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By Charles Catlett

Probably no one has had occasion to examine an undeveloped coal property without hearing some hopeful or interested party insist that the bed will improve when opened some distance under cover. When the bed is already in good condition, the opinion is usually advanced that the same character may be expected, at least to the bounds of the hopeful individual's holdings. My attention has been called in this way to the extent to which a bed is affected by its outcrop at the surface ; and having had opportunity to examine a number of openings immediately at the surface, and also a short distance under cover, I submit some observations bearing on this question. Whatever may have been the original variations, we may assume that coal-basins presented in comparatively modern times approximately parallel beds interstratified with fire-clay, slate, sandstone, etc., as represented by Fig. 1. Under the effect of erosion, Fig. 2 would be formed. It is obvious that along the line A, B, C, in Fig. 1, the beds exist under conditions differing from those at A', B', C', or again at A", B", C", in Fig. 2, in their exposures to atmospheric agencies, pressure and erosion. The effect of the first is to decompose and soften many of the strata; of the second, when presented unequally, to cause the movement of such material as was at all plastic towards the point of least pressure ; and of the third, to remove the strata in whole or in part. It

Jan 1, 1901

By Donald V. Fites

In the face of an increasing demand for minerals, the resulting technological developments, and rising overburden-to-ore ratios, many open-pit mines now incorporate totally different concepts for the removal of ore and overburden. Moreover, under a growing number of these concepts, wheel tractor scrapers are being assigned a major role in material- handling systems for unconsolidated overburden removal. To say that scrapers move only unconsolidated overburden is incorrect. On the contrary, ripped phosphate rock, copper ore, iron ore, and moderately consolidated overburden are also being moved by scrapers in various areas of the world. According to the Minerals Yearbook, about one half of the material moved in metal and nonmetal mines is never drilled, blasted or broken by other means. Scrapers Find Wider Application The increased use of scrapers in open-pit mining today is due in part to improved design which has endowed these units with added versatility and in- creased their production capability. The modern scraper, which is designed as a loading and hauling vehicle, cannot be compared to the original tractor- drawn scrapers which were limited in capacity, maneuverability, and speed. Improved design of the scraper bowl ejection system has aided production. Gravity ejection has been replaced with positive, forced ejection of material by hydraulic or mechanical action. Bowl and cutting-edge design which allows for maximum load with minimum effort has also increased production. An example of this was the introduction some years ago of the low-silhouette scraper bowl which reduced the work required to lift the material.

Jan 5, 1969

By William G. Pariseau

A plasticity theory for anisotropic geologic media has been applied to the problem of quasi-static wedge penetration of rock under confining pressure. Numerical evaluation of the governing system of stress equations in the transversely isotropic and orthotropic cases using representative material properties shows that the consequences of initial anisotropy for the penetration process are by no means trivial. In the transversely isotropic case, a threefold increase in the vertical force required for penetration to a unit depth occurs as the inclination of the axes of anisotropy are rotated through 90° with respect to the penetration path. The horizontal force required varies from zero to a maximum at approximately 60° then back to zero as the axes of anisotropy are rotated. The maximum is of the order of magnitude of the force required in the isotropic case. Similar results are observed in the orthotropic case. Practical aspects of the post-elastic phenomena associated with anisotropic rock indentation within the context of drilling problems include: bit yaw, hole deviation and bending stresses in the drill rod, all of which vary with strata dip but which can be quantitatively evaluated given the bit geometry, interface friction and rock properties. In a broader context, the analysis reveals the necessity for well conceived experimental work and sound theoretical research concerning post-elastic behavior of geologic media as a function of confining pressure, the effects of induced anisotropy, and the variation of strength parameters with loading path changes in the post-elastic range.

Jan 1, 1971

By Henry M. Howe

This paper gives the results of an investigation of the beha vior of the argentiferous cobalt-nickel arsenides of Temiskam-ing, Ontario, in roasting, made in the metallurgical laboratories of the School of Mines of Columbia University in the City of New York. The ore was kindly given by the owners of the La Rose and Trethewey properties at Cobalt, Ontario, and Mr E. J. Hall, Tutor in Assaying in Columbia University, has helped us much. I. Object of the Investigation. The object of the investigation was to learn: 1. The temperature at which the arsenic is most rapidly expelled ; 2. The thoroughness with which it is expelled by prolonged roasting at this temperature; 3. The effect of adding charcoal (a) near the end of the roast and (b) at. the beginning of the roast. II. Nature of the ORe. The important ores mined in the Temiskaming deposits are: native silver—with small amounts of dyscrasite (Ag,Sb), ar-gentite (Ag,S), pyrargyrite (Ag,SbS,)—smaltite (CoAs,), chlo-anthite (NiAs,) and niccolite (NiAs). Mispickel (FeAsS) and cobaltite (CoAsS) also occur in smaller quantities. The average composition of the ore shipped from this district for the first six months of 1905 was: silver, from 4.1 to 4.8 per cent.; cobalt, from 6.9 to 8.2 per cent.; nickel, from 3 to 4.7 per cent.; and arsenic, from 30.9 to 34.6 per cent. The ore which we treated consists chiefly of smaltite. In our 1aboratory-work

Jan 1, 1908

By C. W. Purington, H. B. C. Nitze

The Kotchkar mining-district, known as the Kotchkar System, is situated in the Orenburg government, in Eastern Russia, in the great plateau- or steppe-country immediately adjacent to the eastern slopes of the Ural mountains. Its longer dimension is north and south about 27 miles, while in the widest (northern) portion the distance across is 22 miles. The district lies 40 miles southwest of Miass, a station of the Trans-Siberian railway, and half-way between this village and that of Troitsk. It contains also the not inconsiderable settlements of Kotchkar and Eosobrodskoit., the last a Kossak town. So far as explored, the district is known to contain from 300 to 400 auriferous veins. ? Although the topography is generally of an exceedingly flat character, the country is traversed by several small rivulets running from west to east, and flowing into the Sanarka and Kamenka rivers. Since 1844 placers have been worked in the district, but it was not until 1867 that veins were discovered, and these have been worked only since the impoverishment of the alluvial deposits. The deposit with which this paper especially deals is known as the Ouspensky mine, one of twelve owned by MM. de Zelenkoff & Cie., five of which are situated in the Kotchkar System. An opportunity of visiting this mine was afforded the writers, in eonnection with an excursion of the VII. session of the International Geological Congress; held in Russia during the summer of 1897. The mine is reached by a 40-mile '(troika" journey from the railway station of Bichkil, itself

Jan 1, 1899

By Malcolm J. McPherson

INTRODUCTION The use of computers to assist the mine ventilation engineer began to grow in the early 1950s when electrical analogue devices were developed for the analysis of mine airflow systems in Europe and the United States (l,2,3). The need for quantitative planning of airflows in mines had become pressing and analogue computers fulfilled a useful purpose for over a decade. From about 1964 onwards, digital computer programs for mine ventilation network analysis became available (4,5) and, superseding the analogues, spread rapidly throughout the major mining countries. The successful implementations of such programs resulted in further research being directed towards the development of simulation programs to model the quality as well as the quantity of air flowing through underground workings. It is no understatement that digital computers have revolutionised environmental planning techniques in modern mining industries. This paper discusses the complex interaction of natural and mining factors which governs environmental hazards in underground mines and further indicates some of the simulation techniques which have entered practical usage or are at an advanced stage of development. THE PROBLEM OF ANALYSING THE MINE ENVIRONMENT The traditional methods of approaching environmental problems underground were based largely on empirical or intuitive techniques. The reason for this lay in the intricate relationships which exist between the many variables that influence the mine environment - and which limit the use of purely analytical methods to the simplest of cases. In order to illustrate the need for simulation techniques, Table 1 shows the three most widespread mine environmental hazards

Jan 1, 1977

By Eben E. Olcott

The Mine.—For some years attention has been drawn to the copper deposits of the Appalachian range of mountains, and especially to those in that portion crossing the corners of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Certain it is that in many places in this locality available deposits of copper await the miner, and one after another are being opened and worked. The parts of these three States alluded to are but sparsely settled, and communications are insufficient to meet the demand for transportation. Railroads are wanted, as the existing wagon roads are unfitted for heavy hauling; these circumstances increase very much the difficulties in the way of mining enterprises. Notwithstanding this, the success of some of the mines of this section is an established fact, and Ducktown has for some years held a high rank among the copper-producing localities of the United States. of all these deposits, however, none is more interesting or more deserving of attention than the one now under consideration. The works of the Ore Knob Copper Company have been energetically pushed forward, since the reopening of the mine, in the spring of 1873, by Mr. J. E. Clayt,on, the superintendent and one of the chief owners of the property, and if one thing more than another can insure success it is the combination in this gentleman of rare business capabilities with the deepest personal interest in the prosperity of the undertaking. The copper vein at Ore Knob* is a clearly defined fissure traversing the gneissic rocks of Pre-silurian age in a direction 61' east of north.

By D. L. Katz

A PHASE diagram showing boundary curve and quantity of liquid in the two-phase region was determined for a mixture of natural gas and natural gasoline in the region of its critical conditions. The tempera-tures and pressures of phase measurements were in the range of 85° to 212° F. and 1300 to 2600 lb, per sq. in., respectively, with the critical conditions at 169.5° F. and 2615 lb. per sq. in. abs, Color phenomena were observed in the region of the boundary curve from 102° to 192° F. Approximate densities of the single-phase and two-phase regions and analysis of the system are included. Boundary curves between the single-phase and the two-phase regions have been determined for several binary mixtures containing hydro-carbons. 2,3,4,6,7,10,11,12,14 These investigators did not report the relative amounts of liquid and vapor within the two-phase region. The equilib-rium values obtained from the dew-point and bubble-point data can be used to compute the lines showing percentage of liquid on the pressure-temperature phase diagrams but the positions of the lines near the critical temperature and pressure are uncertain. Relative amounts of vapor and liquid were obtained for a gasoline and a naphtha' within the two-phase area but not in, the region of the critical temperature and pressure. The bubble-point and dew-point lines, as well as the percentage liquid lines within the two-phase region, were determined by visual observations in glass apparatus.

Jan 1, 1939

By Wells A. Hutchins

Water laws important to the mining industry are those which govern or affect the right to use water, to dispose of water after using it in mining or milling, and to discharge waste material into water-courses. They include statutes and court decisions having general applicability, as well as others that pertain specifically to mining. THE INDUSTRY'S CONTRIBUTION TO WESTERN WATER LAW Despite sharp differences of opinion, the water law the Spaniards brought to the Southwest appears to have included some form of appropriation of water. The Mormons, who settled in Utah in the mid-nineteenth century, also developed a system of appropriative water titles. But by far the most profound impact on western water law was made by the gold- seekers who flocked to the Sierra Nevada foothills of California after the discovery of gold in 1848. Much of the gold was extracted from the ground by hydraulic or placer mining, and so the-miners' rights to the use of water became fundamentally important. Since there was no organized government in the foothills and no laws other than those made by the miners, they helped themselves to the land, the gold, and the water needed to work their claims.' They established and enforced regulations governing the acquirement and holding of mining claims and their rights to the water they needed.'In 1879 Justice Field, former Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, spoke for the U. S. Supreme Court in saying that the miners were "emphatically the law-makers, as respects mining, upon the public lands in the State.""

Jan 2, 1960

By W. C. McClain

In the design of underground excavations, rock mechanics considerations are nearly always based on an elastic behavior of rock. Most rocks do exhibit a certain amount of elasticity, and the application of principles and concepts of elasticity to rock mechanics problems has been largely responsible for progress in the field over the past 10 or 15 years. NO doubt the theory of elasticity will remain the most useful analytical tool available for both the design of underground openings and the interpretation of phenomenological data. Dr. Cook's analysis of rock behavior based on energy considerations represents a significant new approach to mining rock mechanics problems. Although the foundations of this analysis are somewhat broader and more general than elastic analysis, the development and applications are grounded almost entirely in the theory of elasticity. It has long been known1,2 that all rocks, even granites and dense limestones, exhibit nonlinear time-dependent strain properties to a greater or lesser degree. Creep strain (that is, deformation under constant stress) in salt, potash, and trona can be several orders of magnitude greater than instantaneous elastic strain. Design of underground workings in these materials must incorporate provisions for these strains and must therefore go considerably beyond elastic analysis. Some of the principles of underground design in highly plastic materials will be discussed in this paper. Since all rocks, especially when highly fractured, exhibit a certain amount of creep-type strain, these concepts should be at least recognized in any rock mechanics problem. The discussion will be illustrated largely, but not entirely, by examples drawn from

Jan 1, 1967

By L. C. Weiner

THIS study was undertaken to round out an investigation on the effects of solid environments on the brittle fracture of zinc single crystals.' In the previous work it was demonstrated that the presence of a surface film increased the cleavage strength of crystals whose basal planes were oriented almost parallel to the tensile axis by some 43 pct. This increase was observed to be independent of the type of surface-coating material, as well as of thickness of film above a certain small critical value (about 200 to 300A). These observations were described sat- isfactorily by a dislocation-pile-up-at-a-barrier model of brittle fracture2 in which twins modifying the dislocation path act as barriers, their increase in number and homogeneity of distribution brought about by the presence of the surface film. From previous work reported on the strength of ductile metal crystals as affected by gaseous and liquid environments,3 it may be concluded that the effects of these media are present only when the environment produces a surface film on the initially clean-surfaced crystal, or when it has a disintegrating effect on a previously existing surface layer. Similarly, it might be expected that an increase in cleavage strength of initially clean zinc crystals (xo = 3", A, - 28") will result only when the gas or liquid reacts with the crystal to produce a solid, adherent surface film. Clean-surfaced crystals,l 2 1/12 in. in length, were tested in tension at room temperature in an Instron

Jan 1, 1959

By Manuel Valerio Ortega

This Mexican amalgamation-process, invented in 1557, at Pachuca, by Bartolome de Medina, has been widely discussed in America and Europe, but thus far there is no universal agreement as to all the chemical reactions involved. Having been, after many trials, the first to succeed in effecting the amalgamation of silver-ores by the same mechanical means, but doing without one of the chemical substances which had been considered indispensable in the practice of 300 Sears, I am led to offer these notes as a contribution to the discovery of an exact theory concerning the patio process. My treatment for silver- and gold-ores being protected by letters-patent in this country, the United States, France, Peru, Bolivia and Chile, I may speak freely concerning its materials and manipulation. I. Patio-Amalgamation. The ore extracted from the mine is sorted by pepenadores, who break the large pieces with hammers, rejecting those which contain no ore, set aside the very rich to be smelted, and deliver the rest to be crushed and pulverized for direct amalgamation in the patio. The broken lumps, of about fist-size, are first ground in Chilean mills, and then reduced, in arrastras or tahonas, to fine slime. After the lama or slime has acquired a suitable consistency by the evaporation, through the sun's heat, of a part of the water which it contained, it is spread upon the patio or amalgamating-floor, where it is mixed with 5 or 6 per cent. of common salt. The next day a certain amount (depending upon

Jan 1, 1902

By W. K. Tony Seiler

Further development of mechanical boring machines for hard and abrasive rocks will be effected by the development of more efficient rock cutting tools or the evolution of entirely new rock excavating principles. Presently the cutting tools suitable for extremely hard rocks and successfully and economically used with raise and tunnel boring machines are tungsten carbide insert big hole cutters. This paper explains the design, rock cutting principles, and actual boring operations to illustrate the capabilities and applications of tungsten carbide (TC) insert cutters. While the rate of borehole advance may fall short of the rapid excavating results achieved with soft rock boring machines, the cutter described in this paper may prove to be the most suitable tool in hard rock excavation for many years to come. DEFINITION OF HARD ROCK Existing bored excavations in hard abrasive rocks are proof of the economic application of new methods and mechanical rock boring in the mining industry. Most of the experience in cutting hard to extremely hard rocks has been gained in raise boring where relatively short and small diameter openings are bored. This poses a lesser risk regarding cutter cost than a long and large diameter tunnel and has therefore promoted the testing of various cutter products. Many types of rocks and geologic conditions were en- countered and actual test data was recorded in materials of up to 100,000 psi uniaxial compressive strength. To clarify the term hard to extremely hard, a 1970 interpretation of rock strength which was recently used is adopted and expanded in this paper.

Jan 1, 1971

By John Boardman

THE Anaconda company has never indulged in any employee activities at Butte which might be termed paternalistic, but it has exerted a vast amount of effort in care of its employees during working hours. The reason for this policy is not lack of interest or that the company does not feel the effect of employees' activities while they are "off the job"; it is that the company and the city of Butte have grown up together and, each has been adequate in its own sphere, the company in providing employment at the highest possible wage and the city in providing housing, sanitation, commercial services, medical services, schools, churches, amusements and entertainments. The one exception to this independence between the company and the community is the Butte Water Co., which is a wholly owned sub-sidiary of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. Mention of this relationship is made here because the water supply of such a city as Butte is one of the principal factors in determining the health of the people. Very early in the development of the Anaconda company an adequate and dependable water supply for the operations became necessary, therefore the company took over this important community function. So well has this activity worked out that during the whole period of time covered, in which the company has expanded to become practically the sole mine operator and the community has grown from a small mining camp to the status of a modern city, there has been no shortage of water or any outbreak of water-borne, epidemic disease.

Jan 1, 1938

By Robert L. Taylor, Richard E. Goodman

A complete rational analysis for design of excavation slopes and loaded rock masses is a desirable but perhaps unattainable goal. Irregular external and internal boundary conditions, poor understanding of failure criteria for large masses of rock, capricious material properties, and the importance of indeterminate forces and inaccessible and virtually unsampleable rock defects emphasize the importance of experience in this aspect of rock engineering. The experience must be correlated with geological factors. In certain regions the accumulation of such experience through the observation of existing rock slopes in various formations constitutes an important aspect of studies for design of rock excavations. In former times an accepted method of rock construction consisted of trials and adjustments. This approach is not often compatible with present methods of contract management. With the development of improved instruments and warning devices such as inclinometers, piezometers, relays, stress meters, and rock noise detectors, modified trial procedures of rock construction may reappear in specific applications. In spite of the great advances made, development of methods to predict the performance of rock slopes, abutments, and foundations deserves vigorous effort. Two distinct approaches may be taken. The rock mass in question may be considered a continuum and the stresses and strains throughout the region of influence of the work may be calculated. Or, the rock mass may be described as a discontinuum whose stability calculation involves the statics and kinematics of accumulations of rigid blocks. The prototype must lie in the range between these contrasting models. As yet, however, there is little reconciliation between the two methods

Jan 1, 1967

By R. T. Mishler

Silver-gold. mine, in northern Mexico, with arrow veins in rhyolite. One fourth area developed has been ore. Deposits average 20 in. wide and 73 oz. silver per ton; diluted in mining to 40 oz. per ton. Developed by drifts and raises at 100-ft. intervals. Samples cut every 5 ft. Ore and waste sampled separately to make combined stoping width 3 or 3 1/2 ft. Ore reserves figured to sloping width; high assays not modified. Tonnage and assay of ore extracted higher than estimates. Ore stoped principally by cut and fill method. Cars from each stope counted and sampled. Cars check tonnage to concen¬trator within 1 per cent.; silver assay 9 per cent. high. Tonnage and assay from scopes corrected to agree with feed to concentrator. Profit or loss for each slope estimated monthly. THE Lucky-Tiger mine is a silver-gold property, situated at El Tigre, in the northeastern part of Sonora, Mexico, at, an elevation of 6000 ft. in the Sierra Madre Mountains. It is 30 miles by wagon road from the Esqueda station on the Nacozari railroad. Since its discovery in 1903, the mine has produced forty million ounces of silver. The ore has averaged 40 oz. silver and 0.25 oz. gold per ton. Copper, lead and zinc have been of minor importance, having averaged 0.4 per cent., 1.1 per cent., and 1.5 per cent., respectively. The richness of the ore,, combined with its occurrence in narrow veins, required the use of the more expensive methods of mining.

Jan 2, 1925

By A. R. Denison

This field in 1933 continued as in 1932, although to a much less extent, to dominate the drilling and production situation throughout the oil business. The 2466 producers completed in this field during the year are 28 per cent of such wells completed in the United States. The 2556 completions reported in the five counties within which the East Texas field lies are 21 per cent of all such wells reported in the United States. It follows that with such a command of the development situation, every other factor with regard to this field has an important bearing on the entire oil business. As a consequence, the important developments in the East Texas field are the important developments of the year. Very little new productive territory was added to the already known limits of this enormous field. On the other hand, drilling has shown that with a few very minor exceptions this field is a continuous productive area, with a regular outline and no "dry spots" other than that of a single well surrounded by producing wells. Drilling was confined to the already proven limits of the field. This consisted essentially of more adequate coverage of leases by wells, the meeting of required offsets and the drilling of a large number of small tracts which developed from subdivision of larger leases due to court action and other causes. The allowable throughout the year was, with minor variable factors, on a per-well basis. With the steady decline in per-well allowable after May, every operator was faced with declining

Jan 1, 1934

By Erwin S. Sperry

The oxidation of metals melted in contact with air takes place with dissimilar results. Tin, lead or zinc are examples of a class, the oxides of which float on the surface of the melted metal. First a film is produced, which covers the surface; then, if agitation from any cause exposes new metal to the action of the air, additional oxidation takes place, and the film is increased in volume. This change goes on until a considerable quantity of oxide (or " dross," as it is technically called) is formed; depending, of course, upon the duration of the exposure of the metal to the atmosphere. When such metals are poured, the dross may be skimmed off; and clean metal will be left underneath. The removal of such oxides is, therefore, merely a mechanical process. In the case of copper, however, the result is quite different. The sub-oxide of copper (Cu2O) is readily soluble in molten copper; and therefore, instead of the formation of a film of oxide, to be finally removed as dross, the surface of the metal remains bright and clear, because the oxide has been dissolved as soon as it was produced. It is customary in the process of copper-refining to leave a small quantity of oxide in the metal, in order to oxidize any traces of bismuth, arsenic or antimony which have not been entirely removed. As a result, these metals exist in the commercial product as oxides, and not as metals, which would form an

Jan 1, 1901

By John A. Graves

Anaconda's Jackpile-Paguate mine, located between Albuquerque and Grants, N.M., is situated at an elevation of 6000 ft in a semi-arid desert region. The original Jackpile deposit was discovered by Anaconda air and ground exploration parties in Nov. 1951. A large percentage of the uranium mined in New Mexico comes from the Jackpile-Paguate, which is one of, if not the largest, open pit uranium mines in the world. From 1953 to the present, 120 million tons of overburden, mining waste, and low-grade material have been removed to produce approximately 10 million tons of merchantable uranium ore, having an average grade of about 0.25% uranium oxide. Identifying the Orebody Surface drill holes delineate the ore bodies on a predetermined grid which varies in dimension but usually affords 100-ft control. These holes are probed immediately after drilling by geophysical logging trucks, resulting in a gamma log and digital readout from each hole. From this information it is possible to arrive at an almost immediate conversion to percentage of U3O8 on 6-in. intervals. Initially a hole is probed at a reconnaissance speed of 10 fpm with a time constant of 8 sec. Wherever the gamma recording goes off scale on an initial run, that particular zone is rerun at 2 fpm and at a time constant of 2 sec. This time constant is the interval that emissions are counted and accumulated for recording purposes. The search radius of the Geiger probe is approximately 18 in.

Jan 8, 1974

COMPARED with the equipment used in most industrial processes, the open-hearth furnace has a relatively short life. The most important quality of an open-hearth refractory, therefore, is its rate of failure. This discussion of the physics and chemistry of the individual refractory materials will keep upper- most the question "Why, how, and where does it fail?" CAUSES OF FAILURE The principal causes of failure of open-hearth refractories are, in their order of importance: 1.Reaction with iron oxides. 2. Reaction with slag. 3. Flow and failure under load. 4. Melting. 5. Spalling. 6. Mechanical breakage. Reaction with Iron Oxides and Slag. Reaction with iron oxides and slag is by far the most important cause of failure. Liquid iron oxide comes near to being the "universal solvent" sought for by the alchemists. Among the materials commonly used in the open-hearth furnace, magnesia has the greatest resistance to this liquid and fireclay the least. The relations of iron and oxygen at high temperatures are illustrated in Fig 14-18. The liquid iron oxide that forms wherever iron is in contact with air or combustion gases cannot be given a definite formula. The percentage of oxygen at steelmaking temperatures may range from 21 to 28 (iron 79 to 72), depending upon the temperature and the oxygen pressure and also upon whether or not the liquid is in equilibrium with metallic iron. Oxide mixtures exist not only in the solid and liquid phases but also in the vapor phase, for metallic iron and its oxides have

Jan 1, 1951