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Jan 1, 1897

By R. Havens, K. C. Dean, H. Dolezal

Mine, mill, and smelter wastes aggregating billions of tons are scattered across the country as unattractive barren piles that mar the natural beauty of the land. As the population of the United States increases and the demand for land intensifies, populous centers are slowly encroaching on these formerly isolated wastes. Encroachment sharply intensifies the importance of controlling the air and water pollution derived from natural weathering of such wastes. Use or stabilization of these wastes comprises the only viable means for minimizing pollution. Utilization is preferable to stabilization, because full use would both eliminate the waste and broaden the mineral resource base. However, the wastes typically comprise immense tonnages of materials discarded by selective mining or after recovering the significant mineral values by milling and/or smelting. Only rarely can such low-grade material be reprocessed to extract additional minerals at a profit. Some mineral wastes are suitable for disposal as mine fill, railroad and highway road ballast, and land fill. Similarly, some mineral wastes can be utilized as raw materials for making brick, rock wool, concrete, and ceramic products. Several means exist for stabilization of relatively fine-sized wastes, which constitute the chief sources of air and water pollution. These include physical, chemical, and vegetative stabilization, and combinations thereof. Massive coverings of coarse slag, concrete, and soil may be used to prevent erosion of waste piles. A variety of chemicals can be used to bond the particles of fine-size waste into a relatively inert mass. However, the most promising method of producing an esthetically appealing storage site is vegetative stabilization. Numerous species of plants can germinate, grow, and reseed in waste materials which have been adequately prepared to support plant life.

Jan 3, 1969

By S. Frederick Ravitz

IN recent years, two theories of the mechanism of flotation have received a great amount of attention. One of these is Ostwald's theory of linear flotation,1 according to which most collectors contain three active groups: a hydrophilic or water-loving, a metallophilic or mineral-loving, and an aerophilic or air-loving group. Under the action of these three groups, Ostwald considers a single ring of collector molecules at the three-phase air-liquid-mineral boundary sufficient to bring about the flotation of the mineral particle. Siedler, Moeller and Reddehase2 objected to this theory immediately after it was presented, but most of their objections were answered by Ostwald.3 Very recently, however, Wark and Cox4 have more adequately criticized this theory, and their criticism makes its validity appear doubtful. The other important recent theory is the "chemical" theory of flotation, proposed by Taggart and his coworkers,5 who maintain that "all dissolved flotation reagents, which, in flotation pulps, either by action on the to-be-floated or on thenot-to-be-floated particles affect their floatability, function by reason of chemical reactions of well recognized types between the reagent and the particle affected." In general, they appear to consider most flotation results to be brought about by purely chemical reactions between the collectors and the products of oxidation present

Jan 1, 1933

By G. M. Swinkels, A. Vizsolyi, E. Peters

A process is described utilizing ferric chloride leaching followed by reduction of the cupric content to cuprous by cement copper, with CuCl obtained thereafter by crystallization. The residual liquor is cemented with sponge iron to produce cement copper and a copper free ferrous chloride solution. The latter is oxidized in an autoclave with oxygen to regenerate ferric chloride and to precipitate excess iron as a granular, filterable hematite. Cuprous chloride crystals are reduced to high purity metal with hydrogen, while sulphur reports almost quantitatively in residues in the elemental form. Pyrite and molybdenite are not leached. This paper describes the important variables in the process, as well as the deportment of minor elements as silver, gold, selenium, tellurium, bismuth, nickel, lead, zinc, magnesium, etc. An elegant method of isolating silver from CuCl crystals is described, as well as recovery of gold from residues by a chloride reagent The process is described as non-polluting and capable of producing refined copper, ore grade iron oxide, elemental sulphur, and yields of minor metals as good or better than obtainable by conventional smelting, without the use of solvent extraction or electrochemistry.

Jan 1, 1981

By W. H. Emmons

A DIATREME is a hole blown through a rock by gases, presumably of volcanic origin. Not all pipes of ore have formed by deposition of metals in such openings, but a considerable number have so formed. In this paper are described peculiar vein patterns that are believed to be incipient diatremes or "perforation pipes." Grading into this group is one showing thorough brecciation without rotation of fragments and into the latter a group of ore pipes showing brecciation with rotation of fragments-many of them with well rounded fragments. Also, volcanic craters or volcanic necks are explosion pipes. These may carry ore deposits along their contacts and some carry deposits within the pipes. As new data appear this group becomes increasingly impressive. It has been shown that veins are concentrated in and about cupolas of batholiths and that such veins commonly lienearly parallel to the long axes of cupolas as these are shown on plans. It would be supposed that conical cupolas would have radial patterns, but few vein systems exhibit radial patterns. It is probable that explosion pipes also may form in areas above conical cupolas. From these the gases escape more violently because the loads above them are less than above an elongated cupola where larger bodies of rock are affected. The hypothesis is sound mechanically, for the top of an elongated cupola is a line whereas the top of a conical cupola is a point.

Jan 1, 1938

By Henry Fay

THE CHAIRMAN (ALBERT SAUVEUR, Cambridge, Mass.).-In forcing us to face and to discuss the important question of erosion of steel guns, Prof. Fay is performing a public service. His investigation has been fruitful and his results illuminating and suggestive. It is not in a spirit of adverse criticism, therefore, that I venture a few remarks suggested by his paper, but rather to add my mite to the discussion in the hope that it may not be entirely without value. Prof. Fay considers it conclusively demonstrated that the hard layers forming in the inside of guns of large calibers after they have been fired a number of times consist of martensite. Still, he admits that he never was able to detect in the hard layers the structural characteristics of martensite. This leads him to conceive the existence of amorphous martensite. We may well hesitate before accepting this theory on the strength of the evidence offered. Martensite, as we know it, is essentially a crystalline condition assumed by a close association of iron and carbon, possibly if not probably of the nature of a solid solution. Lacking this crystalline character we are hardly justified in calling it martensite on the ground, merely, of its being very hard.

Jan 4, 1917

By R. W. Diamond

Three mills are now operated by the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co. of Canada, Ltd.: (1) The Sullivan Concentrator, Chapman Camp, B. C. (near Kimberley, B. C.), (2) the St. Eugene Concentrator, Moyie, B. C., and (3) the Tadanac (Customs) Concentrator, Trail, B. C. Differential flotation is the only concentration method employed in all three plants. Tables are used for pilot work only. Values in all ores treated are as minerals of some or all of the metals —lead, zinc, gold or silver. Occasional customs ores contain small amounts of copper. Sulfide iron content of ores treated varies from a low figure in some ores to 38 per cent. iron in Sullivan ore. Gangue minerals vary considerably. A few customs ores are somewhat oxidized and as a result present difficulties. Flotation equipment and control are similar in the three mills, and the flow sheets at the St. Eugene and Tadanac mills, while much simpler, are modeled after that of the Sullivan Concentrator. In this paper I will not detail treatment nor equipment in any of our plants but will describe special features in, or in connection with, all of them. I will then deal with flotation reagents, describing our use of each of them, particularly where differing from general practice. I will conclude with comments on special subjects related to differential flotation.

Jan 1, 1928

By George R. Mansfield

Interest in the reserves of phosphate rock in the United States and their proper conservation has recently been aroused by hearings held in different parts of the country by the "Joint Committee to investigate the adequacy and use of phosphate resources of the United States." This committee was appointed within a few days after a Presidential message to Congress on the same subject, dated May 20, 1938, and began to function almost immediately. Hearings were held in Washington, D. C., Pocatello, Ida., Wilson Dam, Ala., Knoxville, Tenn., and Lakeland, Fla. The resulting testimony, when published, comprised a volume of 1182 pages.l At the earlier hearings held in Washington and Idaho the seeming disparity between the great reserves of the West and the smaller reserves in the East led to some suggestions as to the desirability of curtailing or even prohibiting the exportation of phosphate rock so that eastern producers, becoming alarmed, cooperated in making available for the use of the committee information hitherto closely guarded. This information has provided an opportunity for new studies by official agencies, for a restatement of the reserves of Florida and Tennessee, and for some modification of figures for the Western States. The writer, representing the Federal Geological Survey, was given free access to the Florida material and has prepared for publication a report,² some features of which are summarized in this paper. The Tennessee material was studied by Dr. G. I. Whitlatch,³ of the Tennessee Division of Geology. Prof. J. Stewart Williams,* of the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, has published a recent study of the phosphate resources of Utah and the writer has given some further study to reserves of western phosphate from the viewpoint of including material of lower grade than that hitherto considered. Technologic advances in the phosphate industry must be credited with a large share in the expansion of reserves by making available for

Jan 1, 1942

By R. W. Prouty, R. T. Green

The object of this paper is to describe, as concisely as possible, the methods of sampling and ore estimating used at the Copper Queen Branch, Phelps Dodge Corpn., as applied to the Copper Queen mines at Bisbee, Ariz. Because of the difference in occurrence, manner of prospecting, and methods of mining, the sampling and estimating practice falls into two divisions: That for the underground operations, and that for the Sacramento Hill steam-shovel operations. The orebodies of the Warren district may be divided into three main classes: Replacements of limestone, replacements of porphyry, and replacements of contact breccia. The first class is more or less intimately related to porphyry intrusions, although in badly fractured country this relationship may not be well shown. These orebodies are mainly oxide and carbonate ore and very irregular, both in size and outline, although usually roughly lenticular and following the bedding of the limestones. There is usually quite a sharp boundary between the ore and waste in the carbonate and oxide orebodies and sampling is not necessary to determine the limits of commercial ore. In the sulfide orebodies, it is exceedingly difficult, without sampling, to determine the boundary between commercial ore and the surrounding low-grade or barren pyrite. Calculations made a few years ago showed that these orebodies had an average thickness of 35 ft, As some of the orebodies are from 100 to 300 ft. thick, it can be seen that the smaller ones form a difficult prospecting and estimating problem. In the replacements in porphyry, both underground and in Sacramento Hill, the boundary usually cannot be determined without sampling. There is a gradual decrease in value until barren material is reached; this gradation may occur within a short distance or it may extend for several yards.

Jan 1, 1925

By George R. Mansfield

Interest in the reserves of phosphate rock in the United States and their proper conservation has recently been aroused by hearings held in different parts of the country by the "Joint Committee to investigate the adequacy and use of phosphate resources of the United States." This committee was appointed within a few days after a Presidential message to Congress on the same subject, dated May 20, 1938, and began to function almost immediately. Hearings were held in Washington, D. C., Pocatello, Ida., Wilson Dam, Ala., Knoxville, Tenn., and Lakeland, Fla. The resulting testimony, when published, comprised a volume of 1182 pages.l At the earlier hearings held in Washington and Idaho the seeming disparity between the great reserves of the West and the smaller reserves in the East led to some suggestions as to the desirability of curtailing or even prohibiting the exportation of phosphate rock so that eastern producers, becoming alarmed, cooperated in making available for the use of the committee information hitherto closely guarded. This information has provided an opportunity for new studies by official agencies, for a restatement of the reserves of Florida and Tennessee, and for some modification of figures for the Western States. The writer, representing the Federal Geological Survey, was given free access to the Florida material and has prepared for publication a report,² some features of which are summarized in this paper. The Tennessee material was studied by Dr. G. I. Whitlatch,³ of the Tennessee Division of Geology. Prof. J. Stewart Williams,* of the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, has published a recent study of the phosphate resources of Utah and the writer has given some further study to reserves of western phosphate from the viewpoint of including material of lower grade than that hitherto considered. Technologic advances in the phosphate industry must be credited with a large share in the expansion of reserves by making available for

Jan 1, 1942

By Donald R. Lessard

I. INTRODUCTION There is no question that the choice of an appropriate discount rate is a critical element in virtually all business decisions in extractive industries. The standard textbook approach relies on a single overall cost of capital for an entire firm, itself a weighted average of the firm's cost of debt and equity. But a single rate is appropriate only if the commercial risks and financing structures are similar for all projects under consideration. In extractive industries, appropriate discount rates are likely to vary greatly from project to project. Risks of projects differ markedly by mineral, by country in which the project is located, by stage in production, and by position in the project's life. Further, for a variety of institutional reasons, financing structures vary greatly in relation to these same variables and thus the discount rate appropriate to the entire investment and, in particular, to the sponsor's equity investment will vary even more markedly. Failure to select discount rates which reflect these differences can result in extremely distorted decisions. Our interest in this subject results from our ongoing research on alternative ownership and financing structures for large scale extractive ventures in less developed countries where risks to the various participants--the sponsors, the financiers, and the host government--vary dramatically with the different options. Given the magnitude of these differences, a single discount rate for all options is clearly inappropriate. However, there appear to be few guidelines for practicing managers to follow in setting appropriate rates. In this paper, we take a first step in this direction.

Jan 1, 1977

By Donald Cummings

MEASURES appropriate for the control of the silicosis hazard in mining cannot be formulated precisely, but sufficient knowledge1-19 has accumu-lated during the past quarter century to permit the suggestion of useful, though partly empirical, rules for its alleviation. The industrial hygienist today recognizes that the peril incurred by the inhalation of harmful dust is a function of two variable factors-the degree of harmful exposure and the specific susceptibility of the exposed individual to pulmonary injury. Con-trol of the danger arising out of prolonged contact with pernicious air-borne particulate matter is consequently best exercised by influencing both of these recognized variables. Obviously the problem has two broad aspects-one, medical; the other within the province of the engineer.

Jan 1, 1938

By G. Pomey

Heat-resisting chromium steels and alloys treated at 825° or 9.50°C (1527° or 1742°F) in a carburizing atmosphere exhibit an extensive carbide precipitation. This carbide precipitation may be succeeded by the FeCr a phase or by a carbide with a higher carbon content. Point analyses carried out with an electron mi-croanalyzer make it possible to study the depletion of chromium in the matrix after precipitation has occurred and to determine the chemical composition of carbides. In particular the content in the carbides of Fe, Ni, and W, elements which substitute Cr, can be accurately determined. HEAT-resisting chromium steels and alloys employed in the construction of gas carburizing and carbonitriding furnaces are subjected to a succession of oxidizing atmospheres during heating and cooling and to carburizing atmosphere during isothermal stage. Such a sequence of thermal cycling causes embrittlement and corrosion in the furnace materials. A quantitative study of the structural changes induced in the furnace materials has not received much attention in the past. However, utilization of the electron probe microanalyzer and other modern techniques has permitted a point analysis of the various phases formed and to follow their relative evolution. This paper gives results as regards the nature and composition of the carbide precipitation and the distribution of chromium in the matrix during only the carburizing periods. The structural changes subsequently produced during oxidizing periods will be presented eventually. METHODS AND MATERIALS Metallographic, X-ray diffraction and Castaing electron-probe microanalysis1 techniques have been employed to study carbide precipitation and evolution and the changes in the composition of the matrix in heat-resisting steels and alloys.

Jan 1, 1961

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period Mar. 10, 1916 to Apr. 10, 1916. ALLEN, P. R., Pres., McAlester Coal & Coke Co., Knight Templar Bldg., McAlester, Okla. BERNARD, CLINTON PERCIVAL, Min. Engr., Care Forminiere Mission Kasai, Tschikapa, Congo Belge, W. Africa. CARPENTER, GEORGE 0., Vice-Pres National Lead Co. St. Louis Mo. CLARK, WILLIAM ANDREWS, JR., Min. Engr., Pres., Elm Orlu Mining Co., Butte, Mont. CLAYTON, CHARLES YANCEY, Asst. PrOf. of Metallurgy and Ore Dressing, Missouri School of Mines, Rolla, Mo. COHEN, JULIUS MILTON, Mgr. Croesus Gold Mines, Ltd., Matheson, Ont., Canada. CRAMER, WILLIAM BRONSON, Met. at Concentrator, Old Dominion Copper Min. & Smelt. Co., Globe, Ariz. DAHL, SIMEON H., Mill Supt., Messina Transvaal Dev. Co., Messina, Transvaal S. Africa.

Jan 5, 1916

By Robert Mehl

THE mechanical behavior of metals and alloys is presumably conditioned by two factors; namely, the crystalline symmetry and the interatomic forces. Considerable attention has been given to the first of these factors through the recent advances in X-ray .technique. It is the purpose of the present paper to call attention to the importance of the second of these factors, to point out promising methods of investigation, and to present some pertinent data. Plastic deformation takes place by-slip along atomic planes.1 This slip may be inhibited in a number of ways: by the interatomic forces of cohesion which bind the atoms rigidly in a lattice structure, which in pure metals is usually of high symmetry; by lattice distortion caused by solid ,solution formation or by mechanical strain; by the intercrystalline boundaries where slip is restrained by the non-registration of the atom planes in adjacent crystallites;2 and by the presence of small hard particles which serve to "key" the slip along the atom planes.3 In pure metals, and perhaps also in solid solutions, the atom planes, of easiest slip are those exhibiting the greatest density of atomic population and the greatest interplanar distance4 and apparently can now be predicted from the analysis of the lattices. Concerning the interatornic forces, which resist this slip by holding the atoms firmly together, little is known. Most textbooks on physical metallurgy, following the work of Bot-tone,5 correlate the hardness of the pure metals with the atomic volume;.

Jan 1, 1928

By W. S. Steele

Vermiculite is a nonmetallic mineral of the mica family, probably related to biotite mica. Its occurrence has been noted at numerous places in the United States and in some foreign countries, but it can be said that vermiculite is of only moderately wide distribution. A laboratory and field survey of over 60 deposits in the United States by F. 1;. Schundler & Co., of Joliet, Ill., indicates that the purest deposit represented in this survey is on the property of the Zonolite Company at Libby, Montana The Zonolite Company is commercially active and the vermiculite it produces is sold as Zonolite. Hereafter, in this report, the word "Zonolite " will be used to designate the vermiculite produced by the Zonolite Company. Values given herein to Zonolite are peculiar to the vermiculite produced from the Zonolite Company's deposits. References to " vermicullite," are to he interpreted as covering the broad field covered by the Schundler survey. Composition and Characteristics of Vermiculite Vermiculite is an aluminum-nmgnesium silicate. The following typical analysis is published by the United States Bureau of Standards: silica, 41 per cent; iron oxide, 7; aluminum oxide, 18; magnesium oxide, 21; calcium oxide, 1; alkalis (sodium and potassium), 1; moisture, 11. Vermiculite breaks down into platelike formation in crushing and grinding operations. Its cleavage is basal. Crude, screened, dry Zonolit,e weighs between 80 and 90 Ib. per cubic foot; its specific gravity is 2.8 and its specific heat is approximately 2. The fusion point of Zonolit'e is 2462" F. Crude vermiculite contains between 7 and 9 per cent of chemically combined moisture. The instantaneous introduction of crude Zonolite into an expansion furnace at a temperature of between 1800" and 2000" F. transforms the combined moisture into steam, which in an effort to liberate itself forces all explosive expansion of the platelike crude material

Jan 1, 1934

By A. U. Seybolt

As is well known, many questions affecting the properties and uses of a metal cannot be answered without careful consideration of the state of purity realized in the various operations of preparation, refining, or special treatment that have brought the product to its final state. The occurrence of an impurity in minute quantity offers no guarantee that its effect will be inconsiderable because dissolved substances often modify the properties of a metal quite out of proportion to their concentration. In such cases the determination of solid solubility must be accepted as a problem of considerable difficulty, requiring the use of especially purified materials and methods not ordinarily used in the metallurgical laboratory. This aspect of the equilibrium between metals and their oxides is especially important and a search for fundamental data reveals little except .conflicting opinion even concerning the systems of common occurrence and interest. Rhines and Mathewson1 in 1934 studied the solubility of oxygen in solid copper by annealing to equilibrium in air and gave reasons for the failure of other methods, notably the ordinary procedure of heat-treatment followed by microscopic examination, to yield reliable results. In this paper, a similar study has been made of the solubility of oxygen in cobalt. The simple theory of this method is outlined below.

Jan 1, 1935

By A. F. Knoll, T. Clinton Taylor

Qualitatively, galena (native lead sulfide) reacts with aqueous solutions of the xanthates,1 and has its surface sufficiently altered so that there is a tendency for air bubbles to attach themselves to the mineral crystals where there was no such effect before the treatment. This property is utilized in froth flotation operations where the mineral sulfide particles are raised into the froth and the gangue whose surface is not altered remains behind. The results of a study of this reaction were reported2 recently and certain tentative suggestions about the interaction of galena and the alkali xanthates were offered. In this paper, there is set down the results of a detailed quantitative investigation of the ions involved in this interaction with a view to finding out more about the condition existing immediately at the surface of a crystal like a heavy metal sulfide after treatment with an organic reagent. Past experimental experience showed that finely ground galena shaken with aqueous potassium xanthate abstracts xanthate ion and at the same time sulfate ion, reducing ions of the type (SmOn)= where the ratio of m to n is less than 4:l (as in sulfate), sometimes hydroxyl ion, are thrown into solution.3 Ions Involved in Xanthate-galena Interaction The present quantitative study of the galena-aqueous potassium xanthate system shows that at the lower concentrations of potassium xanthate (less than about 25 mg. per liter) the amount of xanthate ion abstracted by the galena can be accounted for by the amount of reducing ions of the (SmOn)= type and sulfate ion thrown into solution. At these

Jan 1, 1935

By H. I. Young

INASMUCH as there has been a great deal of activity in this district recently, a paper of this kind should treat of all the various phases of mining, namely, prospecting, developing and operating. PROSPECTING Where ore is found it a depth of 100 ft. (30 m.) or more, the prospect work is done by churn drilling. Several makes of churn drills are used in this work, both steam- and gasoline-driven machines being used. The drilling is usually started with a 6-in. bit, and the size of the bit is reduced, if necessary, as the hole is advanced. It is general practice to drill from 100 to 400-ft. holes, but this is governed entirely by the location and formation of the ground. In drilling sheet ground, close spacing of drill holes is unnecessary, but in narrow orebodies, the holes are spaced from 15 to 50 ft. (4.6 to 15 m.) apart. Ten years ago, very few assays were kept of the drilling, but during recent years records have been kept very accurately, showing the location, elevation, assays, and also the vertical section of the hole. After the orebody is reached, cuttings are taken every 2 or 3 ft. (0.6 to 0.9 m.) samples being sometimes taken by pouring the water off the cuttings and taking a portion of the coarse material for assay. It has been found, however, that very often the sludge material poured off with the water contains high mineral values. To overcome this, cuttings from each 2 or 3 ft. are put in a container and after the water is evaporated, sample for assay is taken by means of Jones samplers. Permanent records of cuttings showing various formations are kept in glass jars or glued on large cards. Drilling at present is costing from $1.25 to $1.50 per foot. In pre-war times, the drilling costs ran from 75c to $1 per foot.

Jan 9, 1917

By William E. Ford, Edward Salisbury Dana

The NATIVE ELEMENTS are divided into the two distinct sections of the Metals and the Non-metals, and these are connected by the transition class of the Semi-metals. The distinction between them as regards physical characters and chemical relations has already been given (Art. 453). The only non-metals present among minerals are carbon, sulphur, and selenium; the last, in one of its allotropic forms, is closely related to the semi-metal tellurium. The native semi-metals form a distinct group by themselves, since all crystallize in the rhombohedra1 class of the hexagonal system with a fundamental angle differing only a few degrees from 90°, as shown in the following list :

Jan 1, 1922