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By Theodore Swann

DURING recent years, there has been a material increase in the use of ferrophosphorus in the steel industry. It has been observed, when rolling sheets, that those made of Southern iron did not have to be rolled at as high a temperature as the others and, consequently, did not stick together. The reason was found to be the phosphorus content of Southern iron. It was therefore thought that an addition of phosphorus to sheet steel of other than Southern origin would give the same result as the use of Southern iron. At first, this addition was made by intro¬ducing phosphate rock in the blast furnace and reducing it together with the iron ore; but, because of the necessity for only small quantities of this grade of iron, the process was not satisfactory. The manufacture of ferrophosphorus was then introduced, so that additions might be made to the open-hearth furnace or ladle. Ferrophosphorus was first manufactured in the blast furnace. This method, however, can only economically produce a grade of product up to about 20 per cent. To produce a higher grade, it would be necessary to charge a larger proportion of phosphate-bearing material; and as the rate of absorption by the iron is low, there would be an increased loss of phosphorus oxides. This feature makes the production of a higher grade ferrophosphorus in the blast furnace uneconomical. The use of high-grade ferrophosphorus in the steel requires a smaller addition and involves, besides the economies in handling, an additional economy in transportation. The alloy with a higher percentage than 20 per cent. can be made only in the electric furnace. In the ordinary operation of the electric furnace in the production of ferrophosphorus, an alloy may be produced containing 26 per cent. phosphorus; this is the limit, for it does not seem possible to produce a higher phosphorus alloy even if large excesses of phosphatic materials are used. The reasons for the difficulty in raising this percentage of phosphorus are not known. The compounds Fe3P, containing 15.6 per cent., and Fe2P, containing 21.7 per cent. phosphorus, have been studied and it appears as if the alloy produced, containing percentages of

Jan 10, 1924

By E. C. Wright

FOR many years the cost of making pig iron and steel in the Birmingham district has been about the lowest in the United States. The close proximity of the important raw materials such as coal, iron ore, limestone, and the large available scrap supply made it possible to assemble all of the important ingredients necessary for steel-making with only nominal costs for transportation. Both iron ore and coal were being mined in this district at one time for about $1 per ton from underground operations. At that time mining wages were low everywhere and the labor rate in the South was considerably below that of other mining districts. This situation persisted until the emergence of labor unions as an economic and political force, emigation of southern labor to northern plants, and continued growth of industry in the South in the years following the depression of 1932. Since that time union organizing of miners and steel workers throughout the nation has increased labor costs in mining and steelmaking. This influence has been felt particularly in underground mining operations since the proportion of labor cost to total cost is still high. The previous advantage in basic labor rate in the South has been almost entirely eliminated by the equalization of labor rates in basic industries by national unions.

Jan 12, 1950

By A. Haas, L. Bubenicek

The Lorraine deposit of minette iron ore has been mined for more than a century. During this time, the economic conditions have changed frequently, and especially during the past decade. Thus, it has become economically prudent to proceed to new iron ore reserves with consideration of many and varied parameters. In the past, only traditional mining parameters were considered. Today, the quantity of information that must be taken into account is of such magnitude that the only practical means of data processing is by use of a digital computer and a mathematical model. One such model, based on geostatistics, was developed by G. Matheron. Much of the required input information, such as the petrology of ores, has been generated through IRSID investigations. This paper deals with several aspects of data processing in mining including information recording, reserves calculation, and stages of shrinking data in the calculation of mining iron beds, variograms, kriging, and tonnages.

Jan 1, 1969

By William L. Zeller

IN the past 75 years industrial engineering has been highly developed in many fields, but the coal mining industry has just begun to realize its potential for cutting costs. To receive the maximum benefit, a company should apply industrial engineering from the time a new installation is contemplated, but the principles can also be used to reduce and control the costs of an established operation. One company that had been mechanized for seven years reduced its total labor cost 57 pct by industrial engineering. Of this reduction, 20 pct was brought about by a preventive maintenance, rebuilding, and scheduled lubrication program that eliminated 80 pct of the delay caused by mechanical and electrical failures. Thirty percent of the cost reduction was attributed to rearranging the work force into crews of the most effective size, changing working methods, and training all mine supervision in the principles of the cost reduction program. The remaining 7 pct reduction was brought about by a wage incentive program for all the men in the mine. The productivity of this coal mining operation was increased from less than 8 tons per payroll man to 20 tons. This increased productivity was brought about while using the same equipment, men, and supervision.

Jan 12, 1957

By G. E. McElroy

THOUGH air jets occupy only a minor role in the ventilation of mines and other enclosures, their importance in this respect is greater than is commonly recognized and may be considerably increased as our conception of their modes of operation becomes clearer. The object of this paper is to discuss some of the ways in which air jets are involved in mine ventilation and some possible applications to the ventilation of mines and other enclosed spaces. The mention of air jets ordinarily suggests the use of some form of an air injector, such as the Venturi blower occasionally used for auxiliary ventilation in mines, or the Saccardo (injector) system used to a limited extent for ventilating railroad tunnels. Actually, the term covers such common phenomena as the discharge of air from fan pipes and coal-mine line brattices, and even from smoke stacks and fans. A knowledge of the general mode of air entrainment by jets also helps to explain certain phenomena-some mine-gas explosions, for instance-that otherwise would remain obscure. Jet action has been involved in three recent series of Bureau of Mines experiments in which the author has participated: experiments on fan-pipe discharge, on the dilution of gases discharged from a stack and on the ventilation of a ship's hold. Available data on the discharge of jets into large openings and on the design and performance of air injectors have been analyzed in considerable detail and supplementary experiments are planned for after the war. The results of the fan-pipe experiments have been combined with the analyses of data on jet discharge into large spaces, and have been published.1 The results of the stack-gas dilution tests, which refer to a jet discharged into a crosswind, have also been published2 and a paper on the design and performance of injectors has been prepared for publication.3 These technical experiments and analyses form the background and the documented evidence for the following nontechnical discussion of the use of air jets in mine ventilation. JET CHARACTERISTICS The jets commonly encountered are those in which the air is in turbulent-as opposed to laminar, or streamline-motion. The characteristics under discussion apply only to such turbulent jets and have their basis in theories of the mixing of turbulent air currents. Such jets have basic characteristics that are present, though variable in form, regardless of whether the jet expands freely in space, whether the expansion is limited by adjacent walls, or whether the jet propels air through a flow circuit. They expand at definite angles and entrain the surrounding air, even though the entrained air must be obtained by recirculation of their own air streams. As the quantity of air in motion in the mixed stream increases, the average velocity of the stream decreases. In the case of entrainment in the free

Jan 1, 1945

By Allen J. Johnson

Anthracite coals have been divided into three groups: (I) meta-anthracite, a high-carbon coal that is usually very slow to kindle and difficult to burn, at least on conventional equipment; (2) anthracite, a high-carbon low-volatile coal of widely accepted value as both a domestic and industrial fuel; and (3) semianthracite, a coal lying between anthracite and bituminous coal in carbon and volatile content, and also, generally speaking, in burning characteristics. Anthracite Groupings The technical differentiation between these groups, as defined by the A.S.A.-A.S.T.M. Sectional Committee on the Classification of Coals, is as shown in Table I. Tables 2 and 3 show typical analyses of anthracites and semianthracites and Figs. I to 3 show graphically the range of analytical samples. Table 4 shows the commercial sizes of coals. Meta-anthracite and Graphitic Anthracite Typical analyses from virtually every field in the United States indicate that there are few if any extensive deposits of meta-anthracite. Some of the anthracites of Rhode Island contain almost negligible quantities of volatile and would thus fall into the meta-anthracite grouping on a basis of analyses alone. However, their other characteristics indicate that it is doubtful whether they should be considered as fuels at all, but rather as graphite. In fact, this material is being mined for use as foundry facings and furnace linings.4 A typical analysis of Fenners Lodge graphite,4 from Rhode Island, is: graphitic carbon, 55.9 per cent; silica (ash), 40.6; sulphur, 1.6; moisture, 1.9; volatile, o. Other Rhode Island coals possess percentages of volatile that would throw them into the normal anthracite rather than the meta-anthracite class. However, this "volatile" is nearly all noncombustible,3,4 being composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide and inert gases, therefore its definition as volatile is open to discussion, leaving the exact classification of the fuel a moot question. One factor is certain, Rhode Island coal is so different from nor-mal anthracite in both analysis and burning characteristics that it should have a

Jan 1, 1944

By Allen J. Johnson

Anthracite coals have been divided into three groups: (I) meta-anthracite, a high-carbon coal that is usually very slow to kindle and difficult to burn, at least on conventional equipment; (2) anthracite, a high-carbon low-volatile coal of widely accepted value as both a domestic and industrial fuel; and (3) semianthracite, a coal lying between anthracite and bituminous coal in carbon and volatile content, and also, generally speaking, in burning characteristics. Anthracite Groupings The technical differentiation between these groups, as defined by the A.S.A.-A.S.T.M. Sectional Committee on the Classification of Coals, is as shown in Table I. Tables 2 and 3 show typical analyses of anthracites and semianthracites and Figs. I to 3 show graphically the range of analytical samples. Table 4 shows the commercial sizes of coals. Meta-anthracite and Graphitic Anthracite Typical analyses from virtually every field in the United States indicate that there are few if any extensive deposits of meta-anthracite. Some of the anthracites of Rhode Island contain almost negligible quantities of volatile and would thus fall into the meta-anthracite grouping on a basis of analyses alone. However, their other characteristics indicate that it is doubtful whether they should be considered as fuels at all, but rather as graphite. In fact, this material is being mined for use as foundry facings and furnace linings.4 A typical analysis of Fenners Lodge graphite,4 from Rhode Island, is: graphitic carbon, 55.9 per cent; silica (ash), 40.6; sulphur, 1.6; moisture, 1.9; volatile, o. Other Rhode Island coals possess percentages of volatile that would throw them into the normal anthracite rather than the meta-anthracite class. However, this "volatile" is nearly all noncombustible,3,4 being composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide and inert gases, therefore its definition as volatile is open to discussion, leaving the exact classification of the fuel a moot question. One factor is certain, Rhode Island coal is so different from nor-mal anthracite in both analysis and burning characteristics that it should have a

Jan 1, 1944

By C. van Dijk

In Sept., 1960, a steam-drive project was started in the solution-gas drive area of the Schoonebeek field. A part(ern of three five-spots and one four-spot was selected covering an area of 65 acres. The pay in the project area has good lateral continuity and dips slightly to the northeut; it is about SO ft thick and permeability increases from 1,000 and at the bottom to approximately 10,000 md at the top. The oil originally in place was 12.6 X 10' bbl. The oil has an in situ viscosity of about 180 cp. At the start of the steam drive the cumulative primary production due to. solution-ga.7 drive amounted id 4 Percent of the oil originally in place. Reservoir pressure had dropped about 120 psi and no significant primary re-.serves remained. Some 11.3 million bbl of steam (all steam quantities are expressed in barrels of water vaporized) have been injected, resulting in production of an additional 4.1 X I0 9bl of oil, or 33 percent of the oil originally in place. This corresponds to a cumulative oil-stearn rario of 0.37 bbllbbl. It appears that the steam preferentially moves r updip while liquids are produced mainly from downdip wells observations indicate that tile steam flows through only the upper part of the formation. The lateral steam distribution in the pattern is satisfacrory since several prodriction wells hardly reacted and, hence, cori tributcd little to the oil production. Production performance and results from material balance calcutlations agree satisfactorily with the results of large-,scale laboratory experiments. On the basis of these experirmental results the .steam drive, together with a cold water follow-up. is expected to bring ultimate recovery to a value of crt leas: 50 percent of the oil originally in place. No serious production problems have been encountered. However, due to mechanical fuilure, two old prodriction wells and one injection well had to be replaced. An extension of the. steam drive in this area is under connstruction. Introduction The Schoonebeek oil field, discovered in 1943 and developed after World War 11, is situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. The main oil reservoir in this field is the Valanginian sand. A completely sealing fault divides this reservoir into two areas (Fig. 1): the southwestern part of the sand body where primary production is ob- tained by means of a solution-gas drive, and the remain. der where edge-water drive is the production mechanism. In the greater part of the field the reservoir consists of a single, unconsolidated sand body. The net thickness ranges from 30 to 100 ft and the top is between 2,400 and 2,800 ft below sea level. Formation permeability varies from approximately 10,000 md at the top to values of the order of 1,000 md at the bottom, and porosity is about 30 percent. The reservoir contains a paraffinic oil of 25" API gravity with an in situ viscosity of 160 to 180 cp. Initial oil saturation was high (85 to 90 percent). The relatively large quantity of oil in place (more than 10' bbl), and the low ultimate primary recoveries expected from this field — approximately 15 percent stock-tank oil initially in place (STOIIP) for the water-drive area and 5 percent STOIIP for the solution-gas drive area — clearly indicate ample scope for secondary recovery. Because ies-ervoir and crude characteristics made this field suitable for thermal secondary recovery, a hot-water drive project was started in the water-drive area about 10 years ago. A few years later a steam drive and an in situ combustion project were started in the solution-gas drive area. This paper deals with the performance of the steam-drive project, which was started in Sept., 1960, and which is still in operation. Design of Steam-Drive Project, An experimental investigation of the steam-drive process carried out by schenk in 19561 indicated that under schoonebeek conditions steam injection could be an attractive secondary recovery method. the findings and encouraging results of a pilot test in the Mene Grande field in venezuela,i led to the design of a steam-drive project in the schoonebeek field, Pruject Site and Pattern In 1958 the reservoir pressure in the solution-gas drive area had decreased to about 120 psi, and oil production rates of wells in this area had dropped to 7 to 10 B/D. The cumulative primary production was about 4 percent STOIIP, leaving an oil saturation of approximately 85 percent. In view of the large amount of oil left behind in the reservoir, the solution-gas drive area was selected for the planned steam-drive project. The area in the vicinity of Well S1 3 (Fig. 2) was considered to be suitable since it is at least partly isolated from the rest of the field by faults and the sand is relatively thick (about 80 ft).

Jan 1, 1969

By S. P. Barber, G. W. Cutting, V. Alesse, M. Ciriachi

Just what is happening in the preparation and mineral separation stages are questions frequently asked about most processing plants. It is unusual to find the answers readily available in the operating metallurgical data. Knowledge is nominally available from metallurgical balances about the head ore grade, grade and recovery of the concentrates, and the plant tailings. However, the mechanisms which control grade recovery and losses are seldom monitored in such a way as to permit specific analysis: Thus, when questions about the effectiveness of the process are asked, the answers are based frequently upon intuitive professional judgments and local expertise. Detailed investigations of process functions are extensive in terms of manpower, time, and interference with production. An investigation method in which process operating conditions could be provided in a cost effective manner would assist in local process assessment and control. Such a collection of process operating data is defined as a process audit and the development of the necessary techniques forms the subject of this paper. A typical application to a lead-zinc concentrator highlights both the manner of implementing a process and the plant data made available for local use.

Jan 1, 1980

By Roscoe Bell

An economic appraisal of the western phosphate industrial potentials made between 1945 and 1948 revealed possibilities for a considerable expansion in the production of high analysis phosphate fertilizer. The most significant facts are: (1) a rapidly increasing and a much larger potential market which might be reached from the western deposits, (2) the existence of large undeveloped deposits of phosphate rock, (3) potential energy from sulphuric acid, coal, or hydroelectric power in the general vicinity of the deposits. The challenge to the mining and metallurgical engineering profession is in the economical development of phosphate mines and in improving processes for utilization of the western ores and the recovery of byproducts to make the expanded western industry satisfactorily compete with the industry in the East and South in meeting the fertilizer needs of the Midwest and Far West.

Jan 4, 1950

ENGINEERS AVAILABLE (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons.) Member, aged 25, recent graduate, with some experience in laboratory of steel plant, desires position as metallurgist or assistant in copper, aluminum, or steel works. No. 118. Member, aged 52, technical graduate, with 20 years' experience as engineer with coal-mining companies, desires position as engineer or superintendent of coal mine. No. 119. Member, aged 39, technical graduate, with extended experience in surveying, assaying, milling, and copper smelting, desires position along cyaniding, concentration, or copper-smelting lines. No. 120. Member, aged, 38, technical graduate, with several years' experience in research work, in mine operation and as professor of mining engineering, is desirous of engagement in planning concentration and metallurgy of odd and difficult ores. No. 121. Member, aged 32, graduate M. I. T. in mining and metallurgy, at present and for last five years superintendent of Western lead smeltery, will consider engagement with solid company, if opening promises advancement. Specialty, smelting of lead ores, high in lead and zinc content. Ten years' experience in the operation, design, and erection of a large lead plant. Now desirous of bettering position.. No. 122.

Jan 8, 1914

By AIME

DURING the happy and peaceful years between the Treaty of Versailles and the third New Deal, metallurgy became one of the most cosmopolitan of the sciences. Any metallurgist can name some twenty or thirty scientists whose work, in this country, in England, in Germany, or in France, Sweden, Italy, or Japan was as well known in other parts of the metal-producing and metal using world as it was locally, despite the fact that many of these men never left their native land. One of these metallurgical cosmopolites is Augustus Braun Kinzel, former Chairman of the Iron and Steel Division, A.I.M.E., and now a Director of the Institute. Gus Kinzel, however, is not only a cosmopolite by reputation; he is also a cosmopolite in fact. For many years he commuted at least twice a year between New York and the rest of the world; he is, therefore, not only an expert on the art and science of metallurgy but is equally expert in world travel and can expound with authority on the comparative quality and especially on the cuisine of the great prewar steamship lines; and being a true cosmopolite, he knows, as well as he knows the iron-chromium diagram, the best vintage years in the Gironde, Cote d'Or, and Saone-et-Loire departments in France and along the banks of the Moselle and Rhine in Germany.

Jan 1, 1946

By R. W. Raymond

PROFESSOR W. P. BLAKE, in a note to his Catalogue of California Minerals, pointed out that the milling districts of the Pacific slope are arranged in parallel zones, following the prevailing direction of the mountain ranges. This interesting generalization has been more frilly illustrated and connected with the geological history of the country by Mr. Clarence King, who sums up the observed phenomena as follows : " The Pacific coast ranges upon the west carry quicksilver, tin, and chromic iron. The next belt is that of the Sierra Nevada and Oregon Cascades, which, upon their west slope, bear two zones, a foot-hill chain of copper mines, and a middle line of gold deposits. These gold veins and the resultant placer mines extend far into Alaska, characterized by the occurrence of gold in quartz, by a small amount of that metal which is entangled in iron sulphurets, and by occupying splits in the upturned metamorphic strata of the Jurassic age. Lying to the east of this zone, along the east base of the Sierras, and stretching southward into Mexico, is a chain of silver mines, containing comparatively little base metal, and frequently included in volcanic rocks. Through Middle Mexico, Arizona, Middle Nevada, and Central Idaho is another line of silver mines, mineralized with complicated association of tli6 base metals, and more often occurring in older rocks. Through New Mexico, Utah, and Western Montana lies another zone of argentiferous galena lodes. To the east, again, the New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana gold belt is an extremely well-defined and continuous chain of deposits." These seven longitudinal zones or chains of mineral deposits must

The war story of the engineer corps at home and in France is told officially for the first time in the advance sheets of the War Department's brief history of American war efforts. Many of these accomplishments have been published before as isolated incidents, but they gave no idea of the extraordinary duties modern warfare has laid upon engineering troops. In the engineering units that reached the other side, there were seven regiments and two battalions of railway construction engineers; five battalions for maintenance of way; two battalions for maintenance of railway equipment; four regiments and one battalion to operate the main American railways in France; three regiments to operate light railways and their repair shops; two regiments to operate the regular railway repair shops; two regiments and six separate battalions on general construction work; two regiments for storing and transporting engineer supplies; a forestry regiment; a light-railway construction regiment; a roadbuilding regiment; a water-supply regiment; a mining regiment; a quarrying regiment; a technical regiment for surveying and sound ranging; three survey and printing battalions; two railway transportation battalions; an electrical and mechanical regiment; several separate companies to operate cranes; a camouflage service; five inland waterway companies, to operate canal boats and the like; five pontoon trains and a pontoon

Jan 6, 1919

By H. P. Reid

PORTLAND cement is manufactured under either of two general proc-esses, the wet or the dry. The raw materials in general consist of limestone, shells, marl, cement rock, clay, shale, blast-furnace slag, etc., so proportioned that when calcined the desired composition will be obtained. In the wet process the combined raw materials are ground to extreme fineness in the presence of water, to a resulting slurry of from 30 to 50 per cent moisture content. The moisture of the slurry may be reduced by thickening or filtering processes for feed to the cement kiln or the slurry may be fed to the kiln with its full percentage of water. The dry process differs from the wet in that the surface moisture of the raw materials is removed prior to grinding. For the drying of these materials heat is required and in most cases is produced by burning of raw fuel either on grates or stokers before the dryers or in suspension in the form of pulverized coal, oil or gaseous fuel. The power required for making the cement is sometimes purchased from outside sources; sometimes it is generated from the heat in the waste gases leaving the cement kilns, or generated at the plants direct from raw fuel. We have, then, as the possible requirements of fuel in the cement industry: (1) fuel for power generation, (2) fuel for drying raw materials, including coal before pulverizing, and (3) fuel for burning the raw materials to cement clinker. There is no essential difference in quality required in fuel for burning the materials by the wet and dry processes.

Jan 1, 1932

By John P. Cosgro

THE increasing use of internal furnace-boilers for mining power-plants (doubtless due to the facility with which they may be installed by reason of their portability; the fact that they require no masonry setting, cast-iron fronts, buck-stays, etc., and practically no foundation; and the successful maintenance of their claim to equal and even superior economy, as compared with boilers of other types) warrants this description of a method of remedying an injury which may occur, to such a furnace, even though it satisfies the requirements of the formula adopted by the U. S. Board of Supervising Inspectors of Steam Vessels.2 I refer to the sagging and deformation which may result from overloading the boilers for a considerable period-say, several days. This is sometimes unavoidable under the exacting conditions of continuous day-and-night service, and (in spite of all rules and precautions, the occasional careless or unskillful work of attendants. Such a trouble is by no means unknown on shipboard, where this type of boiler is so largely employed. In the case here described, two Morrison suspension-furnaces, of half-inch steel, 14 ft. long and 45 in. in mean diameter, with ? dry-back ? boilers, were necessarily operated somewhat beyond their rated -normal capacity for several months, while a third similar unit was -in process of installation, and during this period, though the boilers were kept perfectly clean, heat seems 'to have been generated slightly faster than it was absorbed by, the water in the boilers. The corrugations of this.

Mar 1, 1905

By J. E. Clennell

It is a common observation that the improvements introduced in practice since the first announcement of the cyanide process have been almost entirely mechanical. Although .a good deal of study land research has been devoted to the chemical problems [involved, the results obtained appear trifling in comparison. Few of the suggested modifications in the chemical treatment have come into practical use and those only in limited fields. Nevertheless, if we study the recent history of the cyanogen compounds from a somewhat broader standpoint, we shall find that considerable additions have been made, not only to our knowledge of their chemical properties, but also to their applications for industrial purposes. The present review of these advances naturally falls into two divisions: (1) processes involved in the treatment of ores; (2) manufacture of cyanides and other related compounds. Part I. Advances in the Chemistry of Ore Treatment by Cyanide In the attempt to extend the scope of the process, various ores have been encountered which contain gold and silver in such forms that they will not yield satisfactorily to ordinary methods of cyanide treatment. In some cases the difficulty is due to the excessive action on the solution of base metals present in the ore; in others, to the occurrence of minerals such as dyscrasite (the native alloy of antimony and silver), or a supposed oxidized manganese compound containing silver, which are either altogether insoluble in or very slightly attacked by cyanide. A particularly troublesome case is that of the so-called "graphitic" ores, containing carbon in some form which has the property of precipitating gold and silver already dissolved. Other efforts have been directed to improving extraction by electrolysis of working solutions, and by addition of various chemicals with or without electrolysis; to the diminution of cyanide consumption by "re-

Jan 1, 1916

By J. R. Linney

THE Eastern Magnetite Industry produced approximately 7,850,000 long tons of crude ore in 1945 from which was obtained approximately 3,650,000 long tons of shipping product or a ratio of 2.10 to 1. Lack of skilled or experienced miners was the greatest handicap. Veterans returning to work improved the underground labor shortage in some localities but as a whole the labor shortage was keenly felt throughout the industry. One cannot now predict what may be accomplished in 1946 but barring major steel strikes a worthwhile improvement can be expected. At the Richard mine of the Richard Ore Co., the shipping product for the year amounted to approximately 124,650 long tons of concentrate and lump ore. Crude-ore production was 160,600 long tons. The average analysis for lump ore was 63 per cent iron and for concentrates 66.05 per cent. The Warren Foundry and Pipe Corp. at their Mt. Hope mine produced 73,000 long tons of lump ore averaging 59.5 per cent and 57,000 long tons of concentrate averaging 67 per cent. The total mine hoist was approximately 209,000 long tons. Operations were commenced through the new Leonard shaft on Jan. 18; the Brown shaft through which operations had been conducted since 1912 caved beyond repair on Sept. 26. No one was injured but pumping facilities were somewhat disrupted. In order to reach designed capacity a total of 400 men will be required with 300 underground. Due to shortage of labor all operations in 1945 were concentrated on the 1700 level. As fast as men can be hired and trained development of the 2100 and 2500 levels will commence. Mt. Hope has a consider-

Jan 1, 1946

By August Wendel

It is a well-known fact to all Bessemer steel manufacturers using a blooming mill, that ingots show large cracks in the first few passes of the rolls, which, in the following ones, do not always roll up satisfactorily. This deficiency in the quality of the product is generally called "red-shortness," though, in the writer's opinion, mostly unjustly so. Different explanations for the said peculiarity are given by the leading authorities, each works selecting one element as a special scapegoat for the inferior quality of the ingot. The sulphur is generally first charged as being the principal cause of all mischief in this direction ; then, after ascertaining that sulphur is not higher than the average, and sometimes lower in the very worst heats, silicon has to bear its share of abuse. How and why silicon should affect the working qualities of the metal, the writer could never precisely learn, but is convinced that the doctrine of its pernicious influence is an established one with many. In cases where silicon failed to explain everything, resort was taken to calcium, aluminum, and some other known or unknown elements, without settling the difficulty; and lastly, when the skill of the chemist became exhausted, " practical men " came to the same conclusion, which many leading blast-furnace managers had arrived

By B. Das, V. Hucka

In light of the present energy crisis, coal appears now as the only reliable source of energy. The production of coal is expected to regain a rising trend after the latest slump. Aside from the competitive price with natural gas and oil, the other retarder of coal production is its environmental pollution effect. Gasification of coal has been advanced as the partial solution to the energy-ecology crisis. All the Advantages In situ gasification of coal may be considered a further step in this direction. It carries all the advantages of normal coal gasification as a stable source of energy; it is clean to handle and nonpolluting of the environment. It partially and sometimes fully does away with mining, makes uneconomical low grade coal and lignites economical and places some formerly unworkable seams within the scope of modern technology. The seams posing problems for mining due to tectonic disturbances may be converted into gas in situ. Low grade coals, such as lignites, which otherwise would be left in nature as uneconomic wealth, may be exploited by underground or in situ gasification. Thus, in situ gasification is likely to increase the exploitable reserves of coal and may reduce the cost of production. An additional merit of this method is that coal substance never reaches the surface and there is no problem of cinder disposal.

Jan 8, 1973