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CHARLES P. BROOKS Charles P. Brooks, who had been identified with the mining industry in the West since 1874, having served at various times as mining and consulting engineer for most of the largest mining properties in Utah, died Dec. 11, at his home in Salt Lake City, of heart failure, after an illness of about one month. He was a very close business friend of the late Thomas Kearns and David Keith. In recent years he had been closely identified with the Silver King Coalition Mining Co., the Chief Consolidated Mining Co., the Grand Central Mining Co., the Prince Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co., and many other large properties. Mr. Brooks was born in Washingtonville, Orange County, New York, Aug. .21, 1851; he was the son of Charles Edward Brooks and Adeline Cannon Brooks. When 14 years of age he attended school at Chester, N. J., for one term, and accompanied the assistant principal of Chester Academy to New Paltz, N. Y., and finished the school year there. In 1866 he entered Dr. Stiles's school at Deckertown, N. J., and later the Sheffield School at Yale in 1867, where he received the degree of civil engineer with the class of 1870.

Jan 2, 1919

By Alan English, M. F. Morgan

EXPERIMENTAL work on the concentration and agglomeration of low-grade iron ores was started many years ago at the Mines Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota by E. W. Davis and his staff. From these laboratory results and the work of 0. G. Lellep, consultant for the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co., there were indications that the use of a downdraft continuous- grate furnace, patterned from a conventional-type sintering machine, would be practical. Consequently, a pilot plant was designed and constructed by the joint efforts of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. and Arthur G. McKee & Co. at Carrollville, Wis. Several years of work resulted in plans to build a large-scale pilot plant for commercial application. Such a pilot plant, built at Babbitt, Minn., by the Reserve Mining Co., was designed to produce 1000 tpd. Sufficient metallurgical and operating data were accumulated to permit the successful application to the design of a commercial plant of any desired capacity. Based upon this data, a pelletizing plant having a 3 ¾ million ton per year capacity was erected by the Reserve Mining Co. at Silver Bay, Minn. and started operation in October, 1955. Provisions were made in the design to permit future expansion to a capacity of 10 million tons per year.

Jan 3, 1958

By Frederick J. Rich

INTRODUCTION Coal characterization involves a variety of analyses which are designed to yield as much information as possible about the properties of coal. The types of analyses which are now regarded as necessary for any truly quantitative assessment of coal include the following: 1. proximate analysis 2. ultimate analysis 3. petrographic analysis The two traditional forms of analyses are the proximate and ultimate types. A proximate determination reveals the amount of moisture, volatile matter, fixed carbon, and ash which are present in the coal. Nowadays, a sulfur determination is usually included in the proximate analysis. The ultimate analysis, in contrast, includes a major alkaline oxide determination, which tells how much sodium, calcium, and potassium are found in a sample. Sulfur forms, i.e. sulfide and sulfate vs organic sulfur, are also identified as well as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and trace element concentrations. Proximate and ultimate analyses have been used for many years. The petrographic analysis, one which identifies and quantifies organic microcomponents of coal, is a comparatively new technique of coal characterization. Petrography adds great detail to a coal analysis and, to be sure, is a necessary component of any complete analysis. Coal is not at all uniform in its composition. Material from different mines within one coal-producing region will display varia-

Jan 1, 1983

MONTANA SECTION FREDERICK LAIST, Chairman F. W. BACORN, Vice-chairman E. B. YOUNG, Secretary-Treasurer, 52G Hennesy Building, Butte, Mont. C. H. CLAPP C. D. DEMOND The Montana Section held its annual meeting at the Silver Bow Club, Butte, Mont., on Friday, Feb. 7. The technical session was preceded by a dinner at which 54 members and guests were seated. N. B. Braly presided at the dinner and the, business and technical sessions. The officers whose names are noted above were elected for the ensuing year. H. B. Pulsifer presented a paper on The Metallurgy of Aluminum and Magnesium; it was discussed by C. H. Clapp and F. A. Linforth. J. C: Horgan presented a paper on The Manufacture of High Explosives and their Use in Metal Mines; it was discussed by C. W. Morse, J. J. Carrigan, and C. W. Goodale. The matter of reformed spelling as proposed in a circular letter coming from Palo Alto, Calif., was discussed, after which the Secretary was instructed to write to Secretary Stoughton and ask that when the matter is opened for discussion in New York he present the emphatic protest of the Montana Section against the alleged reforms in spelling. E. B. YOUNG, Secretary.

Jan 4, 1919

Major William R. Grunow, in a brief account off his military services, says: "I take pleasure in informing you that since my return from France I have been stationed at Camp A. A. Humphreys, Va., and am now on duty as a Senior Instructor at the Engineer Officers' Training School. While in France, I served as a company commander in the 305th Engineers and was later ordered to return to the United States for assignment to new troops. Upon arrival in the United States, I received my majority." P. F. Rodegerdts gives us the following account of his military service: "I enlisted in the Naval Reserve Flying Corps in San Francisco on Feb. 12, 1918. On February 10, I was ordered to Cambridge, Mass., where I was enrolled for the course in technical aircraft construction given at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After successfully completing the course of instruction, I spent six weeks in practical construction of seaplanes at the Curtiss aeroplane factory in Buffalo. Following this, I was assigned to active service at Akron, Ohio, on June 22, 1918. At the same time I received my commission of ensign U.S.N. R.F. Unfortunately, I have been kept at Akron and although I have made

Jan 1, 1919

By Andrew A. Blair

THE increased importance and value of chemical analysis in connection with metallurgical operations is largely, if not entirely, due to the increased accuracy of the analytical methods used for the quantitative determination of the foreign elements always associated with the metal operated upon. This applies especially in the working of iron and steel, and to the determination of the amounts of such elements as phosphorus, carbon, and silicon. The influence of greater or smaller amounts of these elements upon the physical properties of iron and steel will be better understood when the proper experiments shall have been made upon samples whose chemical composition is known with almost absolute certainty. From the present standpoint of analytical chemistry, it is easy to see that at least one reason for the failure of many attempts to solve this problem, is the inaccuracy of the analytical methods used. Even at the present time the frequent want of agreement (over and above the unavoidable error due to manipulation) between chemists working on the same sample, leads one to think that there is still at least a choice in the methods used. It is true that very frequently a faulty method in the hands of a skilful analyst may be made to give corroborative results

Jan 1, 1876

By Charles M. Stone, Dale S. Preece

Introduction The Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) is a national program dedicated to storage of large quantities of crude oil in leached salt caverns in the Texas-Louisiana gulf coast area. The program has required storage in existing caverns at each site and includes plans to leach new ones. The structural stability of each cavern depends on the behavior of the surrounding salt. In the past cavern stability has been predicted based on experience with other caverns in the vicinity. With the development of good non-linear finite element structural computer programs, it is possible to predict stability before the cavern is created. An important step in verifying the applicability of these predictive methods is comparison of analytical and field data. The analytical data come from finite element analyses of a specific cavern where the laboratory determined material properties and an approximation to the cavern geometry are used as input. These comparisons have been made for caverns in the Bayou Choctaw Dome (Louisiana) and Eminence Dome (Mississippi) with reasonably good correlation being obtained between measured and predicted volumetric response of the caverns. This paper discusses 1) the acquisition of material properties, 2) the finite element program SANCHO, and 3) the comparison of analytical and field data for each of the caverns.

Jan 1, 1982

By J. Kent Smith

Vanadium is generally spoken of as a rare element; but, even in the light of our resources as known a couple of years ago, this description could be accepted in a qualified sense only. In fact, vanadium is very widely distributed, being a constituent of most clays, while even caustic soda has been shown to contain almost regularly a minute proportion of it, although the quantity in each case is so small as to render impracticable the extraction of the metal therefrom with profit. The opening-up of a large deposit of vanadium sulphide ore in South America has put a new phase on the commercial outlook of vanadium, the technical value of which for the improrement of steel has been proved by rigorous scientific investigation. This sulphide ore has the following analysis: Per Cent. Vanadium sulphide,.39.84 Molybdenum sulphide,.1.57 Nickel sulphide,.........1.49 Iron sulphide,.........4.07 Arsenic sulphide,.. nil. Copper sulphide,.. nil. Manganese sulphide,..nil. Free sulphur,..30.57 Phosphorus,...nil. Silica,....13.60 Alumina,..........2.46 Combined water, 5.00 Carbonic acid, Lime, magnesia, potash, soda and unaccounted for, 100.00 Being a free-burning ore it is calcined with ease, losing 45 per cent. of its weight in the process. The calcined ore has the following analysis:

Jan 1, 1908

By J. J. Bikerman

In a recent study' of the martensitic transformation of Cu-Zn ß-phase alloys, it was noted that the MS temperature at the surface was raised due to the loss of zinc by volatilization. It seems likely, therefore, that the MS temperature may serve as a guide for the measurement of composition. From a knowledge of the dependence of the transformation temperature on composition, 2 it should be possible to detect variations in zinc content which are less than 0.1 at. pct by measuring the MS temperature throughout the sample. It is unlikely that an electron microprobe analysis could detect accurately such small zinc losses because the presently accepted limits of accuracy of the micro-probe analysis in simple ternary systems are of the order of 2 to 5 pct of the amount present.3 In the present study, a composition gradient was produced by precipitating the a primary solid solution, and reheating for a very short time within the 0-phase field. The nominal composition, in atomic percent, of the ternary ß-phase alloy used, 64.2 Cu, 34 Zn, 1.8 Si, was selected because it had an MS temperature of +4°C, thereby simplifying the experi-

Jan 1, 1968

By D. S. Kingery, D. W. Mitchell

Experience in Europe indicates that the control of dust production and dissemination by water or foam systems is not successful except during undercutting. Cybulski, Dawes, and DeBraaf-respectively Director, Mines Research Establishment "Barbara", Katowice, Poland; Principal Scientific Officer, Safety in Mines Research Establishment, Sheffield, England: and Chief, Central Mines Research Establishment, Hoensbroek, Treebeek, The Netherlands-believe that wetted dust becomes readily dispersible and abatement measures should be considered only as a temporary means for reducing the health hazard. In an effort to reduce the health hazard, calcium chloride is used on the floor of main haulageways in Dutch mines and water infusion is practiced in Germany in mines where the coal is relatively porous. With respect to wet coal dust, the Belgians, British, Dutch, French, and Russians reportedly have accepted the results of research from the Polish and American experimental mines on the effectiveness of water as an inert in arresting explosion propagation. The Polish use the two test methods proposed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines for evaluation of the adequacy of wetness of mine dust; they require that water be added to the wet dust to maintain a minimum of 50% moisture by weight if dependence is placed on water alone.

Jan 7, 1964

By Robert M. McGeorge, Edward S. Frohling

Most mining engineers and metallurgists who get out of school usually wind up working for a large or medium-sized company and are seldom heard of again. The enterprising few who decide to go into business for themselves soon discover that while they can adequately tackle the various technical problems involved in developing a new ore body, they know little about putting together a feasibility study-and even less about financing their project. If you are in that predicament, you'll probably tend to view the financing problem as insurmountable, especially when the economy is in a slump, capital is scarce or seemingly non-existent, the equity market is in the doldrums, labor and equipment costs keep going up relentlessly-and, to make things worse, you must operate within the competitive context created by large mining firms that seem to have in abundance all the capital and managerial expertise you feel you lack. If it's any consolation, many potentially successful properties, whether owned by big companies or small firms like yours, never reach the production stage either because of illogical expenditures made in the early phases of development or because of inefficient management. And inefficient management is a common plague in big and small companies

Jan 9, 1975

By B. L. Thane

Within the past few years, the mining industry has taken a new impetus in all its branches. New mines are being opened every day, while old ones, which have been either working at a loss, or have been compelled to shut down, are now gradually being reopened and placed on a paying basis. This growth and new life is due, in a measure, to the discovery of new mining districts, but the most important cause of the progress is the wonderful advance that has been made in all branches of mine-engineering. By means of the important inventions and discoveries that have been made in mechanics, chemistry, and electricity, we are now able to work ores which, only a short time ago, would have been regarded as worthless. We find, for instance, the electrician eliminating two of our greatest difficulties, those of distance and superior elevation, while the mechanic has brought to the highest degree of perfection, not only ore-crushing and hoisting machinery, but all such devices as pertain to the mechanical handling of ores, and, at the same time, the metallurgist, with his combined chemical and mechanical skill, has helped us to extract the precious metals from the most refractory of ores. But when we turn to examine methods in actual use for

Jan 1, 1900

By A. N. Khayyat, R. G. Temple, R. Skelton

The fluid energy mill has been in use since the 1930's when an early patent was granted to N.H. Andrews in the USA. The microniser design has been basically unaltered since that date and current designs such as the Airfilco "Micronizer" have been progressively developed from results based on wide experience. The authors have been engaged in a research programme to establish optimum design and operational parameters for the Micronizer so as to provide a more quantitative basis for scale-up prediction of results. An introductory section will first trace the development of fluid energy milling including reference to other designs which have developed alongside the micronizer (especially the “Jet-o-miser"). With regard to design features the number of fluid injection nozzles and their size was investigated to establish the optimum range. Injection angle and, the consequent diameter of the internal "tangential circle" was carefully studied to determine the effect of this parameter on product size. The research was carried out using fine limestone as the test material with air as the grinding medium. Feed size fractions of 0-120µm, 0-250µm, 0-500µm, and 300-600µm were milled and product size analyses were carried out using the Coulter Counter technique.

Jan 1, 1980

By James E. Howard

At the request of the Council of the Institute, I have the honor to submit the following remarks upon the Program of Tests under which the current work of the Watertown Arsenal Testing Laboratory is carried on, which comprises, among other items, the tests of steel ingot metal and derivative shapes. The intended scope of the tests may be illustrated by extracts from the descriptive part of the program as submitted by the Laboratory under date of April 17,1907, and subsequently approved by the Chief of Ordnance, U. S. A. Under Item 1, Ingot Metal—Open hearth, acid and basic; Bessemer, acid and basic; crucible; fluid compressed and uncompreesed—descriptive remarks were made as follon-s: "A thorough, fundamental inquiry into the physical properties of steel necessarily begins with the ingot metal. Investigations, having for their object the improvement of steels, should also begin with the ingot. A knowledge of the ingot structure is essential for judging of the subsequent behavior or appearance of the metal. Under ordinary conditions, so little information is obtained from the ingot in individual cases that practically none of importance is acquired. These remarks have particular reference to the state of physical and structural

Jan 1, 1909

By Gene Long

10.4-1. Load Design and Construction. Surface mine haulage roads are used for transporting raw products to the mine site, preparation plant, or loading facilities, and to provide personnel and equipment an access to the pits and mine area. All of the aspects of highway engineering, including minimum slope inclines, properly banked curves, and adequate drainage, must be followed to facilitate construction of safe and efficient haulage roads for fast and economical transportation of the mined product to its destination. By maintaining good haulage roads, both truck and equipment maintenance will be kept to a minimum, resulting in reduced mining costs and subsequently higher profits. [ ] There are several basic considerations in haulage road planning. Most important, one must follow all safety procedures in both design and construction of the roadway. A maximum effort should be made to follow current mining plans when laying out and planning haulage roads (aerial photographs can be extremely useful in planning and routing of roadways). Grades, road widths, and curves must be maintained within limits of present and/or planned haulage equipment specifications, since all these factors can limit speed, and hence production (Table 10.4-1). Grades in most mining operations are adverse (against the loaded haul), which increases haul cost per mile. Operators must balance these increased

Jan 1, 1968

By L. P. (Les) Haldane

Building a small underground coal mine is a risky endeavor, especially in the recent economic environment. ARCO's Mt. Gunnison No. 1 Mine, located in western Colorado, was designed and built as a small expandable speculation mine with initial production to be sold on the spot market, so it was very important to minimize capital exposure. This mine, operated by West Elk Coal Company, a subsidiary of Anaconda Minerals, was successfully built under budget at $35 million, and has been operating successfully since completion of construction in late 1982. The initial planning phase of a project is extremely important for testing the economic and technical feasibility of a proposal. The construction phase, by contrast, carries with it significant cost and quality risks which can relate to long-term economic and operating problems and therefore directly affect the viability of the project. This paper discusses several different aspects of the cost overrun risk involved in building an underground coal mine, and how attempts were made to minimize these risks during construction of the Mt. Gunnison Mine. Good people, construction planning, and execution are essential factors in assuring a quality, cost-effective project, with corresponding risk minimization during the construction phase and long term favorable implications for the operating phase.

Jan 1, 1985

By C. W. Crispell

THE four nomograms presented in this article were designed to simplify and make more, rapid the calculations connected with the compression and transmission of air. The formulae involved are rather complicated, but the graphic solutions are simple; their use requires an ability to follow explicit directions and to interpolate values on a logarithmic scale. ? For the sake of convenience, the nomograms will be divided into two classes, and the purpose and accuracy of each will be discussed. Compression It is frequently desirable to determine the horsepower necessary to compress a given amount of free air from atmospheric pressure to a certain final pressure. The nomograms in Figs. 1 and 2 present a rapid method of calculating the horsepower required to compress 1 cu. ft. of free air per minute by single or two-stage compression. The general formula for the horsepower required to compress air adiabatically is: HP = S X 144/33,000 PVn/(n-1) [(P'/P) n-1/Sn -1] (1) where: P = absolute atmospheric pressure at compressor, in pounds per square inch. P' = final absolute pressure of compressed air, in pounds per square inch. V = volume of free air compressed per minute, in cubic feet. S = number of stages. n = exponent of the compression curve.

Jan 6, 1917

R. L. Bullock (St. Joseph Lead Co., Bonne Terre, Mo.)— The progressive approach of The International Salt Co. as described by Mr. Ryon is certainly commendable as is his paper. St. Joseph Lead Co. has been shooting AN/FO in 13/8 to 1 1/4-in. holes for several months now (as of October 1960) on a trial basis. The results thus far obtained are excellent, but conclusive evidence at this date is premature. One point that he gave should interest even the most ardent skeptic. That is, they are getting a detonation of the 1 1/4-in. ANDO charges in 2 1/4-in. holes. In light of its low sensitivity and critical diameter, this would appear to be one of the worse conditions that one could expect in which to get proper detonation of AN/FO. It has been shown* that partial confinement sometimes decreases sensitivity of a column of explosive because the air space above the explosive becomes highly compressed and in turn compresses the explosive prior to passage of the detonation front. Apparently, this does not happen in their shooting and the poor explosive coupling caused by the 2 1/4-in. holes yields a minimum of overbreak and is an ideal condition for their back.

Jan 1, 1961

By George B. Clark

THE geological data emphasized so successfully in prospecting for new deposits, that is, structural controls, strength of solutions, and type of mineralization, are basically those required for successful exploitation. In the mining of newly discovered deposits the most economical methods should be employed as early as possible to keep the overall cost per unit produced at a minimum and to permit maximum extraction of valuable minerals. A crucial question is: How can geological data be translated into useful quantitative results which will aid in achieving this end? H. E. McKinistry1 has suggested that a solution may be reached in one of two ways: 1-the usual approach, use of judgment based on experience; or 2-mathematical calculations and tests on models, both subject to certain limitations. He also suggests that in addition to better use of geology more case data and theoretical data are needed on which to base sound judgment. Further research, therefore, is necessary. Perhaps in this field the emphasis should be on more specialization in mining methods and ground movement by men with thorough training in physics, engineering, geology, and underground mining. These specialists would be equipped to point out the most economical and scientific methods of exploitation.

Jan 8, 1954

By Samuel Taylor

IF I LIVE another fourteen months and am still con-nected with the coal industry, I shall then have com-pleted a half century with it. Since May, 1874, when .I first entered the bituminous workings as a miner, I think I have held almost every position connected with a mine except possibly that of mule driver, for which I was unfitted by reason of my religious upbringing. We are all agreed, at least I have not heard it contra-dicted, that there is serious over-production in the bituminous industry. This has come about in various ways and is easily explained. During the Fuel Admin-istration, I recall making an estimate of the possible output of the bituminous mines of the country provided they were given a full force of men and a full-car supply; my estimate was a little over a billion tons a year. A few months ago, the late Francis H. Peabody, of Chicago, made a practically identical estimate. If, however, both of these conditions should happen con-currently, there would very soon be no market for the coal, and many of the mines would close down. Even today, if 10 per cent. more cars were furnished, to the bituminous mines, market prices would drop very seriously.

Jan 4, 1923