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R. H. THURSTON, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary): The " tri-axial diagram" was, I think, first employed by me in the work of the " U. 8. Board Appointed to Test Iron, Steel and Other Metals." A model was exhibited to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the diagram was first published, and the model described, in a paper presented to the same society at its Nashville meeting in 1877." The problem then presented to its inventor was to find a method of planning a research involving proportions of ternary compositions in such manner that, a limited number of such compositions being tested, the results should give the law of variation in the physical properties of all possible combinations of the three elements, and the actual numerical values of such as were important to the investigator. The investigation of the binary alloys, copper and tin, copper and zinc, and tin and zinc, had been completed and satisfactorily discussed, employing the usual bi-axial diagram, of which the ordinates represented the one, and the abscissæ the other, of the characteristic properties to be studied, the composition being commonly indicated by the abscissæ. In these cases it was easy to ascertain, by the study of a limited number of compounds, the law of variation in strength, ductility, etc., with composition; but, for a long time, the ternary alloys were not attacked, because no simple and satisfactory method presented itself of securing results significant for the whole field by the investigation of a comparatively small number of alloys. The tri-axial diagram was finally hit upon as a means of representing and interpreting results, and researches were at once begun, and in due time satisfactorily completed.

Jan 1, 1899

By Charles J. Moore

It seems a duty incumbent on the older members of the Institute to set forth in permanent form some of the results of their experience for the benefit of the younger members; this is the principal object of the present paper, which is the result of a recent examination requiring somewhat unusual geologic investigation. History. The London vein mas first discovered by float and occasional outcrops in the year 1873, four years before the great lead carbonate discoveries of Leadville, but the mine was not definitely located and opened until two years later, when the present locations, Mother, Paris, London, and Hard to Beat, were surveyed for patent. Since 1875 the London mine has been worked almost continuously until 1911, when the force was reduced to a few men only. In its early life the ore was assumed to be free-milling gold-quartz, although lead was a constituent of the vein throughout, and much useless expenditure was made in the erection and operation of a free-gold stamp-mill, with plates and tables for saving concentrates. The vein then opened was in the porphyry-limestone contact, a siliceous lead-ore, clearly most amenable to reduction by lead-smelter. The losses due to this process led in time to the close of the mill. For 20 years past, the mine has been worked under lease and the ore shipped to the lead-smelters in Denver or Salida. In January, 1912,I examined the mine to ascertain whether it was advisable to run a cross-cut tunnel some 4,200 ft. in length to intersect the main vein at a depth of 650 ft. below the present lowest workings. Finding a greatly-faulted zone, a close determination of the geological conditions became necessary to the solution of the problem.

Jan 1, 1914

By S. F. Emmons

By far the greater number of the members of this Institute are men who are engaged in the strenuous work of the technical part of their profession, and find little time for the abstract scientific work which is less distinctly practical and pecuniarily remunerative. There is, however, a small but increasingly nu, merous class whose members devote themselves to broad geological problems which underlie the systematic development, and whose work, theoretically, ought to precede and form a basis for that of their more practical brethren. These are the so-called mining or economic geologists, who are, for the most part, connected with State or National geological surveys. Prom the character of their work, the life of these men necessarily follows rather different lines from that of most of their colleagues, and is not generally familiar to them. It seems admissible, therefore, that to the life of a prominent member of this class, who died during the past year, having literally sac-rified his life to his work, a more extended notice should be given than the relatively small number of his contributions to the Transactions night seem to justify. George Homans Eldridge, son of Ellery and Sarah (Mathews) Eldridge, was born on Cape Cod at Yarmouth, Mass.; Christmas day, 1854. His boyhood education in the public school at Yarmouth was followed by a six years' course in the Public Latin School at Boston, from which he entered Harvard University in 1872, being graduated with the highest rank in his class in the natural sciences in 1876. During his college course he spent the summers of 1875-6 at Cumberland Gap, Ky.,as volunteer aid to Prof. N. S. Shaler, who was then in charge of the State Geological Survey of Kentucky. This vacation work, undertaken by him rather as a pastime, gave him his first leaning toward geology. Soon

Jan 1, 1907

By Tomek Ulatowski

This article discusses principal areas relevant to financing natural resource projects using as an example a hypothetical newly proposed direct reduction facility. The issues most directly affecting the project from the standpoint of financing are categorized in four groups: 1. Lenders' differing requirements with respect to projected cashflows; 2. The impact of leveraging on project viability; 3. The importance of appropriate debt structure; 4. The significance of accurate and complete capital cost estimates. The findings emphasize that the economics and the financing of a project are not only inseparable, but that they should also be viewed as directly interactive during the project planning process.

Jan 1, 1981

By Junius D. Edwards

WHEN Charles Martin Hall invented the electrolytic process for the production of aluminum, one basic requirement was a supply of pure alumina. Now, more than 50 years later, the same requirement still holds, and there are no technical straws in the wind to indicate that this situation is likely to change. Long ago, Aluminum Company of America took a number of steps to see that this country should not face shortages of alumina and aluminum in time of emergency. As one step to this end, the Company developed and used a supply of bauxite in South America in order to conserve dwindling Arkansas reserves. Another, and more a program than a step, was to investigate every type of process that might bear the possibility of utilizing the low-grade ores of aluminum that are more plentiful than bauxite. It is a long story, but the investigation included electric-furnace processes, acid extraction processes and alkaline extraction processes, with or without preliminary furnace and sinter treatments. Some of the processes developed were operated in commercial production. This work has been continuous since the first World War. The turn of the wheel came sooner than was expected when, in 1942, bauxite shipments through the Caribbean became uncertain and hazardous through the operation of submarines. The tremendous requirements of aluminum for the war effort were consuming high-grade bauxite at an alarming rate and a national search for substitutes began. High-grade bauxites, for technical and economic reasons, have been defined as those containing about 7 per cent or less of silica. While bauxite of this grade was limited in amount in the United States, there was in sight a substantially greater volume of low-grade, high-silica bauxite not amenable to economic treatment by the Bayer process, but richer in alumina than the clays or other available low-grade ores. It was at this point, and after several years of intensive research on this particular phase of the problem, that Aluminum Research Laboratories brought to completion the invention of one of its research staff, which made practical the utilization of large reserves of low-grade bauxite in America. BAYER PROCESS The Bayer process has been almost universally used for the 'production of alumina from bauxite. This process, in outline, comprises the digestion of finely ground bauxite in a solution of caustic soda (NaOH) under pressure and at an elevated temperature. Alumina in the bauxite goes into solution as sodium aluminate and the impurities-oxides of iron, titanium and silicon-remain undissolved. The undissolved residue, known as "red mud," from its color, is separated and run to waste. Aluminum hydrate (A1202.3H20) is precipitated from the solution of sodium aluminate, and the liquor containing the caustic soda and some alumina is returned to the process for digesting more bauxite. The aluminum hydrate, after washing, is calcined at a high temperature to produce

Jan 1, 1945

By S. P. Singh, V. J. Hucka

There are a number of problems associated with underground coal mining, but the most serious and important are often related to the ground control. The influence of the prevailing geological conditions and features on the stability of underground mining has been outlined in this paper. Special emphasis has been given to the importance of geological techniques in the evaluation of coal mine roof conpetency prior to and during the mining operations. In addition to this, typi- cal ground control problems owing to the geological abnormalities have been depicted by appropriate case histories from coal seams in the State of Utah. The interdependence between longwall design and road- way stability on the one hand and geologic features on the other hand are shown in this study.

Jan 1, 1983

By C. M. Weld

Attention has been turned recently to the exploration and development of certain large blanket-deposits of brown iron-ore in Cuba. The most conspicuous of these to-day, and the one upon which the most light has been shed, is the Mayari deposit, situated about 15 miles south of Nipe bag. Here the Spanish-Aniericau Co. has sole control over 18,500 acres of ore-bearing lands, reported by its engineers to contain 500,000,000 tons of ore. The necessary plant and equipment, with docks and railways, is now under construction for the early marketing of this ore. A similar deposit, and undoubtedly the next to be exploited, is the ore-field at Moa bay, where from 13,000 to 15,000 acres of ore-lands, immediately adjacent to the shores of an excellent harbor, have been generously covered by numerous mining-claims, practically all controlled by four large interests;. This deposit is now estimated to contain approximately 350,000,000 tons, on the basis of dried ore ready for shipment, a figure which may be increased when the western limits of the ore-deposit have been more accurately defined. Other deposits of the same type, but smaller and less accessible, are those at Cubitas, situated from 12 to 15 miles north of Camaguey city,

Jan 1, 1910

By Clyde E. Williams

The purpose of this report is to supply the Coal Classification Committee' with information for use in the formulation of a system of classification of coals according to their uses. Consideration is given here only to the nonferrous metallurgical operations that consume relatively large amounts of coal or coke; i. e., the smelting of copper, lead, zinc and aluminum. For all of these uses, coal of certain definite qualities is desired. Geographical location, however, often determines whether these qualities can be specified. In some instances the preferred qualities must be specified, regardless of cost. In others, quality may be sacrificed for lower cost, although the best quality consistent with cost is usually the determining factor. These considerations will be outlined in the following discussion under the various uses, which, however, will illustrate the impracticability of preparing definite specifications for coal used in the majority of the nonferrous industries. Coal and Coke in Copper Metallurgy From the standpoint of coal consumption, copper smelting and refining operations are the most important of the nonferrous metallurgical uses of coal. As nickel ores treated in the United States and Canada are associated with copper, the first step in their recovery is really a copper-smelting operation; accordingly, the following considerations under copper smelting apply equally to nickel. Copper Smelting in Reverberatory Furnaces.—For a long time, rever-beratory copper-smelting furnaces were fired with lump coal burned on grates in a fire box. Later, lump coal was displaced by pulverized coal or oil burned directly in the smelting chamber. Recently, natural gas has been used in several plants, although producer gas was used for this purpose at Great Falls as early as 1903.2 Requirements for coal used in

Jan 1, 1932

By R. M. Brick

A PREVIOUS publication 1§ has described the effect of quenching stresses on the lattice parameter values of high-purity aluminum-copper alloys particularly with reference to the solution and precipitation of CuAl2. A similar study has been made of the aluminum-rich aluminum-mag-nesium alloys. Attention has been directed in the present investigation to the magnitude of the quenching stresses as affected by the specimen size and shape, the number of solute atoms and the quenching rate. The effect of cooling stresses in causing plastic deformation or cracking has been considered in relation to the physical properties of the alloy. On reheating alloys in the two-phase field, the time required for pre-cipitation to occur has been observed in connection with the degree of supersaturation, the rate of diffusion of the solute atoms as a function of the comparative atomic radii, degree of strain, temperature of reheating and grain size. A few qualitative comparisons on the relative effect of these factors have been drawn between the aluminum-copper alloys and the aluminum-magnesium alloys.

Jan 1, 1935

By Thomas Egleston

The adoption of the regenerative principle for burning fire-bricks, pottery, etc., has been delayed beyond what would naturally have been expected, because there bas been until recently little necessity for high heat in burning such material. But the introduction of pro-

Jan 1, 1887

An Outline Classification of Mining Systems for Ore and Coal. See COAL Progress at the Homestake Mine. By Guy N. BJORGE. (Min. & Met., June, 247. 4400 words.) Homestake's mining methods today are controlled to a con¬siderable extent by that which has been done in the past. The two main operating shafts were begun m 1878 and 1896 respectively, so that the location of shafts, loca¬tions of all the drifts on the upper levels, and a great deal of stoping was done before any of those now connected with the mine had anything to do with it In this paper is described the general plan of development. A table shows percentage of total production mined by the different methods in recent years. Average daily produc¬tion for several years now has been about 3850 tons milled. With the present schedule of 6-day operation of the mine, that means about 4450 tons a day mined This ore is treated at three plants, with respective capacities of 2000, 1200 and 600 tons The principal novelty in milling is at the largest mill where the stamps are used as crushers only, and where in the last two years a notable increase has occurred in the size of screens used A unit has been added to cyanide plant No 3 The construc¬tion of a new shaft is described, as is also the hoist building The company operates its own lumber and timber department It has a well equipped hospital Housing at Lead is an individual matter. Rejuvenating the Golden Chariot Property in Idaho. By R. S. MCCLELLAN (Min. & Met, November, 443. 2300 words) An effort to rejuvenate the Golden Chariot group of properties near Silver City is now being carried on by the John Hays

Jan 1, 1935

By D. T. MacRoberts

Tins paper embodies the results of theoretical studies concerning gas reservoirs, especially the effect of drilling programs of various intensities upon pressure depletion and ultimate recoveries. The primary objective has been to determine the net quantity of recoverable gas that could be obtained as a result of each additional well, in comparison with the gas that might be secured from a single well ideally placed with respect to both acreage and geological structure. No method is yet known whereby the relative merits of intensive and sparse drilling can be compared experimentally; a reservoir must either be drilled closely or developed with wide spacing, but both programs cannot be conducted simultane-ously. Hence, the analytical method seems to be the only approach to the problem. While the present state of our theoretical knowledge does not offer a precise solution to the problem of gas flow in sand bodies, it takes such appropriate cognizance of the limitations of the methods used as to restrict any answer obtained to the realm of engineering accuracy. In solving the problem for the average gas field, it was found that practically the same answers resulted as to pressure distribution, regardless of the size of the drainage radius, even though the latter was assumed to vary from a few feet as a minimum to that of the entire reservoir as a maximum. Such limits represent extreme possibilities; therefore, the practical conditions that are associated with normal development programs, in which wells are placed in the center of tracts varying in size from 40 to 640 acres, will of necessity result in less extreme variations than those indicated in the tables accompanying this paper. Stated more concisely, the amount of gas unrecovered at abandonment (of the particular field used for illustrative purposes) will lie somewhere between 4.6 and 6 per cent of the total original content, no matter how intensively the field is drilled.

Jan 1, 1938

By Willis R. Battles, William F. Cerini, P. H. Jones

A test for determining the plugging characteristics of an oil-well injection water has been developed. It consists in measuring changes of the filter rate of a water at constant pressure with cumulative throughput when passing the water through a medium grade sintered glass disk. Application of the test method was made to the water used in the Union Oil Company's experimental water flood of the Chapman zone in the Richfield field, Orange County, Callfornia. This water developed increasing plugging tendencies upon aging, even though the finished water from the plant filter exhibited few such characteristics. The plugging material was found to consist of calcium carbonate, ferric hydroxide, and organic substances that were presumed to be bacterial. Various method of stabilizing this water to prevent the formation of plugging material were attempted. Lowering the pH to approximately 6.4 by injecting carbon dioxide provided a moderately satisfactory means for stabilization but a better method of stabilizing this water was found to be first aging and then filtering. Introduction An experimental water-flood project was started on the Chapman zone of the Richfield field in March 1944 and has been described in a previous paper.' It consists of a single injection well drilled between old producing wells. A water-treating plant using primary alum flocculation, sedimentation and chlorination followed by secondary flocculation, sedimentation and fltration is employed to process the water before in@ion. In all of the water-treating operations, the system is open to the air, and no attempt is made to prevent the loss of carbon dioxide or absorption of oxygen by the water. The clear water is stored in a covered concrete basin and pumped through a Transite line to the suction of a high-pressure pump at the injection well' The high-pressure tubing in the well to the injection zone is cement lined. The untreated injection water is a mixture produced with the oil from the Chapman and Kraemer zones and is supplied from the disposal system. Because the injection well was relatively deep (injection zone about 3400 ft.) and would be expensive to replace, it was believed imperative to supply a nonplug-ging injection water and to develop laboratory procedures for evaluating the treated injection water with respect to its formation plugging properties. This report describes the development and application of the test procedure based on the assumption that the plugging properties could be determined by measuring the progressive decrease in flow rate of the water through a porous medium. If the quality of the injection water was good enough so that the plugging action on the porous medium was of small magnitude, it was reasoned that the tendency to impair flow in the formation would not be serious.

Jan 1, 1946

By William F. Cerini, Willis R. Battles, P. H. Jones

A test for determining the plugging characteristics of an oil-well injection water has been developed. It consists in measuring changes of the filter rate of a water at constant pressure with cumulative throughput when passing the water through a medium grade sintered glass disk. Application of the test method was made to the water used in the Union Oil Company's experimental water flood of the Chapman zone in the Richfield field, Orange County, Callfornia. This water developed increasing plugging tendencies upon aging, even though the finished water from the plant filter exhibited few such characteristics. The plugging material was found to consist of calcium carbonate, ferric hydroxide, and organic substances that were presumed to be bacterial. Various method of stabilizing this water to prevent the formation of plugging material were attempted. Lowering the pH to approximately 6.4 by injecting carbon dioxide provided a moderately satisfactory means for stabilization but a better method of stabilizing this water was found to be first aging and then filtering. Introduction An experimental water-flood project was started on the Chapman zone of the Richfield field in March 1944 and has been described in a previous paper.' It consists of a single injection well drilled between old producing wells. A water-treating plant using primary alum flocculation, sedimentation and chlorination followed by secondary flocculation, sedimentation and fltration is employed to process the water before in@ion. In all of the water-treating operations, the system is open to the air, and no attempt is made to prevent the loss of carbon dioxide or absorption of oxygen by the water. The clear water is stored in a covered concrete basin and pumped through a Transite line to the suction of a high-pressure pump at the injection well' The high-pressure tubing in the well to the injection zone is cement lined. The untreated injection water is a mixture produced with the oil from the Chapman and Kraemer zones and is supplied from the disposal system. Because the injection well was relatively deep (injection zone about 3400 ft.) and would be expensive to replace, it was believed imperative to supply a nonplug-ging injection water and to develop laboratory procedures for evaluating the treated injection water with respect to its formation plugging properties. This report describes the development and application of the test procedure based on the assumption that the plugging properties could be determined by measuring the progressive decrease in flow rate of the water through a porous medium. If the quality of the injection water was good enough so that the plugging action on the porous medium was of small magnitude, it was reasoned that the tendency to impair flow in the formation would not be serious.

Jan 1, 1946

By Harold A. Krueger

FACILITIES and mining operations of the National Lead Co., St. Louis Smelting and Refining Division, near Fredericktown, Mo., are situated in a famous mining area. Copper, lead, nickel, and cobalt have been mined here for more than 100 years, work having been started on a high sulphide copper outcrop in 1847.

Jan 8, 1953

By H. E. Rowen

As high grade iron ore deposits dwindle and costs rise, sintering becomes more and more important. The steel industry is now faced with beneficiation problems once peculiar to nonferrous work. Succeeding articles describe recent advances in this field. Here is presented the first chapter of a history still being written. SINTERING, for the purpose of this discussion, is defined as the art of burning a solid fuel with 90 to 95 pct ash content. Considering problems of combustion involved in keeping a home furnace burning properly with 12 to 20 pct ash in the fuel, it is evident that combustion represented by the definition has to be right or nothing is going to happen. Our forefathers discovered that many ores containing metals essential to the steadily rising standards of living were associated with elements such as sulfur and arsenic, which had to be removed before refining. This they did by utilizing the solid fuels they had available-the sulfur or other readily combustible components-to create roasting heat. One of the early methods is demonstrated in an old woodcut of the roast heap, Fig. 2. Ore was broken into chunks, piled on an ignition layer of solid fuel-logs in this case-and then. ignited. The sulfide ores roasted as the sulfur burned out. As shown in the background, the countryside was rapidly denuded of all vegetation by the great quantities of SO2 and other liberated gases.

Jan 1, 1961

By Eckley B. Coxe

SINCE our last meeting, the Institute has lost, by the death of Mr. Gowen, one of its most distinguished members. I shall only attempt in this place to give a brief account of his many accomplishments and achievements; but our records would certainly be incomplete without a recognition of the important influence which he exerted upon the mining and metallurgical industries of this country, and a testimony to his private virtues of character. Although Mr. Gowen was best known as a great lawyer and as the head of a great railway corporation, he began his career, before he was of age, as the manager of a small anthracite blast-furnace at Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. He left this position, to engage on his own account in the mining of anthracite coal at Mt. Laffee, near Pottsville. This proved an unprofitable business, and, after the panic of 1857, he began the study of the law. As soon as he was admitted to the bar, he at once entered upon the active practice of his profession, and soon achieved an extraordinary success. In 1869 he was made President of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, and he afterwards organized the Pliladelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, the largest coalmining corporation in the world. He became a member of. this Institute during the first year after its organization, and remained a member until his death. He always took a deep interest in the work, and was prompt to co-operate by all means in his power in furthering the objects of the Institute. Mr. Gowen was one of the first to recognize the great importance to both miner and consumer, of the proper utilization of the small

Jan 1, 1890

By J. T. Peters, N. Schapiro, R. J. Gray

Petrographic studies of coal have resulted in a better understanding of the origin and composition of coal and have added to the knowledge of how and why coals differ in their response to various prepamtion and utilization processes. Petrographic methods can now be used in scientific economic exploitation of coals. Because the United States Steel Corp. is one of the largest consumers of coal and coke, there is a continuing interest in the corporation in perfecting a better understanding of coal so that it can be utilized more effectively. Coal is a heterogeneous substance composed principally of plant material that has been altered by a complex geochemical process to form rock. The science of coal is anthracology. The ultimate aim of anthracology is determining the relationships and differences among coals. The fundamental aim is finding out why coals differ. The practical application is determining how the differences in coals affect their utilization properties. Coal, like other sedimentary rocks, consists of more than one material. Fig. 1, a photograph of a natural fracture and a polished surface of a lump of coal, displays heterogeneity in terms of the banded ingredients present. The earliest attempts to describe coal were based on its hardness and appearance. ' Thus, coal has been described as hard or soft, bright or dull, and banded or nonbanded. The variations in the hardness and physical appearance of the coal reflect differences in materials that constitute the coal. The banded nature, lustre, and texture depend upon the relative proportions of the various constituent materials. Even the earliest petrographic investigations of coal produced evidence of of the heterogeneity of the coal substance and shoul have destroyed the concept of the unit coal molecule. Coals (Fig. 2) that appear the same frequently consist of different microscopic materials and may behave differently during mining, pulverization, washing, or coking. In Fig. 3, the upper photograph shows a bright at-trital medium-volatile coal, and the micrograph at the right shows some of the materials that constitute the coal. The lower photograph shows a bright attrital low-volatile coal and the corresponding micrograph shows material of similar origin to those from the medium-volatile coal. Any petrographic description of a coal that has meaning in terms of its utilization begins with a microscopic examination. Numerous attempts have been made to describe coal on the basis of the materials that constitute the coal.2*3 Initial petrographic studies were directed towards the question of the origin of coals without any true basis for studying the metamorphic changes in the

Jan 1, 1962

Jan 1, 1931

By John D. Kalasky, Stephen Krickovic

Adequate ventilation in coal mines depends upon good face control, as well as upon a well designed and properly controlled overall ventilation system. The fundamentals of effective bleeding for provision of good ventilation and control and removal of methane are described. The various mine pillaring systems for which it is both easy and difficult to provide effective bleeder systems are detailed. Bleeders in conjunction with longwall mining are also discussed.

Jan 1, 1974