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By Frank B. McKune

This is something new in my life. A lot of you men here today I do not know, and some I do know. So if you have any remarks to make, I wish you would give your name and the name of your company. This is the first Acid Meeting which has been held under the auspices of the National Open-Hearth Steel Conference, and I hope it is a success. Whether it is a success or not depends entirely upon the support we get. If it does get good support, I have the idea it will be continued as a regular feature of the National Open-Hearth Steel Conference. We all think we have pretty good practices. But we can all learn and I hope that you, gentlemen, who take issue with the things someone else has said will stand up and give your opinions. Otherwise, the meeting will fall rather flat, and we won't get a great deal out of it; and there will not be enough interest shown by the National Committee to continue to place the meeting on the regular yearly program.

Jan 1, 1940

The ability of activated charcoal or carbon to adsorb complex metal ions has been recognized for many years, but it wasn't until the late 1940s and early 1950s that attempts were made to employ carbon-In-Pulp or C. I. P. processing to the recovery of gold. Early plants using the process were those at the Golden Cycle in Cripple Creek, Colorado, the Getchell Mine near Golconda, Nevada, and at the Idria Mine in Honduras. Recovery of the carbon from the pulp was done by screening or flotation, and recovery of gold from the carbon was done by burning the carbon (a very difficult task) or by sending it to a smelter. Unfortunately at the time, the price of gold was still fixed at $3-5 per ounce and labor costs were rising to the point where these mines were no longer able to operate. Consequently, C. I. P. treatment was temporarily forgotten. In the early 1970s, however, Homestake Mining Company at Lead, South Dakota, were being forced by environmental regulations to discontinue the use of mercury for amalgamation in their 7,500 ton per day plant, and at the same time were encountering high labor costs in the slime circuit of the plant, where over 2,000 tons of slimes were filtered each day in Merrill plate and frame filter presses. Shortly before that, researchers of the United States Bureau of Mines had developed the caustic -cyanide method of stripping gold from activated carbon and an electrolytic cell (now known as the Zadra cell) to recover gold from the carbon strip liquor. Homestake and the United States Bureau of Mines then jointly operated a C. I. P. pilot plant at Lead. Results were immediately favorable and a 2,400 ton per day C. I. P. plant was then built to treat the slime fraction of the Homestake ore. (See Au and Ag Cyanidation Plant Practice, Volume I, SME of AIME, 1975. Later, Homestake built a second plant at Creede, Colorado, to treat the slime fraction of the tailings from a silver-lead flotation plant. Next was Duval Corporation's 3,000 ton per day C. I. P. plant at Battle Mountain, Nevada. Both of these latter plants are described in this volume. C. I. P. operations under construction at the time of this writing are as follows: Pinson Mining Co. , Nevada Gold Freeport Gold Company, Nevada Gold Compania Minera El Indio, Chile. Silver and Gold

Jan 1, 1981

By J. WILLIAM WETTER

WHEN the privilege was extended to me to address this meeting I could not help but make a mental review of my own activities and experiences in connection with association work. After having spent about 16 years in the mining engineering field, I entered into the operating branch of coal mining which afforded, about 12 years ago, my first opportunity of attending a meeting of our local Association and sitting in with the "big boys" of the industry. This was quite a thrilling experience because I had heard a great deal about the various operators who belonged to the Association and knew, or at least thought I knew, that a certain group dominated its affairs and that a "clique" was in control of a sizable "roller" which could be "steamed up" at will to flatten out any opposition which might appear upon the horizon or under it, too, for that matter. Now, I was to have the privilege of observing this "clique" at first hand, of seeing a small group making the policies and shaping the destinies of a great industry and planning the activities of an important Association while a large majority of the members would sit by either complacently or otherwise with the full knowledge that the "roller" was in waiting to reduce them to ribbons at the first sign of resistance.

Jan 1, 1930

By Robert S. Williams

NO new ferrous alloys have been produced in the last five or six years that are as outstanding contributions to civilization as were the high-speed steels of the early part of the century or the stainless steels announced at the close of the World War. There have been, however, many developments of major importance having to do either with modifications of existing alloys or with new methods of treatment of older iron or steel alloys. Only a limited number of these new developments can be discussed and their selection does not necessarily imply that these are the most important but merely that they are of general interest rather than perhaps of greater importance in highly specialized fields.

Jan 1, 1939

By H. E. Criner, M. G. Driessen

Maurice Rey—The influence of cyclone diameter upon the fineness of separation is an important point which, however, cannot be discussed adequately if the injection pressure or the rate of flow are not specified. Perhaps some light can be thrown on the matter by using the formulas derived by Dahlstrom. Let us consider several geometrically similar cyclones where the apertures e and b are equal and proportional to the diameter D and which are operated with the same pressure drop. Eq 8 of Dahlstrom's paper can be written: Q Q = K D'. " or. if F is constant: Q = K D18 K is a constant of proportionality. Introducing this value of Q in eq 13 gives elimination efficiency = K D ,41 Elimination efficiency, in the terminology of Dahl-strom, means the diameter of particles, in microns, which divide equally between the underflow and the overflow. This denomination is regrettable and it would be preferable to call it diameter of separation or characteristic size or any other name connoting a size rather than an efficiency. Whatever the name used, the above equation shows a slow increase in the fineness of separation when the diameter of the cyclone decreases. For example, if a 14-in. cyclone gives a 400-mesh separation (37 microns), geometrically similar cyclones, having the same pressure drop will give separations at the sizes shown below.

Jan 1, 1951

By M. G. Driessen, H. E. Criner

Maurice Rey—The influence of cyclone diameter upon the fineness of separation is an important point which, however, cannot be discussed adequately if the injection pressure or the rate of flow are not specified. Perhaps some light can be thrown on the matter by using the formulas derived by Dahlstrom. Let us consider several geometrically similar cyclones where the apertures e and b are equal and proportional to the diameter D and which are operated with the same pressure drop. Eq 8 of Dahlstrom's paper can be written: Q Q = K D'. " or. if F is constant: Q = K D18 K is a constant of proportionality. Introducing this value of Q in eq 13 gives elimination efficiency = K D ,41 Elimination efficiency, in the terminology of Dahl-strom, means the diameter of particles, in microns, which divide equally between the underflow and the overflow. This denomination is regrettable and it would be preferable to call it diameter of separation or characteristic size or any other name connoting a size rather than an efficiency. Whatever the name used, the above equation shows a slow increase in the fineness of separation when the diameter of the cyclone decreases. For example, if a 14-in. cyclone gives a 400-mesh separation (37 microns), geometrically similar cyclones, having the same pressure drop will give separations at the sizes shown below.

Jan 1, 1951

By Henry A. Stiff, and Lawrence E. Davis

The authors previously presented a method for predicting the tendency of oil field waters to deposit calcium sulfate. The present paper gives a similar method for calcium carbonate. Methods for predicting calcium carbonate scaling tendencies in fresh waters have been available for some time, but these could not be used for brines. By experimentally deriving the value of the K term in the Langelier equation, a method has been developed which applies to waters of high salt content. A statistical study is included which shows that the experimentally derived values of K are in good agreement with actual conditions. Several applications of the final equation to production practice are given. INTRODUCTION The authors previously presented a method for predicting the formation of calcium sulfate scale in oil field waters.' Although calcium sulfate deposition is important in production operations, the majority of scale problems involve calcium carbonate. The present communication discusses a method by which the formation of this type of scale in oil field waters can be predicted. Calcium carbonate precipitation is caused by a shift toward carbonate in the carbonate-bicarbonate-carbon dioxide equilibrium. When equilibrium shifts in the other direction, the precipitate goes back into solution. Since there is usually considerable delay between the establishment of an equilibrium and the precipitation or solution of calcium carbonate, unstable conditions exist in which a water will precipitate or dissolve calcium carbonate on standing. Tillmans? who did a major part of the early work on carbonate scaling, pointed out that the condition of equilibrium not only indicates the tendency of a water to scale but also is an indication of its corrosive properties. Previously precipitated calcium carbonate combines with iron to form a dense crust which inhibits corrosion. If the water tends to dissolve carbonate, the scale becomes porous, and electrolytic corrosion takes place. Tillmans1 work was extended by several investigators until in 1934 Langeliers developed an equation setting forth the conditions of carbonate equilibrium. By the use of this equation the pH of a water at equilibrium can be calculated. If the actual pH is higher than the calculated pH, the water has a tendency to form scale. If it is lower. the water has a tendency to be corrosive. Langelier's equation can be expressed in a simple form as follows: SI = pH-pCa-pA lk-K where: SI is the stability index. A positive index indicates scale formation. A negative index indicates corrosion. pH is the pH of the water sample, as actually determined. pCa is the negative logarithm of the calcium concentration. pAlk is the negative logarithm of the total alkalinity. K is a constant, the value of which depends on the total salt concentration and the temperature. This equation has been shown to apply to waters with totaI solid concentrations as high as 4.000 ppm. In fact, control of fresh water treatment by means of this equation has been standard text-book practice for a number of years. Nomographs have been worked out so that the stability index of a fresh water sample can be determined in a matter of minutes. Most oil field waters, however, contain well over 4,000 ppm of salts and for this reason the usual application of Langelier's equation can not be made. By an empirical method we have extended the application of the Langelier equation to waters of high salt concentration. By the use of this equation the tendency of oil field waters to deposit calcium carbonate can be predicted.

Jan 1, 1952

By AIME AIME

T HE Mining Methods Committee held its initial meeting* on Tuesday afternoon, with F. W. Bradley in the chair and W. Y. Westervelt as vice- chairman. The first paper to be presented was "A Plea for a U. S. Court of Patent Appeals," for which Kenneth W. Greenawalt ably pleaded. The paper (which was published in full in last month's issue) is so carefully prepared that no synopsis can do it justice. It discusses the opposed views of some patent lawyers and other lawyers and members of the judiciary as, for example, Chief Justice Taft who is quoted as saying in 1921: "I think it is a great deal better to take a first class lawyer and a first-class judge and make him a good patent expert than it is to take a patent expert and try to make him a first-class lawyer and a good judge." Mr. Greenawalt argued the need for specialized scientific and engineering interest and understanding to enable a lawyer or judge to prepare or interpret patent specifications and decide the originality necessary for a valid invention. He proposed the special U. S. Court of Patent Appeals to also counteract the costly confusion and injustice now ruling where a patent may be declared valid in the courts of certain States and invalid by the courts of other States.

Jan 1, 1930

By Johnson Crawford, Alan H. Hoagland

Zinc mining at Jefferson City began in 1854 with small scale production of oxidized ore from open pits. Significant production began in 1913 with the development of the Mascot Mine by the American Zinc Company. In 1965, four flotation mills were treating crude ore at the rate of about 12,000 tons per day and the Mascot-Jefferson City district currently is the largest zinc producing area in the United States. The producing mines, Mascot, Young, North Friends Station, New Market Zinc, Grasselli, Davis-Bible, Coy, and the Jefferson City, are 15 to 28 miles northeast of Knoxville in the Valley and Ridge physiographic province, an area of gentle relief lying between the more rugged Great Smoky Mountains and the Cumberland escarpment. The ore is strata bound, occurring essentially within a stratigraphic range of 200 feet in the Lower Kingsport and Upper Longview formations of Lower Ordovician age. In the lower strata of the mineralized section, the ore generally is found in coarsely crystalline elastic dolomite breccia containing silica and chert debris within a sequence of aphanitic limestones. The upper strata of the mineralized section are fine-grained primary dolomites that, in the ore zones, have been fragmented in mosaic patterns by solution collapse with the interfragmental space filled by white gangue dolomite and sphalerite. The mineralogy is unusually simple, sphalerite being the only important sulfide. Pyrite is very sparse. Dolomite gangue is abundant, silica was deposited in quite small amounts, calcite is minor, and fluorite and barite are very rare. The principal ore controlling structures are rubble breccia zones that were formed during the post-Lower Ordovician-pre-Middle Ordovician erosion interval by supergene solution as a phase of the development of a regional karst system of underground drainage that extended to' depths of at least 800 feet. The major Appalachian orogenic structures are post-ore and have been superimposed on the ore bodies. There is substantial evidence to support the current thinking of the writers that the ore deposits were formed at a depth not exc1~eding 800 feet.

Jan 1, 1968

By Leslie C. Richards

The competitive position of producers of industrial minerals depends upon the delivered price of their product. Freight charges are a major factor in the sales to consumers. A comparison of freight rates on movements of limestone and silica rock in the Pacific Northwest shows a wide variance in mills per ton mile for like hauls, thereby favoring some localities over others.

Jan 1, 1950

By K. H. Heino

Two 200 T/da Lurgi Turbulent Layer fluid-bed roasters have been in operation at Canadian Electrolytic Zinc Limited since 1966. Zinc concentrate containing 52-54% Zn, 9-11% Fe,31-33% S is treated to produce calcine containing 60-62% Zn,10-12% Fe, .l-.3% S as sulphide and .8-1.2% S as sulphate. Each roaster train comprises a waste heat boiler, two cyclones in parallel and a two-field electrostatic precipitator. Distribution of calcine collected is 10-15 percent from bed overflow, 55-65 percent from boilers, 20-25 percent from cyclones and 2-6 percent from precipitators. A Monsanto designed contact plant produces acid at a rated capacity of 365 T/da (100% H2304 basis) from roaster gases diluted to 7.0-7.5% S02. The process steps are gas cleaning and cooling by weak acid scrubbing, acid mist removal in electrostatic precipitators, gas drying in 93.5-96.5% H2304, conversion of sulphur dioxide to sulphur trioxide in a four-pass converter containing vanadium pentoxide catalyst, and absorption of the sulphur trioxide in 98.1-98.3% H2S04. Product acid is 93.2% H2S04. Conversion efficiency is 97-98 percent and overall sulphur recovery from concentrate is 87-90 percent. The adjacent fertilizer plant has a capacity of 135 T/da of P205. The products are 54 percent phosphoric acid, run-of-pile triple superphosphate, and diammonium phosphate. The plant is of Ugine-Kuhlman design and consists of an air-cooled multiple tank reactor, a tilting pan filter, and a forced circultation vacuum evaporator. Triple superphosphate is made on a continuous belt and partially cured in a rotary dryer. Diammonium phosphate is produced by ammoniating phosphoric acid in a single stage reactor. The slurry of ammonium phosphate is granulated in a blunger and dried.

Jan 1, 1970

By R. S. Dean

IN THE COURSE of its investigations directed toward providing strategic metals from domestic sources and toward utilizing power from Federal power projects in West, the Bureau of Mines concluded some years ago that the development of a method for producing electrolytic manganese might well be an important step towards both goals. Accordingly, laboratory investigations were undertaken in 1935. Further studied on a relatively large laboratory scale indicated that electrolytic manganese could be made from domestic ores at a cost not out of line with other nonferrous metals. On the basis of these results, the Electro Manganese Corp. Operating under U.S. Patent 2,119,560 issued to S, M, Shelton and assigned to the Secretary of the Interior for administration, undertook commercial production of electrolytic manganese at Knoxville, Tenn, This company has brought the process through the pilot-plant stage successfully, and is now regularly producing approximately one ton a day.

Jan 1, 1941

By V. T. BERNER

THIS apparatus was designed primarily to meet the demand for a quick, efficient stopping to seal off the burning area temporarily during a mine fire, but it can be used in any circumstance where an immediate brattice is required for ventilation control. In using the old style brattice, mine-rescue workers have found it difficult, in smoke-laden drifts and stopes, to erect an effective stopping with wooden frame and canvas. Stulls must first be cut to the proper length, the canvas tacked in place, and the numerous irregularities of the walls and back must be caulked. This operation requires the employment of axes, saws, and hammers, which cannot easily and safely be handled in dense smoke. The fire fighters have often been forced to abandon their brattice, unfinished, because of the rapid approach of the fire, or because of the exhausted sup- ply of oxygen in their breathing apparatus. It is neces-

Jan 1, 1930

By Michael J. Messel

OF the various minerals that occur in fibrous form known as asbestos, chrysotile is the variety most in demand for commercial uses, and, last year, over 683,000 tons of the various grades were produced in Canada and United States, exclusive of African and Russian production, which figures are uncertain. Production has not been able to keep up with the increased demand, and an acute shortage exists. Canada, Russia, and Africa are still the most important producers. However, Russia consumes most of its production at home and exports very little. The United States consumes over 60 pct of the total production and produces only about 4 pct of the total from deposits in Vermont and small quantities from Arizona. This paper will review mainly, some of the more recent developments concerned with the extraction and processing of this fibrous mineral for various industrial uses, such as textiles, insulation, building materials and brake linings.

Jan 1, 1949

By George F. Kunz

THE recently discovered occurrence of diamonds near Murfreesboro, Pike county, Ark., was brought to. our attention by Mr. Samuel W. Reyburn (Trustee for Messrs. C. S. Stifft, A. D. Cohn, August Zinsser, Jr., and himself, owners of the property), through whose courtesy we investigated the locality of the deposit. Prospecting with the diamond-drill is now in active progress ; but mining operations on a large scale have not yet been ordered. Geology.-The geology as well as the petrography of this interesting locality has been well described by Messrs. J. C. Branner and R. N. Brackett.1 Briefly summarized, the igneous rock in which the diamonds are found is a vitreous peridotite, forming a stock or volcanic neck, which has broken up through the Carboniferous and Cretaceous quartzites and sandstones. After an extensive period of erosion, during which an unknown portion of the neck and presumably a previously existent volcanic cone have been removed, the surface was covered with thin beds of Post-Tertiary conglomerate. The volcanic intrusion was accompanied by the formation of several small dikes of a rock much like that of the main body. One of these dikes cuts across the stock, while another cuts the Cretaceous sandstone, but is overlain by the conglomerate, thus giving a datum for the period of intrusion. So far as known, there was little, if any, metamorphism of the country-rock by the igneous magna, which probably followed an approximately vertical course, so that a more or less vertical extension downward of the igneous body to indefinite depths may be expected.

Mar 1, 1908

By S. A. Swensrud

NINETEEN Thirty-Six was the biggest year in volume in the history of the oil industry, and unquestionably the best since 1929 in respect to profits. The quota of new and difficult problems to face seemed a little smaller during 1936 than in most recent years, and a somewhat better balance existed between the different branches of the industry. 'Domestic consumption of gasoline in 1936, estimated at about 475 million barrels-the highest on record, was approximately 11 per cent above 1935, and 26 per cent above 1929. Demand for crude oil increased in about the same proportion: over 1935, and the average production, of about three million barrels daily,' constituted a new high level.

Jan 1, 1937

By Benjamin Gi ldersleeve

Uniquely colored, thin-bedded quartzite is quarried between Crossville and Crab Orchard in Cumberland County, Tenn. It is produced in all sizes up to the limits of transportation from beds usually ranging in thickness from less than 1/2 in. to 6 in. The stone is very resistant to wear and weathering and is marketed throughout the country for many different purposes in exterior and interior construction. The annual production exceeds 36,000 tons, valued at nearly $1,000,000.

Jan 1, 1950

Organization Place Date 1919 American Society of Civil Engineers..: Twin Cities, Minn. June 17-20 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Detroit, Mich. June 17-20 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Boston, Mass. June 18-21 American Drop. Forge Association Pittsburgh, Pa June 19-21 American Institute of Electrical Engineers Lake Placid, N. Y. June 24-27 American Society for Testing Materials Atlantic City, N. J. June 24-27 Society for Prom. of Engng. Education Baltimore, Md. June 25-28 American Chemical Society Philadelpia, Pa. Sept. 2-6 National Assn. of Stationary Engineers Huntington, W. Va. Sept. 8 American Peat Society.. Minneapolis, Minn. Sept. 22-24 American Iron; Steel Electrical Engineers St. Louis, Mo. Sept. 22-26 American Institute of Min. and Met. Engineers, Chicago, Ill. Sept. 22-27

Jan 6, 1919

By Johnston, T. L.

BISMUTH is found as native metal associated with tin, copper, cobalt, silver, gold, or other metals and in a variety of ores. The more important ones are: bismuthinite (bismuth glance), Bi2S3; bismite (bismuth ochre), Bi2O3.3H2O; and bismutite (bismuth carbonate), Bi2O3CO3?H2O. Of lesser importance are the arsenate, telluride, and vanadate. The sulfide is the most common; the others are often oxidation products from this mineral. Bismuth minerals have been found in various places in the United States, principally in Colorado and Utah, but no ores are mined solely for bismuth. In the Granite mining district of Beaver County, Utah, a stratum of limestone about 6 ft. thick has been almost completely replaced by contact minerals in which bismuthinite associated with pyrite and molybdenite was found intergrown with silicate minerals. In the early days a few small lots of ore assaying 7 to 10 per cent bismuth were shipped from this district. Native bismuth has been found in the Clifton and Tintic districts of Utah. Bismuth is produced as a byproduct in the refining of lead, copper, gold and silver ores, it being recovered from the anode mud from the Betts process. Deposits of bismuth minerals exist in Argentina, Aus¬tralia, China, Japan, Germany, Spain, Peru, Bolivia, and Canada, but Bolivia is the principal, producer and could easily supply all of the present world's demand.

Jan 1, 1933

By C. M. Brinckerhoff

Safety work in mining at the Andes Copper Mining Company, Potrerillos, Chile, is divided into three parts: (1) accident prevention, (2) fire prevention and protection, and (3) silicosis prevention and control. In the company's operations a steady campaign has been waged to reduce accidents and silicosis, and to prevent fires. In the following pages the safety record for the past twelve years will be examined and the methods explained by which the accident rate was reduced. Table 1 contains yearly data pertaining to the scale of the mining operations and the accident record. Block caving is used for all ore production and the tonnage mined has averaged 30,000 short tons per day for the past seven years. Table 2 classifies 44 fatal accidents which have occurred since 1935. The leading causes of accidental death are transportation of ore and use of explosives, followed in order by persons falling, falls of ground, and by asphyxiation. In the case of serious accidents, however, the greatest cause is falls of ground, followed, in turn, by ore transportation, persons falling, explosives, and asphyxiation. Accident Prevention The improvement of the safety record was obtained by a combination of many factors. In surveying the results at Andes for the past twelve years, it is possible to select some features of the present operation which have contributed to the accident record. The most important of these are: (1) good staff planning, (2) good equipment, (3) an alert safety organization, and (4) education and selection of the workmen. GOOD STAFF PLANNING As a result of good staff planning, the mine has good working conditions, namely, good ventilation, moderate temperatures and humidity, and good lighting. These factors not only reduce accidents but also improve efficiency. In haulage work, accidents have been reduced by having traffic move in a forward direction only. The latter makes possible a one-man train crew. Trains are centrally dispatched from loading drifts which are interconnected by signal lights, so that when a train in a lateral drift is given permission to move into a main line drift, a red light signals in all other lateral drifts in that area. Good track is maintained, and safety niches are required at all switch throws. Since safety niches were provided there have been no fatal or serious accidents at such points. All main line haulage drifts are illuminated by electric lights. Haulage drifts are kept clean. Adequate clearance has been provided between cars and between cars and the sides of the haulage drifts. The 4 1/2 ton Cranby type cars are equipped with roller bearings, and the 10 ton loconlotives with trolley shoes instead of wheels. These two features are responsible for improved ore haulage conditions and contribute to greater efficiency and safety.

Jan 1, 1950