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By Frederick Clapp

INTRODUCTION - SCOPE OF DISCUSSION There has hitherto been no systematic effort to make public the available information on petroleum in South America and the object of this paper, therefore, is to broadly discuss the subject as it pertains to South America as a whole, endeavoring to collect in readable form what is known regarding individual fields. This article is not intended to exhaustively discuss individual fields, or to solve the many complicated problems regarding petroleum and natural. gas in the various republics, since those necessitate years of study and work by petroleum geologists, engineers, financiers, and drillers. Neither. can the reader expect absolute accuracy in all statements, since this is impossible at the present time. The writer has, of course, attempted to be correct in all cases, but in a review involving so many countries and extending over so many, phases of the subject, it is to be expected that some errors will have crept in.

Jan 10, 1917

By Bernard Rachlin

In the mineral industry measurement of density or specific gravity of slurries is often necessary or highly desirable. To date the most successful method of measuring the specific gravity of various media is to hand weigh a constant volume sample of the slurry. This method is time-consuming, however, and is intermittent rather than continuous. Most density measuring instruments in use today are variations of three basic systems: air bubble tube systems, radioactive methods, and displacer systems. The high cost of the radioactive cell, combined with the precision electronic measuring that is required, limits the practical utility of this procedure to a small percentage of critical processes. In the air bubble systems clogging of the bubble tubes with solids has rendered this type of measurement completely ineffectual for many applications. Continuous or intermittent purging of the bubble tubes with air or water to prevent tube clogging has been tried but has not been very successful, especially in the heavy media process.

Dec 1, 1956

By T. F. Adams, D. P. Morse

Tunneling is primarily an excavating cycle consisting of a sequence of operations: drilling, shooting, ventilating, mucking, and erecting supports, if necessary. However, the type and condition of the ground that is being worked, as well as the size and shape of the tunnel, determine the rate of advance. In addition developments in drilling, ventilation, mucking, and haulage equipment have contributed to faster tunneling. Geology: This discussion will be limited primarily to rock tunnels or those which require the use of explosives, and the cost and hazards depend primarily on the condition of the rock which may be broken, decomposed, and contain water with gas. Advance geological study is an important part of any tunnel work and helps to minimize serious miscalculations. The geology itself, at best, is a matter of experience and prediction and it is not so much a matter of the types of rock the tunnel may go through, but a knowledge of the class and intensity of the rock defects that may be encountered.

Jan 4, 1958

By R. A. Kinzie

In a conventional cement plant, the drying and heating of the raw material takes place in the upper section of a cylindrical kiln where the heat exchange is poor. In a Lepol kiln this part of the process is carried out on a traveling grate where the heat exchange is efficient. The increase in fuel economy justifies the greater complexity of the installation.

Jan 1, 1950

By A. E. Himebaugh

A SEMI-AUTOMATIC hoist has been installed at the 2966 station of the Copper Queen mine, since neither the bulk of supplies handled nor the number of men engaged in developing the 3100 level justifies the constant attendance of two cagers and two hoist operators. The connecting service shaft between the 2966 and 3100 levels is actually a two-compartment raise. Below the 2966 level the shaft is 7x13 ft-slightly oversize to permit downcast ventilation and provide space for the 16-conductor flexible control cable. The raise extends 52 ft above the 2966 level for a 3-ft diam head sheave. Another 3-ft sheave is mounted as an idler between the hoist and head sheave, eliminating the need for an inclined cableway. The main compartment serves as a cageway; the other compartment provides a manway and space for service lines. Since vertical travel is limited, rope speed is of minor importance.

Jan 5, 1958

By L. S. McNickle

Commonly accepted maintenance methods are being outdated by the rapid acceptance and use of more complicated hydraulic circuitry on modern mining equipment. It is no longer adequate to use the maintenance program to merely repair or sustain equipment operation. Ever increasing operating costs place a huge premium on lost production time. It has, therefore, placed the maintenance programs in the position of being required to alleviate equipment malfunctions on production shifts and still attain the maximum unit life from each component part. Ireland mine of Hanna Coal Co., which operates two production shifts and one maintenance shift per day, performs hydraulic maintenance with a plan that is geared to assure the bulk of work being handled on the midnight or maintenance shift. Production is thus allowed to continue without interruption from major hydraulic component malfunction. The plan is called selective maintenance because the specific part to be worked on and the time the work is to be accomplished are selected according to a definite plan.

Jan 10, 1961

By W. M. Aubrey, P. L. Steffensen

AUTOMATIC grinding control for ball mills in closed circuit with cyclones was developed for the concentrator of the Marmoraton Mining Co., a subsidiary company of Bethlehem Steel Corp. The concentrator, located at Marmora, Ont., Canada, treats an ore that analyzes 35 to 40 pct magnetic iron. Magnetite, the recoverable iron mineral, is concentrated by fine grinding and magnetic separation. The mesh of grind obtained in the plant is not determined by the point at which liberation is sufficient to yield a satisfactory grade of concentrate, but by the physical requirements of the downstream pelletizing operation. This is considerably finer than is metallurgically necessary. The concentrator has two identical units, each consisting of a rod mill in open circuit, followed by a ball mill in closed circuit with a cyclone and two rougher magnetic separators. The cyclone was chosen as a classifier because of its high efficiency on heavy gravity, magnetically flocculated material.

Jan 1, 1957

By Edward C. Mack, Ronald G. Stovash

INTRODUCTION Ronald G. Stovash General Superintendent Consolidation Coal Company Shoemaker Mine Moundsville, West Virginia Consolidation Coal Company's Shoemaker Mine is located in West Virginia's Northern panhandle near Wheeling, adjacent to the Ohio River. Steam coal is mined from the Pittsburgh #8 seam which averages 65 in. in thickness. The 10 in. of draw rock directly above the coal is taken on advancement, but remains when longwalled. The top consists of up to 12 in. of lower quality coal, and immediately over that, up to 10 ft of multi layered shales, coal, and bone. The cover ranges from 300 to 800 ft of shales and limestone. Two longwalls operate in the mine. The first longwall started in April 1975 and is retreating its eighth panel. This wall was the first to use shield supports in the United States. The second longwall started in September 1979 and is currently retreating its first 7,000 ft panel.

Jan 1, 1981

By A. C. Emery

The physical and chemical properties for the metalliferrous feed materials to the Imperial Smelting Process blast furnace are defined and the means of achieving these properties by the sintering or briquetting routes discussed. Modern sinter plant performance data is included with a plant flow sheet showing draughting patterns. The necessity for ensuring an adequate SO2 content in sinter machine gases when roasting sulphide materials to enable conversion to sulphuric acid in a contact acid plant is described. The ability of the process to consume limited quantities of oxide materials, residues from other processes and other secondary sources is discussed. The argument for a briquetting route is developed out of this limitation and the merits of cold and hot briquetting examined. Development work on the hot briquetting route for this purpose is briefly described and several flow sheets outlining possible applications for hot briquetting to different raw material situations including the preparation of low lead charges for the furnace are presented.

Jan 1, 1977

By Vassiliki G. Stavropoulou

Although plane-strain is the preferred method of analysing many rock mecahnics problems, little is known about the behaviour of rock under this loading condition. A simple and inexpensive apparatus has been built for laboratory testing of rocks in plane-strain conditions. A thorough .investigation of the specimen geometry and the friction end effects showed that the results can be considered as reliable. The behaviour of a brittle sandstone in the simplest plane-strain condition [(03 = 0)] is significantly different than that of the uniaxial compression [(02 = U3 = 0)]. The plane-strain values of the Young's Modulus and the Poisson's Ratio are decreased in comparison to the corresponding uniaxial values. Dilatancy is also reduced in plane-strain, whereas the pre-failure brittleness of the rock increases. The most dramatic effect of the plane-strain condition is that on the strength of the sandstone, which increases by 49 per cent in comparison to its uniaxial compression value.

Jan 1, 1982

By John R. Dyni

Colorado nahcolite deposits, estimated at 29 Gt, formed in an asymmetric permanent-lake basin whose waters were rich in algae and sulfate-reducing bacteria. Nahcolite (NaHCO3) occurs in oil shale of the Green River Formation (Eocene) as aggregates (62%), disseminated crystals (24%), and impure beds (13%). Because much of the nahcolite is nonbedded, it will be mined with oil shale and can be concentrated to marketable grade by crushing and screening. Impurities in nahcolite are kerogen, quartz, pyrite, and carbonate minerals. A promising new market for nahcolite is in the process of removal of sulfur dioxide from industrial stack gases. When heated, nahcolite reacts with sulfur dioxide to form sodium sulfate. Differences in thermally induced microporosity may explain why nahcolite is more reactive than trona, a Possible competitor with nahcolite for SO2 removal. Limited production of nahcolite at one or possibly two localities is expected in the next several years, but large-scale production is probably at least 10 years away.

Jan 1, 1982

By G. B. SOUTHWARD

MECHANIZATION is being developed to some extent in every coal field in the United States and it is rather difficult to say which State or section of the country has made the greatest advancement. Statistics now being compiled for 1928 will show the tonnage mined, the amount of equipment used in each of the coal-producing States, and the comparative tonnages and percentages of total tonnage mined in each of these States, and will reveal which field is making the greatest advancement as far as quantity of production is concerned. However, while the tonnage figures are of great importance there-are other phases of coal-mine mechanization, such as the types of equipment, the mining methods and coal bed conditions, which are of equal interest. The change from hand-mining practices in all of the various operations from the face to the railroad cars is, perhaps, more indicative than any other one thing of the real progress being made.

Jan 1, 1929

By M. Katzer, R. Klimpel, J. Sewell

The effect of using selective dispersants as wet grinding aids for ores is demonstrated on laboratory scale batch and continuous grinding equipment. A complete characterization of behavior is performed on a given ore to demonstrate correlations involving torque, % solids, net production rate, and slurry weight and volume loading. The relationship between such laboratory data and industrial scale testing results is very consistent.

Jan 1, 1982

By R. P. King

Flotation plant simulation, a relatively recent methodology in mineral processing, is defined and corresponding uses are discussed. Typical simulation structures are compared. Current problem areas exist although these are not insurmountable. Following a brief state of the art discussion, the N. I. M. simulation program is reviewed. In general, digital plant simulation is expected to be of substantial benefit in the near future.

Jan 1, 1976

By S. Korman, S. B. Tuwiner

Chalcocite flotation is affected by agitation intensity during conditioning. Sodium sulphide in minute quantity may activate or depress, depending on conditions. Oxygen is a depressant while oxygen and sulphide neutralize each other by re-action at the mineral surface. Diffusion across a stagnant film at the surface governs reaction rates, while film thickness is reduced upon increase of agitation intensity.

Jan 2, 1950

We did install one 100% brick bottom in our #33 furnace which is basically the same design as Inland's furnace. We had previously embarked on a program of replacing all bottoms in our 300 ton furnaces every 2nd campaign which would be about every 2000 - 2300 heats. This had been necessitated by the effect of our rather high oxygen blowing rates and our desire to maintain a minimum bottom interval level. This meant that we were able to compare bottom performance of various types of materials on a realistic bas is. Since furnace availability is critical to our operation, we are organized to employ every piece of equipment and all the necessary man power to complete a rebuild in the shortest possible time. A 300 ton furnace requires 7.5 days to rebuild. If a new bottom is to be installed an additional 2.5 days is added - 24 hours for tear out and 36 hours for bricklaying - making a total of 10 days.

Jan 1, 1972

By J. H. Anderson, G. A. Parks, B. K. Jindal, H. Leslie Bullock

H. Leslie Bullock (Engineering Consultant, Oak Park, 111.) — In reading over the paper, I find that I have no quarrel with the thoroughness of investigation of the points studied, but I am forced to question the selection of oxides from oxides as the subject of the investigation, the inclusion of silica gel as an example, and to question the validity of some of the conclusions. Separation of oxides from oxide, in minerals where the liberation of values is possible by grinding, are comparatively rare. Most oxides are only slightly soluble and the action of carbon dioxide or other acid forming ingredient in the air must be added to humidity to produce surface action. Silica gel is a very special synthetic substance in which the adsorption is determined by total surface, pore dimensions and temperature. Quartz is our most prevalent oxide and its action in electrostatic separation is far more sensitive to its three thermal transition points than to humidity.

Jan 1, 1968

Utah greets the members of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers on this occasion with the assurance that their presence is gratefully appreciated. The fact that this is the second time the Institute has so honored Utah is viewed by us as an approval of a past achievement and an incentive to a greater one. Our sincere hope is that our guests this year will have experiences so pleasant and profitable that they will be disposed to come yet again-and again. As use is the measure of value, we appraise our hospitality by the extent to which our friends accept it. World changes incomprehensible at that time have taken place since the Institute met here in 1914. The mining industry of Utah undertook to bear its full share of the responsibilities that came with those changes and, we believe, carries its additional burdens with all the resolution and optimism characteristic of American citizenship and especially characteristic of mining men and mining operations.

Jan 1, 1925

PAUL D. FOOTE AND T. R. HARRISON, Washington, D. C. (written discussion *).-There are several methods for measuring the internal resistance of a battery, the line resistance in a circuit containing an e.m.f., or the true value of this e.m.f. The writers, however, were the first to em-ploy a simple principle whereby the total resistance of the circuit is ad-justed to a preassigned value for which the scale of the millivoltmeter is graduated, the only e.m.f. employed being that of the source measured. One of the simplest forms of these instruments is described on page 2842, September Bulletin. In papers now in the press we have described some twenty modifications of this simple design but all operating upon the same fundamentally new principle. The instrument devised by Mr. . Porter is of this general type but, unlike the designs we have recom-mended, is open to serious objections.

Jan 12, 1919

By H. L. Hazen

The uranium mill at Gunnison, Colorado, started crushing ore Dec. 31,1957, and has now been operating four months. The acid leached ore is washed by counter-current decantation through a system of four classifiers and four thickeners and most of the dissolved uranium reports in the overflow from the first washing thickener. This uranium is extracted from the aqueous pregnant solution by solvent extraction using di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid and tri-butyl phosphate dissolved in a high-flash-point kerosene as the extracting organic. The pregnant organic is then stripped with soda ash solution. The uranium bearing soda ash solution is filtered to remove insoluble carbonates and any sediment reaching that part of the circuit. The clarified carbonate pregnant solution is then acidified to 3 pH, heated to 180°F to drive off the last traces of CO2, and the uranium finally precipitated as yellow cake with MgO.

Jan 11, 1958