Search Documents

By David E. Van Dillen

INTRODUCTION Current design practices for deep tunnels make extensive use of plasticity solutions by Newmark (1970) and Hendron and Aiyer (1971). These solutions are applicable to a circular tunnel subjected to a hydrostatic stress state in a Mohr-Coulomb plastic medium. The role of rockbolts is introduced into these solutions as a uniform internal pressure equivalent to the yield stress of the rockbolt pattern. The application of these solutions is hampered by their inability to consider the biaxial nature of the in-situ stress field or any surcharged stress, such as due to blast loading. As a means of considering the biaxial stress field, designers have turned to relatively costly alternatives, such as the finite element method. The recent work of Detournay (1983) simultaneously provided two generalizations to the state of the art of the analysis of circular tunnels. Whereas the solution of Newmark applies to nondilatant Mohr-Coulomb materials, and that of Hendron and Aiyer applies to materials having associated flow rules, the solution of Detournay covers materials of arbitrary dilatancy. Secondly, Detournay's solution is valid for biaxial stress states, as long as the problem remains statically determinate (St. John, Detournay, and Fairhurst, 1984). The topic of this paper is an investigation of various alternatives for introducing the effects of rockbolts into simple tunnel design charts developed using Detournay's solution. The study was conducted using the BMINES finite element code, into which rockbolt elements have been added (St. John and Van Dillen, 1983). These rockbolt elements allow for plastic deformation of the bolt, bolt

Jan 1, 1984

By J. H. Collier

The mother lode, or mineralized belt, at Angels, in Calaveras county, California, is 3 miles wide. At least, a region of that width has been, and is being, prospected which has shown considerable mineralization. The lode proper divides into three lodes, or groups of veins, at this point. On all of these branches, mines have been operated with more or less success.

Jan 1, 1900

By George M. Humphrey

It is indeed a pleasure for me to have this opportunity to discuss with you a subject which I find infinitely interesting and intriguing - namely, world-wide iron ore supply and demand. We will be examining the following: (i) current iron ore production and requirements; (ii) the major ore producing countries; (iii) the seaborne iron ore trade; (iv) ore grades or types; and (v) future requirements. For those who may not be familiar with the iron ore mining industry, it may be useful to know at the outset that our industry has been plagued with overcapacity for the past seven years. The optimism which prompted substantial expansion of productive capacity in the early to mid-1970's has unfortunately proved to have been unfounded. I shall begin by describing where we are today as well as a little about how we got there. In the latter regard, it's not so much that historical knowledge will solve any of the industry's problems or provide clairvoyance with regard to the future. Rather it's a feeling on my part that some knowledge of the past will provide a useful perspective capable of enhancing our analysis of future trends. At the time of writing, the most recent year for which we have definitive world-wide iron ore production and consumption statistics is 1980. In that year the world consumed approximately 859 million metric tons of iron ore to produce approximately 510 million metric tons of primary iron consisting of 502 million tons of pig iron and 8 million tons of sponge iron. Crude steel production for the same period attained a level of 719 million metric tons. Because it is possible in today's world to produce steel without consuming iron ore simply by melting scrap, the key statistic insofar as iron ore demand is concerned is primary iron production. In 1980 the ratio of iron ore consumption to primary iron production was 1.68:1.00. The comparable ratio over the past seven years has varied from 1.63 to 1.87 and averaged 1.72:1.00. All the same, as a practical matter crude steel production and iron ore consumption tend to parallel one another closely, and for the time being a good rule of thumb is that to produce an average ton of crude steel requires 1.20 tons of iron ore. Let's turn our attention now to the regions where the 859 million tons of iron ore necessary to support 1980 world-wide iron and steel production were produced. Not surprisingly, most of the ore was produced in the same region where it was smelted. In round numbers 65% of the world's iron ore production is currently consumed in the same general region as it is produced, while 35% enters the seaborne trade and is transported in ocean vessels to a more remote consuming area. Approximately 85% of the world's seaborne iron ore trade is directed to the Western European and Japanese markets, both of which are almost entirely dependent on off-shore sources for their mammoth iron ore requirements. The following tabulation lists, in order, the twelve leading iron ore producing countries in 1980 as well as their percentages of total and free-world production; in addition their export potentials are presented. As a group these countries accounted in that year for 89% of world-wide production which stood at 871 million tons. Leading World Iron Ore Producing Countries [ ] One will first note that world iron ore production is dominated by the top four producers - namely, the U.S.S.R., Brazil, Australia and the U.S.A. - which together accounted for nearly 60% of total 1980 production. Of these four major producers the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. produce almost exclusively for consumption in their own regions, whereas Australia and Brazil produce primarily for the seaborne export trade. In fact Australia and Brazil accounted for about 50% of all seaborne iron ore trade in 1980! It is also interesting to note that Australia, Brazil, the U.S.A. and Canada accounted for nearly 60% of free world iron ore production in 1980. Once again the importance of Australia and Brazil shows itself, with their share alone of free world production reaching 35%. As has already been noted, a significant 35% of the world's iron ore production in the year 1980 was

Jan 1, 1982

By W. J. Kroll

W. J. Kroll (Belgium)—Those who are acquainted with the metallurgy of our forefathers may have occasionally a good time when glancing at recent publications in which aged discoveries are unconsciously reported as novelties. We know very well, that oxygen blowing of iron has been described by old Bessemer. The author of the present article is, however, not aware of the fact that the process he describes, the fused salts scrubbing, was already used in the middle of the last century by St. Claire Deville in his attempts at making higher-purity aluminum from raw AlCl3 by sodium reduction. The same fact escaped the three investigators to whom the author refers. The technical grade AlC13 produced by St. Claire Deville from impure oxide, chlorine, and carbon (Oersted process) was contaminated with Sic4 and FeC13, which he removed on an industrial scale by various methods.' He sublimed, for instance, his chloride in contact with iron nails, or aluminum chips, or in hydrogen, which reduced the FeC13 to the less volatile FeCl2. He used also alkali-alkaline earth chlorides as a solvent for A1C13 and FeC13 in presence of iron as a reducing agent, and sublimed his purified AlC13 from solvent salts. The successors of Deville used also zinc or lead as a reducing agent. These methods were later used currently for the purification of BeCl2 and for collecting this compound in a salt bath, suitable for fusion electrolysis. More recently, the same Deville process has been described as applied to the purification of ZrCL4, as part of a method of extraction of ZrCL4 from silico zirconium, which later was reacted with FeC12 in a separate part of the equipment. According to the patent referred to3 the ZrCL4 is dissolved as a gas in a carrier salt such as alkali-alkaline earth chloride, from which it can be reclaimed in a purified form by distillation. A bath of NaCl/KCl is recommended in the specifications. The FeC12-FeC13 go in the salt solution in which raw ZrCl4 is introduced by bubbling, while Sic4 and Tic4 pass through the bath and escape in the atmosphere. purification by this salt-solvent method is thus well described. It may be worth while insisting on some minor details about which the author did not bother too much. One of these concerns the material of construction for the container. If iron is used, and if no other reducing agent is added, then it is the iron of the pot that acts as a reagent in the breakdown of FeC13 to FeCl2, and corrosion can be expected. This shows the importance of using extraneous large surface-reducing agents, of which there is a choice. Zir-

Jan 1, 1963

By H. G. Moulton

The increasing scale of mining operations over the past decade, particularly in connection with the exploitation of large bodies of comparatively low-grade copper ores, has made necessary the study of the behavior of rock under failure. When extractions of as high as 40,000 tons a day are reached in steam-shovel operations and as high as 20,000 tons per day in underground mining operations, it is evident that excavations soon become of such size that the behavior of the rock will often be dependent on fundamental principles applicable to more or less homogeneous materials under stress, rather than on weathering or local planes of weakness. In the ordinary rock excavations encountered in civil-engineering practice, such as excavations for subways, highways, railroads, etc., rock faces are not carried to depths sufficient to develop any pressures, or consequently any failures, except those due to loose masses resulting from local planes of weakness. When, however, orebodies whose tonnage is measured by hundreds of thousands are to be extracted by steam-shovel operations in open pits, it is necessary to determine if possible in advance the slopes that the sides of the pits will assume, for these slopes influence the shape of the excavations and thereby the amount of ore that may be extracted by the open-pit method. When large orebodies are mined underground at depths of 300 to 500 ft. (91 to 152 m.) by caving methods, the surface subsiding as the ore is withdrawn, it is necessary to determine in advance the outermost limits of fracture in the subsiding surface, for on the delineation of these limits depends the location of surface improvements, mills, smelters, etc. and also the location of development work, such as hoisting shafts, main haulage levels, and all other underground openings that must remain undisturbed during the period of ore extraction. Heretofore, in civil-engineering practice, it has been assumed that earth and rock behave differently in failure. For the calculation of earth pressures, formulas are used in which the assumption is made that earth banks fail by sliding along the slope determined by the frictional resistance of the material. The line of failure and the resulting pressure is held to be dependent on the angle of repose, which is different for varying

Jan 1, 1920

Jan 1, 1957

By John W. Sweeney

Florida is blessed with some of the worlds greatest phosphate rock deposits, and doubly blessed in that those deposits are uraniferous. Until recently, the uranium con¬tained in phosphate rock had been ignored, but spot mar¬ket prices in the $40-per-pound range have spurred actions which will soon transform the state into a major uranium supplier. In 1978, two plants in Florida and one in Louisiana went it on- stream to recover uranium oxide from phosphoric acid, and construction began on three other extraction facilities. Together, these six plants will be cap¬able of recovering 1940 t/y (2140 stpy) of yellow cake from Florida phosphate in the early 1980s, equivalent to 15% of the projected US requirement. By the year 2000, Florida phosphates will have produced a projected 49 000 tons (54,000 st) of uranium oxide to fuel the nation's nuclear reactors.

Jan 9, 1979

By L. Kovisars, F. Buttazzoni

The current demand for copper in the western world exceeds 7 million tonnes annually. The growth in demand is expected to average 2.6% annually to a level exceeding 11 million tonnes in 2000. Copper mine production is currently about 6 million tonnes annually; the annual net addition to mine output in the future will have to average about 190,000 tonnes of contained copper. The industrial nations of Europe and the western Pacific are heavily dependent on copper imports. Currently these import needs are supplied by Canada, Africa and Pacific producers. The increased demand for copper in the future is expected to further weight the trade balance to the Pacific suppliers. An evaluation of undeveloped deposits allows the ranking of these deposits based on total cost of production, including provision for plant and infra- structure investment as well as political/social/ economic risk. Peru, Canada, and the Southwest Pacific are expected to significantly increase exports. The United States will develop deposits to replace depleted mines, maintaining mine production at a level approximately equal to current output, with a consequent increase in copper imports. Chile is expected to become the world's leading copper producer, as well as expanding it's position as the leading exporter.

Jan 1, 1982

By K. P. Stricker, H. Keddeinis, K. Grebe

Recent investigations by Mannesmann Research have shown that disintegration of sinter with widely varying quality levels is subject to a much more complex set of influences than was previously assumed. It was confirmed that disintegration at temperatures between 300° and 600°C (570°and 1,110°F) is triggered by the degradation of hematite. The specific tendency of hematite to disintegrate is, however, not constant: sinters containing the same amount of hematite can show widely differing disintegration tendencies, depending on structural homogeneity, porosity, and gangue quantity. Sinters with heterogeneous structures transmit stress to the hematite phase and this favors disintegration. Another factor is the brittleness of the glassy silicate phase, which can be influenced even by small modifications of minor gangue constituents.

Jan 1, 1984

By Alexander L. Holley

The 400-ton testing machine, ordered in June, 1875, by the United States Board appointed to test "iron, steel, and other metals," has lately been completed at the Watertown Arsenal, thoroughly proved and accepted by the Board. The excellence of the machine in every respect is more than satisfactory, and its accuracy is at first sight astonishing, although an investigation of its principles must show that if the weighing apparatus will weigh at all, it must do so with perfect accuracy, because all its movements are absolutely without friction. The proof experiments were numerous, and the effects of recoil after sudden ruptures at maximum loads, were watched with great care, but without much anxiety, because the weighing parts affected are by no means delicate in structure, and their motion is almost infinitely small. Among the tests were the following : A forged link of hard, wrought iron, 5 inches in diameter between the eyes, was slowly strained in tension, and broke short off with a loud report at 722,800 pounds. The diameter before breaking at the point of fracture was 5.04 inches; after breaking, 4.98 inches. In order to see if the weighing parts had been disturbed by the recoil, which was obviously near the greatest recoil the machine will ever suffer, a horse-hair was next tested; it was 7-1000ths of an inch in diameter; it stretched 30 per cent., and broke at 1 pound. Other horse-hairs vary in tenacity between 1 and 2 pounds. Of course, the accuracy of the machine on such delicate specimens, and indeed on specimens having some hundreds of pounds tenacity, has been checked and proved by other weighing machines. A 5-inch round bar, turned down to 38 inches diameter along the centre, was pulled apart at 430,200 pounds tension. Then some more horse-hairs were tested ; also copper wires 191/2-1000ths of an inch in diameter, which averaged 25 pounds tenacity..

Jan 1, 1879

By G. Willard Quick, John R. Freeman

Jan 1, 1930

By E. C. Harder

BAUXITE is known mainly as the ore from which aluminum is smelted but it has large use also in the manufacture of artificial abrasives and as a basis for certain chemical industries. A small amount is used for refractories and for other purposes. COMPOSITION Dana and others give the mineral formula of bauxite as A1203.2H20 and the composition as A12037 73.9 pct; H2O, 26.1 pct. It has been definitely shown, however, that bauxite does not exist as a specific mineral but rather as a rock. The term is now used synonymously with aluminum ore and it embraces gibbsite (hydrargillite or alpha trihydrate), A1203.3H20 (A12037 65.4 pct; H2O, 34.6 pct); boehmite (alpha mono¬hydrate), A1203.H20(Al203) 85 pct; H2O, 15 pct); diaspore (beta monohydrate), A1203.H2O(A12037 85 pct; H2O, 15 pct), and mixtures in various proportions of any two of them. Bauxite of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic in Europe is predominantly a mixture of gibbsite and boehmite, subordinately a mixture of boehmite and diaspore, or gibbsite and diaspore. The bauxite of North and South America, tropical Africa, Asia, and Australasia consists largely of gibbsite. Corundum (A1203) is not included under bauxite, although gradations from bauxite to emery or corundum exist. All bauxite, irrespective of the aluminum minerals composing it, contains certain impurities, including silica, in the form of clay minerals (kaolinite, halloysite, and others) or quartz, iron oxide (as hematite or goethite), titania (as leucoxene or rutile), iron sulphide (as pyrite or marcasite), iron carbonate (siderite), and calcium carbonate (as calcite); the last three mentioned in minor amount and of local occurrence only. Bauxite belongs to a group of partly consolidated materials called laterites, formed by surface weathering. This group includes also impure siliceous and ferruginous bauxite and siliceous and

Jan 1, 1949

By J. H. Klepinger, C. W. Goodale

I. Introduction....................567 II. Character oF the OrE................568 III. Old FluE System..................572 IV. Tests on Old FLUE System..............575 1. Aspiration Tests................. 575 2. Tests with Steel Settling Chamber........... 575 3. Test with Experimental Brick Flue........... 583 4. Testa on Blast Furnace Geses............. 591 V. Design of New FluE System.............. 597 VI. Main Dust Chamber................. 605 VII. Some DetailS of Construction ............. 609 VIII. THE Chimney.................... 616 IX. Operation of New FluE System............. 624 X. Temperatures and DraFTS............... 630 XI. Velocities and Volumes................ 632 XII. TeStS on the New FluE System............. 637 XIII. Conclusion..................... 643 I. Introduction. In the summer of 1909 the Boston & Montana reduction department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. completed a new flue system, at a cost of about $1,100,000, and as this includes the largest and highest chimney in the world, and some new features of flue construction, a description will be of interest. At the Spokane meeting of the Institute in September, 1909, a brief mention was made of this flue system, in discussing Mr. Brunton's presidential paper on the Progress of Metallurgy in the West, and a promise was given that when a long enough time had elapsed, so that operating results could be given, a paper would be offered. The smelting plant includes blast furnaces, MacDougall roasters, gas-fired reverberatories, and converters.

Jan 1, 1914

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." Science knows no national boundaries, knows no country. These views might be taken as premises for a discussion of the development of the mineral resources of the world. Yet how far man is removed from such broadminded ideals! In this day of jealousy and dread, of political machinations and statesmen's maneuverings, of rantings and crass ravings against fellow-beings, man's attitudes towards God's gifts are but the measure of the smallness of man. That the exploitation of mineral wealth should be for the common good, none will deny, but what is meant by "common"? Is it for the common good of The Pennsylvania State College, Pennsylvania, the United States of America, or the world? If man is big enough and honest enough to state categorically that by "common," as used in the context above, is meant that the utilization of the mineral wealth should be for the mutual benefit of all mankind, and that all concerned strive to see that such a viewpoint is executed, then there is brighter hope for the future. It is to be hoped that the world may have at least a few years or possibly a generation of peace. What can be done in these years to work towards the ultimate goal of human improvement? The work of statesmen in the drafting of international agreements and the easing of small frictions which appear between nations, as they

Jan 1, 1950

By Henry M. Howe

Jan 1, 1909

By Hayes Theiling Dorton

This paper describes the record-keeping and reporting responsibilities of the West Virginia Department of Mines and tells about the pilot project conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and worth of implementing a computer-based formation management system encompassing the large amount of data used by the Department and to lay the groundwork for future implementation of a state-wide information network. The paper briefly discusses the equipment and software that was used. It also discusses the system data files and subfiles that were constructed (or will be constructed in later phases of the project). Finally, the paper describes how the system will expand in the next several years.

Jan 1, 1983

By John V. Beall

Ten years ago, upon coming home to New York, we had money in the bank, a portfolio of stocks, a rent- controlled apartment overlooking the Hudson and we didn't own an automobile. This was bliss! The just reward of industry and careful management of the fruits of our labor in the mines overseas. Although we kept up a delaying action, the family was pushing hard for a house in the suburbs. We were able to find something wrong with every house that came up but, finally, in a weak moment made the unlikely compromise of putting ten dollars down on a piece of property in Westchester County.

Jan 1, 1971

By Eugene Guccione

"Instead of just talking to ourselves we should inform the public of the grave problems that beset our profession and our industry." We've all heard and voiced that complaint at SME-AIME meetings; and if we were physicians, lawyers, pretzel retailers, or what-have-you, we'd hear and voice the same complaint at meetings of the American Medical Association, the Bar Association, the American Pretzel Institute, etc. Somehow we are all convinced or at least hope that if we could only, "get our message across to the public" (an extremely difficult and astronomically expensive proposition), everything would suddenly turn for the better. But would it? Hardly.

Jan 2, 1976

By L. C. Graton, Joseph Murdoch

I. Introduction......................... 26 1. The Relations of Scale in Geologic Work........ 26 2. General Characteristics of Copper Sulphide Ores..... 29 3. Scope of Present Study................. 31 11. Description of the Important Minerals............ 36 1. Pyrite....................... 36 2. Pyrrhotite....................... 41 3. Chalcopyrite...................... 41 4. Bornite........................ 40 5. Covellite....................... 50 6. Chalcocite....................... 52 7. Enargite...................... 59 8. Tetrahedrite and Tennantite.............. 61 III. Conclusions.......................... 62 I. Introduction. The Relations of Scale in Geologic Work. Many features of human accomplishment rest upon the possibility of representing natural objects on a scale of different magnitude from the actual one. Most drawings, for example, are of very different scale from that of the object depicted, and indeed are useful mainly 011 this account. More important than the question of mere convenience, however, is that of meeting the physical limitations of vision.' Thus, a mural

Jan 1, 1914

By A. C. Bulnes

This paper applies the methods of statistical analysis to the interpretation of core analysis data of dolomitic limestone from the San Andres formation at Wasson and the Clearfork formation at Fullerton. Probability relationships are shown to connect the porosity and the permeability and the porosity and the fluid saturation. For example, the porosity-permeability relationship expresses the probability that a sample of porosity,f, will or will not be permeable. The over-all porosity frequency distribution of the reservoir together with the frequency curves of permeability (one for each class interval of porosity) provide a precise basis for computing the weighted average productive porosity of the reservoir for any assigned value of the minimum productive permeability. The probability that the permeability of a core specimen from Fullerton will exceed a given value appears to be dependent on the percentage porosity of the specimen, its void structure type (i.e., porosity in the qualitative sense), and the given value of the permeability. If continuous profiles of void structure type and porosity are available together with the appropriate porosity-probability of permability plots, the nes pay thickness may be estimated. The Invasion Index of a well is defined in terms of the porosity and permeability data. This index is suggested as a basis for comparing wells as regards their suitability as fluid-injection wells. Three problems of importance in the exploitation of limestone reservoirs may be stated as follows: 1. The determination of the productive porosity of the reservoir. The productive porosity is defined as f = fPVP/V [II in which Vp, is the volume of the reservoir that is sufficiently permeable to oil to give up an appreciable fraction of its original oil in place during the economic life of the reservoir; fp, is the arithmetic mean porosity of the permeable volume v*, and V is the total volume of the reservoir. 2. The determination of the number of feet of oil-bearing porous rock that will produce at a commercial rate into the well bore; i.e., the net pay thickness. 3. The choice of fluid-injection wells in a secondary recovery program. The ultimate recovery of the reservoir is proportiona1 to the productive porosity. The productive capacity of the well is proportional to the net pay thickness. The principal purpose of this paper is to show that the methods of statistical analysis when applied to core analysis data of dolomitic limestones offer a useful approach to the solution of these three problems, as well as others of importance in reservoir engineering. The use of these methods was suggested by the work of Jan Law.1

Jan 1, 1946