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By Jan Wolski

Today's rapidly shrinking world requires a common language of measurements, a consistent system which could be used by everyone. The S.I. system of units is generally accepted as such and is already in use by a great majority of nations in the world. The change to S.I. units is also slowly taking place in U.S. engineering practice. The transition period is difficult and long because it takes time to get familiar with the new system, to start "feeling" values in new units. Instruments, formulas, computer programs, survey grids, etc. have to be converted or exchanged. The transition period should be used not only for substitution of units, but also for rationalization of presently used calculation methods. This paper examines the major parameters of mine ventilation from the above point of view and discusses a system which is much simpler and more consistent than the American Unit System still in use in the United States. In October 1979, the Society of Mining Engineers of AIME decided to introduce the S.I. unit system in all its publications including the periodical "Mining Engineering", and since February 1980 the system has been used consistently, not only in SME publications but in all conferences and meetings organized by this Society. The authors have no intention of explaining the details of the S.I. system in general. Any reader can find this information in many available publications and conversion tables, and in particular in the ASTM Standard for Metric Practice, E380-79. A comparison is made between various units used in mine ventilation from the past and those presently in use. This will allow an easy translation from one system to another, important when reading publications from abroad. S.I. and customary U.S. formulae are shown side by side for easier visualization of similarities and differences. Recommendations for the necessary steps in order to switch from American to S.I. units conclude the paper.

Jan 1, 1982

By Glenn Southward

This describes a highly concentrated mining system consisting of a series of short faces arranged to get complete recovery of coal with the maximum protection for the men and equipment. A series of conveyors collect the coal from eight faces and discharge into mine cars at a central loading point on a main haulageway. The conveyor is sectional and, by a multiple-drive arrangement, the same standard parts are used to construct a unit of any length. THE. V system of mining used at the Norton mine of West Virginia Coal & Coke Co. was designed as a modified longwall with face conveyors, FIG. 1.-GENERAL DESIGN AND ARRANGEMENT OF FACES IN V SYSTEM. for use under roof conditions that would not permit regular longwall methods. This mine is in the Lower Kittanning seam, which averages about 6 ft. in height. There is from 20 to 30 ft. of slate and shale immedi-

Jan 2, 1924

By AIME AIME

S ULFURIC acid made in the United States during the last four years has averaged approximately 7,000,000 tons of 50" B6 acid a year. This is double the production of the year 1913. About 66 per cent of the acid is made from sulfur, 16 per cent from pyrite, 13 per cent at copper, lead, and zinc smelters, and the remainder from miscellaneous sources it her the chamber process or the contact process, (at some plants both) is used. In 1923, the contact process accounted for nearly 30 per cent of all the sulfuric acid made in this country and since then it has been increasingly employed. It was first introduced here in 1898, and has always .proved less expensive than the chamber process for the manufacture of .acid of high concentration and purity, but the latter produces acid of low strength suitable for many industries.

Jan 1, 1929

By Charles E. Wait

In the use of the apparatus purchased for the new chemical laboratories of the university, no piece has given us more satisfaction, or has been a greater success, than a new still which is the subject of this paper. In the designing of this still I had two definite objects in view ; one, the utilizing of steam from the large 60 horse-power boiler used in heating the building, and the other, a provision for making distilled water with gas, when steam from the heating-plant was not available. The still is encased in wrought-iron, with a lining of asbestos, and is provided with a float which automatically regulates the flow of water from the supply-pipe. It was made for me by G. J. M?rrle, Pforzheim, Germany, and was imported by Messrs. Eimer & Amend, of New York City. It is a beautiful piece of apparatus, and the workmanship is excellent in every detail. The essential parts of this apparatus will be understood by consulting the accompanying figures, but a few words of explanation may be appropriate. The still has a capacity of seven gallons, and is made of heavy copper, tin-lined. It has a water-gauge showing the height of the water in the still, also an exit for steam, and safetyvalve, V; inlet for steam through a coiled perforated block-tin pipe; also an outlet, 0, for cleaning out the still; and there is also a heavy

Jan 1, 1895

By Charles Will Wright

FRANCE will be given a large portion of the Marshall Plan funds for relief, reconstruction, and industrial development in France and in her colonial possessions. At present that country is not in position to export any large tonnages of the mineral products needed in the United States. However, if, through Marshall Plan aid and private capital investment, production of these products can be largely increased, agreement should be made by which the United States is to get a substantial portion of such increased output in part payment for the material and technical aid they receive. France issued a decree, published in the "Official Gazette" on Feb. 3, 1948, which permits conversion into dollars of dividends derived from dollar investment in Government-approved projects and will agree to a scale of capital amortization to be determined in each individual case. This decree is to encourage private capital to cooperate with local capital in industrial undertakings. The French Colonial Ministry has prepared an extensive program for aid to the mining industries in overseas possessions to be undertaken by

Jan 1, 1948

By C. G. Bieber, J. R. Mihalisin, R. T. Grant

A growing demand for longer service life of gas turbines has placed increasingly rigorous requiret~rents upon superalloys employed for that application. Long-titne testing at high temperature has revealed that phase transformations occur in all superalloys. A common one of particular interest is o formation. Presented here are studies made to identify a and to characterize its formation and effect on properties in three cast nickel-base superalloys—IN 100 alloy, alloy 713C, and alloy 713LC. Methods are discussed by which o can be eliminated or inhibited in IN 100 alloy and alloy 713C. Evidence was obtained to indicate that some types of o may be more detrimental than others. Limitations in the electron vacancy approach to o prevention are pointed out, and it is shown how alternative approaches, such as reducing a complex superalloy matrix to the form of a pseudo-ternary system permitting equilibrium diagram treatment, lead to additional insights into the formation of in these alloys. AROUND 1960. Beiber1 developed IN 100 alloy, which still remains one of the strongest commercially available nickel-base superalloys. The principle used in the design of this alloy was to produce large quantities of y' phase in a y matrix through the use of copious amounts of aluminum and titanium. In 1963, ROSS' showed that when certain heats of this alloy were held for a long time at 1650°F they formed an acicular phase, subsequently identified as a.3 a is a hard and brittle phase first discovered in the Fe-Cr system by Bain and Griffiths.4 They termed it the "B" constituent. Subsequently this same phase was found in other systems, primarily those of the transition elements, and acquired the name "a" by which it is now known. The crystal structure of the a phase was first determined in the Fe-Cr system in 1950.5 It was shown to be tetragonal with a c/a ratio of about 0.52. as is the case with a found in other systems. This characteristic crystal structure is now the means by which a is identified. In superalloys, such as IN 100 alloy. large amounts of o impair the high-temperature creep strength and drastically reduce room-temperature tensile ductility. Discovery of o phase in some heats of IN 100 alloy quickly led to investigations of other superalloys for similar transformations. It was found that many of the stronger, more highly alloyed. super-alloys were indeed susceptible to o formation. This investigation has been concentrated on three commercial alloys: IN 100 alloy, alloy 713C, and alloy 713LC. J.R.MIHALISIN,MemberAIME, and C.G.BIEBER are with The International Nickel Co., Inc., Paul D. Merica Research Laboratory, Sterling Forest, Suffern, N. Y. R. T. GRANT, Member AIME, is with The International Nickel Co., Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa. Manuscript submitted May 22. 1968. IMD A detailed study has been made of the phase transformations and their relation to a formation along with a consideration of electron vacancy approaches for predicting a-forming propensity in these alloys. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Phase transformations were studied by light and electron microscopy, electron diffraction, microprobe investigations, and X-ray diffraction. Specimens for light micrographic examination were prepared by conventional grinding and polishing followed by etching with glyceregia (2:l HC1/HNO3 + 3 glycerine by volume). Photomicrographs of stress-rupture specimens were taken adjacent to the fracture unless otherwise noted in the text. Negative replicas for electron microscopy were taken from surfaces electropolished with a solution of 15 pct H2SO4 in methanol. For carbon extraction replication, a solution of 10 pct HC1 in methanol was used. A Siemens Elmiskop I was used for all electron microscopy. Selected-area diffraction studies were made at 80 kv using evaporated aluminum for standardizing the patterns. A nondispersive electron microprobe attachment was used to analyze the extracted precipitates chemically. The fluorescent X-rays were recorded using a flow counter containing P10 gas (90 pct Ar-10 pct methane) with a beryllium window and a single-channel pulse-height analyzer. The pulses from the analyzer were passed to a scaler-ratemeter and differential curves of counting rate vs pulse amplitude were obtained. The base line of the analyzer was driven with a synchronous motor at 0.5 v per min and a channel width of 0.5 v. The time for 105 counts was printed out for each 0.5-v increment. The microscope was operated at 80 kv with beam currents of 1 to 20 pa. This equipment detects elements from atomic number 13 to 40. X-ray diffraction studies were usually made on residues electrolytically extracted in 10 pct HC1 in H2O, although in one case a pattern was obtained from an etched surface of a metallographic specimen. A Siemens Crystalloflex IV was used with iron-filtered CoKa radiation. X-ray patterns were recorded using a goniometer speed of : deg per min. The scintillation counter and pulse-height analyzer operated at a channel height of 10 v and a channel width of 12 v. The equipment was calibrated with a powdered gold standard. The residues usually contained a number of phases. several of which could not be found in the ASTM card file. In addition, as is shown for the case of a phase in IN 100 alloy, other phases had a somewhat different lattice parameter from that reported in the ASTM card file, making it difficult to separate and identify constituents by comparison with ASTM d spacings. For these reasons, phases were identified on the basis of the lattice parameter obtained by indexing the ob-

Jan 1, 1969

INTRODUCTION The meaning of cash flow has already been defined as after-tax earnings available for use by the corporation or business. It is therefore apparent that a significant part of mineral economic evaluation is concerned with correct and accurate computation of taxable income under existing tax laws, and the proper treatment of tax allowances and deductions. The various methods of depreciation, depletion, and amortization are all means whereby the investor can earn back or recover, before taxes are imposed, the investments made for purposes of doing business or for the production of income. Each of these three types of tax deduction are applied to different investment items such as property, equipment, buildings, research, etc. The cost of buildings, equipment, machinery, and transportation equipment are representative of capitalized business costs that must be recovered by depreciation over the life of the asset. The property investment costs of acquiring natural resources such as minerals, oil and gas, and standing timber are examples of investment costs that may be recovered by depletion. Several other capitalized business costs, such as research expenses and trademark expenses, may be recovered by amortization. The term "capitalized" means that the in- vestment cost is not deducted as an operating expense in the year that it is incurred, but is spread out over a period of years through depreciation, depletion, or amortization deductions according to lawful schedules. Of course, any capitalized cost can only be deducted once. The other costs of doing business which are not capitalized, such as labor and operating costs, are said to be "expensed," i.e., they are written off for tax purposes in the year they occur. DEPRECIATION Depreciation, according to US tax law, is a deduction from taxable income permitted as a "reasonable allowance for the exhaustion, wear and tear of property out of its use or employment in a business." The original cost of the property is the usual basis for determining depreciation. Since depreciation write-off is applied over the useful life of the asset, the first step is to determine the estimated useful life or its allowable depreciable life. These two lives may or may not be the same. No average life is applicable to all types of depreciable assets under different conditions or in different types of business. It is the taxpayer's responsibility to determine the useful life of the asset according to his own operating conditions and experience, within the guidelines set by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Class Life Depreciation Range (ADR) System permits the taxpayer to choose from a range of depreciable lives at 20% below or above the present guideline life. The second step required in calculating depreciation is to determine an estimated salvage value for the asset. The salvage value is an estimate, made at the time of acquisition, of the amount of money which can be realized by the sale of the asset at the end of its useful life. The four depreciation methods most widely used in the US are: (1) the straight-line method, (2) the declining balance method (double declining balance), (3) sum of the years - digits method, and (4) units of production method. Straight-Line Depreciation Method The straight-line depreciation method is the simplest for calculating depreciation. The depreciation for each year is determined by subtracting the estimated salvage value from the first cost of the asset and dividing the result by the years of life. The method gives equal annual deduction over the depreciable life. Salvage value equal to or less than 10% of the first cost may be ignored. [first cost - salvage Straight line = years of life ] Declining Balance Depreciation Method Declining balance depreciation, or double declining balance (DDB) as most frequently applied, is used for accelerating depreciation in the early years of the asset and is the fastest depreciation method allowed by the US Internal Revenue Service. The declining balance

Jan 1, 1980

By M. R. Tek, F. F. Craig, J. O. Wilkes, C. S. Goddin

The waterflood performance of a water-wet, stratified system with crossflow is computed by a finite difference procedure. The effects of five dimensionless parameters on tile oil displacement efficiency, water saturation con-tour.7 and crossflow rates are evaluated in the absence of gravity forces. Crossflow due to viscous and capillary forces is shown to exert a significant effect on oil recovery in a field-scale model of a two-layered. water-wet sandstone reservoir. The crossflow is at a maximum in the vicinity of the front advancing in the more permeable layer. Under favorable mobility ratio conditions, the comparted oil recovery with crossflow always is interrnerliate between that predicted for a uniform reservoir and that for a layered reservoir with no crossflow. INTRODUCTION The important erects of reservoir heterogeneity on waterflood performance are commanding increased attention in the technical literature. Much of this attention is centered on two categories of layered reservoirs: those in which layers are non-communicating and those in which crossflow of fluids occurs between the layers. In the first category, the reservoir is assumed to consist of discrete layers, each uniform within itself and differing from the others only in such properties as thickness, porosity and absolute permeability. The performance within each layer is calculated by one-dimensional flow theory, and the performance of the total reservoir is obtained by summing individual layer performances. Capillary and gravity effects usually are not considered. Representative publications dealing with thi5 type of reservoir are those of Stiles,' Dykstra and Parsons,' Hiatt,3 Warren and Cosgrove' and Higgins and Leighton." Prediction of performance for reservoirs in the second category is considerably more difficult since viscous, capillary and gravitational forces all play important roles in causing crossflow between layers. A number of authors have investigated the simpler problem of two-dimensional displacement flow in a stratified system with a mobility ratio of unity and negligible capillary and gravity effects.'; Others have considered two-dimensional, non-steady-state flow of a single, slightly compressible fluid in a stratified reservoir. A limited number of laboratory oil displacement tests in layered models with crossflow have been reported. Miscible floods (with resultant zero capillary forces) in layered five-spot models were conducted by Dyes and Braun," who studied the effect of mobility ratio with zero gravity forces, and by Craig et al. 12 who studied the effect of gravity forces at constant mobility ratio. Waterfloods in layered five-spot models (with cross-tlow due to capillary, viscous and gravity forces) were conducted by Gaucher and Lindley,"' who showed the effect of gravity forces in causing underrunning of the injected water and by Carpenter, Bail and Bobek, 14 who demonstrated the reliability of Rapoport's" dimension-less parameters for scaling layered systems. Waterfloods in rectangular layered models were conducted by Richardson and Perkins."' who investigated the effect of velocity at constant mobility ratio and with zero gravity forces, and by Hutchinson," who studied the effects of varying mobility, layer permeability and layer thickness ratios. The differential equations which rigorously describe waterflooding in a heterogenous porous medium are non-linear and do not facilitate analytical solution. By using finite difference approximations it is possible to obtain a solution to any desired degree of accuracy. Such a solution, using an alternating direction implicit procedure (ADJP), is described by Douglas, Peaceman and Rachford.18 In the present study, a computer program using ADJP explores systematically the effects of important parameters on waterflood performance of a two-dimensional, two-layered, field-scale model of a water-wet sandstone system. Particular attention is given to evaluation of the water saturation contours and crossflow rates at the interface between layers to gain improved understanding of the crossflow mechanism. PROCEDURE BASIC: FLOW EQUATIONS The basic flow equations for two-dimensional, two-phase, immiscible, incon~pressible flow in a porous medium are:

Jan 1, 1967

By R. H. Maes, R. E. de Strycker, J. J. Jacobs

A simple method, based upow density measurements, has been perfected in order to determine the critical temperature of liquid miscibility gaps. Applied to the Pb-Cu system, it yielded a value of 980"C for the critical tempevature of the miscibility gap in this system. In the Pb-Cu-As system, the immiscibility between lead and coppev evolves towards a miscibility gap be-tween lead and copper arsenides; the liquation temperatures were determined joy different avsenic contents and values up to 1065°C were found. Combining these results with those given by the clzemical analysis of liquid samples taken at dqj.event temperatures, it has been possible to make a cowzplete determination of the liquid miscibility gap in this ternary system. In the Pb-Cu-Fe-As system, a ternary miscibility gap has been discovered; for some compositions, the molten and slowly cooled alloys separated into three layers: an Fe-As alloy, a Cu-As alloy, and a lead-rich layer. ThE Pb-Cu-Fe-As system is of interest for the study of the behavior of speiss or arsenical alloys in the lead blast furnace. The speisses produced in lead metallurgy generally have complex compositions, but they may be considered, in a simplified way, as a mixture of copper, iron, nickel, and cobalt arsenides; there is often an excess of metallic constituants, and lead is also present. Speisses liquate from lead at various temperatures according to their composition; according to industrial experience, iron speisses are already distinctly separated from lead bullion at temperatures of the order of 1100°C, whereas copper speisses only begin to liquate from lead at much lower temperatures, near their solidification points, which were never accurately determined until now. Besides these considerations of practical interest, the present study is of importance for the knowledge of liquid miscibility gaps. Particularly the data of the literature about critical temperatures of liquation are incomplete and present sometimes considerable disparities; a method has been perfected in the present work to determine these temperatures with accuracy. MISCIBILITY GAP OF THE LEAD-COPPER SYSTEM Review of Literature. The generally admitted outline of the Pb-Cu equilibrium diagram is shown by Fig. 1. This figure, with its numerical indications, is taken from the review of Hansen and ~nderko;' compositions are given in weight percent, as will be the case in the remainder of this paper. Between 36 and 87 pct Pb, Pb-Cu alloys separate into two layers, in the liquid state. The critical temperature of liquation has been much disputed in earlier studies, where values up to 1500°C were claimed; but a reliable study of ~ohnen,' based upon differential thermal analysis, gave a value of 990°C; this rather low value was verified by a recent study of Schiirmann and Kaune? based upon thermodynamical properties of the Pb-Cu alloys, which predicted a value of 1002°C. Liquid miscibility gaps were also studied by means of chemical analyses. Satisfactory results were generally obtained with the method consisting in taking samples of the two liquid layers in equilibrium and submitting them to chemical analysis; however, this method becomes delicate near the critical temperature. With this technique, Friedrich and waehlerts ob-

Jan 1, 1968

By E. D. Slone, F. L. Dillard

When a new mine is in the planning stages, one of the most important decisions to be made is the selection of' face haulage equipment and the interrelated transportation system to the surface. Equally important is the method of transporting personnel supplies and repair parts from the surface to the working places. When Bell & Zoller management elected to open the new Zeigler mine in the No. 9 seam near Madisonville, Ky., last year, various transportation systems were considered. It was agreed early that a slope mine would be preferred to a shaft mine, and that belt conveyors would be more economical than a rail system.

Jan 1, 1970

By R. L. Tobie, H. W. Seaney

Over the years since 1956 when initial experiments were conducted on underground concreting in an attempt to cope with the ground weight and pressure encountered in the development of a large-scale underground block caving system, the use of monolithic concrete linings has grown to include most of the primary development in the mining area. Although the development cost of concrete linings is higher than either timber or steel-supported openings, the repair and maintenance costs are substantially lower, making concrete the most economical means of ground support. Other ad- vantages are also apparent, in that concrete provides superior fireproofing, better ventilation, and a safer, cleaner working place.

Jan 11, 1965

By Leonard Bernstein, Harry Bartholomew

MANY of the properties of metals and alloys are structure dependent. Not the least of these is the grain structure. For example, in producing alloy bonds between silicon or germanium and gold-alloy foil at temperatures above their eutectics (which are, respectively, at 370" and 356°C) but below the melting points of the individual constituents, it was found that wetting was more complete with a fine-grain structure than with a coarse-grain structure. In cases where the assemblies were held together for long periods of time at elevated temperatures, wetting was not as critically dependent on the grain structure as was the case for shorter periods of time. When liquid phase forms, it first forms in the grain boundaries due to the fact that most of the impurities are concentrated at the grain boundaries and that most impurities tend to lower the melting point of the gold alloy somewhat. In addition, grain boundaries are at high-surface free-energy levels and are thus in a more favorable condition to initiate good wetting. A fine-grain structure will have more grain boundaries per unit area than coarse-grain structure thereby making wetting somewhat easier. To make the grain structure of an alloy sys- tem visible, a satisfactory method for differentiating between the different grains of which the system is composed must be employed. For the alloy bonding system previously described, the grain structure on the foil surface is of primary interest. Conventionally used etchants for the gold-alloy system will not adequately delineate grain boundaries in their structures. For this reason an alternate method is proposed for those cases where such a determination is necessary. Foil between 0.0005 and 0.005 in. thick has been used in this determination. The equipment used in this investigation was described in a previous publication.' Essentially, it employs a resistance-type filament which can be heated up very rapidly and cooled very rapidly. A thin refractory material is placed on top of the heating element. This refractory material may be molybdenum, tantalum, tungsten, or even ceramic but its thickness should be less than 0.010 in. to minimize the temperature gradient across it. The gold-alloy foil is placed on top of this refractory material. The temperature of the heating filament is raised to 900°C and cooled down to below 100°C in 5 to 10 sec. During this cycle, the foil can be observed to plastically deform due to its own weight. With no further chemical etching, this assembly is then viewed under a standard metallurgical microscope and the grain size measured. Fig. 1 is a Au-1 pct Sb alloy at 400X magnification and Fig. 2 is a Au-1 pct Ga alloy at 130X. This technique has proved to be an adequate means for controlling processing conditions in producing large quantities of gold alloy foil.

Jan 1, 1963

By W. H. Nielson, L. S. Diaz

Several techniques are presented to adjust small errors inherent in data collected from material balance measurements on the flotation process. The basic technique used is a Lagrange multiplier adjustment of the filtered data taken from the equipment measurements. The raw data are adjusted such that material balances are closed. The adjustments to each data point is inversely proportional to the square of the standard error of measurement. Problem areas in equipment utilization are discussed. Typical results from on-line measurements are presented. This technique can be applied to either on-line process measurements or metallurgical test data.

Jan 1, 1973

By A. B. Stevens

IN the calculation of oil and gas reserves by volumetric methods, it is necessary to know the volume of the reservoir available for the storage of the oil or gas. To obtain this information, a number of methods for determining both total and effective porosity of reservoir rocks are used. For the determination of the total porosity, or the porosity that considers all of the pore spaces, connected and isolated, the Russell7,8,9 and the Melcher-Nutting1-6 methods are the best known and most- widely used in the petroleum industry. These methods have disadvantages in that they give the total porosity of the samples and in that the samples are reduced to grain size in the determination. In many sands there may be little or no difference between total and effective porosity but in other sands there may be considerable difference between the two. For the estimation of oil-and gas reserves the effective porosity of the reservoir rock always should be used. Of the methods that have been developed for the determination of the effective porosity of reservoir rocks, or the porosity that considers only those pore spaces that are connected, the best known are the so-called Boyle's law6,10-13, and the Washburn-Buntings.5,6,11 methods. The Wash-burn-Bunting method is probably the most widely used because it gives effective porosity, it is rapid, and the apparatus is inexpensive. This method employs a special porosimeter in which the core sample is placed in direct contact with mercury. This method has disadvantages in that, as a result of the high vacuum created in the pore spaces, mercury is drawn into the openings, making it impossible to use the sample for a check determination and also ruining the sample for any further test, such as permeability. The purpose of this paper is to describe an appa-ratus employing the same principle as the Washburn-Bunting method but so designed that the core sample does not come in contact with the mercury in the porosimeter.

Jan 1, 1939

By James W. Wade

THIS discussion of the future supply of lead refers only to the next ten-year period. Beyond that no prediction can be made that would be of sufficient accuracy to serve any purpose. When any commodity is by an unsatisfied demand forced to a higher price level, and the profits of those who are able to produce the commodity are greatly increased, there is awakened a new interest in the commodity on the part of both producer and consumer. The consumer attempts to reduce his costs by developing substitutes or assisting in the development of new sources of supply. Lead is now going through this stage. The lead producer is increasing development expenditure and searching for new mines. The consumer is developing substitutes as illustrated by the increasing use of zinc oxide as a pigment, and the use of dry batteries in radio sets. The search of the Ford interests for lead, by prospecting in Missouri and Idaho, is induced by the effort to develop a new source of supply. Considering the index figures of the Department of' Commerce, it is evident that lead is on a substantially higher price level. For February, 1926, the index figure of lead is 209, while the general commodity price index is only 156, 100 being taken as the base for 1913.

Jan 1, 1926

By AIME AIME

THE time of the Section delegates was economized this year by providing the section reports in mimeo- graphed form, together with the reports of the officers and committees of the Institute, for their consideration on arrival. The meeting was called for Thursday forenoon and despite a certain amount of oratory managed to get through before all the luncheon was gone. In all, nine section delegates and one from the Iron and Steel Division attended and took part. One delegate, who had come many miles, got lost in the complication of the program and failed to attend. Six appointed dele- gates failed to attend and two sections neglected to make appointments.

Jan 1, 1929

By Rudolf Gahl

Some time ago the Detroit Copper Mining Co. had to decide the question whether it would pay to re-treat slime-tailings, and several machines were tested in order to ascertain the type of construction which would give the greatest saving. In previous tests on the ore of this company, several tables proved far inferior to the Frue vanner, and for this reason they did not receive any serious consideration. In the late tests, however, one table was found to surpass the vanner in the percentage of saving made. The Frue vanner used in these tests had been adjusted approximately to the slope which the slime-vanners in the concentrator of the Detroit Copper Co. had at that time, about 2 in. between the inside of the wooden posts, or 0.272 in. per ft. It had not been determined, however, if this slope was the most economical one for treating the slime-feed in the mill, or for re-treating the tailings from the slime-vanners, and I was instructed to ascertain by test-runs, under different conditions, the best adjustments for the work to be done. In order to determine if a change in the adjustments of the machines would improve the results, it seemed sufficient to continue running the tests between the vanner and the table before mentioned, keeping the feed and all other conditions the same, but varying the adjustments of the vanner from run to run. I employed a vanner-man of long experience to operate these machines, who expressed the opinion that a slope between 28 and 2.5 in. between the posts (0.323 and 0.340 in. per ft.) would give the best results. Some runs made this way gave a considerable improvement. While for a slope of 2 in. (0.272 in. per ft.) the saving had been only 40.5 per cent. of that of the table, it was 49.2 per cent. for 2.5 in. (0.340 in. per ft.) slope. A decrease of

Jan 1, 1910

By George Riter

OUR mineral-land laws need revising so as to provide definite title at the outset to the mineral deposits within any definite piece of land. The laws as they now stand, especially those applicable to lodes, breed uncertainty as to rights of possession prior to patent; and to my mind this is the worst feature of all, worse even than the apex bugbear. It is now almost impossible for anybody to tell with certainty what mineral rights exist within any area that is not covered y patent, or whether any valid rights exist at all. Our system is unique in permitting individuals to appropriate and exploit mineral lands of the public domain without notice of any kind to the Federal government, and to relinquish them without any ceremony at all. The result is a clouded record that cannot be cleared' up until each claimant is put to some sort of final proof. In order to accomplish this, new Federal legislation will be required. The requirements for a mineral survey and the proceedings for patent have always been cumbersome and expensive; and perhaps out of regard for the poor claim owner, who can ill afford the outlay for that sort of thing, the law does not require him to go through it unless he chooses to do so. Consequently, every active mining district has become encumbered with tangled groups of doubtful or conflicting locations, whose rights and boundaries, when any valuable ore is found, must usually be determined by lawsuits that are as expensive and as distressing as the stakes are high. So deeply has litigation entered into our mining system that a claim whose rights have never been disputed would probably be set down offhand, y a miner of the old school, as of no value. Think of the litigation over rights of possession on the Comstock lode-12 leading companies involved in an aggregate of 245 suits within a period of less than eight years! Ambiguous local records; the chance of erroneously placed or obliterated monuments; doubt as to the sufficient performance of the statutory annual labor; uncertainty as to prior conflicting or overlapping locations; anxiety as to the changing attitude of the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service-such considerations as these make an unpatented mining claim an unclean thing in the eyes of possible investors. Is it any wonder that they keep themselves and their money at a safe distance,

Jan 7, 1914

By George W. Riter

OUR mineral-land laws need revising so as to provide definite title at the outset to the mineral deposits within any definite piece of land. The laws as they now stand, especially those applicable to lodes, breed uncertainty as to rights of possession prior to patent; and to my mind this is the worst feature of all, worse even than the apex bugbear. It is now almost impossible for anybody to tell-with certainty what mineral rights exist within any area that is not covered by patent, or whether any valid rights exist at all. Our system is unique in permitting individuals to appropriate and exploit mineral lands of the public domain without notice of any kind to the Federal government, and to relinquish them without any ceremony at all. The result is a clouded record that cannot be cleared up until each claimant is put to some sort of final proof. In order to accomplish this, new Federal legislation will be required. The requirements for a mineral survey and the proceedings for patent have always been cumbersome and expensive; and perhaps out of regard for the poor claim owner, who can ill afford the outlay for that sort of thing, the law does not require him to go. through it unless he chooses to do so. Consequently, every active mining district has become encumbered with tangled groups of doubtful or conflicting locations, whose rights and boundaries, when any valuable ore is found, must usually be determined by lawsuits that are as expensive and as distressing as the stakes are high. So deeply has litigation entered into our mining system that a claim whose rights have never been disputed would probably be set down offhand, by $miner of the old school, as of no value. Think of the litigation over rights of possession on the Com-stock lode—12 leading companies involved 'in an aggregate of 245 suits within a period of less than eight years! Ambiguous local records; the chance of erroneously placed or obliterated monuments; doubt as to the sufficient performance of the statutory annual labor; uncertainty as to prior conflicting or overlapping locations; anxiety as to the changing attitude of the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service—such considerations as these make an unpatented mining claim an unclean thing in the eyes of possible investors. Is it any wonder that they keep themselvesand their money at a safe distance,

Jan 1, 1915

By R. W. Brauchli

During the last few years the compila-tion of formation logs from rotary well cuttings has become common practice among petroleum geologists. This meth-od has undoubtedly furnished a great amount of information valuable for both scientific and commercial purposes. How-ever, in spite of its great usefulness it has certain drawbacks, principally in the contamination of cuttings by cavings. In extreme cases this contamination can reach such proportions that it is next to impossible to draw conclusions with any degree of certainty as to the nature of the formations penetrated by the drill. This difficulty was frequently encoun-tered during the development of the Okla-homa City Field. In many cases where Wilcox sand-the most prolific sand of this field-was drilled, the samples con-sisted almost entirely of shale cavings with only traces of sand. In order to obtain more reliable knowl-edge of the formations encountered while drilling it is therefore necessary to resort to more coring, and above all to improve our present methods of coring. With this in mind a study has been made of the results of coring in the Oklahoma City Field, and the present article is mainly confined to a statistical analysis of the relation between recovery, diameter of cores and drill pipe, length of cores and a few other factors. Most of the coring in the Oklahoma City Field was done during the early part of, the development. A total of around 18,000 feet or 0.3 per cent of the total footage drilled before February, 1932, has been cored, and about 80 per bent of the cores were taken in the Simpson formation at a depth below 6,000 feet.

Jan 1, 1933