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By W. H. Somerton

Many oil-producing formations contain significant amounts of clay. Because of the large surface area and reactivity of such surfaces, the response of the formations to various recovery processes may be dominated by the reactions of fine-grained minerals, including clay minerals, in the formations. Thus, the success or failure of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods may be controlled to a large extent by the amount and nature of these minerals in the formations to which the methods are being applied. One of the deterrents to the successful application of chemical EOR methods is the loss of chemicals injected into the formation, to non-oil recovery processes. These chemical loss processes include adsorption onto mineral surfaces, chemical reactions with rock and fluids in the formations, possibly leading to precipitation and plugging of the formation, and trapping of chemicals in parts of the rock structure so that they become unavailable for displacing oil. Chemicals that may be injected include surfactants, polymers and caustic solutions which react with organic acids in the crude oil to produce surfactants in-situ. These losses are most pronounced in fine-grained reservoir rocks containing substantial amounts of clays.

Jan 1, 1984

By Robert E. Thurmond

DISCOVERY of a commercial ore deposit has resulted from a program emphasizing geophysical techniques and concentrating upon exploration of alluvial-covered areas. United Geophysical Co. selected these areas as offering the best possibility of success, for here the surface evidence of ore deposits has been hidden from the eyes of prospector and geologist alike. Pima mining district, Pima County, Arizona, was selected for initial exploration. The project was successful in that a commercial ore deposit was discovered and proved through drilling and extensive underground development. A limited region of activity was chosen and library research was begun on available economic and regional geological publications relating to the mining districts. Field reconnaissance of those districts which seemed to hold exploration possibilities provided a general picture and ascertained the existence of alluvial-covered areas of interest. At the conclusion of the reconnaissance trips all data obtained were compiled, and the district which seemed to present the best exploration possibilities was selected by statistical methods. The statistical summary was based on the following considerations: Geological Factors: 1—type of intrusive, P—presence of favorable host rocks, 3—apparent intensity of mineralization, and 4—presence of favorable structure in covered or unexplored areas. Economic Factors: 1—past production from district or mine; 2—size, shape, grade, and type of ore deposit in the district; 3—ease of acquiring mineral rights; and 4—general development facility. Exploration Favorability Factors: 1—results to be anticipated from geological methods alone; 2—application of geophysical methods, namely, topographic conditions, surface interference, depth-size relation, physical property contrasts as related to ores or controlling structural features; and 3—drilling factors. Admittedly, many of these, factors do not lend themselves to absolute evaluation, but relative evaluation, subject to inaccuracies of personal judgment, is always possible. A relative scale from 1 to 10 was established for every factor, representing varying degrees of favorability. For each district a numerical evaluation of each factor was established and a numerical total determined. The obvious advantage of this scheme is that a more concise summation can be presented by numerical means than can be achieved by descriptive means. After a district had been selected as favorable, the first step was to carry out more detailed geological and economic studies to narrow down the areas of interest. The second step was to compile all available geological data from publications and add to these data by mapping where necessary. Geological interpretation and projection of structural or other control into covered or unexplored areas was made whenever logical. To determine the possibilities of geophysical application and to select a geophysical method, physical property contrasts were related to mineral assemblages and/or structural control. If geophysics seemed applicable, trial profiles were run crossing the area normal to the strike and spaced

Jan 1, 1955

By Kendall E. Born

Production of crude oil in Tennessee during 1942 was approximately 8600 bbl., a decrease of 6500 bbl. from the production of 1941, and the lowest since 1934. As usual, the greater part of the production was from the Mississippian limestone pools in Scott and Morgan Counties. Some half dozen wells in Fentress and Clay Counties pumped intermittently produced about 1000 barrels. Natural gas was marketed from wells in Morgan and Fentress Counties for consumption in the Sunbright and Jamestown areas respectively. Figures are not available for the Morgan County production but 7,378,000 cu. ft. of natural gas was produced in the Jamestown gas field from six wells. The production of oil by counties is shown in Table I. Developments Drilling activities reached the lowest ebb since 1933. Only 10 wells were spudded during the year, one of which was drilling on Dec. 31, 1942. Of the nine completions, two were gas wells in the proven area south of Jamestown in Fentress County and seven were dry holes. The total footage drilled during the year was 14,198 ft.; the average depth of wells was 1578 ft. The completions are listed in Table 2. The distribution of tests according to physiographic divisions is given in Table 3. East Tennessee.—One well was drilled to 4219 ft., the second deepest well in the state, in Campbell County. The test was in the highly disturbed Valley and Ridge Province, an area long considered the most unfavorable in the state for the accumulation of oil and gas. Cumberland Plateau.-—There were no completions in the Cumberland Plateau area, although an old well drilled deeper found oil from 935 to 965 ft. in the Mississippi lime. This test has created a considerable amount of interest in the area and an active leasing campaign was underway early in 1943. Eastern Highland Rim.—Five completions on the Eastern Highland Rim brought in two small gas wells in Fentress County, which will be used to augment the supply for Jamestown. The producing horizons are shaly limestones of Ordovician (Trenton) age. Two wells in this area were drilled to the upper part of the Knox dolomite group. The most significant test during the year was the Stanolind Oil and Gas Company's test in Putnam County. This well, on a well-defined surface structure, was abandoned in the upper Knox dolomite group at 2130 ft. A show of oil was logged in the Knox at 1653 to 1661 ft. Northern Highland Rim.—Three tests widely separated in the Northern Highland Rim were dry.

Jan 1, 1943

By Kendall E. Born

Production of crude oil in Tennessee during 1942 was approximately 8600 bbl., a decrease of 6500 bbl. from the production of 1941, and the lowest since 1934. As usual, the greater part of the production was from the Mississippian limestone pools in Scott and Morgan Counties. Some half dozen wells in Fentress and Clay Counties pumped intermittently produced about 1000 barrels. Natural gas was marketed from wells in Morgan and Fentress Counties for consumption in the Sunbright and Jamestown areas respectively. Figures are not available for the Morgan County production but 7,378,000 cu. ft. of natural gas was produced in the Jamestown gas field from six wells. The production of oil by counties is shown in Table I. Developments Drilling activities reached the lowest ebb since 1933. Only 10 wells were spudded during the year, one of which was drilling on Dec. 31, 1942. Of the nine completions, two were gas wells in the proven area south of Jamestown in Fentress County and seven were dry holes. The total footage drilled during the year was 14,198 ft.; the average depth of wells was 1578 ft. The completions are listed in Table 2. The distribution of tests according to physiographic divisions is given in Table 3. East Tennessee.—One well was drilled to 4219 ft., the second deepest well in the state, in Campbell County. The test was in the highly disturbed Valley and Ridge Province, an area long considered the most unfavorable in the state for the accumulation of oil and gas. Cumberland Plateau.-—There were no completions in the Cumberland Plateau area, although an old well drilled deeper found oil from 935 to 965 ft. in the Mississippi lime. This test has created a considerable amount of interest in the area and an active leasing campaign was underway early in 1943. Eastern Highland Rim.—Five completions on the Eastern Highland Rim brought in two small gas wells in Fentress County, which will be used to augment the supply for Jamestown. The producing horizons are shaly limestones of Ordovician (Trenton) age. Two wells in this area were drilled to the upper part of the Knox dolomite group. The most significant test during the year was the Stanolind Oil and Gas Company's test in Putnam County. This well, on a well-defined surface structure, was abandoned in the upper Knox dolomite group at 2130 ft. A show of oil was logged in the Knox at 1653 to 1661 ft. Northern Highland Rim.—Three tests widely separated in the Northern Highland Rim were dry.

Jan 1, 1943

By James H. Aase

Shales from 10 locations in Michigan were sampled, tested, and evaluated to determine their suitability as raw materials for producing lightweight aggregate by rotary-kiln methods. Sampling procedures and the geology of the shale units tested are discussed. Preliminary testing in a muffle furnace preceded extensive testing in a l6-inch by 14-foot rotary-kiln. Rotary-kiln products from these shales ranged in weight from 35.5 to 61.2 pounds per cubic foot (pcf). Concrete test specimens made pith selected aggregates were evaluated to determine the qualities of the concrete. Compressive strengths of the concrete ranged from 2,830 to 4,240 psi after 28 days of curing. Unit weight of the concrete ranged from 94.8 to 101.5 pcf. Lightweight aggregate suitable for use in structural concrete meeting ASTM standards was produced by the rotary-kiln method using shale samples from two locations.

Jan 1, 1967

By Lewis Blanchard Brown

It is my purpose in the following paper to describe the south-central part of Siberia, with special reference to its geology and the mineral deposits. This region is known politically as the Achinsk and Marinsk districts of the Tomsk Government. It is situated among the Altai mountains, in. ]at. 50° to 55O n and long. 87O to 93O E., not far from the northern frontier of Mongolia, and is divided as follows: Mining Districts.—(1) The Tomsk mining district, including the political districts of Altai (belonging to the private crown lands of the Russian Emperor) and Marinsk; (2) the AchinskMinusinsk mining district, including the political districts of Achinsk and Minusinsk; and (3) the North Yenisei mining district, situated in the northern part of the Yenisei political district of the Yenisei Government. Fig. 1 is a map of the Tomsk mining provinces, showing the useful mineral-deposits, excepting those of gold, and giving the routes of the railroads and post-roads connecting the various districts. Political Divisions.—The Tomsk Government is sub-divided into seven " oojesdy " or districts, as follows: Barnaul; Biisk; Kuznetsk; Kainsk; Kolyvan; Marinsk; Narim; and the Altai district (private land, as above). The Yenisei Government is sub-divided into five "oojesdy" or districts, as follows : Erasnojarsk ; Kansk; Yenisei; Achinsk; Minusinsk. Concerning the geology of the region, in addition to the record of my own observations, references will be made to the works of earlier writers. These have been consulted for the purpose of comparison, as regards the districts which I have actually traversed, and for the purpose of completing my account of such portions as I have not been able to visit.

Jan 1, 1904

By N Jamson, T K. Rohde

The Mine is an underground zinc (Zn), lead (Pb) and silver (Ag) operation in central New South Wales (NSW). Broadly speaking the Mine has two domains that require rehabilitation, the mine industrial area (MIA) and the tailings storage facility (TSF). The MIA has been used for the handling and processing of ore and contains elevated sulfate, sulfide and metals (Pb, Zn). The TSF receives the by-products of processing, that is, potentially acid forming (PAF) tailings which also contain elevate sulfate, sulfide and metals. Typically, the rehabilitation of a TSF involves two controls. Firstly, controlling the potential for PAF tailings to form acid rock drainage (ARD) by limiting interaction with oxygen. Secondly, once the tailings are unsaturated, limiting interaction with water (usually as rainfall) to reduce the potential for ARD to be transported to the receiving environment. These two controls are often employed in the form of a cover.In semi-arid environments there are many Australian examples of covers that have been built to limit interactions of mine by-products with oxygen and water. Typically, the covers contain one or more layers and are built from soil and rock which may include run-of-mine rock. The Mine however has limited supplies of stockpiled soil; and run-of-mine rock is not generated in large volumes because it is used as backfill underground. A cover design strategy was developed to cater for these limiting factors. The strategy identified soil, ore and rock accretion (the accretion) below the MIA could be a potential source of borrow material for the cover. The purpose of this paper is to describe the cover design process, the method and results of large (2 m tall) column trials that were used as a cost-effective way to trial three cover options and finally, the paper describes the water balance that was developed from the column trial results and subsequent modelling using SVFlux.CITATION:Rohde, T K and Jamson, N, 2018. Making use of potentially contaminating mine waste in cover design, in Proceedings Mine Waste and Tailings Stewardship Conference 2018, pp 285–298 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 23, 2018

By J. J. Egan

ADVANCES in the production of quality steel have emphasized the need for greater knowledge of the amount and distribution of oxygen in the steel. Control of inclusion content and quality is largely dependent on such knowledge. While many analytical methods have been de-vised for the accomplishment of this end, few are without serious limita-tions in accuracy, convenience, or skill required in application. Usually at least two methods are necessary to determine total oxygen and constituent oxides. Because of the great importance of this problem and the specific interest in the application of such methods of analysis, the various procedures were carefully reviewed at the Union Carbide and Carbon Research Laboratories, with the view of developing a method free from the limitations mentioned above. Intensive experimentation finally led to an improved iodine extraction analysis described by Cunningham and Price. I After this had been thoroughly checked from the standpoint of the analytical chemist, it was rechecked from that of the metallurgist. This involved preparation of a number of small heats of varying composition with determination of total oxygen in the molten metal by the alumina method2 and an analysis of the solidified material without the aluminum addition by means of iodine extraction; the oxides of iron, manganese, silicon and aluminum also being determined by the iodine analysis. The report of this work constitutes the subject of this paper.

Jan 1, 1933

The Jacobs Sliding Floor (Floor) is experiencing a surprisingly long competitive life. The first Floor was used on the Camino Tunnel in California in 1960. At that time the Robbins Company had built only seven TBMs, and the future for such machines was considered doubtful by many, as compared to drill and blast methods. This was then, and still is, commonly called the "conventional" method. Robbins' TBM No. 8 was for the Hydro Electricity Commission of Tasmania (HEC) for their Poatina Hydro Project in 1961. In this writer's view, the Poatina experience was the start of successful hard rock boring machines. But, by coincidence, the HEC is using the newest Floor for their King River Hydro project, where driving with the Floor started in July 1986 on the King Tunnel. This paper examines the history and developments in both Floor design and other "conventional" tunnelling equipment, and the site specific conditions that have allowed this old concept to still be competitive in certain select situations. Parametric costing data and some actual progress records are included.

Jan 1, 1987

By N. S. Stoloff, R. G. Davies

The annealing behavior of a heavily cold-worked FeCo-V alloy has been studied at temperatures both above and below Tc, the critical temperature for ordering. It was found that re crystallization and grain growth can take place below Tc in the ordered state and that, in agreement with results for fcc alloys, order retards grain growth. The activation energy for pain growth is -55 kcal per mole in the disordered condition; it was not possible to assign a value to the activation energy for grain growth below Tc because the degree of order is changing rapidly over the temperature interval investigated. Precipitation of an fcc y phase was observed upon annealing the cold-worked alloy at temperatures of 675°C and below. SINCE it is known that diffusion constants are greatly affected by long-range order,' it is not unreasonable to anticipate that order will influence the diffusion-controlled phenomena of recrystallization and grain growth. In the course of a study of strain aging of ordering alloys around the composition Ni3Fe Vidoz, Lazarevic, and cahn2 noted that a disordered cold-worked alloy annealed at a temperature T1 just below Tc will order but not recrystallize; Tc is the critical temperature for order. The same alloy annealed at a temperature T2 just above Tc, or an alloy of different (nonordering) composition annealed at either T1 or T2, will recrystallize after equivalent amounts of cold work. Initially Selisskii and coworkers,3,4 who examined a series of cold-worked and annealed bcc Fe- Co alloys, reported that alloys forming the B2 FeCo super lattice could not be recrystallized below Tc. However in a later paper5 it was shown that FeCo ordered alloys could be recrystallized below Tc. Thus the first question to be answered by the present investigation was whether or not a heavily cold-worked Fe-Co-V alloy could be recrystallized below Tc. When it was found that the alloy would indeed re-crystallize below Tc, the influence of long-range order upon subsequent grain growth was studied. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The grain-growth measurements were made upon FeCo-2 pct V wire of 0.031 in. diam; the alloy was the same as that used in an earlier study of the mechanical properties of FeCO-v.6 The wire was produced by cold swageing and drawing a rod 0.125 in. diam that had been quenched into iced brine from 850°C to disorder the alloy; the initial grain size was 0.05 mm. Rates of grain browth were measured after isother-mally annealing the wire in the temperature range 675° to 825°C; T, is -720°C. Grain diameters were measured on the transverse cross section of the wires. The line-intercept method of determining the grain diameter was used; conventional light photomicrographs were taken when the grain size was greater than 10 . Carbon replicas were produced and examined in the electron microscope if the grain size was less than Dislocation configurations after recrystallization anneals were studied by electron transmission microscopy of foils produced by cold rolling a 0.125-in.-thick strip of the quenched material to 0.012 in. The foils, after heat treatments similar to the wire samples, were thinned by electropolishing in a chromic-

Jan 1, 1967

By D. Harrington

Seldom, if ever, has any mining hazard presented itself that some method has not been devised to control it to some extent; the degree of success of such control depends largely upon the intensity of desire to prevent suffering, injury, and death. The economic saving to be realized and the more definitely this is realized by all concerned, the more quickly and effectively will the hazards be handled is an important incentive to prevention of accidents. Preventing coal-mine explosions is by no means a complex problem; all that is necessary is sensible, conscientious, sustained effort. The fact that explosions can be prevented has been well-demonstrated by the record of the post few years; the average annual death toll from explosions for the 5 years 1906-1910 was 438, and for the 20 years prior to 1929 it was 265: during the past 4 years an average of only 32 deaths per year resulted from this cause, although the annual production during that time varied but slightly from that of 1906-10. This is a truly remarkable reduction, and if other types of mine accidents had been reduced in the same ratio only about 300 would be killed annually in our mines instead of the nearly '1,300 killed in 1936 and the approximately 2,000 killed annually for many years. Although frequency of occurrence of explosions has not lessened greatly during the last decade, their severity decreased markedly, which would indicate that effective means are being taken to prevent the spread of explosions, even though ignitions and their causes are not being handled nearly as effectively as they might or should be handled. Several large coal-producing States, which in the past have experienced numerous disastrous explosions, have been free from such disasters for continuous periods as long as 8 years in the relatively recent past. The application of rock dust to underground surfaces has been an important factor in preventing widespread explosions; some of the mast dangerous mines have been rock-dusted fairly adequately, and this has been amply repaid in the reduced severity of explosions, as heretofore indicated; however, many have applied rock dust apparently without giving much consideration to the amount required to prevent

Jan 1, 1938

By L. W. Scott, T. H. Dubaniewicz, F. T. Duda, P. G. Kovalchik

Recent research conducted by NIOSH, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory showed that electrical current levels permitted under parent regulations may not limit cable temperatures to less than 90 °C in reeled trailing cables. Reeled cables, tightly wrapped with many turns, ell carrying current in an enclosed space, can become overheated due to poor heat transfer. This overheating can cause the cable insulation to soften and become easily damaged. The damaged insulation reduces the life of the cable and can lead to shock, electrocution, and mine foes. This paper describes a method of measuring the conductor temperature of untie trailing cables during no anal operation. The temperature is measured using a 50/175 micrometer Graded Index Multimode Optical Fiber located in the center of the metallic conductors. Distributed temperature measurements arc made using an Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR). This system is capable of measuring temperature with an accuracy of plus or minus one degree centigrade over a length of 4 km at 1-m intervals. With this unique way of measuring temperature, tests can be conducted simulating actual mine conditions and provide important data to allow MSHA's Approval and Certification Center to develop approval criteria for cyclically rated reeled machines.

By G. W. Tuffnell, S. Floreen

Three Fe-18 pet Ni-base ternary alloys cortaining carbon, molybdenum, or cobalt were aged to pgroduce hardening by carbides, Ni3Mo, or ordering, respectively. Each alloy was tested in rotating-beam fatigue tests after hardening to 195 ksi ultim.ate tensile strength. The fatigue properties of three alloys soere essentially identical. The results suggest that tlze fatigae strength of an igron-base alloy should depend primarily upon the tensile strength, and not iipon the hardening mecaanisrn. THE fatigue strengths of many steels have been found to be directly related to their ultimate tensile strengths. For ultimate strengths below 200 ksi, the fatigue endurance limit at 107 to 10' cycles is approximately half the ultimate strength. Essen- tially all of the steels that have been tested, however, have been hardened by carbon. Thus it is not certain whether the relationship between fatigue and ultimate strengths is a general one that applies for other types of hardening in steels, or whether it applies only for the particular method of hardening by carbon. The recent developments of the martensitic precipitation-hardened stainless steels and the marag-ing steels have shown that it is possible to achieve high strengths in iron-base alloys by other hardening mechanisms than that due to carbon. Therefore, it is now possible to compare the fatigue properties of several iron alloys having the same ultimate strengths but hardened by different mechanisms. For the present study a binary Fe-18 pct Ni martensite was selected as a base material. This particular matrix composition has been found to have deformation characteristics very similar to pure iron.' Three ternary alloys were prepared by adding either 0.23 wt pct C, 5 wt pct Mo, or 20 wt pct Co to this base composition. After suitable heat

Jan 1, 1965

By Gail F. Moulton

The production of petroleum in Illinois in 1928 was approximately 6,500,000 bbl., a decline of about 500,000 bbl. from the previous year and of about 1,500,000 bbl. from 1924. Production increased about 200,000 bbl. in Indiana to slightly less than 1,000,000 bbl. Production for 1929 is estimated at approximately 6,000,000 bbl. for Illinois and 1,000,000 bbl. for Indiana. Illinois Because production from most of the wells in the state has declined to a small daily average and the low prices for crude oil discouraged wildcatting, the number of wells drilled fell below that for any previous year since the development of commercially important production in the state. The Ohio Oil Co. discovered a pool of apparent commercial importance in southwestern Illinois near Dupo, in St. Clair County, and favorable showings of oil were encountered in a well in southeastern Illinois, near Harrisburg in Saline County. New production from the Dupo area is expected to check the rate of decline for the state. Thc following tablel summarizes field developments for 1927 and 1928 (for important detail by counties see notes at foot of table): 1027 1928 Completions........................................... 162 145a Initial production, bbl.................................. 2244 1840b Dry holes........................................,.... 66 58" Gas well completions................................... 13 8d 0111 wells abandoned.................................... 45" a Crawford, 44; Lawrence, 28; Wabash, 40. b Crawford, 501; Lawrence, 403; St. Clair, 165 (4 completions); Wahash, 668. o Crawford, 12; Wabash, 19. d Crawford, 6. b Lawrence, 21; Wabash, 15. The discovery well in the Dupo field in St. Clair County, produced about 150 bbl. per day from the Trenton lime at 660 ft. It is located in a northern extension of the Columbia-Waterloo anticline on which the Waterloo pool was developed in 1921. The best information on the.

Jan 1, 1929

By Craig E. Saporito

INTRODUCTION Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has been very active recently with two major discoveries and its restructuring activities. This paper describes Freeport-McMoRan's businesses, the two major mineral discoveries, and exciting opportunities within the oil and gas operations. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES Freeport-McMoRan is the largest and one of the lowest cost fully integrated U.S. phosphate fertilizer producers. It is the second largest domestic Frasch sulphur producer. Freeport- McMoRan will become the largest domestic producer of Frasch sulphur when its Main Pass Block 299 sulphur deposit reaches full production in 1993. Furthermore, it is the largest transporter of sulphur produced by others. Its oil and gas activities rank among the largest U.S. independents in terms of production and proved reserves. The copper/gold operations in Indonesia are among the world's lowest cost. When expansion operations reach full capacity levels in 1992, the Indonesian copper/gold complex will be the fifth largest copper operation in the world. Operations are divided into three business segments that include: 1. Agricultural minerals, incorporating sulphur, phosphate rock and phosphate fertilizer activities; 2. Energy, including oil and gas activities; and 3. Metals, incorporating copper, gold and silver operations in Indonesia. In early 1989, Freeport-McMoRan announced the discovery of two world-class ore bodies; a sulphur deposit off the coast of Louisiana on Main Pass Block 299, and a copper/gold deposit -- the Grasberg in Indonesia -- approximately two miles away from the existing Ertsberg East operations. As a result of these major discoveries, Freeport- McMoRan decided to carry out a restructuring program. Its purpose was to sell $1.2 to $1.5 billion of non-strategic assets. Debt levels and associated interest expenses will be significantly reduced, and general and administrative expenses will be reduced, which will place Freeport- McMoRan in an excellent position to fund the development of the Main Pass Block 299 sulphur discovery, the Grasberg discovery, and oil and gas discoveries. This restructuring program also will allow Freeport-McMoRan to achieve the greatest future value for shareholders by focusing on its principal businesses (Figure 1). Strategic Restructuring • Sell $1.2 - $1.5 Billion Of Non-Strategic Assets • Significantly Reduce Debt • Significantly Reduce G&A • Fund Development Of Main Pass & Grasberg • Stronger Company; Positioned For Future Growth • Focus Is On Principal Businesses: - Sulphur/Phosphate Fertilizers - Indonesian Copper/Gold - Oil And Natural Gas Figure 1 - Strategic Restructuring AGRICULTURAL MINERALS Main Pass Block 299 Discovery The Main Pass Block 299 discovery has a proven reserve of 67 million long tons of recoverable sulphur. This is the largest known Frasch sulphur deposit in North America. The discovery increased Freeport-McMoRan's sulphur reserves more than five-fold, and is synergistic with the company's phosphate fertilizer assets. The

Jan 1, 1990

By O. B. Hopkins

Activity in the oil industry in Peru during 1930 was confined almost entirely to the three old producing fields in the northern coastal area. In the eastern part of Peru, in the valleys of the Maranon, Ueayali and Huallaga rivers, additional geologic work was carried on, but no drilling was undertaken. The Peruvian Government granted a concession on June 27, 1930, to W. R. Davis and associates for the building of a railroad from the west coast at Bayovar to Yurimaguas on the Huallaga River. This concession contemplates the construction of 800 to 900 km. of railroad across the Andes and carries with it a grant to the concessionaire of 12,500,000 acres of land with oil and mineral rights. A similar concession was granted in 1926 but after several extensions was rescinded in July, 1929, on the grounds that the concessionaire had failed to begin work on the railroad within the time limits of the contract and its extensions. The production in barrels from the three coastal fields of Peru has been as follows: 1929 1930 International Petroleum Co.......................... 10,821,117 9,766,922 Lobitos Oilfields, Ltd................................ 2,508,091 2,613,511 Zorritos........................................... 75,000a 78,000a 13,404,208 12,459,060 a Estimated. No definite figures available. Although not large, the Peruvian production has been steady during the past years. The reduction of approximately 8 per cent. in 1930 as compared with 1929 is the result of the world's overproduction and the attempt on the part of the International to restrict the output to conform with the available market. International Petroleum Company International Petroleum Co. owns the oldest producing property in Peru. The first well was drilled there in 1872. The cumulative production from the property from 1900 to 1930 inclusive has been over 92,000,-000 bbl. from an area of 15,000 acres. The recovery per acre has varied

Jan 1, 1931

By J. A. Hudson, D. L. Millar

Paper presented at a meeting on: Artificial intelligence in the minerals sector, held in Nottingham, UK, 20 April 1993 (original title: Rock engineering system performance monitoring using neural networks.) Synthetic and analytical approaches to objective-based design of rock engineering projects are discussed. Rock masses are considered as complex dynamic systems with components that concurrently interact with each other and their environment. The existence of a rock engineering system canon (i.e. a set of systems governing rules) is proposed. Its possible components are highlighted and an application is demonstrated using a "rock mass automaton" designed to simulate dynamic heat distribution in rock. In the example given, the canon implements the basic result from probability theory applied to the thermodynamics of solids. Rock engineering system performance is reduced to the mapping of the output of a rockmass to varying input (design) options, within the state space of the systems model. The Kohonen Self-Organising Map provides an extremely useful analytical tool to reduce the hyper-dimensionality of rock engineering system behaviour. Further, the hyper-dimensional state vector is mapped "quasiconformally" such that the neural map tends to spatially organise similar input state vectors, facilitating interpretation of rock engineering system behaviour (performance monitoring). Work is reported on the development and validation of the automation as a basis for an internal representation of the rock mass bahaviour. The results are reported of simulations compensating for the uncertainty of the exact mechanisms operating within the rock mass, using additive noise with the input state vector in the training stages of the self-organising map implementation. Initial work on adopting Grossberg's Adaptive Resonance Theory neural network architecture for classification of rock engineering systems behaviour is also presented

Apr 1, 1994

By R. K. Rajamani

Discrete Element Method simulation of charge motion in ball, SAG and autogenous mills has become a standard for design of mill internals, power draft evaluation, etc. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional codes are being used. The two-dimensional code dominates the user market since the code completes a simulation in one or two hours. On the other hand, three-dimensional codes have been in the domain of specialists who can handle the complexity of the code and have access to parallel computing hardware. For the first time, this barrier is overcome via computing with graphic processing units (GPU). Commodity graphics cards now allow parallel computation with hundreds of processors. It is shown that the computational time has been reduced by a factor of fifty using GPU computing. Hence, SAG charge simulation results in three dimensions are achievable in a few hours using affordable desktop machines. The GPU computing shown here enables the three dimensional simulation into a manageable daily task for mill designers and researchers. On the technical side, the simulations can be elevated to a higher level of complexity to simulate breakage and transport. First, the speedup factor of fifty is established for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 graphics card. Next, four simulation tasks, consisting of AG, SAG and ball mills are reported. The simulation of AG and SAG mills are completed in less than 8 hours. The ball mill simulation with 1.25 million spheres is completed in 27 hours. In the near future, as the graphic card hardware advances the compute time can be halved.

Jan 1, 2012

Quite often the reserve assessor becomes enamored with the numbers gen- erated and forgets the basis for his assessment. The quality of the assess- ment can only be as good as the quality of the input data. The use of seismic data from the Gippsland Basin in assess- ing Esso/BHP's oil and gas reserves is an excellent example of this principle. By significantly improving the quality of seismic data, a much more reliable estimate of a field's reserve potential can be made. In addition, it provides the basis for further delineation drill- ing which, as recent experience in Gippsland has shown, often leads to increased reserves.

Jan 1, 1979

By E. A. Swedenborg, J. S. Ross

Oil-field waters enter into many underground problems with which the petroleum engineer has to deal. Whether the problem is one of infiltration or natural encroachment, it is always desirable to determine the source of the water before commencing repair or remedial work. The usual mechanical tests for determining the source of extraneous water in wells are slow and expensive. An excellent means for the identification of oil-field waters may be afforded by their chemical characteristics when the chemical character of waters from the various sands has been established by careful sampling and analysis cautiously interpreted. In the Salt Creck field, Wyoming, a fairly high degree of efficiency has been attained in the control of field operations by utilizing the information afforded by the analysis. All of the operating companies appreciate this means of identifying waters, with the result that water-sampling has become general practice. Most of the chemical work dealing with Salt Creek waters has been done since the laboratories of the Midwest Refining Co. and the U. S. Geological Survey, were established in the field; the former in 1922, the latter in 1924. A spirit of cooperation has existed between the company and the government personnel by which many of the data for this paper were made available. Sands of the Salt Creek Field The principal sand horizons in the Salt Creek field are the Shannon, First, Second, and Third Wall Creeks, Dakota, Lakota, Sundance and Tensleep. Of these the important oil producers are the First Wall Creek, Second Wall Creek, Lakota and the Sundance. The Third Wall Creek is lenticular and is productive in only a few wells in the southern end of the field. There are also a number of shale wells, but they do not produce water in any appreciable amount. The stratigraphic position of these sands and their relative thicknesses are shown on the condensed composite section of Salt Creek

Jan 1, 1929