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By J. D. Forrester

Many have been prone to credit the decline of professional interest in some branches of mineral industry education to the industrialists and other agencies who use our graduates. We hear the cry that industrial salaries are too low, opportunities for advancement do not exist, and the mineral industry specifically and generally is not interested in the engineer's efforts. Perhaps the time now has come when we should "dress-ranks," examine our practices, and publicize and encourage advanced technical training instead of laying all our troubles elsewhere. There can be no doubt but that industry is interested and stands ready and willing to co-operate. This is demonstrated by the numerous grants-in-aid and co-operative industrial projects which have been made available to those relatively few schools which have been encouraging graduate study and research. There is no dearth of research problems in any of the mineral industry fields and the sooner we realize the great opportunities for constructive, technical research in all areas of our profession the sooner we will reap the benefits of our engineering enterprises by closer liaison and broader understanding with industry. An analysis is offered here of the status of graduate work and research in various phases of mineral industry education in the United States. It is

Jan 1, 1949

IT may perhaps seem to you that I have deviated from sequence by having entered into the narration of this arrangement of the bellows, but, although they are not furnaces or vessels for containing the melts, they are essential agents for bringing to port the bark of your labors. Returning to our regular pathway, and supposing that, besides making the moulds, you have melted and cast not only statues and bells but also guns, it is true that a certain procedure is required in order to finish them. For this you should have the moulds full, and they should have come out very well, for in truth reason does not allow that they turn out otherwise for one who uses precaution. [II2V] Then you have taken your casting from the pit and have freed it of clay. Since I have told you nothing beyond this, do not be dismayed if you see the castings so rough and in a form that scarcely shows what they really are, for I wish to open up part of the way into the great labor of finishing them so that it may seem to you that you have been somewhat helped by me. Therefore, when it is a gun, first see that the iron spindle that has been placed in the middle of the core is taken out. You can do this easily by striking the heel of the core, especially if the spindle had first been covered with ashes, hemp, or a little rope. Then saw off the feeding head above the mouth, using either a dun steel saw with tiny straight teeth that has been tempered with oil or some other fat, or a hay sickle whose edge is gently hit by a little hammer. Then have the clay that is attached to the curls or other bronze parts lifted away with a chisel. Then with a scouring brush and water uncover the emblems, coats of arms, borders, and cornices that you made as ornaments. Striking it with a hammer, push inwards every superfluous bit of bronze. Finally, having cleaned the bronze by washing, scraping, and cutting away every bit of clay, strike its surfaces gently with a large hammer and thus make it very smooth. Likewise finish the mouth and all its cornices as exactly and completely as possible with files and any other instrument that serves best. Then take a long, powerful tool that has some steel on the point, made like a chisel and somewhat bent, or with three points like the iron blade

Jan 1, 1942

By A. U. Seybolt

The pressure-temperature relations required to maintain the existence of Si3N4 in silicon-iron of 0.44-11.7 pet Si have been partially explored. The critical data obtained have allowed the calculation of some thermodynamic quantities, and have shown evidence of an order-disorder two-phase field extending at 800°C from about l pet to 5.5 pet Si. THE presence of silicon nitride in electrical sheet, nominally about 3 1/4 pet silicon, balance iron, has been described by several authors'" but there has been some discrepancy among them regarding the identity of the nitride. Also, little has been reported on the quantitative thermodynamic prop- erties. In the work to be reported here, the nitride has been found to be more stable than described by Corney and Turkdogan." Several silicon nitrides have been described in the past, including SiN, Si3N4 and Si2N4 (see, for example, Abegg6 and Pascal7). However, the literature on nitrides other than Si,N, is all very old. No recent investigators using the more powerful tools available today have reported the presence of any nitride other than S3,N4. W. B. Hicke and L. R. Brantley8 in 1930 determined the dissociation pressure of Si3N4 which they made by reacting nitrogen

Jan 1, 1959

A knowledge of the principles of punctuation is essential to effective and intelligible writing, for the ease and pleasure of the reader, and even his understanding, may depend upon the choice and the placing of punctuation marks. To 'punctuate' is to mark with stops or points; the word comes from the medieval Latin punctuare (punctuatus), which in turn is derived from the Latin punctum, a point. The purpose of punctuation is to show the manner in which the writing is to be understood; to indicate the relations between parts of a sentence and between successive sentences. To some extent "it does for the eye what vocal stress does for the ear", but especially it marks logical relations. Some punctuation marks, such as those indicating admiration, exclamation, and interrogation, are rhetorical as well as grammatical, but most of the common ones are logical or grammatical. My discussion will be confined to grammatical punctuation in ordinary writing. "The problem of punctuation in text matter", as George Summey * says, "is to employ words, points, and paragraph breaks in such a way as to achieve at the same time clearness, proper distribution of emphasis, and the desired kind of movement." The criticism of the punctuation of a sentence or of a group of sentences is not final until the context, within the paragraph, is read. A paragraph is a sentence or a group of' sentences forming an independent unit of the composition; it represents a unit of thought. A multiplicity of paragraphs produces a choppy effect; on the other hand, paragraphs of excessive length are tiresome, because the belaboring of one unit of thought wearies the reader. The aim should be to

Jan 1, 1931

By John P. Goheen

Considerable work has been done in developing a pyrometer to measure the temperature of molten brasses, bronzes, and aluminum in the crucible. On account of the high melting points and the amount of zinc and sulfurous fumes given off from molten brasses, the conditions are somewhat severe for a thermocouple of standard design; but satisfactory results are obtained with a portable pyrometer, 3 ft. (0.9 m.) of connecting lead wire, and a special 5-ft. nickel-nickel chromium thermocouple, composed of rods 1/4in. (6.35 mm.) in diameter. The lower 12 or 24 in., as desired, may be made detachable so that new tips may be connected at little trouble or expense. The portable instrument need not be of the extreme high-resistance type, as the movable parts of the galvanometer of a lower resistance instrument may be better constxucted to withstand the continuous handling such an instrument receives. Platinum-platinum rhodium thermocouples, protected with porcelain and graphite tubes, have been used, but the lag in registering the temperature is too great. It has been found that the range of temperature for various brasses is as follows: Red brasses...............2200-2250" F. (1205-1234" C.) Yellow brasses............2250-2400" F. (1234-1318' C.) Bronzes..................2300-2550" F. (1260-1400" C.) A recent test with a portable pyrometer having a range of 2600" F. with a bare 1/4 in. heavy exposed couple 5 it. long and a handle attached at the upper end showed that the temperatures of molten aluminum under varying conditions in an oil-fired crucible furnace and one of the Simplex type were as follows: CRUCIBLE, OIL-FIRED FURNACE SIMPLEX FURNACE Temperature of metal in furnace....... 1540" F. (837" C.) 1530" F. (834" C.) Temperature in ladle after skimming at furnace......................... 1480" F. (805" C.) 1440" F. (784" C.) Temperature in ladle after skimming at floor near mold................... 1440" F. (784" C.) 1430' F. (778" C.)

Jan 1, 1923

By John P. Goheen

Considerable work has been done in developing a pyrometer to measure the temperature of molten brasses, bronzes, and aluminum in the crucible. On account of the high melting points and the amount of zinc and sulfurous fumes given off from molten brasses, the conditions are somewhat severe for a thermocouple of standard design; but satisfactory results are obtained with a portable pyrometer, 3 ft. (0.9 m.) of connecting lead wire, and a special 5-ft. nickel-nickel chromium thermocouple, composed of rods 1/4in. (6.35 mm.) in diameter. The lower 12 or 24 in., as desired, may be made detachable so that new tips may be connected at little trouble or expense. The portable instrument need not be of the extreme high-resistance type, as the movable parts of the galvanometer of a lower resistance instrument may be better constxucted to withstand the continuous handling such an instrument receives. Platinum-platinum rhodium thermocouples, protected with porcelain and graphite tubes, have been used, but the lag in registering the temperature is too great. It has been found that the range of temperature for various brasses is as follows: Red brasses...............2200-2250" F. (1205-1234" C.) Yellow brasses............2250-2400" F. (1234-1318' C.) Bronzes..................2300-2550" F. (1260-1400" C.) A recent test with a portable pyrometer having a range of 2600" F. with a bare 1/4 in. heavy exposed couple 5 it. long and a handle attached at the upper end showed that the temperatures of molten aluminum under varying conditions in an oil-fired crucible furnace and one of the Simplex type were as follows: CRUCIBLE, OIL-FIRED FURNACE SIMPLEX FURNACE Temperature of metal in furnace....... 1540" F. (837" C.) 1530" F. (834" C.) Temperature in ladle after skimming at furnace......................... 1480" F. (805" C.) 1440" F. (784" C.) Temperature in ladle after skimming at floor near mold................... 1440" F. (784" C.) 1430' F. (778" C.)

Jan 1, 1923

By THOMAS G. FEAR

THE COAL DIVISION started its share of the annual meeting Monday morning with a study of coal classi fication. A. C. Fieldner was in the chair. The report of the tellers of the ballot for division chairman, stating that Thomas G. Fear had been elected to that office, was read by M. D. Cooper. Mr. Fear acknowledged the honor in a few words. In reviewing the history of the Coal Classification Committee the chairman pointed out that this was its third symposium, the last previous one having been held at the 1930 Annual Meeting. Throughout its work the com¬mittee has had the active cooperation of the Canadian workers who are interested in the subject which should result in a uniform scheme of classification in Canada and the United States. F. E. Lathe, of the National Research Council, Ottawa, abstracted the first two papers of the session entitled "Determination of the Alkali-Soluble Ulmins in Coal," by Edgar Stansfield and K. C. Gilbart, and "Moisture Determination for Coal Classification," by the same authors. The third paper "Condition of Water in Coals of Various Ranks"' was presented by its author, A. W. Gauger. Written discussions of these papers were presented by H. C. Porter and Gilbert H. Cady. In the oral discussion which followed, W. T. Thom, Jr., brought out the advisability of considering age as a factor in classification. Mr. Fieldner favored retaining bed moisture as a partial classification basis, stating that a review of many coal analyses revealed a remarkable consistency in this item in samples from a given mine particularly where the moisture content was not high. Mr. Porter pointed out that the structure and porosity of coal often have much to do with its moisture content and that these vary in different parts of a seam, particularly in anthracite. Mr. Gauger expressed doubt as to whether the Stansfield method gives the true moisture content of coal, which is needed for classification purposes.

Jan 1, 1932

By Paul Weir

BLEACHING clays have been used extensively in the oil-refining industries for a number of years. Their use in water purification is relatively recent and less extensive. They are frequently classified as (1) those naturally active and (2) those active after artificial activation with acid. Fuller's earths fall within the general group of bleaching clays and gradually the commercial term "fuller's earth" has been applied to natural clays originating, for the most part, in the south- eastern section of the United States. Bentonitic clays are usually classed as activable and are prevalent in the southwestern section of the United States. Bleaching clays vary considerably in chemical and physical properties throughout the country, or even in different parts of one deposit (Table 1). [ ] The fuller's earth type of clay is characterized by a lack of plasticity, relatively adsorbent, foliated structure, and does not swell to form a

Jan 1, 1939

By J. E. Forciea, O. E. Palasvirta, L. G. Hendrickson

All pilot and commercial plants working with Mesabi Range taconite employ wet magnetic separation. Progress is being made with a dry magnetic process,9-11 but this has not yet been applied to taconite except in the laboratory and pilot plants. Flowsheets in all five plants are similar, including multiple stages of grinding, each followed by magnetic separation, which rejects a finished tailing. The flowsheet in Fig. 1 is used in the preliminary and commercial plants of the Erie and Reserve mining companies and in Unit C of Oliver's Pilotac plant. At Erie the desliming operation is omitted. In the Reserve plants two ball mills are used with each rod mill. Pilotac uses flowsheet 2 in Unit A-B and has also tested flowsheet 3. Principal differences in the three flowsheets are the number of grinding stages and the type of roughing. The terms open- circuit roughing and closed-circuit roughing are best defined by the diagrams.

Jan 12, 1958

By D. E. Hartman, J. M. Roberts

A detailed study of the temperature dependence of the critical stress, TB . necessary to cause a damping loss of 1.41 x 10-6 g mm per mm3 in pre-strained magnesium single crystals has been carried out in the temperature range 82" to 320°K. Tb is found to be linearly related to the reciprocal of the ahsol~cte temperature in this temperature range. The temperature dependence of the anelastic limit, TA, defined as the stress necessary to form open unidirectional stress-cycle damping loops has been measured between 82" to 320°K. ta is found to be independent of temperature in this range. It is suggested that TA is determined by the stress necessary to activate Frank-Read dislocation NUMEROUS studies1-9 have been reported concerning the details of yielding and microstrain near and below the generally discussed macroscopic flow stress. The work of Kramer and coworkers10-13 is helpful in determining certain qualitative facts. concerning preyield phenomena. The absence of a stress-dependent delay time in annealed copper and aluminum single crystals between 83" and 298 suggests that the preyield mechanism is temperature-independent in this range. This is not sources. The temperature and stress dependence of the effective activation volume (Veff) has been measured in the damping-loop region in prestrained magnesium single crystals. The data suggests that Veff/kT is approximately constant, equal to 2 4.5 sq mm per g in the temperature range 130°to 298°K, and that Veff is almost independent of stress at stress levels greater than 10 g per sq mm. A restricted model is developed to predict the stress (rb) necessary to cause a small fixed damping loss as a function of temperature, effective activation volume, and dislocation density. Various possible dislocation mechanisms controlling TB are discussed. true for zinc, p brass, and iron crystals in the same temperature range, however, since the existence of a stress-dependent delay time suggests a thermally activated preyield mechanism in these materials.10-13 The work by Vreeland et a1.14 confirms the work by Liu et al.ll on delayed yielding in zinc single crystals. A stress-dependent delay time between 82" and 298°K was found12 in prestrained aluminum and copper crystals. These results suggest that the preyield phenomena may be different between prestrained and unstrained or annealed crystals. The temperature dependence of the yield point at 2 x 10-8 plastic strain found by Rosenfield and Averbach3 in annealed copper and aluminum is not in agreement with the delay-time data, unless possibly the delayed yielding experiment only de-

Jan 1, 1964

By Franklyn Oatman

IN order that the conditions which obtain in an oil well may be readily understood, a brief description of a typical California well and. a number of the phenomena accompanying same will be given. That the necessity for the exclusion of water be realized, the effects of water intrusion, a description of methods of prevention, and a discussion of causes of failure will be presented, followed by a summary and recommendations. Fig. 1 shows a section of a typical well which illustrates the relation of oil sands to overlying strata. It indicates a deep water sand separated from the oil sand by shale, and the proper place for the final shutting off of water. In this well a comparatively thick stratum of compact shale protected the oil from overlying water so that the operation of landing the water string was a simple matter. In some wells the protecting stratum may be only from 3 to 5 ft. thick and very careful operation is necessary in order to land the water string of casing properly and not puncture through to the oil sand. The cases just cited are common, but occasionally, after excluding overlying water, productive oil sands are drilled through in the expectation of finding more productive underlying sand, and a water-bearing stratum is tapped. In this case the problem is the reverse of the normal; water must be prevented from ascending rather than descending. A discussion of well-drilling methods is not within the scope of this paper, except such operations as pertain to shutting off of water. A brief outline of the several conditions which may accompany drilling follows. Some or all may be present in any particular case. The direct relation of these to prevention of intrusion will he discussed in detail further on. In drilling, the hole. becomes more or less irregular in shape, and rough, and as the casing follows the bit into the well it does not fit snugly against the walls. As a result, water may descend between the casing and walls of the well. If a circulation pump is not used during drilling, the hole is simply punched through and the pulverized material removed from the well by means of a bailer. If circulation is maintained there is a continual flow of water down inside the casing and up around the outside between the pipe and the walls of hole. This keeps an open. space around the pipe.

Jan 3, 1914

By V. Koump, R. H. Tien, W. J. Kim

This paper presents an approximate solution of the problem of freezing of a binary alloy. he alloy is in the form of a one-dimensional slab of finite thickness. The surface temperature of the slab is assumed to be constant and lower than the solidus (or eutectic) temperature. The densities of the liquid and the solid are assumed to be equal. For a given binary alloy system, initial concentration of solute and surface temperature, the solution yields a) the temperature distribution in the solid skin, b) the temperature, concentration, and solid fraction distribution within the solid-liquid region, and c) the positions of the liquidus and the solidus (or eutectic) fronts as a function of time. The results of calculation for Fe-C and Fe-P systems are presented. In this investigation we are considering the problem of solidification of a binary alloy. The alloy is in the form of a one-dimensional slab of finite thickness. The molten alloy is initially at liquidus temperature. At time zero the surface of the slab is reduced to a temperature T, < Te,, where Te, is the solidus (or eutectic) temperature and T, is a constant. The densities of solid and liquid alloys are assumed to be equal and independent of temperature and composition. A qualitative picture of solidification of an alloy, under these conditions, is illustrated in Fig. 1. During the initial stage of solidification, before liquidus front reaches the center of the slab, freezing proceeds by propagation of two isothermal fronts, the liquidus front and the solidus (or eutectic) front. The fraction of solid at the liquidus front is zero; the fraction of solid at the solidus front is unity, The solid fraction and the temperature distribution between the two fronts and the width of the solid-liquid region change with time. During the later stage of freezing, after the liquidus front reaches the center of the slab, the liquidus front disappears. The solid fraction and the temperature at the center of the slab, as well as throughout the solid-liquid region, are now changing with time. The solidification is completed when the fraction of solid at the center of the slab reaches unity. In solution of this problem we seek to determine a) the temperature distribution in the solid, b) temperature, concentration,

Jan 1, 1968

By Newell Hamilton

SOME years ago, in the manufacture of seamless tubing from an alloy steel containing 0.07 per cent maximum carbon, 18 per cent chromium and 8 per cent nickel, at the plant of The Babcock & Wilcox Tube Co., a peculiar type of piercing defect was noticed. This defect was definitely associated with certain heats of the alloy and was independent of any of the variables of mill operation and billet-heating condition. A thorough analysis of the defective material yielded but one clue to the reason for its abnormal behavior in piercing and that was its oxygen content as determined by the vacuum fusion method. The oxygen content of the defective 18-8 alloy was found to be from two to three times that of the material that had pierced satisfactorily, and this incited an active interest in the vacuum fusion method for the analysis of alloy steels. After a critical survey of the literature on this subject, and considerable experimentation, an apparatus and technique were evolved that gave a fairly rapid, simple and reliable method of analysis. Samples selected from six years of tube production of 18-8 and other corrosion-resistant alloys were analyzed by this method. This paper describes the procedure and gives a correlation of the oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen contents of a number of alloy steel samples repre-sentative of good and bad tube-piercing quality.

Jan 1, 1934

By Jack F. B. Silman

Proving up any large, open pit ore deposit by normal exploration drilling under the best of conditions is a noteworthy accomplishment. But, when adverse conditions preclude standard drilling methods, and the same end result is achieved by a relatively new and little known type of drilling, special comment is in order. Three major problems confronted exploration drilling at the Questa molybdenite mine of the Molybdenum Corporation of America-sampling, terrain and time. Surface and underground longhole drilling provided the needed solutions, thus making the greatest single contribution to an exploration and development program that was successful in proving a major, open pit molybdenum deposit.

Jan 5, 1965

By L. L. Oriard

INTRODUCTION In order to make effective plans for the control of blasting effects, it is necessary to understand a few basic principles relating to the behavior of explosives. For the purposes of discussing this behavior, it is convenient to divide blasting effects into two zones. The first zone is the non-elastic zone in close proximity to the explosive charge where rupturing of the rock occurs. For this zone, our discussion will be oriented towards the factors which affect the rock breakage, and the means of controlling the limits of this breakage. The second zone is that zone more remote from the charge location where elastic vibrations are transmitted through the surrounding medium. In this zone, we are interested in the factors affecting vibration intensity, and the means of controlling the intensity so that no damage is done to structures, utilities, or excavated slopes. It has been easier to gather data in the elastic zone, because the stress levels are lower and time durations are longer. The instrumentation for obtaining data in this zone can be less rugged and less sophisticated. Consequently, more information of ad empirical nature has been gathered. In the non-elastic zone, there has been more dependence on theory, fewer measurements, and more questioning of the validity of the measurements. In spite of these questions, there has been an encouraging advancement in knowledge in recent years, both theoretical and empirical, of the effects that take place close to the source of an explosion. When discussing the problems encountered in rock excavation, we can simplify the terminology by referring to the physical phenomena encountered in the non-elastic zone as a problem in "over-break". The phenomena in the elastic zone could be called "vibration effects". Although there is some interdependence between the two, it is possible to control the rock breakage to neat surfaces and still have very high vibration levels. Similarly, it is possible to control the vibrations to moderate levels and still have a great deal of overbreak. THE ROCK BREAKAGE ZONE First, let us discuss the effects in that zone close to the blast source that we might call the non-elastic zone. This is the zone of cratering, breakage, rupturing, and fracturing. These effects will vary with the site conditions, and a meaningful, specific analysis could

Jan 1, 1972

By S. Harries Daddow

IN order to get an idea as to the strength of steel rails, it will be well to review the tests to which iron rails have been subjected. In England, Mr. Ashcroft found that the best 80 pound rails broke under a 300 pound weight, falling 15 feet. In Germany the Society of Railway tyfanage1-s determined 011 and have long applied a test of 1000 pounds falling 101/2 feet, as the standard which all first-class iron rails must reach. In this country no inspection nor test is applied, but tests made show that iron rails fro; our most reliable makers, break under a G foot fall of a 1500 pound drop as an extreme test, most of those tested breaking under a far less test; some breaking with less than a 3 foot fall of the same weight. Everywhere where steel has been used, engineers have come to the conclusion that some test is required to show the regularity and strength of the product. As compared with iron, the tests which steel will stand are wonderful. After numerous experiments partially based on the experience of the rail-mill at Graz, belonging to the Southern Railway of Austria, the Society of German Railway Managers fixed upon a test of 2000 pounds falling 138 feet. They found that this test represented the steel which suited their necessities, and also found that with steel of otherwise average purity, this test represented about one-half per cent. of carbon, and made it a rule to take no steel containing under three-tenths of a per cent. of carbon, because it was too soft. They expressed a hope that a harder steel could soon be made tough enough to stand the same test. I n England, a test was adopted of 2240 pounds, falling 15 to 17 feet on the rail on heavy bearings. This test has been found satisfactory under heavy traffic on average road-beds, and has been invariablyPILLAR of coal, which are designed and left in our mines as the means of supporting the overlying strata of our coal-beds, and securing protection to the miner, are not only insufficient for these purposes, but the most objectionable means of providing the desired security to life and property. Though such pillars are left at a great sacrifice to the owners of collieries and mineral lands, loss to the resources of the commonwealth, and ultimate privation to the public, they defeat the very ends for which they are designed, and not only do not secure life and property, but are as fatal to the one as ruinous to the other. Propositions.-It is eminently desirable that the resources of the Common wealth-particularly our mineral wealth in anthracite coal, which is limited-should be carefully utilized and made available, not only to ourselves but our posterity. Yet, speaking as an anthracite miner, we are wasting our resources of coal with a recklessness which will bring ruin in the end, unless checked, not only to the iron manufacturing interests of the East, whose chief protection, in competition with the iron-masters of the interior, lies in a cheap and abundant supply of anthracite furnace fuel, but to the best interests of the State. It is, consequently, not only desirable, but necessary, that we should realize every ton of coal from each colliery, and every acre of coal area, in order that our resources may not be wasted at present, to breed want in the future, and to realize the greatest present benefit to the mine, the miner, and the public. It is not possible, however, to secure these ends, if we continue to leave, as we do at present, from one-third to one-half our resources in anthracite as pillars in our mines. But our sad bills of mortality, our abandoned collieries, and our yawning mountain-sides, present ample evidence that even this enormous waste of coal, though left for the purpose of protecting life and property, is as totally inade-

By O. F. Thornton, D. L. Marshall

Results of the determination of the inter stitial water content of several core samples from oil reservoirs are presented. Data obtained by the capillary pressure method, which has recently been developed, are compared with water saturations measured in cores cut with oil-base mud and with values calculated from the electrical resistivity of the formation. The agreement between the capillary pressure and other methods, combined with the fact that similar agreement has been obtained by others, indicates that the capillary method properly applied yields results sufficiently accurate for most engineering purposes. In some cases, it may be possible to extend the utility of data obtained with the capillary pressure method by correlation of interstitial water saturation with more easily measured physical properties of the media. Introduction Several methods are in use for determining or for estimating the interstitial water saturation at given points within oil and gas reservoirs. The direct measurement of the water content of cores obtained with nonaqueous fluid in the hole is believed to be an accurate method under most conditions. The water saturation may be calculated by use of the resistivity curves of the electric log,&apos; although this method is not applicable under conditions that exist in some reservoirs. Recently, a method has been developed and described3.&apos; wherein the interstitial water saturation of cores is measured at a capillary pressure such that conditions existing in the reservoir are simulated. The purpose of this paper is to present data obtained by use of this latter method, and to compare the results obtained with determinations made by other means. Method The theory underlying the capillary pressure method applied to petroleum reservoirs has been discussed adequately in the literature by Garrison,2 Leverett,5 and Others.3,6,7 Briefly, and simply, capillary pressure is defined as the difference in pressure between two contacting fluid phases, such as oil and water. For the simplified sand, water and oil system illustrated in Fig I, the pressure difference can be stated as follows:6 where Pc is the capillary pressure in pounds per square inch, ? is the interfacial tension between oil and water in pounds per inch, r1 and r2 are the radii of curvature of the interface between oil and water in inches. Capillary pressure varies in a given reservoir with depth because of the greater density of the water phase as compared with oil or gas. The following equation expresses the difference in pressure between two points: p1- p2 - h?p/144 [2] where p1 — p2 is the capillary pressure difference in pounds per square inch, h is

Jan 1, 1947

By D. L. Marshall, O. F. Thornton

Results of the determination of the inter stitial water content of several core samples from oil reservoirs are presented. Data obtained by the capillary pressure method, which has recently been developed, are compared with water saturations measured in cores cut with oil-base mud and with values calculated from the electrical resistivity of the formation. The agreement between the capillary pressure and other methods, combined with the fact that similar agreement has been obtained by others, indicates that the capillary method properly applied yields results sufficiently accurate for most engineering purposes. In some cases, it may be possible to extend the utility of data obtained with the capillary pressure method by correlation of interstitial water saturation with more easily measured physical properties of the media. Introduction Several methods are in use for determining or for estimating the interstitial water saturation at given points within oil and gas reservoirs. The direct measurement of the water content of cores obtained with nonaqueous fluid in the hole is believed to be an accurate method under most conditions. The water saturation may be calculated by use of the resistivity curves of the electric log,&apos; although this method is not applicable under conditions that exist in some reservoirs. Recently, a method has been developed and described3.&apos; wherein the interstitial water saturation of cores is measured at a capillary pressure such that conditions existing in the reservoir are simulated. The purpose of this paper is to present data obtained by use of this latter method, and to compare the results obtained with determinations made by other means. Method The theory underlying the capillary pressure method applied to petroleum reservoirs has been discussed adequately in the literature by Garrison,2 Leverett,5 and Others.3,6,7 Briefly, and simply, capillary pressure is defined as the difference in pressure between two contacting fluid phases, such as oil and water. For the simplified sand, water and oil system illustrated in Fig I, the pressure difference can be stated as follows:6 where Pc is the capillary pressure in pounds per square inch, ? is the interfacial tension between oil and water in pounds per inch, r1 and r2 are the radii of curvature of the interface between oil and water in inches. Capillary pressure varies in a given reservoir with depth because of the greater density of the water phase as compared with oil or gas. The following equation expresses the difference in pressure between two points: p1- p2 - h?p/144 [2] where p1 — p2 is the capillary pressure difference in pounds per square inch, h is

Jan 1, 1947

The object of crushing and grinding for leaching is obviously to permit contact of the solvent and mineral and subsequent removal of pregnant solution in a reasonable time. Heap leaching is the leaching of ores that have been mined and transported to prepared, relatively impervious pads for leaching by sprinkling or ponding, and percolation of the lixiviate through the ore. Dump leaching is the leaching of dumps or low-grade ore or overburden without the use of prepared pads under them. Run-of-mine material, e. g., low -grade ore from open pit stripping operations, may be leached without crushing, and a fairly high recovery made by heap leaching. An alternate method for better grade gold/silver ores is to crush to 9 to 13 mm (318 to112 in. ) size for pad heap leaching, as used by Smoky Valley Mining Company at Round Mountain, Nevada, on gold ore, and to 38 rnrn (1 -1 12 in.), which will be done by Candelaria Partners, at Candelaria, Nevada, on silver ore. Heap leaching of copper probably began at Rio Tinto, Spain, about the year 1752. This was done by the leaching of weathering piles of ore in the open air followed by iron cementation of the liquor that drained off the heaps. Its application to the low -grade southwestern United States copper ores was overlooked for many years, and low- grade ores from Sacramento Hill at Bisbee, Arizona, were the first to be heap leached in 1923. Site preparation used a half century ago is the same today. "The need for some form of waterproofing of the pad was evident. Before leaching ore was piled, the site was cleared of cactus and brush. After clearing a gentle sloping area, it was then covered with a blanket of rolled and tamped clay or slime tailing. When heaps are built, a layer of coarse fragments may be put down first to assist drainage. A second method of leaching without grinding, usually for higher grade ores, is by vat or tank leaching of material crushed to 9 to 13 mm (318 to 112 in.) size. Such a plant is considerably more expensive than a heap leaching installation but much less costly than grinding for agitation leaching, and a recovery higher than that obtained by heap leaching is to be expected. Vat leaching has been widely used by the copper industry on higher grade copper ores but has been used in only a few small operations on that size gold or silver ores. However, such a plant should be considered for a modest tonnage of a few million tons, 3 to 7 g per mt (0.10 to 0.20 oz per st), of Carlin-type leachable ores crushed to 9 mm (318 in.).

Jan 1, 1981

By Ta M. Li

Recent economic and environmental setbacks have not slowed Occidental Oil Shale, Inc.&apos;s program aimed at the commercialization of oil shale. In fact, the firm expects to have a 795 MI (500C) bbl) per day production unit working by the end of 1976. The key to Occidental&apos;s ambitious program is an in situ method that extracts the valuable oil by retorting the shale in place. The process will require practically no water and will leave the spent shale in place underground. Additionally, all plant operations are to be located within the mine. These factors thus serve to make the operation attractive from an environmental viewpoint, in contrast to proposed conventional schemes which call for extensive underground mining, crushing and grinding at the surface, and construction of a massive surface retorting facility.

Jan 12, 1976