Search Documents

By Thomas M. Drown

In experimenting in connection with Mr. P. W. Shimer (now chemist of the Thomas Iron Company, Hokendauqua, Pa.) on methods for the determination of silicon in pig iron, in order to find one which should be accurate and yet give results in a few hours, I have adopted the following procedure, which, as far as my experience goes, leaves nothing to be desired. About one gram of pig iron or steel is treated in a platinum or porcelain dish with 25 cubic centimeters of nitric acid (sp. gr. 1, 2). When action has ceased, 25 to 30 cubic centimeters of dilute sulphuric acid (one of acid and three of water) are added, and heat applied until the nitric acid is nearly or quite driven off. The heat of a water-bath is sufficient, though the process may be hastened by heating higher on a sand-bath. Water is then cautiously added (as soon as the free sulphuric acid is sufficiently cool) and the contents of the dish heated until the crystals of ferric sulphate are completely dissolved. The solution is then filtered as hot as possible, the residue washed first with hot water, then with 25 to 30 cubic centimeters of hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 1, 12), and finally with hot water. After drying and igniting, the silica will be found to be snow-white and granular. The following are some results obtained by this method compared

Jan 1, 1879

By Michael Tenebaum, C. C. Brown

In recent years, the importance of slag control in basic open-hearth operations has been universally recognized. To effect such control during the working period of the heat, methods have been developed to measure or estimate slag oxidation and slag basicity. While satisfactory rapid chemical methods have been developed to determine slag oxidation, no completely adequate method of evaluating basicity has yet been provided. The most generally accepted control methods of measuring slag basicity are based on visual cstimates. While considerable benefit may be derived from such estimates, the need for some measurable indication of slag basicity has become increasingly apparent. In a recent paper, Philbrook and Jolly suggested a promising technique for making the basicity determination. Their method consists of measuring the pH of a mixture of powdered open-hearth slag and distilled water. It was found that a relation could be established between the slag basicity and the alkalinity of the water mixture as measured by the hydrogen-ion concentration. The general procedure followed in making the measurements and the considerations involved in constructing the original curves are given in the paper of Philbrook and Jolly and need not be repeated. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss some of the factors considered in applying the pH measurements to actual slag control and to present some of the results of its apphcation. Factors Involved in Measuring pH of Water-slag Mixtures To facilitate the application of the pH control system, it was desirable that no alteration be made in the routine methods of sampling and crushing the furnace slag. Some of the factors considered before establishing a curve to relate slag basicity with the pH reading arc reviewed individually in the following paragraphs. Effect of Cooling Rate Under actual operating conditions there can be considerable variation in the temperature of the piece of slag crushed for the pH determination. To determine whether variations in crushing temperature or in cooling rate would affect the pH reading, a series of four samples was prepared from each of two separate slags. These samples represented conditions far more extreme than would actually be encountered. To obtain these samples, a thick pancake of slag was poured. One piece of this pancake was crushed immediately after it had solidified. Another piece was water-quenched and then crushed. A third piece was allowed to air-cool to room temperature before crushing. The fourth sample was prepared from a chilled slag. This sample was poured onto a heavy inclined steel plate at the

Jan 1, 1945

By Peter Tegart

The discovery of gold in the Toodoggone River area is credited to Charles McClair who mined placer deposits in 1925, reportedly valued at $17,500. After he and his partner went missing in 1927, efforts to relocate their workings resulted in the formation of Two Brothers Valley Gold Mines Ltd. in 1933, in which the legendary Grant McConachie (first president of CP Air) played an active role. This was the age when the prospector first utilized the airplane to reconnoitre remote areas. What greeted the observer from the air was an area rich in orange and yellow colours characteristic of gossans formed by the oxidation of sulphides. However, Samuel Black, a Hudson Bay Company fur trader, had also noted in his diary as early as 1824, the unusual and many gossanous colours in the headwaters of the Finlay River. These gossans, coupled with white limestone bluffs and the presence of placer gold, attracted the first reconnaissance of the area by Cominco in 1929. Cominco was ever active in remote areas at this time. They staked and worked several base-metal showings hosted by limestone at the margins of intrusive stocks. These early workers also obtained erratic high gold assays from chalcedony float samples found in creeks draining into the Toodoggone River. However, because the samples gave inconsistent assays, no concerted effort was made to locate their source. Except for the occasional horse-supported prospecting party of the late 1940s and early 1950s, the area did not receive much attention until 1968. Work until this time focused on the base metal lead-zinc showings which contained attractive silver credits. Gold was not an attraction because of the set price established by the US government. The late 1960s saw the northward expansion of porphyry copper exploration into the Toodoggone. A program of gossan soil sampling (gossans which had attracted the early workers) was carried out by Kennco Explorations (Western) Ltd. in 1966-1967. They analysed for base metals in the field, using a cold extraction method. The Kemess copper- gold prospect was staked as a result of anomalous copper values from this early geochemical program. In 1968, Kennco continued the program of silt traversing and field geochemical testing. The samples were further subjected to multielement analysis consisting of copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, cobalt, nickel, and silver at Kennco's North Vancouver laboratory. Several anomalous creeks, high in combinations of copper, molybdenum, and silver, were outlined. Some initial soil grids were also established. The fall of 1969 saw the return of Kennco prospector Gordon Davies and geologist Bob Stevenson to check out a well-defined molybdenum, scattered copper and silver anomaly in soils from a grid on the Chappelle claims. The subsequent analysis of several selected quartz felsenmeer floats yielded one assay which ran in the order of 0.25 kg/t (8 oz per st) gold and 2.2 kg/t (70 oz per st) silver. Subsequent trenching on the Chappelle claims exposed the source of float in a 4- m (134) wide vein of high grade gold-silver mineralization. These results led quickly to the realization that the district had precious metal potential. Subsequent exploration in the period 1969-1974 by Kennco resulted in the discovery of most of the gold and silver occurrences on the Chappelle and Lawyers properties. Several other gold and silver occurrences were found in this district by Cordilleran, Cominco, and Sumitomo, working the district during this period. Conwest optioned the Chappelle in 1973 and explored underground by adit entry as part of a one-year program. In 1974, Du Pont of Canada Exploration Ltd. optioned the Chappelle claims and in March 1980, using reserves developed on the A vein, placed the Baker mine into production at a rate of 90.7 Vd (100 stpd). The Amethyst zone on the Lawyers property, 8 km (5 miles) north of Chappelle, was found in 1973 by Kennco using continued, persistent followup prospecting of silver silt geochemical anomalies. A silt anomaly in the order of 3.4 ppm silver occurred in a stream flowing 300 m (984 ft)

Jan 1, 1985

By Ed Van Eeckhout

As part of a U.S. Bureau of Mines-sponsored project on the utilization of "stiff" backfill to minimize potential rock burst hazards, a finite element study was undertaken to predict stresses and displacements around a stope mined up from the 5400 level of the Sunshine mine, Kellogg, Idaho. This stope was to be backfilled using a high-modulus fill. In preparation for that configuration, certain instrumentation was installed near the 5400 level to monitor stress changes. Due to untenable economics, only 2 cuts of the stope were ever made. This paper presents the results of the instrument readings taken during the first cut and compares them with the numerical predictions, as well as presents the modeling results of closure and fill stresses in the stope if it had been mined.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. Land, R. Hultgren

Heat contents of four Cr-Ni alloys were determined in a diphenyl ethev calorimeter. Aside from ferromagnetic effects, Kopp's law of additivity of heat capacities is approximately fol-lowed, in disagreement with earlier results of A. W. Foster. In 1934 Foster1 reported heat-capacity measurements of dilute solutions of chromium in nickel, primarily as a study of the effect of alloying on the ferromagnetic Curie temperature. He found that, apart from the Curie temperature effect, the general level of heat capacities was reduced 10 pct by the addition of 1 pct Cr; 20 pct by the addition of 2 pct Cr. His measurements of pure nickel essentially agreed with accepted values. These results indicate that small amounts of dissolved chromium cause an increase in the Debye temperature of nickel, presupposing a change of frequency of interatomic bonding vibrations which is much larger than should be expected. If Foster's results were verified, therefore, they would have important implications for bonding theory. The only other heat-capacity measurements in this system seem to be those of Taylor and Hinton,' who studied anomalies which they attributed to super-lattice formation at 25 at. pct Cr. At temperatures above the anomaly, Taylor and Hinton found heat capacities at this composition were quite normal, approximately obeying Kopp's law of additivity. EXPERIMENTAL WORK In order to verify or disprove the remarkable results of Foster, the heat contents of four dilute solid solutions of chromiunn in nickel were measured in a diphenyl ether calorimeter. This instrument, described elsewhere,, operates on the principle of the Bunsen ice calorimeter, but uses diphenyl ether as the working substance. Diphenyl ether melts at the convenient temperature of 26.S°C and supplies a more sensitive measure of heat than ice. The hot sample, in an atmosphere of argon, is dropped from a furnace at a measured temperature into a chamber which is surrounded by a mixture of solid and liquid diphenyl ether. The heat from the hot specimen melts some of the solid without chang- ing the temperature of the calorimeter. The amount of solid melted, and therefore the number of calories released by the specimen, is measured from the increase of volume of the mixture, which pushes mercury down a graduated capillary tube. The apparatus has been standardized against the known heat content of pure platinum. Heat loss during the dropping of the specimen was estimated by comparing the heat content of an empty platinum capsule with a solid platinum ball of the same radius and degree of polish of the surface. Repeated tests demonstrate the precision of measurement to be closer than *0.3 pct. Smoothed experimental results are listed in Table I. The tabulated values for pure nickel are taken from kelley, several measurements were made which agreed closely with this tabulation. For chromium, however, no similar agreement was found. The values tabulated were taken from a thorough study of chromium with the diphenyl ether calorimeter which will be published elsewhere.= Suitable plots of the data showed the expected ferromagnetic anomalies in the low-chromium alloys, while the 11 pct alloy shows no ferromagnetic anomaly, but a different, small anomaly below 900°K. This is perhaps the same anomaly found in CrNi, which was once attributed to superlattice formation,' but is probably due to some other cause, such as antifer-

Jan 1, 1960

By Raphael D. Schilz, Michael F. Dunn, Edward D. Thimons, Francis S. Kendorski

During a mine fire or other emergency, it may be desirable to reverse the air flow in order to provide an escapeway or to control a fire. Also, in colder areas, the air flow may be reversed to prevent ice build-ups. When reversing main mine fans, the operator usually does not know what operating characteristics of flow and pressure to expect. Laboratory testing of vane axial main mine fans has been completed in order to establish forward and reverse performance characteristics under controlled conditions, with the results presented here. Preliminary tests under field conditions have also been conducted. The data obtained suggest that reverse performance characteristics are dependent upon the blade angle and the hub to tip ratio. There is also evidence that reverse performance can he predicted for a family of blade angles in a given hub to tip ratio. In general, the air quantity delivered by the fan is 30% to 60% less in reverse than when operating in the normal forward mode.

Jan 1, 1982

By Jack Fox

On May 16, 17 and 18, 1871, the first meeting of the AIME was held in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. It was then that the objectives of the American Institute of Mining Engineers were set up. The first ones were to enable the Members of AIME, "comprising Mining Engineers and other persons interested in mining and metallurgy, to meet together at fixed periods for the purpose of reading papers upon and discussing subjects which have for their aim the economical production of the useful minerals and metals, and the safety and welfare of those employed in these industries, and to circulate among its members, by means of its publications the in- formation thus obtained." Now, 100 years later, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, which has now grown to be the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, is still pursuing those objectives. Dues in 1871 were fixed at $10 per year. Now1 100 years later, the dues have risen to $20 per year. But in pursuing the objectives of the Institute, the services to members have vastly increased, as have the general costs of doing business-even "non- profit" business like ours.

Jan 1, 1971

. E. P. MATHEWSON, New York, N. Y.-I would like to call attention to the excellent plan for protecting the lining of the tanks from rough handling by the excavator. Many engineers, when considering mechanical excavators for lead-lined tanks, have been afraid that the machinery might get out' of order and rip out the lining. This difficulty seems to have been entirely overcome in this installation, and those who have been responsible for its success deserve a great deal of credit. A. F. CASE,* Cleveland, Ohio. (written discussion t).-The application of the automatic unloader to the copper leaching process at Ajo was a very radical departure from the common use of this machine, inasmuch as the only previous use of this device has been in connection with the unloading of coal and ore from vessels on the Great Lakes. There are many phases in connection with the unloading of ore from lake vessels that are not presented in the extraction of ore tailings from leaching vats. For instance, in unloading from boats, it is necessary to provide means to reach under the hatches to parts of the cargo hold which do not lie directly under the hatches, and to work in inaccessible places that do not exist in a leaching vat. These necessities require complications that could be very easily dispensed with in this new application. On this account the unloader, is applied to the New Cornelia, plant, represents what is probably the simplest development of the machine that has ever been produced, and, manifestly, in its simplest form it could he expected to show results corresponding to its performances when installed with all of its complications. One of the requirements of vessel unloading is extreme vertical travel, when the bucket is required to reach the bottom of the, cargo hold, often 12 or 13 ft. below water-level, and discharge into a receptacle 30 ft. above-the water. This was materially simplified at Ajo for the reason that the vertical travel was never more than 20 ft. This condition immediately resulted in the possibility of shortening the walking beam which carries the bucket leg, and, in fact, in entirely reducing the size of all the working, parts of the trolley, walking beam, and bucket leg, as far as reaches were concerned.

Jan 11, 1918

By R. T. Southin

Cast ingots of 99.99 pct purity A1 and aluminum/copper alloys containing up to 2 pct Cu have been found to contain four zones rather than the three previously accepted, i.e., chill, colummar, and equiaxed zones. The fourth zone consists of a coarse dendritic layer across the top surface of the ingot which is open to the atmosphere. It is also found that the grains in the equiaxed region have a "cornet" shape, with a head which is coarsely dendritic and a tail which grew with the same structure as the columnar grains. Experiments using mechanical barriers, and others involving the elimination of the surface dendrile layer, have indicated that nucleation of the equiaxed zone is caused by the showering of dendritic particles from this surface dendrite layer. These particles are the dendritic heads found in the comet grains. A mechanism of nucleation and growth of these comet grains is put forward. Experiments with a number of other metals and alloys suggests that these conclusions may apply generally to ingots cast without the addition of nucleating agents, and solidified under normal conditions. THE macrostructure of cast ingots may contain the following three zones: i) a peripheral zone of fine equiaxed grains, commonly called the chill zone; ii) a zone of columnar grains extending inwards from the chill zone; iii) a central zone of equiaxed grains; these are normally larger than the chill grains. All three zones are not necessarily present in any particular ingot since their existence and magnitude depend upon the casting conditions and composition of the cast material. The mode of formation of zones i and ii is fairly well understood. However, the cause of the central equiaxed zone remains a matter of conjecture. Previous theories put forward to explain the mechanism of nucleation in the equiaxed zone have been examined by Chalmers1 and Winegard.2 At the time when the present work was carried out the most re -cent hypothesis was that due to Chalmers,1 who recognized more fully than previous workers that conditions in this zone during solidification were not conducive to nucleation. In his hypothesis, he suggested that nuclei were formed near the mould wall during the very early stages of solidification, and that they can drift into the central zone by convective motion. This was supported by evidence from experiments using mechanical barriers to stop the drift of nuclei. A similar hypothesis had previously been put forward by Genders.3 More recently, Jackson et al. 4 have observed that dendrite arms in organic compounds can melt off during solidification. They have postulated that this occurs in metals and alloys, and that the dendrite arms which have been freed from the main dendrite act as nuclei for the equiaxed zone. In the present work, critical metallographic examination has shown that there is a fourth zone in the macrostructure of cast ingots which is a dendritic layer over the top surface of the ingot. It is also shown that there is a relationship between this zone and nucleation of the equiaxed zone. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS The alloys examined were prepared from super -purity aluminum of 99.99 pct min purity (spectro-graphically detected impurities of Cu, Fe, Si, and Mg) and copper of 99.98 pct min purity (spectrographically detected impurities of Si, Zn, As, Fe, Pb, Bi, Ni, Sn, Mn, Ag, Cr, and Al). Three compositions of ingots were examined, containing 0.0, 0.1, and 2 pct Cu, respectively. The alloys were melted in an alumina-lined salamander crucible using a medium-frequency electric induction furnace; when the appropriate casting temperature was reached, the alloys were cast without degassing or fluxing treatment. The mould used was made of electrode graphite and had the following dimensions: external diameter 6 in., height 9 in., with a mould cavity 8 in. deep and a diameter tapering from 5 in. at the top to 4 in. at the bottom. Casting temperatures used were generally in the order of 70" to 90°C above the liquidus and the mould was at room temperature before casting. Inserts kere placed in the mould cavity in some experiments. These consisted of either an 18-g stainless-steel tube of 2 in. diam held axially in the mould i in. off the bottom and extending 1 in. out of the top of the mould or a "trap-door" barrier of stainless-steel gauze of 24-mesh held horizontally in the mould 31/2 in. down from the top. The construction of this insert is shown in Fig. 1. All inserts were preheated prior to casting to prevent chilling. RESULTS The macrostructures of ingots of the three compositions are described, in terms of the three generally recognized zones, in Table I, and illustrated in Figs. 2(a) to (c). The most interesting observation in this table is that relating to the shape of the equiaxed grains, which were not in fact equiaxed but of almost tear-drop shape. Closer examination of these grains showed that each consisted of a head which had a coarse dendritic structure and a tail which always grew in the opposite direction to heat flow, and which had the same structure as that of the columnar material of the ingot concerned; i.e., in the pure aluminum and 0.1 pct Cu alloy it was cellular and in the 2 pct Cu alloy it was cellular-dendritic. Identification of original cast grains was greatly hampered in the super-purity aluminum ingots, and to a lesser degree in the 0.1 pct Cu alloy,

Jan 1, 1968

By D. K. Atwood

Experiments resulted in a satisfactory laboratory method for restoring permeability to clay-containing cores damaged by fresh water. Clay contents of a number of field cores were measured, and permeabilities of plugs from these same cores were then deliberately reduced with fresh water. This damage is attributed to swollen and dispersed clays occupying the pore space. After damaging, a number of experiments were performed to meaJure the amount of damage and to establish some means by which permeability could be restored. The experiments included flooding the damaged cores with water-miscible fluids such as salt water, acetone, isopropyl alcohol and ethanol. Permeability was not successfully restored in these experiments. However, part of the damage was repaired by flooding with oil; when water was removed by distillation in the presence of immiscible fluids such as air or toluene, permeability was completely restored. This evidence suggested that swollen and dispersed clays could be collapsed to their original volume by strong interfacial and capillary forces. It was further postulated that the required forces could be generated by flooding the damaged cores with a solvent partially miscible with water. The flooding experiments were repeated using n-hex-an01 as the partially miscible solvent. Permeability was restored to five of six damaged cores and substantially increased in the sixth. A large fraction of the restored permeability was retained even after water saturation was raised to its original value with 12 per cent salt water. INTRODUCTION Sharp reductions in permeability often occur when relatively fresh water contacts clay-containing formations during drilling and workover operations. These permeability losses are caused by removing inorganic ions from the environment surrounding the clay, and consequent swelling and/or dispersion of clay minerals into the available pore space.' This phenomenon is generally termed clay damage, fresh-water damage, or simply formation damage; it causes large losses in current revenue by preventing oil wells from making their allowable production. Attempts to repair the damage and restore permeability by flowing salt water solutions or brines through clay-damaged cores containing montmorillonite have been unsuccessful.' This irreversibility is thought to result from formation of brush-heap, or edge-to-face, structures when the dispersed clay is flocculated. The brush-heap structures occupy much more space than the close packed domains present before damage.' One solution of the problem is to destroy the clay-water brush-heap and thus restore permeability. Because no satisfactory method existed for restoring permeability to clay-containing formations damaged by fresh water, the work described in this paper was under taken. The laboratory experiments generally consisted of deliberately damaging fresh cores containing clay and then attempting to repair this damage by various means. Results indicate that generating strong interfacial forces within the pore space of damaged cores collapses the clay brush-heap and restores permeability. These forces are most conveniently generated by flowing partially water-miscible solvents, such as n-hexanol, through a core. THEORY OF THE DAMAGE PROCESS The most common clay mineral groups known to cause permeability damage to formations are the mont-morillonites, kaolins, chlorites and illites. These clays are constructed of particles which can adsorb water on their surfaces and edges and, in the case of montmorillonite, between layers of the basic particle itself. This adsorption increases as water salinity decreases. At low salinities the particles disperse into the aqueous phase. When the clays present in the formation are kaolin, chlorite and illite, dispersion accounts completely for permeability damage to porous media. However, unlike the other clays, montmorillonite particles can imbibe water and adsorb ions between layers of sub-particles, or platelets. These platelets have net negative charges on their faces and are held together by exchangeable (or removable) cations such as Na and Ca decrease in ion concentration (salinity) in the fluid surrounding a particle causes migration of water into the clay layers and disperses the basic particle, while diffusion removes the original exchangeable ions from between the platelets. Once these ions are removed, the facing negative platelets repel each other, causing the montmorillonite to swell until, for all practical purposes, the individual platelets are dispersed. For this reason, fresh-water* damage is much more severe in sands containing montmorillonite than it is in sands containing other clays. Many investigators have shown that even trace amounts of montmorillonite can be responsible for marked reduction in the permeability of reservoir sands in the presence of fresh water." ." Monaghan and others have shown that fresh-water damage in montmorillonite-containing cores cannot be

Jan 1, 1965

By G. R. M. Del Giudice, A. M. Sadler, Arthur F. Taggart, M. Hassialis

FLOTATION of sulphide minerals and native metals is no longer a practical difficulty. The underlying scientific principles of the method, although not explored in anything like complete detail, have been formulated with sufficient breadth so that the direction of attack on any specific case is clearly indicated. It has been known since the earliest days of flotation that certain of the nonsulphide nonmetal minerals-e.g., sulphur and graphite-would respond to flotation by oils as sulphides do; therefore they have been grouped with sulphides in many patents. But since the development of the chemical theory of collection, 1,2,3 this similarity in action has been one of the facts cited in disproof of the theory by opponents of the hypothesis. 4 5-1 Air levitationt of certain oxidized minerals, both metalliferoust and nonmetalliferous, and separation thereby from other oxidized minerals, is a recent development in practice, although the discovery of the method dates back 17 years .7 This paper presents evidence that the principles underlying the air levitation of the nonsulphide nonmetal minerals are the same as those utilized in the flotation of the sulphides and native metals. It will be apparent immediately to anyone with knowledge of mineral concentration that separation of air-levitated minerals in water from minerals not so levitated is a simple matter of water-gravity concentration, the separating device employed depending solely upon the size of the particles treated and the buoyancy differences effected by the levitation. The usual separating means employed are: (1) a flotation machine for fine, slimy and for well aerated granular material; (2) shaking tables for granular less aerated material. By using large quantities of oil, it is possible to form substantially air-free oil-bound masses or granules of nonsiliceous minerals and to

Jan 1, 1937

THE Pacific Northwest's joint meeting of the Industrial Minerals and Metals Branch in Spokane, Wash., drew 260 members, 72 students, and 30 ladies. Theme of the meeting was to acquaint men in the industry with students and younger men. The special appeal to the students was coupled with an attempt to attract young technical men from the companies located in the northwestern area. The activities of the meeting were available without charge to students. Contributions were made by the industries in the area to assist student attendance. Following the special student and faculty trip to the Trentwood rolling mills and research laboratory on Friday afternoon everyone enjoyed a complimentary dinner. A. Y. Bethune of the Sullivan Mining Co., spoke to the group on the operations of Kellogg, Idaho electrolytic zinc plant. The Industrial Minerals Div. session was opened on Saturday morning by R. G. Vervaeke, Conference Chairman who introduced A. O. Bartell of the Raw Materials Survey, Portland, Ore. Mr. Bartell in turn introduced C. W. Sweetwood who discussed Open-Pit Phosphate Mining.

Jan 1, 1952

By K. P. Fournier

This report describes work on the problem of predicting oil recovery from a reservoir into which water is injected at a temperature higher than the reservoir temperature, taking into account effects of vis cosity-ratio reduction, heat loss and thermal expansion. It includes the derivation of the equations involved, the finite difference equations used to solve the partial differential equation which models the system, and the results obtained using the IBM 1620 and 7090-1401 computers. Figures and tables show present results of this study of recovery as a function of reservoir thickness and injection rate. For a possible reservoir hot water flood in which 1,000 BWPD at 250F are injected, an additional 5 per cent recovery of oil in place in a swept 1,000-ft-radius reservoir is predicted after injection of one pore volume of water. INTRODUCTION The problem of predicting oil recovery from the injection of hot water has been discussed by several researchers. l-6,19 In no case has the problem of predicting heat losses been rigorously incorporated into the recovery and displacement calculation problem. Willman et al. describe an approximate method of such treatment. 1 The calculation of heat losses in a reservoir and the corresponding temperature distribution while injecting a hot fluid has been attempted by several authors.7'8 In this report a method is presented to numerically predict the oil displacement by hot water in a radial system, taking into account the heat losses to adjacent strata, changes in viscosity ratio with temperature and the thermal-expansion effect for both oil and water. DERIVATION OF BASIC EQUATIONS We start with the familiar Buckley-Leverettg equation for a radial system:* This is sometimes referred to as the Lagrangian form of the displacement equation. If the injection water is at some temperature Ti which is above reservoir temperature TR, then lw, the flowing fraction which is water, is a function of both water saturation and fluid temperature at any given time and position in the reservoir. The temperature dependence of lw results from the temperature dependence of the viscosity ratio µo/µm of which lw is a function. Thus:

Jan 1, 1966

By Gerhard Derge

METALLURGISTS have used borax as a fluxing agent traditionally, but until recently elemental boron has played an insignificant role as an alloying element. Neither the metal nor its compounds have been regarded as important metallurgical materials and there is a surprising lack of knowledge concerning their metallurgical behavior. The new applications to steelmaking of both boron and borates, which arose in part from wartime incentives and restrictions, have been seriously handicapped by this lack of data. For example, rasorite, a naturally occurring sodium borate, has been shown to be an effective substitute for aluminum as a ladle deoxidizer in rimming steels.1 Likewise, the effectiveness of boron as an alloying agent has been demonstrated, 2,3 giving deep hardening when used in restricted amounts. The exploitation of both of these uses has been retarded by the difficulty of attaining suitable metallurgical control. Recognizing that the most important information required was a knowledge of the equilibrium between boron and oxygen dissolved in liquid iron, Gurry4 calculated this relation from the best thermal data available. However, estimates of the entropy of melting of boron, the activity coefficient of boron in liquid iron and the activity coefficient of B203 in slag were involved, and experimental work on this problem was obviously desirable. The experiments to be described were planned to establish the boron-oxygen relations in liquid iron and to demonstrate at the same time the ferroborate slag compositions in equilibrium with various amounts of oxygen in liquid iron. Accordingly, slags containing varying proportions of iron and boron oxides were held in contact with molten iron, and samples of both slag and metal were analyzed. The limitations upon the accuracy of the data will be considered, but in a practical sense the oxygen levels that can be attained in iron by iron borate slags, and the amounts of boron in iron at these oxygen levels were established. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE No entirely suitable refractory was found for the mixtures of iron oxide and boron oxide used as slags. Crucibles of silica, magnesia, Ramix, beryllia, and zirconia were all tried unsuccessfully. The most satisfactory method discovered for handling them was the rotating-crucible technique, which creates a parabolic crucible of liquid iron 5,6 Even this was not entirely successful, for at steelmaking temperatures (1600°C.) the slags had such a low surface tension that they crept up to the refractory and slowly dissolved it. These difficulties made it impossible to maintain a constant slag composition for an unlimited period of time. However, by using the rotating

Jan 1, 1946

By G. Stuart Jenkins

Conditions at the properties of the Consolidated Coal Co. had reached a point where improvements were almost impractical. The mines, sunk years ago, had shafts and entries so small as to preclude the use of large mine cars. A radical change was necessary in the type of mining and also in the type of mine to accommodate such haulage units. After due consideration, the company decided to enter the field of trackless mining, utilizing belt conveyors and chain-flight conveyors, the belt conveyors to take the long haul, and the chain-flight conveyors to be used for gathering. It was decided not to sink a shaft, hut to drive a slope on an inclination of 17½°, which the company believes to be about the limit on which coal can be carried on a belt without rolling back unduly. Sinking the Slope It was decided, in sinking the slope, to make an opencut until rock was reached, which was some 65 ft. below the surface, and then to drive the slope through an inclined tunnel from that point. In making the open-cut, the schedule called for the removal of about 25,000 cu. yd. of clay, holding the banks on an inclination of one and a half to one, the thought being to make this cut in a minimum of time, put in a reinforced concrete slope, and then back-fill. Difficulty was experienced because the clay was of a sort that was called "subsiding base" material by contractors visiting the job. In other words, a "squeeze" occurred, the pressure causing the floor of the cut to move up just as it does in many mines where the coal is underlain by thick fire clay and inadequate pillars have been left. It was necessary to move the waste banks back from the edge of the cut 700 or 800 ft., and even then the floor could not be controlled, the result being that almost 100,000 cu. yd. of clay was handled before the rock was reached. A concrete slope was then rapidly constructed, using 95 tons of special-shaped reinforcing iron. The floor of this slope was made 30 in. thick at the bottom, and 17 in. thick at the top, the sidewalls being 18 in.

Jan 1, 1940

By G. Stuart Jenkins

Conditions at the properties of the Consolidated Coal Co. had reached a point where improvements were almost impractical. The mines, sunk years ago, had shafts and entries so small as to preclude the use of large mine cars. A radical change was necessary in the type of mining and also in the type of mine to accommodate such haulage units. After due consideration, the company decided to enter the field of trackless mining, utilizing belt conveyors and chain-flight conveyors, the belt conveyors to take the long haul, and the chain-flight conveyors to be used for gathering. It was decided not to sink a shaft, hut to drive a slope on an inclination of 17½°, which the company believes to be about the limit on which coal can be carried on a belt without rolling back unduly. Sinking the Slope It was decided, in sinking the slope, to make an opencut until rock was reached, which was some 65 ft. below the surface, and then to drive the slope through an inclined tunnel from that point. In making the open-cut, the schedule called for the removal of about 25,000 cu. yd. of clay, holding the banks on an inclination of one and a half to one, the thought being to make this cut in a minimum of time, put in a reinforced concrete slope, and then back-fill. Difficulty was experienced because the clay was of a sort that was called "subsiding base" material by contractors visiting the job. In other words, a "squeeze" occurred, the pressure causing the floor of the cut to move up just as it does in many mines where the coal is underlain by thick fire clay and inadequate pillars have been left. It was necessary to move the waste banks back from the edge of the cut 700 or 800 ft., and even then the floor could not be controlled, the result being that almost 100,000 cu. yd. of clay was handled before the rock was reached. A concrete slope was then rapidly constructed, using 95 tons of special-shaped reinforcing iron. The floor of this slope was made 30 in. thick at the bottom, and 17 in. thick at the top, the sidewalls being 18 in.

Jan 1, 1940

By AIME AIME

THE 1941 fall meeting of the Iron and Steel and the Institute- of Metal, Division held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Philadelphia, during the first three days (Oct. 20-22) of the National Metal Congress was well attended as usual, and the seven technical sessions and the joint round table on order-disorder transformations were this year of considerably more than routine interest. Despite unseasonably warm weather, a scarcity of hotels (there were rumors, apparently well-founded, that , some of the metal man attending the Congress had to stay in tourist camp), and a multiplicity of technical and other ions of the co-operating societies that gave the Congress this year the general air of a three-ring circus the A.I.M.E. sessions attracted audiences that ragged from seventy or eighty up to 350

Jan 1, 1941

By I. J. Jansen

Introduction The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (PL 95-87) lays a new challenge before the surface mining industry by requiring that prime farmlands must be reclaimed to equivalent or higher levels of yield as nonmined prime farmland in the surrounding area (section 510d). We must now evaluate the situation and plan a mining and reclamation program that will achieve that objective. We must recognize that soil and land needs vary with intended land use and climatic setting. Also, various site conditions determine the potential for constructing a productive soil and the best procedures to accomplish that end. It is necessary to plan the land reconstruction program on a site by site basis in order to achieve the best results. Discussion The Prime Land Concept Terms like prime agricultural land have been used loosely for many years to refer to lands that are highly productive and well suited to agricultural use. The concept of what qualified as prime land varied considerably from one geographic area to another and from one person to another. The term prime farmland, as used in PL 95-87, has recently been defined quite

Jan 1, 1982

By William Catron, Cyril U. Colledge

BECAUSE the rich La Colorada orebody of the Cananea Consolidated Copper Co. does not outcrop at surface, after its discovery (by churn drill) and before mining was begun, a large amount of development work was done to learn the shape and extent of the ore and to provide for economic and effective mining. As these openings progressed, the actual shape of the orebody became known and with this knowledge came the realization that mining this rich and unusual deposit without loss of ore or danger to workmen presented several difficult problems. This paper will describe one of these problems; namely, the handling of an inverted cone-shaped core of barren rock, on the periphery of and below which the ore occurred. It was clear that as the ore was mined out from around and under this inverted cone of rock, weighing about 3,000,000 tons, it would hang over the workings, held suspended only by its own tensile strength and threatening to crash into the stopes below with disastrous results to men and mine. The method of mining developed during the years 1928, 1929 and 1930 anticipated and provided for the eventual collapse of this core of rock. In November 1936 the core settled down gradually on the edges of the stopes descending a total of about 50 ft. vertically. The men in the stopes had ample warning and no lives were endangered. There were no air blasts in the mine. The core broke loose from its top support at the 500-ft. level along old fracture planes and evidently is crushed to the ninth level. Movement was of short duration; the following shift went to work in the stopes as usual. No ore was lost. GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE The shape of the orebody is illustrated in Fig. 1. The geology of the Colorada orebody has been described by V. D. Perry1 and by W. G.

Jan 1, 1938

By Donald E. Grimes

In conjunction with Inland Steel&apos;s development of lead-bearing steels possessing improved machin-ability because of tellurium and/or selenium additions, it was decided to determine liquidus and solidus temperatures in the Pb-PbTe-PbSe sub-ternary system. With the exception of alloys in the PbTe-PbSe system, it is believed that no previous study of this subternary has been performed. Thermal analysis was employed in a general survey of the subternary. In addition to PbTe, PbSe, and pure lead, ten ternary compositions were selected at intervals of ten at. pct. Sixty-gram alloys were prepared by sealing an appropriate mixture of the elements in quartz crucibles with a central thermocouple-well under a vacuum of less than 10 p. All three elements were 99.999+ pct pure with only trace impurities detected by spectroscopic examination. After the alloys had been heated at least 20°C above the liquidus in a Kanthal furnace, cooling and heating curves were obtained. Two or more cooling curves were employed both for the determination of each alloy liquidus and for the solidus of those al- loys containing greater than 50 at. pct Pb. Cooling rates were 0.5° to 3.5°C per min during the 5 min immediately prior to the start or end of solidification. For those ternary alloys containing 50 at. pct Pb, the solidus was determined from heating curves. Temperatures were measured with a Pt/Pt-10 pct Rh thermocouple which was calibrated in the same apparatus against the freezing points of zinc (A. D. MacKay—99.999 pct), antimony (A. D. MacKay-99.999 pct), and copper (ASARCO—99.999+ pct) both before and after the experimentation. The only interruptions in the continuous strip-chart recording of the temperature occurred for brief periods at significant points of interest when direct readings were made with a Rubicon Type B potentiometer sensitive to * 1 µv. The average liquidus and solidus temperatures obtained in this investigation are listed in Table I together with probable errors based on the accuracy of the thermocouple calibration and the reproduci-bility of the data. No chemical analyses of the alloys were performed because the synthetic or as-charged compositions were felt to be reliable. The melting points obtained for PbTe (924.7° ± 0.7°C) and PbSe (1084.0° ± 0.6°C) compare favorably with recent findings of other investigators.&apos;-&apos; As indicated in Table I, both the liquidus and solidus temperatures increase as selenium replaces tellurium for a constant atomic percent lead. As a result, the ternary liquidus and solidus temperatures for a given percent lead lie between the corresponding binary temperatures published in the literature. It should be noted that those ternary alloys containing 50 at. pct Pb exhibit a relatively narrow liquid-plus-solid region (<80°C) when compared with alloys containing greater than 50 at. pct Pb. Alloys with 60, 70, or 80 at. pct Pb not only have a much wider liquid-plus-solid region (>500°C) but also exhibit considerably lower and approximately constant solidus temperatures which thus form a virtually isothermal solidus "plane" slightly below the melting point of pure lead (327.3°C). For these alloys

Jan 1, 1965