Search Documents

By Dwight K. Smith

A new pozzolanic composition has been developed for cementing oil wells where moderate to high temperatures prevail. This material is an entirely different concept to other oil well cementing materials, such as portland cements, cements containing additives, or liquid resins. Its characteristics are such that it is not, at present, recommended for use at temperatures less than 140º F. It can he either accelerated or retarded across a wide range of well conditions. This new cement is composed of a pozzolanic material, hydrated lime, and a chemical activator to give it early initial strength. This material can be used in wells from 6,000 to 18,000 or more feet where temperature conditions are similar to those along the Gulf Coast. This cement, when set, has no soluble portion subject to leaching or any compounds that should be attacked by sulfate waters or brines. For this reason, it should be permanent when placed adjacent to formations carrying any type of fluid. The compressive strengths in 24 hours are more than adequate for wells where temperatures are 140°F and higher. These values ore in excess of many other types of cementing composition presently in use in the field. This pozzolanic composition does not retrogress in strength at high temperatures as do some other types of cementing materials. The slurry weights of this material will vary slightly according to the specific gravity and water requirements of the pozzolnn itself. The materials covered herein will mix from 13.5 to 14.3 lb/gal, and will have a waiting-on-cement time comparable to other materials used under the same conditions. Economically speaking, this composition is less expensive than either portland cements or retarded cements presently being used under deep well conditions. INTRODUCTION Pozzolans are siliceous material which, though not cementitious in themselves, contain constituents which at ordinary temperatures will combine with lime in the presence of water to form compounds which have a low solubility and possess cementing properties. The use of pozzolanic materials dates back many hundreds of years and both the ancient Greeks and Romans were aware that certain volcanic deposits, if finely ground and mixed with lime and sand, yielded a mortar which possessed special properties. Generally, the early strengths of such materials were rather weak and were considered insufficient for modern commercial usages. Pozzolanic materials have been used extensively with portland cement in mass concrete to obtain special properties. In recent years, large quantities of certain pozzolanic materials have been used successfully admixed into portland cements for oil well cementing. Pozzolans, being reactive silicates, will combine with the free lime that is an inherent component of set portland cements and thereby. becomes cementitious themselves. POZZOLANS FOR OIL WELL CEMENTING There are many types of pozzolans, some of which are more reactive than others. The quality of the pozzoIan depends on the degree of reactivity, chemical composition, fineness, and other less well understood factors. Some of the more widely accepted pozzolans are those classified as fly ashes, while others are certain materials of volcanic origin. pozzolans which require large vol-

Jan 1, 1957

By C. F. Kaiser, T. J. Roberts, I. A. Thomson

The Broken Hill Pty. Co. Ltd. grate-kiln pelletizing plant located at Whyalla, South Australia, produced a total of 250,000 tons of fluxed pellets during 1970. More than 180,000 tons were exported to Japan, while the remainder was used in B.H.P. Co. blast furnaces. The pellet plant treats high grade hematite ore fines and has a nominal capacity of 1.5 million tpy. The induration equipment includes a grate 12-ft 2-in. wide by 164-ft 1-in. long, a kiln 18-ft 6-in. diam by 118-ft 8-in. long, and a rotary cooler 50-ft mean diam by 7 ft wide. Operating problems encountered in the production of fluxed pellets are detailed. The most significant aspect of the trial was the increased production, from about 5100 tpd up to a maximum of 7100, brought about by the addition of artificial magnetite to the plant feed. Laboratory evaluation of fluxed pellets showed that pellets having a basicity ratio (CaO to SiO2) in excess of 1.2 have excellent physical qualities. Reducibility and compressive strength after reduction were both higher for these fluxed pellets than for normal acid pellets. Although it was not possible to publish blast furnace operating data, blast furnace trials on fluxed pellets indicated that production was higher and dust losses substantially lower, compared with similar operations on acid pellets.

Jan 1, 1973

COLUMBIA SECTION STANLY A. EASTON, Chairman, FREDERIC KEFFER, Vice-Chairman, L. K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, P. 0. Drawer 2154, Spokane, Wash. D. C. LIVINGSTON FRANK A. Ross The first meeting of the Columbia Section was held on March 24, as a part of the 1916 Northwest Mining Convention which was held under the -auspices of the Spokane Mining Men's Club assisted by the Spokane Chamber of Commerce, the technical program being in charge of the Spokane Engineering and Technical Association assisted by the local sections of the A. I. E. E., A. S. C. E., and A. I. M. E. The program of the successive sessions was carefully arranged with view to its application to mining, and in addition to the technical program there were exhibits of ores, minerals, devices, etc., of interest to the delegates, who numbered over 500. A portion of the program was also arranged with special reference to the requirements of the prospector and miner. A reception, a banquet, a complimentary luncheon, a regular daily call' of the Stock Exchange, a visit to the High Schools and to one of the substations of the Washington Water Power Company and to the Union Iron Works kept the visitors entertained, the ladies being looked after by a special committee of ladies who held open house during the entire week. Several important resolutions were passed by the Convention and one by the Columbia Section, A. 1. M. E. With Stanly A. Easton, chairman, presiding, the Columbia Section, American Institute of Mining Engineers, occupied the time between 2.00 and 5.30 p.m., March 24th, the Moorish room of the Spokane hotel being filled with members and their guests. "The Apex Law and the Mineral Surveyor" was a paper presented by F. W. Callaway and generally dis-cussed because of its local application in the Coeur d'Alenes, the conclusions being reached after expensive litigation between two of the large mining operators in that district.

Jan 6, 1916

By Sam F. Carter

FOR some time melters and metallurgists have recognized the fact that steels may be made to identical compositions as ordinarily analyzed, but with considerable variations in physical properties. Good melting practice signifies a combination of furnace operations that will produce steel with consistently good physical properties after proper consideration of cost, production efficiency, and chemical control. In acid practice, these operations may be classified fundamentally as: (I) the oxidizing boil, (2) recarburization and deoxidation, (3) slag adjustment, and (4) final deoxidation. These operations affect the properties of the steel through variations in the minute quantities of several microscopic, submicroscopic, and dissolved constituents, which are out of reach of ordinary analyses but are very influential upon the crystallographic slippage and the molecular cohesion of the structure. One of these constituents is the FeO left in solution in the steel. Herty has shown that steels high in dissolved FeO have decreased ductility and impact and increased hardness and electrical resistance. There is also much evidence that FeO in solution affects carbon solubility and diffusion, and consequently abnormality and carburizing behavior.

Jan 1, 1947

By H. L. Teichman, E. M. Sipprelle

ENACTMENT of Public Law 290 by the 78th Congress authorized the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, to conduct an experimental program to develop the technology for obtaining oil from oil shale. In adopting and later extending this legislation, the Congress recognized the impending necessity of supplementing ground petroleum reserves with synthetic fuels. Under the provisions of this legislation, the Bureau of Mines, among other things, was charged with the responsibility of developing mining techniques, methods, and equipment for mining the oil shales of the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

Jan 10, 1950

By John C. Smock

While I was engaged in the preparation of a catalogue or list of mineral localities of the United States, east of the one hundredth meridian, for the U. S. Geological Survey, the thought occurred to me that an arrangement or classification of the iron-ore districts of the eastern part of our country according to their geological horizons would be an interesting topic for a paper, and would furnish a basis upon which to arrange many facts brought out by the constant development of our iron-mining districts. Our text-books of mineralogy, geology, and ore-deposits describe the iron-ores and the

Jan 1, 1884

INTRODUCTION IT is 10. years this summer since the first of the contributions which it has been my privilege to make to the working tools of the hydrometallurgist was set at work, but a full description of what has come to be known as "Dorr Machinery" has never been published in the Transactions of the Institute, and it has been suggested to me that an account of the same would prove of interest to members, although most of those engaged in cyaniding and concentration are probably familiar with it. The account which I shall give of the development of the machines must be recognized as being written from the viewpoint mainly of my own local experience and not from that of one who was familiar with the general metallurgical practice throughout the world. Most advances in any art are conceived before the time is ripe for their development and any .invention which comes into general use will usually be found to have been tried out in a crude way and abandoned more than once. If the early experimenter went as far as the Patent Office, his work may serve no other purpose than to prevent the issuance of the broadest patent to those who later may develop a commercial process. The cyanide process in the United States early in 1904 was mainly confined to the leaching of dry crushed ores, both coarse and fine, and sand treatment of tailings from concentration and amalgamation. In the Black' hills some plants were crushing in cyanide solution, leaching sands and handling the slime by the well-known decantation process. Filter pressing, in use for some years in Australia,had been tried in several places in this country and the Moors process had been abandoned at Mercur after' a short run, but was doing good work at the mill of Lindbergh, Dorr & Wilson, at Terry, and being installed at Bodie and the Liberty Bell. A general feeling, however, still existed that, slimes were to be avoided when possible, on account of the losses in treatment and the difficulty of making a good leaching product when they were present in large amounts, especially when the crushing was done in cyanide solution.

Jan 8, 1914

By Paul B. Crawford, Bobby L. Landrum

Electrical model studies have been made of the effect of unsymmetrical vertical fractures on production cnpacity. The study war restricted to the case of two vertical fractures originating at the well and extending out into the reservoir for various distances and orientations. The ratio of the short fracture length to the long fracture length was varied from 0.1 to 1.0 in successive studies. The angle separating the two fractures was varied from 0 to 180 degrees. The most effective fractured patterns were obtained when the fractures were oriented 180 degrees. It was found that when the total fracture length was equal to 0.2 of the drainage radius, the increase in production capacity may vary from approximately 1.55 to 1.95. depending upon the ratio of the short fracture length to the long fracture length and the angle separating the two fractures. If the total fracture length were 0.5 of the drainape- radius. poroduction cavacitv., increases varving 1.95 to 2.65 were observed, depending on the angle between the fractures and the ratio of the .short fracture length to the long fracture length. The fractured well production capacity decreased aPproxin?ately I to 10 per cent as the angle separating the fractures was varied from 180 to 90 degrees. It was dependent on the particular fracture. The commercial application of reservoir fracturing techniques has caused an interest to be expressed in the effect of vertical and horizontal fractures on production capacities. Some data have indicated that substantially vertical fractures may be created in some reservoirs. It is believed that the fractures are possibly unsymmetrical, that is, one fracture may extend due north 100 ft and a second fracture on the opposite side of the well may extend south or southeast only 50 ft. The total fracture length, ratios of the lengths and angles of separation may vary considerably. For this reason variations in these factors were considered. The study was restricted to the case of two vertical fractures originating at the well and extending out into the reservoir. It is not known that such will occur in a reservoir, but the results may be of value in interpreting or studying fracturing applications. PROCEDURE An electrical model was used in this study of the effect of unsymmetrical vertical fractures on production capacity, A wooden tank 30 in. in diameter and approximately 2 in deep was coated with paraffin wax. A copper band was situated at the periphery and a single wire electrode was positioned at the center of the tank. The ratio of the reservoir radius divided by the

Jan 1, 1956

POSITIONS VACANT (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons.) Opening for man as head of laboratory of large brass manufacturing plant in Ohio; must also be competent to manage foundry making brass castings, following practice of malleable iron castings and insulating materials. Good opportunity for right man. No. 36. Professorship in Mining at a Western university; requires man competent to give instruction in ore dressing, in metal and coal mining, and in zinc smelting, and capable of gaining confidence of mining interests. Salary $2,200 to $3,000. No. 37. ENGINEERS AVAILABLE (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of - the Institute by members or other persons introduced by members.) Member, graduate engineer, aged 44, with over 20 years' experience in connection with large coal and coke operations in different parts of the country, desires position as general superintendent of large coal company, or will take an interest with the management in a smaller company. No. 206.

Jan 6, 1915

By M. F. Werneke, J. A. Jones

Abstract- The use of a unique class of sulfhydryl collectors, the monoalkyldithiocarbamate salts ([RNHCS]) as direct collectors for malachite and azurite is presented. Microflotation and laboratory scale flotation tests were performed to define the collector properties of these reagents under a variety of flotation conditions. On the basis of the results, it is proposed that some property of the amine-hydrogen atom in the reagent has a significant influence on the unusual activity of these collectors for oxide copper minerals.

Jan 1, 1978

(Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons introduced by members.) Mining engineer and geologist. Member. 29 years old. Married. Seven years' experience in Lake Superior iron district; two as superintendent of extensive exploration in new fields. Capable of handling all details of the exploration and development of new properties. Available now. No. 431.

Jan 2, 1918

GENERAL Broken Hill lies at latitude 31º58'S longitude 141º27'E on the semi-arid western plains of New South Wales. From discovery in 1883 until the end of 1969 the lead-silver-zinc orebody has yielded 107,570,000 tons of ore for an overall grade of 13.1% Pb, 6.9 oz Ag/ton and 9.4% Zn.* The orebody currently supports the activities of four mines which are, from north to south, North Broken Hill Limited, Broken Hill South Limited, The Zinc Corporation, Limited and New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited. It is estimated that in 1969 these mines produced about 8 ½ % of world lead production and about 6% of world zinc production. In 1905 The Zinc Corporation, Limited was founded to recover zinc from tailings dumps and moved into mining in 1911 on leases purchased from Broken Hill South Limited at the then southern extremity of the "line of lode". New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited was formed in 1936 to explore and mine for deep ore in the leases to the south of The Zinc Corporation which were purchased from Barrier South Limited. The Zinc Corporation, Limited and New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited mines are both managed by Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Limited, which wholly owns The Zinc Corporation, Limited and has a 32% interest in New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited. * Throughout this paper tons referred to are long tons of 2,240 lbs.

Jan 1, 1970

By A. T. Miesch

The purpose of this paper is to explore relations between the distribution and composition of uranium deposits on the Colorado Plateau and mineralogic, chemical, and lithologic aspects of their host rocks. The paper also appraises the host-rock sandstones as possible sources of elements in the uranium deposits. Other possible sources of elements are not discussed. Uranium deposits on the Colorado Plateau consist largely of sandstone and small amounts of mud-stone impregnated with uranium and vanadium miner- als and a suite of minor accessory minerals containing copper, lead, zinc, silver, iron, cobalt, nickel, yttrium, molybdenum, selenium, and arsenic, in addition to other elements locally. The deposits consist of clusters of closely spaced ore bodies which commonly aggregate several thousand tons, but range in size from less than one ton to several million tons. With only rare exception, the deposits show no close relation to fractures. The ore bodies are generally tabular in layers nearly parallel to the bedding in the host rocks, or they cross bedding at large angles to form roll structures. Absence of fracture control necessitates that the ore and associated elements were transported to the deposits by way of interstitial pore spaces in the sandstones. This points to the general process of lateral secretion as a possible mechanism of ore formation, and suggests the host-rock sandstones as a possible source of the metals. Roll structures in the ore

Jan 1, 1962

By R. H. Eckhouse, M. R. Geer, H. F. Yancey, C. L. Allyn

Four coals were treated in the Humphreys spiral concentrator, and the products were examined by float-and-sink and screen-sizing tests to determine fundamental performance characteristics. The efficiency of the separation between coal and impurity was shown to be influenced greatly by particle size.

Jan 10, 1950

By F. P. Dewey

(Read at Amenia Meeting, October, 1877.) AT the Wilkes-Barre Meeting of the Institute, Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, in the course of his remarks on some peculiarities in the composition of irons, alluded to the so-called " buckshot" iron, and exhibited a specimen of this material. He said that when the small granules, or shot, were separated from the mass, they could be flattened under the hammer, and inferred that these particles had been decarburized by the blast before sinking into the hearth of the furnace, and thus we had the exceptional production of wrought iron in the blast furnace. I have recently obtained a characteristic specimen of this variety of iron from one of the furnaces at Orbisona, Pa. Considerable uncertainty existed as to its true nature and the conditions of its production. Its weight seemed to preclude the idea that it contained much or any slag, yet its lack of strength indicated that it was not homogeneous cast iron. At times considerable quantities had been produced, which could only be utilized by charging in the furnace and remelting. The specimen, on the freshly fractured surface, appeared to consist of flattened globules of iron cemented together by a bluish material which one would naturally suppose to be slag, and qualitative examination for lime strengthened this supposition. It was quite difficult to obtain drillings, as there was a tendency to split in several directions as soon as pressure was applied ; but enough was obtained to undertake quantitative determinations. They were found to consist of two portions-one attracted by the magnet, and the other not. By repeated separation the magnetic portion was found to be 94.44 per cent., and the non-magnetic 5.56 per cent. Analyses of these gave the following results :

Jan 1, 1878

Executive Committee. Louis D. HUNTOON, Chairman. ARTHUR S. DWIGHT, Vice- Chairman. E. MALTBY SHIPP, Treasurer. GEORGE F. KUNZ, HOMAS T. READ, Secretary. Woolworth Building, New York, N. Y. Meeting, May 2,1913. The Annual Meeting of the New York Section was held at the Engineering Societies Building, Friday evening. May 1913, at 8 p.m. Dr: Kunz presided. The Annual Report of the Secretary-Treasurer was read and accepted. Mr. Colvocoresses offered the following amendments to the By-Laws: ARTICLE II: First paragraph amended to read as follows: "The officers of this Section shall be. a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer." In the second paragraph the word "four " to be changed to " five." ARTICLE V : The following paragraph to be inserted: ' The funds of this Section shall be received by the Treasurer, and shall be paid out only by check signed by the Treasurer, and in case of his absence or inability, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, or the Secretary may act for the Treasurer." On motion duly seconded the amendments were adopted as read. The Nominating Committee, appointed by the Chairman, recommended the following men for officers : Chairman., Louis D. Huntoon ; Vice-Chair-man, Arthur S. Dwight; Secretary, Thomas T. Read, and Treasurer, E. Maltby Shipp. There being no other nominations, Mr. Rand moved that the Secretary be authorized to cast the vote for the members in favor of the men nominated. Motion carried. In reply to the circulars mailed regarding the summer outing the Secretary reported that 89 members approved and 9 did not approve of such an outing. The Chairman introduced Dr. M. Belowsky, of the University of Berlin, who addressed the meeting in German. Following Dr. Belowsky, the speaker of the evening, A. H. Fay; of the Bureau of Mines, discussed Metal Mine. Accidents.

Jan 6, 1913

C. P. SANDBERG, LONDON, ENG : † I think we should all be grateful to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and to their chemist, Dr., Dudley, for spending so much time and money in order to solve an important question ; nor are we less indebted to the public spirit which leads them to impart the experience thus gained. In Europe nothing similar has hitherto been done, either by a company or by any private individual. In England the great railway companies employ their engineers in other ways, and do not keep a chemist or specialist to study rails; but even if they did they would probably not publish the results. The chief professional engineers are so occupied with their private practice of railroad construction generally, that they cannot be expected to devote their time and energies to so special a question. The German Railway Union has, in my opinion, missed the real object of its elaborate researches by falling into the error of specifying costly, impracticable tests for rails-tests at the same time which do not infallibly expose the impurities that may be in the rails under examination. There has, therefore, been nothing done on this side of the Atlantic in the way of exhaustive study to determine the best composition for steel rails. America should consequently have full credit for the enlightened example which she has set. I wish, however, to make a few remarks on Dr. Dudley's second paper, a paper which follows very much upon the same lines of argument as the first read three years ago, upon which I have previously touched in my paper on the same subject read at the meeting in August last. If Dr. Dudley had discovered a new metal he could hardly, I think, have taken more pains to prove that he was correct in his first formula for the best chemical composition of steel rails. But I have seen so much done in the way of proof by experiment that I am inclined to think that almost anything can be proved by experiments and by samples. If Dr. Dudley would only give up his formula, which would not suit any country-not even America- * For the convenience of members it has bees thought best to insert the continuation of this discussion at the Virginia meeting in tide place, rather than to delay its permanent publication until the issue of Volume X, Transactions, where it would properly belong. T. M. D., Sec'y, † Sent to the secretary in manuscript.

Jan 1, 1881

COMMITTEES. Iron and Steel. Albert Sauveur, Chairman. A. A. Stevenson, Vice-Chairman. Herbert M. Boylston, Secretary, Abbot Bldg., Harvard Sq., Cambridge, Mass. LOCAL COMMITTEES. Program Committee.-A. A. Stevenson, Chairman. Herbert A3. Boylston, J. E. Johnson, Jr., Henry D. Hibbard, E. Gybbon Spilsbury. Reception Committee.-J. R. Johnson, Jr., Chairman. Felix A. Vogel, William R. Walker. Dinner Committee.-E. Gybbon Spilsbury, Chairman. The opening session was held on Thursday morning, Oct. 16, 1913, at the Institute Headquarters in the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West 39th Street, New York, N. Y., and was called to order by President Rand, who addressed the meeting briefly before presenting Albert Sauveur, who responded to the President's address, and presided at the meeting. The following papers were then presented in oral abstract by their authors or authors' representatives: The Cleaning of Blast-Furnace Gas, by W. A. Forbes. Discussed by S. K. Varnes, H. N. Diehl, F. H. Wagner, Joseph Hartshorne, S. B. Marshall, J. W. Richards, J. E. Johnson, Jr., W. A. Forbes, and others.

Jan 12, 1913

By R. O. Scattergood, P. Beardmore, M. B. Bever

THE stored energy and microhardness of a Au-Ag alloy deformed by explosive loading were measured previously as functions of shock pressure' and compared with corresponding data for drawn wires.' The difference of the two processes has been explored further by investigating the annealing behavior of explosively loaded specimens and drawn wires. Sheet specimens, 0.042 in. thick, of a Au-Ag alloy containing 82.6 wt pct Au were explosively loaded in stacks of four.3 Wires prepared from the same melt of alloy were drawn through dies.' The annealing kinetics were determined by microhardness measurements on separate specimens for each annealing temperature and time. Several values of the stored energy were measured by tin-solution calorimetry Experimental details are given elsewhere. Wires were drawn until the microhardness or stored energy equalled the corresponding values of the explosively loaded specimens as nearly as possible. Wire drawn to a true strain 7 of 0.09 had approximately the same hardness and stored energy as specimens explosively loaded to a shock pressure of 70 kbar. The microhardness of specimens

Jan 1, 1963

By J. F. Lewis

Much has been written on this great engineering work, principally from the civil engineer's stand-point. In presenting the subject to the Institute, it seems necessary to include something of geology as well as engineering. In this case, it is particularly the glacial and post-glacial periods with which we are concerned; for it has been clearly proved that the canal recently excavated has not for the first time opened the Des Plaines valley for drainage away from Lake Michigan, and that this valley, as well as the site of this city, is very closely connected with the processes and effects of the ice period. We have simply renewed a channel and a drainage direction which formerly existed. As the days of deep water-ways for commercial purposes are fast approaching, engineers may find the consideration of ancient topography and geologic changes highly useful. For what I may say on this subject I am greatly indebted to Mr. Ossian Guthrie, who has made an earnest study of glacial geology and labored especially to decipher the records of its history in this region. * Chicago is situated in the track of one of four great glacial ice-streams that swept down from the North: one moving due South from Marquette and entering the Illinois valley at Ottawa; one through the Lake Michigan valley, entering the Illinois valley near Lemont; one from Saginaw Bay diagonally across the States of Michigan and Iadiana, entering through

Jan 1, 1898