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By DR. SAMUEL B. CHRISTY

? THE man is always greater than his work.? The training of the men who are to develop the mineral resources of the world is the most important problem connected with mining engineering. It becomes ever more important to civilization as the mineral wealth of the earth approaches exhaustion. I have therefore decided to consider a few of the more important problems arising in the training of the mining engineer, and especially those arising in America. THE PECULIAR NATURE OF MINERAL WEALTH. Mining and Agriculture are the two fundamental arts. Without the latter our existence would be precarious; without the former, our civilization impossible. Agriculture furnishes that regular supply of food and raiment which leads to the growth of large communities in which cultivated leisure first becomes possible; while raining furnishes the metallic thread from which is woven that complex fabric we call civilization. But in these two arts the conditions for success are widely different. Most of the crops that the farmer reaps may be harvested year after year, and the proper fertilizers being added, he may continue the annual harvest indefinitely, while, as a result of cultivation, his farm becomes yearly more valuable. But the crop the miner reaps can be harvested but once in the history of the race. Our mineral wealth has taken unknown ages to mature in the bosom of the earth. The ripened fruit can be plucked but once. There are no fertilizers for worked out mines. It never pays to work over a mine that has been

Sep 1, 1905

By G. J. Wilson

Difficulties experienced in correlating vertical and lateral locations of subsurface features that are encountered in directional wells prompted critical review of the tangential method of computing directional surveys. Inherent discrepancies were indicated to cause small incremental but significantly large cumulative errors in computed vertical depth and horizontal departure. A radius of curvature method, developed for planning and analyzing directional wells, was studied as a means of more accurately calculating survey data. Errors incurred in the tangential method were not present in the radius of curvature method. Conflicting assumptions in calculating dog-leg severity by the tangential method were resolved by a new procedure that was derived from the radius of curvature method. Results of the investigation showed the radius of curvature method to be an improved method for computing directional surveys. Introduction Many improvements in directional drilling tools and techniques have been made in the past 10 years,' but the method of computing survey data has remained virtually unchanged. While use of computers greatly aids the process of calculation' and eliminates many human errors, manual and computer calculations are still made with the assumption that the wellbore consists of straight-line segments. This paper points out discrepancies in the method and presents an improved method in which the wellbore is assumed to be curved. Tangential Method The method presently used to calculate vertical depth, horizontal departure and direction coordinates with measured values of well depth, inclination angle and direction angle is termed the tangential method. This term stems from performing calculations with a series of straight-line segments, with each segment assumed to be tangent to the wellbore at a corresponding survey point. A segment is defined by inclination and direction angles measured at only the lower or deeper end. Consequently, a discrepancy or error is introduced for each segment. Errors are not of extreme magnitude, but cumulatively are significant due to the need to define as accurately as possible the vertical and lateral location of subsurface features such as pay tops, fluid contacts and fault cuts encountered in expensive directional well bores. In Fig. 1, the curved-line segment ab represents a portion of the actual borehole as viewed in the vertical plane. Points a and b are survey stations and +, is the inclination angle at point b. The curved-line segment ab is assumed to be the straight-line segment arb of a length equal to ab and tangent at point b to the curved-line segment. Lengths a'c' and c'b are equal to a'b cos +, and a'b sin +,, respectively. Point a already has been fixed by calcillations performed with survey data obtained at point a, and calculated lengths m'c' and c'b are projected as lengths from point a, rather than from point a'. Point b1 is thus fixed and assumed to represent the actual point b. Calculated length ac" is shorter than actual length ac, and calculated length c"bl is longer than actual length cb. Since b1 is the point from which the next deeper segment will be projected, errors are cumulative. Cumulative error continues to increase as long as the inclination angle continues to increase. When the inclination angle decreases (Fig. 2), calculated length ac" is longer than actual length ac, and calculated length c"bl is shorter than actual length cb. These errors also are cumulative, but differences between calculated and actual lengths are opposite in mathematical sign to differences demonstrated in

Jan 1, 1969

By Keats, J. L.

IN THE literature on the elimination of metalloids in basic open-hearth practice, there are a great many heats recorded in which excellent data on changes in slag and metal composition during refining are given, but in almost all of these heats either temperature data or weights and analysis of charge are unrecorded and observations on the physical charac- teristics of the slag are almost always lacking. With these points in mind, a test heat was made in which as complete as data possible on all the factors that affect the elimination of metalloids were obtained.

Jan 1, 1957

R. Trimble, Pittsburg, Pa (communication to the Secretary) : There are in the proposed specifications only two points on which I wish to comment at this time.

Jan 1, 1902

By Harlowe Hardinqe

ABOUT three years ago a distinctive new type of crushing and grinding equipment, known as the Hadsel mill, was announced. A description appeared in the November, 1932, issue of this magazine. Any machine that would take run-of-mine ore and reduce it, in one operation, and at a reasonable cost, to a size suitable for metallurgical treatment was bound to attract much interest, as the original Hadsel mill did. The first commercial sizes were built with the drum supported by an overhung shaft and partly immersed in a tank. The drum carried inside and outside buckets to lift the ore, which was dropped as the drum revolved onto stationary breaker plates projecting into the drum from the opposite tank wall. The coarser material settled back into the inside buckets. Intermediate sizes were carried into the tank, and this material was scooped out by the outside buckets and deposited hack in the drum for further grinding. The fines were carried out of the mill with the wash water over an adjustable weir at one side of the tank.

Jan 1, 1935

By K. Thirumalai

Rock response to heating depends on properties of rock material and varies widely between different rock types. By dissipating energy, surface melting limits rapid heating and fragmentation of rocks achieved by surface heating methods. This study advances a concept of rock fragmentation by rapid internal heating of a localized inner volume of rock. The working of the method to achieve fragmentation of rocks (Charcoal granite and Dresser basalt) having poor response to surface heating is analyzed. Experimental data on elevated temperature rock properties required for the study are presented. Based on the properties of test rocks, a high frequency (50 MHz) dielectric heating method of generating localized internal heating was selected for experimental study. The test rocks were fragmented without melting under localized heating below 600ºC. The heated volume required for fragmentation was observed to be less than 2 percent of the test block volume. A practical application of the method for in situ fragmentation of rocks is suggested.

Jan 1, 1971

By H. Foster Bain

FROM time to time geologists and mining engineers, impressed by the heavy demands made on our mineral reserves' by modern industry, and particularly by the steadily mounting rate of production necessary to meet that demand, have issued warnings as to the danger of exhaustion. There can be no dispute as to the fact that mineral deposits are exhaustible. New mineral, is not created to replace that taken from the earth and when a crop of mineral is once harvested another cannot be grown in the same area. The evidence of exhaustion 'of particular oreshoots, deposits, or even of whole districts is familiar to all who have mined. If one were to judge solely from the abandoned mills and prospect holes he would rightly conclude that mining is but a short-lived industry. If one were, furthermore, to assemble the data as to known reserves of almost any of the commonly used minerals, and divide them by the annual tonnage mined, he would come to the same conclusion. If, again, one were to consider the most carefully made estimates of competent men seeking to measure the earth's reserves of minerals and plot against them a projection of the curve of past consumption, he would be justified in viewing the situation with alarm.

Jan 1, 1930

By F. W. Lee

A GREAT CURTAILMENT of field activities among the geophysicists occurred last year, especially in prospecting for the common metals. In gold, however, an "outstanding achievement . . . was made by the engineers of Consolidated Goldfields. Here the suboutcrop of the Main Reef Series was traced from Middelvlei through properties of the westward area, a distance of from 30 to 40 miles. Here Drs. Reineche and Krahman prospected with the aid of a sensitive magnetometer and established the singularities of the various beds which heretofore had not been sufficiently appreciated. Several underlying shale beds were used to determine this suboutcrop under the dolomite. This area promises to be the equivalent of one-half the size of the present gold fields and to rank in value with the Far East Rand." The present temperature compensated magnetometers permit accurate field observations to less than 5 gammas. Since magnetic anomalies may have their origin due to a change of elevation as well as to the outcropping of a bed of another magnetically different material, intimate geological knowledge is of great assistance in the interpretation of these measurements. To what extent magnetic measurements reflect the basement when the material is homogeneous, consisting primarily of red granite, was determined by members of the Bureau of Mines and described by Dr. J. H. Swartz. Because of the diverse causes of magnetic anomalies, some of which were discussed and correlated by Stratton and Joyce upon known conditions, magnetometer measurements are often difficult to interpret.

Jan 1, 1933

By A. J. Williams

THE province of Saskatchewan, situated in the center of the Great Plains region of Canada, has, like most prairie areas, an essentially agricultural economy. Most of its population of about 860,000 is located in the southern half of the province in the farming and ranching areas. To the north of the prairie is a broad forested belt supporting a considerable timbering industry, and the northern one third of the province is glaciated pre-Cambrian rock formation. This latter area is, relatively barren of vegetation, but the presence within it of a considerable variety of radioactive, noble and base metals, and industrial minerals has been shown by prospecting in recent years.1 Glacial Geology The Keewatin ice sheet, considered to have accumulated in the country to the west of Hudson Bay in Pleistocene time, covered at its maximum advancement almost all of Saskatchewan and extended south of the international boundary. Only in the Cypress Hills in the southwest and around Wood Mountain in the south central portion of the province did the preglacial formations escape the action for this glacial period. The bedrock of the plains and forest areas therefore is overlain by moraines and modified glacial drift, which vary in thickness from a few feet to 400 or 500 ft.2 Glacial action in the pre-Cambrian area of the province was largely erosional, most of the more recent formations and some of the pre-Cambrian rock being transported out of the area to the south and west. It has been estimated that about 13 pct of this area is composed of lakes and rivers not too adaptable to rail or water transportation, so that until the use of aviation for exploration purposes became general; development of the area was slow. To the south, the heavy. mantle of glacial drift has to some extent deterred the discovery of industrial minerals in the bedrock underlying the forest and prairie regions.3 At the same time, this drift contains numerous deposits of those most elementary and necessary industrial minerals, sand and gravel. Sedimentary Basin The major feature of the sedimentary deposits underlying the plains regions is the basinal structure known as the Moose Jaw syncline, which runs from the southeast corner of the province in a northwesterly direction. To the west. of this syncline the formations curve upward, then have been faulted and further upthrust to appear at the surface in the foothills of-the Rockies in Alberta; to the east and north they curve upward into Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan, but the surface contacts are covered mostly with glacial drift.2,3 The axis of the syncline dips to thee southeast, so that there is also an upward trend of the formations along the axis to the northwest. In illustration of the regional structure underlying the province, the pre-Cambrian basement has been logged in drillholes at the following depths in several locations: Ogema (south central), 9390 ft; Gronlid (northeast), 2599 ft; Vera (northwest), 4422 ft; Big River (north northwest), 2348 ft. Fig. 1 indicates the general surface geology of the province, ignoring such glacial overburden as may overlie many of the bedrock formations. Also indicated is the approximate location of the axis of the Moose Jaw syncline.4 Industrial Minerals Clays: The province is fortunate in possessing a widespread distribution of clays of ceramic value, ranging from those used for heavy structural products to the high grade pottery and china clays. Shales suitable for brick and tile production are found in the Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary formations across the south of the province where the glacial drift is thin or nonexistent. Many deposits of glacial lake clays suitable for such wares are found scattered over the rest of the province south of the pre-Cambrian area. The Whitemud formation of the Upper Cretaceous is a narrow sedimentary, band of secondary clays found intermittently, at points, across the, south of the province where glacial action did not disturb or remove them.8 In the southwest corner of the province, around Eastend in the Frenchman River valley, the refractory clays of this formation are contaminated somewhat with iron compounds or other alteration products of basaltic rocks. This eliminates the use of those clays in true whitewares, as they fire to creamy buff shades at the lower temperatures and to a blue-specked grey at cone 8 to 12, (2280°F to. 2390°F), the range commonly used in firing whiteware. However, for use in the production of colored artware, caneware, stoneware or crockery, and sewerpipe, this type of clay makes an excellent body that requires little or no addition of flint, feldspar, or other fluxing materials such as are required in the higher class of ware.9 It is not a grade of clay that can be shipped great distances to the manufacturing centers, but a market for considerable tonnages has developed at nearby Medicine Hat, where cheap natural gas is available for the firing of the ware. Farther east in the south central portion of the province, the clays of the Whitemud formation are generally more refractory and white burning. The formation is divided into three zones, consisting of white clays, brown shale, and white sandy clays.

Jan 1, 1952

By D. E. Thomas, C. E. Birchenall

ALTHOUGH Eoltzmann gave a mathematical solution for the diffusion equation (for planar diffusion in infinite 01. semi-infinite systems only) in 1894 allowing for variation of the diffusion coefficient with a change in concentration, it was not until 1933 that this solution was applied to an experimentally investigated metallic system. The calculation was carried out by Matano' on the data obtained by Grube and Jedele3 for the Cu-Ni system. Since that time concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficient has been demonstrated for many pairs of metals. However, the nature of this dependence has never been fully elucidated. Many investigators have suspected that these variations could be related to the thermodynamic properties of the solutions, one of the earliest explicit statements being contained in a discussion of irreversible transport processes by Onsager' in 1931. Development along these lines has been greatly retarded by the lack of reliable data on the variation of tliffusivity with concentration, the paucity of the thermodynamic data for the same systems at the same temperatures and compositions, and an incomplete understanding of the relation of the thermodynamic properties of the activated state for diffusion to the bulk thermodynamic properties. The last factor has been discussed by Fisher, Hollomon, and Turnbull.5 In many instances where data exist, it is difficult to know which are acceptable. This problem probably applies more strongly to diffusion data than to activity measurements. For instance, four sets of observers"-" have reported self-diffusion coefficients for copper. The average spread between extreme results is a factor of about four, though the individual sets of data are self-consistent to about 20 pct. Thus one or more factors are out of control, at least in these experiments, making estimates of internal error unreliable. The most reliable diffusion data in most systems have resulted from the use of welded couples with a plane interface from which layers for analysis are machined parallel to the interface after diffusion. The layers are analyzed, and the result is a graphical relation between distance and concentration, usually called the penetration curve. Given the same set of analytical data and distances and following the same procedure in computation, different observers will generally produce diffusion coefficients which vary appreciably, especially at the extremes of the concentration range. Experiments must be carefully designed so that the precision is good enough to answer a particular question unequivocally. In the first calculation of the dependence of the diffusion coefficient on concentration in the metallic solid solution Cu-Ni, Matano found that the coefficient was insensitive to concentration from 0 to 70 pct Cu, after which it rose more and more steeply to some undetermined value as pure copper was approached.' The same behavior was reported for Au-Ni, Au-Pd, and Au-Pt.* The data used were those of Grube and Jedele which were very good at the time, but are not considered particularly good by present standards. Furthermore, the method of calculation makes the ends of the diffusion coefficient-concentration curve unreliable. For better reliability, the high copper end of the curve has been checked by incremental couples, where the concentration spread is 67.7 to 100 atomic pct Cu. The implication of the curves calculated by Matano was that diffusion is very concentration sensitive in one dilute range of this completely isomorphous system and hardly at all in the other. Matano's result is confirmed. Later Wells and Mehll0 published data on diffusion in Fe-Ni at 1300°C, which represent a thorough test of the shape of the concentration dependence curve. They ran couples with the following ranges of nickel concentration: 0-25 pct, 1.9-20.1 pct, 0-20.1 pct, 20.1-41.8 pct, 0-99.4 pct, and 79.3-99.4 pct. Although the trend of the data indicates an S-shaped concentration dependence, their curve was drawn to the pattern set by Matano. Their original data have been recalculated for the 0-99.4 and 79.3-99.4 pct couples. Wells and Mehl's points and two independent recalculations from the raw data are plotted in Fig. 1. What appears to be the best curve is drawn through them. This curve shows little sensitivity to composition in both dilute ranges with a strong dependence at intermediate composi-tions.? Similar experiments on the Cu-Pd system are reported here at temperatures where solubility is unlimited. These lead to the same type of concentration dependence for the diffusion coefficients as was found upon recalculation of the data for the Fe-Ni system. Experimental Procedure Cu-Pd: The concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficient may be determined by the use of

Jan 1, 1953

By GEORGE ROBERT DE BEQUE

WHAT is wrong with oil shale? The answer is of interest to the public, to the oil refiner, and to the engineer. Many people have invested in shale land or shale securities, and others would invest if early development of the industry were certain. In the face of increasing demands for oil products, oil refiners are threatened with inability to maintain present output unless the supply of domestic petroleum is supplemented. Development of the oil shale industry would open a new field for engineering services. The object of this paper is to suggest reasons why there is but one shale plant in operation in the United States, and to discuss the probable time when the business will be firmly established in Colorado. As the Colorado deposits are the richest and largest in the world, ample supply of material is assured, consequently, this discussion will be confined principally to technical problems and economic problems affecting shale development.

Jan 1, 1924

By B. VISWANATH

T HE Mysore iron works, at Bhadravati, about 2000 ft. above sea level in the Shimoga district of Mysore, British India, is served by a meter gage branch line of the Mysore State Railways. The works which were designed and erected by Perin & Marshall, who still act as consulting engineers, are surrounded by a thickly wooded country which sup- plies about 400 tons per day of wood for fuel. The ore deposits lie 20 miles to the south, and limestone quarries are close by the works. The Bhadra river sup- plies the works and the town with the necessary quantity of water. Dwelling houses for the employees

Jan 1, 1930

By Robert J. McKay, F. P. Huston, WILLIAM G. HUMPTON

THE manufacture of nickel-clad steel plate and the fabrication of articles from it has progressed far enough to permit a general description of the working methods used. The manufacture of sheets made up of layers of nickel and steel is not new as a sheet of this character was patented in Germany in 1893. Present development differs mainly in the size and finish of the product. The earlier light-gage highly finished products have been limited in their application due to their similarity, in certain respects, to electro-plated and highly finished alloy sheets. The new product is a relatively heavy plate 1/4 or 3/s in. thick and heavier, with one side coated with nickel, the weight of nickel being of the order of 10 per cent of the whole. The finish is that of hot-rolled steel plate.

Jan 1, 1931

By John H. Hearding

Induction heating, together with automatically controlled tempering and hardening is giving Oliver faster and more accurate bit sharpening, while experiments with bit taper promise to offer increased footage per bit.

Jan 10, 1953

By W. J. Taylor

In making heating gas with anthracite coal for roasting ore during the past few years, I have tried many forms of gas generators. So far, the most successful and satisfactory one has been what we call a fluxing producer, which is simply a small cupola or blast furnace, in which we charge with the coal, say, 30 or 40 per cent. of basic blast-furnace cinder, to unite, when melted, with the ash or earthy matter in the coal, and carry it off as cinder. The producer we have in use at Chester, N. J., has more of the lines of a blast furnace than a cupola, the hearth being 24 inches diameter and 24 inches high. It then enlarges on an angle of about 25 degrees from a perpendicular to 4 feet, and then is drawn into 3 feet on top ; total height, 12 feet. We use one water coil-tuyere 12 inches above the bottom, and blow through a 1 1/2 - inch nozzle. The depth of coal above the tuyere averages about 6 feet. The producer-is blown with

Jan 1, 1881

By Henri V. Reibell

Deep open pit optimization supposes very long and sedious calculations in order to assign the best shape of the pit and the best bottom level, which will give the biggest profit. Computers give the possibility to make these calculations. More over, they allow to multiply trial calculations so that it is possible to obtain more reliable results. The paper does not expose the computer program but only the way in which mining engineers can use it.

Jan 1, 1969

By WILLIAM BOWIE

IN most human endeavors a knowledge of the terrain is essential to the effective carrying out of projects, but no line of work is more dependent on maps than theoretical and applied geology. Maps of a kind do exist for all of the area of the United States, but most of them are crude affairs and of little use in engineering, planning, and scientific research. Topographic mapping in the United States was initiated on a national scale by the U. S. Geological Survey and the organizations that were merged in its creation to make base maps for geologists. Their work could not be effectively done then and cannot be effectively done now without maps that accurately delineate the earth's surface. The distribution of the rock masses that contain valuable mineral bodies, or that by their intrusion brought them into existence, is the first step in a study of the mineral resources of the nation. This work requires three-dimensional maps, that is, topographic maps on which the land forms are shown by contours.

Jan 1, 1938

By Gregory M. Dexter

Recent litigation in Pennsylvania between three coal-mining companies and a private water company resulted in the payment by the coal companies of the equivalent of about $500,000 to buy a new water supply to replace that which had been damaged by acid drainage from strip mining. An investigation of the relevant facts indicates that the water could have been treated by spending about $40,000 on equipment and $15,000 yearly for chemicals, labor, and power until the contamination could be reduced about 80 pct. The water company's supply, furthermore, had deteriorated largely by reason of dry weather before stripping was begun by the coal companies. Payment to the water company should not have exceeded $300,000 and could have been as low as $100,000. Strip mining of coal is common in Pennsylvania. The most important objection to it in Pennsylvania is generally acid pollution of runoff water. An outline of the methods, therefore, that could be used to reduce such pollution, to compare acid-contaminated waters, and to treat such waters to make them satisfactory for public and industrial use is worth-while. The watershed of the West P~M Water Co. covers about 4.5 square miles, 20 miles west of Pittsburgh, and has two 90,000,000 gal reservoirs sup- plying about 1,300,000 gal daily for public and industrial use of which 450,000 gal daily are for two railroads. The pollution arises from weathered derivatives of typical "Coal Measures"

Jan 1, 1949

By Basil B. Zavoico

CRUDE oil production in the United States during 1938 reached approximately 1,214,355,000 barrels, an average of 3,327,000 barrels per day, or 5 per cent below the 1937 record output of 1,279,160,000 barrels. The decreased production did not prevent the stocks of all products from increasing to a total of 575,954,000 barrels by Sept. 30, an increase of 10,957,000 above the total on Jan. 1, or an average daily storage increase in all products of 40,135 barrels. The increase in total stocks was made entirely in the refined products, stocks of crude oil during the first nine months of 1938 having actually declined 7,155,000 barrels to 299,671,000 barrels, or an average daily decline of 26,209 barrels. The 1937 reversal of the preceding five-year trend of discoveries totalling less than withdrawals was continued through 1938 with indicated reserve addition from both new discoveries and extensions considerably in excess of the

Jan 1, 1939

By R. W. Raymond

The immense commercial value of the Gayley dry-blast process has been established beyond controversy. The testimony of practical blast-furnace managers, on both sides of the Atlantic, agrees that it reduces the cost of pig-iron about $1 per ton; but from the same testimony it appears that this direct economy does not by any means cover its commercial advantages—in fact, that under conditions frequently encountered in practice, it presents other benefits of even greater immediate financial importance. To this point I shall recur in a later part of the present paper. The history of the reception given to this invention, especially on the other side of the Atlantic, has repeated an experience familiar to American engineers. First, the reports of our practice were rejected as theoretically impossible, according to generally accepted notions and formulas; then the figures were reluctantly accepted; and finally the attempt has been made to explain how they could have been obtained. As to the Gayley dry blast, me Americans have been for several years in the last stage of the discussion, and the rest of the professional world is rapidly coming to it. Meanwhile, the remark has been repeatedly made that, whatever Mr. Gayley's process may turn out to be worth, it was not an invention on his part, but simply the energetic and persevering execution of a procedure already proposed by others. This question I wish to discuss first in the present paper. I. What Did Mr. Gayley Invent? Realizing that this is not the place for detailed argument on an issue of patent law, I shall not undertake to quote and criticise the publications prior to Mr. Gayley'a first patents. It may be admitted, without such critical analysis, that the possible advantages of removing moisture from the air forced into an iron blast-furnace were recognized and talked about a hun-

Jan 1, 1909