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By Franklin G. Pardee

WARTIME depletion of the reserves of iron ore in the Lake Superior region of the grade and character now being shipped down the Lakes was serious. The time has come to take stock of the resources that remain in order to plan our future program of supply for our blast furnaces and protect, as far as possible. the tremendous investment made in the Lake Superior iron mining industry. Hugh M. Roberts and William H. Crago have estimated the reserves of the Lake Superior region in the United States at two billion long tons. These reserve figures are of direct-shipping ore and those concentrates produced by methods now in commercial use or those methods that may be expected in the near future. In their estimate they have assigned 392 million long tons to the Michigan ranges (all reserves in long tons) : 112 million tons for the Gogebic. 140 million tons for the Menominee, and 140 million tons for the Marquette.

Jan 1, 1948

By R. E. Allen

ONE of the most unusual oil field engineering accomplishments of the past two years is the development and rapid advance in the directed drilling of wells. Directed drilling as referred to herein is the controlled steering of the drill stem in the required direction to a given location in the oil sand. The deliberate drifting of holes is an act so far removed from what has been considered good drilling practice that all of the old questions of correlation, drillability and production difficulties are revived. Only a few years ago, during the boom days of Seminole and Santa Fe Springs, the crooked-hole problem, as it was then called, occupied a primary position among the topics of the day in the fields of California and the Mid-Continent. The net result of all the discussion and study at that time was the conclusion that oil wells should be drilled with as little deviation from

Jan 1, 1933

By L. E. PORTNER

INCREASING military demands on the petroleum industry have brought into bold relief the crude-oil reserves now available to meet combined military and civilian demands, emphasizing the necessity for a greater efficiency in recovery from what has been discovered than ever before, particularly in light of the absence of new discoveries. This situation-and the fact that the industry, as well as members of the Government charged with governing oil production, desire to meet all crude-oil demands made of the industry with the least loss in tangible reserves through production practices-paves the way for increasing application of sound principles of production engineering and conservation.

Jan 1, 1944

By Henry Louis

IN the discussion on the paper on subsidence by R. V. Norris and H. W. Montz (Teohnical Publication No. 153), H. N. Eavenson has been good enough to quote some of my views regarding the phenomena of subsidence; he has, of course, only mentioned these briefly, and as he has not represented them quite correctly, it is evident that I have failed to make them clear. Seeing that he, and apparently some of the others who took part in the discussion, appear to hold views different from my own, I think it advisable to put my opinions down as definitely and as clearly as possible, because it appears to me at least possible that some of the differences above referred to may be differences of language and definition rather than of fact. The statements I propose to submit refer to the simplest cases, namely where an area in a practically horizontal bed has been entirely worked out. My experience has been confined to beds of bituminous coal and of ironstone, but D I do not at the moment see why there should be any difference in principle between the working of a bed of anthracite and one of bituminous coal, provided that the other conditions are the same. I wish to emphasize that I am considering the conditions of complete working out of the mineral bed with the roof allowed to come down and form goaf in accordance with the general British practice; 1 am excluding, therefore, methods of hydraulic, pneumatic, and hand stowage where extraneous material is brought in to hold up the roof. I am also excluding the case of bord and pillar working where pillars of small size are deliberately left in, apparently with the idea that these will subsequently crush and let the roof down gradually. Such a method of mining has long been discontinued in this country, indeed in Europe generally, and I venture to predict that the time will come when such a recklessly wasteful method will no longer be tolerated even in the United States. Further, I am referring entirely td static conditions after the mineral bed has been worked out and the ground has come to rest; the phenomena that occur during the course of extraction are much more complicated, and these I am not discussing here. Under these conditions, I have

Jan 1, 1929

By AIME AIME

THE Western States Joint Convention opened at Denver on Sept. 20, with about 400 registered the first day. Monday was devoted to the American Mining Congress, and the afternoon session was taken up with a discussion of the public land laws of the United States. Hubert Work, Secretary of Interior, and William Spry, Commissioner of the General Land Office, presented a comprehensive review of the origin and operation of the laws and argued against any general change in the system. Charles E. Winter, Congressman from Wyoming, marshalled the arguments in favor of turning over the public lands to the states within which they lie, and George H. Dern, Governor of Utah, presented a well-reasoned argument in favor of allowing the school sections to pass to the states regardless of their mineral or non-mineral character. The debate made it clear that in the West especially, there is strong feeling against any further development of the policy of reserving and leasing the public lands. Tuesday forenoon was devoted to the Silver Producers Association, F. H. Brownell and Charles A. Thomas being the principal speakers, and in the after- noon the American Association of Petroleum Geologists met with Alex. W. McCoy presiding, and Glenn C. Clark, J. V. Howell, and J. W. Beede presenting papers.

Jan 1, 1926

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 AIME AIME

OCTOBER will be western month for the Institute. With meetings at Spokane, Tulsa, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and with a large number of American Institute of Mining Engineers members and their families in the party sailing out through the Golden Gate to Japan on the afternoon of the tenth, the major activities of the Institute will, for this month at least, be west of the Mississippi. Despite cancellations due to necessity, most of the officers of the Institute will be present and taking part in some one or more of the Western meetings. Prof. Robert S. Richards, our senior past-president, will attend both the Spokane and San Francisco meetings and then go to Japan. President Bradley will preside at the San Francisco meeting and then head the party going to Tokyo. At Tulsa and Los Angeles, the principal officers of the Petroleum Division will be present and active and at all the meetings, directors, ex-directors and -present and past officers will be on the job and keeping things moving.

Jan 1, 1929

By ERNEST W. ELLIS

MORE or less contradictory findings as to the most satisfactory feed for concentration tables of the Wilfley type is shown by the diversity of opinion among experimenters. Prof. R. H. Richards,l as a result of his work, favors classification. On the other hand the work of Messrs. Cox, Gibbins, and Porter,' of McGill University, points in general to the desirability of screen-sized feed The ore used was obtained from the West mill of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Co., Kellogg, Idaho, and consisted of argentiferous galena in a gangue of quartzite and siderite. The natural feed was taken from the launder supplying the Fahrenwald classifier. Classified feed was collected from each of the ten spigots of this same classifier. From the natural feed the screen-sized feed was pre- pared in the laboratory. All three types of table feed were therefore derived from the actual mill circuit of a large plant.

Jan 1, 1926

By AIME AIME

AWIDE variety of subjects was discussed at the Wednesday sessions on Non-metallic Minerals. W. M. Weigel as chairman, presided at the morning session, and W. M. Myers, vice-chairman, in the afternoon. In the morning session a paper by W. N. Logan on "Mineral Wool Resources of Indiana" was read by H. H. Hughes. Mr. Logan explained that as Indiana is the principal source of mineral wool, the paper might well he entitled "Mineral Wool Resources of the United States."

Jan 1, 1932

By P A. Collier

The general view of the author is that all the good intentions of manufacturers can fail completely if the variations in circumstances in underground mining are not considered at all times. With a belief that it is the customer that has the experience and know ledge of problems which occur on long installations. Reilloc talk with customers in coal mines around the world, and have done so from their inception. With considerable experience in their home market, their technical approach was received with enthusiasm by coal companies in both Australia and South Africa, and whilst experience was obtained in other countries, it is the particularly close working relationship in these two areas that is covered in this paper. The refinement of manufacturing techniques and the fine tuning of the specification to which the chain is made was developed in conjunction with factual underground experience obtained by customers as they sought to improve their productivity and a reduction in working costs. With a reliable product the mines are able to concentrate on improved operational techniques to extend the useful working life and plan for multi-panel usage of the chain.

Jan 5, 1996

By P. E. Fitzgerald

SOME readjustments in the research programs of most of the oil companics and petroleum engineering schools have been made necessary by the war. The most obvious change has been the conversion from production engineering to problems more closely related to the nation's was effort. Many laboratories now devote much of their time to studies on products to be derived from petroleum. such as synthetic rubber, toluene, and substitutes for critical materials. Others are working to improve motor fuels including high-octane gasoline and the special lubricants required by the wide geographical range of the present conflict. Of great importance is the experience of the geophysicists, who are now devoting a great percentage of their time on instrument research and production or special apparatus required by the armed forces.

Jan 1, 1943

By A. C. Fieldner

THE COMMITTEE on Correlation of Research held two meetings in 1931. The first was a luncheon meeting on Feb. 19, at the Engineers Club, New York, attended by eight members and four guests-William H. Bassett, past-president of the Institute; Robert E. Tally, president; H. Foster Bain, secretary; and Alfred D. Flinn, director of the Engineering Foundation. Mr. Bassett gave a short resume of the circumstances leading to the formation of the Committee and expressed his opinion that the objectives as expressed by the Committee in its first annual report were in accordance with the ideas of the Institute officials. Mr. Tally stressed the great importance of research in the mining and metallurgical industries and stated that lie believed the Institute should encourage and promote research, and that this Committee could do a great deal to foster such work in the Institute. Mr. Bain pointed out that this Committee was appointed with a view to correlating and fostering research work. in the field of the Institute's activities. This could be done in various ways, as by encouraging the divisions and committees of the Institute to hold group meetings on research, by forming research subcommittees in the Institute divisions, and by bringing together research interest in. certain projects and the fund or organization that is equipped to carry out the project.

Jan 1, 1932

By E. P. Bayer

MESABI RANGE ore is mined largely by the open-pit method. This involves having available at all times sufficient working places which in combination will produce ore of guaranteed analysis. Fast- loading power shovels turn out under favorable conditions 1000 tons per hour from each unit. Each unit loads ore differing materially in analysis from that loaded by the others, One may load high grade, another low grade, and another may be in a mixed bank with the lead ore so placed that the product must be mixed at the shovel before it is loaded into cars. In such cases the bank is combed with the bucket, the door being left open to permit the material to fall through.

Jan 1, 1937

By J. A. SINGMASTERN

THE New Jersey Zinc Co.'s vertical retort plants are believed to have been in continuous operation through the whole year. At Palmerton metal purer than that made from the same ore in the old plant has been produced and has been able to compete successfully with very pure electrolytic metal in die castings and other special uses where extreme purity is worth money. A new plant using this process was put in production by the Grasselli Chemical Co. at Meadowbrook, W. Va., early in the summer. It is said to be working very satisfactorily. It is understood that this plant will not produce high-grade metal. Two patents issued to Bunce and Mahler (Nos. 1,749,126 and 1,749,127) describe a method of operating the vertical retort so that practically lead-free metal can be obtained from ores containing consider- able lead. The zinc vapors and other gases leaving the reaction zone are filtered through a column of material maintained at a temperature high enough to prevent much zinc from condensing. The filtering medium is either periodically or continuously changed.

Jan 1, 1931

By HARRISON W. CRAVER

LIBRARIES are universally recognized as essential to modern civilization. In a world that gets most of its learning through the printed word, storehouses of print are a vital necessity. In this regard engineering differs in no way from the other learned professions, but until recent times the library needs of engineers have received rather scant attention. When the engineering profession was more of an art and less of a science than it is today, when each problem was solved more through the results of experience than by applying scientific principles, literature was less helpful. The engineer of today, however, is aware that his activities rest upon a scientific foundation and consequently comprehensive books dealing with more limited fields are now being published. Another difficulty for the operating engineer in the past was that the published works on engineering were written chiefly for use as college texts. A third obstacle to the development of engineering libraries has been the lack of librarians with experience in engineering.

Jan 1, 1938

By Ferid Kromer

This paper is the first in a series which will describe geology, mining methods, and production costs of some, of Turkey's more important minerals. In this paper the economically significant minerals-chromite, meerschaum, and magnesite-of the Tagtepe district are described. The cost data presented are believed by the author to be the first made public on Turkish chromite mining.

Jan 1, 1950

By Aimee A. Woolsey

Enterprise unmanned traffic management (E-UTM) is a holistic system concept evolving from technological developments in radio frequency (RF), where dynamic tracking can be added into current and emerging platforms. This is done through inexpensive RF sensors capable of real-time and cooperative, non-GPS tracking enabling digital visualization of assets, including unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The RF sensors are low in size, weight and power (SWaP), creating efficiencies in energy and material consumption while transmitting positions in real time and at long ranges. Multiple UAS and other unmanned vehicles can be visualized for risk mitigation in operations, thus enabling mine management to have better decision-making capabilities in the current and future mosaic of mine operations.

May 1, 2023

By Morgan M. Sears, Gamal Rashed, Michael M. Murphy, Brent Slaker

A parametric study was conducted using FLAC3D numerical models to examine the impact of oblique loading on the strength and yield pattern of a stone pillar using two simplified geometry types. In type-1 the side walls of the pillars were assumed to be perpendicular to the roof and the floor, while in type-2 the side walls were assumed to be vertical. These two geometries are frequently used to simplify/model the creation of pillars in dipping mines. Results from the numerical modeling indicate that dipping pillars have reduced strength compared to horizontal pillars, and they are at an elevated risk of failure. Also, an asymmetric failure propagation pattern could be obtained depending on the interaction between the pillar width/height (W/H) ratio, seam dip, in situ stresses and pillar geometry.

By Alafara A. Baba, Yakubu A. Dallatu, Kehinde I. Omoniyi, Shemang Y. Chindo, Edith B. Agbaji

With the rise in global demand for pure copper, there is an urgent need to consider the processing of low-grade chalcopyrite ores. Ammoniacal leaching solutions have been reported as effective and efficient leachants for the dissolution of chalcopyrite. This work reports on different parameters that influence the leaching kinetics of a Nigerian chalcopyrite-rich siderite ore obtained from the Wase local government area of Plateau state, Nigeria, and assayed as 11.30 weight percent copper.

May 1, 2023

By N Wharmby

In recent years in New Zealand there have been a number of tunnelling and deep directionally drilled pipelines projects that have required access shafts. Often these shafts are in urban environmentswhere vibration and high noise levels are not tolerable. There are a number of methodologies that can be adopted dependent upon the shaft plan area, depth and geology.This paper will describe some different methodologies that can be adopted that use piling methods such as large diameter piles, and secant piles. The paper will use case studies to highlight:· construction methodology,· specific methodology issues and constraints,· lessons learnt, and· recommended specifications.The development of piling technologies in New Zealand has enabled the development of cost effective solutions for the construction of deep shafts in sensitive urban environments.

Mar 8, 2011