constitution of Ti-N alloys containing up to 17.5 wt pct N has been investigated by Palty, Margolin, and Nielsen.1 Their results, which confirmed earlier work

Jan 1, 1969

In accordance with the provision of the Constitution, notice is here given to all Members, Associates, and Junior Members, that the clues of the year 1918 will be payable on Jan. 1. 191.8, at the office of the Secretary. The dues for Members and Associates are $12 per year and the sum of 83 additional is asked of those Members and Associates who desire to have the three volumes bound in the Institute's standard half morocco binding. The dues of Junior Members are $5 per year.

Jan 12, 1917

By J. L. Huiatt, M. C. Fuerstenau, M. C. Kuhn

Dithiophosphatogen is the species responsible for flotation of pyrite when dithiophosphate is added as collector. Oxidation of collector apparently occurs by reaction with oxygen adsorbed on the pyrite surface. Oxidation of dithiophosphate and xanthate is also effected with Cu++, Cu(OH) , and Fe+++ and rates of oxidation are presented as a function of pH. Reasons for the selectivity observed when dithiophosphate is added as collector in a natural ore system as compared to xanthate are presented and discussed.

Jan 1, 1972

By A. B. Parsons

When the Seeley W. Mudd Memorial Fund was established in. 1929 the donors mentioned certain types of projects to which preference might be given in selecting those to he financed by the income from the Fund. One suggestion. was that the projects "be of particular benefit to young engineers." This modest little book meets this specification most aptly. It seeks to guide the engineer-particularly the young one-with the least loss of time and effort to the most convenient source of authentic information regarding any topic in which he may at the moment be interested. Knowing the best place to find the literature on a subject is almost as valuable-and far more practicable-than maintaining a library of one's own large enough to provide the information.

Jan 1, 1933

By S. R. B. Cooke, S. W. Clark

Adsorption of calcium and magnesium by quartz was determined over a wide pH range using flame photometry for solution analysis. A parallelism was noted between calcium adsorption at alkaline pH and flotation of activated quartz by means of various fatty acid collectors. Abstraction of calcium from 100 ppm solutions increased above pH 10.5 until all of the calcium was removed at pH values between 12 and 12.5. Calcium was desorbed from the quartz over the pH range 12.5 to 13.0 and returned to the solution. Precipitation of magnesium hydroxide prevented measurement of magnesium adsorption above a pH of 9.9. A calcium adsorption isotherm determined at pH 9 matched measurements of barium adsorption by other investigators over the range where adsorption corresponded to the equation of a Freundlich adsorption isotherm. In accordance with the Gouy-Chapman theory for adsorption in the diffuse layer, adsorption of the divalent cations under these conditions was four times the adsorption of monovalent sodium. Activation of quartz by multivalent metal cations in flotation using anionic collectors has been studied by many investigators. The occurrence of activator cations in the water of flotation mills makes depression of silaceous gangue very difficult. Alternatively, in some flotation systems it is practical to cause activation of quartz so that it is floated from the desirable mineral values. The present study was initiated to investigate the activation of quartz by measuring adsorption of calcium and magnesium ions as a function of solution pH. Early empirical tests showed that quartz would be activated to flotation using anionic collectors if any of a number of divalent or trivalent metallic cations were present in the pulp.1*2 Subsequent studies by Clemmer,3 Cooke and Digre,4 Cooke,5 Schuhmann and Prakash,6 and Cooke, Iwasaki, and Choi,7-8 showed that flotation depended strongly upon the alkalinity of the flotation pulp, the concentration of the activating cations, and the chain length and structure of the organic collectors used. The concept of the electrical double layer has been applied to the case of the quartz-aqueous solution interface by Gaudin and Fuerstenau,9-10 and by de Bruyn 11 to explain the activation of quartz by multivalent metal cations. Studies of the surface of quartz by Gaudin and Fuerstenau9,10,12 and by Li " using the streaming potential technique contributed much information on the electro kinetic condition of the surface of quartz in the presence of various organic and inorganic ions. Measurement of adsorption of ac-

Jan 1, 1969