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By J. K. Brooke, R. M. Dreyer

For mining engineers and geologists accustomed evaluating metallic mineral deposits, the problems inherent in determining the worth of non- metallic industrial minerals deposits for the chemical processing industry often comes as a rude shock. These difficulties lead to different, and often much greater, problems in financing the development of such deposits than would normally be anticipated for economic sources of copper, molybdenum, iron, nickel and other metallic minerals. The chemical processing industry is one of the two principal consumers of non-metallic mineral production, the other being the construction industry. In the last decade, the volume of industrial minerals consumed by chemical processers has in- creased by 30%, and further increases are forecasted. To satisfy this growing demand, many new sources of these minerals must be found and developed. For those of us who will become involved in such work, the following brief analysis of the major problems to be expected may be of help in developing a realistic approach to evaluating and financing such a deposit and selling the product to consumers.

Jan 8, 1962

By Charles A. Ashburner

A very limited development has been made of the coal-fields of this Territory. This is to be accounted for by the fact that a number of the coal-fields lack railroad transportation, by the distance of other fields from the consumers (due to restricted settlements), and finally by the poorer quality of a number of coals which have been mined as compared to others which can be economically imported into the Territory. The consumption of coal in Utah during 1886, outside of that used by the railway companies, was: Tons. Utah coal,..........110,000 Wyoming coal,. .....19,000 Colorado coal,........* 4,945 Total,........... 133,945 It is estimated that there are 1100 miles of railroads in the Territory which use coal for fuel. The consumption of these roads for the year is estimated at 100,000 tons, making an aggregate consumption in the Territory of 223,945 tons. The consumption of coal in Salt Lake City duriug the year was as follows: Tone. From Grass Creek mines,.......21,000 " Pleasant Valley Company's mines,.. 12,700 " Utah Central Company's mines,.9,000 " Bock Spring mines,.6,500 " Almy mines .. ., .. .. . 6,000 " Miscellaneous sources,..5,800 Total ,.........60,000

Jan 1, 1888

By Behram H. Wadia, Robert S. Lehto

A new metallurgical treatment for capturing as much of the values as possible from zinc refinery feed has been devised by personnel in Cerro de Pasco's Peruvian operation at La Oroya. Results from a pilot test illustrate that 50 metric tons of throughput can be maintained whereby substantially all the silver and copper report in the sponge iron while zinc and lead with indium and cadmium volatilize in the fume. This new technique named the Zileret (zinc leach residue treatment) process complements the electrolytic system used in the refinery so that all values in a zinc concentrate are economically recovered. In the system, dried zinc leach residue is pelletized with soluble zinc sulfate which already exists in the leach residue and a finely divided reducing agent such as anthracite coal. Upon heat addition, the loose anthracite in the charge maintains a reducing atmosphere while the free space above the charge has an oxidizing nature. When the charge reaches the reaction zone at about 1100°C, metals such as zinc, lead, cadmium and indium volatilize from the pellets, are oxidized in the upper kiln atmosphere, and are then carried in suspension as an oxide fume to the cooler and baghouse. The copper and silver content in their reduced forms, along with the iron, discharge from the kiln as a calcined product which is then cooled to below 130°C before being exposed to the air.

Jan 9, 1969

Jan 1, 1901

THIS issue is about Chuquicamata and the new sulphide plant. Chuquicamata is moving into a new cycle of productivity; she has begun to give up the sulphide copper which lies deep-seated beneath the oxide ore zones in large but yet unknown quantity. After forty years of production, Chuqui may be likened to a strapping youngster, with adolescence and maturity still ahead. Mining operations are being projected-not for decades -but for generations. Although there are still many years of open-pit mining ahead, planning of future underground mining has been started. The bottom of the orebody is still unknown, but enough work has been done to show that Chuqui is one of the largest known copper orebodies in the world. Until recently, only the oxide ores have been mined and these have been treated at the rate of 50,000 to 60,000 tons per day by leaching. Construction of the sulphide plant was timed to coincide with reduction in production of oxide ores. The new sulphide concentrator and smelter, designed in keeping with the magnitude of the orebody, will be brought on the production line at the rate of 30,000 tons per day. The capacity of the plant now planned can be expanded to treat 60,000 tons of sulphide ore. Little wonder that Chuqui is a name legendary in the remotest mining circles. But to those who have known her more intimately, and there is hardly a mining camp without a Chuqui graduate, she means much more. She is an orebody that has made engineers. Reposing at 10,000 ft on the western flank of the Andes in the arid northern reaches of Chile, water is scarce, common fuels absent, and volcanoes and earthquakes add drama and hazard. It is these natural difficulties which have created the fascination and challenge which have caused many engineers to devote their lives to unlocking this treasure house of nature.

Jan 1, 1952

By J. M. Larkin

GOOD will is becoming recognized more and more as a necessary business asset, and a successful concern must have the good will not only of its customers and the public, but of its employees. Management -enlightened management-recognizes this and will go the limit to get it. Progress depends on cooperation, and in industry cooperation must be based on the acceptance by employ-ers and employees of some practical application of the principle that capital and labor are interdependent. Capital cannot exist without labor, and labor without capital is helpless. The development of each is depen-dent on the cooperation of the other. Confidence and good will are the foundation of every successful enter-prise, and these can be created only by securing a point of contact between employer and employee. We feel that one of the most effective agencies for promoting good will between employers and employees is through some well organized method of conference and have consequently adopted, to accomplish this, a plan of employee representation. The plan inaugurated by the Bethlehem Steel Co. about four years ago, which provides for the election by secret ballot of representatives by and from among the employees, has for its purpose three fundamentals; namely, to give the employees a voice in the determina-tion of the conditions under which they work, to furnish machinery for the prevention and adjustment of differ-ences between employees and management, and, so far as possible, to provide and foster continuous employment. The constitution and by-laws adopted take care of the detail in setting up machinery for the functioning of the representatives of both management and men, but the spirit with which the plan has been carried out and the results which have been accomplished are of far greater importance than the plan itself. The Bethlehem plan, which has been in operation since October, 1918, can no longer be classed as an experiment. The original by-laws provided for amend-ments and, as was anticipated, changes and improve-ments have been made from time to time by mutual agreement. The operation of the plan for over four years shows it to be fundamentally sound and that it must therefore be conceded a success.

Jan 2, 1923

• One effect of the British devaluation of the Pound Sterling, with its resultant lowering of the pay limit, was the addition of considerable tonnages of previously marginal ore in gold mining. Crown Mines, Ltd., reported that 1,245,000 tons of such ore had been added to available reserves. But for devaluation, a steady decline in ore reserves had been a feature of operations during the previous ten years, and would have continued. •Loree Colliery of the Hudson Coal Co. is using a Humphrey spiral cleaning plant to meet requirements of the state in the matter of stream pollution. However, the process is producing a salable product. •Noranda is considering plans for constructing a commercial sized unit designed to produce elemental sulphuric acid and sintered iron oxide from pyrite. Test plant results have indicated the No. 5 ore zone can be treated by the new process economically. •A magnetic fluid clutch, and magnetic amplifiers for motor and generator control, have been developed under Navy contract by Vickers' Electric Division, in St. Louis, Mo. This constitutes the first commercial production of the clutch recently developed by the Bureau of Standards. •Fuel experts estimate coal production will run up to 500 million tons this year based on the expectation that business conditions will continue to be good. They also expect that in the future the use of coal will increase by 50 pct over today's level. These expectations are based on the fact that it provides the bulk of the heat, light, and power for making steel, for manufacturing, and for generating electricity as well as the development of the coal burning gas turbine and processes for making gas, gasoline, and oil from coal. •Entombed miners may benefit from a two-way communication system which utilizes the earth's strata as a network for electric signals. The use of FM radio waves makes this possible. The invention includes a portable transmitter-receiver unit kept near the face, and a more powerful portable equipment of the same sort above ground. In use, two probes on wires from the apparatus are driven into the earth. • The Union of South Africa has launched a uranium production project which government leaders think will help the West maintain world atomic supremacy. Experiments under way in the pilot plants are expected to lead to the establishment of a chain of processing factories along the Witwatersrand in which uranium will be reclaimed from gold tailing. •Recent developments in mechanized mining at the Bureau of Mines oil-shale mine near Rifle, Colo., have lowered mining costs to 29 cents per ton of shale. The cost of producing crude shale oil from 30-gal-per-ton-shale, using the new mining and processing techniques, would be about $1.50 per barrel. This is 500 lower than any previously stated price. • COMINCO is planning to open the old Bluebell lead-zinc mine near Nelson, B. C., on a 500-ton-per-day basis. The old workings will be pumped and a 970-ft incline sunk. A mill will be constructed at the property.

Jan 7, 1950

The Howe Memorial Lecture, in memory of Henry Marion Howe, Past President of the Institute, was authorized in April, 1923, as an annual address to be delivered by invitation under the auspices of the Institute by an individual of recognized and outstanding attainment in the science and practice of iron and steel metallurgy or metallography, chosen by the Board of Directors

Jan 1, 1941

By Harry H. Power

WHILE the attention of all engineering branches is focused today on changes and improvements in the several curricula, we are concerned here with the many questions arising in industry and college concerning the preparation for the petroleum engineering profession. The succession of problems confronting the petroleum engineer demands a degree of versatility not ordinarily encountered in other professions. As a consequence, the student cannot acquire mastery of all the several engineering branches represented in field practice, and as an alternative, he has learned to appreciate the value of thorough training in the basic or fundamental sciences as a preliminary foundation for professional work. While our attention is directed primarily to the training of engineers in educational institutions, it is necessary that the ultimate education of the professional engineer be kept in mind. It is apparent that his success as an engineer is limited not only by his educational and job experience, but by his native endowments: mentality, personality and health. The engineer's lack of job experiences often proves as much a handicap as the lack of adequate college training. If the final product proves to be satisfactory, both industry and technical institutions are to be congratulated. However, if the product is found wanting, the one most responsible should be apprehended. FITNESS FOR PROFESSION For the most part, students of engineering colleges have had their interests in applied science awakened at a relatively early age. Many of them entered college as a convenient means of acquiring a technical education, but undoubtedly would have had better prospects in a shorter program offered by institutions of noncollege grade. The activating motive of practical interest is also strong in students suitable for college training, but in many cases an intellectual interest must be awakened in order that it may survive graduation. Numerous engineers believe that this progressive process of selection and determination of career aims is one of the essential services rendered by the engineering colleges. Industrialists, who are more interested in quality than quantity of petroleum engineering graduates, have pointed out the good that should result if more empha¬sis were given to the work of eliminating the misfits. They also point out the protective measures that have been taken by other professions for the betterment of professional standards. Mention has been made of the beneficial results to be obtained by collective determination of the market for the products of engineering schools, particularly in that the students unsuited to the profession would have an opportunity to prepare themselves for employment more suited to their personalities and other qualifications. In the event that such a system of coordinated personnel direction is developed by the

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