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By George W. Sheary

Situated 45 miles west of Philadelphia and 50 miles southwest of Bethlehem Steel Company's Bethlehem plant, the integrated Grace mine facilities produce 4000 tpd of high-quality iron ore pellets. Startup of the Grace mill was in November 1958, and iron concentrates were shipped until March 1960, when the pellet plant went into operation. The underground mine, when fully developed, will hoist about 9000 tpd, including development rock. The crude ore, which has an iron content of approximately 42%, is magnetically cobbed and crushed in closed circuit with 3/4-in. slotted vibrating screens. The ore is washed and screened in the mill and the plus 1/4 in. screen product is again cobbed prior to feeding to the rod mills. Grinding is done in rod mills, and in ball mills that are in closed circuit with 30 in, cyclones, to 1% on 100 mesh and 65% minus 325 mesh. The ground ore is magnetically concentrated by three-drum permanent type finisher magnets to 67% Fe. The magnetite concentrate is pumped from the mill to a 50 ft thickener in the pellet plant. The thickened magnetite concentrate is relayed to the filters through a two-stage pump arrangement. The filter cake is fed by belt from filter concentrate bins to mixer-muller belts where it is intimately mixed with bentonite and a slight amount of water for moisture control. The fluffed concentrate then drops into balling cones. The green pellets from the balling cones are fed in a prescribed feed pattern to shaft furnaces through the use of shuttle car mechanisms. The green pellets are dried, heated to 2500°F and cooled to 1200°F as they descend through the furnace and into pellet coolers where the pellets are further reduced in temperature to 250°F. Heat is recovered in the cooling process through the use of air-to-air heat exchangers. The cooled pellets discharge on a rubber conveyor belt and are transferred to 6000-ton pellet railroad loading bin. The final pellet product consists of 90% plus 1/4 in. material (after tumble testing1) and contains 66% Fe plus 3% silica.

Jan 5, 1962

By Gloyd M. Wiles

Since D. C. Jackling was famous for his adeptness at organizing and training teams of operating personnel, the subject of mine management is particularly appropriate for a Jackling Lecture. In fact, it is doubly appropriate because in very basic ways Jackling's career changed the nature of the tasks and challenges facing a mine manager. Management of mines, of course, is the art of finding and winning minerals economically from the earth's crust, and it involves the use of all the engineering sciences. But also of prime importance is a skill which is not yet a science-the area of management often referred to as human engineering. Since expenditures on staff and labor may well involve more than 50% of the direct costs of operating a mine, ability at human engineering is just as important as the ability to plan and put into effect the most efficient operating procedures.

Jan 5, 1962

By Earl L. H. Sackett

Barite, although not a glamour mineral and probably little known to many of those in the mining business, is produced in the US. in very respectable quantities and is an important factor in the mineral economy of this country. The scope of the various uses of this mineral is perhaps one of the most misunderstood things about it, for it is surprising how many of those with a casual knowledge of the subject speak of its primary utilization in terms of paint pigments and barium chemicals. The life blood of barite utilization, however, is the petroleum industry by virtue of its dependence on this high specific gravity, inert mineral as the weighting material in its drilling fluids. From 80 to 85% of barite usage in the U. S. is accounted for in this manner-in fact, its role in oil well drilling is the only excuse for some of the large-scale barite production facilities which have been developed. Other uses are important and widely varied, but comparatively they are of small scale. They include fine crushed barite of low iron content as a component in glass manufacture, barite as a source material for manufacture of barium chemicals, finely divided barite as a component of some rubbers and ground, bleached barite in pigments. The formerly substantial use of barite in lithopone, however, has declined markedly because of replacement of lithopone by titanium pigments

Jan 5, 1962

By William M. Huang, T. Carl Shelton

There are undoubtedly many factors that affect the emission of gas from coal but the permeability of coal to gas flow would seem to be fundamental. However, there is very little information on coal permeability to gas flow available in the U.S. at the present time, despite the fact that such knowledge would appear to be significant in any degasification effort. Studies made recently in the mining engineering laboratories at Virginia Polytechnic Institute have determined values of permeability on one-inch cubes of selected coals. COAL PERMEABILITY The permeability values given in this paper are based on adaptations of Darcy's Law formulated by Henry Darcy in 1856 from experiments with fluid flow in porous media.' Using air as the gaseous fiuid, they were obtained by employing similar methods as are used to determine the permeability of petroleum and gas reservoir rock specimens.

Jan 5, 1962

By Robert Stefanko

Roof bolting in coal mines has progressed very rapidly in the last decade, and today this method of support is in general use. There are many theories concerning the functions of roof bolts, but the importance of beam building is indisputable. Proper tension in the bolts minimizes shearing along bedding planes and creates a thick, competent beam from individually weak layers. Bolting must be accomplished immediately upon exposure of the roof, and bolt tension must be maintained if roof failure is to be prevented. Seams are being mined today with roof bolt support where conventional timbering was not effective1. The widespread use of continuous mining equipment was made possible by roof bolts which permit long supported spans free of obstructions.2 Since adequate anchorage is the key to successful bolting, better methods for determining the efficiency of anchorage are continually being sought. Attempts have been made to measure bolt loads, thus assessing anchorage efficiency by employing sensing devices between the bolt head and roof. 3,4,5 None of the techniques appears to be very accurate, and all have at least one serious deficiency.

Jan 5, 1962

By Stephen E. Erickson, Donald G. Oss

The need for instrumentation and automatic control of the various parameters in the heavy media process of iron ore beneficiation has been apparent for some time. Continued demands for higher grade, competitive products from the Mesabi Range have made it necessary to increase the efficiency of the process in every possible way. In a typical heavy media flow scheme for iron ore beneficiation (Fig. 1) a sized, prepared feed (generally about minus 1 ¼ in. to plus ¼ in.) is fed to a heavy media separatory vessel, along with a ferrosilicon slurry. A separation of the feed is made on the basis of specific gravity. Low density particles overflow a tailings discharge weir, while high density ore particles sink to the bottom of the high density pool and are moved away to the concentrate discharge chute.

Jan 5, 1962

By L. W. Casteel

St. Joseph Lead Company's Southeast Missouri mines have been successfully converted to the use of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil as a blasting agent. This is significant to the company because it means a savings of a quarter of a million dollars per year. It is significant to the mining industry because of the unusual conditions involved and the methods and materials used to overcome them. St. Joe has been mining the low grade lead deposits of southeast Missouri since 1864. This ore occurs as disseminated galena in widely scattered pockets within the Bonneterre dolomite. The daily production of 20,000 tons is obtained from several hundred small, room and pillar stopes covering an area 10 miles long and five miles wide. Distribution of explosives and other materials is a real problem. Drilling in the stopes is done with air legs, column- mounted machines or jumbos, depending on the size and location of the stope. Drill hole sizes vary from 1 3/8-in. diam down to 1 1/8-in. Each driller charges his own holes and shoots them at the end of the shift. Numerous shafts provide natural ventilation which is supplemented in isolated areas by churn drill holes equipped with blowers. Water, in most stopes, is not a serious problem, although the mines do produce about 20,000 gpm.

Jan 5, 1962

By Frank W. Osterwald

Violent, spontaneous destruction of coal faces and ribs during, what are commonly called, bumps endangers and at times destroys life and property in mines of the Book Cliffs coalfield, Carbon County, Utah. Because these mines supply much of the coking coal for the West Coast steel industries, mining is necessary, although costs are high and operating conditions are very difficult at times. As operations continue, mining will go to greater depths, and the difficulties will increase. Whether or not mining can be continued successfully depends in part on whether or not incidence of bumps can be controlled successfully. For this reason, the U.S. Geological Survey, at the request of and in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Mines, undertook a study of the Sunnyside No. 1 mine to determine what geologic factors were related to the incidence of bumps. This report presents the preliminary results of that study and indicates that some observable geologic features in the mine may be related directly or indirectly to bumps, and that other features may be used to infer stress distribution around workings that will aid in design of roof support measures. Coal is mined in the Sunnyside No. 1 mine from depths as great as 2500 ft by room-and-pillar methods. The surface topography is rugged with many steep cliffs and deep canyons, hence the load on the coal varies greatly within short distances. Much of the Sunnyside coal is under high stress, and while being mined, it shatters continuously' and falls from the face. Continuous shattering (bumping) makes mining easy, but if the shattering is interrupted, greater stress is built up and violent bumps may result when the coal is mined.

Jan 4, 1962

By Howard E. Kremers

Since the discovery of the first-known rare earth elements more than a century ago, these metals have always been of academic interest. It is not so well known, however, that a rather stable, respectably large industry based on rare earths and their related materials has been in operation for more than 60 years. Rare earths, of course, are the elements having atomic numbers 57 through 71--lanthanum through lutetium in the periodic table. The most important commercial members of this group are mixtures of the lower atomic-numbered rare earths, and cerium. Although yttrium is not a rare earth, it occurs with rare earths and its properties are so similar to them that. it must be included in a discussion of these elements. In addition, thorium is important to most producers of rare earths because their ores generally contain this element. Thorium extractive metallurgy and technology is closely related to rare earth chemistry due to the frequent similarity of properties.

Jan 4, 1962

By B. H. Bergstrom, C. L. Stevenson

In any process wherein materials must be pelletized, a crucial period exists during the interval between the manufacture of the green pellets and their subsequent heat treatment. The pellets must possess sufficient strength and plasticity to withstand conveying and sizing. Also, they must be neither excessively brittle nor excessively plastic when placed in a bed on a traveling grate for heat treatment. An acceptable pellet, in the event sufficient forces are applied to cause its fracture, will merely split into two or three large fragments which would not drastically alter the permeability of the pellet bed. However, when brittle pellets are broken, they shatter so that the resultant fine particles either decrease the perimeability of the bed or become entrained in the gas stream and thereby cause dust problems. On the other hand, excessively plastic pellets may not break at all but may merely flatten. This would seriously hamper bed permeability. In the past, pellet evaluation has usually been left to the creative and artistic talents of the balling operators. A multitude of techniques have evolved, of which the most common is the simple compression test. For this test a hand-operated device loads single pellets to fracture, but reliability is strictly operator- dependent. Probably the next most common test is the drop test, which is conducted according to several different procedures. This is an important quantitative test for estimating the amount of handling a pellet will withstand. There are many other tests, such as pinching a pellet between the thumb and index finger, but none are capable of producing reproducible results.

Jan 4, 1962

By John B. Malcom

The discovery of tungsten-bearing quartz outcrop- pings in Vance County, N. C., by the Hamme brothers in 1942, made international news in the mining industry and was, in fact, one of the major ore discoveries made in the U.S. during the last 25 years. Operations began at the Hamme mine in 1942, but after 16 years of successful operation, the mine was closed down in 1958 under adverse market conditions. By that time, it had produced nearly 20 million lbs of metallic tungsten. Because of the square-set timber mining method then in use, mine operating expenses were high, actually representing 78% of the total operating expenses at the property. In timber work alone, 160 men were employed. Approximately 500,000 bd ft of timber were placed monthly at a direct supply cost of $1.00 per ton of ore mined.

Jan 4, 1962

By Charles J. Potter

There are many sources of energy available for consumption. Some available are solar, tide and wind. However, in terms of relatively large usage, only four principal sources are used for primary energy today. They are coal, oil, natural gas and water power. Such additional items as wood and nuclear energy, although supplying quantities of energy today, do not in the aggregate amount to any real significant quantity, but nuclear energy must be considered for future use. In addition, such a thing as gas from distillation of coal and oil is not considered primary energy. The principal markets for primary energy are the electric power utilities, space heating, industrial uses and transportation. The electric utility use of energy is primarily from coal, followed by natural gas and water power. Space heating is primarily a gas market, followed by oil and then coal. Space heating by electricity is only considered in the generation of electric power. Transportation's principal source of energy is oil. Coal has practically no market left in this field.

Jan 4, 1962

By John J. Reed

Great strides have been made during the past few years in the field of rock mechanics, and steps have been taken to implement our newly acquired knowledge to advance the mining industry and improve the lot of the miner. This article is a summary of the latest progress in those areas of rock mechanics indicated by the subtitles. Let's look at these new tools for mining men. GROUND STABILITY DETERMINATIONS Much valuable information in the field of rock mechanics can be obtained by relatively simple, inexpensive measurements and observations, and this kind of investigation can be classed under the general heading of "Ground Stability Determinations." The instrumentation involved in this type of work is relatively simple and inexpensive, and its operation is not difficult to understand.1,2 Precise deformation measurements accurate to a few thousandths of an inch are very helpful in detecting stope convergence, pillar compression, floor heave, etc. Such measurements recorded over a period of weeks and months will detect and forwarn against failure of the overall mine structure long before any other visual evidence can be observed. Such advance warning then permits the introduction of sufficient artificial support in time to do some good. Instead of precise measurements which must be made with a special instrument, sensitive warning lights can be used which will flash red upon sensing movements as small as .002 or .003 in. These devices are well received by miners, and very practical under noisy conditions. High precision is important tit this area, but in large openings, engineer's tapes plus machinists scales reading to .01 in. may be sufficient. Uniform tensioning of the tape is of course essential. Long term, precise measurements have shown repeatedly that opening convergence lends to be slow and uniform except when accelerated to sudden large displacements by blasting, rock bursts or other sudden large scale failures. It is interesting to note that measurements in South Africa in very deep mines have shown 40% of the closure was footwall rise, and only 60% was hanging-wall sag.

Jan 4, 1962

By C. G. Massey, L. C. Acton

A first-class haulage level railroad was considered of prime importance during planning of San Manuel because successful operation of the mine would hinge heavily on the ability to move large tonnages of ore rapidly, safely and efficiently. These principles, plus certain techniques developed from experience on the 1475 level, are being employed in preparation of the 2075 level. At full production, twelve 23-ton trolley locomotives, each pulling fifteen 12-ton capacity ore cars, and fifteen 8-ton battery locomotives engaged in development, service and supply, will be in operation on the 2075 level 24 hours per day, seven days a week. More than 35,000 tons of ore will be transported every 24 hours. GENERAL DESCRIPTION The rail haulage system is designed to comfort- ably move twelve 180-ton payload trains per hour through the rotary dumps pulled by 23-ton trolley locomotives. The rail system is laid out as a simple double loop with one-way traffic of continuous haul as shown in the above diagram, and is comprised of about 30 miles of track on the 2075 level.

Jan 3, 1962

By R. C. Temps, G. E. Aiken

Compania de Acero del Pacifico, S.A., the sole Chilean steel producer, is adding to the expanding Chilean economy with development of the El Algarrobo mine. Expected to go on stream early in 1962, Algarrobo is a conventional open pit mine that will include facilities for ore extraction, crushing and screening, rail transport to the harbor at Huasco, modern ship-loading equipment and maintenance shops. CAP anticipates producing 1.38 mil- lion tons annually of high-grade ore for national and world market consumption. Chilean and North American management and engineering teams combined more than a decade ago in the financing and building of CAP'S Huachipato integrated steel plant. A similar performance is being achieved in northern Chile near the town of Vallenar with the opening of a 50-year supply of iron ore from the Algarrobo deposit. This successful intra-American undertaking deserves special mention in these times when some U.S. foreign assistance programs must be defended, particularly with respect to Latin America. North American financial participation in Algarrobo, through the Export-Import Bank of Washington, represents the greatest portion of the $24 million being invested.

Jan 3, 1962

By Howard L. Hartman

There is reason to believe that ventilation systems so far devised for use with continuous mining machines fall far short of success. This is vividly demonstrated to anyone who has observed in a continuous miner section the localized ignitions of pockets of gas and the generation of dense clouds of dust by the cutting head of the machine. The alarming frequency with which major ignitions and disasters continue to occur in modern mechanical mining and the rise in incidence of pneumoconiosis serve as reminders that our ventilation systems are far from achieving the ultimate in providing protection from either short-term explosions or long- term dust diseases, both of which take lives. Human safety is the main concern in ventilation. But in this day of high-priced labor, let us not forget human comfort, either, for this is a major factor in motivation toward high productivity. The failure or inadequacy of most mine ventilation systems in providing the kind of working conditions at the face that are conducive to productive as well as safe operation is an indictment of our environ- mental control program in mining generally.

Jan 3, 1962

By John F. Shaw

The Denver Mining Research Center headquartered at Denver, Colo., is typical of the new research units recently activated as a result of increased emphasis by the U. S. Bureau of Mines on research concerned with metal and nonmetal (except mineral fuels) ore extraction. The Denver Center, together with the recently established Minneapolis Research Center and the Offices of Mining Research at Reno and Spokane, and the older, well-known Applied Physics Research Laboratory at College Park, Md., share the responsibility for the comprehensive mining research program. The Denver Center specializes in two areas of research: (1) The development of engineering principles and mathematical techniques applicable to exploration, development and operational problems in mining, and (2) the study of rock mechanics as applied to ground control. The first area presently includes three categories: research on methods of ore sampling, mine-systems analysis, and applications of statistics to problems of mineral exploration. The second area emphasizes research in two main categories: laboratory investigations designed to develop a fuller understanding of how rock be- haves under the loads imposed by mining, and field investigations to evaluate stress-strength relation- ships in full-scale, operating mines.

Jan 3, 1962

By Philip D. Pearson

Competition is the problem and modernization is the solution in today's underground iron operations on the Lake Superior Range. Profound changes in the iron ore picture during recent years have prompted correspondingly great changes in the economic position of the Lake Superior underground mines. To meet the ever growing competition from other lower cost iron sources, underground operators are becoming increasingly aware that the newest advancements in mining technology must be incorporated in their operations. UNDERGROUND POSITION TODAY The extraction of iron ore by underground methods has been going on for many decades in the Lake Superior region, starting in 1872 on the Menominee Range. The number of mines has changed gradually over the years as new ones were opened and old ones were exhausted, but in recent years, the most drastic change occurred from 1960 to 1961. In 1960, there were 31 underground mines operating in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, but at one period in 1961 only 20 were operating (Table I). In western Ontario so far there has been only some temporary curtailment of operations. Of the 11 U.S. mines which ceased operations in 1961, some may he closed only temporarily, but some will remain closed for our lifetime, at 'east, unless there is a tremendous reversal of the present trend in the iron ore market

Jan 3, 1962

By Northcutt Ely

International developments affecting foreign in- vestments in 1960-61 were many, varying from region to region and differing with respect to various categories of investments. Total value of U.S. private investment abroad in 1960 was approximately $32.7 billion, an increase of $2.9 billion over 1959. Production and distribution of mineral resources was, by a sizeable margin, the most important function of American capital working in foreign countries in 1960. Investment in mining or petroleum interests totaled approximately $14 billion, or 42% of all direct foreign investment. In- vestments by industry for 1960 were as follows: Petroleum-10.9 billions, Mining-3.0 billions, Manufacturing-11.2 billions, Utilities-2.5 billions, other-5.1 billions. American investors found Canada and Latin America to be most desirable in 1960 with the greatest percentage of American capital in all areas centered in the petroleum and mining industries. The areal breakdown of total American investments is as follows: Canada-$11.2 billions, Latin America-$8.4 billions, Western Europe-$6.6 billions, Middle East-$1.2 billions, Far East-$1.2 billions, Africa-$.9 billions, other areas-$3.2 billions.

Jan 3, 1962

Primarily, 1961 was a year for widespread application of tools and techniques which have become operational in the past several years • • • Raising --Raise climbers and climber raising techniques have been improved; narrow veins as low as 55° dip are now being mined from climber raises. Climber modifications include: larger motors, tighter radius curves negotiated, improved lubrication and new methods of stowing the climber during a blast. Climber raises are now ventilated in several ways: a 12-in. diam flexible vent tube behind the climber rail; a 6-in. diam pipe behind the climber rail (with fan); or a 6 to 8-in. diam drill hole along the axis of the raise. In hot raises, these ventilating techniques have resulted in more rounds per shift. When driving raises from crosscut and lateral development, mucking machine loading of raise rock is preferred over slusher ramp loading for the following reasons: a) faster set-up and teardown of climber facilities; b) easier access for climber maintenance, repair and loading of raising supplies; c) area at the bottom of the raise can be kept cleaner. Both wide and narrow veins are mined from 7 x 7-ft climber raises at Butte and at Republic, Wash. At Republic, climber rollers have been modified to support increased weight when driving 55°dip raises • Drilling-The new largebore, short-stroke push feed drills are much faster drilling than previous models and are most satisfactory in hard ground. Although reports on maintenance studies of the new drills are not yet available, increased steel and bit wear and breakage, and increased drill maintenance are seen as potential problems. Mines in Montana and Idaho continue to test rubber-collared drill steel. The fabricating methods used are successful but advantages in increased steel life have yet to be proved. Underground applications of down-the-hole drills continue. Drilling speed and accuracy are reported as the outstanding advantages. Manufacturers are now hopeful of making drills which will operate in any direction. Present applications are for ventilation holes (to 8 in. diam) for climber raises, holes for hydraulic fill distribution, drain holes and "predrilled" raises. Good drilling accuracy has been reported to a depth of 200 ft. Cutting holes in drifting is seen as a future application

Jan 2, 1962