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By N. F. Schulz

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of variables in equipment and procedure on tube test results. This information was then to be used to formulate specifications, preferably within the practical ranges of existing machines, for test procedures capable of yielding precise and meaningful data concerning the magnetic separation of any magnetite ore, regardless of its origin. A survey of current practice was conducted among laboratories using the Davis tube test. Many tube tests were performed to experimentally evaluate the variables most likely to affect test results. A simple method was then sought for adequately interpreting tube test results. The Davis magnetic tube concentrator is a laboratory machine designed to separate a small sample of pulverized magnetic iron ore into magnetic and non-magnetic fractions. It was developed in 1921 by mechanization of a test previously performed manually No significant changes have been made in the design of the apparatus since that time. The Davis magnetic tube test continues to serve as a practical basis for judging the amenability of an ore to magnetic separation and for controlling magnetic separation plant operations. The apparatus consists of an inclined cylindrical glass tube supported adjacent to closely spaced pointed poles of a powerful C-magnet. (Fig. 1). To conduct a tube test, a sample of suitably prepared ore is poured into the water-filled tube. With wash water flowing through, the tube is oscillated to gradually reject the non-magnetic and weakly magnetic ore particles until the desired degree of separation is attained. Both the magnetic concentrate and the tailings may be recovered for examination. MAGNETIC SEPARATION BY THE DAVIS TUBE Mechanical separation of a specified mineral component from an ore usually requires comminution to fine sizes for sufficient liberation. Some distinguish- ing property of the mineral is then exploited to sort the desired mineral particles from the gangue particles. The magnetic separation of iron ores is based on the fact that magnetite, Fe3O4, is strongly attracted by a magnetic field while the gangue minerals are not. Maghemite, ?-Fe2O3, which may occur in certain chemically processed ores, responds similarly to magnetite. The magnetic process is practical only when the loss of iron in the form of relatively nonmagnetic hematite, Fe2O3, goethite, Fe2O3.nH2O, or other iron mineral can be tolerated. In the Davis magnetic tube concentrator, magnetic attraction holds magnetically susceptible particles in a magnetic field. Forces due to gravity, inertia, and fluid-solid friction tend to remove the less susceptible particles from the field. The probability that a given middling particle will be rejected from the tube in a given period of time is an inverse function of its magnetite content, with some modification due to particle size and mineral specific gravities. The net result is that ore particles tend to be rejected in their order of increasing magnetite content, while the retained portion or magnetic concentrate increases in grade continuously during the process. MAGNETIC SEPARATION CHARACTERISTIC The magnetic separation characteristic or MSC of a magnetite ore is the correlation between concentrate

Jan 1, 1964

By Louis Raymond, John E. Dorn

The object of this investigation was to analyze the recovery that arises when the stress on a specimen undertaking creep is reduced. For this purpose annealed specimens of high-purity aluminum were precrept under a stress of 1000 bsi to a strain of 0.08 following which the stress was reduced for various periods of time to 10, 250, 500, or 700 psi. When the original stress was reapplied the subsequent creep curve lay above that for the unre-covered state and below that for the original annealed state. Analyses on the kinetics of this recovery as a function of the temperature gave a stress-sensitive activation energy that decreased as the reduced stress was increased from a value of 64,000 cal per mole at 10 psi to 37,000 cal per mole at 750 psi. Recovery was also detected and measured during creep under the reduced stress. Following a short initial period, the creep rate under the reduced stress increased monotonically until it reached the secondary-creep rate for the reduced stress. The temperature dependence of this phenomenon was also shown to be correlatable in terms of the previously deduced activation energy for recovery. The activation energies for creep of most pure metals at high temperatures have been shown to agree well with those for self-diffusion.'j2 Since the true secondary stage of creep is usually due to the steady-state balance between the rate of strain hardening and the rate of recovery, it is generally thought that the activation energy for recovery of the creep-induced substructure equals that for creep itself. A shoft time ago, however, Ludemann, Shepard, and Dorn~ found that the activation energy for recovery of the creep-induced substructure in high-purity aluminum under zero stress was almost twice that for self-diffusion, namely about 65,000 cal per mole; obviously recovery under reduced stresses differs in some significant way from the recovery that accompanies the secondary stage of creep. The major purpose of this investigation is to study the effect of stress on the re- covery of the creep-induced substructure in order to provide a better understanding of the recovery mechanism itself. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE High purity aluminum, containing 0.004 pct Cu, 0.002 pct Fe, and 0.001 pct Si, used in this investigation, was in the form of 0.100-in.-thick sheet which has been cold-rolled to the H-18 temper. Creep specimens were milled from the sheet with their tensile axes in the rolling direction. All specimens were then heated at 686°K for 1 hr followed by air cooling in order to produce an annealed structure which exhibited a uniform equiaxed grain size of about 4 grains per mm. Tests were run in creep machines fitted with Andrade-Chalmers type of lever arms so contoured as to maintain the stress constant to within 0.05 pct of the reported values. Constant temperatures to *O.l°K were obtained by complete immersion of each specimen in a temperature-controlled and agitated bath of molten KN02-KNOs mixture. Where changes in temperature were involved, the change was effected in less than 2 min by manually replacing one bath by another controlled at the second temperature. Displacements over the gage section were sensed by linear differential transformers, the output of which was autographically recorded. The calculated strain measurements were sensitive to 5x EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The following analyses are based on extensions of the previously announced effect of the temperature on the creep strain,2 namely for a = constant, where e = the total true tensile creep strain for a given applied true tensile stress, t = the duration of the test, R = the gas constant, T = the absolute temperature, Q, = the activation energy per mole for creep which is independent of the stress, / = a function of 8, = and of the stress, and a = the stress. The validity of this correlation for high-purity aluminum is demonstrated in Fig. 1 for temperatures in the near vicinity of 600°K; the activation energy for creep, Q,, which is approximately that for self-diffusion, is insensitive to the applied stress

Jan 1, 1964

By Robert E. Green

Formulae are given for calculating the modes of wave propagation in a single-crystdl specimen possessing a given crystallographic orientation. Such calculations lead to determination of the orientation factor appearing in the Granato-Lucke theory for the attenuation of these waves due to dislocation damping. A detailed treatment is given for the case of an aluminum crystal possessing the orientation having a maximum Schmid fac -tor of 0.5. FOR a number of years the attenuation of ultrasonic waves propagating in metals has been used to investigate various phenomena causing internal friction.Most of the experiments were performed on polycrystalline test specimens and the waves were assumed to be propagating in an isotopic medium. However Alers 6 in 1955 and more recently Hikata et at. Chiao and Gordon,8 and Swanson and Green 10 have used measurements of attenuation of ultrasonic waves to study internal-friction changes in single crystals. These authors were concerned with the energy losses experienced by the ultrasonic waves due to dislocation motion induced by plastic deformation of the crystals. Alers measured the attenuation of 7 mc per sec ultrasonic pulses propagating in zinc single crystals before, during, and after plastic deformation. Simultaneously he measured the time-dependent plastic strain at constant stress in order to study the correlation between this strain and attenuation. The crystals were oriented in such a way that the applied stress provided a direct shear on the slip plane, thus causing the deformation to proceed by slip on this plane. At the same time the high-frequency sound pulses were sent through the crystal perpendicular to the slip plane. He found that the attenuation of transverse waves, the stress vectors of which lie in the slip plane, was very sensitive to the deformation. The polarization of the particle displacements, associated with these waves, relative to the applied static shear stress, and hence the direction of slip, had no obvious effect on the results. The attenuation of longitudinal waves was affected by the deformation only when the slip plane was not perpendicular to the propagation direction. This indicated that the attenuation was caused by dislocations introduced by the deformation and moving only in the slip plane. Hikata et al. made simultaneous measurements of attenuation, velocity changes, and stress-strain relations on aluminum single crystals deformed in tension. Both longitudinal and shear waves were used, at frequencies of 10 and 13 mc per sec. They placed emphasis on the choice of propagation modes and polarization of the ultrasonic waves, such that interactions between these waves and dislocations on selected slip systems could be investigated. They also selected specimens possessing specific crys-tallographic orientations, which allowed investigation as a function of the number of equally favored slip systems under the applied stress. They found that, for symmetrical orientations, the change of attenuation decreases with the increasing number of equally favored slip systems, i.e., in the order

Jan 1, 1964

By S. L. Couling, D. J-P. Adenis

i2) twinning in poly crystalline magnesium does not usually occur homogeneously but is concentrated in localized regions or bands inclined at about 45 deg to the stress axis. These bands of twinning are in many ways similar to the Luders bands seen in mild steel alzd Al-Mg alloys. Within a hand the percentage of the volume twinned may approach 100 with no twinning outside the band. Bands are not produced in specimens of grain size a3 x 10-= in. or in samples deformed at temperatures 300°F. Annealing of heavily twinned regions leads to re crystallization textures markedly different from those found in the starting material. The exact preferred orientation appears to depend on the starting grain size, the amount of compres-sive strain and the manner in which it is introduced. MAGNESIUM, with its hexagonal crystal structure, deforms plastically at room temperature by a variety of deformation mechanisms, one of the most important of which is (1012) twinning. In single crystals such twinning occurs on compression parallel to the basal plane or tension perpendicular to it. In wrought polycrystalline magnesium, such as rolled sheet, the preferred orientation is such that almost all the grains have their basal planes nearly parallel to the sheet surface. Therefore, if sheet material is deformed by cold rolling or by tension in the plane of the sheet, deformation of the grains by (1012) twinning is not favored. On the other hand, twins form readily on compression parallel to the plane of the sheet as in a compression test, on the compression side of a bent sample, or at the outer rim of a drawn cup. The first part of this paper deals with the morphology of (1012) twinning in polycrystalline magnesium. Some aspects of this subject were covered by Barrett and ~aller.' Of direct bearing on the work to be reported here are the comments of Jetter' in discussion to Ref. 1. He shows that Mg + 1.5 pct Mn alloy sheet when bent about a transverse axis develops a pattern of transverse bands on the surface of compression. A longitudinal section through the sheet shows that the bands are wedge-shaped and inclined to the rolling direction. The bands were identified as "outcrops of regions in which deformation is localized as the result of the reorientation brought about by (1012) twinning". The second part of the paper treats the recrys-tallization texture of the specimens twinned by compression. Magnesium deformed and then annealed generally recrystallizes with no change in orientation.1'3'4 This statement is true provided that the amount of (1012) twinning occurring during deformation is small. In an isolated observation, Anse15 has shown that, when deformation produces much (1072) twinning, annealing causes new maxima to appear in the pole figure. The second part of the paper elaborates on this point. I) MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES All of the experimental work to be reported was done using the commercial sheet and plate alloy AZ31B (nominal composition: 3 pct Al, 1 pct Zn, 0.4 pct Mn, balance magnesium). This alloy is available commercially in two tempers, -0 (fully annealed) and -H24 (partially annealed), and specimens of both tempers were used in various experiments. The average grain. diameter (AGD) for -0 temper 0.125-in. sheet is about 0.5 x 10- in.; where material of larger grain size was desired, anneals at elevated temperature were used to grow the grains. compression tests were made on a screw-driven "hard" machine. The specimens were clamped in a

Jan 1, 1964

By W. A. Grell

"The oxygen meter has been in use at MacLeod Cockshutt Gold Mines for over a year, At MacLeod about 200 tons per day of reground concentrate containing roughly 10% pyrrhotite and 20% pyrite is cyanided in four 181 x 18' Dorr agitators. A survey by the Department of Mines showed that oxygen content of some of the agitators was rather low. Experience with our oxygen meter indicates that the oxygen content must at times have been too low for good gold dis solution.We have found that in winter, when pulp temperatures drop to about 50° F, oxygen saturation in the agitators is not difficult to maintain. In summer, however, when pulp temperatures rise to 70or 75°F, the oxygen content will drop very readily. It was found that a high oxygen content can be maintained readily if the pulp is sufficiently dilute. Thus at 50° F, a pulp of specific gravity 1. 75 i.e., about 55% solids, will saturate; but at 70 or 75° F, the specific gravity must be decreased to 1 .45, equivalent to about 40% solids, in order to maintain saturation. Very thick pulps, such as thickener underflows, are noticeably difficult to saturate in the laboratory, and lose their oxygen rapidly.Clear solutions, on the other hand, absorb oxygen readily and hold it. The primary thickener overflow, before agitation, is 100% saturated; after storage of 3 to 4 hours it is still 100% saturated at re clarifier tank. Barren solution after spraying in a launder is 100% saturated.We have not yet attempted to determine what percentage saturation is necessary for good extraction, but it is known that there is a point at which extraction decreases rapidly. So far, the measures required to maintain over 80 or 90% saturation have coincided with measures required to hold the reducing power to the point believed necessary."

Jan 1, 1964

By C. C. Muir

At the outset, I believe reference should be made to comparatively recent world developments in copper which have an important bearing upon the Canadian position. COPPER SITUATION No one can doubt the marked change for the better compared with not so long ago when less than adequate attention was paid to marketing and to uses of the metal. I need not show you graphs of world copper prices, which except for relatively brief periods and war conditions were, until about three years ago, not unlike the topography of the Canadian Rockies. There remain, of course, some non-industry factors who yearn for the old days of "roller-coaster" copper prices.

Jan 1, 1964

By A Falter

Gyroscopic surveying instruments, which apply the physical law of a gyroscope, are being used for deter-mining the azimuth of lines with a high degree of ac-curacy. In the past ten years, gyro-theodolites have been introduced widely for underground orientation in the mining industry of Russia, Germany and South Africa. Gyroscorpic methods eliminate awkward procedures of conventional shaft plumbing, and provide more safety, excellent control and the highest precision at any point under-ground without interference with hoisting operations. The advantages of gyroscopic orientation in geodetic surveys become obvious in primary and secondary triangulation, in the determination of co-ordinates of single triangulation points, using the method of trigonometric re-section and intersection, and when traversing over long distances or in areas with obstructed view. Other fields of application are found in geophysical surveys and in the orientation of technical objects; e.g. radar stations, relay stations and ballistic missiles.

Jan 1, 1964

By G. L. Smit

The Buffelsfontein Gold Mining Company is situated in the Klerks-dorp district of the Province of the Transvaal in the Republic of South Africa, approximately 100 miles west of Johannesburg. Gold production commenced in January 1957 and Uranium treatment of residue slimes as a by-product started in July 1957. The mining property is 5435 mining claims in extent, the equivalent of 7,988 acres or 12.5 square miles. The mine was initially exploited by the Pioneer Twin Shaft System, consisting of a 26 feet diameter down-cast shaft and a 22 feet diameter up-cast shaft, sunk in the north-west area of the mine to cater for the hoisting and ventilation requirements for a milling rate of 150,000 tons per month.

Jan 1, 1964

By H. M. Thorne

Oil shale, a potential source of products presently obtained from petroleum, is found in many countries. The most extensive known deposits from the standpoint of potential shale oil in place are those in Brazil and the United States of America. Mining methods used for oil shale range from open-pit operations for shallow deposits to room-and-pillar and longwall techniques for deposits with thick overburdens. Oil shales from different sources vary greatly in the amounts and types of organic and inorganic constituents. By retorting, the organic material is converted to oil, gas, and coke. The largest percentages of oil are obtained from materials having the highest hydrogen content. Over 2,000 retorting systems have been patented, but only a few have been used industrially, and no single process seems best for all types of shales or economic conditions. Shale oils have different characteristics, depending on the source rock and method of retorting. They contain large quantities of olefinic hydrocarbons and more oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur derivatives of hydrocarbons than most petroleums. Consequently, petroleum refining methods usually must be modified for shale oil. This is particularly true in catalytic processing. Hydrogenation, even under mild conditions, improves shale-oil refinability. Several byproducts may be obtained from both the retorting and refining steps,

Jan 1, 1964

By Ernest E. Thurlow

The Geology Division of Northern Pacific Railway Company has adapted to its exploration efforts field procedures for geochemical sampling and semi-quantitative analysis which have been developed through research by the U. S. Geological Survey. The sampling is done in conjunction with reconnaissance geologic mapping on aerial photographs or during field checking of maps which have been prepared largely by photogeologic interpretation.. Stream sediment or soil samples are taken and readily soluble combined heavy metals are extracted with ammonium citrate followed by colorimetric titration with dithizone at the sample site. The effectiveness of this approach has been demonstrated both in positive and negative results, thereby assisting in the elimination of large areas of land from further immediate attention and in providing targets for followup exploration. An occasional sample is submitted for spectrographic analysis as a check on the possible presence of other elements of economic significance. Field laboratory procedures are also being implemented for determining molybdenum, mercury, and other metals which may be valuable in themselves or useful as pathfinder elements in outlining mineralized areas. A lead-zinc occurrence in Oregon and a copper deposit in Montana were readily detected and outlined by stream sediment and soil sampling and a heavy metal anomaly that lacks obvious interpretation has been found in northwestern Montana. Detailed mapping and additional sampling are followed by other exploration techniques if warranted.

Jan 1, 1964

By J. L. Moriarty, Irving Johnson, H. M. Feder

The crystallization of ternary alloys has been studied as a coprecipitation phenomenon by measuring the substitutional carrying of trace metals with CeCd11 precipitating from liquid cadmium. The Doerner-Hoskins logarithmic distribution law has been found to apply in all cases; the coprecipitation coefficients obtained were: 1.48 (La), 1.06 (Th), 0.63 (Pr), 0.24 (Gd), 0.17 (Sm), 0.13 (U), 0.10 (Er), 0.09 (Sr). Li, Na, K, Ba, Y, Sc, and Zr were not measurably carried. It has been observed that coprecipitation was most extensive for those tracers which form with cadmium an intermetallic compmdnd isostructural with CeCd11 or closely related thereto. For these tracers an inverse relation between Solubility in cadmium and coprecipitation coefficient was noted. THE partition of impurities between the liquid and solid phases of a metal or a congruently melting intermetallic compound has been extensively studied by the methods of zone melting.' However, when the composition of a liquid alloy and of the solid phase crystallizing from it differ grossly, partition of an impurity cannot be investigated in this manner. Partition of the impurity under equilibrium conditions may be studied by investigation of the appropriate phase diagram and partition under nonequi-librium conditions may be studied by observation of coring in the solidified alloys.2 The nonequilibrium case is of special interest in metallurgical practice because many complex alloys are cooled too rapidly to permit the uniform diffusion of impurities throughout the crystallizing phase(s). With this in mind, the present study was undertaken to obtain quantitative data on the phenomenon of coprecipitation via substitutional solid solution in certain metallic systems. It will be noticed that rather than adopting metallurgical ter- minology we have chosen to refer to the partition of impurities during alloy crystallization as coprecipitation.3 In the terminology of coprecipitation the impurity is referred to as the tracer and the precipitating phase as the carrier. From aqueous solution, coprecipitation may occur as a result of adsorption on the surface of the carrier, by occlusion of the liquid within the crystals, or by solid solution of the tracer in the carrier. By slow cooling of liquid metallic solutions it is relatively easy to form large, regular crystals of the carrier; the effects of adsorption and occlusion may be minimized and the influence of substitutional solid-solution formation may be made to predominate. Previous studies of the crystallization of some intermetallic compounds4 and of copper, silver, and gold5 have shown that the coprecipitation or partition behavior of trace metals is entirely analogous to that observed in aqueous systems when ionic substitution occurs, e.g., coprecipitation of Ra++ with BaSo4. The precipitation of CeCd11 from liquid cadmium was chosen for study. This choice was influenced by the following consideration. If the relative atomic sizes of the tracer atom and the atom for which it substitutes determine the tendency to coprecipi-tate, then a lattice having a substitutional site of well-defined size would be desirable. In CeCd116 (structure type cubic BaHg117) the cerium atom is completely surrounded by a cage of twelve nearly equidistant cadmium atoms. Thus, atoms much larger or much smaller than cerium should be poorly accommodated in this cage. The choice of a lanthanide central atom allowed the testing of the size hypothesis with a number of lanthanide tracers which differed in size but not in valence or electro-negativity. EXPERIMENTAL The general technique of this investigation was to prepare a slightly undersaturated solution of carrier in liquid cadmium to which a tracer was added. The concentration of tracer was always so low that saturation over the entire temperature range investigated was never exceeded. The solution was cooled in a stepwise fashion. After each step a por-

Jan 1, 1964

By E. M. Porbansky

DURING the investigation of the electrical transport properties of copper, it became necessary to prepare large single crystals of the highest obtainable purity. In an effort to meet these demands, single crystals of copper have been grown by the conventional pulling technique—as has been used for the growth of germanium and silicon crystals.' Low-temperature resistance measurements made on these crystals show that, as far as their electrical properties are concerned, they are generally of significantly higher purity than the original high-purity material. The use of these pure single crystals with very high resistance ratios has made possible the acquisition of detailed information regarding the electron energy band structure of copper2-' and has stimulated widespread effort on Fermi surface studies of a number of other pure metals. It is the purpose of this note to describe our method of preparing very pure copper crystals by the Czochralski technique. Precautions were taken to prevent contamination of the melt from the crystal growing apparatus. A new fused silica growing chamber was used to prevent possible contamination from previous groqths of other materials such as germanium, silicon, and so forth. A new high-purity graphite crucible was used to contain the melt. This crucible was baked out in a hydrogen atmosphere at -1200°C for an hour, prior to its use in crystal growth. Commercial tank helium, containing uncontrolled traces of oxygen, was used as the protective atmosphere. A trace of oxygen in the atmosphere appears to be necessary for obtaining high-purity copper single crystals. A 3/8-in-diam polycrystalline copper rod of the same purity as the melt was used as a seed. The copper rod was allowed to come in contact with the melt while rotating at 57 rpm. When an equilibrium was observed between the melt and the seed (that is, the seed neither grew nor melted), the seed was pulled away from the melt at a rate of 0.5 mils per sec. As the seed was raised, the melt temperature was slowly increased, so that the grown material diminished in diameter with increasing length. When this portion of the grown crystal was -1 in. long and the diameter reduced to less than 1/8 in., the melt was slowly cooled and the crystal was allowed to increase to - 1-1/4 in. diam as it was grown. By reducing the diameter of the crystal in this manner, the number of crystals at the liquid-solid interface was decreased until only one crystal remained. Fig. 1 shows a typical pulled copper single crystal. The purity of the starting material and the crystals was determined by the resistance ratio method: where the ratio is taken as R273ok/R4.2ok. The starting material, obtained from American Smelting and Refining Co., was the purest copper available. Most of the pulled copper crystals had much higher resistance ratios than the starting material. The highest ratio obtained to data is 8000. Table I is an example of the data obtained from some of the copper crystals. Note that Crystal No. 126 had a lower resistance ratio than its starting material and this might be due to carbon in the melt. The melt of this crystal was heated 250" to 300°C above the melting point of copper. At this temperature it was observed that copper dissolved appreciable amounts of carbon. The possible presence of carbon at the interface between the liquid and the crystal will result in reducing conditions and negate the slight oxidizing condition required for high purity as discussed below. The possible explanations of the improvement in the copper purity compared to the starting material are: improvement in crystal perfection, segregation, and oxidation of impurities. Of these, the latter seems to be most probable. A study of the etch pits in the pulled crystals showed them to have between 107 and 108 pits per sq cm. The etch procedure used was developed by Love11 and Wernick.10 The resistivity of the purest copper crystal grown was 2 x 10-10 ohm-cm at 4.2oK; from the work of H. G. vanBuren,11 the resistivity due to the dislocations would be approximately 10-l3 ohm-cm, which indicates that. the dislocations in the copper crystals would contribute relatively little to the resistivity of the crystals at this purity level. Segregation does not seem likely as the reason for purification of the material, since the resistivity of the first-to-freeze and the last-to-freeze portions are approximately the same, as was observed on Crystal No. 124. On most of the crystals that were examined, the entire melt was grown into a single crystal. If the

Jan 1, 1964

By Ronald Gibala

THE Au-Ni alloy system is one of many binary systems in which the supersaturated solid solutions may exhibit a multistaged precipitation behavior during aging. In addition to the equilibrium phase separation, which was studied extensively years ago in the range 400" to 600",' there exists at least one earlier stage of precipitation, i.e., preprecipitation, which occurs below 300°C in quenched alls.-This note reports on some effects of composition on the preprecipitation in Au-Ni alloys as determined from resistivity measurements. The kinetics of the preprecipitation were studied in alloys of 15 to 85 at. pct Ni which were water- were found in alloys which after various quenching-and-aging treatments were slowly heated and cooled (1Z"C per hr) between room temperature and about 300°C. Two such heating-cooling curves for a 40 pct Ni alloy are shown in Fig. 2. Similar effects were observed in other 15 to 50 pct Ni alloys. These curves are characterized upon heating by two changes in slope indicated by A and B in the figure and upon cooling by a resistivity hysteresis of approximately the size of the original decrease in resistivity after the aging treatment. The inflection at B generally falls at about the same temperature for all heating curves for a given alloy and appears to be a critical temperature (T,) for the preprecipitation for that alloy. The values of T, for most of the 15 to 50 pct Ni alloys fall in the range 200" to 220°C. The position of the inflection at A depends upon the heat treatment prior to the heating-cooling run and perhaps the heating rate, which was held constant in these runs. The preprecipitates grown in by the appropriate aging treatments seem to decrease in size as the alloys are heated from A to T,, dissolve at T,, and do not reappear after cooling below T,. When similar heating-cooling treatments were performed on 60 to 85 pct Ni alloys, an entirely different behavior was observed. Typical results are shown in Fig. 3 for an 85 pct Ni alloy. In these

Jan 1, 1964

By Milan Lipensky

This paper discusses the longwalling practices used at the San. Francisco Mine of Compania Minera Autlan in Mexico, in. the mining of a sedimentary, manganese deposit. Bethlehem. Steel Company is a part owner of this property. The San. Francisco Mine is located approximately 580 miles west of Mexico City, on the outskirts of the town of Autlan, in the State of Jalisco. The ore is shipped from the port of Manzanillo 120 miles southwest of Autlan. The mining method is a variation of the longwall retreat system, using friction. props that, until recently, had been used only in coal mining operations of Europe and the United States. However, due to the structure of the ore body and the modified longwall system that is practiced, there exists some unusual variations, such as: .1) friction props set by a mechanical two-step lifting device, 2) drilling and blasting, against the friction props, 3) a highly fractured and undulating, volcanic tuff roof; 4) displacement faults-up to 5 meters, and 5) a relatively stable, irregular floor.

Jan 1, 1964

By C. M. Bartley

Canada has been a producer of sulphur in various forms for about 100 years, Pyrites, as a source of sulphur dioxide for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, were being mined in the 1860's. Smelter gas, for the same purpose, has been recovered since 1928. Between 1935 and 1943, and from 1952 to the present, elemental sulphur has been produced in Canada from two raw material sources and by several methods. This paper attempts to present a view of the current status of the elemental sulphur industry in Canada based on the sour gas fields of Alberta and British Columbia. Production from this source has increased rapidly in the past 12 years to make Canada one of the major sulphur producers of the world. The present industry in Canada relies mainly on sour gas sulphur and it is expected that it will continue to grow in the future. However, before describing current activity relating to sour gas it may be of interest to outline briefly the early pyrite activities, the roots of the sulphur industry in Canada.

Jan 1, 1964

By W. D. G. Hunter

Since 1945 the world's iron ore industry has experienced radical change. This transformation is reflected in new levels of production, consumption and trade, in shits in the location and size of markets, in the tapping of far distant sources of iron ore, and in the emergence of new export centres catering on an increasing scale to ore deficient, importing countries. Within the broad framework of shifting supply/demand relationships, certain operationally meaningful adjustments can be singled out for special mention: 1. The iron and steel industry has undergone vigorous and aggressive expansion, during the post-war period, not only in the capitalist world and among the socialist bloc, but in backward regions as well. New countries have been added to the list of steel producers, while new facilities have been relocated by established steel makers. 2. Overall demand for iron ore has risen rapidly, arid has flowed different channels.

Jan 1, 1964

By Elmer W. Pehrson

Minerals have played a prominent role in the affairs of man and nations since time immemorial but with the advent of the industrial revolution, expanding use of the products of the mineral kingdom became synonymous with the material progress of mankind. Individuals and business groups have recognized this fact so have been aggressive in searching for and utilizing mineral resources, with notable success. Indeed, their achievements are primarily responsible for the present Machine Age. On the other hand, until recently the body politic has failed to grasp fully the essentiality of minerals although, at times, access to mineral supplies has been an important factor in the political maneuvers of nations. This chapter is concerned primarily with the broader political and economic relationships of mineral resources to the world economy, and with the internal and external actions of nations in the field of minerals. Many factors that condition the mineral economy of regions and the world as a whole, influence the internal and external affairs of individual nations. The more important of these are: 1. The nature of man's dependence on minerals. 2. The problems resulting from the unique characteristics of mineral occurrence. 3. Geopolitical concepts. 4. Minerals and world power. Actions of individual nations affecting their mineral economy seek two basic objectives: 1. Attainment and maintenance of prosperity. 2. Military security. Other objectives may be cited but on careful analysis they become integral parts or extreme phases of the two points noted above. For example, the twentieth century aggressions of the USSR, Germany, Italy, and Japan might be considered as direct bids for world power but they also can be interpreted as exaggerated or mistaken efforts toward military security and peacetime prosperity. Similarly, trade barriers, nationalization of industries, foreign exchange manipulations, taxation, monopolistic prac-

Jan 1, 1964

By Paul G. Shewmon

The migration of slightly solzrhle spherical particles through a solid under the infllrence of a temperature gradient is analylzed for the cases of various transport mechanisms. It is shown that the variation of the velocity of the particles with radius, r, depends on the dominant mechanism of matter transport around or through the inclusion. Thus the velocity varies as r-1 jor surface-dijf1~sion controlled migratzon. is independent of r for volume diffusion in either phase, and varies as if the rate is determined by an interfacial reaction (n is the order of the interfacia1 reaction). These same results hold tor the migration of a cvlinder of length much greater than its radius. and .for other types of potential gradients, e.g., an electrical field. These equations are combined with recent electron-microscopic ohservations to show that the rate of migratzolz of small helium-silled bubbles through copper is determined by surface diffusion of the metal atoms. With these equations and the temperature gradients attainahle in an electron-microscope joil, the dominant transpar/ mechanism (or any migrating pnrtzclos can he determined. AS a result of fission, rare-gas atoms are created in the hot fuel element of a nuclear reactor. These insoluble atoms precipitate to form bubbles of the gas in the fuel. The subsequent migration and coalescence of these bubbles is thought to play a dominant role in the swelling of fuel elements which in turn can limit the fuel-element life. As a result of this practical problem and because of the relative simplicity of the system, workers in several laboratories have imbedded rare-gas atoms in metals with the aid of an accelerator and studied the formation and behavior of the bubbles that form on annealing. Recently Barnes and Mazey have studied the migration of such helium-filled bubbles in copper foils using the electron microscope and the temperature gradient that can be induced in the foil by the electron beam. They found that the smaller bubbles moved faster than the larger ones. It is shown below that, if this is true, the rate-controlling step in their migration is surface diffusion of metal atoms instead of volume diffusion, vapor transport, or an interfacial reaction. The analysis given is in no way limited to gaseous inclusions so the variation of velocity with particle size for any relatively insoluble precipitate particles could be used to obtain information about the relative importance of surface diffusion, volume diffusion, and interfacial reaction in such two-phase systems. VOID MIGRATION IN A TEMPERATURE-GRADIENT ANALYSIS Barnes' studies indicate that helium does not dissolve or diffuse in metals to a measurable extent, so that when the voids move they must do so through the movement of metal atoms from the leading to the trailing sides of the void.' Thus voids might move by surface diffusion, diffusion of vacancies in the surrounding lattice, or vapor transport. We consider first the case of flow by surface diffusion alone. We assume that there is a force, in the sense of irreversible thermodynamics, tending to move the atoms around the bubble in a given direction. We designate this direction as the x axis and the force per atom as Fa. The net rate of flow of atoms from one side of the bubble to the other, under the influence of this force, is the surface flux, Js, times the cross-sectional area available for flow, A,. A, is taken as the circumference times the thickness of the high-diffusivity surface layer 6. Thus where 51 is the atomic volume. For bubbles to advance a distance dx, a volume equal to nr : dx must flow around the void so that The minus sign enters because the bubble moves in the direction opposite to that of the force on the atoms. Equations for volume diffusion and diffusion through the vapor can be obtained in the same manner. For vapor transport we have Ag = and the ratio of the densities of metal atoms in the gas and the solid (pg/pl) enters so that

Jan 1, 1964

Iron deposits of every major type except laterite occur in Quebec, and form one of the major iron ore resources of the world. The five principal types of ore described are: (1) hematite-goethite masses derived from iron formation through the oxidation and enrichment of iron by natural processes; (2) taconites consisting of fine-grained iron formation; (3) metataconites composed of coarse-grained iron formation; (4) iron and titanium oxide minerals in massive or disseminateed deposits within gabbro and anorthositic rocks; and (5) replacement or contact? metasomatic magnetite deposits associated with complex silicate and skarn mineral assemblages. Most of the ore, although relatively low grade, is easy to concentrate. The physical properties of the ores that affect the choice and efficiency of beneficiation methods are described. The extent to which iron ore from this area can be utilized in the future will depend on the continued use and improvement of highly efficient methods of beneficiation.

Jan 1, 1964

By C P. Gravenor

In 1953, a deposit of sedimentary oolitic iron ore was discovered in the Clear Hills area of northwestern Alberta. Since that time, detailed drilling has outlined reserves in excess of 200 million tons of ore grading 30 to 35 per cent iron. Attempts to physically beneficiate the ore to meet blast furnace or direct reduction feed specifications have been, in general, unsuccessful. In 1960, Premier Steel Mills Limited and the Research Council of Alberta jointly sponsored a pilot-plant test at the R-N Corporation at Birmingham, Alabama. About 5,000 tons of ore were treated, and briquettes containing 90 per cent Fe were produced, with 83 per cent recovery. At the same time that the R-N tests were being made, the Research Council initiated a program to produce high-purity powders by chemical methods. Several purification techniques were investigated; hydrochloric acid dissolution of reduced ore was finally adopted. Briefly, the steps involved in this acid process are as follow

Jan 1, 1964