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By R. E. Zimmerman

Wide attention is being placed upon various methods for cleaning the fine sizes of bituminous coals. The author describes and analyzes the results achieved on wet concentrating .tables of modern design on unclassified feeds of - 1/2 in. particle sizes, including tests on high-sulphur coals.

Jan 1, 1950

By D. M. McFarland

A FEW years ago a novel electric detonator known as the split-second or millisecond delay electric blasting cap was introduced for use in quarry blasting. Regular electric blasting caps fired in series may be depended upon to fire within a millisecond or so from the first to the last in a series. Regular delay electric blasting caps are provided that fire one period after the other period in intervals of 1/2 to possibly 1 1/2 sec. Most split-second or millisecond delays are designed to fire one period after the other period in possibly 25 to 50 millisecond intervals. The ear is not capable of detecting time intervals of this magnitude. The primary thought at the time millisecond de- lays were introduced was to investigate the results on rock breakage by firing a line of holes in a quarry face.so that charges in adjacent holes would not be detonated simultaneously. This could not be accomplished satisfactorily with regular delays. The time interval between successive periods of $5 to 1 sec was sufficient to permit considerable movement of the burden. If the burden of one hole was reduced to a great extent by the firing of an adjacent hole, the firing of the hole with the reduced burden would likely reveal this lack of confinement by a terrific report and wild throw of rock.

Jan 1, 1950

By Reynold Q. Shotts

Data are presented which show that fractions of varying densities-from the same coals are oxidized at different rates by nitric acid. From oxidation data, the approximate quantity of "bright" and "dull" components may be calculated. Definite relationships between oxidation rate and rank are shown for density fractions from at least two bituminous coals.

Jan 1, 1950

By Philip E. LaMoreaux

Fluoride, generally less than 0.5 ppm, is present in ground water from rocks of Paleozoic age and older, in northern and eastern Alabama. Some of the water-bearing formations in the Coastal Plain area of the State yield water with as much as 6.8 ppm fluoride.

Jan 1, 1950

By Kefton H. Teague

This paper deals with the practical application of the Dutch State Mines cyclone separator for fine-coal cleaning. The more important operating variables are discussed, and results of a number of continuous-scale tests on various fine coals with a 6-in. cyclone separator are given. Descriptions of the Cyanamid Pilot Plant and the 50 tph Cyclone Separator Plant at the Emma Washery in Holland are included.

Jan 1, 1950

By Charles R. Holmes

MORE than 70 igneous pipes and dikes are known to occur in Cambrian sediments throughout an approximately circular area of about 75 sq miles in southwestern Ste. Genevieve County and southeastern St. Francois County, Mo., across the southern portion of the Farmington anticline, which is outlined in fig. 1. From evidence obtained from fossil fragments taken from some of the intrusive, and from the similarity in composition of the more basic intrusives to those of known age in surrounding states, these pipes and dikes are believed to be at least post-Devonian and probably Cretaceous in age. As first postulated by Rust, these intrusives are believed to represent explosion tubes, or diatremes, punched through great thicknesses of solid rock by gaseous pressure. The particular intrusive studied is located about 1 mile north of the small town of Avon at an elevation of 880 ft in the EM SES NE% of sec. 2, T. 35N, R. 7E. Outcrop is through the Bonneterre dolomite in two separated exposures. The larger outcrop extends east and west for about 50 ft along a tributary in a small ravine (fig. 2). The smaller exposure occurs as a few scattered patches over an area 20 ft square about 100 ft to the north. The area between the exposures is covered, but scattered patches of the Bonneterre dolomite outcrop throughout the area surrounding the diatreme. Where exposed, contact relations show the surrounding dolomite to be shattered and metamor- phosed to a fine-grained rock for a distance of 15 to 20 ft from the intrusive. The igneous rock occurs as a dark greenish-gray porphyry near the center of the diatreme and as a fine-grained, greenish-gray material containing lapilli and metamorphosed fragments of dolomite near the contact with the country rock. The most abundant original mineral of the porphyritic rock is olivine now largely serpentinized as the result of extensive hydrothermal alteration at time of emplacement. The most common constituent of the fine-grained rock, which occurs near the border of the intrusive, is calcite. Mica is a common constituent of both types of rock, occurring as tufts or

Jan 1, 1950

By V. C. Wansbrough

A LUCID, thorough and powerful review of the impact of your tax laws on mining operations has already been presented by Granville S. Borden*. He has brought into focus and relief the pressure-points at which the shoe pinches most, has suggested some remedial measures, and enunciated much sound doctrine about the interrelationship and interplay of taxation policy and mining activity. Under the heading "What Every Lawmaker Should Know", he laid down the fundamental proposition that "the magnitude of our mineral resources varies inversely with the magnitude of the taxes levied upon them." With this, as with his other major premises, all mining men must be in hearty concurrence. There can be no doubt that a flourishing and expansive future for the mining industry in this country, in Canada, or anywhere else will depend on the thoroughness with .which these fundamental propositions are grasped by legislators, by national policy-makers and by public opinion at large.

Jan 1, 1950

By James J. Bean

Although determining and controlling specific gravity of operating medium in a heavy-media plant manually presents no problem, there are advantages to automatic recording and control. The two installations discussed employ the usual method of measurement. Pneumatic control with band control and reset features is used to regulate dilution water and hence specific gravity. Difficulties have been mechanical in nature and associated with obtaining a proper I sample and maintaining tight air connections in bubble-tube piping:

Jan 1, 1950

By AIME

Burton J. Westman-Besides decreasing the diamond size, there appear to be two other approaches open to overcome excessive diamond loss and, more particularly, the rapid diamond polish that took place in this quartz-feldspar rock. First, however, a short discussion of the diamond characteristics should be made in order to discuss the situation more clearly. The West African diamonds which we can assume were used. for this drilling have two disadvantages when drilling hard, exceptionally fine-grained rocks. These are rapid polishing and, if .the bit isn't "drilled in" carefully, a tendency to damage, resulting in excessive diamond loss. The normal wear resistance of any diamond is inversely proportional to the compressive strength of the diamond, therefore only the highest grade, of diamonds free from insipient fractures should be employed. Using upwards of 90 diamonds per carat instead of the20 to 30 per carat not only decreases the total projected area of the cutting points but increases the stress per point which, in turn, causes greater depth of penetration into the rock. Considering this depth of penetration, therefore, suggests an approach other than increasing the, number of diamonds per carat and that is to decrease the actual number of diamond points (also the carat weight per bit) so that the penetrating force on an individual diamond is increased. This penetration increases the chipping or rock shearing action.

Jan 1, 1950

By Richard Hamburger

Calculating machines permit the use of the more rapid cotangent and semigraphic solutions of plane triangulation. The results of these methods are as accurate as those of other methods. Simple adjustment of the net, and ease of calculation encourage more complete field work. Errors in field work or in computation are easily localized.

Jan 1, 1950

By J. P. Smith

Permian salt measures carry extensive lenses of soluble potash salts in north central Germany. Potash deposits of Oligocene age are found in the Upper Rhine Graben of Alsace (France), and in the Catalonian Basin of Spain. These deposits are found in a wide range of structural settings. Reserves are large, and the production of potash salts is an important phase in the economy of each of these countries.

Jan 1, 1950

By S. S. Arentz

An organized safety program has reduced accidents at Pioche because effort is first devoted to arousing and maintaining interest in safety, followed by training in accident prevention, assigning responsibility for the detection and removal of safety hazards, and finally, by keeping score through an adequate system of records. A health program is intergrated with the safety program.

Jan 1, 1950

By Ferid Kromer

This paper is the first in a series which will describe geology, mining methods, and production costs of some, of Turkey's more important minerals. In this paper the economically significant minerals-chromite, meerschaum, and magnesite-of the Tagtepe district are described. The cost data presented are believed by the author to be the first made public on Turkish chromite mining.

Jan 1, 1950

By H. L. Teicliman, E. M. Sipprelle

ENACTMENT of Public Law 290 by the 78th Congress authorized the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, to conduct an experimental program to develop the technology for obtaining oil from oil shale. In adopting and later extending this legislation, the Congress recognized the impending necessity of supplementing ground petroleum reserves with synthetic fuels. Under the provisions of this legislation, the Bureau of Mines, among other things, was charged with the responsibility of developing mining techniques, methods, and equipment for mining the oil shales of the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

Jan 1, 1950

By T. C. King

AT the new Graham-Central Mill of Eagle-Picher, near Galena, Ill., material is simultaneously dewatered and introduced into the ball-mill scoop boxes by the use of variable-speed, 24-in. spiral classifiers. This arrangement has proved satisfactory in that the moisture content of the wet feed is reduced, thus allowing maintenance of density within the mills, and a constant feed at any desired rate to the mills is provided. In this mill the primary feed is wet crushed to minus ½ in. and preconcentrated by jigs to produce a bulk lead-zinc-iron concentrate and a waste tailing. The jig concentrate is then dewatered by a conventional dewatering classifier and stored in, bins ahead of the ball mills. Even though this material is well dewatered, the discharge at the bin bottom is sloppy because of the gradual drainage of the water from the surface of the particles. Conventional belt feeders with vertical cutoff gates are unsatisfactory because of the flushing characteristic of the wet sand.

Jan 1, 1950

By John R. Lotz

DEVELOPMENTS in Iran currently arousing interest in a considerable portion of the world, particularly on the part. of that country's immediate neighbor on the North and in our own country, an inseparably related to and largely dependent upon the government's attempts to strengthen its economy and improve the standard of living of its people. These efforts are encompassed by provisions of the Seven-Year Development Plan recently enacted and not, in the process of implementation. It is a fine example of what one financially sound but extremely backward and poorly equipped country has undertaken to do on its own account and with its own resources. This Seven-Year Plnil was formally authoriztld by an act of the Iranian Parliament in February 1948. Its stated objects are to carry out such plans for the development of the country and its economy as ail1 raise the standard of livinc: and standard of education of the people, and re- duce the cost of living. A seven-yrar program for carrying out the work within the limits of appropriations was assigned under the law. The total amount to be expended during the seven- year period was fixed at the equivalent of $670 millioil at current rates of exchange.

Jan 1, 1950

By AIME

The Taconites Are Ready, the editorial appearing on P. 933 of the September issue, has provoked comment from several informed engineers to the effect that the indicated profit margin was considerably exaggerated. The cost figures in the editorial, taken from the Congressional Record, were characterized as inaccurate by some correspondents. The theme of the story was, however, substantiated in the announcement (P. 1023, October) that Republic and Armco had joined forces in a $160 million project for taconite development. Chief among the dissenters was E. W. Davis, , Director of the Mines Experiment Station at the University of Minnesota. Mr. Davis has worked up the following set of cost figures:

Jan 1, 1950

By J. Chupak, D. J. Salley, G. L. Simard

Radiotracers were demonstrated to be of considerable value in a study of the interaction of dithiophosphate with galena. The interaction had characteristics of both chemisorption and chemical reaction, being complex because of the nature of the galena surface. Sorption was rapid and markedly reversible, and flotation occurred at relatively small amounts of dithiophosphate sorbed.

Jan 1, 1950

By Ballard H. Clemmons

THE future of the steelmaking industry of the Birmingham, Ala., district is closely related to and, in a large measure, dependent on the development of workable, economic processes of ore concentration. Operations thus far in the area have been possible only because of the fortuitous occurrence of iron ore, fluxing stone, and coking coal-all the primary iron-making materials- within a 25-mile radius of the blast furnaces. Commercial ore of the district consists mainly of a 10 to 20-ft hematite-calcite-silica bed locally known as the "Big Seam," a component of the Clinton formation of Silurian Age. At present mining rates, this ore will be available for a number of years. It is largely mined under 1000 to 2000 ft of cover and transported on 15 to 20" slopes that, in some instances, are as much as 10,000 ft long. Under these conditions, particularly with increasing distances from face to portal, mining costs are gradually becoming disproportionately high. Although not a major factor thus far, it should also be noted that the average annual ore output of the district is gradually be- coming more siliceous.

Jan 1, 1950

By Homer W. Riley

ANTHRACITE SMALL power-driven, toothed, cast-iron rolls were used first to break anthracite in 1844. Prior to that time, men with hammers, who stood on perforated cast-iron plates, broke the large lumps into commercial sizes. In order to convert run-of-mine into the various sizes required by the anthracite industry, about 20 million tons must be broken, annually, into smaller sizes. This phase of anthracite preparation is of major importance, because the degradation accompanying reduction in coal sizes should be kept at a minimum. The exclusive use of toothed rolls for that purpose indicates that comminution by rolls is the best solution of the problem. Many improvements have been made in tooth design, but the most important was a reduction of the peripheral speed of the rolls from 1000 to 300 ft. per minute. The higher speed was based upon and approximated the velocity of a falling piece of coal when it entered the rolls, Exhaustive roll tests at the slower speed showed that the same size reduction could be affected with less degradation. The adoption, therefore, of slow-speed, compound geared rolls, especially for breaking the larger sizes, became quite general after 1912. A high-speed roll is shown in Fig. 1 and a slow-speed roll in Fig. 2. Anthracite Crushing Problems.-Crushing anthracite presents the problem of selecting a series of rolls that will produce the greatest percentage of the prepared sizes of nut and over. The size distributions to be expected are shown in Table 1. Coal breaking and crushing practices in anthracite breakers involve the use of equipment for comminuting the following classes of material: 1. Run-of-mine-plus 6 ½ -in. coal. 2. Sized coal-steamboat, broken, egg, stove, nut, and pea. 3. Flat coal--coal that is flat and hence not suitable for the market. 4. Bone--a piece of laminated coal and slate, crushed for the purpose of reclaiming the coal. 5. Breaker refuse, reduced to a size suitable for flushing into a mine for back-filling purposes.

Jan 1, 1950