Search Documents

Professor Jenney has performed a notable service in presenting this summary of the steadily increasing body of observation on the presence of carbon in rocks of all kinds and its probable influence upon ore-deposition, and in formulating a mode of comparing directly the relative resistance of minerals to oxidation, as well as their reducing-power, and the protective action which minerals having higher reducing-powers exert in preventing the oxidation of associated minerals which possess relatively lower affinities for oxygen. I have had an opportunity of observing a vein which falls within the scope of his interesting discussion. The vein at Ku Shau Tzu, Mongolia, lies directly across a contact of limestone and overlying bituminous shales. Probably it occupies a compression-fissure. The shale has been reduced to such a condition of' non-coherence that much of it can be crushed in the hand, producing a handful of angular fragments resembling beech-nuts in shape and size. In the limestone the metals are principally in argentiferous galena with some pyrite and blende; but the latter two are very subordinate in quantity to the galena. In short, it is an every-day lead-vein in limestone, with siliceous limestone gangue. It is one of those veins in which the ore is not continuous, but consists of a band in the country-rock in which seams of lead sulphide begin at one wall and cross in a bent form, increasing in thickness, to the other wall, where they thin out and end. This may indicate torsional stress, but the shape of the lenses points to some other action. They often ran nearly parallel to the hanging-wall for a considerable distance and crossed the vein on a moderate angle, but turned sharply along the vein on approaching the foot-wall. The intermediate rock contains nodules, bunches and specks of ore, and the lenses vary exceedingly in size, shape and position in the vein.

Jan 1, 1903

George Otis Smith, Washington, D. C. (communication to the Secretary) : The somewhat exceptional features discussed by Dr. Jenncy in his paper on " The Mineral Crest" mere recognized and described by Mr. Tower in our report on the Tintic district. The general absence of surface-outcrops of important ore-bodies, and their occurrence, when present, at relatively low points, are noticeable characteristics of this district, and the statements made by Dr. Jenncy agree in general with our observations. The approximately horizontal upper limit of the Silver Gem ore-body in the Bullion-Beck mine is figured in this report, and mention made also of the horizontal pipes of ore found in several mines." In only one case," however, was any hypothesis

Jan 1, 1903

Horace F. Lunt, York, Montana* :—Two years ago I visited the region described by Mr. Jennings and assisted in the examination of a somewhat similar group of deposits in the White Mesa sandstone on the Navajo Indian Reservation, 125 miles north of Flagstaff and 50 miles east of the Kaibab plateau. There, the Triassic red sandstone is less than 200 ft. thick, and is overlain by a stratum from 200 to 250 ft. thick of white sandstone, which gives the name of " White Mesa" to that locality. The white sandstone shows all phases of crossbedding in great complexity, and evidently marks a period of oscillation and subsidence of the water, or an elevation of the land, at the close of a geological epoch. The prevailing color is white or gray, but occasionally it is red. In structure, it is composed of well-worn grains of quartzsand, from which most of the cementing material has been leached out, leaving it soft and friable. Possibly the cement was ferruginous, as is indicated by occasional traces of red color. The copper-deposits consist of a replacement of the cement of one particular cross-bedded stratum of the sandstone by chrysocolla, having also at times various quantities of tenorite in grains or masses. Some specimens of the ore contain as much as 32 per cent. of copper. Generally the copper-deposits are a few hundred cubic feet in size, and no strict line of demarcation is shown between them and the surrounding sandstone, the bluish-green color of the chrysocolla gradually fading into the white of the sandstone. The ore is apparently associated with small vertical crevices or fissures. Some of the deposits show a distinct vein-structure, while others do not. The origin of the ore is not very clear. Undoubtedly the solutions, coursing through the crevices noted above, played a prominent part in its deposition, as possibly

Jan 1, 1904

A. M. Strong, Bishop, Cal. (communication to the Secretary*) :—The paper of Mr. Eeyes gives us the most complete account of the geology of the borax-deposits in the Death Valley region that has yet been published, and is a valuable addition to the geological literature of a very interesting though little-known territory. During the past ten years I have been over much of the northern part of the country described by Mr. Eeyes and the region immediately north of it.

Jan 1, 1910

William M. Courtis, Detroit, Mich. (communication to the Secretary*):—I have a few items to add to the history of the Lake Valley mines. In December, 1879, I was sent to the Bassic mine of Colorado and then to Lone mountain, near Silver City, N. M., and to various copper-camps in Arizona. I staged from Glorietta, N. M., to Tucson, Ariz., stopping at Silver City to see the Cosette mine. This mine led to the opening of the Lake Valley mines, and is a deposit of similar formation. New Year's day, 1880, found me crossing the Rio Grande above the Jornado del Muerto. At Aleman, Victorio's band crossecl four hours ahead of us. We picked up four wounded soldiers to take to Fort Bayard, for during the day the colored troops under General Hatch had been driving the Indians back through the San Andreas mountains. The traveler of to-day little realizes the dangers of these trips, when over very rough roads we made about 100 miles in a day and a night. I subsequently made this trip six times, up to 1882, and each time I missed an Indian attack by from one to four days. The day I arrived at Silver City news had come of the massacre of 75 women and children at the San Francisco ranch. The fighting-men of' Silver City had gone to rescue others. I was the only passenger from Socorro, N. M., until we picked up the soldiers. The next day we came suddenly on 5 of Victorio's band, but we had picked up several miners, so our stage bristled with guns, and we mere let alone. At or near my stone quarry, 6 miles from Socorro, 9 men, were killed by the band that, a day or two after, killed George. Daly, Lieutenant White, and all their men. During this raid, our miners and women at the mine slept in the tunnel. At the Cosette mine I had 35 men at work. These Indian raids had

Jan 1, 1910

E. R. Buckley, Flat River, Mo. (communication to the Secretary*) :—Some statements in the paper of Mr. Keyes relative to the nature and formation of the Ozark lead- and zinc-deposits seen1 to me erroneous and misleading, and I respectfully present the following criticisms, placing Mr. Keyes's original statements in quotations. Referring to the Ozark dome: (p. 192.) "It is a region that has been repeatedly upraised and planed off, until in the middle portion the oldest known rocks only are exposed." Does he mean that the St. Francois mountains, which have always been considered as lying on the eastern flank of the Ozark dome, are the middle of the dome ? Or does he mean that the Cambrian rocks of the generally-accepted middle are the oldest known rocks ? Certainly not the latter, and if the former, his idea of the middle of the dome is not in accord with that of others who are familiar with the region. (p. 203.) "... the ore-deposits are definitely associated with, or localized by, geologic structures of some kind that produce in effect basins in which the underground waters are impounded, or their flow retarded." This statement does not appear to be altogether consistent with the facts, since the ore bodies of the Joplin district, as the rule, occur in those parts of the Mississippian formation which have a tendency to accel erate the flow of ground-water rather than retard it. I migh name the open, brecciated ground near Joplin, Webb City, and Oronogo as especially noteworthy illustrations. The ore-bodies, everywhere, occur in positions where there must have been a free and copious circulation of dilute lead- and zinc-solutions in the presence of reducing constituents. The inequalities in the distribution of the ore-deposits are

Jan 1, 1910

Jan 1, 1911

Herbert A. MegRaw, San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato, Mexico (communication to the Secretary *):—I am in entire accord with the basis of Mr. Lamb's argument, that the stamp

Jan 1, 1911

J. T. Pullon, Rowangarth, Roundhay, Leeds, England :— In discussing Mr. Lee's paper, I wish to call attention to the fact that Mr. B. II. Thwaite (who was heard here yesterday on the subject of the application of blast-furnace gas for the production of power, of which he was undoubtedly the pioneer) read, at the Engineering Congress in Glasgow in 1901, a paper on the profitable utilization of power from blast-furnace gases,' in which he suggested the diversion and cleaning of the whole of the waste gases coming from the blast-furnace and their utilization for power-production, so as to obtain, with proper manipulation, from 4 to 6 times the efficiency of present methods. He suggested also the heating of the stoves with producer-gas of a higher and therefore more suitable calorific value, so as to maintain them in a constant state of maximum efficiency, free from dust, and to avoid the irregular working of the furnace, besides obtaining a maximum supply of air-blast, of 15 or even 20 lb. pressure, by means of internal-conibustion blast-engines driven by the cleaned waste furnace-gases, with a surplus of gas left for other uses. Since that time, in view of the necessity of having a stand-by plant, immediately available, in case of strikes or other reasons causing the banking or blowing-out of the blast-furnace, he has developed, as an addition to his other types of producer, a high blast-pressure gas-generator, producing a gas identical with, or somewhat superior to, blast-furnace gas; and in which all the ash of the fuel is turned into fluid slag, which is available for, the production of slagwool. The gas is a little richer in carbon monoxide than average blast-furnace waste gas, and has only from 1 to 3 per cent. of hydrogen. Fig. I, drawn from a photograph, shows a plant containing this generator, now in operation at Leeds. It is made in units of from 1,000 to 10,000 h.p. capacity for each vessel, and coupled,

Jan 1, 1907

Willet G. Miller, Toronto, Canada (communication to the Secretary): In his interesting paper Mr. Lindgren says: " As to ultimate results, it would seem as if we should be justified in concluding, with Prof. Suess, that the gold-supply of the world will gradually decrease if no further important improvements are made in the processes for the extraction of this metal; but regarding events so far distant no predictions may safely be made." It seems to the writer that no very important improvements require to be made in order at least to keep up the present production for many years to come. In many parts of the world there are large deposits of auriferous material which can be worked if present conditions are slightly changed. In the territory occupied by the Archean protaxis of the Province of

Jan 1, 1903

Charles H. Fulton, Rapid City, So. Dak. (communication to the Secretary*): Professor Lodge takes issue with Mr. Crawford and myself on results obtained by the scorification-method of assay on " zinc-box precipitates," which we published in a paper on the subject in the publication named below.' In our work we found that the normal seorification-method, employing only test-lead and a very little borax-glass as a flux, gave results on cyanide precipitates which mere invariably very low, loss having taken place by slag-absorption and volatilization, as repeated slag-assays failed to bring up results similar to those obtained by other methods. Professor Lodge anil his students made a large number of what he terms " scorification-assays," but which, I would like to point out, have claim to that name only in that they are made in a scorifier, for the charge consists of test-lead, a very considerable quantity of borax-glass (10 grams), at times also of litharge and even charcoal, so that the assays are in reality crucible assays. A scorification-slag proper is an oxide-slag to all intents and purposes, while the slags made by Professor Lodge are borates, certainly acid-slags. It has been our experience since our paper, The Assay of Cyanide Precipitates, was published, that the nature of the assay slag in the crucible assay has a great influence on the result. A " basic " or oxide-slag invariably causes high slag-losses, while an " acid " slag gives very fair results on material containing much zinc. This has also been the experience of a mellknown cyanide chemist with whom I have corresponded on the subject, who found that acid crucible-slags gave good results on zinciferous material, but that the scorification-method, as ordinarily employed, gave high slag-losses. I believe that if the conditions are such that the zinc can be

Jan 1, 1904

E. T. Dumble, Houston, Texas (communication to the Secretary) : During the field-season of 1890 I had occasion to examine some of the salines of eastern Texas. As the result of my stridy of them I came to the conclusion that, together with the oil of Hardin county (since extended to Beaumont by the work of Capt. Lucas) and the rock-salt and gypsum-deposits of the coast country, extending southward to the Rio Grande, these were simply a continuation of similar deposits in Louisiana described by Hilgard, Hopkins, and others; and I recommended the sinking of wells wberever they were found.

Jan 1, 1902

Henry D. Hibbard, Plainfield, N J. (communication to the Secretary*):—This very interesting history is a valuable addition to our knowledge of the basic process and its introduction to this country. In addition to the attempts noted in the paper which were made here to establish the basic Bessemer process, and the experiment with the Siemens-Martin process at the Otis works, there were others made with the latter-named process at about the same date, all of which failed or, at least, were discontinued. The first attempt which survived was that of Carnegie,

Jan 1, 1911

Mark R. Lamb, Torres, Sonora, Mexico (communication to the Secretary*): I have read Mr. Merrill's paper with much interest, and cannot but accept his challenge as regards the cost of the clean-up at the Homestake mill. If I understand him correctly, the two men take the precipitates from the presses in about six hours, and do nothing towards refining them. If that is so, it would correspond to the work four men do here in about eight hours—that is, to clean the box and to place the precipitates in the driers. In order to make a fair comparison, the bullion in each case should be stated in ounces, since it is as diflicult to precipitate silver as gold, and our bullion is mostly silver. Bullion to the value of $50,000 is equivalent to a weight of about 2,500 oz. At our last clean-up eight standard bars, each 1,100 oz. in weight, were made, which equals a total weight of 8,800 oz'. Four men had the precipitates drying by 8 p.m. This plant, the Minas Prietas works of Charles Butters & Co., at Minas Prietas, has square-bottomed electrolytic vats, an arrangement which necessitates the handling of all the precipitates in buckets. The Butters plant at Virginia City, Nev., is equipped with conical vats, and probably could make a still better showing under similar conditions. Another point is that common labor only is required. (Ordinary laborer's wages at Minas Prietas are $0.70 gold.) I may say also that, except for the convenience of the refinery, the box could be cleaned monthly, instead of bi-monthly, at only a slight additional expense. The comparison, if made a few months ago, would have been much more in favor of the electrolytic process, as the tailings handled at that time contained a large quantity of copper, and the amount of zinc-dust required would have been enormous.

Jan 1, 1904

Edward Eeller, Baltimore, Md. (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Miller's improved method of the cyanide-assay for copper will, without doubt, be much appreciated by assayers and chemists who are engaged at copper mines and works. The writer, as one who, at one time, had much work of that kind to do, entertains no doubt of its practical value. In enumerating the factors which affect the accuracy of cyanide-titration, Mr. Miller omits to mention time. This I have always considered an essential one; i.e., in order to secure accuracy, I have believed it to be necessary to run the cyanidesolution at the same rate of speed in standardizing as in the titration of the samples. I have accomplished this, without the use of a time-keeper and without noticing the volume of the solution, in the following simple manner: In running the cyanide-solution from the burette, the stream was so regulated, by manipulation of the cock, that it retained its continuity for a distance of about one inch below the orifice, and, below that, broke into individual drops. This means that a constant pressure is maintained at the orifice of the burette, so that, during equal intervals of time, equal volumes of the solution pass through. The stream of cyanide-solution was left to flow in the manner indicated until the blue ammoniacal copper-solution began to show a distinct change in color, after which the cyanide was added by drops at regular intervals until the desired end-reaction. When several burettes are used they should have orifices of equal diameter; otherwise, the timefactor must be considered separately for each. In accordance with Mr. Miller's views, I have always considered the cyanide-method as of very satisfactory accuracy for all copper-assaying in which I did not employ the electrolytic method. It may interest some of my colleagues to know the modified method which I employed some fifteen years ago in making great numbers of copper-estimations on ores and

Jan 1, 1902

G. A. Burr, Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico (communication to the Secretaryt): I regret that Mr. Norris did not give more attention to the hoisting of water in inclined shafts or slopes: the only slope mentioned being Hickory Ridge Slope, No. 4, of the Union Coal Co. The surface arrangement, illustrated in Fig. 12 of his paper, if not unpractical, is at least unscientific and cumbersome. It is my opinion that the back- and sideguides shown in Fig. 12 are not only unnecessary where rails are used as a track, but are unsafe, excepting in the case of a very firm hanging-wall, or roof, and sides of vein-matter, having absolutely no tendency, either to settle from the back, or to squeeze from the sides, an effect which would inevitably force the guides out of alignment. The accompanying illustration, Fig. 1, shows what I consider a better method of hoisting water than that described by Mr. Norris. This method is based on the general practice in metalliferous mines of the West, where skips are used in slopes; and, while it is not original with me, I have frequently used it with very satisfactory results for dumping both ore and water.

Jan 1, 1904

A. Scott Reid, London, Eng. (communication to the Secretary*) :—As a constructor of several glass mine-models, .I have read with much interest the description of the model of the Montana-Toriopah mine-workings by Edmund D. North.

Jan 1, 1910

W. L. Saunders, New York, N. Y.:—Mr. Parker's paper, though entitled Conservation of Coal, might also be called the Conservation of Life in the Coal-Mines of the United States. No subject is of greater importance to mining-men at the present time than information from experts as to how to save coal and how to save human lives in mines. That the casualties in the coal-mines should exceed 3,000 in the year 1907 is simply appalling, and that 1,000 men should have been killed in a single year through explosions alone, and that so good an authority as Mr. Parker should say that " a prolific cause " is an "improperly-prepared blast" or "the failure on the part of the miner to undercut his coal," points to the importance of activity not only among mining engineers but also, through experts, by the legislatures of the respective States. There is but little doubt that nearly all the serious coal-mine

Jan 1, 1910

H. W. Turner, San Francisco, Cal. (communication to the Secretary*): This excellent paper apparently represents the results of extensive observation and experience among the mines of the Mother-Lode, but I strongly question its relegation of the dioritic intrusions to the period of fissuring and ore-deposition. The dioritic rocks referred to are evidently those areas represented by Ransome in the Mother-Lode folio1 as meta-diorites, and, as he says, are merely basic facies of the great granodiorite batholite of the Sierra Nevada. If followed downward I venture to predict that these meta-diorite areas would be found to connect with the great batholite, and to be in fact mere apophyses of it. I see no reason for supposing that these apophyses were intruded into the Mother-Lode slates at a period later than the intrusion of the granodiorite in general. The period of fissuring was subsequent to this intrusion; the basic granodiorite or quartz-diorite areas of the foot-hill region are themselves fissured extensively; and the fissures were filled with quartz, apparently during the same general period of the formation of the Mother-Lode veins. Prichard and Ransome2 both refer to the deposition of quartz in the same lode at different periods resulting from a reopening of the fissures. Some time since, I saw in the stopes of the

Jan 1, 1904

Frank H. Probert, A.R.S.M., Morenci, Arizona (communication to the Secretary): The management of mines and the system of bookkeeping employed are subjects of great interest to mine-superintendents, and such papers as that of Mr. Davis callnot fail to attract attention. The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London, England, has done much within the last three years to promote discussion on the many systems adopted throughout the mining world; and any papers giving individual experience will benefit that class of men who are charged with the cconomical management of mining properties. It is often said that " a good mine shows a good manager," and more often that mismanagement is the chief cause of poor returns; or, as Mr. A. G. Charleton puts it, in his able paper on " Mining Accounts and Cost-Sheets,"* " accident may, and often

Jan 1, 1902