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By Clarence Woods

ONCE a millionaire's plaything, the Santo Domingo mine, in Peru, is now, because of its metallurgical problem, an engineer's nightmare. It is deep in the montaña jungles of the Amazon basin, 140 mi. northeast of Tirapata, which is a rail- way station between Puno and Cuzco, and about 250 mi. east of Mollendo on the Pacific. The discovery was 111ade by Marian(-) Quispe, an Indian, who, while searching for quinine bark, was attracted by a slab of gold quartz 1x1 the rock wall of a narrow canyon. He broke off a piece, weighing 47 Spanish ounces and, that time, worth approximately $900. This he took to Francisco Velasco and Manuel Estrada, merchants of Coaza, who persuaded Quispe to lead them to the place, five days' journey on foot through a tangled wilderness. Velasco ' and Estrada denounced the claim

Jan 1, 1938

By Felix E. Wormser

REGISTRATION started bright and early Monday morning in the Silver Corridor at the Waldorf-Astoria with Mrs. W. H. Bassett as chairman. What a registration-over 200 ladies! Several joined us from as far away as California and Washington State. Apparently they enjoy our meetings so much that present travel inconveniences didn't discourage their coming. At noon the ladies joined the men at the All-Institute Luncheon and Monday evening we had our informal dance, which is separately reported. Tuesday morning was devoted to our annual meeting at which all Section annual reports were read. At noon we were all the guests of the W.A.A.I.M.E. at a luncheon at the Port Arthur Restaurant on Mott St. in Chinatown. Many of us rode down on the old 3d Ave. elevated railway-the last of four. It, too, is soon to be torn down. The luncheon was delightfully unusual, with huge dishes of delicious Chinese food on each table. Our chairman, Mrs. Read, who lived in China in her youth chose our menu, and she chose it well, for most of us indulged so heartily that as we arose from the table we felt we couldn't eat again for 24 hours. Someone donated sherry wine, and boxes of Chinese pencils as favors. We wonder who? All owe a big vote of thanks for this lovely party to Mrs. T. T. Read and Mrs. H. A. Prosser, chairmen, and Mrs. H. W. Hardinge, Mrs. R. Hursh, and Mrs. R. L. Lloyd, vice-chairmen.

Jan 1, 1944

By AIME AIME

THE STANDARD herewith submitted is the result of several years of research and consideration by the A.I.M.E. Technical Committee on Milling Methods. In the early work of this committee it was found necessary to undertake the development of a standard laboratory method for screen testing of ores. During the research stages the desirability of having this standard, when completed, approved as American Standard was brought out. In accordance with this idea, its initiation as a project of the American Standards Association (then the American Engineering Standards Committee) was approved by the latter body and the A.I.M.E. designated as sponsor. In 1929, the A.S.A., on recommendations of its advisory committee, the Mining Standardization Correlating Committee), authorized the A.I.M.E. to be sole sponsor for this project. The personnel of the Institute's Committee on Milling Methods was then increased to make it thoroughly representative of all diversified interests in the mining field. Two years ago the standard was circulated and has been given wide distribution. Early in 1932 the committee voted unanimously, with 38 affirmative votes, that the standard be recommended to the Board of Directors of the Institute for submission to the American Standards Association for approval as American Recommended Practice. This was accordingly done, at the Feb. 1.6, 1932, meeting of the directors, and the American Standards Association approved the standard on July 6; 1.932, designating it as ASA M5-1932.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. B. Kinzel

THE year 1936 has been an eventful one in the iron and steel industry. Renewed industrial activity has brought with it many new problems. These problems have generally involved the question of increasing capacity without sacrifice of economies and quality developed in the less active previous years. The nature of the iron ore used and the effect of its porosity and other physical characteristics on the capacity of the blast furnace has been reviewed by the U. S. Bureau of Mines. The whole question of handling raw materials and methods of charging furnaces has been intensively studied, with the result that capacity has been in- creased without affecting the quality of

Jan 1, 1937

By Arthur F. Taggart

TO all Mineral Dressers, but particularly to those in the Coal and Industrial Minerals Divisions: Ted Counselman, retiring after two years at the helm of the Milling Committee, pointed with pride to the continued growth of that committee, and sang the swan song "Why ain't we a Division of Mineral Dressing?" Our genial Secretary pointed out, handily, that, you see, the way the Institute is divided there are several blocks running across this way here, and one running all the way down here, and another running part way down here, and they all cut across each other like this, and anyway the miners want to be a Division now, so why not you Mineral Dressers be good and not upset the big Institute organizational chart? And anyway again, Divisions have vested interests, and a Division of Mineral Dressing would take something away from Coal and something from Industrial Minerals, and any good institutional man can see that a Division would never give anything up. It was all quite confusing, and apparently not too convincing, because then the Milling Committee went ahead and voted unanimously it is a good idea, let's see what the other fellows think about it as well.

Jan 1, 1944

By Thomas A. Edison

We have not yet begun. to realize the possibilities of automatic machinery, in part because we have not developed the designing brains, and in part because we have not sufficiently simplified industry to make possible the economical use of such machinery. The principle of the Jacquard loom, has scarcely been utilized except in weaving silk and in the player piano. It is the principle of bringing into action the various parts of a machine in accordance with a pattern traced on a steel card by perforations or as on the paper roll of a player piano. This principle gives us a control which can be applied to any kind of machine. It is a' great reserve principle for the future. But even now, with the machinery that we have at command, anyone can cut the number of employees in two, at the same time doubling his output, by installing semi-automatic or automatic machinery. And no one knows how far this process can go on. Cutting down the number of men is not just putting some poor fellows out of a job. It is increasing the number of good jobs by increasing the production per capita to a point where really satisfactory wages can be paid out of it, and this in turn- increases the amount of work required to be done and creates new jobs. Thus, cheapening in- creases the demand.

Jan 1, 1929

By Harry H. Power

WORK of the Committee on Education of the Petroleum Division has been under way for approximately-one year. Although some progress has been made, further activities of the Committee are necessary in order to discuss mutual problems more thoroughly by a unified group interested primarily in this field of specialization.

Jan 1, 1944

By Francis M. Walters

THE problem of making iron-manganese alloys of scientific purity is a rather difficult one. They cannot be prepared in air because of the readiness with which the metals oxidize at the temperature of melting; and they cannot be prepared in vacuum because of the, high vapor pressure-of- manganese. The very property of: manganese which permits it to be purified interferes with the utilization of the best method of making pure alloys. Accordingly, it is necessary to use a gas atmosphere which will not affect the-properties of the alloys. The gases available for the purposes are hydrogen; helium and argon. Nitrogen forms intermetallic compounds with manganese very readily. Hydrogen, while valuable as a deoxidizer and having the advantage of being comparatively cheap, is explosive over a wide range and, has a rather high thermal conductivity. Helium is reported as, costing little but is difficult to secure at a reasonable price and also has a conductivity nearly as high as hydrogen. Since argon has a sufficiently low thermal conductivity, it has been selected for use in one induction furnace for melting, under a controlled, gas atmosphere, in spite of its cost, which is so high (70 cents to $1.50 per cubic foot) that it must be stored and purified.. Such a gas atmosphere-as argon makes necessary the use of the, high-frequency induction method of heating. This involves, a non-metallic container for the gas; .which is most conveniently of fused quartz or glass. The next

Jan 1, 1929

By Francis P. Sinn

LOW prices have made 1938 a difficult year for the zinc industry of the world. Particularly in the United States, output had to be radically curtailed to bring production into line with consumption. Despite these unfavorable conditions, some additional plant construction is contemplated. In Jugoslavia, through co-operation with the Government, Trepca Mines is lo build a zinc plant to produce 10,000 metric tons annually, the plant to be ready for operation in July, 1941). Cerro de Pasco is proceeding with its plans for an electrolytic plant in Peru. A pilot plant, to be ready next summer, is under construction. In eastern Canada an electrolytic plant is planned in Quebec to treat concentrates from Yoranda and other mines but no defi-

Jan 1, 1939

By Frederick Laist

THE past year has witnessed no radical changes in methods for the reduction and refining of copper. The Carson litigation was finally brought to a close ant1 the copper smelter is again free to introduce charge into his reverberatory furnaces in whatever manner suits him best. This litigation naturally led to much experimentation with various methods of charging and with various types of bath. In some cases the charge was introduced more or less centrally on a relatively dry hearth and in other cases into a bath of greater or less depth. The results of these furnaces were meticulously compared with the results obtained in side-charger furnaces, and it was apparent that it made little, if any difference how a given furnace \\.as charged so long as care was taken that there was always something in the furnace for the flames to work on. So long as this requirement was complied with, consumption of fuel per ton of charge smelted and tonnage smelted per furnace day remained substantially the same regardless of the method of charging or the depth of bath employed. In some instances the center-charged deep-bath furnaces gave slightly better results than the side-charged particularly with respect to copper losses. The slags of the deep-bath furnaces are generally a little cleaner

Jan 1, 1930

By John A. Gann

WITHIN a very few years magnesium has sprung from oblivion, from classification as a technically unknown, little appreciated, and expensive material to front-page importance in many fields of engineering. Bunsen may be considered the real founder of our present magnesium industry. In 1852; he prepared this metal by the electrolysis of fused magnesium chloride in a porcelain crucible. In the following years the electro¬lytic process became recognized as superior to chemical reduction methods and Germany became the world's chief producer, installing the first electrolytic magnesium plant in 1886. ' Thirty years later, national defense requirements, occasioned by the outbreak of the World War and the cutting off of imports, caused France, England, and the United States to begin production. Most of this magnesium was used for military purposes so the close of the war resulted in a large curtailment in production. A few companies, however, encouraged by the early success of the Germans and by the rapid developments taking place in aeronautics, and confident in the certain future and ultimate value of this metal, undertook extensive re¬searches in its production and utilization. A variety of production methods, both chemical and electrochemical, were investigated and some of them operated on a commercial scale. Reduction of the oxide with carbon at high temperatures and the electrolysis of the oxide in a fluoride

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

FORMATION of a new company through the union of two familiar names in the mining and metallurgical world has just been announced. J. V. N. Dorr and E. L. Oliver have united the businesses and assets of The Dorr Company and Oliver United Filters, Inc., of which they are the respective heads, by the formation of the Dorr-Oliver Corporation under their joint management, and stockholders have approved the merger.

Jan 1, 1931

By O. E. KEOUGH

AT the Tooele custom lead-zinc ore concentrator,' two sections, each having a daily capacity of 500 to 600 tons, are operated on slightly different types of ores with but little difference in flow sheet and reagents. The ores comprising the two general classes are the coarsely crystalline type, with low pyrite and sphalerite low in iron content, from the Park City district, and the more finely disseminated higher pyrite ores from Bingham, which are more difficult to treat by flotation. Laboratory testing determines with which general class a new ore will work better. The ores are crushed to minus 1 1/4-in. size at either the Utah Ore Sampling Company's plant at Murray, Utah, the Tooele smelter sampling plant, or the crushing plant at the concentrator. The ores for each section are mixed to maintain as nearly as possible uniform lead and zinc contents.

Jan 1, 1930

By HOWARD N. EAVENS

DURING the year just closed the bituminous industry has been marked by a continuation of the period of low prices and a steady deflation, accompanied by the closing of mines and the consolidation of small units into larger ones. This pro- gram has marked almost every field in the country, and it bids fair to continue for some time. Some figures recently published for Kentucky show that in 1924 there were 660 mines producing 45,147,000 tons; in 1928 the number had decreased to 537, while production had increased to 61,860,000 tons, and a similar movement is occurring all over the country. Prices throughout the early part of the year were very low, but during the fall and winter the prices received are more satisfactory than they were earlier in the year. One of the leading developments in the marketing of coal during the year was the trade practice movement, which began in the Harlan field, and has now been adopted in the Harlan, Hazard, Appalachian, Logan. Williamson and Kanawha fields. The purpose of this movement is to prevent the shipment of coal except on order, and by the publication of price lists to prevent much senseless price quotation. Where it has been practised the longest this movement has resulted in a considerable degree of stabilization, and, undoubtedly, it will help existing conditions very materially if it becomes universal.

Jan 1, 1930

By Paul Weaver

DURING 1932 the amount of geophysical surveying carried out as a part of oil-field development in¬creased, particularly in the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. Here the most intensive geophysical activity was displayed in the discovery of domes and prospects several years ago, after which there was a period of relative inactivity. This year many of the leases required development and geophysical methods were used to obtain pictures of the detailed structures. These were almost exclusively gravity and reflection-seismograph surveys and for the first time this latter method was generally used by oil operators to construct subsurface contours. The total number of geophysical troops in this territory increased from 16 to 40 during the year.

Jan 1, 1933

By A. B. Kinzel

ALTHOUGH calcium carbide and other compounds of calcium, as well as a number of calcium alloys, are well known and are the basis of important industries in the of United States, calcium metal has been thought of as something of a rarity and has received comparatively little attention from industrial metallurgists. The metal may he made in a number of ways, but the electrolytic deposition of calcium from a molten calcium chloride bath was the first process to be used for its commercial production and is still the standard procedure. Calcium metal has elicited little interest among nonferrous metal producers, as the demand has been relatively small and its production restricted to only a few plants, exclusively in France and Germany.

Jan 1, 1941

By H. D. Wilde

DURING 1934 conditions in the production division of the petroleum industry were reasonably satisfactory but nevertheless a decided feeling of insecurity existed largely because of the uncertainty of controlling production to consumptive demand. Over-production, especially in the East Texas field, threatened a general collapse of crude prices but in spite of this, posted prices were high. Stimulated by the prevailing posted prices, wildcatting activities were wide-spread. Although a number of small discoveries were made, particularly in the Gulf Coast belt and Oklahoma, no fields of major importance, unless it was the Fitts pool in Southern Oklahoma, were brought in. Meanwhile, the Petroleum Division of the A.I.M.E. continued its activities. It sponsored the collection of production and geological data on both foreign and domestic fields. The data on all but a few producing districts in the world were published in the "Petroleum Development and Technology" volume of the "Transactions" and comprise one of the most complete tabula¬tions of this sort ever published. Work of this kind is being continued.

Jan 1, 1935

By George S. Rice

GROUND movement and subsidence is an important matter from several points of view and it is regrettable that more papers have not been written on this subject in the past year. Damage may be done to surface buildings or to the higher workings of a mine, and a study of the subject gives valuable in- formation on hanging-wall or roof control. The latter objective is strikingly shown in a recent paper presented by Jack Spaulding on Oct. 21, 1937, before the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, of Great Britain, entitled "Theory and Practice of Ground Control in the Kolar Gold Field, India." All may not agree with some of his theories that were deduced from studies of the many violent rock bursts at depths of 5000 to 7000 ft., but the data obtained are of great value. His theories of symmetrical ring stresses and symmetrical domes which are pictured as perfect are rather hard to understand as such uniformity is un- likely in view of the irregularities in the formation due to folds and fractures of various kinds. All will agree in principle with this idea of domal effects, which have been observed in many countries, but they are generally irregular.

Jan 1, 1938

By Martin A. Moyers

THE nation's effort to win the war speedily is reflected in current trends in coal utilization, as in all other fields of our lives. In all industries, wherever coal is used for the production of heat and power the emphasis is on getting the most useful result with the least expenditure of matt.ria1. In addition to carrying its own share of the load, increased as it is by the demands of war industry, coal has had to fill in for the other fuels, mainly petroleum products, whose distribution from their more distant sources has been crippled by lack of shipping. Thus, the outstanding note in the utilization of coal this year is not the development of new methods of burning or handling coal but the extraordinary job that the industry has done in producing enough coal to serve all needs.

Jan 1, 1943

By Oliver Bowles

STRIKING new developments in the field of industrial minerals include the employment of lime, salt, coal, and air for the manufacture of stockings, and the substitution of paper for granite and marble in making tombstones. Certain minerals that have heretofore been regarded as valueless except as museum or laboratory specimens, are now being applied commercially. Serpentine, in forms neither fibrous nor ornamental, massive topaz, pinite, and zoisite are examples. For certain other minerals, notably pyrophyllite, bentonite, vermiculite, and sulphur, extension of established uses into new fields has occurred. Substitution takes a toll in many industries, but producers of industrial minerals as a class have gained more than they have lost in recent years. Encouraging progress has been made in developing at long last a suitable substitute for certain of the uses of mica, the only industrial mineral on the strategic list of commodities established by the War. and Navy Munitions Board. Some of the more important developments in process, equipment, and use .that have come

Jan 1, 1940