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By J. L. Gillson

Andre Hubaux: In the writer's opinion, more stress should be put on field and microscope observations, as J. L. Gillson does. His discovery of relics of big labra-dorite feldspars from the Marcy anorthosite in all the other rocks is proof enough that previous field observations have been inadequate. The writer's field experience with anorthositie massifs is limited to the Egersund-Sogndal district in southern Norway; however, this is a very large and well exposed area. It seems to have so many points in common with the Adirondack region that a detailed comparison should be beneficial. This comparison was not possible 20 years ago, owing to the scarcity of geological data, at least for Norway. Both regions are now far better known—the Norway district because of the work of Professors Bugge and Barth 33-35 and especially because of the extensive field and microscopic research of P. Michot,30-35 who introduced me in the field to the problems of that region. In a particular unit of the Egersund district, a sodi-fication of the plagioclase, very similar to what Gillson calls "andesinization," has taken place. 12' The percentage of anorthite in the plagioclase has dropped from 42 to 43 pct in the original norite down to 27 pct, but never below that level. This metasomatical transformation is a part of a whole series of processes of mig-matitization which have produced, above the level of granitization, concentrations of Mg, Fe, and Ti and among them, patches and parallel bands of ilmenite and magnetite. Thus both regions present somewhat comparable features and the theories to explain them have several points in common. However, as there seem to be differences between some American conceptions and the views commonly accepted at the University of Liege, I would like to make some comments about J. L. Gill-son's article. The author speaks of the garnet as being an anti-stress mineral. However, garnet may be found in schists, where its helicitic texture, when present, demonstrates its formation during differential movement. Furthermore, the whole concept of stress and anti-

Jan 1, 1959

By B. S. Butler

A. D. Mutch (Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd., Ona-ping, Ontario)—This contribution is prompted by the fact that the writer has recently published an article'!' which has in part the same general conclusions as B. S. Butler's, namely, the form of the standard mineral paragenesis in hypogene deposits and the parallel transition from early high temperature acid to late low temperature alkaline or neutral solutions. Since the writer also recognizes that he is not fully qualified to discuss the formation of ore deposits as a chemical problem, this discussion will be limited to summarizing other observations and will suggest how Butler's Table II might be made more effective. The form of Butler's table is not unlike that widely used by European geologists'" in which the various minerals are related to the types of ore fluids—peg-matitic, pneumatolic and hydrothermal. Thus the decrease in temperature and change in pH of the ore-bearing fluids as recognized by Butler may also be paralleled by perhaps even greater changes in composition, density, and character. W. H. Newhouse's article:" on the sequence of hypo-gene ore mineral deposition is still one of the most complete analyses of the problem. In it he makes four major observations: 1) The order of O, S, As, Sb is the same as their increasing atomic weights and the same as their melting points. 2) The order of the metallic elements is the same as the Schuermann series. 3) The general mineralogical order is paralleled by decreasing heats of formation. 4) The order is generally in decreasing hardness, higher metal content, and higher specific gravity. The order of 0, S, As, and Bi is also the same as their relative abundance. Another point worth mentioning about this series is that As, Sb, Bi, when abundant, often substitute for sulfur in the early pyrite-like minerals, whereas later in the sequence these elements appear to act more like metals. This behavior may be a further indication of the acid character of the early fluids. C. J. Sullivan"' has attempted to show that the sequence of the metallic elements is related to the order of their melting points and has discussed the interrelationship of the different types of bonding of sulfo-phile and oxiphile elements in minerals. Items 3 and 4 might best be summarized by saying that bonding of the minerals in the series appears to be from ionic to covalent to metallic, the early minerals being light in weight, hard, and near-transparent; the intermediate minerals of intermediate weight, semi-transparent, and semi-conducting; and the end minerals heavy, soft, and malleable, opaque and good conductors. A rapid fall in temperature has been assumed to be the cause of ore deposition in many deposits. Perhaps this in turn is the effect of a rapid release of energy in the form of pressure release and change of volume, the first minerals to form being those with the highest heats of formation which absorb the released energy the most rapidly. Butler's Table II could probably be streamlined and made more effective if the listed compounds were assembled as mineralogical groups as in Dana. Thus the sulfides, arsenides, antimonides, bismuthides, and sulfa salts could be arranged in AX,, AX, A2X2, etc. groups. Since these are continuous substitution series, in which the fields of stability and the heats of formation of the various individual minerals can be fairly regarded as similar, this should be accomplished with no loss of clarity. The occurrence of the individual minerals and the precise sequence of the mineral deposition in any one deposit is probably more dependent on the concentration and relative abundance of the component elements. The assembling of geological data in tabular form such as Butler's Table II will continue to be a very effective method of studying geological phenomena. The importance of this particular problem has been pointed out by C. F. Park,% who concludes that understanding of mechanisms of the standard paragenesis and interrelated problems of mineral zoning in space and time is one of the major keys to classification of ore deposits.

Jan 1, 1959

By James M. Schopf

Gilbert H. Cady (Senior Geologist, Head of Coal Division Emeritus, Illinois State Geological Survey, Ur-bans)— Those coal mining and preparation engineers and operators who read this article will probably be most concerned with those parts which deal with the applied aspects of coal petrology in the fields of mining and technology. Actually the two categories overlap to such a degree that they are essentially one. The article appears to suggest that there are two points of veiw in the field of applied coal petrology. From one viewpoint the interest is in the attributes of the various macerals (Fig. 4)—vitrinite, exinite, and inertinite—-in terms of utilization (when the coal is burned, coked, gasified, hydrogenated, etc.). From the other point of view, assuming that the macerals do possess individuality in behavior, interest attaches to the possibility that coal of a particular type (maceral composition) can be prepared by discriminating methods of preparation and blending. Most of the 29 items listed for mining and technology can be assigned to one or the other of these two categories. Somewhat the same simplicity that resides in the items of the proximate chemical analysis is desirable for the petrologic analysis. This simplicity appears to be fairly well achieved by the group maceral device provided mineral matter is also included. At present, without fully adequate experimental substantiation, the three types of material represented by the group macerals vitrinite, exinite, and inertinite are regarded as sufficiently different in composition and properties so that the preponderance of any one type gives the coal distinctive properties provided it is not too high in rank. This appears to be increasingly true with coals of decreasing rank from medium volatile bituminous coals downward. The article reflects the great emphasis placed on the technique of descriptive coal petrology in America. Such description has resulted in a good understanding of the nature of the fundamental variability in the physical composition of bituminous coals. Such understanding has been attained very largely by the thin section technique used in coal bed profile analysis introduced by R. Thiessen after the manner suggested by the data assembled in Table 11. In contrast, the group maceral concept of coal analysis in terms of the categories indicated on the left hand side of Fig. 4 is particularly useful for broken coal analysis and applied coal petrology, in which evaluation is largely based on quantitative concepts. It is inadequately emphasized in this article that although the Thiessen procedure is suitable for the purpose of petrologic description in which texture and orientation are of critical importance, it is less well adapted to the technological uses of applied coal petrology. No doubt those persons whose interest may have been aroused in the possibilities of more refined coal preparation by this and other recent contributions to the literature of coal petrology will understand that certain technical aspects of coal petrology, particularly in the field of descriptive petrology, are still a matter of some controversy among the coal petrologists, but they will also appreciate that Schopf has made an important contribution to the field of coal petrology in America by pointing out that such petrology requires consideration of disoriented or broken coal samples and that results are expressed less in descriptive terms than in quantitative values with respect to the four types of material composing coal—-vitrinite, exinite, inertinite, and mineral matter. Unfortunately because so much American coal petrology has been descriptive of the coal in the bed there is a dearth of literature on applied coal petrology. Research and experimental data in this field are greatly needed.

Jan 1, 1959

By R. Costantini

A. Brebner (Chairman, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ont., Canada) — Under the heading of friction losses, the author, in Eq. 10, gives the relationship

Jan 1, 1962

By F. X. Tartaron

F. C. Bond (Consulting Engineer, Processing Machinery Dept., Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co., Milwaukee, Wis.) — Papers such as this one which deal in a lucid manner with the obscure fundamentals of comminution theory are always welcome. The author has attempted to bring together several diverse theories and handles them interestingly. However, some of the ideas expressed and conclusions drawn require critical reviewing, for which amenities alone will not suffice. The author points out that the theoretical energy required to break across crystal lattices is of the order of 1000 times the actual energy required to crush or grind, and that this energy in turn is perhaps 1000 times the measured surface energy of the new surface area produced. The energy required to grind commercially is controlled by flaws and dislocations, rather than by the inner strength of the lattice structure. The measured surface energy is only a slight residue left after the face atoms are adjusted to their new environment. The dislocations in the crystal lattice structure, with a spacing of about O.l,u, or

Jan 1, 1962

By B. H. Bergstrom, W. Mitchell, C. L. Sollenberger

D. W. Fuerstenau (Associate Professor of Metallurgy, Dept. of Mineral Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.) and D. A. Sullivan, Jr. (with the University of California) — Messrs. Bergstrom, Sollenberger and Mitchell have shown in two excellent papers that the energy per unit mass required for the breaking of spheres is inversely proportional to the size modulus of the fragments of the broken spheres. They found that the fragments of spheres broken within a steel enclosure were finer than those produced by breaking spheres encased in gelatin. This results from utilization of part of the strain energy at fracture for secondary breakage. For spheres not encased in gelatin, these authors found that after fracture the fragments of the spheres possess kinetic energy amounting to 45% of the strain energy needed for initial fracture. Breakage of a sphere in gelatin results in waste of this kinetic energy, whereas breakage inside the steel container makes use of this kinetic energy for further size

Jan 1, 1962

By G. M. Schwartz, J. N. Gundersen

John W. Gruner (Professor Emeritus, College of Science, Literature, and the Arts, Dept. of Geology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis) — It is surprising that two men as well acquainted with the taconite rocks of the Mesabi District as Drs. J. N. Gundersen and G. M. Schwartz should have concluded that the taconite of the Eastern Mesabi before the intrusion of the Duluth gabbro consisted largely of quartz and magnetite. These minerals were "locally reconstituted" into "a wide variety of silicate mineral assemblages" by the gabbro. It is well known, of course, that the silicate mineralogy of the Eastern Mesabi ('about 14 miles in length) is quite different from that of the Main Mesabi which is over 60 miles long. The change from one to the other is abrupt and cannot be attributed to any other cause than the thermal effects of the gabbro. Are we to assume or believe that the taconite of the Eastern Mesabi was radically different from that of the Main range before the gabbro metamorphosed it?

Jan 1, 1962

By B. H. Bergstrom, A. P. Cohen, D. W. Fuerstenau

B.H. Bergstrorn (Research Div., Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co., Milwaukee, Wis.) — Fuerstenau and Cohen have concluded from our study of single particle crushing, which had suggested that the size moduli of the crushed specimens were determined by the specific energy expended independent of feed size, that the same independence with respect to feed size exists for the specific energy-product size relationship for rod mills. They present data supporting this conclusion. Our single particle crushing experiments were on single spheres of soda-lime (type of glass was not given in our study) glass for which the feed size can truly be neglected. However, the feed size cannot be neglected in any case where the effective size modulus of the feed is not too much coarser than the size modulus of the product. This can be illustrated in the second experi- ment of Fuerstenau and Cohen where the feed is considered to be the original -6 +%mesh material. However, one can also consider the product from the 7.5-min grind to be the feed for the 10, 15, 20, 25-min grinds, and the 10-min product to be the feed for the 15, 20, 25-min grinds, etc. If the specific energy-product size moduli curves are drawn for these other feeds, as shown on Fig. 3, the new curves (and some curvature is apparent) are much steeper than the -6 +%mesh feed line. The slopes of these new curves are about -1.5, —1.8 and -3.0. This observation is in accord with the observation by Bond, who states that the net specific energy input to a grinding mill is equal to the specific energy represented by the product less the specific energy represented by the feed. Bond presents, on a diagram similar to Fig. 3, a series of curves which illustrate the effect of

Jan 1, 1963

By R. C. Ferguson, B. Bernstrom

R.C. Ferguson (District Manager, Hardinge Company Inc., Hibbing, Minn.) — In the opening paragraph of Mr. Bernstrom's paper he stated that the Cascade mill performance information is preliminary. With the completion of the 1962 operating season, more reliable performance information became available. The main bearings, which had been damaged, were reconditioned at the factory. New Gatke bearing bushings with a 120° are of contact were supplied. Provision was made to introduce high pressure lubricant at two points in each bearing. New spherical bearing balls that operate in spherical seats were aligned at the factory and held in place by several setscrews to aid in installing the bearings in the field. The screws were not loosened prior to, or during, operation; therefore, the bearings operated as rigid bearings. The lubricant cooling system was changed to the cooling tower type to provide lubricating water of a suitable temperature. Another refinement consisted of installing a device to add a set percentage of soluble oil to the make-up water.

Jan 1, 1963

By Sylvia Whitehead, G. M. Schwartz, J. N. Gundersen

Sylvia Whitehead (Petrologist, The Broken Hill Propriety Co. Ltd., Melbourne, Australia) — Examination of thin sections of jaspilites from numerous banded iron formations in Australia has revealed no evidence to suggest that silicate minerals have formed by reaction between magnetite and silica. Textural relations indicate that part of the magnetite crystallized very early in the history of the rocks, probably during diagenesis, and remained stable under conditions of metamorphism altering only to hematite or limonite under conditions of oxidation and weathering. Many jaspilites also contain later magnetite which is almost certainly of metamorphic origin. Wherever magnetite is present in quartz rich bands containing little or no silicate or carbonate, it is very fine grained and occurs generally as isolated, well formed octahedral crystals or as small crystalline aggregates. These show no evidence of corrosion or reaction with the quartz even in rocks where adjacent bands contain silicate minerals of moderate to high metamorphic grade. Concerning the silicate minerals, it is reasonably certain that bands of very fine grained stilpnomelane

Jan 1, 1963

By D. Hugh Trollope, L. A. Fekete

L.A. Fekete (Project Engineer, Johnson B & Assoc. Engineers, Houston.) - The author tries to classify rock slopes in: a) homogeneous monolith, b) random, c) block-jointed systems. This may be practical at a specific mine, but it does not describe the mechanical behavior of the slopes in general. The difficulty with the problems of earth mechanics is the same, as with other structural problems: To

Jan 1, 1963

By D. L. King, C. D. Rubert, R. W. Christy, B. A. Schepman

R. W. Christy (Manager of Sales, Sanitary Engineering Equipment, Link-Belt Co.) and C.D. Rubert (Barrett, Haentjens & Co.) — Messrs. King and Schepman have presented an excellent paper which outlines the general practice in the design of thickener mechanisms. Lifting devices, controls, special applications and underflow pumping arrangements have been reviewed in detail. Pumping arrangements were illustrated which eliminate the need for an expensive tunnel beneath the thickener floor. Most of those illustrated have the common feature of a relatively long underflow suction line extending from the hopper floor to the pump located on the bridge at the periphery of the tank. The authors limit these arrangements to comparatively dilute or thin slurrys. It is implied that dense and coarse concentrates, which are difficult to pump, cannot be handled unless a tunnel is constructed. Fig. 1 shows an underflow pump arrangement which negates the need for a tunnel but which permits the operator to convey a heavy dense slurry. The pump is mounted directly on the fixed hoist platform and the impeller is located at the base of the steel center column. Priming water is not needed. The column

Jan 1, 1963

By G. E. Agar, A. L. Mular

G. E. Agar (Manager, Minerals Processing Research, International Minerals & Chemical Corp., Skokie, III.) — The author notes a discrepancy between the parameters a and ß which are the slopes of the size distribution and energy-size modulus plots respectively. The reason for the discrepancy and the systematic decrease in the magnitude of a with grinding time is abundantly clear from the work of Fuerstenau8 on dry grinding. Fuerstenau shows very clearly in his Fig. 5 that at short retention times the parameter a is the same as that obtained by sizing over the complete size range. From this figure, it is obvious that sizing to only 400 mesh gave distribution curves similar to Mular's - that is, the slope apparently decreased systematically with increased grinding. As a consequence of the improper determination of a, the magnitude of ß given by Mular must be larger than the true value. In order to demonstrate this, the following Fig. 6 was taken from Mular's paper (his Fig. 1). Fuer-stenau's results show that we can approximate the correct value of K by drawing lines parallel to the short retention time curves through the 400-mesh

Jan 1, 1963

By E. Douglas, D. N. Collins, J. R. Stevens

E. Douglas (Dept. of Scientific and lndustrial Re-search, Warren Spring Laboratory, Hertfordshire, England) — The authors are to be congratulated on the considerable improvements they have made in tailoring efficiency and selectivity terms which are generally superior to the alternative forms in current use. However, I feel that their efficiency expression is limited to lower-grade feeds; its accuracy reduces as the feed grade increases. For example, its application to such processes as the beneficiation of glass sands, refractories and clays will invoIve considerable inaccuracies. The reason for this lies in the direct use of recovery, which, with high-grade feeds, biases their empirical expression, R(1 - c/h). With a 90% grade feed, the recovery weighting for the slightest degree of beneficiation, over a zero efficiency sampling operation, will be 90+%+ I disagree with their second basic requirement which states that there can be no fundamental basis for any single quantifying expression. A formula giving a comprehensive representation of concentra- tion efficiency can be derived fundamentally accord-to the procedure outlined in the literature. '' This formula, called the Basic Efficiency formula, is

Jan 1, 1963

By M. C. Fuerstenau, D. N. Collins, R. B. Bhappu, D. N. Moir

D. N. Moir (Senior Scientific Officer, Warren Spring Laboratory, D.S.I.R. Stevenage) and D. N. Collins (Scientific Officer, Warren Spring Laboratory, D.S.I.R., Stevenage, England) — During work on the petroleum sulphonate flotation of beryl in 1959 at Harwell, and subsequently at Warren Spring Laboratory, effects similar to those mentioned by the authors were noticed. Brief details of some of this work were given to the 6th International Mineral Processing Congress at Cannes.' It is interesting to note that the authors experienced strong activation effects with Fe+++ ions on beryl when using petroleum sulphonate collectors. This phenomenon was of interest in our work when

Jan 1, 1963

The authors and Iscor's management are to be congratulated on an interesting and detailed paper that discloses Iscor's philosophy, strategy, and action concerning what can also be termed productivity improvement. Aside from the pioneering work of Beeforth and Dicks regarding Dynamic Profitability Analysis at Vaal Reefs, there appears to be a shortage of papers on this topic from the mining groups.

Jan 1, 1990

By AIME AIME

THREE of the addresses presented at this interesting and important session are printed in full else- where in this issue. The fourth, Mr. Hewett's paper, on "Cycles In Metal Production" has been issued as Technical Publication 183, and an abstract of it was published on page 162 of last month's issue. The general discussion that followed these four important papers is given in full below. S. A. TAYLOR: I would like to ask Mr. Veasey whether the control of oil in pools includes royalties, and, if so, in case of a new pool how are you going to control, or rather how are you going to describe the limits of that pool?

Jan 1, 1929

Secretary's NOTE—on page 176,of this paper, in the fourth line of the first footnote, " 4° " should, be " 1" )'; and on page 180, at the beginning of line 23, ('lined boot" should be " unlined boot." Discussion. Frank Owen, London, Eng. (communication to the Secretary) : In his very interesting and valuable paper, Prof. Snow

Jan 1, 1900

By Fearnside W. G.

Further discussion at the Midland Institute of Mining, Civil, and Mechanical Engineers' general meeting held in Leeds, March 21st, 1916, with T. Beach, vice-president, in the chair, of a paper published in Trans. Inst. Min. Engrs., 1915, vol. L, p. 573 and discussion vol. L., p. 109 and 608, comprised a brief written contribution by Faulds A.

Dec 1, 1916

Discussion of the paper published Trans Inst. Min. E., 1916, vol. li., page 99 comprises a written comment by Bolton H. giving two examples of the faunal evidence for deep-water vs littoral conditions of Goniatites (cephalopods) and Upper Old Red Sandstone fishes

Dec 1, 1916