Search Documents

By D. M. Wade, F. F. Redfield

PRODUCTION at Aguilar started in 1936 and by 1942 the mine had reached a peak of 25,000 tons a month. Present production is only about 60 per cent of this capacity because of difficulties in railroad transportation and the rationing of fuel oil brought about by the war. In the early years, cut-and-fill stopes were tried, but square sets were found to be the most practical method in the southern section of the mine, where blocky, treacherous ground and greater mining widths are prevalent. Square sets and opencut mining were the rule until 1942, when it became increasingly difficult to get mine timber. The ore beds in the northern section of the mine were found amenable to cut-and-fill stoping as the rock was firmer and the veins narrower. At present 69 per cent of the ore comes from cut-and-fill stopes, 27 per cent from opencut, and only 4 per cent from square-set stopes. Massive galena and sphalerite with comparatively little quartzitic gangue constitutes the higher-grade ore. The gangue minerals that can be detected by eye in low-grade ore are rhodonite, wollastonite, and pyrrhotite. Wall rocks range from shale to quartzite, with occasionally a little limestone.

Jan 1, 1947

By Y. Nakada, E. J. Fasiska, A. S. Keh, L. Zwell

DURING an investigation of solid-solution hardening of nickel by carbon,' we found that there were no reliable data on the dilating effect of dissolved carbon on the unit cell of nickel. Bernier2 reported an increase in lattice parameter of nickel (3.523A) when an unknown amount of carbon was introduced into solid solution (3.536A). Similarly KG, Tsien, and Misek3 found an increase from 3.523 to 3.531A when nickel was carburized. strong4 studied the variation of nickel lattice constant as a function of dissolved carbon. However, in his case carbon was introduced into nickel by solidifying the melt at 65 kbar. Therefore, his carbon concentrations were much above the highest equilibrium solubility limit5 (2.7 at. pct C at 1 atm). Knowledge of the lattice mismatch between solute and solvent is essential in understanding the mechanism of solid-solution hardening. Therefore, we decided to determine the dilation of the nickel lattice by carbon under the more usual conditions of atmospheric pressure. The material used was Inco Electrolytic Nickel of 99.95 pct purity, as specified by the supplier. The impurity contents in wt pct were: Fe, 0.01; Cu, 0.01; Co, 0.03; 0, 0.005; C, Si, S, N, trace. To this base material various amounts of AUC-grade high-purity carbon were added during vacuum induction casting. Ingots, 2 in. in diam, were heated in a muffle furnace at 1000°C for i hr., hot-rolled to 1/2-in. thickness, and quenched into brine. All ingots with carbon concentration greater than 0.98 at. pct were enclosed in a cast iron box during the heating to minimize decar-burization. Small pieces were then either swaged down to 0.028-in.-diam wire or cold-rolled to 0.010-in.-thick sheets. After the final cold reduction in area of 50 pct, the specimens were recrystallized by heating in evacuated capsules at 1100°C for 60 to 80 sec and then quenched into brine. The final grain size was 50 to 100 µ. The carbon contents of the alloys, Table I, were determined by a combustion method

Jan 1, 1969

By Edward R. Bingham, John R. Suffron

A comprehensive program to rehabilitate waste disposal areas is in progress at the integrated primary copper production facility at White Pine, Michigan. The various aspects of the program are described, including cooperative studies with State and Federal agencies in revegetating efforts and wildlife management and also waste disposal practices as they relate to reclamation planning.

Jan 1, 1976

By G. H. Clevenger

(Continuing the discussion of the paper of James Johnston, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 85, January, 1914, pp. 107 to 133.) This paper cannot fail of being of great interest and value to all who are interested in the cyanide process, on account of the important developments which it records. Mr. Johnston is to be commended for the large amount of detail which he gives, and the company and its management for permitting the publication of data of this character, which while of great value to others could well be considered private property. It might be discussed from a number of standpoints: First, as an example of recent practice in mill and cyanide plant construction; second, the mill practice; third, the cyanide practice; and fourth, the new features in cyanide treatment involved. Perhaps a more vivid way of expressing it would be : First, the equipment or tools with which the various operations are carried on, are they the best and most efficient which could have been selected for their respective uses; and, second, is the best use in every case made of these tools? It may be well inquired is the highest possible recovery of silver made at the lowest cost per ounce recovered? For after all, the making of the greatest ultimate profit is inseparably associated with successful metallurgical practice; there must therefore be at all times a careful balance maintained between recovery and cost of obtaining it. I wish to call attention in a very general way to the equipment used and to an anticipation of questions which are bound to arise in this connection. However, the. bulk of my discussion will be confined to the presentation of certain additional data, together with a more or less general discussion showing the line of development which leads up to the present practice and .the applicability of certain features of it to similar problems elsewhere. There are a number of vital points of broad general interest involved in Nipissing low-grade practice upon which metallurgists will by no means be agreed to which I wish to call particular attention in the hope that it will lead to the presentation of data y others of practice in other districts which will' assist in reconciling this divergence of opinion.

Jan 7, 1914

By G. H. Clevenger

Continuing the discussion of the paper of James Johnston, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1914. See Trans., xlviii, 3 to 32 (1914). This paper cannot fail of being of great interest and value to all who are interested in the cyanide process, on account of the important developzn~ents which it records. Mr. Johnston is to be commended for the large amount of detail which he gives, and the company and its management for permitting the publication of data of this character, which while of great value to others could well be considered private property. It might be discussed from a number of standpoints: First, as an example of recent practice in mill and cyanide plant construction; second, the mill practice; third, the cyanide practice; and fourth, the new features in cyanide treatment involved. Perhaps a more vivid way of expressing it would be: First, the equipment or tools with which the various operations are carried on, are they the best and most efficient which could have been selected for their respective uses; and, second, is the best use in every case made of these tools? It may be well inquired is the highest possible recovery of silver made at the lowest cost per ounce recovered? For after all, the making of the greatest ultimate profit is inseparably associated with successful metallurgical practice; there must therefore be at all limes a careful balance maintained between recovery and cost of obtaining it. I wish to call attention in a very general way to the equipment used and to an anticipation of questions which are bound to arise in this connection. However, the bulk of my discussion will be confined to the presentation Of certain additional data, together with a more or less general discussion showing the line of development which leads up to the present practice and the applicability of certain features of it to similar problems elsewhere. There are a number of vital points of broad general interest involved in Nipissing low-grade practice upon which metallurgists will by no means be agreed to which I wish to call particular attention in the hope that it will lead to the presentation by others of data of practice in other districts which will assist in reconciling this divergence of opinion.

Jan 1, 1915

By AIME AIME

OCTOBER will be western month for the Institute. With meetings at Spokane, Tulsa, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and with a large number of American Institute of Mining Engineers members and their families in the party sailing out through the Golden Gate to Japan on the afternoon of the tenth, the major activities of the Institute will, for this month at least, be west of the Mississippi. Despite cancellations due to necessity, most of the officers of the Institute will be present and taking part in some one or more of the Western meetings. Prof. Robert S. Richards, our senior past-president, will attend both the Spokane and San Francisco meetings and then go to Japan. President Bradley will preside at the San Francisco meeting and then head the party going to Tokyo. At Tulsa and Los Angeles, the principal officers of the Petroleum Division will be present and active and at all the meetings, directors, ex-directors and -present and past officers will be on the job and keeping things moving.

Jan 1, 1929

By John P. Hager, Igor A. Wilkomirsky

The thermodynamic properties of the Pb-Ag system have been determined between 775° and 950°C by the cell: Electrotransport measurements on silica-saturated PbO-SiO2 melts established that the conduction was entirely ionic and that lead is present only in the divalent state. The activities of lead and silver exhibit Positive deviations from ideal behavior. In dilute solutions the activities of lead and silver follow Henry's law. The values obtained for yhb and yig at 1200°K are 1.49 and 1.69, respectively. Determination of a portion of the liquidus curve agrees well with the established phase diagram. provides an accurate means for the thermodynamic study of liquid alloy systems. However, Wagner and wernerl have shown that cells of type I are limited to alloy systems for which the reaction at the alloy-electrolyte interface will be extremely small. The traditional electrolyte for cells of type I has been a low melting point mixture of group IA chlorides, to which a small amount of the compound ACIZa has been added. However, the choice of a chloride electrolyte may not always be practical, in that the Gibbs free energies of formation of the compounds ACIZ, and BCIZb may not be sufficiently different to minimize Reaction [I]. On the other hand, the Gibbs free energies of formation of the oxides of metals A and B may be sufficiently different to minimize Reaction [I]. In this case, the use of molten oxide electrolyte would be clearly advantageous. In the present study, the thermodynamic properties of the Pb-Ag system have been investigated using the cell: Previous galvanic cell studies on the Pb-Ag system2'= are not reliable due to the displacement reaction between the alloys and the chloride electrolyte. Wagner and ~erner,' using Laitinen and Liu's' value at 450°C for the standard electrode potential of Reaction 111, have estimated the percent error in the activity of lead bPb) when using a chloride electrolyte. At 1000°C the error for xpb = 0.10 is 12 pct. Taking the Gibbs free energies of formation for PbClz and Ag cI,' and the equations of Wagner and Werner,' the error in apb at 1000°C and Xpb =0.10 was calculated to be 140 pct. However, using the Gibbs free energies of formation for Pb O' and an estimated value for Ag 20, the error in apb when using a molten oxide electrolyte at 1000°C was estimated to be less than 1 pct for The virtual reaction of cell I1 for the passage of n Faradays of positive electricity from left to right in the cell is: where 5 is the Faraday equivalent (23,063 cal per v equivalent), E is the electromotive force of the cell in volts, and n is the number of Faradays of electricity required for the transfer of 1 g-atom of lead through the cell. The value of n should be equal to 2 since lead is generally divalent in oxide melts. However, the presence of either tetravalent lead ions or electronic conductivity through the molten oxide electrolyte will result in a value of n greater than 2. Bockris, Kitchener, and Davies' have determined the amount of ionic conductance in a liquid PbO-SiO2 mixture (xPbO= 0.50) at 920°C by measurement of the volumes of CO and C& evolved at a carbon anode during electrolysis. From their data a value of 2.13 * 0.16 was calculated for n. Although their measurements indicate the possible presence of multivalent lead ions and/or electronic conductivity, their measurements were not at silica saturation and no definite conclusions can be drawn. However, as a result of the electrotransport measurements described in the next section the ;due of n can be taken as equal to 2.

Jan 1, 1969

By W. T. Swensen

The Anaconda Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary The Anaconda Company (Canada) I,td., has investigated, optioned and partially developed a large tonnage of iron ore amenable to magnetic concentration. The reserves are located in north central Ontario and occur within a twenty-two mile belt of layered and intricately folded metamorphic rocks, close to the north contact of an igneous complex of granite and pegmatite. There are two main ore deposits. Briarcliffe is a steep to vertically dipping body 100 to 500 feet wide and over a mile long. The Two Mile Lake deposit is flat dipping and confined to an open, asymmetrical syncline; it is approximately a mile wide and 250 to 4.00 feet thick. On its flat easterly plunge, it is saucer-like in shape and is amenable to open-pitting for an east-west distance of several thousand feet. Magnetometer surveys, confirmed by drilling, indicate at least a three mile eastward extension of this deposit. Location and Access: The property is located in the Kowkash Mining District of northwestern Ontario, roughly forty-four miles north of the community of Nakina on the main line of the Canadian National Railroad. (Fig. 1) Access during the exploration period was entirely by airplane from Nakina. (Fig. 2) More recently, Nakina itself was connected to the highway network in the Longlac-Geraldton area. The property is roughly 190 miles by existing and proposed railroad from the Great Lakes waterway system. The Trans-Canada pipeline moving natural gas from western to eastern Canada passes through Geraldton roughly 70 miles south of the property. Topography: The surface features in the area are typical of a sizeable portion of the Precambrian Canadian Shield area. Many lakes, low swampy areas, and glacial moraine-type features are common in this recently glaciated area. The average elevation is between 800 and 900 feet above sea level, and the relief is probably less than 100 feet with the greater portion of the area less than 50 feet. The topographic "highs" are formed either by outcrops that were resistant to glacial erosion or by moraines, eskers and drumlins which were deposited upon the recession of the glaciers. The better mineralized zones, composed chiefly of quartz and magnetite, commonly form ridges resistant to erosion and weathering. Previous Work: Because of the obvious outcrop of the magnetite-rich beds and knowledge gained from early developments within the general region, it is conceivable that the presence of the iron formations has been known for a good many years. The area is included in studies made by L. F. Kindle* in 1929 and 1930 for the Ontario Department *Kindle, L.F., Kowkash-Ogoki Gold Area, Ontario Department of Mines Annual Report, Vol. XL, Part IV, 1931; map 40f

Jan 1, 1961

Note by the Secretary.-—In the preceding communication of Mr. Rickard, in the present discussion, as printed in Trans., xxiii., the loss of quicksilver at Pestarena, reported on p. 569, as 230 and 234 grammes per metric ton, is stated as equivalent to about 74 pounds per short ton avoirdupois—an obvious error, which escaped correction in my reading of the proofs, and was not discovered until after Vol. XXIII. had left the press. The true equivalent is 0.46 pound or about 7 1/2 ounces (instead of pounds) per short ton.— R. w. R. Philip Argall, Denver, Colo. (communication to the Secretary) : Mr. Rickard's last contribution to this discussion* calls for some reply from me, if only by way of defending myself against the charge (p. 569) that my criticisms of his paper were "unnecessarily hypercritical and occasionally unfair." At the same time I am fully aware that our Transactions are not the place for mere personal controversy, and that the sole object of discussion is to define differences of opinion, and defend opposing views as a means of eliciting the truth. Mr. Rickard disclaims the statement, which he says I attributed to him, that in the slow-crushing Gilpin county mills the pyrites remain longer in the mortar than the other portions of the ore. My understanding of his statement was based on the following passages in his paper: " Particles of ore, which have heen pulverized to a fineness which would permit of their exit through the screen, are enabled to settle towards the bottom of the mortar. It would he expected that the heavy metallic minerals occurring in the ore would, because of their greater specific gravity, be most affected by this feature of the treatment. In practice this is found to be so. The fine slimes contain a large proportion of metallic sulphides, generally valuable on account of their close association with the precious metals, while the coarsest particles to be found in the tailings usually consist of quartz and other minerals forming the less heavy gangue (Trans., xxiii., 139).

Jan 1, 1895

By Roscoe C. Clark, Henry F. Coffer, J. J. Reynolds

A cement slurry lightweight additive has been adapted in the Conoco laboratories for use in oil well cements. This additive makes possible the use of air to lighten oil well cement slurries. Specifically, the additive consists of small clay bubbles of air having sufficient strength to resist crushing by bottom hole pressures. Clay bubble cement slurry weights can be safely reduced to 10 Ibs/gal. In addition, the clay bubbles tend to act as lost circulation materials and to provide a cement texture which should produce good perforating characteristics. Clay bubble cement is relatively impermeable. INTRODUCTION In many areas in Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, and California, difficulties are experienced during casing cementing operations with lost returns caused by the high density of the cement slurries. Wells in these areas are ordinarily drilled with 9 to 11 lbs/gal. drilling mud while neat cement slurries may range in densities from 14.5 to 17 lbs/gal. In these areas, cement slurry weights are at present being successfully reduced to around 12 lbs/gal. (under bottom-hole conditions) by the use of additives in the cement. Since the use of additives will decrease the strength which the cement will develop, the amount of additives which can be used must be based on the minimum cement strength which is acceptable; and thus the maximum slurry weight can be reduced. At present, the minimum tensile strength generally acceptable is 50 lbs/sq in. cured for 24 hours under bottom-hole temperature. This figure is based on laboratory tests1 and on a large number of cement jobs which have been conducted using cement which will not develop more than 50 psi tensile strength in 24 hours under bottom-hole conditions. Two additives are now in use for decreasing cement slurry weights. These are expanded perlite and/or bentonite. The density of both of these materials is greater than that of the cement slurry; however, large quantities of water may be added with these materials without producing a slurry which will settle out of suspension. It is these large quantities of water which contribute to the reduction in the slurry weight. The minimum slurry weight at present obtainable with expanded perlite and/or bentonite is approximately 12 lbs/gal. using a standard Portland cement slurry. In many areas, this weight reduction is insufficient; and returns are still lost during casing cementing operations. In many cases, the pay formation itself is fractured; and a considerable quantity of this cement is lost to the pay zone. It is therefore believed that if cement slurry weights can be reduced to as low as 10 lbs/gal., two advantages will accrue: 1. The lighter densities (10 to 12 lbs/gal.) should mitigate or eliminate lost returns during casing cementing operations. 2. Cement slurries above 12 Ibs/gal. (the present minimum limit ) should develop considerably more strength than is now being obtained. A tensile strength of 100 psi is desirable.' It is the object of this paper to describe a cement slurry having a weight of 10 lbs/gal. and capable of

Jan 1, 1955

By Lee Hillard Meltzer, Ralph E. Davis

INTRODUCTION During the past few years emphasis has been placed upon methods of estimating the future expectancy of gas production from natural gas fields. Before technical methods were applied, the production expectancy over future years was based upon the knowledge of gas well behavior, learned through long experience and embedded in the "know-how" of men long in the gas producing business. It is doubtful that a technical study of future expectancy of a gas field or a group of fields was ever prepared for the preliminary planning of a natural gas pipe line system built prior to about five years ago. The decline in well production capacity was naturally recognized by all familiar with the business since its earliest beginnings more than 75 years ago. In 1953, the Bureau of Mines published Monograph Number 7, "Back-Pressure Data on Natural Gas Wells and Their Application to Production Practices," which gave to the industry the first technical analysis of the decline in production of individual gas wells. This method affords a means of estimating the future production in relation to decline in reservoir pressure. The demand for technical determination of expectancy of future gas productivity from fields or a group of fields led technical men to the application of the knowledge of well behavior to the problems. The decline in a well's ability to produce as pressures declined could be estimated by the use of the curve known as the "back-pressure potential curve" as developed by the Bureau of Mines. A field containing few, or even numerous, wells could be analyzed on the basis of the sum of potentials of all wells. In most studies of this nature, the problem is to estimate the rate of production that can be expected, not only from present wells but also, from wells that will in the future have to be drilled into the reservoir being studied. The "back-pressure potential" method requires that the following data be known or estimated: (1) Proved gas reserves. (2) Current shut-in pressures and rate at which shut-in pressures change with production. (3) Back pressure potential data on wells in the source of supply. (4) Ultimate number of wells which will supply gas, and their potential. (5) Limitations on productivity such as line pressures against which the wells will produce, friction drop in the producing string, and so forth. It is evident that the resulting estimate of gas available in each year for a future of say, 20 years, contains many uncertainties. While the method may have considerable merit for a field that is fully developed, it cannot be completely dependable in fields that are only partially developed. In such cases, some of the data upon which it is based can only be estimated or assumed. In the study of this problem during the past few years, a method has been developed which we believe has great merit, especially when applied to fields subject to substantial future drilling, and when applied to the study of fields which, on the average, appear to have characteristics similar, in general, to the average of the fields used in the development of the "yardstick" outlined herein. From an analysis of the production history of 49 reservoirs which are depleted, or nearly depleted, a curve has been constructed which shows the average performance of the reservoirs during the declining stages of production. When properly applied, this "average performance curve" can be used to determine the stage of depletion at which a reservoir or group of reservoirs will no longer be able to yield a given percentage of the original reserves. "AVAILABILITY" AND "AVAILABILITY STUDIES" The rate at which. a reservoir will yield its gas depends basically upon physical factors, such as the thickness and permeability of the sand, the effect of water drive, if any, and other conditions, and upon economic factors, such as the number of wells drilled. Within the ranges set by the physical conditions, a rate of delivery tends finally to become established. The rate (or range of rates) represents a balance between the interests of the operator, who desires the maximum return from his property and of the pipe line owner, who desires to maintain a firm supply for his market. This balance, which is influenced by the terms of the contract, determines the capacity which will be developed by the operator, and the time and rate at which the decline in production is permitted to occur. Thus the "availability" of gas

Jan 1, 1953

By P. Somasundaran

INTRODUCTION Large amounts of mineral values are discarded today as fines and ultrafines, because of inadequate technology to process them economically. Most conventional mineral processing techniques fail in the sub-sieve range. Fines respond poorly to processes such as flotation either due to change in mineralogy and surface composition or even simply due to the direct effect of their smallness in size on collision and adhesion rates between them and air bubbles. Indeed if the poor flotation is due to the smallness in size, a solution must rest in aggregating the fines. Inorganic electrolytes as well as polymers have been successfully used as flocculants in the past for obtaining increased flotation of colloidal material from waste water effluents. In mineral beneficiation, this technique can be profitably used if the process of flocculation can be made to take place selectively. The power of the selective flocculation technique has already been proven, with the successful application of it in the case of beneficiation of low grade iron ore by the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Ore Company and potash ore by Cominco. The process holds tremendous potential when it is followed by flotation, elutriation, etc. Today its application is, however, limited to the above two cases and it has become clear that a full understanding of the process will prove helpful for developing solutions to various problems that exist both at the basic and applied levels. In this paper, principles that are known to govern selective aggregation processes such as selective flocculation, carrier flotation and spherical agglomeration will be examined and areas of uncertainties will be identified.

Jan 1, 1979

By Arthur Taggart

THIS paper describes the result of a series of experiments run in the laboratory of the School of Mines, Columbia University, during the winter of 1927-28. It shows that the several operating adjustments of a pneumatic table produce effects in the action of a, given coal that may be grouped into two classes, viz.: stroke length, speed and rocker-arm angle, which affect longitudinal travel; air supply and table slope (transverse and longitudinal), which determine transverse travel. The magnitude of the effect of the different adjustments varies. Some of the adjustments affect stratification of the bed, both as respects size and specific gravity of the bed components, as well as direction of travel. Operation of a pneumatic table is fundamentally different from that of a wet table in that the former exerts, through the air supplied, a force on the particles upward away from the deck which is lacking on the wet table while, on the other hand, it lacks the positive control over cross travel that is supplied by the wash and feed water.

Jan 1, 1929

By J. F. Shea, O. F. Tangel

Battelle Memorial Institute participated in a program for the General Services Administration aimed at developing a nickel-cobalt separation process that could be integrated in the Nicaro nickel plant. At the time the programwas being carried out, the Nicaro process was a straight-through operation, in which the ore was reduced and leached, after which the pregnant solution was boiled to produce a so-called "bulk precipitate" which contained virtually all of the nickel and cobalt which had been dissolved in the leaching step. The weight ratio of nickel to cobalt in Nicaro ore is approximately 15 to 20:l. The weight ratio of nickel to cobalt in the finished product had to be 100:l or higher to meet specifications. Because the Nicaro process embodied no nickel-cobalt separation step, the only way that a bulk precipitate of the specified nicke1:cobalt ratio could be produced was to so adjust roasting and leaching conditions that nickel would be selectively leached and most of the cobalt would be rejected with the tailings. The required selectivity, however, was achieved at the expense of nickel recovery, which was 5 or more per cent less than might have been obtained with the existing equipment, utilities, man power, etc., had selectivity been no object. The over-all purpose of the program was to develop a separation step that could be fitted into or onto the Nicaro facilities and which would permit the manufacture of a product that would meet the desired specifications and still permit the recovery of a maximum amount of nickel. Battelle suggested that this might be accomplished by reprocessing off-specification bulk precipitate and specifically suggested the process based on ammonium sulphate leaching followed by hydrogen reduction of the leach solution according to techniques developed commercially by Sherritt Gordon Mines Limited. Such a process would not only satisfy the objectives of the research but would present two additional advantages. (1) It would produce a separate cobalt product which could be further processed into metal, alloys, oxides, or salts. (2) It would yield nickel in metallic form which might be more generally marketable and command a slightly higher price per unit of nickel than the Nicaro oxide product. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS Figure 1 is a flowsheet of the process. The essential features are: (1) Extraction of about 97 per cent of the nickel and about 85 per cent of the cobalt from bulk precipitate by a principal leach with ainmonium sulphate solution (Step A). Extraction of virtually all of

Jan 1, 1961

By J. C. Osmond

One of the least known geologic regions in the U.S. is the area now called the Basin and Range Province. It is paradoxical that so little geologic information has been compiled for a province that has yielded billions of dollars worth of metals and is currently producing a small amount of oil. Regional stratigraphic studies of parts of this large territory have been published only recently, and regional structural interpretations of even parts of the province are rare in the literature. This, of course, does great injustice to the earliest workers: Gilbert,1,2 Russell,9 Le Conte,4 Spurr,5 Louderback,8 and others, who recognized the area as distinctively different from the rest of North America. Their simplified picture of the structure of the ranges and the province as a whole is the groundwork for present understanding and has never been superseded. Since their early works, however, geologic data from the province has consisted largely of detailed reports of widely scattered mining districts. Each district has been described as though it were an island in an unknown sea. More recent syntheses of the geologic history have been prepared by Lindgren,7 Ransome,8 Nolan,9 Bill-ingsley and Locke,30 Longwell,11 and Eardley.12 The tentative nature of the present interpretation, which treats the structural evolution of the Utah and Nevada area, must be considered in light of the scarcity of geologic information from the province as a whole. The methods of interpreting tectonic history from stratigraphy are based largely on the concepts of Marshal Kay.23 Discussions with Hoover Mackin also have aided in organizing the Tertiary history. TECTONIC AND STRATIGRAPHIC SETTING Two approaches to the subject of the tectonic history are possible; they correspond to looking through opposite ends of a pair of binoculars. One involves an expansion and extension of detailed work and the other an interpretation based on regional geological relationships. It is believed that the second approach, used here, is not in disagreement with detailed observations. The area of the Basin and Range Province is shown in Fig. 1. Within this area middle Tertiary to Recent high-angle faulting has controlled development of mountain ranges and valleys. Only the part of the area north of Las Vegas, Nev., and south of the Snake River in Idaho will be considered in this article. Within this part of the province most of the ranges trend north-south. Approximately two thirds of the area is covered by late Tertiary to Recent valley fill and lake deposits.

Jan 1, 1961

By W. A. Krivsky, R. Schumann

Relaxation calculations were made to find the temperature distribution in the refractory wall surrounding a tuyere pipe. One set of boundary conditions approxiwated those of a standard copper converter while a second set represented a hypothetical,thermally insulated tuyere pipe. The pvonounced cooling effect of the tuyere is related to the problem of tuyere accretions and tuyere bunching. PARTICULARLY severe service conditions are encountered in the tuyere zone of a basic copper converter during the matte blow. High-temperature gradients result from the juxtaposition of the hot charge and the tuyere pipe carrying cold air. Refractory temperatures near the tuyere mouth vary rapidly with time when the blast is turned on or off. One of the most serious problems is the formation of magnetite accretions around the tuyere mouth, which occurs very rapidly under some operating conditions. As a result, continual punching of the tuyeres is necessary to maintain a satisfactory rate of converting. Thus, if some means could be devised for keeping the tuyere pipes fully open without necessity for punching, a considerable saving should result from reduction in labor cost, maintenance of full capacity operation, and reduction in refractory costs. Recent quantitative studies of the FeO-Fe,O,-SiO, system1 have shown that the solubility of magnetite in iron-silicate slags decreases rapidly with de- creasing temperature in the range of copper converting temperatures. Data taken from the previous work are shown in Fig. 1. Thus the formation of "horns" and accretions around the tuyere mouth can result simply from the freezing out of magnetite on the cooler areas of refractory immediately adjacent to the tuyere pipes. One might expect to find a correlation between the severity of magnetite formation and the area of refractory surface which is cooled below the freezing point of the slag (corresponding to magnetite precipitation). Magnetite itself has a very high melting point (1597°C) so that the accretions are for all practical purposes infusible. The accretions might be dissolved by increasing the silica content of the slag and at the same time raising the temperature, but this approach is not feasible because it results in rapid corrosion of the basic refractory lining of the converter as a whole. In order to understand better the problems involved in tuyere design and operation, it seems essential to have at least a semiquantitative idea of the thermal conditions in the tuyere zone. Accordingly, this paper presents results of thermal calculations for an idealized copper converter tuyere. These calculations follow the so-called relaxation

Jan 1, 1960

By W. R. Hamilton

The knowledge of the existence of petroleum in Southern California dates back to the days of the missions. The presence of asphaltum and semisolid bitumen was reported at Santa Barbara in 1792, but no serious attempt was made to develop oil until Professor Silliman's optimistic report in 1865 started California's first oil boom. Wells were drilled in many counties of the State, but the equipment was unsuitable and the drilling difficult and no production was obtained except in Ventura County. Even there the production was of little importance commercially, and not until the early '80s did it become sufficient to again attract attention. In 1888 the production for the State had reached a total of about 700,000 bbl. per year, practically all light oil produced in Ventura County, Pico Canyon, Los Angeles County and in the Puente Hills. The production of petroleum attained the dignity of an industry in 1895 when the Los Angeles City and Coalinga fields were discovered. The subsequent development has been remarkable, and in 20 years the production has increased from 1,000,000 to 100,000,000 bb1. per year. The refining industry has kept pace with the production of oil. The Pacific Coast Oil Co., the predecessor of the Standard Oil Co. of California, was the virtual pioneer refining company of the State, having built a refinery at Alameda about 1880. When purchased by the Standard, about 1902, it was dismantled and the refinery at Point Richmond was built. The Richmond refinery is now one of the largest in the world, having a capacity in excess of 60,000 bbl. per day. A small refinery was built by the Union Oil Co. at Santa Paula in the early days of the industry and later many asphalt refineries were in operation in Southern California. The Pacific Coast Oil Co. was then, as has been its successor, the Standard Oil Co. of California, the principal refiner and marketer of light products, the most valuable of which was kerosene. Before the opening of the twentieth century, gasoline of excellent quality was produced, though it was always a drug on the market and was produced for the simple reason that its presence rendered the flash and fire tests of the kerosene too low. The user of kerosene at the present

Jan 1, 1917

By G. H. Kesler, J. E. Oberele, C. E. Dryden, J. H. Oxley

Heat-transfer rates were measured in a model of a multifilament vapor-deposition bulb fo the preparation of high-purzty metals. Local transfer coefficients for heat transfer frow the filaments to the circuates process stream were determined as a functiol of gas flow rates and bulb, inlet, and filament, geowzetvies. These results a-e then convertted to n mass-t7,ansfer basis to provide a method of correlating vapor-deposition rates and to predict the performance of commercial urzits. The firm1 cor?,elating equation for mass transfer was found to be- wheve k, is the mass-transfer coefficient; D, is bze gas difficsivity : P is the system pressure; R is the gas constant; T is the gas temperature; Df, DB, and Di ave tlze diameters of the filament, bulb, and inlet, respectively; k is the gas conductivity; C, is the specific heat of the gas, M is the wzolecular zleight of the gas; Npr . N,,, NRe a7'e the Prandtl, Schmidt, and Reynolds numbem of the system, respectively; LB is the height of the bulb; and SB and Sf are the total suyiace area of the bulb and filaments, respectively. ONE of the more conventional methods of preparing very high-purity metals is the vapor deposition of the metal upon heated filaments. The reactions which can be employed in such a process generally fall into two classes: 1) Pyrolysis of a volatile metal compound. Generally because of their instabilities, metal iodides are used; however, other metal halides and hydrides have been employed. These processes are frequently carried out under vacuum conditions, and the filaments are maintained at high temperatures. 2) Hydrogen reduction of a volatile metal compound. A metal chloride is normally the preferred feed for these processes, but other halides are sometimes used under special conditions. These hydro- gen-reduction processes are usually operated at atmospheric pressure. Many of the current processes for the production of semiconductor materials are actually vapor-deposition processes. However, the vapor-deposition process itself is relatively old, and almost all metals can be prepared in a state of very high purity by the use of vapor-deposition techniques. Loonam has recently given an excellent review of the iodide process for metal deposition,' and Owen has started some detailed studies with a carbonyl system.' A more general treatment of all vapor-deposition processes has been outlined by Powell, Campbell, and Gonser.3 Despite the fact that vapor-deposition techniques have been employed since 1890, there is a surprising lack of fundamental information regarding the transport characteristics of even the simplest deposition system, the heated filament. The purpose of the investigation described in this paper was to extend some of the earlier data obtained at Battelle to predict deposition rates and the uniformity of deposition in large-diameter, multifilament deposition bulbs under forced convection conditions.4'5 A number of other investigators have already presented a simplified treatment of the deposition process under non-flow conditions, i.e., pure diffusion.6"9 To obtain information on the transport characteristics of a deposition bulb, a model of a typical plant deposition unit was constructed, and local heat-transfer coefficients from the filaments to a circulating air stream were determined under various conditions of air-flow rates and bulb, inlet, and filament geometries. These results were then converted to a mass-transfer basis, and consequently provided a method to correlate experimental vapor-deposition rates and to design commercial deposition units. EXPERIMENTAL WORK Description of Model. The apparatus which was used in this work was a scaled model of one type of deposition bulb. It was constructed of Lucite and was easily altered to give several combinations of diameter of bulb liner, inlet size and location, number of filaments, and outlet geometry. The model is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The bulb shell was made octagonal for convenience in construction and observation, and the bulb liners were cylindrical. Air, introduced through one of several different jet inlets, was used as the test fluid in these model studies. Filaments for deposition of metal were simulated by metal rods 1/4-in. in diam. Two of the rods could be heated by passing electrical current through them ¦ while the remaining rods could not be heated. This procedure minimized the amount of heat which was

Jan 1, 1962

By C. E. Berner

Since 1933, the Coal Mine Rating Schedule in Pennsylvania has provided credits in the Workmen's Compensation insurance premium rates for the use of safety hats, goggles and shoes. In that year, the worth of such protective clothing had just been well established and satisfactory articles were being made by a number of manufacturers. Standards for these three items of safety clothing' were written in the Rating Schedule and have been little changed through the years. The credit in the premium rate for a bituminous mine is $0.14 for hats, $o.08 for goggles, $o.08 for shoes. In order to earn such credit, it is necessary that all the employees in the particular mine be equipped with safety hats, goggles or shoes, as the case may be. In fact, it is not unusual for mines to qualify in all three categories, thus earning a rate reduction of $o.30 per $100 of payroll. These credits have been a decided stimulus to the use of safety clothing, and at present insured bituminous mines are credited as follows: Hats........ 63 per cent, or 22,600 employees Goggles..... 28 per cent, or 10,000 employees Shoes....... 44 per cent, or 15,800 employees Of course, many other employees wear these protective articles but they are in mines that are not fully equipped and so are not given the rate credit. The growth in use of this equipment has not been spectacular but it has been steady, as shown in Table I. An interesting thing about this is that it covers virtually all of the small and medium-sized bitumi- nous mine operations in Pennsylvania. A number of large operations are included, but many large mines are self-insured. It is difficult to keep alive interest in safety work in the smaller mines: first, because employment of safety engineers is out of the question and the one or several mine officials employed are often concerned only with production; second, because the life of many small mines is brief, so that safe conditions although established do not last long. Conditions as to safety in mines of this class rest chiefly with inspectors of state mine departments and of casualty insurance companies. Many millions of tons of production come from these mines, so that

Jan 1, 1944

By C. E. Berner

Since 1933, the Coal Mine Rating Schedule in Pennsylvania has provided credits in the Workmen's Compensation insurance premium rates for the use of safety hats, goggles and shoes. In that year, the worth of such protective clothing had just been well established and satisfactory articles were being made by a number of manufacturers. Standards for these three items of safety clothing' were written in the Rating Schedule and have been little changed through the years. The credit in the premium rate for a bituminous mine is $0.14 for hats, $o.08 for goggles, $o.08 for shoes. In order to earn such credit, it is necessary that all the employees in the particular mine be equipped with safety hats, goggles or shoes, as the case may be. In fact, it is not unusual for mines to qualify in all three categories, thus earning a rate reduction of $o.30 per $100 of payroll. These credits have been a decided stimulus to the use of safety clothing, and at present insured bituminous mines are credited as follows: Hats........ 63 per cent, or 22,600 employees Goggles..... 28 per cent, or 10,000 employees Shoes....... 44 per cent, or 15,800 employees Of course, many other employees wear these protective articles but they are in mines that are not fully equipped and so are not given the rate credit. The growth in use of this equipment has not been spectacular but it has been steady, as shown in Table I. An interesting thing about this is that it covers virtually all of the small and medium-sized bitumi- nous mine operations in Pennsylvania. A number of large operations are included, but many large mines are self-insured. It is difficult to keep alive interest in safety work in the smaller mines: first, because employment of safety engineers is out of the question and the one or several mine officials employed are often concerned only with production; second, because the life of many small mines is brief, so that safe conditions although established do not last long. Conditions as to safety in mines of this class rest chiefly with inspectors of state mine departments and of casualty insurance companies. Many millions of tons of production come from these mines, so that

Jan 1, 1944