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By Takashi Yoshida

"This paper will discuss the recent situation and future of the zinc industry from the technical point of view. It includes recent problems faced by the zinc industry and technological developments. One of the biggest problems of the zinc industry is raw materials. Traditional zinc concentrate becomes much complicated with respect to its chemical and physical properties. Thus, each process faced various problems. Also, secondary resources, generating so called recycling processes, become much more important. Recycling is, of course, a very important aspect for sustainable development of society. Secondary raw material also includes a great variety of impurities not included or very low levels in traditional zinc concentrate. Some problems are caused by these impurities. To overcome these problems some technological challenges have been taking place. Details will be discussed in the symposium.IntroductionZinc is a very useful metal based on its elechtro-chemical, chemical and physical properties. The most important usage is galvernizing of steel which is used for automobile, construction and a very wide range of other indutries. Also, zinc is used for dicasting and other alloys such as brass. Smelting of zinc is different from other metal because of its electro-chemical properties. Many parameters should be controled compared with other metals such as iron and copper. Typical zinc smelting processes are the Imperial Smelting Process (ISP) and the electlolytic process. The ISP process is a pyro-metallurgical process using a blast furnace. The electrolytic process is a hydrometallurgical process. Both processes are energy intensive, and the smelting process cost is increasing because of higher energy costs. The situation of the ISP is very severe because of higher coke prices. Recently, many ISP plants have been shut down because of economic reasons"

Jan 1, 2012

By Joseph M. Dawson

Although there was a very great increase in drilling activity along the fault line of south Texas during 1937 as compared with the previous three or four years, and although seven new fields were discovered, it cannot be said that any major development of importance took place. There were slightly over 550 completions during 1937, of which nearly 350 were oil wells as compared with some 275 the preceding year, of which 169 were oil wells. This increase in drilling activity was occasioned almost entirely by the greater interest in and development of Austin chalk production, principally in Caldwell, Guadalupe and Bastrop Counties. Seven fields were found, of which a brief description is given in Table 3. None has as yet assumed anything of major importance, and it is doubtful whether any will be classified as major discoveries through further development. Two were producing from the Edwards limestone, one from serpentine and the other four from the Austin chalk; the latter may be classified as extremely erratic in nature. The major discouraging feature of the year was the rise and subsequent fall of interest and importance of Austin chalk production. Many new operators came into this district to drill and produce Austin chalk oil toward the first of the year, but in the latter months the production decline from this formation was so rapid and the production so erratic that drilling operations fell off materially and interest largely abated. This was particularly true of the Branyon field in Caldwell County, and the same statement is applicable to the Pearsall field, Frio County. The latter field, covering some 5000 acres and owned and controlled entirely by the Amerada and Rycade, had early completions from the Austin chalk as high as 22,000 bbl. per day. The decline was extremely rapid and the maintained production from 17 wells is only around 700 bbl. per day after a total recovery of less than one-half million barrels. Present estimates of recoverable oil from Chalk vary from 2000 to 5000 bbl. per acre. A new process for the completion of producing wells from the Edwards limestone, particularly applicable to old producing areas, was developed, in that the penetration of the Edwards lime in drilled wells is now only 1 or 2 ft. as compared to between 15 and 75 ft. in wells drilled several years ago. Many new wells have been drilled in old Edwards lime producing

Jan 1, 1938

By John Fritz

THE John Fritz Medal was presented to Ambrose Swasey of Cleveland, Ohio, in the Auditorium of the Engineering Societies Building, in New York, on April 23. Charles F. Rand, Chairman of the Board of Award, presided and, after speaking very briefly of Mr. Swasey, whose friend he has been for a great many years, ,introduced Gen. William Crozier, formerly Chief of Ordnance, U. S. Army, who spoke most entertainingly of, Mr. Swasey's accomplishments in designing and manufacturing instruments of precision, particularly for the use of artillery in range finding: Dr. William Wallace Campbell, Director of the Lick Observatory, and President of the University of California, described Mr. Swasey's, contribution to astronomical advancement by his notable development of the largest telescopes in this country.

Jan 1, 1924

By P. LaRochelle, K. Y. Lo, A. L. Tamuly Phukan

In many civil or mining engineering works, the stresses and deformations of natural or excavated slopes due to the combined effect of self-weight and initial stresses are of interest. Because of the mathematical complexities of this problem, however, no complete exact solution exists for the simplest case, that of assuming the stress-strain relation of the rock to be perfectly elastic. Efforts have therefore been directed toward numerical and experimental technique. The stresses within an elastic slope have been obtained by LaRochelle,1 using the photoelastic and finite difference method to determine the difference and sum of principal stresses. Subsequently, Finn,2 Hoyaux and Ladanyi,3 and Duncan and Dunlop4 attempted to solve the same problem by using the finite element method. The problem was also investigated by Brown and Goodman5 and Brown and King6 who emphasize the importance of the effect of loading or unloading procedure on the stress distribution within the slope. Although the geometry of the slope and the boundary conditions involved are identical or similar, the results obtained by these various authors by no means agree. It is therefore necessary to review briefly the results of elastic analysis in order to lend credence to the methods used in the solution. Although the stress-strain behavior of some rocks may be reasonably approximated by the elastic modrl, other rocks generally exhibit an elasto-plastic behavior with strain hardening or strain softening as shown in Fig. 1. Experiments show that for most rocks, the stress-strain relationship is approximately linear from the origin to the point P (neglecting the small concave region under low stresses). At P, the curve deviates

Jan 1, 1970

By Young DJ

Gold mineralisation at the Hamata prospect is related to a series of stacked pyrite and quartz-pyrite veins associated with a number of shears which strike N to NE and dip E. Mineralisation is contained entirely within the Morobe Granodiorite close to the intersection of the Upper Watut Fault and some younger NE to SW striking faults. The prospect was originally detected in 1987 by a regional stream sediment sampling programme. Subsequent mapping and sampling outlined an anomalous zone approximately 900m long by 300m wide. Drill testing has indicated a resource of 46Mt at 0.9 g/t Au.

Jan 1, 1991

By H. Janas

In a gas/coal outburst the gas plays an active, driving part. The proneness of coal to outbursts can be determined by means of its gas emission properties, since coal that is liable to outbursts differs from coal with normal gas emission properties in that it liberates its gas from the sorptive bond more quickly. There is a risk of outburst when the flow of metha¬ne originally desorbed by the coal is sufficient to move the loosened coal which has been broken suddenly. The violence of a gas/coal outburst can be evaluated from the distance of projection of the mass of coal. It depends on the gas pressure and on the liability to outburst of the coal at the original centre of the outburst. Both factors are complementary in their effects so that the same work is done in a gas/coal outburst when there is a high gas pressure and low proneness to outburst as when there is a low gas pressure and a higher proneness to outburst. The gas pressure in the coal increases with its gas content. Consequently it is possible to deduce the gas pressure of a coal seam from its gas content. In the Federal Republic of Germany the risk of a gas/coal outburst is thought to exist when the desorbable gas content of the coal reaches or exceeds the value of 9 m3/ton and if the specific limit value of the proneness to outburst is exeeded. The Mine Ventilation Testing Station of the Westfalische Berggewerkschaftskasse has developed a new method for determining the risk of gas outbursts immediately after taking the samples at the coal face (1), (2).

Jan 1, 1980

By William R. Wessels

This report describes a field survey and laboratory investigation into the causes of failure of resiliently clad screen decks applied to coal preparation plants. Blinding of screen deck perforations and delamination of the resilient cladding are studied and mechanisms responsible for these failure modes are hypothesized. A laboratory test program to simulate the mechanisms was begun and abandoned when it became apparent that meaningful test results would require a substantially redirected effort. No meaningful test data was obtained from the laboratory simulation.

Jan 1, 1982

By D. L. King, B. A. Schepman

A number of unique thickener mechanism designs with the operating results achieved in various installations are discussed. These unusual designs include new types of raking arms, lifting devices, and feed-wells employed to obtain higher underflow densities and minimum operator control or improved overflow clarity. Several installations of large thickeners in which the underflow lines pass upward through the center to eliminate tunnels are reviewed. The location of the lines and pumps with the maintenance and operating records are included. Several types of automatic lifting device controls are used to provide storage in the thickener. Some of the installations employing underflow density controls are achieving excellent operating results. Thickeners or sedimentation basins are used in minerals beneficiation plants for three basic purposes. These are 1) Concentration, or to raise the density of a liquid-solids slurry. 2) Clarification, or removal of finely divided solids from a slurry. 3) Hydroseparation, or removal of a specific fraction of solids from a slurry. The concepts that control the size and configuration of basins used for these purposes are different. Likewise, different equipment is properly employed to accomplish these various objectives. The pattern of liquid and solids flow in the clarification zone of a sedimentation basin used for thickening or raising the density of a pulp normally is not critical. That is, the solids normally will drop or plunge to the bottom quite readily, and the liquid separates itself from these solids so as to overflow the basin in a relatively clear condition. When clarification or removal of finely divided particles is to be accomplished, the flow patterns in the basin are extremely important. The velocity of the incoming stream must be dissipated and the liquid flow distributed ]In the tank so that the feed is not divided into streams that flow directly to the overflow carrying the fine:ly divided solids that are to be removed. Similarly, the configuration of the arms that provide the raking and thickening of the pulp is not as important in basins primarily devoted to clarification. In thickening, the design of the arms and the manner in which the pulp is moved or worked, can contribute appreciably to the thickening process and achievement of a higher density underflow. THICKENING As the grade oi ore bodies throughout the world generally decreases, and chemical processes, hydro-metallurgy, and other more refined methods of minerals beneficiation are required, problems in thickening become more acute. Difficult operating conditions, previously encountered only occasionally in thickening metallurgical slurries, or clarifying process streams in the mill, are now the rule rather than the exception. Fig. 1 illustrates some of the different types of raking arms that are successfully achieving the desired goals in pulp thickening. The conventional raking arms consist of a relatively simple truss with the blades attached to the bottom chords. This design provides proper Concentration of many 'normal' slurries. A modificaiion of this design as shown in the center is being used with excellent results on large thickener basins where it is desirable to have a

Jan 1, 1962

By W. B. Triplett, H. I. Aaronson, G. M. Andes

A detailed morphological study has been made of the pro-eutectoid TiCr, and the eutectoid reactions in a Ti-17.42 pct Cr alloy isothermally transformed at temperatures from 775° through 5561°C. The morphologies of proeute,ctoid TiCr2 were found to be subject to description by the Dube morphological classification system. Grain boundary allotriomo.lphs are the dominant plpoeutectoid morphology throughout the temperature range investigated. lntragranular plates, and especially Widmanstatten sideplates, form only in small numbers. This morphological pattern differs markedly from that of the proeutectoid a reaction in hypoeutectoid Ti-Cr alloys (AIME Trans., 1957, vol. 209, p. 1227; 1958, vol. 212, p. 624), in which plates form prolifically throughout wide ranges of temperature. The eutectoid reaction is nonlamellar in character at 675°C. An increasingly prominent lamellar component develops at lower temperatures. The proeutectoid TiCr 2 and the eutectoid transformations have been studied metallographically in a hypereutectoid titanium-chromium alloy. This investigation was undertaken with the immediate objective of comparing these transformations with their counterparts in hypoeutectoid titanium-chromium alloys, studies of which have been recently completed.1,2 It was also intended, however, to contribute to the general literature on transformations of these types. Especially in the proeutectoid case, this literature is still sufficiently sparse to make difficult the testing of generalizations on the mechanisms of these transformations. TiCr, is the only intermetallic compound in the titanium-chromium system.3-5 The TiCr2 phase field extends to a maximum temperature of 1350°C) and encompasses the approximate composition range of 62 to 68 pct Cr at lower temperatures.3'4 At temperatures below 1000°C, TiCr2 has a MgCu,-type fcc structure, with 24 atoms comprising a unit cell.6,7 Only fragmentary observations on the morphology of proeutectoid TiCr2 have been previously reported. An observation which is of considerable importance with respect to the results obtained during the present investigation was made, however, on anisother-mally transformed alloys with high chromium (48 to 70 pct Cr) contents.3"8 Despite the occurrence of extensive impingement, it is apparent that a substantial proportion of the proeutectoid TiCr, which precipitated in these alloys grew in the form of Widmanstatten plates. Several observations have been made on the eutectoid reaction in hypereutectoid alloys during investigations of the titanium-chromium phase di-

Jan 1, 1961

By E. H. Sellards

Phosphate rock like other mineral substances is found in nature in varying degrees of purity.

Jan 1, 1915

By Ali M. Ghazi, Ronald J. Goble, Lowell S. Whiteside

"Geerite (Cu1.6S) is a rhombohedral copper sulphide which occurs naturally in epitactic replacement of sphalerite; cell dimensions closely approximate those of the host sphalerite.Geerite-type structures can be produced by leaching digenite (Cu1.8S) in ferric sulphate solutions. X -ray diffract ion and electron microprobe studies indicate that eight metastable geeritetype structures can be produced, depending upon the concentration of f erric sulphate solution used and the duration of the each. Although compositions cluster on or near values observed for natural phases, optical properties indicate that we are dealing with polymorphs of these phases. Leaching of chalcocite (CU2Sj in dilute f erric sulphate solutions produces similar results. In contrast, leaching of chalcocite in more concentrated solutions seems to produce true analogues of natural minerals.During froth flotation, sphalerite is activated with a monolayer of floatable copper sulphide with the composition, CuS, of the mineral covellite. However, covellite is not significantly more floatable than sphalerite, and has an incompatible structure because of the presence of covalently-bonded atoms of sulphur. Leaching ofdigenite was used to produce a polymorph of covellite with a geerite-type structure, compatible with that of sphalerite. This polymorph has a flotational behaviour similar to copper-activated sphalerite, suggesting that the monolayer has a geerite-type CuS structure. IntroductionIn an ideal close-packed sulphide structure the distance between sulphur layers, D, is equal to 2R 2/3, where R is the radius of the sulphur atoms. In sulphides with covalently-bonded sulphur layers, such as covellite (Fig. I), D will be an average of the number of covalentl y-bonded and close-packed sulphur layers, weighted as to the relative number of each type of layer. Both D and R are spacings which are readily identifiable structurally and on X-ray diffraction patterns. Goblel has shown that for copper-iron sulphides with metal-to-sulphur ratios between 0 and 2 and copper-to-total metal ratio s between 113 and I there are strong correlations between composition and measured D and R distances (Fig. 2). D can be represented by a single empirical equation relating interlayer spacing to composition; R must be represented by three equations relating the radius of sulphur atoms to composition. One of these equations (R, in Fig. 2) represents ideal close-packed behaviour, the other two represent sulphur radii greater than (R1) or less than (Rh) the ideal."

Jan 1, 1988

The report of the Comittee on Nominations was received and ordered to take the statutory course. Thereupon the chairman was authorized to appoint a committee of three members to report at the next meeting of this Board regarding the suggestions made by the Nominating Committee. The following vote of thanks was then passed to the members of the Arizona Committees and others: "WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Mining Engineers has a deep appreciation of the splendid success of the Arizona Meeting and WHEREAS, the Board is aware that this success was brought. about by the generous and efficient efforts of the members of the Local Committees, therefore it is

Jan 12, 1916

By Benjamin L. Miller

THE essential differences expressed by the different speakers participating in this symposium concern merely the relative emphasis placed on the subjects that are commonly included under the term "geophysics" and the branches of science that form the basis for investigations in this field. In order to appreciate the present situation it may be profitable to briefly refer to a few historical matters. One can find almost countless descriptions of geological phenomena long antedating the introduction of the title of "geology," which has been credited to Richard de Bury in the fourteenth century. Interpretations, when they were offered, were generally pure speculation. Only toward the close of the eighteenth century do we find theories developed as the result of observations and tested by additional observations. It is difficult to select and give proper credit to the individual who was particularly responsible for turning geology into a distinctly observational science. William Smith, who has been called the "Father of English Geology," certainly represents the period when observation was the only method used. As he traveled through the British Isles, "sometimes 10,000 miles in a year," he was continually making notes of his observations. Geikie says: "His plain, solid, matter of fact intellect never branched into theory or speculation, but occupied itself wholly in the observation of facts." William Smith, with others of his time, definitely laid firmly the foundations on which modern geology has been built. Field and laboratory observations can no longer be said to constitute the sole basis for geologic contributions but we have not laid aside the methods of Smith and his followers. It is folly to underestimate the fundamental value of the observational part of geology in the present. The objection to purely observational geology is that it is mainly qualitative and not quantitative, general and not specific. No one can deny this charge and probably there are few who do not welcome every method or process whereby we can put aside generalities for definite established values. Physics is the science that has particularly come to the aid of the geologist in this respect. CONTRIBUTIONS OF PHYSICS It is not the intent of the writer to enumerate or to evaluate all of the contributions to geologic advance in the field of physics. A few only are used for the purpose of illustration. When Clarence King, Director of the United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, invited Ferdinand Zirkel to study 2500 thin sections of rocks collected from the western United States, the use of the microscope came into general use. Zirkel's report was published in 1876. He was not the first to use transmitted light for microscopic rock determination, some work having been done by Henry Clifton Sorby and others some years earlier, but he was the first to put into general use this method. We may well claim that this

Jan 1, 1941

By D. D. Lei, H. Sevim

In a recently developed, long-term open pit production planning model, the optimal plan is found by exhaustively searching through nested pits of maximum metal contents. A more efficient, dynamic programming (DP) based search algorithm now replaces the exhaustive search algorithm that requires prohibitively long execution time in real life cases. The logic and formulation of the newly developed search algorithm are illustrated through a small hypothetical case. An actual gold deposit is treated to demonstrate that the algorithm does indeed find the optimal production plan among all possible plans. A comparison, in terms of computational savings between the two algorithms, is also given.

Jan 1, 1995

By R. C. Emmett

In extractive metallurgy, separation of insoluble solids from solutions is an important economic factor in almost all flow- sheets. This separation step can employ sedimentation, filtration (vacuum and pressure), or centrifugation. Since practically all systems require a relatively complete separation, multiple unit, countercurrent thickeners or vacuum filters are generally used.

Jan 1, 1974

By R L. Brathwaite

In New Zealand, volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits are found in three main geological environments associated with: 1.   ophiolitic basalts of Oligocene age in Northland and East Cape (eg Pupuke, Pakotai, Parakao and Lottin Point); 2.   with chert and pillow lava in greywacke sequences of Permian-Jurassic age (Torlesse and Waipapa terranes; eg Kawau Island, Te Kumi and Maharahara) and their metamorphic equivalents (Haast Schist; eg Moke Creek and Waitahuna); and 3.   with greenschists (metabasalts) and metaserpentinite of Permian-Triassic age (Ponamu Ultramafics) in Westland (eg Bowen and Wilberg ranges). The deposits consist of small lenses of disseminated to massive sulfide minerals, mainly pyrite and chalcopyrite. Small quantities of copper ore were mined from some deposits in the 1800s (eg Kawau Island from 1846), with the last mining at Parakao from 1961 to 1966. Several deposits have been recently examined for their gold potential with assays on sulfide rock samples as high as 75 g/t Au (Lottin Point).

Jan 1, 2005

Presidential Address Today I want to couple that prediction with a discussion on competitiveness and changing employment roles in our industry. A crude analysis of the intensity of use of metals in developed and undeveloped nations was undertaken by dividing the weight of copper, zinc, lead and aluminium used in countries by the population. In the developed countries which were basically the Western European States, USA, Canada, Australia and Japan, approximately 38 kilograms are used per annum. In the developing countries which were basically the South-East Asian country Korea, India, Pakistan and Taiwan, the usage is 5.3 kilograms. Thus, if the developing world is to catch up with the developed world, the intensity of use of metals will have to increase seven times. The usage of metals in the developed world is increasing at the rate of 1.5 per cent per annum while the rate of increase in the developing world is about 5.8 per cent. In this analysis, the population of the developed world was 850 million and the developing world 1.5 billion. Note that this analysis did not include Russia, China and most of the countries of South America and South Africa. I am sure that with time, these undeveloped countries will move into the developing category. In the long-term there is obviously great opportunity for us both in the primary and secondary processing required to meet world demand. Turning now to competitiveness and changing employment roles. I am sure that everyone here present is aware of the urgent need for Australia to improve its competitiveness. I want to try and relate unionism and industrial relations, management and tertiary education to our competitiveness. I wish to talk on these items as I see them in the past, the present and the future. So firstly unionism and industrial relations. It has been unfortunate for Australia that unionism was based on the United Kingdom craft system. It is not surprising that it was because UK has been the basis for almost ' all of our institutions and that has generally been of very great value to us. The craft system in our trade unions has lead to the demarcation problems of which we have all been well aware. This has been extremely limiting to the individual; it has limited his or her ability to broaden their scope of knowledge and far worse it has limited their ability to maximise their satisfaction at work as they have only been able to undertake part of a job, rather than being able to undertake a role in totality.

Jan 1, 1992

By R. C. Hubli

Copper (II) chloride has proven to be an efficient lixiviant for copper sulphide ores and secondary sources of copper such as scrap. Nickel sulphides are generally associated with copper ores and copper-nickel matte is an intermediate product of processing mixed sulphides. While the copper species in aqueous chloride media are present as chlorocomplexes, the presence of nickel as Ni++ offers effective separation between the two by solvent extraction techniques. Oxidation of millerite by cupric chloride in sodium chloride solutions has been studied as a function of rate of agitation, leaching time, temperature, acid concentration and total initial cupric concentration. The reaction has a 1/2 order of dependence on initial cupric concentration in the range of 0.0 to 0.5M. The activation energy for the temperature range 333 -363 K has been found to be 59.2 kJ/mol with chemical reaction at the unreacted mineral surface as the rate controlling step. The rate expression, according to the shrinking-core model, for initial cupric concentrations between 0.0 to O.5M, is evaluated as

Jan 1, 1996

By Alan H. Goode

The advancement of high-temperature drilling fluid technology for application in geothermal environments is part of the Bureau of Mines program for more efficient development of our Nation's energy resources. The bentonite constituent of water-base drilling fluids is sensitive to destabilization by high-temperature and salinity. A substitute material for bentonite, phosphate slime, which is reported to be saline resistant, was considered. These studies show that spray-dried slime suspensions have more favorable rheological behavior, but poorer filtration properties, as compared with bentonite suspensions.

Jan 1, 1975

By J. Nielen van der Merwe

For the last 3 decades, coal pillars in the Republic of South Africa have been designed using the well-known strength formula of Salamon and Munro that was empirically derived after the Coalbrook disaster. The database was recently updated with the addition of failures that occurred after the initial analysis and the omission of failures that occurred in a known anomalous area. An alternative method of analysis was used to refine the constants in the formula. The outcome was a new formula that shows that the larger width-to-height ratio coal pillars are significantly stronger than previously believed, even though the material itself is represented by a reduced constant in the new formula. The formula predicts lower strength for the smaller pillars, explaining the failure of small pillars that were previously believed to have had high safety factors. Application of the new formula will result in improved coal reserve utilization for deeper workings and enhanced stability of shallow workings.

Jan 5, 1999