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By W. E. C. Coxe

IN 1857 the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, whose main line extended from Philadelphia to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, with branches into the coal regions of Schuylkill County, made a contract with the Fairmount Rolling Mill, at Philadelphia, for the rerolling of some four thousand tons of iron rails. The essential features of the agreement were that the old rails should be piled with puddled iron and rolled into flats for the rail pile, which latter was to be of a section seven inches square, and after being heated, and reduced, by rolling, to a bloom of a section about five inches by six inches, was to be reheated, before being finished into the rail of the T pattern, four inches high, weighing sixty-four pounds per yard. Great care was exercised in the execution of this contract, and the rails being distributed over all parts of the road, gave general satis¬faction by their excellent wear. Five years afterward, the principal proprietor and manager of the Fairmount Rolling Mill was elected President of the Reading Railroad, and very many of the rails made under his supervision were still in use in the tracks of the company, of which he had just assumed the management. His first efforts were, therefore, directed to the procuring of more rails of the same quality wherewith to replace those worn out. Here he encountered some trouble, makers refusing to bid because of the details in the specification, the required reheating being the objectionable feature, for which it was generally intimated they would not be sufficiently remunerated for the increased labor, extra coal consumed, and the changes necessary from the established methods of working. Most of the new rails were, therefore, bought, and the old rails rerolled without regard to any particulars as to the manner of piling, heating, etc., each manufacturer furnishing what he deemed the best article possible for the money. As a consequence, rails of all imaginable grades were placed in the tracks, some giving out in six

Jan 1, 1877

By N. Lilienberg

During the past fen- years, the requirements for steel have been raised so high that soundness is more important than ever before. The old practice mas to make steel ingots of suffciently large sections to permit a considerable reduction of area in rolling and hammering to a given size, relying on the fact that by such rolling and hammering all cavities will be squeezed together and practically eliminated. The finished sizes, if found by inspection of the surface to be faultless, were therefore pronounced to be sound. But when such steel is " worked up," the manufacturer is surprised and disappointed to find that it splits, or that streaks and seams make the product unmarketable. Large sections, such as rails, beams or heavy forgings, may, within certain limits, be sufficiently strong, even if the sides of the cavities are only squeezed, and not welded, together. But it is well known that, in the interior of heavy articles, under certain conditions, forging may develop small streaks into large cavities. Small sections, steel for ordnauce and tubes, and numberless articles in the tool-trade, always show up the defects. It may be doubted whether cavities in steel ingots can ever be completely welded. The old theory is, that the silver-clear blow-holes, without the blue oxide, can be welded by suffcient working. They are, however, not empty, but are filled with carbonic oxide. It is admitted that the " blue " cavities, resulting from air mechanically drawn down into the mold during the casting, can never be welded, because the oxide does not melt, and there would be no escape for it if it did. The only way in which steel can be made satisfactory for the above-named particular purposes is by having it " dead molten." But then the trouble of piping is encountered. As is well known, a pipe is the result of the contraction of the liquid interior after the surface of the ingot has become solid by contact with the mold. When this contraction is partly

Jan 1, 1907

By J. D. Gill

Restriction programs in important raw-materials industries in foreign countries have been abandoned after lengthy trials. Presumably, failure has been a logical consequence of the attainment of objectives of the restrictive schemes in the early periods of their administration in defiance of economic law. In general, the chief objective has been the elevation of prices of the products of these industries. More conservative plans have sought the maintenance of a price structure that was in jeopardy at the time restriction was initiated. The course of the administrat'ion of restrictive measures can be traced by the result's of restriction, viz.: the creation or maintenance of highly profitable prices; the over-expansion of productive facilities; the accumulation of inventory; and finally, by the collapse of the price structure, which invariably has led to abandonment of the restrictive scheme. The theory and practice of restriction as applied to industries that have tried it are too well known to need detailing here. Restraint of Production of Crude Oil Regardless of the record of the catastrophic outcomes of restrictive measures in other industries, our industry has not been deterred from attempting restriction of crude-oil production. The assumed bases for success of our restrictive plan are clear. They follow from the fact that the physical characteristics of the petroleum industry differ from those of other industries that have tried restriction. Its raw material is a highly essential substance, a natural, exhaustible resource. The extent of its reserves is unknown, a fact that arouses the cooperative spirit of conservationists. At no time before the inauguration of restriction had its developed reserves been sufficient to supply more than the requirements for a few months without the help of new drillings. To a considerable extent its discovery involves the element of chance. Its economic production seems to require an unnatural relationship; namely, cooperation among competitors, because it is a fugitive resource, capable of moving from under one owner's property to underlie another's. Thus its recovery presents intricate legal questions concerning property rights.

Jan 1, 1934

By Van H. Manning

In substance, the international aspects of the petroleum industry, as these relate to the United States, are as follows: The domestic production is not keeping pace with the domestic demands; our best engineering talent warns us of the imminence of a decreased production by our oil wells, although more oil is needed; and the only practical source whence this increasing demand can be supplied for some time to come will be the foreign fields. Other nations have given thought to the future and, in recent years, have shown a tendency to adopt strong nationalistic policies regarding their petroleum resources, policies that hinder or prevent the exploitation of these resources by other nationals. In consequence, we find that, facing a probable shortage of the domestic supply, our nationals are excluded from foreign fields; and this in spite of the fact that foreign nationals have been permitted to enter into and exploit our own oil resources on an equality with American citizens and without hindrance or restrictions. This country has supplied the larger part of the petroleum consumed by the world and yet, with a failing supply imminent, it finds that those countries that, have been drawing upon our resources to supply their needs are showing a tendency to exclude us from their resources. In this way we shall be transferred from a position of dominence to one of dependence; and only by sufferance of those countries that are now seeking financial or political control of petroleum supplies, shall we be able to obtain the oil we will need. Impoetance of Petroleum Petroleum has become, during recent years, one of the essentials of our social and industrial life. All civilized countries recognize that the world is dependent on petroleum as on nothing else except textiles: foodstuffs, coal, and iron. Today, the tendency is toward an ever-increasing consumption of petroleum and its products as new and more efficient uses are found for them. The utilization of petroleum is extending more and more into the structure of our civilization. Consequently,

Jan 1, 1921

By James Douglas

In discussing the waste upon which hinges, or is supposed to hinge, so largely the preservation of our national resources, the conclusions reached would be more reliable if actual experience were consulted, and fewer deductions were drawn from general statements, which are often the product of the imagination. It cannot be questioned that the value of by-products has .not been sufficiently appreciated by us, and that our tardiness in recovering the useful ingredients of the escaping gas of our coke-ovens is one of the most glaring instances of shortcoming in that direction. And yet even for that sin there is some palliation in the immature condition of affiliated industries. I presume that it is admitted, without argument, that, except under very exceptional conditions, all the elements cannot be recovered from most of the ores or natural products which we treat. While it is a shame that the by-products from our coke-ovens should be dissipated, Edward W. Parker's report to the U. S. Geological Survey for 19061 supplies a fairly good excuse in justification of this appalling waste. He says (pp. 773 to 774.): " What has been already commented on in previous reports about the slowness of manufacturers to change from the better known but wasteful beehive practice to the by-product recovery method of coke manufacture is particularly emphasized in the statistics presented in this chapter. For it would appear from the table following that the construction of by-product ovens had about come to a standstill, especially when the records for the preceding five years are taken into consideration. At the close of 1901, when there were only 1,165 by-product ovens completed in the United States, there were 1,533 in course of construction, 498 of which were completed during the following year. At the close of 1902, 1,346 retort ovens were building, 293 of which were added to the completed plants in 1903. At the close of 1903, 1,335 new ovens were building and 954 of these

Jan 1, 1910

By R. M. Hudson

A study has been made of the decarburization of low-carbon sheet steels at temperatures from 1100" to 1475°F in mixtures containing hydrogen, nitrogen, water vapor, and in some instances carbon monoxide. Decarburization occurs principally by the reaction C (in steel) + H20 = CO + H2 and follows a first-order rate law. The decarburization rate appreciably increases with an increase in temperature up to about 1325°F, but the increase in rate is small with fur- Use of a dry hydrogen atmosphere results in a relatively slow decarburization of steel and use of a wet hydrogen atmosphere results in relatively rapid decarburization. It is now generally recognized' that the reaction C (in steel) + H2O = H2 + CO [l] accounts for most of the decarburization that occurs in wet hydrogen-containing atmospheres. The present article is concerned with the decarburization of low-carbon sheet steel in H2-N2 atmospheres ther increase in temperature. The limiting rate of decarburization can be predicted from a knowledge of the solid solubility and diffusivity of carbon and this rate is approached as the water-vapor content of an atmosphere is increased. Hydrogen contents above about 8 pct are beneficial only in that they permit higher levels of water vapor to be used without oxidation of the steel. A buildup of CO in the atmosphere lowers the rate of decarburization. containing various amounts of water vapor and carbon monoxide. The effectiveness of these atmospheres and the influence of temperature on decarburization rate will be considered. EXPERIMENTAL WORK The chemical compositions of the three steels used in decarburization-rate studies are listed in Table I. Steel A was a commercially hot-rolled rimmed steel that was cold-reduced at the Laboratory to furnish specimens 0.025, 0.041, and 0.059 in. thick. Most of the experiments in which this steel was used were made on the 0.041-in.-thick material. Steel B and Steel C were cut from 0.010-in.-thick commercially cold-reduced coils that were

Jan 1, 1963

By A. Q. Tool

THE necessity of accurate temperature measurements in the glass-making industries is today being much more widely appreciated than in the past. The introduction of the modern simplified and perfected pyrometric methods in connection with exact regulation of furnace temperatures has caused a marked improvement in the glass product with a quickened rate of production. An example of the processes in which much improvement has been and still can be made is that of annealing or heat-treating the glass. This is one of the most delicate processes in glass manufacture and one that requires a most careful furnace control. The heat treatment is undertaken to decrease the possibility of breakage and, in glass for fine optical instruments, to prevent serious warping of accurately ground and polished surfaces and to make the glass more uniform throughout to the passage of light waves. These objects are accomplished by removing all the harmful stresses that exist in a piece of glass when it has been cooled too quickly or unevenly. Such stresses exist, for example, after it has been pressed, cast, or otherwise worked. Thus the process of annealing consists of heating the glass evenly to the temperature at which it softens just enough to relieve these stresses in a reasonable time and then cooling slowly and uniformly until the glass hardens again. Accordingly, the things that must be investigated and determined in order to anneal glass without loss of time are, the annealing temperature, the time that the glass should be held at this temperature while the stresses relax, and the quickest cooling procedure that will give satisfactory results. After these characteristics of the glass are known the problem is one of pyrometry and temperature control entirely. In cases when it is known that a glass article will be required to withstand some definite type of heat or mechanical shock it is often possible, by a proper heat treatment, to produce such a distribution of the stresses in the glass that it will be enabled to resist these shocks more effectively.

Jan 9, 1919

By K. C. Carriere

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this section is to introduce the reader to the concepts of computer control of grinding circuits, and to flag some of the opportunities to be encountered, but without becoming overly involved in details of process, equipment or software. It is assumed that the reader has some familiarity with computer hardware and software, and in particular with the grinding process. The paper is organized into four parts: a general commentary of the need for computer control of grinding, a discussion of the process considerations involved, a more detailed elaboration on the current state of applicable computer technology, and a case study indicating one approach towards such a project. A brief installation survey and references for further reading are also given. This section will primarily deal with supervisory computer applications. Direct Digital Control and microprocessor systems are generally used as replacements for analog controls and thus are not considered in depth. Many configurations of grinding circuits exist, necessitating certain assumptions. Since many new concentrators use an open circuited SAG mill feeding a closed circuit ball mill, this configuration is used as a model although the principles stated can be extrapolated to any circuit. Motivation The use of computers for industrial control has been one of the dreams of control engineers and operators alike for many years. The concept of a plant running at optimal conditions with minimal operator involvement is very attractive from economic and technical standpoints. Accomplishment of this goal has been a long struggle, but today likelihood of success of such a project is very high, considering the reliability of modern hardware and the sophistication of available software. The primary motivation of any control system must be economic, i.e. it must pay for itself and make money for the owner, directly or indirectly. In grinding control the benefits which can be expected include: a) Higher through-put b) More uniform product in particle size, density and volumetric flog: c) Reduced operating costs including media consumption, power consumption and liner wear

Jan 1, 1982

By M. Van Siclen

THE outstanding fact in connection with dust disease in the United States at present is the growing recognition of its seriousness by state officials and by the more progressive operators of mining, metallurgical and allied industrial plants. The same may perhaps be said of labor in some of its better organized centers, but the average independent non-union workman continues, .as of yore, to suffer the toll of disability and even of death from dust inhalation without realization of the source of his ill-being. Progress in the betterment of the handling of sufferers from dust disease and of the conditions creating dust hazards in mining and allied industries is pursuing a course similar to that of the now widespread campaign against accidents, in which the risk is more obvious, more severe, and was naturally recognized sooner. The coming on of dust disease is generally relatively slow and its immediate effects not infre-quently masked by or attributed to other diseases. Marked exceptions to this general rule have occurred in districts where the dust is particularly pernicious, such as the Rand and Joplin; yet such exceptions, unhappy in themselves, opened the eyes of medical men, and of those in other localities charged with the responsibility for the welfare of industry, to the much more widespread if less spectacular hazard existing from the inhalation of dust in all rock-excavating operations and all industrial operations creating inorganic dust, whether it be crushing and grinding, sand-blast-ing, granite-cutting, or what not. Advancement to date in the United States in prevention and treat-ment has been slow, yet the record shows that quantitative methods for determining the degree of hazard and means for decreasing it were being developed as far back as 25 years ago; and that more rapid progress may be looked for from now on. In 1908, in this country; F. L Hoffman?(1) discussed the mortality from consumption in dusty trades, especially brass foundries; and in 1913 E. R. Hayhurst(2) described the effects of inhalation

Jan 1, 1933

By J. N. Hummel

The methods of electrical prospecting, which employ contact electrodes to produce an electric field in the ground, furnish information concerning the constitution of the material beneath the surface, as indicated by the distortion of this artificially produced field and anomalies therein. To reveal the distortion of such field of known character, it is only necessary to measure qualitatively the direction of the field, using sensitive compensation methods. In such a case, the survey is relatively simple, and that is an important factor from a practical point of view. The distortion of the normal field thus determined permits an easy interpretation and gives approximate information as to the subsurface conditions, without the necessity of a thorough theoretical knowledge of the electrical field. The true field of application of the equipotential lines and search-coil methods, which are based on this principle of directional determination of the electrical field in the ground, is that of search for deposits of economic minerals for the mining industry, although they can also be used in solution of other problems; for example, in the determination of the strike of anisotropic beds. The distortion of the electric field as represented by the picture of equipotential lines or other measured curves is striking only when bodies having conductivities different from that of the country rock are embedded in the underground, or when the underground is anisotropic. It is obvious that methods based on such a simple principle and capable of solving directly many of the practical problems of mining geology have found a widespread application. However, these methods are unable to furnish any information as to the presence, depth and physical properties of layers in the underground, which have different conductivities, but are parallel, or only slightly inclined, to the surface. Where such conditions exist in the underground, the picture of the field

Jan 1, 1932

By Joseph S. Malesky

As essential as the discovery of coal was to our state of advancement, the discovery and development of explosives marks one of the most important findings in the history of civilization. For this reason explosives are rightfully referred to as the forerunner of progress. Without explosives our vast economic enterprise concerning the mining of coal, copper, iron, aluminum, and various other ores could not function. Explosives are used in all kinds of construction works, in the razing of old buildings, blasting of trenches, driving of tunnels, and in many other instances common to our everyday life. An explosive may be defined as a substance (usually a mixture) that, where flame or shock is applied, yields readily to rapid combustion or oxidation, accompanied by the formation of such relatively large quantities of gases as to produce much violence and pressure which, in turn, react against their surroundings and cause what is termed an explosion. By their very nature the action of explosives is destructive and disruptive of adjacent materials. Decomposition of explosives can occur through deflagration, which is rapid burning or combustion, as in the case of black powder, or through detonation, which is an almost instantaneous disruption, as in the case of dynamites and blasting agents. HISTORY OF BLASTING WITH EXPLOSIVES At one time workmen obtained stone blocks for building by grooving the rock with crude picks, driving wooden wedges into niches in the rock, and pouring water on the wedges; the swelling of the wood forced out the blocks. As late as the 17th century, fires were placed against the face of rock to crack it, and water was sometimes dashed on the heated rock to shatter it by sudden cooling. The progress of our country is synonymous with advancement of the improved manufacture and extended use of explosives. Coal had been

Jan 1, 1973

By C. H. Herty

During the past few years frequent reference has been made to a certain type of iron known generally as "bad iron," "dirty iron," etc., both by steelmakers and producers of iron castings.' Open-hearth operators have claimed that such iron was entirely within the specified limits as to ordinary analysis but it was difficult to make good steel from it. It has been suggested that unreduced material in the iron is responsible, also that most trouble is experienced with the iron when the blast furnace is delivering a product whose analysis is more or less variable. Other reasons suggested are the use of scrap or borings, unsintered flue dust in the burden, a cold hearth, too high a proportion of unsuitable grade of ore, or the form of the carbon in the iron. Accordingly, a subcommittee was appoint at the fall meeting of the Open-hearth Committee of the Americ m Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers held in Pittsburgh in October, 1926, to investigate the reasons for the occurrence of this bad iron and suggest methods for preventing its appearance. This committee enlisted the cooperation of the U. S. Bureau of Mines Experiment Station at Pittsburgh in undertaking a study of pig-iron quality as affecting the open hearth. The following is a report of the findings to date: Method of Testing Inasmuch as a "spell" of dirty iron occurs without warning and may be of short duration, it was deemed advisable to attempt to simulate the conditions existing before and during such a period and compare the quality of the steel made with the normal and with the dirty iron. The Bourne-Fuller Co., of Cleveland, which has a single furnace that supplies

Jan 1, 1929

By H. K. Work

THE Bessemer process is one of the most interesting methods of making steel. At one time it was by far the most important. In recent years, however, it has steadily lost ground to the open-hearth process. The forces working against this method of steelmaking are partly economic and partly metallurgical.' In this paper, dealing as it does with the control of the process, the metallurgical factors alone will be considered, although it is obvious that economic factors must play a part in determining the ultimate status of the Bessemer process. This discussion has been limited in another respect-it deals primarily with the acid Bessemer process in bottom-blown converters, although much of the information is applicable to basic and side-blown converters. The fact that open-hearth steel has superseded Bessemer steel to a large extent has tended to create an impression that Bessemer steel is inferior. As a matter of fact, Bessemer steel is actually superior to open-hearth for many applications.2 There are, however, definite metallurgical limitations to the use of Bessemer steel, resulting largely from two factors: (I) the physical properties conferred by nitrogen and phosphorus, and (2) the variability from blow to blow. These, of course, are not entirely independent, since some of the variability covered in the second item is undoubtedly due to nitrogen. But the variability is also caused by other factors. One of these is the relatively small size of the Bessemer heats. Because of this, a given shipment of Bessemer steel is more likely than a shipment of open-hearth steel to contain the product of several heats, each with its own distinctive and slightly different characteristics. Added to this is the fact that the refining of Bessemer steel proceeds so rapidly that the timing of the end point is limited to a matter of seconds, whereas the finishing period in the open hearth extends over a period of one or two hours and the timing of the end point may vary by several minutes without seriously affecting the product. There is no doubt that this has contributed to the variability of Bessemer steel and has led to the use of open-hearth steel in many optional applications. That Bessemer steel may vary is not necessarily objectionable, and it may even prove an advantage, providing a precise control is available to secure the desired qualities for any specific application. With this in mind, a comprehensive research program was undertaken, one phase of which was directed toward securing more accurate control of the blow. The results have been encouraging, and it is the purpose of this paper to describe a method in which modern scientific instruments, based on photocells, are currently being employed to assist the blower. THE CONTROL PROBLEM In this day of scientific control of technical processes, where the operating

Jan 1, 1941

By Jun-Yan Chen, Stefan H. Boshkov

Metal mining in the People's Republic of China has shown great growth during the last three decades. Over 150 new iron ore mines and nonferrous base metal mines have been opened since 1949, althouc.11 most of them of medium and small size. Concurrently, many old mines were enlarged and reconstructed. The production of iron ore has grown from less than 1.5 million tons per year in 1949 to almost 76 million tons in 1978. A corresponding increase in the total annual output in the nonferrous metal mineral industry has also been noted. It is well known that the PRC is very rich in metal mineral resources. The reserves of tungsten, tin, antimony, molybdenum and iron ore are ranked in the top three in the world. Recently, some copper porphyry ore deposits were discovered in Jianxi and Anhui provinces. Some large nickel-copper sulfide deposits were discovered and have been developed in North- West China. Huge iron ore deposits have been found in Liaoning, Hebei and Szechwan provinces. However, the bulk of the iron ores are low grade. The growing metal mineral production has met basic domestic needs since 1949; it has also proven China's big resource potential. Mining methods have also undergone development in the past 30 years. About 80% of the annual output of iron ore comes from open pits, whereas about 58% of nonferrous metal ores come from underground mines. Blasthole open stoping, sublevel caving and induced block caving are widely used in Chinese underground metal mines (table 1). This paper summarizes in detail the planning for and application of these three bulk mining methods in the nonferrous and iron ore mines in China. CLASSIFICATION OF UNDERGROUND MINING METHODS The main principle of the classification of underground mining methods in PRC is ground support in the stoping cycles of the mining blocks or stopes. Table 2 lists this classification. It is essentially the same as that given in the SME Mining Engineering Handbook. Be- cause pillar removal is a secondary mining operation, using a variety of methods, they are not included in this classification. As is the case with most classifications in science and technology, there is no precise division between the classes of mining methods. Because of the rapid development of consolidated filling techniques in the past twenty years, some types of open stoping methods use fill in order to improve the ground conditions for the secondary recovery stage. Thus, these mining methods have features of both methods using no artificial support and those using artificial support. In this classification, this type of mining method is placed in the latter category. The shrinkage stoping method has been employed extensively to mine steeply dipping narrow veins of tungsten and tin in the Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. Shrink- age stoping is placed under the class of mining methods without artificial support be- cause this reflects the nature of the Chinese experience. The function of the broken ore serving to support the footwall and/or hanging wall is limited, because the expectation is for the host rocks to remain unsupported until the stope is drawn empty. APPLICATION OF BULK MINING METHODS Bulk mining methods consist of blasthole open stoping, sublevel caving and block caving. These stoping methods have much in common, such as: bulk ore materials blasted by long holes; higher production rates of stopes or blocks and higher production efficiencies of the whole mining systems.

Jan 1, 1981

By William Hurst

Muskat's depletion performance equation is here derived considering the expansion behavior of the reservoir hydrocarbon system and a simple fractional-flow equation. This nietkod of derivation leads logically to the two extensions that follow. The first of these is concerned with gravity segregation in a depletion-drive reservoir. The second is concerned with including an empirically determined tern? for water influx in the performance equation. The more general equation for gravity segregation when there is a primary gas cap and empirically-determined water influx is stated for completeness. These equations have been found useful in reservoir performance calculations in Eastern Venezuela. A discussion on the methods of solving these equations follows, and considers firstly the effect of taking finite intervals in the numerical integration, and sec-ondly, methods of incorporating the time functions involved in segregation in with the expansion behavior. The paper concludes with a brief general discussion on further extensions to the depletion performance equation. INTRODUCTION The two fundamental sources of energy by which oil is produced from a reservoir result from pressure depletion inside the boundaries of the reservoir and fluid encroachment across the boundaries of the reservoir. The wells in either case form low pressure outlets through which oil and gas may be produced by the expansive force of the reservoir fluids and associated encroaching fluids. When the reservoir pressure is higher than the bubble-point pressure of the oil, so that there is no free gas in the reservoir, these expansive forces are the only ones available for the production of oil. However, when the reservoir pressure is less than the bubble-point pressure of the oil, free gas is vaporized as the pressure falls. With both oil and free-gas phases present, the additional forces of gravity and capillarity may operate on the gas-oil system, as they have previously operated on the oil-interstitial water system. Gravity tends to segregate the free gas from the oil due to their density difference. Capillarity opposes and eventually balances gravity as the more extreme free gas and oil saturations are reached, preventing the independent move- ment of free gas until it is above a certain saturation, and the independent movement of oil when it is below a certain saturation. The type of depletion performance equation chosen for predicting the future performance of a reservoir depends on the amount of past history available. When the reservoir is somewhere past the halfway mark in depletion, some form of decline curve is often used. With less past history, material balance equations which incorporate empirical factors based on the past performance are often used. When, however, the amount of past history is small, the Muskat depletion performance equation will usually be used. The distinguishing feature of this type of equation is that empirical factors based on the over-all or macroscopic reservoir behavior are almost or entirely absent. Each parameter affecting the reservoir performance is ascribed an independent set of values based on measurements made on laboratory samples; that is, incorporating microscopic empirical factors. In establishing Muskat-type depletion performance equations, it is necessary to consider the reservoir as consisting of a number of associated blocks, in each of which the saturations and pressures may be considered uniform, and in each of which all substances have uniform pressure-volume characteristics. Thus, a primary gas cap can usually be considered as one block and an aquifer as another. Gravity segregation may be negligible for practical purposes when the rock and oil properties are adverse and/or the dip or thickness of the reservoir is too small. In this case the whole oil leg may be considered as one block, except in very large reservoirs. In very large reservoirs the fluid and rock properties may vary enough, particularly in the dip direction, for it to be necessary to divide the oil leg into a number of blocks, in each of which the relevant quantities may be considered uniform. When gravity segregation of the oil and free gas is not negligible, it is necessary to consider the space occupied by the initial oil leg as divided into two blocks, a secondary gas cap and an effective oil leg, in each of which saturations may be considered to be uniform. The total volume of these two blocks is thus constant, but the secondary gas cap grows continuously at the expense of the oil leg. Muskat1 derived depletion performance equations for the basic case of an oil reservoir with closed boundaries and without segregation, and for the case of an oil

By Will Mitchell, Ford F. Miskell, C. L. Sollenberger

THE taconites in general are hard, tough ores, difficult to grind. Liberation of iron mineral constituents usually is accomplished by grinding the ore through at least 100 mesh, and often it has been found necessary to grind substantially through 325 mesh to achieve satisfactory recovery and grade in the concentration process. Because of the fineness of grind required and the enormous tonnages of material contemplated for treatment in the future, costs resulting from grinding media wear and power consumption, together with capital investment required for comminution, approach astronomical figures. Economy in any one of these elements per ton of material ground could very well reflect a considerable saving to the ferrous industry in yearly costs. With this in mind, the Research Laboratories of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. have launched a program to discover means of effecting this economy. The initial phase of the work as described here deals with a heat treatment of crushed raw ore, followed by thermal shock in cooling, for the preparation of rod mill feed. Several investigators 1-5 have noted an improvement in the grindabilities of ores treated in this manner. One investigator2 subjected low grade iron ores to heat treatment in an electric furnace. Basing his conclusions on screen analyses of crushed products, he observed that treated ore was more easily crushed than the untreated. He reported that observation of the treated and untreated ore through a microscope revealed cracks following the grain boundaries in treated ore, whereas no cracks were present in untreated ore. However, few if any have quantified the improvement in terms of total hp hours saved, reduction of wear of grinding media, or reduction of capital costs of grinding equipment involved. By means of Bond rod mill and ball mill grindabilities6 and by comparative wear tests, the conditions maintained during this investigation have been definitely evaluated. Heat treatment experiments have been made on a batch scale in a muffle furnace, followed by continuous scale experiments in a rotary kiln under various conditions of temperature, atmosphere, retention time, and quenching to determine the combination that would give the greatest improvement in the grindability of a taconite without affecting adversely the magnetic susceptibility of the magnetite. From these data, relative costs have been calculated for grinding both untreated and heat treated ore on a basis of plant capacity of 120 tons per hour. Heat requirements for a rotary kiln, as well as the kiln capacity required for the treatment, have been estimated. For these tests 50 tons of ore were obtained from the Aurora mine of the Erie Mining Co., Hibbing, Minn. The ore was reported' to have been selected from the magnetic portion of the lower chert horizons. An average chemical analysis of this portion is shown in Table I and an approximate mineralogical analysis is shown in Table II. No attempt was made to differentiate between the various silicates because the compositions vary widely on the different horizons and depend on the degree of oxidation. Minnesotite, however, is the predominant silicate. The siderite grains were dispersed throughout the ore but were essentially associated with the rock-forming minerals. In a series of preliminary tests in which batches of -6 mesh ore were heat-treated in a muffle fur-

Jan 1, 1952

By R. V. Colligan

[CONTENTS PACE Educating and Training Economic Geologists of the Future. By C. H. BEHRE, JR. (TP 2278, Min. Tech., Nov. 1948. Discussions by R. V. COLLIGAN and EVAN JUST) ....... I Mercury Industry in Italy. By EDWIN B. ECKEL. (TP 2292, Min. Tech., Jan. 1948. Discussion .............................. by C. N. SCHUETTE) 3 Chert in the Kingsport Formation at Mascot, Tennessee. By ARTHUR T. ALLEN. (TP 2299, ............... Min. Tech., Jan. 1948. Discussion by M. M. BUTLER) 5 Wall Rock Alteration at Butte, Montana. By RENO H. SALES and CHARLES MEYER. (TP 2400, Min. Tech., May 1948. Djscussions by C. D. HULIN, W. D. JOHNSTON, JR., and L. C. ................................... GRATON) 5] Educating and Training Economic Geologists of the Future R. V. COLLIGAN*-I can best illustrate my opinions by drafting another five year plan (Table 2). This plan is set up following the same stipulations outlined by Dr. Behre, namely: (I) the student is preparing himself for commercial work as a mining geologist; (2) he is attending an institution with a sufficiently broad curriculum (that is, engineering school and mining school as well as liberal arts college) to furnish the courses listed; and (3) he is not planning to continue his studies through to a doctor's degree before going into commercial work. A comparison of my study plan (Table 2) and that submitted by Dr. Behre (Table I) will at once point up the basic similarity, due to the obvious fact that there are so many essential courses which must be included in any outline of study. However, a more detailed analysis will show up certain differences, which, in fact, are only certain refinements on Dr. Behre's program. These I plan to discuss in order of their importance. The first and most important change is the addition of 12 hr of optional subjects, making a total of 24 hr of optional subjects as against a total of 12 hr under Dr. Behre's schedule. This of course entails the elimination of certain courses, which I shall discuss later. However, I wish to make it clear that I suggest eliminating these courses not because I feel that they are unnecessary, but rather because I feel the optional courses are more necessary to the complete education of the individual. I appreciate that Dr. Behre recognizes the importance of the cultural side of education, but I take issue with his thesis that the student will get it without credit and in his spare time. I do not think that the average college student, and certainly not the college freshman, is mature enough to know what he needs and where to get it in his spare time. I think it must be "spoon-fed"; he must be oriented through specific courses. University life (or should I say "college life") is too full of athletics, fraternity activities, dances, "bull sessions," and countless other enjoyable distractions, all of which contribute to the "full man." I fail to see how the average young American male can possibly sandwich in a necessary complement of "cultural activities" in his spare time. Since these latter activities do not fall within the pattern set by the "group," and show less promise of immediate return in enjoyment, or increased social status on the campus, they are bound to suffer in competition with the more popular, "group" activities. No doubt much of the criticism levelled against arts colleges, namely, that the cultural courses are useless, is well taken, for the culture

Jan 1, 1947

By Klaus M. Zeitler

INTRODUCTION One cannot discuss the subject of "Raising Capital in the 1990s" without having a crystal ball and a reliable fortune teller. This discusses "Raising Capital for the 1990sW, which is what Metal1 Mining Corporation did in 1987. We raised (3166 million in an IPO (initial public offering) that was originally planned for only some (375 million. Why did we raise this money? How did we do it, and why was this IPO so successful? The answer to the first question requires a description of the promoter and principal shareholder of Metal1 Mining Corporation, Metallgesellschaft AG. This West Germany company was founded over 100 years ago in Frankfurt as a trading house for non-ferrous metals. It has developed into one of the world's leading firms in the non-ferrous metals industry. The company's worldwide activities in all areas of that business include mining, smelting and refining, the trading of ore, base and precious metals, the production of semi-fabricated and finished metal products, and the provision of engineering, construction and transportation services. Metallgesellschaft AG has also diversified into many other areas, the most significant of which are manufacturing, the production of chemicals, the development and application of technical and chemical processes, the planning and construction of industrial plants, and activities associated with finance, insurance, shipping and freight forwarding, and the provision of barter and countertrade services. The company maintains a network of more than 100 offices around the world; it employs some 25,000 people in its worldwide activities. [Selected financial data, as of September 30, 1987: (MetaUgesellschafl AG) Working Capital DM 8%.6 million CDNS 672.8 million Long Term Debt DM 568.0 million CDNS 426.2 million Sales DM 14.9 billion CDNS 11.2 billion Net Income DM 87.7 million CDN$ 65.8 million Market Capitalization at April 27, 1987: (Metallgesellschafi AG) Outstanding Shares ~,6oo,o0o DM 1,875 million CDNS 1,407 million] For the fiscal year ended September 30, 1987, Metallgesellschaft AG had, on a consolidated basis, net sales of DM13.3 billion, net income of DM100 million and total assets of about DM7.0 billion. Metallgesellschaft AG established the American Metal Company, a predecessor of AMAX Inc. one of the largest ventures undertaken by Metallgesellschaft AG then was the acquisition, through the American Metal Company, of a majority share in the Mexican Penoles mine, a large lead and silver deposit. METALLGESELLSCHAFT AG Figure 1 depicts an overview of Metallgesellschaft AG before and at the time the initial public offering of Metall Mining Corporation's shares took place. It shows that mining was far from the centre of Metallgesellschaft's activities. Therefore, it could not expect to receive an extraordinary amount of board attention. Thus, mining investments not only had to compare well with other mining opportunities, but were in fierce competition with projects from other divisions. In addition, mining was sub-divided into two separate departments -- domestic and international. These two departments had different management styles and diverging interests which resulted in a minimum co-operation between them. The domestic mining department was primarily interested in the survival of the local mines. These mines were characterized by rising operating costs and declining ore grades. It took a special commitment and continued ingenuity to develop and adjust to local conditions, and modern mining and processing technology, in order to remain competitive, or at least survive within the international mining industry. Local management

Jan 1, 1990

By Philip R. Strand

Vermiculite is the name used for those micaceous minerals with a ferromagnesian aluminum silicate composition and the unique property of exfoliating to a low density material when heated. Commercially, the exfoliated products are also called vermiculite, or more exactly, expanded vermiculite. In its exfoliated state, vermiculite serves many markets, chief among them construction, agriculture, horticulture, and general industry. Composition and Properties Vermiculite, in a natural state, has the characteristic mica habit, splits readily into thin laminae, flexible but inelastic. In a mineralogical sense, vermiculite is a hydrated silicate with no exact chemical composition. The structural formula for a macroscopic, trioctahedral vermiculite may be written: [ ] The structure of vermiculite is basically that of a talc, and it could be regarded as a trioctahedral member of the smectite group. Macroscopically, vermiculite displays the prominent monoclinic crystal faces that are commonly marked by lines at 60° and 120°. Hardness varies from 1.5 to 2.8 or more; specific gravities are between 2.1 and 2.8; color is amber, bronze, brown, dark green, or black. When heated quickly to an elevated tempera¬ture, vermiculite expands by exfoliating at right angles to the cleavage, into wormlike pieces (the name vermiculite is derived from the Latin `vermiculare,' to breed worms). This characteristic of expansion, the basis for commercial use of the mineral, is the result of the mechanical separation of the layers by the rapid conversion of contained water to steam. The increase in bulk volume of commercial grades is 8 to 12 times, but individual flakes may expand as much as 30 times. All expansion occurs at right angles to the basal cleavage. Vermiculite may also be expanded by a number of chemical processes such as soaking in hydrogen peroxide, weak acids, and other electrolytes. There is a color change during expansion that is dependent upon the composition of the vermiculite and furnace atmospheres. Heating in an oxidizing atmosphere produces dull gray colors. The iron is generally not oxidized during chemical expansion. The exfoliation of the vermiculite crystal results in large pores being formed between groups of platelets. Thus exfoliation can make available a large increase in void volume without significantly changing the surface area of the platelets. This characteristic is important in the chemical carrier applications of vermiculite. Although there has been much research on the chemical and structural composition of vermiculite, an exact formula and composition cannot be described. This is to be expected since vermiculite derives from a number of different mineral sources. As has been proposed, vermiculite is not a single mineral species, but families of related minerals. Additionally, commercial interest in the end product has resulted in the name vermiculite being applied to the very voluminous, bloated products from calcination of baueritized (bleached) phlogopite. This has also resulted in many names for the specific vermiculite found in a particular deposit. All of this difficulty arises from the nature of its crystal chemistry. Consequently, vermiculite is now thought of as several related variable mineral series rather than a group of related species. The vermiculites have a common silica tetrahedral sheet structure with separating ions. It is now generally agreed that vermiculites must also be regarded as true clay minerals. The properties of the mineral, such as cation exchange capacity, organic complexing ability, and vari-

Jan 1, 1975

By A. J. Conelius, D. P. Sobocinski

This paper presents a correlation for predicting the behavior of a water cone as it builds from the static water-oil contact to breakthrough conditions. The correlation is partly empirical and involves dimensionless groups of reservoir and fluid properties and of production and well characteristics. The groups were deduced from the scaling criteria for the immiscible displacement of oil by water. The correlation is based on a limited amount of experimenfal data from a laboratory sand-packed model and on results from a computer program for a two-dimensional, incompressible system. Because the correlating groups are dimensionless, they can be used to estimate the performance of water coning cases not specifically considered in the correlation. However, despite its dimensionless nature, the correlation is not completely general and will not provide meaningful estimates of cone behavior in many situations. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND The production of water from oil wells is a common occurrence which increases the cost of producing operations and may reduce the efficiency of the depletion mechanism and the recovery of reserves. We will deal with one cause of this water production, namely, coning. The coning of water into a producing well is caused by pressure gradients established around the wellbore by the production of fluids from the well. These pressure gradients can raise the water-oil contact near the well where gradients are most severe. Gravity forces that arise from fluid density differences counterbalance the flowing pressure gradients and tend to keep the water out of the oil zone. Therefore, at any given time, there is a balance between gravitational and viscous forces at points on and away from the completion interval. When the dynamic forces at the wellbore exceed gravitational forces, a cone of water will ultimately break into the well to produce water along with the oil. We can expand on this basic visualization of coning by introducing the concepts of stable cone, unstable cone and critical production rate. For instance, if a well is produced at a constant rate and the pressure gradients in the drainage system have become constant, a steady-state condition is reached. If, at this condition, the dynamic forces at the well are less than the gravity forces, then the water or gas cone that has formed will not extend to the well. Moreover, the cone will neither advance nor recede, thus establishing what is known as a stable cone. Conversely, if the pressure in the system is in an unsteady-state condition, then an unstable cone will continue to advance until steady-state conditions prevail. If the flowing pressure drop at the well is suffcient to overcome the gravity forces, the unstable cone will grow and ultimately break into the well. It is important to note that in a realistic sense, stable cones may only be "pseudostable" because the drainage system and pressure distribution generally change. For example, with reservoir depletion, the water-oil contact may advance toward the completion interval, thereby increasing chances for coning. As another example, reduced productivity due to well damage requires a corresponding increase in the flowing pressure drop LO maintain a given production rate. This increase in pressure drop may force an otherwise stable cone into a well. The critical production rate, well known in the literature, is the rate above which the flowing pressure gradient at the well causes water (or gas) to cone into the well. It is, therefore, the maximum rate of oil production without concurrent production of the displacing phase by coning. At the critical rate, a built-up cone is stable but is at a position of incipient breakthrough. Numerous papers have been published on critical rates. Some of the better known of these include the work of (1) Muskat and Wyckoff,' who first dealt with the coning problem; (2) Chaney, et al,' who developed expressions similar to those of Muskat but who presented results in a conven ient-to-use graphical form (the "Sun" method); and (3) Meyer and Garder,b hose analysis is based on radial-flow formulas. One assumption in critical production rate analyses is that the cone has built-up to just before its breakthrough into the well. But, these analyses reveal nothing directly about the time it takes for the cone to build up to this incipient breakthrough position. Thus, water-free oil can be produced from a well for prolonged periods at rates above the critical rate before the well reaches the condition to which the critical rate applies. The published literature contains little on the rate of growth of a cone. Experimentally, Meyer and Searcy studied the rate of rise of a cone in a Hele-Shaw model.' Additional related work on water breakthrough and produced water-oil ratios in water driven reservoirs was reported by Muskat," Hutchinson and Kemp," Henley, et al,' and Stevens, et a1.B Theoretically, the basic coning equations for a water-oil system can be developed by applying the conservation of mass to each of the phases, relating flow velocities with pressure by Darcy's law, and relating pressures across water-oil interfaces by capillary pressure. With the usual boundaries at the well and reservoir limits, the solution of the resulting equations for the time behavior of a water-oil interface constitutes a free-surface, boundary-value problem. The shape of the boundary depends on the internal potential distribution, while this

Jan 1, 1966