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By S. Ramachandran, L. A. Vazquez, N. L. Grauerholz

A novel process is described for the selective flotation of scheelite from low-grade (- 0.5% W03) tungsten ores having appreciable quantities of calcareous and siliceous gangue minerals. Specifically developed for the Tempiute, Nevada facility of Union Carbide, the process yields tungsten concentrates exceeding 15 percent W03 with at least 85 percent recovery. This condition was not achieved through conventional processes. This process consists of conditioning the ore pulp with judicious amounts of lime, followed by soda ash and sodium silicate as modifiers. The scheelite is then floated using a mixture of oleic and naphthenic acids as collector. Contrary to the common observation as to the deleterious effects of calcium in fatty acid flotation systems, lime addition is found to be beneficial in achieving satisfactory results. The process has also shown excellent results on a Brazilian scheelite ore.

Jan 1, 1976

By Gerald A. Munson, Fremont F. Clarke

During recent years the use of lithium has expanded greatly in industrial, chemical, and metallurgical fields, while at the same time modernized methods of mining and refining lithium have increased production. Technical literature includes many papers describing the geology and mineralogy of lithium deposits. Mining and beneficiating problems, however, have not been thoroughly described. Published reports have failed to emphasize that one of the chief reasons lithium minerals were not extensively mined until recently is the difficulty of beneficiation. Four lithium minerals of pegmatites and the lithium-sodium-phosphate byproduct from the brines at Searles Lake, Calif., have been sources of lithium. Among the pegmatite minerals, only spodumene and petaline are known to occur in deposits large enough to support large tonnage operations. Spodumene, a lithium-aluminum-silicate, is the principal lithium mineral mined in the U. S.

Nov 1, 1955

By C. E. Capes

A number of novel but increasingly-important methods of size enlargement in liquid systems are reviewed. These techniques use relatively strong bonding and specialized equipment to form dense and substantially permanent agglomerates directly from particles in liquid suspension. In addition to separation of particles from suspensions, these methods have other broad objectives, including the production of granular (often spherical) materials, displacement of suspending liquid from the product and the selective agglomeration of one or more components of a multi-particle mixture. The underlying principles of the methods discussed include agglomeration by immiscible liquid wetting and by polymeric flocculants. Other procedures to produce granular, free-flowing products based on dispersion and solidification in liquids are also noted briefly. Applications in a variety of fine particle systems are considered with emphasis on minerals and fuels beneficiation and on waste treatment.

Jan 1, 1980

By Milton E. Wadsworth, Daniel B. Brimhall

Column leach studies of a low-grade porphyry copper ore were made. The technique used involved alternating oxygen absorption and copper leach cycles. The leach solution was displayed from the column with oxygen. The volume of oxygen reacting with the ore was measured with a gas burette. The copper released as a result of exposure to oxygen was correlated with the oxygen uptake. The oxidation rate was found to be dependent on the pH of the solution wetting the particles and was markedly increased by increasing the temperature of the system. Decreasing the particle size of the sample increased the oxidation rate. A material balance on the system indicated 1 mole of oxygen yielded in excess of 1 mole of copper in solution. A discussion of the important parameters is presented and the results are related to dump leaching in general.

Jan 1, 1974

By A. L. Holmes

Significant technologic advances were made in open pit mining during 1973. The industry faced mounting problems on one front where expansion of stripping activities encountered enlarged public resistance and on another where manpower and materials were in short supply. These challenges, along with the challenge and opportunity to meet the increased demand for mining products including materials for energy production, placed a premium on technical developments and their application. The demands on technology also included the providing of facilities and methods to economically extract minerals from deposits of lower grade, lesser accessibility, and where other uses of land approached the value of its minerals. Detection of Failures in Slope Walls The Bureau of Mines has undertaken research directed towards providing a mine operator with the opportunity to take corrective action before a potential slide becomes a problem.

Jan 2, 1974

By L. Cichowicz, K. K. Millheim

The constant-rate drawdown test performance for a low-permeability, verticany fractured gas well was investigated. A series of gar wells were tested by flowing each well at constant rate until the data could be analyzed using con-ventional radial flow theory. Each well was then shut in to build up. After a sufficient buildup was obtained, another flow Iest commenced but at a higher flow rate than Ihe first test. Again, the well was shut in when radial fiow was obtained. his procedure was repeated for three to four different flow rates. Two wells in the San Juan basin were tested using this procedure. Both wellere fractured after completion, cleaned up and then shut in until flow testing commenced. Test designs of both wells permitted investigation of the most realistic values of egective permeability, wellbore radius and turbulence factor. Also, being able to determine the eflective fracture flow area and vertical fraclure efficiency was inherent with this testing approach. It was observed that fractures in both wells influenced the Pressure behavior for approximately Is to 40 hours (depending on the flow rate) before radial flow was evident. After this time, drawdown data were analyzed using radial pow theory. When a low-permeability gas well has vertitally oriented, induced fractures, the early flow geometry ic. essentially linear. It will be shown how to determine when a flow test has been conducted long enough so lha' the most representative values of effective permeahiiity. wellbore radius and turbulence factw can be calculated. From the linear pressure data, valuable information about The fracture treatment, such as the effective flow area and vertical fracture efficiency, can be determined for vertically froctured wells. Introduction During tests on gas wells in the Sari Juan basin7 initial transient behavior lasted for many days because of the low permeability of some porous media. As a result, stabilized flow performance could not be obtained. If these wells received some type of stimulation treatment, early pressure behavior deviated from conventional theoretical radial Row. When conventional radial flow theory was used to analyze these low-permeability fractured gas wells, larger values of flow capacity and absolute open flow potentials (AOF) sometimes resulted. Wells were assigned open flow poten- tials that proved to be 3 to 10 times higher than the well would sustain over a longer period of production. In some cases where the wells had flowed for longer periods of time during a constant-rate drawdown test, it was noticed that the effective flow capacity appeared to be decreasing with time until a certain value was reached. The early nonradial pressure behavior can be explained If linear flow is assumed. Rusell and Truitt mathematic. ally investigated the vertically fractured well in a bounded area. They showed that early flow behavior was essentially linear and, for x,/x. approximately less than 0.10 radial flow was obtained after short periods of time. Then realistic values of effective permeability and skin could be determined. Scotta experimentaliy studied the vertically fractured well with a heat flow analog. He showed that earb flow was linear, Both studies indicate that, for small values of x,/x,, linear flow approaches radial flow if the well is tested long enough, To help prove this concept of early linear flow caused by induced vertical fractures, two low-permeability gas wells were tested. Both wells received large fracture treatments prior to testing. A vertical fracture was indicated from the analysis of fracture treatments, As anticipated, tests of both wells indicated early linear flow that was later followed by a period of radial flow, Data collected from each well were analyzed. From the well tests, plus other information on each well, the effective permeability, wellbore radius and turbulence factor were calculated. Effective fracture flow areas calculated from test analyses for each well proved to be approximately one-fourth the created area calculated from classic hydraulic fracturing theory: other fractured wells that were tested but not presented in this paper also indicated that the effective fracture flow area was one-fourth to one-third the created area predicted from hydraulic fracturing theory. The vertical fracturing efficiency was estimated from the calculated values of effective wellbore radius and fracture flow area. For the two wells tested, calculated fracture lengths x, were 112 and 105 ft, and the vertical fracturing efficiencies E, were 122 and 183 percent. Development of Flow Model Agnew' showed that most induced fractures below 1,500 ft are vertical. Anderson and Stah15 indicated that most of the fractures they studied were vertical. Thc model proposed for early flow in most vertically fractured gas wells is shown by Fig. 1. This model should approximate early flow behavior until radial flow is reached, at which time a radial model with an effective wellbore radius of 0.5 they will

Jan 1, 1969

By Robert A. Rapp, Jan E. Verfurth

From the measurement of internal-oxidation band widths in Ag-In and Cu-A1 alloys, products for the solubility No and the diffusivity Do of oxygen in silver and apparent NODo products in copper have been obtained over a range of temperature. The NODO products for silver are in agreement with the product of the individually determined No and Do values of Eichenauer and Müller. Although interstitial diffusion of oxygen in silver is expected, the temperature-independent factor Do of the diffusion coefficient does not agree well with the theory of Wert and Zener. For Cu-A1 alloys internal oxidation does not follow the expression derived for ideal kinetics, since the apparent NODo product calculated from internal-oxidation measurements is a function of the alloy content in the specimen. Thus, unequivocal values for No or DO or even the product NODO in copper are not available from the literature. RELIABLE values for the saturation solubility NO and diffusivity DO of oxygen in fcc metals are lacking and difficult to determine, partially because internal-friction measurements are not applicable. Permeability experiments and Sieverts7-type adsorption -desorption methods3 have met with difficulty; however, Eichenauer and Müller4 have recently reported on the solubility and diffusivity of oxygen in silver as determined by the latter technique . Rhines, Johnson, and Anderson,5 and independently Meijering and Druyvesteyn,' introduced the possibility of deriving values for the product NODO in a metal from measurements of the widths of internal-oxidation zones (subscales) formed during the internal oxidation of alloys. In addition to these authors, several other investigators7-9 have made such measurements in various silver and copper alloys at various temperatures, mostly using me- chanically polished specimen surfaces. The purpose of this investigation was to determine over a range of temperature the calculated products NODO in silver and copper from systematic measurements of the widths of internally oxidized zones in Ag-In and Cu-A1 alloys, using specimens with electro-etched surfaces. Consider the internal oxidation of a dilute solid-solution alloy in which the base metal is not oxidized. If diffusion of oxygen is the rate-controlling step, then the depth 5 of the internal-oxidation zone is given by where y is a dimensionless parameter and t the oxidation time. Based on the solution of the diffusion equation, wagnerl0 has shown that under certain conditions several mathematical simplifications may be used in the evaluation of y, so that Eq. [I] may be expressed for the case that y « 1, and y(Do/DB) 1, where N(so)the is the equilibrium solubility (mole fraction) of oxygen in the solvent metal for the given oxidizing atmosphere, is the mole fraction of the solute metal in the bulk alloy, 4 is the diffusivity of the solute in the base metal, and v is the ratio of oxygen atoms to solute atoms in the precipitated oxide BO,. Rearranging Eq. [2] Maak' has derived an expression analogous to Eq. [3] for the case that an external-oxide scale, in addition to an internal-oxidation zone, is formed. For this combined external and internal oxidation for the case that 5/2 where 5 is the distance of the internal-oxidation front from the original external s.urface, and X is the distance of the external oxide/metal interface from the original external interface. The function F is defined by the expression

Jan 1, 1964

By AIME

WE got our chance to talk with Arthur J. Blair at the Annual Meeting at the Pennsylvania Hotel. By two o'clock Wednesday afternoon things had quieted down enough so we had our interview in the foyer to the Ball Room. There were the usual questions. Where were you born? In La Salle County, Ill., on March 26, 1885. Where did you go to school? Northwestern University, B.S. degree in 1906. Where did you start work? For E. J. Longyear right after leaving school. One's ability as a geologist was measured by one's ability to wield a brush hook and ax. He stayed on the job as geologist for three years and then got to thinking about the advantages of a warmer climate. The advantages stacked up favorably, so off he went to Birmingham, Ala., just about the time U.S. Steel took over the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co.

Jan 1, 1948

By Paul Cherin

ThE angle of intersection, 0, between h2k2l2 planes and the (loo), (110), (101), and (111) planes was calculated on an IBM 7040 using the well-known relationship

Jan 1, 1968

By S. H. Ash

With statistics still incomplete, it appears that the safety record of the mineral industry for 1955 will do well to hold its own in comparison with 1954. On the one hand, metal mining shows an improvement in its record, due in part to intensive campaigns for preventing ground fall accidents. Coal mining, on the other hand, is showing a poorer record in 1955 than for the preceding year. While no major disasters occurred during the year, increased fatalities resulted from ground fall, haulage, and machinery accidents. It seems probable that increased job training may serve to improve the situation. Health: Utilization of diesel equipment continues to increase in noncoal mines, in spite of existing prejudice. In 1955 two types of diesel-driven tractors and one shuttle car were approved by the USBM. Where diesel engines are used controlled ventilation is mandatory in order to keep the CO content under 20 ppm, but such ventilation is not difficult to achieve with normal equipment.

Feb 1, 1956

Q: This is December 1960 and Jafet Lindeberg and myself are sitting around the tape recorder. Jafet, who discovered the gold in Nome, Alaska, in 1898, is going to tell the story of the discovery and of his life up there-a period of some 25 years. Now. Jafet, let's start this off well back of that-start it of1 when you were in Norway and, briefly, tell about when you were born and where you were born, anti so on. Lindeberg: My home in Norway was Varanger in Northern Norway. I was born and raised there and our industry was lumbering, cutting cordwood out of birch, sawing lumber with water power, fishing and dairy work. Q: Did you have anything to do with reindeer? Lindeberg: I never had anything to do with reindeer. But reindeer were raised in the nearby county, called Kautokeino, and they used to come to the coast in the summer, but we had nothing to do with the industry.

Jan 7, 1964

By F. Rosenblum, P. Spira, F. Kitzinger

The possibility of increasing the efficiency of mineral processing plants by means of computer control has prompted metallurgists to examine their flowsheets more critically in order to develop practical control strategies. Control schemes in use to date generally rely on the automation of traditional and previously manually regulated control loops, e.g., the addition of reagents to maintain a constant assay or a constant pH. This approach is predicated on the availability of well established primary sensors such as pH electrodes or on-stream analyzers. Noranda Research Center, in cooperation with Noranda Group concentrators, has developed a froth level monitor and a pulp density meter adaptable to this type of control. Although some of the basic principles on which they are based have been known for some time, their incorporation into the design of reliable, direct-reading instruments which can be interfaced with a computer is believed to be novel.

Jan 4, 1979

By F. Rosenblum, P. Spira, F. Kitzinger

The possibility of increasing the efficiency of mineral processing plants by means of computer control has prompted metallurgists to examine their flowsheets more critically in order to develop practical control strategies. Control schemes in use to date generally rely on the automation of traditional and previously manually regulated control loops, e.g., the addition of reagents to maintain a constant assay or a constant pH. This approach is predicated on the availability of well established primary sensors such as pH electrodes or on-stream analyzers. Noranda Research Center, in cooperation with Noranda Group concentrators, has developed a froth level monitor and a pulp density meter adaptable to this type of control. Although some of the basic principles on which they are based have been known for some time, their incorporation into the design of reliable, direct-reading instruments which can be interfaced with a computer is believed to be novel.

Jan 1, 1980

By Benjamin N. Webber

Many of the auriferous placers of the arid Southwest differ widely from the standard types of stream and eluvial deposits of more humid regions, although exhibiting some of the features of each. This divergence in characteristics is of geological and economic importance and appears sufficient to warrant the consideration of these placers as a class distinct from both stream and eluvial deposits. It is hoped that the consideration of these auriferous gravels as a distinct type of deposit will facilitate recognition of morphological and economic features that might remain obscure if these deposits were viewed in the light of stream or eluvial placers whose type locality is a more humid environment. "Bajada placer" is proposed as the designation for this type of placer deposit. Bajada is the Spanish term for slope and is used locally in the Southwest to indicate the lower slope of a mountain range, the portion consisting of rock debris and standing at a much lower angle than the rock slope of the range proper. It has been used in a geologic sense by Schraderl and others. The type locality of bajada placers is the Sonoran Desert,2 where they occur on the bajada or rock debris slope of desert ranges. Stream placers are represented in the Southwest, but most of them lie within the mountain topographic province, the Mexican Highlands2 section of the Basin and Range physiographic province. Eluvial placers may occur in the mountainous semiarid Mexican Highlands but are almost unknown in the extremely arid Sonoran Desert, as mountain slopes are generally too steep to permit the accumulation of any considerable mantle of residual debris. Since their salient distinctions are almost wholly the result of formation under conditions of extreme aridity, bajada placers are largely confined to the Sonoran Desert, although a few occur in the adjacent Mexican Highlands. They may be modified by the action of ephemeral streams, in which case the placer gravels of these arroyos approach stream placers in type and habit of occurrence, but their relation to an arid environment and the bajada type is usually apparent.

Jan 1, 1935

By Benjamin N. Webber

Many of the auriferous placers of the arid Southwest differ widely from the standard types of stream and eluvial deposits of more humid regions, although exhibiting some of the features of each. This divergence in characteristics is of geological and economic importance and appears sufficient to warrant the consideration of these placers as a class distinct from both stream and eluvial deposits. It is hoped that the consideration of these auriferous gravels as a distinct type of deposit will facilitate recognition of morphological and economic features that might remain obscure if these deposits were viewed in the light of stream or eluvial placers whose type locality is a more humid environment. "Bajada placer" is proposed as the designation for this type of placer deposit. Bajada is the Spanish term for slope and is used locally in the Southwest to indicate the lower slope of a mountain range, the portion consisting of rock debris and standing at a much lower angle than the rock slope of the range proper. It has been used in a geologic sense by Schraderl and others. The type locality of bajada placers is the Sonoran Desert,2 where they occur on the bajada or rock debris slope of desert ranges. Stream placers are represented in the Southwest, but most of them lie within the mountain topographic province, the Mexican Highlands2 section of the Basin and Range physiographic province. Eluvial placers may occur in the mountainous semiarid Mexican Highlands but are almost unknown in the extremely arid Sonoran Desert, as mountain slopes are generally too steep to permit the accumulation of any considerable mantle of residual debris. Since their salient distinctions are almost wholly the result of formation under conditions of extreme aridity, bajada placers are largely confined to the Sonoran Desert, although a few occur in the adjacent Mexican Highlands. They may be modified by the action of ephemeral streams, in which case the placer gravels of these arroyos approach stream placers in type and habit of occurrence, but their relation to an arid environment and the bajada type is usually apparent.

Jan 1, 1935

By William E. Ford, Edward Salisbury Dana

506. Scope of Descriptive Mineralogy. - It is the province of Descriptive Mineralogy to describe each mineral species, as regards: (1) form and structure; (2) physical characters; (3) chemical composition including blowpipe and chemical tests; (4) occurrence in nature with reference to geo- graphical distribution and association with other species; also in connection with the above to show how it may be distinguished from other species. Further, it should classify mineral species into more or less comprehensive groups according to those characters regarded as most essential. Other points which may or may not be included are the investigation of the methods of origin of minerals; the changes that they undergo in nature and the results of such alteration; also the methods by which the same compounds may be made in the laboratory; finally, the uses of minerals as ores, for ornament and in the arts.

Jan 1, 1922

“The mining industry can do more to alleviate world poverty, hunger and human misery, more to close the widening gap between advanced and developing nations and more to achieve international peace and understanding than any other single force in the world," Charles W. Court, Minister for Industrial Development, Western Australia, told the American Mining Congress audience at the opening session of the 1969 Mining Convention, October 19-22, San Francisco. Australia, he pointed out, is a shining example. In 1971, 60% of U.S. mining investment overseas will go to Australia and other parts of Oceania, an increase of 42% over a year ago. Australia has capitalized on world needs, its own rich resources and good investment climate. Developing nations can and should do the same, but they mix emotion with nationalism, often frightening away foreign investment which could breathe life into dormant and backward areas, said Court.

Jan 12, 1969

A. W. AMBROSE, Washington, D. C.-Did you make any analysis of the amount of emulsion at the well and after you flowed it through a lead line to the storage tank? E. A. TRAGER.-B. S. can be formed in passing through a lead line by the friction due to the roughness of the pipe and the irregularities at the joints. R. W. MOORE.-Did you find the percentage of water to be limited to the percentage of oil in the emulsion which formed? E. A. TRAGER.- Yes, the percentage is about 67 percent. water and 23, per cent. oil. R. W. MOORE.-If you added more water would the emulsion be permanent? E. A. TRAGER.-Yes, it would be permanent, but the excess water would separate out. THE CHAIRMAN. (C. W. WASHBURNE, New York, N. Y.).-Did you use hot or cold water in these experiments?

Jan 12, 1919

By Chris Weyand

Throughout the past 40 years we have been drawing inevitably closer to the conclusion that coal will be our chief source of energy. Our reserves of natural gas and petroleum, on which we depend, are dwindling. Knowing that we will soon reach our physically extractable limit of these energy sources. The US government has created many incentives to encourage energy companies to transfer technology and resources from natural gas and petroleum to coal. Such encouragement is stimulated through taxation methods. Coal mining engineers deal mainly with production, which involves planning and design throughout the acquisition, exploration, development, production, and reclamation of a mine. Though taxation is not one of the areas analyzed by the engineer, it should be considered and understood as it is involved in the mine life cycle. This paper will discuss coal taxation in the five stages of mining and will explore certain tax saving decisions.

Jan 1, 1983

By Bunting S. Crocker

Pebble grinding was used at Lake Shore Mines in 1949. A full description of experimental evidence and test plant results was published in 1952 1 and further operating details in 1954.2 In more recent years the term autogenous grinding has been coined and is now frequently seen in the technical literature. Autogenous crushing and/or grinding covers any grinding mill in which the larger of ore are made to grind the fine pieces; the crushing and grinding may be either dry or wet. This discussion deals only with wet autogenous grinding, and only in the fine grinding part of the circuit, i.e., from 6 mesh to 92 pct -325 mesh. The term pebble milling could apply to fine autogenous grinding in which the pebbles are made from the ore itself, or it could also refer to grinding with pebbles, such as flint pebbles, from a source outside the mine.

Jan 5, 1959