Search Documents

By Albert Mendelsohn, Charles F. Jackson

The system of stoping described in this paper was first introduced at the Champion mine of the Copper Range Co., Painesdale, Mich., in 1929, and since that time has been developed to a high state of efficiency. The method was devised to overcome some of the objections to the system of horizontal cut-and-fill stoping formerly employed at this mine and has done so successfully. The objections to the old system became more pronounced as the depth of mining operations increased and a change became a matter of necessity. While the combination of conditions encountered at the Champion mine is rather unusual, it is believed that the sublevel system developed there could be employed advantageously at other mines, though certain modifications might be necessary. This paper describes the method and the results obtained through its use, and suggests modifications for making it applicable under quite different conditions from those at the Champion mine. Champion Lode The lode being mined at the Champion mine is the heavily brecciated top of what is known in the district as the Baltic lava flow. The brecciated portion of the lode varies from 6 to 50 ft. in width. Under this breccia is the thinner, tighter, amygdular portion of the lode; under the amygdular portion is the trap footwall. Native copper is found deposited in the rock fragments of the breccia, in the cementing material of the breccia, in the amygdules and in the trappy rock under the amygdular part of the lode. In some places masses of copper many tons in weight extend far into the footwall of the lode. The Baltic lode on Champion property is 8000 ft. long, very straight along the strike, and dips uniformly 70' to the west for 3000 ft. in depth, at which point the dip begins to flatten slightly. The width of the copper-bearing portion of the lode varies from 10 ft. to as much as 80 ft. in a few places; the average width now mined is 17 ft. The lode rock is hard—the standard one-man drilling machines used in the mine drill from 10 to 14 in. per minute when mass copper is not

Jan 1, 1932

By W. G. Hatch

Introduction In November, 1927, a paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the British Columbia Division by H. A. Pearse(l), in which he described the milling practice at Britannia and set forth the metallurgical results which were being obtained at that time. In the intervening four years, various changes and additions have been made in equipment and practice, which have resulted in marked improvements in efficiency and costs. These changes and their effects are discussed in the present paper. During the past few years two major changes have been made in plant equipment. The first of these was the. elimination of an intermediate crushing stage by discarding two gyratory crushers in favour of two Symons cone crushers. The latter installation-now effects in one stage a greater reduction than was formerly accomplished in two, that is, by the gyratories together with a set of rolls. The second important change in equipment took place when the original M.S. flotation machines were replaced by six Forrester pneumatic machines, so that now the flotation department consists entirely of machines of this type. A number of minor changes and some further additions to equipment have also been effective in raising plant capacity and concentrate grade, while making noticeable reductions in tailing losses and costs of ore treatment.

Jan 1, 1932

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 Don Steffa

Drift mining, according to California mining terminology - and it is distinctly a California development - is the blocking out and extraction (breasting) of the auriferous gravels of an ancient buried stream either through tunnels, inclines, or shafts; it is one of the minor divisions of the larger classification known as placer mining. The contribution of each of these divisions and of lode mining to the gross production of gold in California totals as follows:3 [ ] The total amount of gold recovered from the placers of California from 1848, when Marshall discovered the precious metal in the mill race at Coloma, to 1928, was $1,226,515,404. The same period saw a total gold production from all operations of $1,823,562,360.

Jan 1, 1932

By C. R. Austin

THE paper describes an investigation on the pressure welding of low-carbon steels. The work necessitated a reproducible mechanical means of making the weld and also a test that would indicate the nature and completeness of the union. An apparatus including a high-temperature furnace was devised for making the welds, and the ordinary tensile pulling test 'in correlation with macroscopic and microscopic observations was used as a means of examining the result. Initially it was intended to devise some simple test of weldability, but as the experimental work progressed, it soon became clear that with our limited knowledge of the exact nature of the mechanism of pressure welding it was impossible to interpret our results or to devise a simple test of weldability. Hence it was manifestly necessary first to study the mechanism of such welding and attempt to elucidate the fundamentals underlying the so-called welding of steel by pressing together two metal surfaces. It also became evident that it was necessary to define the term "welding." In many early experiments when, two heated rods were pressed together and then pulled in the cold, very high tensile values were obtained, and yet the fracture took place exactly in the line of junction except for a few small scattered areas. In other words, the' rods pulled apart just as they were before being "stuck" together and had certainly not welded completely, despite the high value indicating the strong cohesive force operating. In this paper, welding has been considered as a form of intimate contact between two metal surfaces, so that the units lose their individual identity and there is no change in physical properties in passing through the weld from one unit to the other. This is defined as "true welding." When true welding has taken place completely over the whole section, the probability is that the rupture in tensile test will occur outside the weld.

Jan 1, 1932

By Orson Cutler, Shepard

THE OBJECT of this paper is twofold: (1) To analyze the forces that cause air bubbles to spread on mineral surfaces in the flotation process; and (2) To develop a rational expression that will serve as a criterion of the floatability of minerals, to the end that the efficiencies of various flotation reagents can be accurately compared. Heretofore, the subject of the spreading of air bubbles has been dismissed with the statement that the surfaces of minerals on which bubbles spread are water-repellent. Imperfect understanding of the forces involved has led to the use, hitherto, of various erroneous formulas for the calculation of the comparative effectiveness of flotation reagents.

Jan 1, 1932

Abbey, Robert Graham, District Mgr., The W. W. Sly Mfg. Co., 50 Church St., New York, N. Y. '21 Abbott, A. N Ave. Morelos 84, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico '23 Abbott, Argyle Campbell, Geol 42 Everett St., Arlington, Mass. '29 Abbott, Clarence E., V.P., Charge of Raw Materials, Tenn. Coal, Iron & R. R. Co., 1242 Brown-Marx Bldg., Birmingham, Ala. '04 Abbott, Louis Benjamin, Chief Engr., Consolidation Coal Co., Watson Bldg., Fairmont, W. Va. '15 Abeel, George H., Jr., Cons. Min. Engr 1281/2 S. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, Cal. '18 Abel, Raymond L., Asst. Prof., Dept. of Pet. Refin., Univ. of Pittsburgh. .Pittsburgh, Pa. '28 Abel, Walter D., Cons. Engr 650 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, Cal. '82 Abele, Louis T., Min. & Met. Engr., Supt., Texas Hill Mine Coulterville, Cal. '31 Abell, Leo M. Millicent, S. Australia '31 Abernathy, George Elmer, Prof. of Geol. & Min., Kansas State Teachers College, Pittsburg, Kan. '20 Aborn, Robert H., Research Lab., U. S. Steel Corp. Lincoln Highway, Kearny, N. J. '19 Abozeid, Mahmood, Dept. of Mines & Quarries Cairo, Egypt '26

Jan 1, 1932

By John A. Dresser

At a meeting of the Montreal Branch of this Institute in the autumn of 1928, the Honorable J. E. Perrault, Minister of Mines for Quebec, announced his intention to enlarge the Bureau of Mines of Quebec by the addition of a Division of Geology. The announcement further stated that the geological work proposed should be begun in the following field season, and that it should be on a substantial scale of not less than six field parties. The announcement was received with enthusiasm and much encouragement was held out for the success of the effort. It has been thought that the present meeting would be a suitable occasion to present a report of progress of this Division for the three years that have since elapsed. History This, of course, is not the first geological work to be undertaken by the Bureau of Mines. Prior to the establishment of the Division of Geology, the Bureau of Mines had not been unmindful of the need of geological research, but it had always lacked the means necessary to any sustained work. For more than 25 years the late J. Obalski was the Superintendent and the sole occupant of the Bureau. Yet, even then, Obalski, besides routine visits to mining districts, made a few exploratory trips along the north shore of the St. Lawrence river and one to Chibougamau, but without the equipment necessary to effective results.

Jan 1, 1932

By C Gunther

In the examination of an undeveloped prospect a decision must be arrived at from an inspection of the outcrops and the exposures in a few shallow pits. Prospects that are offered for sale rarely expose any important quantity of good ore, work having usually been stopped when the immediate exploration no longer yielded favorable results. It should be borne in mind, furthermore, that a great majority of prospects have been examined many times, and if of conspicuous promise, would have been acquired for development. In most cases the problem for the engineer, therefore, is to discover the traces of a valuable mineralization that has disappeared through solution, or the conditions that indicate the possibility, or probability, of underlying secondary enrichments. The available data being meager, every feature should be the subject of careful study-the condition of the outcrop, the structural relationships, the associations of minerals, the alterations of wall rocks, the chances for underlying enrichments, and so forth, as well as the actual assay value of the material exposed. It is frequently advisable to spend the time and money necessary to have trenches dug at various significant points along a promising outcrop; such exposures, even if the depth attained is slight, often disclose conditions that are not apparent at the actual surface, as for example, the existence of soft minerals and the distribution of the various minerals through the mass of the deposit. Trenches also permit samples to be taken from points that were not accessible during former examinations. Strong, persistent outcrops of uniform width may be taken to indicate the probable size and character of the underlying vein,

Jan 1, 1932

By C Gunther

Ore deposits of commercial grade are local concentrations of great rarity when considered in relation to the area of unmineral¬ized land surfaces, and they must therefore be considered as the products of exceptional and complex conditions. The data collected from a great number of individual deposits are sufficient to permit certain broad generalizations in regard to the conditions favorable to ore deposition which even numerous exceptions do not invalidate. The broadest general relation of ore deposits is with intrusive rocks, and while there are notable exceptions, the great majority of ore deposits have a visible or closely inferred connection with intrusive rock masses. Conditions that permit the dissipation of the ore-bearing vehicles do not permit the concentration of metals in deposits; the prime factor to consider in this connection is that structural conditions must be such as tend to concentrate and not to dissi¬pate the ore-bearing solutions. The disadvantage of extrusive rocks is at once apparent; any metals the magma may have contained are dissipated at the surface and are lost; with the exception of tiny vugs and cracks in quickly cooled flows, no concentrations of metals are known in extrusive rocks, and the lack of confinement and quick cooling apparently do not permit extrusives to exert mineralizing effect upon the rocks with which they come in contact. The close mineralogical similarity between extrusives and intrusives, and the great difference in mineralizing power is a proof of the ease with which magmas part with their metallic content, and of the mobility of the ore-bearing vehicles in comparison with the parent magma.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. B. Campbell

The mines in the eastern part of the now active region of the Tri-State zinc district of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma have unusually acid water, which during periods of moderate or no rainfall is used in the mills to replace losses from evaporation, seepage-, and tailings disposal. Its use has caused difficulties by corrosion of equipment and by interference with flotation. The growing importance of flotation, which requires good water, and the increasing troubles caused by the corrosion of the milling equipment have prompted the Mississippi Valley Experiment Station of the United States Bureau of Mines, in cooperation With the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, Rolla, Mo., to investigate the action of the waters on flotation and to undertake to develop means of obviating their harmful effects. The work was under the immediate direction of W. T. Schrenk, consulting chemist, United States Bureau of Mines, and professor of chemistry Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, and. Will H. Coghill., supervising engineer of the ore dressing section of the United States Bureau of Mines.

Jan 1, 1932

The first discovery of gold in Montana is credited to François Finlay, a half-breed, from the Red River country, in Canada; he went to California during the early days and learned there how to wash the gold from placer deposits; then, on his return, he crossed Montana and found gold on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, on Gold creek, a minor tributary of the Hell Gate river, in what is now Deer Lodge county. That was in 1852.* Finlay did not find enough gold to induce him to continue at work, but six years later a group of miners, led by the brothers James Stuart and Granville Stuart prospected on this same creek, obtaining about ten cents to the pan. They, however, were harassed by the Blackfeet Indians, and they were also handicapped by lack of proper tools; so they too desisted from further operations. Two years later, in 1860, Henry Thomas started to work on Gold creek with three sluice-boxes hewn out of green timber that he cut on the spot. With this simple apparatus he won from $1.50 to $2.00 per day. This may be considered the fist instance of systematic mining in Montana. Meanwhile the Stuarts went to Fort Bridger, in southwestern Wyoming, where they remained as traders until 1861, when, again lured by the gleam of gold, they returned to the valley of the Deer Lodge and resumed prospecting, using 10 sluice-boxes that were brought from Walla Walla, in Washington, 425 miles distant. In the summer of 1862 they were joined by many others, chiefly from Colorado, in consequence of an exchange of

Jan 1, 1932

By Fleming, R. C.

ONE OF THE NEWEST developments of industry rising from the commercial application of scientific knowledge is in the making of solid carbon dioxide from the gas about 1925 the first efforts were made to manufacture "dry ice" on a large scale and at a price to permit widespread use. From that beginning the industry has grown to a consumption of 40,000 tons in 1930. Carbon-dioxide ice, as the name implies, is merely the gas compressed and cooled to a solid. The ice has a temperature of 109° F. below zero and is in many ways superior to water ice. It evaporates to a gaseous form so it is not wet and leaves no trace; in fact, one suggested minor use is as coasters under water glasses on the dining table. The gas is harmless except in large concentrations and. when the ice is used as a refrigerant, the resulting gas actually becomes a preservative, keeping oxygen away from perishable products. Not only does the ice have a greater amount of cold in a small volume than water ice but cooling is effected by direct contact of the resulting gas with the materials to be refrigerated rather than by convection air currents.

Jan 1, 1932

By Fred Allison

THE magneto-optic method of analysis had its origin in experiments1 which were designed to detect and measure a time lag in the Faraday effect and later to study this time lag as a function of the wave length of the light.2 Faraday discovered in 1845 that a beam of plane polarized light, when passed through a transparent, isotropic medium traversed by a magnetic field of force parallel to the direction of the light, suffers a rotation. The direction of rotation is reversed with the reversal of the magnetic field and its magnitude depends upon the strength of the field, the length of the path of light in the substance and the nature of the substance. This phenomenon of magnetic rotation is known as the Faraday effect. A question which had been of some interest for years was whether this power of a liquid to rotate polarized light is acquired instantly with the application of the magnetic field, that is, whether it is a case of instantaneity or whether there is a very small interval of time which intervenes between the application of the magnetic field and the consequent rotation of the light by the liquid; in other words, whether there is a time lag in the Faraday effect. Efforts to measure such a lag previously had met with failure. It was recognized at the outset' that since a time lag had escaped detection it must be extremely small, if to a measurable extent it exists at all. It became necessary therefore to adopt a timing device capable of making measures of almost infinitesimally small intervals. The velocity of light served as this timing device, a modification of a method originally employed by Abraham and Lemoine3 being adapted to the requirements of the problem. Since light travels about 30 cm. in a billionth of a second and since settings in our observations may be repeated with deviations not exceeding 3 mm.,

Jan 1, 1932

By E. I. Larsen, F. R. Hensel

According to statements by Guertler1 Smith and Hamilton were the first to study the copper-titanium alloys, but owing to the presence of large amounts of impurities their data are inconclusive. M. A. Hunter and I. W. Bacon later investigated the electrical conductivity and the temperature coefficients at room temperature. The present writers reported their results2 in November, 1930. Recently Kroll published data on copper-titanium alloys3 which agree closely with those obtained by the authors. Material Tested The titanium used was in the form of square sintered rods, the analysis of which runs as follows: titanium, 95.4 per cent; silicon, 0.7; iron,l.8; aluminum, 1.4; copper, 0.1; manganese, 0.05. The ingots were prepared in a high-frequency induction furnace in air atmosphere. Their analyses are given in Table 1. Up to 5 per cent titanium the alloys could be forged. Above that amount they were red short and broke up easily. Owing to their rapid absorption of nitrogen and oxygen from the air, the alloys with the higher amounts of titanium tend to form surface films which greatly increase the casting difficulties, especially when small masses of metal are handled. It was, however, possible to prepare sound ingots up to 25 per cent titanium. Thermal and X-ray Investigation The cooling curves of some of the alloys are plotted in Fig. 1, and R tentative diagram constructed from these data is given in Fig. 2. From this it is evident that the solid solubility of copper for titanium is approxi-mately 4 to 5 weight per cent titanium at 878" C., which is the eutectic temperature. The melting point of copper is lowered gradually by adding

Jan 1, 1932

In the examination of an undeveloped prospect a decision must be arrived at from an inspection of the outcrops and the exposures in a few shallow pits. Prospects that are offered for sale rarely expose any important quantity of good ore, work having usually been stopped when the immediate exploration no longer yielded favorable results. It should be borne in mind, furthermore, that a great majority of prospects have been examined many times, and if of conspicuous promise, would have been acquired-for development. In most cases the problem for the engineer, therefore, is to discover the traces of a valuable mineralization that has disappeared through solution, or the conditions that indicate the possibility, or probability, of underlying secondary enrichments. The available data being meager, every feature should be the subject of careful study-the condition of the outcrop, the structural relationships, the associations of minerals, the alterations of wall rocks, the chances for underlying enrichments, and so forth, as well as the actual assay value of the material exposed. It is frequently advisable to spend the time and money necessary to have trenches dug at various significant points along a promising outcrop; such exposures, even if the depth attained is slight, often disclose conditions that are not apparent at the actual surface, as for example, the existence of soft minerals and the distribution of the various minerals through the mass of the deposit. Trenches also permit samples to be taken from points that were not accessible during former examinations. Strong, persistent outcrops of uniform width may be taken to indicate the probable size and character of the underlying vein,

Jan 1, 1932

By A. S. Richardson

The recent installation of a high-pressure propeller type fan at the Moose shaft of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. at Butte, Mont,., is of interest on account of novelty of design and also because an appreciable saving was made over the cost of a reversible centrifugal fan such as is ordinarily used where a high pressure is required. The lower cost is due solely to the fact that by means of controls on the power supplied to the three-phase, alternating-current, induction motor, directly connected to the propeller it is possible to reverse the direction of rotation of the propeller and thus reverse the direction of air flow. The extra air ducts and reversing doors required for this purpose with centrifugal fans are not necessary, and their elimination greatly reduces these construction charges, which form a great part of the total expense. The Badger State mine for which the Moose shaft is used as the main outlet air course is now being developed to the 4100-ft. level. The old centrifugal fan, formerly used at the collar of the shaft, was installed 15 years ago at a time when most of the stoping was being done above the 2400-ft. level, and when the temperature of the rock was much lower than it is now on the bottom levels recently opened. The old fan, therefore, became inadequate to maintain desirable ventilation conditions, on account of the increase in resistance to air flow incident to the greater depth of the mine workings and because a much larger volume of air is required to offset the higher rock temperatures. Propeller, or disk, fans commonly used in the ventilation of mines are not suited to high-pressure work, but economies in the cost of their installation have long been recognized. In South Africa use has been made of a number of propellers placed in series along a common shaft, the number of propellers used being varied with requirements for meeting different conditions of mine resistance, but the mechanical efficiency is described as being low. In Butte, experimental work was done by the writer along similar lines under somewhat different conditions, but with poor results as to both pressure capacity and mechanical efficiency. Tests were also made of two different types of propeller fans of moderate size, which were said by the manufacturers to be suited to high-pressure mine ventilation.

Jan 1, 1932

By W. P. Yant

Canister-type gas masks have become an essential part of the equipment of many industries not only for use in emergencies, but also in performing normal operations of industrial processes and procedures, particularly where ventilation is not practically or economically feasible. They are also used widely for enhancing safety of operations which previous to the development of gas masks had been performed in harmful atmospheres. Since the inception of industrial gas masks the Bureau of Mines has been actively engaged in endeavoring to increase the efficiency and safety of these devices and this bureau has become a source of advice to manufacturers in producing devices of good quality and to industry in the proper selection and use of these devices. In order to give first-hand information and keep current with the demands and needs of industry it is necessary to perform investigations from time to time. This report deals with tests of certain types of commercial gas-mask canisters for protection against mercury vapor.

Jan 1, 1932

By Earl Oliver

This paper is based on the formula that the petroleum industry is sick—find the cause, eliminate it, and the industry will get well. There is perhaps no difference of opinion that the cause is overproduction, actual or potential. But that, again, is a result rather than a cause. The problem is to study the influences that serve to keep production and consumption out of balance. Production control is a popular theme and a natural one at this time when the whole world is unstable; but production control in its popular sense means little more than the application of emergency measures while danger threatens. Economists differ as to the effectiveness of these, most of which are designed to alleviate and not to cure, but we assume there are none who question the wisdom of promoting conditions under which economic forces are permitted to operate freely in bringing about stable conditions. The petroleum industry suffers from two classes of economic ills that serve to promote overproduction; namely, those which are common to all industries and those which are peculiar to this industry. It is of the latter I wish to speak. Strange to say, government is responsible in large part for this latter class of ills that affect the petroleum industry and we are coming to recognize that only through the assistance of government can they be corrected. Instability of the petroleunl industry, in so far as human agency was involved, had its inception in 1875 when a Pennsylvania jurist, called upon to make a decision for which there was no precedent and fancying he noted some resemblance between the so-called fugitive nature of oil and gas and that of wild game, made mention of that resemblance. Other courts being impressed by the analogy enlarged upon it, and gradually fixed upon oil and gas a legal status in certain important respects similar to that of wild game. Although later the courts abandoned this analogy, certain practices that developed out of that early concept have continued to this day and are largely responsible for the industry's present plight. Thus, instead of ownership in place that is characteristic of private property generally, the law of capture was applied to oil and gas. Now, the rapid and wasteful depletion of game

Jan 1, 1932

By H. P. Reid

Portland cement is manufactured under either of two general processes, 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. Fuel fob Power Generation As there is nothing peculiar to steam generation in a cement mill power plant as compared with other power plants this use classification of such fuel will be found in other reports of the Technical Committee. Fuel for Drying Raw Materials and Coal Any fuels capable of producing moderate temperature gases may be used for drying raw materials. There is no problem of material contamination from fuels at this part of the cement manufacture to be guarded against.

Jan 1, 1932