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By Richard E. Chism

Some years ago, when I was seeking an illusive fortune and gaining a precarious existence in the primeval forests of Brazil, there penetrated, even to my headquarters in that far-off land, the story of a new-found mining district, where mountain peaks were ribbed with silver, and valleys teemed with virgin gold. Such were the stories that caused hundreds of men to seek their fortune in Sierra Mojada, and to return heaping curses, loud and deep, upon the vivid imaginations that had evolved the glittering fiction. Nevertheless, the rumors had some foundation of truth. The ribs of silver exist, if not the placers of gold; and a flourishing town, of some three thousand people, with two leading mining companies and several smaller ones, in operation, represents what was permanent in the excitement of 1879. Geographical Situation. The town of Sierra Mojada is situated in the State of Coahuila, Republic of Mexico, in latitude 27' 24' N., and longitude 26' 40' W. of Washington, 4' 36' W. of the City of Mexico, and 103' 43' TV. of Greenwich. It lies about 70 miles, in an air-line, N. E. of Escalon station, on the Mexican Central Railroad; but by the present wagon-road, which makes a long detour to turn the mountain range, the distance to the station is about 105 miles. The nearest towns are Huajuquilla, in the State of Chihuahua, about 125 miles due west, and Cuatro Cienegas, in the State of Coahuila, 112 miles to the eastward. Between these points and the town of Sierra Mojada, and to the north of this town, the country is an immense desert, entirely uncultivated, almost uninhabited, and very little known. This

Jan 1, 1887

By HARRISON W. CRAVER

THE principal purposes of library-catalogs are to enable a reader to find a book of which the author, the title, or the subject is known; to show what the library has. by a given author, or on a given subject; and to assist in the choice of a book, as to its edition, or as to its character. The author, in a narrow sense, is the person who writes a book; in a wider sense it is applied to him who is the cause of the book's existence, e.g., editor, translator, compiler, etc. Bodies of men, societies, and countries are, from a cataloging point of view, con¬sidered the authors of their official publications, memoirs, transactions, etc. All names selected as author names are arranged in strict alphabetical order. A subject catalog fulfills its purpose by entering or registering each book under the name of that subject or topic of which the book chiefly treats. It may or may not be alphabetical in arrangement. If the arrangement is not alphabetical, the catalog is commonly called a classed subject catalog, although this name might with equal propriety be applied to some alphabetical arrangements.

Jan 1, 1920

EDUCATION is a business; and, if the consumer is satisfied with the product, no one has any grounds for complaint. "Pretty well satisfied" about slims up the attitude of the mining industry toward the young graduates presently entering the field. Yet, with amazing regularity the controversy over the five-year curriculum recurs in educational circles. The educational mills grind out their products, some higher grade than others, depending on individual proclivity. The cycle continues almost without interruption. Arthur Taggart, however, takes his bowie knife to some of the sturdiest limbs of the tree of knowledge in his article on engineering education on page 770 of this issue. As all who know him might suspect, the pruning is not restrained. With one swing of the knife, such practically-labeled courses as Mine Design are stricken from the tree and transplanted to the field of Graduate Education. Emphasis on the basic sciences and the study of man through courses in history, economics, and literature are recommended to constitute an undergraduate curriculum. Such courses show the least depreciation and therefore give the student the most for his money. Partial justification for this dramatic departure from tradition is explained by the increasing number of companies giving training courses. Why make the student pay for what he can get paid for learning after graduation, the author argues. Other leading educators espouse this doctrine. Dean S. C. Hollister of Cornell, for the Committee on Adequacy and Standards of Engineering Education, recommended to ECPD in 1951 that emphasis be placed on the basic sciences. "Sifting back through the curriculum, it seems clear that instruction in the basic sciences, if taught in a manner such that knowledge of them makes available working tools, contributes the most sustaining part of the curriculum", reported the committee. Note that he would utilize practical problems from the fields of engineering in teaching the sciences. In our opinion the important thing to learn in college is how to think the engineering approach. Recitation on traditional solutions of classic problems sharpens the memory, not the ingenuity of the student. The engineering schools of the nation recognize the advantage of great emphasis on fundamentals, and the inclusion of cultural courses in the curriculum. However, industry presently requires graduates to have a substantial knowledge of the tools of the trade upon graduation. This means that the colleges are forced to pare to the bone to encompass the required studies in the time allotted. In addition, there is the limitation of student money. College educators also claim that entering freshmen are often improperly prepared in such subjects as writing and mathematics. These considerations make it difficult for the critic of the engineering graduate to make any headway with the educators. Actually with the mounting problems imposed by lower grade and more complex ores, a new breed of engineers is needed. The impetus for this new product must come from industry. If there was a concerted effort from industry for an improved type of engineer, the colleges would modify their aims to meet the demand for the kind of individual desired.

Jan 1, 1952

By P. Martignan

THE year 1923 has seen new developments in the only French wells, i.e., those of Pechelbronn, Alsace. The output of the two pits now in operation totaled more than 75,000 tons, although there was a two months' strike. It is expected that 1924 will see an output of 85,000 tons; and 1925, 100,000 tons. A new pit has just been put in operation (fourth pit; the third not being in operation). The oil and the oil sands are extracted at a depth of 350 meters. Special attention has been given to the development of the distillation and refinery plants, particularly the manufacturing of lubricating oils. The present output of the lubricating-oil factories is approximately 20,000 tons neutral oils; 20,000 tons spindle oils, together with 2000 tons of paraffin. Engineers are introducing the most modern American processes of refinery and distillation. The company has 3000 employees. The capital of the company has just been increased from 45,000,000 francs to 81,000,000 francs. Some other drilling has been done in the Auvergne and Landes districts, and some oil has been found, but in too small quantities for commercial operation. Great hopes, however, are entertained of finding large quantities of oil, and the French Chambers have voted a special fund of 20,000,000 francs for investigating oil in France. Much work has also been done in the Colonies but without much success; oil is found in different districts of Tunis, but in relatively small quantities. In Morocco, drillings have not been successful. A prospecting mission recently returned from Madagascar gave an optimistic report concerning the oil conditions on the Island. Prospectings are being made also in French Indo-China. The present domestic yearly consumption is about: Gasoline 750,000 metric tons, kerosene 70,000 metric tons, automobile lubricating oil 75,000 metric tons.

Jan 3, 1924

By C. L. Sainsbury

Lode and placer tin deposits of the western Seward Peninsula, Alaska, have produced more than 2200 tons of metallic tin and constitute the only known domestic deposits of economic grade and size. The lode deposits consist of quartz-topaz greisens containing cassiterite and wolframite as well as numerous base-metal sulfide minerals, and most are in or near altered biotite-granite that forms isolated stocks or in rhyolitic dikes near granite. Within the main lode-producing area in the central York Mountains, nonpegmatite beryllium deposits, consisting principally of fluorite, chrysoberyl, diaspore, tourmaline, and white mica, with minor euclase, bertrandite, phenakite, hematite, and todorokite, are distributed zonally around the tin deposits and locally are transitional with them. All the known beryllium deposits are replacement lodes in carbonate rocks. In the area discussed, both tin and beryllium deposits are localized in a structural belt striking N70° to N85°E across the central York Mountains. The belt is characterized by numerous normal faults, which cut extensive thrust sheets, and by dikes of rhyolite, rhyolite porphyry, and lamprophyre that were injected along the faults. Ore deposits are localized where the dikes intrude brecciated rocks beneath thrusts and, although complex in detail, form tabular lodes that tend to lie along the thrusts. The granites contain abnormal amounts of tin, beryllium, lithium, and boron, and the tin and beryllium lodes are believed to be genetically associated with these enriched granites

Jan 1, 1968

By L. J. Dijkstra, R. J. Sladek

IN earlier work the effect of manganese on the general behavior of nitrogen in iron was the subject of a careful examination by Fast.' Part of the investigation was made, in collaboration with one of the present authors (L.J.D.), by using the internal friction method. This technique, which has been described elsewhere,' showed some significant changes in the properties of Fe-N alloys by the addition of a small amount of manganese namely: 1—Under standard conditions the maximum of the nitrogen peak in pure iron appears around 20 °C and the half width is about 27 °C. By addition of 0.5 atomic pct Mn a general broadening of the internal friction peak occurs. The half width is increased by about 9°C. Moreover, a shift of the maximum of about 5°C toward a higher temperature takes place, Fig. 2. 2—The precipitation of nitrogen from the supersaturated solution, measured, e.g., at 200 °C, was inhibited by the addition of the amount of manganese given in effect 1. The broadening of the nitrogen peak was confirmed in more recent work3 on samples which were prepared from Westinghouse Puron iron. The effect of manganese on the rate of precipitation, however, was much less striking than in the earlier work' based on Philips high purity iron. Theory To explain the first change in properties just referred to, effect 1, the following two assumptions were made:' First, every manganese atom in sub-stitutional solid solution creates around it six interstices located between an iron and a manganese atom, as is evident from Fig. 1. These interstices, conveniently called Fe-Mn interstices, have for nitrogen a free energy level which is AG* lower than the normal Fe-Fe interstices between two iron atoms. For such low concentrations of manganese as 0.5 atomic pct, the possibility that two manganese atoms will be nearest neighbors can be disregarded. Second, it is assumed that in addition to the normal relaxation time TFe at least one new relaxation time, Mn, Fe, enters in the phenomena which is associated with the elementary diffusion jumps between a Fe-Mn interstice and an adjacent Fe-Fe interstice. Fig. 1 gives schematically the free energy for a nitrogen atom as a function of its position along the line ABC. A tentative analysis of the nitrogen peak in a 0.5 pct Fe-Mn alloy based on these assumptions has been made in Fig. 2. The dotted curve with a maximum at 22°C is caused by jumps between Fe-Fe interstices, the dotted curve with maximum at 32°C by jumps between an Fe-Mn and an Fe-Fe interstice. The two effects added together give the dash-dot internal friction curve for the alloy. In the following these two components will be referred to as the normal peak at 22°C and the abnormal one. (The small secondary peak at

Jan 1, 1954

By Walter Miller

AFter a year's continued impact of war, the task of the petroleum-refining industry stands out clearly and looms up in larger aspect. This time it is not, as it was so largely in the first World War, simply a matter of increased quantity—more and more of the same petroleum products that had substantially been standard for years. In this era the emphasis is largely on newer and improved materials which had been produced, if at all, in comparatively insignificant quantities, and for which manufacturing equipment was not available on a large scale. At the beginning of 1942 four great product needs (besides a number of lesser ones) confronted the industry: 100-octane aviation gasoline, toluene for T.N.T. production, high-quality lubricating oils for aviation and Army equipment service, and petroleum chemicals for synthetic rubber manufacture. The difficulty in presenting a review of engineering progress in petroleum refining during 1942 is that there is so little one is free to say about so much which has been and is being accomplished. At the opening of 1942 the program was to increase the then existing capacity of 50,000 bbl. a day of aviation gasoline to over 150,000 bbl. daily by building new plants at an estimated installation cost of $150,000,000. Later in the year. after the announcement by President Roosevelt of a large increase in the program for war-plane building, additional contracts were made between the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and rehers to raise the capacity to 250,000 bbl. per day. The greatly increased scope of the war activities in all parts of the world, the obligation of the United States as the arsenal of the United Nations, and the greater importance and use of bomber, transport, and cargo planes will undoubtedly bring about plans and installations for a further increase in production of aviation gasoline over the present announced plan. In this connection, Jesse Jones, Reconstruction Finance Corporation Chairman, announced that as of Oct. 31 the R.F.C. had through its subsidiary Defense Plant Corporation entered into contracts for the construction, expansion, or equipping of 28 plants to increase 100-octane aviation gasoline production, but gave no data on 'capacity involved or completion dates. His list did not, of course, include a number of existing plants, and some installations being made by companies who are themselves financing the construction. Production from existing operating installations was materially increased in a number of instances as a result of pooling knowledge of improvements in operation and also by the exchange of Components going into 100-octane blend to enable greater quantities of aviation gasoline to be produced from the over-

Jan 1, 1943

By Walter Miller

AFter a year's continued impact of war, the task of the petroleum-refining industry stands out clearly and looms up in larger aspect. This time it is not, as it was so largely in the first World War, simply a matter of increased quantity—more and more of the same petroleum products that had substantially been standard for years. In this era the emphasis is largely on newer and improved materials which had been produced, if at all, in comparatively insignificant quantities, and for which manufacturing equipment was not available on a large scale. At the beginning of 1942 four great product needs (besides a number of lesser ones) confronted the industry: 100-octane aviation gasoline, toluene for T.N.T. production, high-quality lubricating oils for aviation and Army equipment service, and petroleum chemicals for synthetic rubber manufacture. The difficulty in presenting a review of engineering progress in petroleum refining during 1942 is that there is so little one is free to say about so much which has been and is being accomplished. At the opening of 1942 the program was to increase the then existing capacity of 50,000 bbl. a day of aviation gasoline to over 150,000 bbl. daily by building new plants at an estimated installation cost of $150,000,000. Later in the year. after the announcement by President Roosevelt of a large increase in the program for war-plane building, additional contracts were made between the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and rehers to raise the capacity to 250,000 bbl. per day. The greatly increased scope of the war activities in all parts of the world, the obligation of the United States as the arsenal of the United Nations, and the greater importance and use of bomber, transport, and cargo planes will undoubtedly bring about plans and installations for a further increase in production of aviation gasoline over the present announced plan. In this connection, Jesse Jones, Reconstruction Finance Corporation Chairman, announced that as of Oct. 31 the R.F.C. had through its subsidiary Defense Plant Corporation entered into contracts for the construction, expansion, or equipping of 28 plants to increase 100-octane aviation gasoline production, but gave no data on 'capacity involved or completion dates. His list did not, of course, include a number of existing plants, and some installations being made by companies who are themselves financing the construction. Production from existing operating installations was materially increased in a number of instances as a result of pooling knowledge of improvements in operation and also by the exchange of Components going into 100-octane blend to enable greater quantities of aviation gasoline to be produced from the over-

Jan 1, 1943

By R. S. Hooper

IN attempting to describe recent mining developments at the Bunker Hill mine, it may be well to recall first the old days of hand mining when holes were laboriously drilled by hand to a maximum depth of three feet, and were shot one or two at a time, in order that the miner could take advantage of every slip, crack or bedding plane, and so save as much drilling as possible. Broken muck, of course, was loaded by hand shoveling into wheelbarrows or small cars, and heading advances or stope ton¬nages were governed by the number of men that could find room to work in any given place. The first big improvement over these old methods was the introduction of the reciprocating type of air-powered rock drill. This innovation, crude as it was, enabled the miners to set up a machine and drill a complete round of holes in one shift; but broken muck was still loaded by hand, and the size and rate of advance in headings were limited by time required to remove the broken rock. The next improvement of consequence was the appearance of the hammer-type rock drill, which greatly increased drilling speed over the reciprocating type, and made possible the completion of a full cycle in one shift, by the use of crossbars in headings, and permitted drilling and mucking to be carried on at the same time. Rock drills continued to improve as time passed, and finally the smaller and more efficient mucking machines appeared on the scene, and it became possible to muck out a round of broken rock and have a clean setup for one or more drill columns and machines. A complete cycle of mucking, drilling, and blasting was completed in one shift with an average advance of five feet. These conditions prevailed for several years, but as the mine grew deeper, the distances to transport the workers grew longer, and this fact together with the shortening of the working day, soon presented the problem of attempting to complete a cycle of operations in a shift of only six hours at the working faces. Anticipating this condition, the operating heads at the Bunker Hill had started an intensive study of more and better mechanization, and over a period of comparatively few years have adopted and placed in service methods and machines that make it possible for a three-man crew to consistently advance headings seven by nine feet in cross section, at the rate of eight feet, and more, per shift, doing all the mucking, switching, drilling and loading. These improvements consist of the following major items: I. The development of a light, flexible, easily transported jumbo equipped with pneumatic columns (Fig I), that has decreased the "setting up" and "tearing down" time an average of 1 1/2 hr per shift, or 25 pct of the available working time. These jumbos were developed at the Bunker Hill mine by members of the staff and consist of two pneumatic columns attached to a suitable carriage. They fold

Jan 1, 1947

By Ferid Kromer

This paper is the first in a series which will describe geology, mining methods, and production costs of some, of Turkey's more important minerals. In this paper the economically significant minerals-chromite, meerschaum, and magnesite-of the Tagtepe district are described. The cost data presented are believed by the author to be the first made public on Turkish chromite mining.

Jan 1, 1950

By M. Smutz, C. J. Baroch, E. H. Olson

IN 1949 an orebody containing some 10 billion lb of recoverable rare earth metals was discovered in the Mountain Pass district of San Bernardino County, California.' The following year Molybdenum Corp. of America purchased a number of claims at the deposit and a mill on the property which had been constructed to process the district's gold ores. Average composition of ore from the San Bernardino deposit is less than 0.1 pct Tho2, 25 to 35 pct calcite, 10 pct rare earth oxides, 15 to 20 pct silica, and 30 to 40 pct barite.' Rare earth content of the ore analyzes 50.7 pct CeO2, 4.2 pct Pr6O11, 11.7 pct Nd2O3;, 1.3 pct Sm2O3,, and 34.3 pct La2O3 and others.' By floating the barite and depressing the bastna-site, Molybdenum Corp. of America produced a concentrate that contained 60 to 70 pct rare earth oxides. More than 25 pct of the rare earths, however, was lost in flotation. It seemed likely that a more economical method could be found. At the present time most of the rare earths in the concentrates are converted to rare earth chlorides, which are either fed to ion exchange columns for separation of the individual rare earths or reduced to misch metal. Current investigation shows that solvent extraction may achieve this separation more economically than ion exchange. The study reported here was undertaken to develop an economical method of preparing a pure rare earth nitrate mixture from California bastnasite ore. Results indicated that more than 98 pct of the rare earths could be recovered. Several possibilities were considered for processing bastnasite ore, but only the method outlined in Fig. 1 was investigated. This involved leaching the calcined ore with nitric acid. The nitric acid process is discussed under the following headings: 1) calcination of the ore, 2) leaching of calcine, 3) filtration studies, 4) solvent extraction, and 5) nitric acid recovery. Calcination: Since California bastnasite ore contains 25 to 35 pct calcite and about 10 pct bastnasite, calcination was needed to reduce the violence of reaction with nitric acid. Weight losses of 26 to 30 pct were obtained by calcining the ore at 900°C for I hr or at 800°C for 4 hr. Longer periods resulted in no further weight loss. Leaching the Calcine: When the bastnasite calcine was leached with 30 pct nitric acid for 8 to 10 days, rare earth recoveries of only 45 to 50 pct were

Jan 1, 1960

By C. G. Durdaller, W. H. Robinson, G. M. Pound

The nucleation rate of the a (pay) to 0 (white) tin transformation was measured as a function of temperature and a tin particle size using an X-ray diffraction technique. The powder specimens of a tin were essentially monodisperse and the small dinzension of the particles of these specimens was varied from 13 to 75 p. Several types of nucleation sites of differing potency were fbund to be operative in the nucleation process, but it could not be determined whether these sites were on the free surface of the tin particles or within the volume. Assuming that they were on the free surface, the average density of the most potent sites was calculated to be 2.5 to 5.3 x 10' sites per sq cnz through the application of a Poisson distribztion finction to the isothermal data. Analysis of the temperature dependence' of the rate constmts at a given fraction transformed suggests that the active sites are regions of higher free energy and not catalytic interfaces. Appreciable induction periods were observed at the lower temperatures of transformation. Experimental studies1 of solid-solid phase transformations have led to the belief that the new phase nucleates at structural imperfections. The purpose of the present work was to learn more about the mechanism of nucleation in solids and the nature of the singularities at which nucleation occurs. In this investigation nucleation rates in the isothermal transformation of gray to white tin were measured by an X-ray diffraction technique using essentially monodisperse powders of gray tin. This particular phase transformation was chosen for study because it presented fewer experimental difficulties than most others. The experimental temperature-control problems were minimal because the two phases coexist in equilibrium at 13.3"C, and measurable transformation rates occur at temperatures only slightly above room temperature. The growth rate of the P phase into the a2 is sufficiently fast to make the measured transformation rate equivalent to the nucleation rate, provided that the particle size of the samples is small enough; for the experimental temperatures used in this study, the particle diameter must be less than 100 p. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE The P tin used in this study was obtained from Capper Pass and Son Ltd., North Ferriby, Yorkshire, England, and was of 99.999 pct purity. It was transformedS to the a phase and ground into a fine powder in an agate mortar. This powder was separated by a Roller air classifier into seven fractions whose dimensions, as determined by microscopic measurement of many thousands of particles, are given in Table I and whose distribution of size within each fraction is given in Figs. 1 and 2. The shape of the particles was roughly that of an oblate spheroid,

Jan 1, 1964

The economics of aerial survey and the technical processes by the aid of which vertical and oblique aerial photographs are turned into line maps showing the most profuse topographical detail such as contours, rivers, roads, plantations, habitations and cultivated lands do not concern us here. They have been ably and exhaustively described in the publications of the British War Office, handbooks on surveying methods and on photogrammetry and in the South African mining, engineering and geological press. Suffice it to mention that for geological interpretation vertical photographs are used on such scales as 1/5000 to 1/10,000, overlapping each other by 55 to 60 per cent in the direction of flight and some 10 to 20 per cent sideways on to the next sequence or strip. Through this duplication in the overlap the stereoscopic examination becomes possible. The standards by which monochrome aerial photographs are interpreted can be grouped under the following headings: 1. Continuity.—The continuity of topographic relief not obtainable on the ground owing to the smallness of man relative to that relief. Here lies the greatest value of aerial survey with relation to geology. An immediate alignment can often be made of drainages running in different directions on each side of a hill; saddles and gorges in the mountainsides; abrupt termination of outcrop or indubitable signs of faulting. Most conclusive evidence is thus often obtained about faults which may be perfectly visible at one place on the ground but cannot elsewhere be identified because of decreased throw. Similarly, dikes can often be followed notwithstanding frequent interruption and disappearance under the soil. Scattered outcrop in scrub-covered or bush-covered country can be conveniently located and often correlated, with a large saving of time compared with field work. The same applies to geological contacts. Once these have been established at a few points on the ground, the intervening stretches can be drawn in.

Jan 1, 1937

By H. Herbert Hughes

In the years following World War II, L. de Roll S.A., Zurich, Switzerland, perfected its vertical kiln. De Roll first became interested in cement-manufacturing equipment in 1947, not only kilns but also the crushing, grinding, and handling equipment required for a complete cement plant. The parent company, Louis de Roll Iron Works, S.A., Gerlafingen, Switzerland, was founded in 1804. In its six plants, and with its associated companies, de Roll manufactures and installs equipment for a wide variety of industries-chemical and metallurgical operations, fats and oils plants, and municipal refuse incinerators and sewage disposal installations. Vertical shaft kilns, of course, are as old as Portland cement itself. Their fuel economy has long been recognized, particularly in Europe where fuel costs are high. But the disadvantages of old-type shaft kilns have been the lack of consistent quality of the clinker, the small capacity, and the relatively high labor costs.

Dec 1, 1956

By Captain Lyle

I was very much interested in Mr. Macdonald's paper, and I can say that there is nothing in it to which I cannot heartily subscribe. In speaking of the want of knowledge that has existed, and still exists, among engineers in regard to structural materials, their strength, etc., my own experience has taught me to doubt the reliability of the ordinary testing machines.

Jan 1, 1882

By Harry L. Washburn, Robert L. Llewellyn, W. J. Halvorsen

Many of the problems that occur in the preparation plant originate from practices in the mine. Impurities in raw coal can be in the seam itself or from extraneous material taken in mining from the roof or bottom. In the case of underground mines, the choice of mining equipment will affect the size consist and the amount of extraneous material included with the coal. Also, governmental regulations concerning the degree of rock dusting, gobbing underground, and cleanup have increased the dirt in raw coal. Sulfur dioxide emission standards, on the other hand, are pressuring the coal industry to clean coal more thoroughly. Coal supplied for coking purposes is nearly all upgraded by washing, while for the largest market, electric power generation, a high proportion is shipped as a raw product with processing, in whole or in part, only necessary when excess impurities are mined with the coal. This chapter will deal primarily with plants that process or wash coal to some extent (Fig. 1) and only incidentally with mines shipping raw run-of-mine coal crushed to a top size of, usually, 51 to 102 mm (2 to 4 in.), with little, if any, other treatment. JUSTIFICATION FOR COAL PREPARATION During the past decade, major changes have occurred affecting the market, profit, and long-range planning of the coal industry. Mining companies have become "partners" with consumers at many new and some old mines, both for steam and metallurgical coals. Coal properties have become "assigned" tonnages at mutually agreed upon conditions and prices. Lower unit-train tariffs have been instrumental in helping coal markets to compete against oil and nuclear energy. Coal prices for power plants are still on a Btu (British thermal unit)

Jan 1, 1981

By Robert B. Kistler, Ward C. Smith

The borate industry is one of the few sectors of the mining and mineral-processing industry which the United States still dominates. Since about 1927, the United States has supplied over half of the world's total boron and borate raw materials, and many of the chemical derivatives as well. Chiefly responsible for this record are companies producing sodium borates from two large deposits in southern California, at Boron (Kramer) and Searles Lake. The sodium borates, or products derived from borax and borax-containing brines, are the preferred borates for industry because they are soluble in water and combine readily with most other chemicals. Calcium borates (or sodium-free compounds) are required for certain end uses, but in general, nonsodium borates are used only where borax is not avail- able. During the past hundred years, the use of boron compounds throughout the world has risen from a few tons per year to the equivalent of about a million tons of B2O3. Leadership in supplying borates has shifted from country to country and from region to region during this period, generally as the result of the development of newly discovered deposits that were better in quality, more accessible, or more economically exploitable than previous sources (Table 1). Primary Products and End Uses The principal borate products offered by primary producers in the United States are listed in Table 2. In general, these products are utilized worldwide by almost all consumers, regardless of the original source of the primary borates. In the United States, the primary borates all originate in southern California. Colemanite is produced as crude or processed crude ore from the Death Valley area and is utilized by the fiber glass and ceramic industries without further treatment. Production from Searles Lake, Calif., is from brines that are processed in chemical plants where borax and other compounds are recovered and the principal borate products are produced. At Boron, Calif., the world's leading producer is mining a deposit of mineral borax and operating a chemical refinery. The mineral borax is mined together with included clay, and refined borax or "lo-mol" is one of the refinery products. The mineral and the chemical compound are identical, Na2B4O7- lOH2O. In addition to ship- ping all major refined borate products from Boron, the company ships semiprocessed ore concentrates to treatment plants elsewhere.

Jan 1, 1975

By David Moskowitz, Ira Binder, Robert Steinitz

THE hard refractory borides of the transition elements of the 4th, 5th, and 6th groups of the Periodic System have been the subject of a number of recent investigations.'-' It is well known now that most of these elements form several different borides, and Kiessling8 has summarized the rules which govern to some extent the arrangements of the boron atoms in the various structures. Melting points of a few borides have been published." The systems Fe-B, Ni-B, and Co-B have been reported," but, as these borides are rather low melting, they are outside of the groups of boron compounds considered here. Brewer' has tested the stability of various borides and estimated a number of eutectic temperatures between different borides, but in no case was the complete system of a transition metal and boron investigated. The phase diagram becomes of special importance if the preparation of the borides from the elements in powdered form is considered; the lowest eutectic temperature will determine the first appearance of a liquid phase. Also, the knowledge of high temperature phases, if they exist, is important for the preparation of bodies from these borides by hot pressing or sintering. During the investigation of various metal borides,7 it was found that there were more boride phases existing in the Mo-B system than reported by Kiessling." They occur, however, only at temperatures above 1500°C and were, therefore, not found by him. This led to a study of the equilibrium diagram of the Mo-B system. ranging from 0 to 25 pct B and from room temperature to the liquidus. Part of this investigation was reported during the "Research in Progress" session at the 1952 Annual Meeting of the AIME.11 Raw Materials and Preparation of the Borides The raw materials used were commercial molybdenum and boron powder, both supplied by the Molybdenum Corp. of America. The molybdenum powder was 99+ pct pure? while the boron powder contained about 83 to 85 pct B. A large percentage of the impurities in this powder was oxygen, with the rest formed by iron, calcium, and unknown substances. The low purity of the boron used was, however, not considered detrimental to the final product, as most of the impurities evaporated at the high temperatures at which the borides were formed. The final product always had a minimum purity of 96 to 98 pct (figured as molybdenum and boron), with carbon, iron, and probably oxygen being the remaining products. Carbon is usually present as graphite. The chemical analyses always confirmed the compositions which corresponded to the crystallographic structures as determined by X-ray diffraction, and the boron content of the finished product agreed closely with that of the starting mixture; no boron was lost during the boride preparation. The chemical analysis methods employed for molybdenum and boron were previously described by Blumenthal.12,13 The powders were mixed by hand in the desired proportions, compressed at room temperature under low pressure, and then heated under hydrogen to about 1500" to 1700°C in a graphite crucible to form the borides. Usually, the three well-known borides Mo,B, MOB, and Mo,B,, which are stable at room temperatures, were prepared in this way, and all other compositions were made by mixing these borides in various ratios or by the addition of molybdenum or boron powders for the very low or very high boron contents. Preparation of two-phase compositions directly from the elemental powders was tried only occasionally to check whether equilibrium could be reached in this way. Experimental Procedures The stable borides were mixed in the desired ratios and heated under hydrogen in graphite crucibles to various temperatures. The well insulated crucibles were heated in a high frequency induction furnace. Special care was taken to obtain exact temperature measurement, which proved much more difficult than originally anticipated. It is believed that individual temperature measurements have an error of less than ±25ºC, while melting or transformation temperatures are accurate within ±50°C. The temperatures were measured with an optical pyrometer which was aimed at the closed end of a graphite tube extending down into the crucible. close to the samples. Attempts to measure directly through the hydrogen exit stack failed. The crucible arrangement is shown in Fig. 1. Heating was done at a slow rate to be sure that the temperature inside the crucible was uniform. The specimens were kept at the final temperature for about 30 min. For the investigation of high temperature phases, some samples were quenched. They were heated, without atmosphere protection, in a very small graphite crucible which could be rapidly removed from the high frequency coil, and dropped into water. These quenched samples were afterwards annealed to establish the equilibrium at lower temperatures. The melting points or the positions of the solidus and liquidus lines were determined by heating the specimens to various temperatures and examining them at room temperature for evidence of a liquid phase. These results were checked later on by thermal arrest curves, especially to determine the exact position of the eutectic temperature line. For this purpose about 200 g of the boride were melted in a graphite crucible, in an arrangement similar to Fig. 1. Slow cooling was assured by very good

Jan 1, 1953

By AIME AIME

ON MAY 22 the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers will commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of its founding at Wilkes- Barre, Pa., in May, 1871. The Directors have transferred the May meeting of the Board to Wilkes-Barre, and the Pennsylvania Anthracite Section has invited as many members of the Institute as can to be present at this time and to join with their fellow-engineers at Wilkes-Barre in the inspection trip through a portion of the anthracite district that has been planned. Ac- cess to Wilkes-Barre is easy, from nearby points, over excellent automobile roads, or by train. The distance from New York is only about 140 miles. , It is hoped to engage a special car for those travelling by train from New York, which will leave the Pennsylvania Station over the Lehigh Valley Railroad at 11:50 p.m., arriving in Wilkes-Barre the next morning. Return can be made from Wilkes-Barre by sleeper the same evening, arriving in New York Saturday morning. Other trains are available for those who prefer a daylight journey.

Jan 1, 1931

[A Editor's Note: Annual Reviews of various subjects and areas are found in February issues of Mining and Metallurgy and Mining Engineering. These Annual Reviews are not listed per se in the Index. Abating Stream Pollution in Anthracite Coal Fields. ME Mar 50 Abbadia San Salvatore mine, Italy. T178, 297 Abbott, C.E.: Limestone Mine in the Birmingham District. With Discussion. T129, 62 ABC Typifies Trend to Mechanized Mining and Coal Preparation. ME Dec 50 Abel, J.F.: Statistical Analysis of Tunnel Supporting Loads. T235, 288 Sulzbach, J. F., and Walker, D.K.: Ice Tunneling in Greenland. ME Jun 59 Aberfoyle tin mines, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, stannite, as intergrowths. T214, 1147 Abnormal Behavior of Some Ore Constituents and Their Effect on Blast Furnace Operation, The. T241, 1 Abrams, C.J.: Industry's Responsibility in Postwar Economy. M&M Mar 45 and Haley, D.F.: History of Crushing and Milling at Climax. M&M Jun 46]

Jan 1, 1972