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By W. O. Milligan, J. L. McAtee

THE constitution and structure of the hydrous forms of aluminum oxides and hydroxides have been studied in the laboratory of the Depart¬ment of Chemistry at Rice Institute for almost three decades. Progress reports have been made from time to time 13,17,18 summarizing and evaluating the existing state of knowledge concerning the complex inorganic system A12Oa-H2O. X-ray and electron diffraction analysis, together with dehydra¬tion isobars and isotherms, have been the most useful methods for increasing the understanding of the structure and interrelationships of the various forms of alumina and aluminum hydroxides. The purpose of this paper is to bring up to date the information now available, in the hope that a clearer understanding of the structures of these materials may prove useful in aiding mineralogists and geologists in studies of the genetic significance of the aluminum hydroxide minerals, and possibly of the closely related clay minerals. Early investigators found the system alumina-water to be confusing, since, prior to X-ray diffraction examination, it was not possible to clearly identify and characterize the various crystalline forms. One could not be certain as to whether or not different investigators were working with the same chemical individuals. In later studies, including some from the authors' laboratory, addi¬tional confusion resulted from difficulty in preparing pure samples of the various aluminum hydroxides and in obtaining relatively large crystals of dimensions above the colloidal range of particle size. Even at present, it is difficult to establish sets of interplanar spacings for the several forms of the aluminum hydroxides, as illustrated by the 29 different X-ray diffraction pat¬terns listed in a current publication. The nomenclature of the aluminum hydroxides is also extremely confus¬ing, inasmuch as two different systems are employed by large groups of in¬vestigators. Plans are being made to formulate a uniform system of nomen¬clature but in this report the designations employed will agree with previous papers from the same source.13,17,18 Four forms of crystalline aluminum hydroxides may be considered to be well defined and recognized, which, together with hydrous alumina "amor¬phous to X-rays," comprise an exceedingly complex inorganic system. Several

Jan 1, 1952

By H. J. Wasson, L. W. Mayer

The existing large stocks of raw materials have induced misgivings in the minds of many as to near-view prospects for a return to higher commodity price levels. Until stocks are materially reduced—and this operation will probably extend over a protracted period—a buyers' market will continue. Meanwhile the matter of production cost becomes more and more a factor of consequence to industrial management, finance and the investing public. With many commodities a general level of costs exists with which the public has been made familiar. Certain conditions surround these industries which, at the outset, determine whether there is a basis for sound commercial results. In other words, it can generally be determined in advance whether or not the cost of production is sufficiently below the normal average price to return a reasonable profit over the years. With all domestic agricultural products there are available exhaustive Government studies in the field of production costs. Such figures as the average cost of wheat, cotton, sugar, etc., are reiterated constantly. There are many products of foreign origin such as coffee, rubber, raw silk, etc., the production costs of which are to most of us matters of deep mystery. Forest products also are so diversified that few but specialists know what a thousand feet of lumber really cost at the mill, especially where remotely located. However, with respect to products of mines, production cost information has been widely disseminated. The literature is replete with such data. Here we find that without any special help from outside agencies the industry itself has given publicity to a large variety of cost figures. For example, we know, or know where we can ascertain, the cost of producing a pound of copper from Chile, Arizona or the Lake Superior district. In many cases we can secure from the company reports a vast amount of detail leading up to the cost per ton of ore and the cost per unit of the metal yield. These records are of great assistance to the mining industry as a means of estimating on new exploitations. This industry has been production-cost-minded almost from the beginning.

Jan 1, 1931

By John C. Fowle

Having had for many years the management of magnetite mines, and having noted the various admixtures, such as jasper, " green rock," actinolite, etc., that occur so frequently in the deposits and make the fine ore so difficult as well as expensive to sort by hand, I studied the different ways of mechanical sorting, but found none eatisfactory—the universal objections being the expense, the small quantity that could be handled per hour, and the low grade of ore produced after all. Feeling that some means would be discovered ultimately for concentrating the small ore, I began at the Michigamme mine, at Michigamme, Lake Superior, Michigan, to separate it from the larger and richer lumps, by placing in all the shaft-houses screens of round iron bars set 1/4-inch apart, on which the skips were dumped as they were hoisted; the coarse ore going into one stock-pile or into cars, and the small ore, from 2 or 3 inches diameter down to powder, going into a special stock-pile, to be treated as soon as some proper means was found to separate the ore from the rock and ether impurities. Careful investigations showed that neither dry nor wet concentration was the right process for us; and I finally studied the magnetic process. Not knowing of any magnetic separator in this country that would handle such large pieces of ore as I wished to treat, I looked abroad and found in Sweden the Wenstrom separator. One of these machines was brought to the United States and tested in New Jersey and other places. (See the papers of Messrs. Cook and Birkinbine, Trans., xvii., 599 and 728.) This original separator, having 15-inch face of drum, I brought to the Michigamme mines, and, no one having confidence in it, placed it in operation at my own expense. Finding that in this way large ore could be treated much better by magnetic separators than by hand, and with much greater enrichment of the product, I put up a small, crude mill with several series of screens, so as to size the material and

Jan 1, 1891

By Hugh M. Roberts

The important place in the economic life of the country that is occupied by the United States Geological Survey and the various state surveys is appreciatcd by most members of our Institute. To the public at large, the functions of these surveys are no doubt largely unknown, and taken for granted. Possibly a realization of the value of the work of these government branches is brought home most fully to that group of our members whose duties as examining engineers and mining geologists take them to mines and prospects in many different parts. The examining engineer or geologist is usually seeking for a judgment on the value of an enterprise from the standpoint of the useful minerals that may or may not be present; he must also attempt some prediction as to future market prices. On his opinion rests the determination of the expenditure of money, which rendered into other language means the expenditure of human effort. An opinion on an exploring venture or the reasoning out of the probable extensions of an orebody requires among many other things a background of knowledge covering the geologic horizons not only of an immediate area but of the surrounding area, a knowledge of the structural geology and of the causes that have operated to form the ores as they are. The great storehouses of this knowledge are the statistics, reports and maps issued by the various geological surveys. They supply the groundwork for additional observations. To these, reference is always made when going into a new district. The technique of work in the field and laboratory, and to some extent the hypotheses that underlie our methods of approach, have been formed by men such as Van Hise, Leith, Kemp, Spurr, Emmons and Lindgren, who developed their powers in the service of the geological surveys. In addition to whatever originality of thought, or power to observe facts and analyze them, may be our portion, we require, in the application of the arts and sciences, a knowledge of what has already been done. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before, and the extent of our vision often depends upon the thoroughness with which we form earlier work into one whole and make use of it.

Jan 1, 1935

THE opening session was held on Tuesday evening, October 23d. Mr. J. F. Lewis, on behalf of the local committee of arrangements, made a short address of greeting to the members assembled, and then introduced Gov. A. H. Holley, of Lakeville, Conn. Gov. Holley addressed the Institute as follows : Gentlemen, we give you cordial welcome to a mining, manufacturing, and agricultural country, of which we are not a little proud. We welcome you as an association, and as individuals. We invite you to an inspection of our resources, and to our methods of improving them. We appreciate the results of your efforts in past years, and we anticipate good from your advice and counsel in the future. You are in the vicinity of some of the oldest mining and manufacturing operations in iron in our country. It will be our pleasure to conduct you to a mine which was worked for more than a half century before our country achieved national independence, and to point out to you the spot where the products of this mine were wrought into cannon and shot during the progress of our Revolution. We can show you also a far larger area of mining country than was supposed to exist in this vicinity at that early day. There are, within a radius of thirty miles from this spot, ten mines at least that have been extensively worked, and there are as many more that have been occasionally worked, with a fair degree of success. All the mines that are wrought to any extent produce excellent qualities of iron, while many of them in various combinations produce as good material for the manufacture of steel, car wheels, axles, and many other purposes, as can be found in any country. The old Salisbury iron retains its reputation for tensile strength unsurpassed, when made entirely from the ore of the old mine. The progress that has been made in the development of these mines since the days of the pickaxe, when the product was transported in pounds upon horseback, to those of the steam-engine, which now moves hundreds of tons per day, presents, indeed, a

Jan 1, 1878

By Robert C. Mackenzie

EXAMINATION by the differential thermal analysis technique of a large number of samples of soil and other clays from various parts of the world has demonstrated that the occurrence of cold-precipitated hydrated ferric oxide (the identification of which in soil clays has previously been reported5) is not confined to any limited locality; e.g., it has been found in varying amounts in clays from Britain, France, South Africa, and Mexico. The conditions necessary for its formation have not yet been elucidated in spite of the number of samples examined, and, since this mineral is so easily prepared in the laboratory, it has been considered that a study of its constitu¬tion and of the conditions under which it could be prepared might. lead to a better understanding of the factors involved. These experiments form the subject of this short paper, and while they do not supply a definite answer to the mode of formation of this mineral in nature, they may, it is hoped, add something to our knowledge in this direction. EXPERIMENTAL WORK Materials Employed The a-Fe2O3.H2O (goethite) and B-Fe2O3.H2O (Weiser and Milligan") were obtained from the Department of Geology, University of Aberdeen, and Rothamsted Experimental Station, respectively. The beta material had been prepared by the method described by Fernelius.1 y-Fe2O3.H2O (lepidocrocite) was prepared at the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research by the method of van Schuylenborgh.6 The method employed for preparation of the cold-precipitated hydrated ferric oxide* was as follows: 1: 1 NH4OH was added (moderately fast with rapid stirring) to a solution of 5 grams FeC13.6H2O in 250 ml distilled water at room temperature (ca. 15°C) until red litmus turned blue, and then 2 to 3 drops in excess. The resultant precipitate was filtered off on a Buchner funnel and washed free from Cl- with distilled water. Previous experiments having shown that drying over P2O5 at room temperature or drying at 105°C in the oven did not significantly affect the thermogram,5 samples were nor-

Jan 1, 1952

By C. E. Wood

THE Blast Furnace Studies Section, Metallurgical Division, Bureau of Mines, has been working for several years on the mechanism of desulphurization of iron and steel by slags. The usual assumption that desulphurization takes place by diffusion of FeS from metal into slag and subsequent reaction of this FeS with CaO to produce CaS has seemed to us inconsistent with a number of experimental results we have obtained. We undertook, for example, to determine the proportion of sulphur in a slag present as FeS. An entirely satisfactory method of doing this has not yet been evolved. The results of extraction with metallic antimony led to an interesting conclusion, however. FeS is readily soluble in metallic antimony, either physically or by chemical reaction. On the other hand, CaS was found to be insoluble. Hence it would appear that by rapid extraction of the slag with antimony we might expect to determine the distribution of sulphur between iron and calcium. The results showed that much of the sulphur was present as FeS. In some instances the extraction of sulphur as FeS was almost quantitative. For example, in a slag containing 3.8 grams Fe and 3.7 grams S, extraction removed 1.18 grams S and 2.12 grams Fe. If all the iron present in the antimony had been FeS, 1.21 grams S would have been extracted. In another slag with 8.6 grams Fe and 0.06 gram S present, 0.14 gram Fe and 0.08 gram S were extracted. This was obviously extraction of sulphur as FeS within the analytical error and showed that FeS was present either in solution or as a dispersion. Attempts to determine the solubility of FeS and CaS in slag by quenching and ultramicroscopic investigation have indicated that the solubility of FeS is very low, and that reactions in the slag are probably not to be considered as homogeneous. A more detailed report on these theoretical considerations will be made at a later date.

Jan 1, 1939

By J. W. Spretnak

It is well-established that decohesions occurring at the interface of the matrix and rigid inclusions and second-phase particles are prime causes of ductile fracture initiation. It is not clear, however, how these decohesions occur. The idea that the interface bond is broken in tension is not particularly attractive when one considers the strength of such interfaces and the fact that plastic flow is not restricted under conditions of continuing flow required to initiate and propagate ductile fracture. A suggestion as to the mechanism of decohesion arises if one takes the position that, as the dislocation density increases with plastic flow and reaches some critical range of density, the phenomenon of flow can be regarded as fluidlike instead of the crystallographic motion of dislocations. As the spacing between dislocations decreases, the matrix becomes increasingly disordered in terms of loss of periodicity. At some critical degree of reduction of the periodicity, it is suggested that flow can be regarded as hydrodynamic, rather than crystallographic. Such a state has been referred to by rheologists as the "plasticized state", or the "fourth state of matter", between the liquid and solid state. A similar argument pertains qualitatively with the increase in equilibrium vacancy concentration as the temperature approaches the melting point. Taking the viewpoint that at larger strains the flow may become hydrodynamic in nature, a mechanism of decohesion is suggested. A well-known phenomenon in boundary-layer flow is that of "separation" locally of the boundary layer from the substrate.' Under certain conditions, the flow in the immediate neighborhood of the substrate becomes reversed, causing the boundary layer to separate from it. The exact condition for separation is that the velocity gradient normal to the substrate vanishes there, or It is of interest that blunt particles such as spheres and circular cylinders are most likely to give rise to separations because of unfavorable pressure distributions behind them. The source cited gives solutions for positions of separations for various geometries. In principle, such separations can also take place when metal is flowing over a "dead zone" of stagnant metal. This may explain the initiation of fracture at the elastic-plastic boundaries of plastic enclaves under a notch.

Jan 1, 1967

The opening session was held on Tuesday evening, October 23d. Mr. J. F. Lewis, on behalf of the local committee of arrange ments, made a short address of greeting to the members assembled, and then introduced Gov. A. H. Holley, of Lakeville, Conn. Gov. Holley addressed the Institute as follows: Gentlemen, we give you cordial welcome to a mining, manufac turing, and agricultural country, of which we are not a little proud. We welcome you as an association, and as individuals. We invite you to an inspection of our resources, and to our methods of im proving them. We appreciate the results of your efforts in past years, and we anticipate good from your advice and counsel in the future. You are in the vicinity of some of the oldest mining and manufacturing operations in iron in our country. It will be our pleasure to conduct you to a mine which was worked for more than a half century before our country achieved national inde pendence, and to point out to you the spot where the products of this mine were wrought into cannon and shot during the progress of our Revolution. We can show you also a far larger area of mining country than was supposed to exist in this vicinity at that early day. There are, within a radius of thirty miles from this spot, ten mines at least that have been extensively worked, and there are as many more that have been occasionally worked, with a fair degree of success. All the mines that are wrought to any extent produce excellent qualities of iron, while many of them in various combinations produce as good material for the manufacture of steel, car wheels, axles, and many other purposes, as can be found in ally country. The old Salisbury iron retains its reputation for tensile strength unsurpassed, when made entirely from the ore of the old mine. The progress that has been made in the development of these mines since the days of the pickaxe, when the product was trans ported in pounds upon horseback, to those of the steam-engine, which now moves hundreds of tons per day, presents, indeed, a

Jan 1, 1879

By Milnor Roberts

CORNWALL, a Mecca for metal miners the world over, is easily reached from the southern coast of England. Passengers who land at Plymouth or Southampton can connect with a fast train from London called the "Riviera express," which traverses the beautiful counties bordering the English Channel. In Cornwall the traveler soon notices the pits and stock-piles of white china clay, and the metal mines, both placer and hard rock. The deposits are associated with granite batholiths, of which there are four principal ones, each a few miles in diameter. Tin mines are especially worked in the granite near its borders and also in the immediately surrounding Paleozoic slates. Copper and lead are no longer of importance here but tin is being produced steadily from several mines, with arsenic and tungsten as by-products. At the close of the war the man-power available. for these mines had been reduced to one-third of normal, and only now is it again reaching full strength. As mining in Cornwall antedates the Christian era, even a Nevada prospector would have to admit that "she's a permanent camp." SUB-TROPICAL CORNWALL Redruth and Camborne are industrial centers of the tin mining industry, but more tourist hotels are found in neighboring resorts such as St. Ives, a quaint fish-ing town on the Atlantic-side of the peninsula of Corn-wall, where the numerous cats descended from those mentioned in the ancient riddle-rhyme about St. Ives now occupy every doorstep and wall. Another charm-ing resort. Penzance on the shore of the English Channel, is known by name to the public through the opera "The Pirates of Penzance," but is of especial in-terest to students of nature for its palm trees and other subtropical plants, which thrive owing to the nearness of the gulf stream, although the latitude is that of northern Newfoundland, Winnipeg, and the northern end of Vancouver Island. Among the industrial plants at Camborne are those of Holman Brothers, Ltd., where drills and other forms of mining equipment are manufactured. At the Corn-wall School of Mines, which specializes on the district, the staff has assembled excellent collections of local ores, which repay study by a visitor.

Jan 1, 1928

By A. W. Hahn

ALTHOUGH enormous tonnages of sulfide lead and lead-silver ores are treated by flotation, the products of flotation mills treating oxidized ores of lead and silver are almost negligible. However, each year there is a slight tonnage increase, and it is possible, should a sizeable oxidized lead ore tonnage be developed, the field will become an important one. In 1918, the Shattuck-Arizona Copper Co. erected a plant at Warren, Ariz., for the treatment of oxidized gold-silver-lead ores. Glenn L. Allen worked out the metallurgy for this plant, employing tabling, followed by flotation concentration. The Shattuck-Denn Mining Co., successors to the Shattuck-Arizona Co., now employs straight flotation in the same mill, treating about 200 tons daily. In 1922, the San Diego mill of the American Smelting & Refining Co., in the Parral district, Chihuahua, Mexico, started operating a 600-ton mill on a mixed sulfide-oxide gold-silver-lead ore. Tables and flotation are used here, and about 200 tons of oxidized slime treated by flotation. In 1923, the Eureka Holly Mining Co. started operating a 90-ton mill at Eureka, Nev., using tables and flotation, on an oxidized lead-silver ore. In 1924, the American Smelting & Refining Co. started a 250-ton mill in northern Peru, to treat a high-grade oxidized gold-silver ore with very low lead values. In 1924, the Grand Central Mining Co. started a 200-ton flotation mill on old oxidized gold-silver-lead tailings at Fairbank, Ariz. In 1926, the Compania Internacional Minera, a subsidiary of the Union Corporation of London, started a 250-ton flotation mill on oxidized lead-silver ores, and during April of this year, the Phelps-Dodge Corpn. will probably start a 250-ton mill at Warren, Ariz., on oxidized lead-silver ores, similar to those being treated in the Shattuck-Denn mill. METHODS All of these mills use sodium sulfide for filming the oxide minerals, with the possible exception of the North Peru mill, and all use oily reagents. The total tonnage of strictly oxidized lead-silver ores concentrated by flotation is probably less than 2500 tons daily. The following figures give the various types of ores being treated:

Jan 1, 1928

By Julien F. Phillips, Donald E. Garrett

The production of soda ash from natural sources is one of the United States' oldest industries. The London Company, which financed the settlement of Jamestown, in the fall of 1608 exported in its first cargo from Virginia " . . . trials of pitch, tar, glass, frankincense, and soap-ashes."1 This last product, a crude mixture of sodium and potassium carbonates obtained by the burning of wood in iron pots, was the commercial soda ash of its day, used in the infant soap, glass, and bleaching industries. Besides having a good cash value, its production helped to clear the land, and it was a compact, easily shipped commodity. The extra high potassium content of these American "pot-ashes" gave them an added market as a fertilizer, a field that they dominated until the opening of the Strassfurt deposits in 1860. This form of natural soda ash disappeared forever from commercial importance with the introduction of the Le Blanc process (1791), and later the Solvay process for manufacturing soda ash. The Solvay process was rapidly accepted in the United States, and has accounted for most of the country's soda ash production since 1884. It was not until the western part of the country began to be developed that natural soda ash was again produced. A number of lakes, playas, and springs west of the Rocky Mountains were found to be rich in this mineral, and climatic conditions were ideal for its easy recovery by solar evaporation. The production of natural soda ash from these deposits has become a steadily growing industry in the United States. Production A summary of the production and value of natural sodium carbonates in the United States is presented in Table 1. Prior to 1927 the principal output came from several different companies at Owens Lake, California. Then production at Searles Lake, California, began to [ ] increase until it became the most important source. In 1948 the sale of crude trona from Green River, Wyoming, commenced and since that time production from these latter two areas has been about equal. Table 2 lists the four

Jan 1, 1960

By H. E. Gross

Recently, areas of abnormal rock pressure have been drilled on the Gulf Coast of the United States. These pressures may be caused by the recent and pronounced raising of some of the structures without loss of the formation pressure that existed when the reservoir was developing and the producing sand much more deeply buried. It is possible also that a permeable fissure may connect a shallow accumulation of gas with the gas cap of a much deeper reservoir of oil, gas and water. The pressures are so great that dependence on blowout-prevention equipment alone is hazardous to life and property. Fortunately, wells with excessive casing-head pressures, such as the Stanolind Oates No. 1 of the South Houston field, an 8700-ft. gas well with 6000 Ib. per sq. in., and the near-by Stanolind Candelari No. 1, and 8100-ft. gas well with 5000 Ib. per sq. in., have not blown out and cratered. A case is on record of drill pipe in a well in Harris County, Texas, (Oates No. 1) rotating for 8 hr. through blowout-prevention rams holding a back pressure of 2900 Ib. per sq. in. at the casinghead after the mud was altered by salt-water intrusion. Such conditions warrant the use of extremely heavy muds having low viscosity, made from galena (PbS) or specially prepared mixtures of hematite (Fe²O³) and galena suspended by bentonite. In some Gulf Coast wells, sodium silicate mixed with concentrated brine is used to drill through heaving shale formations. Such a fluid inhibits heaving remarkably, but it is expensive and costs as much as $10 per barrel. Barite has been used to weight this mixture. However, this mineral too rapidly increased an already excessive viscosity and it was thought that galena might be better for weighting such drilling fluid. The operator was anxious to try the latter, but none was available in the district. Laboratory Study of Heavy Muds To foster the use of the plentiful and extremely heavy mineral, galena, research has been done recently at the University of Oklahoma to determine the mud-making properties of this substance. For comparative

Jan 1, 1938

By D. M. Bondurant

AT the present time, the coal industry is greatly interested in any method or machine that will cut the cost of producing a ton of coal, while at the same time producing a product of quality and grade suitable to the customer. Comparatively new and, as yet, little known, auger mining is proving a profitable method of coal recovery. It may be used for the production of low-cost, high-quality coal with equal success from both the hard-to-mine seams, those with banded impurities and bad roof conditions, and the more easily mined seams as classified according to conventional mining methods. A number of units are now in operation and production information is available that should be of particular interest to coal operators and of general interest to anyone associated with the coal-mining industry. Auger mining refers to coal extraction with large size augers capable of drilling to great depths and having a high capacity. Consideration of the equipment and methods used in drilling an ordinary shot-hole will give a picture of auger mining on a smaller scale. At present, auger mining is used largely for recovery of coal from the highwall after strip mining becomes uneconomical because of the type and the thickness of the overburden which must be moved. Coal augers have many of the advantages of present continuous mining machines, along with many more. The four distinct operations of conventional mining-—cutting, drilling, shooting, and loading— are eliminated and replaced by the combined operation of boring and conveying of the coal. The coal recovery auger is an adaptation of the horizontal rock drill used for drilling shot-holes to shatter and loosen overburden in strip mining operations. During the war the Becker County Sand and Gravel Co. of Summersville, W. Va., experimented with drilling coal with 6 and 9-in. rock augers. The results led to the successive development of the 20, 24, 30 and the 36-in. machines, the latter having appeared in the coal fields within the past six months. Because of the great success of the smaller size

Jan 1, 1952

By Charles Catlett

My attention having been called several years ago to the possibility of increasing the yield of coke per ton of coal, as obtained in certain bee-hive ovens, I called the attention of the Institute to the matter at the New York meeting in 1899. I have had occasion since to witness the indifference with which this matter is ordinarily considered, and, on the other hand, the marked improvement which comes from even a most perfunctory effort in that direction; and I am almost tempted to say that nothing in connection with the coking of coal is at present so important. There are other factors, which are fundamental and necessary; but they have been considered already ; while the question of yield is, as a rule, absolutely ignored, or some figure is taken as the result of a special burning of one or two ovens, and the assumption is made that the whole battery is yielding at that rate. The uncertainty of this assumption I may illustrate by saying that, in my own observation, the burning of a single oven in a battery frequently gives, by actual weight, as much as 69 or 70 per cent. of merchantable coke, while the battery as a whole was yielding only an average of 63 per cent. Only from careful records, checked at least once a month, of the weight of the coal going to the ovens and the weight of coke produced, can any correct idea of the actual yield be gained, or methods be modified so as to produce good results; yet, as a rule, the crudest estimates are usually the only available data. In many cases there are reasons for this loose practice. The coal is mined by measurement; the payment for drawing the ovens is in proportion to the amount of cod which goes to them; and, not uncommonly, the royalty is so much a ton of coke, not of coal. The mine-manager is tempted to increase the volume of coal mined which is paid for as a ton, and to do the same thing in charging the ovens. Nor does he

Jan 1, 1903

By Hugh M. Roberts

The important place in the economic life of the country that is occupied by the United States Geological Survey and the various state surveys is appreciatcd by most members of our Institute. To the public at large, the functions of these surveys are no doubt largely unknown, and taken for granted. Possibly a realization of the value of the work of these government branches is brought home most fully to that group of our members whose duties as examining engineers and mining geologists take them to mines and prospects in many different parts. The examining engineer or geologist is usually seeking for a judgment on the value of an enterprise from the standpoint of the useful minerals that may or may not be present; he must also attempt some prediction as to future market prices. On his opinion rests the determination of the expenditure of money, which rendered into other language means the expenditure of human effort. An opinion on an exploring venture or the reasoning out of the probable extensions of an orebody requires among many other things a background of knowledge covering the geologic horizons not only of an immediate area but of the surrounding area, a knowledge of the structural geology and of the causes that have operated to form the ores as they are. The great storehouses of this knowledge are the statistics, reports and maps issued by the various geological surveys. They supply the groundwork for additional observations. To these, reference is always made when going into a new district. The technique of work in the field and laboratory, and to some extent the hypotheses that underlie our methods of approach, have been formed by men such as Van Hise, Leith, Kemp, Spurr, Emmons and Lindgren, who developed their powers in the service of the geological surveys. In addition to whatever originality of thought, or power to observe facts and analyze them, may be our portion, we require, in the application of the arts and sciences, a knowledge of what has already been done. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before, and the extent of our vision often depends upon the thoroughness with which we form earlier work into one whole and make use of it.

Jan 1, 1935

By A. Beeby Thompson

ALTHOUGH the exclusion of foreigners and private owners from participation in the development of the Russian oil fields prevents first-hand information being obtained, both official and private news indicate a growing appreciation of the value of the country's oil resources. Notwithstanding the suppression of that initiative and energy which only ambition can adequately stimulate, the industry is progressing and exports of products are assuming an importance that cannot be disregarded as an economic factor in the world's oil business. The following notes and observations must be regarded mainly as the views of one who has closely followed the fortunes of Russian oil, when considering the changes that have taken place in geological knowledge and oil-field technique, which have so profoundly modified oil-fields methods. Russia is fortunate in having retained the services of a few scientists and technologists whose devotion to science has superseded their personal inclination, and to these few men must be attributed the slow, but nevertheless striking, progress that has been made. The productive oil fields of Russia are centered around the Caspian Sea which, with its connected river system, constitutes such an ideal means of internal distribution for products. From the group of oil fields of which the city of Baku forms a center, oil is pumped to Black town, a suburb of Baku, where all the refineries are situated. The next important group of oil fields is located in the Terek district near Grosny, where refineries are erected and the products are piped or carried by tank cars to Petrovsk for the internal Russian market, or sent to the Black Sea by rail. A third oil field is spread over the province of Uralsk, north of the Caspian Sea, the main port of outlet being Gourief, at the mouth of the River Ural. In Trans-Caspia there are two oil-field centers, one near. Krasnovodsk on Chelekan Island, and one in Central Asia at Ferghana. The product of the former fields is transported to Baku for treatment, while the output of the Turkestan field is refined and consumed locally, mainly by the railway.

Jan 3, 1925

By A. W. Hahn

Although enormous tonnages of sulfide lead and lead-silver ores are treated by flotation, the products of flotation mills treating oxidized ores of lead and silver are almost negligible. However, each year there is a slight tonnage increase, and it is possible, should a sizeable oxidized lead ore tonnage be developed, the field will become an important one. In 1918, the Shattuck-Arizona Copper Co. erected a plant at Warren, Ariz., for the treatment of oxidized gold-silver-lead ores. Glenn L. Allen worked out the metallurgy for this plant, employing tabling, followed by flotation concentration. The Shattuck-Denn Mining Co., successors to the Shattuck-Arizona Co., now employs straight flotation in the same mill, treating about 200 tons daily. In 1922, the San Diego mill of the American Smelting & Refining Co., in the Parral district, Chihuahua, Mexico, started operating a 600-ton mill on a mixed sulfide-oxide gold-silver-lead ore. Tables and flotation are used here, and about 200 tons of oxidized slime treated by flotation. In 1923, the Eureka Holly Mining Co. started operating a 90-ton mill at Eureka, Nev., using tables and flotation, on an oxidized lead-silver ore. In 1924, the American Smelting & Refining Co, started a 250-ton mill in northern Peru, to treat a high-grade oxidized gold-silver ore with very low lead values. In 1924, the Grand Central Mining Co. started a 200-ton flotation mill on old oxidized gold-silver-lead tailings at Fairbank, Ariz. In 1926, the Compania Internacional Minera, a subsidiary of the Union Corporation of London, started a 250-ton flotation mill on oxidized lead-silver ores, and during April of this year, the Phelps-Dodge Corpn. will probably start a 250-ton mill at Warren, Ariz., on oxidized lead-silver ores, similar to those being treated in the Shattuck-Denn mill. Methods All of these mills use sodium sulfide for filming the oxide minerals, with the possible exception of the North Peru mill, and all use oily reagents. The total tonnage of strictly oxidized lead-silver ores concentrated by flotation is probably less than 2500 tons daily. The following figures give the various types of ores being treated:

Jan 1, 1928

By Charles R. Fettke

The permeability of an oil or gas sand is its capacity for transmitting fluids, either liquids or gases, under pressure. The permeability of a sand depends upon the size and shape of the openings in it and the extent to which these communicate with one another, as well as upon the ratio of their volume to the total volume of the sand. The apparatus employed and the method of procedure used by the authors in conducting the permeability tests have been described in a previous pub1ication.l For the tests described here 1/2-in. cubes were used. They were set in the lower end of a 1-in. union, inserted in a square hole cut in a hard rubber stopper which fitted into the lower end of the union. In the tests with air, volumes were measured with a wet American gas meter of 100 cu. ft. capacity. In those with water, distilled water at room temperature was employed, unless otherwise noted. DescRiption of Sands Tested The tests described in this paper were performed upon 18 samples representing typical oil and gas sands from 7 localities in northwestern Pennsylvania. For purposes of identification, the cores from which the samples came have been designated by capital letters, the sequence of the samples in the cores by numerals, and the individual cubes by small letters. All cubes from the same samples came from adjacent portions parallel to the bedding. Core A of the Bradford sand came from the north central part of the Bradford field, from an area where water-flooding operations have proved highly successful. Core B of the same sand was obtained from the southern part of the field. This core contained a so-called "loose streak," 7.5 ft. thick, in the middle portion of which B2 is a representative sample. The "loose streak" has given trouble in water-flooding but responded favorably to an air-drive, using a pressure of 300 lb. The natural production was increased approximately five times over a period of three years in which the air-drive was in operation. Core C, also of the Brad-

Jan 1, 1931

By E. A. Koester

Kansas produced approximately 35,434,000 bbl. of oil in 1932 compared to 37,018,000 bbl. in 1931, a decrease of 1,584,000 bbl. or 4.2 per cent. These figures do not indicate the amount of oil that could have been made available from the state for the year. Many of the fields discovered during the year and some discovered in previous years were entirely shut in. Practically all flush production discovered within the last two years has been prorated in some manner or other. Probation Kansas production is under regulation as specified in House Bill 387, passed by the legislature in 1931, which became effective when published May 28, 1931. The principal features of the law are the prohibition of waste, including gas energy, the regulation and prevention of discrimination of purchasers, the marketing of oil ratably from wells in each field when the daily production is above 15 bbl. per well. This act gives the enforcing powers to the Public Service Commission. The Commission, having many other regulatory duties, appointed an Oil Advisory Committee, which, with the aid of the State Umpire, keeps records and makes recommendation for orders as to specific regulation of fields and conditions in each field. At the time the Commission was given authority to regulate production and marketing in flush fields, several of these had already been under voluntary proration and marketing restrictions by agreement of the operators. These gradually came under the control of the Commission by mutual consent. It is the policy of the Public Service Commission to follow the will of the operators so long as they do not have ideas or plans in conflict with the law. The cost of administration of this law is assessed against the operators according to the amount of oil taken from the fields in which ratable taking is necessary. There is a feeling that the whole state should share this expense, which is small, since it is beneficial to the older fields by assuring them 100 per cent market for their output by restricting the flush fields.

Jan 1, 1933