Search Documents

By R. Hoffmann

THE Waelz process produces oxides of volatilizable metals from ores, metalliferous products and residues. The process was originally used for recovering zinc and lead, where tailings and residues containing those metals had accumulated at mines or smelters, but it is applicable for obtaining tin, arsenic or other volatilizable metals. It is useful when other methods of obtaining the metals from the ores or residues are too difficult or expensive or show too low a recovery. FIG. 1.-DAILY CAPACITY OF WAELZ PLANTS RUNNING OR BEING ERECTED. The Waelz process was developed in 1923 for the treatment of large calamine dumps in Upper-Silesia, which showed zinc contents of 8 to 10 per cent. and lead contents up to 3 per cent. The rapid development of the process, from the first trials up to the plants now working or in course of erection, is shown in Fig. 1. -The first industrial Waelz plant was started in 1925. Within two years the capacity of the working plants reached 700 tons material per day of 24 hr. During the year 1928 the daily capacity of the plants now at work or in course of erection will rise

Jan 1, 1928

By Stuart Croasdale

NOT long ago I was called upon to conduct some experiments on the treatment of ores from the New Cornelia copper mine, Ajo mountains, Arizona, for the Calumet & Arizona Copper Co. The problem was a very interesting one and contained some unusual features. Incidental with this problem was the utilization of a large amount of low-grade pyrite in the Bisbee mines of the company, provided this could be accomplished by any feasible method. The New Cornelia mine is situated 45 miles south of Gila Bend, the nearest railroad point, on the Southern Pacific Railroad. It is about 160 miles, almost due west, from Tucson. This section is one of the most arid in the United States. The normal annual precipitation, as given by the United States Weather Bureau covering a period from 1870 to 1901, is 3 to 5 in. During June and July, 1913, the records kept by the company gave the following results. These are all I have available, but they show the enormous evaporation that can be expected, which may be a factor in leaching operations on a large scale.

Jan 8, 1914

By Albert F. J. Bordeaux

INTRODUCTION. THE following general survey of the character and present condition of the silver-mines of Mexico, though not offered as a detailed treatise, has been prepared with care, is believed to he generally up-to-date, and is offered as a summary which may be found useful by mining engineers. Mexico has ranked for several centuries first among the silver-producing countries. It is now second as copper-producer, and seventh as gold-producer, with a fast-increasing output every year. The total amount of capital invested in its mining- and smelting-works is more than $250,000,000, while the yearly metallic production is $160,000,000. There are more than 20,000 recorded mining properties. The silver-mines of Mexico represent deposits of three principal classes: (1) veins and stock-works in eruptive rocks; (2) fissure-veins crossing the crystalline schists, granite, diorite, etc. ; and (3) veins and replacement-deposits in limestone. The true fissure-veins in some districts contain (in value) more gold than silver. In other deposits, the silver is decreasing in depth, leaving galena and zinc-blende as the principal ores.

Jan 9, 1908

By J. J. Luchessa

HAULAGE was one of the many problems to be solved in the successful handling of the Miami Copper Company's low-grade orebody. The ore extracted had to be increased from 1000 to 18,000 tons per 24 hours over the existing track-age and haulage way. This called for increased speed, longer trains, in¬creased car capacity, and a block signal system so as to maintain a fixed schedule and headway. The motive power in service at the time of this transition consisted of Baldwin-Westinghouse 6-ton trolley locomotives. (See Fig. 3.) These locomotives were purchased to handle twenty inverted-V-bottom side-dump cars of 60 cu. ft. capacity. Dimensions were limited as to height on account of ore chutes, width on account of short radius curves, and length of 12 ft. from bumper to bumper- so that the locomotives could be handled on the man and material hoist which has a cage length of 121/ ft. The limited length made it possible to bring the locomotives to the surface for periodic overhauling and major repairs such as changing wheel tires, gears, and

Jan 1, 1934

By O. B. Bucklen, J. P. Matoney, P. G. Meikle, R. L. Terry

INTRODUCTION The trend in the coal industry for many years has been to make every- thing "bigger and faster." This also holds true for loading and storage facilities. Where once a 1 million st per yr (910,000 mt/yr) mine was rare, 3-5 million st per yr (2,730,000-4,550,000 mt/yr) mines are not uncommon today in the bituminous industry. This great increase in production, made possible through mechanization, requires greatly improved loading facilities just to get the coal away from the mine. Also, there is a trend to- ward combining production from more than one mine and cleaning it in a single preparation plant. In addition to increased loading capacity, this frequently necessitates raw-coal storage and blending facilities. The development of the unit train with its attendant economics has contributed more than any other factor to the widespread construction of storage and high-speed loading facilities. In the export market, the construction of ever larger coal colliers has added to the need for faster and larger loading facilities. In this climate of rapidly changing technology, any written ac-

Jan 1, 1979

By C. A. Crawford

NICKEL and the nickel-copper alloy, the latter generally referred to as morel metal, are available in a variety of wrought and fabricated forums, of which the following are regular commercial products: Form Monel Metal Pure Nickel Roc Hot-rolled; round, hexagon, Same as morel metal square, and flat shapes Cold drawn; round, hexagon, square, and flat shapes Hot-rolled wire rod Cold-drawn wire rod Plates Hot-rolled Same as morel metal Sheets Hot-rolled annealed Same as morel metal Hot-rolled annealed, pickled Full-finished Full-finished, No. 3 grind one side Full-finished, No. 4 grind one side Cold-rolled (annealed) Cold-rolled, No. 5 polished finish Strip Hot-rolled (flat rods) Same as morel metal Cold-rolled (annealed) Cold-rolled (unannealed) Tubes and pipe Gas-welded tube Seamless tube Seamless tube in I. P. S. Gas-welded tube Forgings Bolts, rivets Same as morel metal Nuts and washers Forging to order Castings Sand castings Same as morel metal Centrifugal castings Electrolytic Cathodes of high purity Anodes Cast anodes Rolled anodes Shot and block for 25 to 50-1b. pigs 5, 25 and 50-1b. pigs melting. Shot Shot

Jan 1, 1927

By W. E. Foreman, James A. Redding

INTRODUCTION Screening is a mechanical process that separates particles by size. Modern coal preparation is made possible by efficient sizing. Sizing of coal is defined in terms of the opening through which an individual particle will or will not pass, or as two openings, the larger of which passes the particle and the smaller of which retains the particle. Screening accomplishes sizing by passing coal of a wide range of sizes through a series of screens, each of a decreasing size. The individual screen discharges are then directed into different screen products for subsequent sale or processing. Screening in modern preparation plants is done for the following reasons: 1 ) Removal of fine coal before a size reduction step. 2) Size separation of the coal into a coarse and fine fraction for sized products or processing in coarse and fine coal circuits. 3) Recovery of heavy media from heavy media coal cleaning circuits. 4) Dewatering. 5) Rock and trash removal by handpicking on a screen. Fig. 8-1 is a generalized flowsheet of a plant showing the use of screens in the coal preparation process. Table 8-1 shows the vibrating screen equipment utilized in Fig. 8-1

Jan 1, 1979

By E. M. Wise

THE practice of adding moderate quantities of nickel to a variety of bronzes has been employed by foundrymen for many years with several objects in view. In some instances it was desired- to harden the alloy; in others it was to increase the fluidity or to improve the solidity of the castings, or to refine their grain. These important matters have been considered in detail by Pilling and Kihlgren1 and by numerous other workers cited by them, and with the exception of the first will not be considered in the present communication. The possibility of reducing the cost of bronze by replacing a portion of the tin with nickel received attention some years ago by Burgess and Woodward,2 and, as will be shown later, offers attractive savings in cost under present conditions. The age-hardening characteristics of the nickel bronzes of appropriate compositions have been known for some time and were mentioned by Price, Grant and Phillips3 and discussed by Wise4 in connection with their paper. These matters are further considered in recent patents,5 and are becoming of commercial importance in the production of high-strength castings.

Jan 1, 1934

By J. B. Dilworth

The purpose of this paper is, first, to give a general account of a little-known coal-district of SE. Kentucky, its topography, drainage, and mineral resourcee, for those who may be interested in its economic development; and secondly, so to describe the geologic features of the field as to furnish available data to those engaged on the broader problems of Appalachian coal-geology. The data from which the major portion of the paper has been prepared were obtained, in professional investigations for private individuals and corporations, within the last decade. The area under review, defined by a heavy line on the map, Fig. 1, lies between Little Black and Pine mountains, and extends from Harlan on the west to a N-S. line crossing Looney creek 3 miles from its mouth on the east. This area can be divided for description into a Western and an Eastern Division. The character of investigatioil pursued in the Western Division, below Fugitt creek, was very different from that employed in the Eastern. In the former, only a rapid reconnois-sance was attempted: such coal-openings as had been made by prospectors or by citizens in obtaining fuel were visited, their

Jan 1, 1913

By William P. Blake

THE phenomena of concentric arrangement of minerals in rock-masses, generally known as "orbicular structure," have of late received much attention from investigators. Lawson, of the University of California, has described the orbicular gabbro at Dehesa, San Diego county, Cal. Kessler and Hamilton, of Stanford University, working independently upon the same subject, published their descriptions,2 giving also a list of many other localities in Europe and America where orbicular rocks are found, adding copious references to the literature of the subject. The orbicular diorite of the type locality in Corsica., familiar to mineralogists and petrologists under the name "Napoleonite," was described by Vogelslang in 1862.3 Chrustschoff, of St. Petersburg, has also given much atten¬tion to the subject, and is the author of a classification of the various known forms of orbicular structure.4 No complete and satisfactory explanation of the origin of or¬bicular aggregations in rocks has yet been offered. The patent fact is generally recognized that the constituent minerals have crystallized from a more or less molten or plastic magma, but why these minerals should be arranged in concentric spheres or crusts has not been clearly shown. Vogelslang, for example,

Jul 1, 1905

By H. F. Yancey, O. L. Furse

For several years the Bureau of Mines at its Northwest Experiment Station, in cooperation with the Mines Department. of the University of Washington, has been studying the breakage and degradation of coal. The first phase of the study was devoted to the determination of the friability of many coals of various ranks and comparison of various methods for estimating friability.' A study of the relative ease or difficulty with which various coals are reduced to the fine size required for use as pulverized fuel followed the completion of this work. Baltzer and Hudson2 list twelve research organizations in the United States, two in England, one in Germany and one in Canada that are reported to be engaged on this problem; showing the general appreciation of the need for a simple method of estimating the grindability of different coals. Hardgrove,3 ho has advanced a method for estimating grindability, points out that pulverizer tests of different coals are incomplete and unsatisfactory. He compares such tests to that of a boiler test made without knowledge of the calorific value of the coal. Frisch arid Holder4 also stress the same point. They state that,

Jan 1, 1934

By E. M. Norris

DURING the winter and spring of 1917, an unprecedented number of underground fires occurred in the Butte district. With one exception, these fires were caused by the failure of electrical equipment, and called attention to the increased fire hazard in underground mining operations occasioned by the extensive use of electricity. Five local conditions that contributed toward a heavy fire risk were (1) The heavy continuous timbering necessary for mine supports; (2) the strong ventilating pressures in the shafts and main airways; (3) the subsidence and faulting movements in the country rock, which ruptured cables and displaced trolley and lighting wires; (4) the strongly acid mine waters, which quickly developed any weak points in the electrical insulation;(5) oxidation in old stopes containing large amounts of timber. In the summer of 1917, a comprehensive plan of fire prevention was begun by the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., which involved a thorough and intensive development of the preventive measures then in use. These were as follows: Fireproofing, remodeling and strengthening electrical insulations, extension of underground water system, control of ventilation, maintaining efficiency of fire-fighting crews, and reorganization of fire patrol.

Jan 2, 1922

By Robert F. Mehl

THE gamma-alpha transformation in iron and iron-rich alloys is of such practical and theoretical importance that many papers have been published upon the subject relating to critical temperatures, transforma-tion rates and accompanying property changes. Although crystallo-graphic studies are of less immediate practical usefulness, the opportunities which these offer to furnish data, on the basic atomic movements which characterize the transformation are not to be neglected1. The early work on the crystallography of this transformation has been reviewed in the fourth paper of this series2 since then several important papers have appeared. Our present, knowledge may be briefly summarized as follows. Kurdjumow and Sachs, working with a 1.4 per cent carbon steel3, established the orientation relationships subsisting between the face-cen-tered gamma and the metastable tetragonal lattices in freshly quenched martensite, and between the face-centered gamma and the body-Centered alpha lattices in tampered martensite. The orientation relationship observed in the latter case may be stated in terms of planes and directions observed to lie parallel in the two lattices: { 111 }Y//{110}a [110]Y//[111]a

Jan 1, 1937

Membership at the end of the year 1951 was 19,711 including 2228 Student Associates. The data in the third column include these Student Associates. 1. This includes all the cash dues income received from new and old members of all grades. 2. All cash initiation fees received. 3. Net income received from advertising in the three journals. The figure was $72,273, for MINING ENGINEERING; $39,844 for the JOURNAL OF METALS; and $31,564 for the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY. Income in 1950 was $54,572, $30,390, and $18,443 from these sources, respectively. 4. Receipts from individual sales, nonmember subscriptions, and multiple subscriptions of members. 5. Includes Transactions volumes and the Petroleum Statistics volume. 6. Sales of all other printed matter except special volumes sponsored by certain Funds. Includes a considerable sale of preprints and reprints of technical papers. 7. Does not include dividends and interest from certain Funds whose income reverts to those Funds. 8. Miscellaneous income not included in any of the above categories. 9. The total income compares with $493,197 -in 1950, an increase of $29000.

Jan 1, 1952

By E. C. Robertson

Observations of faults in mines, at outcrops, and in the laboratory lead to the conclusion that the displacement d of a fault increases irregularly but monotonically with the thickness t of its associated fault gouge and breccia, not including adjacent undisplaced jointed rock. The general trend of data points has a slope d/t of about 100. (The correlation coefficient of a logarithmic regression line is r = 0.94.) The rather wide scatter of the points can be accounted for by inaccuracies in measurement of d and t, and by variation in the conditions at faulting of confining pressure, rock type, water pressure, and deformation history. Limestone is an exception to the relation. Until the data can be corrected and refined, the relation should be used only qualitatively for estimating displacement of ore bodies in mines. The suggested relation is based on observations of 48 steeply- dipping normal and reverse faults and nine small flat-dipping thrust faults, with displacement less than 5 km (3 miles). It does not apply to large strike-slip and low-angle overthrust faults because their large displacements are poorly determined and their breccia thicknesses are widely variable.

Jan 1, 1984

By H. O. Hofman

The object of refining copper in the reverberatory furnace is to obtain a metal which will have the highest attainable degree of malleability, ductility and electric conductivity, and present at the same time a level surface when it solidifies in the mold after casting. These desirable physical properties are governed by the character of the impurities and the forms in which they are present, by the amount of cuprous oxide retained by the copper, by the quantity of gas held in solid solution, by the casting-temperature, and by the thickness of the casting. The effects of impurities, of cuprous oxide and of gases upon the mechanical properties of copper have been studied by Hampe1 in his classical paper " Colitributions to the Metallurgy of Copper." The most recent research into the effect of metals upon the electrical conductivity of copper is that of Addicks. 2 The influence of cuprous oxide upon the electrical conductivity has been investigated by Walker3 and Addick. 4 The absorption of gases has received attention by Hampe: Stah16 and Heyn 7 The effects of casting-temperature have been noted by Stahl.8

Jan 1, 1908

By Cyril Wells, Robert F. Mehl

THE two earlier papers in this series1,2 presented data on the rate of diffusion of carbon and of manganese in gamma iron. Apart from their scientific interest, these [] data are needed chiefly in order to treat data on carburization, on the rate of formation of pearlite, and on the rate of austenizing in a quantitative way. 1,2,9,10 In the present investigation rates of diffusion of nickel in -?-Fe over wide temperature and concentration ranges have been determined, and the effects of carbon, of impurities, and of grain size on these rates have been studied. Claussen,3 using the data of Fry,4 has calculated the diffusion coefficient of nickel [ ] in -?-Fe as 9.2 X 10-11 sq. cm. per sec. at 1200T., but had no data from which to calculate the variation of D with concentration, temperature, and percentage of carbon. METHOD AND MATERIALS Method.-Nickel was diffused along the axis of a cylindrical specimen across a concentration gradient, concentration-penetration curves were determined and D values calculated from Grube or Matano solutions.5 Details of the method are given

Jan 1, 1941

By J. Norman Bulkley

As electrical power is used to a greater extent on the Rand than in any other mining center, it is thought that a short description of the methods used and results obtained may be of interest. In comparing Rand practice with that on other fields, several general factors should be borne in mind: First, the mines are all working on large tonnages of low-grade ore (average. $6.50). The annual crushing rate is about 27,000,000 tons. Second, the mines are all grouped udder the financial and engineering control of mining houses, so that the results of a group, rather than an individual mine, are open for study, and practice follows more uniform lines. Third, coal of fair quality (about 12,000 B.t.u.) can be obtained for $2 to $3 per ton., Good supplies of condensing water are, however, scarce, and have to be carefully stored. Power Supply Power is supplied by the Victoria Falls & Transvaal Power Co., Ltd., and its subsidiary, the Rand Mines Power Supply Co. Both companies, which are practically one from an engineering point of view, operate the following stations, all feeding into the same system.

Jan 2, 1916

By R. S. Dean

MANY studies have been made of the properties of steel produced by adding varying amounts of sponge iron to the charges used in steel-making furnaces.1-3 The results of these previous studies, however, have failed to disclose a reason for the belief of steelmakers that steel made in this way is definitely different from steel made entirely from scrap or iron melting stock. This paper deals chiefly with the structure of the sponge iron, of the wrought iron made by welding the sponge iron into blooms, and of the steel made by melting the forged and rolled blooms. It is believed that the structure of the final steel is inherited from the ore and that this inherited structure produces marked differences in the properties of the steel and explains the feeling of steelmakers which is based on their experience. Three kinds of sponge iron were used in this investigation: One made from a limonite ore reduced with natural gas, one made from a hematite ore reduced with natural gas, and one made from a magnetite ore reduced with charcoal. The sponge iron made by reduction with natural gas

Jan 1, 1935

By C. W. Clark

Two papers have been written previously concerning operations at the Montreal East plant of Canadian Copper Refiners Limited. The first one,1 written in 1932, described silver-refinery operations at the time for producing silver and gold bullion from tankhouse anode slimes; the second,2 published in 1933, consisted of a description of the entire plant. Since publication of these papers the refinery has become the world's larg-est producer of refined selenium. The first selenium was produced in August 1934. Tellurium production on a. commercial scale followed in October 1935. This paper will deal with selenium and tellurium produc-tion and also with present operations in the silver refinery. Blister cakes from Hudson' Bay Mining and Smelting Co., Flin Flon, Manitoba, and commercial anodes from Noranda Mines Limited, Noranda, Quebec, are refined at Montreal East. Both these bullions have unusually high gold, selenium and tellurium content. The average assay of raw slimes produced from domestic and Noranda anodes is about 40 per cent Cu, 3600 oz. per ton Ag, 800 oz. per ton Au, 22 per cent Se and 3.7 per cent Te.

Jan 1, 1938