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By Theron Wasson

Michigan reports another record year. Its production of 18,605,000 bbl. exceeds any previous year's total and is 2,000,000 bbl. over 1937, the previous record year. Production in 1938 brings the accumulated total for the state to a little over 100,000,000 bbl. It has taken 14 years to reach this accumulative figure, which would meet the needs of our country for about one month. Twelve new oil and gas fields were opened in 1938 and 978 tests for oil and gas were completed, of which 566 were oil wells, 25 gas wells and 387 dry holes. The new oil discovered is probably about equal to the oil produced during the year. Activities in 1938 The Temple field, Clare County, was the discovery of the year. Since July, 46 wells have been completed, and although not yet outlined it appears that more than 2000 acres have been proved for production from the Monroe of Devonian age, at a depth of 3900 ft. This discovery is the result of a wildcat test along a trend northwestward from the older fields of the central basin. The Edenville pool, Midland County, ranks second among the new fields. Thirty-five producing wells have been drilled to the Dundee at 3800 feet. The surprise development was in southwestern Alichigan, Allegan and Van Buren Counties, where six new Traverse lime pools were opened with a daily production of about 8000 bbl. at the end of the year. This is the first consistent Traverse production in the state and is about 100 miles southwest of the producing areas of the central basin. These fields have had a rapid development because of the shallow depths, which range from 900 to 1500 ft. Bloomingdale, Van Buren County, had a town-lot boom, and 72 wells have been drilled there since August 1938. Small operators from many states have been attracted to this shallow territory, and the coming year will see much drilling in these and surrounding counties. The Buckeye field, Gladwin County, led the state in amount of oil produced. Its total of over 7,000,000 bbl. was far ahead of that of any other pool.

Jan 1, 1939

By Theron Wasson

Michigan reports another record year. Its production of 18,605,000 bbl. exceeds any previous year's total and is 2,000,000 bbl. over 1937, the previous record year. Production in 1938 brings the accumulated total for the state to a little over 100,000,000 bbl. It has taken 14 years to reach this accumulative figure, which would meet the needs of our country for about one month. Twelve new oil and gas fields were opened in 1938 and 978 tests for oil and gas were completed, of which 566 were oil wells, 25 gas wells and 387 dry holes. The new oil discovered is probably about equal to the oil produced during the year. Activities in 1938 The Temple field, Clare County, was the discovery of the year. Since July, 46 wells have been completed, and although not yet outlined it appears that more than 2000 acres have been proved for production from the Monroe of Devonian age, at a depth of 3900 ft. This discovery is the result of a wildcat test along a trend northwestward from the older fields of the central basin. The Edenville pool, Midland County, ranks second among the new fields. Thirty-five producing wells have been drilled to the Dundee at 3800 feet. The surprise development was in southwestern Alichigan, Allegan and Van Buren Counties, where six new Traverse lime pools were opened with a daily production of about 8000 bbl. at the end of the year. This is the first consistent Traverse production in the state and is about 100 miles southwest of the producing areas of the central basin. These fields have had a rapid development because of the shallow depths, which range from 900 to 1500 ft. Bloomingdale, Van Buren County, had a town-lot boom, and 72 wells have been drilled there since August 1938. Small operators from many states have been attracted to this shallow territory, and the coming year will see much drilling in these and surrounding counties. The Buckeye field, Gladwin County, led the state in amount of oil produced. Its total of over 7,000,000 bbl. was far ahead of that of any other pool.

Jan 1, 1939

In accordance with the requirements of our By-Laws I beg leave to submit herewith the report of the Library Committee for the year 1915. The activity shown by the sale of the institute publications during the year continues satisfactory, although not as large as last year. The total sales amount to $6,666.81, distributed as follows: Sale of Transactions...:: :. $4,585.42 Sale of Special Editions 553.17 Sale of Pamphlets and Bulletins 2,028.22 It should-be borne in mind that the sale of special editions was only begun last year,, and most of the members who did not have the special editions immediately bought them for their libraries. This year only a little less than half of the same number have been disposed of, and it is more than probable that from now-on the number will be considerably lessened.

Jan 2, 1916

Jan 1, 1913

Andrew Carnegie, America's best-known ironmaster and philanthropist, died at his home at Lenox, Mass., Monday, Aug. 11, after a three days' illness. A pioneer in the steel industry, he introduced into this .country the Bessemer process And formed the plans that have resulted in this country's supremacy in the steel markets of the world. Known throughout the world for his, gifts, he is also known to engineers as the donor of the home of their National Societies and as the founder of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, of Pittsburgh. For many years, also, he was an honorary member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and of the Engineers Club of New York. What he considered the secret, of his success is shown by the epitaph he wrote for himself, "Here lies a man who knew how to enlist in his service better men than himself." He was buried Thursday, Aug. 14, in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Tarry-town, N. Y., the funeral services being private, in accordance with his wish.

Jan 9, 1919

By W. O. Philbrook, H. E. Burner, F. S. Manning

The equation of continuity for the hydrogen reduction of hematite in a fixed bed of closely-sized particles is solved assuming a flat velocity profile, negligible temperature gradients, md negligible axial diffusion. A kinetic expression from the literature is used which assumes the reduction process is controlled at the oxide-metal interface. The integral fractional conversion is computed, and the importance of particle diameter, flow mte, temperature, bulk axial diffusion, and inter- and intra-particle mass trarnsfer is predicted. Comparison with experimental data suggests one or more additional undefined variable(s) is significant. Equipment modifications are suggested for fidture experimentcll work. WITH the increasing desire to "design" the ore feed of a blast furnace, it has become necessary to define more quantitatively the process variables and to evaluate the extent of their control upon the reduction process. The bulk of the work reported in the literature has centered about the reduction of single particles; however, the blast furnace process more closely resembles reduction of a fixed bed than that of single particles. To simplify this analysis, the isothermal reduction by hydrogen of a natural hematite in a fixed bed of closely-sized particles is examined. With appropriate modifications in the kinetic and flow rate expressions, the approach employed should be extensible to mixtures of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and inert nitrogen, and to adi-abatic conditions, thus approaching the blast furnace process more closely. The fixed bed variables which are investigated in this study are particle diameter, flow rate, temperature, and bulk axial diffusion, as well as inter-and intra-particle mass transfer. Of particular interest is the effect of particle size upon fractional conversion for a bed operating under constant pressure drop. The constant pressure drop concept bears a close resemblance to the blast furnace process, where regions of larger particles may provide a greater permeability to divert most of the reducing gas flow from the regions of smaller ore particles. Under such conditions one would expect qualitatively that, for sufficiently small particle sizes where the flow rate is small and the total surface area is large, the reduction rate would be limited by the gas flow rate. Initially the gas entering the bed reacts very rapidly and the composition approaches the equilibrium conversion value a short distance from the reactor inlet. This concentration "wave-front" then moves up the bed as the flow of reducing gas is continued, leaving in its wake an ever increasing layer of reduced particles. Providing that the reducing gas leaves the bed at equilibrium concentrations, conversion is expected to increase with an increase in flow rate, and hence with an increase in particle diemater. Conversely, for sufficiently large particles the flow rate will be high but the surface area available for reaction will limit the reduction rate. Since the total surface area decreases with an increase in particle size, conversion, in this case, is expected to decrease as the particle diameter is increased. It is clear then that between these two extremes an optimum particle diameter must exist. THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT Above the temperature where wiistite is stable (about 560°C) the reduction of hematite proceeds through the series Fe2O3/Fe3O4/FeO/Fe. On the basis of microstructural studies and earlier work, Edström1 has postulated a mechanism for the reduction of an ideal hematite lattice: 1) Iron phase formation at the boundary between wiistite, iron, and gas (for sufficiently porous iron). 2) Diffusion of iron across a wustite layer. 3) Phase boundary reaction of Fe3O4 to FeO. 4) Diffusion across a dense magnetite layer. 5) Phase-boundary reaction of Fe2O3 to Fe3O4. According to the mechanism postulated, gaseous reaction product has to be removed only at the boundaries between wüstite and iron or gas, the only possible exception being enveloped Fe3O4 specks. On this basis McKewan2,3 has proposed that one may consider the hematite reduction process as a simple two-phase system of oxide/metal. If, for FeO and Fe3O4 layers of negligible thickness, the hypothesis is made that the rate of formation of a

Jan 1, 1963

Jan 1, 1939

Jan 1, 1939

By Thomas J. Ferree

The principle mineral concentration practices today can be divided into three basic process categories: magnetic separation, flotation and gravity separation. The basic processes have been in use for many years with only limited changes occurring in equipment design or process technique. In general, equipment and process techniques have been altered only after a need for change has developed. With exceptions for changes necessitated by new environmental laws, most equipment and process improvements have evolved in accordance with the desire to concentrate larger quantities of material at lower costs. The basic result has been the development of larger capacity equipment, to wit: larger flotation cells, larger blast furnaces, larger haulage equipment and larger chemical process equipment. However, there has been practically no changes in the size of spirals, tables, jigs, or-within limits- magnetic separators. (The exception being high-intensity magnetic separators). Consequently, a "new" device has entered the scene which may fill a void in the gravity separation field. It is called a Reichert cone concentrator.

Jan 3, 1973

By A. A. Gustafson

The Freeport Sulphur Co. built a portable crusher in 1944 that solved a problem that none of the crusher manufacturing companies contacted were able to do. Two of these crushers have now been in service for 6 years, giving satisfactory service in handling a million tons per year, and having a capacity of over 2000 long tons per 8-hr shift. These machines reduce ton size blocks of sulphur to 12 in. and also feed the conveyor system at the rate of 350 long tons per hr per machine.

Jan 10, 1950

By John V. Beall, John Cameron Fox

Organization In 1948, the Committee on Divisionalization and Publication Program of AIME, known as the Johnson Committee, recommended the reorganization of the Institute into three branches, Mining, Metals and Petroleum. This recommendation was accepted and the new organizational structure was implemented in Jan., 1949. The Mining Branch, at the time of the formation, had three divisions: the Coal Division formed in 1929, the Industrial Minerals Division (IndMD) dating from 1935, and the Minerals Beneficiation Division (MBD) formed in 1948 from the Milling Methods Committee, which had existed for many years. There did not exist, however, a division for the geologists and mining engineers. From the time of the founding of the Institute, this group was the main stem of AIME and never felt the need to segregate. The disciplines of mining and geology were served by a number of technical standing committees of AIME. With the birth of the new Branch, a new Division, the Mining, Geology and Geophysics Division (MGGD) was formed, completing the divisional structure of the Mining Branch and providing a home for all members. The governing body was the Mining Branch Council, with two members from each Division of the Mining Branch and one each from the Mineral Industry Education Division and the Mineral Economics Division. These last two divisions served all three Branches of AIME. The Division is such an important unit in the organization structure that it is of value to explain that it appoints committees to handle pro- grams, publications, and awards - representing the main functions of the Institute - as well as many others. There is enough flexibility in the organization so that each Division may have its own special committee structure as long as primary functions are provided. The past is indeed prologue to the future, for in 1957 the Johnson "Branches" gave way to the Fletcher "Societies." The Fletcher Committee, in 1958, recommended a new reorganization into Societies, each with the authority to administer its own finances and to designate certain officers and directors to the AIME Board. The date on which the Society of Mining Engineers was formed in Feb., 1957, has become known as "R" Day. A smooth transition from the loose Branch structure to Society organiza-

Jan 1, 1971

By Lester C. Uren

With the depletion of our older, and relatively shallow, oilfields and the necessity for securing new production from deeper horizons, much attention is being given to the improvement of oil-well pumps in order that they may function satisfactorily under the more difficult conditions imposed by increased depth. Until recently, practically all of the world's petroleum was secured from wells less than 3000 ft. deep, whereas horizons are now being explored to depths of from 5000 to 7000 ft. in some of the more prolific fields, and it seems probable that the greater part of the future supply must come from depths in excess of 3000 ft. While much of the early production in a new field is obtained by natural-flow methods, when the stimulus of high gas pressure fails, recourse must be had to some method of pumping. The perfection of a pump capable of economically and efficiently lifting oil from depths ranging from 3000 to 7000 ft. is therefore a matter of prime importance to the oil-producing industry. This paper is offered as an estimate of the present state of development of the oil-well plunger pump and as a review of the general principles involved in its operation in deep-well pumping. A design for a new type of oil-well pump embodying several novel features, is also described. Essential Parts of Oil-well Plungeb Pump The pump commonly used in lifting oil from wells in American practice is of the simple displacement type, in which a plunger equipped with a working, or traveling, valoe is given a vertical reciprocating motion in a stationary working barrel. The latter is suspended from the surface by tubing, submerged in the well fluid, and is equipped at its lower end with a stationary standing valve; Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate two common types of oil-well pumps. The simple cup-leather packed plunger of Pig. 1 has its counterpart in the long, hollow, cylindrical, polished steel plunger of Fig. 2; otherwise the two types are identical in the form and arrangement of their essential parts. Fig. 2 shows the additional feature of a "garbutt

Jan 1, 1927

By E. P. Bucklen, L. J. Prelaz, J. R. Lucas

Today, the future of the coal industry is extremely bright because coal can be produced at a cost which makes it competitive with other energy sources. However, the industry has been forewarned that further cost reductions must be made if it expects to remain a serious contender in the growing energy market. Surface as well as underground operations must be improved. The very same elements which affected production a few years ago still exist today and will continue to be present in the future. Improvements in production mining equipment, mining methods and auxiliary equipment have resulted in reduced costs over the past few years. Efforts must be continued toward further reducing costs in areas which have been previously improved and new areas should be investigated for possible improvements. Therefore, new techniques must be developed which will enable the industry to augment its current efforts in reducing the cost of mining. The logical place to begin evaluating the factors affecting production and cost is in the immediate face area where a substantial part of the total cost of mining is incurred. The coal industry stands to gain much through the development of new techniques for analyzing the numerous variables affecting production and by establishing methods for eliminating or minimizing the adverse effect of those variables which can be controlled. Intuition and trial-and-error methods have been the standard means used to resolve many of the factors which influence production. As a result, many elements are overlooked or ignored because their effects on production are not pronounced and cannot be readily resolved.

Jan 3, 1965

By Louis Ware

A leading executive finds this a bad time to "cry" about taxes. Needed reforms must cede to emergency demands.

Jan 7, 1951

Jan 1, 1913

By Paul A. Beck

It is well known that the hardness of metallic single crystals, like that of polycrystalline metals, increases during deformation (hardening by cold-work). It is also known that, as a consequence of deformation. the metallic material acquires an evident thermodynamic instability, revealed, for example, by the fact that the increased hardness gradually decreases with time, especially at elevated temperatures (softening by annealing). The temperature at which the stabilizing process begins is different for various metals, and for any metal it depends on the amount of deformation. Such stabilization of deformed metals may proceed in two different ways: through recovery, and through recrystallization. The former process allows the unstable deformed metal body to approach stability gradually and without visible change in the grain structure; the latter process, like an allotropic transformation, yields directly the undeformed stable "phase" in the form of new undeformed crystals, which, starting out of a certain number of nuclei, grow into and " consume " the deformed hard material. The extent of stability attainable through recovery is limited, especially if the deformation of the metal crystal or crystals involves not only the gliding along slip planes, but also the bending of the slip lamellae, or at any rate the bending of comparatively large parts of the crystal lattice. In such cases, for instance in bent single crystals or polycrystalline metals subjected to any deformation, recovery will not as a rule be able to restore the "istraight" undeformed lattice, and stability can be attained only by recrystallization; that is, by the consumption of the bent crystal lattice parts by new, undeformed crystals—a much more drastic process. It is evident that the part of the surplus free energy stored in deformed crystals, which is present in the form of the elastic energy of the bent lamellae, is in these instances not considerably involved

Jan 1, 1937

Jan 1, 1914

By T. A. Wright

The sampling of waste materials containing copper, lead and tin has taken on a new significance within recent years, and is of increasing importance, on account of the entry of some of the copper refineries into this field and the tendency towards consolidations among the smelters. In the past, such material was sold on the basis either of a rough or grat) sample or of casual inspection of the lot. The two principal sources of this waste are the processes of fabrication and the scrapping of automobile, electrical, plumbing, railroad and other equipment. In both cases rnuch material can bc sorted, salvaged and sold by classification and grade to be melted "as is" or with the addition of new or virgin metal. The increasing care in classifying exercised in the large manufacturing plants tends to incrcase the proportion of this usable scrap; on the contrary, the increasing use of more complex and special non-ferrous alloys tends to makc sorting and grading more difficnlt in turnings, borings, clippings, etc., and conseqllcntly is making sampling of more moment. In tin, lead, alumiinum, and zinc furnace by-products such as ashes, drosses, skimmings, etc., the trade practice of evaluation has not varied much. For instance, tin drosscs, battery lcad, and aluminunl skimmings are ordinarily sold on what is called "metallic button" or "metallic recovery" or "metallic yield." Coppcr and Icad wastcl, howcvcr, is being sold more and more on actual copper and lead contents bascd on sarrlple and chemical analysts. This paper will be dcvotctl chiefly to the sampling of niaterials suitablc only for refining and recovery of one or more of the metals present. The methods described are often bascd on thc fact that but one, metal, such as copper, is to be paid for. The loss of volatile constituents in melting does not appreciably affect thc final copper result, as the "after-melting" assay can be readily calculated to the "bcfore-nltltingl' basis, but if smelter efficiency continues to increase, so that in tiltie zinc, for instance, may be rccovrred on a paying basis, thc method of sampling dirty brass, for example, will have to bc changed also. As a matter of fact, we may cxpect that improved refining proresses will make possible the partial reeovrry of lcad and tin which are now lost

By W. H. Andrews

The constantly increasing consumption of Portland cement in the State makes the above subject of particular interest at this time. The increasing demand is due to the rapid settling of the country and the fact that new uses are being found frequently for the above named commercial article. The industry is one that is bound to grow as the population increases, and this being the case it may be well at this time to consider briefly the matter of the chemical and physical composition of proper raw materials. A cement mixture is one that contains approximately 75 per cent, carbonate of lime, 15 per cent. silica, and 5 to 7 per cent. alumina and iron oxides; the other elements being magnesium carbonate and mall quantities of the rarer elements generally associated with limestone deposits. It can be readily seen from the above composition that it is possible to build up this mixture from a number of different materials. First.—A rock high in carbonate of lime can be mixed with clay or shale in such proportions as to bring about the desired composition ; the chief difficulty in the building up of such a mixture is that it is hard to find a clay or shale in which the silica-alumina ratio lies between 4 to 1 and 3 to 1 and at the same time shows physical characteristics which will make certain its adaptability to the practical manufacture of Portland cement. Very often clays or shales are found which are right chemically but contain large quantities of grit or free silica. Such clays or shale must be ground to extreme fineness in the mixture in order to make the silica and alumina combine with the lime when the mixture is burned. On the other hand, clays or hales are often found that have the proper physical characteristics but in which the amount of alumina is too great. Second.—A mixture can be built up of different limestones some of which run above the 75 per cent. requirement and others below;

Jan 1, 1914

By Tsuyoshi Kawahara

INTRODUCTION A medium sized mine like the Mamut is not considered a standard size porphyry copper mine. If the infrastructure such as roads, bridges, port facilities, power supply, etc. is inadequate, construction cost per ton of copper produced will be unavoidably high. At the Mamut mine, all efforts had been concentrated to minimize construction cost and overcome an adverse natural environment. Consequently, it was inevitable that the amount of equipment and other arrangements were far from ideal. Some of the construction work was carried out by Japanese contractors, but most was done by local contractors, especially the buildings, installation of machines, roads, and tailings disposal dam, etc. All construction works, including a test run of an 18 000 t/d capacity mill, were completed in September 1975. The total development cost was about 100 million including interest converted into principal during the construction period. HISTORY The Mamut copper mineralization was discovered in mid-1965 by the United Nations' Labuk Valley Project. Following this discovery, further exploratory works, including geochemical survey, pitting, and shallow diamond drilling, which were carried out by the Geological Survey of Malaysia, revealed the existence of a disseminated copper mineralization of porphyry type. In July 1968, I.P. survey and deep-hole diamond drilling were

Jan 1, 1976