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By A. N. Winsor

Increased use of private aircraft in civil engineering, mining, forestry, and other land-use activities creates an opportunity for amateur aerial photography. Taking a photograph having less than 5° tilt requires precision equipment and skilled personnel, while controlled horizontal photography is primarily a terrestrial method that has passed to the limbo of forgotten things. But the remaining possibility – oblique aerial photography – can be…

Jan 2, 1955

By R. L. Tobie

Handling and storing ore at transfer points underground are encountered frequently. An ideal solution to these troubles is probably still to be found, but at the Mather mine "B" shaft a method incorporating scraping trenches has been developed giving better service, from the standpoint of safety and simplicity, than obtained from other schemes. When shaft pockets are used for storage, the size of the ground opening required to assure capacity is often prohibitive, and shaft depth below the last level can become excessive, particularly if a crushing station is used. Also, if the material being handled contains large amounts of wet fines, it is difficult, if not impossible, to hold the material with regular chute gates. In order to remedy these problems Cleveland-Cliffs' Mather "B" has utilized three types of trenches. Types I and I1 are now in service and the third is under construction.

Jan 4, 1955

By Frank J. Windolph

Grinding Practice-These tests were run in the 9 ft diam by 8 ft long grate discharge ball mills at Climax. Each mill functions in closed circuit with a 78 in. Akins duplex high-weir classifier, and a circulating load of 300 pct is maintained. The size of the mill feed is 6 pct on 3/8ths, which is ground to pass 28 mesh. Testing Methods-Each grinding section is equipped with a conveyor scale on the ball mill feeder belt, a watt-hour meter on the ball mill motor, and an automatic sampler for the ground product. These instruments are exceptionally valuable to the mill testing program.

Aug 1, 1956

Long pipelines handling suspended solids find wide use throughout the mining industry. In phosphate, iron ore, and clay mining; in hydraulic stripping of overburden; in tailing disposal; and in transferring concentrates between plants pipeline transport may prove cheapest material handling method. One drawback is necessity for providing attendance at booster stations, both for control and for protection of pumping equipment from sudden surges and failures. Thiele Kaolin Co. in Georgia has come up with an installation where instrumentation does this job automatically, efficiently, and economically.

Jun 1, 1955

The old single-jack may have been portable- but it left much to be desired in drilling speed and depth of hole. Portable compressors for drilling can be snaked into tough spots. However, that calls for more men, equipment, and money, with corresponding loss of mobility. The drills listed in this notebook sheet meet three requirements: They are light. They are self-powered. And all are reported proven in practice. Undoubtedly there are other units filling the requirements that are not listed. Extreme mobility for far-flung exploration teams is always an acute need. The drills listed here help solve the problem. Canadian Longyear, for instance, reports that the Porta drill has been parachuted into wilderness spots and helicopters have lofted light core drills onto mesa tops in the Colorado Plateau uranium country.

Jul 1, 1955

By E. G. Williams

Conveyors were first used underground at Miami Copper Co., in the latter part of 1947. At that time some of the stoping area was too heavy and too close to the haulage level to use conventional haulage. To get the haulage drifts out from under the stoping area belt conveyors were used for the additional lateral transfer. Since 1947 more than 8 million tons have been mined in this manner, with as many as four belt type stopes in production at one time. When the mining plan for the new low grade was worked out, it was decided to use belts on what otherwise would have been short train haulage transfers to move the ore laterally to centrally located concrete ore passes. One group of these stopes has grizzly levels on the 570, with a belt level on the 670; the other group has grizzly levels on the 720 and belt levels on the 820, with the concrete ore passes bottoming on the 1000, or the existing train haulage level.

Jul 1, 1956

* Kennecott Copper Corp. gets Charles R. Cox as president on Jan. 1. Mr. Cox is resigning his position as president of Carnegie-Illinois to take the new post with Kennecott, left vacant by the death of Mr. Stannard in September. •The ECA signed a contract in December to advance X3,600,000 to Newmont Mining Corp. to aid development of lead and zinc mines in French Morocco. The funds are to be repaid in lead and zinc for the United States' stockpile over a period of seven years. The mines are owned by the Societe des Mines de Zellidja, with which organization Newmont is associated. • Under the direction of John M. Brooks, Jr., general manager, the Matahambra mine in Cuba, will probably produce sufficient tonnage to make 4 million lb of copper per month during 1950. The grade is presently running between 7 and 10 pet. •S. H. Ash reports that the fatality rate per million-man-hr for the anthracite industry for 1949, through November, is 0.78. This is 15 pct better than that achieved during 1948, which was the lowest fatal injury rate in coal mining history. The first full year on record without a major disaster was recorded in 1949 (p. 34). •The Atomic Energy Commission has authorized the production of 200 lb of uranium metal for use under AEC license in non-Commission research projects. •A national survey of projected 1950 purchases of new machine tools, machine tool accessories, materials handling equipment, etc., just completed by the American Society of Tool Engineers reveals that, of the companies reporting, 80 pct state that they plan to buy either more equipment or the same amount as in 1948. • Armour Research Foundation is conducting investigations for the use of clay and shale deposits to make lightweight aggregates. The material is heated until it expands and forms material suitable for mixing with cement which it is hoped will be lighter, stronger, have better insulating qualities and will lower the cost of concrete. •In the first six months of 1949 the bituminous coal miners' average hourly earnings were $1.94 -as compared with X1.392_ national average for all manufacturing. Average annual earnings of full-time employees in the bituminous coal mines in 1948 were $3387 as compared with $2809 for all industry. •LaSalle Business Bulletin reports: "year ends on a rising trend in industry and trade ... nearly record-breaking demand from almost all sources keeps business high... most indicators but little below postwar peak... forces keeping activity high arestill powerful--changes in general business conditions likely to be slow and moderate." •Office of Internal Trade of the Commerce Department requests that technical data significant to the national security which is to be sent outside of the United States be submitted to it for an official opinion on the desirability of transmitting such information. This voluntary compliance program is part of our national security control. • Blast furnace slag reduced to 12 to 16 mesh is being used for sanding track at the Mont Coal mines of Armco. The slag replaces silica sand which caused silicosis. It has proved so effective and cheap that tests are being made to use the slag for rock dusting.

Jan 1, 1950

Climax Molybdenum Co. has contracted with the Government to operate its property at Climax, Colo. at maximum capacity for five years. Substitution of synthetic lubricants, polyalkylene glycols and their derivatives, for petroleum products in certain industrial applications is yielding substantial savings in production costs and improved operation of mechanical equipment.

Jan 1, 1951

This month, Foote Mineral Co. will start to commercially recover tin in the area of Kings Mountain, North Carolina. For 50 years there have been intermittant efforts to recover it but it has finally become economic as a by-product in the mining and concentrating of the associated lithium ore. An unusual deposit of a nonmetallic mineral which is high in sericite, low in quartzite, and similar in physical characteristics to pinite, has been discovered by the Summit Mining Corp. in Adams County, Pa. Work is in progress to determine its suitability for ceramics, fillers, and extenders for insecticides.

Jan 10, 1951

• A new curriculum for combined liberal arts-engineering education has been announced by 6 middle western colleges. The plan involves three years of ;study at one of the 5 liberal arts colleges and two years and a summer of 'engineering work at Case; graduates receive both the A.B. and B.S. degrees. * A new kind of mining is being pioneered by a pest Virginia coal operator which enables four men to produce 800 tons of coal a day. The machine that makes this possible is a giant auger, 5 ft in diam and 100 ft long. Together with the carriage in which it is moved about, it weighs 60 tons. A mobile, but separate power plant of 1000 hp drives it. ' * The Sorel smelter, which will reduce Allard Lake titanium ores, will utilize five 6-electrode rectangular electric furnaces. Furnace hearth size will be about 18x50 ft, and the furnace will smelt about 300 tons of ore per day, producing 100 tons of iron and 130 tons of 70 pct Ti02 slag. The furnaces will be fed continuously by gravity from charge bins, and tap at intervals of 4 hr or more. Slag will be transferred to a high speed casting machine, using cast iron molds, then crushed for shipment to pigment producers. The iron will be treated to reduce its sulphur content to 0.03 to 0.05 pct, and then cast into small pigs or ingots for shipment to steel mills. • Flying of North Africa's first airborne mangetometer survey was completed this month, covering approximately 20,000 sq km in north central Tunisia for Gulf Exploration Co.'s program there. Mapping was completed in less than 30 days. •Yore than 9000 employees of 11 electric companies are enrolled in a 6-hr program that successfully informs workers on the principles of the American economic system. The course is given by the Middle West Service Co. which claims that before and after employee opinion polls show that the course instilled a better understanding of free enterprise and consequently a favorable response to it. •According to a report issued by the American Geological Institute there will be 2865 graduates in geology, including advanced degrees from U.S. colleges in 1950. This supply of geologists compares with requirements for 1278 at the professional and subprofessional levels. The report contains a detailed statistical study of the supply and demand situation for geologists in the 1949-50 period. •The dark cloud of over-production in the bituminous coal industry has a silver lining, according to Natural Resources Notes. Closing marginal mines, mostly strip and truck mines, will result in lower average costs and higher quality of the coal still produced. The producers that will then constitute the industry will be properly equipped and adequately financed to carry forward an intensive campaign to holdd and increase the markets for bituminous coal. •A light, compact, highly reliable blasting machine which does not rely for its effectiveness on the operator's skill is being tested by the Army Engineers. Operating under all climatic conditions from -65 to 125F, the 50-cap machine consists of a springwound do generator and is waterproof.

Jan 8, 1950

First actual production of titanium metal at the newly constructed Henderson, Nev., plant of Titanium Metals Corp. of America occurred in mid-October. Production will be expanded rapidly until the initial goal of 10-tons per day is reached. This will be equivalent to eight times the present world production of titanium metal. W. Eberstady & Co., New York City, has announced plans for construction of a $400 million plant for the manufacture of synthetic liquid fuels from coal in southern Illinois, if the Government will guarantee a minimum price for the gasoline and other products to be produced.

Jan 11, 1951

Mining and oil industry representatives are scheduled to testify May 15 at hearings on the Simpson bill to extend the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, Several Congressmen have introduced bills to extend present trade agreements without modification. Price of copper appears to be stabilizing at 30[] per lb, after a period where market price ranged from 27 to 34[]. Copper offerings from abroad were finding no takers at 30.24[] per lb late in April.

Jan 5, 1953

• The Venezuelan Trade Mission to the United States announced that Bethlehem Steel Corp. will begin exporting iron ore from its El Pao concession, south of the Orinoco River in Venezuela, in about three months. The ore will be transported by rail from the mines to barges on the Orinoco and transshipped to ore vessels at the coast for shipment to the Sparrows Point, Md., plant. The Latin American business men warned that projected increases in the United States tariff on petroleum imports from Venezuela would force that country into bilateral trade agreements with other countries and would mean drastic curtailment of Venezuelan imports from this country. •Bethlehem, South American Gold and Platinum Co., and U. S. Steel are investigating the possibilities of securing American foodstuff for their South American mining camp commissaries through the International Basic Economy Corp. IBEC buys in quantity to supply its subsidiary companies operating in Venezuela and Brazil. The mining companies will rid themselves of this burdensome task as well as realizing a saving from the bulk purchases of IBEC. •Oliver Iron Mining Co. has begun construction of a fine ore and taconite agglomeration plant at Virginia, Minn. It is expected to be ready in six months. The plant will be used to experiment with the making of clinker cakes and egg-sized lumps by sintering machines and nodulizing kilns respectively; about 1 million tons per year will be produced. • Roof pinning has been adopted at the iron mines of TCI, near Birmingham, to support overlying strata as mining progresses. Favorable results have been obtained in that dilution of the ore has been reduced by 50% which is attributable to this method of supporting the roof. •An American mining engineering team has gone to Turkey for a two-year assignment assisting Turkish government agencies in the $45 million ECA development, mechanization, and construction of cleaning plants for the Zonguldak coal field, 200 miles east of Istanbul on the Black Sea. The group consists of James Beeley, John E. Good, John S. Lambright, David Renshaw, and Charles R. Weir, all of the Paul Weir Co. •Arthur F. Taggart describes a new way of training engineers by emphasis on broad, basic engineering courses on page 460 of this issue. •Lawrence T. Tierney, chairman of the National Bituminous Coal Advisory Council, released a report stating that the increase in oil imports since the latter part of 194$ has caused significant damage to the U. S. fuel economy. It has reduced the strength of and employment opportunities in the coal, domestic petroleum, and transportation industries, as well as in related service and supplier fields. •Women, camels, and donkeys are the beasts of burden of the Sahara, according-to the UNESCO World Review. •Increased demand for magnesium sheet in airplane construction ana other phases of the national security program have led Alcoa to establish a sheet magnesium rolling division at its New Kensington, Pa., works which will begin operation shortly. Novel prospecting methods being used by the USGS in its search for uranium include: shock-mounted instruments in light trucks,. Geiger-counter probes lowered into augur holes, and experimental airborne prospecting.

Jan 4, 1950

Exploration by AS&R of the Nuestra Senora lead-zinc-silver property, located in Cosala District, Sinaloa, Mexico, has proved sufficient ore to warrant placing the mine on an operating basis. Installation of mine plant, concentrator, and townsite, is expected to commence late in 1951. Opening of a lead-zinc property in Nigeria is also being contemplated by AS&R. Private enterprise is being urged by Secretary of Interior Chapman to start a synthetic fuels industry, it is reported. Based on tests at the Louisiana, Mo., plant which produces quality gasoline at costs up to 144 per gal, he predicts that a commercial plant would pay for itself in 10 years.

Jan 4, 1951

Mining headlines in 1952 dealt mainly with expansion as the industry aimed for an ever increasing production to meet the nation's needs. Huge sums were expended for equipment, research, and development. Headlines told part of the story. Negotiations between San Manuel Copper Co. and the RFC finally resolved in a $94 million loan for the development of low grade Arizona ores. Magma Copper, parent firm was to supply an additional 8 million. Kennecott Copper Co., deepening its Deep Ruth Shaft of its Ruth, Neyy mine, announced that the shaft would be in full production in 1953.

Jan 2, 1953

Objective stockpile goals have been met for antimony, bismuth, fluorspar, and iridium, while those for bauxite, cadmium, copper, lead, zinc, manganese, mercury, platinum, tin, and vanadium have not, according to a report by the Munitions Board. Total materials under inventory and contract represent about 78 pct of entire stockpile goals, the report stated. Frobisher, Ltd., of Canada has been given permission to survey power possibilities in certain lake and river basins in the Yukon believed to have a potential of 5 million he. Canadian Resources Minister, Robert Winters, also announced that his Government has rejected a bid by Aluminum Co. of America concerning use of Canadian waters to power a proposed Alaska aluminum project. Alcoa is reported hopeful of resuming negotiations.

Jan 3, 1953

• In 1949 the United States imported 7,400,000 tons of iron ore; Chile, Sweden and Canada, in that order of importance, supplied over 80 pct of this amount. U. S. imports have increased from 3 pct of the total supply in 1940 to 8 pct in 1949. • Mica has been successfully synthesized by scientists of the National Bureau of Standards. quartz, magnesite and bauxite, plus a fluorosilicate compound to act as a crystallizing agent, are heated to 2500°F in a platinum-lined crucible and as the furnace cools mica crystals grow. The key to parallel growth to make sheets is in precision control of temperature. • Inland Steel Co. of Chicago has taken an option to lease from Steep Rock Iron Mines, Ltd., of Canada -- a large undeveloped acreage in the vicinity of Steed Rock Lake, Ontario -- for the purpose of exploring and developing a new iron ore mine. The exploration program is expected to begin at an early date. •A 20-yr test conducted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines with the cooperation of Cleveland-Cliffs indicated that chemically treated timbers last from 2 to 3-1/2 times as long as untreated ones set in the same passageway. Of the three reagents used, zinc chloride gave the best result -- 13.3 yr as compared to 3.8 yr for untreated timber. •Senator Pat McCarran charged that President Truman used a "shotgun approach" to the taxation problem when he accused the mining industry of enjoying excessive depletion exemptions when actually mining taxes should be lowered. He introduced to the Senate a report of the National Advisory Council -recommending a decrease * The country's first graduate program of research and instruction in conservation of natural resources will begin at Yale in September. The Conservation Foundation is supplying $20,000 a year to finance the program. •Felix E. Wormser urged that adequate tariff protection should be provided to offset effects of devaluation on the domestic mining industry in an address before the Colorado Mining Association. He advocates tariffs rather than subsidy legislation, such as S. 2105, for the protection of the lead-zinc miners because the latter would promote inefficiency and "impair our priceless free market." •"It may be startling to realize that for the world's white population the per capita requirements for minerals have multiplied 30 times in 30 yr, or that more minerals have been mined in the last 40 yr than in all prior history." -- Evan Just, in "Mineral Depletion and Metal Supply." •The National City Bank in its monthly letter states that both management and the unions concede that there are too many miners trying to make a living out of the industry for its present market. •On Feb. 3 it was reported that 6000 Anaconda employes in Chile quit jobs in sympathy with striking telephone and electric workers. The government has ordered them back to work on penalty of discharge. It appears that the walkout will not be prolonged in view of the government stand.

Jan 3, 1950

* A complete magnetic picture of the Mesabi range is now available for the first time with the release of 21 additional maps based on the aeromagnetic survey of 30,000 square miles made jointly by the USGS and the Minnesota Geological Survey. A potential iron formation with a magnetic pattern remarkably like that of the Mesabi iron range lies buried beneath the glacial drift in a wide belt extending some 30 miles across the northwest corner of Itasca County in north central Minnesota. Identification of three new uranium minerals by the USGS was recently announced. The new minerals, andersonite, swartzite, and bayleyite are, respectively, hydrous uranyl carbonates of magnesium, of sodium and calcium, and of calcium and magnesium. They were first observed by Charles A. Anderson, Survey geologist, in a coating on gypsum on the 300-ft level of the Hillside mine, Yavapai County, Arizona. International Minerals and Chemical Corp. has announced a $4,000,000 expansion and development program in the Polk County phosphate fields in Florida, Plants for the manufacture of multiple superphosphate and phosphate chemicals including dicalcium p osphate for animal feed and chemical purposes, and a sulphuric acid are planned. Office building, machine shop, warehouse, and laboratory are also scheduled for erection. A new type of tramp iron detector is being used on the conveyor belt feeder at the South Agnew stripping operation. It is made of an alloy of aluminum, nickel and cobalt and does not have any electric coils. The alloy, known as Alnico, is remarkable for the permanence and intensity of the magnetism which it retains. The detector was made by Dings Magnetic Separator Co. and it is probable that Alnico will be used in magnetic separators. The American Society of Engineering Education estimates that unless the percentage of high school graduates entering engineering colleges is increased, there is a strong possibility that instead of a large surplus of engineering graduates, which has been propehsied rather widely, there will soon be fewer engineering graduates available than are needed annually by our national economy. This conclusion is reached from a survey that shows that engineering enrollments are only slightly higher than prewar whereas industrial expansion is increasing the need for engineers. * The natural resources of Korea are being investigated under ECA sponsorship. E.J. Longyear has just embarked 8 crews for that country; two drills are scheduled for base metal search while six are slated for development of coal reserves. An innovation in the development work in the iron country has been the adoption of the Drill-Mobile, jumbo-mounted drills on rubber-tired carriage, by Cleveland-Cliffs at the Mather A and B mines. The machine is being used to cut stations in the new Mathed B shaft and for driving development headings at the Mather A.

Jan 5, 1950

* George M. Humphrey, president of the M. A. Hanna Co. and of the Iron Ore Co. of Canada, has announced arrangements for financing the development of the Labrador-Quebec iron ore deposits in the total amount of $200 million. Plans call for immediately beginning the construction of mining, railroad, and handling facilities, and contemplate the start of ore shipments in 1955 which will reach 10 million tons a year shortly thereafter. Total drilled and proven ore now exceeds 400 million tons of high grade open-pit ore with prospects for large additional tonnages. Capital structure of the company authorizes up to $125 million of first mortgage bonds, $40 million of income debentures and $60 million of common stock.

Jan 12, 1950

* Phosphate from the Maiden Rock deposits in the Missouri River Basin, Mont., are to be developed by the Victor Chemical Works of Chicago. A $5 million plant for processing the rock into elemental phosphorus is to be constructed in the vicinity of Butte. The plant will receive power from the Bonneville Power Administration. * Tests are being made to determine whether iron pellets from taconite concentrates will boost blast furnace and open hearth output at the Campbell Works of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. About 35,000 tons of iron pellets have been shipped from Minnesota for this purpose.

Jan 2, 1951