Search Documents

By E. C. Houston, R. A. Laurence, F. A. W. Davis, L. L. McMurray, H. S. Rankin

This paper is coodensed from several reports by members of the staff of the Minerals Testing Laboratory of the Tennessee Valley Authority, on a series of experimental tests in the beneficiation of barite of the Valley area. These experiments were conducted upon a large number of samples taken from several mines in three different districts. The area contains numerous producing deposits, nearly all of which are hampered by the high iron and silica content of the ores. Because of the small difference in specific gravity between the iron oxide and the barite, a gravity separation is generally poor. The removal of the iron thus offers a special problem. Some of the operators have turned to magnetic separation to meet the shipping requirements for less than one per cent iron. The present experiments were conducted to determine the application of decrepitation or flotation in simplifying the concentration of the barite by removing the iron oxide and silica in one operation. Practically all the barite marketed in the area has been as "off-color" crude. The bleaching studies were made to determine the bleach-ability of the ores to alleviate this inferior grading, placing them on the market as bleached barite. Geology Barite has been produced at many places in the Tennessee Valley area, and prospects and minor deposits are known at many other places, but practically all the production of barite in the Valley has been from the Sweetwater district of East Tennessee. Other leading areas of former production are the Tazewell-Russell counties areas of southwest Virginia, the Del Rio-Stackhouse district of East Tennessee and western North Carolina, and the Fall Branch district of upper East Tennessee. The areas described in this paper are those from which samples used in the concentration tests were obtained.

Jan 1, 1942

By H. S. Rankin, F. A. W. Davis, R. A. Laurence, L. L. McMurray, E. C. Houston

This paper is coodensed from several reports by members of the staff of the Minerals Testing Laboratory of the Tennessee Valley Authority, on a series of experimental tests in the beneficiation of barite of the Valley area. These experiments were conducted upon a large number of samples taken from several mines in three different districts. The area contains numerous producing deposits, nearly all of which are hampered by the high iron and silica content of the ores. Because of the small difference in specific gravity between the iron oxide and the barite, a gravity separation is generally poor. The removal of the iron thus offers a special problem. Some of the operators have turned to magnetic separation to meet the shipping requirements for less than one per cent iron. The present experiments were conducted to determine the application of decrepitation or flotation in simplifying the concentration of the barite by removing the iron oxide and silica in one operation. Practically all the barite marketed in the area has been as "off-color" crude. The bleaching studies were made to determine the bleach-ability of the ores to alleviate this inferior grading, placing them on the market as bleached barite. Geology Barite has been produced at many places in the Tennessee Valley area, and prospects and minor deposits are known at many other places, but practically all the production of barite in the Valley has been from the Sweetwater district of East Tennessee. Other leading areas of former production are the Tazewell-Russell counties areas of southwest Virginia, the Del Rio-Stackhouse district of East Tennessee and western North Carolina, and the Fall Branch district of upper East Tennessee. The areas described in this paper are those from which samples used in the concentration tests were obtained.

Jan 1, 1942

By L. B. Underwood, C. J. Distefano

NORAD, when completed, will be housed in large chambers excavated out of the granite beneath the Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs. A room and pillar layout for the chamber excavation was selected and executed. Many complex problems arose in designing a rock bolt system; this paper includes discussions on: rock strengthening following excavation, excavation and ground support problems, orienting rock bolts with respect to jointing systems, conducting pull tests, four-way chamber intersection problems, the need for grouting rock bolts, and loss of tension and permanency of anchorage in a rock bolt system. In the event of a sudden nuclear attack upon the United States, it is imperative that vital command and control centers have a high probability of survival. One such vital facility is the North American Air Defense Command Combat Operations Center at Colorado Springs, Colo. Known briefly as NORAD, this installation when completed will be housed in large chambers excavated out of granite beneath the eastern slope of Cheyenne Mountain (Fig. 1). The NORAD COC, a U.S. Air Force sponsored project, will serve as the primary collection and evaluation center for data concerning unknown aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, which might bring destruction to North America. The data will be fed into high-speed computers and electronic equipment from outpost sources: radar, ballistic missile early warning stations and picket ships throughout the world. Electronically controlled display boards will make it possible to evaluate the tracking data instantaneously and to take appropriate defensive action.'

Jan 1, 1968

By S. Skowronski, K. W. McComas

Page Purpose of investigation.....................'. 354 Details of experiments........................ 357 Experiment Series No. 1, melting copper containing chlorine under carbon dioxide............................... 358 Experiment Series No. 2, melting hydro-electric cathode copper drillings under air................................ 362 Experiment Series No. 3, melting hydro-electric cathode copper drillings under furnace gases............................ 363 Summary.............................. 364 Purpose of Investigation Since cuprous chloride melts at 418' C., boils at 954' C. to 1032' C.,' and is known to be volatile at a much lower temperature, the presence of chlorine in any form in or on copper to be melted has always been looked upon by copper refiners as a possible source of serious copper loss. Although this fact has been known for some time, the copper literature contains little or no information regarding it and the field seems never to have been properly investigated from a metallurgical standpoint. According to Greenawalt,2 cupric chloride, CuCl2, when ignited gives cuprous chloride; therefore cuprous chloride is always formed when copper enters into reaction with chlorine at a high temperature. Cuprous chloride melts somewhat below a dull red heat, and does not volatilize in closed vessels, even if strongly heated, but if heated in the air it goes off as a white vapor, Hofman3 gives the melting point of cuprous chloride

Jan 1, 1919

By Nicholas J. Grant, Yoichi Ishida, Arthur W. Mullendore

An inert particle -marker technique was developed to provide a direct measurement of grain boundary sliding during creep in tile interior of aluminum specimens. Groin boundary sliding in the interior as measured by this technique was found to be nearly the same or slightly lower than that measured on the surface. These data disagree with those obtained by the grain-counting technique developed by W. A. Rachinger. In tests where both techniques were used, the grain-counting technique gave large and variable values of grain boundary sliding. It is shown that the grain-counting technique gines erroneozcs results because of a preferred direction of grain growth during creep. A question which has long plagued those who study grain boundary creep is whether or not surface measurements yield a true representation of the deformation in the interior of a specimen. The first attempt to measure grain boundary sliding in the interior of a creep specimen was made by Rachinger.1 His technique is based on the measurement of average grain diameters, both parallel and perpendicular to the tension axis, followed by a calculation of the grain elongation from these measurements. The difference between total elongation, Et, and the calculated grain elongation, Eg, is considered to be the result of grain boundary sliding, Egb. Surprisingly large values of Egb/ Et (90 pct) came out of creep tests of pure aluminum at temperatures above 250°C (480°F), utilizing the Rachinger technique. This value is very much larger than the values of 8 to 15 pct measured by numerous investigators on the surface of a specimen. Values obtained on the surface by Rachinger, however, were consistent with those measured by the displacement of reference scratches. Chaudhuri and Grant2 repeated the Rachinger method for A1-10 pct Zn, and found the same large values of Egb/Et inside the specimen. However, from purely geometrical considerations, grain boundaries cannot slide without grain deformation; therefore, they questioned the validity of Rachinger's grain-counting method. Several authors2,3 have suggested that grain boundary migration during high-temperature deforma- tion may tend to restore the equiaxed grain shape in order to minimize interfacial energy. Rachinger4 tested this hypothesis and found that it did not hold. Grains elongated by rapid extension retained their elongated shape during a subsequent slow creep test. It appears that some other factor was responsible for the abnormally high values of .Egb/El. McLean and Gifkins5 made a survey of the effect of grain size on the ratio Egb/ Et, and proposed that the high values were the consequence of a small grain size. They failed to explain the low value of Egb/Et which Rachinger observed on the surface of the small grain size specimens, and suggested that the surface effect on the value of Egb/Et does not always occur. Many of the disagreements arising from Rachinger' s work stem from the fact that there was only one method of estimating grain boundary sliding in the interior of a specimen, and that method was of an indirect nature. If a marker line of some sort could be introduced inside of the specimen, one could make measurements just as clearly as on the surface. In the present investigation, the technique utilizes a layer of finely dispersed oxide particles inside the specimen introduced by hot press-bonding of two pieces of aluminum. Rachinger attempted a similar technique but with the oxide distribution he obtained there was so much interference with grain boundary motion that quantitative measurements were not attempted. MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE A) Materials Preparation. Two pure aluminum rods (impurity content in percent: Si, 0.002; Cu, 0.004; Fe, 0.002; Mg, 0.000: Zn, 0.000; V. 0.001) 1 in. diameter by 2 in. high were jacketed end to end in a 4-in.-diam cylinder of commercial-purity aluminum, 4 in, high, which had a l-in.-diam hole. The l-in.-diam mating surfaces of the two pure aluminum rods had been electropolished initially. This interface provided the oxide-film internal -marker plane after the hot press-bonding process, see Fig. 2. The composite was annealed for 1 hr at 900 F and hot upset more than 50 pct reduction in height in one step. The resulting slab was then rolled to 1/2 in. thickness; the pure aluminum test material was cut out and annealed at 900°F for 1 hr and cold cross-rolled to 1/8 in. thickness. The sheet was machined into specimens with a 1/8-in.-square cross section and a 1/2-in. gage length. The following heat treatment was given the specimens: Specimen 5A series: annealed at 1000°F for 5 min for grain-size control and then cooled to 700°F and held for 15 hr for stabilization.

Jan 1, 1965

By J. Brian Eby

CONTACT metamorphism of coals is any physical or chemical change in the character of a coal directly attributable to heat of surface or intrusive igneous rocks. Coal beds so affected are found in the United States, England, Alaska, Mexico, New Zealand, Greenland, and other countries. Particularly in the United States, there is a wide occurrence of contact altered coals; conspicuous examples are found in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Illinois, and North Carolina. During a recent examination of coal beds on Yampa River, in north-western Colorado, the author had an opportunity to make some detailed observations on the contact metamorphism of coals. In this field, coals over an area of 20 sq. mi. have been affected by dikes, sheets, and sills;1 samples of the coals were systematically collected and analyzed,2 with the view of obtaining more specific data on the character of these alterations. The investigation was threefold in purpose: to secure information on the lateral effects of a dike cutting a coal bed, on the range in vertical effects on coal beds overlying sheets or sills, and on the range in the vertical effects on coal beds underlying sheets and sills. Favorable field conditions, such as fresh outcrops and newly dug prospects, made possible many of the field observations and collections. The coals studied in this field belong chiefly to the Mesaverde and Laramie formations. The Mesaverde coals, on the average, are blocky low-rank bituminous coals; the "Laramie coals," which are considerably younger, are of subbituminous rank. The coals of both formations, in the northeastern part of the Yampa field, have been greatly affected by basalt intrusives, yielding all variations of carbonized coal from natural coke to the unaffected material.

Jan 1, 1925

Successful preliminary experiments at the University of North Carolina indicate that computers can provide speedy, accurate identification of the mineral content of rock samples. In just two minutes, the University's Univac 1105 computer solves the complex equations that would often require more than four hours using conventional methods. In addition, the computer is frequently spotting minerals that a geologist might miss simply because he wasn't looking for them.

Jan 6, 1964

US 4,194,902 - Pig iron or other molten lion is effectlvely desulfurized by treatment with a mixture preferably about 60% by weight commercial grade calcium carbide, 30% dried limestone diamide, and the remainder bituminous coal. Equivalent desulfurization is obtained using a significantly lesser amount of desulfurizer than in previous mixture of calcium carbide and limestone diamide W Gmohling, assigned to SKW Trostberg AG. Mar 25, 1980. 3 pp. (75-55) Filed: 9-12-78 (941,659) Priority. West Germany, 9-15-77 (2,741,588). Same. British 2,008,153, dated May 31, 1979.

Jan 1, 1982

By Waldemar Lindgren

No one would maintain that all ore deposits or all deposits of useful minerals have been formed by the same processes. Generally they have originated by special processes of concentration but these may be of many different kinds. Some deposits have their origin in chemical or biochemical processes of concentration in rivers, lakes or seas, others, developed on land by, means of chemical reactions of surface waters on various forms of rocks. Certain insoluble substances remained behind; others were dissolved and precipitated in favorable places. This action -proceeded in the realm of the oxidizing surface waters or in the deeper zones to which the waters from the surface could find their way. Examples of the latter kind may be found in the extensive copper and vanadium deposits of some sedimentary beds or in the lead and zinc deposits of certain broad limestone strata. In these instances the evidence for any other mode of origin would seem to be very weak indeed.1 Nor does it seem possible to deny that circulating waters may form deposits of the more common metals along fissures after having dissolved many constituents from paths traversed. Another very large class has been formed by magnetic processes of concentration. The last 40 years have been a period of intense activity in. the investigation and description of a vast number of deposits; all modern methods have been employed and the result is an accumulation of data, difficult or impossible to master. It has been a period similar to that in petrography. The generalizations, the able deductions have lagged behind. Evidently several geologists have become weary of this "infinite detail" and a mistrust of the microscope seems to have. arisen. Although this feeling of being swamped in microscopic detail is a painful experience, nevertheless only through the detail in combination with

Jan 6, 1926

Soil Testing for Engineers. By T. W. Lambe. Published by John Wiley & Sons. 165 P. $5.00.-Filling a need for a text for the teaching of soil testing in the laboratory, this book is also of value as a reference for practicing engineers and for personnel in soil laboratories. Following an introductory chapter on general laboratory procedures are chapters devoted to the individual laboratory soil tests which are commonly employed. Apparatus, supplies, recommended procedures, discussion of procedure, calculations results, and numerical examples are provided for each test. Brief derivations of formulas and explanations and discussions of calibration procedures and special techniques are given in the appendix. Mesabi Pioneer. Copyrighted 1951 by the Minnesota Historical Society.- Publication of this book has been made possible by a generous gift to Society from the E. J. Longyear Co. of Minneapolis. This book covers the evolution of the Mesabi Range from a wilderness into the nation's greatest iron producing area. In this book is found the first hand experiences of Edmund J. Longyear who saw the development of the range from its beginnings, and who himself took a notable part in it. In 1890 Edmund J. Longyear sank the first diamond drill hole on the Mesabi. During the next two decades he sank pits and holes- 7133 of them-throughout the length and breadth of the Mesabi Range, exploring for iron ore. He saw roads and railroads built. He watched the range communities--Hibbing, Chisholm, Biwabik, Mountain Iron and the others change from exploration camps to

Jan 11, 1951

By L. L. Davis

The rapid increase in the use of pulvcrulent adsorptive materials in the so-called "contact filtration" process for decolorizing lubricating oils makes it desirable to consider some of the basic principles involved. The commercial methods and types of equipment now used arc fairly well known, having been extensively described in the trade journals. In spite of this very little has been published concerning the factors which must be considered in the selection of a process or of a decolorizing ing material. It is commonly understood that contact filtration more or less closely follows the laws of adsorption. These principles have been thoroughly drscribed by Gurwitsch.' The contacting of neutral mineral oils seems to be adsorptive in character and apparently follows Freundlich's law of adsorption which may be expressed by the formula: X = Color material adsorbed hy the clay. M = Amount of clay used. C = Concentration of color material after equilibrium. A and P = Constants for a given oil and clay. Fig. 1 shows the decolorization curve for a natural, dark colored cylin-der stock when contacted with various quantities of clay, curve R being made with natural Riverside Texas fuller's earth and T being made with an acid-treated clay from Texas. As the Tag-Robinson color is inversely proportional to the depth of color, the reciprocal of these colors ran be assumed to be a funct ion of the concentratlion of coloring matter. The values of and C' can, therefore., br calculated by using the reciprocal Tag-Robinson colors, and when these

Jan 1, 1928

IT does not seem practicable to review all the other specialized curricula that have developed in the mineral industries field in so much detail as has been given for petroleum. Nor is it easy to draw a definite line between true curricula, leading to a designated degree in the special subject, and options, which may range from the mere substitution of one or two courses for others in the final years to differences so extensive as almost to amount to separate curricula. Even to attempt to catalogue all the options that have been offered at one time or another would require too much space. The remainder of this discussion, therefore, will be confined to three topics which seem to be of major importance. Mining and metallurgical curricula will be covered in a later chapter. GEOLOGY The first, from the historical view, is geology in its relation to the mineral industries. Previous chapters have made clear that in the early years of mineral industry instruction in the United States economic geology and mining engineering so overlapped one another that men who were by, training and experience economic geologists were appointed professors of mining, while men who had graduated as mining engineers sometimes developed into professors of geology. Even today men whose basic training was in geology as a pure science, and who perhaps took a doctor's degree in that subject, have attained such distinction in the mineral industries as to be universally accepted as "mining men," and their right to be regarded as mining engineers would- not be questioned, even though they did not take a degree in engineering. Nevertheless the distinction does exist, and has been made a concrete reality in recent years by the enactment of

Jan 1, 1941

By P. Nelson, K. L. Gunsallus, A. R. Ingraffea, J. F. Beech

INTRODUCTION Fracture toughness, KIC, is an intrinsic material property and is a measure of the energy required to create new surface area in a material. Fracture toughness measurements can be made for a wide range of rock types (Ouchterlony, 1980). As a measure of energy of comminution, fracture toughness might be used for more sensitive predictions of Tunnel Boring Machine (TRM) performance than are possible with other index measures in current use. This paper describes part of an ongoing, comprehensive, analytical/experimental program aimed at evaluation of KIC in such a role. The program includes efforts to: 1. Provide a firm analytical basis for a test specimen geometry: the core-derived short-rod. 2. Develop simple, inexpensive testing equipment and techniques. 3. Evaluate the accuracy of the above by testing rock and other materials and comparing the measured fracture toughness with those obtained by other methods. 4. Measure fracture toughness of a substantial number of different rocks from three ongoing TBM projects. 5. Compare fracture toughness results with other strength measures. 6. Compare all test results with observed TBM performance in the three projects. Presented here are summaries of all but the last of these efforts. Comparative evaluation of KIC as a more senstive rock property for TBM performance prediction will be the subject of the oral presentation and a subsequent paper.

Jan 1, 1982

By Philip Drinker, R. M. Thomson

In the mining and metallurgical industries, numerous problems arise requiring determinations of solid and of liquid particles suspended in air. Frequently, these problems are of local interest and involve purely economic or operating difficulties; on the other hand, toxic effects from the inhalation or the ingestion of substances suspended in air may be a matter of concern. For checking up process improvements or for determining ventilation efficiencies in problems of this general nature, various methods have been proposed. .Although simpler methods are often satisfactory, precipitation combines several desirable features that other methods lack. This paper is, therefore, devoted to a discussion of portable alternating-current precipitators applicable to the quantitat,ive determination and microscopy of dusts, fumes, and smokes in air. Small particles suspended in gases, such as air, are referred to in the literature as aerosols or suspensoids. Of these terms, suspensoids appears to be preferable as being more nearly in keeping with words in everyday use. In problems involving air pollution by small particles—by suspensoids—it is convenient to distinguish three broad classes based on the size, the degree of dispersion, and the method by which the particles become suspended in the air. Dusts.—Particles or aggregates of particles, 150 to 1 micron in diameter, that are thrown into the air by mechanical agencies are termed dusts. Examples are silica; talc; cement; organic dusts such as hard rubber, starch, and cocoa; flocculated fume, and smoke products. Fumes.—Particles, 0.2 to 1 micron in diameter, formed from chemical or physicochemical reactions are known as fumes. Examples are ammonium chloride, lead and mercury, zinc and magnesium oxides, fogs, and acid mists. Smokes.—Particles, less than 0.3 micron in diameter, formed by incomplete combustion of carbonaceous and other substances are called smokes. Examples are the particles formed from burning tobacco, oil, tar, and gas.

Jan 1, 1925

By Fathi Habashi

Chalcopyrite can be readily leached with HNO3, but the recovery of elemental sulfur does not exceed 50% under the most favorable conditions. Preheating at 500°C in a slightly reducing atmosphere increases the recovery of elemental sulfur to about 65%. Chalcopyrite can also be treated with HNO3 in a pressure reactor at 110°C to solubilize selectively the copper while iron remains in the residue as an oxide. The recovery of elemental sulfur also improved when preheated chalcopyrite is treated in this way. Stainless steel should be an adequate material of construction.

Jan 1, 1974

By William E. Horst, John H. Bassarear

A technique is described which simplifies the standard procedure for measuring the Bond work index of a specific ore and illustrates how to overcome the strict requirements regarding feed size distribution normally encountered in operating plants. Actual results obtained from various process streams in a copper concentrator are presented and the grindability data are discussed in relation to the observed plant performance. This type of information can be used to gain a better understanding of plant behavior and to assist in the evaluation of plant modifications and process control studies.

Jan 1, 1977

By Hugh H. Waesche

AN adequate supply of crystalline quartz of piezoelectric grade and size continues to be of fundamental importance to the U. S. Army Signal Corps. Current electronic development programs of the Armed Forces depend upon the use of quartz crystals in all applications where accurate frequency control is necessary. In peacetime this' may not seem too significant, but in planning for possible national defense emergencies, an adequate supply of piezoelectric grade raw quartz is just as important as an adequate supply of some of the more publicized strategic minerals. Prior to World War II, the Signal Corps accepted the use of quartz crystals for frequency-control purposes in essentially all electronic communication, navigation, and radar equipment operating in the audio and radio frequency spectra up to and including the ultra-high-frequency channels. Over 4,000; 000 lb of radio-grade quartz was required between January 1942 and V.J Day. Use of such a large quantity of crystal units was necessary in order to establish and maintain, with a minimum of effort, clear and definite frequency channels of greater stability than could be obtained by any other means. This policy was justified on the basis that quartz was without a peer as a frequency-controlling element. Military and civilian uses of quartz in the field, as well as laboratory studies, have confirmed this premise and no means of highly stable frequency control, superior to quartz, has been discovered. It appears certain that the demand for use of quartz for frequency control purposes will continue at a high level.

Jan 1, 1948

By Bradley Stoughton

My attention was called by Prof. Henry M. Howe to the article by N. M. Wittorff, entitled Preliminary Investigation of Primary Crystallization and Subsequent Physico-Chemical Permutations in Iron-Carbon Alloys Containing More Than 4 Per Cent. of Carbon. I thereupon wrote to Mr. Wittorff and received a copy of the paper in the Russian language, with permission from him to publish a translated abstract in our Transactions, the original having appeared in the .Journal of the Russian Chemical Society, vol. xliii. (1911), in which it occupies some 78 pages, with 10 illustrations and 47 micrographs. The novelty of the data presented, and especially the scientific importance of Mr. Wittorff's deductions, as well as their value in helping to clarify our meager understanding of that useful but puzzling commodity, cast-iron, seemed to more than justify a publication of the essential facts in concise form in the English language, which has not been done previously so far as I know, although a very brief abstract has been published in German, and a somewhat more extended one in French.' When the work of translation was begun, I did not know that it bore in part upon the investigations of Ruff, which Howe is reviewing at some length at this meeting. This coincidence renders the following condensed translation of Wittorff's work, which I have prepared with the aid of Sidney Marcus as interpreter, the more appropriate here. The result of Wittorff's study is greatly to extend our knowledge of the hyper-eutectic alloys of iron and carbon, and to add several significant lines at the right-hand side of the diagram originally drawn by Bakhuis-Roozeboom, and developed by Roberts-Austen, Benedicks, Carpenter and Keeling, Upton, Goerens, and others. Some of the original lines of the dia-

Jan 1, 1913

By Robert Sisselman

Central Sweden's Grängesberg underground iron ore mine, which accounts for more than three million tons of pellet product annually, is experiencing a major changeover to continuous block-caving. The newly-adopted method, complete with a total revamping of mining equipment, will be fully operational by 1975. For the past 15 years, Sweden's Grängesberg mine has been mined using two different methods. Those ore thicknesses of 117 ft or greater (they comprise about 70% of the total area) are worked by block-caving techniques with cross-cutting carried out on each 195-ft working level, and loading at the foot wall on each 58-78-ft level. Sub-level caving is carried out in all ore sections less than 117 ft thick.

Jan 1, 1974

By W. C. Hellyer, R. A. Campbell

In single-stage autogenous grinding, the buildup of a critical size fraction in the media can be corrected by removing this material through pebble ports, crushing it below the critical size range, and recycling the crusher product back to the mill. The rate at which the critical sire fraction is crushed affects the size distribution of the grinding media and this in turn affects the sire distribution of the grate discharge. This provides a means for controlling the grind produced by a single-stage autogenous grinding unit. The pilot-plant investigations on a very hard copper ore were carried out at the facilities of the Institute of Mineral Research, Michigan Technological University. In an autogenous grinding circuit in which feed at approximately 9 in. top size is reduced to a size suitable for subsequent processing, the build-up of a "critical size" fraction in the media causes problems. A "critical size" fraction has been defined as, "media too small to effect reduction by impact grinding of ore coarser than a quarter of an inch and too large to be broken by the largest size of media in the charge."' The buildup of a critical size fraction reduces the capacity of the mill, increases the grinding power requirements per ton of finished product, and generally produces a finer grind than is desired. It is general practice to overcome this problem by the addition of large-diameter steel balls to the grinding charge. This has certain disadvantages, such as 1) an increase in mill liner wear, 2) wear on the steel balls, and 3) some loss in flexibility in grinding circuit opera-tions resulting from difficulties in removing the steel balls by means other than by grinding out. A number of investigators' have suggested the use of a small crusher as an alternative to the use of large steel balls for control of a critical size fraction. With this technique the critical size fraction is removed from the mill continuously through suitable-sized pebble ports, crushed below the critical size range, and returned to the mill. An external crusher would cause no increase in mill liner wear, the wear on the crusher would be less expensive than the wear on the steel balls, and the flexibility of the grinding circuit operations would be enhanced since the crusher can be cut into and out of the circuit at will. This paper describes an autogenous grinding pilot plant investigation on a very hard copper ore, which led to the selection of an autogenous grinding flowsheet incorporating a crusher in the circuit as the preferred method for grinding this ore. Further development of the technique demonstrated that the crusher could be employed to control the product produced by an autogenous grinding unit. Description of Pilot Plant These investigations were carried out at the pilot-plant facilities of the Institute of Mineral Research, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Mich. The autogenous grinding unit was a 6-ft-diam by 2-ft-long Hardinge Cascade mill with %-in. slotted steel grates. Pebble ports cut into the grates allowed passage of pebbles having a top size of approximately 21/2 in. The grate and pebble-port discharge material passed over a 3/16-in, trommel screen with the trommel under -size being pumped to the classification device. DSM screens were employed for classification in the early investigations, but were replaced later by a small Dorr rake classifier. The trommel oversize material returned to the mill via scissor conveyors. When the crusher was incorporated into the circuit, the trommel oversize material passed to a double-deck vibrating screen fitted with 2-in. and 3/4-in. square mesh screen cloths. The $ 2-in. and the —2 +3/4-in. size fractions were combined and crushed to a nominal 1 in. in a 4 x 6-in. jaw crusher. The crusher discharge and the —3/4-in. screen undersize returned to the mill. In the final investigation, a flap gate fitted to the top deck of the screen directed the — 21/2 +2-in. size fraction to the crusher or back to the grinding mill. The flap gate operated manually on a 15-min cycle, with this material being crushed for so many minutes out of each cycle. This was found to be a more reliable method of controlling the amount of — 21/2 +2-in. material crushed than attempting to make a split of a small weight of material on a continuous basis. Operational Techniques: Each sample was sized into three fractions and the Cascade mill feed was reconstituted from these size fractions in the proportions existing in the original sample. Sufficient feed for 15 min operation was weighed out and fed by hand over a 15-min period. The gross mill power draft was recorded every 15 min, corrected for tare power and drive efficiency, and reported as net kilowatt-hours per ton. A recording kilo-watt-hour meter provided a continuous visual record of the power drawn by the mill. Pulp densities of the trommel undersize and the classifier overflow (or DSM undersize) were taken every 15 min. The classifier overflow was sampled automatically. Timed samples of the classifier sands were taken every 15 or 30 min, weighed, and returned to the circuit. After correcting for moisture content, the weights were converted into percent circulating load. Timed samples of the +2 in., the —2 + 3/4-in., —3/4-in. screen fractions, and the crusher discharge, were

Jan 1, 1971