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By Johnston, T. L.

BISMUTH is found as native metal associated with tin, copper, cobalt, silver, gold, or other metals and in a variety of ores. The more important ones are: bismuthinite (bismuth glance), Bi2S3; bismite (bismuth ochre), Bi2O3.3H2O; and bismutite (bismuth carbonate), Bi2O3CO3?H2O. Of lesser importance are the arsenate, telluride, and vanadate. The sulfide is the most common; the others are often oxidation products from this mineral. Bismuth minerals have been found in various places in the United States, principally in Colorado and Utah, but no ores are mined solely for bismuth. In the Granite mining district of Beaver County, Utah, a stratum of limestone about 6 ft. thick has been almost completely replaced by contact minerals in which bismuthinite associated with pyrite and molybdenite was found intergrown with silicate minerals. In the early days a few small lots of ore assaying 7 to 10 per cent bismuth were shipped from this district. Native bismuth has been found in the Clifton and Tintic districts of Utah. Bismuth is produced as a byproduct in the refining of lead, copper, gold and silver ores, it being recovered from the anode mud from the Betts process. Deposits of bismuth minerals exist in Argentina, Aus¬tralia, China, Japan, Germany, Spain, Peru, Bolivia, and Canada, but Bolivia is the principal, producer and could easily supply all of the present world's demand.

Jan 1, 1933

By George W. Maynard

(Pittsburg Meeting, March, 1910.) AT the Pittsburg meeting of the Institute, May, 1879, I made the first announcement in America of the results obtained by Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and Percy C. Gilchrist, ill their efforts to eliminate phosphorus in the manufacture of steel in the Bessemer converter and the open-hearth furnace.1 The first published statement in an American newspaper was a reprint of the first Thomas-Gilchrist paper, 2 which I sent to J. C. Bayles, at that time the editor. At the suggestion of many friends who were present at the Pittsburg meeting, and others who are cognizant of the beginnings of the process in the United States, and for the information of the younger generation of the iron and steel fraternity, I have thought it eminently proper that the history of the process in detail should be given where I made the first announcement and where the process has had its largest development. During my residence in England, from April, 1873, to February, 1879, and as a member of the Iron and Steel Institute since 1874, I was present at many of its meetings during those years. At nearly -every meeting the burden of discussion was the question of the use of pig-iron containing phosphorus in the. manufacture of steel by the Bessemer or the open-hearth process. In my biographical notice of Thomas;3 read at the New York meeting of, the Institute, February, 1885, I show that the working-out of the process was not a hap-hazard or accidental inspiration, but the culmination of many years of investigation of experiments and theories which had been carried on and advanced by chemists and metallurgists at home and abroad. 1 Trans., viii., .5 (1879-80). 2 The Iron Age, vol. 22, No. 17, p. 3 (Oct. 24, 1878). 3 Trans.. xiii., 785 to 791.

Jul 1, 1910

By Philip D. Wilson

WHEN the United Nations win the war and the decision has been made to control future armament in the Axis countries, plans for the extent and operation of such control must have been prepared, to be ready to put into immediate execution. Such control to be effective must be premised upon complete military occupation of the two countries for a substantial period, with an arrangement at the end of such occupation for continued supervision of these industries into an indefinite future.

Jan 1, 1944

By T. D. Jones

MUCH the same story can be told for the lead industry for the year 1945 as for the three previous years. In response to inquiries as to new developments, invariably the answer has been, "No new developments-our men either too busy with the man-power problem or trying to get production out." Time and efforts of industry have been concentrated for the most part on war or readjustment problems. Now that V-E and V-1 day have passed, the lead industry can justly be proud of its record in World War II. As in previous wars, lead played an important role and one of its most spectacular uses was in the production of the atomic bomb. We read that the part lead played was rather obscure, but as a protective agent, lead played a most significant role. "Since the materials in the Pile Plant are intensely radioactive, all storage and handling must be done behind thick concrete walls or lead shields. The material is never seen and all operations are auto matically controlled by a foolproof remote control system especially designed for this purpose." (Chews. & Met., Sept. 1945.) When our armies invaded the European theater of war and made a landing on Normandy beach, gasoline and oil for the motive power were furnished through miles of armored lead pipe. This amaz-

Jan 1, 1946

By L. W. Casteel, E. A. Jones

MINING the lead deposits of Southeast east Missouri has reached a high stage of technical development dictated by the scattered occurrences of low-grade ore through favorable horizons in the Bonne Terre formation. The rock-breaking, handling, and related practices described here have evolved as the best way of mining these particular deposits. These methods are applied in the production of about 19,000 tons of lead ore per operating day from four mines in Southeast Missouri. Development drilling Drifts 10 ft wide and either 8 or 9 ft high are driven in this district on contract. Miners are guaranteed standard wages plus a bonus on the footage advanced, if earned. Labor, fuse, caps, wire, and dynamite used are charged against the contract. Normally the cycle of operations in drifting is performed by a two-man crew, a motor operator and a shovel operator who first load out the rock broken by the preceding shift. The drift crew then sets up two vertical column and mounts the drills. Cleveland HC-10's are used which have a steel lug integral with the cylinder for connection with the air feed. All drilling in drifts is wet. Air pressure is 85 to 100 lb at the face. From 28 to 32 holes are drilled per swing in a pyramid cut. Cut holes

Jan 1, 1947

By W. R. Ingalls

Jan 1, 1922

By W. R. Ingalls

Jan 1, 1922

By F. Keller

SOME PHRASEMAKER has aptly said that nature made aluminum light but research made it strong. Research has been a vital element in the past progress of the aluminum industry and its future growth likewise depends upon the application of the results of research. The role of aluminum products in World War II is well known and this metal will certainly be increasingly important in the postwar world. Some of the principal developments in the war years were in the field of high-strength aluminum alloys. New and stronger alloys were developed which enabled designers to get increased speed and performance in our fighter planes and bombers. The aircraft industry will continue to use these new materials for peacetime passenger and cargo airplanes. High-strength alloys will also find structural applications in trucks, buses, trains, ships, and bridges.

Jan 1, 1946

By JAMES A. VEASEY

SINCE the World War, excepting for a few brief periods of relief, the American petroleum industry has been obliged to meet its important economic responsibility to this nation hampered by the maladjustment that inevitably follows a marked and unwholesome over-production of its raw material, crude oil. Despite the warnings of the Federal Oil Conservation Board and the endeavors of many of the leaders in the business to stem the flow of oil from the wells of the country, the evil ,not only persists but, at the moment, seems more malignant than ever before. Unless the local and temporary restraints on drilling and production now in effect in California, Wyoming, Texas, and Oklahoma are continued, and, indeed, unless stricter and more comprehensive measures of the same sort are imposed and adhered to by the industry in those States, over-production in the enterprise during the current year will be more pronounced than in any other period in history.

Jan 1, 1929

By Bruce W. Gonser, A. U. Seybolt

A few copper-zinc-hasp alloys mppt die-casting requirements reasonably well, although improvements are desired. Aluminum bronzes, high-tin bronzes and some copper-nickel-zinc alloys can be die-cast, according to Herb,' but seldom are because of such factors as higher melting ranges and greater cost than certain of the brasses. Fox2 has summarized the copper-base die-casting alloys that were in commercial use in 1937 and has given the effects of different alloying constituents. Table 1 gives some of the properties of these alloys as reported by Fox. a Properties reported by Fox.2 b Trade name of Brastil, Doehler Die Casting Co., similar to Webert Alloy,34 American Brass Co., and Tombasil Alloy,5 Ajax Metal Co. e Trade name Tinicosil, Titan Metal Manufacturing Co. Melting point (liquidus) of the yellow brass is given by Herb1 as 1650" F., of the high-silicon Brastil (with 4.5 to 5 per cent Si) as 1600" F., and of the nickel silver as 1675" F. d Criterion not stated.

Jan 1, 1940

By A. U. Seybolt, Bruce W. Gonser

A few copper-zinc-hasp alloys mppt die-casting requirements reasonably well, although improvements are desired. Aluminum bronzes, high-tin bronzes and some copper-nickel-zinc alloys can be die-cast, according to Herb,' but seldom are because of such factors as higher melting ranges and greater cost than certain of the brasses. Fox2 has summarized the copper-base die-casting alloys that were in commercial use in 1937 and has given the effects of different alloying constituents. Table 1 gives some of the properties of these alloys as reported by Fox. a Properties reported by Fox.2 b Trade name of Brastil, Doehler Die Casting Co., similar to Webert Alloy,34 American Brass Co., and Tombasil Alloy,5 Ajax Metal Co. e Trade name Tinicosil, Titan Metal Manufacturing Co. Melting point (liquidus) of the yellow brass is given by Herb1 as 1650" F., of the high-silicon Brastil (with 4.5 to 5 per cent Si) as 1600" F., and of the nickel silver as 1675" F. d Criterion not stated.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. Murray Riddell, Grover J. Holt, Arthur E. Anderson

Out of the depths of each business cycle we emerge with a stimulus for greater efficiency and a realization of progress in industrial technique. The recent years have not been an exception to this rule, and in retrospect we sense that significant advances have been made in mining practices on the Mesabi Range, with emphasis on speed of production and economy of operation. A survey of such changes does not reveal anything that is fundamentally or basically new, but it is apparent that ideas and machines that have found wide application in industry elsewhere, with necessary modifications, are being put to productive use in mining iron ore. Innovations in transporting and conveying ore from the open pits stand out with greatest prominence, so that, in the main, it will be with these features that this paper will treat, in the review of progress made to this date. The late years have witnessed the development of small deposits for open-pit operation, the cleaning up of pits nearing exhaustion, and in two large operations the approach to the limit for haulage by steam locomotives, owing to grades, making it necessary to recover the ore in slopes, track benches and below the power-shovel limit by a milling and scram operation. For several years small standard-type dump trucks have been used in clean-up or scram operations within the pits, but during the season of 1936 the first effort was made to use heavy truck haulage in the transportation of stripping and iron ore. The new units in use today vary from 15 to 20 tons in capacity, and are equipped with powerful gasoline or Diesel engines and supplemented by trailers or wagons on rubber or crawler treads. The Diesel engine finds favor with most operators because of fuel economy. These units develop upward of 125 hp. in the 15-ton trucks. The speed of these trucks varies from 2 miles per hour in Pow gear to 35 in high gear. The transmission affords 12 speeds forward and 3 speeds in reverse.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. Murray Riddell, Arthur E. Anderson, Grover J. Holt

Out of the depths of each business cycle we emerge with a stimulus for greater efficiency and a realization of progress in industrial technique. The recent years have not been an exception to this rule, and in retrospect we sense that significant advances have been made in mining practices on the Mesabi Range, with emphasis on speed of production and economy of operation. A survey of such changes does not reveal anything that is fundamentally or basically new, but it is apparent that ideas and machines that have found wide application in industry elsewhere, with necessary modifications, are being put to productive use in mining iron ore. Innovations in transporting and conveying ore from the open pits stand out with greatest prominence, so that, in the main, it will be with these features that this paper will treat, in the review of progress made to this date. The late years have witnessed the development of small deposits for open-pit operation, the cleaning up of pits nearing exhaustion, and in two large operations the approach to the limit for haulage by steam locomotives, owing to grades, making it necessary to recover the ore in slopes, track benches and below the power-shovel limit by a milling and scram operation. For several years small standard-type dump trucks have been used in clean-up or scram operations within the pits, but during the season of 1936 the first effort was made to use heavy truck haulage in the transportation of stripping and iron ore. The new units in use today vary from 15 to 20 tons in capacity, and are equipped with powerful gasoline or Diesel engines and supplemented by trailers or wagons on rubber or crawler treads. The Diesel engine finds favor with most operators because of fuel economy. These units develop upward of 125 hp. in the 15-ton trucks. The speed of these trucks varies from 2 miles per hour in Pow gear to 35 in high gear. The transmission affords 12 speeds forward and 3 speeds in reverse.

Jan 1, 1940

By Max Hebgen

I. Natural Features of State Affecting Power Development .. 792 II. Early Developments. 1. Big Hole Plant................. 792 2. Canyon Feny Plant............... 793 3. Madison Plant No. 1............... 593 4. Black Eagle Plant................ 795 III. Later Developments. 1. Madison River System .............. 795 2. Missouri River System.............. 797 3. Great Falls System............... 797 4. Missoula River Development............ 797 5. Big Fork Development.............. 802 $ IV. Present Capacity of Power Developments....... 802 V. Transmission System...............: . 802 VI. Character of Load. 1. Lighting and Small Power Uses........... 804 2. Street Railways ................ 804 3. Mining................... 804 4. Railroads.................... 808 5. Irrigation................... 810 VII. Operation of System................. 812 VIII. Increase in Use of Power............... 811 IX. New Power Developments............... 814 X. Undeveloped Powers................. 815 It is estimated that the total stationary power now used in the United States. steam. water and gas. is probably over 30.000.000 h. p. The total developed water power is about 6.000.000 h. p. The water power in the United States now economically capable of development probably exceeds 25.000.000 h. p. The total developed and undeveloped power is

Jan 1, 1914

By W. R. Ingalls

In reviewing the history of the metallurgy of zinc, I shall pass hastily over what is only of antiquarian interest. That has been excellently treated by Dr. Bernhard Neumann in "Die Metalle" (1904) and has been described briefly in my "Production and Properties of Zinc" (1902), in my "Lead and Zinc in the United States " (1908), and in other metallurgical works of more or less the same date. In this present monograph, I have it in mind to confine myself mainly to technical practice, especially to that of the last 75 years, prior to which period advance was slow and of no great moment. The ancients made brass by the cementation process, i.e., embedding copper in a mixture of calamine and carbon and heating, whereby zinc oxide was reduced and zinc was vaporized and combined with the copper. Zinc was isolated by some of the alchemists, who named it and knew something of its properties, but made no use of it. Long before then, however, zinc was produced in India. Later it was produced in southern China. Possibly the Chinese obtained their knowledge from India. The Chinese in remote places still produce small quantities of zinc. I have seen photographs of their furnaces; or pots, for they hardly deserve the dignity of being called furnaces. I imagine that they are the same that were used centuries ago, for I cannot conceive of anything more primitive. Anyway, it is certain that the idea of a commercial production of zinc in Europe was imported from the Orient, where the metal was known in commerce as Speauter and Spiauter, whence speltrum and finally our term spelter. Tutanego and Tuteneague are other old names. Dr. Isaac Lawson went to China about 1730, expressly to discover the method of its production. What connection there was between Isaac Lawson and John Champion we do not know, but the latter obtained in 1739 a patent for a process of distillation downward and at some time between 1740 and 1743 erected a works at Bristol and actually began the manufacture of spelter. A production of 200 tons per annum is mentioned. In about the year 1766, Rishop Watson visited the Champion works and saw the process in operation, which previously had been

Jan 1, 1937

By Herbert Clark Hoover, Lou Henry Hoover

QUESTIONS of assaying were explained in the last Book, and I have now come to a greater task, that is, to the description of how we extract the metals. First of all I will explain the method of preparing the ore1 ; for since Nature usually creates metals in an impure state, mixed with earth, stones, and solidified juices, it is necessary to separate most of these impurities from the ores as far as can be, before they are smelted, and therefore I will now describe the methods by which the ores are sorted, broken with hammers, burnt, crushed with stamps, ground into powder, sifted, washed, roasted, and calcineda.

Jan 1, 1950

By F. F. ESPIE

Giving the keynote address in the final session of a conference dealing with closely related topics has a disadvantage in that much of what can be said has been said. It also has an advantage, however, because it presents the speaker with the opportunity to integrate and analyse the material presented by the various speakers. I would like to look to the near future in Australia and the United States of America, to the risks, problem areas, and changes of a rapidly evolving post-industrial era-an era we are beginning to experience where industry no longer 'calls the tune'. We miners have been quick to point out and emphasize, that ours is a 'high-risk' industry in the world of business and commerce. Yet, clearly those who have survived, and been successful, have learned to anticipate and cope with risk and change. This ability has been a 'distinguishing feature of the industry's leaders who, in market studies and commodity selection, exploration and development, mine planning, metallurgical pro- cessing, and general administration and operation 1. identify areas-of risk or inevitable change, 2. analyse, test and quantify those factors of risk or change, and 3. design methods, systems, equipment to eliminate, moderate, or control or economically compensate for predicted risks or changes.

Jan 1, 1978

By G. H. Cutter

SAFETY in mining depends on wire rope to as great, if not greater, extent than in any other industry. Sudden failure of a shaft-hoist rope might easily result in death or serious injury to the operators and workmen, extensive damage to expensive equipment, and a loss in production while repairs are being made. A wire rope is only as good as its component parts. It must be made from wire properly drawn and treated. It must be fabricated on machines large enough and capable of imparting the necessary qualities to meet the stringent service conditions. However, unless the fundamental requirement of good ropemaking is recognized, all other operations, no matter how carefully performed, will not impart reliability and quality to the product. This fundamental requirement is steel that is homogeneous, of high resistance to fatigue, and of a type suitable for rope wire. Most wire-rope manufacturers agree that rope wire should be made from acid-open-hearth steel. It is comparatively easy to meet the same physical properties with basic steel, but such properties are only part of the requirements for good wire. It is absolutely necessary, particularly for rope service such as mining, where reliability is essential, that the wire be uniform throughout its entire length. Most manufacturers feel that this highly important requirement is better met by acid-open-hearth steel.

Jan 1, 1936

By Ralph H. Sweetser

BENEFICIATION of iron ores from the blast-furnace point of view means more than the usual enrichment of the iron contents by the removal of a large part of the clay, carbonic acid gas, silica, or moisture of the natural ore; it includes all these, but it also embraces several other mechanical .processes made , necessary by the exacting requirements of present-day blast-furnace practice. The increasing use of iron- bearing by-products, to as much as a third or more of the total ore burden, has introduced still another series of processes for improving the blast-furnace ore burden. As we look back over the past three decades of blast- furnace practice 'in. this country, we see that many of the blast-furnace troubles were directly due to lack of proper preparation of the iron ore burden,, and we realize that beneficiation in one form or another would have remedied the trouble. This was particularly true in the smelting of magnetic iron ores, where run-of- mine ore included such big lumps of 'magnetite along with rich fines that the furnace operations were greatly retarded and control of the furnace such as is usual today, was completely unknown.

Jan 1, 1930

By H. E. McKinstry

LIKE nearly everything else, mining geology has been reconverting. Many geologists had been in military and other government service. Many more, with mining companies, had been working primarily toward increasing production from known reserves. All of these are turning now toward their normal peacetime endeavor-the search for new ore; for most mining companies, finding themselves with accumulated deficits in development work, are more than ready to go ahead with their postwar plans made a year or more ago but still stalled at the close of 1945 for lack of man power. These plans include not merely development in the old home camp but also wide exploration for new prospects both domestic and foreign. Most of the large concerns have geologists and engineers in the field in the United States, despite the outlook for higher mining costs here, and at least half a dozen strong American companies are already investigating opportunities abroad, notwithstanding past unhappy experiences in certain Latin-American nations which have welcomed capital but later found means of preventing investors from reaping the reward of their enterprise. A few of these new foreign expeditions are following well-planned programs, but too many, in their haste to get any sort of footing, are proceeding without well-considered policy. with the result that their geologists can do little more than desultory scouting.

Jan 1, 1946