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By H. M. Woodroffe, H. K. Conn, S. J. Rice

World production of asbestos is estimated to be at a current level of almost 3.5 million tons, having more than doubled in the past ten years. A substantial part of the increase has been due to a rapid expansion in the Soviet Union. Production from that country during 1964 is estimated at 1.5 million tons and, as a consequence, Russia has displaced Canada as the leading world producer. Although traditionally the asbestos mining industry has been centered near Sverdlovsk in the Urals, two new producing areas have been under development for some time. It is expected that a new mine will be in operation in 1965 near Kiembi, Kazakhstan, some 300 miles south of Sverdlovsk, and an- other mine at Aktrovak in Tannu-Tuva, west of Lake Baikal. These developments will provide a significant increase in the production capability of Russia. Although internal consumption is expected to increase with the addition of new asbestos- cement producing facilities now under construction in Russia, there is some speculation that exports will also increase.

Jan 2, 1965

By Victor J. Miller

The Northeast Tripp Slide is one of the larger slope failures that can be attributed to open pit mining. It is a 11.7 million cubic meter (15.3 x l0 6 yd3) wedge failure created by two thick gouge-filled fault zones whose intersection plunges into the Tripp pit at 13°. One unique aspect of this failure is that the slide is now stable despite having moved an estimated 8.5m (28 ft.) towards the pit and having reached a maximum overall velocity of 2lmmlday (0.07 ft/day). The slide started to fail in 1968, accelerated until mining in the slide's toe area was halted in April 1970, then began to decelerate. With the cessation of mining in the toe area, rubblized rock sloughed into the pit bottom which added weight to the failures toe constraints and began the stabilization process. Measurements from a network of survey stations revealed a correlation between the slide's velocity and heavy precipitation. Runoff water accumulating in the tension cracks is believed responsible for this correlation. Moreover, the survey net measurements showed that during the failure's last stage the vertical component of the slide's movement greatly increased. It is proposed that this settling was caused by plastic-like flowage of the clay gouge underlying the failure The fault zone's effective shear strength was estimated by a back- analysis on the wedge's geometry and by performing direct shear tests. The tests, performed on cores taken from samples that were collected on the failure, yielded a residual shear strength of: cohesion 0.61 kg/cm2 (8.7 lb/in2), and a friction angle of 9.6°. This residual shear strength was near1y equal to the back-calculated strength indicating that the controlling fault's effective strength was essentially the same as the residual shear strength of the gouge filling

Jan 1, 1983

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Jan 1, 1946

By Paul C. Merritt

Samuel Hopkins, an 18th century inventor from Philadelphia, has been little noted nor long remembered by History, but it was he who on July 31, 1790, obtained what no other man can ever achieve -the first patent issued by the Government of the United States. Signed by President George Washington, the patent guaranteed to Hopkins the protection of the American Government for his "improvement, not known or used before, . . . in the making of Potash . . . by a new Apparatus and Process." The patent itself is no longer important, but it serves as a milestone in the development of an industry that is now rapidly moving to fulfill its role as a mineral to feed the world. Potash ranks as one of the oldest products of Man, having been used as a condiment by the habitants of Gaul a thousand years before Athens achieved its Golden Age of culture. By Hopkins' time, the uses of potash had changed considerably, going primarily into glass-making, tanning, soap, and explosives, yet the same sources and techniques of manufacturing potash used during the earlier 2000 years-that is, leaching of plant ashes in iron pots with water, followed by water evaporation and crystallization of the potassium salts-were still being used.

Jan 10, 1966

By C. R. Wohrman

A melt of pure electrolytic iron with about 0.4 per cent. sulfur and 7 per cent. manganese was prepared in connection with a study of inclusions in iron. The alloy darkened rapidly when etched with a 10 per cent, alcoholic solution of nitric acid, and microscopic examination revealed the presence of a semimartensitic, semi-Widmanstättian structure (Figs. 1 and 2) closely resembling the structures found by Benedicks in his artificially prepared "meteoric iron."' The structures found by Benedicks were readily explained by the presence in his alloy of the two well-known iron-nickel solid solutions, taenite and kamacite, and of their eutectoid (?) aggregate, plessite. By analogy, one would infer the existence of similar phases in the iron-manganese alloy just described, such an inference being strengthened by the similarity displayed in many ways by nickel and manganese in their effects on iron. Iron-manganese Alloys are Regarded as Homogeneous Heterogeneity of iron-manganese alloys has not been recognized heretofore, judging from the data of standard metallographic books and those of original papers. In fact, iron and manganese are quite generally regarded as completely miscible in the solid state. Dr. Rosenhain,2 for example, writes: Alloys of group (a), of which those of gold-silver, iron-manganese, and copper-nickel are examples, when allowed to crystallize sufficiently slowly to attain their condition of final equilibrium, present a microstructure exactly similar to that of a pure metal—the homogeneous character of the molten solution is in that case so completely maintained that the microscope cannot detect the presence of any second constituent. Guillet and Portevin3 refer to the iron-manganese system as an example of the "case of metals completely miscible in the solid state."

By C. M. WEILD

ATTENTION has been turned recently to the exploration and development of certain large blanket-deposits of brown iron-ore in Cuba. The most conspicuous of these to-day, and the one upon which the most light has been shed, is the Mayari deposit, situated about 15 miles south of Nipe bay. Here the Spanish-American Co. has sole control over 18,500 acres of ore-bearing lands, reported by its engineers to contain 500,000,000 tons of ore; and the necessary plant and equipment, with docks and railways, is now under construction for the early marketing of this ore. A similar deposit, and undoubtedly the next to be exploited, is the ore-field at Moa bay, where 13,000 to 15,000 acres of ore-lands, immediately adjacent to the shores of an excellent harbor, have been generously covered by numerous mining-claims, practically all controlled by four large interests. This deposit is now estimated to contain approximately 350,000,000 tons, on the basis of dried ore ready for shipment, a figure which may be increased when the western limits of the ore-deposit have been more accurately defined. Other deposits of the same type, but smaller and less accessible, are those at Cubitas, situated from 12 to 15 miles north of Camaguey city, and at Taco bay and Navas, points lying a few miles west of Baracoa. The area of the Cubitas deposit is said to be 6,000 acres, and the yield of ore is estimated at 150,000,000 tons. The Baracoa. deposits are less well known, but preliminary estimates have placed their joint ore-reserves at 40,000,000 tons. Accepting the above tonnages as reasonably correct, we conclude that the deposits enumerated give promise of adding about 1,000,000,000 tons of iron-ore to the world's supply; they have, therefore, to be considered in any attempt to fore-

Aug 1, 1909

This discussion was prepared by members of the Phelps Dodge Corpn. staff who were designated to review the minutes. It is confidential but permission has been granted to distribute copies among those who attended the Conference. The minutes of the above conference contain numerous references to the plants and practices of Phelps Dodge Corporation. As many of these references are inaccurate, the following notes are made covering such points: Construction Magnesite Brick in Reverb. Arch (1) An.18" arch, 20 feet long, was built on one furnace with 5 feet on each side of magnesite brick, the center portion .being of silica brick. The furnace was put in operation February 13, 1930 and on April 23rd after 68.8 days' operation it was replaced due to failure of the silica brick forming the center of the arch. At this time, while the silica brick had completely gone, there was 14" of magnesite left. Bridgewall Tapping (2) Tapping matte through the burner wall was first tried at the Copper Queen Smelter in April, 1925. At that time, a copper casting with 1 ½ extra heavy pipes for water cooling cast in it, and having one taphole block was used. Later, on the other (old) furnaces, similar castings, but equipped with two tapholes, were used. We found with these furnaces that we could tap through the burner wall at the beginning of a campaign, but would subsequently have to go back to side wall tapping. This was the case until sometime in 1926. The new furnaces, that went in operation at the beginning of 1927, each had water. cooled castings with two tapholes. These have been used entirely and have been quite successful. Sometime after the furnaces were put into operation sidewall tapholes were put in, simply for the removal of any accumulation of matte that might be temporarily retained at the front end by bridges or dams in the furnace formed by overcharging locally.

Jan 1, 1930

By C. K. Leith

THE resolution presented at the Annual Meeting of the A.I.M.E., calling on Congress to provide now for postwar accumulation of mineral stock piles under Government control, expresses, I think, the nearly unanimous view of the mining industry. As a result of the trying experiences of the first World War, Mr. Baruch, in his report of Dec. 24, 1919, to the President, urged that steps be taken at once to ensure adequate supplies of raw materials for future emergency. In the twenty years that followed, the same program was vigorously urged on Congress by many individuals and agencies, public and private, including the Secretaries of War and Navy, many members of Congress, the Bureau of Mines, the Planning Committee for Mineral Policy appointed by President Roosevelt, the A.I.M.E., the Mining and Metallurgical Society, and others.

Jan 1, 1943

Jan 1, 1962

By M. R. Tek, K. H. Coats, D. L. Katz

A large number of boundary value problems encountcred in unsteady-state heat transfer, fluid flow through porous media, neutron diffusion and mass transfer involve the solution of a linear, parabolic partial differential equation commonly refcrred to as the diffusivity equation, where U is the dependent potential variable. K is the diffusivity (hydraulic, thermal, neutron, etc.) and 1 is the time variablc. Solutions to Eq. I are available in the literature for a wide variety of initial and houndary conditions. The great majority of these solutions are ohtained for geometric boundaries corresponding to linear. cylindrical or spherical flow models. A typical engineering application where the solution to Eq. 1 is required is the calculation of underground water encroachment across the boundaries of oil or natural gas reservoirs, In this particular area of application, the reservoir boundary is invariably approximated by circular geometry. However. the areal shape of many reservoirs can be better approximated by elliptic rather than circular boundaries. Thus the need for a general method of solving the diffusivity equation in elliptic coordinates arises in this problem as well as in other engineering applications involving elliptic boundaries. The solution to the diffusivity equation usually in volves the Error Function for the linear flow model, Bessel functions for the radial flow model and trigonometric or Legendre functions for the spherical flow model. It is well known that the general solution to the diffusivity equation in elliptic coordinates involves Mathieu functions. The significance of Mathieu functions in the analytical treatment of the diffusivity equation in elliptic coordinates is discussed in the literature However, these references do not providc analytical solutions useful in practical engineering problems. The objectives of this papcr are the development of the equations describing the unsteady-state liquid flow through a porous medium with an elliptic inner boun- dary, the development of a numerical method of solving these equations and, finally, a comparison of the water encroachment quantities calculated from the elliptic flow equation with those calculated from the radial flow equation. While the specific problem treated in this paper relates to unsteady-state liquid flow through a porous medium, the basic equations and computational techniques devcloped will apply equally well to problems occurring in the other areas of engincering interest mentioned previously. The solution given here is limited to a single case in which thc outer boundary encloses an area 100 times that of the inner boundary. DESCRIPTION OF THE FLOW MODEL Fig. 1 shows the flow model upon which the calcu lations presented in this paper are based. The inncr and outer houndaries of the flow model are represented by two confocal ellipses with major and minor axes, respectively, equal to 2a1, 2b1, and 2a, and 26,. The height of the elliptic cylinder flow model is denoted by 17. The following assumptions are employed in the development 01 the equations governing the unsteady-state liquid flow through the described flow model. 1. Uniform porosity and permeability throughout the flow model

By F. S. White, E. L. Kinsella

THE solids fluidization process brought out by the Standard Oil Development Co. in the early forties for catalytic cracking of petroleum enabled rapid transfer of large quantities of heat from gases to solids under closely controlled temperature conditions. As the technique developed, it was natural that applications for the process outside the petroleum industry would be sought. The calcination of limestone to ' quicklime requires the transfer of a large quantity of heat at high and closely controlled temperatures. For these reasons, this possible application was one of the first to be investigated. Laboratory work conducted by the Dorr Co. indicated that lime produced by solids fluidization would be of exceptional quality. Calculation of theoretical heat balances showed that savings in fuel could be expected. Accordingly, a pilot plant of 10 tons per day capacity was erected by the New England Lime Co. at Adams, Mass., to substantiate the process. Operation of the pilot plant, previously described,1 showed that excellent lime could be produced with a saving in fuel. The work also indicated the necessity of preparing feed to remove the finer fractions if dust losses were to be held to a tolerable level. A single-stage fluidized solids drier-stripper was developed to accomplish this sizing.2 Subsequently a commercial lime reactor was erected at Adams, beginning operation in June 1949, followed by air sizer facilities completed in November 1951. This paper will describe these two applications of solids fluidization. The raw material for preparation of lime by the fluidizing process is a high calcium crystalline lime stone having the approximate chemical composition shown in Table I. The stone is first prepared by crushing and grinding in conventional equipment to pass a 6-mesh sieve. After crushing, the material is sent to the FluoDry unit for drying and dedusting. Fluidized Drying and Sizing As shown in Fig. 1, the FluoDry unit consists of a 1/4-in. cylindrical steel shell, 9-ft ID by 22-ft 6-in. overall height. Attached horizontally at the bottom is a 6-ft diam combustion chamber, approximately 7 ft 6 in. long. A refractory constriction dome, consisting of first-quality fire brick shapes, partitions the inside into two sections. The lower section is called the windbox and the upper the bed compartment. The vertical wall of the shell is lined with 6-in. first-quality rotary kiln blocks. In the bottom of the windbox a hoppered section is formed with castable refractory to permit the windbox to be readily cleaned via a 6-in. screw conveyor. The combustion chamber is similarly lined with refractory shapes. On the 6-in. diam section, 4 1/2 in. of insulating brick, HW-26, are used. The inner combustion chamber is lined with 4 1/2-in. Korundal brick to withstand the high flame temperatures encountered. An 8-in. steel feed pipe, entering vertically through the top and fitted with an air-operated cone valve,

Jan 1, 1952

By William E. Ford, Edward Salisbury Dana

The Silicates are m part strictly anhydrous, in part hydrous, as the zeolites and the amorphous clays, etc. Furthermore, a large number of the silicates yield more or less water upon ignition, and in many cases it is known that they are, therefore, to be regarded as basic (or acid) silicates. The line, however, between the strictly anhydrous and hydrous silicates cannot be sharply drawn, since with many species which yield water upon ignition the part played by the elements forming the water is as yet uncertain. Furthermore, in the cases of several groups, the strict arrangement must be deviated from, since the relation of the species is best exhibited by introducing the related hydrous species immediately after the others. This chapter closes with a section including the Titanates, Silico-titanates, Titano-niobates, etc., which connect the Silicates with the Niobates and Tantalates. Some Titanates have already been included among the Oxides.

Jan 1, 1922

By F. G. Smith

A FEW years ago, the writer encountered a, problem that, at first, seemed to be due to peculiar conditions affecting grain growth. Large cups made from heavy metal failed in the first drawing operation in the process of making seamless tubes. The metal, as cast, appeared to be sound and strong; it rolled successfully and withstood the first cupping operation, but on the first draw it failed, with a crystalline fracture. The failure appeared in the slightly worked part of the bottom of the cup, and microscopic examination revealed exceptionally large grains. Knowing the general conditions governing recrystallization of brass, which were later published by Matthewson and Phillips, an investigation was outlined with the idea of including various conditions under which new grains might form, and which would include the effect that a previous anneal might have upon the anneal following. These conditions were produced by annealing specimens of brass at five different temperatures, indenting them with a 10-inn. ball under four different pressures, and then reannealing at each of the five temperatures five specimens each of which had been annealed at one of the five temperatures.

Jan 8, 1919

By CHARLES DORRANGE

INTRODUCTION. CULM is a general term used in the anthracite regions for many years to denote a mixture of coal, bony coal and impurities which is sent to the refuse-banks. Thus, 35 years ago culm contained the pea and buckwheat sizes of anthracite; but to-day, and as mentioned in this paper, culm is used specifically to denote the material which passes through the smallest screen in the anthracite-breaker. The smallest size of commercial anthracite is known as No. 3 buckwheat, barley, or bird's-eye coal, and is ordinarily made through a round-punched plate having openings 3/16 in. in diameter, and over a round-punched plate with opening 3/32 in. or 1/16 in. in diameter. Thus culm will consist of coal, bony coal, slate, gravel, iron pyrite, etc., ranging in size from ? 3/32 in. down to dust. Other local terms for culm are " slush," " silt," and " dirt." The first experiments towards the utilization of anthracite culm by briquetting, and the first briquetting-work done in this country, were in 1872 at Port Richmond Piers, Philadelphia, Pa., by E. F., Loiseau.1 Clay was used as a binder and the finished briquette was water-proofed with shellac, etc. Excessive cost was given as the reason for discontinuing work at this plant. The Delaware k Hudson Co., in 1876, built a plant at Rondout, N. Y., which operated until 1880. Gas-tar was used as a binder, and anthracite screenings were briquetted for engine fuel. Excessive cost, poor results in firing, and the tendency of the fuel to cut the boiler-flues were given as the reasons for discontinuing the manufacture. The next plant was built by E. F. Loiseau about 1878, at Nesquehoning, Pa., near the No. 1 or Nesquehoning colliery

Sep 1, 1911

By T. A. Rickard

Flaubert, as we know, laid stress on the selection of the right word, le mot juste, the precise epithet, the word that belongs to the thing. A sentence, or even a paragraph, may be spoiled by the use of a word that is not proper, that does not fit or is foreign to the meaning intended. An Australian mining expert is reported to have said: You have a property of considerable value, and what I saw warrants a good development of very rich cubicular galena, with gossan intermixed. 'Cubicular' means `belonging to a small bedroom', a `cubicle' being a sleeping compartment. He meant `cubic', of course. This is a malapropism, and reminds me of the lady from Chicago that, on her return from Europe, said how much she had enjoyed the rural parts of France, because, among other things, it was "so delightful to hear the French pheasants singing the mayonnaise to the tune of the Los Angelus". It is impossible to amalgamate coal-tar thoroughly with the pulp in the agitating-tank. In metallurgy, `amalgamate' refers to the combination of mercury with one or both of the precious metals, forming an amalgam, which is an alloy of mercury with another metal. It differs from other alloys, such as brass or bronze, in being made without the aid of heat, inasmuch as mercury is molten at the ordinary temperature. The word comes to us from the Greek. through Old French and means `something soft'. It is a mistake to use technical terms, having a specific meaning, for purposes that are foreign to that meaning. The writer of the quotation is not discussing any combination of metals; he is dealing with the physical process of mixing and is using 'amal-

Jan 1, 1931

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1947

By R. M. Sellwood

The No. 4 I.S.F. Smelter Complex at the Avonmouth Works of Imperial Smelting Corporation (N.S.C.) Limited commenced operation at the beginning of 1968. The furnace rating is 120,000 tons zinc and 40,000 tons lead per annum. Zinc and lead concentrates are unloaded onto a 1,000 tons per hour capacity conveyor belt and automatically weighed and sampled before receipt into a 48,000 ton capacity raw material store. Distribution is by a reversible boom stacker into 16 x 3,000 ton bays and recovery is by a front end loader. Materials are fed to 16 proportioning bins for feeding via continuous weigh feeders to a 132 square metre effective updraught area sinter machine with a material flow rate of 240 tons per hour over the machine. The required quantity of output lump sinter at up to 800ºC is fed to 2 x 600 ton storage bins on the I.S.F. plant. By-product SO2 rich gas is fed to a conventional wet gas single stream acid plant rated at 600 tons per day utilizing a dry N.T.P. gas volume of 100,000 cubic metres per hour. The hot sinter and preheated coke (800ºC) are automatically neighed and charged to a 27.3m2 shaft area I.S.F. fitted with 2 x 5.5 m. wide lead splash condensers. Grade 4 zinc is tapped and transferred to the zinc refinery. Conventional type lead bullion and slag are tapped from the bottom of the furnace through a separation forehearth. The refinery consists of 6 lead and 3 cadmium columns to produce some 52,000 tons per annum of S.H.G. metal. S.H.G. metal and Grade 4 metal is cast into various shapes as required.

Jan 1, 1970

By W. S. CAYPLESS, H. O. Hofman, E. E. HARRINGTON

1. INTRODUCTION. AT the Lake Superior meeting, September, 1904, Messrs. A. Gibb and R. C. Philp presented a paper entitled " The Constitution of Mattes Produced in Copper Smelting,)' in which they concluded that ferrous and cuprous sulphides formed the chemical compound, 5 Cu2S, fee. They arrived at this inference from the observed fact that a matte containing Cu2S, 90.4, and Fee, 9.6 per cent (or, in round figures, Cu2S, 90, and Fee, 10 per cent.), did not contain any metallic copper, while one with more than 10 per cent of FeS readily dissolved copper, and with less than this amount retained copper in mechanical suspension. Although they determined the melting-points of five mattes containing from 32.6 to 80.1 per cent of copper, they did not draw a freezing-point curve, as the necessary apparatus was not available. A microscopical examination of 11 polished samples, gave them a grayish-black field of very uniform appearance, except that 5 of the specimens showed the presence of metallic copper. The object of the present investigation was to supplement the above paper by drawing the freezing-point curve of the series ferrous sulphide cuprous sulphide, and to see how the constitution could be further, revealed by microscopical work. The results obtained lead to conclusions very different from those of Gibb and Philp. While their paper bears the date 1904, it was published only in 1906.2 In the meantime, Bolles3 had presented his paper, "The Concentration of Gold and Silver in Iron Bottoms." The raw material which formed the basis of the research was a matte containing Fe, 61.68, and Cu, 11.20

Jan 1, 1907