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By W. M. Weigal

ECONOMIC deposits of barite occur in Missouri in two main districts. The most important, the Southeastern or Washington County district, is in the southeastern part of the state, mostly in Washington County with a small extension into the northeastern part of St. Francois County. Roughly, it embraces nine townships or about 200,000 acres and accounts for from 80 to 90 per cent. of the state production. The Central district, in the central part of the state, includes most of Morgan and Miller counties, and parts of Camden, Benton, Moniteau and Cole counties. The area embraced is much larger than the Washington County district, but the deposits are more infrequent. The location and general area covered by the two districts is shown in Fig. 1. There is another small area in southern Franklin County but so far its production has been of small consequence. It might be considered as a northward extension of the Washington County field. An area in the central part of Hickory County has also produced a small amount. The outline of the districts as shown indicates the general area in which deposits have been found. The total area covered by deposits of barite is only a small part of this, as, in the Central district especially, there may be miles of supposedly barren areas between ore-bearing areas of an acre or two in extent. The date when barite was first mined in Missouri cannot be definitely stated, but the industry probably dates back to about 1860. The occurrence of barite was known long before this, as it was encountered in the lead mines in Washington County and mentioned by several earlier writers.' Missouri is reported as producing 8000 tons in 1882 so it is evident the industry was well under way in the seventies in order to have arrived at this substantial production. By 1893 Missouri production had increased so that it ranked with that of Virginia, then the largest producer. It increased until in 1914 Missouri accounted for about 65 per cent. of the total United States output. Recent Production of Barite Table 1, compiled from Mineral Resources, published by the United States Geological Survey and Bureau of Mines, gives the production of

Jan 1, 1929

By Wallace Ralston

DuRing the year of 1937, the East Texas district produced 211,194,467 hbl. of oil and marketed more than 22,329 million cu. ft. of gas; 3377 oil and gas wells were completed. During this same period 106 exploratory wells were drilled, discovering three new oil fields and one gas-distillate field. Fields East Texas Field.—The East Texas field again led the district as to production and number of wells completed. During the year, 2420 oil wells were completed, making a total of 24,382 producing wells, which produced 171,336,854 bbl. of oil, for a total of 1,156,352,834 bbl. since the beginning. During the year the average bottom-hole pressure dropped 49 lb., making the average bottom-hole pressure 1119 lb. Approximately 3500 wells are making salt water, 20 per cent of them making over 80 per cent of the water. During the month of December, the daily average production of salt water was 119,000 barrels. Talco Field, Titus and Franklin Counties.—The Talco field produced 9,780,948 bbl. of oil during the year, from 637 wells. During the year 472 wells were completed. All of the wells are pumping and 241 are making salt water. This field has followed a normal development and did not exceed the estimated number of acres reported last year. Rodessa Field, Cuss and Marion Counties.—The Rodessa field was extended about 13 miles southwest into Marion County, which added approximately 4000 acres to the field. During the year 260 wells were completed, making a total of 416 producing wells, which produced 12,646,-970 bbl. of oil. The author was unable to obtain figures for the amount of gas produced. The field has two gasoline plants, which had a daily average of 16,558,000 cu. ft. of gas during December, averaging 0.83 gal. per M cu. ft. As of Jan. 1, 31 wells were making salt water. The bottom-hole pressure varies greatly, depending upon the pay from which the well is producing. The average bottom-hole pressure from the Young

Jan 1, 1938

By S. C. Carapella, E. A. Peretti

DURING a literature survey of the indium-zinc phase diagram, controversial reports on the composition of the eutectic point were encountered. The value reported in the investigation of Wilson and Perettil and in a later investigation by Valen-tiner' was 4.0 wt pct zinc. The most recent work recorded on this system consisted of an exhaustive survey of alloys by Rhines and Grobe8 in which they indicate a value of 2.8 wt pct zinc for the eutectic composition. To clarify this aspect of the diagram, a series of alloys were prepared by melting the respective constituents in a glass test tube under a covering of mineral oil and slowly cooling the melt in a furnace. The zinc used was Baker's C.P. and had the following analysis: insoluble in H2SO4—0.0l pct; pb—0.001 pct; Fe-—0.001 pct. The indium, which was supplied by the Indium Corporation of America, had a purity of 99.9'7 pet with the following impurities: Cu—0.002 pct; Pb—0.006 pct; Sn—0.01 pct; Zn—0.01 pct. The alloys were prepared for metal-lographic examination using a technique already reported' and a new value of 2.0 ± 0.1 wt pct zinc was observed. An alloy containing 2.00 wt pct zinc was also made by melting the constituents under a vacuum. In both of these methods of alloy preparation the losses can be kept extremely small. Again, the characteristic eutectic structure was obtained, assuring confidence in this value. The accompanying micrographs are presented in support of this point. Fig. la represents an alloy containing 4.00 wt pet zinc, and reveals excess zinc particles, which precludes the value of both Wilson and Peretti, and Valentiner. Fig. lb, gives the structure of an alloy containing 2.2 wt pct zinc, also showing the presence of excess zinc. Fig. lc is a micrograph of a typical structure of the eutectic observed in several sections of the 2.0 wt pct alloy. In the 1.8 pet zinc alloy, fig. id, the definite presence of the primary indium can be noted. From these re-

Jan 1, 1951

By R. W. Smith, R. W. M. Lai

Although several recent papers have shown that equilibrium contact angle in dodecylamine solution-quartz systems can often be directly correlated with flotation behavior, it appears that under conditions of relatively high amine strength and pH such a correlation can't be made. Under these conditions, when there are precipitated amine dipoles present, it appears that a dynamic contact angle formed immediately after introduction of fresh gas bubbles into the system is also of importance. The dynamic angle decreases in magnitude as a function of time. Apparently the decrease is the result of changes in interfacial tensions (liquid-gas and solid-gas) as a function of time. Dynamic angles of the type described can't be observed in trimethyldodecylammonium chloride solution-quartz systems. Several recent papers1-3 have shown quite conclusively that contact angle data can often be correlated directly with flotation behavior in cationic surfactant solution-quartz systems. At the same time, Iwasaki, Cooke, and Colombo4 have shown data for a dodecylammonium chloride solution-goethite system where, in the vicinity of pH 12 and a collector concentration of 10" M, 100% flotation occurs when equilibrium contact angle appears to be zero. A clue to this discrepancy can be found in the work by smith2 who reported the occurrence of dynamic, time dependent, contact angles in a quartz-dodecyl-amine solution system at relatively high pH values and at surfactant concentrations greater than or equal to 10-4 M. It was found that under these conditions, if a fresh bubble was brought into contact with a properly conditioned and polished quartz surface, a large angle was obtained. The large angle, however, instantly started to diminish in magnitude, sometimes to a smaller stable angle and sometimes to its complete disappearance. Also, if the bubble was preconditioned for some minutes (or sometimes even seconds) in the same amine solution, the smaller or sometimes zero stable angle was obtained when the bubble was brought in contact with the quartz surface. One is immediately led to the thought that perhaps it is these dynamic angles when they exist, not stable angles, that are of primary importance in flotation. The present investigation attempts to further study the relationship between contact angle and flotation

Jan 1, 1967

By Charles A. Ashburner

The manufacturing and domestic consumers of anthracite are beginning to realize the fact more fully, that the coal purchased for any one year does not seem to burn so freely, does not fire with so little trouble, and does not last so long as that purchased during other years, or vice versa. Where coals of different sizes, or from different districts, are offered to the trade by the same or competing salesmen, the question suggests itself, which shall we buy ? Among housekeepers, who are the most numerous class of consumers, though on the smallest scale, distinction is seldom recognized among these anthracites. By other consumers the coals are grouped into those which, when burned, will produce either a white or a red ash, special qualities being arbitrarily attached to each. Others, again, know only of three varieties : (1) Those from the WYoming and LacKawanna fields, or the coals shipped from the northernmost basins over the railroads running through northeastern Pennsylvania direct to New York—notably, the Delaware. Lackawanna and Western, Delaware and Hudson, and Erie railways; (2) those shipped by the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Lehigh and Susqaehanna division of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad down the Lehigh Valley ; and (3) those shipped over the main line of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad down the Schuylkill Valley. In special localities, where a favorite coal is largely used, the consumer will speak of one class, composed of his favorite coal, which possibly comes from two or three collieries, with a total aggregate annual production of less than a million tons; and of a second class, composed of the coals from all the other collieries in the anthracite

Jan 1, 1886

By H. M. Chance

In the early part of 1893, I had occasion to make for the owners a professional examination of the Rich Patch tract; and, with their permission, I present in this paper, omitting the commercial portions of my report, those portions which may be valuable to future students of that region. Location, Topography And Geology. The Rich Patch tract comprises about 9000 acres, located about 3 miles west of Low Moor, on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, in Alleghany county, Va., and immediately adjoining the Low Moor property. In shape the tract is roughly quadrangular, being about 3 miles broad in a northerly and southerly direction, by about 6 miles long from east to West. Potts creek and Jackson river run along its northern boundary. It is drained by Hayes Gap run, Mill branch and Laurel creek, which flour north into Potts creek, and by Karnes creek, which flows northeasterly through the Low Moor property into Jackson river. The topography of the tract is shown by the accompanying map (Fig. I), and need not be described here. The valleys are cut down from 1000 to 1500 feet below the mountain summits, which generally reach an altitude of about 3000 feet above tide. The geological structure of the district is indicated by the geological cross-sections shown in Figs. 2 and 3. These sections show that the formations underlying the property extend from the Lower Silurian lin~estones up to the Devonian slates, including the numbers of the Paleozoic system of rocks as defined by the geological surveys of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, from No. 11. to No. VIII. • No. IX. Old Red Sandstone, No. VIII. Slates and Shales, Devoman-

Jan 1, 1900

By Walter Harvey Weed

In a previous paper upon the enrichment of mineral veins by later metallic sulphides,? the writer has shown that certain masses of rich ores, such as are found in many mines, either near the water-line or as bonanzas in depth, are of secondary origin, and are due to a leaching of lean ore and the concentration of the material by reaction between the solution and the unaltered ore below. The geological and mineralogical evidence is believed to form an adequate basis for a chemical and physical explanation of the phenomenon. In the present paper the writer will give a brief synopsis of this theory, and will apply it more particularly to deposits of the precious metals, laying special emphasis upon the dependence of such enrichments upon the presence of iron sulphide (as pyrite, etc.) in the primary ore, and upon structural features which control the circulation of the enriching solutions below the water-level. It is believed that many, though not all, of the bonanzas arid pay-shoots of rich sulphide ores, especially those carrying gold and silver, which are encountered in ore-deposits, are of such secondary origin. Apparently it is essential that the occurrence and structural relations of such ore-masses should be understood, as the success of the mine is often dependent upon the finding and extraction of these ores. A legitimate deduction, too, is that such ore-deposits decrease in value With depth. As my own studies have been mainly in Montana, my illustrations must be drawn from the ore-deposits of this and adjacent States, with such as I have noted in hurried visits else-

Jan 1, 1901

By T. W. Guy

DuRing recent years, tremendous strides have been made in the economical use of coal. This has resulted in, and to some extent has been a result of, making the fuel specifications more and more rigid. For this reason, all producers have found it necessary to improve their preparation materially, both as to sizing and the elimination of impurities, either by more effective preparation underground or at the tipple and cleaning plant, or both. This cause and its effect in all producing fields seem likely to continue for several years at least. The splendid inherent qualities of the Pocahontas and New River coals are known all over the world, but their good reputation is only partly due to inherent qualities, and to natural conditions which generally favor loading coal comparatively free from impurities; it is due in large measure to the care and skill used, either with or without the aid of mechanical devices, to ship products consistently low in ash. The first coal from the West Virginia smokeless fields was mined and shipped near Quinnimont, on New River, in 1871, while the first shipments from the Pocahontas field were in 1883. The development of both fields progressed rapidly. At first activities followed the main lines of the Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk & Western railroads, and were extended later as branch lines were built from these roads. The Virginian R. R., about 1907, opened up the Winding Gulf territory, which has since become a large producer of smokeless coals from the Pocahontas and the New River measures. Early Cleaning Methods In the early days, the tipples were simple wooden structures, with bar screens for separating the fines from the lump coal. All cleaning was done by the miners at the face, or by pickers in the railroad cars. Gates were provided in the chutes by which the flow of coal could be stopped when necessary while the pickers raked the surface of the coal in the car and picked out the impurities. A large percentage of the fine coal or slack was used for making coke at the mines in beehive ovens. The

Jan 1, 1932

By Sadao Maruyama

INTRODUCTION Since the big discovery of Kuroko deposits in Kosaka mine, Akita Pref., northeastern Japan in 1959, major Japanese mining companies have been engaged in extensive exploration for the deposits expending large amounts of money. Above all their exploration activities have been particularly fruitful in discovering new deposits in northern Akita Pref. It is estimated that the total ore reserves newly found in the area are at least 50 million tons. Kuroko deposits are the most important ore source of copper, lead and zinc in Japan and have been mined since last century in the said area. Kuroko (black ore) is fine, compact aggregates with sphalerite , glena and barite as principal constituents and chalco- pyrite, pyrite and tetrahedrite as subsequent constituents. The name Kuroko comes from its appearance. It is not rare that total grade of copper, lead and zinc reaches 20 - 30% and the gold and silver content is also fairly good. Accordingly the unit value of the ore is much higher than the ore from other types of deposits. Besides the Kuroko ore, the Kuroko deposits consists of Ohko (yellow ore, massive cupriferous pyritic ore), Keikoh (silicious ore, cupriferous network ore) and gypsum ore. This type of deposit is considered to be not only an important source of base metal but also a source of gypsum and barite. Although the importance of this type of deposit had been commonly recognized, sub-surface nature of the occurrence hampered exploration work. In recent years the improved exploration techniques and increased knowledge of the Kuroko deposits have met with remarkable success in the location of new deposits. This outburst of exploration and dis-

Jan 1, 1970

By V. C. P. Morfopoulos, N. Arbiter

Theoretical and experimental studies of the interactions of mineral particles with electrical fields of cylindrical symmetry have been made. Theoretically, an expression relating field gradient and intensity to the force experienced by a dielectric particle was derived in a manner paralleling the magnetic analog. Pauthenier's and Cohen's expressions were considered in the evaluation of coulombic forces. Comparison of dielectric and coulombic interactions of minerals exhibiting a wide difference in dielectric susceptibility revealed the potential significance of dielectric forces in a field of appropriate characteristics. Experimentally, apparatus was designed for the study of forces experienced by a single stationary particle in an electrostatic field. This permitted the separate and precise measurement of dielectric interactions in the field. The experimental results were in good agreement with the theory and with relevant published data. Dielectric forces were found of comparable magnitude with coulombic in the presence of an adequate field gradient. Prolonged exposure of minerals to an inhomogeneous field was found to enhance the dielectric response. Dielectric inter- actions properly employed may thus be important in electrostatic concentration techniques. Conventional electrostatic separation techniques employ forces between charged particles and field electrodes to establish the trajectories which effect separation. Uncharged mineral aggregates, although unaffected by homogeneous electrical fields, should respond to fields exhibiting appropriate orientation and electrical gradients. The purpose of this paper is to establish the theoretical and experimental base for the comparison of the forces due to dielectric-field interactions with those of electrostatic origin. Apparatus and techniques developed for the determination of dielectric interactions are described and data on the dielectric forces experienced by stationary particles in cylindrical fields are reported. Finally, a quantitative comparison of dielectric and electrostatic forces is given. THEORY Dielectric Forces: When dielectric particles, minerals for example, are placed in an inhomogeneous field they experience interactions that give rise to substantial dielectric forces.' The latter were shown proportional to the intensity of the field, the potential gradient, the size of the particles and the dielectric permittivity difference between the particles and the medium. The properties of the inhomogeneous field, E, and the magnitude of the gradient, dE/dl, depend on the geometry of the system in question.

Jan 1, 1965

By Frederic P. Dewey

At the Seventh International Congress of Applied Chemistry I presented a paper,' The Assay and Valuation of Gold-Bullion, in which are briefly mentioned a few illustrations of different methods of sampling gold-bullion, particularly cyanide-bars. Since then I have carried on an extensive investigation upon the sampling of gold-bullion in relation to its effects upon the assay-results, in connection with the statement of accounts between the smaller assay-offices of the United States which purchase gold-bullion and the mints where the purchases are re-deposited. Under the name of gold-bullion are included metals of widely different composition. We may have practically pure metal, 999.75 fine or even more in gold; alloys of .gold and silver with only trifling amounts of base metal; alloys of gold and copper with trifling amounts of other metals; ternary alloys of gold, silver, and copper, or gold, silver, and lead; and most complex alloys of from five to eight or more constituents of ordinary occurrence, besides some of the rarer metals occasi'onally. In any one or all of these classes we may have one or more of the metalloids, which may add to our difficulties. Of course, with metal 999.75 fine in gold there is only slight opportunity for different samples to differ in fineness, but on such fine metal we expect the assays to agree very closely, and the sampling must be done with the utmost care. When possible, dip- or granulation-samples of the molten metal should be taken; but when it is necessary to sample bars, the chief point to guard against is surface-dirt.

Jan 1, 1913

By C. E. Abbott

The Birmingham district, Alabama, is distinctive in the proximity to one another of its deposits of iron ore, coal and flux. These three basic requisites for the making of iron and steel are found within a radius of 10 miles. Both dolomite and limestone are produced, the former for blast-furnace flux and the latter for basic open-hearth operations. The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co., a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, operates a limestone mine at Muscoda, near Bessemer, 12 miles southwest of Birmingham, served by its own railroad transportation system. The mine has a capacity of 130 tons per hour. Average analyses of a recent month's production arc as follows: Fe²zO³ SiO² Al²O³ CaCO³ MgCO³ Lump, percent............................. 0.51 0.22 98.63 0.14 Crushed and washed, per cent,................ 0.70 0.26 98.36 0.18 Lump stone, 2 1/2 to 755 in., is used in open-hearth operations at Fairfield Steel Works. Fine crushed and washed stone, 1% to 0.063 in., is calcined at the lime-burning plant and used for lime charges at the Ensley open hearths. Geology The district's deposits of hematite ore occur in the Clinton formation, and the limestone beds mined are stratigraphically 330 ft. above the ore beds worked. A cross section on the center line of the mine is shown in Fig. 1. This limestone formation, 130 ft. thick, is in the Warsaw horizon of the Lower Mississippian. It lies above 100 ft. of Fort Payne chert, which is immediately above the Clinton formation, and is composcd of layers of chert and cherty limestone, approximately 50 per cent of the material being pure chert. The chert is extremely hard, and the cost of driving raises through it is very high. Both iron ore and limestone deposits lie on the southwest limb of the Jones Valley anticline, the formations dipping from 15' to 32' to the southeast. The iron-ore seam outcrops along the crest of Red Mountain, a ridge with northeast-southwest trend rising 200 to 300 ft. above Jones and Shades valleys at the

Jan 1, 1938

By C. E. Abbott

The Birmingham district, Alabama, is distinctive in the proximity to one another of its deposits of iron ore, coal and flux. These three basic requisites for the making of iron and steel are found within a radius of 10 miles. Both dolomite and limestone are produced, the former for blast-furnace flux and the latter for basic open-hearth operations. The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co., a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, operates a limestone mine at Muscoda, near Bessemer, 12 miles southwest of Birmingham, served by its own railroad transportation system. The mine has a capacity of 130 tons per hour. Average analyses of a recent month's production arc as follows: Fe²zO³ SiO² Al²O³ CaCO³ MgCO³ Lump, percent............................. 0.51 0.22 98.63 0.14 Crushed and washed, per cent,................ 0.70 0.26 98.36 0.18 Lump stone, 2 1/2 to 755 in., is used in open-hearth operations at Fairfield Steel Works. Fine crushed and washed stone, 1% to 0.063 in., is calcined at the lime-burning plant and used for lime charges at the Ensley open hearths. Geology The district's deposits of hematite ore occur in the Clinton formation, and the limestone beds mined are stratigraphically 330 ft. above the ore beds worked. A cross section on the center line of the mine is shown in Fig. 1. This limestone formation, 130 ft. thick, is in the Warsaw horizon of the Lower Mississippian. It lies above 100 ft. of Fort Payne chert, which is immediately above the Clinton formation, and is composcd of layers of chert and cherty limestone, approximately 50 per cent of the material being pure chert. The chert is extremely hard, and the cost of driving raises through it is very high. Both iron ore and limestone deposits lie on the southwest limb of the Jones Valley anticline, the formations dipping from 15' to 32' to the southeast. The iron-ore seam outcrops along the crest of Red Mountain, a ridge with northeast-southwest trend rising 200 to 300 ft. above Jones and Shades valleys at the

Jan 1, 1938

By P. W. Bridgman

It is characteristic of most scientific investigators that they are not satisfied with the discovery of new facts, no matter how curious or unexpected, but that along with the factual discovery there is a constant effort to understand. It appears that one's interest in, and satisfaction with, the discovery of an array of new experimental facts is enormously increased if one has at the same time a theory or hypothesis guiding one's expectation of what sort of new experimental discovery may lie around the corner. Conversely, as a theoretical physicist one's satisfaction with his theory is greatly enhanced if along with the development of the theory can go the discovery of new experimental facts, confirming or perhaps modifying the theory as it grows. Of course, there have been long arid stretches in the history of physics in which new data of unquestioned ultimate importance have piled up, without much inspiration or illumination in the way of understanding. For 50 years spectroscopy had such an arid history, but how irksome this was felt to be is plainly shown by the almost audible relief that greeted the first success by Bohr in injecting understanding into the situation, and by the fresh rush of experimenters into this field when the prospect of understanding had once been offered. The investigations in the field of high pressure, which have occupied me for a long time,' until the last few years have been in very much the same sort of situation as spectroscopy before the advent of Bohr. A great many kinds of data were collected for a great many solid and liquid substances, and there could be no question of the importance of these data, because the uniform change of dimensions produced by hydrostatic pressure is perhaps the simplest conceivable type of alteration to which a body can be subjected. But except for a few isolated flashes, there was no theoretical illumination, so that it had to be to a large extent the enthusiasm of the collector that kept me going. However, within the last few years the wave-mechanics theory of solids has progressed so rapidly that

Jan 1, 1938

By P. W. Bridgman

It is characteristic of most scientific investigators that they are not satisfied with the discovery of new facts, no matter how curious or unexpected, but that along with the factual discovery there is a constant effort to understand. It appears that one's interest in, and satisfaction with, the discovery of an array of new experimental facts is enormously increased if one has at the same time a theory or hypothesis guiding one's expectation of what sort of new experimental discovery may lie around the corner. Conversely, as a theoretical physicist one's satisfaction with his theory is greatly enhanced if along with the development of the theory can go the discovery of new experimental facts, confirming or perhaps modifying the theory as it grows. Of course, there have been long arid stretches in the history of physics in which new data of unquestioned ultimate importance have piled up, without much inspiration or illumination in the way of understanding. For 50 years spectroscopy had such an arid history, but how irksome this was felt to be is plainly shown by the almost audible relief that greeted the first success by Bohr in injecting understanding into the situation, and by the fresh rush of experimenters into this field when the prospect of understanding had once been offered. The investigations in the field of high pressure, which have occupied me for a long time,' until the last few years have been in very much the same sort of situation as spectroscopy before the advent of Bohr. A great many kinds of data were collected for a great many solid and liquid substances, and there could be no question of the importance of these data, because the uniform change of dimensions produced by hydrostatic pressure is perhaps the simplest conceivable type of alteration to which a body can be subjected. But except for a few isolated flashes, there was no theoretical illumination, so that it had to be to a large extent the enthusiasm of the collector that kept me going. However, within the last few years the wave-mechanics theory of solids has progressed so rapidly that

Jan 1, 1938

By R. S. Archibald, L. S. Chabot

The Blueberry mine is about 10 miles west of Ishpeming, Marquette County, Michigan. The property consists of about 2000 acres in sees. 3, 4 and 5, T. 47, N.R. 28W. and secs. 32, 33 and 34, T. 48, N.R. 28W., and, excepting one intervening 80-acre tract, contains the iron formation for a length of about 21/4 miles. The property is traversed by State Highway M-28 and is served by three railways, the Chicago & Northwestern, the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, and the Lake Superior & Ishpeming. The Northwestern transports the ore to a dock at Escanaba; the other railways, to Marquette. Ore for Chicago goes via Escanaba and that for Lower Lake ports, as Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo, via Marquette. History The presence of iron formation in this property has been known for many years, and mining operations on a small scale have been carried on intermittently. The Dexter mine, on the SE.1/4 of the NW.1/4 of sec. 3, was worked from 1883 to 1897 and 118,000 tons of ore was mined. From 1907 to 1915 extensive exploration was carried on over the whole of sec. 3, including 79 diamond-drill holes with a total footage of 26,000 ft. The Chase mine, on the NE.1/4 of the NE.1/4 of sec. 3, was developed from this exploration work, but after about 200,000 tons had been mined the property was abandoned. From 1908 to 1910 exploration was carried on by another company on sec. 4, 47-28, including four drill holes with a total footage of about 5000 ft. Much of the drilling on sec. 3 and of the exploration work on sec. 4 are within the present developed area of the Blueberry mine. A general campaign of diamond-drill exploration was undertaken in 1924, and within a year a considerable amount of ore was developed. The Ford Motor Co. then took an option on the property and carried on check drilling and diamond-drill work until the spring of 1926, when enough ore had been developed to warrant the sinking of a shaft

Jan 1, 1937

By Robert W. Phelps

It is gratifying to observe the growing interest in the study of oil-well spacing. It should always be held in mind that the problem of optimum spacing is to obtain the maximum return of capital per acre drained. This naturally evolves.into a mathematical consideration. As mathematics is the basis of all science, an effort should be made to develop formulas which involve data obtainable in the early stages of development. The first information from a discovery well in a new field would be the character of the sand, rate of initial production of oil and gas, viscosity of the oil, rock pressure, etc. Later, from this well, if Herold's theories of hydraulic, volumetric and capillary controls are accepted, could he determined the ultimate production as without interference from drainage by subsequent well completions, and under which control the well is producing. If it should prove to be producing under capillary control, a rough estimate could be made of it's radius of drainage. With but one well, the radius of drainage, or the interference of drainage of individual wells by close spacing, would be estimated by comparison with similar conditions in other fields in which the development has progressed sufficiently to furnish the data. A second well that is spaced sufficiently close so that an interference can he observed after its ultimate production is estimated, will furnish data to develop a desirable spacing of wells which can be inaugurated for that area and which is capable of producing a uniform amount of oil under like conditions. In some fields this area will be extensive, in others each well location will require an individual study. In 1924, Cutlerl developed a scheme whereby he determined by tabulation a spacing of oil wells for the maximum return per acre. After a study of production in a number of fields, he developed the following as a tentative rule: "The ultimate production for wells of equal size in the same pool where there is interference (shown by a difference in the, production decline curves for different spacing) seems approximately to vary directly as the square roots of the areas drained by the wells. This rule may also he stated thus: The recovery from wells of equal size

Jan 1, 1929

By S. L. Payne, J. P. Morris, R. L. Kipp, G. R. Zellars

The activities of iron and nickel in liquid Fe-Ni alloys were determined by measuring the vapor pressures of iron and nickel above the alloys and comparing with the vapor pressures of the pure metals. Nickel was found to deviate negatively from Raoult's law over the entire composition range. Iron behaves ideally down to 0.7 mole fraction but shows negative deviations at lower concentrations. At 1600°C the activity coefficients at infinite dilution are 0.40 for iron and 0.66 for nickel. 1 HE formulation of the conditions of chemical equilibrium between liquid metals and gases or slags is an important application of thermodynamics to pro- cess metallurgy. Usually the metal and slag phases are solutions of several components; and for accurate calculations, it is often necessary to use the activities of the components in place of their concentrations. Data concerning activities, however, are quite meager. The evaluation of the activities of iron and nickel, presented in this paper, is part of a project to determine activities in iron alloys at elevated temperatures.

Jan 1, 1960

By S. P. Kinney, C. E. Wood, T. L. Joseph

In connection with its investigations of the blast-furnace process, the Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the Minnesota School of Mines Experiment Station, developed a 6-ton experimental furnace. Such a furnace was needed to determine the feasibility of producing ferroman-ganese from Minnesota manganiferous iron ores, a problem of national importance because of the present need for manganese in the steel industry and our small reserves of ferro-grade ores. Furnace operators are reluctant to use new or untried raw materials or to make decided innovations in practice on account of the financial hazard of experimenting with full-scale equipment. A small furnace which can be operated at a relatively low cost is particularly adapted for testing new raw materials and for determining the feasibility of decided innovations in practice. Laboratory experiments, plus whatever information may be available, are valuable but often do not indicate the net result of changes in an operation involving a large number of interrelated variables. From time to time the cooperation of the Bureau of Mines is solicited in connection with problems involving departures from normal procedure. Under these circumstances some sort of a practical demonstration is a desirable forerunner to full-scale operations which appear feasible after small-scale tests. The Aluminum Co. of America was interested in knowing the practicability of smelting a charge of bauxite, iron ore, and limestone, of proportions that would produce slag of the following composition: A1203, 47 to 48 per cent.; CaO, 41 to 42 per cent.; SiO2,4 to 5 per cent.; TiO2, 2 to 3 per cent.; FeO, 1 percent., and MgO, 1.8 percent. In addition to determining whether it was feasible to operate a blast furnace on slag approaching the composition given above, a quantity of slag was needed for a series of experiments that would show the relative ease and cost of extracting alumina from slag which could be made in the blast furnace, as compared to extracting it from raw bauxite. The value of the slag as a raw material

By Corliss R. Kinney

Since the first atomic bomb exploded over Japan, a great deal of speculation has been published about the use of atomic energy instead of coal for the production of power. Atomic energy, in time, may displace coal for this purpose, but atomic energy will not displace coal in supplying chemical raw materials to the rapidly expanding carbon-chemicals market. Modern civilization demands large quantities of carbon compounds and the logical source of many of these is coal. Consequently, many progressive operators are considering the possibilities of the utilization of coal as a chemical raw material as never before. Furthermore, the demand for clean, smokeless, and ashless fuels will continue to increase and the only way to handle coal under those conditions is to take it apart, just as crude petroleum is taken apart. One can readily imagine where the petroleum industry would be now if it had insisted on selling customers only crude oil, perhaps emulsified with a little salt water to correspond to the moisture and mineral matter in raw coal. The time seems to be coming at an accelerated Dace when mine operators will find that competing for a highly selective fuel market by producing a larger tonnage at smaller cost will be less profitable than to increase the value of a smaller tonnage many fold by producing something more valuable to industry and civilization than raw coal. For example, about 750,000 tons of carbon black selling for $50 to $60 per ton was produced in the United States in 1945. This tonnage is insignificant compared with the total production of coal in the United States, but a very tidy tonnage, together with the coal necessary to operate the process, for any mine operator fortunate enough to obtain a method of producing a better carbon black from coal. From the point of view of tonnage, the manufacture of coke of various kinds and its by-products is at present the most important source of carbon chemicals from coal. Nearly 20 per cent of the coal mined in this country is used for this purpose. A large proportion of the coke is used for the production of iron and steel, but even in this operation a considerable part of the coke is used for a chemical purpose; that is, the reduction of the ore to metallic iron. In addition, large quantities of coke are used in manufacturing many important products that find their way into the market. Possibilities of Acetylene One of the important chemicals manufactured from coke is calcium carbide, from which many products are made. One of these is acetylene. This hydrocarbon can also be manufactured from natural gas or from waste oil-refinery gas and these industries will probably offer competition for the manufacture of acetylene. Coke-oven gas can be used for making acetylene and should receive consideration

Jan 1, 1947