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By W. L. Saunders

It is now generally admitted by experts that at least so far as rapid progress is concerned the Alpine system of tunnel-driving is superior to any other. This is perhaps natural in view of the record of experience in driving tunnels through the Alps. These great mountain-chains cannot be treated in the ordinary way by shaft-sinking and driving headings, thus multiplying the points of attack. The work must be done from the ends only, hence speed in driving is of the utmost importance ; and, as necessity is the mother of invention, the concentration of effort to make progress has resulted in an organization and in mechanical appliances that have produced results so much in excess of the usual practice, even in America, that a discussion of the subject in detail should be of much value to the engineer and contractor. The first Alpine tunnel mas the Mont Cenis, length 7.5 miles, driven with a progress that averaged about 7.75 ft. per day. Next came the Saint Gothard, 9.5 niiles long, 18 ft. per day; Arlberg, 6.5 miles long, 27.25 ft. per day; Simplon, 12.25 miles long, 36 ft. per day. The figures represent progress when driving from two headings, so that by dividing them in two we get the daily single-heading progress. The latest of the Alpine tunnels is the Loetschberg, now being driven. In this work the world's record has been beaten by a single day's record in one heading of 36 ft. and by an average daily record in one heading of 29.5 feet. The Alpine range forms a natural barrier between a large section of northern and southern Europe. This range extends from the southeast of Prance to the frontier of Hungary, betveen Italy and the plains of sonthern Germany. The contour

Jan 1, 1912

By AIME

THE history of the Mine La Motte area covers a greater period of time than any other mining operation west of the Mississippi, for it was almost exactly four centuries ago that the white man first visited the region. In May 1541 a few men from the party of Fernando de Soto traversed the place looking for silver which they understood the Indians had found in the vicinity. Some historians say that De Soto himself visited the place sometime later. No other white man came through again until the early 1700's. In 1712 King Louis XIV of France granted to Antoine Crozat a charter for transacting all business and government in the vast domain of the New Continent stretching from the Gulf of Mexico northward indefinitely. This

Jan 1, 1947

By F. N. Rhines

I. An Outline of the Theory of the Sintering of Pure Metal Powders SINTERING may be defined as the process by which powders bond themselves into coherent bodies, usually, although not necessarily, under the influence of pressure and elevated temperature. For the sake of clarity and simplicity, the present survey will exclude from consideration the sintering of mixed or alloyed powders, with attendant complications, but at the risk of overlooking information of general applicability. Sintering in the presence of a liquid phase is thus automatically eliminated. The sintering of alloys involves much additional subject matter and deserves separate consideration. Since the literature of the subject is extensive and widely scattered, it will not be feasible to consider the contributions individually. Instead, the subject matter will be classified according to experimental observations and theory, and will be presented in summary form. It should be noted that the appended list of references does not constitute a complete bibliography; it includes only those works quoted below. More extensive bibliographies are included in several of the references; see particularly references 7, q, 28, 34, 38, 50, 52, 54 a "Bibliography on Powder Metallurgy" published by the Library of Congress and a pamphlet published by the Metals Disintegrating Co. entitled "The Field of Powder Metallurgy and Bibliography." II. Summary of Experimental Observations The following classified list is composed of general statements of established fact derived from the experimental results reported in the published literature. A few contested observations are included, because of their potential importance; these are labeled as such. Any satisfactory and complete theory must be capable of explaining all of the uncontested facts. Obviously, some important facts may be missing from this list and these may hold the key to the correct explanation of the sintering process, but the possible lack of such material should not deter attempts to understand the subject on the basis of what is available here. A. The Initial Bond at Room Temperature a. To a limited extent uncompressed powders and massive metals adhere at room temperature.28 Clean tin powder forms a weak "cake" on standing at room temperature, the strength increasing with time. Clean gold surfaces adhere on light contact,"' as do those of many other substances, including nickel." b. Upon compression the strength of the bond is increased progressively.28 There is a limit of pressure

Jan 1, 1946

By Edward D. Peters

IT frequently occurs in the establishment of reduction works, in an entirely new and untried mining district, that the metallurgist in charge finds considerable difficulty in determining the process best adapted to the ores which he receives for treatment. At the first glance it would seem easy enough to decide what style of furnace is best adapted for beneficiating any one class of minerals. If the ore possessed a quartzose gangue and was comparatively free from base metals, while salt could be obtained at a reasonable price, one would naturally resort to a chloridizing roasting, and pan or barrel amalgamation for the extraction of its silver contents. If galena or carbonate of lead was the prevailing mineral, and charcoal could be obtained at moderate figures, the blast-furnace would beneficiate the ores most advantageously. But if, as is usually the case in Colorado, the ores consisted of an intimate mixture of galena, zinc-blende, copper-pyrites, and noble silver minerals, associated with an overwhelming mass of siliceous heavy spar, or limestone gangue, the common reverberatory furnace can be used to the greatest advantage; and, although the product is only a copper matte, I do not hesitate to affirm that it can be treated, and the silver, gold, and copper produced at nearly the same price for which silver and lead can be separated. In Germany, blast-furnaces are frequently used for this same purpose, both for argentiferous and non-argentiferous copper ores ; but any one who will take the trouble to examine the statistics of smelting at Fahlun, the Oberharz, and other Continental works of this description, will see that the expenses are far too great, and the production much too small to think of employing this method in our mining districts, where only the softest and most miserable kind of charcoal is obtainable. I propose in this paper to give an accurate account of the expenses incurred at the Mount Lincoln Smelting Works in treating the same kind of ore, and producing the same end-product in both blast and reverberatory furnaces. I have taken for comparison a favorable campaign of the blast-furnace, and a good average month's running of the reverberatory. In the blast-furnace estimate I have included the calcining and concentration of the matte produced during that campaign, as I always, when possible, concentrated the regulus made

Jan 1, 1874

By J. J. Bodmer

The substances or materials employed in this manufacture, are the same as those used in the preparation of mortar and concrete, viz., the different kinds of lime and sand. Instead of, or in conjunction with, sand there may be used calcined clay, blast-furnace slag, clinkers or ashes from furnaces, natural puzzolana, powdered chippings from stone quarries, etc. Of the different kinds of sand, pitsand—siliceous sand, as it commonly occurs mixed with gravel—and the sand found on the seashore, where the salt has been washed out by long exposure, whilst out of reach of the tide, may be used. The purer the above-named materials are from admixtures of clay, earth, or organic substances, the more complete will be their combination with the lime, the quicker will the manufactured brick or block set, and the more satisfactory will be the quality which it ultimately attains. For this reason, subdivided blast-furnace slag is preferable in most cases to sand, and the only sand which, in reference to setting capacity, is analogous to blast-furnace slag, is the volcanic sand occurring in different localities in North and South Wales, as an almost pure calcined silica. The lime used for the manufacture may be either slaked or unslaked. In the first case, (slaked), in order. to obtain satisfactory results, the lime must be strongly hydraulic. The use of unslaked lime, however, is by far preferable. A process for using fresh or unslaked lime has been patented in England by Major-General Scott. Lime thus prepared is called " selenitic lime," and consists of a mixture of fresh (unslaked) lime with sulphate of lime, or plaster of Paris. The graystone lime, for instance, found by the Medway, is mixed with from 5 to 7 per cent. of plaster, which has the effect of keeping the lime from slaking when water is added. This mixture also partakes of the nature of cement, and when used for mortar, or concrete, attains in a shorter time a greater degree of hardness than the same lime would ever have obtained after being slaked. Bodmer's process for the manufacture of artificial stone bricks consists chiefly in the use of automatic measuring, forwarding, and mixing apparatus, by means of which the materials are supplied and unite in a continuous stream, and are accurately measured. They

By Willard P. Ward

I DESIRE to put on record a fact in relation to the effect of manganese on pig iron which I have never seen in print, and which may, perhaps, not have been observed by anyone except myself. In 1875, while experimenting on the production of ferromanganese in a blast furnace, I had burdened the furnace with a charge which I calculated would produce a 15-per cent spiegel. The furnace was very hot, having been running for a couple of days on a very light burden, and making a burnt iron, preparatory to the experiment I proposed to make to produce a high grade of spiegel. I calculated that the charge would begin to work in the furnace in about twelve hours after it was put on. After the lapse of that time I commenced to watch the furnace carefully, but found little or no. change in the appearance of the metal, although there was a very decided change in the cinder, showing that the manganese ore had come in work. The iron was quite gray and very tough. The character of the cinder was good for a spiegel cinder, and I could not imagine where the manganese was going to, as it (lid not appear to be in either metal or cinder in anything like the quantity indicated by the charge. The next morning things were still in, the same condition. The furnace was very hot, the cinder good, and the iron very gray. I was then sorely puzzled. I had never heard of a gray iron with over 4 or 5 per cent, of manganese, and had no notion that an iron with more manganese could be gray and tough. With great difficulty a piece for chemical test was broken from a pig. Not less than a hundred blows from a heavy sledge were required to break it off I took the specimen to the shop and directed that some borings from it should be brought to the laboratory, as soon as possible, whither I myself at once repaired -to put things in readiness for a rapid manganese determination. In about half an hour the machinist came in with the iron specimen in one hand and about, a dozen blunted and broken steel drills in the other, saying that it was impossible to drill the iron. There were several little depressions in the iron, which was malleable enough to be indented by the point of the drill, but not a chip had been cut from it. The metal was never subjected to further physical tests. A chip broken from

Jan 1, 1882

By S. M. Marshall

FOR a number of years European investigators have used laboratory methods of predicting the probable strength of coke made from coal, and recently several investigators in the United States have reported the use of various tests for this purpose. There is at present no method accepted as standard, however, nor is there even agreement as to the general type of test that should be used. Furthermore, because the details of most of the tests have not been worked out carefully, one investigator can not hope to duplicate the work of another. The extension of coke manufacture to new localities in the United States, and the increasing need for cokes of exceptional qualities made from the most economical mixtures, made it desirable to have some simple laboratory test which will determine whether given coals, alone or blended with other coals, are more satisfactory from the standpoint of coke strength than others of different cost. The work described herein has resulted in the development of a simple laboratory test which, it is believed, can be generally adopted in coal laboratories, and which will give concordant results even though performed by different investigators in different laboratories. The general method of predicting whether a coal or a mixture of coals will produce a strong coke, resistant to crushing and shattering, has been to correlate the known strengths of the cokes produced in commercial ovens with some measurable constituent or with some property of the coals, and then to use the relationship so found for forming an estimate of the coking strengths of coals unknown. Several such correlations have utilized the percentages of the various ultimate constituents of coal, such as the oxygen content and the hydrogen-oxygen ratio;(39)§ other correlations have involved the proportion of a, (3 and y compounds, (17'21,30 or of "oil and solid bitumens."(16,30) Also a relationship has been traced between the coking properties of coal and the rate of change of the resistance offered to the flow of an inert gas by fine particles of the coal while being slowly heated. (11,17b) But the most general corre-

Jan 1, 1929

By Henry R. Linden

The demand for natural gas continues to increase at higher than anticipated rates, partly because of its widening price advantage over most other fossil fuels when the cost of air-pollution control is included. However, there are clear indications that the natural gas supply from the conliguous 48 states and continental shelves will not keep up with this rapid growth in demand indefinitely. Projections are presented which define the extent of potential deficiencies from the 1970's to the year 2000. Among the sources of supplemental gas - imported pipeline natural gas from Canada and Mexico, tanker import of liquefied natural gas, and synthetic pipeline gas from coal and oil shale -by far the most abundant at potentially competitive costs is pipeline gas from coal. The state of development and relative economics of the various coal gasification processes are reviewed. It is shown that synthetic pipeline gas could become a very substantial market for bituminous coal and lignite at current mine-mouth prices - 60-70 million tons of coal for each trillion cubic feet of synthetic pipeline gas produced. This corresponds to only slightly more than the current annual increase in gas demand. Although annual discoveries (gross additions to proved reserves) of natural gas in the United States are still on a general upward trend from the current level of 22 trillion cu ft annually, most forecasters do not expect this to increase substantially in the foreseeable future. For example, the updated (to include 1966 and 1967 data) mathematical model of natural gas discovery and production in the U.S. developed by the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT)' projects that discoveries will level out at about 25 trillion cu ft annually in the late 1970's and during the 1980's and then decline to about 21 trillion cu ft by the year 2000 (Fig. 1). This adds up to a new supply for the period 1968-2000 of about 790 trillion cu ft. Experts who usually reflect the producers' viewpoint, such as Radford L. Schantz of Foster Associates,* are relatively more pessimistic. In contrast, a forecast just made by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior is much more optimistic.3 It assumes an increase in gas discoveries of 2.2% per year over the period 1965-80, reaching about 30 trillion cu ft in 1980. If this rate of increase were extended to the year 2000, annual discoveries would reach 46 trillion cu ft at that time, for a total over the period 1968-2000 of about 1100 trillion cu ft. To these forecasts of new gas discoveries must be added proved reserves of roughly 290 trillion cu ft,4 bringing total U.S. supplies for the rest of the century to nearly 1100 trillion cu ft (IGT) and possibly as high as 1400 trillion cu ft (U.S. Dept. of the Interior). This is approximately the same range as that of two estimates of total remaining recoverable natural gas supply: Potential Gas Committee, 980 trillion cu ft5 and IGT, 1450 trillion cu ft.6 Only the 1965 estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey7 suggests that economically recoverable natural gas supplies will not be exhausted around the end of the century. These forecasts are, naturally, based on the assumption that changes in technological, economic, and regulatory environment as they affect the gas industry will be of an evolutionary, not revolutionary, nature. The various forecasts of potential natural gas supply must now be compared to forecasts of natural gas demand (Table I). The general consensus is that the recent Future Requirements Committee projection to 1990' (extended to the year 2000 by the most recent U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) projection9) represents the minimum gas requirements (Table 11). They add up to a total of 1030 trillion cu ft for the period 1968-2000. Even this minimum anticipated gas demand exceeds the total remaining supply estimate by the Potential Gas Committee and would nearly exhaust the proved reserves plus new discoveries projected by IGT. The supply situation would appear much tighter if the demand projections of the Texas Eastern Transmission Gorp.10 and the American Gas Assn.(A.GA.)'' were used (Table I). Yet, these higher forecasts probably do not include the effects of such new markets as gas fuel cells, use of liquefied natural gas as a transport fuel, etc. They also may not fully reflect the impact of air quality control on the fuel market. Obviously, the probable discrepancy between projected supply and demand can only be accommodated in four ways. 1) Rapid increase in exploration and drilling activity to provide new supplies in the amount projected by the optimistic U.S. Dept. of the Interior forecast, coupled with an increase in net pipeline imports from Canada and Mexico from the present 0.5 trillion cu ft per year

Jan 1, 1970

By W. T. Bishop

FOR many years pine oil has been used extensively as a frother for the flotation of minerals, particularly sulphides, yet the published information available to the average user on its composition, chemical and physical properties, has been rather meager. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss these points and their relationship to the frothing properties of pine oil used in flotation processes. Pine oil, as the name implies, is a liquid obtained from the processing of wood of the longleaf and other southern pines. It is a complex mixture of naturally occurring terpene derivatives, primarily alcohols, and a smaller amount of terpenes, which has found many uses in various industries. Its use as a frother in flotation processes was the first large-scale application in industry and today the mining industry still consumes large quantities of pine oil but the textile and disinfectant industries consume comparable volumes. Much is used in soap manufacture and laundry operations. The surface-active properties of pine oil are in a large degree responsible for this versatility. HISTORY The name "Naval Stores" goes back to the days when pine tar and pitch were used to caulk leaky ships and coat their ropes and rigging. Today this term is still used to include not only the oleoresinous products of the pine tree-rosin and turpentine-but other products such as pine oil, pine tar, and the many terpene and resinous compounds obtained by extracting the pine wood or tapping the tree. That part of the industry known as "wood naval stores" dates from about the beginning of this century and today produces a large part of the country's rosin and turpentine by processing pine wood. In addition, all of our natural pine oil is, supplied by the wood naval stores industry, as tapping of the live tree gives only rosin and turpentine. This latter phase is known as the "gum naval stores" industry. The first successful commercial operation of the steam and solvent process of the wood naval stores in industry was carried out by Yaryan at Cadillac, Mich., in 1909.1 This operation did not prove profitable, so Yaryan went south to utilize the longleaf pine, and built a plant at Gulfport, Miss.2 Soon after, another plant was built at Brunswick, Ga., which is still in operation, and in 1914 was reported to have processed about 500 tons of wood per day.1 In 1921 Hercules Powder Co. acquired the Yaryan interests, at which time the production of pine oil was only 3 to 5 million pounds per year and flotation was the largest customer. As time went on, technological advances were made, other companies entered the field, and the production of pine oil increased many fold. The growth of the industry was especially marked during the past 10 years, and in

Jan 1, 1946

By Walter C. Lawson

THE primary objective in laying track in panel sections is to reduce the number of track laborers required. This is possible because the work is mechanized. Moreover, because the work is mechanized and each of the operations needs only a few men, and each is self-contained, the work can be carried on at night as well as in daylight; therefore, the method provides a means of preparing tracks on more than one shift. The laying of tracks in open pits and quarries in panel sections is not new but new methods have been made possible by the introduction of new types of equipment. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods that are followed in' the Morenci open pit. GENERAL MINING OPERATIONS Full-scale ore production at Morenci is about 50,000 tons daily. The normal yearly output of ore and waste is 32,000,000 tons, of which 30,000,000 tons is handled by rail haulage. This requires the building of approximately 47 miles of loading and other temporary tracks during a 12 months' period (Fig I). Broken ore and waste, is loaded., into 90-ton capacity dump cars with 5-cu-yd full-revolving electric shovels. Shovel banks are uniformly 50 ft high:. They are blasted- with churn drill holes, and the broken material from a blast is loaded out with two shovel cuts, the first one being called (locally) the "splatter" cut and the second one the "clean-up" or "face-up" cut. When a shovel is making its clean-up cut, the loading track is about 70 ft from the toe of the bank and, under normal conditions, a bank is blasted against it without removing the track. It is thus evident that each track is used for two shovel cuts before relocation is necessary, inasmuch as a single position serves for both the clean-up cut prior to blasting and for the splatter cut following the blast. The normal advance of a solid bench by a single blast is 40 ft (Fig 2). PREPARATION OF PANEL GRADE In preparation of panel grades bulldozers and rooters are used for the bulk of the work and an auto-patrol road grader for the final stage. At Morenci, bulldozers have always been used for track-grade preparation, but before the introduction of the other two types of equipment grades were uneven and irregular at best, and always necessitated a big gang of track laborers to hand-block under the ties with rocks after a track was laid into place. High blocking also made poor track because of instability and caused frequent derailments. Under these conditions derailments were generally bad as re-railing became difficult. Much track was torn up and many ties broken in the process. The inadequacy of the hand-blocked track, together with the inefficiency of hand blocking, constantly pointed to the desirability of reducing the amount of labor required, so various means were tried to improve conditions, such as wood

Jan 1, 1947

By Arthur Clark, Terrill

THE Tri-State field is now believed to be the largest zinc district in the world. It has a potential production sufficient to supply the entire zinc demands of the country. It is estimated that a train 70 miles long would be required to haul the district's 1919 output of 60 per cent. zinc concentrates. For many years,, including 1917, Missouri surpassed Oklahoma in zinc production. In 1918, however, Oklahoma led by a wide margin and, in 1919, Missouri produced less than one-sixth of the total for the three states, when Kansas replaced Missouri in second place in the production. The district is now producing one-third of the zinc of the world and twice as much as ever before at the present price.

Jan 1, 1920

By Michel Elle, John Chipman

The equilibrium of gaseous H20-H2 mixtures with liquid iron-columbium alloys in the range 0.2 to 2.4 pct Cb shows that the activity coefficient of oxygen is strongly diminished by Cb. The oxide in equilibvium with the melt is identified as CbO2. The equi-librium constant at 1600 deg C is [%Cb][fo. % 0]2 = 2.9 x 10-4 where log fo= —0.14 [%Cb]. The deoxidizing power is comparable to that of vanadium, COLUMBIUM (niobium) is finding increasing use as an alloying element in steel. It forms several stable oxides and is removed from the steel bath by oxidizing slags. The specific oxide formed in steel-making is not known although Sazanov snd Shvarts-man,' in their study of its partition between slag and metal, have assumed this to be Cb2O5 It is the purpose of this study to determine its deoxidation equilibrium at 1600°c, the nature of the oxide formed and the interaction between columbium and oxygen in the melt. The investigation was based on the reaction H2 + O=H2O; Kl=ph2o/(pH2[%O]) [1] in which 0 signifies oxygen dissolved in the liquid Fe-Cb alloy. The method and equipment of recent studies2,3 were utilized. In brief, the molten alloy, contained in a small crucible, is held in a controlled mixture of steam, hydrogen, and argon until equilibrium is reached. It is then cooled quickly in a stream of helium and analyzed for columbium and oxygen, the latter by vacuum fusion.4 The solubility of the oxide in liquid iron is determined by visual observation of scum formation on the surface of the melt. Crucibles of MgO proved unsatisfactory because of partial reduction at the metal interface. Pure A12O3 crucibles were heavily blackened by the melt and could not be used at high concentrations of columbium. Silica crucibles were more satisfactory but these introduced some silicon into the melt thus necessitating an uncertain but small correction for its effect on the activities of the other solutes. In silica it was possible to observe the scum formation when the melt became saturated and there was no apparent reaction between scum and crucible. The procedure for saturated melts was as follows. The alloy charge composed of electrolytic iron and columbium grain was melted and held at constant temperature. The gas ratio H2O:H2 was progressively increased by raising the saturator temperature until a point was reached at which a bright film appeared on the surface and covered it completely. This film could be dissolved by raising the temperature of the melt and it reappeared when the temperature was lowered. Under a partial film covering, utilizing bare areas for temperature measurement, the melt was brought to equilibrium with the atmosphere by holding at temperature for about 1 hr as suggested by Dastur.5 INTERACTION IN THE MELT Several experiments were made without columbium to establish a base in silica crucibles. The results are shown in Table I. Except for one run, they agreed well with Floridis1 comparable results in other crucibles. The value of log K1 is taken from Table I as 0.58. This is slightly larger than Floridis' result, probably because of less elaborate safeguards against thermal diffusion. Results obtained in the Fe-Cb-0 series in which no scum formed are shown in Table 11. The equilibrium ratio Kl is defined as ph2o/(ph2[%O]). It is related to the equilibrium constant K1 as follows:

Jan 1, 1962

By H. E. Wheeler

THE work described was carried out during 1917 and 1918 at the testing laboratory of Watertown Arsenal at the instigation of the Nitrate Division and later with the concurrence of the Cannon Section of, the Ordnance Department, U. S. A. The experiments follow three principal lines of work: First, the effect of nitrogen under pressure on steel containers of various compositions at a red heat; second, the effect of decomposing ammonia on various alloy steels, iron, and non-ferrous alloys; third, a new theory of the erosion of guns in respect to the effect of nitrogen in steel. PART I In the Haber process for the manufacture of ammonia from its elements, it is necessary to have nitrogen and hydrogen of 1500 lb. per sq. in. (105.5 kg. per sq. cm.) at a temperature of 500 to 600° C. The steel containers for these gases gave trouble by failing without apparent cause. When the General Chemical Co. began to develop its method for the production of ammonia, it experienced the same difficulty and, knowing that the Haber process had solved the difficulty by the use of alloy steels, it made several small steel bottles of different compositions and kept them filled with these gases at this pressure and temperature until they failed. The time of service varied from a few days, for the plain steel casting, to two years for a chrome-vanadium forging. Four of these steel bottles were sent to this laboratory for investigation; they were a plain carbon-steel forging, a nickel-steel forging, a chrome-vanadium steel forging, and a chrome-steel forging. The time of service was as follows: plain carbon steel, 4 mo.; nickel steel, 6 mo.; chrome-vanadium steel, over 2 yr.; chrome steel, 4 mo. When these containers were cut open and the cross-section surface polished, they showed an inside zone with a different luster from the rest of the metal. Upon etching, this zone was almost unaffected while the rest of the steel etched normally.

Jan 4, 1920

By R. E. Jenkins

The Bell Canyon member of the Delaware Mountain group has yielded quite a large number of fields in which completion and production problems have been numerous and complex. Reserves are difficult to estimate due to the problem of evaluating the formation water saturation, and the feasibility of water flooding is questionable. Extensive laboratory investigations were undertaken to determine if normally measured rock and contained fluids properties could account for many of the peculiar characteristics of the formation. A statistical study or routine core-analysis data was made. Capillary-pressure data were obtained by several techniques. Fresh-water and brine permeabilities were measured and relative permeabilities of oil, water and gas were determined. Some qualitative wetta-bility tests were performed, and the petrography of a few thin sections was studied. The results of this work are presented, with typical or average data shown for each test. The permeability -to- water characteristic of the Delaware was found to be abnormally poor. Correlations of laboratory and field performance data indicate high water saturations in much of the formation. Pore geometry is highly uniform. INTRODUCTION The Delaware formation has undergone extensive exploration and development in the past few years. This has resulted in the discovery of quite a number of fields—producing oil for the most part. A large percentage of the productive wells have produced water along with the oil. Often there is no apparent pattern for the percentage of water cut experienced. In several instances vertical displacments of over 200 ft have been established between communicating wells in which the formation appears to be about the same, yet the structurally high wells yield a much higher water cut than the lower wells. Drill-stem tests have contributed little to well completion because they nearly always show small amounts of water (usually mud filtrate), regardless of what is produced later in the life of the well. Other formation evaluation methods have had no more than limited success in indicating ultimate productivity. Consequently, predicting the type of fluid productivity of Delaware wells has been very difficult. Hydraulic fracture treatments are almost universal, and unstimulated Delaware wells have not exhibited the productivity that normally would be expected of wells with the specific permeabilities encountered. Some operators have indicated that their Delaware wells need frequent re-stimulation. The uncertainty of reservoir water saturations reported for the Delaware has made difficult the task of evaluating oil in place in the reservoirs and estimating primary recovery. The unreliability of this data also will cause feasibility studies for water flooding or other secondary-recovery methods to be problematical. Several opinions have been voiced to explain why the Delaware performs as it does. Chronically poor well completions, dynamic water and tilted water tables, capillary inequi-libria, peculiar relative permeability characteristics and oil-wetness are among the suggested reasons. The dual purpose of this paper is (1) to describe the principal rock characteristics, and (2) to present an evaluation of those characteristics so that approaches can be made to explain the irrational behavior of wells completed in the Delaware. STUDY OF ROUTINE CORE-ANALYSIS DATA A statistical study of routine core-analysis data has been made to relate fundamental rock properties and characteristics of the formation to well productivity. For the most part, well production data were obtained from operators and augmented by production data from commercial information services. Only data which were available in detail and which were considered to be accurate were used. The core data used were obtained on samples from the perforated or open interval only and, thus, may not always represent the total productive interval in a well. All the core-analysis data included in this study are from the Bell Canyon member of the Delaware and were obtained by "plug-type" techniques, as opposed to whole-core or full-diameter techniques. Porosity values were obtained by the summation-of-fluids technique, permeability values are air permeabilities corrected for slippage to an equivalent liquid permeability, and the oil and water contents were determined by means of a high-temperature downdraft retort. All the procedures used are discussed at length in Ref. I. The core-analysis data were sorted

By Walter S. White

The Michigan native-copper district has produced about 5,400,000 tons of copper since mining began in 1845. The copper occurs primarily as open-space fillings and replacements in amygdaloidal flow tops and conglomerate beds of the Portage Lake Lava Series, of middle Keweenawan age. Secondary minerals with which the copper is associated include microcline, chlorite, epidote, pumpellyite, prehnite, quartz, and calcite; zeolites, other than laumontite, are not abundant. A zonal pattern of the secondary minerals transects bedding and suggests regional metamorphism mainly to the grade of the prehnite-pumpellyite graywacke facies of Coombs. Most of the major copper deposits are near the upper limit of abundant quartz in this zonal pattern. The distribution of copper in both amygdaloid and conglomerate deposits is controlled partly by primary permeability of the rocks and partly by later tectonic fracturing that was concentrated in the mechanically weak flow tops and sedimentary beds. Ore shoots and deposits are therefore controlled partly by primary structural features, such as areas of thick and thin fragmental amygdaloid or the boundaries of conglomerate lenses, and partly by regional structure: a number of ore deposits are in synclinal downwarps. The copper-bearing solutions that formed the deposits were ascending. They may have come from a large concealed intrusive, or may have been driven out of the porous tops of lava flows when the rocks were compacted and metamorphosed at great depth in the central part of the Lake Superior syncline. The second hypothesis seems more consistent with the widespread distribution of the copper, its relation to mineral zoning that represents truly regional metamorphism, its native state, and the likelihood that copper deposition was later than most or all of Keweenawan volcanism.

Jan 1, 1968

By Henry D. Hibbard

I. INTRODUCTION. THESE impurities are perhaps the most important things in steel-especially steel made by the oxidation processes-the effect of which has not been at least approximately determined. By oxidation processes I mean the Bessemer and Siemens-Martin, during which the metalloids in the charge are removed by oxidation. It has been truly said that it is a clear advantage to have a new name for a new thing. To secure this and to economize space, let us adopt the name sonim (plural sonims) to designate the solid non-metallic impurities existing in steel or other metal. I would define a sonim as a solid non-metallic portion of matter existing as an impurity in metal. A piece of sand, brick, clay, or such material, imbedded in metal, would be considered as a foreign body, not as an impurity, and therefore not a sonim. The studies of sonims of which the results have been published hitherto, have been made chiefly or wholly on finished or at least on cold steel, without much, if any, regard to the specific methods by which the steel was made. While many of the results so obtained are valuable, they give little help in determining the cause, effect, or cure of the disease. It is not enough, in such a study, to know merely the commercial name of the process; for within the field of each process lies a great number of possible variations, each of which will yield a result differing in some respect from all others; and the control of sonims is particularly dependent. on the metallurgical treatment of the metal, because of the inability of analytical chemistry to throw much light on their presence, condition, and effect, as they usually occur in commercial steels. The microscope aids more, perhaps, than chemistry in their study.

Apr 1, 1911

By G. L. Jr. Spencer

THERE is no question as to the importance of the part played by the retort in modern zinc smelting. A satisfactory retort should have properties that will result in resistance to slagging action and fire cracks, and have no tendency, or at least, only a small tendency, to soften and bend under furnace heat. The life and cost of a retort also are extremely important factors. The trend in zinc smelting during the past few years has been toward longer retorts and higher charge density. This is caused by the fact that the diameter is limited to 9 or 10 in. because of heat penetration difficulties in larger sizes. Consequently, increasing the length of the retort and density of charge offers the only practical means of increasing the amount of zinc produced per retort. The stiffness of a retort perhaps is the most important factor, as slag accumulates in the bottom of a retort which has sagged and very quickly cuts through, often ruining the retorts below. The development of the high-silica retort is a result of the demands made by the trend toward heavy charges.

Jan 1, 1931

By John Hillman

Reconstruction of the British mining industry began shortly after nationalization in 1947 and continued until well into the 1950s with the support of the government. This support diminished as plentiful supplies of cheap oil from the Middle East made many coal mines uneconomic. The planned rundown which followed was foreshadowed in the 1965 White Paper which outlined financial measures to speed the closure of uneconomic collieries. The decline appeared likely to continue into the 21st century as the role of coal in UK energy requirements became less and less significant. This policy was well on course in 1973 when the oil crisis led to a complete reappraisal of the position. A government examination in 1974 of the coal industry then supported the National Coal Board's general strategy of major capital investment as set out in its 'Plan for Coal'. The plan was aimed at halting the intended decline in the industry's capacity and restoring it to 120 million tons of deep mined output in 1985. The plan proposed action along the following lines: Increase output by major investment in construction at existing collieries with sufficient reserves to give 13 million tons per annum extra output.

Jan 1, 1980

By Paul Billingsley

IN THEIR course across Ecuador, the Andes fail to show the mineral wealth with which they abound in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. This may well be due merely to the concealment of recent volcanic ash and dense tropical jungle, but at any rate Ecuador has lacked the stimulation to development and progress afforded to the southern countries by the mines of Cerro de Pasco, Potosi, etc. 1 There is, however; in Ecuador, near its southern border, one mining district that, in recent years under North American management, has become a steady producer of mineral. wealth and. a community in which the sanitary and mechanical elements of modern life are displayed, for ;the first time, to the Ecuadorians of the lowland forests. The mining district of Zaruma is .situated in the province of El Oro, near the southwestern corner of Ecuador, about 50 km. (31 mi.) from the coast. Pizarro's first landing on the mainland was at Tumbez, at the mouth of the river that drains the Zaruma area; and the gold so abundantly found in this Indian town was soon traced to its source. In 1549, Mercadillo, one of the original (band, reached Zaruma, having worked his way up-stream through canyons that .are now regarded as impassable. The Spaniards proved themselves efficient prospectors, finding practically every orebody in the district as yet discovered; and, working

Jan 10, 1925

Discussion of Papers. Meetings of the Institute offer opportunity for social acquaintance and exchange of ideas, for the presentation of papers, and for discussions thereon ; also incidentally for viewing under especially favorable conditions mining operations and industrial establishments, and for hospitals-ties which demonstrate the brotherhood due to kindred interests. Placing sociability prominent is not to be assumed as relegating other features of meetings to subordinate positions; but during about 40 years of membership in the Institute, the value of acquaintances formed (often ripening into close friendship), and the interchange of data, have frequently demonstrated that the social feature of meetings is of great and lasting value to the membership. Of' a roll embracing 4,011 members, resident in all parts of our country, and scattered in various portions of the world, only a small fraction are able to attend meetings, even if the localities selected are alternately widely separated. Hence, the return which most -members receive for their annual assessment of dues is limited to the publications issued, and the credit of being recognized as a member of a great and worthy organization. Tile greater the value of tile contents of our publication, the fuller the return which goes to members. While the Institute disavows responsibility for views or statements made in papers which appear in its Transactions, the fact that these contributions, after passing proper censorship, are accepted by the Institute and spread before the world may properly be received by the writers as endorsements of their (the writers') ability to present a specific technical or industrial proposition worthy of being carefully read. But the mere presentation and publication of contributed papers falls short of fulfilling one important feature of our meetings. If the purpose is confined to having the writers' views, discoveries, theories, or methods published, this can be obtained through the technical or trade journals and magazines.

Jan 7, 1913