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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 S. L. Crouch

The application of a simple, two-dimensional computer technique for evaluating rock burst potential in cut-and-fill stopes was investigated. The principal purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of high-modulus fill and destressing as aids in the control of rock bursts. Two conclusions that are probably of general applicability are drawn. First, high-modulus fill is ineffective as a means of increasing the mine stiffness and acts to control rock bursts only if it supports enough load to reduce substantially the stresses on the unmined vein material. Second, destressing is most effective if it is performed when the vein material is near the point of failure.

Jan 1, 1975

By D. W. Gillmore, C. C. Wright

DEWATERING is a major problem in the preparation and utilization of fine-sized coals now being recovered in increasing amounts from colliery effluents, refuse banks, and silt ponds. Of the various methods which have been proposed for dewatering fine coal, gravity drainage is probably the oldest and most widely used, and yet little information on this subject has been published. Consequently a laboratory investigation of gravity drainage phenomena was undertaken not only to provide basic data for predicting the drainage behavior of fine coals in cars, bunkers, basins, and silos, but also to obtain some understanding of the moisture retention properties of fine coal. Because of practical interest in the problem, a reproducible laboratory technique, which simulated plant conditions as closely as possible, was developed for the evaluation of drainage variables. The apparatus selected consisted of vertically-mounted lucite columns, nominally 4 to 8 ft in length and 2, 3 or 6 in. in diam; the bottom of the column was provided with a rubber stopper through which was inserted a ½ -in. diam drainage tube; a wad of glass wool was placed on the upper part of this outlet tube to retain the coal and a plug was temporarily located at the lower end to prevent drainage during charging of the column, see Fig. 1. The most satisfactory testing procedure is as follows: 1-The fine coal, which has been thoroughly

Jan 1, 1952

By Jon E. Fatzinger

The design of a centrifugal slurry pump is approached as a compromise between efficiency and wear life of the wetted parts. This compromise is effected by the choice of proper materials of construction and geometry. However even the most optimally designed pump will fail if due consideration is not given to its installation and operation. System head curves and hydraulic profiles are discussed as useful tools to be used in the operational analysis of a slurry system.

Jan 1, 1978

By R. D. Longyear

[Some Problems Involved in the Interpretation of Diamond-drill-hole Sampling and Surve ing (paper by J. J. Collins, Mining Tech., Jan. 1946). ............... I Geologic Interpretation of Magnetic Exploration on the Mesabi Range, Minnesota (paper by R. H. B. Jones, Mining Tech., July 1946) ................... 2] DISCUSSION R. D. LONGYEAR.*-Mr. Collins is to be commended very highly for the brief summary he has made of the currently used methods of taking diamond-drill sludge samples and the principles involved in evaluating the results. This paper should stimulate further discussion and research on this vitally important problem. It is particularly imperative that geologists and engineers know when assay results on sludge recovery can be accepted quantitatively and when they must be considered only qualitatively. In most cases where the sludge recovery is less than 95 per cent or more than 125 per cent, it is safest to consider the assays as of qualitative value only. Certain cases, however, are known where a relatively small proportion of the sludge sampling will give a reasonably accurate measure of the value of the total sample. One such case is ore in which the valuable mineral is of approximately the same specific gravity as the waste mineral, such as chalcopyrite in a massive pyrite body. The essential point is to determine the degree of accuracy of sludge sampling in any given drilling project and to weigh the results accordingly. It should be emphasized, however, that sludge sampling can be made reliable in many localities where careless practice produces unreliable results. In many instances, it is desirable to empty the core barrel in the core shack instead of at the drill, so that the engineer can examine the core as it first comes from the core barrel. It should be pointed out, however, that the drill * E. J. Longyear Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota. runner should be permitted to study the core to guide his future drilling. It is hoped that with the return of more normal conditions after the war geologists, engineers, contractors, and manufacturers will be able to carry on more research along the lines of improved core-barrel design and drilling technique with the objective of increasing core recovery so as to eliminate as far as possible the necessity of relying upon sludge samples. H. M. ROBERTS.*-Whoever in the future will have to do with the search for ore bodies and their exploration will have frequent occasion to refer to the clear and comprehensive summary on diamond-drilling methods by John Collins. His review of the experience of the last 40 years in this technique is invaluable. As Dr. L. D. Ricketts wrote in 1932, "The principles on which an art is founded are usually few and necessarily basic in nature, but he who wishes to achieve the power to select his aides and give success to important undertakings that may be intrusted to him in the future must ordinarily undergo years of drudgery in order to gain the experience that will enable him to distinguish such fundamentals through the haze of reinforcing detail that clothes and tends to disguise them."[t] Ricketts went on to say that since the beginning of the century there has been much

Jan 1, 1946

By Eugene McAuliffe

TWO years ago the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers made a memorable contribution toward a better understanding of the problems that have for many years confronted the coal industry. Specific suggestions toward betterment were then advanced, certain of which were taken up, amplified and endorsed by men who were conscien-tiously interested in the work of lifting this great industry out of the morass it has lain in for years. Two certain suggestions then made-provision for seasonal variations in railroad freight rates that would tend to encourage the purchase and movement of coal during the low summer production period, and provi-sion for the collection by the United States Government of all the facts surrounding the industry-were intro-duced in the form of legislation in the United States Senate by a member of that body, a man whose personal character, antecedents and business training put him above and beyond all suspicion of demagoguery; however, as the result of the insistent, vindictive opposition of the industry itself, these two bills, con-structive in their nature, were buried under an ava-lanche of misrepresentation. Today, with all mines that employ union labor at a stand still, the work of stabilizing the industry is yet before us. As aptly stated by Herbert Hoover, in March, 1920, when he was president of the Institute; An engineering organization is particularly the body to under-take this work. It is an economic problem, an engineering pro-blem within the ken of our experience; it is a problem that requires not only constructive thought but quantitative thought and wise social thought. The engineers of the United States occupy a position midway between capital and labor. They enter upon problems of this kind without prejudice either way, and they have that faculty of mind for quantitative thought, as distinguished from qualitative thought, that takes such problems as this out of the region of politics into the region of matter-of-fact solution.

Jan 5, 1922

By E. E. Bauer

Technical data describing the critical points for selection of the proper hammer and of the boom and power pack for mounting on mobile gyratory crusher installations are presented. Charts describing typical rocks with breakability indexes for hammer selection are included. Comparative data of representative available hammers along with criteria for evaluating hammer selection are also presented. Factors affecting the selection of the boom and the power pack, as well as optional features for ease of operation and improved safety are described.

Jan 1, 1986

INSTITUTE MEDALS AND PRIZES ASIDE from the John Fritz Medal, in which the Institute participates through its representation on the John Fritz Medal Board, the Institute itself has five major awards to make annually for excellence in technical papers, as follows The Robert W Hunt Medal, The Hadfield Prize, The J E Johnson Jr , Award, The Lewisohn Platinum Prize to senior members, and the President's Prize to junior members ROBERT W HUNT MEDAL The partners of Robert W Hunt established a fund which was presented to the Institute at a fitting ceremony on May 27, 1920, to establish an annual medal and a sum of money to be awarded under the following rules, 1 The award shall consist of two prizes, first of a gold medal, second of a sum of money, a certificate to accompany each prize The money prize shall not be awarded to a member over 40 years of age, but under unusual circumstances, both prizes may be allotted to one person provided that he is not over 40 years of age In general it will be understood that the Committee shall award the money prize to, the younger men, rather than the medal 2 The awards shall be made not oftener than once a year to that person or persons contributing to the Institute the best original paper or papers on iron and steel The scope of the term "iron and steel" shall be determined by the sub-committee consider¬ing the awards In general, papers dealing with the practical side of the subject have preference over those dealing with the theoretical side in recognition of the fact that Captain Hunt's main contributions to the industry have been in the improve¬ment of production and quality of material 3 A sub-committee of three to five, including the Chairman of the Iron and Steel Committee, shall be appointed by the Iron and Steel Committee annually to adjudge the award subject to approval 4 The awarding committee shall submit its report to the Iron and Steel Committee at its October Meeting, and the award be certified to the Secretary of the Institute in time to permit the presentation to be made at the Annual Meeting of the Institute 5 The recipient of the award shall be designated "The Hunt Medallist "

Jan 1, 1923

By Arthur Foote

AT THE end of the year 1914, the main North Star incline shaft had reached the 6300-ft. level, and encountered a vein dipping Southwest, or, exactly opposite to the North Star. Subsequent development failed to find the North Star vein continuing beyond this intersection, so the 6300-ft. level proved to be the bottom level of the North. Star vein, and very little ore was found below the 5300-ft. level. The new vein was called No. 1 vein. Development work carried on for the next 10 years discovered a third vein, called No. 2, branching off about 1200-ft. to the east, with a North-south strike and a west dip. No. 1 vein had about 900 ft. of backs above the 6300-ft. level before reaching the boundary line of the property, and No. 2 vein died out about 800 ft. above. During these 10 years, the money spent on development was increased from $54,000 in 1914 to $184,000 in 1924; the ore reserves steadily diminished until it was evident that the mine must close down unless by some means a large tonnage of ore could be developed quickly.

Jan 1, 1930

By Thomas Robins

About six years ago the writer had occasion to visit a large magnetic iron-ore concentrating-plant, and then saw for the first time rubber belts employed for conveying-purposes. These belts were from 20 inches to 30 inches in width, and some of them were as long as 500 feet between centers. When I spoke of the enormous amount of material they handled with a small expenditure of power, the superintendent assented, but at the same time complained that although he bought the best quality of belts, the abrasion of the ore wore them out very rapidly, causing continually very large bills for repairs and renewals. On close examination several interesting points were discovered :

Jan 1, 1897

By L. C. Snider

During the past few years a number of large and highly productive oil fields have been discovered in the United States. The immediate oversupply which has resulted, together with the circumstances under which the new fields have been operated, has created exaggerated impressions of the importance and magnitude of these fields. Statements as to the many years during which individual fields could supply the entire demand of certain areas, as to the overwhelming effect of these fields on the industry, and as to their greater size compared with any of the older fields have become so common as to attract little attention. For example, East Texas is commonly considered as the "greatest oil field" and a review of the development of the field for 1931 is so headed in one of the leading trade journals.' East Texas is unquestionably a very great oil field. However, some students of the field have estimated its ultimate recovery at about one billion barrels, and the Bradford field discovered in 1875 is also estimated, by competent engineers, to have about a billion barrels still recoverable by water drive, in addition to more than 300,000,-000 bbl. it has already produced. If East Texas should produce the two or three billion barrels assigned to it by more optimistic estimators, it will, though considerably greater than Bradford, still fall far short of it in importance to the industry. A reasonable doubt also exists as to whether East Texas will exceed the Midway-Sunset field which has produced about 720,000,000 bbl. and still has important reserves. Again, in importance to the industry, Midway-Sunset has been greater than East Texas can ever be. Relative Importance of Oil Fields The principal purpose of this study is to compare, on the basis of their importance to the industry, a considerable number of the major fields which have been developed in the United States. Some remarks are also made as to the estimates of reserves in certain fields now in course of development, since the writer believes that the conditions under which these fields are operated lead to estimates of recoverable reserves which

Jan 1, 1933

By Theo B. Comstock

Since 1892 the writer has published several articles in the Engineering and Mining Journal concerning the relations of the

Jan 1, 1901

By John Gross

A SURVEY of the status of ore dressing in 19231 placed particular stress on the need of research in the crushing and grinding of ore, especially on the need for a method of measuring the surface of the products obtained in crushing and grinding, and for fundamental data on the law of crushing, in order that intelligent conclusions may be drawn from actual crushing or grinding experiments. There has been no satisfactory means of determining the surface of crushed products. The results have been judged entirely by the amount of the various sizes produced, based on sieve sizing for particles above 74 microns in size and on microscopic measurement or elutriation for particles below 74 microns, a method which could give only a general idea of what had been accomplished. The fact that the long controversy between the followers of Kick and of Rittinger has resulted in no accepted conclusion is evidence of the need for fundamental data on the crushing law.

Jan 1, 1928

By C. A. O’Malley, F. W. Kinsey

This paper deals with an experimental study in the use of a preagglomerated burden as a means of increasing the production of sinter. The effect of a wide range of sinter burden was studied, including concentrates produced by a flotation process. Some of the important characteristics of a sinter bed are discussed along with the strength and reducibility of the sintered product. In recent years the use of sinter in blast furnaces has become increasingly important across the country—largely because of the demand for more hot iron from existing plant capacity and the increasing amount of fines in the burden materials available to the blast-furnace operator. In many instances, unfortunately, the demand for sinter has been so great that little time has been available to give the proper

Jan 1, 1960

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 M. M. Fine

In a laboratory study of grinding and classification of silica sand, a satisfactory means of producing the medium-fine specification sand desired by producers of flint-glass containers was developed. The best procedure consisted of ball-mill grinding and double classification, which gave a properly sized sand containing less iron than the feed.

Jan 3, 1950

By A. C. Noble, D. E. Ranta

Orebodies with intricate three- dimensional shapes (such as porphyry molybdenum deposits) are difficult to model using geostatistics or other computer- assisted methods. 'The strong trends in their spatial grade distributions occur as mathematically complex shapes and prevent the customary assumption of local stationarity that is required for accurate ore reserve estimation. "Zoned Kriging", a new method developed by AMAX, solves this problem directly by using the geologist's interpretation of the ore zones as a parameter in the kriging equations. The geological basis and methods used in the Climax ore zoning technique are reviewed and discussed relative to their application in zoned geostatistical modeling. The Zoned Kriging technique is described and demonstrated using data typical of mineral de- posits.

Jan 1, 1984

By K. R. Y. Simha, W. L. Fourney, D. C. Holloway

An experimental investigation was performed to evaluate the role of stress waves in the pre-splitting operation. 3D birefringent Plexiglas models and the dynamic photoelastic technique were used to visualize the stress waves generated by the detonation. Simultaneous as well as sequential detonation of the explosive charges were investigated. The development of fractures and stress waves were recorded using a high speed multiple spark gap camera of the Cranz-Shardin type. The experimental data was analyzed and displayed-on a Lagrangian diagram to present an overall picture of the entire dynamic event. It was repeatedly observed in the tests that the time required for the completion of the pre-splitting operation as practiced in the field is of the same order as that for the transit time for the stress waves between the blastholes thereby revealing the highly elasto-dynamic nature of the event.

Jan 1, 1982

By Thomas R. Couzens

This chapter covers certain aspects of open pit production planning based on experience, pointing out approaches to planning that may help produce a realistic picture for evaluation and operation The subjects discussed are roads, preproduction stripping, dump planning, dewatering, the relationship of production planning to equipment selection, and computer methods for the short-range or operational pit planning process Actual determination of ore limits, pit design, and production schedules are covered in other chapters This discussion is somewhat general. Specific problems that occur in mine planning are extremely varied, and it is not possible to cover many of them in a chapter, therefore, only some of the principles that are important in the approach to open pit production planning problems will be discussed.

Jan 1, 1979

By Thomas A. Read

THE internal friction of single crystals of metals is affected markedly by a variety of factors, which, according to the literature, are without influence on the internal friction of polycrystalline metals at strain amplitudes less than 10-5. For example, the internal friction of a suitably oriented zinc single crystal is multiplied by a factor of l00 when the vibration amplitude is slightly increased, and the internal friction of a copper crystal is markedly increased by the application of a stress of 30 lb. per sq. in. for one minute. In this paper it will be shown that these, together with the other phenomena associated with the damping of mechanical vibrations in metal single crystals, can be satisfactorily explained, at least qualitatively, in terms of an atomic mechanism that has been proposed for quite another purpose-that of accounting for slip in metals. The extraordinary agreement between the observed behavior of the metal single crystals and the behavior that could be predicted on the basis of this atomic mechanism leads to the belief that the latter is probably essentially correct. If this is so, it follows that valuable information about the slip process in metals may be gained from measurements of internal friction on single crystals. In this paper the results of the only study to date on the damping of mechanical vibrations in single crystals of metals will be presented. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The internal friction of a material is a measure of the rate at which the energy of mechanical vibrations is converted into heat. The measure of internal friction used in the present paper is the decrement A, which is defined as the fraction of the energy of vibration lost per half cycle. The measurements described here were .made for longitudinal oscillations at a frequency of 33.5 kc. for the copper crystals, and at a frequency of 39 kc. for the zinc crystals. The method used is that of the composite piezoelectric oscillator. The single-crystal specimens are in the form of circular cylinders ¼ in. in diameter and 1 ½ to 2 ½ in. long. The crystal rods are waxed in a V-block and sawed to the proper length with a fine jeweler's saw. The ends of the specimen are ground flat, and one end is cemented with a very thin film of beeswax and rosin to the end of an x-cut quartz rod which is ¼ in. in diameter and 3 in. long. The length of the specimen rod is determined by the condition that its natural frequency for longitudinal vibration be the same as that of the quartz rod, within 0.5 per cent. The lengths of the specimens are thus different for different orientations of the cylinder axis with respect to the crystallographic axes. When the specimen and quartz rods are thus matched in frequency the adhesive is at a node of stress, and it has been shown experimentally that under these circumstances

Jan 1, 1941