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By T. S. Maio, J. G. Mansanti

In 1978, Ozark Lead Co. made the decision to expand the capacity of its mine/mill complex by 33%. The objectives of the expansion were to increase mine production capacity by 1.8 kt/d (2000 stpd), increase lead metal production by 21.8 kt/a (24,000 stpy), and to construct new facilities and modify existing equipment to accommodate increased production. This paper gives a brief explanation of the equipment installed and the overall production and metallurgical benefits realized from this expansion. The expansion was completed in the second half of 1980 with all equipment debugging and fine tuning completed by the first quarter of 1981. Concentrator modifications and improvements were basically restricted to four areas: materials handling, automation of the mill grinding circuit, increased flotation capacity, and concentrate dewatering.

Jan 1, 1985

By Charles A. Anderson

Arizona and western New Mexico contain 17 of the 25 leading copper mines in the United States. Production of molybdenite, lead, zinc, and by-product gold and silver is important. Precambrian ore deposits are largely limited to the Yavapai Series in central Arizona and most of the metal production has come from massive sulfide deposits, dominantly pyritic but containing different amounts of chalcopyrite, tennantite, sphalerite, and galena. Their origin has been interpreted by some geologists as hydrothermal replacement of schist, and by others as syngenetic deposits later metamorphosed. Most of the important ore deposits are of Mesozoic and early Tertiary age, dominated by the porphyry copper deposits spatially related to stocks, plugs, sills, or dikes of quartzbearing porphyritic to granular rocks. Host rocks for these deposits include the associated intrusive rocks, Precambrian schist and granitic rocks, Paleozoic limestones, Mesozoic(?) porphyritic andesite, and Mesozoic arkose and siltstone. Chalcopyrite and pyrite are the dominant hypogene sulfide minerals in the porphyry copper deposits, accompanied by minor molybdenite. The Questa deposit in New Mexico is largely molybdenite. Supergene sulfide minerals are chalcocite and minor covellite. Some ore bodies consist largely of hypogene sulfides, some are dominantly supergene sulfides, and others are mixed hypogene-supergene sulfides. Supergene oxide-copper minerals locally are important. Intense hydrothermal alteration accompanied the metallization in all of the porphyry copper deposits; five types are recognized, ( 1) propylitic, (2) argillic, (3) potassic, ( 4) quartz-sericite (without clay), and (5) lime silicate. The origin of the closely spaced fractures that contain ore minerals in intersecting veinlets is debatable; some geologists favor tectonic forces and others suggest cooling of magma or shrinkage due to alteration. Breccia pipes, veins, and limestone replacements account for some important deposits of Mesozoic and early Tertiary age, and presumably these are genetically related to the various intrusive rocks of this age. The St. Anthony deposit of Cenozoic age in southeastern Arizona is unique, consisting of a lead-zinc vein associated with later molybdenum and vanadium oxide-minerals. Cenozoic manganese deposits in western Arizona are an important resource in the Artillery Mountains, but the extent to which they may be exploited is a metallurgical and economic problem.

Jan 1, 1968

By Colin C. Harris, Nathaniel Arbiter

Flotation kinetics is the study of the variation in amount of froth overflow product with flotation time, and the quantitative identification of all rate con- trolling variables. With such variables maintained constant, the algebraic relationship between the proportion of mineral floated and flotation time is a flotation rate equation. This contains the constant values of all the rate determining variables implicit in one or more rate constants which must be evaluated from experimental data. The form or forms of the rate equation can either be deduced from assumptions or facts established about the mechanism of the process, or, more commonly, determined empirically or by analogy with similar rate process. (See pages 215 to 226 and 221 to 227.) The earliest contributions on flotation kinetics came in the mid- ~hirties,3,27,31 with interest increasing in recent years. The broad goal of these studies is the reduction of the total variability of a flotation system to equations among the individual variables, or among a lesser number of dimensionless groups.43 Although the goal is at present far from realization, its attainment will yield many practical advantages. The quantitative under- standing of the process should lead to improvements both in metallurgical results and flotation cell design. It should lead also to reliable methods for scaling-up* of laboratory and pilot plant results to full size operation without the need for expensive and time-consuming mill tests on commercial machines. Finally, this type of quantitative information will assist the automation of flotation cells and circuits as well as control by computers. Replacing present methods of control based on post-mortem assays and trial and error manipulation of reagents and cell variables by control through exact process analysis should yield higher levels of grade and recovery through reduction of the large variability of present-day results. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING ANALOGIES: Industrial flotation always involves flow of pulp through a series of stirred tanks. It thus bears formal analogy to many chemical engineering processes, the kinetics of which in flow systems has been studied for many de- cades.38,39,73,83 It will be useful to review these studies before considering flotation kinetics. Batch and continuous treatment are classified in Fig. 1. Batch operation in the true sense is unknown in flotation where concentrate is always removed

Jan 1, 1962

By Ian MacGregor

INTRODUCTION I retired in 1977 and have been enjoying myself ever since doing odd jobs for various people - on occasions, politicians. I commend it to you as post retirement - get involved in situations that nobody else will take on. It produces all sorts of excitement, it is a lot of fun and, courtesy of the media, you provide great raw material for their current Punch and Judy shows. The example of the adventures in the Escondida financing made me think about the history of the minerals industry in the United States. In order to see more clearly what is going to happen in the future, we have to look at the past and what we have learned, and try to extrapolate from that a scenario for the future. This paper is about global material cycles and the financial needs of the extractive industries. Since about 2,000 years B.C. we have been living in the Iron Age. Since about 4,000 B.C. we have been living in the Copper Age. These have been the two foundations of modern industrial society. Understanding the use of metals and materials helps us understand the civilization in which we live today. Let me focus more closely on the United States, particularly in this century. In the first two-thirds of this century the United States was growing and expanding and developing. It was providing for its inhabitants a society which was enjoying the benefits of a rising standard of living, improved opportunities and the ability to support a population growing at quite a dramatic rate. It is still growing. In the Department of Commerce, there is a clock that shows how many people there are in the United States. It turns all the time; the numbers are going up. On January 21,1980, when Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President, the number on that clock was a little over 220 million, and in the last week before he left, it was travelling towards 245 million. During his period in Washington, we have added , the equivalent of one total state such as California. That gives the dimensions of the U.S. appetite for raw material inputs. The inputs are of critical importance. COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE During the first two-thirds of this century, the minerals sector enjoyed comparative advantages. There was a clear understanding of the importance of minerals enshrined in the tax legislation of the country from the early decades of this century - the depletion allowance. No other country identified as clearly that the supplies of minerals were finite. As they are used up, just as with a wearing-out machine, one must get capital back to replace the resource when the time comes. Within the last decade, that idea has been questioned and criticised. It is now seen as giving money away to a preferred part of the economy, instead of recognizing what depletion is all about. In previous times it insured that the U.S. always was able to regenerate the capital in its minerals industry, so that it could remain competitive. The U.S. had plenty of everything, including energy. We had a growing population. Equally important, we had an agriculture that led the world in productivity, even as far back as the turn of the century. It continues to do so. We still retain that comparative advantage, an ability to produce our foodstuffs in quantity and quality at excellent cost. Look at another ingredient of our comparative advantage, the energy position. We ran through the first two-thirds of the century with ever- decreasing energy costs. In the 1940s and 1950s the coal industry went into a decline. Why? Because the $3.00 - $5.00 a ton cost of mining coal in the U.S. represented relatively expensive energy. A ton of good grade bituminous coal contains 25 million BTU's. $0.20 a million BTU's represents $5.00 a ton at the pithead. That price was undermined by the increasing ability to find petroleum at even lower costs. At the apex of the growth of development of the American dominated

Jan 1, 1990

By J. E. Campbell, H. E. Parkinson, Y. P. Chugh

Miner-bolters, which combine mining and bolting functions into a single machine, are being developed by the US Department of Energy to improve production and productivity in coal mining operations. The authors have been studying possible production gains from the use of the Joy automated miner-bolter (AMB) in mine development using the computer simulation model "UGMHS" developed by the Pennsylvania State University. In a recent paper (Chugh, Campbell, and Parkinson, 1979) the authors discussed justification for the development of miner- bolter machines, assumptions and analytical procedures used in computer simulation, cutting, and bolting cycle times for an AMB, and production potential of AMB in four and five entry mine development sections. The effects of available operating time, haulage capacity, bolt installation time, and flush and staggered entry layouts on production potential of AMB were also discussed. In all cases, the production potential of AMB was compared to a full face continuous miner and an independent dual-boom roof bolter operating in a similar mine layout. Present Study In this study, the production potential of the Joy AMB in three and six entry layouts is presented. A three entry mine layout represents development entries in a longwall panel. A six entry layout represents development of main and submain entries in longwall mine development. Flush and staggered entries were considered in both layouts. The assumptions and analytical procedures used in this study were similar to those in the earlier study and are not presented in this paper. Only the results of the studies are presented here.

Jan 1, 1984

By R. V. Whetsel, V. R. Garfias

THE present study is intended as a preliminary statistical survey of the world's production of petroleum substitutes. The information presented is admittedly deficient. It is believed, however, that the increasing importance of these substitutes, particularly with Europe at war, justifies its presentation at this time, if for no other [ ] reason than to encourage enlightened pertinent discussion. The world's production in 1939 of petroleum substitutes-of which approximately 97 per cent are direct substitutes for motor fuels-is tentatively estimated at 108,000,000 bbl., or equivalent to the combined output of crude oil in 1939 of Rumania, Mexico and Colombia. With few exceptions, these figures of production represent also actual figures of consumption. The United States, owing mainly to its output of natural gasoline, leads all countries in the production of these products, with about 53 per cent of the total. In European countries, particularly Germany, the imminence of war in 1939 forced an increase in production and improvement of methods of manufacturing motor fuels, largely from coal, with the result that this country produced in that year over 20,000,000 bbl. of substitutes. Since the beginning of hostilities, substitutes have offered more and more the means of meeting the unfavorable balance between supply and demand in European [ ] countries; the increase in production of these products being at least in part offset by the systematic bombing of synthetic plants and oil storage. The source materials and the resulting substitutes are listed in Table I. The following are the approximate gross heat equivalents of some substitutes to barrels of gasoline:

Jan 1, 1941

By Frank M. Howell, Claude E. Schmidt

To counteract the spiralling costs of labor and materials against the fixed sale of its product, namely, gold at $35 per oz, Homestake Mining Co. has revised the milling flowsheet once and effected increases in the daily milling rate twice in the past 12 years. During this period the mining department has been able to hold production costs steady by increased productivity through technical improvements and utilization of the most modern mining by CLAUDE E. SCHMIDT and FRANK M. HOWELL, JR. 46-MINING ENGINEERING, APRIL 1963 equipment. The flowsheet alteration occurred during 1951-1953 when the two crushing plants at the shaft head frames were converted to a three-stage crushing system with the third stage closed circuited to produce a minus 5/8-in. product as rod mill feed.

Jan 4, 1963

By N. A. Ziegler

A CERTAIN amount of interest has been indicated recently in the resistance to oxidation at high temperatures of iron-aluminum alloys (rich in iron). Hautman1 published a paper in which some interesting results are given. According to his paper, only alloys containing at least 8 per cent aluminum indicate a marked improvement in their resistance to oxidation. At about this aluminum content, however, alloys become brittle, which considerably reduces their commercial value. About two years ago the author performed a series of experiments, the results of which are presented here. A series of iron-aluminum-carbon alloys was prepared by melting electrolytic iron, aluminum and high-carbon iron alloy in an induction vacuum furnace.2 The list of these alloys is given in Table 1. Each alloy was forged in the ordinary way to

Jan 1, 1932

By N. A. Ziegler

A CERTAIN amount of interest has been indicated recently in the resistance to oxidation at high temperatures of iron-aluminum alloys (rich in iron). Hautman1 published a paper in. which some interesting results are given. According to his paper, only alloys containing at least 8 per cent aluminum indicate a marked improvement in their resistance to oxidation. At about this aluminum content, however, alloys become brittle, which considerably reduces their commercial value. About two years ago the author, performed a series of experiments, the results of which are presented here. A series of iron-aluminum-carbon alloys was prepared by melting electrolytic iron, aluminum and high-carbon iron alloy in an induction vacuum furnace.2 The list of these alloys is given in Table 1. Each alloy was forged in the ordinary way to

Jan 1, 1932

By A. W. Fahrenwald

PRACTICALLY all fine grinding is done in a ball mill or some modification of a ball mill. Millions of tons of material are ground each year. The cost varies from, say, a minimum of 10 c. to a maximum of 35 c. per ton. It is thus obvious that even small improvements, which may result in increased grinding efficiency, would be welcomed by mill operators. A review of literature shows that various phases of the subject have been studied independently by many investigators. Also, it is now a subject of investigation at various laboratories in the United States and in foreign countries. Notwithstanding this extensive investigation, ball milling still remains a subject of some speculation. This paper presents the results of an experimental study of some of the factors entering into ball mill grinding.

Jan 1, 1931

By George Breyer

DURING the past 25 years the steelmaker has experienced some difficulty in producing steel to meet the standards established by the metallurgist. In contrast to the past, when a chemical specification of broad limits was the only requirement, he now has to employ such tests as microscopic, macroscopic, tensile, impact, Magnaflux and even X-ray and supersonic. The development of these tests has more than set the pace for a manufacturing process of which the exactness still hinges to an important degree on the ability of the furnace operator. In our efforts to produce steel, and especially alloy steel, to meet the exactness of modern engineering specification, many factors must be taken into account. It is not sufficient to make a good heat of steel in the furnace and then be satisfied that the job is done, since there are many pitfalls between the furnace and the finished product. The literature abounds with information on melting practices, deoxidation methods and slag control, but the lack of positive information about what happens when the steel is teemed into molds is quite evident. Such questions as what is the proper mold size, shape and thickness; which is the best mold coating; what is the best rate of pour for any given steel, and what is the effect of cooling rates on quality, are still answered by opinions. It is acknowledged that a poor heat of steel cannot be improved in the pouring pit. On the other hand, a good heat can be ruined by improper handling after it leaves the furnace.

Jan 1, 1947

By Roy L. Zuber

Identification and analysis of mining hazards involves the correlation of accident, injury and illness information from all segments of the mining industry. It would not be feasible to process the volume of data involved without substantial reliance upon a computerized information system similar to that maintained by the Health and Safety Analysis Center. Numerous statistical programs are applied to the computerized accident-injury-illness data base to identify those mining tasks and associated activities which are responsible for most of the injuries and occupational illnesses. These programs are used to flag those mining tasks or conditions at specific mines or segments of the mining industry where either a significant increase in the injury/illness trend has been reported or where the number of injuries/illnesses related to specific mining tasks or conditions are high. Upon identification of those mining hazards which warrant further analysis, a computerized search of the coded accident data is performed to correlate the predominant categories by cause of injury or illness, source of injury, nature of injury, type of accident, etc. From this correlation, those factors most common to the conditions responsible for the hazard may be identified. Based upon analyses of this form, recommendations are made regarding the appropriate engineering, training, and/or operational improvements necessary to alleviate the hazard. In addition to mining hazard analysis, the computerized data base also has application in the area of optimum resource allocation. Computer programs have been developed to assist management in allocating resources based upon organizational requirements and historical accident - injury trends.

Jan 1, 1983

By T. W. Guy

DURING recent years, tremendous strides have been made in the economical use of coal. This has resulted in, and to some extent has been a result of, making the fuel specifications more and more rigid. For this reason, all producers have found it necessary to improve their preparation materially, both as to sizing and the elimination of impurities, either by more effective preparation underground or at the tipple and cleaning plant, or both. This cause and its effect in all producing fields seem likely to continue for several years-at least. The splendid inherent qualities of the Pocahontas and New River coals are known all over the world, but their good reputation is only partly due to inherent qualities, and to natural conditions which generally favor loading coal comparatively free from impurities; it is due in large measure to the care and skill used, either with or without the aid of mechanical devices, to ship products consistently low in ash. The first coal from the West Virginia smokeless fields was mined and shipped near Quinnimont, on New River, in 1871, while the first shipments from the Pocahontas field were in 1883. The development of both fields progressed rapidly. At first activities followed the main lines of the Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk & Western railroads, and were extended later as branch lines were built from these roads. The Virginian R. R., about 1907, opened up the Winding Gulf territory, which has since become a large producer of smokeless coals from the Pocahontas and the New River measures.

Jan 1, 1931

By Alfred Weiss

When I first received the announcement of this meeting I was pleased to see that this 14th APCOM Symposium had expanded its range of interest. One new topic to be considered this year is long range or strategic planning--the continuous process by which current risk taking decisions are made systematically, and with the greatest knowledge of future impact. Long range planning should receive our attention. It is the first step in the management process and the foundation of many--if not all --key managerial decisions. Improvements made at this stage of managing are almost certain to be of benefit in later stages of decision making. It is obvious to many of us that in a physical process such as mineral beneficiation, one does not concentrate all of one's attention on the flotation design without also considering the grinding, cycloning, and desliming stages of the process. Taking this a step further it would be equally erroneous to find a mineral engineer designing a mill without due consideration for mine, smelter and refinery and beyond that the sales goals, growth and profit objectives of the firm itself. And yet, how many times have we seen organizations staff and reorganize without consideration of an overall plan; without adherence to the management process which by its definition, calls for a plan first, followed by the appropriate organization and staff. The computer applications traditionally discussed at APCOM meetings have concentrated on areas dealing with things and people-- the implementation of the plan, rather than with concepts and ideas, the formulation of the plan.

Jan 1, 1977

By G. Venturello, C. Antonione, G. Della Gatta

Results from work on the effect of inferstitials on recovery and recrystallization of' very pure iron (99.995 pet) doped with nilrogen up to 400 ppm are reported. Nitrided specimens were obtained by heating the iron in a static atmosphere of NH3 + H2. The samples were cold-rolled 80 pet, subjected to a series of isochronal and isothermal anneals, and submitted to examination by X-rays, micrographs, and hardness tests. Small additions of nitrogen show a strong effect in reducing recovery of' the mechanical properties of high-purity iron. At the temperatures of. the experiments, this effect proved greater than in the case of carbon. At 400°C pure iron recovers more than 50 pet of the total hardness increase, carburized iron vecovers 25 pet, and nitrided iron only 10 pet. On the other hand. the addition of nitrogen has, similarly to carbon, a very small effect on recrystallization; the effect is, however, slightly higher than that of carbon. When the concentration Of nitrogen is above the solubility limit in a iron at the temperattue of the experiments, an increase in the frequency of nu -cleation is also observed. THE object of the present work is to improve knowledge on the effect of interstitials both on recovery and on primary recrystallization of pure iron. In fact. at present there are no available data on the effect of nitrogen on high-purity iron. The only work which at present can be somewhat related to this problem is a work of Leak et al.1 in which grain boundary internal friction at high temperature in the presence of increasing amounts of nitrogen is studied by a torsion pendulum. The present work is a continuation of a previous one2 on the effects of carbon. EXPERIMENTAL PART Preparation of the Material. Pure iron was prepared following the same methods used in the pre- vious work2 and was nitrided using controlled quantities of ammonia in an apparatus similar to that used for carburizing. The apparatus consists essentially of a gas-tight quartz tube containing the specimens. The tube, maintained at constant pressure by means of a mercury seal, is placed in a resistance furnace. For nitriding, the NH3 + H2 atmosphere with a suitable concentration of NH3 was introduced into the tube, which had been previously carefully evacuated and degassed by heating at 600°C. The hydrogen used was carefully purified by passing it through a palladium filter. The ammonia required was prepared with the following reaction: CaO + 2NH4CI —CaCl2 + H2O + 2NH3 by heating the mixture of CaO and NH4C1 in a glass flask and then collecting the ammonia in a graduated Hempel burette. For each nitriding program a given amount of NH3 prepared by this method was introduced together with the H2 into the tube previously evacuated. Nitriding of the sample was then performed at 570°C for 48 hr. After this, to ensure a homogeneous distribution of nitrogen, the samples were further heated for 72 hr at 800°C. With this method which uses a static nitriding atmosphere, carefully controlled conditions of purity are obtained. Contrarily, with the conventional continuous-flow methods, using large quantities of circulating gas, there is a greater risk of introducing impurities into the samples. Furthermore, the required nitrogen concentration in the specimen is easily predetermined and obtained. A plot of the relation observed between the initial concentration of NH3 in the gas and the quantity of nitrogen introduced into the iron samples is given in Fig. 1. The data refer to samples of 1.2-mm thickness and to the nitriding conditions previously described. Furthermore, as a comparison, the data relative to two 0.5-mm-thick samples are reported. The presence of a reservoir in the cold zone of the reaction bulb made possible the gradual dissociation of ammonia on the sample in the hot zone. Internal-friction methods were used to determine the content of nitrogen dissolved in the iron samples. Some analyses were also carried out with chemical methods. The following table, Table I, shows a comparison of data obtained with chemical and internal-friction methods. The correspondence between chemical methods and internal-friction

Jan 1, 1964

By George H. K. Schenck

Diminishing returns in management's fight to lower manufacturing expenses have added luster to savings that can be achieved in delivered costs through creative management of the distribution function. This is especially true for companies engaged in the production of bulk commodities, for which transport costs may represent 25 to 50% or more of total delivered price, A. E. Cascino, vice president of International Minerals and Chemical Corporation, recently gave an example of why top management in his firm is concerned with distribution: "The price of a ton of phosphate rock, f.o.b. mine, is about $7. The cost of warehousing, freight, and handling frequently totals an additional $11 . . . . If one of our competitors . . . discovers a way in which he can cut his distribution costs by $3, we're dead! Even if we wanted to offset our competitor's more efficient means of shipping with reduced f.o.b. price for our product-we don't have that much profit margin . . . ." In a special report on the revolution now occurring in transportation of goods, Business Week stated in its September 24 issue: "Moving and storing goods on their way from mine and mill through various sub-assemblies to their final markets costs anywhere from $50 billion to $75 billion a year- $100 billion if paperwork costs are included.

Jan 1, 1967

By H. S. Geismer

INTRODUCTION. THERE are three general methods available for obtaining commercial brown iron-ore : hand-screening; washing; and washing and concentrating. Hand-screening has produced a large tonnage of ore in the past, but is rapidly falling into disuse, except as a preliminary step, largely because modern furnace-practice requires all foreign material to be separated from ores before they are delivered to the furnace, and hand-screened ores can rarely be made to fulfill that requirement. Another argument against hand-screening is, that the waste-pile often contains as much ore as the screen recovers. The operation known as hand-screening consists of throwing the ore-bearing material against a stationary inclined screen of 0.5- to 0.75-in. mesh, similar in construction to the screens employed in sand-pits. The recently-prospected brown-ore deposits of Cuba seem to offer possibilities for hand-screening not possessed by the average American deposit, since these ores are not associated with worthless clays. Washing, and washing and concentrating, may be discussed together, since concentrating is never practical on brown iron-ore, except to treat ores that have already been washed. (Strictly speaking, washing might be classed as concentrating, but it is never so designated by brown-ore men.) The various steps of removing ore-bearing material and converting it into ore suitable for blast-furnace use, may be grouped under five heads: loading for transportation ; transporting ; feeding into the washer; washing; and concentrating. These five subjects will be considered in consecutive order. Each of these successive steps may be accomplished in a number of different ways, the choice depending entirely upon the character of the ore-bearing material to be treated.

Aug 1, 1911

By Charles M. Cooley

THE continual improvements in. the two extremes of the drilling, unit, the drill and bit, have prompted critical examination of the drill steel, the weak link of this drilling unit. Obviously, little is to be gained from the betterment of the drill and bit if the drill steel which transmits the force needed for drilling from the machine to the bit cannot stand long hard service. The technology of the bit has advanced from the integral type to steel detachables, thence to the tungsten carbide insert. The carbide insert is the most significant advance in the bit, bringing it to the level of a machine tool with its performance records under constant surveillance. Long steel changes have become advantageous because the carbide bit will drill greater footages without replacement than did the steel bit: The development of the tungsten carbide insert opened new fields of endeavor in drilling with percussion drills here- to fore known, but limited by the steel bit. After the introduction of the tungsten carbide bit, drill manufacturers began promotion of long feed shells, lighter drifters and stopers, and easily handled auxiliary equipment. Ultimately this promotion of better equipment was intended to increase the bit-against-rock time of the drill shift. Advantages of the uninterrupted drilling period of a long steel change and faster setup time of lighter drill machines are lost when the shank fails in the machine, rod failure requires continual changing, or the bit breaks off in the hole. The quest for reduced

Jan 1, 1952

By Carel Robinson

MECHANIZATION of coal mine, is radically changing the requirements for under-ground transportation. It has increased materially the need for reliability and belt conveyors are the most dependable means of moving coal away from the place where it is mined. Their record of freedom from delays is almost 100 per cent. Why then are- not belt conveyors in more general use. Part of the answer lies in the pour records made at some of the earlier installations, and in the fact that belts have so long been identified as a type of equipment suitable, in the main, only to thin seams. Another reason is lack of knowledge of the full potentialities of belt transportation.

Jan 1, 1941

By C. A. Hartnagel

The production of petroleum in New York in 1940, totaling 4,999,000 bbl., was only slightly under the amount produced in each of the previous three years. The year 1940 started auspiciously with a posted price on Jan. I of $2.75 a barrel. Four price reductions, beginning in May, resulted in August in a low of $1.85 a barrel, after which two increases brought the year's closing price to $2.15 a barrel. The favorable crude price at the beginning of the year stimulated an increased drilling program, especially in the water-flooding districts. In the Allegany County region, which accounts for about two-thirds of the state's oil production, 886 wells, including water-intake wells, were drilled; 200 more than in the preceding Year. During the closing months of the Year there was a marked decline in the number of wells drilled. The unfavorable position in which the industry found itself before midsummer was due largely to the loss of export markets for its high-grade lubricants, constituting approximately 25 per cent of its business. As a result of this situation, runs to refineries were curtailed as much as 30 Per cent at the middle of the Year. Improvement in market conditions toward the end of the Year found the stocks of available crude at an almost record low. Deep DRILLING with the gradual exhaustion of some of the important natural and flood-oil-produc-ing areas of the Allegany and Bradford pools, overproduction will not be a serious problem in the future. The possibility of finding new territory or deeper producing sands has been further lessened by the drilling of additional deep wells for gas in and about the present oil fields. Many of these wells drilled to the Oriskany sand-stone were over 4000 ft. deep and have tested the entire thickness of the Devonian formation, the upper 2000 ft. of which contain all the important oil-producing strata in the state. Water-flooding It is thus evident that the problem of the New york oil producers is not one of find-ing new supplies but of obtaining as much 6 oil as possible from the old developed fields that during the 60 years of their life have 1 produced I 3o,ooo,ooo bbl. of oil. Although a few floods were in operation before I9I9, when the production of oil by flooding was 1 made legal, the output for that year amounted to only 85I,000 bbl. From 1919 I on there has been an almost constant increase, which during the past four years has averaged well above 5,000,000 bbl. annually. During the last 22 years, which constitutes the period of important flooding operations, 651337,000 bbl. of oil have been produced in the state. Careful estimates indicate that between one-third and one-half of the oil fields are being flooded or are already watered out. Some of the flooded and watered-out areas include territory with unusually thick sands, which were highly productive during the early history of the fields. From a recent study of operations in the New York oil fields, it is estimated that about 65,ooo,oo bbl. of oil

Jan 1, 1941