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By G. H. Clevenger

THE reagents now used in flotation consist of various acids or salts, which may be either electrolytes or non-electrolytes, dissolved in water and some substance or combination of substances which function as collecting or frothing agents. At times the only dissolved salts present are those naturally occurring in the water used. The general effect of the electrolyte is to greatly sharpen the separation between the gangue and the concentrate. Examples of this are: The use of sulphuric acid with zinc ores; and of sodium carbonate or calcium oxide (line) with silver-gold ores. Crude pyroligneous acid is also sometimes used when available. Various oxidizing agents, such as permanganates, bichromates, etc., are added in the selective flotation of lead-zinc ores. Many other reagents for performing certain specific functions, either real or imaginary, have been proposed, and a number of them have been tried upon a working scale. The wild orgy of experimentation which is now going on in flotation exceeds even that which followed the introduction of the Washoe process for the treatment of Comstock ores, when, among other things, sage-brush tea and tobacco juice were reagents added to the pans. Out of all this will, of course, eventually come a more or less standard practice for the treatment of each class of ore. Omitting a discussion of the functions of frothing and collecting agents, the reagents used in flotation for this purpose may be classified under five general heads: (1) Essential oils; (2) fixed or fatty oils;. (3) alcohols and their combinations with organic acids; (4) coal tar and its refined products; (5) petroleum and its refined products. A flotative agent of some kind is required in flotation as now practiced. A single reagent, as, for example, certain. of the essential oils, may perform the dual function of frothing and collecting agent, or a mixture of substances may be required.

Jan 9, 1916

By John E. Sweet

THERE have already been so many subjects of a purely mechanical nature presented to the Institute of Mining Engineers, that it is unnecessary for me to apologize for adding another to the list. When a new invention, or what is supposed to be a new invention, claiming simply an improvement on the well-known devices, is to be described, it is usual to point out the defects of the old and give a history of the object or the art up to date. But, as no doubt a large proportion of the members of this Institute know as much, or more, about the history and use of the steam-engine indicator than I do myself, I will not further preface the subject, than to remind you that what called for the Richards's improvement on the Watt's indicator was high speed ; that the leading improvement was the reduction of momentum in the reciprocating parts; and that this was accomplished by making the parts lighter, and reducing the travel of the heaviest of them, and consequently the speed and momentum. The use of the indicator has been extended, for the speed of steam-engines and other prime movers has been increased, until one engineer at least, John Cooper, of Philadelphia, says, "I want an indicator that will work up to a thousand revolutions." Mr. Thompson, of the Buckeye Steam-Engine Company, of Salem, Ohio, has improved on the Richards's indicator by another reduction in the momentum, which is done by putting the parallel motion nearer the fulcrum of the pencil arm, reducing both weight and travel. The characteristic feature of the indicator I am going to illustrate is a still further reduction in the same direction, which is accomplished by dispensing with the parallel motion altogether. As is often the, case, in putting a simple idea into shape, some difficulties

Jan 1, 1879

By F. W. Bloecher

D ETERMINATION of the surface area of finely divided minerals is of interest to mineral engineers engaged in flotation, comminution, and dewatering studies. In the industrial minerals field, many materials are classified as to fineness according to their specific surface (surface area per unit weight). A method of surface area determination has been tested and used in the Richards Mineral Engineering Laboratories at M.I.T. It involves low temperature krypton adsorption measurements using the technique described by Beebe.1

Jan 3, 1951

By Howard R. Hume, Terry R. West, William R. Judd

One of the outcomes of a sector slope design in a large open pit in the western United States has been the scrutiny of the structural domain concept. These domains essentially define the area of influence of particular structural characteristics. In the present instance these structural characteristics are joint discontinuities. One of the major drawbacks of defining a domain is that unless large quantities of discontinuity data are available this process of definition is largely qualitative in nature. Viewed from a discontinuity analysis aspect the orientations of all the major joint sets at a given point are a concise descriptor of the structural geologic regime at that location. This is important to domain boundary definition, this in turn is extremely important for assigning which joint sets to use as input for slope stability analysis in a given discontinuity domain. An attempt has been made to develop a quantitative method for defining these discontinuity domains based on limited amounts of orientation data thereby reducing the subjectivity normally involved in such operations. Subjectivity is not always a problem if large quantities of joint orientation data are available, since the mean and variance of joint clusters always can be compared and then grouped to define these domains. However, even this method suffers from the problem that only a single joint set orientation can be considered at a time during the grouping process. On the other hand a discontinuity domain requires that all joint sets at a point be considered simultaneously to truly define the structural discontinuity character of that point. This provides a far more complete

Jan 1, 1982

By D. Jeulin

For iron ore sinters to be good blast furnace burden, they need to possess certain basic properties such as cold mechanical strength, reducibility, etc. Relations between such basic parameters and sintering parameters (composition of the mix, fuel consumption, operating conditions of the sintering plant, etc.) are not always well understood. For example, one cannot explain the differences in quality noticed for sinters having the same chemical composition. In this paper a new approach is proposed for the characterization of iron ore sinters by a quantitative description of their morphology. The Texture Analyzer LEITZ T.A.S. is used for this purpose and such morphological parameters as sizes of microstructures and the size distribution of phases are measured on samples of sinters. The results indicate that these measurements can be correlated with the sinter quality.

Jan 1, 1977

By E. E. ELLIS

THE zinc deposits under development by the Universal Exploration Co., a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, are close to Jefferson City, Tenn., a small town about 30 miles northeast of Knoxville, Tenn., and are served by the Southern Railway. The first zinc mining in this district was in the old Mossy Creek mine at the north edge of the town, opened for oxidized ores in 1871 and later worked for sulfide ores. An oxidized zinc ore deposit (carbonates and silicates) was opened near New Market in 1900 and worked through the war period by the G1'8sselli Chemical Co., producing around 25,000 tons of oxidized ore. In recent years a sulfide deposit has been found and developed but is not producing. About 1% miles south of this a small body of sulfide ore was developed by open cut, but the operation was unsuccessful. The Universal Exploration Co. entered the district in 1926 and, after extensive exploration, has been operating an oxidized ore-body since Janual:y, 1928, and has been developing a sulfide ore body since July, 1928.

Jan 1, 1929

By Fred C. Bond, Jen-Tung Wang

Comminution energy is principally energy of deformation before break-age, which appears as heat. An empirical equation is presented which covers the entire comminution range. The new strain-energy theory considers comminution from the known principles of mechanics and the reduction ratio. Energy requirements according to the different theories are compared.

Jan 8, 1950

By Fred C., Fred C. Bond

Comminution energy is principally energy of deformation before breakage, which appears as heat. An empirical equation is presented which covers the entire comminution range. The new strain-energy theory considers comminution from the known principles of mechanics and the reduction ratio. Energy requirements according to the different theories are compared.

Jan 1, 1950

By H. M. Chance

Discussion of the paper of H. M. Chance, Bi-Monthly Bulletin, No. 23, September, 190S, pp. 791-808. CHARLES CATLETT, Staunton,Va. (communication to the Secretary *):-Mr. Chance's suggestions that the brown hematite ores of the Potsdam formation are due to the alteration in place of iron sulphide, and that their extension may reasonably be expected to contain valuable deposits of unaltered sulphide, are interesting; but the facts marshaled by him are too limited to justify more than the hope that they may serve as a commercial source of sulphur. It is true that these deposits have been the source of large amounts of iron-ore; and it. is common, as stated by him, for the mining operations to extend to a shallow depth only; but this is largely due to the fact that the surface-material represents an accumulation from the breaking down and collection of the ore which formerly reached a much higher level. With, increasing depth comes a decreasing thickness of valuable material. This is especially appreciated by a glance at Mr. Chance's drawings. This is the reason why so many disappointments have resulted when these ores have been followed to greater depths. Even if the ore is largely derived from oxidation in place, it is impossible to ignore the great number of concretionary forms, as well as those showing the evidence of secondary solution and deposition now taking place, such, for instance, as the part replacements of fragments of quartzite derived from the underlying beds. Concretionary form does not necessarily mean long transportation, and may be a variation of material in place; but commonly it is an evidence of collection, and tends to imply that more or less concentration has taken place. This fact would also argue against an equally extensive develop¬-

Nov 1, 1908

By H. M. Chance

STRETCHING from New York southwestwardly to Georgia is a great range of hills and mountains consisting of pre-Palaeozic schists, slates, and gneissic and granitoid rocks, known locally by many different names; in Pennsylvaniaa as the South mountains, the Berkshire or Durham and Reading hills, and in Virginia and farther south as the Blue ridge. To the northwest of this range lies the " Great Valley," underlain by Lower Silurian limestones, and known as the Lehigh valley, Cumberland valley, Shenandoah valley, valley of Eastern Tennessee and Georgia and by other local names, but all these are parts of one valley, geologically and geographically continuous from New Jersey to Georgia. Lying upon and along the northern flank of this range of mountains, and dipping northwestwardly under the limestone of the valley, is the Potsdam formation (Primal or No. 1 of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey), which consists of sandstone or conglomerate overlain by slates. The latter are sometimes arenaceous and occasionally are replaced in part by sandstone. This formation varies from a few feet to several hundred feet in thickness. At the outcrop the slates are completely decomposed, oxidized or disintegrated, forming a belt of clay several hundred feet wide occupying the interval between the outcroppings of the sandstone and limestone. This clay-belt includes a more or less continuous series of iron-ore (brown hematite) deposits, which have been, and still are, extensively worked. The belt is more or less continuously mineralized with iron throughout its length, and hundreds of large deposits of ore have been developed and worked, producing many millions of tons of ore.

Sep 1, 1908

By John M. Dale

As much as half of the world's known reserves of elemental sulfur occur at or near the earth's surface in natural or native sulfur deposits of volcanic or sedimentary origin. Yet these reserves constitute only a small percentage of the world's supply. Looked on as marginal materials, they remain relatively untouched despite the current demand and improved prices for sulfur. There are two main reasons for this. The first is the nature and occurrence of the deposits. They are generally small and widely scattered in remote and often arid locations, and the gangue constituents of the ore are apt to vary considerably-not only between deposits but also within deposits. The second reason is the lack of workable and economically feasible processes for recovering sulfur from the ores in such deposits. Historically, the older thermal processes in which the sulfur is vaporized away from the gangue were probably the most successful, but they were inefficient and created pollution problems. A few of the historical processes remain in operation today. Recently, however, an improved thermal process to handle all sulfur-containing surface ores has been designed under sponsorship of the Pan American Sulfur Co. A schematic diagram of this process is shown in Fig. 1. The process equipment consists of a paddle trough conveyor retort which is operated as a closed unit to prevent any air or oxygen from entering the system. Ground surface sulfur ore and heated pebbles are fed to this unit simultaneously. The ore and heated pebbles are slowly conveyed and continuously mixed down the conveyor retort. Heat from the pebbles and heat supplied to the outside walls of the trough conveyor retort raise the ore temperature above the boiling point of sulfur. Sulfur vapors and steam originating from moisture in the ore are ducted to a condenser, and the sulfur is recovered as a liquid. The gangue and the pebbles are discharged from the trough conveyor and separated-the gangue being discarded, and the pebbles being conveyed to a direct-fired rotary pebble heater where they are reheated before they are again charged into the rotary trough conveyor retort. The hot gases which pass countercurrent to the pebbles are ducted to the outside of the rotary trough conveyor where they pass countercurrent to the flow of the ore in order to maximize heat recovery and utilization.

Jan 4, 1969

By G. R. Fritterer

INVESTIGATORS in the field of temperature measurement have long sought a thermoelectric couple fulfilling the following requirements: 1. It should be useful up to and including high industrial tempera-tures; i. e., 1000° to 1800° C. 2. Its thermoelectric variation with temperature should be linear and be maintained after heating to high temperatures for long periods of time. 3. It should be reproducible; i. e., different couples of the same elements should have similar calibration curves. 4. Its thermoelectric power should be large so as to allow the industrial use of rugged recording instruments. 5. Chemical reactions with, and physical changes within the elements of the couple should not alter its calibration. No thermocouple proposed to date exhibits simultaneously all of these characteristics, whereas the couple about to be described fulfills all requirements to a satisfactory degree.

Jan 1, 1933

By Arthur F. Taggart

ENGINEERING is the art of control of men, matter, and energy in timely concert to provide economically the material needs of man. Control requires knowledge of the thing to be controlled and of proven methods of controlling. Knowledge of man comprises understanding of what he is and of his reactions as an individual and in the mass to his surroundings and to other men. Knowledge of matter comprises understanding of its fundamental nature, its methods of combining into multitudes of animate and inanimate forms, the properties of these forms and their various utilities, their sources and availability. Knowledge of energy constitutes knowing what is meant by the term, its various forms and sources, the laws of convertibility, and the methods of transformation and transmission.

Jan 4, 1950

By W. B. Watson

IN the USSR considerable technical improvements have been made in hydraulic methods of mining coal. In New Zealand coal mining by these methods is still comparatively crude. The Russian techniques are closely studied in New Zealand, and this description is based mainly on translations of technical articles. Fundamentally the methods in both countries are the same-chief developments in the USSR are the use of high pressure water jets, capable of winning all but the hardest coal without prior blasting, and hydraulic pipeline transportation where the gradient is unsuitable for flume transport.

Jan 4, 1958

By Jim F. Lemons

INTRODUCTION A nickel doesn't buy much anymore. That's even true in the cost of recovering nickel -- the commodity. A 5[C] per pound (11 [c] per kilogram) increase in the nickel price won't cover a 10-percent increase in fuel costs for processing laterite ores, nor will it cover a 10- percent increase in wages for recovering nickel from a sulphide ore. It won't even cover a 5- percent increase in the capital cost necessary to mine and process ocean nodules. The basis for this statement and a quantitative analysis of the variations in costs to recover nickel from different types of nickel ores will be discussed in this paper. During the early part of the 1970's, the interest in nickel and its potential development was shifting from Canada to the Pacific Basin area. Canadian growth rate was slowing and each additional increase in nickel capacity was very expensive (Argall, G.O., 1970). Laterite ores were attractive to developers since they were easy to mine at a low labor cost, and technologies were being developed that would allow the recovery of nickel in marketable forms (Mohide, T.P., Warden, C.L., Mason, J.D., 1977). During the last decade, new laterite production was achieved in the Philippines and Botswana, and a significant increase in production from Indonesia and New Caledonia occurred. However, recent reports on nickel identify numerous problems plaguing the industry, i.e., high energy costs that are forcing shutdowns (INCO, 1980), (Mohide, T.P., Warden, C.L., Mason, J.D., 1977), high Canadian sulphide mining labor costs (Anon., 1976), and rapid inflation of nickel capital costs (Anon., 1981b). No definitive study has been made to determine how sensitive the total cost of production is to rising energy, labor, or capital costs, or to identify to what extent increased byproduct revenues could be used to offset these production costs. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effects of increases in energy, labor, capital costs, and by-product credits on the future cost of production from nickel reserves and/or resources. METHODOLOGY OF ANALYSIS In order to evaluate the sensitivity of nickel production costs to changes in energy, labor, and capital costs, and in byproduct revenues, an analysis was made of existing and proposed nickel operations, their costs, and their sensitivity to change. The data for these analyses were obtained from numerous sources including international govern¬ment and university publications, professional journals, company reports, private communications, U.S. Bureau of Mines contracts, and estimates by Bureau of Mines personnel. These data were collected, in part, as an ongoing effort of the U.S. Bureau of Mines Minerals Availability System (MAS) to systematically measure and classify identified mineral resources according to their respective extraction technologies, economics, and commercial availability. The MAS Program is currently evaluating the present and potential availability of nickel to the United States in relation to mining, beneficiation, smelting, refining, leaching, transportation, infrastructure, environment, land use, labor, productivity, technology efficiencies, operating capacities, deposit life, and political factors. As a summary of this data, the following briefly describes nickel ore types as each relates to energy, labor, capital, and byproducts. Sulphide Operations Nickel is currently available from sulphide deposits. Roughly 55 percent of the current world nickel production in market economy countries is from sulphide ores, although only about 20 percent of the known land-based nickel reserves and/or resources are sulphides (INCO, 1981). In 1979, the Western World sulphide reserves were estimated at about 9.2 million metric tons of nickel (Little, A.D., 1979). Sulphide ores are typically mined underground, thus resulting in high mining costs; however, these ores can often be upgraded by flotation prior to final nickel recovery and require about one-third of the energy required to recover nickel from laterites (Anon., 1981c). In addition, nickel in sulphide ores may be associated with economically recoverable byproducts, which include copper, cobalt, gold, silver, and other precious metals. Laterite Operations Forty-five percent of current nickel production is from laterite deposits. Laterite deposits account for 80 percent of the known land-based nickel reserves and/or resources (INCO, 1981). In 1979, the Western World laterite reserves were estimated at over 35 million metric tons of nickel (Little, A.D., 1979). Nickeliferrous laterites are residual soils formed by weathering, typically under tropical or near tropical conditions. They can be easily mined by open-cut methods, but generally cannot be beneficiated; thus, recovery of nickel must entail processing of the total mined ore. Usually, these ores have high moisture content (20 to 30 percent by weight) that result in additional fuel costs to dry the ore. Nickel silicates, garnierites, are, processed by pyrometallurgical methods; limonite nickel oxides are normally leached. Byproduct cobalt is not recovered from most ferronickel operations, and is only recovered to a limited extent from many leach operations.

Jan 1, 1982

Discussion of the paper of W. H. Gunniss, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 81, September, 1913, pp. 2309 to 2310. PROF. J. W. RICHARDS, South Bethlehem, Pa. :-In regard to the physical nature of quartz for making silica brick, is the coarse-grained preferable ? E. P. MATHEWSON, Anaconda, Mont. :-A dense quartz is preferable. The quartzite is the actual material used by the Anaconda Company. The sandstone referred to, the foreign quartz, was a very pure sandstone and bad hardly any impurities in it, and the brick made from that particular material, while apparently beautiful while coming out of the kiln, and true, immediately on heating in the furnace buffed up half an inch and were cracked open.

Jan 11, 1913

By V 7. 0 / 300 dpi

WHEN the copper smelters were built, in Montana, all of the refractory products which were used in their construction were shipped in from Eastern factories. It was apparent that if a material suitable for the manufacture of these products could be found within the State, a saving of freight could be effected and a new industry built up. Prospecting for such materials was started and experiments were made with samples from numerous deposits. Considerable effort and funds were expended in an attempt to manufacture silica brick from Dillon quartz, a light colored sandstone that is found near Dillon, Mont., on the Oregon Shortline railroad. As a brick material the Dillon quartz was a failure, but it has proved very satisfactory as a silica cement. It is now being used in laying silica brick and for reverberatory furnace bottoms. A bed of quartzite that is particularly suited to the manufacture of high-grade silica brick -was finally discovered at Browns Spur, 6 miles west of Anaconda. The material from this deposit is now being used in the manufacture of the Anaconda silica brick, which have gained a wide reputation for heat-resisting and lasting qualities. The analysis of all average sample of this quartz is: SiO2,, 96.7; Fe203, 0.3; Al203, 2.5; CaO, 0.3 per cent. The very low percentage of fluxing ingredients makes this a most refractory material. All of the Anaconda silica brick are hand molded. Various types of brick machines have been tried, but the hand-mold process proved the best suited to the manufacture of silica brick from this material. The silica is first put through a jaw crusher and is then clumped into wet pans, where 4 per cent. of lime paste is added, to produce a bond. Without the lime the. material would not be plastic enough to mold. After a few minutes' grinding in the wet pans the material is conveyed to the molder, who forces it into the molds by hand. The brick are then dumped on pallets and placed in the drier, where they are left until dry enough to be set in the kilns. Some of the brick are re-pressed before being dried. They are burned about five days, in round down-draft kilns. It is not necessary to have as much heat in the kilns as the brick will be subjected

Jan 9, 1913

By A. Singh, W. M. Fleming, J. J. Santana, A. E. Torma

The present study investigated the extraction of uranium from a low-grade ore by sulfuric acid and the removal of radium from the leach residues by brine solutions. The optimum leaching conditions were found to be 1.5 mole [£]-1 H2SO4, 6.Og[9]-1NaClO3, 75°C,50% pulp density and 750 rpm with respect to the rate of uranium extraction. The maximum theoretical attainable rate of uranium extraction was determined to be V = 1.09 x 10 -2 mole [¢]-1h-1 with respect to pulp density. The order of reaction was found to be zero regarding the effect of sodium chlorate concentrations. The apparent activation energy of uranium extraction was calculated from the Arrhenius plot to be [A]E a - 2.36 kcal mole-1 (9.87 kJ mole-1). Based on a statistical design, an empirical equation has been developed describing the rate of uranium extraction with the leaching parameters. This equation can be used to generate data which may be useful for scaling up the process to pilot plant level. The most efficient brine solution for the extraction of radium - 226 from the leach residue was found to contain one mole[f] -1 CaCl2 and 0.01 mole [2] -1 HC1. The two step leaching with this solution resulted 87% removal of radium from the leach residue. On the basis of this study, a flow-sheet has been proposed for the extraction of uranium and radionuclides from the ore and leach residue to yield almost innocuous tailings.

Jan 1, 1982

By Albert R. Ledoux

I AM indebted to The Kaolin Co. of West Cornwall, Conn., and particularly to its engineer, Mr. M. Wanner, for permission to make public, through the Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the interesting results of his experiments, having in view the winning of kaolin from deep deposits without shaft-sinking or removing of the overburden. So far as I am aware, nothing like it has been accomplished heretofore, although it reminds one of the methods successfully employed in Louisiana for the winning of sulphur from deep beds by the sinking of pipes one within another, injecting superheated steam under pressure through one pipe, the heat of the steam liquefying the sulphur and the pressure forcing it up through the other pipe to bins at the surface. The kaolin-deposit at Nest Cornwall is an alteration in situ-that is, it is not sedimentary. A series of clay-veins dipping about 500 from the vertical, lie between a foot-wall of limonite and a hanging-wall of gneiss and hornblende schist. The clay-veins alternate with veins or seams of more or less broken quartz, and unaltered feldspar. The deposit, which occurs at a point about 600 ft. above the Housatonic river, was opened five years ago, and about 5,000 tons of a superior grade of washed kaolin has been extracted from open pits and sold. It soon became evident that this node of extracting the product would prove unremunerative, by reason of the dip of the vein and the intercalary strata and lenses of -quartz, and a more satisfactory method of working the deposit was sought. It is well understood, that, in the preparation of all clays for market, especially residuary kaolin, the most important as well as the most difficult step is the washing of the crude product. The difficulties increase with the percentage of foreign matter, especially quartz and mica, contained in the product, hence a sys-

May 1, 1906

By E. A. Devuyst, M. A. Mosoiu, V. A. Ettel

Nickelic hydroxide is an important metallurgical reagent used for precipitating cobalt from nickel sulfate solutions. Existing methods of preparation of nickelic hydroxide involve electrolytic oxidation of Ni(OH)2 or the use of strong oxidizing agents such as chlorine, ozone and persulfate. Although the oxidizing properties of the SO2 + O2 system have been known for some time, e.g., detection of SO2 and oxidation on iron in acidic solution, the application of this system for the preparation of nickelic hydroxide as a process was not considered in the past. The present paper describes a new method for chemical preparation of nickelic hydroxide which has been developed in INCO laboratories. The technique consists of reacting nickelous hydroxide suspensions with a slurry of calcium sulfite in the presence of air or oxygen. The main advantage of the process is the cost of reagents and an absence of soluble by-products (e.g., C1-). The chemistry of this process is unusual since the redox potential obtained during the reaction exceeds that of the oxygen electrode. Therefore, the effect of CaS03 is not just a catalytic acceleration of the reaction NI(OH)~ + 02. The so3= must be involved in the stoichiometry of the overall reaction producing in the initla1 phase some strongly oxidizing intermediate species.

Jan 1, 1981