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[based on o report by HUBERT E. RISSER] There is a tendency among laymen to relegate America's coal industry to Pennsylvania and West Virginia, completely overlooking-or unaware of- the vast reserves, both those developed and those untapped, situated in the 1.4 million square miles between the Appalachians and the Rockies. At the 1965 AIME Annual Meeting, Hubert E. Risser, Principal Mineral Economist of the Illinois State Geological Survey, presented an interesting picture of the wealth of mineral fuels occurring in that area. In his talk entitled "Trends in Mineral Fuels in the Central United States", Mr. Risser underscored the fact that "more than half of the nation's known reserves of each of the three major fuels-oil, gas and coal-lie within the Central area." The highlights of his speech, with emphasis on the coal situation, are excerpted below.

Jan 6, 1965

By G. L. Oldright

THE development of the reverberatory furnace for smelting copper ores up to 1912 was described by E. P. Mathewson1 with details concerning the great changes in dimensions of the furnace. Hayward2 tabulated similar data, giving developments up to about 1924, in his revision of Hofman's Metallurgy of Copper. DEVELOPMENT OF PRESENT SMELTING PRACTICE Dimensions of Furnace Very great changes were made in the dimensions of the smelting hearths of the furnaces in the period from about 1800 to 1906, the length increasing from about 11 to 116 ft., and the width from 8 to 19 ft. During this time the tonnage smelted increased from about 9 to 250 tons per 24 hr., and the tons of charge smelted per ton of coal increased from 0.77 to 4.3. Dr. Mathewson3 noted no great difference in the "fuel ratio" (i. e., the amount of charge smelted per ton of coal) as the furnace at Anaconda was increased in length by stages from 85 to 116 ft. (The percentage of copper in the slag, however, was lowered from 0.42 to 0.36 per cent. The other components of the slag were not given.) Lump coal fired on grates was the fuel used during this period. The practice in operating the furnaces over such a length of time naturally varied considerably, and there were differences in composition and nature of the charge, yet it may be considered that the improvements made were due largely to increases in the size of the furnace used. Doubt-less some credit should be given to improvements in operating technique, like changes in the methods of firing the lump coal. However, the greater part of the advance was probably due to factors influencing the

Jan 1, 1928

By J. David Lowell

On a low desert ridge six miles south of Cairo lie the remains of the world's earliest known mining town, Maadi of predynastic Egypt. Copper artifacts, including ingots and an ax head which was spoiled in casting, indicate that copper ore was smelted in Maadi, and radio- carbon dating has placed the activity at least as early as 3300 B.C. This is the oldest documented date for the use of smelted copper, the first industrial metal used by man. Copper was mined and smelted almost as early in Asia Minor and on the island of Cyprus, but the greatest development of the budding copper industry was in Egypt, where specific historical records show that about 10,000 tons of copper metal were produced in the period from 1850-1580 B.C. Contrast this production of 35 tons per year with the present world production of about 7 million tpy.

Jan 1, 1970

By J. B. Umpleby

The function of gas in the development and production of oil has far-reaching consequences that should be emphasized. The technical aspects of the subject have recently had a great deal of attention but less thought has been given to fundamental concepts underlying oil and gas law and the many customs and practices that have grown up in the industry. I shall review briefly the advance in knowledge of the subject and attempt to relate these concepts to legislative, judicial and operating problems. Early writers on oil and gas in Pennsylvania noted their close association in oil pools and their contemporaneous decline in output; also, that as gas pressure decreases so does production, that new offset wells reduce the output of existing wells, and even that tubing a well lengthens its flowing life. Expanding gas was deduced as the principal expulsive force. These fundamental observations had been made at least as early as 1880.1 They were treated, however, as academic considerations and did not greatly influence law or practice for many years except to instill into all operators an urgent desire to hasten offset drilling in order to obtain as much of the flush as possible. The most noteworthy later advance in knowledge came in 1926 when Beecher and Parkhurst published their paper on Effects of Dissolved Gas upon the Viscosity and Surface Tension of OiL.² This paper added to the old idea of an expelling force the concept of a modifying agent that actually changes the physical characteristics of the oil and facilitates its movement through the pore spaces of the reservoir rock. Largely since the publication of this paper, intensive study and concerted effort have been given to means of using to a maximum, in producing oil, these combined properties of gas. This is shown clearly by the number of papers dealing with the subject, and the new and revived terms now widely used to express thought, such as the expressions gas energy, reservoir pressure, reservoir energy, gas-oil ratio, bottom-hole pressure, beaning, tapered tubing and back-pressure. These terms, some of which are

Jan 1, 1932

By J. C. Bartlett

As American students of mining, philosophy, philology, music, history, or art have found it necessary or highly advantageous to supplement their course of study at home by a residence of some years at a foreign university, so, ever since mining has been practiced in this country in any other than a rude and wasteful manner, many American students of mining have sought in London or Paris, but chiefly in the Academy of Freiberg, Clausthal, or Berlin, such infor-

By E. W. Newman

DURING 1943 and 1944, there was an urgent need for certain grades of optical calcite (Iceland spar) for instruments for military uses. To find a supply of this material, prospecting was carried out in Montana, California and Colorado. Although some production was obtained by the work in California, the best results were from prospecting the large calcite veins of south central Montana. The bulk of the optical calcite mined during World War II has come from that area. The Bureau of Mines took an active part in the search for optical calcite in Montana. It examined most of the known calcite veins in the 70-mile distance between Wilsall, on the Shields River, and Absarokee, on the Stillwater River, and conducted exploration on several of the deposits. The Geological Survey also took an active part by mapping many of the veins. Actual mining of the calcite was performed at first by Calcite Operators, Inc., and later by the Metals Reserve Co., through an agent. A sorting plant was established at Clyde Park, where custom material could be sold. These activities stimulated mining by private operators. To be suitable for military uses, the calcite mined had to meet rigid specifications as to both size and quality. Individual crystals had to be clear and transparent and if in the form of rhombs had to measure at least 7/8 in. on each edge. Some color and a few inclusions in the calcite were allowable, but material with incipient or developed cleavages, or showing twinning other than parallel to the base, was unacceptable. HISTORY OF DEPOSITS The existence of large veins of calcite in south central Montana has long been known, and for many years the farmers of this region have used the common vein calcite for producing grit for chicken feed. According to reports, the first optical calcite produced from Montana came from the Cartwright deposit near Greycliff,1 but until recently the mining of optical calcite in Montana has been limited to spasmodic searching for small crystals suitable for making nicol prisms for saccharimeters and microscopes, or for mineral specimens. The possible need of substantial amounts of optical calcite for military uses began to appear late in 1942 and early in 1943, therefore the Polaroid company began searching for a source of supply in Montana and California. Work on the Wade property near Clyde Park was started on a small scale in the fall of 1942, by A. H. Hansen, of Clyde Park. During the winter and spring of 1943, a modest quantity of optical calcite was mined and shipped to the Polaroid Corporation, Cambridge, Mass. Most of this was produced from the "Hansen vug," which was found close to the surface. Early in the summer of 1943, mining on the Wade property was undertaken by Calcite Operators, Inc., a company organized for mining optical calcite from the Montana and California deposits. This com-

Jan 1, 1945

By James F. McDivitt

The mineral industry of today is faced with a number of dilemmas, not the least of which grows out of the series of related facts-world mineral consumption is growing, and is expected to continue to grow; maintaining adequate capacity to meet needs will require very great capital investment over the next decades, investment which must be measured in billions of dollars; much of the new production must come from remote and relatively underdeveloped countries; many of the areas in which such development must take place are not areas in which private capital enters without some trepidation. There are real problems in financing new mineral development-problems which have occupied the thoughts of many in the industry. One group which is currently providing part of the answer, and perhaps pointing the way to further progress in the future, is the World Bank. Loans from the World Bank are arranged usually for countries which are attempting to develop their economies through expanded industrial production. More often than not they are for the development of electric power projects or transportation facilities. Although we consider the mineral industries to be basic factors in industrial development and very important factors in the early stages of development of a country, few of these loans are for mineral development-no more than a half dozen out of a total of well over 300 loans which have been granted to date. Yet the World Bank has played a far more important part in world mineral development than these figures would indicate. The few loans for mineral development which it has made are important, but of considerably greater importance are the secondary effects of many of the non-mineral development loans and some of the special services which the Bank also offers.

Jan 5, 1963

By Thomas T. Read

It is natural, in reviewing the progress that has been made in mineral industry education during the three quarters of a century that has elapsed since the American Institute of Mining Engineers was organized in 1871, to seek to establish some significant correlation. Earnest endeavor along such lines, however, produces nothing more in the way of fundamental relationship than a technical economic interest in mineral production and utilization in the United States, which had been steadily increasing since 1800. This is a sound correlation, since it is unquestionable that organized and systematic mineral industry education had its origin in Germany, more than 150 years before 1871, in an economic interest in producing minerals for use with the maximum of recovery at a minimum of cost. Mineral industry became the originator* and creator of systematic technical education because of the political and economic fact that in all European (and most other) countries, prior to 1800, precious metals belonged to the ruling power, no matter upon whose land they were discovered. The practical way of working under this system was to grant to a discoverer the right to work the deposit on payment

Jan 1, 1947

By G. R. M. Del Giudice

A survey of the flotation literature of the past 10 years indicates an increasing use of the microscope as a tool for investigation. Thus, the metallurgical microscope has been used by Tucker and Head;' Taggart, Taylor and Ince;2 Ince,3 and del Giudice4 to examine mineral surfaces that had been subjected to the action of various flotation reagents and to the action of slime pulps. It has also been used by Gaudin, Groh and Henderson;5 Martin;6 Morrow and Griswold;7 and others to examine bakelite briquets of mill products. The microscope with transmitted light, both with bright-field and dark-field illuminations, has been used by Taggart, Taylor and Knoll8 and by Ince9 to observe Brownian motrement and flocculation in flotation pulps. The use of the microscope at low-power magnifications with incident illumination for the examination of mill products has been known for years.10 Finally, del Giudice11 has used a relatively new type of illumination, the Ultropak, for the examinntion of slime-coatings.

Jan 1, 1935

By F. Galasso, A. Paton

ThE recent emphasis on producing boron fibers by reacting boron trichloride and hydrogen on a hot tungsten wire has brought about a renewed interest in the tungsten boride phase diagram. The reaction of the boron with the tungsten core results in the formation of 6 WB, W2B5, and another tungsten boride phase, which was suspected of being the WB4 phase reported by Chrbtien and Helgorsky.1 While the powder-diffraction data for the boride in the fiber and those reported

Jan 1, 1967

By William V. Kotlensky

PYROLYTIC graphite may be represented by a stack of overlapping, wrinkled sheets with the graphite basal planes more or less parallel to the deposition surface. Previous work1" has described two stages in the deformation above 2600°C produced by applying a stress parallel to the deposition surface. The first stage occurs at deformations less than about 15 pct and involves dewrinkling accompanied by basal-plane slip and basal-plane reorientation. The basal planes are not perfectly

Jan 1, 1965

By Y. P. Chugh, R. A. Missavage

Moisture has been known to influence strata failures in coal mines for a long the. A concise review of what is known about effects of moisture on strata control with emphasis on the Illinois basin coal mines is presented in this paper. Some approaches to mitigate the effects of moisture-leaving coal in the roof, guniting, shotcreting, application of sealants-are then briefly discussed.

Jan 1, 1982

By George M. Fowler, J. P. LYDEN

T HE relationship of geological structure to orebodies and to the great masses of chert in the Tri-State mining district is of such significance that it prompts a brief recital of the existing information regarding the various periods of structural deformation. We began to note a relationship between structure and orebodies early in our studies of the field, and further work revealed a like relationship of structure to the great masses of chert so commonly associated with the ore-

Jan 1, 1934

By W. E. Bron, E. S. Machlin

GRAIN boundary migration in V-shaped thin specimens of high purity silver was studied. Each specimen contained two crystals having the relative orientation: (111)A/(111)B; (ll0)A/(101)B. The boundary between these two crystals varied between a continuous curved and an alternating two plane interface. The plane interfaces were oriented parallel to (101)A/(011B) and (121)A/(211)B. Traces of these planes are shown in Fig. 1. Evidently the two plane interface, although of higher area, comprises lower total interface energy than the average curved boundary it replaced. The plane boundaries were found to move at 650 °C to consume the broad segment of the V opposite to the direction of interface area and energy decrease. On investigation, using the thermal etching technique of Hendrickson and Machlin,1 it was found that the outer grain contained 8.3x108 more dislocations per cm" than the grain at the apex of the V. Consequently, the boundary moved to decrease the strain energy associated with the difference in dislocation density across the boundary. The rates of motion of specific {110} and {112} boundaries were measured during interrupted anneals at 650°C by referring the position of the boundaries to each other and a fiducial line on the specimen surface. The measured rates of motion are 0.075 and 0.025 mm per hr for the {110} and {112} boundaries, respectively. Plots of grain boundary motion vs time of annealing show straight lines with little deviation of data points from these lines.

Jan 1, 1957

By F. William Bloecher, William B. Plank

CURRENTLY 12,892 students are enrolled in the mineral engineering schools of the United States and Canada, marking an all-time record high for these schools. It shows a remarkably rapid recovery from the effects of World War II. Enrollment in all the other engineering branches has also increased but not so rapidly as in the mineral engineering branch. Almost all the data in this report are from the eighth questionnaire study of the mineral engineering schools made, as formerly, under the auspices of the Mineral Industry Education Division of the AIME. Every school is represented in the data, for which the authors thank the deans and professors who supplied the information. For this reason, the data of all the studies are comparable, an achievement not always possible in endeavors of this kind. For comparison with the general engineering enrollment situation, data are included from the January 1947 issue of the Journal of Engineering Education.

Jan 1, 1947

By J. O. Betterton, W. K. Noyce

I~JTI HE work on the indium-zirconium system is part A of a larger investigation of zirconium-phase diagrams with solute elements, silver, cadmium, indium, tin, and antimony, which is intended to provide information about the metallic valency of zirconium. The system is an ideal example since the sizes of indium and zirconium atoms are nearly the same, and the solute and the solvent occur in the same row of the periodic table. The only solute from Group III B which had previously been added to zirconium was aluminum' and it was of interest to determine whether indium would dissolve appreciably in alpha zirconium and stabilize this phase in the same manner. Experimental Procedure The experimental methods used in the indium-zirconium work are similar to those described earlier for the silver-zirconium system.' Reactor Grade 1 iodide zirconium of 99.95 pct purity* and indium of 99.99 pct purity were arc cast, and then annealed in silica capsules with protective foils of zirconium and molybdenum. Annealing temperatures and times varied from 1 day at 1300°C to 43 days at 550°C. The compositions of the alloys were detcrmined by an individual chemical analysis of the actual metallographic specimens after two or more sides were examined to insure the absence of solute segregation. Calibrated thermocouples were used throughout, and the uncertainty in the temperatures reported, owing to calibration error, furnace control, and measurement of the small temperature gradients near the capsules, is believed to be well within ±2°C. Typical impurities in the alloys were found by a neutron-activation analysis of four different alloys. The results are given in Table I where the ranges of values will be seen to compare favorably with the usual values for iodide zirconium. With respect to oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon the absence of any unusual amount of these elements compared to iodide zirconium was indicated by the alloy hardness values, since hardness is increased sharply by the presence of these elements. The value for 0 pct In, obtained from the alloys by extrapolation, is 58 2 7 VPN which is in the low part3 f the normal range of hardness found in iodide zirconium. Results of the Experiments The zirconium-rich portion of the indium-zirconium phase diagram from the annealing experiments is shown in Fig. 1. Indium was found to

Jan 1, 1959

By T. S. Blair

I feel a certain sense of responsibility in bringing before you the subject of the direct process in iron manufacture. I am aware that, in such a body as I have now the honor of addressing, there are few who are not already so well informed upon its past history that it would be a weariness to them to listen to anything else than an account of practical success. Yet, to claim that success involves so much that, if I do not make good my claim, I deservedly expose myself to severe criticism. The whole literature of the art, so far as it relates to the direct process, is, up to this time, but a history of failure. It is safe to say that more money, time, and talent have been fruitlessly spent in the pursuit of this object than in all the other unsuccessful efforts in the whole line of iron metallurgy. A distinguished authority in patent law has remarked that " the invention records of the United States and of foreign countries are filled with the waifs and abandoned relics of these abortive struggles." Dr. Percy, whose great work may be taken as an epitome of all that was worth mention, whether useful or curious, in pig-iron metallurgy, up to the date of its publication (1864), after giving elaborate accounts of various attempts at the direct process, condenses his own opinion of all that had been then effected, into a brief but summary comment upon a pamphlet of one of the sanguine inventors who had said: "It is evident that the present mode of working iron

By Mario L. Villa

Another increase in production and the discovery of new pools arc the outstanding developments of the year 1937. Production in 1937 totaled 16,354,706 bbl., compared to 15,457,953 bbl. in the previous year, an increase of 5.8 per cent, of which 5 per cent was due to the Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (Argentine Governnlent Oil Fields) and 0.8 per cent t,o private companies. Table I shows that the most important gain in output was obtained in zone B of Comodoro Rivadavia, partly offset by a 5.7 per cent decrease in the Neuqu6n district. The fields of Salta and Mendoza show an increase of 4.4 and 39.1 per cent, respectively. The determination of bottom-hole pressures was started by Yaci-mientos Petroliferos Fiscales (Y.Y.F.) in Comodoro Rivadavia and

Jan 1, 1938

By L. C. Brown, S. K. Behera

The diffusion rate in Ag-Sb couples is sensitive to con~pressive load with the width of Ag3Sb, the only phase present in the diffusion zone, increasing with stress up to 800 psi and remaining constant above this. Kirkendall marker experiments show silver to diffuse much faster than antimony in Ag3Sb and incipient porosity may therefore develop at the Ag/Ag3Sb interfnce restricting the transfer of atoms from the silver into the diflusion zone. Application of compressive stress reduces the tendency for porosity to develop and so increases the growth rate. In a recent paper Brown et al.1 observed a significant increase in the thickness of Cu2Te in Cu-Te diffusion couples on application of a compressive stress as low as 20 psi. Similar stress effects have also been observed in the Fe-A1,2 Al-u,3 arid cu-sb4,5 systems. It has been suggested that the increase in growth rates of intermetallic phases in these systems is due to a decrease in the amount of Kirkendall porosity with applied stress. In the present paper, results are presented of the effect of compressive stress on diffusion in Ag-Sb, together with a detailed examination of the Kirkendall effect. The Ag-Sb phase diagram6 shows that antimony has a moderate degree of solid solubility in silver, 5.7 at. pct at 350°C, but that there is essentially no solubility of silver in antimony. There are two intermediate phases— (hcp7) from 8.8 to 15.7 at. pct Sb and Ag3Sb (orthorhombic8) from 21.8 to 25.9 at. pct Sb. EXPERIMENTAL Diffusion couples were prepared from fine silver of 99.95 pct purity and from antimony of 99.7 pct purity. Both the silver and antimony were produced in the form of discs 1/2 in. in diam by approximately $ in. thick, with surfaces ground flat to 3/0 emery paper. Diffusion anneals were carried out in the apparatus previously described.1 A compressive load was applied to the diffusion couple through a lever arm system, with a reproducibility estimated to be ±10 psi. All runs were carried out in a protective hydrogen atmosphere. Following the diffusion anneal specimens were sectioned and polished and the width of the diffusion zone was measured metallographically. Composition profiles were measured using an electrostatically focused electron probe with a spot size of 10 , counting on Sb L radiation. Corrections for matrix absorptiori and fluorescent enhancement9 were not required. S. K. BEHERA, formerly Graducate Student, Department of Metallurgy, University of British Columbia, is now Postdoctoral Fellow, Whiteshell Nuclear Laboratories, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Pinawa, Manitoba. L. C. BROWN, Junior Member AIME, is Associate Professor, Department of Metallurgy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Manuscript submitted June 14, 1968. IMD RESULTS Fig. 1 shows an electron probe traverse of a typical diffusion zone. In all couples examined only one intermediate phase was observed and the composition of this phase, 23 wt pct Sb, was in good agreement with the composition of Ag3Sb, 23 to 28 wt pct Sb. The presence of this phase was confirmed by X-ray diffraction of filings taken from the diffusion zone. The probe traverses showed no detectable solid solubility in either the silver or the antimony although the phase diagram indicates that some antimony, up to 6.5 wt pct pct Sb, should be in solid solution in the silver. However the width of this portion of the diffusion zone would be expected to be very small in view of the low diffusion coefficient in the silver, 4 x 10-l6 sq cm per sec at 350°C, 10 compared with that in the Ag,Sb, estimated as 3 x 10-8 sq cm per sec in the present work, and this region would therefore not be expected to be seen in the probe traverse. Application of stress resulted in a significant increase in the width of the diffusion zone, Fig. 2. At 350°C, the thickness of Ag3Sb increased from 250 at 0 psi to 400 p at the limiting stress of 800 psi, indicating an apparent 150 pct increase in the diffusion coefficient. Similar behavior was also observed at 400°C, indicating that the stress effect is not characteristic of just one temperature. The growth of Ag3Sb at 350°C and at various stresses is shown in Fig. 3. In every case the growth rate was parabolic indicating diffusion control. The kinetic curves all passed through the origin showing that delayed nucleation of Ag3Sb was not responsible for the stress effect and that it was a real growth effect. A series of tests were carried out in which diffusion was allowed to take place at a lower stress following an initial high stress diffusion anneal. Speci-

Jan 1, 1969

By Henry F. Collins

The following notes on the cheap milling of a soft lowgrade ore-body in the State of Chiapas, Mexico, may be of interest. The ore-body in question was worked, not by itself, but incidentally in connection with a large extraction of concentrating-ore; and one 10-stamp battery of a 30-stamp mill used for re-crushing tailings, and provided with copper-plates, was set aside for the treatment of this particular ore, of which, during a period of 17 months, 10,274 tons, of 2240 lbs. each, were handled. Description.—The ore-body collsisted of that portion of a mass of decomposed garnet-rock of igneous origin, which, near its contact with another igneous mass, composed chiefly of the mineral wollastonite in a nearly pure state, had been permeated by solutions, depositing irregularly, throughout it, quartz, chal-

Jan 1, 1902