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By Ralph H. Sweetser

Carbon in pig iron is not only essential but, ordinarily, it is the most abundant metalloid present; iron without carbon could not be pig iron. Carbon in pig iron has been accepted, but seldom specified. How it gets into the pig iron as it is being smelted in the blast furnace, and why just about so much of it enters into the pig iron in certain blast furnaces, and more of it,; or less of it, enters the pig iron in other blast furnaces, or in the same blast furnace under varying conditions, are problems that have not yet been satisfactorily solved. During my own practical blast-furnace experience, I collected analyses of pig iron, including the graphitic and combined carbon, and recorded them in reference to the percentage of silicon present, having in mind the generally accepted explanation that "silicon drove out the carbon." To this actual experience, I have added some analyses given to me by J. B. Rogers, who was superintendent of the blast furnaces of the Ashland Iron & Mining Co., Ashland, Ky., and was making "silvery iron" at the time. These analyses are shown in Table 1. The analyses do not tell the whole story, but they show that with Pocahontas beehive coke, the total carbon was generally high. The data relating to the composition of the slag are lacking but my own customary practice was to have a rather basic slag. During my experience in making pig iron for the Bessemer and open-hearth departments, there were times when the steel men would complain about some mysterious quality in the pig iron that caused bad steel, in spite of the fact that the percentages of silicon, sulfur, phosphorus and manganese were within the specifications. Many reasons were advanced for this undetermined "poison" in the pig iron, but the favorite one offered by the steel men was that the blast-furnace man had "oxidized" the pig iron at the tuyeres in his eagerness to get big production and low cost. To these complaints of the users of steel-making pig irons were added those of the gray iron-foundry men and the malleable iron men. These groups are unaninlous in their conclusions that the trouble lies with the blast-furnace men; but there is not yet any harmonious conclusion as to the exact cause and remedy.

Jan 1, 1927

By Paul F. Kerr

The insufficiencies of our mineral resources are becoming well known, and the national political conscience seems to be troubled at last by our dependence upon mineral commodities which must come from other lands. This realization places increased responsibility upon the industrial, educational, and governmental groups whose task it will be to solve the problems of mineral supply. As we all know, from the time that man first sought mineral deposits until recent years, prospectors have been largely responsible for mineral discoveries. Today the era of the prospector is almost over. The human ants that have literally examined all accessible outcrops and have tested the gravels of nearly all stream beds in the United States have left undiscovered few worthwhile mineral deposits within the scope of their recognition. The pages in the history of mineral exploration are now being turned from the era of the surface prospect to the era of the hidden de- posit.

Jan 1, 1949

By E. L. Oliver

IN OFFERING a few comments and suggestions on trends in mining practice, and the methods and tools of tomorrow's mining, perhaps it will be appropriate to start with the subject of education. Charles Kettering, one of the best-known scientists and experimentalists in the automotive industry once said, in effect, that tech- 111ca1 schools have to be carefid not to teach a lot of hard and fast rules that may have been true once, but aren't so any more, or won't be presently. Possibly the mining school of the future will concern itself less with what has happened and more with what is going to happen. It will be built about or around problems. Such a school will be judged, not by the number of its students but by the quality of its improvements. To such a school the industry will send for men to solve particular problems. The industry will doubtless at some time sup- port such a school financially though a lot of hard work will be required to organize miners to undertake such financing, primarily because the mining industry, other than that concerned with iron and steel, is too loosely knit. Each company tends to its own knitting too closely for its own good. Wouldn't it be splendid if the mining industry would finance a "problem school" as suggested by Mr. Kettering and others.

Jan 1, 1939

By G. P. Halliwell, C. R. Austin

The investigation described in this paper deals with the development of high-temperature alloys of the Konel series over a considerable period of time at t,he Research Laboratories of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. The word ''Konel" has been coined to designate a class of alloys which are essentially nickel-cobalt-iron with other elements added, usually in small quantities. Most of these alloys contain titanium, usually about 2.5 per cent. The main consideration related to strength at high temperatures but the thermionic characteristics of the alloys was also of considerable importance. It is, however, with the mechanical properties at elevated temperatures that we are herein concerned. Much attention has also been devoted to their age-hardening characteristics. There is little need to stress the utilitarian aspect of this subject, as it has been discussed frequently. Alloys exhibiting superior properties at normal or elevated temperatures rapidly find many suitable applications. There may be some question, however, as to what constitutes a "superior alloy," or an alloy that may have good service possibilities at high temperatures. The problem is complex and various means have been employed to predict the useful life that may be expected of a material. In recent years the "creep limitJ' has been used as the best means of evaluation. Such tests necessarily are prolonged and hence collection of data is very slow. In a general survey of many alloys therefore the creep test is not desirable and recourse must be had to much shorter time tests in order more rapidly to select alloys which appear to show promise. For this reason the present survey has been made using the high-temperature tensile test and a bend test developed by Howard Scott.' In the tensile test the conditions have been standardized for all tests, so that values obtained are at least comparable, one alloy with another, although the absolute values recorded merely indicate the mechanical properties at the given temperature under a definite rate of loading.

Jan 1, 1932

By Curtis Wilson

FROM the results of his investigation of the hardenable copper-nickel-silicon and copper-cobalt-silicon alloys, M. G. Corson1 explained the dispersion-hardening effect by assuming the precipitation of the inter-metallic compounds nickel silicide and cobalt silicide, and on this basis he constructed diagrams for the pseudobinary systems copper-nickel silicide and copper-cobalt silicide. A consideration of these diagrams and of the factors that exert such an important influence upon the rate of precipitation, such as degree of supersaturation, nucleus number and rate of diffusion, leads to the expectation that the rate of precipitation of the silicides on reheating the quenched solid solutions at temperatures below the alpha-phase boundary should increase continuously as the reheating temperature is raised. The present investigation shows that while this rate does increase with the reheating temperature in a general way, it does not do so continuously. Supplements to Corson's diagrams are offered, showing the discontinuities, and slight modifications in the solubility curves are suggested.

Jan 1, 1933

By B. W. Dyer

In 1924, the Crescent Eagle Oil Co., while drilling the salt section of the Paradox formation in Grand County, Utah, encountered a salt that did not appear to be sodium chloride. This salt was analyzed and showed the presence of potash minerals, both sylvite (KCl) and carnallite (KMgC12.6H2O). Because of the high potash content of the sample, there was considerable speculation: (I) as to whether the hole had been salted, and (2), if not, the extent, richness, and the depth at which the deposit occurred. The discovery caused a large amount of activity in the area. During the next few years, 68 potash prospecting permits were issued by the Government, 24 under the Act of 1917 and 44 under the Act of Feb. 7, 1927, each including about four sections of land. Several holes, all shallow, were drilled for potash. A number of holes were drilled for oil into the salt horizon and the cuttings collected at the oil wells were examined petrographically and chemically. The shallow test holes were not sufficiently deep to reach the potash horizon and revealed nothing of value, but several of the oil test holes gave some indication of where potash might be found. Location and Geology of Deposits The potassium and magnesium salts have been found in various places from the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad tracks about seven miles west of Thompsons, in eastern Utah, to Cane Creek, a tributary of the Colorado River— a distance north and south of about 35 miles. In this locality, there appear to be five separate deposits: the Crescent Eagle area, which is in T. 22 S., R. 19 E.; the Salt Valley area, in the vicinity of the north-south line of T. 23 S., between R. 20 E. and R. 21 E.; the Seven Mile area, in the eastern part of T. 25 S., R. 20 E.; the Cane Creek area, on the Colorado River, in T. 26 S. and T. 27 S., R. 20 E. and R. 21 E.; and the Salt Wash area, in T. 22 S. and T. 23 S., R. 16 E. and R. 17 E. (Fig. I.) The Crescent Eagle and Salt Valley areas are in the Salt Valley anticline, some of the wells being in the fault graben and others outside. Structurally, the Salt Valley anticline is very complex, and can be described in general terms as a northwesterly plunging collapsed anticline about 15 miles long. In the Crescent Eagle area, the valley graben is about 1 1/2 mile wide and the salt probably forms a plug, the apex of which is in the vicinity of the Crescent Eagle well. Owing to the complex structure, there has been every opportunity for flowage in the salt to cause local thinning or thickening of beds. The regular succession of formations in the general area* is: Cretaceous Mancos Dakota Jurassic Morrison Summerville Entrada Carmel

Jan 1, 1948

By B. W. Dyer

In 1924, the Crescent Eagle Oil Co., while drilling the salt section of the Paradox formation in Grand County, Utah, encountered a salt that did not appear to be sodium chloride. This salt was analyzed and showed the presence of potash minerals, both sylvite (KCl) and carnallite (KMgC12.6H2O). Because of the high potash content of the sample, there was considerable speculation: (I) as to whether the hole had been salted, and (2), if not, the extent, richness, and the depth at which the deposit occurred. The discovery caused a large amount of activity in the area. During the next few years, 68 potash prospecting permits were issued by the Government, 24 under the Act of 1917 and 44 under the Act of Feb. 7, 1927, each including about four sections of land. Several holes, all shallow, were drilled for potash. A number of holes were drilled for oil into the salt horizon and the cuttings collected at the oil wells were examined petrographically and chemically. The shallow test holes were not sufficiently deep to reach the potash horizon and revealed nothing of value, but several of the oil test holes gave some indication of where potash might be found. Location and Geology of Deposits The potassium and magnesium salts have been found in various places from the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad tracks about seven miles west of Thompsons, in eastern Utah, to Cane Creek, a tributary of the Colorado River— a distance north and south of about 35 miles. In this locality, there appear to be five separate deposits: the Crescent Eagle area, which is in T. 22 S., R. 19 E.; the Salt Valley area, in the vicinity of the north-south line of T. 23 S., between R. 20 E. and R. 21 E.; the Seven Mile area, in the eastern part of T. 25 S., R. 20 E.; the Cane Creek area, on the Colorado River, in T. 26 S. and T. 27 S., R. 20 E. and R. 21 E.; and the Salt Wash area, in T. 22 S. and T. 23 S., R. 16 E. and R. 17 E. (Fig. I.) The Crescent Eagle and Salt Valley areas are in the Salt Valley anticline, some of the wells being in the fault graben and others outside. Structurally, the Salt Valley anticline is very complex, and can be described in general terms as a northwesterly plunging collapsed anticline about 15 miles long. In the Crescent Eagle area, the valley graben is about 1 1/2 mile wide and the salt probably forms a plug, the apex of which is in the vicinity of the Crescent Eagle well. Owing to the complex structure, there has been every opportunity for flowage in the salt to cause local thinning or thickening of beds. The regular succession of formations in the general area* is: Cretaceous Mancos Dakota Jurassic Morrison Summerville Entrada Carmel

Jan 1, 1948

By J. Lemish

Considerable research has been conducted in Iowa in recent years on carbonate aggregate reactions in concrete. Groups outside the state have become active in the past few years after recognizing that certain carbonate aggregates are reactive in concrete. The paper reviews the nature and extent of the problem and a summary is given of research by the author and his associates. In recent years considerable research has been conducted in Iowa on carbonate aggregate reactions in concrete. The research is part of a general study on the behavior of carbonate rocks as concrete aggregates sponsored by the Iowa State Highway Commission. Research on carbonate aggregates has not been extensive in the past. Laughlin1 published one of the first papers on carbonate aggregates in 1928 and was followed by others, notably H. S. sweet,' B. Mather et al.,3 and K. Mather4 who emphasized the petrographic and physical aspects of carbonate aggregates. The recognition that certain carbonate aggregates are reactive in concrete has led to increased participation in research in the past few years by groups outside of Iowa. Significant contributions have been made by Swenson and Gillot,5 Hadley,6 and Chaiken and Halstead7 in work which emphasizes the expansion of carbonate rocks in alkaline environments and the reaction of carbonate minerals or dedolomitization with alkalies. It is the purpose of this paper to review briefly the nature and extent of the problem and present a summary of the research by the author and his associates. EXTENT AND NATURE OF THE PROBLEM The problem is the deleterious behavior of certain carbonate aggregates in concrete. It was first recognized in Iowa over 20 years ago when poor service records of certain highways were correlated with aggregates produced from the Glory and LeGrand quarries. Deleterious behavior of carbonate aggregates have been reported in Canada and, more recently, in New York and Virginia. As more knowledge is gained concerning the problem, distress in concrete related to carbonate aggregates may be recognized over a widespread area. The problem may potentially exist in the Midwest, the Northeast, and other parts of the country underlain by thick sections of carbonate rocks readily available for utilization as aggregates. The nature of distress in Iowa highways is a general weakening and deterioration of concrete characterized by progressive cracking and spalling away from joints and edges (Fig. 1). The distress generally occurs after 15 years of service and becomes progressively worse. Specimens of such concrete lack the toughness of sound concrete and break easily under the hammer in the manner of a soft brick. The matrix is generally highly carbonated and dark borders, or reaction shells or rims outline the argillaceous carbonate aggregate fragments (Fig. 2). Cracks observed in cores cut across the aggregates and concrete matrix. Although localized volume change (expansion) is associated with spalling, there is no definite field evidence in Iowa that excessive growth of concrete slabs has occurred. The experience with carbonate aggregates in Iowa indicates that the concrete deterioration is not the same as that induced by the alkali-aggregate reaction associated with siliceous aggregates. The principal difference is that in Iowa the distressed concrete is weakened throughout the slab. In concrete affected by the alkali aggregate reaction, the

Jan 1, 1961

By V. C. Perini

The 1943 designation of districts for the Transactions† has caused some confusion because of the elimination of the West Central Texas district and the allocation of the counties of this district to the North Texas district and the North Central Texas district. The North Central Texas district as herein defined includes the counties of Brown, Callahan, Cole-man, Comanche, Coryell, Eastland, Erath, Fisher, Hamilton, Hood, Jones, Lampasas, Mills, Nolan, Palo Pinto, Parker, San Saba, Shackelford, Stephens, Stonewall, Summerville, Taylor, Throckmorton and Wise. These counties as listed are the counties of District 7B, State Railroad Commission. This district covers the south central crest and the west flank of the Bend flexure north of the Llano uplift. The west flank of the Bend flexure is on the east boundary of the Permian Basin of West Texas. The North Texas district, District No. 9, State Railroad Commission, includes the counties of Archer, Clay, Cooke, Foard, Hardeman, Jack, Knox, Montague, Wichita, Wilbarger and Young. The area of this district covers the crest and south flank of the Red River uplift and the north central crest of the Bend flexure. The greater part of the oil and gas produced in the past from the North Central Texas district has been from Pennsyl-vanian strata. Some oil and gas has been produced from the lower Permian (by the latest selection of the Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary') and minor amounts from the Mississippian and Ordovician sediments. Increasingly important quantities of oil and gas are to be expected from the older sediments by deeper development in proven fields and by new discoveries. Most of the oil and gas in the district has accumulated in localized, well-defined structural traps in limestone and sandstone reservoirs and in traps due to stratigraphic changes in sedimentation, mainly porosity traps in limestone and sandstone lenses, both usually associated with some structural feature. The Stripper Well Premium Plan as adopted by the office of the Federal Price Administrator has been an aid to the producers of stripper wells. The producers are pleased to receive the subsidy to prolong the plugging of wells, but they are not too pleased with the subsidy plan in principle. Most independent operators are in favor of, and think they are entitled to, an increase in the market price for oil. The price is not adequate to meet the requirements of the average independent operator with the continued advance in production, development and wildcatting costs. Old and new pipe lines for oil and gas leading out of the state are removing reserves at an alarming rate. Curves showing the rate of discovery versus production and pipe-line deliveries in and out of the state make a cross that sooner or later will be fatal to the state. Wildcatting not only needs a price increase but every other available incentive and encouragement.

Jan 1, 1945

By J. H. Frye, R. M. Treco, J. W. Caum

IT has been suggested that: "Insofar as the hardening due to a solute depends upon the increase of lattice parameter produced by it, it is reasonable to suppose that this hardening might be related to the resistance which the pure solvent would offer to increase in its parameter."1 It was further suggested that this hypothesis might be examined by comparing the hardnesses of analogous silver and copper alloys, since the stress necessary to produce a given lattice expansion is quite different in the two metals. Suitable data 2,3,4 are now available on these alloys, and we shall proceed to an examination of the hypothesis quoted above. HARDNESS, LATTICE PARAMETER AND IONIC OVERLAP Increase in ultimate Meyer hardness has been plotted against increase in lattice parameter in Figs. I and 2, It is believed that most of the values are accurate within the limits indicated by the rectangles, These data are also presented in Table I. Ultimate Meyer hardness, Pu, is defined by the equation: [P" - D2] where L = load, D = diameter of an impression having the same diameter as the testing ball, which in this case is 4 mm. Increase in lattice parameter is defined as the difference between the lattice parameter of the solid solution and that of the pure solvent. The curves in Figs. I and 2 are based on equal solute concentration and an equal degree of plastic deformation pro¬duced by the testing ball. Hardnesses are corrected to a constant grain size for copper and silver alloys, respectively, and these two grain sizes are approximately equal. Furthermore, all solutes are from the same period of the B subgroup of the periodic table as their solvent. [ ] The question arises as to whether or not lattice parameter is the only factor controlling the hardness of these alloys. There

Jan 1, 1943

By R. B. Ladoo, C. A. Stokes, R. N. Secord, A. L. Hall

INDUSTRIAL mineral history shows that the entrance of new, nonmetallic minerals into commercial production can be expected to occur from time to time. Latest entrant into the field is wollastonite. Except for one short-lived period in Kern County, Calif., starting in 1933, wollastonite has never before been produced on a commercial scale. But the signs are up for its entrance as an economic factor in the mineral market. Small scale experimental production from a deposit near Willsboro, N. Y., started about 1943. A pilot plant was built in 1949-50 and irregular, small scale, production has continued. In early 1951 Godfrey L. Cabot, Inc. of Boston, world's largest producer of carbon black, took an operational lease on the property to study the deposits and make market surveys. This became Cabot's first venture in the mineral field, when they took over operations and began design of a new mill, expected in production in 1953. Properties The properties and major uses of wollastonite are comparable to New York fibrous talc. It has about the same specific gravity and index of refraction as talc, but is somewhat whiter and softer. The two most important fields of use, paint and ceramics, are the same as for talc. Ground wollastonite has a fiber length as much as 13 to 15 times the diameter. This particular property makes it applicable in the paint field and others. In addition, the length-diameter ratio may be controlled to rather narrow limits by choice of grinding method. Another important commercial property is brightness or whiteness. Wollastonite reads from 92 to 96 pct of MgO on the G.E. brightness meter for a 99 pct -325 mesh grind. Purity and uniformity of product are important. Chemically, the wollastonite now being mined analyzes SiO2 51.76, CaO 47.56, FeO 0.46, MnO 0.04, and H2O 0.09 pct. Theoretically pure wollastonite analyzes SiO2 51.75 and CaO 48.25 pct. This analysis indicates over 98 pct calcium silicate, with only small amounts of contaminating ingredients. That these ingredients are not detrimental to color or brightness is shown by the high brightness value of the fine ground material. [ ] By-product calcium silicate from electric furnace production of phosphoric acid has little physical re-semblance. to this wollastonite, being an off color white, and lacking in fibrous crystalline character. Minerology Wollastonite is a calcium metasilicate, CaSiO3, a white, medium hard, fibrous mineral. In this deposit wollastonite occurs as well crystallized aggregates of bladed crystals intergrown with garnet, and with a few percent of green diopside. The beneficiated product is about 75 pct wollastonite, 15 pct garnet, and 10 pct waste, largely middling. Wollastonite-garnet ore occurs in at least two beds. The main bed, varying in true thickness from 30 to 70 ft, dips into the hill at an average 30° and is enclosed in gneisses. Diamond drilling has proven the orebody to an average depth of 200 ft along 2000 ft of outcrop with adequate tonnage for many years of quarry operation. The wollastonite-garnet ratio varies locally, but average composition is uniform over long distances. A friable ore, it is easy to drill, shoot, and crush. Beneficiation Unlike talc this ore has to be beneficiated. Successful treatment depends upon the fact that it contains virtually nothing but wollastonite, garnet and a minor percentage of diopside. A very pure wollastonite product can be made by high intensity magnetic and/or gravity separation methods.

Jan 1, 1952

By J. E. Lawver, J. D. Raulerson, Charles C. Cook

The agriculture industry has made great strides during the past decade to increase agriculture yields through increased use of fertilizers. Increased use of fertilizers may prevent, or at least delay, mass starvation due to the alarming increase in world population. Phosphate was added to soil as a plant nutrient in the form of calcined bones at least 2000 years ago (Anon., 1964), and man has used phosphate minerals as a source of fertilization in one form or another for at least 100 years. During 1977 the world produced about 116 Mt of phosphate rock, with about 86% used for fertilizers and another 4% for animal feed supplements. More than three-fourths of the total production comes from the United States, Morocco, and the Soviet Union. From a mineral beneficiation point of view, the major sources of phosphate rock and the methods of beneficiation can be classified as follows: marine deposits not containing appreciable carbonate minerals, marine deposits requiring a francolite carbonate mineral separation, igneous deposits not containing appreciable carbonate minerals, and igneous deposits requiring apatite carbonate mineral separation. [ ] Guano, mostly from Chile and Peru, accounts for 0.1% of the total world production, and the calcium phosphates from Ocean, Nauru, and Christmas Islands and the aluminum and iron phosphates from Brazil and Aruba account for less than 4% of the world production and are thus not considered in this classification (Lawver, et al.). At present, marine phosphorite deposits account for about 75% of the world's production; the igneous deposits account for 20%. The igneous deposits low in carbonate minerals are easily concentrated by crushing, grinding, and apatite flotation. The most important igneous deposits are those of the Kola Peninsula, USSR (Woodrooffe, 1972). The igneous deposits high in carbonate materials are of corn appreciably more difficult to beneficiate, but they have been concentrated by froth flotation for a number of years. An interesting but rather complicated flowsheet of this type is at Phalabonva, in the Republic of South Africa (Lovell, 1976). The Phalaborwa deposit is an igneous complex of pyroxenite with a central core of carbonatite surrounded by a serpentine- magnetite-apatite rock called phoscorite. The phoscorite containing about 10% P2O5, 35% magnetite, and 35% calcium magnesium carbonate is currently being processed. The process involves comminuting the material for fiberation and subjecting it to a copper float using a potassium amyl xanthate as collector and triethoxybutane as a frother followed by a magnetic separation of the tailings to produce a feed for phosphate flotation. This process produces a phosphate concentrate containing greater than 36% P2O5 at a P2O5 recovery ranging from 75 to 80%. Considerable success has been claimed for recovering apatite from carbonate-bearing ores at the Jacupiranga Mine of Serrana S/A (Silva and Andery, 1972). The carbonatite currently being mined contains an average of only 5% P205 and is concentrated using a unique flotation process (Andery, 1968) to yield 96% P205 concentrates. The ore contains about 12% apatite, 5% magnetite, 80% calcite plus dolomite, and minor amounts of phlogopite, olivine, zircon, ilmenite, and pyrochlore. Feed preparation consists of crushing to -31.75 mm (-1 M in.), rod milling in closed circuit with hydrocyclones to about 92% (-50 mesh), and two-stage cyclone desliming of the -50 mesh sands at 20 m. Weight recovery in the deslimed feed is normally 85 to 88% and the corresponding P2O5 recovery is usually about 90%. The deslimed feed is conditioned at 60 to 70% solids for 15 min at pH = 8-10 with 0.6 kg/t of causticized starch for iron oxide and calcite-dolomite depression. The conditioned slurry is diluted to 20 to 30% solids, about 0.2 kg/t of fatty acid or soap collector is added to the conditioner discharge, and the reagentized ore is subjected to rougher-scavenger flotation with additional fatty acid added to the scavenger float. The scavenger concentrate is returned to rougher circuit distributor, and the rougher concentrate froth is subjected to two stages of cleaner flotation to yield a final apatite concentrate analyzing 36 to 38% P205. Flotation recovery of P205 is, in general, above 90% when treating fresh carbonatite. The high-carbonate flotation tails normally analyze 1 % P2O5 or less and are suitable for portland cement production. The marine deposits. Types 1 and 2 of central Florida are representative of enormous reserves of phosphate rock that will undoubtedly account for much of the world's production in the near future. Until very recently the sedimentary deposits high in carbonate minerals (Type 2) have not been considered reserves due to the difficulty in making a francolite-carbonate separation. Although no commercial plant has yet been built to beneficiate Type 2 ore, laboratory and pilot plant data indicate the process is viable. If so, the reserves of Florida and similar deposits throughout the world will be substantially increased. A discussion of the beneficiation of these two types of sedimentary deposits and the relation of the resulting concentrates to the fertilizer industry of the United States is the subject of this paper.

Jan 1, 1981

By T. H. Janes

NATURAL abrasives of some type are found in all countries of the world. In order of their hardness the principal natural abrasives are diamond, corundum, emery, and garnet, which are termed high grade, and the various forms of silica, including pumice, pumicite, ground feldspar, china clay and, most important, sandstone. The properties qualifying materials for use as abrasives are hardness, toughness, grain shape and size, character of fracture, and purity or uniformity. For manufacture of bonded grain abrasives such as grinding wheels, the stability of the abrasive and its bonding characteristics are also important. No single property is paramount for all uses. Extreme hardness and toughness are needed for some applications, as in diamonds for drill bits, while for other purposes the capacity of the abrasive to break down slowly under use and to develop fresh cutting edges is of greatest importance, as with garnet for sandpaper. In dentifrices, soaps, and metal polishes, of course, hardness and toughness are objectionable. First among the natural abrasives, industrial diamonds are essentially of three types: l—bort, which includes off-color, flawed, or broken fragments unsuitable for gems; 2—carbonado, or black diamond, a very hard and extremely tough aggregate of very small diamond crystals; and 3—ballas, a very hard, tough globular mass of diamond crystals radiating from a common center. Bort comes from all diamond-producing centers, carbonados only from Brazil, and ballas chiefly from Brazil, although a few of this last group come from South Africa. By far the largest producer of industrial diamonds is the Belgian Congo; the Gold Coast, Angola, the Union of South Africa, and Sierra Leone supply most of the remainder. There is no production in Canada, which imports $6 to $9 million worth of industrial diamonds annually. Industrial diamonds find innumerable uses in modern industry. They are used for diamond drill bits for the mining industry; in diamond dies for wire drawing; in diamond-tipped tools for truing abrasive wheels and for turning and boring hard rubber, fibers, and plastics; and in diamond-toothed saws for sawing stone, glass, and metals. High-speed tool steels, cemented carbides, and other hard, dense alloys can be cut, sharpened, or shaped efficiently only with diamond-tipped tools and diamond grinding wheels. .. Second only to the diamond in hardness is corundum, an impure form of the ruby and sapphire gems consisting of alumina and oxygen (Al²O³) with impurities such as silica and ferric oxide. Corundum generally crystallizes from magmas rich in alumina and deficient in silica, as in the nepheline syenites of eastern Ontario. Grain corundum is used in the manufacture of grinding wheels; very coarse grain is used in snagging wheels. Both types of wheels are employed in the metal trades, where the hardness of corundum, coupled with its characteristic fracturing into sharp cutting edges, makes it an ideal cutting tool. The finest corundum (flour grades) is used for fine grinding of glass and high-precision lenses. From 1900 to 1921 Canada was the world's leading producer of corundum. Following this period the deposits located in northern Transvaal of the Union of South Africa supplied more and more of the world's requirements, and since 1940 South Africa has provided almost the entire output, which has ranged between 2500 to 7000 tons a year during the last decade. Minor amounts have also been produced in Mozambique, India, and Nyassaland. Opportunities for Mining Corundum Corundum deposits in southeastern Ontario are of three types, which may be described as follows: 1—Scattered, irregularly-shaped deposits of coarse-grained corundum which could be mined by means of small pits. About 10 groups of such deposits are known. Although the tonnage of individual deposits of this type is not great, it has been estimated that several years' ore supply is available for a small tonnage operation. Deposits average about 9 pct corundum. 2—Large irregular deposits of coarse-grained corundum which would require mining by adit with possibly a scavenger operation on the remains of former surface deposits. The Craigmont deposit of this type produced about 20,000 tons of corundum concentrate during operations between 1900 and 1913. Most of the readily available surface ore was removed by operators during that time. Reserves of ore above road level have been estimated to average 7 pct corundum, but none of the so-called reserves have been blocked out, or even indicated, by diamond drilling. From 1944 to 1946, 2025 tons of

Jan 1, 1955

By Paul F. Kerr, Raymond F. Robinson

Uranium mineralization occurs in the footwall of the Sunshine vein from the 2900 to the 3700 level. Veinlets of uraninite associated with pyrite and jasper have been so extensively divided and recemented that units more than a few feet in length are seldom observed. The wall rock is St. Regis quartzite of the Belt series. The age of the uraninite, on the basis of isotopic analyses, is 750 * 50, which agrees with geological data suggesting that phases of the Sunshine mineralization are pre Cambrian. THE Sunshine mine in the Coeur d'Alene district, Idaho, is well known for its silver-bearing veins but prior to the summer of 1949 had not been recognized as a possible source of uranium. At that time, during a geiger counter reconnaissance by T. E. Gillingham, R. F. Robinson, and E. E. Thurlow, high radioactivity was noted and radioactive specimens were collected from the footwall of the Sunshine vein.' The detection led to the identification of uraninite-bearing veins, since explored jointly by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Sunshine Mining Co. After the occurrence was noted, the geology of the uranium deposit was studied by the Sunshine staff, and a laboratory examination of the ores was conducted at Columbia University. Several types of laboratory work were undertaken. Differential thermal curves were made of selected siderite samples and results from many more were secured through the work of Mitcham.2 X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analyses were employed on uraninite, jasper, and siderite. Chemical analyses were made through the cooperation of the Division of Raw Materials of the Atomic Energy Commission. General Geological Features Several silver-bearing veins cut the overturned north limb of the Big Creek anticline as mapped by Shenon and McConne1,³ while the Osburn fault, a long-recognized regional feature about a mile away, marks the north boundary of the Silver Belt. The Sunshine vein, Fig. 1, has a south dip more or less parallel to the 60" axial plane of the fold and cuts rocks of the Belt. Series, starting with the Wallace formation near the surface, continuing downward through the St. Regis formation, and probably extending into the Revett quartzite which lies below the bottom or 3700-ft level. The limb of the anticline is locally modified by secondary folds, one being prominently exposed in the uranian area along the Jewel1 crosscut near the Sunshine vein. Crumpling of the limb resulted from compression which formed the anticline and probably preceded the faults in which the vein deposits accumulated. Evidence of drag along these faults points to reverse movement in the uranium-bearing area and elsewhere. This is true of major faults in the mine workings, and the majority of faults which can be mapped, as pointed out by Robinson.' The St. Regis formation, as measured in the mine, appears to have an initial thickness of some 2000 ft, but the apparent thickness due to thickening during folding is some 3400 ft. Along the Sunshine vein the purple and green rocks characteristic of the Wallace formation in the nearby Military Gulch section p. 37 of ref. 5) have been completely bleached because of introduced sericite. Hydrothermal solutions acting on the wall rock have substituted for the original color a pale greenish cast, although no pronounced mineralogical change has resulted, as Mitcham has observed.' The silver and the uranium depositions appear to belong to distinct epochs resulting from several periods of emplacement. Likewise, multiple periods of deformation account for the faulting. Uraninite is generally associated with silicification, while silver . mineralization accompanies carbonate veins. Rarely, uraninite may be found in a matrix of siderite. Ordinarily uraninite formed prior to ar-gentian tetrahedrite. Where clusters of veins form a stockwork, uraninite-jasper veins often favor one trend while tetrahedrite-siderite veins favor another. During deformation, brecciation of the St. Regis quartzite provided openings between broken rock fragments for precipitation from vein-forming solutions. Fractures due to major breaks were filled during the first stages of vein formation, while later deformation displaced the first veins and provided new channels along which further mineralizing solutions proceeded. The uraninite veins, as the first formed, have suffered fracturing, displacement, and segmentation. Uranian vein segments uncut by faults and more than a few feet in length are rare or nonexistent. Siderite veins are more massive and often extend without a break for tens and even hundreds of feet. In general they show much less segmentation. While the siderite is usually later, there is an overlap in the periods of deposition, some earlier siderite veins being extensively segmented in much the same way uraninite veins have been broken. Vein silica is more extensively distributed than the uranium and iron mineralization it carries. Along the vein course concentrations of uraninite frequently fade away and barren white quartz continues, the transition often occurring within a few feet along strike or down dip. An example appears on the 3700-ft level where a uraninite vein, see Fig. 2a,

Jan 1, 1954

By Francis Foley

Small cracks in a plane normal to the axis of steels are found to be prevalent around the water hole of drill steels that have been in service for an unknown period of time. Cracks are not found on the exterior surface of the steels nor to any noteworthy extent even in the water holes of new drill steels. Undulations and serrations are found in the surface of the water hole in new steels; it is in the bottom of such defects that cracks appear to develop in used steels. The occurrence of the more serious of these cracks at the point in the steel to which it has been heated for forging or hardening is thought to account to a great extent for failures in that region. DURING the past, year, we have investigated the cause of 88 per cent, of the failures by breakage near the bit end of some 1-in. hollow, hexagon, drill steel used in a metal mine. This breakage in the region of the bit end of the steel was peculiarly interesting because we have been led to believe that breakage is most prevalent at the shank end of drill steels near the place where the steel is gripped in the chuck of the machine. Records from the mine showed, also, that the breakage was much more frequent in the short lengths of large gage than in the longer steels; this is shown graphically in Fig. 1. Because the shorter lengths of steels are usually those that have been made from broken pieces of long steels or from steels that have worn down in service, rarely being made from new stock, those who are wont to suspect steel of tiring and crystallizing in its old age through fatigue are quite apt to see in this instance an argument in favor of their idea. As usual, a careful examination of these steels reveals defects of a character hardly to be overlooked in favor of such a cause. The steel in question was rolled with a sand core and was of the usual drill steel composition: Carbon 0.85 per cent., manganese 0.60 per cent., silicon 0.25 per cent., phosphorus 0.02 per cent., and sulfur 0.02 per cent., with the exception that in some specimens there was vanadium, not exceeding 0.20 per cent.

Jan 3, 1924

By V. K. Zworykin

THROUGHOUT its development the science of electronics, like so many other branches of science and industry, has been indebted to the metallurgist. Metallurgy has provided the electronic engineer with conductors to furnish passage for electrons outside of his evacuated tubes; it. has developed tungsten and tantalum wires for emitting electrons and various refractory metals and alloys suitable for electrodes, which receive them and guide them within the tube; finally it has supplied ferromagnetic materials both for shielding electronic apparatus from magnetic fields and for forming highly concentrated fields for deflecting electron. Today I hope to show you that electronics has not been altogether ungrateful for this assistance. More specifically, I wish to indicate the role that the electron microscope, a relatively recent product of electronic engineering, is playing even now in the study of metals. Every metallographer is aware that his standard metallographic microscope will not reveal structural detail involving separations smaller than a certain fraction -at the very best a tenth-of a micron. This limitation, he knows, is a consequence of the fact that the wave length of the light employed for forming the image has this order of magnitude. It is, thus, a property of all light microscopes. To overcome it, a different imaging medium must be employed. The existence of such a medium became evident when it was demonstrated' that electrons were affected by magnetic and electric fields with axial symmetry just as light is affected by glass lenses; these fields, or "electron lenses," curve the paths of electrons reaching them from an object located on the axis of symmetry in such a manner that, at some distance from the lens, a true image of the object is formed, Furthermore, although a wave length may be ascribed to electron beams just as to light, this wave length is much shorter; for electrons accelerated through a difference of potential of 50 kilovolts, the wave length is only about one hundred-thousandth of that of visible light: Actually, the electron microscopes of today resolve detail one hundred times as fine as light microscopes; if the maximum useful magnification of the latter is taken to be a thousand, that of electron microscopes is one hundred thousand. THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE Since electrons are readily scattered and absorbed by matter, specimens to be observed in the electron microscope must be prepared to be less than one micron in thickness; furthermore, the interior of the microscope must be carefully evacuated to prevent collisions between the electrons and the molecules of the air. Finally, as already mentioned, the lenses are formed by axially symmetric magnetic or electric fields, and not by any material medium such as glass. Apart from these basic differences, the electron microscope closely

Jan 1, 1943

By F. C. NINNIS

AT THE Belmont mill, the pregnant solution is de¬livered to a 30 by 10-ft. tank, from which it is pumped to three Merrill clarifying presses of the sluice-bar type, whence it flows through the meter to the precipitation supply tank. ?The solution for precipitation is pumped by a 10 by 10-in. Aldrich triplex pump and delivered through a 6-in. line to the forty-eight triangular frame Merrill presses at the head of the mill. Zinc dust is fed in at the pump suction and the solution precipitated to 0.01 to 0.02 oz. silver. The solution flowing from the presses is tested at 1-hr. intervals with sodium sulfide. All solution is precipitated to the same value; 4J tons of solution are precipitated for each ton of ore treated and the presses are cleaned every 15 days. The product from the presses' is dumped into steel cars having steam-jacketed bottoms, in which they are dried until the moisture content is between 15 and 17 per cent. when 8. per cent. of soda and .3 per cent. of borax are added and the contents thoroughly mixed. In the case of special clean-ups, the precipitate is tested and the flux is added to meet the requirements.

Jan 1, 1921

By F. L. Bosqui

Discussion of the paper of F.* L. Bosqui, presented at the San Francisco meeting, September, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 101, May, 1915, pp. 997 to 1033. SIDNEY J. JENNINGS, New York, N. Y.-I notice Mr. Bosqui says that zinc dust can be used profitably. I had occasion recently to try to ship some zinc deist to South Africa, owing to the. high price of zinc in the last six or eight months and the difficulty in getting zinc sheets We were informed that the steamship companies in England refused to accept zinc dust for shipment through the tropics on the score that it was an explosive mixture. C. W. MERRILL, San Francisco, Cal.-In the early days zinc dust was packed in wooden casks. The steamers at that time were very chary of transporting it. It was put on the deck in the wooden casks, and if the zinc dust got wet it exploded. Since that time we have used hermetically sealed cases, in which case there is no risk whatever in its transportation.. This rule of the steamship companies is perhaps another sample of their ultra-conservativeness. HENNEN JENNINGS, Washington, D. C.-Unfortunately, I have not yet read Mr. Bosqui's paper, but believing it might interest you to know something of the beginning of the cyanide process on the Rand, I will speak briefly as to my own knowledge and experience of the early initiation of this process in South Africa. I took the position of consulting engineer of H., Eckstein, the parent firm of H. Eckstein & Co., and a branch of the firm of Wernher, Belt ,C Co., at Johannesburg, in December, 1889, and at that time the Robinson Co. managed by them was the premier company of the fields. Up to this date plate amalgamation and catchment of a small percentage of concentrates by blankets, and in a few instances Frue vanners, were the main gold-saving devices used and had obtained an extraction' of only about 65 per cent of the gold contents of the ore. Also at that time the orebodies were seen to be changing from oxidized deposits to pyritic at varying depths from 50 ft. to 300 ft. below the surface, and uneasiness was felt as to future recovery. The deepest exploitation at any of the mines was not much below 300 ft.

Jan 12, 1915

By Carle R. Hayward

ATHOUGH there are signs of improvement in the lead industry, conditions are still far from what we have been accustomed to call normal. There has been little to stim¬ulate research and those responsible for the finances of the companies have been inclined to discourage expenditures except where need was urgent or the prospect for immediate returns bright. In spite of this fact, improvements have been developed here and there which will be available as business conditions become adjusted. No publicity is allowed at present. The rising price of silver has had a tendency to increase the production of lead from argentiferous ores but the greatest interest continues to be in the secondary field. Practically all lead plants situated near large centers of population are treating scrap materials, particularly battery plates, the quantity of which is increasing with the improvement in automobile sales.

Jan 1, 1936

By L. L. Newman

As soon as the Congress recognized the alarming rate at which our domestic oil resources were being depleted during the war, it took action to step up the rate of research and development which the Bureau of Mines had been conducting for several years on the production of synthetic liquid fuels from coals. Under Public Law 290, approved April 5, 1944, funds were authorized for the Bureau to proceed with research, development, design and construction of demonstration plants for the hydrogenation of coal, the synthesis of oil from carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and the distillation of oil from shale. During the latter part of 1944, when it became evident that the collapse of Germany was near, a Technical Oil Mission was organized to study the Ger- man techniques of synthetic oil production. Since the cost of hydrogen or synthesis gas is one of the major factors of expense in the operation of hydrogenation or synthesis gas processes, the Bureau of Mines considered it of prime importance to include on the mission gas engineers whose instructions were to examine closely the methods employed by the Germans in solving the problem of providing low- cost hydrogen or synthesis gas for their very extensive operations on synthetic liquid fuels. The Solid Fuels Mission and the Utilities Mission, as well as the Army and Navy Missions, also included teams for the study of German gas production. Although their objectives naturally differed from those of the Technical Oil Mission and from each other, it was recognized that there was considerable overlapping of their fields of investigation. Duplication of effort, however, was largely avoided through the close cooperation between the group leaders of these missions. For example, although I went to Europe as a member of the Technical Oil Mission, my first German assignment was actually made by Dr. Harry F. Yancey, leader of the Solid Fuels Mission- to investigate the brown-coal gasification methods in central Germany. The art of gasification in the United States and England, and to a large extent in the proximity of the coking-coal regions of Germany and the rest of continental Europe, depends essentially on two stages of operation; namely, carbonization and intermittent water-gas generation. As far as the United States is concerned, complete gasification in a single stage of operation is rarely practiced, except in gas-producer operations where the product is a relatively lean gas consumed close to the point of manufacture, and for water-gas production with anthracite as a generator fuel. Complete gasification of bituminous coal has been the subject of numerous investigations. Many relatively simple modifications of the water-gas generator have been tried to permit the direct gasification of low-cost bituminous coal instead of high- cost coke and anthracite for the production of water gas. Although varying degrees of success have been achieved and the water gas produced generally has been higher in calorific value, in only a few isolated in- stances has there been any sustained use of bituminous coal for water-gas production for public utility uses after the shortages of anthracite and coke have been lessened.

Jan 1, 1946