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By G. L. Oldright

THE development of the reverberatory furnace for smelting copper ores up to 1912 was described by E. P. Mathewson1 with details concerning the great changes in dimensions of the furnace. Hayward2 tabulated similar data, giving developments up to about 1924, in his revision of Hofman's Metallurgy of Copper. DEVELOPMENT OF PRESENT SMELTING PRACTICE Dimensions of Furnace Very great changes were made in the dimensions of the smelting hearths of the furnaces in the period from about 1800 to 1906, the length increasing from about 11 to 116 ft., and the width from 8 to 19 ft. During this time the tonnage smelted increased from about 9 to 250 tons per 24 hr., and the tons of charge smelted per ton of coal increased from 0.77 to 4.3. Dr. Mathewson3 noted no great difference in the "fuel ratio" (i. e., the amount of charge smelted per ton of coal) as the furnace at Anaconda was increased in length by stages from 85 to 116 ft. (The percentage of copper in the slag, however, was lowered from 0.42 to 0.36 per cent. The other components of the slag were not given.) Lump coal fired on grates was the fuel used during this period. The practice in operating the furnaces over such a length of time naturally varied considerably, and there were differences in composition and nature of the charge, yet it may be considered that the improvements made were due largely to increases in the size of the furnace used. Doubt-less some credit should be given to improvements in operating technique, like changes in the methods of firing the lump coal. However, the greater part of the advance was probably due to factors influencing the

Jan 1, 1928

During the past three years Lurgi's Circulating Fluid Bed (CFB) technology has been successfully applied to roasting of refractory gold ores and con- centrates. In comparison with the so-called Stationary Fluid Bed roasting systems, a considerable improvement of gold recovery, to around 95 per cent, has been demonstrated and achieved on many occasions in pilot CFB units and in commercial CFB roasting plants as well. The major reason for such improved gold recoveries is the excellent controllability of the roasting process in the CFB reactor system. Here, temperature, gas atmosphere and solids residence time are more precisely controllable at optimal values during roasting operation in order to achieve the highest possible gold recovery in the subsequent leaching process step. Further dominant benefits of CFB roasting systems are their flexibility with regard to feed material, throughput capacity, dry or slurry feed, almost unlimited oxygen enrichment, direct fuel addition and in situ capture of SO2 in the presence of limestone and dolomite. The system will accept 50 per cent turndown ratio, large variations in feed composition and particle size, as well as a variety of different fuel types. The commercial applications of CFB roasting systems for gold con- centrates have been realized so far at Fimiston, Kalgoorlie/Westem Australia and for whole ores at Cortez, Nevada/USA.

Jan 1, 1991

By O. B. Hopkins

The total production of oil in Peru in 1940 was 12,127,135 bbl., or about 10 per cent less than in 1939. Most of the reduction can be attributed to the fact that the export market under war conditions is much restricted and naturally is more than ordinarily competitive. Development and Exploration in Older Areas As evidenced by Table I, almost all production continued to come from the three established fields in coastal northwestern Peru. Zorritos Field.—Exploration in this small field, which was purchased by the Peruvian Government in 1939, continued with that in near-by areas in the adjoining National Reserve. Several wells were drilled, regarding which details are not as yet available. It is estimated that the production rate for a total of some 45 old and 15 new wells approximated zoo bbl. per day, or about 3 bbl. per well per day. Lobitos Fields.—The Lobitos area produced 2,435,504 bbl.; about 10 per cent less than the amount for 1939. La Brea-Pari9zas.—This property of International Petroleum Co. continued to account for nearly 80 per cent of Peru's production. During the year, drilling was stepped up to 139 wells, as compared with 73 wells completed in the previous year; 123 were producers and aggregated a total of 287,867 ft. Of this total, more than 85 per cent was drilled by rotary tools, which are steadily displacing other equipment. Although most of these wells were drilled in the proved or semiproved areas, eight

Jan 1, 1941

By L. Diestelow

Evaporation and crystallization processes are used extensively in the mining industry to provide many pro-ducts. In the case of solution mining evaporators are used to concentrate, or to concentrate and crystallize the raw materials being mined. In the case of underground, or strip mining dissolving and crystallization are used in many processes in order to purify the ore to saleable materials. Presently evaporators and crystallizers are being used in the production of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium carbonate, sodium sulfate, lithium chemicals, aluminum, and many others. The evaporator is a device designed to remove water or solvent from a solution. In an evaporator the energy released by steam condensing on one side of the heat transfer surface is transferred to the product solution on the other side of the heat transfer surface. As long as the boiling temperature of the product liquor is below the condensing temperature of the steam, the product solution will absorb heat. This heat absorption causes vaporization of the water (solvent) in the product solution resulting in concentration of the product. The simplest evaporator is the single effect evaporator. If we assume the feed introduced into the single effect evaporator is at its boiling point, ignore radiation losses, and assume the steam into the heat exchanger is dry and saturated, then the heat transferred will correspond to the latent heat of vaporization. Therefore, one kilogram of condensing steam will produce one kilogram of evaporation. Economies in energy usage compared to the single effect evaporator can be made by using multiple effect evaporators, or vapor recompression evaporators.

Jan 1, 1993

By O. B. Hopkins

The total production of oil in Peru in 1940 was 12,127,135 bbl., or about 10 per cent less than in 1939. Most of the reduction can be attributed to the fact that the export market under war conditions is much restricted and naturally is more than ordinarily competitive. Development and Exploration in Older Areas As evidenced by Table I, almost all production continued to come from the three established fields in coastal northwestern Peru. Zorritos Field.—Exploration in this small field, which was purchased by the Peruvian Government in 1939, continued with that in near-by areas in the adjoining National Reserve. Several wells were drilled, regarding which details are not as yet available. It is estimated that the production rate for a total of some 45 old and 15 new wells approximated zoo bbl. per day, or about 3 bbl. per well per day. Lobitos Fields.—The Lobitos area produced 2,435,504 bbl.; about 10 per cent less than the amount for 1939. La Brea-Pari9zas.—This property of International Petroleum Co. continued to account for nearly 80 per cent of Peru's production. During the year, drilling was stepped up to 139 wells, as compared with 73 wells completed in the previous year; 123 were producers and aggregated a total of 287,867 ft. Of this total, more than 85 per cent was drilled by rotary tools, which are steadily displacing other equipment. Although most of these wells were drilled in the proved or semiproved areas, eight

Jan 1, 1941

By Albert F. J. Bordeaux

This paper briefly describes the general outline of cyaniding silver-ores in Mexico, with special reference to personal experiments made in the Temascaltepec district. The most important papers on the subject deal with cyaniding gold-silver ores, the gold predominating in value, so that the treatment is nearly the same as for gold-ores, the losses of silver being considered of little importance. I describe here the treatment of silver-gold ores containing very little gold, which is more general in Mexico than elsewhere. The cyanide treatment, which was so successfully applied to gold-ores, did not succeed immediately with silver-ores on account of their varying composition. Gold occurs in nature usually in the native state, while silver occurs generally in combination with sulphur (argentite), and various combinations of sulphur, antimony, and arsenic. In former times there mas a complete difference in the treatment of gold-ores and silver-ores. Amalgamation, which was successful with gold-ores, was generally inadequate with silver-ores. The usual treatment in Mexico for silver was the patio process, the theory of which was satisfactorily explained only quite recently by Mr. Ortega and others. General Outline of the Cyanide Treatment. The general tendency of the present practice is to slime the silver-ore as much as possible, and in order to obtain a higher efficiency, with less loss of cyanide, and greater speed, the following lines are observed: 1. Crushing by stamps with 30- or 40-mesh screens, then crushing by Huntington or Chilean mills, through 60- or 80-mesh screens. 2. Concentration upon vanners.

Jan 1, 1910

By Michael Stelter

Lead alloys are a typical material for anodes in technical electrowinning processes. The life time of those anodes differs from 2 years to more than 5 years in tankhouse practice depending on the type of alloy, the mechanical damaging and last but not least the chemical corrosion in the electrolyte. Different types of alloys, such as PbSb, PbCa, PbAg, PbSnCa or PbAgCa have been developed and used in the past, their rate of corrosion being more or less a philosophic discussion. Comparable investigations on the corrosion behavior in dependence of the concentrations of alloying metals, the grain structure and the mechanical and thermal treatment during production have not been conducted before. In the last years the Institute for Nonferrous Metallurgy and Purest Materials of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg investigated the corrosion behavior of the typical lead alloys for metal electrowinning under comparable conditions. Correlations between different alloys, mechanical treatments like rolling or thermal treatment like annealing to the rate of corrosion were made, leading to the conclusion that grain structure and grain size are of eminent importance for the rate of corrosion in technical electrolytes. From these results new and optimized lead alloy anodes can be produced with an increase in life time of the factor 3 ? 5. The optimized lifetime in terms of corrosion stability can not protect from mechanical damaging in tankhouse practice, but with a careful practice the increase in lifetime can save a lot of money and problems.

Jan 1, 2006

By R. D. Corrans

"Africa is endowed with a number of the world's giant ore deposits which have contributed significantly to the development of their host countries. Mineral exploration has a long history in the continent, but mining on an unprecedented scale took off during the latter part of the 19th century, accompanied by the development of lines of communication and other infrastructure to service the major mining centres.The ""Winds of Change"" which swept Africa in the 19505 and 1960s brought in new styles of government and economic management to a number of regions, often with demise of economic viability and infrastructure. In recent years, with the end of the cold war, collapse of communism and changes in South Africa, new opportunities for mineral exploration are opening up rapidly in Africa. However, due to the large cost, long lead-in time, and high risk of developing new mineral ventures in the continent, it is necessary for the host countries to draft realistic and favorable mineral laws and fiscal codes in order to attract, and not deter, potential mineral investors. There will be an on-going role in mineral exploration throughout Africa for the artisanal miner, the smaller entrepreneurs and mining companies, exploration aid programs funded by the developed countries through African governments, as well as the major mining houses who have the resources to develop larger viable mineral deposits."

Jan 1, 2008

By Joseph L. Uraco, Harry C. Verakis

The use of explosives in underground coal mines presents a potential risk for serious injuries and death to miners. Widespread disasters have occurred from the explosion of methane and/or coal dust initiated by blasting with explosives. Many of these disasters took place in the early 1900's when the use of black powder for blasting was prevalent. Historically, the investigations in the U.S.A. to develop and test safer explosives for blasting coal began in 1908 when a testing station was established in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since that time, great strides have been taken in the development of safer explosives. The use of safer explosives has significantly reduced blasting accidents in coal mines. Enactment of legislation, such as the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and enforcement of regulations has also improved blasting safety. More recently, MSHA began a major revision of its regulations for blasting in coal mines. In 1988, MSHA published final rules for the approval and use of permissible explosives in coal mines. The approval requirements for explosives address testing and evaluation. The requirements include tests for sheathed explosives which represent a new technology. The use regulations provide increased safety protection for miners by including standards to address identified hazards. Major aspects of these standards, such as qualifications for blasters, multiple-shot blasting and the use of sheathed explosives are discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By O. C. Wheeler

There was an increased amount of activity in the oil business in Colombia during 1934 over that of the past several years in point of production, development and exploration. The Tropical Oil Co. continued to be the only company operating on what may be called a commercial basis, although the Gulf, through its subsidiary, the Colombian Petroleum Co., was actively engaged in exploratory and developmental work on its Barco property in eastern Colombia. The Socony Vacuum interests acquired an option from Sr. Luciano Restrepo on a concession in Las Monas-Sogamoso River area and carried out geological investigations on these lands during the year. Colombian Petroleum Company The activities of the Gulf in exploration and development in Colombia during 1934 were confined to the Barco concession. The following information is furnished through the kindness of Mr. E. S. Bleecker, Chief Geologist of the South America Gulf Company. Two strings of tools were kept in operation throughout the year on the Petrolca (Tarra) structure. Three wells were completed, including one deep test, all of which were producers from one or more of the three zones which have been defined in the Lower Cretaccous limestone formation. On the Rio de Oro structure, some 45 miles northwest of Petrolea, a complete camp has been established on the Catatumbo River, about

Jan 1, 1935

By V 9. 0 / 300 dpi

Papua New Guinea (PNG) stretches from the equator to Latitude 12° South and from Indonesia's Irian Jaya Province in the west to the Solomon Islands in the east (Figure 1). The population totals 3.5 million people who are mostly concentrated in highland valleys on the main island and around the coast. This paper outlines the history of mining, describes the natural, cultural and regulatory setting of mineral discoveries and highlights, by example, some of the more idiosyncratic environ-mental aspects of mining developments in PNG. It concludes with remarks on the progress made in the fifteen years since environmental matters entered the agenda for the establishment of a new mine in PNG.

Jan 1, 1988

By Shankar Narasimhan

Data Reconciliation is a technique that has been developed more than fifty years ago and has been refined over the past few decades and is now being deployed routinely in several process industries such as refining, petrochemicals, mineral processing and hydro-metallurgy. The main aim of data reconciliation is to obtain accurate estimates of all process variables and parameters using plant measurements that are invariably corrupted by random errors and may also contain biases and other gross errors. These reconciled estimates are subsequently used either in offline exercises such as simulation, retrofitting, and de-bottlenecking or in online optimization and control applications. In this presentation, a brief history of data reconciliation, its assumptions, and uses are reviewed. New developments in this area are highlighted such as robust data reconciliation to handle model uncertainties, and reconciliation using identified models derived purely from operating data. Several case studies in the mineral processing industries reported in the literature are also highlighted to indicate the potential benefits of this technique.

Sep 1, 2012

By F. W. Aul, R. C. Glenn

EXTRACTION techniques are of particular importance in determining size, shape an: crystal structure of particles smaller than l000Å in steels and other alloys. However, artifacts that can arise during the preparation of extraction replicas may lead to erroneous conclusions. The purpose of this note is to illustrate some of these artifacts and the misinformation that can result from their presence. An alloy of iron with 0.8 pct Cu was investigated in the following conditions: 1) Solution treated 3 days at 925°C in dry hydrogen and quenched in water. Aged in steps to precipitate copper, as follows: heated to 700°C, held 1 day; then furnace cooled to 50O°C, held 3 days; then furnace cooled to room temperature. 2) Solution treated 3 days at 925OC in dry hydrogen and furnace cooled to room temperature. 3) Solution treated 3 days at 925OC or 17 hr at 1100°C in dry hydrogen to dissolve all copper, then quenched in water. A normal parlodion dry-extraction technique was employed after etching the specimens with super picralP or with 2 pct nital. A wet-extraction method

Jan 1, 1962

By J. G. Thompson

PROJECT 8411 of the U. S. Bureau of Standards, sponsored by the Iron and Steel Division of the A.I.M.E., is an attempt to define more concisely than has been possible heretofore the accuracy and the Limits ' of usefulness of the ' various methods now in use for the determination of oxygen as it exists in ferrous materials. It originated in correspondence between John Johnston and other metallurgists, and was brought to the attention of the Iron and Steel Division of the Institute at the Annual Meeting in February, 1933. As reported in MINING AND MET,ALLURGY, Vol. 14, page 152, March, 1933, "Dr. Johnston introduced, and those present adopted, a resolution that the Iron and Steel Division of the A.I.M.E., believing that a careful comparison of the several methods now in use for the analysis of steel for nonmetallic elements such as oxygen is highly desirable, heartily endorses the proposal that the U. S. Bureau of Standards act as a clearing house " in this matter, undertaking the final preparation and allocation of identical samples to those laboratories willing to collaborate in this important question, and collate the results re- ported back to the Bureau.'"

Jan 1, 1934

By Chris A. Fleming, Daan Seymore

The Golden Jubilee Mine in South Africa is the first mine in the Western World to introduce resin-in­pulp technology for the recovery of gold from a cyanide-leached slurry. Located in the Eastern Transvaal region of the country, the plant processes approximately 375 metric tons• of ore per day, of which over 90 per cent is mined in an open pit adjacent to the metaflurgical plant, while the remaining 5 to 10 per cent is trucl<ed in from two small high-grade deposits, located about 10 kilometers from the plant. The gold grade in the open pit is about 1 git, while the values m the two high-grade deposits range between 5 and 15 git. At the current treatment rate, the proven reserves m the three locations will last about another 10 years. Early testwork indicated that the ore was not well suited to conventional filtration processing or to heap leaching because of its high cfay content, and that carbon-m-pulp (CIP) would probably prove to be the most viable metallurgical route. Tcstwork to establish the feasibility of CIP for this application was carried out at Mintek in 1985. This worl<, which was based on batch-leaching and carbon-loading tests, indicated that CIP was technically feasible, but that both the rate of gold loading and the gold-loading capacity of the carbon were inferior to those obtained with Witwatersrand ores. The poor adsorption characteristics of the carbon were attributed to the abnormally high concentration of natural organic compounds (humates and fulvates) in the ore. Batch tests were therefore also carried out with strong-base resins, since resins are known (1] to be far less susceptible to organic fouling than is activated carbon. The results were very promising, and pointed to fast kinetics and a high loading capacity. (Fig. 1 ). Notwithstanding these findings, it was decided to recover gold with activated carbon at Golden Jubilee Mine because the CIP process was, by then, well established in South Africa and elsewhere in the world, whereas resin-in-pulp (RIP) was unproven technology. The r>lant was commissioned in September 1986 and, for 18 months, operated in a carbon-in-leach (CIL) configuration, i.e. with a total of . six leach tanks, the last four of which contained activated carbon. As could have been predicted from the laboratory results, the performance of the CIL plant was generally poor, low gold loadings on the carbon (less than 1500 git) and high losses of soluble gold (0.2 to 0.3 p.p.m.) bemg characteristic of the operation. Consequently, it

Jan 1, 1990

By Robert C. Ellman

The Bureau of Mines studied lignite pulverization in a laboratory ring-roller mill. Both moisture content and the source of lignite were found to be important factors in pulverizer operation. Reduction of moisture content increased capacity and reduced power consumption, but predrying is more effective than in-the-mill drying in improving pulverizer operation. A combination predrier-crusher system produced significant improvements but other efforts to improve in-the-mill drying in the test mill were unsuccessful. Pulverization of frozen lignite was found to seriously reduce pulverizer capacity and increase power requirements.

Jan 1, 1972

By T. A. Larssen

The efficiency in production of manganese ferroalloys is dependent on the gaseous reduction of the higher manganese oxides in the ores used as raw materials. The materials, descending in the furnace, will meet the furnace gas that contains significant amounts of CO(g) and reduce in subsequent steps, the last step being reduction of Mn3O4 to MnO. This step may to varying extent occur at temperatures exceeding 800 °C, i.e. in the active region of the Boudouard reaction. The gas reduction of Assmang and Comilog manganese ores were investigated in CO-CO2-atmosphere at temperatures up to 1000 °C. It was seen that decreasing ore size correlates to a lower reduction temperature and increasing reduction rate. Similar effect was observed with increasing CO-content in the gas atmosphere. Further, it was found that Comilog ore obtained a complete prereduction at 600 °C, whereas reduction of Assmang ore was not complete at 800 °C for the majority of the experiments.

By Van C. Nyman

A time-sharing computer was tied in to Hecla in August of 1967. This has proven to be helpful in performing metallurgical and engineering calculations that were formerly tedious tasks. Metallurgy programs were written for applying two and three product formulas. Programs were expanded to make the monthly metallurgical balance calculations for each of the Hecla mills. The Hecla engineering department uses the computer for solving hoist duty cycles and for traverse analysis. Both Asarco and Bunker Hill Company in the Coeur d’Alene Mining District are tied to a time-sharing computer. Their uses for the time-sharing computer will be discussed. Asarco had the advantage in learning computer techniques during an extended strike. A comparison of Asarco computer use with that of Hecla&apos;s will show the advantage in having a person or persons spend full time on the use of computers. Bunker Hill has the versatility of five teletype units in their mine-smelter complex plus ability to tie in to their own computer.

Jan 1, 1969

By Ping Long, Jian Wu, Yaochun Yao

Atomic force microscope (AFM) is widely used for determining of surface performance of materials with smoother surface. In this research, atomic force microscope was used in morphology determination of powder material. Samples were dispersed in aqueous system by ultrasound wave and prepared on mica sheet. Multiple mappings of different powder samples, such as sintered products of ferrous oxalate, ferrous oxalate with lamella structure, lithium carbonate, boron powder, ferric oxide and zinc oxide, were investigated and analyzed in detail. Results showed as follow: ferrous oxalate sintered in different processes and conditions presented different morphology characteristics both in shape and size. Ferrous oxalate obtained from special process presented two-dimension lamella structure and self-assembly phenomenon. The shape and size of lithium carbonate particles were uniform. Defects of mappings on boron powder, ferric oxide and zinc oxide reflected problems of the preparation process before scanning. Determination experiences of powder material in AFM technology could be obtained.

Mar 1, 2017

By J. V. R. Prasada Rao

India is dependent for 60% of its annual requirement of copper and the entire quantity of nickel and cobalt on imports from outside the country. Land-based resources are either too meager or of too low a concentration for economic exploitation. This has prompted the country to look to deep seabed re- sources for meeting its rising demand for these metals. The Ocean Policy of the Government of India announced in 1982 talks about the need to map and assess the availability of minerals in the deep sea and to develop necessary technologies for exploration and exploitation of seabed minerals. To be self-reliant such technologies would have to be largely developed, tested and operated indigenously. The adoption of the Law of the Sea Convention in 1982 gave a fillip to India&apos;s desire to get into the field of deep seabed mining. India applied for recognition as a Pioneer Investor in Ocean Mining in 1983 and received allotment of a mine site of 150,000 km2 in the Central Indian Ocean in August 1987. Simultaneously, the Government has taken up a programme of development of technologies for exploration of the mine site for resource assessment, environmental monitoring also to meet the commitments like relinquishment of 50% of the area to the Preparatory Commission. Technologies for exploitation of these seabed resource like the mining system, transportation and extractive metallurgy have also been taken up for development in various research institutes largely in the government sector. While India&apos;s objective in the long term is to meet the shortage of copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese by the turn of the century, in the short term, the programme aims at application of the seabed mining technologies to meet the immediate needs of the country such as: a. Exploration for oil and natural gas. b. Exploration and exploitation of placer minerals and other deposits at shallow depth in India&apos;s EEZ.

Jan 1, 1994