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By John Chipman, Theodore B. Winkler

IN order to understand more fully the complexities of the reactions occurring between the liquid steel and the slag in the basic open-hearth steelmaking furnace, investigations in this country and abroad have turned to laboratory equilibrium studies. This paper is one of a series of reports on investigations being conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The experimental work was completed early in 1942. The slag systems found in the basic open hearth are very complex, being made up of at least eight major components and as many others whose effect might be classified as minor. The first two papers of the series, by Fetters and Chipman,l,2 as well as the paper by Taylor and Chipman,3 dealt with the simplest possible slag system that would resemble those found in the basic open hearth-the slag system consisting of CaO-MgO-SiO2-FeO. (Taylor's rotating induction furnace eliminated the necessity of contamination of the slag by MgO.) Having arrived at some reasonable conclusions regarding the physical chemistry of the reactions between molten iron and the simple slags at equilibrium, the next step was to investigate more complex slag systems. The major purpose of the present investigation was to determine what factors control the distribution of phosphorus between molten iron and the more complex basic slags at equilibrium, and to what extent these factors are influential. The slags used contained CaO, MgO, Si02, FeO, Fe203, P205, MnO, A1203 and CaF2, but not all of the slag samples contained all of these components at one time. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Although a number of interesting papers have been published on the subject of dephosphorization of an iron bath, there are as yet no results from laboratory studies that give thoroughly reliable information on the dephosphorization reaction. Even for the supposedly simple Fe-O-P system involving iron-phosphorus melts and iron oxide-iron phosphate slags, the experimental results are contradictory and no formulas have been established that adequately fit the equilibrium conditions. The Fe-O-P system has been studied by Schackmann and Brings4' von Samson-Himmelstjerna,5 Oelsen and Maetz,6 Bischof and Maurer,7 Diepschlag and Schürmann,8 and Herty,9 and the results of their investigations appear in Table I. A number of different equilibrium constants and distribution ratios

Jan 1, 1946

By J. Bulina, J. T. Brown

SINCE the inception of vacuum cold-hearth arc melting of high-temperature alloys (about 4 years ago) it has been theoretically reasoned and qualitatively found that better mechanical properties are often obtained from alloys which have been melted by this practice. Mechanical properties are emphasized in this evaluation because of their importance in design. Vacuum-arc melting has an intrinsic advantage in that it creates an ingot grain structure which is easier to forge and thus leads to greater yields for the finished product. The greater yield naturally gives the process an economic basis when the cost per pound of alloy is rather high. However, the question stressed here is, does the process create an alloy with inherently better properties? There are several theoretical reasons for suspecting that it does. One is the vacuum refining which should permit lowering the content of harmful residuals with high vapor pressures. A second is the vacuum process which should preclude the formation of harmful distribution of oxides, nitrides, or carbo-nitrides, by keeping the amount of such constituents formed to a minimum. A third is the vacuum-arc cold-hearth method which prevents the possibility of pick-up of harmful elements from a refractory crucible since none is used. Fourth, the rapid solidification rate, induced by having a cold mold and only small amounts of molten metal at any one time, minimizes the segregation of elements like titanium, aluminum, and molybdenum from the top to the bottom of the ingot. This rapid solidification rate also decreases the tendency of the above elements to form undesirable phases by segregating locally. Another less frequently considered vacuum-arc melting advantage is the inherently finer-grained ingot structure which can be produced. Finer initial grain size leads to better forgeability, and means that after relatively small reductions to billets or final forged products a finer-grained material is obtained, which, by virtue of its finer grain size, would usually have greater stress-rupture ductility.

Jan 1, 1960

By P. V. Faragher

A metal or alloy finds its place in commerce in proportion to its ability to serve certain purposes better and more economically than other materials. While there is some overlapping of the fields of application of the various metals under discussion in this symposium, each one has its uses for which it is especially adapted. While aluminum is the most recent of the metals to enter the field, the development of the industry has been based on its peculiar properties, by virtue of which new uses for non-ferrous metals have been created. There has been substitution of this new metal for other members of the group but there has been a far greater development in entirely new fields. In common with the other non-ferrous metals, aluminum is resistant to atmospheric corrosion. It also withstands the action of many of the common chemical reagents, strongly alkaline substances being the notable exceptions. The outstanding properties on which the application of aluminum is based are its low specific gravity and its ease of fabrication into the forms in which it is used. It is noteworthy that this property of specific lightness is retained in all the commercial aluminum-base alloys. This statement does not apply to aluminum bronze; this is more properly a copper-base alloy, since aluminum enters into its composition to the extent of only about 10 per cent. None of the commercial casting alloys of aluminum has a density exceeding that of the parent metal by more than about 10 per cent., and some are actually lighter. In the so-called "strong alloys" of aluminum in which strengths comparable to that of mild steel are developed by heat treatment, the greatest increase in density is only slightly more than 3 per cent., and one of these, also, is lighter than aluminum. This property of lightness combined with the desirable mechanical properties of the alloys, makes aluminum especially suited for parts of moving assemblies where saving in power, as well as a decrease in stresses resulting from inertia and vibration, are of importance.

By H. M. Howe

One of the little electric-resistance magnesia crucible-furnaces which I designed for the metallurgical laboratory of the School of Mines of Columbia University is shown, in vertical section, of full natural size, in Fig. 1. The furnace itself consists of two semi-cylinders of magnesia, A A, with a cover of magnesia, B B, and a stopper, C, also of magnesia, which is perforated to admit the leads x, y, of a thermo-electric couple. The furnace is heated by the spiral of platinum wire, D D (entering and departing by the openings I and K), through which a current of any desired strength is passed, bringing it to incandescence, and to ally temperature, not above the melting-point of platinum, which may be desired. The crucible E, actually used in this furnace, is also of magnesia. I have heard of some unsuccessful attempts with furuaces of this general class, and have attributed these failures to the use of siliceous materials for the furnace-walls. Of course such a result is what we should expect, since the silica mould readily be electrolysed by the current, and the resultant silicon would alloy with platinum ; but the little magnesia furnace here clescribed seems to be wholly free from this objection. It has been used in my laboratory for some months, and temperatures, up to 1100° C, hare been developed in it over considerable periods of time—indeed, it has been held near 1400" C. for about two hours—without indication, thus far, of any deterioration of the platinum. In the section shown, F F are a pair of steel disks, bound together, but separated by the inverted thermo-junction, N, of the thermo-electric pyrometer. This arrangement permits the observation and record of retardations in the heating and cooling of F F—in other words, the determinations of the cooling curves of steel—a purpose for which the furnace has been used, thus far, more frequently than in the determination of meltingpoints. For the latter operation, however, it is also suitable.

Jan 1, 1902

By F. G. Jaicks

RECOGNITION of the benefits to be gained from the continuous casting of molten steel into finished or semifinished products has been given by scientific minds since the very beginnings of steel plant technology. In fact, Sir Henry Bessemer is credited with the first of a long list of patents' issued by the U. S. Patent Office for a process which would accomplish this desirable end. None of these early ideas attained practical success and, as a result, the conventional method of teeming into ingot molds became an integral part of modern steelmaking operations. This procedure, although refined to keep pace with the changes which have come about in steelmaking and finishing facilities, is recognized to have inherent shortcomings which adversely affect manufacturing costs and steel quality. Interest in the continuous casting of steel persists because the process is directed toward avoiding some obvious weaknesses of conventional ingot casting. It has been recognized that should it be possible to substitute any of the continuous casting techniques under current development for ingot casting, it would no longer be necessary to make large capital investments in primary rolling equipment, the sole purpose of which is to reduce ingot castings to a form rollable on finishing mills. The results reported in the continuous casting of non-ferrous metals and specialty steels indicate that in addition to avoiding the primary rolling mills there is some basis for expecting significant improvements in yield, surface, and internal quality. Recognizing the shortcomings of the conventional procedures, the Inland Steel Co., in cooperation with Atlas Steels Ltd. and the Freyn Dept. of the Kop- pers Co. Inc., embarked upon a program to evaluate certain aspects of continuous casting in order to determine whether the process could be applied practically to an existing integrated steel plant producing 'large tonnages of carbon steels. TO assist in this evaluation a study was carried out in which several types of low carbon steel were continuously cast in an existing machine. It is the purpose of this paper to review some of the results obtained in the casting studies and to interpret the information that was obtained so as to indicate factors that must be considered in assessing operating limitations and plant capacities. Despite the early interest in the continuous casting of steel, the actual application to the steel industry is relatively recent. At present, there are about 25 operating plants casting steel, most of which have been built in the past decade. None of these plants could be classified as large in terms of the tonnages that are being processed by the major integrated steel plants. In contrast to the situation in the steel industry, there has been widespread adoption of the continuous process in the casting of nonferrous alloys, particularly aluminum and copper. As a result, much of the basic information that was required to apply the process to steel was developed in the nonferrous industries. In this respect, a most important contribution was the development of the Junghans2 system, which was initially designed for the casting of nonferrous metals and later applied to the casting of steel. Alternative methods for casting have also been proposed by Babcock and Wilcox Tube Co.,'" the British Iron and Steel Research Association,5 and the Gebruder Bohler A. G.13 Each of these methods is now being used successfully for the casting of special steels in small experimental plants or in modest sized commercial steelworks. The Original Junghans process was first developcd in Germany. Further application of the process has been made by Rossi in other countries.'*' The experi-

Jan 1, 1958

By R. W. Brauchli

During the last few years the compila-tion of formation logs from rotary well cuttings has become common practice among petroleum geologists. This meth-od has undoubtedly furnished a great amount of information valuable for both scientific and commercial purposes. How-ever, in spite of its great usefulness it has certain drawbacks, principally in the contamination of cuttings by cavings. In extreme cases this contamination can reach such proportions that it is next to impossible to draw conclusions with any degree of certainty as to the nature of the formations penetrated by the drill. This difficulty was frequently encoun-tered during the development of the Okla-homa City Field. In many cases where Wilcox sand-the most prolific sand of this field-was drilled, the samples con-sisted almost entirely of shale cavings with only traces of sand. In order to obtain more reliable knowl-edge of the formations encountered while drilling it is therefore necessary to resort to more coring, and above all to improve our present methods of coring. With this in mind a study has been made of the results of coring in the Oklahoma City Field, and the present article is mainly confined to a statistical analysis of the relation between recovery, diameter of cores and drill pipe, length of cores and a few other factors. Most of the coring in the Oklahoma City Field was done during the early part of, the development. A total of around 18,000 feet or 0.3 per cent of the total footage drilled before February, 1932, has been cored, and about 80 per bent of the cores were taken in the Simpson formation at a depth below 6,000 feet.

Jan 1, 1933

THE 125th meeting of the Institute was held in New York, Feb. 20-23, 1922, inclusive, and was the most successful annual meeting of the Institute ever held; there was a larger registration, there were more sessions of importance, and a greater number of sessions, than in any previous year. The total registration was 1331, comprising 351 New York members, 393 visiting members and 587 guests. At the annual business meeting of the Institute, held on Tuesday, Feb. 21, with President Ludlow presiding, there was a much larger attendance than usual. The report of the tellers was read and the following officers were declared elected: Arthur S. Dwight, Director and President-District 0 J. V. W. Reynders, Director and Vice-president-District 0 A. R. Ledoux, Director and Vice-president-District 0 Charles F. Rand. Director-District 0 George D. Barron, Director-District 0 William H. Bassett, Director-District 1 Thomas B. Stearns, Director-District 8 William Kelly, Director-District 5

Jan 3, 1922

By Charles M. Rolker

The Mariposa estate, a grant made by the Mexican Government to Juan 13. Alvarado, during the time when California was still under the dominion of Mexico, was purchased in 1847 by J. C. Fremont, and the United States patent issued to him in 1856. By sale, or its equivalent, money advanced, the property came into the hands of the Mariposa Company, June 25th, 1863, and through a varied existence of work and temporary inactivity, has as yet been kept as an undivided property, and rests at present with the Mariposa Land and Mining Company of California. I pass over this period of 15 years without giving the history of the ups and downs of the estate, partly because it is familiar to many, and also because I think in such a case this paper would assume too much the character of a narrative. The estate is situated in Mariposa County, California, about 170 miles southeast of San Francisco. It begins in lat. 37' 26' 38'' north, and long. 119' 55' west, and runs 6 miles north; thence 69 miles west; thence 5 miles northwesterly towards the Merced River; thence 84 miles southerly; thence 3 miles easterly; thence 1 mile southerly; thence 2 miles easterly; thence 2 miles southerly; thence 2 miles easterly; thence 1 mile southerly; thence 2 miles easterly; thence 1 mile northerly, and thence 2 miles easterly to the place of the beginning; embracing 44,387 acres (70 sq. miles) more or less. To describe this vast estate in detail as to its full geology, its numerous quartz veins, its many facilities to exploit them and work them by cheap methods, would lead me further than I intend to go at present, and I will content myself to describe the latest workings of the company and its immediate field of operations. As long ago as 1860 the late Dr. Adelberg advised the running of an adit from the northwestern edge of the estate at Benton Mills 011 the Mereed River. His object was to undercut the deepest workings of the then paying mines on the estate—the Pine Tree and Josephine. Following this advice, the tunnel known as "River Tunnel " was commenced. Its entrance is in S. 5, T. 4, s. R. 17 E. It is run in

Jan 1, 1879

By J. D. Davis, A. C. Fieldner

The older coal chemist had a much simpler conception of coal than we have today. To him coal was a mineral composed essentially of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, ash, and water, in various proportions. His studies on the constitution of coal were directed along the conventional lines of proximate and ultimate chemical analyses and making deductions from these data without any real appreciation of the fact that coal is a conglomerate of various chemical compounds, including many of the most complex structures known to organic chemistry. The view of the modern coal chemist is well expressed by Franz Fischer,' who says that while proximate and ultimate analyses are important both from the scientific and technical point of view, they tell the chemist no more concerning the number and kinds of chemical compounds that constitute coal than the reader would learn of the contents of a book if told that the printed contents consisted of 15 per cent. of the letter "e," 5 per cent. of the letter "n," 1 per cent. of the letter"g," 4 per cent. of the letter "b," etc. As the reader must have the grouping of letters into words and words into sentences, so the chemist must have the grouping of atoms into molecules and the proportion of each molecular compound in the coal aggregate before he acquires an adequate knowledge of the constitution of coal. Modern investigators2 are laying the foundation of a new chemistry of coal based on the biochemistry of plants and the chemical changes involved in processes of fermentation and decay. As

Jan 1, 1925

By P. V. Faragher

A METAL or alloy finds its place in commerce in proportion to its ability to serve certain purposes better and more economically than other materials. While there is some overlapping of the fields of application of the various metals under discussion in this symposium, each one has its uses for which it is especially adapted. While aluminum is the most recent of the metals to enter the field, the development of the industry has been based on its peculiar properties, by virtue of which new uses for non-ferrous metals have been created. There has been substitution of this new metal for other members of the group but there has been a far greater development in entirely new fields. In common with the other non-ferrous metals, aluminum is resistant to atmospheric corrosion. It also withstands the action of many of the common chemical reagents, strongly alkaline substances being the notable exceptions. The outstanding properties on which the application of aluminum is based are its low specific gravity and its ease of fabrication into the forms in which it is used. It is noteworthy that this property of specific lightness is retained in all the commercial aluminum-base alloys. This statement does not apply to aluminum bronze; this is more properly a copper-base alloy, since aluminum enters into its composition to the extent of only about 10 per cent. None of the commercial casting alloys of aluminum has a density exceeding that of the parent metal by more than about 10 per cent., and some are actually lighter. In the so-called "strong alloys" of aluminum in which strengths comparable to that of mild steel are developed by heat treatment, the greatest increase in density is only slightly more than 3 per cent., and one of these, also, is lighter than aluminum. This property of lightness combined with the desirable mechanical properties of the alloys, makes aluminum especially suited for parts of moving assemblies where saving in power, as well as a decrease in stresses resulting from inertia and vibration, are of importance.

Jan 1, 1928

By R. F. Jones, N. E. Truitt, M. Prats

In most published discussions and theories of in situ combustion, the combustion fronts are assumed to be vertical. However, evidence from field tests leaves no doubt that combustion fronts often advance more rapidly along the top than near the bottom of a formation as a result of difference in density between injected air and formation liquids. The approximation proposed in this paper to determine the movement of the resultant tilted combustion surfaces states that the vertical rate of movement of combustion surfaces is proportional to the horizontal oxygen flux. Where self-ignition is possible, the proposed method demands that a secondary combustion surface exist around production wells which produce some oxygen. These secondary combustion surfaces may be formed long before the primary combustion surface can advance from injection to production wells. Heat liberated near production wells at these secondary combustion surfaces can contribute to an early increase in production rate. Results indicate that significant oil recoveries cannot be obtained from the usual flood patterns (five-spots, seven-spots, etc.) without producing large volumes of unused oxygen. Ideally, to increase oxygen- consumption efficiency, well patterns should allow oil production from a first line of production wells and gas production from more distant lines of producers. However, it may be desirable to produce some gas at all wells to support (and benefit from) active secondary combustion surfaces. Results indicate that the well spacing through which combustion can be advanced is larger than that predicted by other methods. A large number of production wells may still be desirable to take quick advantage of gravity drainage. From a comparison with results at South Belridge field, California, it appears that this method adequately describes oxygen concentration and temperature histories and combustion-front shapes. However, this method does not accurately locate the most advanced point of the combustion surface. There is some field evidence to substantiate the actual presence of secondary combustion surfaces at South Belridge. Use of the proposed method appears warranted at this time when lay-over of the combustion surface can be anticipated. INTRODUCTION The assumption of vertical combustion fronts has been embodied in all previous publicationsl-6 which use the movement of combustion fronts away from injection wells to determine the temperature and fluid distributions in the reservoir. The only paper concerned with a mathematical model of the combustion process in which a nonvertical combustion front is used was written by Gottfried.11 Actually, nonvertical combustion fronts have been observed in most in situ combustion field tests for which adequate data are available.7, 8, 6 In practice, the typical vertical extent of the burned zone decreases with distance from the injection well, and this burned zone is at or near the top of the sand body. In some cases, such as at South Belridge field near Taft, Calif., the combustion surface is almost horizontal over a very large area.8 Thus, for some years an obvious and serious gap has existed between theory (vertical fronts) and practice (tilted fronts). This is indicated in Fig. 1. Tilted combustion fronts such as observed at South Belridge8 sometimes result from the natural tendency of injected gases to rise to the top of an oil sand. An initially present gas cap, even if thin, would make apparent the effect of gravity segregation from the first, particularly since formations considered for in situ combustion field operations are generally selected for their

Jan 1, 1969

By Edward A. Loria

Vanadium is one of the materials being considered for use in fast-breeder nuclear reactors. It is a good heat conductor and nearly transparent to radiation, properties regarded as ideal for nuclear fuel containers. The problem has been the metal lacks ductility needed for forming. In our program at Reno Laboratory the effects of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (previous affiliation) the effects of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon have been reported21,22 nd most recently the effects of boron and boron with carbon.23 The continuing study by the Ames Laboratory of the effects of hydrogen, the most subtle and fugitive element in its relationship to structure and properties, is commendable. The solubility of oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen in vanadium (and other bcc metals as well) is related to material purity. With the available limit on metal purity and the interaction (clustering) of hydrogen with the other interstitial and substitutional elements present in their base metal, would the authors comment on the tolerance of hydrogen in relation to oxy- gen that will avoid intergranular fracture and above what content or how seriously harmful in oxygen at various carbon levels? Understanding the true effects of hydrogen (and other interstitial impurities) in vanadium depends on knowledge of the amount present under various conditions and its distribution between various possible positions. Significant amounts of hydrogen may be in "thermo-dynamic" solution, but not as individual atoms in interstitial positions. It may be in grain boundaries, in subgrain boundaries, in vacancies, or in dislocations. Some of the hydrogen may be paired or in complexes with impurities in substitutional solid solution in vanadium. This makes the analysis of the effect of hydrogen vastly more difficult. It should not be expected that hydrogen in grain boundaries will affect slip in the same manner as hydrogen in interstitial positions, nor will the complexes react to heat treatment the same way as hydrogen in dislocations. It is gratifying that the authors have quoted results from two of our inestiations,' but neglected one2' which applied the Petch theory to electrorefined vanadium of high purity and analyzed the effects of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon on the ai and ky values obtained by the extrapolation and grain size methods. Details can be found in the paper. Briefly, we obtained a ui value of 10,300 psi (t = 5150 psi) at 273°K. The metal also exhibited profuse twinning with high ductility at 123" and 77°K. Nitrogen was more effective than oxygen in increasing ui, the increase being about twice as much for the same impurity level. Carbon additions resulted in only minimal changes in Ui. The corresponding ky increased as oxygen and nitrogen increased, with nitrogen being more effective. Carbon additions resulted in little change. Although the difference in yield strength of vanadium was explained on the basis of the Cottrell-Bilby model of the tearing away of dislocations from the impurity atoms,

Jan 1, 1970

By John H. Walthall, Raymond L. Copson, Travis P. Hignett

In October 1942, the War Production Board requested the Tennessee Valley Authority to undertake investigations to determine the feasibility of producing alumina suitable for reduction in aluminum cells, from clays and other domestic materials, by a lime-sintering, soda-ash leaching process. The work was undertaken by the chemical engineering staff of the Authority under the general direction of the War Metallurgy Committee of the National Academy of Sciences. The investigation included small-scale tests to determine the most suitable conditions for the process, and construction and operation of a pilot plant to obtain data for evaluation of the process and for design of a plant. The results of this investigation are described in the present paper. Sources of Alumina Alumina for the commercial production of aluminum is obtained from bauxite by the Bayer process. The tremendous demand for aluminum for wartime uses is causing rapid exhaustion of the high-grade bauxite deposits in the United States. On the other hand, there is an abundance of aluminous materials such as clay and lower grades of bauxite, which are not suitable for treatment by the Bayer process because of their high silica content. The Tennessee Valley Authority has conducted research and pilot-plant work for more than 5 years on methods for the production of alumina from clay and low-grade bauxite. Particular attention has been given to the high-grade white kaolin found in Carroll County, Tennessee. Exploratory drilling has demonstrated that at least 4 1/2 million tons of kaolin containing in excess of 34 per cent AlzOI is available in this area by strip-mining methods. It has been estimated that hundreds of millions of tons of clay of similar quality occur in the Tennessee Valley region. The Process The process is illustrated in the flowsheet (Fig. I), and consists essentially of the following steps: I. Heating a mixture of clay and limestone to form a sinter containing calcium aluminate and dicalcium silicate. z. Leaching this sinter with a dilute sodium carbonate solution, to form a sodium aluminate solution and a calcium carbonate, calcium silicate residue, which is discarded. 3. Treating the sodium aluminate solution with carbon dioxide to precipitate aluminum trihydrate and regenerate the sodium carbonate solution, which is recycled. 4. Heating the aluminum trihydrate to produce alumina. The process was considered promising because of the abundance and cheapness of the two raw materials, clay and limestone; and because, as compared with an acid process, smaller amounts of critical

Jan 1, 1944

By John Porter

THE requirements of the standard specifications under which Portland cement is sold have materially increased within the past 10 years, but practically all companies are now furnishing cement better than these requirements; in some cases exceeding them by nearly 100 per cent. From a sales standpoint, it is desirable to have a product that is uniform to a high degree and free from occasional quality troubles. A failure in quality, even if it affects only a few hundred barrels out of a yearly output of a million or more, is apt to be talked about in the trade and to affect the salability of the entire output. For these reasons, there has recently been great activity along the lines of quality control and improvement; and some of the most interesting problems of the industry are in this field. From the manufacturing standpoint, the quality of cement is chiefly a matter of uniform and proper chemical composition of the raw mix fed to the kilns plus proper burning in the kilns; the fineness to which the cement is ground, the proportions of gypsum, the method of seasoning, and the like are contributory factors. Uniform chemical composition of the raw mix has been one of the most difficult problems to solve. Most plants will use from 1000 to 3000 tons of rock per day and in but few cases is this material as it lies in the quarry even approximately uniform in composition. The problem, then, is to quarry and mix this raw material in such a manner that every handful passing through the kilns will have practically the same analysis as every other handful. To accomplish this purpose there are two methods of preparation: the wet process and the dry.

Jan 1, 1925

Ware B. Gay, Richmond, Va.: Having followed the remarks of Prof. Woodworth with great interest, especially his suggestions for drilling in the part of the coal-field on the south side of the James river, I would like to inquire of him if he reached his conclusions after fully considering the situation as existing upon the north side of the James ? My reason for this inquiry is, that upon the north side the eastern and western outcrops are much nearer each other than appears to me to be the case upon the south side, and also that the western outcrop on the north side is much more clearly defined than upon the south side. It is now about twelve years since I first became interested in the Richmond coal-field—and until about six years ago I passed much time in investigation and spent thousands of dollars in developments. About six years ago the properties in which I was more especially interested were leased to other parties, and since that time I have had little or nothing to do with the mining operations. I regret to say the price of coals has ruled so low during most of the time since the lease was made that the developments have not been as extensive as the lessees had originally intended. The result of my investigations after considering all the theories, expert reports, legends and other information I could obtain bearing upon the subject, was the opinion, which I still hold, that the most practicable and most economical way for proving the extent and value of the field is by sinking slopes from the eastern outcrop, and by prosecuting such slopes in the vein and following the coal to the western outcrop, thus obtaining an actual cross-section in fact and not in theory. Proceeding upon this hypothesis, I sought for the positions where this could probably be accomplished most quickly and develop a marketable coal-area as the work thus progressed. The outcrops on the north side being nearer each other, and

Jan 1, 1902

By Jay A. Carpenter

FIRST of several sessions at the Annual Meeting devoted to mining methods was a joint program with the Coal Division devoted to the use of Diesels underground. Fred W. Stiefel, in the first paper, stressed the saving in original cost and in operation. Wm. B. Harris then presented the paper of which he was a joint author, and S. H. Ash stressed the poisonous nature of nitrous fumes from Diesel engines even in minute quantity. Determination is difficult but in exhaust gases they are present in amount two to five times that of carbon monoxide. Jay A. Carpenter, in the closing paper of the session, stated that state laws in general prohibit the use of Diesels underground, and that almost all mine inspectors are opposed.

Jan 1, 1942

By H. Biloni, R. Morando

The surface structure and substructure of Al-Cu alloys solidified as conventional ingots and under particular conditions such as those used by Bower and Flemings are studied. The influence of lampblack coating on the mold walls is especially considered and the results compared with those obtained in copper and graphite molds where no coatings exist. When high heat extraction conditions exist the observations show that mechanism of copious nucleation is responsible for most of the chill zone. When the heat extraction through the mold walls is low, a coarse grain structure with dendritic morphology arises, with a size that depends on the degree of convection present, analogous to that analyzed by Bower and Flemings. In both cases the effect of the convection on the macroscopic and microscopic appearance is discussed. The ingot macrostructure consists of one or more of three zones: "chill zone", "columnar zone", and central "equiaxed zone". The mechanism of the columnar-equiaxed transition has been subject of considerable interest and at present at least three theories exist about the formation of the equiaxed region: 1) the constitutional supercooling theory1 maintains that the equiaxed crystals nucleate after the columnar zone has formed, as a result of the constitutional supercooling of the remaining liquid; 2) chalmers2 pointed out, however, that there were several objections to this proposal, and that consideration should be given to the possibility that all the crystals, equiaxed as well as columnar, originated during the initial chilling of the liquid layer in contact with the mold; 3) Jackson et aL3 and O'Hara and ~iller~ suggested that a remelting mechanism of the dendrite arms is responsible for the formation of the equiaxed region. After the work of Cole and Bolling and other authors6 it became evident that convection (natural, reduced, or forced) plays a very important role in the transition from columnar to equiaxed and on the size of the resultant equiaxed structure. Until recently the accepted explanation of the chill zone was that it occurs as a result of copious nucleation in the liquid layer in contact with the mold walls.798 The columnar region is a subsequent result of the growth of favorably oriented grains and, as a result of a selection mechanism studied by Walton and Chalmers,9 elongated grains with marked texture are formed. Recently, however, Bower and Flemings" using an ingenious laboratory experiment introduced the idea that the "copious nucleation" mechanism is not responsible for the formation of the chill zone and that the presence of convection, introducing some form of "crystal multiplication", plays a decisive role in the formation of the chill zone. Unfortunately, it is important to consider that for their conclusions Bower and Flemings extrapolated the results obtained in their special experiments to the case of conventional ingots, and that these authors only analyzed the macrostructures of the specimens. Let us consider the work by Biloni and chalmers" concerning predendritic solidification. These authors were able to show that a study of the segregation substructure of A1-Cu gives information about the nucleation and growth of crystals formed in contact with a cold surface. A spherical predendritic region characterizes the first part of every grain nucleated in contact with the surface as a result of the chill effect. The aim of this paper is to elucidate through the observation of the segregation substructure the conditions under which (in the Bower and Flemings type of experiments and in conventional ingots) either the nucleation or the multiplication mechanism gives rise to the structure in contact with the mold walls. I) EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES The experiments were performed on two alloys: Al-1 wt pct Cu and A1-5 wt pct Cu. The purity of the aluminum was 99.99 pct and the copper 99.999 pct. The results obtained with both alloys were similar. In the Bower and Flemings type of experiments the apparatus employed to obtain rapid solidification against a surface was similar to that used by those authors. The liquid was drawn by partial vacuum into the thin section mold cavity. Plate casts were 5 cm wide and usually 7.5 cm high. The thicknesses of the cast were 0.1 and 0.3 cm. Two different materials were used for the mold, copper and nuclear-grade graphite. The internal mold surfaces were polished and left uncoated for some experiments. In other experiments, the copper or graphite surface was coated with a thin film of lampblack material. In some of these particular experiments one of the mold walls was left with an uncoated region (usually in the form of a cross). The conventional ingots were cast in graphite or copper molds. In different experiments the mold walls were sometimes uncoated or coated with lampblack material. The results obtained in conventional and Bower and Flemings copper molds were compared with those obtained with copper molds coated with a very thin film of graphite; the results obtained were essentially similar. The size of the conventional ingots was 5 cm diam and 7 cm high in all cases. The cast surfaces produced by the Bower and Flemings type of experiments and conventional methods were observed macroscopically and microscopically without any metallographic preparation. As Biloni and Chalmers showed," the observation of the chill surface can give considerable information about the structure and segregation substructure.

Jan 1, 1969

Large equipment for quarrying and for the various stages of crushing and grinding are the trend for new and existing operations. Included are large size haulage units, fast drilling equipment, impact crushers and large mills capable of high tonnage rates for metallic and nonmetallic minerals. In grinding, large-size mills continue as the choice in industries where grinding constitutes a major portion of the processing. Typical is a 10 x 34 ft two-compartment mill in closed circuit with an 18-ft diam air separator for cement. Other cement mill sizes are in the order of 12 x 36 ft, 2500 hp; 10 x 37 ft ball and rod (wet), 1400 hp; 13 x 36 ft, 3000 hp; 13 x 40 ft (wet), 3000 hp. Several installations of combination ball and rod mills have been made, and one of the largest is 12 x 45 ft. In connection with the wet grinding of raw materials, the DSM 270-degree screen has been installed in several cement plants with the intention of producing a material finer than 50 mesh. In ore processing, large autogenous mills (121/2 x 20 ft) are being installed.

Jan 2, 1964

By Christian F. Baiz

INTRODUCTION Industrial minerals can have similar financing requirements to those needs of metaliferrous and coal mining projects. One of the outstanding differences is the understanding of the many different markets that these industrial minerals represent. There are in excess of 30 principal industrial minerals ranging in terms of annual production from the largest quantity such as sand and gravel, to possibly the smallest quantity of production of a legitimate industrial mineral which may be defined as industrial and rough gem diamond. (See Tables 1 and 2) Project finance techniques, analytical methods, and information requirements are covered elsewhere in this Chapter and Chapter 10. Some comments on equity finance aspects follow. EQUITY AMOUNT The amount of equity in a financing transaction provides a cushion to the lender in case the project runs into trouble. Generally speaking, the greater the amount of risk in a project, the more equity a lender will require. The amount of cash equity in a project financing transaction is between 25 and 40 percent. The amount of leverage (debt/equity) is negotiable based on such factors as the strength and extent of the sponsor's undertakings, of the project's economics, and the term of a strong sales contract. Naturally, a borrower seeks to obtain d loan with as little equity required as can be negotiated. Zero percent equity is usually associated with a take-or-pay contract (a hell-or-high- water unconditional commitment under which the purchaser must pay for the commodity as though it were shipped regardless of whether it is actually mined or shipped) with a financially strong corporate entity i.e., the parent company or an end user. As a take-or-pay contract is tantamount to a guarantee of payment, the banker views the credit basis of the loan as being other than the borrower's mining operation and therefore will analyze the creditworthiness of the institution purchasing the commodity on the basis of its corporate balance sheet. Do not confuse a take-or-pay contract with a take-if- tendered or take-and-pay contract. Another means in the United States of obtaining zero percent equity is the carved out production payment financing, typical of coal mine financing. This involves the sale, or conveyance, by the owner of the mineral property of a production payment to a nominally capitalized company. The nominally capitalized company is formed solely to buy the production payment and usually borrows 100 percent of the purchase price from a lender. Equity amounts of 10 to 20 percent generally are found in transactions which employ techniques such as an advance sale or a subordinated lease/loan. These agreements are viewed as quasi equity by most banks for several reasons. First, the proceeds represent a cash infusion early in the project's life - usually prior to the bank lending any funds. Thus, the repayment schedule is "behind" that of the bank debt. In the case of an advance sale, repayment is in the form of a long-term supply contract with favorable terms, usually priced close to the mining operation's costs. There is also usually a requirement that all costs of the project be paid for by the loan or equity, often making the sponsors financially responsible for any cost overruns. Cost overruns are a major risk in any project, large or small, and are often due to unforeseen factors such as wildcat strikes, a piece of faulty equipment, or any event which delays completion, e.g., remote location, weather, etc.. . The question of how overruns are covered can be negotiated. For example, in addition to the original debt/equity ratio of the project, there can also be a cost overrun ratio that will

Jan 1, 1985

By M. E. Grimes

A method of predicting uranium extraction rate in underground bacterial leaching of as-blasted ore has been developed. The method is based on the hypothesis that extraction is directly proportional to the volume of a piece of ore that is penetrated by the leaching agent, and that each piece of ore, regardless of size, has been penetrated radially from the external surface to the same depth at a given leaching time. Consequently, given an initial size and assay distribution, extraction should be predictable for a given penetration. Two laboratory bacterial leaching tests under simulated stope leaching conditions were carried out for a periods of 89 and 96 weeks. On completion, the residual ore was screened and analyzed. The information so obtained was employed to provide an elapsed time base for the penetration model, from which predictions of future extraction were made. The finding of solubilized uranium trapped within apparently sol id ore pieces was unexpected. However, it is not recoverable except after crushing, and hence does not affect calculations of underground leaching .

Jan 1, 1974