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By Harry K. Ihrig

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1881

By Harry K. Ihrig

Jan 1, 1947

By H. J. LONGMORE

MORE improvements have probably been made in the diamond-drill field in the past decade than were accomplished in the entire prior period since diamond drilling was discovered in 1864 by a French engineer named Leschot. True, machines were improved, and new accessories were adopted from time to time up to 1929, but no radical changes were made. The basic principle instituted during the early years of the industry were still in use in 1929. At that time, practically the only diamonds used were "black diamonds" or "carbon." These came from Brazil through a rather round- about route, and by the time they got to the drilling trade their cost was excessive-$175 per carat and even higher at the peak. Perhaps because of this. or perhaps because of increased competition, the industry sought ways to reduce expenses even in the face of constantly increased labor costs due to higher wages and reduction in hours worked. The solution seemed to rest in two things-use of a cheaper cutting medium to replace the carbon diamond and the development of new machines to drill faster and thus produce more hole per shift of operation.

Jan 1, 1940

By Alistair Frame

INTRODUCTION In April 1988 discussions were about to start with BP on the possibility of buying their- mineral interests, and it took a long time to arrange a deal. I will talk about RTZ without BP Minerals, look at the new RTZ with BP Minerals, discuss the outlook for metal prices, and review the problems in South Africa and develop the case against sanctions on that country. RTZAT THE END OF 1988 Late in 1987, after completing a worldwide review of our strategic thrust, we decided: 1. That the business focus would be to remain a major diversified natural resource group with interests in related industries. 2. To divest non-core and low growth businesses. 3. To develop a logical acquisition plan. 4. To emphasise organic growth and, most importantly, to enhance shareholders' wealth by capital increase and a progressive dividend policy. Subsequently, we concluded that we should sell our oil and gas business and dispose of several assets for which we saw little growth potential. The disposal programme raised some U.S.$ 1,600 million, representing a significant capital gain on our various investments. All transactions were carried out by our small Head Office staff in London, without the help of merchant banks and lawyers, and we were able to safeguard the employment of our staff in all these operations. The most interesting disposal was of our oil and gas interests. Before the 1987 strategic review, we had ambitions to develop our oil and gas interests and to become the leader in the second division of European oil companies. Our interests, which were purely in exploration and production of oil and gas, consisted of the 100% owned RTZ Oil and Gas company, and 29% of LASMO, a publicly quoted U.K. oil and gas company with extensive worldwide interests. LASMO, in turn, owned 25% of Enterprise Oil, one of the more successful of the North Sea oil exploration and production companies. Prior to the end of 1987, our intention was to acquire control of both LASMO and Enterprise. However, when we evaluated the net asset value of these two companies based on our oil price assumptions, which were pessimistic for the next five years or so, we concluded that they were both trading in the market at significant premiums. This, taken with the additional premium required for acquisition and the high cost of exploration, led us to conclude that, since funds could undoubtedly be used to better effect, we should sell our interests. Turning to the other major achievements in 1988, we commissioned, and built up to design levels in a very short period of time, the Morro do Ouro gold mine in Brazil. This mine reached its design output of 100,000 ounces of gold per year within three months of start-up, which was on time and under budget. We are now considering a possible expansion of this property. In South America, Utah International, Mitsubishi and RTZ arranged non-recourse finance, with post completion guarantees, for the giant Escondida Project in Northern Chile. Financing came from a group of banks in Japan, Germany and Finland -- the countries to which most of the concentrates will be sold -- and from the LEC. The average output of the mine for the

Jan 1, 1990

By Thomas F. McLoughlin, David K. Hylbert

A new method of satellite imagery analysis has been developed during underground mine roof research. Landsat positive film transparencies were projected onto topographic base maps to scale and lineaments enhanced with a Ronchi grating (method A). Thirty-five millimeter slides of video-enhanced scenes were also projected onto base maps (method B). Both methods permit direct plotting of lineaments to scale and direct correlation with surface and subsurface data wing transparent overlays.

Jan 1, 1981

The volumes of Transactions, which are published annually, contain the list of officers, rules, etc., the Proceedings, and the papers revised for final publication. (In this revision, after the preliminary publication, authors are permitted to use the largest liberty; and the changes and additions made in papers are sometimes important. It should be borne in mind by those who study or quote a paper in the preliminary edition, that they may not have in that form the ultimate and deliberate expression of the author's views. It should be added, however, that in the majority of cases there are no important changes.) These volumes are for sale as follows, in paper covers:

Jan 1, 1917

By Rodney Lawrence, Tim Hackett

INTRODUCTION The western USA contains significant coal reserves in seams 10 feet or more in thickness which lie too deep for surface mining. As part of a demonstration of the use of two legged shield supports in the United States, Kaiser Steel Corporation, under contract to the US government used the longwall method to mine a ten foot thick coal seam in New Mexico. Caliper type shield supports and double drum shearers were used in three longwall panels. During the test, technical, production, and safety data were collected to objectively evaluate the performance of the shields in mining the thick coal seam. This paper presents discussions of practical operating experience and summary statistics to aid the mining industry in planning longwall mines in similar conditions.

Jan 1, 1981

By Harvey Brooks

Jan 1, 1963

THE SOUTHWEST MINING SECTION of the National Safety. Council held a well attended two-day conference at Globe, Ariz., March 19 and 20; followed by two days of mine-rescue maneuvers at the Old Dominion mine in cooperation with the Globe-Miami District Mine Rescue and First Aid Association and the U. S. Bureau of Mines. C. L. Colburn of the Bureau had general charge of the arrangements and was chairman of the conference. All sessions were held in the Old Dominion Library. The program of papers was as follows: MINE FIRE PREVENTION AND FIGHTING What to do in Case of a Mine Fire. / Chas. A. Mitke, Consulting Mining Engineer, Bisbee, Ariz. Gunnite as a Fire Preventative. W. C. Browning, General Manager, Magma Copper Co., Superior, Ariz. Chemical Engineer's Part in Fire Fighting. Dr. L. H. Duschak, Consulting Chemical Engineer, San Francisco, Cal. Mine Fire Drills. A. C. Stoddard, Chief Mining Engineer, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co., Inspiration, Ariz. Notes on the Installation of Fire Fighting Equipment in Mines. Benjamin F. Tillson, Assistant Superintendent, New Jersey Zinc Co., Franklin, N. J.

Jan 5, 1923

By J. Richard Kyle

Lead-zinc ore bodies in the upper part of the Pine Point carbonate barrier complex are localized in paled-solution structures that developed as the result of post-middle Givetian subaerial exposure. Detritus-filled dolines host prismatic ore bodies, and macropores and stratabound permeable zones contain tabular ore bodies. Sulfides are concentrated in these transgressive paleosolution structures that acted as natural bypasses between aquifers and loci for mixing of fluids of different character. Complex ore textures indicate rapid early sulfide precipitation followed by slower sulfide growth. Evidence for both sulfide-carbonate equilibrium and disequilibrium conditions suggest fluctuations in ore fluid composition, perhaps related to periodic supply of reduced sulfur. District and ore body metal distribution pattern may reflect the nature and movement of mineralizing fluids.

Jan 1, 1981

By D. A. J. Swinkels

The problem of determining oxygen levels in liquid steel to aid in deoxidation control has received general attention for a number of years. Work in this direction started at the B.H.P. Central Research Laboratories early in 1967 with an evaluation of sampling techniques followed by vacuum fusion analysis to determine the oxygen content of the samples (1). It was found that these techniques had a number of drawbacks if they were to be used for deoxidation control. The method of analysis was rather too slow to allow effective control and measured total oxygen level rather than dissolved oxygen. Furthermore, the results were found to be very variable due to slag entrainment in the samples. Attention therefore turned to the galvanic cell method using a solid oxygen ion conductive electrolyte such as cubic stabilised zirconia. The ionic conductivity properties of electrolytes such as (ZrO2) 85 (CaO).15 had been studied by a number of investigators and had already been applied to the measurement of oxygen activity in gases, in lower melting metals such as copper, lead, tin, silver, alkali metals and indeed the first studies in steel had been made (2,3). Since then the results of a number of studies in the development of an expendable oxygen probe for steel have been reported (4-9).

Jan 1, 1972

By Richard H. Sprute, Dennis J. Kelsh

Slow-settling, fine-grained suspensions can often be dewatered and densified by applying direct current between buried electrodes. Although water removal rates and power expenditures depend on physical and chemical properties of the treated slurries, metal mine tailings from Idaho, Colorado, and Mexico have responded well in laboratory testing, as have 29 samples of ultrafine coal waste from mines in nine states. This Bureau of Mines report reviews field tests at two Idaho metal mines and describes the recent installation at the Henderson molybdenum mine near Empire, Colorado, and the treatment of coal sludge at a Clinchfield Coal Co. preparation plant near Dante, Virginia.

Jan 1, 1980

(Members are urged to send in for this column any notes of interest concerning themselves or their fellow-members.) Members and guests who called at Institute headquarters during the period August 1, 1916 to September 10, 1916: C. L. Cantley, New Glasgow, N. S. H. M. La Follette, La Follette, Tenn. D. A. Cowell, Columbus, Ohio. Montrose L. Lee, Montevideo, Uruguay. Alexander Deussen, Houston, Texas. V. H. McNutt, Billings, Mont. Chas. E. Dutton, Goldfield, Nev. J. W. Maller, New York, N. Y. H. S. Emlaw, Grand Haven, Mich. Edwin W. Mills, Tul. Mi Chung, Chosen, J. M. Gillette, Swatsburg, N. Y. Korea. E. Gorilla, San Antonio, Texas. Francis R. Pine, Elizabeth N. J. Bertram Grant, Kingman, Arizona. Frank A. Ray, Columbus, Ohio. Ruger W. Hay, Bisbee, Arizona. John A. Rice, El Paso, Texas. C. F. Hendricks, Cobalt, Ontario. W. E. Rice, Ringwood Manor, N. J. Stanley C. Herold, San Jose, Cal. W. H. Staver, Lynchburg, Va. Lloyd Hoffman, Pottersville, N. J. Ralph H. Sweetser, Easton, Pa. Charles Hunter, London, England. Kirby Thomas, New York, N. Y. G. Jansen, Benkoelen, Sumatra. Henry Traphagen, Union Hill. T. H. Jenks, Oatman, Arizona. M. M. Valerius, Tulsa, Okla. Warren jenny, Chanaral, Chile. Wilfrid B. Wainewright, London, Eng. Walter A. Barrows, Jr., of Brainerd, Minn., has been elected president and general manager of the Thomas Iron Co., Easton, Pa., to succeed Ralph H. Sweetser, whose resignation of several months ago becomes

Jan 10, 1916

Jan 1, 1923

By B. M. Larsen

Jan 1, 1965

By R. W. Raymond

The death of Louis Janin, which took place Mar. 6, 1914, at Santa Barbara, terminated the earthly career of almost the last survivor, and one of the most illustrious members, of that group of American mining engineers and metallurgists who, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, directed the development of the mineral resources of the Pacific slope. Louis Janin was born in 1836 at New Orleans. His grandfather, an officer in the French army, had emigrated to this country, with his family, at or before the outbreak of the French revolution. His father became an

Jan 1, 1915

By Paul E. Dorr, Kenneth P. Pavlich

This paper covers the practical aspects of economic analysis of mineral ventures and the application of a publicly available computer program. The paper touches briefly on the time value of money concepts and the phases of project evaluation. The most comprehensive port ion of the paper deal s with the requirements for economic evaluation, including capital expenditure categories, operating expenses, required geological and engineering data, and tax considerations. Highlights of the 1981 and 1982 tax laws are covered. A case study using the MINECO computer program will be used to illustrate the economic evaluation concepts developed. Guidelines and goals of sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo simulation will be discussed and demonstrated on the MINECO example. The MINECO software system will be displayed as an example of a "user-friendly", interactive, and flexible computer tool available to the mining professional today.

Jan 1, 1983

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period Apr. 10 to May 10, 1915: Members ADMAN, WILLIAM, Supt., Susquehanna Coal Co Lykens, Pa. BARTH, CARL G., JR., Min. Engr 6151 Columbia Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. BOOTH, ERIC EDWIN, Min. Engr., Mount Elliott Mine, Selwyn via Cloncurry, North Queensland, Australia. BOYDELL, HARRY CYRIL, Asst. Mgr., Randfontein Central Gold Min. Co., Box 42, Randfontein, Transvaal, South Africa. BRADY, SAMUEL HOWARD, Mine Supt Bohemian Club, .San Francisco, Cal. Buses, HARRY EDWARD, Mine Supt., Engels Copper MiningCo Keddie, Cal.

Jan 6, 1915