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By Earl Oliver

The term oil property, in this discussion, includes any type of easement or grant under which petroleum might be produced; it ranges from the mere right to drill on undeveloped wildcat acreage up to a fully developed oil property. The values of an oil property, as thus defined, vary widely according to the use for which it is intended, whether it is from the viewpoint of the speculator, the fraudulent stock promoter, the refiner and pipe-line owner, or the oil producer. The market value of a property is usually a combination of some two or more of these influences, and occasionally a combination of all of them, but we prefer to treat each viewpoint as distinct from the others, allowing the reader to make his own combination in such proportions as his inclination and property seem to require. This paper will treat the subject from the viewpoint of the oil producer. However, the other influences have such bearing on the cost of property to the producer and on the price he might obtain by its sale as to warrant brief discussion of them. Speculation, particularly lease speculation, is a parasitic growth on the oil industry, healthy enough, but of no economic value. The class of property usually dealt in for this purpose is the undeveloped lease. Its speculative value may have some relation to its probable productive value, but most frequently this value is the product of temporary excitement due to local development. The lease speculator, seeking out the trend of development or securing early information regarding a proposed test or a new discovery, immediately secures leases whose market value will be increased when the existence of such development becomes more widely known. His profits are purely unearned increment. Not proposing to spend money in exploration, he can afford to compete in purchase with the operator, who, in addition to bonus paid, must spend large sums in testing out his own acreage and that of the nearby speculator as well. It has a tendency to compel unduly high bonuses. The so-called "checker-board1' system of leasing wildcat acreage by the larger companies is on the same principle of attempting to secure the

Jan 1, 1921

Jan 1, 1936

By Robert L. Marovelli

A recent reorganization placed the health and safety research activities of the Bureau of Mines under a director, Division of Minerals Health and Safety Technology. The new health and safety research organization and its position in the Bureau hierarchy is shown in Table 1.

Jan 11, 1979

Dr. Wadsworth's discussion of leaching is straightforward and certainly points out some of the critical areas in regards to the fundamental aspects of leaching. I will address myself to the more practical aspects of leaching. As a couple of general comments, very fine particles are often dealt with only when necessary. In many processing applications the sands and slimes are separated with the sand portion being treated by common metallurgical techniques and the slime portion being treated essentially by any technology that will recover some of the values. Ore treatment techniques such as leach/precipitate/float (LPF) have been used in the copper industry to take advantage of leachable copper preferentially reporting to the fine fraction. The second advantage, of course, is the improved metallurgy associated with the treatment of the sand fraction. Cases can be made for sand/slime separations in the aluminum and uranium industry where most of the value reports to the slime fraction and the sand fraction is rejected In the agitated leach systems, fine particles are often the most readily attacked and leached. In dump, vat and in-situ leaching, fine particles cause considerable problems. The fines will tend to restrict the solution flow from portions of the leach feed. This either causes a significantly reduced solution flow or, more probably, the solution will channel, by-passing much of the ore. In either case the result is a decreased metal recovery from ore. The fine particles of principal concern are clays of a flat plate-like shape which can very effectively compact, swell and cause a decreased solution flow. Discrete silica grains or sulfide grains due to their shape, even though they may be very fine, will not cause nearly the problems clays and secondary precipitates can cause.

Jan 1, 1979

By K. L. Williamson, P. W. Dugan

INTRODUCTION In recent years there has been increased social awareness and government attention directed toward the mining industry. The growing influence of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has resulted in volumes of regulations governing a multitude of health and safety aspects of mining and milling. These regulations naturally have had an impact on new plant design and in some cases have necessitated retrofitting of existing plants. This paper will not examine the regulations governing the industry, since they are a matter of public record, but rather will address two specific health considerations, dust and noise, and their influence on the design of crushing and screening plants. DUST AND NOISE CONCEPTS Dust is generally defined as finely divided solids which may become airborne without any physical or chemical change except fracture. Since the purpose of comminution circuits is to reduce the size of solids by fracture, a percentage of the material is normally reduced in size to a point where it can easily become airborne. The major cause of dust becoming airborne is the air induced by falling material. When granular material falls through a distance, the induced (or entrapped) air rushes out available openings, carrying with it the fine particles that have become suspended. For this reason, the major points of dust generation are the points where the material is falling: chutes, transfer points, screens and equipment feed and discharge points. The expected dust concentration in an area is a function of the degree of size reduction (i.e., finer particles are more readily carried by air currents than heavier particles) and the volume of air that is induced. The measured dust concentration values for various operations agree with this

Jan 1, 1982

By H. D. Pearsall

It is well that the usual system for supplying water at high pressure purposes of hydraulic mining possesses serious disadvantageense, delay and large annual repairs. Where plough work possible, the first expense of the ditch is moderate; but it is verynree years before the work is solid and the ditch water-tight, lxPenditure for repairs being needed during this time and greaf water occurring. Moreover, in the course of a long ditch, it happens that part of it has to traverse a diffi cult country fluming, masonry, or other expensive construc tion is necessich makes even the first cost high. The life of flumes is also) The ad visa if pumping water instead of supplying by gravity has therefore been suggested, when sufficient water-power for the purpose oping happens to be available. But the expense of the requiuchinery and its complication, which involves skilled attend expensive wear and tear, has hitherto pre vented. The author ever, having been called upon to make plans and estimates for Lulic works for an extensive placer-mine in Colo rado, has such in devising pumping arrangements which are free from these sections, and are in fact estimated to cost less than half what a din the usual plan would cost. Several incidental advantages in plan also accrue, which will be referred to more particularly be The works placer-mine have not yet been carried out, on account of final arrangements, but in the meanwhile an hy draulic 'engineilar to that designed for the mine, has been con structed and so work for other purposes in England; and in order to explane plan which I have recommended for working the placer-mine will' describe this, which is actually at work, in preference to cibing the one which is not yet constructed. The engine machine acts on the principle of the hydraulic ram

Jan 1, 1888

By Raymond E. Zimmerman

The Batac jig is a newly-designed Baum-type jig for coal washing. Multiple air changes directly under the bed permit uniform distribution of air pulsations, giving greater capacity and more accurate separation than standard Baum jigs. It is equipped with a new concept of air valves, automatically and electrically controlled, permitting infinite variation in jigging pulsations. It can be used for either coarse or fine coal cleaning. Sharp separations and high organic efficiencies are obtained at separation densities above 1.45 specific gravities.

Jan 1, 1976

By Richard A. Pomeroy

This mine, known also as the A very Mine, is situated on Petite Anse Island, Iberia Parish, Louisiana. The island is about four miles from Vermillion Bay, an arm of the Gulf of Mexico, and is one of four islands or hills surrounded by the sea-marsh, as shown in the accompanying map. (Fig. 1.) A fifth, Joe Jefferson's Island, or hill, is some distance from the sea-marsh. These five islands: Belle Isle, Cote Blanche,Grand Cote, Petite Anse and Jefferson, appear to be the tops of submerged hills, and occupy a line having nearly a northwest trend. To the north are a series of hillocks that extend at intervals to the hills of Northern Louisiana, which in turn appear to run into the Ozarks of Arkansas. Near the mine there is sandstone, also a thick vein of lignite. Bones of the mastodon have been

Jan 1, 1889

By V. C. Smith

Reliable and detailed statistical data available for Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia are the most meager and unsatisfactory of any of the producing states. Detailed histories and statistics are available for only a few pools. The antiquity of these pools, loose nomenclature, particularly where several names are applied to the same pool or various parts of the pool or a new namsed when the pool was rediscovered, made the collection of accurat historical and statistical data almost impossible. So many of the data reported are unreliable that a breakdown by pools or even by counties, until more accurate information is available, would lead to gross errors. Rather than perpetuate inaccuracies, we have endeavored to go to original sources wherever possible, sift these and provide data that may serve as an incentive and basis for future work. The necessity for accurate information is thoroughly recognized by the operators, particularly because of the effect of recent government regulations and request? for data in connection with the preparation of the various codes a pending legislation. Producers, both major operating companies and individuals, . freely given their time and assistance in the compilation of these data. Valuable information was obtained from tax records, rate cases, statistics published by the oil and gas publications and the Bureau of Mines. So many individuals cooperated in the preparation of these data that individual credit cannot be given. Undoubtedly many errors will be found. Some of the data are open to controversy, and many have been omitted in the hope that new information of a more reliable character may become available. Other omissions are due to an inability to contact the proper individuals, many of whom are no longer connected with this industry. Pennsylvania grade crude sold in 1933 for the lowest price since 1895. Gas production could not find sufficient new markets to fill the void left by industrial stagnation. In the gas industry, where the market price is fixed by contract, uncertainty persisted because of impending legislative action affecting both taxes and utility rates. As a result of these factors and a lack of new money, drilling was restricted to a new low. The lifting of proration toward the end of the year in the Pennsylvania

Jan 1, 1934

By Janshi Sen

Vertical-intensity magnetometers, for instance the Hotchkiss Superdip and the Askania vertical field balance, are now widely used, because vertical-intensity charts give definite information for the location of upper pole, dip and strike, and approximate shape of the deposit. Again, a slow and steady increase of dip over a large area indicates a large deep-lying deposit, while a large dip limited to a small area and falling away rapidly suggests a small and shallow one. The complication comes more from the richness of the ore. A large body of lean ore near the surface might produce the same vertical-intensity chart as a rich ore at depth. This paper presents a method for calculating the maximum depth of a single-pole deposit and another for a two-pole mineral body, by utilizing data of both vertical and horizontal intensities as obtained by a Thalen-Tiberg magnetometer. As shown on the left side of Fig. I, lean ore, rich ore and a single pole produce the same magnetic field. The depth of the pole, where G is the vertical intensity at point A due to the pole; F, the horizontal intensity of the same; and a, the distance from the point of maximum vertical intensity or the vertical projection of the pole on the surface to the point of observation A. If an entirely covered deposit is indicated by magnetic measurements and boring cost estimated from the calculated depth is so reasonable as to encourage drilling, the ore should be struck somewhere within the limit of the calculated depth by the borehole. A number of such points as A should be taken for calculation, erratic results should be rejected and the average figure used for cost estimation.

Jan 1, 1946

By Janshi Sen

Vertical-intensity magnetometers, for instance the Hotchkiss Superdip and the Askania vertical field balance, are now widely used, because vertical-intensity charts give definite information for the location of upper pole, dip and strike, and approximate shape of the deposit. Again, a slow and steady increase of dip over a large area indicates a large deep-lying deposit, while a large dip limited to a small area and falling away rapidly suggests a small and shallow one. The complication comes more from the richness of the ore. A large body of lean ore near the surface might produce the same vertical-intensity chart as a rich ore at depth. This paper presents a method for calculating the maximum depth of a single-pole deposit and another for a two-pole mineral body, by utilizing data of both vertical and horizontal intensities as obtained by a Thalen-Tiberg magnetometer. As shown on the left side of Fig. I, lean ore, rich ore and a single pole produce the same magnetic field. The depth of the pole, where G is the vertical intensity at point A due to the pole; F, the horizontal intensity of the same; and a, the distance from the point of maximum vertical intensity or the vertical projection of the pole on the surface to the point of observation A. If an entirely covered deposit is indicated by magnetic measurements and boring cost estimated from the calculated depth is so reasonable as to encourage drilling, the ore should be struck somewhere within the limit of the calculated depth by the borehole. A number of such points as A should be taken for calculation, erratic results should be rejected and the average figure used for cost estimation.

Jan 1, 1946

By Evert Hoek

SYNOPSIS It can be shown that the properties of intact rock are relatively unimportant in rock slope stability and that failures are controlled by structural discontinuities such as bedding planes, joints and faults in the rock mass. The frequency, orientation and inclination of these discontinuities as well as their strength characteristics are important factors to be considered in any rock slope analysis and their influence will be demonstrated by means of a number of practical examples. Methods for determining the mechanical properties of discontinuities will be reviewed and the interpretation of the strength test results for use in stability computations will be discussed.

Jan 1, 1971

By John Branner

FIVE of the geologic horizons that yield oil in other parts of the world are represented in Brazil; namely, the Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Cretaceous, and Tertiary. Thus far, the first two have shown no, evidences of being oil bearing within Brazilian territory. Not enough exploring has been done to permit trustworthy comparisons of the relative importance of the Permian, Cretaceous, and Tertiary as oil-bearing horizons in this country. The most important, indeed almost the only, information available relates to the locations of the areas and to the structural features of the several horizons. The theories regarding the physical conditions under which these rocks were laid down, however, I regard of the utmost importance. PERMIAN Rocks of Permian age cover an enormous area in Brazil, extending from Rio Grande do Sul to Maranhão on the north, and to Matto Grosso on the west. These Permian rocks in many places are known to include oil-bearing shales and in some locations contain small veins of gilsonite. The geologic map of Brazil shows that the Permian area is widely distributed, but there is considerable doubt about 'the origin of some of the rocks:. Some of the lower Permian beds in southern Brazil contain marine fossils, but in Minas no fossils have as yet been found in them, and in Bahia, at only one locality have a few Permian plants been found. Indications of oil have been found in the states of São-Paulo, Paraná, and elsewhere farther south, but wells drilled in the Permian of São Paulo near the Morro do Bofete did not find oil. One well has been started, by the Brazilian government, in the Permian of Paraná near Marechal Mallet, close to latitude 26° south, but thus far oil has not been found.

Jan 6, 1922

By John J. Croston

IN the closing months of 1936 the copper industry gave every evidence that it was at last on the threshold of an improved era. At the beginning of the year prices stood at 9 ¼ ¢, which in itself was a great improvement over prices prevailing for the three previous years. Industry generally was showing signs of moving forward in this country, and business was definitely good in certain foreign quarters. The threat of war and preparations for rearmament in Europe and Asia acted as a further stimulus to purchasing. By midsummer the situation had so improved and stocks had been so reduced that the cartel of foreign producers (including American producers with foreign mines) decided to increase the production quota to 75 per cent on Aug. 1. Large-scale buying gave continued strength to the price and by Oct. 1 the quota was increased to 80 per cent, and again on Oct. 15, to 85 per cent. Notwithstanding this the price of copper continued its advance and on Nov. 1, with stocks declining continuously, the cartel increased operations to 95 per cent, then to 105 per cent on Nov. 5. In the meantime the domestic producers, because of the great increase in home consumption, had increased their production by nearly one-half. At the close of the year copper sold at 12¢ per pound, and since the turn of the present year has reached 17¢. This rapid increase has not been wholly justified. Much of the increase was due to the legitimate demands of recovering industry, but rearmament orders plus accumulation of reserve stocks in case of war, purchases in anticipation of labor strikes and purely speculative activities on the London Metal Exchange accounted for the balance. Certainly in view of the state of industry and the general world price level, it appears unnecessarily high. Talk of a copper shortage is sheer nonsense, the recent condition in the market being created by overbuying, leaving but a small volume for speculative supplies. It takes some months for an increase in mine output to reach the market, but production is again overtaking apparent consumption, stocks have begun to increase, and this, together with the reopening of many small

Jan 1, 1937

By C. F. Davan, C. T. Houseman

The news pages of MINING ENGINEERING and other trade publications have for the past two years carried a great many items about new developments in phosphate and potash, reflecting the surge in world consumption of these products as fertilizer. Today the question often arises concerning how much growth can be further anticipated by the phosphate and potash industries. To answer this question, a 15-year projection of world fertilizer consumption in terms of the three basic plant food nutrients-nitrogen, phosphate and potash-has been prepared. Two of these, phosphate and potash, are basic products of the mining industry. Nitrogen, once an important product of mining, is now mainly a chemical product. Another mineral, sulfur, although not a primary nutrient, depends on the fertilizer manufacturing industry for the bulk of its market. In crop year 1962-63, there began a startling in- crease in world fertilizer consumption. In that year, consumption increased by about 10% and in the following year by 10-12%.

Jan 12, 1965

By E. H. Griswold

The many complexities arising from our present oil pool proration systems emphasize the need for a suitable standard of property rights. Attempts at conservation and unitization agreements have frequently failed because of the lack of such a standard. The necessity of reducing production to consumption has caused umpires, committees, commissions and other governing bodies to allocate the production of flush fields among the respective owners. The methods of allocation vary widely and conservation of underground reserves is frequently neglected or misused. Critical economic conditions increase, rather than modify, competitive methods. In some fields we have irregular and uneconomically close well spacing. Many operators drill unreasonably large holes, take excessive sand penetrations or leave their wells untubed in order to secure higher potential open-flow tests than their offsets. All of these practices result in economic waste and frequently damage to the pool. Regardless of our agreement with the fundamental principles of proration or unitization, both are actual necessities in many of our present economic situations, and we are in urgent need of a suitable standard of rights to facilitate and simplify their operation. The problems pertinent to unit management are simple and of daily use in many partnership enterprises, but the problems of fair and proper division of production under either proration or unitization are, as yet, subject to controversy. The rights of respective owners must be ascertained and standardized before we can eliminate wasteful practices and still preserve constructive competition in our industry. Valuation of Tracts In a recent unitization conference it was found that each participant had a different basis for calculating the relative values of tracts. Some of these assumptions were as follows: 1. Unrestricted open-flow operation to abandonment. 2. Current proration system to abandonment.

Jan 1, 1933

By J. Walter Snavely

PRESENT-DAY processing in many industries, calcining, sintering, briquetting, beneficiation and nodulizing, increasingly calls for the handling of large volumes of hot bulk materials. Various types of conveyors have been employed. This discussion will cover the factors governing their selection. For temperature ranges up to 400°F, or approximately 200°C, a wide range of conveyors is available. Special constructions of rubber conveyor belts. steel conveyor belts, vibrating and shaker conveyors, apron conveyors, and drag chain conveyors, all are used successfully. As temperatures go well above 400°F, however, choice of conveyors is narrowly limited. This paper will consider the problem of handling bulk materials only where the temperatures exceed 400°F.

Jan 5, 1953

By J. E. Ryan

TRONA, Calif., is a miniature urban community of some 3500 people, located on the northwest shore of dry Searles Lake in the extreme northwest corner of San Bernardino County, approximately 186 miles north and east of Los Angeles. Since it is situated on the Mojave Desert, a typically desert climate prevails with wide variations in temperature between day and night, extreme daytime summer heat, and cool to cold winters. Rainfall averages somewhat less than 4 in. per year, and dust storms are common. The rate of evaporation, .however, is great, amounting to 6 to 9 ft of water per year. The extremely low humidity makes the summer heat of 110°F tolerable with only a mild, temporary discomfort. Nature of Deposit During the periods when Searles Basin was flooded, the waters that passed through Indian Wells Valley spread out to form a broad, shallow lake providing, in effect, a settling basin for suspended sediment. The drainage into the deeper and more isolated Searles Basin thus was clarified to a great degree before concentration began. Today, the elevation of the dry surface of Searles Lake is 1618 ft, and the salt deposit measures 5x7 miles. At the eastern and northeastern margins of the main playa zone and just at the foot of the alluvial slope of sand and coarser wash from the Slate Range mountains, a rim of crusted salts rises a few feet above the level of the flat. The deposit is a saline efflorescence composed of salts that were presumably brought up with rising ground waters to be deposited at the surface by solar evaporation. This deposit consists chiefly of trona, and it is after this Trona Reef that the town Trona was named. Strip mining operations have been conducted in the past at infrequent intervals for the recovery of crude trona salts. The main focal point of interest in Searles Lake from a commercial standpoint is the main salt body located almost centrally in the basin. The exposed portion of this porous saline deposit covers approximately 12 sq miles and averages 71 ft deep. Its interstitial voids, which constitute 50 pct of the total volume, are permeated with a brine, which is in equilibrium with the soluble salt deposits. The brine is the raw material for the operations of the American Potash and Chemical Corp. plant at Trona, shown in Fig. 1. The soluble salt deposits are of interest for their potential values in future technologic development. The brine, which is stratified according to slight differences in density, stands usually within 6 in. of the surface of this exposed, firm, salt body. The surface is usually dry and will support the weight of heavy mobile units and drilling equipment. Occasionally, however, surface waters from the higher watersheds encroach upon the main salt body during infrequent periods of precipitation on the surrounding mountains. This water dissolves surface salt, becomes a dilute brine, and has been observed to stand as high as 18 in. above the salt surface when undisturbed. Windstorms will shift the water back and forth across the lake surface. The exposed salt body is surrounded by additional submerged areas of commercial soluble salt deposits covering some 20 sq miles, hidden from view by marginal playa mud. These vary in depth up to as much as 30 ft. Thus, the outline of exposed and submerged salt deposits of commercial value is estimated to cover a total area of 32 sq miles, which is roughly circular but slightly elongated from northwest to southeast. It has been estimated that each square mile contains about 100 million tons% f alkali salts. The results of drill borings in the past 15 years have brought to light the interesting fact that the main salt body lies superimposed on an impervious mud deposit from 10 to 15 ft thick containing relatively little soluble salt. Under this deposit lies a second soluble salt body 35 ft deep. The lower salt body is interspersed with numerous insoluble mud lenses and its composition is considerably different from that of the primary, or main salt deposit. Recent drill borings have not penetrated beyond 300 ft. They have, however, revealed that underlying the lower salt body, the mud sediments carry deposited minerals of trona, nahcolite, mirabilite and much less soluble carbonates or sulphates of calcium and/ or magnesium. This structure is shown in Fig. 2. Current Lake Survey Program Several hundred holes have been drilled in the deposit. However, to carry out a thorough and carefully correlated study of the composition of the soluble salts and other minerals in the dry lake basin, a drilling program was inaugurated recently and is now nearing completion. In this survey, pattern drill holes are sunk at regular lh-mile intervals to a depth of approximately 150 ft. Drilling equipment consists of a No. 51 C. P.

Jan 1, 1952

By J. C. Bartlett

The following discussion was suggested by an experiment of Mr. Krom, the Manufacturer of air-jigs, to illustrate the superiority of air over water as a medium of concentration. The paper is written in the interest of no system of concentration, but simply to test the experiment, and, perchance, to add something to the general fund of information on the subject. To speak of testing an experiment by a theoretical discussion, may seem a misuse of terms, but the theories concerning falling bodies and the resistance of fluids are pretty well crystallized into laws, which may properly be used to show where experiments which seem to refute them were improperly performed, and that instead of refuting they only corroborate. It is well known that a sphere of galena & inch in diameter, and a sphere of quartz 1/2 inch in diameter, are equal falling in water ; that is, these two spheres, being placed together in a column of water at rest or in motion, will practically remain together, filling or rising together, or remaining in suspension. Mr. Krom, to show that these

Jan 1, 1879

By Fred C. Bond

IN crushing and grinding the larger particles are more exposed to the work input. They absorb most of the work and protect the smaller neighboring particles from destructive contact with the crushing surfaces or grinding media. The importance of this exposure differential upon the reduction efficiency and product size distribution has long been recognized. Unfortunately, there has heretofore been no direct method of evaluating it, and such indirect methods as observing the slope of the plotted product size distribution line have been used as an indication. In this presentation the Third Theory of Comminution1 has been used, together with the exponential formula for size distribution, to evaluate the exposure ratio and exposure constant and to illustrate examples of their utility in crushing and grinding applications.

Jan 12, 1957