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By C. Meyer, J. J. Eidel

C. W. Hunt I wish to register strong disagreement with the choices of drilling sites chosen by the Continental Scientific Drilling Committee, while endorsing the stated objectives. Of special significance is the lack of any site involving the metals most needed today in the US, while 9 to 13 km of drilling are allocated to gold and silver districts and 11 to 17 km to base metal (mainly copper) districts. Why is nothing proposed for platinum group or chromite? Is this because the committee did not know of such a site? If so, I offer such a site in California (see Fig. 1). The mineralization shown in Table 1 occurs in a large peridotite body in western Tehama County, CA. Petrography has demonstrated unequivocal evidence of migrated PGE deposited in peridotite and chromite of hypabyssal nature. Active diapirism (due probably to serpentine buoyancy) above a reactivated mantle to surface conduit marks the position of the conduit. Young explosion breccia cemented loosely by volcanic glass and tuff demonstrates the significance of the conduit as the prime source of the various emissions. Deep drilling could result in major metals discoveries as well as shedding light on the grand questions of platinum group mineralization. What role water has played in this occurrence is not yet certain; but chlorine and asphaltite have been detected in and adjacent to native PGM, suggesting a major role for water. The explosion breccia suggests that this excellent site could overlie entrapped geothermal steam.

Jan 6, 1987

By C. McAllister, D. Preece, J. Berendzen

The Multiple Blasthole Fragmentation (MBF) model was developed recently and has been reported in previous papers. The MBF model accepts inputs from the blast design, such as: location and orientation of each blast hole, stemming length, blast hole diameter, multiple decking, bench height, initiation sequence, etc. It models the effect on fragmentation of delay timing with its associated scatter for each blast hole. MBF has a statistical modeling capability for geological random variation of the attenuation of particle velocities. Also simulated is wave reinforcement due to the interaction of simultaneously arriving waves or diminishing cooperative contribution from long delay intervals between charges.

Jan 1, 2016

By K. T. Aust

The occurrence of annealing twins in high-purity aluminum resulted in the formation of grain boundaries having orientation relationships which correspond to a high density of coincidence sites. The results provide support for the coincidence site model and indicate that large-angle coincidence boundaries have lower free energies than large-angle noncoincidence boundaries. Observations are presented concerning the coherent structure of twin interfaces in aluminum and the importance of inter-facial energy in preferred orientation. RECENT experiments1 have shown that when an annealing twin is formed during grain boundary migration in zone-refined lead, a large-angle random boundary is replaced at the growth front by a large-angle coincidence site boundary. The coincidence site orientation relationships obtained by twinning were of the type considered by Kronberg and Wilson,2 Frank,3 and Dunn.4 On the basis of the theory of annealing twins advanced by Fullman and Fisher,5 these observations indicate that the energy of a coincidence site boundary is less than the energy of a random boundary by an amount which exceeds the energy of the coherent twin boundary. This energy difference between the coincidence and random boundaries must be at least about 5 pct since the ratio of twin boundary energy to grain boundary energy in zone-refined lead is 0.05 * .014.6 Fullman7 has found that the twin boundary energy in aluminum is about 21 i 5 pct that of a large-angle grain boundary. A twin boundary energy as large as this would be expected to exclude the formation of many coincidence site grain boundaries, especially those which have a relatively low density of coin- cidence sites. Therefore, if the coincidence site model is a useful interpretation of certain large-angle boundaries, then it would be predicted that only coincidence boundaries which separate adjacent crystals with a relatively high density of coincidence sites may be obtained as a result of twinning in aluminum. The present experiments provided a means of testing this prediction since annealing twins occurred during the growth of recrystallized grains into striated, melt-grown single crystals of zone-refined aluminum. EXPERJMENTAL PROCEDURE A striated single crystal of zone-refined aluminum, about 1 cm sq and 37 cm in length, was obtained during zone melting of aluminum of 99.996 wt pct starting purity in a graphite boat under helium atmosphere.8 A molten zone of 2 to 3 cm in length, which was maintained by induction heating. was passed along the length of the bar for eleven passes at a rate of 0.9 mm per min. An additional final pass was given at a rate of 0.2 mm per min. The center portion of the zone-melted bar was characterized by an electrical resistivity ratio between room temperature and 4.2° K of 8000 to 9000. Single crystals of 1 to 2 cm in length were removed from the center section of the zone-refined bar and electrolytic ally polished in a 2:l solution of methyl alcohol and concentrated nitric acid. The specimens were then chemically polished in Alcoa R-5 solution. X-ray analysis of the single crystals indicated the presence of striations or lineage substructure having misorientations as high as 2 deg. New, recrystallized grains were introduced into each striated crystal by the technique of artificial nucleation and growth, previously described.9 During the growth of the recrystallized grains at 300' to 600°C in argon, it was sometimes found that a

Jan 1, 1962

Syncrude Canada produces a large part of Canada’s crude oil supply. The company processes about 225,000 bbl/day. The oil produced is used for jet and automobile fuel, home heating oil, plastics and other consumer synthetics. Crude oil is produced through a process of mining, extracting and upgrading bitumen. A rich supply of bitumen is contained in the Athabasca oil sands deposit in northern Alberta. Tailings from the bitumen processing are sent to a settling basin.

Jan 1, 2000

By Gift Makusha

The Witbank Coalfield in South Africa contains up to five economically viable coal seams. These seams have been mined continuously for over 100 years and the reserve in now becoming depleted. The normal mining method has been bord and pillar with examples of stooping. The situation now occurs where the formed pillars, left to maintain stability, have a higher quality than the coal that is left in the unmined reserves. Where the reserves are less than 70m deep and continuous over several kilometers, opencast mining is being successfully applied. After several years of investigation, Anglo Coal has identified blocks of coal that warrant investigation with regard to pillar extraction by underground methods The proposed method is pillar extraction using Mobile Roof Supports (MRS) It is proposed to mine three panels at a depth of 120m, by keeping the panels narrow and sub-critical. The sub-critical layout does not allow caving to surface and more stress is thrown onto the barrier pillar rather than the face pillars. The sub-critical span is anticipated to be 100m. The paper describes the full geotechnical investigation, including numerical modelling, instrumentation and drawing on the local South African experience of shortwall mining. The project will be unique in that pillars were not designed for pillar extraction and have low factors of safety (l.4 - 1.8) and width to height ratios of less than 4. The mining height will be approximately 4-4 5m, and this represents "new" operating heights for Mining Roof Supports. The required equipment was ordered in late 2002 and pillar extraction is anticipated to begin in June 2003.

Jan 1, 2003

By Christopher Bambridge

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is constructing a new tunneled route under Seattle to replace the existing State Route 99, Alaskan Way Viaduct (AWV), which follows the historic waterfront for several miles. The viaduct separates the businesses that rely upon the tourist trade from the down-town area. The reconnection of the city to the waterfront areas will occur following the completion of the SR99 Re-placement program that replaces the aging structure that was severely impacted by the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, with a state-of-the-art, twin-deck highway with a world record-breaking 17.4-m (57.3-ft) bored tunnel. Constructed in the 1950s, the double-tiered viaduct is nearly 3.2 km (2 miles) long and runs parallel to city?s waterfront. The viaduct, which is partially supported by the seawall, is a vital local and regional transportation link and carries about 110,000 vehicles each day. The seawall, built from concrete and timber in the 1930s, extends along Seattle?s waterfront and supports the soil behind it. Studies in the 1990s showed that the viaduct was nearing the end of its useful life, apparent by its exposed rebar and weakened columns. The 2001 Nisqually earth-quake further damaged the viaduct, forcing WSDOT to temporarily close it for inspection and limited repairs. The viaduct and nearby seawall are vulnerable to an-other earthquake and continue to show signs of age and deterioration. Following a collaborative process, WSDOT developed the following guiding principles to the viaduct replace-ment:

Sep 1, 2013

By Leonid V. Azároff, H. N. Murty

In the course of investigating the soft X-ray absorption spectra of Ni-A1 alloys, Das and ~zfiroff' observed an anomalous brittleness in solid solutions containing 3 to 5 at. pct Al. The brittle alloys also had anomalously larger lattice constants' and the fine structure at the nickel K edge of an alloy containing 3.96 at. pct A1 unexpectedly resembled that of NiA1 more closely than that of a solid solution containing 5.51 at. pct Al. This led them to suggest the possibility that short-range ordering was produced during the homogenization anneal to which each specimen was subjected, similar to that observed in dilute solutions of vanadium and of chromium in nickel: as the principal cause of embrittlement. It was decided to repeat the above measurements on several alloys in this composition range in order to test the above hypothesis and to establish the effect of heat treatment on the alloys' properties. Three solid solutions in this range were prepared containing, respectively, 3.16, 4.00, and 4.54 at. pct Al, in addition to alloys containing 6 and 9 pct. All samples were annealed in vacuum at 1800°F for 100 hr and then furnace-cooled to room temperature, as in the original study. The lattice constants of these alloys are shown by open circles in Fig. 1 and can be seen to fit quite closely the curve established by the previously measured values, indicated by solid circles. (The experimental errors are of the order of the size of the circles, +o.oo~R.) The three alloys containing 3 to 5 at. pct A1 were found to be quite brittle, as previously reported. In order to test the possibility of ordering, these three solid solutions were again heated to 1800°F and, following a few hours at that temperature, were quenched directly to room temperature. All three alloys lost their brittleness. In order to verify the proposed ordering hypothesis, it was decided to subject each sample to several cycles of quenching and annealing (disordering and ordering). After some experimentation, it was established that reproducible results could be obtained by anneal-

Jan 1, 1968

By Xu Youzai

Static loading teets of five nodular piles and four non-nodular piles were performed in Tianjin soft clayey soil in which measurements of axial force and movements were made. Distribution of shaft resistance and load-movment curves for pile head and pile toe are presented in this paper. The applicability of nodular piles to soft soil and their effectiveness are also discussed. Based on the comparison, it is concluded that nodular piles have an advantage over non-nodular piles mainly in contri­bution to shaft resistance. Dynamic testing was also conducted through R. P. T. for evaluating the service load of tested piles.

Jan 1, 1991

Under the Bureau of Mines Research Contract Number H0252071, Foundation Sciences, Inc. has compared the relative effectiveness of roof bolts installed at an angle over the rib with that of bolts installed vertically at the rib side, The information gathered during this investigation was sufficient to supply supplementary information on the mechanics of roof support systems and the general acceptability of field instrumentation methods. During the 140 days of field investigation, 235 bolts were installed, 45 inclined and 190 vertical, in two adjacent intersections. Of these 235 bolts, 30 were in-stalled with load cells and 38 were tested for anchor capabilities. In addition to this instrumentation, the deformation of the opening was measured by convergence meter on 9 lines throughout the two testing areas, and a borescope and photo-elastic gauges were utilized to obtain information on the roof action beyond the surface.

Jan 1, 1977

By W. E. Quist, R. Taggart, D. H. Polonis, C. J. van der Wekken

An intermediate compound that has been identified as Niab is observed to form as a decomposition product from supersaturaled Ni-Nb solid solutions during aging at temperatures between approximately 300" and 500°C. On the basis of data from electron microscopy and selected-area diffraction, the structure of this compound has been determined as fct with a = b - 3a0 and c = a, wlzere a,, is the lattice parameter of the parent solid solution. The compound consists of close-packed layers with triangular ordering, where the niobiutrl atoms are separated by two nickel atoms ([long- close?-packed directions. A nine layer stacking sequence is required to describe the proposed structure. STUDIES of the Ni-Nb binary system have been limited primarily to phase diagram determinations,'-4 investigations of high-temperature equilibrium phases,5"1 and the determination of the influence of deformation on the structure of the equilibrium compound.8 The nickel-rich portion of the binary system is reported to be of the simple eutectic type in which the maximum solubility of 12.7 at. pct Nb occurs at 1282"c.' The two-phase field below the eutectic temperature is bounded by the a fcc solid solution and an orthorhombic Ni3Nb compound. No metastable phases have been reported in previous investigations. In transformation studies of certain nickel-base commercial alloys that contain niobium, two ordered metastable compounds containing niobium have been shown to precipitate from the solid solution, both of which have been identified as y' and have the composition NisNb or Ni,Nb. One compound has been reported to have the bct DOz2 type Al3Ti structure" and the other the cubic LI2 type Cu3Au structure.9,11 In the present work on Ni-Nb binary alloys a metastable y' compound has not been detected after conventional quenching and aging treatments. An anomalous behavior was noted in electrical resistivity measurements. in alloys containing between 7 to 12 at. pct Nb when aging treatments were performed below 500°C after fast quenching from 1250°C. Transmission electron microscopy has shown that this behavior is caused by the formation of a low-temperature precipitate of unreported structure type and composition. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Several Ni-Nb alloys, containing up to 11.5 at. pct Nb. were prepared by either levitation melting and casting in copper molds or by induction melting in alumina crucibles; both techniques employed purified helium gas as a protective atmosphere. The purity of the nickel and niobium used to make the alloys was 99.98 wt pct Ni and 99.9 wt pct Nb. The composition and homogeneity of the alloys were checked by weight measurements and by electron microprobe analysis. The induction-melted alloys were homogenized for 100 hr at 1100°C. The resistivity specimens were prepared from rods swaged to 2.5 mm and the electron microscopy specimens were cut from sheet that was rolled to 0.4 mm and thinned using a modified Bollmann technique." The elevated-temperature solution treatments were carried out in a purified helium atmosphere followed by direct quenching into a 10 pct NaCl solution at 23°C. Additional protection against oxidation of the samples during solution treatment was accomplished by using tantalum foil as a "getter" in the furnace. The specimens were aged at various temperatures in salt baths controlled to +2oC. A Leeds and Northrup K5 potentiometer was used to make electrical resistivity measurements on specimens immersed in liquid nitrogen. Electron microscopy and diffraction studies were carried out with JEM-7 and Philips EM-200 microscopes operating at 100 kv. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Ni-Nb alloys containing between 7 and 11.5 at. pct Nb that have been solution-treated in the range 1220" to 1280°C and quenched to 23°C undergo a precipitation reaction when aged in the temperature range 300" to 500°C. Precipitation was detected by selected-area electron diffraction after aging a specimen for as little as 30 sec at 350°C) whereas the reaction was well-advanced after aging for 150 hr at 475°C. Electrical resistivity measurements were used to monitor the progress of the precipitation reaction. In the present experiments the nucleation process for precipitation required a high solution temperature and a rapid quench into brine. The presence of aluminum, iron? and carbon in amounts totaling less than 1 wt pct was found by electron diffraction to completely suppress the formation of the low-temperature precipitate that has been detected in the binary alloy. Electron diffraction techniques were used to determine the structure of the precipitates that formed during the decomposition of the Ni-Nb supersaturated solid solutions. Figs. l(a) through l(d) show electron diffraction patterns oriented to the [loo], [110], [lll], and [I031 zone axes of the matrix. Areas of reciprocal space between these sections were investigated by slowly varying the orientations of the crystal under study; this procedure revealed no reflections other than those depicted in Fig. 1. The presence of super-lattice reflections at points coincident with the matrix reflections was confirmed by the examination of an almost completely transformed structure. On the basis of the accumulated diffraction data, the reciprocal lat-

Jan 1, 1970

By S Rupprech, T Lund, H Fourie, PH van Rooyen, NM Vegter

Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation (Pty) Ltd (RPZC) operates an underground mine at Rosh Pinah in southern Namibia producing zinc and lead sulphide concentrates. It currently mines around 0.7 Mtpa run-of-mine ore containing around 6-10% zinc and 1.5-3.5% lead. As part of past exploration and current intensified exploration, a massive continuous low grade ore body was identified which grades at around 3% zinc equivalent. This ore body is near current mining infrastructure and could be amenable to bulk mining methods. In the present paper a concept is presented on how it could be exploited. As a precursor to exploitation of the low grade a number of enhancements are proposed for the current mining operations including: ? shortening load-and-haul distances by extending the conveyor raise further down the mine in a phased manner and back-filling of waste into mined-out stopes; ? use of mobile crushing plant at the crusher tip, and; ? installation of a system to allow scoops to load directly from stopes into ore passes close by combined with truck loops to haul from these ore passes to the crusher tip. To exploit the low grade ore body the following concepts are proposed: ? open stope mining from two areas at a total rate of up to 2 Mtpa; ? underground pre-beneficiation of mined low-grade ore near the stopes using either dense medium separation or X-ray sorting; ? pre-beneficiated tails back-filled to mined-out stopes and; ? pre-beneficiated product transported to surface by linking into proposed run-of-mine conveying system.

Jan 1, 2007

J. H. Lord (Geological Survey of Western Australia): During the last few days in Kalgoorlie here we have heard on various occasions of the great job the mining engineers have done persisting against rising costs and increasing salaries without a rise in the price of gold. I think it has been somewhat overlooked that it has been difficult to find additional ore as well. I consider that geologists also should be commended on their action in persisting to search for more orebodies. This goes on in any mining community, but in Kalgoorlie in particular, I believe, over the last few years that it has been more difficult all the time to find additional orebodies and the Companies are calling for higher grades to offset the economic condition. I feel that this paper by Mr. Finucane shows that the geologists have persevered on an idea and discovered that they can find additional orebodies in the calc schist where previously it was thought that these did not occur. This has added many tons to the ore reserves, and although it is not very significant at the moment, the significance will probably improve as more work is done.The whole thing has shown us the importance of economic geology. Mr Finucane has had many years of experience here and he has given us a very able exposition of the economics of ore finding, and there are not many questions that one could pose to him, because most of the information he presented is obviously fact borne out by drilling, underground development and lining up the ore channels. He did briefly touch on ore shoots-the Oroya shoot and several others. It would be very good if we could, and I feel sure...

Jan 1, 1965

By Beevers J

The Ok Tedi Project is now a high production open-pit porphyry copper mine located in the Star Mountains of Papua New Guinea (PNG). At present, total daily production is 190 000t of ore and waste. Large scale drilling and blasting has only been in operation since 1988, prior to which all material was removed by ripping and dozing. This paper reviews the steps taken over the last 12 months in establishing a more efficient drilling and blasting operation and highlights the significant reduction in powder factor. These improvements have been achieved largely through the introduction of air-bags, controlled pattern expansion and an overall focusing on the operation by involving consultants, ICI's technical service and internal departments.

Jan 1, 1991

By Tony Moore, Peter Riccio

"MMG (Minerals and Metals Group) operates the LXML Sepon’s mineral processing facility located 40 kilometers north of the town of Sepon, in the Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR. The Sepon copper plant produces 70,000 tons/year of LME grade A copper cathode using leachautoclave- SX/EW-flotation technology (Baxter et al., 2003). Pyrite recovery in the flotation circuit is critical to the operation, as it is used to generate acid and soluble ferric ion for the leach circuit. Low pyrite recovery has been an on-going challenge in the flotation circuit. Final tailings characterization work done by Ian Wark Research Institute (Bassell et al., 2006) showed that the pyrite losses to the tailings are made up of a combination of coarse liberated particles and finer particles that have been coated by clay fines.In December of 2005, a joint Cytec-MMG technical program was initiated to address the pyrite recovery issue. A series of diagnostic tests were performed in the Cytec Stamford Research Facility using synthetic plant water showing that the collector was precipitating as a metal salt and was unavailable for mineral attachment. The tests also identified several collector chemistries that would likely be robust in the low pH (< 1), high dissolved metal ion environment and will not complex with metal ions in solution. With the support of the Sepon on-site engineers, an extensive, successful laboratory program was completed, which was subsequently followed by on-plant testing that showed a step wise improvement in pyrite recovery.INTRODUCTIONLow pyrite recovery has been an ongoing problem in the flotation circuit at Sepon. Sulfur recovery (indirect measure of pyrite) was improved from 40% to 65%-75% in mid-2005 when on site laboratory work confirmed that AERO® 8045 Promoter was a more effective collector then AERO® 407 Promoter. However, sulfur recoveries above 65% could never be achieved. Sepon requested the Ian Wark Research Institute to complete a surface analysis study using Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy to determine if clay coated pyrite played a role. It was concluded that the pyrite losses to the tailings are made up of a combination of coarse (+ 100µm) liberated particles and finer (-74µm) particles that have been coated by clay fines. The majority of the losses appear to be due to the former. In December of 2005, a series of diagnostic tests were performed in Stamford using synthetic plant water in order to identify what chemistries would likely be robust in the slimy low pH and high dissolved metal ion solution environment. Results showed that several chemistries would not complex with ferric, ferrous or copper in solution and therefore should perform well in the Sepon flotation. The incumbent collector, AERO® 8045 Promoter was complexing with metal ions in solution. This resulted in the collector not being available for adsorption onto pyrite."

Jan 1, 2011

GENTLEMEN, lt is with much pleasure I meet you tonight at this the second meeting of the Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers, held in Western Australia, and I sincerely thank you for the honour you have conferred upon me in electing me as your President. I greatly appreciate the distinction, and will endeavour to fulfil the duties of the office to the best of my ability, and hope to prove a worthy successor to those gentlemen who have held the position before me. On behalf of the local members of the Institute, I extend a hearty welcome to the members from the other States of the Commonwealth, who have come so far to attend this meeting, and also to the non-members whom we have invited this evening. We are especially pleased to have Mr. Gregory, our Minister of Mines and Railways, and the Government and School of Mines officials with us; and I take this opportunity to thank the Premier, Mr. Gregory, and the Government officials for the assistance given us, and for doing so much to make the visit of our members from the other States so pleasant and instructive. I have also to thank the Mayor and Councillors of Kalgoorlie for the courtesy and hospitality given to our members, which is much appreciated.I assume you want me to follow the time-honoured custom of giving a Presidential address...

Jan 1, 1909

By K. W. Lee, C. Pound, J. Carmody, L. Petersen, C. Nelson, J. G. Cai

The feasibility of developing the Underground Science City below the Kent Ridge Park has been investigated. The primary aim of the study has been to explore the possibility of creating underground space to house a new community of research laboratories and offices. The investigation represents the first such study undertaken in Singapore for a non-military underground facility. The paper describes the geology of the Underground Science City site and illustrates the layout and plan of the Underground Science City. The geology and rock mass below the Kent Ridge Park is generally favorable for the development of an underground cavern complex. Underground Science City can be potentially developed housed in a cavern complex. Several potential development schemes are studied; with various combination of deep/shallow mined caverns of different span sizes and access options. The preferred scheme is shallow, mined room-and-pillar caverns with large spans and shaft accesses at both existing surface Science Park 1 and Science Park 2. The scheme can be potentially expanded laterally to create more underground space for new Underground Science Cities at Kent Ridge area.

Jan 1, 2001

The mineralogy of the rocks now observed in the Nairne pyrite deposit developed under conditions of internally-controlled sulphur activity during amphibolite facies metamorphism. In the sulphide-deficient metasediments the activity of sulphur was low, and pyrrhotite developed with iron-bearing silicate minerals. At higher sulphur activity, in the sulphide-rich meta-sediments, pyrite formed in addition to pyrrhotite, and the associated silicate minerals are iron-deficient.

Jan 1, 1969

By Worner H. K

Education has always been a topic to rouse the interest of mining and metallurgical engineers, but the recent activities of the Education Committee of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 1, 2, together with the moves throughout the Commonwealth to extend the field of technological education, have made the subject a very live one at the present time. The authors have felt it would be appropriate that on the occasion of the First Ordinary Meeting for 1950, in Victoria, some contribution should be forthcoming concerning the history, present status and possible future trends of mining and metallurgical education in this State. As for the past, the time approaches when there will be none having personal recollections of the beginning of Victorian mining schools or of the men who started them. As for the future, it is obvious that rapidly expanding metal-producing and metalconsuming industries will demand a greater output of competent graduates and diplomates. The era immediately ahead seems to be bristling with opportunities, but mining educators need to temper their enthusiasm for various policies and programmes with the realisation that they are helping to train men who will be leaders 15-20 years hence when the problems of industry and trials of life generally may be very different from what they are to-day.

Jan 1, 1950

By Marie Kinzel

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, the birthplace f the atomic bomb, is one of the most famous-and mysterious-places in the world. It leaped into fame on Aug. 6, 1945, when the first atomic bomb burst over Hiroshima. Unheard of until that day, its present life is as hidden from most people as was its very existence in pre-Hiroshima days. Then, those who did know of it dared not breathe their knowledge. "What do you tell your wife when you go to Shangri La?" was the favorite quip of the few consultants who made regular trips from east or west to Los Alamos during the tense months when the bomb was in the making. Security regulations made it impossible even to hint at the rigid secrecy surrounding the project. The puzzled wives in question knew only that their husbands had top priority on airplane flights to Albuquerque. When they had verified the safe arrival of the flight, they undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief. If they could have visualized the rest of the trip, the sigh of relief would have been replaced by a state of tizzy, until a telegram came saying "Arriving home on Flight X" (on a nice safe airplane).

Jan 1, 1946

By A. E. Anderson, H. J. Hilll

Laboratory data for 155 field muds and 77 .shales have been used to develop correlations to estimate the net streaming potential component of the SP. Analysis of these data and comparison with field tests show that streaming potential corrections must be made to obtain an accurate estimate of the electrochemical potential for use in the determinntion of formation water resi-iiviy. The self-potential curve is related to formation water resistivity, and considerable effort within the oil industry has been directed toward clarifying this relationship. The Schlumbergers and Leonardon1,2 recognized that two types of potentials, electrochemical and electro-kinetic, resulted in the net potential variation in the borehole. Most of the later papers have dealt with the electrochemical component and its controlling parameters. The investigations of Wyllie,2" Salisch&apos; and Moore5 provide the most extensive sources of data on streaming potentials across mud cakes. These authors observed streaming potentials of sufficient magnitude to be of critical importance in SP interpretation, if it is assumed that streaming potentials develop only opposite permeable beds. Streaming potentials across shales have been reported by Schenck and by Gondouin, et al.7 Since SP magnitude is the difference in potential opposite shale and sand beds, these authors suggested that the net streaming potential component may be negligible. The present investigation was initiated to evaluate empirically some of the parameters controlling the magnitude of the net borehole streaming potential and to determine whether useful relations between mud properties and net streaming potential could be established. Field muds were used in this investigation. These muds were characterized by the amount and type of chemical treatment utilized for five days before Sampling. Filter loss, mud resistivity, mud density and filtrate resistivity were determined for each mud with conventional methods and apparatus. Mud filtrate pH was estimated with Hydrion pH paper for the appropriate range. Streaming PotentIals Across MuD Cakes Commercial calomel-saturated KC1 electrodes are subject to potential changes attributed to contamination of the very small fiber-tip bridge by particles of clay from the drilling mud.3 To minimize this difficulty, a large diameter bridge (Fig. 1) was constructed with saturated KC1-agar gel and a filter disc of microporous porcelain. Experiments showed that streaming potentials across this bridge are less than 0.2 mv at pressure dif-