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Workers at Anaconda Aluminum Company's primary aluminum smelter at Sebree, Ky., were back on the job December 1, after agreeing to a new 3-year contract. The old contract had expired November 15. On December 20, the Aluminum Company of America reportedly shut down a 42,000-ton-per-year potline at its Wenatchee, Wash., primary aluminum smelter and half of a 23,000-ton-per-year potline at its Vancouver, Wash., smelter as a result of a power cutback by the Bonneville Power Administration. A1 so in December, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. reduced overall power at its Mead and Tacoma, Mash,, smelters and shut down one of eight 27,500-ton-per-year potlines at Mead. Reported shutdowns for the firms since September have amounted to 76,000 tons for Alcoa and 50,000 tons for Kaiser. Alcan Aluminum Ltd. announced plans to double the generating capacity at its Kemano hydroelectric power plant in British Columbia to 1,916 megawatts. The additional power would be equal to that required of a primary aluminum smelter with an annual capacity of 567,000 tons.

Jan 1, 1980

This is the initial issue of STATE MINERAL SUMMARIES. This publication provides estimated data and summaries of mineral activities at the State level for 1988. Most of the estimates are based on nine months data. These summaries have been prepared in cooperation with State geological surveys or related agencies. Individual State summaries are published separately as State Mineral Industry Surveys and copies can be obtained from the appropriate State Activities field office.

Jan 1, 1989

By Harold Kennedy

Take a good look at this issue of Minerals and Materials. This is the last issue of M&M, as it has been known within the U.S. Bureau of Mines, that you will receive. Fifteen years after it was created to help cope with a growing worldwide mineral shortage, M&M is ceasing publication. In its place will be a bright, new publication called Minerals Today. Like its venerable predecessor, Minerals Today will be a bimonthly magazine that reports on recent trends and issues in the minerals and materials industries. It will be the Bureau of Mines' most frequent periodical presenting an overview of the entire field of minerals and materials.

Jan 1, 1989

By Michael Rieber

Mineral economics interfaces the mineral sciences and engineering with finance and economics in the analysis of appropriate questions facing the minerals and energy industries. Its practitioners include those trained in the earth sciences; mining, petroleum, and geological engineering; metallurgy and mineral preparation; as well as finance, information systems, economics, and statistics-most usefully in one or more combinations. Allowing for some overlap, three general areas may be identified: evaluation, economic analysis, and resource appraisal. Evaluation begins with mine investment analysis (exemplified by Gentry and O'Neil, 1984) and process costing, for which the STRAMM Handbook (Anon., 1977) provides a well-known basis for mining and beneficiation. But it extends from property appraisal, often used for the determination of taxes and royalties, through the determination and comparison of transport costs (e.g., Richer and Soo, 1977), and to benefit/cost analyses of externalities. Economic analysis, the subject of this section, is displayed in rigor and extent both theoretically and as applied to commodity classes in Vogely (1985), but it is implicit though apparent throughout Lefond (1983). The text edited by Vogely places minerals in their aggregative context with economic growth and trade, proceeds to the theoretical analysis of minerals and their markets, analyzes the structure and performance of the major mineral sectors, and concludes with policy issues: fuel, nonfuel, and environmental. Resource appraisal employs quantitative methods for the estimation of mineral and energy resources. It moves through geologic, geophysical, and geochemical properties to the identification of estimation procedures for mineral endowment and for the economic measure of stocks and flows of specific minerals (Harris, 1984). It can be used to estimate the probable amount of a specific resource remaining in a given region and has been used to project sites in a specific

Jan 1, 2008

By W. L. Swager

Tramp (undesirable) elements introduced into iron and steel castings via purchased ferrous scrap are evaluated as to their likely degree of future threat to the quality of castings. Conclusions are based on analysis of literature and on nonmail surveys of foundries, scrap processors, trade and technical associations, and others. The existing tramp-element problem is expected to be persistent, but amenable to improved control by foundries and their suppliers. Four recommendations for action are given.

Jan 1, 1981

By Jr. Boyle

This report analyzes the availability of chromium in the form of ferroalloy products (high-carbon and low-carbon ferrochromium and ferrochromium-silicon) and chromite products (metallurgical, chemical, refractory, and foundry sands) in market economy countries (MEC's). A total of 873.5 Mmt of in situ material, containing 202.5 Mmt of chromium, in 10 MEC countries was analyzed for availability as of the January 1989 study date. Extraction and beneficiation of this in situ material would result in 475.4 Mmt of marketable chromite products. As analyzed, 288.5 Mmt of these chromite products would be available for export or for internal chemical and refractory use and 186.9 Mmt would be smelted in-country to produce 74.3 Mmt of high-carbon ferrochromium, 3.9 Mmt of low-carbon ferrochromium, and 2.0 Mmt of ferrochromium-silicon, all available for export. A network flow model, which includes centrally planned economy countries (CPEC's), was also constructed to analyze world chromium supply and demand interactions for the period 1986 through 1994 and to address a hypothetical North American embargo on direct imports of all South African chromium products beginning in mid-1990. The model shows capacity constraints developing in the MEC high-carbon ferro chromium industry in 1987 and a possible subsequent overreaction by the industry in terms of new capacity additions. The results suggest that sufficient chromium is available to North America should an embargo on direct imports from South Africa be imposed by its governments. However, the effect on export revenues in South Africa is relatively small, and timely increases to world ferrochromium, chemical chromite, and foundry sand chromite capacities would be required.

Jan 1, 1993

The Aluminum Company of America announced a temporary reduction of the operating rate at its primary aluminum plant at Palestine, TX where it is developing a new process to produce aluminum metal by electrolysis of aluminum chloride, Output will be reduced by half to about 7,500 tons per year while some improvements are being made on the chemical segment of the plant. The modifications were expected to take 3 to 4 years to complete. Alcan Alumininum Ltd., a major U.S. supplier of aluminum, reported declaration of force majeure on aluminum ingot shipment commitments following the shutdown of its primary aluminum plants at Arvida, Isle Maligne, and Beauharnois, Que. The shutdowns, which began early in June, resulted from management and labor differences.

Jan 1, 1979

By H. C. Voges

The use of heavy-medium separation in the processing of iron ores by H. C. VOGES. B.Sc. (Visitor) The paper discusses various aspects of the application of heavy-medium separation to the processing of hematite ore at Sishen and Thabazimbi. The two main factors to be borne in mind in the design of a plant for such beneficiation are the Iow unit value of the iron ore produced and the high separation densities required. The four factors of importance in the avoidance of high viscosity in the ferrosilicon medium are discussed in turn.

Jan 6, 1975

By Satayev IS, Shepelev DV

Various ways for applying the X-ray fluorescent method to process lump-by lump separation of secondary aluminium raw materials (scrap, slags, waste) as well as ferrosilicon and ferrochromium are being considered and physically demonstrated. A commercial X-ray radiometric sorter has been developed for processing secondary raw materials. Marketable quantities of aluminium scrap with appropriate copper and zinc content have been produced for smelting with a minimal additional of pure aluminium. An industrial complex for scrap processing, incorporating two X-ray radiometric sorters from the Hammermils company is successfully operating at one of the works in Russia.

Jan 1, 1993

By Hutton W

The Argyle Diamond Mine is the first significant diamond producer in Australia. The project has been developed with new concepts in circuit design, process control technology, organisational development and training. After its first year of operation, the Argyle Heavy Medium Separation Plant has proven extremely efficient in recovering diamonds. Apart from cyclone wear, no major problems have been encountered. Ferrosilicon consumption is well below the design level which is a reflection of the sound design of the medium circuit. An Audit Plant continuously monitors the Heavy Medium Separation Plant tailings for diamond loss.

Jan 1, 1987

By K. Koneko, T. Nokoyama, S. Shibato

SEYBOLT et al.' have detected various silica films formed on a 3 pct Si-Fe alloy after heating at low oxygen potentials with the electron diffraction method, and they have made some observations on the H,0/H2 ratios required to form them. The purpose of this note is to describe the structure of the oxide film formed on either mechanically or electrolytically polished surfaces of a 3 pct Si-Fe alloy containing small amounts of manganese after heating at low oxygen potential. The samples were prepared from a Si-Fe alloy made in the laboratory using electrolytic iron, 76 pct ferrosilicon, and 76 pct ferromanganese, vacuum-in-

Jan 1, 1969

By P. Bevilacqua, G. Ferrara

Hydrocyclones and other dynamic separators are normally fed with pulps consisting of water and solid particles. The solids usually consist of particles of different sizes, shapes and densities. Except in the special case of monocharacteristic particles, the particles are segregated by these differences in size, shape and density. Segregation is magnified by the high values of centrifugal acceleration in the hydrocyclones. This paper develops a segregation theory that indicates the major variables involved. Experimental data on segregation under different operating conditions for mixtures of magnetite and/or ferrosilicon and nonmagnetic minerals are reported.

Jan 1, 1997

By Hall ST, Miles NJ

Recently an inorganic salt, sodium polytungstate (SPT), has become available that allows the preparation of non-toxic solutions of relative densities up to 3.1. It is relatively expensive and at the higher relative densities achievable, highly viscous. Alternative inorganic compounds may in the future be identified that overcome these limitations. The Australian Mineral Industries Research Association Ltd (AMIRA) has initiated a project to examine possible alternatives. However, it has been found that by the addition of finely divided ferrosilicon to solutions of SPT, relative densities of up to 4.0 can be achieved. A laboratory technique for density fractionation of sized mineral samples utilising this finding has been developed. This is currently being extended to study the potential applications of such liquids and suspensions in dynamic systems for mineral, coal and recycled waste separations.

Jan 1, 1993

By M. F. Williams, L. G. Hendrickson

In classification of pulps bearing magnetized ferro-magnetic particles, depolarizing is of great importance. If size separation is to be effective, particles must be individual rather than in flocs. Depolarizing is also practiced in heavy medium separations in which ferrosilicon or magnetite is the medium. When particles of ferromagnetic material have been removed from a magnetic field, residual magnetism causes agglomeration. The term depolarizing refers to the operation of reducing or eliminating this residual magnetism and may thus be considered magnetic deflocculation. The terms demagnetizing and randomizing are also used.

Feb 1, 1956

By H. L. Hollis

The paper read by Mr. George J. Snelus, in 1894, before the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain* so fully and ably described the Walrand-Leghisel process that there remains very little to add beyond recording some changes in practice, made since that date, and observed by the writer last summer, at several continental works, and the further fact that the process has now been for some time in successful operation in this country. Briefiy stated, the Walrand-LegBnisel process is an addition to the Bessemer operation, with the object of obtaining quiet and more fluid steel, and consequently sound castings and ingots. This is achieved by adding ferro-silicon at approximately the time of flame-drop in the ordinary Bessemer operation, and making an after-blow. The high calorific power of silicon is well known, and the rapid combustion of it immediately before

Jan 1, 1897

By P Wollants, B Blanpain, R Ding

Vacuum oxygen decarburisation (VOD) is the refining process used by ALZ (Genk, Belgium) for their production of stainless steels. The process consists of three stages: oxygen blowing at a pressure of 100 mbar, degassing, and reduction of the slag with ferrosilicon at 5 mbar. The magnesia-chromite bricks used in the slag zone of the ladles suffer from acute wear. In this paper results obtained from a program to improve the refractory life span are presented. The dominant wear phenomena were identified with an electron microscopy study of bricks taken from different locations in the ladle. Concurrently a dynamic model for the vacuum oxygen decarburisation (VOD) refining process was developed. The model calculates the elementsÆ oxidation rate during the blowing oxygen stage and allows the continuous calculation of the change of the metal, slag and gas composition throughout the VOD process. From these activities a general scheme of the refractory wear was worked out and measures to improve the refractory life were proposed and implemented.

Jan 1, 2000

By Stephen E. Erickson, Donald G. Oss

The need for instrumentation and automatic control of the various parameters in the heavy media process of iron ore beneficiation has been apparent for some time. Continued demands for higher grade, competitive products from the Mesabi Range have made it necessary to increase the efficiency of the process in every possible way. In a typical heavy media flow scheme for iron ore beneficiation (Fig. 1) a sized, prepared feed (generally about minus 1 ¼ in. to plus ¼ in.) is fed to a heavy media separatory vessel, along with a ferrosilicon slurry. A separation of the feed is made on the basis of specific gravity. Low density particles overflow a tailings discharge weir, while high density ore particles sink to the bottom of the high density pool and are moved away to the concentrate discharge chute.

Jan 5, 1962

By Roshan B. Bhappu, Thomas J. Lien

The DYNA WHIRLPOOL Processor (DWP) is a cylindrical dynamic heavy media vessel. It is used to beneficiate fine ore sizes from one and one-half inches in diameter down to 65-mesh. Process units available treat up to 80 tons per hour. Units can be manifolded for higher capacity plants. Finely ground magnetite and ferrosilicon are used for media. , Installed capital costs are from $4,000 to $6,000 per ton hour of feed. Operating costs are from $0.30 to $0.50 per ton of feed. The DWP is used to beneficiate metallic and non-metallic ores and coal. The OCC Vessel is a static heavy media separator used to beneficiate coarse ore up to six inches in diameter and auto scrap. Process units available treat up to 300 tons per hour.

Jan 1, 1978

No. 230. Two engineers, technical graduates, three to five years, experience. One to take charge of 'pyrite mining in Canada; the other to assist in the mining work at the head office in New York. Salary for the right man, $5000. No. 231. Two young engineers, preferably men who have just graduated from college who are looking for an opportunity to work up with a reputable mining company. Men who have had some practical experience will be considered. No. 232. Assayer. Wet analyses, principally of lead, zinc, sulphur and insoluble. Assayer will also have some mill sampling and experimental work in a new flotation installation, as well -as control of regular mill operation and development-work samples front the mine. $75 to $100 per month and board, according to experience of candidate. No. 233. Engineer to lay out, erect and operate calcium carbide and ferrosilicon plant in the State of Washington. One furnace, 1500 hp. No. 234. Professor of metallurgy for school of mines in western state. $3000 per year to man properly qualified for the work.

Jan 9, 1917

By Laszlo Valentyik

To separate minerals on a small scale according to their specific gravity, heavy liquids are used, but because of high costs and health hazards they cannot be used in large scale plants. In order to substitute heavy liquids, finely ground solids like magnetite and ferrosilicon mixed with water and clay for the required specific gravity are employed. The clay present in the medium acts as a stabilizing agent since the coarse heavy media solids would sink very fast to the bottom of the container if they were mixed only in water. The optimum amount of clay varies for different processes, but it is generally between 3-6% by weight concentration of solids. As the pseudo-plastic nature of polymer solutions has excellent suspending properties, investigations were conducted at the Institute of Mineral Research to ascertain whether polymers could be used commercially as suspending agents for finely ground heavy media.

Jan 1, 1973