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By E. W. Enqelmann

DURING January, 1933, burlap or coco matting was placed in the bottom of launders handling various products of the flotation plant of the Magna mill of the Utah Copper Co., with the hope of increasing the total recovery of gold. This was soon followed by placing various materials, such as coco matting, cotton twill, and common 10-oz. burlap on the bottom of the main tailing launder. The burlap was found to be the most economical material to use. The test was first conducted in an old wooden launder, 40 in. wide and 2000 ft. long, with 10-oz. burlap fastened

Jan 1, 1935

Robert T. Hill, Washington, D. C.: Having studied very minutely the geology of the district referred to by Prof. Branner, I beg to state that his quotation of my classification of the Cretaceous deposits of Arkansas is not the one which I originally gave,* nor is it the one which has since been published and is now generally accepted.? I did not assign ally of the Cretaceous formations of Arkansas to the " middle Cretaceous,"

Jan 1, 1898

Frank H. Probert, A.R.S.M., Morenci, Arizona (communication to the Secretary): The management of mines and the system of bookkeeping employed are subjects of great interest to mine-superintendents, and such papers as that of Mr. Davis callnot fail to attract attention. The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London, England, has done much within the last three years to promote discussion on the many systems adopted throughout the mining world; and any papers giving individual experience will benefit that class of men who are charged with the cconomical management of mining properties. It is often said that " a good mine shows a good manager," and more often that mismanagement is the chief cause of poor returns; or, as Mr. A. G. Charleton puts it, in his able paper on " Mining Accounts and Cost-Sheets,"* " accident may, and often

Jan 1, 1902

By AIME AIME

EVEN in the choice of his birthplace and parents, Donald B. Gillies indicated clearly the trend of his professional career. He was born on Nov. 4, 1872, at Bruce Mines, in Ontario. His father and mother came from the Isle of Skye, Scotland, to Nova Scotia, moved from there to Canada, and finally settled in the copper country in the northern peninsula of Michigan, where the senior Mr. Gillies followed mining as an occupation. Donald's early education was in the public schools and he graduated from Linden Lake (Mich.) high school in 1890. Following the family interest in mining he entered the Michigan Mining School, now Michigan College of Mining and Technology. There he was the rare student who excelled both in athletics and scholastic work. On the athletic field he was a crack football player and track roan. As early as 1890 lie established a record of 10 sec-

Jan 1, 1938

By AIME AIME

REPUBLIC STEEL'S new iron blast furnace in Alabama, shown on the cover of this issue, is the first to be completed of those authorized by the Government last year when a shortage of scrap became acute. In addition to the furnace, the new equipment includes a new battery of by-product coke ovens, a boiler plant, a generating unit, a 3-mile-long 60-in. water line, a huge gas washer, and precipitators in which the dust from the furnace is washed, separated from the water, and fed back into the furnace as raw material. The new unit is a cylindrical steel giant reaching 130 ft. into the air above the ground level. Because of the high humidity in the deep South, the furnace has been air-conditioned to avoid blowing eighteen tons of water into the furnace daily. Designed by Republic engineers who also had charge of the actual construction, the new furnace incorporates the best in modern blastfurnace practice. Orders to proceed with the construction of the furnace were received Sept. 22, 1941. The engineering crew, which was immediately organized, made more than 1500 drawings. Excavation started the next day, and simultaneously work was begun on demolishing existing buildings and preparing the site. The first concrete was poured Oct. 7 and the first piece of steel swung into place by a giant derrick on Jan. 30, 1942. It began operating May 28. A total of 70,000 cu. yd. of earth was moved and 30,000 cu. yd. of concrete poured.

Jan 1, 1942

By AIME AIME

A SPECIAL meeting arranged by the Petroleum and Gas Committee of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers was held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 21 and 22, in the Assembly Room of the American Annex Hotel, St. Louis, Mo. Preceding the first session on Tuesday morning, the members and guests were registered and presented with the usual Institute badges. The morning session was opened at 10:30 by Ralph Arnold of Los Angeles, Calif., Chairman of the Petroleum and Gas Committee. In his opening remarks, he suggested that the petroleum section specialize more and more on the technical problems of the oil industry and that an effort be made to enlarge the membership of the Institute among the technical men of the industry. The following program was presented : OIL FIELDS OF RUSSIA, by A. Beeby Thompson and T. G. Madgwick, of London, England. Presented by H. A. Wheeler; discussed by Arthur Knapp and R. VanA. Mills. This most comprehensive paper was one of what is hoped to be a series to be presented by some of our foreign members. It is by far the best description in English of the world-famous Baku and other fields of Russia.

Jan 1, 1920

By Ezequiel Ordonez

MOST spectacular of Nature's contributions to the making of the postwar world is the Paricutin volcano, in Mexico, which I described in the July issue of this magazine last year, a few months after it was born. Now, after more than a year of continuous eruption, it is still and perhaps will remain a comparatively small though no less interesting volcano. The cone on April 1 had an altitude of nearly 1200 ft. above the level of the small flat field from which it began to grow on Feb. 20, 1943. This cone is now almost entirely surrounded by the lava flows that poured out at different dates, from its base or from outlets on the slopes near its base. To the north and northwest these lavas were

Jan 1, 1944

"NAME…""Utah"" is derived from the name of the Indian tribe, variously spelled ""Yuta, “Ute"" ""Youta,"" ""Uta,"" ""Eutaw,"" and finally ""Utah."" It means ""in the tops of the mountains,"" or ""on the heights."" The state emblem is the ""Beehive,"" typical of industry. State nickname is ""Beehive State.""AREA…Utah is the tenth state in area. It contains 84,990 square miles, of which 2,806 miles are water. When admitted as a territory in 1850, Utah included all the area from the east line of California to the summit of the Rocky Mountains between the 37th and 42nd parallels, which embraced practically all of the present state of Nevada, all of western Colorado, part of Idaho and part of Wyoming, in addition to the present area of Utah.TOPOGRAPHY…Utah is generally mountainous, with several main ranges and also detached groups of mountains. The valleys are broad and level. The mean altitude of the state is 6,100 feet above sea level, which makes the state the third highest of the Union. The highest point in Utah is King's Peak (13,498) in the Uinta range. The lowest point is Beaverdam Creek (2,000) in Washington county.CLIMATE…The climate is diversified between mild temperate in the northern portion to semitropical in the southern portion. There are four distinct seasons. Snowfall is heavy at the greater altitudes and rare in the southern portion. Rainfall is moderate throughout the state. Extremes of heat and cold are unusual."

Jan 1, 1925

By P. CHARTERIS A.

THE following scanty notes on the Roumanian oil-region may serve as an introduction to more detailed future study and description. The Roumauian oil-belt, follows the outer edge of the sweep of the Carpathian Mountains, and may, in a broad sense, be regarded as a prolongation of the Galician belt. It is distributed over a tract of country from 300 to 400 miles in length, with a width of from 15 to 20 miles, and is believed to cover an area of at least 20,000 hectares (59,420 acres). The Government claims that 16,000 to 17,000 hectares of its land is petroliferous. The primary deposits of petroleum are considered to be in the Padeogene (Oligocene) and the Neogene (the salines of the Miocene) formations. Most of the other repositories, especially those of Muntenie, are only secondary, the petroleum there having been introduced by the orogeneric movements which raised the Carpathian Mountains. The oil-field has been divided by the Roumanian survey into two regions, the Flysch and the Sub-Carpathian, as is shown in the accompanying sketch-map, Fig. 1.(p. 518). So far as is yet, known, practically all the seepages and .productive pits and wells are situated oil anticlinals. Those which outcrop in the Flysch region. (called Paleogene anticlinals), as indicated in the sketch-map, Fig. 1, are : Solontz, Middle Oligocene; Moineshti, Moineshti and Tagu-Ocna-beds of the Eocene.

Jul 1, 1906

By C. A. Schempp

STUDY of the adaptability of Tintic Standard ores to concentration dates back to somewhat before January, 1921, when the chloridizing mill at Harold, Utah, was put into operation. The operation of this mill has been fully covered in the TRANSACTIONS (Vol. 73). The process consisted essentially of a chloridizing roast followed by a percolating leach with a nearly saturated solution of common salt, acidified with sulfuric acid; precipitation of silver on sponge copper, and of copper and lead on tin-plate cuttings. This mill was built to treat the low grade siliceous ores having an average content of

Jan 1, 1933

John S. Kennedy, Chamhersburg, Pa. (communication to the Secretary): The washing-plant described by Mr. Johnson is a good illustration of the advantages derived from a well-designed and care-

Jan 1, 1895

By J. A. Retty

HOLLINGER CONSOLIDATED GOLD MINES LTD., through two subsidiary companies, has the exclusive right to prospect in two contiguous areas in central Labrador. This paper presents the results of the mineral exploration that has been conducted in these areas to date. One of the subsidiaries of Hollinger. the Labrador Mining and Exploration Co. Ltd., under an agreement with the Newfoundland Commission of Government, holds an area of approximately 20,000 sq.mi., which comprises the western portion of Newfoundland-Labrador and includes the upper basins of the Hamilton and Naskaupi Rivers. (The main area of the deposits so far discovered may be located on a map at about 67° west longitude and 55° north latitude.) The other subsidiary of Hollinger, Hollinger North Shore Exploration Co. Ltd., has licensed from the Province of Quebec an area of approximately 3900 sq.mi. lying directly north of the Newfoundland-controlled area at the headwaters of the George, Whale, and Swampy Bay Rivers. The M. A. Hanna Co., large iron-ore operators of the Lake Superior region, are participating in the project. With the exception of the years 1940 and 1941, field work has been conducted in the Newfoundland area since 1936, and in the Quebec area since 1939. Hollinger assumed the management in 1942. The field base is at Hollinger Lake, some 300 miles north of the tidewater base at Seven Islands, Quebec, which, in turn, is just west of the mouth of the Moisie River, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Air transportation is used exclusively to service the operation.

Jan 1, 1945

Jan 1, 1888

By Francois Clerf

IRON ORE fields are situated in both the East and West of France (see maps). The eastern deposit is by far the most important from a tonnage point of view, not only in France, but in all Europe. The ores of this region are known as minette, and are situated in the Lorraine ore fields and the Briey plateau. The iron ores of the West are those of Normandy, Anjou and Brittany. Before the war, a large number of important German companies had acquired considerable interests in these western fields and a heavy trade with Westphalia had begun. Recently, however, conditions have changed and some of the mines of Brittany and Anjou are now idle. From a geological point of view, in Anjou and Brittany, a series of synclines extends from the northwest to the southeast, containing a number of seams of varying thickness and generally intercalated in Silurian and sometimes in Devonian formations. The ore is generally a hematite or a magnetite. The composition varies from 48 to 52 per cent of iron and from 8 to 12 per cent of silica. Con¬servative estimates indicate a con¬siderable tonnage of workable ores (150,000,000 metric tons).

Jan 1, 1936

By Joseph Jensen

THE history of the normal oil field is supposed to show an oil graph stalting high in flush production, descending more or less steeply into the curve of settled production and dropping gradually to the vanishing point of economical operation. Together with this at somewhere in the early history of the field, there appears from a vanishing point a graph showing the production of water. During the period of settled production this graph rises higher and, toward the close, unless extensive work is done in the line of correction, rises far above the oil graph to where the cost of operation terminates profitable pumping. Fields that start out with a high relative content of water are generally very short lived. Fields that never develop a water problem are exceedingly rare.

Jan 1, 1930

By C. R. Keyes

Discussion of the paper of C. R. Keyes, presented at the Chattanooga meeting, October, 190S, Bulletin No. 26, February, 1909, pp. 119 to 166. E. R. BUCKLEY, Flat River, Mo. (communication to the Secretary*) :-Some statements in the paper of Mr. Keyes relative to the nature and formation of the Ozark lead- and zinc-deposits seem to me erroneous and misleading, and I respectfully present the following criticisms, placing Mr. Keyes's original statements in quotations. Referring to the Ozark dome: (P. 127.) "It is a region that has been repeatedly upraised and planed off, until in the middle portion the oldest known' rocks only are exposed." Does he mean that the St. Francois mountains, which have always been considered as lying on the eastern flank of the Ozark dome, are the middle of the dome? Or does he mean that the Cambrian rocks of the generally-accepted middle are the oldest known rocks ? Certainly not the latter, and if the former, his idea of the middle of the dome is not in accord with that of others who are familiar with the region. (P. 138.) " . . . the ore-deposits are definitely associated with, or localized by, geologic structures of some kind that .produce in effect basins in which' the underground waters are impounded, or their flow retarded." This statement does not appear to be altogether consistent with the facts, since the ore- bodies of the Joplin district, as the rule, occur in those parts of the Mississippian formation which have a tendency to accel¬erate the flow of ground-water rather than retard it. I might name the open, breeciated ground near Joplin, Webb City, and Oronogo as especially noteworthy illustrations. The ore-bodies, everywhere, occur in positions where there must have been a free and copious circulation of dilute lead- and zinc-solutions in the presence of reducing constituents. The inequalities in the distribution of the ore-deposits are

Oct 1, 1909

By Frank Firmstone

The material described below was made at Furnace No. 2, Longdale, Va., Oct. 28, 1907, during a sudden derangement of working, in the course of which the furnace became entirely bridged over and for some time no solid material whatever descended into the hearth. This caused the hearth to become so completely emptied that, at the tuyere-level, a pricker put in at one tuyere could be seen by looking in at the opposite one. The tap-hole was opened and the iron got out with some difficulty. It ran sluggishly, throwing many sparks, but was not too thick to run into the chill-molds. Naturally, the product was assumed to be white iron, which is almost always produced under similar circumstances; but on removal front the molds it proved to be very strong and tough, although full of blow-holes. Most of these blow-holes bad bright, unoxidized walls. The iron could be drilled by using a "special steel" drill, the drillings curling up similarly to those of steel. An analysis by P. W. Shimer of this unusual product gave: Si, 0.019; P, 0.228; S, 0,39; Mn, 0.042; C, 2.366; and graphite, 0:000 per cent. A cast of iron made just before the disturbance contained P, 0.98, and Mn, 1 per cent. The peculiar product seems to have been decarburized in the hearth and, at the same time, to have lost much phosphorus and manganese, either by the action of the blast in the empty hearth, or, more probably, by. contact with the cinder rich in iron which was formed at the time. Unfortunately, no specimen of the cinder was preserved, so its composition cannot be given. It seems very remarkable that, with the furnace in bad condition, the temperature should be high enough to keep such

Sep 1, 1908

By Garth M. Crosby

Hugh E. McKinstry (Professor of Geology, Laboratory of Mining Geology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.) Pre-Cambrian age for the Coeur d'Alene mineralization, as indicated by isotope studies and recently discussed by Silverman, Long, and Kulp' would explain some features of the mineralogy of the district that have long been a puzzle. In the Silver Belt, especially in the Sunshine mine, lead-zinc min erali zation passes downward into tetrahedrite ore. Although commercially speaking this is a rich silver zone, the silver is, quantitatively, a mere impurity amounting to a small fraction of 1 pct. In effect the zonal change is from lead-zinc down into copper mineralization—-the usual zonal change that occurs in many districts. In the Burke-Mullan portion of the district, on the other hand, lead-zinc ore does not pass downward into copper mineralization of the Sunshine type. Instead, pyrrhotite appears in depth while the tenor in lead and zinc declines. The change occurs at increasingly greater depth away from the Gem stocks, deepening irregularly by some 3000 ft within two to four miles. As noted by Crosby, biotite, grunerite, and garnet appear in the deep zone. The marked difference between this apparent zonal change and the more nomal change to a copper zone is quite explainable if already existing pre-Cambrian veins have been locally metamorphosed by a Tertiary intrusive. The chief obstacle to this explanation is the evidence that mineralization cuts Laramide intrusives, but evidence on this point is conflicting as indicated by Crosby's observations and summary. This is not the first instance of a problem in determining the time-relationship of mineralization to a spatially associated intrusive. At the Noranda mine veins of chalcopyrite extend into a diabase dike which apparently cuts the ore, although Price2 concludes that the ore is later. However, at the Normetal mine diabase of a similar dike is thought3 to intrude the orebody but is cut by stringers of chalcopyrite. In the Sullivan Mine, B. C.,4 galena follows a fracture in a larnprophyre dike which, itself, cuts the main orebody. In the Sudbury district dikes of olivine diabase are clearly younger than the nickel ore, yet where they cut the Creighton orebody they contain stringers of chalcopyrite. In the laboratory, Hawley5 has developed veinlets of sulfide (chalcopyrite) it] silicate gangue by heating specimens of ore in a stream of H2S at 410 °C. From this and other evidernce. it seems clear that sulfides can be transferred from one site to another — at least through short distances — at temperatures well below their melting points. It would seem then that even if sulfide Mineralization in the Gem stocks can be shown unequ ivocably to be later than the intrusive the possibility of "remobiliza tion" need not be more than local. Thus the zonal relationships are quite in accord with a pre-Cambrian age for original deposition of the lead, zinc, copper, silver, and uranium in the Coeur d'Alene district. REFERENCES 1. A. Silverman, A. Long, and J. L. Kulp: Discussion of: The Gem Stocks and Adjacent Orebodies, Coeur d'Alene District, Idaho. Mining Engineering, May 1960, pp. 470-471; AME Trans., 1960, vol. 217, p. 117. 2. Peter Price: Geol. & O. D. at the Home Mine, Noranda, Quebec. Can. Inst. M & M Bull 263, 1934, p. 108; also,Trans. CIMM 1939, pp. 108-140. 3. w. L. Brown Nometal Mine in structural Geology of Canadian Ore Deposits, Montreal, 1948, p. 690. 4. C. O. Swanson and H. C. Gunning: Geology of the Sullivan Mine. Can. Inst. Mining & Met. Trans. vol. 48, 1945, p. 653. 5. J. E. Hawley: Heat Effects on Sulphides and Possible Applications. Univ. Toronto Studies, Geol. Ser. No. 46, 1941, p. 34.

Jan 1, 1961

Frank Firmstone, Easton, Pa. (communication to the Secretary*) : It may not be amiss to point out that the top-pressure in iron blast-furnaces is largely affected by variations in the temperature of the gas. I find in my note-books, cases in which the pressure was from 9.25 to 9.5 in. of water when the material in the furnace was low (after dinner-hour), which fell to from 8 to 8.5 in., when the furnace was again full, and the gas consequently cooled. The chief cause for this effect is, that, at the higher temperature, there is a decrease in the weight of the gas in the descending-leg of the siphon formed by the down-comer and the chimneys. It does not seem probable that there is any direct relation between top-pressure and quantity of flue-dirt. Top-pressure, at any given moment, measures the " head " necessary to discharge the gas then passing, against the resistances of pipes, valves, etc., in the gas-conduits between the top of the furnace and the mouths of the chimneys, and can be increased at will by closing, more or less, the valves, or dampers, at the stoves and the boilers. The question of relation between top-pressure and flue-dirt can be settled very easily by direct experiment, working alternately with gas-valves open, and partly closed, and noting the top-pressures and the respective quantities of fluedirt collected. The quantities of fine ore blown away, as shown by Mr. Grammer's tables, are astonishing to one who has had no actual experience with Mesabi ore and hard driving. Flue-dirt, in the sense in which he uses the term, was unknown at anthracite furnaces so long as the working was normal; when it did occur, it was always an incident of scaffolding and bad work, and was no doubt caused by an increase in the velocity

Jan 1, 1904

By A. M. STROKG

Discussion of the paper of Charles R. Keyes, presented at the Spokane meeting. Bulletin o. 34, October, 1909, pp. 867 to 903. A. M. STRONG, Bishop, Cal: (communication to the Secretary*) The paper of Mr. Keyes gives us the most complete account of the geology of the borax-deposits in the Death Valley region that has yet been published, and is a valuable addition to the geological literature of a very interesting though little-known territory. During the past ten years I have been over much of the northern part of the country described by Mr. Keyes and the region immediately north of it. Mr. Keyes seems to give the impression that Furnace creek is the northern end of these borate-bearing deposits, but such is not the case. Of the seven principal marsh-deposits which for years furnished the greater part of the borax supply in the manner described by him, four are north of the boundary-line as given on his map. The entire territory immediately east of the Sierra Nevada is composed of a series of sinks, each with a well-defined drainage-area.. Of these, Death valley is the deepest, and its drainage-area one of the greatest. The section given in the paper is typical of any line drawn eastward from the Sierra Nevada. At the lowest point of each of these sinks is a marsh, which, in times of heavy rain-fall in the mountains, is converted into a lake. These marshes always contain borax, which is now considered to have been derived from the washing of the Tertiary lake-beds in the surrounding mountains, of which they form a considerable part. Additional territory which I have studied shows that the boundaries given on Mr. Keyes's map should be considerably extended to the north. Just how far these borate-beds extend I am not prepared to say. J. E. Spurr says of them : 1

Feb 1, 1910