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By John A. Wolfe, James A. Niederjohn

Applications of mathematical statistics to the field of exploration are still relatively new. There are two primary reasons why little has been published in this field. First, if one discovers an effective technique for exploration, he does not like to disclose it. Second, the geologist needs to work closely with a mathematical statistician, and the communications barrier between the disciplines is formidable. The authors, one a geologist and the other a statistician, were interested in the economic benefit which appeared to be possible in the inter-disciplinary area they call "geostatistics."

Jan 11, 1962

By Wm. Terry Siemers, Frank E. Kottlowski, George S. Austin

The value of industrial rocks and minerals produced in New Mexico in 1978 exceeded $227 million. The state ranked first in the nation in production of potash and perlite and was a leader in pumice production. Other commodities with sizable production in New Mexico include barite, caliche, clay, dimension stone, fuorspar, gypsum, humate, limestone, mica, salt, sand and gravel, scoria, and silica sand. Non-metallic resources are distributed throughout the state, but development and exploitation is concentrated in western and southeastern New Mexico. The value of industrial rocks and minerals within the state grew about 9% to more than $227 million in 1978. Continued growth, however, depends on continued demand, exploration, and development.

Jan 1, 1982

The Tooele plant is situated at the mouth of Pine Canyon, five miles northeast of Tooele City. The site forms one terminus of the Tooele Valley railway, which runs southwest through Tooele City to Warner, a station on the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, thirty-five miles southwest of Salt Lake City. An aerial tramway, four miles in length, crosses the Oquirrh mountains and connects the plant with the Bingham district. The plant consists of a lead-zinc flotation concentrator, lead smelter and copper smelter.

Jan 1, 1925

By H. E. Mauck

The many factors that control bumping must be carefully studied for each coal seam where bumps occur, and specifications known to exclude bumping should be incorporated in the mining plans. This calls for complete knowledge of the seam's characteristics and its adjacent strata, and in many instances these characteristics are not revealed until the seam is actually mined. Pressure and shock bumps, the two general types, occur jointly and separately. In this discussion no differentiation will be made. Whether pressure or shock, they are treated as bumps, and both must be eliminated.

Jan 9, 1958

Manganese nodules are essentially a surficial resource-there are four times as many nodules on the surface of the deep ocean floor as in the next 3 ft of underlying sediment. Target mine sites in the North Pacific occur in water 12,000 to 18,000 ft deep. The mining technique is comprised of four major factors: the mining device, lifting method, surface vessel, and ore transport. Certain deep-ocean mining proposals are revolutionary in character. Current research has tended to construct simple but flexible devices to work at the great depths and corrosive environments of the deep-ocean floor

Jan 4, 1975

By Erkki Laurila

INVESTIGATION of the methods of analyses for magnetite and ilmenite in the Otanmäki iron-titanium ore and respective mill products has resulted in certain improvements in the methods conventionally employed. The outcome of the investigations is summarized as follows: 1-Development of a diamond-drill core analyser for the determination of magnetic susceptibility of drill cores containing magnetic minerals. 2-Development of a magnetite-ilmenite analyser for pulverized products. 3-Development of a potentiometric method of chemical analysis for the determination of iron, vanadium, and titanium in succeeding steps from one test sample. 4-Proposal for a continuous and automatic magnetite assay method.

Jan 9, 1951

By A. G. H. Andersen

A FEW years ago, while the writers worked on the constitution of ternary and quaternary alloys consisting mainly of iron, chromium and silicon1,2 some information on microstructures and hardness, not incor-porated in the published work, was obtained. It has not been possible to do any further work on the properties of the alloys. The information possessed is hereby presented for the interest it. may have in connection with the constitution of the alloys.

Jan 1, 1937

By C. M. Kleeman

All mines have a finite life and the time comes when the ore is depleted, or it has become uneconomical, or for some other reason which may be peculiar to that particular mine, it must be shut down. The operation at that point of time still has some assets such as mining and milling equipment, workshops, and in the case of a gold mine, an unknown quantity of gold which has been trapped in the treatment plant. Recovering this gold can be done at small cost and can be extremely profitable. Recovery of these hidden assets requires a good knowledge of the treatment plant, i. e. , as say values of heads, tails, and of the products produced; and if mercury for amalgamation was used, where? A careful study of available plant records can be extremely valuable in forming a working plan for adequate recovery. In the following paragraphs the various unit operations and equipment where gold can collect are described and suggestions made for its recovery. Subsequently, a case history will be given for dismantling a gold plant which had a complex flowsheet and which had been in operation for many years. Looking for trapped gold in a crushing section would invariably not be worthwhile since crushing is normally a dry process and there would be few areas where free gold could collect. In the milling section, however, many areas can literally become small gold mines in themselves. Material in the bottoms of grinding mill scoop boxes can be high-grade, and even the scale on the sides of the boxes should be scraped off and collected. Mill liners should be removed and all scale, rust, and residue collected. Residue in the bottoms of rake or spiral classifiers, if they have been used, should be removed as should the scale and rust on the sides of pump sumps, launders, etc. The following procedures should be used to extract gold from these collected materials. All steel (ball scats) should be removed, screened out, and reserved. Fine material should be placed in an amalgam barrel, water added and ground with the amalgamation tailings being sampled and assayed. If high-grade, tails should be reserved; if not, discarded. The coarse material that was screened out should be placed in a heap, regularly sprayed with water and allowed to rust. After several months this material should be screened again and the fines amalgamated.

Jan 1, 1981

By John A. Church

The operations of the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company, in Arizona, have been extensive and interesting; and I will eudeavor to describe what is novel in their work, without attempting to go over the well-known facts of silver milling, concentration and smelting which are the general branches of their business. Their mines are at Tombstone, and their mills at Charleston, ten miles distant. The ore has been mined only above water-level, and at first was

Jan 1, 1887

By L. P. Teas

The year 1932 has been one of exceptional significance for the Gulf Coast. Because of many new oil fields found, the most outstanding of which, Conroe, has assumed national importance, and because of new prospective areas extending through Montgomery, Polk, Tyler and Newton counties into Louisiana, there has been a stampede of operators to the Coast. During the year, development and discoveries have shown a marked trend away from the shallow or intermediate depth type of salt dome fields, with their treacherous flanking sands, to the deep-seated type of domes with their more continuous blanketing sands. The potency of some of the deep-seated domes such as Thompsons and Conroe, in Texas, and Iowa in Louisiana, has for the time at least, dispelled the disappointment of such deep-seated domes as Mykawa or Sheppard's Mott. Whether the newer deep-seated prospects, as yet little developed, will prove Conroes or Mykawas remains to be seen. In any event there is much for us yet to learn of the Coast. During 1932 a total of nine new oil fields and four new gas areas were discovered, which compares with seven new fields in 1931 and three fields in 1930. Of the nine new oil fields two were in Coastal Louisiana. This is the largest number of new oil fields found on the Coast in a single year since 1929, when 11 new fields were discovered. Not only because of the number of new fields has 1932 been notable but also because these new fields represent new productive areas that total 16,000 acres or more, or over 70 per cent of the total productive area known on the entire Coast at the beginning of 1932. In addition to the fields discovered in 1932, four new areas, or extensions around domes or fields already producing, and at least 11 new oil sands and three new gas sands have come to light. We may well say that 1932 has been the banner year for the Gulf Coast, in spite of depressed economic conditions and continued and more emphatic restriction of production. With the exception of 1901, when oil was discovered on the Coast and 1924, the year in which geophysical prospecting was in:lugurated, 1932 has been its most outstanding year.

Jan 1, 1933

September 20, 1917. As this meeting terminates the year's agreement under which the Engineering Foundation has appropriated its income to the National Research Council, a brief summary of what has been accomplished seems called for. The Research Council was organized Sept. 19, 1916. The Executive Committee was appointed at that meeting; since that date two other meetings of the Council have been held, one in Boston, on Nov. 13 and 14, the other in Washington on April 19. During the intervals between the meetings of the Research Council, the Executive Committee has conducted all of the business of the Council. There have been 29 meetings of the Executive Committee, 13 in New York up to the first of May, 15 in Washington subsequently, and one in Boston. The meetings in New York were devoted to the organization of the Research Council and especially to appointment of committees. At the outset, the Council had no very clear idea of the way in which it was to organize; there were several other groups of scientific men at work, among them, the Research Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Engineering Committee of the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense. Time was spent in straightening out these two principal complications, both of which were satisfactorily adjusted. The upshot of these negotiations is to leave the Research Council as the only representative, national body of research men, assisting the Government. During the period up to May, the Executive Committee in New York selected carefully the personnel of some 25 principal committees, and of a large number of sub-committees; so carefully were these chosen that of the entire number, several hundred, there have been only one or two declinations. Some of the important steps in the development of the Research Council are the establishment of the Military Section, composed. of the members of the Council connected with the Government and resident in Washington. This Section put the Research Council into close contact with the most important officials of the Army and Navy. From it has grown the Washington office of the Council, and the recognition of the Research Council as the "Department of Science and Research of the Council of National Defense; " and the establishment of the Washington office after the Council of National Defense had officially recognized the Research Council. About this time Dr. Hale, Chairman of the Council, appointed Dr. Millikan to be Vice-Chairman to represent the Council in Washington, and Dr. Millikan has since then been in charge of the work of the Council. At the request of the Secretary, Dr. Millikan has prepared a brief report of some of the work of the Research Council during its first year, which is appended to this report. It shows that the Research Council has been active in much of the important work. under way in our preparations for war, and that it has rendered effective services to the Government.

Jan 12, 1917

By Clemens Catesby Jones

One of the achievements of the present century has been the development of brick-making from the crude and humble handicraft of the individual to a potential industry employing machinery, requiring immense capital, and now demanding that scientific direction which will finally raise it to the importance and dignity of a modern industrial process. It is as yet in the first stages of progress in this direction. The constant obstacle to a fully developed process has been the treat-

Jan 1, 1901

[SWEETSER, R. H.: Discussions: on Evaluation of Coal for Blast furnace Coke, 94, 378, 394,385 on Mt. Union Sand Flotation Plant for Preparing Bituminous Coal, 74, 591 on Need for Research in Foundry Pig Iron, 76, 450 on Pig Iron Low in Total Carbon, Is in Demand for Use in Various Industries 75,471 on Properties of Coal Which Affect Its Use in the Ceramic Industry, 101, 254 on Relation of Ash Composition to the Uses of Coal, 74, 471 on Research on Blastfurnace Slags 100, 137.138 on Selection of Coals for the Manufacture of Coke, 74, 637 on Sinter in Blast-furnace Burdens, 100, 54 on Sintering Limonitic Iron Ores at Ironton, Minnesota, 90, 355, 356 on Slag Control in the Making of Iron and Steel, 116, 104, 115, 116 on Solubility of Nitrogen in Liquid Iron, 116, 193, 194 on A Statistical Analysis of Blast-furnace Data, 96, 70]

Jan 1, 1936

Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Labor and Industry, Rooms 313-318, State Office bldg , Richmond, Va John Hopkins Hall, Jr., Commissioner of Labor The Department of Labor and Industry publishes an Annual Report containing a review and statistics of industry in Virginia. One section is devoted to the statistics and a review of mining and quarrying during the year The latest or 34th Report (1930) will be sent to those with a particular interest in these matters

Jan 1, 1933

By Arnold J. Rothstein, Raymond Kaufman

A large number of firms and institutions have evaluated possibilities of mining the manganese nodule source, beginning with a major effort in 1957-58. There have been as many as ten commercial firms actively engaged in major programs of engineering and development, including Deepsea Ventures/Tenneco, Hughes Tool Co., Kennecott Copper Corp. and Ocean Resources, Inc. Foreign firms active in the field are International Nickel CO., Sumitomo Group/MITI, AMR (a joint venture of three West German companies-Metallgesell- schaft AG, Preussag and Salzgitter AG), and Societe le Nickel (CNEXO). It is estimated that it will take from 11 to 19 years for the more successful ventures to reach operational levels. Investment Costs and Rates of Return Five different programs, all from public sources, have been studied to analyze dollar figures regarding investment costs and the possible return on these costs. All are based on a unit of production of a million tpy of dry nodules through the processing plant, which is considered the minimum likely capacity. The costs are not always comparable, and with some liberties, have been forced into two categories. The first covers mining and sea-related costs. The second will include the onshore processing and other costs such as administrative and distribution figures. The costs in all cases are for complete ventures extending from prospecting through mining, processing and distribution of several metals and other products derived from the nodules. All costs are joint product costs, making certain comparisons with land mining difficult.

Jan 4, 1974

By Herbert Clark Hoover, Lou Henry Hoover

We give the following brief notes on early works containing some reference to mineralogy, mining, or metallurgy, to indicate the literature available to Agricola and for historical notes bearing upon the subject. References to these works in the footnotes may be most easily consulted through the personal index. GREEK AUTHORS.-Only a very limited Greek literature upon subjects allied to mining or natural science survives. The whole of the material of technical interest could be , reproduced on less than twenty of these pages. Those of most importance are : Aristotle (384-322 B.c.), Theophrastus (371-288 B.c.), Diodorus Siculus (1st Century B.c.), Strabo (64 B.c.-25 A.D.), and Dioscorides (1st Century A.D.). Aristotle, apart from occasional mineralogical or metallurgical references in De Mirabilibus, is mostly of interest as the author of the Peripatetic theory of the elements and the relation of these to the origin of stones and metals. Agricola was, to a considerable measure, a follower of this school, and their views colour much of his writings. We, however, discuss elsewhere1 at what point he departed from them. Especially in De Ortu ct Causis does he quote largely from Aristotle's Meteorologica. Physica, and De Coelo on these subjects. There is a spurious work on stones attributed to Aristotle of some interest to mineralogists. It was probably the work of some Arab early in the Middle Ages.[ ]

Jan 1, 1950

John R. Lucas was born Apr. 15, 1866, at St. Louis, Mo. From his 19th year until his death on his 51st birthday anniversary, he was engaged in the mining industry, in which, however, he made his beginning and achieved his progress after a somewhat unusual fashion. Presumably without previous training as a mining engineer, he became in April, 1885, and remained until the end of 1892, bookkeeper of the Granite Metal Mining Co. at its St. Louis office. Then for a year he served as bookkeeper of the same company at its mine in Montana. This official of a mining company is at the very heart of its operations; and if he possesses ambition and intelligence, may learn the business thoroughly. It is not surprising, therefore, that Mr. Lucas, being that kind of man, assumed, in 1894, a position with the Hope Mining Co., another St. Louis corporation operating in Montana, which he retained for eight years, serving not only in the office, but becoming also successively mill foreman and assayer. This varied practical experience prepared him for important administrative functions. From April, 1902, he was for many years the business agent of the Goodhope Mining Co. In 1903, he became also the assistant superintendent of the Granite Bi-metallic Consolidated Mining Co., and subsequently its superintendent-a position which he retained until his health failed at the end of 1916. In addition to the other Granite Bi-metallic properties, he had charge of the sapphire mines in the west fork of Rock Creek, Mont., the Basin Gulch placer mines, the claims of the former Hope Co., etc., all of which he managed with skill, integrity and recognized business ability.

Jan 6, 1918

By Henry M. Howe

What should be the chief aim of a metallurgical laboratory ? Before answering this, let us ask, What should be the chief aim of metallurgical instruction ? Taking a definite case, that of the iron blast-furnace, should we chiefly teach the methods of bosh- and tuyere-cooling, of storing and assembling materials, of removing the iron and cinder, of firing boilers and cleaning stoves ? Or should we aim chiefly to lay clear and bare the nature of the reactions which occur in the blast-furnace, the reason why changes in the rate of driving, in the blast-temperature, in the composition of the cinder, cause their known effects ? Shall we chiefly describe or explain ? Shall we teach chiefly the looks or the reasons ? Put thus, the question admits but one answer. Hours of labored description at a technical school give a less true and clear view of actual metallurgical operations than a brief visit to metallurgical works. If in my teaching 1 take the far more laborious course and lay so very great stress on explanation and so little on description that I seem to err on that laborious side and not to give description enough, the student will quickly make up for my lack of description in his first weeks in the works; he will there learn quickly and easily what I could have described only obscurely and with labor. Details of practice are learned easily and retentively in the works, but with difficulty and slowly at school. With the principles, and especially the chemical principles of metallurgy, the reverse is true. The works have little facility for teaching them; the school has every facility. The place then for explaining, for teaching principles, is the school. But,

Jan 1, 1900

By William Blauvelt

Tun technical and engineering problems in the manufacture of coke are today the problems of the byproduct oven. Except in a few special localities, practically no beehive ovens have been built in the United States for the last 5 or 6 years except as renewals of old plants, and during these years the total number of beehive ovens in existence has been steadily falling. On the other hand, the number of byproduct ovens has increased from 4624 in 1911 to a total of about 7660 in operation at the end of 1917; with 2800 building, this makes a total of about 10,460 which will be in operation in 1918, or shortly thereafter. Preliminary Government estimates place the total production of coke for 1917 at 56,600,000 tons, the largest tonnage in the history of the industry. Of this 34,000,000 tons or 60 per cent. was beehive, and 22,-600,000 tons, or 40 per cent. was byproduct coke. Some time in 1918 the production of byproduct coke should pass the beehive output, and when the byproduct ovens now building are completed the total byproduct capacity will be about 40,000,000 tons of coke per. annum, which is over 70 per cent. of the record-breaking total coke production of 1917. The reasons for these changes in the coking industry are familiar to all of us, and need not be discussed here.

Jan 3, 1918

FINAL REPORT OF' THE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING AND METALLURGICAL ENGINEERS W. E. FOHL, Chairman J. W. PAUL J. M. RAYBURN C. A. WARNER JOHN B. CORRIN C. E. KREBS JOHN H. WILSON A. W. HESSE M. M. LEIGHTON H. I. SMITH [Accepted and Committee discharged with thanks, April 27, 1928.] Regulations recommended for the location, drilling, casing, protection, operation, plugging and filling, and abandonment of natural gas and petroleum wells; having for their objectives the protection of life and property by prevention of intrusions of oil and gas into workable coal beds, and the conservation of oil and gas resources in territory not underlain with workable coal beds. ARTICLE I DEFINITIONS SEC. 1. For the purpose of these regulations, definitions are as follows: Well.-A bore hole drilled for the purpose of developing natural gas or petroleum, or a bore hole producing natural gas or petroleum. Well Operator.-Any person, persons, firm, partnership, corporation, company or association that proposes to, or does drill, operate or abandon a well as herein defined. Coal Operator.-Any person, persons, firm, partnership, corporation, company or association that proposes to, or does operate a coal mine in territory known or reputed to be underlain with oil or gas-bearing strata. Coal Owner.-Any person, persons, firm, partnership, corporation, company or association, other than a Coal Operator as herein defined, that owns coal lands in territory known or reputed to be underlain with oil or gas-bearing strata. State Mining Department.-The duly constituted authorities of a state having jurisdiction over coal-mining operations, and oil and gas operations as herein provided. Plat.-A map, drawing or print made in accordance with the provisions of these regulations. Casing.-The pipe commonly used in wells drilled for natural gas and petroleum. Oil and Gas.-Synonyms, respectively, for Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Jan 1, 1928