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Today's largest producer of domestic beryllium oxide, Mineral Concentrates & Chemical Co., Inc., has recently disclosed the basic outline of its unique process of beneficiating beryllium ores to high purity BeO. This process, known as the Mincon process, is a thermic-flotation scheme which has reportedly resulted in a recovery ratio exceeding 90% and in allowing up-grading of beryllium concentrates to as high as 33%. Mincon borrowed a step from the iron ore industry by introducing a pelletizing and sintering stage in their flow sheet at the company's mill at Loveland, Colo. This mill, now operating at full-capacity with three-shifts a day, is still undergoing some minor changes and adjustments in the equipment and chemical reagents.

Jan 10, 1961

By U. K. Custred

To the layman, the term "strip mining" usually applies to the appearance of mined-over land after an operation is completed, not to the technique. This attitude, however, is becoming pass6 in the central Florida pebble phosphate field as eight mining companies in the area pursue a mutual program of land reclamation. The Florida phosphate industry is fortunate in this respect because it occupies an area favorable to reclamation. The terrain is flat; overburden is sand and clay which will support vegetation fairly readily; a high ground water table naturally converts mine pits into lakes. Too, this is water which readily supports marine life, not the acidic water so frequently found in the coal industry.

Jan 4, 1963

By Oliver Bowles

A HEAVY gel of bentonite clay has been proposed as an effective lubricant to speed down the ways to sea, river, or lake, the mighty cargo ships now hitting the water at the rate of about three a day. Another unusual application of a nonmetallic mineral is in food conservation, for the claim has been made that the next new item on the menu for poultry and rabbits will be vitamin tablets prepared from mont-morillonite clay. These uses have minor importance but illustrate not only the diversity in utilization, but the notable trend in 1942 toward mobilizing nonmetallic minerals for the war program. Although occupying less headline space than iron, steel, copper, aluminum, magnesium, and other metals, the nonmetallics are filling important emergency needs. Mica and quartz crystal are essential to communication; asbestos is urgently needed in fireproof heat and electrical insulation; and strontium minerals are utilized in the manufacture of signal flares and tracer bullets.

Jan 1, 1943

By Edward P. Barrett

DURING the past few years numerous references have been made in the technical press and Bureau of Mines Bulletin 270 to sponge iron' and so-called "direct metal" processes. The idea has been prevalent that sponge iron and "direct metals" are cheap commodities. In many instances it has been proposed that these processes be used to treat low-grade ores, utilizing low-grade coals as reducing agents. It is questionable whether or not high-grade sponge iron can be made from low-grade materials. Particles contain¬ing iron oxide and gangue become, upon almost complete deoxidation, particles containing metallic' iron and gangue. The possibility of mechanically separating the metallic iron from the gangue in these particles depends . on the physical characteristics of the particular ore under treatment. Some ores, in which the minerals constituting the gangue break free from the iron oxide upon crushing, may be concentrated magnetically after the iron oxides have been reduced to metal. The finely disseminated ores are least amenable to concentration. In general, high-grade sponge iron can only be made from high-grade raw materials. Sponge iron containing small amounts of sulfur can only be made from raw materials containing small amounts of sulfur or by

Jan 1, 1930

COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. General Committee.-J. F. Lewis, Quinnimont, W. Va. Committee of Reception at Staunton.-Major Jed. Hotchkiss, Chairman ; W. A. Burke, M. E. Miller, R. N. Catlett, W. J. Nelson, J. T. Effinger, D. A. Kayser. Local Committee of Arrangements.-G. T. Wickes, Low Moor, Chairman; G. W. Bramwell, Stone Cliff, Secretary; J. E. Johnson, Longdale; H. Firm¬stone, Longdale; S. F. Morris, Quinnimont; O. A. Randall, Ferrol; William N. Page, Ansted; F. Lyman, Low Moor; S. M. Buck, Coalburgh; E. S. Hutchinson, Cannelton ; M. F. Maury, Saltpetre Cave. THE opening session of the Institute was held at Staunton, on Monday evening, May 30th, in the Opera House. Major Jed. Hotchkiss, Chairman of the Committee of Reception, called the meeting to order and introduced Mayor Balthis, who spoke a few words of welcome to the members present, and then introduced the Hon. A. H. H. Stuart. Mr. Stuart in addressing a formal welcome to the Institute to the " little city of the mountains," spoke of the value of the services of the mining engineer in developing the mineral wealth of Virginia and in solving the problems of her geological history. Mr. Metcalf, President of the Institute, replied on behalf of the Institute to the cordial welcome of the mayor and Mr. Stuart, and then read an inaugural address on Force. At the conclusion of the President's address the following papers were read The Electrolytic Determination of Copper and the Formation and Composition of so-called Allotropic Copper, by J. B. Mackintosh, Hoboken, N. J. Read by Professor Egleston. The New Unpublished Map of Chester County, Pa., by Professor Persifor Frazer, Philadelphia. The second session was held at the Opera House on Tuesday morning. The papers read at this session were: Investigations on the Ore Knob Copper Process, by Professor Thomas Egleston, School of Mines, New York city. A Volumetric Estimation of Manganese in Pig Iron and Steel, by F. H. Williams, Vulcan Steel Works, St. Louis, Mo. Read by the Secretary.

Jan 1, 1882

AALL,Christian H.,(M '49), Asat.Research Dir , Phosphate Div Monsanto Chem.Co.,Monaanto, Tenn. AAMOT,Olav Crone, (M '29), Dir of Tech., Chromium Min. & Smelt. Co Ltd Box 6215, Hillyard, Spokane, Wash. AARING, Floyd Daniel, (J '48), Prod. Engr., Canadian Gulf Oil Co., 8035 - 102nd St., Edmonton, Alta., Canada AASE, Glenn D., (J '40), Met Engr Western Research Div. ,Amer. Smelt. & Refin. Co., Selby, Calif ABADIE, Henry G (M '43), Senior Prod Engr., Long Beach Oil Dev Co., 255 S Santa Clara Ave Long Beach 2, Calif. ABBOTT,Clarence E (M '04), Civil Engr., 901 Insurance Bldg., Raleigh, N.C. ABBOTT, John, H., (M '46), Resident Mgr., Hickman, Williams & Co., Rm 2205,230 N Michigan Ave., Chicago 1. I11.

Jan 1, 1952

By John F. Wiggert

DURING the early years of Homestake operations, shaft signaling from the cage tenders to the hoisting engineers was done by mechanical means. Small steel cables or jointed steel rods were suspended in the shaft compartments and counterbalanced with weights or springs. These cables or rod strings were connected to the mechanically operated gongs at the engineers' stations by means of bell cranks and steel wires. The system was simple and economical and served the purpose well until the mine reached a depth of 1000 ft., then the system became slow and cumbersome and required a considerable amount of muscular effort to operate it with much speed, because of the inertia of the heavy moving parts. The mechanical signaling was superseded by a simple electrical system consisting of a single pair of wires in steel conduit for each shaft compartment. In the shaft at each station a pull switch was connected to the wires. The switches were operated by means of bell cords, which extended from station to station. This electrical system was a great improvement over the mechanical one, but it had one serious drawback, which also applied to the older system; namely, the engineer did not know where a signal originated. Later on this signaling was improved to overcome this drawback, and to give the engineer a positive indication of a signal's origin. In this system a separate return wire from each pull switch is carried to an annunciator at the engineer's station, where it indicates the signal's origin. While the annunciator system used by Homestake is very safe and reliable, it has the inherent drawback of all wire-connected systems in that it is impossible to send a signal from a moving cage. A number of years ago Homestake became interested in the possibility of using some sort of radio transmission for shaft signaling. The company did much experimental work with purely radio signal transmission, but no practical way was discovered to use radio transmission in a mine shaft for signaling to or from a cage. Therefore, all efforts were directed to devising a practical way of using the hoisting rope as part of the circuit. It was realized that the return circuit from the rope would need to be through electrostatic coupling between the cage and the earth or ground sides of the shaft, because the guides would not always be wet enough to make possible good electrical contact between the cage and earth, therefore relatively high-frequency alternating current was chosen as the medium of transmission. Soon a practical system was developed for transmitting an electric current from a moving cage over an electric circuit of which the hoisting rope was a part. A high-frequency electric current is used as a carrier to transmit the signals or mes-

Jan 1, 1941

By AIME AIME

MOST of the copper mines in Canada are favored by nature in having other metals besides, copper in their ore, which puts them in a most satisfactory competitive position. Noranda ore has an important gold content, Flin Flon gold and zinc, and International Nickel of course has nickel. All of the larger copper companies in Canada operated during 1.933 and the total production of copper exceeded that of the year before. The Britannia Mining and Smelting Co. worked out to succcessful conclusion a three-product flotation process for separating the copper, zinc and iron from its low-grade ore. Although the method and equipment is different from that used at the Flin Flon mine, the object is the same, that

Jan 1, 1934

By Philip J. Shenon

IN 1947 the mining industry strove desperately to regain operating normalcy. During the first part of the year the industry in this country was plagued with labor shortages, strikes, and portal-to-portal lawsuits. Then followed the uncertainty of Government policy with respect to subsidies and tariffs; and the long and bitter controversy as to whether we are a nation of mineral "haves" or "have-nots." As the year progressed the labor supply impoved somewhat and the Taft-Hartley law brought partial relief to strike-troubled industry. The uncertainty with respect to tariffs was partly answered by President Truman on April 29 when he announced the suspension of the 4¢ import duty on copper until March 31, 1949, and later, near the close of the year, by the announcement of the tariff agreement signed by the United Nations at Geneva. By this agreement tariff rates are to be adjusted downward, or "bound" at their present levels, for three years, on commodities amounting to some 60 per cent of United States trade. Effective Jan. 1, 1948 the rate of duty will be substantially reduced on ores, concentrates, or metals of zinc, aluminum, copper, manganese, tungsten, iron, steel, barytes, nickel, cadmium, and antimony.

Jan 1, 1948

Jan 1, 1911

Frank Williams, Johnstown, Pa. (Communicatioll to the Secretary): As the manager of the company which manufactured the " American " magnesite and the silica-brick mentioned by Mr. Pennock, I beg to say that he was quite right in placing a mark of interrogation after " American " (page 268). While the users of magnesite in this country are at a disadvantage as to cost by reason of not having any large bodies of sufficiently pure material at hand, the manufacturing concern referred to has secured an advantage as to quality by a mixture of the different foreign magnesites, which vary considerably in their composition and physical structure. The American (?) magilesite tested was a sample of the next

Jan 1, 1897

By Fredrick C. Kruger

Risk capital for mining ventures becomes harder to get each year as the costs for exploration, construction and money continue to skyrocket in today's inflationary economy. Because of this and because mining prospects must compete for the same dollar as many other needs of a diversified company, then the success or failure of any new proposal depends on how well its return on investment compares with all other capital requests. Mr. Kruger presents case histories showing what it costs to explore for new mines, how many of these prospects reward their promoters with success and how well some of the more famous mines have paid off.

Jan 9, 1969

By Thomas A. Simpson, Tunstall R. Gray

The Birmingham district first produced steel from Alabama hematite ores in 1899. Since then, the district generally produced more than 6.0 million gross tons of ore a year to the late 1950's. Production has declined since then to an annual rate of about 1.5 million gross tons. Reserves calculated for the district are sufficient to last many years. Mining in the district is now confined to Woodward Iron Company's Vance and Pyne mines. The rocks exposed consist of about 15,000 feet of consolidated Paleozoic sediments with a thin veneer of unconsolidated Cretaceous sediments in the Vance area. The district is characterized by a distinctively parallel and subparallel, slightly arcuate series of faults and joint systems. In view of available information, it seems reasonable to conclude that the Birmingham red ores are of sedimentary origin, modified to a small extent by diagenetic replacement after original deposition.

Jan 1, 1968

By Edwin Ludlow

THE responses to the request of the Finance Committee have been coming in with gratifying results, .but there have also been about a dozen letters received objecting in various ways to the voluntary subscription. These can be summarized as: First.-That the dues should have been increased, and thus impose the same burden on everyone. This would not have met the present situation, as under the constitution no increase could be effective until 1922. Second.-The Institute should 'live within its means, and reduce its expenses to correspond with its income. As far -as possible this was done by deferring the publication of Volume LXIV until 1921, although the papers published in that volume, were presented at the meeting in February, 1920. It is to avoid being obliged to do this again that the subscription is asked, as we feel that it is, a duty we owe to our membership_ to give them the papers presented at as early a date as possible.. Our financial situation is due to the very large increase in the cost of publication; owing to the high price of paper and printing. The cost of paper is now decreasing, and we hope that there will be' wage adjustments that will permit a lower cost for printing. Under present conditions each volume of our TRANSACTIONS costs three times as much as it did in 1917 and we would be able to publish only one' volume per year. Third.-That there are too many papers published that are 'of no interest to the writer of them .complaint.-This is undoubtedly true, but it must be remembered that the membership of the Institute includes all branches of mining and metallurgy and that all these branches are entitled to be' represented in our TRANSACTIONS by papers.

Jan 1, 1921

By L. G. Huntley

I. HISTORY OF OIL DEVELOPMENT IN MEXICO THE occurrence of oil or "tar" in Mexico was mentioned as early as the seventeenth century by Friar Sagahun, who gives the Indian name "chapopote," by which these asphalt seepages are still called. This asphalt was apparently used, as it has been used by primitive people in many parts of the world, in religious ceremonies and for medicinal purposes. Travellers also report that the ruins in Yucatan and the pyramids in southern Mexico show traces of the use of "chapopote" as a building cement.1 DeGolyer says that the first attempt to exploit oil or gas in Mexico in a commercial way is shown by the records of the Memoria de Fomento of 1865, when permission was granted to a Senor Ildefonso Lopez to exploit the deposits of petroliferous substances in the San Jose de Ias Rusias area in the State of Tamaulipas. Other concessions follow, and probably refer to surface seepages which occur in that district. This was several years after the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania. In 1868, a well 125 ft. deep was drilled by a company organized in Mexico City, in what is now known as the Furbero district, and a little oil was refined there. In 1873, residents of Tampico denounced seepages along the Tamesi River, and asphalt was mined near Tempoal in the Canton of Tantoyuca. No drilling was attempted. But between 1880 and 1883 several shallow wells were drilled for oil in Mexico, two of them being near the present Potrero de Llano field west of Tuxpam. The wells were drilled by a Boston company with Canadian rigs, and are said too have reached a depth of about 400 ft., while one is reported to have flowed. Several other abortive attempts were made to drill for oil between 1885 and the beginning of the present century, about which time the Mexican, Petroleum & Liquid Fuel Co., Ltd., in which Cecil Rhodes was interested drilled 24 wells unsuccessfully, several of them as deep as 1,500 ft., in the State -

Jan 9, 1915

Jan 1, 1879

By George Stern

THE purpose of this investigation has been to study one method for making ordinary carbon steel by the powder metallurgy technique. This method con- [ ] sists of pressing and subsequently sintering an intimate mixture of iron powder and graphite in a suitable atmosphere to produce a steel. Two types of iron powder have been studied, electrolytic and reduced. The sintering of mixtures of loose carbonyl iron and carbon black for several hours at 1000° to 1100°C. (1830° to 2010°F.), followed by forging of the resultant ingots to bars, has been studied by Offermann.1 Trail' has reported on the properties of hydrogen-reduced and electrolytic iron powders, both containing 0.5 per cent carbon. Methods for making steel bodies by powder metallurgy have also been sug- [ ] gested by Goetzel,3 who recommends the addition of steel powder of well-defined carbon content to pure iron powder, and Volterra,4 who suggests compaction and subsequent sintering of a mixture of steel powder, iron oxide and iron powder. Additional methods for making steel bodies by powder metallurgy have been reported in the literature by Koehring,5 Allen,6 Balke,7 Wulff,8 Boegehold,9 and others. 10,11,12 It is felt that the method of pressing iron powder and graphite, as described herein, lends itself best to production because of the lubricating action of the

Jan 1, 1946

By George Stern

The purpose of this investigation has been to study one method for making ordinary carbon steel by the powder metallurgy technique. This method con- sists of pressing and subsequently sintering an intimate mixture of iron powder and gaphite in a suitable atmosphere to Produce a steel. Two types of iron Powder have been studied, electrolytic and reduced. The sinkring of mixtures of loose Car-bonyf iron and carbon black for several hours at I000 to 1100 C. (1830' to 2010°F.), followed by forging of the resultant ingots to bars, has been studied by Offermann.' TrailZ has reported on the properties of hydrogen-reduced and electrolytic iron powders, both containing 0.5 per cent carbon. Methods for making steel bodies by powder metallurgy have also been sug- gested by Goetzel13 who recommends the addition of steel powder of well-defined carbon content to pure iron powder, and Volterra,~ who suggests compaction and subsequent sintering of a mixture of steel powder, iron oxide and iron powder. Additional methods for making steel bodies by powder metallurgy have been reported in the literature by Kohering Allen,6 Balke,7 Wulff,8 Boegehold,9 and others.,0,11,12 It is felt that the method of pressing iron powder and graphite, as described herein, lends itself best to production be-Cause of the lubricating action of the

Jan 1, 1946

By George Stern

The purpose of this investigation has been to study one method for making ordinary carbon steel by the powder metallurgy technique. This method con- sists of pressing and subsequently sintering an intimate mixture of iron powder and gaphite in a suitable atmosphere to Produce a steel. Two types of iron Powder have been studied, electrolytic and reduced. The sinkring of mixtures of loose Car-bonyf iron and carbon black for several hours at I000 to 1100 C. (1830' to 2010°F.), followed by forging of the resultant ingots to bars, has been studied by Offermann.' TrailZ has reported on the properties of hydrogen-reduced and electrolytic iron powders, both containing 0.5 per cent carbon. Methods for making steel bodies by powder metallurgy have also been sug- gested by Goetzel13 who recommends the addition of steel powder of well-defined carbon content to pure iron powder, and Volterra,~ who suggests compaction and subsequent sintering of a mixture of steel powder, iron oxide and iron powder. Additional methods for making steel bodies by powder metallurgy have been reported in the literature by Kohering Allen,6 Balke,7 Wulff,8 Boegehold,9 and others.,0,11,12 It is felt that the method of pressing iron powder and graphite, as described herein, lends itself best to production be-Cause of the lubricating action of the

Jan 1, 1946

By A. Blake Caldwell

Tyrone-a complete mining and concentrating facility built by Phelps Dodge Corp.-straddles the Continental Divide where surface water on either side flows in opposite directions although all water is taken from and returned on the northwest side of the Divide. At the outset, Tyrone was saddled with a problem of an adequate water supply, and the Gila River some 23 miles distant appeared to be the logical source. This in itself presented a major obstacle to Phelps Dodge because of the distance water had to be pumped and because of an adverse head which had to be overcome between the Gila River and the two 4-million-gal-capacity terminal water supply tanks at the mill. Having acquired water rights on the Gila River and in order to control the seasonal fluctuations in water volume, the company built the Bill Evans, off stream, earth-filled dam. This reservoir will contain 2100 acre-ft of water when full and it was constructed by the Hamilton Construction Co. for Phelps Dodge. The dam impounds fresh water for the Tyrone plant's use and four vertical turbine pumps (4500 gpm each) lift the water 275 ft from the Gila River into the reservoir. Since construction, Phelps Dodge has optioned the lake to the New Mexico State Game Commission for recreational purposes. In addition to the lake, land around the reservoir has been optioned to the State Game Commission for public use. The lake has already been stocked with trout and by next summer some keepers should be available for the taking.

Jan 12, 1969