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By Daniel T. O’Brian

Exploration targets and results in the mining industry are commonly summarized in terms of tonnage and grade. Business appraisals require, as additional information, the expected profit or loss implied by the physical summary. The early incorporation of knowledge gained through financial analysis computations can provide a means for economically resolving many common exploration and development problems. Examples of such applications from the activities of exploration planning, reconnaissance, land acquisition and develoment planning follow. While prospecting for mineral deposits, geologists are frequently asked what they have found or hope to find. The response is usually descriptive, such as: "50 million tons of 1% copper," and the economic implications are deferred until a capital investment decision is required. At that time a financial analysis integrating the four analysis components-tonnage and average grade above cutoff grade, capital and operating costs, product value, appropriate profit or loss accounting-are completed.

Jan 10, 1969

By Waldemar Lindgren

CONTENTS. [ ] I. INTRODUCTION. THE precious metals, gold and silver, are the basis of the monetary systems of the world. It is, therefore, natural and inevitable that widespread interest should be manifested in their production and in the various classes of deposits in which they are contained. At times a great scarcity of the precious metals has prevailed; at other times the production has seemed so abnormally large that fears have been entertained regarding their ultimate retention as standards of value. Since most nations have adopted the gold standard, and the remaining ones appear likely to do the same in the near future, the question of available supply of gold for the present and future very naturally arises. This necessarily involves a consideration of the characteristics of the gold-deposits. After the absorption of the gold treasures of the New World by the conquistadores, the gold-placers of Brazil and Russia

Jan 1, 1913

By Paul Weir

Bleaching clays have been used extensively in the oil-refining industries for a number of years. Their use in water purification is relatively recent and less extensive. They are frequently classified as (1) those naturally active and (2) those active after artificial activation with acid. Fuller's earths fall within the general group of bleaching clays and gradually the commercial term "fuller's earth" has been applied to natural clays originating, for the most part, in the southeastern section of the United States. Bentonitic clays are usually classed as activable and are prevalent in the southwestern section of the United States.l Bleaching clays vary considerably in chemical and physical properties throughout the country, or even in different parts of one deposit (Table 1). The fuller's earth type of clay is characterized by a lack of plasticity, relatively adsorbent, foliated structure, and does not swell to form a

Jan 1, 1942

By Paul Weir

Bleaching clays have been used extensively in the oil-refining industries for a number of years. Their use in water purification is relatively recent and less extensive. They are frequently classified as (1) those naturally active and (2) those active after artificial activation with acid. Fuller's earths fall within the general group of bleaching clays and gradually the commercial term "fuller's earth" has been applied to natural clays originating, for the most part, in the southeastern section of the United States. Bentonitic clays are usually classed as activable and are prevalent in the southwestern section of the United States.l Bleaching clays vary considerably in chemical and physical properties throughout the country, or even in different parts of one deposit (Table 1). The fuller's earth type of clay is characterized by a lack of plasticity, relatively adsorbent, foliated structure, and does not swell to form a

Jan 1, 1942

By A. E. Weissenborn

Current knowledge of the substantial resources of zinc that exist in northwestern Washington is reviewed. These zinc-lead deposits are all associated with the Kootenay Arc, a narrow arcuate belt of folded and faulted rocks that dominates the regional structure of Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties and adjacent parts of British Columbia. The deposits of the Arc are only part of a major lead-zinc silver metallogenic province that includes the deposits of the Coeur d'Alene district and the famed Sullivan ore body of Kimberly, British Columbia. Most, but by no means all the zinc-lead deposits of the Kootenay Arc are in carbonate rocks. They occur in several stratigraphic units, and in different parts of the Arc are quite diverse in character. The deposits appear to have undergone a complex geologic history and have not necessarily all been formed at the same time or by the same geologic processes.

Jan 1, 1976

By Ward W. Minkler

Since 1978, the titanium metals industry, throughout the non-socialist world, has experienced a period of growth and prosperity unparalleled since the late 1950s. Sponge producers, melters and mill product manufacturers have operated at capacity, record shipments have been attained, new producers have entered the industry and established producers have implemented expansion plans. However, there is now mounting evidence that the underlying elements which generated this vigorous surge have abated, at least temporarily. It now appears that in 1982, the industry will encounter overcapacity, excessive inventory accumulations and the probability of declining prices. Therefore, it does seem appropriate that we now take inventory of the present and future markets for titanium with the hope we can identify both near term opportunities as well as challenges the industry now faces. If we view the development of titanium markets as a function of time, they fit rather neatly into three sectors.

Jan 1, 1982

By S. H. Lorain, Norman L. Wimmler, S. Ricker, P. E. Oscarson, H. G. Iverson

This paper has been prepared with the principal objective of recording the results of the Bureau of Mines exploration of five major clay deposits in the Western Region. It is based mainly on data contained in unpublished Bureau of Mines reports. Acknowledgment is made to the Federal Geological Survey for its cooperative work with the Bureau of Mines, to the various State geological and mining departments, and other State and local agencies. Clay Exploration by the Bureau of Mines Much has been written and published on clays and clay deposits relating to their refractory, ceramic, and other qualities but such literature is lacking in analyses of the available alumina content of the clays and provides little indication of their possibilities as a source of alumina. With this new objective in view, a great many of the known clay deposits were reexamined and new ones discovered. The Bureau of Mines made preliminary examination of numerous areas in the western United States. Five of those most favorably indicated were systematically drilled, and in each a large amount of high-alumina clay has been found. These five major projects are Molalla and Hobart Butte, in western Oregon; Cowlitz-Castle Rock, in southwestern Washington; Ione, in California; and the Olson-Troy area in Idaho (Fig. I). Preliminary scout drilling was done in the Stockton deposit at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; the White ware deposit near Lewis-town, Mont.; and 13 areas in the Spokane or eastern Washington region, where the most favorably indicated area, known as the Excelsior, is now being drilled more systematically. Preliminary drilling was undertaken in numerous areas adjacent to the major deposits and others more remote. As a result, large additional clay possibilities were found. The Clay Deposits The clay deposits under consideration are of the sedimentary or transported types, parts of which have been altered further by the agencies of weathering, ground water, or hydrothermal action. There are extensive deposits of residual clays in northern Idaho and in eastern Washington, but they have been found to be low in the available alumina and to contain much free quartz, mica, and unaltered feldspar. To be of value, they must first be subjected to beneficiation to remove these gangue minerals. The sedimentary clays have been derived largely from the decomposition, erosion, and transportation of granites, gneisses, schists, and basalts. At Molalla, some

Jan 1, 1948

By Norman L. Wimmler, H. G. Iverson, S. Ricker, P. E. Oscarson, S. H. Lorain

This paper has been prepared with the principal objective of recording the results of the Bureau of Mines exploration of five major clay deposits in the Western Region. It is based mainly on data contained in unpublished Bureau of Mines reports. Acknowledgment is made to the Federal Geological Survey for its cooperative work with the Bureau of Mines, to the various State geological and mining departments, and other State and local agencies. Clay Exploration by the Bureau of Mines Much has been written and published on clays and clay deposits relating to their refractory, ceramic, and other qualities but such literature is lacking in analyses of the available alumina content of the clays and provides little indication of their possibilities as a source of alumina. With this new objective in view, a great many of the known clay deposits were reexamined and new ones discovered. The Bureau of Mines made preliminary examination of numerous areas in the western United States. Five of those most favorably indicated were systematically drilled, and in each a large amount of high-alumina clay has been found. These five major projects are Molalla and Hobart Butte, in western Oregon; Cowlitz-Castle Rock, in southwestern Washington; Ione, in California; and the Olson-Troy area in Idaho (Fig. I). Preliminary scout drilling was done in the Stockton deposit at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; the White ware deposit near Lewis-town, Mont.; and 13 areas in the Spokane or eastern Washington region, where the most favorably indicated area, known as the Excelsior, is now being drilled more systematically. Preliminary drilling was undertaken in numerous areas adjacent to the major deposits and others more remote. As a result, large additional clay possibilities were found. The Clay Deposits The clay deposits under consideration are of the sedimentary or transported types, parts of which have been altered further by the agencies of weathering, ground water, or hydrothermal action. There are extensive deposits of residual clays in northern Idaho and in eastern Washington, but they have been found to be low in the available alumina and to contain much free quartz, mica, and unaltered feldspar. To be of value, they must first be subjected to beneficiation to remove these gangue minerals. The sedimentary clays have been derived largely from the decomposition, erosion, and transportation of granites, gneisses, schists, and basalts. At Molalla, some

Jan 1, 1948

By J. S. Wakeman

INTRODUCTION The primary purpose of comminution circuits in the mineral industry is to reduce an ore to a particle size that will permit separation of the valuable minerals from its gangue constituents. Wide variations in the mineral content and physical characteristics can and do occur throughout a given mineral deposit From the standpoint of their effects on the comminution characteristics of an orebody, these variations may not be identified by the normal sampling and analysis procedures utilized to delimit an orebody and to characterize its grade distribution. The proper design of a comminution circuit for a mineral deposit is very important to the success of that enterprise. It is also an expensive unit process both from the standpoint of capital and operating costs. It is, therefore, essential that any sampling program be designed to identify the variations that may occur that will affect this circuit. Because of the variety of comminution systems that are available, it is also essential that the sampling and subsequent evaluation program be sufficiently comprehensive to identify potentially inappropriate systems or flowsheets. It would be impossible to describe in a single chapter the techniques and approaches that should be utilized for sampling every type of orebody. Each orebody is unique and requires a sampling and testing program designed to its specific requirements for exploration, characterization and circuit design. The following is a general discussion of the guidelines to be used and considerations to be made in establishing such a program. SAMPLE SELECTION When sampling an ore deposit for the purposes of equipment and flowsheet selection for comminution, it is important that the sample composites for grind testing be chosen on the basis of how they will affect the comminution circuit rather than just how they might affect the subsequent metallurgical operations. For example, grindability, classification and liberation size characteristics are more important to the comminution circuit than ore grade. Mineral deposits may contain a multiplicity of ore types that can vary extensively in the dissemination of minerals and optimum liberation size requirements; and may also vary as much as 100% in ore hardness. The accumulation of samples for grind characterization should be done in such a way as to allow the identification of this variation. A proper mineralogical evaluation of the samples obtained to characterize an ore deposit can be a great aid in identifying the individual ore types within the deposit

Jan 1, 1982

By K. A. Kiselev, V. I. Zelentsov, V. P. Nebera

INTRODUCTION Most works on flotation of ions and precipitates from solutions have been summarized recently (1-3). Flotation is more desirable than thickening or centrifuging because of higher recovery, productivity, simplicity of apparatus and better economics in general. Electrolytic flotation that utilizes gases is more favorable than other flotation processes because of the following: higher dispersity of gas bubbles, low coalescence of the bubbles, possibility of gradual regulation of the dispersity and other parameters of flotation (4-5). Flotation from solutions is mostly based on the use of alkaline reagents as precipitants (5). Flotation from acid solutions is less common. We used multicomponent solutions with more than 2-3 components, unlike previous research methods. Acidic flotation allows recirculation of solutions to previous operations such as leaching, etc. REAGENTS FOR PRECIPITATION Electroflotation was studied over a wide range of pH with the addition of ferrocyanide, oxyquinoline, hydroxide and carbonate precipitants. In recent works (1,2,6,7) on flotation of Ni, Cu, Zn from alkaline solutions, mostly ferrocyanides were applied. Our choice was oxyquinoline because of the following: 8-oxyquinoline is a nonspecific reagent for many metals, it is readily soluble in acids and alkalis, oxyquinolates of the studied metals are in soluble compounds, the reagent works over a wide range of pH, it is widely available, oxyquinolate precipitates are stable when exposed to air, are readily floatable, and are easily converted to oxides of the metals by sintering.

Jan 1, 1980

By Henry N. McCarl, John J. Dran

In recent years, market rates of interest have risen well above their historical long-term average. Also during this period, the short-term variability of interest rates has been greater than in prior years. Interest rates have a significant effect on the operation of our economy. They influence the extractive industries in a number of ways. Their major long-range impact is on in- vestment decisions-specifically the valuation of mineral deposits. An understanding of the factors that influence interest rates is important to the engineer or businessman who makes the investment decisions for the mining company. The effect of changes in the market rate of interest on the value of mineral reserves is critical to the future financial success of the mining enterprise.

Jan 6, 1977

The following specifications, proposed by a sub-committee of the American Society for Testing Materials, are still to be adopted and subsequently submitted to the International Association for Testing Materials. Standard Specifications for Pig-Iron and Castings. I. Analysis.—It is recommended that all purchases be made by analysis. II. Sampling.—In contracts where pig-iron is sold by chemical analysis, each carload, or its equivalent, shall be considered as a unit. At least one pig shall be selected at random from each two tons of every carload, and so as to fairly represent it. Drillings shall be taken so as to fairly represent the fracture surface of each pig, and the sample analyzed shall consist of an equal quantity of drillings from each pig, well mixed and ground before analysis. III. Allowances and Penalties.—III all contracts, in the absence of a definite understanding to the contrary, a variation of 10 per cent. of silicon, either way, and of .01 in sulphur above the standard is allowed. A deficiency of over 10 per cent. in the silicon, up to 20 per cent., and a further increase in sulphur up to .01 over the above allowance subjects the shipment to a penalty of 1 per cent. in the price for each element so affected. IV. Base Analysis OF Grades. —In the absence of specifications the following numbers, known to the trade, shall represent the appended analyses for standard grades of foundry pig-iron, irrespective of the fracture, and subject to allowances and penalties as above. Silicon Sulphur Grade. Per Cent. Per Cent. No. 1,...2.75 0.035 No. 2,.2.25 0.045 No. 3,........1.75 0.055 No. 4,.1.25 0.066 Cast-Iron Pipe and Special Castings. I. Description of Pipes.—The pipes shall be made with hub- and spigot-joints, and shall accurately conform to the dimensions given in Tables Nos. I. and 11. They shall be straight and shall be true circles in section, with their inner and outer surfaces concentric, and shall be of the specified dimeneions in outside diameter. They shall be at least 12 feet in length, exclusive of socket. For pipes of each size from 4-inch to 24-inch, inclusive, there shall be two standards of outside diameter, and for pipes from 30-inch to 60-inch, inclusive, there shall be four standards of outside diameter, as shown by Table No. 11.

Jan 1, 1905

By C. E. Birchenall, R. H. Condit

THREE surface activity procedures are in com--L mon use for the determination of diffusion coefficients in solids. In the oldest of these' the activity observed at the original surface is compared before and after diffusion, where all the activity is in a thin, plated layer on the surface before diffusion. Partial absorption of the radiations from active atoms which have diffused below the surface reduces the effective activity after diffusion. The formula employed to calculate the diffusion coefficient is where F, is the ratio of final to initial activity at the surface, measured with identical counting geometry; Z=u3Dt, where D is the diffusion coefficient; t is the diffusion time; and u is the absorption coefficient for the radiation in the solid as defined by Lambert's law. This absorption law implies that all the rays are parallel to each other and normal to the specimen surface. This assumption of a collimated beam used by Steigman, Shockley, and Nix has been adopted by all other investigators and, although it gives results which are approximately correct under restricted physical conditions, it does not represent many actual circumstances. It is the purpose of this paper to show the importance of the divergent rays and to indicate a procedure for taking them into account. In the residual activity method the activity is determined on a series of surfaces ground on the specimen at progressively greater depths in the diffusion layer parallel to the initial surface. Gruzin2 has de- rived a formula for this procedure, which may be put in the form where I is the ratio of the activity measured at a newly ground surface at distance k below the initial surface to the activity at the initial surface measured after diffusion, and K= k/2p Dt. A third procedure involves the autoradio-graphic determination of activity on a plane ground at a small angle to the initial interface through the penetration zone. Aut oradiography can be particularly sensitive to the oblique rays. Unlike most counters which detect essentially all ß particles or X-rays which enter the active volume as a single event, the photographic emulsion may be thin enough so that oblique rays with longer path length in the emulsion produce more darkening than rays which move normal to the film plane. Consider a plane containing a source of radiation uniformly spread over a circle and a point counter located on the perpendicular through the center of the circle. As the counter moves along this line, the total angle 6, at the counter subtended by the specimen will vary. For a fixed counter distance, let 6 be angle between the counter axis and the line connecting the counter to a point P on the active plane. If an absorber of thickness X is interposed parallel to the source between counter and source, the ray from point P to the counter will pass through an absorber thickness X secant 6. Exponential absorption is assumed to hold for all rays. If r, is the ratio of intensity at the counter with absorber to the intensity without absorber and a = pX, 1 00 The behavior of this integral, evaluated numerically,

Jan 1, 1957

By R. E. Somers

1. INTRODUCTION 1. Location, Topography, and Climate The Burro Mountains are located in the southwestern part of New Mexico, in Grant County. The group is made up of two distinct moun-tain masses, known as the Little Burros and the Big Burros, the former lying about 6 miles southwest of Silver City-, and the latter about 9 miles farther in the same direction. They are separated by the valley of the Mangas River, a tributary of the Gila, and a stream only in name, except after a heavy down-pour of rain. . The Little Burros attain an elevation of 6,625 ft. above sea level, and the Big Burros 8,054 ft., with the surrounding country averaging about 6,000 ft. To the south of these mountains stretches the desert plain, while to the north are the more frequent elevations of the mountainous country.

Jan 5, 1915

By Charles Willis

MANY of the failures in vocational education are due to the fact that the educational methods were not designed to the capabilities, habits, and environments of those to be trained; rather they were based on the policy that education is education and lessons are lessons, whether for youngsters of fifteen or for men of forty. Vocational education among miners involves, first, a study of the men themselves, their habits, and the use of their leisure time; second, a study of the differences between the methods of teaching required for men and for children. Certain fundamental requirements of training methods for miners are reasonably universal and may be applied with success to any ordinary mining community. The rate of labor turnover is another consideration; it would be useless to design a four-year course for men who remain in one place only a few months.

Jan 7, 1919

By Fred H. Brooks

INTRODUCTION The toughest job for any mining company, large or small, is to locate and identify a property which it feels has the potential for development and which can be tied up through location, lease or option under terms within their means. In the case of a small company, this precludes grass-roots exploration with its attendant high costs and the extended time required to develop a prospect to the point of being a project. The small mining company, therefore must limit its search to known properties which, for various reasons, have been shut down or were never thoroughly developed at the time of discovery. These types of prospects are located either through literature search, familiarity with many mining areas in general, or through contacts and submittals from a variety of sources. In order to develop a marketable presentation to any investor, the basic requirements are the same: - the property must demonstrate the potential to provide a satisfactory return on investment - the evaluation study must be thorough and professionally developed. In order to promote any mining property, it is first necessary to know what you have. INFORMATION DEVELOPMENT We normally begin with a detailed literature search of the district, assembling all available data on the basic geology, production records, and old reports of this or neighboring properties and any other information which can be found. This will aid in the general understanding of the basic geology and hopefully allow a fairly detailed knowledge of the specific occurrence. With this information one can begin to speculate on the reserve potential and develop some high and low figures for estimating purposes as to mining method, production rate, metallurgy and begin developing estimated capital and operating costs. Cashflow runs are developed for varying tonnages (high and low), estimated high and low grades of metal and at differing market prices for the product. FINANCE CONTACTS Brooks Minerals, from its inception, has been an operating company and we have been able to assemble a small but experienced operating staff. For this reason we try to put together projects and joint ventures where we can be the operator and maintain a certain degree of control. Whether due to familiarity with many colleagues in the mining industry or due to unfamiliarity with the banking houses and securities markets, the approach to raising finance has generally been to contact the established mining companies. This requires a familiarity with the corporate philosophies of these companies with respect to their development goals and financial capabilities. A common mistake is to shotgun the proposal to many companies of different sizes and goals in hopes that one might be interested. It is more beneficial, when possible, to tailor a proposal to each company, stressing the positive points where the specific proposal best meets their interests. One company may be more interested in a development program with fairly certain and conservative return potential. The property may well contain both possibilities but a lack of understanding of the individual company's method of operation could spoil the deal. In another instance, one company may look at a property as a moderate income producer over an extended life, yet a second may elect to high-grade the deposit over a shorter period in order to provide early cash flow or take advantage of a favorable market situation. MAKING THE DEAL There are as many types of deals as there

Jan 1, 1985

MARCEL R. DALY (written discussion+).-I have read with great interest Mr. W . Van Der Gracht's discussion of my paper and I fail to see where his theory contradicts mine on any fundamental point. My contention is that petroliferous accumulations are generally coincident with diastrophic deformations, synchronous with them and essentially a result of them. This implies that the causes which have led to the distortion of the strata, whatever these causes may be (thrusts, torsion, etc.), have also led to the concentration and accumulation of the hydrocarbons existing in the strata at that time. It is in this respect that both set of phenomena may be said to be related in space and in time and that we may speak of an identity of causes. It is evident that no concentration of the hydrocarbons could take place where these hydrocarbons would not exist. But whenever they do so exist, deformation will tend to concentrate them; and whenever they are found to be concentrated (or accumulated) the cause of their accumulation will have to be traced directly to distortion. I have tried to show, in some previous papers,' the probable sequence of such a mechanical process in the simple case of a series of parallel, superposed, horizontal and homogeneous layers, individually uniform in thickness, but variable in composition and resistance; and I have pointed out that the general results so obtained would harmonize with some striking features recognized in the field. But I have also stated that conditions being much more complicated in nature than in the theoretical instance considered above, a complex superposition of effects would. have to be expected as a general rule, though the leading principle would remain the same. Mr. Van der Gracht admits that the motion of the primary oil, when it has been formed, and its accumulation in adequately porous containers, if any, that would be mostly found on the front edge of the original geosynclines, would be due to the action of the mountain-building forces. Our agreement on this point seems to be complete. But Mr. Van der Gracht wants also the formation of the bituminous matter in its primary form to be coincident only with the earliest phase of the uplift, viz., after the slow geanticlinal upheaval has been completed, and the accumulation

Jan 3, 1918

By W. A. Krivsky, R. Schuhmann

PREVIOUS papers in this series on the thermo-•t dynamics of copper-smelting systems have presented a survey of the field and an outline of the overall program: thermodynamic studies of iron silicate slags, 2-4 and thermodynamic data for simple mattes in the Cu-S system.5 Since this program was started, an excellent summary of the whole field of physical chemistry of copper smelting was published by Ruddle. The present paper represents a further step in the study of liquid mattes, and deals specifically with the Cu-Fe-S system. The importance of the Cu-Fe-S system to copper smelting is evident from the fact that these three elements constitute 90 to 99 pct of the totalweight of most commercial mattes. In copper mattes oxygen is an important fourth component. Oxygen was rigorously excluded in the work to be described in this paper. However, the behavior of oxygen in mattes was the subject of a companion research by Lander' which will be described in a subsequent publication. Several studies have been made previously of phase equilibria in the Cu-Fe-S system,8-10 so that the ternary phase diagram is fairly well established in most regions. Also, separate studies have been made of the phase diagrams and thermodynamic properties for the three binary systems: CU-S,5,12-15 CU-Fe,11,14,17 and FeS.11,14,16,17 However, no work has

Jan 1, 1958

By William E. Ford, Edward Salisbury Dana

506. Scope of Descriptive Mineralogy. - It is the province of Descriptive Mineralogy to describe each mineral species, as regards: (1) form and structure; (2) physical characters; (3) chemical composition including blowpipe and chemical tests; (4) occurrence in nature with reference to geo- graphical distribution and association with other species; also in connection with the above to show how it may be distinguished from other species. Further, it should classify mineral species into more or less comprehensive groups according to those characters regarded as most essential. Other points which may or may not be included are the investigation of the methods of origin of minerals; the changes that they undergo in nature and the results of such alteration; also the methods by which the same compounds may be made in the laboratory; finally, the uses of minerals as ores, for ornament and in the arts.

Jan 1, 1922

By Ernest P. Hall

At the SME Fall Meeting held in Phoenix, Ariz. last October, Ernest P. Hall, addressing an Air and Water Pollution session, noted that water pollution caused by acid drainage from bituminous coal measures had begun long before recorded history. "Until recently," he said, "man did not begin to understand the physical phenomena which took place to cause [it] and even today he does not know what can be done to prevent it." CAUSES "It is known from the reports of early explorers that drainage from bituminous coal measures was causing water pollution before coal mines were opened on this continent. They noted the nature of the polluted water in the runs and creeks and predicted the presence of substantial deposits of coal based on the appearance and character of the water. Even today, polluted water drains from virgin coal areas which have not been touched by mining machines," Mr. Hall said.

Jan 1, 1966