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By Kenneth A. Gutschick, Robert S. Boynton

Lime has become a general and loosely used term to denote almost any kind of calcareous material or finely divided form of limestone or dolomite, as well as burned forms of lime. However, according to Webster, lime is only calcined limestone (known as quicklime, unslaked lime, or calcium oxide). It also embraces the secondary product of quicklime, i.e., hydrated lime or slaked lime (calcium hydroxide). There are two basic types of limestone used for lime manufacture-high calcium and high magnesium (dolomitic). The dolomitic quicklimes and hydrated limes correspond to their "high calcium" counterparts. The only difference is that the dolomitic types are a combination of the elements calcium and magnesium, in varying percents, whereas high calicum limes contain less than 5% MgO down to 1/2%. In either case a pure form of limestone of at least 97% combined carbonate content is needed to make salable lime, barring a few exceptions. The calcination of both types is diagrammed chemically as follows: [ ] In the foregoing reversible reactions the limestone is burned (calcined) in lime kilns, with the carbon dioxide content of the stone expelled as a gas. The weight loss during calcination of pure high calcium limestone is 44%; with equimolecular dolomitic limestone, the weight loss is 48%. Since lime has a strong affinity for CO_, particularly if moisture is present, it will readily revert to its original carbonate form. This occurs when quicklime "air-slakes" and adsorbs CO.. from the air. Thus, quicklime is perishable and should be stored in dry, water-tight areas. Depending upon the type of kiln used and the physical structure of the stone, the size of the quicklime may range from sandlike granules to 8 in. lumps. However, pebble sizes ranging from 1/4 in. to 2 in. are the most common. Screened quicklime fines are also com¬pressed (pelletized) into 1 in. pellets. For some purposes ground or pulverized forms of quicklime are used, ranging from No. 10 mesh to dust. Generally a pebble of quicklime is about the same size as the pebble of limestone before calcination (perhaps shrinking slightly). A more stable form of lime is hydrated lime. This is obtained by adding water to quicklime, slaking it into a dry, fine, subsieve size white powder. Because its affinity for moisture has been satisfied, it is not vulnerable to further moisture like quicklime. However, it has the same strong affinity for CO_. The following reversible chemical reactions illustrate how hydrated lime when heated (or dehydrated) can revert to the original oxide form:

Jan 1, 1975

By Colin G. ink

OUTSTANDI'NG in progress among the less familiar 'metals during 1936 is the electrolytic production of 99.9 per cent manganese meta1 readily and many quantity. Strictly speaking, manganese should not' be classed as 'a rare metal, since there is 800 times as much manganese in the earth's crust as there is zinc or lead. But manganese' as a metal is rare, just as titanium metal is rare though titanium is five times as abundant in the earth's crust as manganese.

Jan 1, 1937

By AIME AIME

WIDESPREAD interest in the better utilization of coal is indicated by the attendance of over seventeen hundred men interested in the pro- cessing and utilization of coal and its by-products, at Pittsburgh, Nov. 15 to 18. The conference was truly international in scope and of a scientific character, and must be considered a real success. There were dele- gates--official and unofficial-from America, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Mexico, and Sweden. Several Federal and 28 State departments had representatives, also many colleges and universities, and many leading industrial and mining corporations throughout the country. A feature of the sessions was that papers were mostly read in full and attentively listened to, although in some cases they were of a technical nature. The proceedings were opened by the president of Carnegie Institute of Technology, Thomas C. Baker, who spoke of the importance of the conference and felt that without foreign cooperation it could not have been held. There was no need to apologize for the movement of Carnegie Institute of Technology in the matter. Coal is commanding attention in every part of the world; so is power; and coal will remain the chief source of power for generations to come. The coal chemist is working with the engineer, and nobody can forecast what developments there will be in fuel technology. This conference may be the turning point of fuel technology in America. The development and application of these new processes may be of great benefit to Pittsburgh.

Jan 1, 1926

Jan 1, 1879

By AIME AIME

TRAINED as a mining engineer and with no little experience in the field of mining, his interests and activities later transferred to the alloying, fabrication, and physical metallurgy of nonferrous metals, principally silver, Robert H. Leach represents in his professional life both of the major phases of the fraternity of mining and metallurgical engineers. In his personal characteristics, his wide circle of true friendships, his kindly, sympathetic interest in the problems of his fellow engineers, be they the junior men of the mineral industries or the mature and experienced men, he typifies the characteristics and attitude so desirable in the professional man.

Jan 1, 1939

By Eugene A. Stephenson

NUMBER of noteworthy events in the petroleum industry may be reported for 1941, of which the most spectacular was doubtless the rise in the daily rate of crude-oil production to a peak of approximately 4,300,000 barrels. This enormous daily rate did not ensue from the furor of flush pools but represented for the most part merely a slight additional daily delivery from many wells that had previously been operated on a more restricted basis, in line with good conservation practice and also from the adroit increase in the number of days per week by the Texas Railroad Commission. Another important fact was the increase in price throughout the Mid-Continent area from the static level of $1.02 for 36°, A.P.I., crude, to $1.17 per barrel. Efforts to elevate the price above this point have met with severe opposition from the O.P.A.. as has also a similar effort by the PennsyIvania Crude Oil Producers' Association, but the vastly increased costs for materials and labor may shortly give the industry the enhanced price which it has long deserved.

Jan 1, 1942

By T. M. Girdler

IN THESE perilous days of world- wide uncertainty, this Institute and the profession represented by it take on new importance in the economic life of the nation. I have long been impressed by the fact that the objects of the A.I.M.E. are purely professional and scientific. The country has benefited from your honorable tradition of adherence to those objectives over a period of 68 years. The Institute's policy of refraining from controversial matters - has made possible the serious, balanced, and uncolored consideration of the particular problems that come before it.

Jan 1, 1939

By Young C. Kim, Francis Martino, Ish Chopra

For the past two and one-half years, various emission control strategies were jointly developed by the University of Arizona and the Homer City Owners to com- ply with the clean air requirements at its Homer City Power Plant. Some of the available options for the SO2 emission control by the Homer City Owners were:l)cleaning of run-of-mine coal,2) scheduling of mining operations at its captive mines, 3) blending the captive mine coal with externally purchased low sulfur coa1,and 4) placing a partial FGD system. This paper describes two specific emission control strategies developed and implemented. These are: 1) production scheduling at the mining face to minimize sulfur variability, and 2) external purchasing of low sulfur coal for further blending. The main objective of this paper is to share our experiences on implementing the developed strategies. This paper emphasizesthe need for proper mine planning on a short-term basis, if the power plant is to meet the desired objective.

Jan 1, 1983

By G. C. RIDDELL

THE metallurgist, chemist, and physicist are blazing trails that lead far afield. Pushing on into an "Alloy Age" they see a non-ferrous era over- taking iron and steel. Delving into the nature of the physical world, they break down a supposedly indivisible element, hydrogen. Not content with terrestrial problems, they peer back along the cosmic ray into iaterstellar space, glimpsing forces that are, apparently, still busy with the task of atom-making. Mastering and organizing the material and physical, they advance steadily toward that borderland of science where the concept of matter itself seems abandoned, and force is the substance left.

Jan 1, 1930

By Robert T. DeGavre

INTRODUCTION The $645 million financing for Inco Ltd's Soroako nickel project in Indonesia not only represents a significant human achievement but also there are certain important lessons that can be derived from Inco's experience in financing the project. The paper will not present a technical assessment of the project since Inco Ltd. submitted a series of papers on this subject at the international Laterite Symposium as part of the 108th Annual Meeting of the AIME in February 1979. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SOROAKO PROJECT Table 1 summarizes the milestones achieved in the Soroako project and its financing. Exploration Phase A contract of Work was signed on July 27, 1968 by the Republic of Indonesia and F.T. International Nickel Indonesia (P.T. Inco) covering an extensive area of over 25,000 square miles on the two southeastern arms of the island of Sulawesi. The Contract provides that P.T. Inco has the sole responsibility for financing the project and determining the terms on which the financing should be obtained, that P.T. Inco has the right to receive and hold outside of Indonesia foreign exchange revenues and to freely dispose of such revenues, and that Indonesians have the right to purchase up to 20% of the equity of P.T. Inco over a period following start of production. P.T. Inco began field investigations in the Contract Area in August 1968. Preliminary reconnaissance sampling with portable drills broadly outlined areas of favorable laterite terrain which were then systematically sampled on surveyed grids. By early 1971 sufficient exploration work had been completed to indicate that the laterite deposits near Soroako could sustain a major nickel-producing plant (figure 1). Pilot plant studies in 1970 and 1971 at Inco's research station in Port Colborne, Ontario, using two bulk samples of Soroako ore material, also confirmed that the ore could be upgraded and treated for the recovery of its metal values. Feasibility Phase Encouraged by the results of its exploration program and pilot-plant work, Inco Ltd. commissioned Toyo Engineering Company of Japan in August 1971 to prepare a capital cost estimate for a relatively small nickel project called "Stage I". Stage I was to be a single-line pyrometallurqical process plant with an annual capacity of approximately 15,000 metric tons of nickel contained in 75% nickel sulphide matte (see Figure 2). Electric power was to be supplied by a thermal power station. It is important to recognize that Inco's strategy was to develop the Soroako ore deposits in several stages: first, construct a small project to gain experience and to reduce the initial capital outlay and then later expand in one or more steps to a much larger project to achieve maximum economies. The strategy reflected both Inco's financial position in 1971 as its sales and earning dropped sharply and the difficulties previously experienced by Inco in trying to launch in the late 1960's very large "greenfield" nickel projects in New Caledonia and Guatemala. Toyo's Project Development Study was completed. in January 1972. Based upon Toyo's cost estimate for physical facilities, Inco estimated the total capital cost of Stage I to be $115 million. For the next several months, Inco ran numerous in-house financial feasibility studies, using as inputs Toyo's cost estimate and the results of its exploration and pilot plant programs. In September 1972, Inco completed a project feasibility study which was based upon a capital cost estimate of $135 million. The feasibility study was immediately made available to potential partners and lenders. Partner Negotiations The Japanese nickel market had from the outset been central to Inco's planning for the Soroako project. That market had been growing dramatically at rates in excess of 20% per annum during the 1950's and 1960's. Japan had established, for rational security and other reasons, a domestic

Jan 1, 1985

By D. W. Fuerstenau, D. A. Sullevan

In the experimental work for this comparison of wet and dry grinding, it was found that the size distributions for wet grinding operations are characterized by a constant value of the distribution modulus, (a; whereas, for dry grinding the distribution modulus decreases slightly with increased size reduction. Wet grindability seems independent of the weight of material in the mill while dry grindability depends on weight. Experimental data and eqmtions for each process are presented for noncleavable isotropic material, for cleavable or material in which there is some form of internal stress, and for energy consumption. The equation ED/EW=BK-? (where ED and Ew are, respectively, energy for wet and dry grinding, k is the size modulus, and B and ? are constants) was found to give the ratio of energy. Dry grinding is generally considered to require more energy than wet grinding. Taggart' states that power consumption in wet grinding ranges from 60 to 90 pct of that required for dry grinding. Bond' states that dry grinding requires one third more power than wet grinding. It is interesting that Rose and Sullivan' note this same difference in power required for wet and dry grinding, but they state that on purely mechanical grounds it is difficult to see any great difference in fundamental principles between wet and dry milling, since dry milling may be regarded as wet milling with a fluid of low viscosity (i.e., air vs water). Yet it must be the viscosity of the fluid that is responsible for the differences between wet and dry grinding. Probably the most comprehensive investigation comparing wet and dry grinding has been that made by Coghill and Devaney. They compared the grind-ability of both chert and dolomite in a 19x36-in. batch ball mill under both wet and dry conditions. In these tests the weight of ore in the mill was varied from 35 to 200 lb and each grinding test was carried out for such period of time that the amount of -200-mesh material in the product was essentially the same for each test with a given material. Cog-hill and DeVaney's data for the grindability of dolomite, which are reproduced in Fig. 1, show that a comparison between wet and dry grinding is com- plex. The comminution of a material by a wet grinding method is characterized by a constant grindability over a wide range of mill loadings. Since grindability is the weight of material comminuted per unit of energy expended, it is equivalent to (w)/ (p)(t), where W is the weight of material being ground, P is the power, and t is the grinding time. In the case of wet grinding, the grindability of dolomite in the Coghill and DeVaney experiments was 0.546 * 0.009 ton per hp-hr when the load of dolomite in the mill ranged from 50 to 200 lb. On the other hand, for dry grinding no such simple relationship was found to exist between power, time, and weight of material in the mill. Dry grinding efficiency appears to depend greatly upon the amount of material within the mill. When the mill contained

Jan 1, 1961

By Charles G. Maier

SCIENCE beginning in rational observation came of age, when its devotees first began to measure and count. It has been said that the most striking aspect, of science today is its growing abstraction, and its preoccupation with mathematical symbolism. Technology with specific and concrete objectives in the satisfaction of human wants, cannot conceivably achieve the abstract unification that science seeks, but .the utility of the' scientist's method has been too well proved to require bolstering. Metallurgy is in its scientific infancy.

Jan 1, 1931

By G. T. Jackson

The Alaska Gastineau Mining Co.'s mine is located at Perseverance, about 4 mi. east of Juheau, Alaska. Its property consists of a group of claims, the lode system traversing these claims for a distance of 11,000 ft. (3352 m.). It is shown in Fig. 1. The ore deposits occur in what is known as the Juneau gold belt. This gold belt can be traced for about 50 mi. northwest of Juneau and 40 mi. southeast. It consists of a single band, several hundred feet wide, in which stringers and veins of quartz, carrying gold, occur in a slate formation near its contact with some altered volcanic rock known as greenstone. The Perseverance orebody consists of stringer lodes, having a strike northwest and southeast, dipping about 60° to the northeast. These

Jan 1, 1920

By V. H. Wilhelm

WITH rapidly diminishing oil reserves: a great percentage of which are uneconomical at present prices, some of the existing methods of development and production will have to undergo radical re- visions to meet the changes continually taking place in the petroleum industry. Imagination in an engineer is a great asset. The fancy of today is found to be the realization of tomorrow, and with this thought in mind, there is here presented a more or less imaginative picture which, to my mind, has a meritorious basis. Directed drilling has reached a stage of accuracy sufficient to allow the prediction that this art will be used in the future development of oil structures, especially those \\,it11 thin sand bodies 'and steep dips. Directional drilling in a number of fields in California has gratifying results. Wells which practically laid pipe lines through the oil sands have enjoyed a greater drainage radius with a consequent greater initial and cumulative production. In one field where the vertical thickness of sands was approximately 550 ft., wells drifting at an angle as great as 55 deg. fro111 vertical had over 1100 ft. of perforated pipe in contact with these sands. These wells were, and are, remarkable for their great initial pro-

Jan 1, 1936

By Fred E. Carter

AT first sight, the platinum group of metals seem of little import to we, the people," although actually the life of the common man is much influenced by them; this influence is usually indirect, hence his lack of knowledge and interest. He generally associates platinum with high-class jewelry and lets it go at that. Were 11e to go deeper, he would find that platinum metals play their part in his food supply, his clothing. his health, his transportation, his home. And the technical man is in general only slightly better informed, for he usually does not realize how necessary platinum metals are in the manufacture of the many construction materials and chemical products with which he is acquainted. Certainly, our daily lives would be profoundly affected if platinum were suddenly to become unavailable.

Jan 1, 1944

By Oliver Bowles

THE ADVERSE CONDITIONS that have gripped industry during recent years have to some extent submerged technical developments under the more pressing demands of economic problems. Progressive operators, nevertheless, have given attention to improvements in processes and equipment even when sales were at a low ebb. The array of facts relating to technical advancement here presented, although doubtless incomplete, is sufficient to indicate that the spirit of inquiry and research has not been quenched by adversity. During the latter part of 1933 a new element has focused interest more fully on improved methods of quarrying, mining, and preparation of nonmetallic minerals. Codes established under the NRA have fixed minimum wages, reduced working hours, and tended to establish selling prices .on a basis of reasonable profit. Labor adjustments will in many instances increase the cost of production, and stabilization of selling prices will tend to emphasize quality and service rather than price as sales arguments. These new conditions point to a growing necessity for improving technique in the interest of reducing cost of production and improving the quality of products. Thus, technology is linked with economics more firmly than ever.

Jan 1, 1934

By Walter Nummela

INTRODUCTION By the end of 1979 pellet productive capacity from the processing of low grade iron ores in the Lake Superior-District will total 86 million tons per year. Of that tonnage, 72 million result from the processing of magnetic ores such as taconite, about 6 million tons from the flotation processing of relatively coarse grained specular hematite, and 8 million tons from the processing of fine grained non- magnetic ores at Tilden. The Tilden flowsheet represents a break- through in the processing of this type of crude ore and hence is unique in the Lake Superior District (1). Operations at Tilden started in late 1974 with Algoma Steel, J&L Steel Corp., The Cleve- land-Cliffs Iron Company, The Steel Company of Canada, Ltd., Wheeling- Pittsburgh Steel Corp., and Sharon Steel Corp. as participants. Cleveland-Cliffs operates and manages the operation. Other companies have conducted extensive pilot plant tests or are in commercial production in the processing of fine grained non-magnetic ore materials (2). Flowsheets and reagent schedules may be different for each particular application, but some of the problem areas in the processing of Tilden ores have also been experienced at operations such as the IOC Plant at Sept-Isles, at Lamco and at Bong in Liberia, and in pilot testing of Fabrica ores of Ferteco Mineracao in Brazil. With a grind of about 80-85% -500 mesh resulting in 50% of the particles in the concentrate being less than 15 microns, a discussion of the pro- cessing of Tilden type ores fits the topic of this workshop. There are very large tonnages of fine grained non-magnetic crude ores which exist throughout the Lake Superior District and other iron ore producing regions. These fine grained non-magnetic materials constitute an important source of iron minerals. Before going into specifics of the flowsheet, it is important to

Jan 1, 1979

THE members arrived at Ticonderoga, N. Y., at noon, Tuesday, October 15th, and were received by Mr. Cyrus Butler, Chairman of the Local Committee of Arrangements. During the afternoon the works of the American Graphite Company and the Horicon Iron Company were visited under the guidance of Mr. Butler, President of both companies, and of Mr. William Hooper, Superintendent. An excursion was then made, in carriages, to old Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, after which the party were driven to the Rogers Rock Hotel, on Lake George. The first session of the Institute was held in the parlor of time hotel on Tuesday evening. Mr. Eckley B. Coxe, President of the Institute, opened the proceedings with the following address: I shall ask your attention, this evening, to a few reflections upon the subject of mining engineering as a profession in the United States, its past, its present, and its future, and its duties and oppor¬tunities with reference to the proper development of our great min¬eral resources. Thirty years ago, there were scarcely any mining engineers in this country, and but few in England, and there were no institutions where young men could be educated for the profession in the Eng¬lish language. France and Germany have been able for about a century to boast of mining schools of a high character, that number among their graduates such men as Humboldt, Weisbach, Rittinger, Combes, and Gruner. Of the few we then had worthy of the name of "mining engi¬neer," some had studied in the continental academies, and others were graduates in the school of practical experience, and had learned their profession in mines and smelting-works. Their work con¬sisted principally in making surveys and maps of mines and mining properties, geological reports, and analyses of ores ; but the mining engineer whom we often meet with now, who has studied chemistry, physics, mineralogy, geology, mechanics, and drawing; who is more or less familiar with machinery and its construction, and with the practical management of mines or smelting-works, and who is an expert in some one branch of his profession, would have been very difficult if not impossible to find in the United States. The induce¬ments held out to ambitious and talented young men to enter the

Jan 1, 1879

By Ernest N. Patty

WHEN an Alaskan prospector makes a new mineral discovery he stakes out his claims and then starts prospecting for a near-by landing field. This may be a convenient lake but more often it is a gravel bar along a river, where, by cutting off some brush and throwing the larger rocks to one side and then tying a flour sack to a pole, he may decoy some intrepid aviator into testing it gingerly with the wheels of his plane. It was only a few years ago that .the fence around the baseball park at Fairbanks, Alaska, was taken down so that planes could get in and out of the ball park without ripping off boards. Today the grandstand is lost among the modern hangars which line one side of a modern and busy airport. Planes come and go all during the day, and in summer, when there is no darkness, the night stillness is frequently broken by the hum of a motor overhead. Fairbanks is the hub of interior Alaska and from that hub airplanes radiate in all directions to mining camps large and small. An air industry of comparable size is based at the town of Anchorage, and in fact there are but few towns of more than 200 population in the Territory that do not have one or more planes based there.

Jan 1, 1937

By E. H., Edwerd H. Robie

WILLIAM CHURCH was one of the founders and the first president of the Detroit Copper Mining Co. and was the first man to interest the Phelps Dodge company in the possibilities of the Morenci district, in the '70's. One rather interesting story concerning him is told by James Colquhoun, at one time president of the Arizona Copper Co., in his "History of the Clifton-Morenci Mining District." It seems that a geologist visited the Detroit company's mines and gave Alec McLean, then mine superintendent, quite a lesson on the proper mineralogical terms for what he saw in passing. Later, McLean handed out a few of them to Mr. Church as they walked through the mine on a tour of inspection. The latter had even less regard for a geologist than he did for sulphide ore, which meant little indeed, for in those days the rich ore was all oxidized, and there was no money in the sulphides. So Church was completely unimpressed by the geological and mineralogical terms that McLean had acquired from the visiting geologist. Church turned on him and warned him that so long as he was a member of his staff he was to understand that there were only two kinds of rock in his mines-the one was smelting ore and the other was waste rock, and he was not to forget it.

Jan 1, 1942