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By Paul C. Merritt

The story now unfolding on the Mesabi Range is more than just another chapter in the continuing history of iron mining. It is an epic of foresight, research and pioneering instinct just now culminating in the rapid growth of a new industry hardly more than ten years old. And that growth has been impressive. In the decade that has passed since Reserve Mining Co. blazed a trail as the first successful large- scale commercial taconite operation, the number of plants now existing or soon to be operating has grown to six. From Reserve's initial capacity of 3 million tons of pellets per year, total production capacity on the Range has surged to 31.5 million tons while capital investment has leaped from $300 million in 1955 to almost $1 billion today. During the past year alone, more than $500 million has been committed to these projects, an amount probably greater than that going into any other single mining area in the world. There is more yet to come.

Jan 10, 1965

By Jack F. B. Silman

Proving up any large, open pit ore deposit by normal exploration drilling under the best of conditions is a noteworthy accomplishment. But, when adverse conditions preclude standard drilling methods, and the same end result is achieved by a relatively new and little known type of drilling, special comment is in order. Three major problems confronted exploration drilling at the Questa molybdenite mine of the Molybdenum Corporation of America-sampling, terrain and time. Surface and underground longhole drilling provided the needed solutions, thus making the greatest single contribution to an exploration and development program that was successful in proving a major, open pit molybdenum deposit.

Jan 5, 1965

By Stanley J. Gasior, Albert J. Forney, Joseph H. Field

Most bituminous coal mined near Eastern industrial areas requiring high-Btu pipeline gas is caking and therefore unsuitable for fixed-bed pres- sure gasification by present techniques. If the caking property of such coal can be destroyed, the resulting fuel can be gasified in a fixed bed at pressure with steam and oxygen as a preliminary step in making a high-Btu gas. To find a practical way to convert strongly caking coals of granular or small lump size to noncaking fuel was the object of this study. In previous work, strongly caking coals of 1/8- to 1½ -in. size were converted to a noncaking coal char by treatment in a static bed in about 3 hours1 and coal of 18-100 Tyler mesh in a fluidized bed in about 5 min.2 An inert gas such as steam, nitrogen, carbon dioxide or a mixture of all three with a small amount of oxygen was used in both studies. In our work a strongly caking bituminous coal from the Pittsburgh seam of 4-8 Tyler mesh size was converted to a noncaking form in free-fall in about 2 sec by dropping it through a countercurrent flow of steam containing 4% to 7% oxygen at 1150º-1200°F and 300 psig. This method should also be applicable to smaller-sized material.

Jan 3, 1965

By F. T. Davis

Many contributors have added to the fund of knowledge in the basic sciences related to mineral dressing during the past year. During 1964, the French edition of the Proceedings of the VIth International Mineral Processing Congress together with discussions was printed. Also, complete Preprints of papers delivered at the VIIth IMPC were published in September1. Over a third of the papers presented at VIIth IMPC dealt with fundamentals. COMMINUTION It has been postulated by Ponceleta that flaws need not exist before a stress is applied but rather the flaws are created at the tip of a propagating crack at a stress well below the theoretical breaking stress.

Jan 2, 1965

By D Maschemeyer

The cobalt production of the Chemical Metallurgical Division of Sherritt Gordon Mines Limited was supplemented, from May, 1962, to June, 1964, by processing 3,500 tons of a calcined cobalt-nickel concentrate. This paper describes the reduction roast -aqueous sulphuric acid leach process and the operating practices employed in recovering cobalt, nickel and copper from this oxidized by-product of a lead-copper operation. Incorporated in this paper is a description of how this process was integrated with the existing ammonia leach -hydrogen reduction process for the recovery of nickel and with the soluble cobaltic ammine process for the recovery of cobalt. Introduction T HE Chemical Metallurgical Division of Sherritt Gordon Mines Limited at Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, has recently completed ten years of operation utilizing the ammonia leach process for the recovery of nickel, cobalt and copper from sulphide concentrates, matte and other materials amenable to this process. A continuing development program, along with the expansion of certain facilities, has enabled the refinery to attain a production rate of 31, 000,-000 pounds of nickel per year by hydrogen reduction. This represents an increase of approximately 85 per cent over the original design capacity of the plant.

Jan 1, 1965

By Charles W. Merrill

The U .S. Treasury stocks of silver have been reduced at such a rapid rate to meet industrial and coinage requirements that they face exhaustion in 3 or 4 years. Alleviation of the silver problem will require increasing supply or reducing demand. This paper examines possible long-range resource development and research programs and improved secondary recovery. The possible reduction or elimination of silver in coinage and development and introduction of substitutes in the arts and industry are also discussed.

Jan 1, 1965

By Robert M. Becker

Particle mixtures were sampled in the laboratory, using ordinary sampling procedures, to determine whether or not the compound-multinomial probability distribution and other developments of part 2 agreed with experimental results. The objective was accomplished by the Bureau of Mines by comparing the moments and moment relationships of the appropriate probability models with their corresponding experimental values over a fairly wide range. The overall agreement between the corresponding theoretical and experimental values is both good and complete. The results demonstrate that sampling to a constant amount, such as weight, of items per sample is not the same, in general, as sampling to some constant number of items per sample. The results seem to confirm all the developments of part 2 and the application of the compound-multinomial function to bulk sampling.

Jan 1, 1965

By Lloyd H. Yeager

Good morning gentlemen. I'm very pleased to be a part of this fine program for the Society of Mining Engineers. Gypsum, as many of you know, is one of the most unique minerals on earth. The very excellent presentations which you have just witnessed, revealed the geological aspects of gypsum operations. It is not our purpose this morning to pursue this subject further. Instead, we felt you would be interested in some of the uses of gypsum . . . and what the future holds for gypsum products. To help accomplish this, we're going to first show the Gypsum Association's new film, "Shape Of The Future. ' This short movie traces gypsum f ram mines and quarries to its ultimate destination in homes, schools, offices -- in virtually every type of construction. We think you'll be particularly interested in the description of gypsum's fire resistive nature.

Jan 1, 1965

By B. W. Naugle

The Bureau of Mines investigated the changes that occur in decomposition products when coal is carbonized in a fluidized bed with steam as the fluidizing medium and the vapors are subsequently cracked without condensation in a fluidized bed of high-temperature coke. The coal used was from the High Splint bed, High Splint mine, Harlan County, Ky. Since this coal is agglomerating, it was blended with char. The integrated unit used in this investigation consisted of a 3-inch-diameter fluidized coal carbonizer, a 3.5-inch-diameter cracker containing a bed of high-temperature coke fluidized by the tar vapors and steam from the carbonizer, and gas-cleaning and product-recovery systems. The carbonizer was operated at 485° C and the cracker at 600°, 700°, and 800° C. The process variables investigated were temperature, residence time, and concentration (pound of tar vapors per pound of steam to the cracker) of tar vapors in the cracker. The total tar yields decreased as the temperature of the cracker increased, and at a constant cracker temperature of 600° C the yield of paraffins, acids, aromatics, and olefins in the distillate increased directly with the tar vapor concentration in the cracker. At 700° and 800° C only the acids and aromatics increased with increased concentration. Bases remained essentially constant regardless of the temperature and concentration. Similar results were obtained when the tar from the carbonizer was condensed prior to feeding to the cracker.

Jan 1, 1965

By Rolf S. Paine

The Bureau of Mines studied the presplitting technique used for control-ling overbreakage in the walls of a vertical shaft at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Littleville Dam project near Huntington, Mass. The periphery of the shaft, the dimensions of which were 16-1/2 feet wide by 21 feet long and 52 feet deep, was presplit (cracked) in the solid to a depth of 48 feet prior to full-depth sinking. Presplitting prevented overbreak in a fairly soft schist and provided sound self-supporting walls which required very little scaling.

Jan 1, 1965

By Rolf S. Paine

The Bureau of Mines studied the presplitting technique used for control-ling overbreakage in the walls of a vertical shaft at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Littleville Dam project near Huntington, Mass. The periphery of the shaft, the dimensions of which were 16-1/2 feet wide by 21 feet long and 52 feet deep, was presplit (cracked) in the solid to a depth of 48 feet prior to full-depth sinking. Presplitting prevented overbreak in a fairly soft schist and provided sound self-supporting walls which required very little scaling.

Jan 1, 1965

Wire rope, when used for hoisting on a mine is one of the most vulnerable units in the most expensive group of installations on the mine. With the introduction of hoisting on the Koepe sheave, a new technique was established. This innovation brought with it certain advantages which long had been recognized and which are being developed further.A need exists for the development of an infallible non-destructive testing device for wire ropes and it is axiomatic that the development and application of such a device should be coupled with the physical examination of mine hoisting systems. Therefore an integrated type of research programme is necessary in order to correlate the effect of shock loading with rope damage, which may be detected ultimately bynon-destructive means. This paper reviews certain historical aspects of investigations on this topic and it outlines a policy for research which can cope with a.c. or d.c. methods of excitation of the rope.INTRODUCTIONThe importance of wire rope in mining operations is often not fully recognized. A wire rope when used for hoisting in a mine shaft should be regarded as a "machine" forming part of a system of machines, and consequently it should be specified as such when it is purchased, it should be maintained as such during its working life, and it should be discarded only when it has done its duty and has been rendered either unsafe or uneconomic for further use.Every mine shaft, vertical or inclined, has in it one or more wire ropes which are used to transport men, material, and ore. Considering the long history of wire rope haulage and the large number of rope applications, it is a tribute to wire rope makers and to mine maintenance engineers, throughout the world, that not many serious accidents have occurred because of failure of wire rope. However, when a...

Jan 1, 1965

By Jack G. Hazan

The Critical Path Method is the modern scientific answer for solving the planning and scheduling problems inherent in today's complex projects. With this method, nothing is left to chance. All resources are controlled and kept to the minimum. The various phases are properly planned and strategically determined. Optimum conditions are evaluated for the most economical and fastest way to complete a definite project. The method must be fully understood and implemented with positive data and continuous feedback to obtain the best results. This paper covers the various aspects of the Critical Path Method and mentions some of its applications in the mining and metallurgical fields. T 0 progress to a higher state of human welfare necessarily involves sacrifices. The greatest sacrifice is to relinquish social freedom in favour of economic freedom. In the old days, for example, a cobbler was free to work at whatever time of the day he chose; today, he can't. He is now forced to adapt himself to environment and to work at stand-

Jan 1, 1965

By D. W. Boley

This report contains the results of an analysis of the Logan oilfield, Hocking County, Ohio, and predicts the recovery of oil from the Clinton sand by waterflooding. Core analyses, electrical and radioactivity well-survey logs, reservoir-fluid analysis, and geologic and production data were used for this study. Considered in the evaluation were the reservoir geometry, depth, lithology, continuity of the rock properties, fluid saturations, fluid characteristics, rock wettability, and relative permeability-fluid saturation relationships. The study indicates that a properly engineered waterflood should recover approximately 135 barrels per acre-foot of effective sand. The predicted recovery warrants the initiation of a pilot waterflood in this field.

Jan 1, 1965

By Nicholas J. Grant

It is the purpose of this paper to examine a number of the recent developments in powder metallurgy, being most concerned with those which are yet to prove themselves rather than those which have achieved commercial maturity. Such developments include the production of very much coarser and very much finer powders, down to the near-micron size range. Also considered are activated sintering, direct powder rolling and extrusion (both hot and cold), brazing and welding, hydrides of reactive metals, oxide dispersion strengthened alloys and theoretical evaluations. Introduction T HERE surely can't be very much argument with the fact that powder metallurgy has made large advances on many fronts during the past ten or more years (1). These advances have taken place in raw materials, in processing, in product development and in a better understanding of many of the phenomena which occur in the various steps involved in powder metallurgy. It should be clear, in view of such growth, that it will not be possible to highlight all of the new developments in the present paper. Many of these developments,

Jan 1, 1965

The purpose of this paper is to present the methods used in ground water control and the considerations that affected the development of these techniques. Production at Knob Lake is currently proceeding at depths which may be as much as 200 feet below the original standing water table. In order to produce a more saleable product and to improve operating and maintenance conditions, it is necessary to depress the water table below the mining level. Considerable success has been achieved by drilling deep wells in strategic locations and installing vertical tur-bine pumps at depths of up to 400 feet. This method is especially suitable for operation under severe winter conditions and has reduced the detrimental effects by a far greater extent than other methods of water control, Spring runoff is handled in open sumps, but all other water from four mines, with flows exceeding 16,000 g.p.m., is pumped all year 'round from about thirty-five wells. T HE Knob Lake operation of the. Iron Ore Company of Canada is located on the Quebec-Labrador border, 320 miles north of Sept Iles,

Jan 1, 1965

By D G. Boxall

As an alternative to heavy water cooling, reactors cooled by organic liquids are being actively developed in Canada under the sponsorship of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. One of the areas in which development has been required is that of core materials. The factors affecting the selection of fuel canning and coolant tube materials are discussed. It is shown that S.A.P. is a potentially attractive material for these applications. The fabrication of fuel sheathing is discussed. Difficulties met due to large inclusions and blistering due to high hydrogen contents have been overcome by magnetic separation and vacuum sintering of the powders. High-quality tubes can now be produced by extrusion to finished size. A study has been made of the mechanical properties of fuel-sheathing tubes and bar stock. The stress rupture properties of the tubes subjected to uniaxial and biaxial stress have been determined. The biaxial stress tests were performed by internal pressurization. For times in excess of about 200 hours, the curve of stress against time to rupture is extremely flat. The secondary creep rates of

Jan 1, 1965

By E. J. Karges

The use of pulverized coal for generating power and performing industrial processes has made an important contribution to our industrial economy during the past half century. Actually, the burning of coal in powdered form is a subject that has held the attention of engineers for a century or longer. Its widespread use, however, is comparatively recent, As early as 1866 patents were granted to Messrs. Whelpley and Storer for a method of feeding pulverized coal into a furnace as an auxiliary to the grate fuel. In the many tests made during the subsequent years with various kinds of apparatus, the experimenters were handicapped in not getting the coal fine enough to obtain complete combustion and to prevent excessive formation of slag.

Jan 1, 1965

This paper comprises a description of on-stream analysis instrumentation, including sample handling, X-ray optics and data processing. It also includes a discussion of some typical applications of an on-stream analyzer as related to the mineral processing industry. Introduction T WO automatic X-ray spectrometers have been developed for the simultaneous analysis of as many as six elements in a given sample. These instruments, namely the On-Stream Analyzer and the new Vacuum Simultaneous Spectrometer, have been designed specifically for process control in industry where large numbers of static samples or a number of flowing sample streams must be analyzed continuously with both speed and accuracy. This paper is concerned particularly with the application of these instruments for the continuous analysis of dynamic samples. The Instruments The On-Stream Analyzer and the Vacuum Simultaneous Spectrometer are intended to serve industry by offering two basic approaches to the problem of continuous sampling of flowing sample streams. The On-stream Analyzer (Figure 1) is designed for the completely automatic and unattended analysis of flowing sample streams in a programmed cycle of operation.

Jan 1, 1965

By D D. Deacon

A brief description is given of the requirements which No. 4 Shaft has been designed to meet and of the methods by which two-stage winding of rock has been accommodated in a single shaft sunk to a depth of 7,421 ft. This is followed by a consideration of the factors which led to the decision to sink the shaft as rapidly as possible. Introduction T HE No. 4 Shaft of Hartebeest-fontein Gold Mining Company, Ltd., has been sited to serve the deep southern area of the mine, some 1,500 claims in extent, between the elevations of 6,250 and 7,300 ft. below surface. From this area, some two-thirds of the mine production will ultimately be obtained. Above the 6,-250-ft. elevation, an existing shaft hoisting system, situated adjacent to the reduction plant, is of adequate capacity to cater for all ore hoisted to surface for milling. No. 4 Shaft will therefore be required to provide downcast ventilation of 1,000,000 c.f.m., together with surface hoisting facilities for men, material and development rock and underground hoisting

Jan 1, 1965