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By Frank C. Greene

The results of drilling in Missouri in 1938 are overshadowed by the leasing activity in northern Missouri, which began about the middle of the year. Nothing like it has ever been witnessed by the oil industry. With no production except a minor amount of gas, and with no drilling except in Clay, Platte and Marion Counties, a leasing campaign has embraced most of the counties north of the Missouri River and spread into southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas. It is reported that nearly all farms that could be leased without payment of a bonus have been leased, mostly on 10-yr. contracts, and at the end of the year a policy of bonus paying is in effect. Many of the major oil companies are leasing in the area and at least 15 of them are represented by scouts. Similarity to the Illinois Basin, low-priced leases and low drilling costs are among the reasons advanced for the leasing activity. Drilling activity in Missouri increased nearly two-thirds over 1937, with a total of 164 completions. The main activity was the extension of the "shoestring" of the so-called Bartlesville gas pool in Jackson County. It now seems that this sand is probably at the horizon of the Burbank sand. A new Squirrel sand oil pool was discovered in Jackson County. Cass County had five oil wells, with 63 bbl. initial production, four gas wells with 542,000 cu. ft. initial open flow, and 15 dry holes. Jackson County had three oil wells, with 24 bbl. initial production, 56 gas wells with 52,021,168 cu. ft. initial open flow and 57 dry holes. In Vernon County seven oil wells, with about 36 bbl. initial production, and two dry holes were completed. The oil production dropped off very quickly. In counties where wildcatting was carried on, new production was found. Clay County had seven dry holes, Hickory and Marion one each; Platte, four and St. Clair, two.

Jan 1, 1939

By Frank C. Greene

The results of drilling in Missouri in 1938 are overshadowed by the leasing activity in northern Missouri, which began about the middle of the year. Nothing like it has ever been witnessed by the oil industry. With no production except a minor amount of gas, and with no drilling except in Clay, Platte and Marion Counties, a leasing campaign has embraced most of the counties north of the Missouri River and spread into southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas. It is reported that nearly all farms that could be leased without payment of a bonus have been leased, mostly on 10-yr. contracts, and at the end of the year a policy of bonus paying is in effect. Many of the major oil companies are leasing in the area and at least 15 of them are represented by scouts. Similarity to the Illinois Basin, low-priced leases and low drilling costs are among the reasons advanced for the leasing activity. Drilling activity in Missouri increased nearly two-thirds over 1937, with a total of 164 completions. The main activity was the extension of the "shoestring" of the so-called Bartlesville gas pool in Jackson County. It now seems that this sand is probably at the horizon of the Burbank sand. A new Squirrel sand oil pool was discovered in Jackson County. Cass County had five oil wells, with 63 bbl. initial production, four gas wells with 542,000 cu. ft. initial open flow, and 15 dry holes. Jackson County had three oil wells, with 24 bbl. initial production, 56 gas wells with 52,021,168 cu. ft. initial open flow and 57 dry holes. In Vernon County seven oil wells, with about 36 bbl. initial production, and two dry holes were completed. The oil production dropped off very quickly. In counties where wildcatting was carried on, new production was found. Clay County had seven dry holes, Hickory and Marion one each; Platte, four and St. Clair, two.

Jan 1, 1939

By Burton H. Boyum

The paper generally reviews the iron ore occurrences and regional geology of Western Australia, but features in particular the mesa deposits of PJasic Materials - Cliffs International. Initial production is planned from a aeries of mesa deposits of Eocene-Oligocene age. The ore is oölitic to pisolitic goethite and hematite. Source of the iron in the mesa deposits is thought to be from the Precambrian iron-formations. The geology and occurrences of the mesa iron ore deposits are summarized and illustrated.

Jan 1, 1964

By Charles C. Fatino, Joel S. Hirschhorn

Loose compacts of strained and annealed stainless-steel powders were sintered at various temperatures and times to determine the effect of residual strains on the sintering behavior. The atomized powders were prepared by annealing, ball milling, and rean-nealing. The residual strains and domain size were determined by a Fourier analysis of X-ray diffvaction dala. The specimens were prepared by siwzultaneously sintering cylinders of both strained and unstrained powder. The evaluation of the sintered compacts included density measurements, metallographic examinations, and analyses of X- ray diffraction data. The results of these studies reveal a definite increase in sintered density and sintering rate for the strained powders. THE pressure compacting of metal powders causes deformation of the particles, mechanical interlocking, and increased contact area. After the deformation, severe residual strains remain in these particles. The subsequent contributions of these strains to the sintering process have been considered to be negligible, since the recovery and recrystallization temperatures usually occur prior to the temperature required for the sintering process. Sintering is con-sidered to be the process by which the powders are transformed into solid compacts at temperatures below their melting points. The sintering operation for stainless steel usually takes place in the range of 2050" to 2400°F (0.84 to 0.95 T,, where T, is the absolute melting point or liquidus temperature) while the temperature required for recovery is approximately 1800°F (0.75 T,). However, it has been shown for several metal powders that densification becomes significant in the range of 0.35 to 0.45 T,.' It is the purpose of this study to determine what effect residual strains have upon the sintering behavior of stainless-steel compacts. Loose compacts were selected for study in order to isolate the strain contributions and eliminate the variables inherent in sintering of pressure-formed compacts. Additional variables were minimized by using only one mesh size, one composition, one particle shape, and also by simultaneously sintering both types of powder. Very little work has been carried out previous to the present study to delineate the effect of strains on sintering behavior. Lenel et 01.2 observed that residual stresses in copper compacts caused shrinkage at comparatively low temperatures. Delisle3 loose-sintered ball-milled electrolytic iron and observed that bonding among particles began at a lower temperature as compared to the behavior of annealed powder. Increased densification of ball-milled oxide powders has also been noted.4'5 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Powder Preparation. The powder used for this study was a commercial-type 316L stainless steel made by the atomization process. A typical chemical analysis is: C- 0.025 pct Mo- 2.2 pct Cr-18.6 pct Ni-12.5 pct Fe—Balance The atomizing process is essentially the rapid freezing of liquid droplets. This nonequilibrium cooling causes coring to occur and two distinct phases are present within the solid particle, the austenitic phase and the ferritic phase. Due to the presence of this ferritic phase, the particles tended to fracture as well as become cold-worked during the subsequent ball-milling operation. (It was also found that this type of cooling produced a broadened and shifted

Jan 1, 1968

The Bahamas Oil Refining Co. (BORCO) refinery in Freeport continued to operate at less than half its full 500,000-barrel-per-day capacity. Although owned through subsidiaries by the Carey Energy Corp (65%) and Standard Oil Co. of California (35%), BORCO is ineligible for participation in the Crude Oil Entitlements Program granted to companies operating within the United States proper or its territories. Like some other Caribbean refineries, BORCO has suffered a loss of normal market outlet due to the wt advantage afforded U.S. refineries by the Entitlements Program. Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Libya are the major suppliers of crude for the refinery. Its principal products, motor spirits, aviation fuel, distillate fuels, and residual fuel oils, were marketed in the United States and Puerto Rim. The Government-owned Bahamas Development Corp. and Burmah Oil Co. Ltd., held discussions pertaining to a renegotiation of Burmah Oil's management contract for the Grand Bahama Oil Transshipment terminal. The desired contract modifications were not made public but financial problems have plagued the terminal and its operation since construction started in 1972.

Jan 1, 1981

By K. Fuenkajorn

Geomechanics and geohydrological considerations for the seal design for mine openings are presented. Design guidelines derived from laboratory and in-situ experiments are proposed. The results suggest that seal design, specifications and material selection should be site-specific. Performance requirements for a specific seal location should be identified. Evaluation of sealing effectiveness should be made on the entire seal system, i.e. seal, seal-rock interface, excavation-induced damage zone and the surrounding rock.

Jan 1, 1997

Selective leach analytical techniques applied to surface geochemical samples in the search for deeply buried mineral resources gained popularity in the late 1990s. Several commercial assay laboratories introduced their own selective leach methods, adding to the few established commercial methods at that time. Many of these laboratories promoted their methods with orientation data showing favorable responses to both precious and base metal mineralisation, concealed beneath extensive thicknesses of overburden. However, many explorationists remain confused about the utility of these geochemical methods. This confusion is due primarily to the lack of objective orientation surveys over significant mineralisation, comparing all commercially available selective leach methods and to the lack of a creditable theory explaining the formation of these selective leach anomalies. An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. An orientation survey was designed to fill the first void û an objective survey over significant mineralisation. With the help of 17 mining companies and assay laboratories, an orientation survey was conducted over five significant covered gold deposits in Nevada, USA , representing over ten million ounces of gold. Hopefully the results of this survey will help provide fuel for those working on the second void û a theory to adequately explain the formation of these selective leach anomalies.

Jan 1, 2008

By Evans B. Mayo

This study examines the structural framework of the Southwest for evidence of the four principal trends of lineament tectonics. It attempts to classify their intersections and compares the positions of those trends that appear most favorable with the positions of the presently known mining districts. This is a controversial topic. The author, in presenting his analysis, is aware that the study of lineament tectonics and relation of ore districts to regional structure is complicated by insufficient data and, unavoidably, by personal bias. The development of lineament tectonics has been summarized by Umbgrove.' Early attempts to fit ore districts into the Cordilleran framework were made by Billingsley and Locke, who do not refer to lineament tectonics, although their appoach is similar; they observe that heat and fluids, including the ore-depositing fluids, are most likely to rise at or near intersections of major structures where the crust is fractured, or weakened, to great depth. As a result of studies distributed over the earth-including ocean basins as well as continents— some tectonists recognize four dominant structural trends: 1) northwest; 2) northeast; 3) nearly east-west, or equatorial; and 4) nearly north-south, or meridional. Baker' proposed a theory to account for these trends and Sonder" called their world-wide arrangement the regmatic shear pattern. Moody and Hill proposed a much more complicated shear network which, although fascinating and perhaps ultimately useful, will not be followed here. In a recent review of deformation within the Cordillera, Wisser mentioned the four fundamental directions. The fact that many geologists deny the existence of the regmatic shear pattern implies that the fundamental structures are far from obvious. It may mean, also, that some geologists are not accustomed to examine regional and world maps analytically. The maps require much study, and certain features should be isolated on overlays. Even so, with the present limited knowledge, uncertainties remain. The following analysis is a qualitative experiment, subject to change as information accumulates, and should be supplemented by the western sheet of the Tectonic Map of the United States.' Many have probably gained the impression that the Cordillera of the West is oriented northwest-southeast and from this, unless experience rules otherwise, it is natural to assume that the structure likewise trends northwest-southeast. To an important extent this is true, yet anyone tracing off the western sheet of the Tectonic Map all the recorded north west-southeast structures may be surprised to see what a small part of the entire area they occupy. In southwestern U. S. (Fig. 1) the northwest-southeast structures are mostly restricted to the eastern, southern, and western parts. The eastern margin of the Cordillera from northern Colorado to the International Boundary near El Paso, Tex., is obviously determined by some structure other than northwesterly ones. In eastern Nevada and far southward toward the Gulf of California many mountain ranges, valleys, and faults are meridional. In the Rocky Mts. of Colorado, and at many places in southern Arizona, the crystalline Pre-Cambrian is foliated northeast-southwest. The Uinta Mts. of Utah trend approximately east-west, in much the same way as a broad belt of transverse, west-northwest structures—the Texas lineament of Hill",' and Ransome10 in southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and southern California. It seems, then that there are four regmatic shear directions in the Southwest, but at many places they are discontinuous, and their projections must be inferred. To clarify these trends the four sets have been isolated into two systems: 1) northwest-northeast and 2) east-west-north-south (Figs. 2 and 3). Northwest-Northeast System: A number of prominent northwest-trending zones of structure are easily recognized. They are designated by circled Roman numerals, the northeast-trending structures by circled capital letters. Perhaps no two geologists would agree completely on the positions of all these belts. Names given below are for convenience only, and may be discarded where other names have priority. (I) The Sierra Nevada-Lower California belt contains the Jurassic-Cretaceous granitic massifs of the Sierra Nevada and Lower California. These

Jan 1, 1959

By C. S. Sivil

To modern civilization the platinum metals are of inestimable value. Their distinctive properties, both physical and chemical, render them indispensable in an age in which the processes of the laboratory are becoming an essential part of the daily life of the world. Generally, their function, though vital to particular processes, is not spectacular, and so remains unknown to all except the operators. EARLY METHODS OF MANUFACTURE The properties of platinum were recognized as of prime importance for scientific work at. a very early date, probably between 1750 and 1760. The difficulty of making articles from it seemed almost insurmountable, because no means of attaining the temperature necessary to melt it were known at that time. It is true that solid platinum could be obtained by fusing the metal with a more volatile metal such as arsenic, which was subsequently driven off by baking, but such a method, at its best, would give only a very brittle product, which was totally unsuitable for the purposes for which it was intended. Little, if any, progress could be made until it was discovered that platinum sponge, heated to white heat and hammered in an iron or clay mold, would metallize and retain the shape of the mold. This was a process that could not be wholly satisfactory but from it developed the method of pressing the sponge in a mold and forging it at white heat into wire or sheet. At present a somewhat similar process must be used for fabricating articles of tungsten, molybdenum and other metals of high fusing point, as with these metals we face today the same problems that the scientists of the eighteenth century encountered with platinum, but possibly the next significant advance in the metallurgy of these metals will be the devising of means to melt and cast them.

Jan 1, 1931

By Joseph Mac Donald

Stripped of its romantic possibilities, mining is a commercial business, carried on for the profit there is in it; and the business of the manager, in its ultimate analysis, is to make the profit as large as possible. The general manager of a mining company should keep himself personally familiar with all the details of its operations. If he fails to do so, chaos results, labor becomes inefficient, costs go up, and profits go down. Nowhere is this emphasized more than in Mexico. If the mining operations are extensive and complex, involving, besides the work of mining the ore, its transportation and treatment by various milling operations, and the marketing of the products, the business, to be carried on properly, must be

Jan 1, 1909

E. E. Russell Tratman, New York City (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Glenn's paper brings up again the question of the part played by coal-dust in colliery-explosions. In the discussion of Sir Frederick Abel's paper on " Accidents in Mines," read before the Institution of Civil Engineers,? much was said about the dangerous properties of coal-dust, and several instances were given of the successful use of a spray of water, water and compressed air, or exhaust-steam from an engine, to keep the mine SUEciently damp to prevent the formation of dust clouds. Methods of preventing shots from blowing out; of using water cartridges to prevent flame ; and of using lime cartridges, wedges and other means of breaking down the coal were also discussed. Mr. Emerson Bainbridge referred to the explosive termed " roburite " (ammonium nitrate and

Jan 1, 1895

By J. A. Herbst, K. Rajamani, Y. C. Lo

In spite of potential theoretical and economic advantages of large-diameter ball mills, many manufacturers elect not to build them owing to what is perceived as an excessively large design risk. This is because traditional predictions for mill scaleup to large diameters are not always accurate. Alternative methods of analysis and scale-up are required. Recent studies have shown that detailed population balance models which account for important grinding subprocesses (grinding kinetics, material transport, and classification) are capable of predicting the performance of small- and intermediate-diameter mills (up to 4.3 m, or 14 ft) from small-scale batch tests. These same models are used in the current study to predict the performance of a "borderline "large ball mill (4.7 x 5.5 m, or 15 x 18 ft) at Asarco's Sacaton operation, a ball mill (5 x 5.8 m, or 16.4 x 19 ft) at Kennecott's Chino operation, and one of the world's largest ball mills (5.5 x 6.4 m, or 18 x 21 ft) at Cities Service Pinto Valley operation. Model parameters required for scale-up have been estimated in a 380-mm-diam (15-in.-diam) batch mill. Predictions are compared with the results of detailed plant sampling in the three plants. For the Sacaton and Chino operations, the error of the predictions was found to be less than 2.5%, while the corresponding error for the Pinto Valley operation was less than 2.7%. It is concluded that proper representation of the major subprocesses of grinding in the model equations is the key to achieving accurate scale-up. Of special importance is the need to account for the size distribution of the grinding media and the influence of the size distribution environment in the mill on grinding kinetics.

Jan 1, 1986

The development and introduction of a preventive maintenance scheme in the coke ovens department, coal preparation section, of The Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd., Newcastle steelworks, is described together with its operation and the results achieved during the first 12 months.'fhe scheme consists essentially of an engineering analysis of the plant to establish maintenance schedules, and to record the details on reference cards.Items are reviewed progressively and a weekly work schedule is prepared, from which work orders are passed on to the maintenance foremen. These foremen in turn originate action orders and issue inspection sheets as required. Results are then reported back to the maintenance planner and used to revise norms, practices, and cycles.INTRODUCTIONWhat is maintenance? Some people consider maintenance to be the work involved in putting things together again after they have fallen apart. The author regards it as the mechanical care and repair of plant machinery and equipment to keep it operating in sound mechanical condition, without undue interference with production processes.Maintenance may be organized or haphazard, and, too often, what has been fondly imagined to be nicely controlled and organized maintenance proves, under pressure, to be more correctly described as haphazard. Haphazard maintenance deals with breakdowns as they occur, and frequently finds itself confronted with more breakdowns than can be handled. Even organized maintenance, if not based on sound planning, can, at times, be found in a chaotic state, because of unexpected and unanticipated breakdown.Properly planned and scheduled maintenance permits an orderly and controlled approach to the problem of maintain...

Jan 1, 1961

By Deyou Yin, Kongfang Feng, Bo Wang, Jieyu Zhang, Xin Hong, Shaobo Zheng, Jinyin Xie

"The flow patterns and mixing characteristics in a water model of C-H2 smelting reduction furnace are experimentally studied in this paper. Water modeling is employed to investigate the features of gas jet stirring and the fluid flow patterns in the bath of a smelting reduction furnace during the top, bottom, and side combined blowing process. The influence of the gas flow rate for top, bottom and side nozzles, angle, submerged depth of each side nozzles and the height of the top nozzle has been examined. It showed that the gas flow rate of side nozzles and bottom nozzle had a key role on the fluid flow and mixing characteristics. The gas jet from the top nozzle could change the agitation and fluid flow pattern caused by the gas jets from the side nozzles in the bath.IntroductionFacing the current natural resources decrease and the environmental degradation, smelting reduction iron-making technique is believed to be the most representative at present. Mid last century, the concept of producing liquid iron or semi-steel directly from ore fines and inexpensive fuel was the subject of considerable pilot plant development activity. Among these projects, the direct smelting process, which is the reduction and melting of iron-bearing materials by carbon and other hydrocarbons in the vessel containing a molten bath, is the most popular one. A number of direct smelting processes have been developed around the world, e.g. COREX, DIOS, HIsmelt, AISI, ROMELT, etc.These studies put forward a new technology, which through bottom nozzle blowing rich hydrogen, top nozzle blowing rich oxygen and provide preheating ore and solvent, side nozzles blowing oxygen-coal to realize smelting reduction iron-making process. Owing to the metallurgy reactions always in high temperature, which is above 1600 °C, it is difficult to visualize the mixing behavior and measure the desired phenomena in the reduction vessel. With water modeling, the primary advantages are that it is relatively easy to observe and measure the flow phenomena in the bath."

Jan 1, 2011

By Charles W. Goodale, William A. Akers

The treatment of silver-ores of too low a grade to justify either smelting or preliminary roasting, and yet not " free" enough to permit of raw amalgamation, has ever been a serious problem. As bearing upon it, the operations of the Combination Mining and Milling Company of Black Pine, Deer Lodge county, Montana, during the past year may not be without interest. It is not claimed that the process to be described is not susceptible of great improvement, nor is any claim of originality made for it; but its use is, as yet, not very general, and it seems to offer a means of profitably working the large class of partially-decomposed argentiferous ores which, by reason

Jan 1, 1890

By Theodore James Kurela

Analysis of adverse technical issues has traditionally relied on a snapshot of the state of the operation complemented with both the melt shop’s archived data and eyewitness accounts of adverse events. The GrafTech ArchiTech System is helping EAF shops solve problems faster by combining continuous analysis of information with statistically based alerts of process deviations. After one year of system implementation, a number of cases have been detected and communicated to melt shops worldwide. The objective of this paper is to examine a few of these cases; the early detection, statistical analysis, deviation reporting and the resulting countermeasures implemented.

Aug 17, 2017

By Karin Bäppler

A new polyhalite fertilizer mine is currently being developed in the UK by Anglo American Crop Nutrients. The project includes the construction of a Mineral Transport Tunnel almost 37 kms long to house a conveyor belt that will move polyhalite from the production shaft at the mine to a materials handling facility at the port. The project sets a new standard in terms of an ultra-long tunnel drive and sustainable, environmentally friendly and efcient material transport. The paper highlights in particular the . m diameter TBM in use for the construction of the ultra-long tunnelling section.

Jun 23, 2024

The current mining operations at Newmont Boddington Gold Mine (NBG) commenced in 2008, and commissioning of the processing plant started in the latter half of 2009. Metso Process Technology and Innovation were engaged to assist NBG with commissioning and project ramp-up through the implementation of a comprehensive ?Mine-to-Mill? Process Integration and Optimisation project. This methodology entailed extensive data collection which included drill and blast audits, ore characterisation, comprehensive comminution circuit surveys and review of operational data to assess the limitations within the current mining and processing operations. The results of these investigations have been used to define the operating base line of both the mining and processing areas and identify improvement opportunities. The use of modelling and simulations, utilising actual production data, has allowed for multiple scenarios to be evaluated, minimising the requirement for actual trials and thereby minimising impact on the operation. Improvements implemented to date include: the introduction of routine rock strength measurement for inclusion in block models, modifications to blast design improving ROM fragmentation and downstream comminution process performance, and changes to improve performance of secondary crushing and grinding circuits. Close cooperation between the mine and plant personnel is playing a significant role in overcoming the challenges presented to this operation and further improvements are targeted for the second full year of process plant operation.

Jan 1, 2012

By A. J. Neale, B. C. Flintoff

"In most mineral processing operations the term audit is usually reserved for the exercise of checking financial records and/ or safety practices. While these activities are time consuming, no one disputes their necessity or value. If we subject these areas to such careful scrutiny, why is it that we don't normally apply the same principles to critically examine process operation. After all, the operating efficiency of the plant impacts directly on the measures of profitability.A mineral processing plant is a complex system that has a number of distinct, but mutually dependent elements: process equipment, instrumentation, operating policies, maintenance policies, control strategies and people. To ensure maximum economic performance, in the dynamic environment that characterizes a concentrator, requires a periodic review of each of these areas. However, to be useful, the study must be based on sound metallurgical principles and be conducted in a highly focused manner. Experience teaches us that the exercise is very revealing and potentially very rewarding.This paper will discuss the process audit process and illustrate its potential value through illustration taken from plant studies.IntroductionThe last twenty years have seen tremendous technological and organizational changes sweep the minerals industry. Process control systems, on-stream analyzers, and gold recovery techniques barely conceived twenty years ago are now incorporated in virtually all new installations in an effort to maximize operating efficiencies. In conjunction with these developments, changes in the way plants are managed, down-sizing of technical staff, reduction in the size of operating crews, and the flattening out of the management structure have significantly reduced operating costs. As a result, plants are making more efficient use of our natural resources, minimizing the costs of production, and in turn maximizing operating profits. Or are they?"

Jan 1, 1991

By Stephen L. Bolivar

The Prairie Creek intrusion, near Murfreesboro, Arkansas, is the site of the only commercial diamond mine in North America. Three major lithologies are associated with the intrusion, a hypabyssal peridotite, a volcanic breccia in .which the majority of diamonds occur, and associated tuff. Previous studies, including mining history, geological, geophysical, petrological and whole-rock and mineral chemistry are reviewed. The recent suggestion, by other workers, that this intrusion may be more correctly called a lamproite is examined and supported. This has serious implications for diamond exploration in Arkansas and elsewhere in the U.S.

Jan 1, 1984