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By William Rawles

THIS report is the first of a series planned by The Mineral Inquiry, organized by the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers to make factual studies of the world's mineral resources in their political and international relations. The efforts of The Inquiry are directed toward filling certain notable gaps in available information, without duplication of many other investigations touching this field which" are being conducted by other organizations, public and private. Much of its work is indirect-suggesting topics for study by other individuals and organizations and aiding in their planning and correlation. The present report is designed to show the nationality of the commercial control of mineral resources, in addition to the geographic distribution of production by nation-in other words, the overlapping of political and commercial control. Detailed accuracy cannot be claimed for the figures presented. For some companies division of ownership by nationality has been very difficult to ascertain, as many companies are reluctant to dis-close the extent of their holdings in other corporations, and the impossi-bility of tracing all stock ownership is obvious. Also there are frequent changes in the distribution of stock control. The percentages given rep-resent only the participation that has been identified definitely, even though it is known in some cases with fair certainty that larger interests exist, as, for instance, American participation in foreign chromite companies. In bringing' together these figures we have had the cordial co-operation of the United States Bureau of Mines, the United States Geologi-cal Survey, the Mineral Division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, the Brookings Institution, and of many specialists connected with the mineral industries covered. The report does not cover the entire list of minerals. Coal, although it is one of the most important minerals, was omitted because not more. than one or two per cent of the world's production comes from mines that are owned by companies foreign to the countries where the coal is produced. Others, such as gold, are omitted because sufficient data have not yet been accumulated. It is hoped that some of these may be covered in subsequent reports. It is not our purpose here to discuss the significance of the figures sub-mitted, but only to point out the general nature of the problems on which they have a bearing.

Jan 1, 1933

By F. G. Jaicks

RECOGNITION of the benefits to be gained from the continuous casting of molten steel into finished or semifinished products has been given by scientific minds since the very beginnings of steel plant technology. In fact, Sir Henry Bessemer is credited with the first of a long list of patents' issued by the U. S. Patent Office for a process which would accomplish this desirable end. None of these early ideas attained practical success and, as a result, the conventional method of teeming into ingot molds became an integral part of modern steelmaking operations. This procedure, although refined to keep pace with the changes which have come about in steelmaking and finishing facilities, is recognized to have inherent shortcomings which adversely affect manufacturing costs and steel quality. Interest in the continuous casting of steel persists because the process is directed toward avoiding some obvious weaknesses of conventional ingot casting. It has been recognized that should it be possible to substitute any of the continuous casting techniques under current development for ingot casting, it would no longer be necessary to make large capital investments in primary rolling equipment, the sole purpose of which is to reduce ingot castings to a form rollable on finishing mills. The results reported in the continuous casting of non-ferrous metals and specialty steels indicate that in addition to avoiding the primary rolling mills there is some basis for expecting significant improvements in yield, surface, and internal quality. Recognizing the shortcomings of the conventional procedures, the Inland Steel Co., in cooperation with Atlas Steels Ltd. and the Freyn Dept. of the Kop- pers Co. Inc., embarked upon a program to evaluate certain aspects of continuous casting in order to determine whether the process could be applied practically to an existing integrated steel plant producing 'large tonnages of carbon steels. TO assist in this evaluation a study was carried out in which several types of low carbon steel were continuously cast in an existing machine. It is the purpose of this paper to review some of the results obtained in the casting studies and to interpret the information that was obtained so as to indicate factors that must be considered in assessing operating limitations and plant capacities. Despite the early interest in the continuous casting of steel, the actual application to the steel industry is relatively recent. At present, there are about 25 operating plants casting steel, most of which have been built in the past decade. None of these plants could be classified as large in terms of the tonnages that are being processed by the major integrated steel plants. In contrast to the situation in the steel industry, there has been widespread adoption of the continuous process in the casting of nonferrous alloys, particularly aluminum and copper. As a result, much of the basic information that was required to apply the process to steel was developed in the nonferrous industries. In this respect, a most important contribution was the development of the Junghans2 system, which was initially designed for the casting of nonferrous metals and later applied to the casting of steel. Alternative methods for casting have also been proposed by Babcock and Wilcox Tube Co.,'" the British Iron and Steel Research Association,5 and the Gebruder Bohler A. G.13 Each of these methods is now being used successfully for the casting of special steels in small experimental plants or in modest sized commercial steelworks. The Original Junghans process was first developcd in Germany. Further application of the process has been made by Rossi in other countries.'*' The experi-

Jan 1, 1958

While coal was mined in New Mexico in 1860, production was on a small scale during the period considered here, and Table 77 contains all the data found. [ ]

Jan 1, 1942

New York Meets first Wednesday after first Tuesday of each month. . DAVID H. BROWNE, Chairman. JOHN H. JANEWAY, Vice-Chairman. . F. E. PIERCE, Secretary, 35 Nassau St., New York, N. Y. P. A. MOSMAN, Treasurer. LEWIS W. FRANCIS. BENJAMIN B. LAWRENCE. Boston Meets first Monday of each winter month. HENRY L. SMYTH, Chairman. ALFRED C. LANE, Vice-Chairman. HENRY A. WENTWORTH, Secretary-Treasurer, 60 India St., Boston, Mass. A. H. EUSTIS, F. G. STANTIAL. Columbia Holds four sessions during year. Annual meeting in September or October. STANLY A. EASTON, Chairman. FREDERIC KEFFER, Vice-Chairman. LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, P. O. Drawer 2154, Spokane, Wash.

Jan 2, 1916

By P. Somasundaran, G. E. Agar

The role of calcium, phosphate, and fluoride species in determining the zeta potential of apatite in aqueous solutions was investigated in this study. The zeta potential of apatite was determined by streaming potential measurements over a wide range of concentrations of potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, and potassium fluoride solutions at various pH values. While the addition of phosphate made the apatite surface more negative at all pH values, calcium caused a significant increase of the zeta potential only when the zeta potential was negative. Fluoride addition had only a minor effect on the zeta potential, but both negative and positive values were increased.

Jan 1, 1973

By P. R. Swann, J. G. Parr

Quenched structures were studied in alloys containing up to 12.5 pct cobalt. The subsequent decomposition of a 10 pct cobalt retained-ß phase alloy was investigated using metallographic and X-ray diffraction methods. Hardness measurements also were made during the decomposition process. Precipitation of Ti2Co is by nucleation and growth; and an activation energy of 50,000 cal per mole was determined. The values of the coefficient ß suggest that the precipitate is pearlitic at temperatures between 450 and 475°C, and spheroidal between 500 and 525°C. THIS paper describes part of a series of invesligations into phase transformations in binary alloys of titanium with transition elements. The general approach is similar to that taken in work on titanium-iron and titanium-nickel alloys.' Previous investigators'' have established the titanium-rich end of the titanium-cobalt phase diagram, reproduced in Fig. 1. Orrell and Fontana' showed that alloys containing more than about 6 pct" cobalt quenched from the ß range, produced 100 pcl retained-p phase. The isothermal decomposition of alloys containing between 0.8 pct Co and 15.5 pct CO was investigated by the same workers in the temperature range 650 to 1000°C. They reported that these alloys transformed into a or Ti,Co depending on the cobalt content, but no quantitative data were given. In the work to be described a series of alloys containing 0.8 pct Co to 12.5 pct Co was examined in the quenched condition. The 10 pct Co alloy (the lowest cobalt content to retain 100 pct ß on quenching) was selected for further work on the tempering kinetics of the ß decomposition. Experimental Procedure Since our own melting equipment was not installed at the outset of this work, the Physical Metallurgy Division of the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys (Ottawa, Canada) prepared the alloys. These were made of Japanese sponge, (which when melted had a value of 103 DPH, using a 1-kg load), and electrolytically prepared cobalt. The al- loys, made up to contain 0.8, 1.6, 3.3, 5.8, 8.3, 10.0 and 12.5 pct Co, were homogenized by swaging into rods at 900°C. Filings were taken from the rods, and any iron chips from the file were separated magnetically. Size fractions of both plus and minus 200 mesh (about 75p) were shown by their constitution, after annealing just below the eutectoid temperature, to contain the same cobalt content. Consequently, it was permissible to use the —200-mesh fraction, knowing it to be representative of the rod composition. Quenching in argon was carried out in a newly designed furnace, whose features include (1) an Inconel furnace tube, (2) a positive pressure of argon maintained at all times in the furnace—even when a sample is removed or inserted. The furnace is shown in Fig. 2 and is described in the Appendix. The tempering processes were carried out on powder samples sealed in evacuated quartz capsules. Since the highest tempering temperature was 525OC, no protection against reaction with the quartz was necessary. (Tests were made on filings of iodide titanium and showed no hardness increase after equivalent heat-treatments.) A thermocouple was attached to the capsule, which was heated to the

Jan 1, 1959

By AIME

The Taconites Are Ready, the editorial appearing on P. 933 of the September issue, has provoked comment from several informed engineers to the effect that the indicated profit margin was considerably exaggerated. The cost figures in the editorial, taken from the Congressional Record, were characterized as inaccurate by some correspondents. The theme of the story was, however, substantiated in the announcement (P. 1023, October) that Republic and Armco had joined forces in a $160 million project for taconite development. Chief among the dissenters was E. W. Davis, , Director of the Mines Experiment Station at the University of Minnesota. Mr. Davis has worked up the following set of cost figures:

Jan 1, 1950

New York Meets first Wednesday after first Tuesday of each month. DAVID H.-BROWNE, Chairman, JOHN H. JANEWAY, Vice-Chairman. F. E. PIERCE, Secretary, 35 Nassau St., New York, N. Y. P. A. MOSMAN, Treasurer. LEWIS W. FRANCIS. Boston Meets first Monday of each winter month. HENRY L. SMYTH, Chairman. . ALFRED C. LANE, Vice-Chairman. HENRY A. WENTWORTH, Secretary-Treasurer, 60 India St., Boston, Mass. ROBERT H. RICHARDS, ALBERT SAUVEUR. Columbia Holds four sessions during year. Annual meeting in September or October. FRANK A. ROSS, Chairman. RUSH J. WHITE, Vice-Chairman. LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, P O. Drawer 2154, Spokane, Wash. FREDERIC KEFFER, FRANCIS A. THOMSON.

Jan 11, 1915

By T. C. Russell

The Conda phosphate mine, eight miles north of Soda Springs in Caribou County, Idaho, was opened up by the Anaconda Copper Mining CO. in 1920. Except for brief periods, during the 20's and early 30's, the mine has maintained a continuous production, and 2,100,000 short tons of phosphate rock have been shipped to the company's phosphate fertilizer manufacturing plant at Anaconda, Mont., or to independent processing plants on the Pacific Coast; a small tonnage of the rock has been shipped to the Hawaiian Islands. The Phosphoria formation on the Conda property consists of two, commercial-grade phosphate beds separated by 147 ft of black to brownish colored phosphatic calcareous shales interbedded with softer mudstones, clays, and occasional narrow seams of oolitic phosphate. The main lower phosphate bed in the series averaging 7.1 ft in thickness, is called the "foot-wall bed," which lies coriformably on the Wells limestone formation, the 1atter often containing irregular bands of chert. The upper or " hanging-wall bed" of phosphate rock averaging 7.2 ft in thickness, is overlaid by thick quartzite beds, locally called the " Rex chert" member in the upper portion of the Phosphoria formation. (Fig 1.) There are two anticlines on the property with axis striking approximately parallel to the mountain range beneath which extensive development on phosphate rock has been conducted in the past, and is now in progress. The phosphate beds have been eroded to a large extent from the tops of these anticlines, leaving at least three well-pronounced outcrops of the phosphate beds exposed within the boundaries of the Anaconda Copper Mining Cornpany's properties. At present, mining operations in the Conda No. 3 mine are confined to the two phosphate beds along the east flank of the easternmost anticline, where the dips on the beds vary from 50° to 60° east, thereby affording favorable conditions for the sublevel mining system now in use. Mining operations formerly were confined to the footwall or lower oolitic phosphate bed because of its higher phosphate and vanadium contents (32 pct P²O5 and 0.29 pct V2 O 5); this bed averages 7.1 ft in thickness. The oolitic portions of the upper bed were of satisfactory grade, but the shale and clay partings (Fig 2) diluted the mined rock and could not he separated economically by selective mining or by sorting. Experiments in beneficiating this rock were carried on for a number of years. Recently, a simple washing process was adopted, which gave a satisfactory grade of concentrates and a high recovery of P² O5. In 1947 it was decided to expand Anaconda's production of treble superphosphate and phosphoric acid by approximately 90 pct. This rock will be obtained from the footwall and hanging-wall beds, and the rock from the hanging-wall bed will be benefici-ated at -Anaconda.l In order to take advantage of the previous development on the 500 secondary haulage level, short crosscuts will be driven at approximately 950 ft intervals from the existing lateral drifts through the hanging-wall shale beds. From the inner end of each crosscut, short lateral drifts will he driven in both directions, so that four working raises can he put up on the dip of the phosphate bed at proper intervals along each of the lateral drifts. The mining operation on the footwall bed at Conda

Jan 1, 1950

By Elliot Rexford

The quality of aggregate materials is of major importance in governing durability and permanence of concrete structures. The problem of selecting suitable aggregate materials is two-fold. Geological factors include the type and character of the aggregate source, presence of known or suspected reactive constituents, and presence of thermally incompatible materials. Laboratory investigations include petrographic studies, soundness and reactivity tests, and tests of thermal properties. The importance of each factor in the selection of satisfactory aggregate material is considered in detail.

Jan 3, 1950

By R. E. Schilson, F. H. Poettmann

The direct determination of the stabilized performance behavior of low capacity, slowly stabilizing gas wells is extremely time-consuming and wasteful of gas. From both field experience and theoretical considerations, a test procedure has been evolved by which the stabilized hack pressure behavior of such gas wells can he predicted without having to revert to long time flow tests. The method consists of using the isochrona1 test procedure to establish the slope of the back pressure curve, "n", and the short time variation of the performance coeficient, "C", with time. From this short time transient flow data and theoretical considerations, the value of C at large times can he established. By assuming the radius of drainage of a well to be half the distance between wells, one can calculate the stabilization time for various well spacing patterns. Once the stabilization time for a given .spacing has been determined, the value of C can be calculated and the stabilized back-pressure curve can he. establbrhed. The calculated perfortnance coefficient as a function of tinze was cotnpared to the experintentally measured values for a number of gas wel1.e. The deviation of the calc~*lated from the cxperimental res1tlt.s vary depending on the set of short time experimental points used to evabrate the parcrttzeters of the equation. The longer the tirne far the flow test data user1 in the calculations, the better was the agreement with the experimental results. The time necessary to obtain this data from well tests varies consitlerably, depending on the physical natrcre oj the rt3scrvoir under consideratiot~. INTRODUCTION For many years, the U. S. Bureau of Mines Monograph 7' has served as a guide for testing and evaluating the performance of gas wells by means of the back-pressure method. The back-pressure performance of a gas well is expressed by the following equation: Q~ CW-W.........(I) where the characteristics of the back-pressure equation are determined by C, the performance coefficient, and n, the exponent which corresponds to the slope of the straight line when Q and {P* - PN2) are plotted on logarithmic paper. Q is gas flow rate at standard conditions, and P, and P, are equalized and flowing bottom-hole pressures, respectively. Prior to the development of the back-pressure tcst, the "open flow" capacity method of testing a well was common. By this method, the wells were flowed wide open to the air and the flow rate measured. Such procedure was wasteful of gas and did not provide information on the deliverability of the gas to the pipe line. Monograph 7 Procedure The back-pressure method of testing wells was developed to overcome these shortcomings. Although much has been learned regarding the laws of the flow of gas through porous formations, the original development of the back-pressure relationship was based entirely on empirical methods. The back-pressure behavior provides the engineer with information essential in predicting the future development of a field. It permits him to calculate the deliverability of gas into a pipe line at predetermined line pressures, to design and analyze gas gathering lines, to determine the spacing and number of wells to he drilled during the development of a field to meet gas purchasers' requirements, and to solve many other technical and economic problems. As described in Monograph 7, the flow-after-flow method of back-pressure testing, when applied to fast stabilizing and usually high capacity wells, correctly characterized the behavior of the well. However, as the value of the gas at the wellhead increased, small capacity gas wells having slow rates of stabilization became economically operable. The flow-after-flow method of testing could not be used to describe the behavior of these slowly stabilizing wells. The procedure of Rawlins and Shellhardtl for establishing the back-pressure behavior of a gas well was based on the rcquirement that the data be obtained under stabilized flow conditions; that is, that C is constant and does not vary with time. C depends on the physical properties of the reservoir, the location, extent and geometry of the drainage radius, and the properties of the flowing fluid. In a highly permeable formation, only a very short period of time is required for the well to reach a stabilized condition, and, consequently, the requirements for the test procedure described in Monograph 7 are met. For a given well, n is also constant

By G. Baralis, P. Gondi, I. Tangerini, G. Scandola

The precipitation behavior of Zn-0.5 pct A1 alloy single crystals was studied by means of electrical resistivity measurements and by optical and electron microscopy. The single crystals for the resistivity measurements were prepared by an original method in - 100-p -thick sheets. The order of the precipitation kinetics ranged between 1 and 1.5. The dislocations play a relevant role in the first-order kinetics. Precipitation always occurs both on dispersed particles and on dislocations. Statistical examinations have shown that the first-order kinetics can have two different activation energies; i.e., the precipitation can have dz;fferent mechanisnrs which could not be identified, however, in the course of the research. During the tnetallographic exanzination of the precipitation structures a specific process of dislocation decoration was obsereed. The main purpose of this work was to study the contribution of dislocations to the precipitation. A number of authors have observed precipitation on dislocations and reference might be made to several monographs on the ubject.'' The possibility that dislocations also accelerate precipitation has been considered by Turn-bull3 and Fischer et al.4 The studies described in the present paper were carried out on zinc, chosen as a base metal owing to the ease with which dislocations can be introduced into it and because of the absence of excess vacancies after quenching in conditions where phenomena of accelerated precipitation still occur. Aluminum was preferred as alloying element because of the accelerated precipitation phenomena that resulted in a preliminary reearch. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS The observations refer to a Zn-0.5 pct A1 alloy. The zinc was 99.995 pct pure; a typical spectroscopical analysis is given in Table I. As a rule the alloy was subjected to homogenization, quenching, or slow cooling and annealing. Homogenization was carried out by heating at 390" to 410°C for 24 hr. From the homogenization temperature, some specimens were quenched and some slowly cooled at a rate of 2°C per sec. At this rate no precipitate was detectable under the optical microscope just after cooling. Quenching was carried out simply by dropping the specimens into water, aqueous ethylene glycol solution at -30" c, or liquid-nitrogen baths placed close to the homogenization oven. Vaseline oil baths were used with a thermal stabilization of 10-20 for both the aging treatments and the measurements; aging was generally carried out at 90" or 130°C. To avoid oxidation phenomena during heating, the vaseline oil baths had to be frequently renewed. The precipitation kinetics were studied by means of electrical resistivity measurements, using ans potentiometric method (reproducibility ± 5 x 10 5 v, that is 0.5 pct of the total voltage decreases on the specimens during precipitation). First, various types of specimens were tested, i.e., polycrystals, single crystals grown in capillary quartz tubes, and thin single-crystal sheets prepared by means of an original method requiring no container except for the natural oxide. Even if fully annealed, the polycrystals and the capillary grown single crystals showed resistivity in -creases, most probably due to dislocations introduced in the course of the measurements. Similar resistivity increases in pure zinc were noticed by another author. Only the single-crystal sheets showed no resistivity change; thus they were chosen for the subsequent tests. As already mentioned, these single crystals were obtained by using, as a container, the natural oxide on the zinc surface; the oxide strength is sufficient to maintain the original shape during melting with sheets up to 500 p thick. An initial zone melting and subsequent zone leveling, which led also to formation of the single crystals, were thus carried out on rolled sheets of the required thicknesses (- 100 p) and shape, lying on a flat silica surface. The resistivities were first evaluated by measurements at the liquid-nitrogen temperature. This method gave poor reproducibility, however, and this was attributed to the thermal cycles which had to be operated. To avoid cycles and handling, it was therefore decided to make measurements directly in the annealing oil baths; this required thermal stabilization at ilo-' "C. In this way only the resistance changes were measured. Specimens of pure zinc and of completely annealed alloy were always examined as controls together with those under consideration; only those measurement runs were taken into account where the reference samples showed no resistance increases. Again, the main inconvenience was due to oxidation and this was avoided by renewing the oil baths; even so data reproducibility was poor and the observations were therefore carried out on a large number (many hundreds) of specimens so as to provide indications of statistical value. For the transmission observations under the elec-

Jan 1, 1969

By James J. Bailey

Percussive drills have been in commercial use for many decades. Until relatively recently there was little serious effort to analyze the stresses in such devices in any detail. Within the last few years such analyses have been developed and have been reported by a number of authors.1-4 We present here an investigation of the impact systems of a family of conventional down-hole drills with optimization the objective. We have assumed that maximum drilling speed was the quality most desired and that this was to be achieved within conventional practice. In fact the methods that are demonstrated in principle below can readily be adapted to other percussive devices, whether conventional or not, and to other constraints. SOME PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS FOR PERCUSSIVE DRILLS Consider a percussive drill with an air motor operating with the following parameters: p-supply air pressure a-effective piston area W-piston mass S-piston stroke If we consider a simple (constant pressure) cycle, the following relationships can be derived. The blow frequency [N~ pa lie WS 377]

Jan 1, 1968

By T. Katayanagi, J. Shimoiizaka, K. Nakatsuka

Feldspar has been separated from silica by cationic collector using hydrofluoric acid as an activator of feldspar (1,2). Recently, one of the authors developed a new flotation process separating feldspar from quartz without using hydrofluoric acid. Presently, some silica sand mills are operating to introduce this process in Japan (3). In this flotation, feldspar is floated from silica using normal alkyltri-methylene diamine acetate together with sodium petroleum sulfonate as collectors in a hydrochloric or sulfuric acid circuit of about pH 2. From fundamental studies, it was found that, though the aliphatic diamine by itself did not adsorb on feldspar sufficiently to give a satisfying flotation in acidic circuit., the adsorption of collector was promoted by the simultaneous use of petroleum sulfonate and resulted in sufficient flotation of feldspar. On the other hand, quartz did not float in this flotation process. The application of this flotation was attempted for some types of natural samples and satisfying results were obtained. Further, an example of practical plant was introduced and the advantages in the process are emphasized.

Jan 1, 1976

By Walter F. Bradley

CLOSE to 300 members and guests were registered at the Regional Meeting of the Institute in San Francisco. Oct. 3-6, and many other mining men were present at some of the sessions, but failed to register. Headquarters were at the Palace Hotel. Technical papers for the Metals Session were sponsored by the San Francisco Section, whereas the program for the Industrial Minerals Session was arranged by the Southern California Section. Walter W. Bradley, Chairman of the San Francisco Section, opened the General and Metals Session, introducing President Buehler, who gave a hearty welcome to those present. Clyde M. Eye, of the. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co., presented the first paper, entitled "The Economic and Strategic Value of Philippine Metals to the United States." In closing, he urged. that this country retain and control the Philippines because their large

Jan 1, 1935

By L. J. Trilli

RECENT studies have indicated that there may be considerable difference in the cleanliness of the central pipe cavity of open top ingots. It has been speculated that some of this difference arises becausk of reactions that occur during reheating in the blooming mill soaking pits. In this respect, it has been recognized that an oxide coating or flow of slaggy material in the cavity could inhibit welding during hot rolling and thus reduce the amount of sound product which may be obtained. This note is intended to summarize some observations on the structure of a split ingot top which may be useful in describing a mechanism whereby the shrinkage cavity could be oxidized during reheating. A 221/2x241/2 in., big-end-down, test ingot was secured from a routine production heat. The chemical analysis representing this ingot is as follows: 0.08 pct C, 1.04 pct Mn, 0.062 pct P, 0.315 pct S, and 0.02 pct Si. The deoxidation practice used on the heat from which the experimental ingot was

Jan 1, 1957

By Richard W. Lodge

Ix the crucible-method of assaying ores for silver a certain amount of litharge is essential to supply sufficient lead to collect the precious metals. The object of this paper is to point out that the use of a .large excess of litharge in the assay of some ores will give results for silver that are uneven as well as low. So far as I know, however, an excess of litharge does not affect the results obtained in the crucible-assay of ores for gold. The main reasons for using, in the crucible-assay, much more litharge than is required to give the necessary lead button are : 1, its action as a flux; 2, its action as a desulphurizer; and 3, its action as an oxidizer, especially on metals like copper and nickel, whereby they are forced into the slag as oxides and thus prevented from passing into the lead button. Hence, by the use of much litharge in the crucible-assay more-ore can often be taken than in the scorification-process, and a lead button obtained which can possibly be cupelled at once or after a single scorification. The method is specially advantageous with an ore carrying much copper or similar impurity and poor in silver, when the assayer does not wish to resort to a wet-analysis for the determination of the silver. It is well known that some ores give better results when assayed by the scorification-method, while others give better results by the crucible-method. For several years I have noticed that, when much litharge was used with certain sulphide and arsenical ores, the results were considerably lower than when the scorification-method was used. This fact was more forcibly brought out in connection with certain work carried on this year by Messrs. H. A. Frame and

Sep 1, 1907

By H. L. Ames, P. H. Jennings, R. W. Stanley

A process has been developed for leaching copper, lead and calcium from molybdenite concentrate. The leachant is a solution containing an oxidizing chloride (e. g., CuC12, FeC13) and an alkaline earth metal chloride (e. g., CaC12). Cupric chloride and ferric chloride, in the presence of 20-30% calcium chloride, are effective oxidants for chalcopyrite and galena. Calcium chloride, in addition to promoting the rate of leaching, serves to lower the solution pH and raise the boiling point. Leaching for two hours at 110'~ with a 1 % CuC12-10% FeC13- 30% CaC12 solution results in the extraction of up to 98% of the copper in molybdenite, 98% of the lead, and 79% of the calcium. Less than 0. 5% of the molybdenum is dissolved. The leach solution can be rapidly and effectively regenerated with gaseous chlorine and recycled. Build-up of copper and lead in the leach solution is controlled by discarding about 30% of the leach solution each cycle.

Jan 1, 1973

By W. J. Millard

Owing to a moratorium in the drilling of crown-land leases in Trinidad during the year of 1931, only 40 wells were spudded in during the first eight months as compared with 110 during the same period in 1930. Nevertheless the production will show an increase of about 400,000 bbl. over that of 1930. An estimate is given in Table 1. Since the oil produced in 1930 was 9,418,907 bbl. and that in 1931 probably will be 9,853,976 bbl., the year 1931 probably will see an increase of about 4.6 per cent. The gross production of crude oil in the colony has increased steadily year by year, with the exception of 1919, when there was a slight decline. A tabulated statement was given last year.' The Petroleum Times of March 21, 1931 (p. 413) gives the total production of 1930 as 9,418,000 bbl. and the average monthly production as 784,833 bbl. The same two items for 1931 are estimated at 9,853,976 and 821,165 bbl., respectively.

Jan 1, 1932

By Francis A Thomson

Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Montana School of Mines, Butte, Mont Francis A Thomson, President. The Bureau of Mines and Geology was formerly known as the Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy. A list of publications will be sent upon request¬ A series of six Bulletins and five Memoirs liave been issued by tlie Bureau, as well as several miscellaneous contributions Where the price is not indicated in tlie following selected list of those publications which are now available, the publications are presumably distributed gratis: Bulletin 3, Mechanical ore sampling in Montana, by H B Pulsifer (1920); 6, Geology and ore deposits of Bannack and Argenta, Montana, by P. J Slienon, 50 cents, Memoir 1, The Kevin-Sunburst and otlier oil and gas fields of the Sweetgrass Arcli, by E S Perry (1929), 2, Natural gas in Montana, by E S Perry (in preparation), 4, Tlie geologic structures of western Montana, by C H Clapp and others (in preparation), 5, Placer mining possibilities in Montana, by O A Dingman (1932).

Jan 1, 1933