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By Paul L. Goddard, Alfred G. Hoyl, William R. Sirola

A good place to look for elephants is in elephant country, and old mining districts are certainly elephant country as far as minerals are concerned. In many areas probably more ore is still in the ground than has been taken out. The old timers were good miners and hard workers and when they left ore behind, it was usually for good reason; but many an old mining district has been revived by new approaches to old problems, taking advantage of new techniques and new equipment. One of these is the Front Range mineral belt of Colorado, which has produced minerals for the past 100 years through the ups and downs of mineral prices and the general economy. Gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc have been found in abundance in the complex sulfide veins of the area. Between Idaho Springs and Central City lie several strong veins which have been mined successfully in the past. The two strongest of these veins, striking northeast-southwest, (Lake-Bald Eagle), and northwest-southeast, (Crown Point-Belman) , and dipping northeast and northwest, respectively, intersect in a flat X near the head of Virginia Canyon. From the lowest drainage of the area, Clear Creek Canyon, the old timers drove the Central, or Big Five, haulage-drainage tunnel due north. It intersects the two veins 8460 ft from the portal and 1670 ft below the surface. The two veins were mined successfully at the surface and at the tunnel level. Without an opening to the surface at the in- side end of the tunnel, ventilating became very difficult as the stopes were opened up, and mining ceased in 1929. Vertically, 1200 to 1600 ft of virgin ground remains in the veins.

Jan 6, 1959

THE paper on "Specific Efficiency of the Blast Furnace" by Richard Franchot, which was pub-lished in the September issue of MINING AND METALLURGY, was presented for discussion at the Pitts-burgh meeting. The session opened with a discussion among S. P. Kinney, Mr. Franchot, and J. N. Reese as to the methods and results in sampling for cyanides in the blast furnace. This is covered in detail in writ-ten discussion below. T. T. Read objected to the use of the term specific efficiency as likely to be confusing. The blast furnace has to perform the function of reducing Fe, 03 to Fe as well as that of fusing the metal and, since the reduc-tion of Fe, 0? involves a CO equilibrium, it seems mis-leading to calculate efficiency on the basis of burning the , all carbon to CO? since it is not possible. Mr. Franchot replied that he used the term in the sense defined by Richards in his "Metallurgical Calculations;" but a subsequent search failed to reveal the term in Richards, who says (page 245, 1st edition): The practical conclusion is that a blast furnace generates in itself not much over 40 per cent of the calorific power of the fuel used, and rejects nearly 60 per cent; by using part of the waste gases to heat the blast, however, some of this rejected heat, to an amount representing net 5 to 10 per cent of the calorific power of the fuel used, is returned to and injected bodily into the furnace, thus rendering available for the purpose of running the furnace about 50 per cent of the calorific power of the fuel as a maximum. The efficiency with which the furnace applies this 50 per cent usefully to the objects of the reducing and smelting is another question for investigation.

Jan 2, 1927

By P. L. Hendricks, J. W. Spretnak

The interstitial atom principally responsible for the yield point and strain aging in electron-beam-melted tantalum is identified by analysis of the kinetics of the return of the yield point after an increment of plastic deformation. Two sets of specimens contained two levels of oxygen with very low hydrogen contents and the third set had comparable oxygen and hydrogen contents. The activation energy for the return of the yield point agrees well with that for diffusion of oxygen for the first two sets of specimens. For the third set of specimens, the activation-energy value lies between those for diffusion of hydrogen and for diffusion of oxygen. The advent of the dislocation model of plastic deformation in metals has revitalized interest in the yield point and strain aging in bcc metals containing a certain minimum content of interstitial solute elements. Much theoretical and experimental work has been performed in recent years to elucidate the detailed mechanism of these phenomena. The purpose of this investigation is to attempt to identify the principal interstitial element responsible for the yield-point phenomenon in electron-beam-melted tantalum by analysis of the kinetics of the return of the yield point after an increment of plastic deformation. Some of the earlier theories of the yield-point phenomenon proposed a grain boundary film of iron carbide. Such models could not satisfactorily explain all features of strain aging and the yield-point phenomena. The most widely accepted explanation is that of Cottrell,1 later extended by Cottrell and Bilby.2 Strain aging is ascribed to "locking" of dislocations by interstitial solute "atmospheres". The yield-point phenomenon results when the dislocations are torn away from their atmospheres. The strain-aged condition is re-established after sufficient time to allow the interstitial atoms to diffuse to the dislocation lines and re-establish the locking atmospheres. Clearly, the Cottrell-Bilby model is concerned with the bulk of the grain and does not specifically involve the grain boundary. The recent modification of the Cottrell-Bilby model is a redirection of attention to the role of the grain boundary and the possibility of multiplication of a limited number of free dislocations rather than unlocking all of the dislocations. Theories have been advanced by Hahn3 and conrad4 which are modifications of the Cottrell-Bilby theory. The model proposed by Hahn indicates that, although the possibility of un- locking anchored dislocations is not excluded, it implies that unlocking is not necessarily required to explain yield drop. Locking of dislocations during the aging treatment is a necessary part of the theory; however, it assumes that dislocations once locked remain locked. It is suggested that the yield drop observed is a result of the following factors: 1) the presence of a small number of mobile dislocations initially, 2) rapid dislocation multiplication, 3) the stress dependence of dislocation velocity. In the case of bcc metals, locking is considered to be the means by which dislocations are immobilized. Cold working of the metal results in the generation of larger numbers of new dislocations and the stress dependence of the dislocation velocity accounts for yield drop observed. Conrad' has proposed a model similar to the one just described which applies to strain aging of iron and steel and which logically could be extended to other bcc metals. This model also does not require large-scale unlocking of dislocations. It is proposed that, during initial loading of a specimen below the upper yield stress, a few dislocations are torn free of their Cottrell atmospheres at regions of stress concentrations. With an increasing stress, some multiplication of dislocations occurs by a double cross slip mechanism, thus giving a preyield microstrain. At some critical stress represented by the upper yield stress, sudden profuse multiplication of dislocations occurs, enabling plastic flow to proceed at a lower stress. In this model, microstrain, preyielding, and flow represent the movement of free dislocations. It should be noted that this model also requires the locking of dislocations by interstitial solute atoms for the occurrence of a yield point; however, unlocking of large numbers of dislocations is not required. If it is assumed that the yield point will return when some fraction of free dislocations produced during pre-straining are pinned, the number of solute atoms required to pin unit length of a dislocation line can be calculated when prestrain and reloading are done at the same temperature and strain rate. Since the migration of solute atoms back to the stress fields of dislocation lines is controlled by the diffusion rate of interstitial solute atoms, it is to be expected that the activation energy for strain aging would be identical to the activation energy for diffusion. It would also be expected that the strain aging observed will be controlled by the fastest diffusing species capable of producing locking over the temperature range investigated. The rate of yield-point return has been found to be adequately expressed by an empirical rate equation of the form: rate=Ae-Q/RT [1] where A = constant, Q = activation energy, R = gas constant, and T = absolute temperature. Cottrell and Bilby2 have expressed the number of atoms per unit length of dislocation line which arrive

Jan 1, 1967

Truman H. Aldrich W. Lawrence Austin W. S. Ayres John Henry Banks Wrn de L Benedict Andrew A Blair Walter M. Brodie H. H. Burden Charles Butters

Jan 1, 1932

By J. A. Bownocker

THE production of oil in Ohio, in 1924, was characterized by no marked or surprising change. Low prices and the absence of promising territory made the year quiet. As is well. known, Ohio has reached a state of "settled production," and the most that can be expected for the ensuing few years is to maintain the output at approximately the present figure 1921 7,335,000 1922 6,781,000 1923 7,085,000 Geographically, the Ohio fields may be divided into three areas, each of which gets its main supply of oil from a different stratigraphic horizon.

Jan 3, 1925

By H. E. Cline, J. L. Walter

Grain boundary sliding and migration were studied in pure aluminum bicrystal and polycrystal samples with two-dimensional grain structure. Scratches, 50 P apart, were used for measurement of sliding and migration distanceso. Samples were deformed at constant rate at 315C and events recorded continuously on wrotion picture film. Electron micrograPhs of boundary-scratch intersections were obtained. Yield and flow stress values were measured. The sequence of sliding and migration events for a three-grain junction is described in detail. Sliding depended only on the resolved shear stress imparted to the boundary. Sliding was accowmodated by formation of shear zones in grains opposite triple points and adjacent to curved boundaries. These shear zones provided the driving force for grain boundary migration. Migration caused rumpling of the boundaries, decreasing the sliding rate. Sliding and migration generally began at the same time, occurred simultaneously and ended at the same time. In the bicrystal, sliding and migration rates were proportional. Initial sliding rules of 5 X joe cm per sec. were measured for the polycrystal and bicrystal samples. These sliding rates agree wilh the internal friction experirnents of K;. The observations seem consistent with a viscous boundary sliding nzechanism. GRAIN boundary sliding is the translation of one grain relative to its neighbor by a shear motion along their common boundary. Sliding is thought to be an important mode of deformation at elevated temperatures and at low strain rates such as prevail in creep,' and perhaps in the area of superplastic behavior.2"4 Although much work has been done to investigate grain boundary sliding, the effort has not led to the identification of a mehanism. KG showed that grain boundaries in aluminum exhibit a viscous nature under very small displacements of internal friction measrements. Various dislocation mechanisms have been proposed but are without conclusive experimental support. Attempts to relate sliding to 6's viscous boundaries have been unsuccessful in that measured rates of sliding are always several orders of magnitude lower than KG'S results would predict.= In bi crystals7and polycrystalsR of aluminum tested under constant load, the grain boundary sliding was found to be proportional to the total creep elongation which indicated that sliding might be controlled by deformation of the grains. Shear zones were observed to extend beyond grain boundaries at triple points to accommodate the sliding.8 Surface observations brought forth the opinion that sliding and migration occurred alternately, in sequence.' Measurements of sliding at the surface have been criticized because they might not be representative of the interior of the sample. Generally speaking, it seemed that much of the previous work and knowledge was based on observations made at relatively low magnification and examination of samples after deformation had been accomplished. Thus, it was the purpose of the present study to continuously record, at high magnification, the events occurring during the deformation of pure aluminum. Samples with two-dimensional grain structures were used to simplify interpretation of the results. The sliding and migration of small areas of many samples were continuously recorded by time-lapse motion pictures. Replicas of the surface were used to provide high-resolution electron micrographs. These observations, coupled with tmsile strength data, provide sufficient information to arrive at an understanding of the phenomenon. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE An ingot of 99.999 pct A1 was rolled to sheet, 0.127-cm thick. Tensile specimens, with a gage length of 0.85 cm, were machined from the sheet. Bicrystal tensile specimens, of the same dimensions, were spark cut from a large bicrystal ingot. The grain boundary was oriented at 45 deg to the tensile axis. The surfaces of the tensile samples were ground flat on fine metallographic paper and were then electropolished in a solution of 75 parts absolute alcohol and 25 parts of perchloric acid. The solution was cooled in an ice-water bath. Using a weighted sewing needle suspended from a small pivot on a precision milling machine, a grid of fine scratches, 50 p apart, was scribed on one surface of the sample. The polycrystalline samples were then annealed in hydrogen for 15 min at 350" to 400°C to produce a two-dimensional grain structure of about 0.2-cm average grain diameter which would not undergo further growth at the test temperature, 315OC. Examination of both surfaces of the samples showed that the grain boundaries were perpendicular to the surface of the polycrystal and bicrystal samples. A hot-stage tensile machine was constructed for use with an optical microscope as shown in Fig. 1. The specimen is shown mounted in the grips. The grips ride in V-ways so that the sample can be mounted without damage. The rear grip is free to slide so that when the sample expands during heating it is not put under a compressive stress. When the grips and samples are at temperature, the rear grip is locked in place by two set-screws. The other grip is connected to a synchronous drive motor which, through a worm gear and a fine-threaded rod, deforms the

Jan 1, 1969

By K. L. Komarek, P. F. J. Landler

Synthetic polycrystals of wustite were reduced ilz H2-H2O mixtures over limited roncentration ranges wiltun the wustite. field and the weight changes were continuously followed with a McBain quartz spiral balance. The reduction was. found to be controlled by a combined surface plus solid-state diffusion reaction. The solid-state diffusion had an activation energy of 38 kcal. Self--diflusioities of iron decreased with itzcreasing vacancy concentration. The activation energy of. the surface reaction runs different tor- different samples. The surface reaction-rate constan increased with increasirzg vacancy concentration. THE reduction of the oxides of iron has been studied for many years. Edstroem' has summarized the early work and has provided much information on the reduction of magnetite and hematite by hydrogen and carbon monoxide. More recent summaries are those by smeltzer2 and Themelis and Gauvin.3 Most investigators have reported that the iron metal which forms the outer layer during gaseous reduction is rather porous. According to Kohl and Engel14 the formation of such a porous iron layer depends on the properties of the underlying wiistite layer, on the reaction of the gas with the wustite surface, and on the transport of matter through the wustite layer. McKewan, Quets, Wadsworth, and Lewis, and Knacke 10 have found that, if a porous iron layer is formed, a surface reaction between gas and wustite at the bottom of the pores controls the rate of reaction. Seth and ROSS 11 and Warner 12 have pointed out that the influence of the gaseous pore diffusion through the porous iron layer cannot be neglected. It has further been shown that the wiistite layer formed during reduction is dense and that transport of matter across the layer occurs only by solid-state diffusion of iron ions.13,14 The solid-state diffusion rates observed by Edstroem and Bitsianis 14 and the surface reaction rates observed by Quets eta1.' show that an interaction of the two steps in controlling the reaction rate has to be considered. In this investigation the reduction of wustite was studied with respect to the interaction of the two steps, isolated from any other effects, by reducing wustite within the wustite field from higher to lower oxygen concentrations with H2-H2O gas mixtures. A similar study with CO-CO2 mixtures has been performed by Levin and wagner.15 Fused synthetic wustite polycrystals were reduced in steps of 0.4 wt pct from 24.4 to 23.2 wt pct 0 and over a temperature range from 700" to 1050°C. A few tests were also conducted with reduction steps from 24.4 to 23.6 wt pct 0 and 24.5 to 23.2 wtpct0. The Fe-O phase diagram is shown in Fig. 1 where the composition of the gas phase in equilibrium with the condensed phases is plotted as pct H2 vs the temperature. A careful study of the literature led to the conclusion that the fully drawn equicomposition curves (in wt pct O) in the wustite field used by Edstroem 1,16 and other authors needed some correction. Based on results by Darken and Gurry17 (shown as open circles) and on some of our own data, four corrected curves for 23.2, 23.6, 24.0, and 24.4 wt pct O were calculated (drawn as dashed lines in Fig. 1) which should replace the fully drawn equicomposition curves. MATERIALS AND APPARATUS Materials and Specimen Preparation. Wustite was prepared from iron sulfate (Fisher Scientific Co., New York) which had a purity of over 99.92 pct, with small amounts of manganese, copper, and zinc adding up to 0.03 pct. From the aqueous solution iron oxalate was precipitated and decomposed to magnetite according to Economos. 18 The magnetite powder was pressed into cylinders and sintered in vacuum at 900°C for several hours. The sintered compacts were placed in a platinum crucible of 2.5 cm diam which was fitted into a high-purity alumina crucible and then inserted into the center of the graphite heating element of an electric resistance furnace.lg The furnace was evacuated to below 1 p Hg and the magnetite sample was slowly heated. The evolution of gases during heating deter-

Jan 1, 1967

By W. G. Davenport, M. Paneni

Experiments in sheets of mercury and water have confirmed that the dynamics of bubble rise are simi-lur in Liquid metal and aqueous systems. RECOGNITION that bubble/metal interactions are important in pyrometallurgical refining processes (e.g., steelmaking, vacuum degassing, deoxidation of copper) has led to a number of investigations into the dynamic behavior of bubbles rising in liquid metals. Terminal velocities of bubbles rising in mercury (20°C)' and silver (1000" to 1050"c)1,2 have been measured. Good agreement between aqueous and liquid metal systems has been obtained. Shapes of air bubbles rising in mercury have been determined experimentally by Davenport, Bradshaw, and Richardsonl who used a system of electric probes to measure maximum horizontal and vertical dimensions, Fig. 5. In the present work the motion and shape of nitrogen bubbles rising in a thin sheet of mercury (i.e., a "two-dimensional" environment) have been studied with the view of confirming dynamic similarity between aqueous and metallic systems. The use of thin sheets of liquid permitted direct visual and photographic comparisons of bubble behavior in clear liquids and in mercury. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The thin sheets of mercury or water were held in a clear acrylic plastic container, Fig. 1. The sheets of liquid were 80 cm high by 30 cm wide and 0.47 cm thick. Single bubbles were formed by injecting the desired volume of nitrogen into an inverted semicircular cup (stainless steel). The cup was then rotated into the upright position using an external handle thus releasing a single bubble of measured volume. Nitrogen was injected into the cup from a nitrogen cylinder through the external handle and a hollow rotating axle. The volume of a bubble (volume range 0.01 to 10 cu cm) at any instant was obtained by connecting a soap film meter to a small gas space above the liquid. By this technique any change in the volume of a gas bubble in the liquid (i.e., during cup filling or during rise) produces an equivalent displacement from gas space A into the buret B. This displacement is determined by measuring the movement of a horizontal soap film in the buret. Bubble shapes were determined using single-frame photography. Rising velocities were determined by cinephotography with a 1/100-sec stopwatch in the field of view. In both cases dimensions were referenced to a rule attached to the container surface, also in the field of view. Linear dimensions were measured on projections of the single-frame negatives. Rising velocities were calculated from measured heights of rise (10 to 20 cm) and times of rise. The effects of disturbances caused by cup rotation and by bubble release were minimized by photographing bubbles at a point not less than 25 cm above the cup. MATERIALS Mercury: Technical-grade purified: minimum 99 pct Hg; Johnson Matthey and Mallory Limited, Toronto. Nitrogen: Technical-grade purified nitrogen: 99.99 pct Nz, 0.01 pct 02, trace argon; Air Liquide Canada Limitee, Montreal.

Jan 1, 1970

By Duk-Won Park

The PSU/MVS program, one of the computer programs for ventilation network analysis most recently developed at The Pennsylvania State University, was applied to the analysis of modifications to an existing ventilation system for a coal mine located in southern West Virginia. The program is well designed and has diversified capabilities which allow the users to make decisions on the optimum size and number of fans, the location and number of airshafts, and the optimum operational procedures. The mine had 10 working faces, from which the average production rate was about 5900 tons of clean coal per day. Two vane-axial mine fans were used in parallel at a shaft, and both of them operated simultaneously. One additional shaft was in the final construction stage and it would be used in four months to alleviate the load for the existing fans and distribute intake air more evenly. The overall ventilation surveys, including the altimeter pressure survey and the air quantity survey, were carried out in the mine entries, shafts, slopes, and gob areas. Computations were made using the above-mentioned computer program on the present condition and after one additional fan was placed in operation at the new shaft. Also, recommendations were made on the air route and fan blade settings for the most economical and efficient ventilation system. Further studies were carried out to decide the proper period when the third air shaft would be required according to the long-term mining plan. Additional branches were added for the next 4 years of the production plan, and the ventilation conditions were tested at the end of each year. Numerous combinations of blade settings and modifications of air routes were tested. It was recommended that the third air shaft be added at the end of the third year so as not to experience fan stall.

Jan 1, 1982

Jan 1, 1970

By Herbert Clark Hoover, Lou Henry Hoover

QUESTIONS as to the methods of smelting ores and of obtaining metals I discussed in Book IX. Following this, I should explain in what manner the precious metals are parted from the base metals, or on the other hand the base metals from the precious'. Frequently two metals, occasionally more than two, are melted out of one ore, because in nature generally there is some amount of gold in silver and in copper, and some silver in gold, copper, lead, and iron ; likewise some copper in gold, silver, lead, id iron, and some lead in silver ; and lastly, some iron in copper2. But I will begin with gold. Gold is parted from silver, or likewise the latter from the former, whether it be mixed by nature or by art, by means of aqua valens3, and by powders which consist of almost the same things as this aqua. In order to preserve the sequence, I will first speak of the ingredients of which this aqua is made, then of the method of making it, then of the manner in which gold is parted from silver or silver from gold. Almost all these ingredients contain vitriol or alum, which, by themselves, but much more when joined with saltpetre, are powerful to part silver from gold. As to the other things that are added to them, they cannot individually by their own strength and nature separate those metals, but joined they are very powerful. Since there are many combinations, I will set out a few. In the first, the use of which is common and general, there is one libra of vitriol and as much salt, added to a third of a libra of spring water. The second contains two librae of vitriol, one of salt-petre, and as much spring or river water by weight as will pass away whilst the vitriol is being reduced to powder by the fire. The third consists of four librae of vitriol, two and a half librae of saltpetre, half a libra of alum, and one and a half librae of spring water. The fourth consists of two librae of vitriol, as many librae of saltpetre, one quarter of a libra of alum, and three-quarters of a Mbra of spring water. The fifth is composed of one libra of saltpetre,

Jan 1, 1950

By Orlando Romig

PART I-PREPARATION OP METALLIC SINGLE CRYSTALS WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO SINGLE CRYSTALS OP ZINC? As metals and alloys are composed, of, an aggregate of allotriomorphic crystals or grains, each possessing an individual orientation, the physical characteristics of a metal or an alloy are closely related to the properties of the individual crystals. The preparation and study of single metallic crystals are, therefore, matters of considerable importance. The advent of the X-ray spectrograph as a valuable metallurgical tool has magnified the importance of this subject, because the interpretation of some X-ray spectrographs is difficult unless single crystals are used in these studies. PREVIOUS WORK The first paper, as far as the writer knows, on the behavior or preparation of single crystals of metals is by Baker.1 He describes the behavior of extruded wires of sodium and potassium. These wires, when pulled in tension, instead of I showing the usual conical fracture common to most metals, had a chisel-shaped fracture when they were broken. I and II, Fig. 1, have a similar fracture. Baker checked his results by preparing single crystal wires from molten sodium and potassium and observing their properties. He prepared the wires by filling glass tubes, under oil, with the molten metal. The surfaces of the strained wires showed slip bands of remarkable clearness of which photographs are shown in his paper. He concluded that these wires were single crystals and "that the portions of the metal brought into play are cubes. Such cubes, when placed so that a plane through 'two opposite edges was parallel to the axis of the wire, would allow of lateral contraction by faces gliding over one another in one direction only and not in the direction at right angles."

Jan 1, 1927

From L. K. Armstrong, Secretary of the Columbia Section of the Institute, we have received information as to the activities and plan of the Spokane Engineering and Technical Association, which was recently organized under the joint auspices of the local sections of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and our own Institute. The first meeting was held on September 20, at which a program for the following year was adopted. The, meeting was then conducted by the Civil Engineers., the principal business being the reading of a report by Mr. Flinn, Secretary of the United Engineering Society. The second meeting was held on October 18, of which the Columbia, Section of our Institute took charge. According to the program adopted, meetings will be held regularly on the third Friday of each month, except June, July and August. It is understood that these meetings shall not interfere with nor abridge the independent activity of the participating societies. The proposed work of the Association is to be conducted by a large number of committees, whose attention will be devoted to such subjects as the following: Municipal, Highways, Resources, Manufacture and Industries, Legislative, Educational, National and State, Patents and Inventions, Americanization, Safety and Rehabilitation, Research, Emergency. When all of these committees shall have been filled, and their work begun, it is expected that the engineers of Spokane and vicinity may take a more active part in things affecting human welfare in that vicinity.

Jan 11, 1918

By Arthur F. Daily

13.5-1. Placer Deposits-Definitions. Placers are defined for this chapter as unconsolidated deposits of detrital material containing valuable mineral, and placer mining is defined as surface exploitation of placer deposits. Unconsolidated marine deposits containing industrial minerals, such as the very large pebble phosphate beds in Florida, pelletal phosphate beds in the Sechura Desert in northwestern Peru, oyster shell beds occurring at many places, and nodules resting in the sea floor, are not classed herein as placer deposits, though methods commonly used for mining placers may be employed for their exploitation. The natural processes that may form placers range from chemical weathering to stream, marine, and wind action, and combinations thereof, resulting in some degree of concentration of valuable mineral. One or more cycles of erosion and deposition may have occured. In relation to mining, placers include unconsolidated barren or near-barren overburden and underlying weathered bedrock. Placers of any origin subsequently may become drowned by the sea and then partly or entirely covered by marine deposits; or they may become covered with alluvium, eolian deposits, or lava. The mining of placer deposits for valuable mineral content usually is followed immediately by primary concentration using wet (rarely dry) gravity methods, succeeded by secondary concentration employing both gravity and other methods. 13.5-2. Classification of Placers. A fundamental classification of placers according to genetic types follows; some degree of concentration occurs during formation of all except saprolite and some moraines. 1. Saprolite and residual placers, consisting of mineralized rock decomposed in situ principally by chemical weathering; respectively either without change in volume, or slumped because of dissolution of some constitutent.

Jan 1, 1968

By Albert R. Ledoux

In Great Britain all analytical chemists are styled assayers, but in the United states a slight distinction is made, assayers being considered those analytical chemists who have chiefly to do with the determination of the precious metals. There have grown up around the assayers of precious metals a number of customs and traditions which, as a rule, do not fetter American chemists when called upon to determine the composition or constituents of any samples submitted to them for analysis. In Great Britain, on the other hand, trade-customs even go to the extent of enforcing the employment of an admittedly erroneous atomic weight in certain alkali-determinations. If the American chemist is asked to determine the amount of lime in a water, potash in an alkali, or silica in an ore, the owner of the sample does not presume to suggest what method he shall employ, nor does he question his report on the ground that he should employ another method. But even in America it is different with the assayer. Unfortunately for the guild, as well as for those who have to base business operations on the reports of assayers, customs and traditions as well as divergent interests seek to circumscribe him in his choice of method and sometimes dictate how he shall perform his operations. This was true at one time of copper, which to-day in England is still determined by the so-called Cornish fire-assay, an attempt to imitate in the laboratory the various metallurgical operations in the smelting-works; but nowhere in this country is the assayer forced to employ any particular method for determining copper so long as his certificate indicates the true total percentage of copper in the sample. It is true that both buyers and sellers demand use of the electrolytic method, but only because it is the most accurate. In America the trade accepts the assayer's statement as final, and makes

Jan 1, 1895

By P. A. Witherspoon, Y. W. Tsang

Normal stress-fracture closure variation and stress-dependent fluid flow rates were calculated for rock fractures of different aperture distributions. This study shows that both the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the fracture are controlled by the large-scale roughness of the rock fracture. Hence the typical large-scale undulation wavelength of the rock joint dictates the suitable sample size to be used in normal stress and fluid-flow measurements, if results due purely to sample size are to be avoided.

Jan 1, 1982

By Richard H. Sillitoe

Gold is an important byproduct and, locally, coproduct of porphyry copper deposits, and possesses potential for discovery as the major metal in porphyry deposits in either island arcs or Cordilleran belts. Tungsten and tin occur as major components of several potentially bulk-minable porphyry deposits, as well as being byproducts from the Climax porphyry molybdenum deposit. Whereas porphyry tin systems are localized in Cordilleran back-arc settings, their tungsten counterparts appear to span a range of geotectonic settings, from Cordilleran principal arcs through back arcs to rifts. Although silver is a common byproduct of porphyry cop- per deposits, it tends to be preferentially concentrated with lead and zinc on the fringes of all types of porphyry deposits and/or as late-stage superpositions; the latter situation could be of some interest in the higher parts of porphyry systems. As byproducts, rhenium, uranium, platinoids, and magnetite are exploited occasionally, and rutile and the rare metals, such as tantalum and niobium, merit consideration.

Jan 1, 1983

The Industrial Minerals div. has been forging ahead in formulating a program for the February Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Several papers have been listed and more are being worked into the program. For the cement, lime and gypsum part of the sessions, papers on Gypsum in the Aircraft Industry, Geology of San Marcos Island Gypsum Deposit, and Status of New Dry Rotary Blast Hole Drills, are expected. The Chemical Raw Materials sessions will feature a symposium on potash, with 13 papers as the anticipated number to be presented. Airborne and Ground Magnetometer Work has been suggested. Eight papers have been set for Mining Geology, Four papers, Mining Phosphate Rock, Idaho Phosphorous, and Geology of Carlsbad Potash and Geology of Pearlite will be on the program. Sessions on Dimension stone and slate have been tentatively worked out with papers on Geologic Factors Affecting the Dimension Stone Industry of California, A Quarter Century of Granite Quarrying in Massachusetts, Rock Bursting and Other Geologic Problems in the Granite Quarries of Barre, Vt., Quarry Practices in the Indiana Building Stone Industry, Stratigraphy and Composition of the Salem Limestone, and Dimension Stone in the U. S. in 1952. The Rare Minerals Committee is aiming for six papers with two papers now definitely on the program.

Jan 1, 1952

By B. Van Voorhis

Successive changes have been made in stoping methods at the Magma mine. Factors that have made these changes advisable are: vein width, heavy and swelling wall rock, abnormal rock temperatures, ventilation, labor costs, timber costs, mining speed, and labor-saving mechanical developments. Additional localized conditions, such as low angle post-mineral faulting and selective mining, have also made changes necessary. A stoping method with enough flexibility to meet most of these conditions has been in use for the past ten years. The Magma Copper Co. was organized by the late William Boyce Thompson in 1910 and acquired by purchase and location several groups of contiguous claims, among them the Silver Queen property. The Hub and Irene claims acquired in this purchase cover the apex of the vein, and all stoping done up to 1920 was from these two claims

Aug 1, 1956

By Will Mitchell

The classical definition of a beneficiation engineer as one who treats an ore in order to separate and discard worthless fractions by essentially physical means is obsolete. Technology in the profession has advanced so rapidly during the last two or three years that educators have not been able to coin definitions to keep up with the pace. In the past some people have hesitated to include leaching or even agglomeration as minerals beneficiation, because of the major chemical changes involved. This view has fallen by the wayside, especially because a majority in the profession have become actively involved in extraction and pyro processes that go far beyond the original definition of mineral dressing. To say that there is a great revival of interest in leaching is putting it mildly, for the uranium business, like the gold business, now depends almost entirely on leaching. This revival of leaching, long overdue in mineral engineering, has been stimulated this year, especially as a result of the relaxation of security restrictions surrounding the recovery of uranium from its ores. It has brought new unit operations to minerals beneficiation, namely ion exchange and solvent extraction. These operations have appeared as resin-in-pulp, solvent-in-pulp, and liquid-liquid systems. In many cases these leaching and separation procedures, now reaching the production stage, have been engineered by minerals beneficiators. The trend toward leaching has also had impact on the technology of beneficiating other nonferrous minerals, especially copper, manganese, columbium, tantalum, nickel, cobalt, titanium, and the rare earths.

Feb 1, 1956