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By G. R. Heffernan

"IntroductionTHE PURPOSE of this paper is to give a •brief history of iron and steel in British Columbia, a quick look at the present operations of Western Canada Steel, Limited, a review of iron ore resources and iron and steel markets, and a projection of what the future might hold for the industry in British Columbia.From the Past to the PresentWhile the paper is entitled Past, Present, and Future, in covering the past, which we shall call the time prior to 1947, there is very little to be said. Small shipments of iron ore were made from the Texada deposits by the Puget Sound Iron Company from 1886 to 1907. Total ore shipped did not exceed 70,000 tons. Part of this is believed to have been used in building a United States battleship in 1907 in the Bremerton Naval Yards in Seattle, Washington.In 1914 a small steel mill was started on Lulu island, rolling bars from •box piles and used shafting. This mill operated spasmodically for a few years but finally burned down in 1921. The rolling mill stands were sold to China and are no doubt in operation in China today.In 1916 the City of Port Moody assisted in the financing of a mill which operated on re-roll rails, box piles, and steel ingots made in an experimental electric furnace in Port Moody. This furnace also produced small quantities of pig iron scrap. The backers of the Port Moody mill showed a great deal of enterprise and must have been a very forward looking group, since this was one of the first recorded applications of the electric furnace to small ingot production. Despite their enterprise, the operation was unsuccessful and terminated in 1921."

Jan 1, 1953

By E. C. Harder

BRITISH Guiana, Great Britain's only South American colony, may be reached by very comfortable steamers, both from North America and Europe. The trip from North American Atlantic ports requires about 12 to 14 days; that from Europe about 18 to 20 days. A number of steamship lines, including Canadian, American, and Dutch, have regular sailings between North America and British Guiana, with calls en route at various interesting ports in the West Indies and northern South America. Moreover, several lines, including British, German, and French, have steamships operating regularly between Europe and the West Indies. Indeed, so popular have the West Indian voyages become in recent years that, during the winter months, special cruises in considerable number are organized for many vessels that ply in the trans-Atlantic service in the summer. A trip to British Guiana, therefore, has become a delightful experience. After visits at the various attractive Leeward and Windward islands and Trinidad, the approach to the low, flat, British Guiana coast, with its muddy coastal waters extending for many miles offshore, is somewhat of a contrast. Arrival in Guiana waters is signalled by the appearance of the modern high-power Demerara Light, located "on a shoal about twelve miles from the mouth of Demerara river. From this point, if the tide is right, a pilot takes the steamer across the bar, eight to ten miles offshore, and into Georgetown harbour. At high tide, the water above the bar ranges from 15 to 18 feet in depth, depending on whether it is neap tide or spring tide; at low tide, the corresponding depths are 9 to 11 feet. As the bar is of soft mud, however, it is usually possible for vessels to pass over it with a draught of about two feet in excess of that indicated by the tide tables. Upon nearing the shore, one sees first the Georgetown wireless towers, then the light-house and the tall chimneys of sugar mills and of various factories in Georgetown, and finally the palms and other tropical trees and the houses of Georgetown itself along the sea shore and the east bank of Demerara river. Extensive wharves operated by various exporting and importing companies stretch along the river bank and activity prevails in Georgetown harbour. The principal exports are sugar, rice, gold, diamonds, bauxite, balata, lumber, fruit and other tropical products. The imports are food-stuffs, wearing apparel, and manufactured materials of many kinds.

Jan 1, 1936

By V. S. Swaminathan

This year, Great Britain is looking back over a century to August 14, 1850, the day when the first "Act for the Inspection of Coal Mines" was passed in that country, an act which signaled the end of over two hundred years of hitherto uncontrolled and dangerous mining practices. It was back in the time of Queen Elizabeth that . thousands of pounds were invested in mining, particularly coal mining in England and Scot- land. By 1640 there were collieries producing 10,000 to 25,000 tons of coal per year. In the seventeenth century the Tyne district coal industry was organized into powerful partnerships, and coal took an even larger part in industry, as a source of power and as fuel for the iron industry. In the early 19th century a "phenomenal, almost devastating expansion" characterized Britain's coal industry, and it was sparked by a 111 pct in- crease in the population of England and Wales in the first half of the century. Coal production for those 50 years increased 470 pct and pig iron production was up 946 pct for the period 1801-51.

Jan 1, 1950

By C. L. Dake

AN insistent and steadily growing demand is evident for the broadening of undergraduate curricula in engineering. Among suggested additions are training in public speaking, report writing, business law and contracts, accounting, finance, money and banking, scientific management, economics, social and labor problems, psychology, and ethics. The demand for these subjects comes from the older engineers and from the industries that employ our graduates. Of course, many of the men who suggest such changes are influenced largely by their personal needs and contacts, but the demand is sufficiently widespread to merit serious study by educators. In fact, many educators themselves concur in the proposals for broader training. These matters were examined intensively a few years ago in an exhaustive study of engineering education. Opinion at that time was rather strongly against any profound change. Since then, however, the whole economic system has undergone violent disruption. Even if recommendations made a few years ago were appropriate to the conditions then- obtaining, the enormously changed conditions of the present make advisable a further careful study of this problem. In recent years, mergers, to reduce costs, have sharply limited the number of engineers employed and have thereby intensified the struggle to secure positions. In this stiffer competition, engineers with the most adequate training undoubtedly fare the best.

Jan 1, 1934

By D H MACKENZIE

In common with several great orebodies and mineral camps around the world Broken Hill has been the subject of state-of-the-art technical and scientific scrutiny during its long working life. During the early years geological interest in Broken Hill tended to be directed at the body for its intrinsic scientific worth, mainly on account of its large size, high grade and wealth of mineral species. For much of the last 60 years the interest has had a more applied motivation, namely, to assist the search for either repetitions in the Broken Hill field or analogues in other terrains. This paper looks at the major changes in geological concepts and exploration techniques applied at Broken Hill and attempts to assess their impact.

Jan 1, 1992

By A. L. W. Lips, B. P. J. Stevens, T. J. R. Barclay, E. Rothery, S. H. White

Discussion by B.P.J. Stevens of the paper, published in Trans. IMMA, vol.104, 1995, p.B1-B17, is presented together with the authors' response. Stevens questions the authors' radically different interpretation of the structural geology of the Broken Hill Block, considering that the descriptive part of the paper is a useful addition but that the conclusions are unwarranted on the basis of the data presented. A number of major points of disagreement are outlined and half a dozen additional minor points listed. In response, the authors admire Stevens's contribution to unravelling the geology of the area but defend their attempts to take the regional studies a step further, pointing out that he has misquoted what they wrote and arguing that because of the assumptions underpinning the derivation of the present stratigraphy it cannot be used to constrain structural models. With regard to shear zones, they cite the extensive earlier literature and refer to horizontal displacements shown on maps produced by Stevens et al. Detailed discussion follows of the stratigraphy and of the stratigraphic correlation problems resulting from failure to recognise the presence and significance of shears, particularly those parallel to stratigraphy. The remobilised position of the Pb mineralisation in the North Mine open cut is reiterated. It is concluded that there is an urgent need for systematic isotopic dating in the area to constrain the stratigraphy

Apr 1, 1996

By A. L. W. Lips, B. P. J. Stevens, T. J. R. Bareley, E. Rothery, S. H. White

B.P.J. Stevens contributes a further response to the authors' earlier lengthy reply regarding their paper published in Trans.IMM B, vol.104, 1995, p.B1-B17, contending that despite the positive contribution clarifying their interpretations they perpetrate some misquotations, attempt to rewrite history and fail to understand the New South Wales Geological Survey's stratigraphic interpretation of the Broken Hill area. The paper's authors, in their further response, robustly defend their views, insisting that Stevens tends to misquote or take out of context what they have written and reiterating their findings that Zn is tectonically stacked above Pb at the north end of the orebody, that the written development of the stratigraphic interpretation is as they have stated, that shearing has attenuated or removed fold limbs in the Broken Hill block and that the 1:100 000 stratigraphic map reveals that magnetic anomalies are oblique to and truncated by the Geological Survey's interpreted stratigraphic boundaries

Jun 19, 1905

By AJ LYNCH

Broken Hill metallurgists have been responsible for some of the most important developments in mineral processing technology. These occurred mainly in two periods, 1902 - 15 and 1955 - 70. Mineral flotation was developed as an industrial process during the first period and this happened in two stages, the recovery of zinc minerals from the tailings dump accumulated during the gravity concentration of the oxidised ores and the selective recovery of galena and marmatite during flotation of the primary ores. During the second period fast accurate analytical procedures were developed to provide rapid assessment of process performance, and new means of controlling the process were devised which improved throughputs, grades and recoveries. These technological successes were due to the skills of the metallurgists and the commitment of the companies. They brought large financial returns. They were achieved under difficult circumstance. There are important lessons to be learnt from these successes.

Jan 1, 1992

Although these subterranean cavities are common to the Broken Hill big lode, yet the Broken Hill Proprietary is the most prolific in their occurrence, loud they have been found of various dimensions almost from the surface down to the lowest levels yet attained in that mine. Many of these vugbs have contined valuable silver, copper and lead deposits, and some have been remarkable for the beautiful forms of crystallization pendant from the roofs and walls, and collected on the floors. The question arises, How are these caverns and fissures in the ore body formed? There are numerous theories more or less feasible, but that the causes are variant is demonstrated beyond doubt. That water in its passage leaving channels, is one ofthe chief factors for their production is assured, and their presence is likewise due to the shrinkage and dropping of the earth from varions causes, to the deposition of material forming ledges overhanging, and thus leaving spaces below, and also to chemical erosion and electrical action both of which latter are constantly at work in reconstructing, segregating and dissolving tlie mineral and metallic constituents of all ore bodies.One of the most remarkable vughs yet discovered in the big mine was that opened up about three months bitek in the' heart of the ironstone body on Block 11, and located about 40 feet below the 100 feet level of Weatherley's stopes, but now destroyed in the progress of work. Probably it was caused by chemical action, the eating out, so to speak, of a soft and soluble portion of the manganic iron, leaving a,hollow about 15 feet long, with a width and height, of say, 6 feet, carpeted with beautiful zinc with a modicum of limeincrustations, apparently produced by the percolation from around the carbonate waters holding these minerals in solution. This cavern was divided into, what might be termed, a double chamber, by big boulders of manganic iron, also coated with an aggregation of small crystals of zinc and lime although the actual proportion of the latter was not determined.

By W. S. Ayres

THE boiler from which these stay-bolts have just been obtained was that of the locomotive Catasauqua, Lehigh Valley Railroad, built at the company's shops, South Easton, Pa., in 1864. The iron is Lowmoor, and has been in use nearly ten years. The stay-bolts have become highly crystallized from some cause, and are very brittle, only requiring three blows of an ordinary machinist's hammer to break them. On the other hand, when annealed they are remarkably tough, as shown by the doubled sample. The majority of the broken bolts were found to be along the curve of the shell from a to c, Fig. 6. All of them were broken just inside the shell, and in no case next the fire-box. The fractures seen to have been of slow procedure, beginning at the top of the bolt, gradually working deeper and deeper until the pressure of steam overcame the tenacity of the remaining parts. Unequal contraction and expansion of the parts of the boiler seems in this case to be the only existing cause for a fracture. We cannot, from the data obtained, prove to an absolute certainty the manner in which the combined forces generated by the unequal contraction and expansion of the parts have arrived at their resultant work ; but we can, from these data and from existing circumstances, arrive at what seems to be a fair supposition, and thus at least anticipate the truth. The contraction and expansion in locomotive boilers has a large range between its extremes, and is very variable, both with reference to time and to their component parts. The shell and fire-box do not, perhaps, at any time, contract and expand at the same rate, nor proportionally ; but, on the contrary, owing to the great changes in temperature that take place both in the atmosphere around the shell, and in the fire in the fire-box, their condition is often changed suddenly, and widely from that which they just previously had. This racking tendency produces strains in the different parts, and it is fair to suppose that the continual motion of the two

Jan 1, 1874

By Dodd SF

Valuation of mining companies and their underlying assets prepared by brokers' analysts are, by necessity, approximations. The reliability of the valuations is entirely proportional to the quality of available data, the reliability of forecasts and the nature of underlying commodity price assumptions. The latter is perhaps the greatest single cause of gross variations in company and asset earnings estimates and- valuations. Assumptions are often necessary regarding commodity price achievement based on commodity hedge positions. Public disclosure from listed companies provides a sound base from which to project earnings, cashflows and balance sheets. The uncommon disclosure of projected production and cost schedules often reduces the reliability of future estimates. The application of reserve and resource estimates is contentious with practitioners applying differing weightings to importance of resources in estimating mine lives (and therefore cashflow streams). Valuation methods applied in equity markets usually focus on relative value and the identification of pricing anomalies. The commonest ""rules of thumb"" applied in the valuation of mining companies (and therefore their underlying assets) is with the use of year specific price/earnings (P/E) and price/cashflow (P/CF) ratios, with low multiples suggesting undervalued assets, high multiples overvalued situations (but these rules can often be clouded by market expectations of underlying commodity price movements). Another simply applied valuation tool is to examine the examine the value placed on reserves and resources by the market. Inexpensive gold in the ground (expressed as $ of market capitalisation per ounce of reserves or resources) might indicate a buying opportunity, but the market does discount the value of gold in the ground prior to mine development and where development risk is perceived.

Jan 1, 1994

By William H. Pailes, Vincent Castronova, Daniel Lewis, Norman L. Lapp, George Goodman

"INTRODCJCTIONAlveolar macrophages are free lung cells located on the surface of small airways and alveoli. These phagocytes play an important role in the protection of the lung against airborne bacteria and particles.1 However, hyperactivation of pulmonary phagocytes can lead to excessive secretion of enzymes and reactive oxygen species which could result in lung injury, emphysema, or fibrosis.2,3 Analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage effluents for cell types and cellular activity has yielded information concerning the etiology of various pneumoconioses. For example, emphysema associated with inhalation of coal dust or cigarette smoke has been related to enhanced secretion of reactive oxygen species from alveolar macrophages.4-7 In contrast, hypoactivation of alveolar macrophages has been associated with inhalation of diesel particulates"" and has been related to increased susceptibility to pulmonary infection. s Inhalation of cotton dust has been associated with dramatic increases in lavagable polymorphonuclear leukocytes9 while pulmonary sarcoidosis and silicosis have been related with high numbers of lymphocytes in lavage effluentsl0,11The objective of the present study was to obtain lavage effluents from 8 control subjects, 8 healthy power plant workers exposed to fly ash, 1 healthy coal miner, and 1 rock driller with acute silicosis. These effluents were analyzed for total numbers of alveolar macrophages, lymphocytes and neutrophils and for secretory activity of alveolar macrophages. Data were then analyzed to determine what response patterns were characteristic for given dust exposures.METHODSSelection of SubjectsThe 8 control subjectS were all adult males from the area of Morgantown, WV. Two subjects among the controls had smoked cigarettes for approximately three pack-years and had stopped more than ten years ago. The 8 power plant :workers were all healthy adult male employees of a power facility in Hatfield, PA, approximately thirty miles from Morgantown. One of the power plant personnel was a comparable ex-smoker. The remaining subjects were all lifelong non-smokers. The coal miner was a healthy non-smoking male from Morgantown, WV. The rock driller was a patient under treatment with corticosteroids for acute silicosis. He had shown considerable clinical improvement with this treatment but still manifested significant radiologic and pulmonary functional abnonnalities at the time of lavage. The mean age of the 8 control subjects was 36 years (range: 31 to 49 years); the mean age of the remaining subjects studied was 38 years (range: 29 to 53 years)."

Jan 1, 1990

By L. J. Barnes

The process for bio-remediation of sulphidic slag (BROSS) operates at 45 degrees C in a neutral (pH 7), aerobic aqueous environment in which sulphide in the slag is converted to sulphate. A two-stage version has been developed that involves quantitative chemical pre-oxidation of total sulphide to thiosulphate, followed by complete biooxidation of thiosulphate to sulphate. Ferric hydroxide, also produced, acts as a flocculant in the bioreactor effluent, concentrating heavy metal precipitates in the thickener as a sludge which can be returned to the smelter. The process has a high sulphate production rate and low acid and nutrient consumptions. Microorganism growth is the rate-limiting stage, requiring a minimum liquid residence time in the bioreactor of about 7 h. Although large quantities of oxygen are needed, sufficient gas mass transfer can be attained in an air-lift reactor. Products are an aqueous stream containing sodium sulphate with only trace levels of toxic heavy metals and a benign, toxic metal-containing sludge

Jun 18, 1905

By Robert R. Brookshire

Brush plating has been thought of by many as black magic bordering on alchemy. Actually it is a science that uses both electro-chemical and mechanical engineering skills and technology. We are not sure when brush plating was first used or by whom. I do know that many times when we would put in for patents on things we thought of as new and innovative, we would find that someone had done it many years before. It took World War I1 to get brush plating off and running. Now at this point, someone may be asking just what is brush plating? And why are we plating brushes? One way of describing what brush plating is, is by telling what it is not such as tankless plating. Brush plating-is an electro deposition of an electro-platable element or alloy onto a conductive surface. To do this a source of direct current is required; this can vary widely. I prefer stepless voltage control from 0-35 volts with a capacity depending on the size job to be done. This can vary up to 500 amps for normal applications. In one case we have used 7500 amps.. In the beginning a brush was actually used with a wire in the middle of the bristles and a jelly-like paste made up from tank plating solutions. The bristles were saturated with the gunk and the spot to be plated was muddled with the concoction at a potential which was the same as the applied tank Voltage. Metal was deposited but only thin coats were achieved. Today we use graphite wrapped or covered with cotton to form a Q-tip type anode. By using graphite rather than a specific metal we are able to either plate, de-plate or strip, electro- mill, electropolish, or anodize--all with the same equipment. Only the electrolyte needs to be changed.

Jan 1, 1984

By Stefaan J. R. Simons, Michael T. Spyridopoulos

In this paper the effect of humic substances (natural surfactants), electrolytes and solid particles on bubble coalescence, and as a consequence on froth stability, has been investigated. We formed two bubbles of equal size and forced them to collide using a novel experimental apparatus. The interactions were recorded by a high-speed camera, the images of which helped to determine the coalescence frequency and the coalescence time, as well as the mechanisms of the interactions. Two types of humic substances were used, along with three different electrolytes. Humic substances appeared to have a considerable effect on bubble coalescence, while the effect of electrolytes was minimal. Moderate and high hydrophobic glass spheres were used between two bubbles. Very hydrophobic spheres promoted fast bubble coalescence, while moderate hydrophobic spheres had no effect. We present data of coalescence frequency and time, as well as images of the coalescence events.

Jan 1, 2003

By S J. Neethling and, S J. R Simons

In this paper the effect of humic substances (natural surfactants), electrolytes and solid particles on bubble coalescence, and as a consequence on froth stability, have been investigated. In this study two bubbles of equal size were formed and forced to collide using a novel experimental apparatus. The interactions were recorded by a high-speed camera, the images of which helped to determine the coalescence frequency and the coalescence time, as well as the mechanisms of the interactions. Two types of humic substances were used, along with three different electrolytes. Humic substances appeared to have a considerable effect on bubble coalescence, while the effect of electrolytes was minimal. Moderate and high hydrophobic glass spheres were used between two bubbles. Very hydrophobic spheres promoted fast bubble coalescence, while moderate hydrophobic spheres had no effect. Data of coalescence frequency and time is presented, as well as images of the coalescence events. The coalescence frequency was used to validate a parameter, Pf, known as the film failure frequency, used in a simulation model to predict foam height in a gas-sparged vessel. Predictions determined using Pf were then validated by experimentation.

Jan 1, 2005

By Frank J. Foster

This Paper will deal with Bucketwheel Suction Dredging and its particular relationship to mining applications. There will be comparisons with other methods of suction dredging and descriptions of two recent bucketwheel installations in the mining area. The Directory of World Dredging Fleets published in the `larch 1984 edition of World Dredging magazine shows that there are about 1.000 conventional Cutterhead Dredges listed throughout the world with 289 in the United States. There are 242 Bucketline Dredges listed throughout the world of which only 6 are in the United States. These figures are not completely accurate because several units are known to the author that are not on the list and, of course, there may be others.

Jan 1, 1984

By J. W. Thomson, H. J. Lloyd, R. J. Taylor

"THE HOLLINGER MINE has been producing gold and by-product silver almost continuously for forty-eight years. The value of current production is $10,000,000 annually from one million tons of ore. Its management •has, particularly over the past decade, increasingly . concerned itself with the problem of profitable operation in a time of steadily rising costs and a fixed price of gold. At one period in the life of the mine, before World War II, production resulted in yearly profit margins that were stable and relatively thick. In winning gold from a series of inconsistent vertical ore lenses, operating management was much better protected than it is today against a general rise in cost or dip in grade of ore. The tissue-like thinness of present-day margins demand more careful handling. A sharp rise in costs, if protracted, could easily rip the tissue to shreds and close down the business. The counter-measure of raising grade and gutting the mine would bring on the end perhaps more rapidly, without having contributed much to the recovery of our national re-sources, nor to community welfare. The alternative is to keep costs under control."

Jan 1, 1960

By A. J. Paul Laprairie

"ADVANCE planning of mining methods, from the first development openings to stope layout and pillar recovery, has long been accepted as a normal method of operating a mine. Recently, mine managers have become increasingly aware that advance planning of cost and accounting controls can also be considered a normal method of operation. The use of such controls is wide-spread in manufacturing industries. In mining, the gold mines of South Africa have pioneered, with marked success, in this field and have been closely associated with most of the research and field work in accounting control. Canadian mine managers are also beginning to realize the advantages of using planned costs. The control procedures which subsequently have been introduced at various mines have come to be known by such names as ""Responsibility Costing"" or Budgetary Control"".Budgetary control, the term used in this paper, is based on the concept of decentralized authority with centralized control. ;The control is achieved by measuring results against yardsticks which are in the form of budgets or standards. Bud-gets are made for the future activities of each possible operation as planned by the department head, and attention is directed to variations from this plan. Furthermore, the control process charges to each operation only those costs which are incurred directly for that operation, and which can be controlled by the person in charge. Thus, budgetary control relates results to the officials responsible for those results. Expenditures are analyzed according to the organizational structure of the mine and the people who run it, and not according to production processes."

Jan 1, 1960

By H. O. Hofman

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, In deternlining experimentally the fusibility of clays, two kinds of methods may be distinguished—the direct and the indirect. Of the direct methods, that of Seger has found

Jan 1, 1899