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By D. E. Redmon

The Federal Bureau of Mines has studied the locations and general features of 90 pegmatites found in north-central New Mexico. The dominant valuable product of the pegmatites is muscovite, both sheet and scrap. However, the Harding pegmatite in Taos County is mined only for beryl. Many attempts have been made to recover scrap mica on a large scale by mechanical beneficiation of pegmatite, but the operations heretofore have been short-lived. The Globe mine and the Apache mine, both near Petaca in Rio Arriba County, have been the most important sources of sheet mica in New Mexico. Recognition of the growing need for some of the minerals derived from pegmatites led the Bureau of Mines to investigate the occurrences of pegmatite.

Jan 1, 1961

By V. T. Dow

Although the titaniferous iron occurrences at Iron Mountain have been known since 1850, exploitation of the deposits has been discouraged by the metallurgical difficulties encountered in treating the complex magnetite-ilmenite material. Because of the intimate association of magnetite and ilmenite, the material is not amenable to known ore-dressing practices. During World War II, industries started moving south and west from the industrial East; iron-ore reserves in the East were being depleted at a rapid rate; and titanium came into demand as a pigment. Imports of ilmenite from India, then the main source, were practically suspended because of lack of shipping space. These factors created interest in possible exploitation of the Iron Mountain deposits as a source of iron and titanium.

Jan 1, 1961

By C. W. DeLong, L. L. Farnham, L. A. Stewart

This paper is one of a series covering mineral resources of the Nation . It describes briefly most of the known manganese deposits of eastern Arizona , which for the purpose of this report includes the counties of Navajo , Apache , Gila, Graham, Greenlee , Pinal , Pima , Santa Cruz , and Cochise . With few exceptions , these descriptions are the result of field examinations by the writers . Work on this paper was begun in May 1956 , and in the following 18 months 151 deposits were examined . The distribution of the deposits by counties is as follows : 1 in Navajo , and 1 in Apache , 37 in Gila , 4 in Graham, 13 in Greenlee , 25 in Pinal , 13 in Pima , 12 in Santa Cruz , and 45 in Cochise . In surveyed areas the locations of the deposits are described by section , township , and range and in unsurveyed areas , by approximate projections of these subdivisions . The township and range numbers refer to the Gila and Salt River base and meridian . The history, production, ownership , geologic setting , and mining methods used are discussed for most of the deposits that were visited . Probably , some occurrences have been overlooked , but all of the principal ones have been examined . Ore dressing studies were made of typical ores from several of the larger districts . The work was performed in the laboratory of the Bureau of Mines Tucson Metallurgy Research Laboratory . The results of these studies are given with the descriptions of the deposits from which the samples were taken .

Jan 1, 1961

By Lotfollah Nahai

India is one of the fortunate countries that has substantial reserves of many raw materials for producing steel; however, for historical and economic reasons these resources have not been aggressively developed until recently. Production of steel on an industrial scale started in 1912, but annual output was below 1 million tons3 in 1938 and about 1,500,000 tons in 1951. Expansion of the steel industry became one of the objectives of India's economic planning after independence in 1947. The Planning Com¬mission's 1951 report emphasized the importance of steel production, but financial obstacles, emphasis on river valley projects, and priority for increased food production in the First 5-Year Plan (1951-56) did not permit large-scale expansion of steel capacity. The 1956 planned target for crude steel, only 1,650,000 tons, was actually exceeded by production of 1,737,900 tons. In the Second 5-Year Plan (1956-61), however, construction of steel plants received a high priority. Currently three new steel plants, each with an annual capacity of approximately 1 million tons of steel, are nearing completion in Rourkela, Dorgapur, and Bhilai. Simultaneously, the two privately owned steel plants and the small State-owned plant in Mysore have been enlarged and modernized. As a result, India's crude steel capacity will be about 6 million tons in 1961, almost evenly divided between Government-owned and privately owned plants. Actual production in 1960 totaled 3,254,000 tons compared with 2,434,000 tons in 1959. Assuming that the population will be 430 million and that capacity production will be achieved, the 1961 per capita steel output will be only 31 pounds compared with 200 pounds for Japan in 1959. Some Indian experts feel that development of steel-consuming industries merits greater emphasis in the Third 5-Year Plan (1961-66) than expanding existing steel-producing facilities. Nonetheless, the Third 5-Year Plan calls for a 10 million ton annual capacity by 1966 to be achieved by expanding the Government-owned plants in Bhilai, Durgapur, and Mysore, and by establishing a new integrated Government plant in Bokaro, in the State of Bihar.

Jan 1, 1961

By Alvin Kaufman

Following the gold discoveries of the late 1800's much was written regarding the vast mineral resources of Alaska, and much interest was aroused, and yet over the years little has been done to exploit those resources. Between 1906 and 1935 the Kennecott copper mines of the Copper River region were the keystone of the mineral economy (fig, 1). After the depletion of the Kennecott ore reserves and aided by the statutory rise in the price of gold, the yellow metal became the major mineral commodity. In recent years it has shared the honors with coal and sand and gravel. Although this trend should indicate the development of a stable, diversified mineral industry, yet the trend of production is downward. This report results from a study by the Federal Bureau of Mines to delineate the problems and to forecast the growth of the mineral industries in Alaska. The need for such a blueprint for the future was enhanced by the population explosion in the United States and the consequent eventual need for additional living space, as well as the current interest in new areas, and the necessity to develop reserves of strategic minerals.

Jan 1, 1961

By J. B. Gayle

Many investigators have reported studies of size distributions for particulate solids ; usually , these have involved the fitting of size distribution data to a particular mathematical function . Such studies are of unquestioned value and have contributed much worthwhile information regarding the breakage mechanisms for a variety of brittle materials . In connection with a Bureau of Mines study of the size distribution of coke , which has been subjected to the standard American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) tumbler test , attention was focused on the relation between the 1 -inch tumbler index (usually considered to be indicative of the ability of coke to resist degradation by impact ) and the 1 /4 - inch tumbler index ( indicative of the ability to resist degradation by abrasion ) . Specifically , it was noted that for certain sets of data the correlation coefficients denoting the relation between these indexes were positive ; for other sets of data , these coefficients were negative . Preliminary consideration of this problem indicated that the usual interpretation placed on correlation coefficients was erroneous in this particular instance because the variables being correlated were necessarily related . The work described in this report was undertaken to clarify the interpretation of results of correlation studies for variables of this type .

Jul 1, 1960

By P. L. Woolf, J. P. Morris, E. Foerster, G. R. Zellars

Measurements of vapor pressure can be used to determine the thermodynamic activities of the components of metallic solutions . The determination of activity by this method requires accurate values for the vapor pressure of the pure component and for its partial pressure above the alloy solution . This investigation was conducted to measure the vapor pressure of liquid manganese for use in future studies of the activity of manganese in various liquid alloys . In related investigations in the Bureau's Pyrometallurgy Laboratory , vapor pressures of copper , iron and nickel have been measured and activit 4 5 6 have been determined in the iron- copper and iron- nickel systems . Difficulties were experienced with manganese which were not encountered in the previous investigations . Manganese oxidizes readily and greater care was needed to maintain an oxygen- and moisture - free atmosphere in the furnace . In addition , liquid manganese wet the refractories and there was a tendency to foam and splash on introduction of the carrier gas . Because of these difficulties several variations in the experimental procedure were studied . These were first tested with silver which has a vapor pressure of the same order of magnitude as manganese but is relatively inert at high temperatures . Although no significant changes in the original procedure resulted from this work, considerable data were obtained for silver and have been included in this report . Bauer and BBrruunnnneerr7/ have reported the only extensive investigation of the vapor pressure of liquid manganese . However , their results are not consistent with the data obtained by McCabe and Hudson for solid manganese . Measurements of the vapor pressure of silver have been reported by McCabe and Birchenal1,2/ Schadel and Birchenall , 10/ Harteck , 11 / Fischer , 12/ and von Wartenberg.13 / Generally , these investigators conducted their measurements at lower temperatures than were used in this study .

Jul 1, 1960

By T. N. McVay

The various applications of beryllium and its compounds in atomic - energy technology and a growing recognition of possible increased utilization of the metal in the aircraft and space - missile fields have resulted in increased interest in domestic and world reserves of beryllium . Unfortunately, little dependable data on beryllium resources and reserves are available , as past consumption of the element has been small and only limited prospecting and exploration work has been done . The scarcity of resource information is attributed partly to the difficulty of recognizing beryllium minerals in the field . These minerals frequently do not have distinctive characteristics of specific gravity, color , or other physical properties , that enable ready identification by the average prospector . This is particularly true of fine - grained minerals . As a result , a simple field test for identifying beryllium- bearing rock is needed . Recognizing this , technologists of the Federal Bureau of Mines investigated several of the proposed qualitative chemical tests for beryllium . This report describes various modifications of one of these methods to make it more suitable for use in the field . In the modified method , duplicate samples are fluxed -- one with potassium bifluoride and one with potassium bisulfate -- followed by dissolution of salts in water , conversion of the solution to an alkaline condition, addition of morin , and examination of the solution for fluorescence under short -wave ultraviolet light . This method provides a fast , dependable field test for beryllium minerals containing as little as 0.2 percent beryl or its equivalent . The test involves no radiation hazards , and it can be performed by persons having no technical training ; therefore , it should be useful to prospectors in discovering beryllium mineralization .

Jul 1, 1960

By W. R. K. Wu

Studies are reported on the structure of coal and coke with the graphical , statistical densimetric method based on the relation between the molecular volume per carbon atom ( M / C ) and the atomic hydrogen - carbon ratio ( H / C ) . Previous work , mostly from chemical and physical investigations , is critically reviewed . Difficulties in evaluating the ring increment are demonstrated for coal and coke for the statistical densimetric method based on the additivity of atomic volumes of constituent elements . A new diagram is presented for the graphical method . Methods are introduced for correcting M /C and H/C for the presence of minor constituents in coal and coke . With the graphical method , the fractions of aromatic carbon atoms in the total carbon atoms are estimated for a coal , a resin , and 5 petrographic components ; the types of condensed structure in the fundamental units of molecules are discussed for these substances , 28 coals , and 6 " average " cokes at 500 ° to 1,000 ° C. It is also shown that the number of rings in the fundamental units of coal generally increases with increasing rank and that of coke , with increasing carbonization temperature .

Jul 1, 1960

By E. G. King, W. W. Weller

Low- temperature heat capacity measurements of muscovite were made in the temperature range from 50° to 298 ° K. The entropy at 298.15 ° K was evaluated as S298.15 = 69.0 ± 0.7 cal /deg mole .

Jul 1, 1960

By Michael Sokaski, M. R. Geer, H. F. Yancey

This report is one of a series describing investigations by the Federal Bureau of Mines of the performance of various types of coal - cleaning equipment ; other reports in the series are listed in the bibliography . The information in these reports is useful to the coal industry and the manufacturers of coal - cleaning equipment in several ways : First , it assists the coalpreparation engineer who is planning a new plant to select the type of process best suited to the requirements by enabling him to forecast the yield and quality of clean coal obtainable with each type of equipment . Second , the information serves as a yardstick by which the performance of a plant can be judged and thus helps determine whether it is operating at satisfactory efficiency . Both these functions promote better coal - preparation practice ; that is , they help provide coal of more suitable quality for the market and likewise minimize the waste of good coal . This serves the interest of conservation with which the Bureau is vitally concerned . The present report deals with three plants using the Tromp dense - medium process , named after its inventor , K. F. Tromp , who developed the process in the Netherlands in 1936.5/ Selection of this particular dense -medium process for investigation was entirely a matter of convenience , and reports dealing with other dense -medium systems are planned for the future . Two baths are employed in one of the plants investigated . The first of these , handling 6- to 3 - inch coal , exhibited an exceptionally sharp separation between coal and impurity . This was characterized by an error area of 12 and a probable error of 0.023 . In the second bath , treating refuse from the

Jul 1, 1960

By Jerome J. Hoeppner, Walter W. Fowkes

The Federal Bureau of Mines has determined the distribution of forms of sulfur for several lignites and gasification chars and noted the changes induced by the gasification process . A method was adopted for quantitatively determining sulfide sulfur that was found to be present in the chars , although absent in the lignites . Changes in the behavior and distribution of sulfur forms were further investigated concerning the ashing of lignites and chars under standard conditions , as well as at various temperatures , and the determination of volatile matter applied to both chars and lignites . The authors concluded that the first and greatest change in the form of sulfur present in natural lignite , upon heat treatment , resulted from the reduction of pyritic and sulfate sulfur to sulfide . Organically - bound sulfur originally present is less reactive , but largely disappears on strong ignition . An appreciable part of the sulfur content of natural lignite is fixed in the char as sulfide and in the ash as water - soluble sulfate and will affect the summation of constituents , to a greater or lesser degree , in reporting the ultimate analysis of a lignite or char .

Jul 1, 1960

By Gerald W. Elger

The Federal Bureau of Mines developed a modification in the conventional Kroll process for preparing high - purity hafnium metal . This modification involved the partial replacement of magnesium by sodium in the batch reduction of purified hafnium tetrachloride to sponge metal . The raw tetrachloride was purified either by thermal degassing of the volatile contaminants to the atmosphere or by fused- salt treatment . In the fused- salt treatment , the tetrachloride was contacted with molten alkali chlorides to remove the impurities . The reaction byproducts were removed from the metal by heat treatment in an evacuated furnace . The metal sponge was consolidated by melting into buttons or ingots , which were analyzed for impurities . The purity of the metal prepared by the modified process is superior to that of the metal produced by the conventional method . The hafnium metal was comparable to crystal - bar hafnium except for the oxygen content , despite the abnormally high impurity concentrations in the raw tetrachloride . Several ingots were successfully cold - rolled to sheet .

Jul 1, 1960

By Carl Rampacek, W. A. McKinney

The feasibility of leaching calcareous and siliceous oxidized copper ores by downward percolation with dilute acid was investigated in the laboratory and in a small continuous plant operated by the Federal Bureau of Mines . The crushed ore was leached in deep columns with solutions containing 1 or 5 percent sulfuric acid to dissolve the oxidized copper . Bench - scale laboratory tests on two calcareous ores from the same deposit indicated that a maximum copper extraction , about 72 percent , could be expected from heap leaching a feed as coarse as 1 inch . Laboratory tests on a siliceous ore showed that almost 70 percent of the copper could be extracted by leaching a 1 / 4 - inch feed . The bench - scale tests were supplemented by larger continuous runs wherein the copper was recovered from the leach liquors by precipitation on detinned scrap iron . Leaching the calcareous ore for approximately 10 days recovered 62 percent of the total copper . The sulfuric acid consumption was 9.6 pounds per pound of copper recovered . Treatment of the siliceous ore recovered 62.5 percent of the total copper in a 2.5 - day leach and the acid consumption was 3.7 pounds per pound of copper recovered . Cement copper products that assayed over 71 percent copper were obtained from the leach solutions by precipitation on scrap iron . The bench - scale and continuous tests demonstrated that downward percolation leaching of the calcareous ores was technically feasible but not economically practicable because of high acid consumption by the gangue . Leaching of the siliceous ore was rapid and the acid and water requirements were nominal . The downward percolation leach procedure is simple and requires a minimum of plant equipment .

Jul 1, 1960

By J. M. Seward, W. D. Dietzman, M. E. Hawkins

Analytical studies of formation waters are widely used by the petroleum industry as an aid in solving problems such as identifying intrusive waters , corrosion studies , treating injection water , and choosing open or closed water- injection systems . The solution of a problem is often simplified when reliable analyses of the waters under consideration have been made previously . Chemical analyses and electrical resistivity measurements are presented on 267 samples from 74 fields in south Arkansas , and 199 samples from 80 fields in north Louisiana .

Jul 1, 1960

By E. J. Ostrowski, P. L. Woolf, J. P. Morris, Norwood B. Melcher

By injecting natural gas through auxiliary tuyeres into the smelting zone of the Bureau of Mines ' experimental blast furnace in January 1959 , the investigators succeeded in reducing the coke consumption by approximately one - third that of the base period . This caused a 30 - percent increase in pig iron production with no increase in wind rate . The maximum gas addition in these experiments was 4,665 cubic feet per ton of metal produced . Sharp reduction in gas consumption occurred when high hot blast and high wind rates were used , although the gas injection rate in percent of air blown remained constant . As the heat energy produced by burning natural gas to carbon monoxide and hydrogen is much less than burning coke to carbon monoxide , greater blast temperatures were required during the test runs . The gases produced from the methane were , however , more effective reductants ; so it was possible to increase the production rate while reducing the total heat requirements per ton of metal produced . During a base period with an all - sinter burden , before introduction of natural gas , a coke rate of 1,484 pounds per net ton of pig iron was attained , using an average blast temperature of 1,518 ° F. Gas was introduced gradually over a two -week period until an average 7 percent of the air blown was reached . During this period , the wind rate was adjusted downward to maintain a constant flow of gas in the bosh . The production rate of the furnace remained relatively constant . The quality of pig iron, however , improved as the sulfur load on the furnace was reduced as a result of the substitution of gas for coke . Blast temperatures were increased during this period from 1,518 ° F. to 1,939 ° F. , when the maximum gas addition was reached .

Jul 1, 1960

By F. R. Cattoir, D. H. Baker

Fused - salt electrorefining has been successfully applied to the purification of vanadium metal . The electrolyte used in this refining technique was sodium chloride to which had been added 3 to 6 percent vanadium as vanadium dichloride . The average deposition current efficiency was 91 percent . Oxygen and nitrogen , the impurities in commercially produced vanadium metal , were reduced by two - thirds of the amount contained in the feed material . Hardness of the vanadium- metal product was reduced from an initial 97 Rockwell B ( RB ) to a minimum of 35 Rg . The reduction of these impurities markedly improved the plasticity of the final product obtained by melting the crystalline cell metal into small ingots . These ingots could be given a 99 - percent cold reduction by rolling before edge cracking appeared . Growing interest in high - purity vanadium and the industrial need for purer metals and improved alloys for use under high temperatures and high speeds have demanded the elimination and/or control of impurities . Accordingly, research to eliminate or control the undesirable impurities has been expanded .

Jul 1, 1960

By G. W. Birge, D. E. Wolfson, J. H. Lynch

This report by the Federal Bureau of Mines describes the carbonizing properties of coals from the principal beds in Boone County , W. Va . Results are given for samples of coals from No. 5 Block , Stockton - Lewiston , Coalburg , Winifrede , Chilton , Hernshaw , Cedar Grove , Alma , and No. 2 Gas beds . Boone County coals rank as high -volatile A bituminous . Eighteen of the 21 samples tested contained from 3.3 to 7.9 percent ash and 16 of the samples contained from 0.6 to 0.9 percent sulfur . Two samples from the Alma and No. 2 Gas beds , the lowest stratigraphically of the seams tested in Boone County , contained from 1.4 to 2.7 percent sulfur . Most Boone County coals yield

Jul 1, 1960

By M. Vanpée, H. G. Wolfhard

Jets of hot gases issuing into explosive gaseous mixtures are efficient agents of ignition . The ignition temperature is defined as the temperature of the jet as it enters the cold explosive mixture which is just high enough to produce ignition . Such data have been published recently.5/ The investigators note especially that no correlation seems to exist between hot - gas ignition temperatures and spontaneous ignition temperatures , although there is a rather loose relation with limit flame temperatures . Before a more quantitative theory of the hot - gas ignition process can be attempted effectively , several questions must be answered : ( 1 ) Can the reactions leading to ignition be described by an Arrhenius type activation energy? ( 2 ) Is ignition preceded by an induction period ? ( 3 ) What is the rate - determining process of the ignition ? (4) And how does turbulence affect this type of ignition ?

Jul 1, 1960

By C. J. Chindgren, L. C. Bauerle, J. B. Rosenbaum

Modifications of the conventional method of preparing ductile vanadium metal by calcium reduction of V2 05 in a bomb were explored for clues to a more economical procedure . The modifications examined included ( 1 ) omitting the gas purge of the bomb ordinarily used for eliminating atmospheric nitrogen , (2 ) using low- grade vanadium feed materials , ( 3 ) using alternative reductants , such as aluminum , magnesium , and silicon , and reductant mixtures , and ( 4 ) bomb refining of aluminothermic metal produced in open- vessel reductions . The most promising modification appeared to be bomb refining , using calcium to purify vanadium metal -- of low aluminum but high oxygen content-- prepared by open- vessel aluminothermic reduction of vanadium pentoxide .

Jul 1, 1960