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By L. Eaton, A. W. Last, J. L. Stevens

COPPER ore from Kennecott Copper's Ray mine, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, Ariz., is concentrated at the company's mill at Hayden, some 18 miles south of the mine. The Hayden mill is currently treating 16,000 tons of ore per day by flotation, using raconite, a crude butyl xanthate, as a collector for the sulfide copper minerals and lime as a pyrite depressant.1 The ore contains significant amounts of nonsulfide copper minerals, but recovery of these values has been low. The Hayden mill is now being modified to provide for treatment of future ores by leach- precipitation-flotation (L-P-F). This modification, costing about $5 million, is expected to reduce the loss of nonsulfide copper values and improve overall copper recovery by an additional 2 lb per ton of ore.

Jan 11, 1957

Kaolin deposits in Georgia lie in a belt that stretches across the central part of the state from Alabama to South Carolina. In 1977 the state's kaolin production was an estimated 4.58 million tons (5.05 million st) or 77% of US production. While mining methods vary, stripping contractor W. F. (Billy) Jackson of Wrightsville, Ga., depends on a fleet of 18 twin-engine elevating scrapers to move the hulk of overburden and clay. Owner Billy Jackson explains that the soil in this part of the state is perfect for scraper operation; overburden ranges from Georgia red clay to a sandy gumbo material. Apart from some shale, very little rock is encountered, thus eliminating any blasting re¬quirement. Most of the material can be removed with cutting edge teeth or with drop center blades.

Jan 6, 1978

By Roy E. Gilbert

IN what ways can conventional geophysical methods be used in the search for quartz-sulphide veins covered by several feet of overburden? The New Park Mining Co., in search of an answer to this question, empirically tested simple geochemical, electrical, and magnetic methods over known ore bodies and geologic structures. Geochemical methods were the only ones found to be applicable to direct ore search. Indirect uses were found for electrical and magnetic tests. Experiments were conducted in the southeastern part of the Park City mining district. Ore in this part of the district is found principally in steeply dipping veins which are localized along faults and fractures that cut Paleozoic sediments and quartz diorite intrusives. Extensive soil cover effiectively hides both veins and country rock. The type of vein most likely to

Jan 1, 1953

By C. L. Sollenberger, R. B. Greenwalt

PERHAPS the most widely used dispersants or gangue depressants in nonmetallic flotation are sodium silicates, which vary in silica-to-soda ratio from 1 to 3.75. Typical manufactured silicates in order of decreasing solubility and increasing amounts of silica are Metso, silica-to-soda ratio of 1.00; D, 2.00; RU, 2.40; K, 2.90; N, 3.22; and S-35, 3.75.* References in flotation literature's to the use of sodium silicates are often weak because they fail to mention the type of silicate used. Metso and silicate N have occasionally been mentioned, but when the type of silicate is not mentioned, it is usually assumed to be N, the cheapest of the soluble silicates and the one recommended by sodium silicate manufacturers as a flotation agent.

Jan 6, 1958

By James F. Lewis

The death of Josephus Flavius Holloway, for twenty-one years an active and beloved member, and twice a Vice-President, of the Institute, cannot be allowed to pass without some expression on the part of his brethren of mingled grief and gratitude—grief that we have lost his genial and inspiring presence ; gratitude that we have been privileged to know one who lived " To make the world within his reach Somewhat the better for his being, And gladder for his human speech." The present sketch of his career and character is offered as a sincere, though inadequate, expression of these feelings. Mr. Holloway's father, Joseph T. Holloway, born, in 1796, in Sunbury, Pa., and yielding in his youthful prime to the prevailing impulse of his generation, started alone, with knapsack

Jan 1, 1897

By Corale L. Brierley

An unidentified, high-temperature microbe, which oxidizes reduced sulfur and iron in an acid medium between 45° and 75°C, is studied to determine its ability to leach copper sulfide minerals and molybdenite. Copper is leached from low-grade ore as well as a chalcopyrite concentrate, and preliminary data indicate a tolerance of 1.0 gpl copper by the microbe. A molybdenite concentrate is also biogenically leached, and the microbe is able to continue growth when the soluble molybdenum concentration is 750 ppm. Molybdenum can not be biogenically extracted from waste material using the present technique. Direct observation using SEM illustrates colonial growth and developmental characteristics of the microbe on molybdenite fines. The organism responds to hexavalent molybdenum by reducing this metal to the pentavalent state in aerobic and nitrogen gas atmospheres.

Jan 1, 1974

By F. Windolph

There are no hard and fast rules for building tailing dams, and each case has to be analyzed individually because of special conditions encountered at each location. Certain criteria are used for building dams at Climax, Colo., where they must be placed in rather steep mountain valleys on foundations that are practically impermeable. The tailing is relatively coarse, and a coarse fraction stays near the berm where it is deposited, while most of the fines flow with the water to the pool. Thirty years experience has led to certain design for toe dams, decanter lines and towers and tailing dams. A new tailing disposal area, started at Climax in 1958, will ultimately have a height of 495 ft and impound about 300 million tons. The following applies to the construction of this new tailing area.

Jan 11, 1961

By Ronald J. Roman, Craig Olsen

Alterations were performed on a previously developed heap leaching model representing sulfuric acid solution leaching of a malachite sandstone ore. The alterations were made in order to approach a more realistic solution to the leaching equations used in the model and to provide a means of obtaining a constant acid con- centration in the model' s simulated heap effluent solutions. This constant acid concentration is desired if the effluent solutions are to be treated in a solvent extraction-electrowinning plant. An economic study was made showing a use of the leaching model for an imaginary heap leach operation. The example illustrates a method of selecting heap leaching parameters if data are available on mining costs, dump costs, capital cost, etc. This was achieved using an incremental investment technique.

Jan 1, 1974

By Leon Hart

THE nickel-chromium alloys of importance are those containing iron and those free from iron. The most important alloys containing iron, with regard to high tonnage, are the nickel-chromium steels. Straight nickel steel was introduced about the year 1889, but it was not until 1895, when it was found that the addition of chromium greatly increased the FIG. 1.-RESISTIVITY OF NICKEL-CHROMIUM-IRON ALLOYS. strength and resistance to shock, that nickel-chromium steels came into use. The three types of nickel-chromium steels developed at this time were: Type 1, containing 3.50 per -cent. nickel and 1.50 per cent. chromium; type 2, containing 2.00 per cent. nickel and 1.00 per cent. chromium; and type 3, containing 1.50 per cent. nickel and 0.50 per cent. chromium.

Jan 1, 1921

The old single-jack may have been portable- but it left much to be desired in drilling speed and depth of hole. Portable compressors for drilling can be snaked into tough spots. However, that calls for more men, equipment, and money, with corresponding loss of mobility. The drills listed in this notebook sheet meet three requirements: They are light. They are self-powered. And all are reported proven in practice. Undoubtedly there are other units filling the requirements that are not listed. Extreme mobility for far-flung exploration teams is always an acute need. The drills listed here help solve the problem. Canadian Longyear, for instance, reports that the Porta drill has been parachuted into wilderness spots and helicopters have lofted light core drills onto mesa tops in the Colorado Plateau uranium country.

Jul 1, 1955

By M. J. Greaves, Alan English

Pelletizing on a commercial scale is only 10 years old; yet in this period more than 150 million tons of pellets have been produced. Instrumentation and controls have played an important part in the development of an entirely new industry in almost unprecedented time. Initially, most control circuits used in the pelletizing industry were manually operated, since the confidence factor in instruments and controls was quite low at that time. This changed considerably in recent years and improvements in the use of instruments and controls have probably developed more rapidly in pelletizing than in any other metallurgical process. Now, within a decade of the start of commercial operations, the use of manually operated controls has changed and consideration is being given to the utilization of computers for data logging and control purposes.

Jan 7, 1965

Electrical requirements in surface mining can be divided into three categories: main substation, plant power, and pit distribution. A main substation may vary from a 500-kva transformer supplying 480-v power to motor-driven pumps and conveyors, to a 50,000-kva substation serving a large beneficiation plant or a large strip mining operation. Regard- less of size, it should be designed with the realization that a failure of the main substation will totally shut down the operation. Location of a main substation usually is a compromise between expense of running the incoming high-voltage transmission lines and the voltage drop of long secondary runs. Based on a geological survey for immediate and future areas of excavation, the main substation should be located as near to the center of load as possible.

Jan 10, 1967

By John F. Havard, Armine F. Banfield

Sooner or later, we all get involved in the economic study and valuation of a mineral deposit. To communicate clearly the necessary information, we must scrupulously use various terms with specific meaning. All these terms-such as ore, exploration, development, production, reserves, proven ore, probable ore, possible reserves, resources, as well as similar terms applying to coal-are continually on the lips of anyone who reports on the economic aspects of a mineral deposit at the exploration, development, and production stages. The meaning of these terms is even more important in feasibility studies to determine whether a deposit should be put into production. Finally, careless use of these terms in reports published for public financing may, and sometimes does, lead to prosecution of the writer for misleading information.

Jan 7, 1975

By Jules E. Jenkins

In the past quarter century the seismograph has I played an increasingly important role in evaluating vibratory effects transmitted to adjacent communities by industrial blasting operations. In this period research has advanced through two major phases-from falling pin seismometers to three- component recording seismographs. The initial phase of this research is now regarded as the era of recording, during which the seismograph merely recorded occasional events. It has emerged from this stage into the era of control and analysis and in this later period has been recognized as a full-fledged industrial tool. Although the falling pin machines of earlier years indicated probable amplitudes of industrial blasting vibrations, they gave no reliable measure of such displacements, nor did they provide essential information concerning direction or frequency of motion.

May 1, 1956

By Donald W. Frommer

For many years the Bureau of Mines has been con- ducting comprehensive iron ore research programs with the objective of increasing domestic supplies and divising techniques that would enable profitable exploitation of low-grade and complex domestic iron-mineral deposits. Since 1962, much of the Bureau's flotation research at Minneapolis has been concerned with studies on the treatment of low-grade hematitic-goethitic jaspers of the Marquette range, Mich. Ores from Michigan require grinding to substantially minus 400-mesh for liberation that will permit production of quality concentrates. With such fine grinding, diminished flotation effectiveness can be expected because of slime interference. The word "slime" is an ambiguous term. Taggart states "Slimes in an ore pulp are loosely defined as the fine fraction that overflows a desanding separator. . ."

Jan 4, 1964

By Calvin Bjorne, John Keeley

In the face of a highly competitive iron ore market, the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. developed a process now being practiced at the company's Republic mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. By this process, a specular hematite crude ore is being beneficiated to produce a high iron-low silica concentrate with a suitable size structure for the production of a high quality pellet. This process involves crushing, primary grinding and primary flotation, followed by regrinding, heating and refloating the primary flotation concentrate. The ores consist predominantly of specular hematite with relatively minor amounts of magnetite and martite in a recrystallized chert gangue. A wide variety of silicates have been identified, particularly in association with intrusives of various description. The more abundant of these are sericite, talc, grunerite and chlorite with some carbonates, primarily calcite.

Jan 6, 1964

By Lawrence Adler

The authors are to be complimented on using a novel and potentially helpful technique to analyze the effects of mine roof trusses. However, some criticisms of their application and analysis seem appropriate to further its acceptance. This discussion will deal with the normal structural analysis format covering: 1) material. 2) load, 3) structure, and 4) analysis. It will then briefly review the testing procedures and finally cover miscellaneous items. That the analytical and testing results admittedly disagreed by several orders of magnitude, indicates a need for improved understanding. The introduction of data determined previously was not assisted by references to "Interim" or "Preliminary" reports. This material should have been concisely reformulated for the open discussions that Transactions encourage. In addition, many important simplifying assumptions are tacitly made without recognition, and much less, an attempted justification.

Jan 1, 1979

By Desmond De Villiers Oxford, Peter H. Williams

Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines, Ltd., is one of the four mines operated by the Anglo American Corp. in Northern Rhodesia, now the independent nation of Zambia. Today Nchanga is the second largest single producer of copper in the world, accounting for more than 200,000 long tons of copper annually at a monthly milling rate of 430,000 tons of ore. The average mill-head grade is about 5.20% total copper, of which approximately 60% is copper sulfide. The remainder, referred to as "acid soluble," is copper oxide. Nchanga mines three separate orebodies varying in grade and sulfide-to-oxide ratio. Ore is processed in two separate grinding circuits feeding into three separate flotation circuits. A fourth flotation circuit treats leach plant residue for additional recovery of sulfides.

Jan 1, 1965

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, you'll be "zapped" by about 40 cosmic rays. Though harmless, their existence is being probed by a team of Texas A&M University physicists. What's most unusual about the research project is the design and location of the telescope required to detect the particles-it's made of fluorescent light tubes and is 457 m (1500 ft) underground at United Salt Corp.'s mine in Hockley, Texas, about 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Texas A&M's College Station campus. Cosmic rays are actually particles smaller than atoms traveling at extremely high speeds. Scientists believe their source is the same as that of starlight, and that these primary particles entering the earth's atmosphere create secondary particles in collisions with oxygen and nitrogen atoms.

Jan 6, 1978

By Jock A. Campbell

Oil-impregnated rocks are known to occur in 22 of the 50 states. The largest known petroleum resources of this type are in Utah, with over 95% of the inventoried total, The Utah deposits are estimated to contain over 25 million bbl (42 gal per bbl) of oil in place.' All major Utah tar sand deposits crop out and can be mined partially by open pit methods, but in-situ techniques will have to be employed to recover oil from the deeper parts of the deposits. No significant development of Utah tar sands deposits for their petroleum content has occurred to date, although a mine and extraction plant are anticipated this year at Asphalt Ridge. The barriers to development have been mainly economic, but technological and legal problems will also have to be overcome.

Jan 5, 1975