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By Alfred H. Brooks

Less than a decade ago the consumption of coal in Alaska was practically limited to the salmon canneries and the few ode-mines and settlements along the Pacific coast of the The-itory. The sparse population of the interior depended on the forests, that of the shores of Bering sea and the Arctic ocean on driftwood for fuel. All this has changed. The thousands, who have sought and mined gold on the Seward peninsula since 1898, have much impoverished the long-accumulated supply of driftwood, and at the same time the constantly increas-ng demand for fuel, on the part of the placer-camps and steamers, has resulted in heavy inroads being made on the accessible timber of the Yukon and its tributaries. While, on the one hand, the immediately available store of wood has decreased, on the other, the consumption of fuel because of the rapid expansion of the mining and fishery industries, and the attendant growth of population has much in-creased. Alaska, therefore, offers a constantly growing market or coal and other fuels. As the local coal-production has been nsignificant, the demand has been met by importations from Washington, British Columbia, and even from Pennsylvania and Australia. Fuel- Consumption. Mr. D. H. Jarvis, Collector for Alaska, has kept systematic records of the trade of the Territory since 1903. The statis-ics of the coal-importations of the past two years are shown n Table I. If data were available for a longer period of years, he increase of coal-importations would be much more striking.

Jan 1, 1906

By M. G. Schuerger, D. W. Park

An improved gage for monitoring fractures in underground openings was successfully developed using the reflection photoelastic technique. The gage may be used to detect crack initiation in mine openings or tunnels so reme¬dial action may be taken to prevent further deterioration. Fringes concentrated around the cracks were spread by using rubber backing. Crack growth as little as 76µm (0.003 in.) up to as much as a 2.54-mm (0.1-in.) width were detect¬ed in this study. Variation of gage materials will provide alternative ranges. The feasibility of the method was tested and calibration was made in a laboratory study. Field study successfully demonstrated the capability of applications in detecting mine roof crack development.

Jan 1, 1984

By H. J. Wasson, L. W. Mayer

The existing large stocks of raw materials have induced misgivings in the minds of many as to near-view prospects for a return to higher commodity price levels. Until stocks are materially reduced—and this operation will probably extend over a protracted period—a buyers' market will continue. Meanwhile the matter of production cost becomes more and more a factor of consequence to industrial management, finance and the investing public. With many commodities a general level of costs exists with which the public has been made familiar. Certain conditions surround these industries which, at the outset, determine whether there is a basis for sound commercial results. In other words, it can generally be determined in advance whether or not the cost of production is sufficiently below the normal average price to return a reasonable profit over the years. With all domestic agricultural products there are available exhaustive Government studies in the field of production costs. Such figures as the average cost of wheat, cotton, sugar, etc., are reiterated constantly. There are many products of foreign origin such as coffee, rubber, raw silk, etc., the production costs of which are to most of us matters of deep mystery. Forest products also are so diversified that few but specialists know what a thousand feet of lumber really cost at the mill, especially where remotely located. However, with respect to products of mines, production cost information has been widely disseminated. The literature is replete with such data. Here we find that without any special help from outside agencies the industry itself has given publicity to a large variety of cost figures. For example, we know, or know where we can ascertain, the cost of producing a pound of copper from Chile, Arizona or the Lake Superior district. In many cases we can secure from the company reports a vast amount of detail leading up to the cost per ton of ore and the cost per unit of the metal yield. These records are of great assistance to the mining industry as a means of estimating on new exploitations. This industry has been production-cost-minded almost from the beginning.

Jan 1, 1931

By V. T. Stringfield, H. H. Cooper

ONE of the earliest investigations of ground water in Florida was made in 1513 when Ponce de Leon arrived at St. Augustine in search of the Fountain of Youth. The history of the development of the water resources of the State shows that the large artesian reservoir that underlies Florida was discovered in the latter part of the last century. Part of that history is given by L. C. Johnson' who states that the first successful artesian well in Florida was drilled at St. Augustine between 1880 and 1882. After the City of Jacksonville failed to obtain a flow of artesian water at a depth of nearly 400 ft and abandoned the drilling, R. N. Ellis, City Engineer, and L. C. Johnson, using Johnson's knowledge of the geologic structure of the artesian reservoir, estimated correctly that artesian water could be obtained at a depth of about 500 ft. Thus began the development of the large artesian system in the northeastern part of the State. In 1908, the Florida Geological Survey issued its first report on the ground water of central Florida. More recent reports give the results of investigations that have been in progress in cooperation between the Florida Geological Survey and the U. S. Geological Survey since 1930. As a result, the ground-water geology and hydrology of Florida are now so well known that ground-water problems such as confronted early investigators no longer exist. However, new problems arise and new discoveries are made as the demand for more ground water increases with the development of the State. Water-Bearing Formations Descriptions of the geologic formations and a map showing their distribution at the surface are given in a recent report by Cooke.' The geologic formations that yield the ground-water supplies in Florida represent only a small part (about 1000 ft) of the total thickness of the sedimentary rocks (more than 15,000 ft) that underlie Florida. The water-bearing rocks that yield fresh water include more than two dozen formations that range in age from Eocene to recent. The Eocene formations, which consist chiefly of limestone, are the oldest and the deepest of the formations in Florida that yield fresh water to wells. In 1944, on the basis of a study of the foraminifera, the Applins -ivided the limestone of Eocene age into six formations, which are as follows, from top to bottom: Age or group Formation Jackson Ocala limestone icAvon Park limestone Claiborne -j Tallahassee limestone aLake City limestone Wilcox Salt Mountain limestone xOldsmar limestone The Ocala limestone and the underlying formations of Claiborne age, along with some of the overlying limestone of Oligocene and Miocene age, constitute the principal source of water in Florida and southeastern Georgia and generally may be regarded as forming one artesian aquifer or water-bearing unit. This aquifer is referred to in this paper as the Floridan aquifer, a name proposed by Parker.' In part of Seminole County alone more than 1000 flowing wells yield water from the Floridan aquifer. A yield of 6500 gpm, or about 9.5 million gal per day, by natural flow from a well penetrating the aquifer at Jacksonville, Florida, was observed in 1942. A yield of about 7000 gpm by natural flow was reported for a well 1390 ft deep at St. Augustine in 1887. The largest yield reported from a pumped well penetrating the aquifer is 7500 gpm, or about 10.5 million gal per day. The aquifer is also the source of some of the large springs, such as Silver Springs, whose discharge, according to measurements made by the U. S. Geological Survey, has ranged from 526 to 1350 sec-ft, or from 340 to 872 million gal per day. The top of the Ocala limestone, as represented by contours in Fig. 1, indicates in a general way the geologic structure of the formations that comprise the Floridan aquifer. The Ocala is at or near the surface in the areas represented by shading in the northwestern part of the peninsula and also in an area in western Florida adjacent to Alabama and

Jan 1, 1952

By Paul F. Gnirk

INTRODUCTION The notion of permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste in natural salt formations was formally proposed in 1957 by the Committee on Waste Disposal of the National Academy of Sciences- National Research Council. This proposal was the result of the Committee's deliberations in response to a request from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1955 to assess the viability of geologic formations for such disposal. The research investigations for waste disposal in salt were initiated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the late 1950's and continued through the 1960's and early 1970's at a relatively modest level of funding. During the period of transfer of Federal Administrative authority from the AEC to the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) to the Department of Energy (DOE) during the latter part of the 197O’s, financial support for the research program was enhanced substantially. The program at OWL was regrouped under the Office of Waste Isolation (OWI) and later transferred to the Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (ONWI) at Battelle Memorial Institute. With this enhancement in the research program, consideration of basalt, granite, shale, and tuff as repository host media was initiated. In February, 1980 the President of the United States established officially a comprehensive waste management program which called for the selection of the first repository site in 1985 from a suite of four or five potentially suitable sites, and initiation of a repository operation at that site in the mid-1990's. The current disposal system concept involves the emplacement of radioactive waste packages in mined disposal rooms at depth in suitable geologic formations, with closure of the facility effected

Jan 1, 1983

By Thomas F. Bates

ANALYSIS of the chemical and structural differences in minerals often results in a better understanding of the differences in the geological conditions under which they were formed. The minerals in the kaolinite group differ in the amount of interlayer water and in the nature and amount of ordered and/or random shifting of each 1:1 layer with respect to those above and below it. This paper is a progress report resulting from research on the morphology, structure, and origin of fine-grained minerals, supported by Contract N6onr26914 with the Geophysics Branch of the Office of Naval Research. The purpose of the paper is to present data obtained in the laboratories at The Pennsylvania State College and elsewhere, which reveal some of the details of structure of the minerals in the kaolinite group, and to suggest a number of interpretations that bear upon the conditions of origin of these minerals. Be¬cause most of the work in this investigation thus far has been concerned with the relationships of kaolinite, halloysite (4H2O; endellite), and halloysite (2H2O), must of the discussion deals with these members of the group. The first step in the analysis of the differences in two sets of geological conditions is an evaluation of the differences in the minerals that result. Thus the chemical differences between the montmorillonite and the kaolinite clays corroborate other evidence in support of the view that the montmorillonites are commonly formed when solutions are alkaline and leaching poor, while kaolinite usually is associated with acid solutions and good drainage condi¬tions. It is obvious that the greater the differences in the minerals, the more divergent may be the conditions that give rise to them and the more readily one condition can be distinguished from the other. In the kaolinite group, differences between individual members are small, therefore the differences in condition of origin are presumably subtle and difficult to define. At the same time, the very fact that the minerals differ only slightly makes them more sensitive indicators of the exact conditions under which they and the minerals associated with them were formed. Since clay minerals are being used more and more to evaluate the nature, value, and mode of formation of economic mineral deposits, an attempt to define these subtle differences would appear worth while. For purposes of the present discussion, the minerals nacrite, dickite, kaolinite, the so-called "fireclay mineral," halloysite (4H2O), halloysite

Jan 1, 1952

By C. S. Barrett

The torsional after-effect in polycrystalline cadmium is interrupted by an abnormal twisting when the film is removed by etching. This is accounted for by the pile-up of dislocations beneath anodic or other oxide films during the original twisting, and the relief of the residual stresses from these by elastic and plastic processes during etching. WHEN an iron or zinc wire coated with oxide is plastically twisted and then released, it untwists according to a law of equal increments in equal intervals of log time, but if the oxide is suddenly removed by etching this normal after-effect is interrupted by a transient, and thereafter the untwisting is slower.' Etching may even reverse the strain temporarily. Related effects caused by hydrated oxide films on cadmium in creep tests have been observed by Phillips and Thompson:' definite transient strains caused by the removal of the film from single crystals of cadmium were observed; however, negligible effects were obtained with polycrystalline wires. Pronounced effects of both transient and steady nature were observed by Phillips and Thompson when anodic films 10-4 cm thick were etched off, and weak effects, transient only, occurred with hydrated oxide films 3x10 cm thick such as were formed by standing in water for 10 min. It was estimated that 10.' cm films, formed in water in 1 or 2 min, could be detected in the apparatus of Phillips and Thompson. Since abnormal after-effects were observed by the torsion method equally well with polycrystalline and monocrystalline iron and zinc wires,' it was anticipated that the torsion method would also disclose them in polycrystalline cadmium, in spite of the fact that analogous effects had not been observed in tensile creep tests on polycrystalline zinc by Pickus and Parker3 r on polycrystalline cadmium in tensile studies by Andrade and Randall." Because of its high sensitivity, particularly its sensitivity to surface conditions, the torsion method was thought to merit further study as a method of investigating thin films of various types and the action of various reagents on these films. Materials and Methods Cadmium wires were cold-drawn to a diameter of 0.039 in. from a stock that was determined spectro-scopically to contain 0.05 pct Bi, 0.005 pct Cu, 0.008 pct Pb, and 0.007 pct Si. The wires were cut to about 17/8 in. lengths and were annealed 1 hr in air at 290°C, after which the grain size was such that there were 5 to 7 grains across a diameter. The wires were then mounted as indicated in the insert in Fig. 1, one end being fastened with laboratory wax into a small diameter brass tube and the other end being waxed to a thin glass fiber which supported, on its upper end, a small galvanometer mirror. The wires were waxed with care to avoid straining or annealing, for it was found that the after-effect rate was sensitive to prior cold work in a wire. The assembly was then clamped above a beaker into which the reagent could be poured. The lower end of the wire was held in the hand while the wire was twisted 180"; it was then released immediately. Since precision timing of these manipulations was not attempted, the different wires cannot be compared as to exact rates of untwisting. The length subjected to plastic strain was 15/8 in. The surface coatings studied were those produced by the annealing in air, by anodic treatment of

Jan 1, 1954

By William B. Plank

PRESENT enrollment of 182,361 students in the engineering schools of the United States and Canada represents an increase of 6.6 pct over the enrollment in these schools in 1951-52. Thus is brought to a halt the steady decrease in engineering enrollment that began with the close of the 1947-48 academic year, five years ago. The mineral engineering student picture is similarly encouraging. In the United States schools, 9453 students are preparing themselves for positions in the Mineral Industry. This is an increase of 8.3 pct over last year as compared with an increase of 6.6 pct in the total United States engineering enrollment. The rate of recovery for the mineral engineering group is thus more rapid than for the engineers as a whole.

Jan 4, 1953

By R. R. Morral, F. M. Krill, K. T. Aust

THE occurrence of twins in aluminum ingots cast under certain conditions has been well established. For instance, Herenguel and Lacombe1,2 have observed a twinned columnar structure in 99.5 and 99.9 pct Al, solidified by continuous or semicontinuous casting. The structure, which they termed "basaltic," appears in the form of elongated crystalline fibers of alternating luster. Herenguel and Lacombe2 found sections of flat crystalline plates composed of twin crystal plates, in which the twin plane (111) and a [I121 direction contained in the twin plane are parallel to the principal heat gradient. This orientation relationship is different from the usual orientation texture observed in cast face-centered cubic metals, where the [100] direction is approximately parallel to the long columnar axes lying in the direction of growth." A large amount of twinning has also been observed by the present authors in semicontinuous cast aluminum of 99.2 pct purity, Fig. 1. Mondolfo4 has suggested that the twinned cast structure forms by a deformation twinning process as the result of uneven cooling stresses within the ingots. This suggestion appears to be inconsistent with the large amount of twinning observed in the semicontinuous cast ingots and with the large difference of dendritic

Jan 1, 1953

By S. F. Shaw

THE principles involved in lifting oil in wells flowing naturally are identical with those underlying the flowing of wells by means of the air-gas lift, and information of a dependable nature obtained in the study of the air-lift can be applied to wells with natural flow. A well flowing naturally is one in which the lifting is done by means of the gas-lift, for which the gas is supplied entirely by the formation from which the oil is derived. In air-gas lift operations, there is insufficient gas supplied by the formation to lift the oil to the surface in an efficient manner, therefore additional gas for this purpose must be furnished from an outside source. There may, at times, be conditions obtaining in natural flowing wells different from those in wells flowed by gas-lift, but these differences do not at all conflict with the main principles of gas-lift work. One such condition is met with in wells in which the gas supplied by the formation is in considerable excess of that required to lift the oil to surface; this excess may be so great as to reduce the quantity of oil that can be lifted through the particular diameter of casing or tubing that has been lowered into the well. This same condition can be brought about, however, by supplying a large excess of gas from an outside source to an artificial gas-lift well, and a study of the effects obtained from injecting a large excess into the well can be applied directly to handling wells flowing naturally which have a large excess of gas supplied by the underground reservoir.

Jan 1, 1929

By O. P. Hood

None of the methods now in use for the transportation of materials underground is entirely free from more or less serious objection.

Jan 1, 1915

By G. Don Sullivan

Although the first application of strip mining dates back to 1866, the true origin of today's problem of land reclamation is found in World War II, when the yawning war machines demanded more, and faster fuel production. To meet the new wartime demands, the strip coal mining companies that had been producing coal for the normal needs of industry and commerce during peacetime worked to the full extent of their capacities but were unable to satisfy the voracious demand. To supplement the production of the established mining firms, a host of temporary, make-shift coal strip operations came into being-road contractors, ditchers and foundation excavators, earth movers of every type became strip coal operators. Unfortunately, many were of the here-today-gone-tomorrow category, and showed little concern for the condition of the land after mining. Likewise, the land owners of the mined properties (most of the land was on royalty lease or tonnage contract) showed little concern. Land owners realized from their acreages more income during the war years of coal production than could have been obtained in two or three lifetimes of conventional farming or other land uses. Most of these mined lands were sub-marginal with little productive promise. As a result the wartime stripping produced most of what are known today as "orphan banks" or "abandoned strip pits." It is of these that so much of the present day complaints about strip mine reclamation are being made.

Jan 3, 1967

By E. H. Crabtree

THE heavy-media separation plant at the Central mill of the Eagle-Picher Mining and Smelting Co., near Picher, Okla., was started in February 1939. Since that time twenty-four million tons of lead-zinc ore has been treated in the mill, of which approximately 70 pct has been treated by heavy-media separation. Until January 1945, galena concentrate from the flotation plant was used as the sink-float medium. At that time minus 100-mesh ferrosilicon was substituted for the galena, and its use has been continued. The purpose of this paper is to compare the operating results and the costs of operation of the two media. For the purpose of this comparison the period Jan. 1, 1943, to Jan. 29, 1945, has been taken to represent the operation using galena medium; the period Jan. 29, 1945, to Sept. 1, 1946, to represent the ferrosilicon medium. During the first of 'these periods about seven and one-half million tons was milled; during the latter, or ferrosilicon period, more than five million tons was milled. It is believed that these tonnages are large enough to give representative data. FLOWSHEET The Central mill has a capacity of 15,000 tons per day. Briefly, the treatment used consists of crushing the ore through 11/2-in. and wet-screening out the minus 3/16in. portion. The minus 1 1/2 plus 3/16in. washed product is treated by the heavy medium; the minus 3/16-in. product is deslimed and jigged. The heavy-media cone tailing is discarded and the cone .concentrate is recrushed and jigged for the production of a coarse lead concentrate. The cone concentrate, impoverished of lead, is then ground in ball mills and treated by differential flotation. The minus 3/16-in. jig product is similarly treated. HEAVY-MEDIA PLANT The heavy-media cone plant treating the minus 1 ½ plus 3/16-in. product consists of one open-top cone 20 ft in diameter by 20 ft deep, equipped with a central airlift. Concentrate is discharged from the top of the airlift to a 3 by 14-ft low-head Allis-Chalmers drainage screen. Medium drains back into the cone, from the first half of this screen. The last half of the screen is provided with washing sprays for further removal of medium. Cone tailing is similarly drained and washed. Undersize from the washing screen is thickened and then cleaned in the medium-cleaning plant. When galena was used as a medium, cleaning was done in Fagergren and Denver flotation machines. The ferrosilicon is cleaned in three 36-in. and one 24-in. Crockett magnetic separators. A flowsheet of the cone plant is shown in Fig 1.

Jan 1, 1947

By B. C. Craft

Oil and gas development in Arkansas during the year 1933 has been marked by considerable wildcat drilling, considering the overproduction prevalent in the oil industry. Arkansas showed an increase in drilling operations during 1933. There were 45 completions from 10 counties resulting in 7 oil wells and 38 dry holes, compared with 37 completions resulting in 4 oil wells and 33 dry holes during 1932. Miller County continued to be the most active area, with 18 completions resulting in 3 oil wells and 15 dry holes. Extensive exploration around the Miller County field has more definitely established the producing limits. It has confirmed the belief that produc-

Jan 1, 1934

By G. H. Fancher

Improving economic conditions are reflected in the statistical picture of the petroleum and natural gas industry for 1933. Prices were better, demand was greater and the volume of production increased. The increase in the production of gas has been due mainly to the utilization of outlets to the new prolific gas fields of Potter and Tioga counties; of oil, to the growing demand for Pennsylvania grade lubricants. It should be emphasized that nowhere is volume of production more subject to control due to the extensive use of secondary methods of recovery and regional peculiarities than in Pennsylvania. A summary of developments in production for Pennsylvania in 1933 of necessity is brief. The data listed in Table 1 are all too few in number and not all that is desirable from the standpoint of accuracy. No state agency for the collection of data exists, no reports are compulsory. Nevertheless, because of the hearty cooperation of many individuals and public spirited corporations, it is believed that the data are as reliable as are obtainable at the present time. Furthermore, records of the past too often are lost, were never in existence or are fragmentary, to say the least. Illustrative of the condition is the fact that no thorough study of the oil and gas-producing regions has ever been made. The publications of the Pennsylvania Topographic and Geologic Survey upon the subject are noteworthy and valuable, especially the most recent one.' The Survey has been handicapped in the work by lack of time, personnel and funds in addition to the difficulties mentioned previously. It is obvious, therefore, that Table 1 cannot be completed for Pennsylvania. The data simply are not in existence. Officially there are 328 oil and gas pools or fields known by name and 58 distinct sands or horizons, one or more of which are productive of oil and gas in the various pools, but reliable data for only three general regions could be assembled.

Jan 1, 1934

By David Reger

ONLY a few small pools of oil were found in West Virginia during 1924. The price of oil was so low that there was no incentive for active effort toward the discovery of new pools or the exploitation of reasonably certain productive areas. At present, several encouraging edge-pool developments are being held in reserve in the hope that a more favorable market is not far distant. In the old pools, wells are being carefully tended; there being little tendency toward abandonment. even in cases where production is temporarily unprofitable. In natural gas, however, the total value of which at the well mouth is now more than that of oil, the year has been busy and profitable. , The decline of old pools, together with the increasing demand, has caused the large operators who carry their gas to the consumer to make great efforts to preserve or increase the rate of production; while the small operators, who sell their product to the large companies at the well mouth, have been stimulated toward the same effort by more favorable prices. These conditions brought about the completion of a greater number .of gas wells in 1924 than in 1923. Few pools of gas have been discovered during the year, the principal production having been obtained in old areas and in the unusually large new territory that was revealed as potentially productive by the drilling of 1923. Some of these latter areas are still without pipelines but definite plans for getting most of this gas are now being executed.

Jan 3, 1925

By Howard L. Hartman, Eugene P. Pfleider

The paper relates to the laboratory and pilot plant studies that have been carried out by Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd., Metallurgical Research Div., in developing the ammonia pressure leach process for extracting Cu, Ni, Co, and S from high grade Ni concentrate produced from Lynn Lake ores and describes in some detail the chemistry of the process. In the leaching stage air, ammonia, and sulphide minerals react in a sequence of inter-related steps to produce soluble amines of Ni, Cu, and Co in a solution containing sulphate, thiosulphate, polythionate, and sulphamate ions and a controlled amount of free ammonia, the iron and other components of the concentrate remaining as an insoluble residue which is separated from the leach solution by filtration. The pregnant solution produced in leaching is further treated by boiling to precipitate and remove Cu as cuprous sulphide, leaving a copper-free solution with a composition suitable fir subsequent precipitation of Ni and Cu by H,. The progress of individual reactions in leaching and copper removal is discussed. The effect of variables such as temperature, pressure, ammonia concentration, particle size, and agitation is outlined and the technique of thionate control in leach solutions is described. Data is given for the physical and chemical reactions involved in precipitating copper from leach solutions as Cu sulphide by boiling.

Jan 1, 1956

By S. O. Reichert

The nuclear industry has made a considerable effort to reduce environmental pollution with the result that knowledge in the field of radioactive waste management is well advanced. An example of the methods used for radioactive waste disposal is provided by the Savannah River Plant (SRP) operated by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. for the AEC. It occupies an area of 320 sq mi along the Savannah River downstream from Augusta Ga., and has production facilities that include a fuel preparation area, three reactor areas, two chemical separation areas (F and H), and a heavy water plant. Gaseous, Liquid and Solid Radioactive Wastes Are Handled During Disposal The primary sources of radioactive waste are the reactor and chemical separation facilities. The reactors are cooled and moderated by heavy water which, in turn, is cooled by river water in heat exchangers. This arrangement prevents irradiation of the river water so that radioactivity is not discharged into the river water except when small quantities of moderator are lost by heat exchanger leaks. Because of the high cost of heavy water, these losses must be kept to a minimum.

Jan 9, 1968

By Henry N. Toler

Development in the Jackson gas field, Hinds and Rankin counties, for 1935 continued at a slow pace, there being only nine wells drilled on the structure, of which five resulted in gas producers and four in dry holes. There were no wells drilled deep enough during 1935 to test any of the horizons below the producing Selma chalk. There are 113 producing gas wells in the Jackson gas field, with three wells on the southeast edge of the field making some oil with a large quantity of salt water; this oil comes from the same horizon as the gas. The combined open flow of the 113 gas wells is about 4,100,000,000 cu. ft. The proven area of the field is approximately 8000 acres. The production of 10,291,000,000 cu. ft. for 1935 represents the largest yearly pull from the field by almost a billion cubic feet. The total production from the field to date is 45,104,000,-000 cu. ft. It is interesting to note that the rock pressure has dropped from 1010 lb. per sq. in. initial to 943 Ib. at the end of 1935, a decline of only 67 lb. in 6 years. There is a difference of opinion as to the age of the deepest formation tested on the Jackson structure; some people holding that it is Tuscaloosa, others, Trinity, and still others that it is Paleozoic, probably Pottsville. The production of the Amory gas field, Monroe County, continued to decline and the capacity was far under the demand. Originally there were four producing wells in the field with a combined open-flow capacity of approximately 15,000,000 cu. ft. and a rock pressure of 680 lb. per sq. in. At the end of 1935 only two wells were producing with a combined open-flow of less than 1 million cu. ft. and the rock pressure down to 100 lb. or less. No attempt has been made to drill new wells in the immediate field but three wells are being drilled in the county in an effort to secure new supplies of gas. The wildcat operations for 1935, with only 11 wells drilled, were the lowest since 1932, just about one-half the number drilled during 1934. None of the wildcat wells drilled in 1935 resulted in producers and, so far as the writer is aware, did not uncover any large structures. The 11 wells drilled were abandoned or junked at comparatively shallow depths, except the well drilled in George County to 6928 ft. by the United Gas

Jan 1, 1936

By J. A. Bartnik, Gerald D. Rose, William H. Benson

New techniques in the magnetite and heavy media beneficiation industries demand more efficient magnetic dispersion and flocculation of the finely ground particles. Demagnetizing coils must produce several major effects, such as improving classification and screening efficiency, decreasing moisture content in filter cake and improving separation selectivity and green pellet properties. Likewise, magnetic flocculators must increase filtering rates and the settling rates of solids, improve magnetite recovery and produce cleaner water. To improve the design of equipment and to conduct tests leading to the optimization of such dispersion and flocculation, a program was initiated at Eriez Magnetics. The major conclusions reached are: 1. Laboratory and plant scale tests conducted on magnetite products show that a demagnetizing force of 450 rms oersteds at 60 cycles for 1/20- second duration will depolarize natural magnetite particles coarser than approximately 10 microns. This has been found satisfactory for most applications. 2. Effective flocculation of magnetite was obtained when a slurry with more than one percent magnetite was exposed for a period of approximately 1/15 second to a 600-gauss field. 3. The cost of demagnetizers (or flocculators) increases rapidly for larger diameter pipes. In order to reduce the cost, narrow rectangular sections are recommended for magnetic flocculators. 4. For minimum operating cost, permanent magnetic flocculators are ideal, chiefly because they do not require any maintenance and have no operating cost. 5. A newly designed electro-demagnetizing coil with high heat dissipation and a nonmetallic core provides high efficiency and long life. 6. To select the correct magnetic flocculator (or demagnetizing coil) the following information is necessary: a. Magnetic product susceptibility b. Magnetic product coercive force c. Percent of magnetic product d. Flow rate e. Viscosity f. Structure of magnetic product

Jan 8, 1968