Search Documents

By John A. Shelton

One of the heaviest burdens uselessly cast by our mineral land laws upon the holder of the title conveyed by a patent from the United States is due to the provision excepting known veins from land patented as placer. In many instances the expense of defending such titles from the assaults of the owners of lode locations made upon the theory that the veins so located were known to exist at the date of the placer application for patent has exceeded many times the value of the land in question. Neither the lapse of time, however long after the issuance of the patent. nor repeated adjudications by the courts serve to quiet such titles Or to prevent them from being questioned. In the passage of laws providing for the acquisition of title to the mineral lands of the United States, Congress provided that the title to known veins should not pass from the United States by a patent based upon a placer location. As construed by the courts, the law (Sec. 2333 R.S.U.S.) provides that the applicant for a patent upon a placer claim may, if any vein of sufficient value to justify the expenditure of money in its development is known by him to exist within the boundaries thereof, include in his patent application an application for patent upon the vein as a lode claim; and failure to do so is to be deemed a conclusive declaration that the applicant makes no claim to the vein nor to an area of surface ground extending for 25 ft. (7.6 m.) on each side of its middle or center. As to such vein and such area of enclosing surface ground under the circumstances stated, the title remains in the United States notwithstanding the issuance of a patent that purports to convey the entire surface of a described area and everything beneath it, excepting only the segments of veins the apices of which lie outside of such area. Such known veins with such area of enclosing surface ground are, of course, at any time, so long as they remain unlocated, subject to location and appropriation in the same manner as other. veins upon the public domain. The history of the operation of this law in one district will serve to illustrate its effect generally throughout the mining regions of the United States. In the Butte district, the mineral that first attracted the atten-

Jan 1, 1920

By M. Gensamer

In applied mechanics and in metallurgy the transition from elastic to inelastic action is a matter of considerable interest and importance. Often the first inelastic deformation is apparently quite homogeneous; that is, uniformly distributed throughout the specimen. Sometimes this deformation is heterogeneous; that is, localized; inelastic deformation proceeds to some definite amount in restricted regions before adjacent regions of the specimen are inelastically deformed. In such cases the deformation does not become homogeneous until the whole specimen has been deformed the amount corresponding to that for each localized deformation. If the test is stopped before uniform extension sets in, the heterogeneous character of the deformation is apparent on the surface of the specimen through characteristic markings, which have been called "LÜders'" lines, "Hartmann's" lines, the "Piobert effect," or simply "flow figures." These markings are the source of considerable trouble in fabricating operations, particularly in the deep drawing of steel sheet. In many cases where the transition is of this nature, the stress developed at the upper limit of the elastic range is greater than the stress during the period of heterogeneous deformation, giving rise to the familiar "drop of the beam" effect in testing. The amount of the yield-point elongation, as well as the value of the stress at the lower yield point (the value to which the stress drops when yielding begins), are functions of the temperature and the testing speed. Lower temperatures and faster rates of testing increase both the yield-point elongation and the yield-point stress. These matters have been ably discussed in a recent paper by Winlock and Leiterl though, as brought out by the discussion of that paper, the phenomena are but little understood. The purpose of the present paper is to clarify the problem through the application of a simple principle, and to show that, through the application of this principle, a number of phenomena in the plastic deformation of metals become more readily understood. The principle is this: During homogeneous flow, the rate of work-hardening is greater than the rate of change of stress resulting from change

Jan 1, 1938

By Courtenay de Kalb

THE Exposed Treasure gold-mine has, for the past four years, been one of the largest producing mines of Southern California, its annual output having constituted 1 per cent of the total gold and silver production of the entire State. At the present moment the property is idle, owing to the large quantity of water encountered oil the lower levels, which will require the installation of a powerful pumping-plant before operations can be recommenced. Moreover, a prompt change in the character of the ore has occurred at water-level, which makes imperative an extensive campaign of development in the region of the unoxidized ores before a plant adapted to their treatment can be definitely decided upon. The character of the changes encountered in these deeper ores makes the geology of this deposit a matter of importance, not only for the immediate district, but for the desert region of Southern California in general, where many mines exist having in the oxidized belt conditions that, in many respects, resemble those in the Exposed Treasure mine. The deposit is situated in an apparently isolated butte about 2.5 miles south from the town of Mojave, on the Mojave desert; The butte, though apparently isolated, is in fact geologically part of an extinct volcano, known as Soledad butte, which rises out of the plain 1,5 miles SW. of the mine, to an altitude of 4,650 ft. above sea-level. Other buttes also rise from the desert plain toward the south and east, and again to the westward, all being closely related geologically to Soledad butte,-the whole constituting a single system as to origin and time. Since the end of the period of active volcanism in this region, there has been extensive denudation, the ancient plateau having been dissected during an epoch of apparently exces-

Jan 1, 1907

By Ernest L. Ohle

The newly opened Hayden Creek lead mine represents a variation from the usual Southeast Missouri type. Galena mineralization occurs in sandy dolomite cementing a conglomerate of granite boulders and in cracks in the boulders. The conglomerate occurs at the base of the Bonneterre formation on the slopes of two buried pre-Cambrian knobs. IN 1943 diamond drilling from the surface in an area 2 miles southwest of Leadwood, Mo., discovered a lead deposit of a markedly different character from the usual southeast Missouri type. Subsequent drilling of about 500 holes indicated several million tons of ore, and in 1950 a 701-ft vertical shaft was sunk into the orebody. This paper describes the geology of this interesting occurrence insofar as it is known from the drilling and the small underground exposure at the bottom of the shaft. Geology The location of the Southeast Missouri Lead Belt and of the Hayden Creek property are shown in Fig. 1. As shown here, there are two separate producing areas, one from which the larger tonnage has come, located near Bonne Terre, Flat River, Desloge, and Leadwood, and the other to the south around Fred-ericktown and including famous old Mine LaMotte. The best published description of Lead Belt geology is by Tarr.* In pre-Cambrian time in this area, an assemblage of granites and rhyolitic flow rocks was eroded to a mature topography. Sedimentation, beginning in the Upper Cambrian, filled in the valleys and gradually covered even the highest hills. The first formation deposited was the La-motte sandstone; it is successively overlain by the Bonneterre dolomite, the principal lead-prodbcing formation, then the Davis shale. the Derby-Doerun limestone, and a succession of Cambro-Ordovician cherty dolomites. Several of these formations may be found in direct contact with the pre-Cambrian as their deposition progressively overlapped the older rocks on the flanks of the igneous knobs and ridges. Immediately overlying the pre-Cambrian there is, not uncommonly, a thin basal conglomerate of granite or porphyry boulders, which is incorporated into the overlying sediments. Deposition of the lower part of the rock section was fairly continuous, and the Lamotte sometimes grades almost imperceptibly into the lower sandy Bonneterre. Since the sediments were deposited on an uneven floor, they tend to reflect the irregularities in that floor. Most of the steep dips found in the district, that is, dips in excess of 10°, are original dips and not caused by deformation. Such domelike structures in the sedimentary rocks around the igneous knobs have localized a considerable number of the orebodies in the district and particularly those in the Frederick-town area. Many of the larger orebodies, however, have no close relation to the pre-Cambrian topography. Most of the lead production has come from the lower 150 ft of the Bonneterre formation, where disseminated ore spreads laterally parallel to the bedding for great distances. Average stoping height is about 20 ft, but in a few places there are stopes over 175 ft high.

Jan 1, 1953

MINING and Metallurgy closed the year 1928 showing a small profit, the receipts, exclusive of the charge against members, dues for subscriptions, having been $43,067.81, and expenditures $40,925.58. In accord with the policy of the Board the budget is made each year with the purpose of balancing the accounts rather than the maximum of profit from the undertaking since it is the service the journal performs for members that justifies its existence. This service is being constantly increased. Within the year a number of changes have been made in the dress of the magazine, a new cover adopted, color more frequently used, and illustrations more generally employed. These changes seem to have been appreciated both by readers and advertisers. More space has been devoted to papers read before local sections and to the news of their activities. It is believed that this has helped materially in sustaining and increasing the interest in such meetings. The general, regional, and division meetings have also been fully reported and news of Board meetings, of the work of the various committees, of the employment service and other activities of the Institute has been spread before its members month by month. The 570 pages of reading matter printed in the course of the year constitute not only a record of what the Institute was doing but of what the most representative sections possible of the members of the mining and metallurgical professions were thinking. With 9000 members scattered around the world, occupying key positions in the industry, the Institute affords through its own journal an unsurpassed medium for broad contact and enables the readers with the minimum of expenditure of time and at no extra money expense to keep a general contact with the whole range of subjects touched by miners and metallurgists. In these days of intense specialization but rapid change such contact is particularly valuable. The more formal papers presented to the Institute are published in the Transactions, Technical Publications and the special volumes. Mining and Metallurgy carries abstracts of all papers published ,by the Institute and prints in full the shorter, less detailed papers and those which reflect work in progress rather than finished. Such papers have a news value which is supplemented by editorial comment, discussion by members and others, and the actual news of the organization itself. Without therefore attempting to fill the place of a general news sheet, it has a timeliness that gives it an immediate value much appreciated by the readers. In accord with the general policy of the Board every effort will be made constantly to improve the quality of the magazine to the full extent that its revenue will permit. Your Committee feels that, through the intelligent cooperation of the official staff in the office, Mining and Metallurgy has been improved in

Jan 1, 1929

By Ernest L. Ohle

The newly opened Hayden Creek lead mine represents a variation from the usual Southeast Missouri type. Galena mineralization occurs in sandy dolomite cementing a conglomerate of granite boulders and in cracks in the boulders. The conglomerate occurs at the base of the Bonneterre formation on the slopes of two buried pre-Cambrian knobs. IN 1943 diamond drilling from the surface in an area 2 miles southwest of Leadwood, Mo., discovered a lead deposit of a markedly different character from the usual southeast Missouri type. Subsequent drilling of about 500 holes indicated several million tons of ore, and in 1950 a 701-ft vertical shaft was sunk into the orebody. This paper describes the geology of this interesting occurrence insofar as it is known from the drilling and the small underground exposure at the bottom of the shaft. Geology The location of the Southeast Missouri Lead Belt and of the Hayden Creek property are shown in Fig. 1. As shown here, there are two separate producing areas, one from which the larger tonnage has come, located near Bonne Terre, Flat River, Desloge, and Leadwood, and the other to the south around Fred-ericktown and including famous old Mine LaMotte. The best published description of Lead Belt geology is by Tarr.* In pre-Cambrian time in this area, an assemblage of granites and rhyolitic flow rocks was eroded to a mature topography. Sedimentation, beginning in the Upper Cambrian, filled in the valleys and gradually covered even the highest hills. The first formation deposited was the La-motte sandstone; it is successively overlain by the Bonneterre dolomite, the principal lead-prodbcing formation, then the Davis shale. the Derby-Doerun limestone, and a succession of Cambro-Ordovician cherty dolomites. Several of these formations may be found in direct contact with the pre-Cambrian as their deposition progressively overlapped the older rocks on the flanks of the igneous knobs and ridges. Immediately overlying the pre-Cambrian there is, not uncommonly, a thin basal conglomerate of granite or porphyry boulders, which is incorporated into the overlying sediments. Deposition of the lower part of the rock section was fairly continuous, and the Lamotte sometimes grades almost imperceptibly into the lower sandy Bonneterre. Since the sediments were deposited on an uneven floor, they tend to reflect the irregularities in that floor. Most of the steep dips found in the district, that is, dips in excess of 10°, are original dips and not caused by deformation. Such domelike structures in the sedimentary rocks around the igneous knobs have localized a considerable number of the orebodies in the district and particularly those in the Frederick-town area. Many of the larger orebodies, however, have no close relation to the pre-Cambrian topography. Most of the lead production has come from the lower 150 ft of the Bonneterre formation, where disseminated ore spreads laterally parallel to the bedding for great distances. Average stoping height is about 20 ft, but in a few places there are stopes over 175 ft high.

Jan 1, 1953

By Thomas M. Drown

Remarkable as have been the direct results of Danks's puddler, there are some indirect and incidental results, which are well worthy of study for their intrinsic value and suggestiveness. The success of Danks's machine is due mainly to the nature of the lining and the manner in which it is attached to the walls of the revolving chamber. Herein lies Danks's merit and good fortune. Given such a lining, and the success of the machine, as far as puddling iron is concerned, could easily be predicted. Other important results have, however, been obtained with this machine, which, though clearly explicable, were, nevertheless, unanticipated. These are the increased yield of bar-iron over the pig-iron charged, and the elimination of phosphorus, which, though not absolutely complete, is yet more decided than in the case of hand-puddling. As regards the increased yield, this is merely what we have a right to expect if we consider the puddling process to consist in the oxida tion of the carbon and silicon of the pig by the oxygen of the oxide of iron. That this result is attained, nearly to the extent that the theory requires, in Danks's puddler, and has never been more than partially attained by the most careful experiments in band-puddling, points clearly to the fact that the contact of the molten pig-iron with the oxide of iron is much more intimate and complete in the one instance than in the other. The action of puddling in Danks's machine may be considered to be twofold: first, the removal of the carbon, silicon, and phospho rus of the pig, which is the primary object, and, second, the produc tion of wrought iron direct from the ore, which is entirely an inci dental result. Intelligent metallurgists were not long in recognizing in this latter result a fact of deeper import and greater value than the attainment of a perfect puddling process. A new method

By ALEXANDER L Hay, Alexander L.

THE Sydney coal field, the largest and most valuable in Nova Scotia, is on the northeastern coast of the Island of Cape Breton, extending from Mira Bay on the south to Cape Dauphin on the north, a distance of 30 miles, and has a general dip northeast under the sea. The field embraces the mining villages of Morien, Birch- grove and Reserve and the towns of Dominion, Glace Bay, Waterford and Sydney Mines. The city of Sydney is about midway between the northern and southern extremities of the field and on the western fringe of the productive coal measures. Sydney harbor crosses the coal field, cutting off direct rail connection between Sydney Mines and the greater part of the field to the southeast.

Jan 1, 1928

By Anthony Tuke

Members of the Society of Mining Engineers may well regard it as rather unusual that a paper on this subject is being presented by someone whose first taste of mining came at the age of 60 or so - someone who last heard of cathodes and anodes in 1938. On the other hand, the title does refer to the financing of a mine and at least I can claim to have spent all my business life since the war until 1981 in the world of banking, though this inevitably means that I have been used to looking at these and other problems through what you might regard as the wrong end of the telescope. The lending of money, and more particularly the provision of finance for commerce and industry, is the central job of a banker and I have been involved in this in various ways over many years, but regrettably only very marginally in the world of mining. As you will see from what follows, the rather specialised form of finance which RTZ required was, to my regret, not provided by the British banking community since the great majority of the finance came from American banks and, to a lesser extent, from German banks. I am most indebted to Mr. Roy Wright for a great deal of the nuts and bolts in this paper. He was one of the three central figures in the growth and expansion of RTZ during the 1950's and 1960's and was right at the centre of the negotiations with bankers, with governments and with many others. The going, as you will see, was far from easy. The essential basis for the financing of each of the RTZ group's mining projects was a firm long-term sales contract for sufficient of the output of the particular mine to produce the cash flow necessary to service the loans. Wherever possible, loans were raised in the same currency as the sales contracts were made. Each sales contract was designed to give the customer the product he wanted with a long-term assurance of supply and at the same time to give the bankers the protection they required. Thus the marketing concept and the financing concept for a particular mine formed one overall plan, and talks with the customers and the bankers were conducted in parallel until a satisfactory marketing/financial package was agreed in principle. Preliminary talks were begun soon after the discovery of a potentially viable orebody. As confidence about a discovery increased, customers were persuaded to enter into contingent sales contracts before the very detailed and costly business of the economic and technical feasibility study of the mine was launched; such a study might cost 10% or more of the estimated total capital cost. At the same time provisional understandings were reached with the bankers. The contingent sales contracts usually gave a period of grace of eighteen months to two years, during which time the decision whether or not to continue with the mine had to be made. This decision rested mainly on the result of the feasibility study and also on coming to a firm agreement with the bankers. If all went well and the mine went ahead, then the contingent sales contracts became firm, but they fell away if the decision was negative. The Company was fortunate that during the whole period when its major mines were being developed, world trade was increasing rapidly and Japan was becoming a dominant industrial power. The Japanese supported many of the mines, including Hamersley Iron Ore, Lornex Copper, Bougainville Copper to name a few, with the basic long-term sales contracts that enabled their development. The Germans supported Palabora and to a lesser extent Bougainville. The mines were financed as individual projects generally with a loan/equity ratio of about 65/35, without legal recourse to RTZ for the loans. RTZ was, however, responsible for providing any capital overruns required to bring the mines into commercial operations. Nevertheless, the RTZ management regarded itself as morally responsible to the lenders because, Palabora aside, the sales contracts had either a fixed selling price (like Hamersley), an indexed price (like the Elliot Lake Uranium Mines and Mary Kathleen), or a floor price (as in Lornex, Bougainville and Rossing). Thus the Company believed that any financial failure would have been due to poor management or technical

Jan 1, 1985

By Marcel Schlumberger

The electrical methods for surface-prospecting have been well developed in the last 20 years. The method involves, in the classic form, the sending of an electrical current into the soil, by means of two electrodes A and B, and studying the potential distribution at the surface, by measuring the difference of potential between pairs of points such as M and N. The points M and N are usually placed on a line between, and equidistant from, A and B. By increasing the distance AB, the current sent into the Earth, and likewise the distribution of surface-potentials, become influenced by regions of greater and greater depth below the surface. By varying the form and dimensions of the electrode-arrangements AMNB, called a "quadripole," one may make valuable deductions concerning the nature or thickness of beds, if one knows the electrical properties of these beds. On the other hand, if the form and dimensions of the electrodes AMNB remain fixed, the depth of penetration of currents in the Earth remains, so to speak, almost constant, although it tends to increase where the subsoil is more conductive, and conversely. Therefore, if one moves the constant-dimension quadripole over all the terrain to be Investigated, one achieves approximately a horizontal exploration. This permits a study of tilted beds or faulted horizon-tal beds. When the particular problem becomes deep, of the order of 2000 meters, or more, it is ne-cessary to Increase the distance between the current-sources AB to a length such that the work 'comes very troublesome, especially if the region is wooded. At the same time, the separation the points M and N must be likewise great (for example, one km) in order to obtain differences potential which are not too small; the measurement of potential differences across MN is then difficult because of the presence of parasitic potentials, due to a flow of telluric currents in fourth, and the order of greatness of these currents may exceed the quantities to be measured.

Jan 1, 1940

By Ira B. Joralemon

The Ajo copper district is in the heart of the Arizona desert, near the western boundary of Pima county. Gila Bend, the nearest railroad point, is 43 miles north of the camp, and the little Mexican border town of Sonoita is 30 miles south. Between Gila Bend and Sonoita, Ajo is the only settlement save for one or two small cattle ranches and the uncertain villages of nomadic Papago families. The Little Ajo mountains rise a few hundred feet above wide desert valleys, beyond which are lava mesas. The camp itself lies at an elevation of about 1,900 ft. above sea level, in a little basin on the east side of the range, separated from the open desert by low hills. In the center of the basin the brilliantly iron and copper stained rocks of Copper mountain rise 150 ft. above the village. Many varieties of cactus and low desert bushes cover the hills, while in the large valleys there are clusters of mesquite, paloverde, and ironwood trees which furnish limited amounts of fairly good fuel. A scanty supply of water is obtained from wells in the desert and from- prospect pits in the camp. The nearest abundant source of water is the Gila river, 50 miles north of Ajo. (See Fig. 1.) , History of the Ajo District The Ajo, next to Senta Rite, New Mexico, is claimed to have been the first copper district in the Southwest worked by Americans. In the '60's or even earlier high-grade native copper and cuprite ore was mined from shallow surface workings and hauled by bull team 400 miles across the desert to San Diego. From there it was carried in sailing ships to Swansea, Wales. Later, the ore was hauled to Yuma, floated down the Colorado river to the Gulf of California, and shipped to Swansea. Bat-infested old workings and the massive axles of the bull carts are shown to prove the truth of the stories. From this early period until the beginning of the present century, the Ajo district was worked only in a casual and intermittent way. With the increased interest in copper mining during the past decade, the brilliant

Jan 1, 1915

By AIME AIME

THE 131st meeting of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers was held in New York on Feb. 16 to 20, 1925, with the largest registration of any previous meeting, the total being 1320 compared to 1276 in 1924. The technical sessions were more largely attended and aroused more discussion than ever before. There were joint meetings with the Mining Section of the National Safety Council, under the auspices of the Industrial Relations Committee of the Institute and two very important lectures, the Howe Memorial Lecture, under the auspices of the Iron and Steel Committee, and the lecture by Dr. Carl Benedicks, of Sweden, on Corrosion, under the auspices of the Institute of Metals Division. The Petroleum Division conducted its annual Symposium on Oil which will be published later in book form. At the annual business meeting on Feb. 17, the following ticket was elected, and the reports of the President, Treasurer, and Secretary 'were presented:

Jan 1, 1925

By Alex Hay

THE Sydney coal field, the largest and most valuable in Nova Scotia, is situated on the northeastern coast of the Island of Cape Breton, extending from Mira Bay on the south to Cape Dauphin on the north, a distance of 30 miles, and has a general dip northeast under the sea. (Fig. 1.) The field embraces the mining villages of Morien, Birchgrove and Reserve and the towns of Dominion, Glace Bay, Waterford and Sydney Mines. The city of Sydney is situated about midway between the northern and southern extremities of the field and on the western fringe of the productive coal measures. Sydney harbor crosses the coal field, cutting off direct rail connection between Sydney Mines and the greater part of the field to the southeast. (Fig. 2.) The coal measures are exposed in the cliffs on the coast line, which rise to an average height of 30 ft., and are almost continuous throughout the length of the field. The portion of the coal field under land forms a small segment of a circle, the greatest distance from the coast landwards is 9 miles, and it occupies an area of 200 sq. miles. The greatest distance developed seawards from the shore by mining operations is 2 ¼ miles. The strata maintain a regularity of dip at this distance, proving a submarine area of about 70 sq. miles. How much further the coal field extends seawards is unknown, but the indications are that it extends far beyond the present economical working limit and in all probability there is a vast submarine coal field. The productive coal measures are of Carboniferous age, these being underlaid by beds of sandstone, locally classed as millstone grit, which define the southern limit of the field,, while a spur of syenitic hills cuts off the coal-bearing strata on the north. Two main anticlinal folds having a general course easterly divide the field into three basins named from north to south: Sydney Mines-Lingan, Glace Bay and Morien.

Jan 1, 1929

By F. V. Lenel

INTRODUCTION Two years ago in Chicago a seminar was held on the theory of sintering of pure metal powders As an introduction to this seminar Dr Rhines1 gave an excellent survey of the literature on this subject His method of presentation was to summarize the experimental observations on sintering and from them to develop a composite theory of sintering in which he combined all the important contributions to the theory into one organic whole In contrast to the mechanism of sintering of pure metal powders, which, of course, always takes place in the solid phase, sintering in the presence of a liquid phase, cannot be treated as one unified mechanism, such as the sintering mechanism of pure metals The reason is that there are really several mechanisms depending upon the type of alloy system which is sintered and the field of its constitutional diagram in which the sintering takes place Two mechanisms have been investigated and will be reviewed in this paper In the first mechanism the liquid is present during the entire time while the compacts are at the sintering temperature In other words they are sintered between the liquidus and the solidus of the alloy System and are heterogeneous during the entire sintering cycle The second mechanism applies to alloys in which the liquid phase is formed during the sintering process, but disappears before the sintering process is completed through diffusion and formation of a solid solution These alloys are therefore homogeneous at the end of the sintering cycle This second mechanism is more complicated because of the two stages of sintering, the liquid and the solid, as they may be called It is therefore not surprising that the few detailed investigations of sintering in the presence of a liquid phase have been concerned with heterogeneous sintered alloys, namely the tungsten-nickel-copper alloys, which is the so-called "heavy alloy," and the cemented carbides The mechanism of sintering of these systems is characterized by the fact that theoretical or near theoretical density is attained during sintering, while simultaneously a distinct grain growth takes place through solution of the smallest grains of the solid phase in the liquid phase and reprecipitation on the larger grains In the first part of the survey this sintering mechanism which is called for short the heavy alloy mechanism is treated in detail In the second part of the survey experimental observations for the sintering of homogeneous sintered alloys where the liquid phase disappears before the completion of sintering are discussed Much less systematic work has been done on these alloys to which the commercially important porous bronzes and the iron-nickel-aluminum permanent magnet alloys belong Emphasis will be laid throughout this survey upon the microstructural and density changes during sintering because the sintering mechanism can usually be described directly by these changes Other

Jan 1, 1948

By Dwight L. Sawyer

IF it had not been for the testimony of former Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes, before the Senatorial investigating committee the public would have heard little about the Federal Government's suit against California for the ownership of the tidelands. The Ickes-Pauley dispute brought to public attention that the California tideland oil deposits are the last remaining large Federal oil reserves. Ickes contends that these tideland oil deposits belong to the nation for the benefit of all the people of all the states and not solely to the State of California. Ickes also accused California oil man Ed Pauley of offering to give $330; 000 to the Democratic party fund if Ickes would drop the Federal Government's suit against the State of California for the ownership of said tidelands. The tidelands may be considered as the land bordering the coast line between mean high tide and outward under the ocean for a distance of a marine league, or about three statute miles. This strip of land along the coast of southern California contains large oil deposits which have a present and future prospective value of several billion dollars.

Jan 1, 1947

By Charles C. Towle, Irving Rapaport

URANIUM mineralization along the north flank of the Zuni Uplift, in the vicinity of Haystack Butte, was discovered by Paddy Martinez, a Navajo Indian, in the spring of 1950. The find was reported to the Santa Fe Railway Co., which initiated a program of exploration upon its holdings in the district in December of 1950. The Anaconda Copper Mining Co. secured numerous leases in January and February, 1951, and began an intensive exploration and development program in March 1951. The district was extended into the Lucero Uplift in August of 1951 by the discovery of uranium mineralization in Todilto limestone by Joy Sinyella, a Supai Indian living on the Laguna Reservation. Initial reconnaissance was performed in the district by the Atomic Energy Commission in November 1950. A field office under the direction of the Denver Exploration Branch of the AEC was established at Prewitt, N. Mex. in January 1951 to study regional and detailed guides to ore, to evaluate the ore deposits, and to promote the development of the district by providing geologic services for the companies and individuals engaged in exploration. With the development of sufficient ore to warrant construction of a mill, the Grants area of New Mexico has come of age as a full fledged uranium mining district. The carnotite-type deposits of Grants, the first of major economic importance found in limestone, have extended the Colorado Plateau carnotite field into the more complex structure of the Basin and Range Province. General Geology The Grants uranium district is in northwestern New Mexico, along the southern flank of the San Juan Basin, between the cities of Gallup and Albuquerque. The region is at a mean altitude of about 6800 ft, vegetation is sparse, and outcrops are excellent. Mt. Taylor volcanic peak, at an elevation of 11,400 ft dominates the surrounding area. The overlying cliff-forming Dakota sandstone is the most resistant formation in the Grants District and characteristically erodes into dissected mesas as much as five miles wide. The principle uranium ore-bearing horizons are found in the underlying Morrison formation, and the Todilto limestone of the San Rafael group. The Morrison weathers into. a series of steep slopes and precipitous cliffs near the lower part of the Dakota-capped rims, while in contrast, the relatively resistant underlying. Todilto [ ] limestone forms broad benches extending out from the base of these Dakota rims as much as five miles wide. The Todilto benches are covered with overburden to an average depth of about 5 ft in the first thousand ft away from the Dakota rim, but increases to about 200 ft at the base of the rim. In many places however, a thick mantle of upper Cretaceous sediments and Tertiary volcanics "obscures the ore-bearing Jurassic, and precludes exploration. . The known uranium deposits of the Grants District are distributed throughout a zone 85 miles long and about 10 miles wide. Stratigraphy Rocks from pre-Cambrian through Tertiary are exposed in the uplifted areas, but uranium appears to be restricted chiefly to two zones in Jurassic sediments. The Jurassic sediments of the Colorado Plateau have been subdivided into three units, in ascending order: (1) Glen Canyon group, (2) San Rafael group, (3) Morrison formation. The Todilto limestone zone within the San Rafael group has produced the bulk of ore to date, but the promise of the Morrison zone is rapidly increasing. The Todilto formation extends about 300 miles east-west and about 100 miles in a north-south direction. It is composed of a lower, extensive, limestone member and a central, more restricted, thick, pure gypsum member. The Todilto is believed to be of lacustrine origin. The Morrison formation in this area is subdivided, rather arbitrarily, into three members: Recapture Creek, Westwater Canyon, and Brushy Basin. Ore

Jan 1, 1952

By David Donoghue

THE. years 1901, 1910, and 1924 may be considered as the beginning of new eras in the history of the oil industry of the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. Spindletop, in 1901, with its enormous cap-rock production revealed the possibilities of the salt domes. The lateral sand development at Vinton, in 1910, renewed interest in the then known domes which were non-producing, or were producing from the cap rock or from sands above the cap rock. The discovery of three domes, Nash, Orchard and Long Point, in the year 1924, by means of the torsion balance and the seismograph, is the beginning of intensive explorations of the Gulf coastal plain by geophysical methods. Domes other than those mentioned have no doubt been found during the last few months of the year but tests have not been drilled to confirm the evidence of the instruments. DISCOVERY OF DOMES BY GEOPHYSICAL METHODS The Rycade Oil Corpn. operated the first torsion balance on the Gulf Coast in October, 1922, and the Roxana Petroleum Corpn. brought in one of these instruments and began work in December, 1922. The U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey made some gravity observations at Damon Mound, in 1923, with a pendulum apparatus. In March, 1924, the Marland Oil Co. placed the first seismograph on the Gulf Coast and the Gulf Production Co. followed with one in May. In June, 1924, the Gulf Production Co. began operations with a torsion balance. The Atlantic Oil Producing Co., The Texas Co., and others have experimented with several types of instruments involving various principles. During the next few years, a great advance in geophysical methods may be expected, especially if one of the newly discovered domes should be productive. The first dome discovered was the Nash, in Fort Bend County, Tex., about 6 mi. east of Damon Mound. A slight elevation and two shallow wells containing sulfurous waters made the locality somewhat interesting from the standpoint of surface indications, and the torsion-balance measurements indicated the presence of a dome. On July 20, 1924, the Rycade Oil Corpn. No. 1 Wisdom encountered lime at a depth of 634 ft. and anhydrite at 639 ft. The hole was abandoned on Sept. 8, 1924, at 769 ft. in anhydrite. A cavity in the anhydrite caused much delay and the final abandonment of this test.

Jan 3, 1925

By T. A. Rickard

In a former paper* the writer has described the essential features of the general geology of the Cripple Creek region. In the present account it is intended to examine into the occurrence of the ores, the value of which has made this district the most important among existing American gold-fields. The production of Cripple Creek from its discovery, in 1891, to the close of 1901, has reached a valuation of fully $125,000,000. During the past year (1901) the output amounted to $17,285,470. In 1900 it was $18,174,681. The first discoveries, which led to the development of the district, were made in the spring of 1891, but it was not until 1893 that vigorous work was commenced. A great impetus was then given to the exploration for gold on account, of the sudden drop in the market-price of silver, caused by the closing of the Indian mints in the summer of that year. This induced an energetic population from the older silvermining camps of Colorado to go to the new gold-field, which was then beginning to attract attention. Prospecting, at first, was hindered by the comparative absence of outcrops, due to the fact that the surface of the hills is covered with a considerable thickness of shattered rock, resulting from the action of frost at a high altitude; but so much indiscriminate digging was done that a number of rich veins were uncovered, and this stimulated the search for others. The advanced condition of the mining industry of Colorado offered unusual facilities for exploration and reduction; progress was therefore rapid, with the result that the district soon achieved great prominence.

Jan 1, 1903

By Edward B. Hughes, Frank G. Norris

OXIDATION is characteristic of all processes for making steel from pig iron. This thought has been aptly expressed by H. W. Graham13 in the most recent Howe Memorial Lecture, "The process of steel-making consists of using iron oxide to reduce the carbon content of the pig iron to the desired level." Direct oxidation refers to the reaction that results from introducing oxygen either alone or mixed with other gases directly into the steel bath. In working a heat, oxygen in some form is added to the steel to remove the undesirable constituents as oxides. There are two general methods of supplying this oxygen to the open hearth bath. The method in which the oxygen is added as a, compound such as C02-or iron ore is designated an indirect method because the steel bath must first decompose the compound to attain oxygen in a usable form. The other method in which oxygen is added to the bath in the elemental or gaseous form, more or less diluted by other gases such as nitrogen, is a direct, method because no decomposition is necessary before the oxygen reacts with iron to form FeO which is dissolved in the bath in a usable form. Bubble formation (at least of a macroscopic size) presents no problem in case of direct oxidation because the reacting agent (oxygen) is in the form of bubbles when entering the metal. Regardless of whether oxygen is introduced into the bath directly or indirectly, several reactions proceed concurrently. In the presence of the bath of molten iron, FeO is formed either by oxidation of iron by oxygen or reduction of oxides by iron. This FeO dissolved in the molten iron is the source of oxygen for the oxidation of manganese, carbon, silicon, and phosphorus if these are present. The oxidation of carbon from steel is the controlling steelmaking reaction. The introduction of oxygen into the bath, its reaction in the elimination of impurities, and its control by the use of de-oxidizing additions have been subjects of importance since steel was first made by the bessemer process. Direct oxidation is, in a sense, an application of the bessemer principle to the open hearth process. Graham13 states: "The use of oxygen or air jets introduced into the metal bath is essentially an effort to approach in the open hearth the turbulence, rapid interface reaction, and high production rate per hour that exists in the bessemer process." The general subject, "Oxygen in Steelmaking," was given new life by the studies of Herty and associates starting about1925. The current interest in elemental oxygen is intimately related to the large scale production of oxygen developed during the war period. Some of the first applications were made during the early summer of 1946 at the Steel Co. of Canada using oxygen with the fuel. Such a use is of considerable interest and importance in contributing to faster heats but is not the subject of the present discussion which deals entirely with the introduction of elemental oxygen directly into the open hearth bath. A recent article12 reviewing the current

Jan 1, 1948

By DR. SAMUEL B. CHRISTY

? THE man is always greater than his work.? The training of the men who are to develop the mineral resources of the world is the most important problem connected with mining engineering. It becomes ever more important to civilization as the mineral wealth of the earth approaches exhaustion. I have therefore decided to consider a few of the more important problems arising in the training of the mining engineer, and especially those arising in America. THE PECULIAR NATURE OF MINERAL WEALTH. Mining and Agriculture are the two fundamental arts. Without the latter our existence would be precarious; without the former, our civilization impossible. Agriculture furnishes that regular supply of food and raiment which leads to the growth of large communities in which cultivated leisure first becomes possible; while raining furnishes the metallic thread from which is woven that complex fabric we call civilization. But in these two arts the conditions for success are widely different. Most of the crops that the farmer reaps may be harvested year after year, and the proper fertilizers being added, he may continue the annual harvest indefinitely, while, as a result of cultivation, his farm becomes yearly more valuable. But the crop the miner reaps can be harvested but once in the history of the race. Our mineral wealth has taken unknown ages to mature in the bosom of the earth. The ripened fruit can be plucked but once. There are no fertilizers for worked out mines. It never pays to work over a mine that has been

Sep 1, 1905