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By Frederic Benard

This paper constitutes a preliminary report on experimental work done to date on the anode-furnace treatment of blister copper containing relatively high percentages of nickel. The investigation has not been completed but results obtained to date are considered of sufficient interest to warrant publication. Blister copper treated by the Ontario Refining Co. originates from the Copper Cliff smelter of The International Nickel Company of Canada, of which the former is a wholly-owned subsidiary. The blister as received contains from 0.50 to 1.50 per cent Ni, and in this respect differs from that treated by other refineries on this continent. During the anode-furnace treatment, only a portion of the nickel content is removed, and of the amount remaining in the anodes a varying percentage is found in the anode slimes. This necessitates a more extensive treatment than ordinary nickel-free material. Sometimes it is necessary to repeat roasting and leaching operations several times before the nickel content is low enough to permit the slimes to proceed to the dore furnace. This, besides increasing treatment charges, causes greater selenium stack losses and involves a longer tie-up of precious-metal values. Therefore this investigation was undertaken with the aim of determining the factors influencing the diversion of nickel into the anode sludge. From experience it was known that by keeping the nickel content of anodes at 0.55 to 0.60 per cent maximum a relatively satisfactory slime resulted. One avenue of attack therefork was developing improved elimination in the anode-furnace treatment so that the anode content mentioned above was not exceeded. Another angle was to improve the solubility, during electrolysis, of the nickel constituent in the anodes, thus decreasing the percentage diverted to slimes. It may be mentioned here that nickel dissolving electrochemically and entering the electolyte presents no difficulty from a treatment standpoint. Both of these approaches were studied and are discussed separately below.

Jan 1, 1944

The editorial expenses for the preparation of the manuscript of the second edition, as for the first, were provided by grants of the Engineering Foundation and the Open Hearth Steel Committee of the Iron and Steel Division, AIME ; the Seeley W. Mudd Memorial Fund again sponsored the publication of this volume. The companies and research or educational institutions with which the authors, reviewers, and editors are connected also contributed much to the writing and editing of this book through their generous donations of time and travel and office expenses. And finally, the authors and others have given countless hours of their own time with no recompense but the satisfaction of a job well done. In order to give credit to the companies or educational institutions which made it possible for the members of the Editorial Board to devote considerable time to the revision of this book, the names of these members and their affiliations are recorded here as follows : W. O. Philbrook, Carnegie Institute of Technology M. B. Bever, Massachusetts Institute of Technology H. B. Emerick, Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation B. M. Larsen, United States Steel Company A number of individuals suggested desirable changes in the book before rewriting was started. Almost all manuscripts were gone over critically by reviewers, and the resulting criticisms led to the correction of errors and omissions and greatly contributed to the accuracy and completeness of the text. Other people have supplied additional data or illustrations or assisted in other ways. While some of these contributors must remain anonymous because they are not known to the Editors, the cooperation of the following individuals is gratefully acknowledged : R. D. Allen, Republic Steel Corporation, Chicago Isadore Amdur, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mary Baeyertz, Armour Research Foundation S. P. Bahmer, Republic Steel Corporation, Massillon E. C. Bain and Associates, United States Steel Company, Pittsburgh C. W. Briggs, Steel Founders' Society of America H. W. Briske, Wisconsin Steel Works

Jan 1, 1964

By S. J. Aresco, A. A. Orning

This paper presents a scheme for determination of precision for the various steps in coal sampling, sample preparation, and analysis. It also gives resulting data on 100 American coals from various coal fields covering all ranks from lignite to low-volatile bituminous. The variances of the various steps of the process are studied as a function of the coal preparation, the top size of coal as sampled, and the ash content. To understand the variables that control the overall precision of coal sampling, sample reduction and analysis, there is need for measurement of the variances due to successive steps of the process. The purpose of the present paper is to study these variances as a function of the coal preparation, the top size of the coal as sampled, and the ash content. The sampling data included are from 100 individual preparation plants from various coal fields in the United States and cover all ranks of coal from lignite to low-volatile bituminous; various types of preparation; deep, strip and auger mines; and, in many instances, mixtures from two or more coal beds or types of mines. The collection of data is continuing, but sufficient work has been done to draw some important conclusions. Since the work was done in conjunction with the Bureau of Mines sampling of coal, the time that could be spent at any one preparation plant was limited. This, in turn, limited the number of samples that could be taken for each coal. For this reason, the results from various plants were pooled in blocks. Two major blocking categories were "raw" and "washed!' The raw coals had no preparation other than crushing and/or screening. The washed coals were prepared further by some combination of wet or dry mechanical cleaning. The categories were further divided ac-

Jan 1, 1965

OBSERVERS in more than negligible number appear to believe that the achievements of engineers during the last generation have been an affliction rather than a blessing to society. Quite accurately they perceive that scientific progress and technologic advance have reduced to a fraction-often a small fraction-the amount of manual effort required to accomplish a given unit of useful work. They have seen men, as a consequence, deprived of employment in a particular industry; and this so-called technological unemployment they have denounced as inimical to the workers and consequently to the whole social order in progressive nations. To those who subscribe to this thesis the story of the Porphyry Coppers may not make palatable reading, for it is an amazing record of engineering and technologic achievement. But to those others who take the longer and broader view that economic and social progress cannot enduringly lag far behind advance in the realm of science and engineering; and that any improvement in the means and method of doing essential things eventually must make the world a better place in which to live; to these the record of the development of these great mines can- not but be a source of delight. It is an outstanding example of the advantages of mass production coupled with the fruits of scientific research and inventive genius. More, it reflects the pioneer spirit, the initiative, the self-reliance, the independence of thought and action that are traditional with the mining engineer. The word porphyry is a geologic term, the significance of which will be elaborated in later chapters. The essential characteristics of the deposits that are universally, if not quite

Jan 1, 1933

By O. B. Hopkins

There was no noteworthy development in the oil industry in Peru during 1933 and all activities were restricted to the producing fields. The output of the country increased above that of previous years but there still remained a substantial shut-in production at the close of the year. The total production during 1933 is estimated at 13,259,891 bbl., of which the International Petroleum Co., Ltd. contributed 11,205,-362 bbl. A relatively small amount of new drilling was undertaken during the year. The International completed only one new well although a number of the old producers were reworked and deepened. Comments on Tables There are four oil districts in Peru, as shown in Table 1, although only three of these are now being operated. The exhausted Pirin field was abandoned eight years ago. La Brea-Parinus.—The La Brett-Parinas fields are on the property of the International Petruleum Co., Ltd. in the westernmost part of Peru. These fields include a number of producing districts that are defined by complex fault blocks associated with anticlinal folds. Data covering all the items listed in the table are not available on these fields but can perhaps be supplied in part in the future. Lobitos and Restin.—These two fields belong to the Lobitos Oilfields Limited and are near the coast, 10 to 20 miles north of the La Brea-Parinas fields. According to the Department of Mines and Petroleum of Peru, 311 wells at Lobitos and 197 at Restin had been drilled to the end of 1927. Since that date there has been enough drilling to increase moderately these figures. The depth of wells is not available but it is believed that their average depth is slightly greater than in the La Brea-Parinas area. The productive horizons are of Eocene age. zorritos.—The Zorritos field is the northernmost in Peru and is operated by the Establecimiento Industrial de Petroleo de Zorritos. The field is on the coast about 70 miles north of Lobitos. The number of wells drilled in this field to the end of 1927 was 343, according to the Department of Mines and Petroleum of Peru. The depths of these wells are reported to range from 300 to 700 ft. The largest wells do not produce

Jan 1, 1934

By T. Leser, A. W. Jenike

The problems of caving and underground subsidence can be considered as the failure of a highly compacted rock and its subsequent flow in the form of broken rock. The problem is complex because the propagation of failure and flow have to be considered simultaneously; the yield strength of the virgin rock and the broken rock are different; and, while under certain conditions it is sufficient to consider the virgin rock as homogeneous, the density and the yield function of broken rock are both pressure and time dependent. A study of the failure and flow of solids with a pressure dependent yield function has been published recently by Jenike.' In this paper the density of the broken rock is assumed to be only time dependent and the consequences are examined in the case of one-dimensional vertical subsidence into an initial cavity. The following describes an attempt to develop a tool which, in combination with other tools, may lead to mathematical solutions of real problems of caving and subsidence. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM An underground cavity of horizontal cross section 4 = 1 and height 6 is assumed to exist at some depth below the surface. At the time t = 0 rock above the cavity fails and completely fills out the cavity with expanded broken material. With passing time the broken rock consolidates and subsidence proceeds continuously upuard in a vertical shaft. The phenomenon is one-dimensional (see Fig. 1). The problem consists of finding the displacement and the velocity with which the frlmt of the subsidence (wave front) moves upward as a function of the time and of the rock properties. DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS CONTROLLING THE PHENOMENON With the assumptions that the broken rock is a continuum and that the subsidence occurs continuously, we can apply the one-dimensional differential equation of contitiuity (conservation of mass) and the equation of preservation of momentum The latter equation is replaced by an assumed relation based on experience, which takes care of the

Jan 1, 1962

By A. S. Richardson

Ventilation of the Butte mines has long been a rather difficult problem because of the natural high temperature of the rock. With increase* in mining depth, higher rock temperatures have been encountered, and this has caused a constantly growing demand for more effective ventilation measures. During recent years the hazards of dust in mine air have been more clearly recognized, and have necessitated the adoption of dust-prevention methods. To meet these ventilation problems in the mines of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., a mines ventilation department was organized in 1918, to act under the direction of the general superintendent of mines. At the present time, under normal operating conditions, the force employed includes the ventilation engineer, two chief assistant ventilation engineers and eight assistant ventilation engineers. The activities of the department are, briefly: (1) planning and supervising operation of the general ventilation system; (2) planning and supervising the operation of dust-prevention measures, together with dust sampling and related microscopic work for the quantitation of the dust samples and determination of particle-size distribution; (3) the design and development of air-conditioning methods to meet present exceptionally severe temperature conditions and in anticipation of future requirements. To a large extent the technical features of the ventilation methods have been described in earlier papers by the author. This paper is written mainly to summarize past accomplishments bearing most closely on health and safety, with a somewhat more detailed account of the dust-prevention measures that have been developed comparatively recently. Facilitating Flow of Am As a basic requirement for the safety of the mcn, all ventilation plans are subject to a ruling that the main operating shafts must be maintained as inlet air courses. Under this condition, a safe, fresh-air escapeway is assured if a fire occurs within the mine, and the shaft; is available as a base

Jan 1, 1940

By Joseph C. Platt

IT is not the object of the present paper to give a description of the minerals found on Mine Hill, in Sussex County, N. J., nor even to touch upon all the forms of the ores named, but to place upon record and call to the attention of the Institute some interesting facts concerning them. In May, 1875, after the Dover meeting, some of the members visited this locality, and, no doubt, it is fresh in their memories, being one of the best known mineralogical points in our country. It will be only necessary to describe it very briefly. Mine Hill and Stirling Hill, in Sussex County, N. J., the former being at the village of Franklin Furnace, and the latter near Ogdensburg,-are the only localities in the State where zinc ores are found in workable quantities.* Mine Hill is the more northerly, and mineralogically differs from its neighbor, chiefly in having no hydrated ores to speak of, while at Stirling this deposit is considerable. At both points Franklinite, red oxide, and silicate of zinc occur in large quantities. Mine Hill lies on the east side of the Wallkill River, above which it rises to an extreme elevation of about 150 feet. On the summit the outcrop of the Franklinite vein appears, while the lowest worked points are perhaps 10 or 15 feet above the level of the stream. Corn¬mencing at the northern end, where the Hamburg Road crosses it, this outcrop runs along the northwestern brow of the hill a distance of about 2000 feet, in a general southwest direction, to a point where is a large, cavern-like opening, called the "Southwest Opening." " Double Rock," about the highest point on the hill, lies near the middle of this 2000 feet of outcrop, and over or near it passes a property line, to which allusion will hereafter be made. At the Southwest Opening the vein bends abruptly towards the east,-the angle between the two parts being perhaps 45°,-and this easterly branch continues some 700 feet. From the northern part of the Stirling Hill deposit to the southern part of the Mine Hill deposit is about two miles, and in this interval the vein carrying Franklinite * See New Jersey State Geology, 1868, p. 669.

Jan 1, 1877

By Rossiter W. Raymond

The lead-mining industry of Missouri, as of other parts of the Mississippi basin, appears to have been paralyzed by the shock of competition with the mines of the States and Territories further west. It is difficult for establishments working galena ores, too poor in silver to pay for extracting it, to compete with the producers of the argentiferous carbonates of Utah and Colorado, who look upon their lead as a by-product of little value, and are satisfied if it pays the charges of transportation, or the loss in smelting for silver. But simultaneously with this depression in the lead-mining of the Mississippi States, the development of new zinc deposits has caused a notable revival in the mining of zinc ores. There has recently been a sndden and strong rise in the price of' spelter, which, though probably to a large extent temporary in character, has given important encouragement to prospectors and miners. Apart from the general recovery of business in the United States from the prostration of the past six years, the cause of the advance in spelter has been the falling off in production, resulting from the shutting clown of several leading Western works,—the Martindale and Carondelet works, at St. Louis, and the Consolidated Company in Kansas. At the same time, the principal works at La Salle, Ill., were undergoing repairs, and produced less than usual, while the sheet-mill of Matthieson & Hegeler, at that place, was running as usual; so that this concern, ordinarily a large producer, entered the already depleted market as a buyer. These causes are in their nature transitory, and it is quite likely that spelter will be superabundant in a few months. Having lately received from a well-informed Missouri correspondent some samples of the zinc ores and a general account of the ore deposits of Southwest Missouri, I have thought that it might interest the Institute to examine these specimens, and to hear such brief statements concerning the region as I am able, upon good authority, though without the aid of any personal investigation 011 the spot, to give. The zinc-bearing territory in Southwest Missouri appears to be very extensive; that is to sap, zinc ores have been mined during the last year at various points throughout a district extending from the eastern edge of Kansas, west of Joplin, to a line some 50 miles east

Jan 1, 1880

By A. S. Richardson

Ventilation of the Butte mines has long been a rather difficult problem because of the natural high temperature of the rock. With increase* in mining depth, higher rock temperatures have been encountered, and this has caused a constantly growing demand for more effective ventilation measures. During recent years the hazards of dust in mine air have been more clearly recognized, and have necessitated the adoption of dust-prevention methods. To meet these ventilation problems in the mines of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., a mines ventilation department was organized in 1918, to act under the direction of the general superintendent of mines. At the present time, under normal operating conditions, the force employed includes the ventilation engineer, two chief assistant ventilation engineers and eight assistant ventilation engineers. The activities of the department are, briefly: (1) planning and supervising operation of the general ventilation system; (2) planning and supervising the operation of dust-prevention measures, together with dust sampling and related microscopic work for the quantitation of the dust samples and determination of particle-size distribution; (3) the design and development of air-conditioning methods to meet present exceptionally severe temperature conditions and in anticipation of future requirements. To a large extent the technical features of the ventilation methods have been described in earlier papers by the author. This paper is written mainly to summarize past accomplishments bearing most closely on health and safety, with a somewhat more detailed account of the dust-prevention measures that have been developed comparatively recently. Facilitating Flow of Am As a basic requirement for the safety of the mcn, all ventilation plans are subject to a ruling that the main operating shafts must be maintained as inlet air courses. Under this condition, a safe, fresh-air escapeway is assured if a fire occurs within the mine, and the shaft; is available as a base

Jan 1, 1940

By AIME AIME

ALBERT PORTEVIN, distinguished French physical metallurgist .and savant, has been added to the Institute's list of Honorary Members. Professor Portevin's work in collaboration .with A. M. Garvin represents one of the greatest steps ever made in understanding the heat-treatment of steel and the function of steel-alloying elements. In addition, he has published the results of important work, on the castability of ternary alloys, on the determination of oxygen and-oxides in steel, and on high-temperature oxidationn and scaling of steel. Notable also are his studies on methods of testing metals, on the constitu¬tion and structure of alloys, on founding and welding, and on alloys of aluminum, magnesium, and copper. Professor Portevin was horn in Paris in 1880, entering

Jan 1, 1938

President MRS. ROBERT HURSH River Road, Silvermine Norwalk, Conn. First Vice-President MRS. THORNE E. LLOYD 14 Green Hill Road Morristown, N. J. Second Vice-President AIRS. JOHN PAUL DYER Short Hills New Jersey Third Vice-President MRS. FELIX E. WORMSER Acorn Lane Larchmont, N. Y. Fourth Vice-President MRS. JOHN J. LINCOLN Elkhorn, McDowell Co. West Virginia

Jan 1, 1942

By Cornelius Kelley

THE American producers of silver are keenly alive to the importance of the silver problem and its vital effect on the mining industry in Montana and other States where precious-metal mining constitutes a basic industry. There are so many ramifications to the subject that one is tempted, no matter from what angle an approach is made, to digress along lines that inevitably lead into a maze of social, economic and financial problems, through which no clear pathway is marked, and regard¬ing which no definite opinion can be expressed, as the ultimate solution is dependent upon the policies adopted and carried out by the more important Governments with reference to their fiscal requirements and currency systems. The situation may be summarized in two questions First, what, if any, plan have the silver producers, as being the most directly interested, to offer in meeting the situation which will confront the industry upon the termination of purchases of domestic silver under the Pittman Act? Second, what, if any, assistance can be extended by the Government in connection with the problem? In answer to the first inquiry, while the matter has been the subject of discussion among the principal producers, they have been unable to formulate a defi-nite plan, principally because they have been and are dealing with a subject embracing many unknown fac-tors; and second, it has been felt that before any plan is adopted there should be indicated the extent to which cooperation on the part of the Government may be depended upon to enable a proper study of the situation to be made. In order to explain these rather cryptic statements, a general review of the situation may aid. Whatever differences of opinion there may have been in the past upon the subject of bi-metallism or the establishment of a fixed ratio between the coinage value of gold and silver, it will probably be conceded that it would be neither wise nor expedient to attempt a revival of this discussion, nor to undertake to solve the question by the adoption of such a remedy. Issues of contro-versial economics must be avoided, if possible-political economics will destroy rather than assist constructive effort.

Jan 2, 1923

C. H. GIBBS,* Salt Lake City, Utah (written discussion?).-The development of the coke industry in Utah had a somewhat checkered career for the first 50 years of its existence. About 1851 the iron-ore deposits of the Iron Springs and Iron Mountain mining districts, Iron County, Utah, were discovered. Obtaining of iron for any purpose at the time involved its shipment from the Mississippi River to Utah, by ox-team. The result was that the pioneers endeavored to establish an iron-ore smelting plant at what was known as Iron City, near Iron Mountain, in Iron County. Bishop Taylor, who headed this enterprise, endeavored to obtain coal suitable for coking from the Cretaceous coal measures immediately east of Cedar City. A few small bee-hive coke ovens were built and lump coal was coked in these ovens; or, more properly speaking, the volatile matter of the lump coal was driven off, leaving a carbonized material that retained the lump shape, although it was extremely, friable. This coke was promptly found to be unsuitable for iron smelting, not only clue to its extreme weakness under smelting load, but also because of the fact that it carried about 5 per cent. sulfur. Bishop Taylor made a very thorough and exhaustive effort, covering a considerable period of years, to locate suitable coking coal in Southwestern Utah. His efforts failed, and in 1902 the iron-ore property acquired by him and associates was sold to the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. It is of interest to note in this connection that the iron-ore deposits of Iron County at present are the largest known undeveloped iron-ore fields on the North American continent. It is safe to say that there is at least one hundred million tons of 55-per cent. ore actually in sight. In 1878, coal-mining operations were begun at Connellsville, in Huntington Canyon, Emery County. Ten 8-ft. bee-hive ovens-were constructed, and lump coal was carbonized for use in the Salt Lake valley smelters. The product was somewhat better than that obtained in Iron County, but was still of very inferior quality. It had to be hauled a distance of 140 miles by wagon to the two small smelters then operating in Salt Lake valley. These ovens operated only a very short time. The next move toward obtaining a coking coal was in 1889 when the Pleasant Valley Coal Co. began operations in the Castle Gate district. In 1890, eighty 8-ft. bee-hive ovens were constructed, and the product. was used until 1900 in all the smelters in Utah. During this period, 124 additional. ovens were constructed, making a total of 204 bee-hive ovens operating at Castle Gate.

Jan 11, 1918

By Theodore A. Blake

At the Chicago meeting of the Institute, May, 1884,I had the pleasure of announcing the introduction of a new machine for fine crushing, or The Blake multiple-jaw crusher, which, in combina tion with the ordinary Blake breaker, could be used in the reduc tion of ores or any hard and brittle substance to almost any degree of fineness. I am now able to give some practical results derived from its use on an extensive scale, on the gold ores of South Caro lina and the iron ores of Lake Champlain, together with some accurate and detailed statistics of the cost of crushing over one hundred thousand long tons of magnetic iron ores of the Chateaugay Ore and Iron Company at Lyon Mountain, Clinton County, N. Y., about thirty miles west of Plattsburgh. The construction of the multiple jaw-crusher, since the date of my first paper, is the same, except in the substitution of main swinging, instead of main sliding, or toggle jaw,—thus doing away with the upward thrust on the tension rods and the wear incident thereunto. (See Fig. 1.) It has also been found, in case of the fine crusher, that is, in machines of not over 4 inch width of opening, that the use of several small machines with a series of jaw openings, say 15 inches by 4 inch, is better than one large machine with a series of openings 24 by 4 inch, or 36 inches by 4 inch, as at first constructed. Many details of the method of holding in jaw-plates, etc., have been perfected. Without giving any details with respect to the different mills built upon the Blake 'system, let me state that, although it has proved possible to carry any hard and brittle material with crushers alone to a fineness such that all particles will pass a 30-mesh wire screen, still the economical limit of such crushing will be found somewhere between 14 and 20. If it is necessary to carry all the material to a fineness greater than this, the system must be supple

Jan 1, 1888

By J. H. Jackson, R. B. Fischer

VERY little is known about the properties of relatively pure refractory metals in the cast state since these metals are customarily made by powder-metallurgy methods. Recently, the development of the vacuum arc-melting furnace has made possible the study of large, sound ingots of cast molybdenum. The ductility of molybdenum, at room temperature, may vary considerably. Often the brittle state depreciates the utility of molybdenum, even for the material prepared by powder-metallurgy techniques. At the outset of this program, it was felt that if the causes of brittleness were to be determined it might be possible to reduce the difficulties met in the working of molybdenum. Also, the problem of producing strong, fusion weldrnents of molybdenum might be solved. The conditions required to produce ductile molybdenum by the powder-metallurgy technique are reasonably well known. A fibrous or elongated-grain structure has good ductility although this property is probably directional. The equiaxed structure obtained in fully recrystallized molybdenum has been considered to be brittle. The reasons for this behavior of molybdenum have not been established. The preparation of cast molybdenum ingots by the vacuum-arc method was described by Parke and Ham.' By this method, ingots weighing up to 250 Ib were produced." Parke and Ham1 found that molybdenum ingots containing more than approximately 0.0025 pct oxygen could not be hot forged. On the other hand, they found that fully deoxidized cast molybdenum, containing up to 0.06 pct carbon, could be hot forged. However, the as-cast ingots containing either carbon or oxygen were brittle at room temperature. Parke and Ham,1 Woodside,3 and Zapffe, Landgraf, and Worden4 noted the inter-granular precipitation of oxide or carbide in cast molybdenum. This study—part of an extensive program on mo-lybdenum—had the following objectives: (1) To investigate the causes for the brittleness of cast molybdenum at room temperature, (2) to investigate the means for improving the ductility of cast molybdenum at room temperature, and (3) to add to the knowledge of cast molybdenum and of cast metals in general.

Jan 1, 1951

By George G. Thomas

IN April 1949, Newfoundland became the tenth province of Canada. It had been a Dominion of the British Commonwealth, though actual Dominion status had been suspended for some fifteen years. During that fifteen-year period the Government had been by commission. Throughout the regime of the Commission Government, a limited program of investigation of the mineral resources of the country was in progress. It was during this period that the investigation of the iron resources of Labrador by the predecessors of the Iron Ore Company of Canada began. Since Confederation there has been a marked change in the attitude of mining capital to the new province and a notable acceleration in the tempo of prospecting and exploration. There is no private Newfoundland capital available for mineral exploration. In the past, as now, capital must be attracted to the province. Prior to Confederation, Canadian capital had to cross the barriers of customs and immigration. American capital hazily regarded Newfoundland as part of Canada, with one notable exception, the American Smelting and Refining Company at Buchans. Buchans The most significant mining development in Newfoundland today is the property of the Buchans Mining Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the American Smelting and Refining Co., located at the town of Buchans. Their milling operation produces lead, zinc, and copper concentrates by selective flotation, and also produces a small amount of gravity concentrate. Presently the mill treats, about 320,000 tons of ore per year. Production started in 1928 at 500 tons per day and has been raised over the years to the present figure of 1200 tons per day. Conventional prospecting methods uncovered the original deposit. It was first examined as a possible source of sulphur from pyrite. Geophysical prospecting and diamond drilling resulted in discovery of enough additional ore to warrant a large scale operation. Mining is by open cut methods. In addition conventional underground cut and fill stoping and square set stoping methods are employed. Between 850 and 900 men are employed at Buchans. Concentrates are shipped by rail to Botwood and leave the country through the port. Buchans Mining is currently investigating a Crown concession covering an area of approximately 6250 square miles, adjacent to the area of present operations. Aerial photographs have been made of the area, and geologic parties, supplied by plane, are in the field during the summer months. The concession lies south of the Falconbridge concession. The geology of the Buchans area can be divided into three groups. The first category is the oldest and called the Buchans Series. It consists of volcanic lavas, breecias and tuffs and underlies most of the Red Indian Lake Basin. The second is a group of igneous rocks such as granite and quartz porphyry intrusive in the volcanics. It makes for rough country north and west of Buchans. The third group consists of sills and dykes penetrating the lavas near

Jan 1, 1952

By L. H. Duschak

Electrolytic zinc produced from sulfate solution and with pure lead anodes is always contaminated with a small and varying percentage of lead. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the characteristics of several lead alloys and their influence on the products of electrolysis and power consumption. The study of alloyed anodes has been a matter of interest for some years. Tainton, Taylor and Ehrlinger prepared a highly interesting paper' on this subject a year ago, in which the effects of silver-lead and some ternary alloys of lead-silver-tin were described, and the presentation of any paper on insoluble anodes will owe much to the inspirational results achieved by Dr. Colin G. Fink and Li Chi Pan in their work on insoluble anodes for the electrolysis of brine,2 and to other published papers by Dr. Fink and his coworkers embracing the development of the copper-silicon-manganese anode for the production of electrolytic copper and the general subject of anode development. The present paper describes a study of various combinations of 10 metals. The general plan of the work provides for the fabrication of the alloyed anode, its adequate conditioning by preparatory electrolytic operation, the production of cathode zinc and its analysis, the determination of the anode polarization, and other features. A list of the anodes tested, showing composition and polarization at various current densities together with the lead assay of the cathode zinc, is shown in Table 1. Determination of Anode Polarization In the determination of anode polarization under operating conditions it is essential that the anode area used be restricted to the side facing the cathode, in order that these measurements may be referred to a definite current per unit of area. It becomes necessary, therefore, to insulate the inactive face of the anode, to prevent the leakage of lines of force

Jan 1, 1930

By R. T. C. Rasmussen, L. H. Banning, W. E. Anable

In the rapidly growing industry of elemental-phosphorus production from western phosphates, most of the vanadium and chromium contained in the phosphate rock collect in the byproduct ferro-phosphorus. Results are presented of a completed laboratory project, which developed a tristage crystallization and hydrolysis process for recovering strategic vanadium and chromium, as well as a valuable phosphorus product, after extracting these elements from the ferro-phosphorus by roasting and leaching. THE Phosphoria formation in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah contains the Nation's largest reserve of phosphate rock. A unique feature of the Phosphoria beds is their content of a fraction of a percentage each of vanadium, chromium, nickel, and molybdenum. Vanadium is the most important as to quantity and value. Small-scale tests by the Bureau of Mines at Albany, Oregon, in 1947, indicated that most of the vanadium in the phosphate rock collects in the ferrophosphorus product of smelting. Subsequent electric smelting operations to produce elemental phosphorus from western phosphate rock (experimentally by TVA and industrially at Pocatello, Idaho) have shown that the vanadium and other metals in the rock are to a large extent recovered in concentrated form in the ferrophosphorus byproduct. This paper reports the results of completed laboratory research on the recovery of vanadium from ferrophosphorus, which was undertaken by the Bureau of Mines at Albany in 1948 as the first phase of a project entitled, "Vanadium and Fluorine from Western Phosphates." The various vanadium-recovery methods investigated, including the roast-leach method that showed most promise and was studied in greatest detail, are discussed in an earlier publication.' Subsequent systematic study of the roast-leach method of extracting vanadium from western ferrophosphorus developed the more effi- cient tristage crystallization process, which is the subject of this paper. Process Development The investigations were made on ferrophosphorus produced in the electric smelting of elemental phosphorus from western phosphate rock. The TVA provided two sample lots of ferrophosphorus produced in pilot plant smelting of phosphatic shale from the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho. The Westvaco Chemical Div. of the Food Machinery & Chemical Corp. supplied two sample lots of ferrophosphorus produced by its phosphorus smelter at Pocatello, Idaho. The analyses of all four lots are shown in Table I. Westvaco lot B was the starting material for the more recent tests. The roast-leach process for recovering vanadium from western ferrophosphorus, as originally developed, employed the following principal steps: Roasting of a mixture of pulverized ferrophosphorus, soda ash, and salt; extraction of the water-soluble vanadium, phosphorus, and chromium compounds from the calcine by leaching, settling, and decanta-tion of the pregnant solution; primary crystallization of trisodium phosphate from the pregnant solution; purification of the trisodium phosphate crystals by dissolution in water and secondary crystallization; purification of the pregnant vanadium solution from the primary crystallization step by adding calcium chloride to precipitate calcium phosphate; and hydrolysis of vanadium red cake from the puri-

Jan 1, 1954

By John M. Hartman

On May 19th, 1857, an English patent was granted to E. A. Cowper for heating air or other gases under pressure by means of a regenerator inclosed in an air-tight iron case, having between the regenerator and case a lining of brick. This patent provided for heating the stoves by a separate fireplace, or by gas direct from the blast furnace. A number of forms of interior arrangement of the brickwork are shown in the drawings; also hollow poppet valves with hollow stems, and a pipe inside of the stem for circulating the water; the valve seats have coil cast in them for water circulation to keep them cool; slide valves, with snake coil cast in the discs, are shown, and the use of cold air for cooling the valves is also described. The combustion-chamber of these stoves was central, and openings mere provided at the top and bottom to get into the stoves. These Cowper stoves are all circular in section. November loth, 1865, an English patent was granted to Thomas Whitwell for regenerative stoves for heating air or gas, provided with cleaning openings at the top and bottom capable of being closed with firebrick plugs and doors. The drawings show a rectangular stove inclosed in an iron case. The interior brickwork has numerous upand-down passages through the stove, but there is no claim on the interior construction. March 3d, 1868, an English patent was granted to Charles Cochrane for a slide valve to be subjected to high heats. The disc of this valve was hollow, and had a circulation of water through it by the two hollow stems that operated it. The valve-seat was detachable and had a coil cast in it, through which water circulated. The valve and seat were placed on an incline to the body to cause the valve-disc to lie on the valve-seat. A cap was placed on the bottom of the body to get at the interior readily. January 5th, 1870, an English patent was granted to Siemens, Cowper and Cochrane for the construction of regenerators in firebrick stoves, with numerous vertical passages of sufficient size to allow a brush to pass through and clean them. These passages had slight projections on the sides to tarn the air over and over as it passed through. A claim also covered the use of horizontal passages connected at each end alternately, and the use of blasts or jets of air,

Jan 1, 1880