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By P. R. Brito-Parada, G. Bhutani

"The physical processes occurring in flotation columns are very complex as they take place at different scales over a range of sizes and multiple phases. Column design and optimum operating parameters are usually obtained from empirical studies and although progress has been made on its numerical modelling, most column models rely on simplifications that do not fully capture the hydrodynamics. In particular, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models of the pulp phase in flotation usually assume the bubble population to be monodispersed. While this assumption may be reasonable in some situations, the polydispersed nature of the gas phase can have a significant impact on the predicted flotation rates.Techniques to model size distribution do exist in the literature and have been rigorously analysed in the past two decades for bubble columns, which are very similar to flotation columns from a hydrodynamics point of view. In fact, available CFD models of flotation columns are an extension of bubble column models, sometimes including additional equations for solids treated as passive scalars. This work focuses on the development of an efficient CFD model for flotation columns. The bubble size distribution in the column has been modelled using the Population Balance Equation (PBE), which is solved using the Direct Quadrature Method of Moments (DQMOM). Coupled with the PBE, the multiphase flow equations in the column have been modelled using the standard Eulerian–Eulerian approach. The solution of this coupled system has been made tractable in this work with the implementation of a highly parallelised adaptive-mesh finite element method. This powerful framework has been implemented in the open source CFD code Fluidity and it allows the carrying out of detailed simulations of flotation columns in 2D and 3D, with important implications for industrial column evaluation and design."

Jan 1, 2016

By H. P. Greenwald, H. C. Howarth

The rapidly increasing use in coal mines of portable auxiliary fans, which are generally 'blowers" employed in connection with canvas tubing, raises questions concerning the hazards of such equipment, especially where the practices are opposed to established methods of ventilating face workings. Half a dozen or more coal-mine explosions and some fires have been attributed to the use of auxiliary fans; moreover, competent mining engineers have found many dangerous installations and methods of use-for example, intermittent running of the fans in gassy mines with consequent accumulations of firedamp at the faces. These facts have led the U. S. Bureau of Mines to issue this recommendation: "In the interest of safety, the Bureau of Mines, Department of Commerce, recommends that auxiliary fans or blowers should not be used in coal mines as a substitute for methods of regular and continuous coursing of the air to every face in the mine." The comparatively recent introduction of new types of mining machines, mechanical loaders, face conveyors, and slabbing machines has encouraged the trial of new systems of face mining, all of which have for their object the rapid advance of the faces. Although the latter has certain economic advantages, in gassy mines the rate at which gas is given off is generally found to increase in proportion to the speed of advance into new territory, which in turn increases the difficulties of efficient ventilation of the face workings. Some of the systems of advance mining being tried in connection with new mechanizing methods practically compel the use of blower fans and tubing, as single narrow places arc now driven 300 ft. or more without crosscuts. In some instances a series of parallel headings are driven without crosscuts pre-

Jan 1, 1928

By David R. Mitchell, E. A. Reilly, G. R. Gardner, F. P. Lasseter

THE methods that may be applied to the treatment of slurries and water, as these are related to practical coal-preparation problems, are concerned essentially with the movements of solids suspended in water. It is assumed that there are no fundamental differences between the principles involved in the treatment of coal slurries and the phenomena encountered in general mineral-dressing practice, and the latter are-presented in some detail. Basic principles are correlated with present practice for both the anthracite and the bituminous coal fields, and methods are discussed which are designed to utilize best all the material subjected to treatment and suggest a sound approach to the solution of problems relating to the return of clear water to process or to streams. In order to approach the practical phases of the subject with sufficient understanding of the basic principles, it is necessary to discuss two types of phenomena that are applicable. The first is flocculation and the second is sedimentation. Descriptive matter is given covering the various methods and types of equipment employed to conduct these operations, with emphasis on their application to water and coal-slurry treatment. DEFINITION OF TERMS Definitions of terms are consistent with modern developments, and conform, in general, with their usage in mineral-dressing practice. Because of variations in coal-preparation methods, it is impossible to define a rigid upper limit of particle size for a coal slurry or sludge which will apply generally. Limits vary somewhat with the particular treatment method employed at a given plant. For purposes of definition, this limit is chosen as the particle size for which preparation methods such as Chance comes and jigs are usually dispensed with, and other methods, such as the Hydro-tator, tables, and froth flotation, are employed. Generally the limit will be 10 to 6 mesh.

Jan 1, 1950

By Richard D. Harvey, Arthur M. Squires, Robert A. Graff, George Kan

Particles of half-calcined dolomite (CaC03 + MgO) that had undergone cyclic absorption of H2S and regeneration with C02 in laboratory tests reveal enlargement of the crystallite grain structure, reduction in the number of pores but enlargement in their size, and partial development of a relatively dense mosaic microstructure on outer surfaces of cyclically reacted particles. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray microanalysis, microprobe analysis, and X-ray diffraction techniques were used to evaluate microstructural properties of particles after tests conducted at pressures of 1 and 21 atm and temperatures of 7000 to 9000 C. The tests conducted at 7500 C and 21 atm showed the most favorable absorption and regeneration capacities of the dolomite tested. The changes in structure and pores play a major role in reducing the sulfur reactivity of half-calcined dolomite particles. The mosaic microstructure forms more rapidly at 1 atm than at 21 atm pressure. Once it occurs it seals the surface of the natural pore channels that existed in the half-calcined dolomite and restricts further conversion of crystallites of CaCO3 within the particles. Although a relatively coarse, granular mosaic of crystallites is present on some particles cycled at 21 atm pressure after only three absorption-regeneration cycles, it does not completely cover the particles, and that is true even after 30 cycles. Individual crystallites of MgO were not resolved by the X-ray microanalysis, but we believe that during the tests the MgO occurs as crystallites no more than 0.1 um in diameter that are homogeneously distributed through the particles, and it remains essentially inert during the reactions. The MgO contributes to the maintenance of the original fine-grained and microporous structure of the particles, an effect that is most advantageous to absorption and regeneration.

Jan 1, 1976

By John Wulff, David A. Stevenson

The rates of solution of copper, nickel, and three copper-nickel alloys in liquid lead were studied at 527° and 727°C under dynamic conditions. The relative velocity at the solid-liquid interface was varied from 8.65 to 125 cm per sec. Analysis of the data for the pure metals indicates that the solution rate is transport corztrolled at lower velocities, but a transition to mixed control occurs at higher velocities, higher temperatures, and higher percent saturation. 1 HE present work concerns the effect of relative velocity at a solid-liquid interface on the dissolution kinetics of pure solid materials in liquid metals. This general problem is of interest in electrode kinetics, in electrolytic processes, and more recently in the field of liquid metal corrosion. Considerable work has been done on dissolution kinetics in aqueous environments because of the obvious importance to electrolytic processes.1,2 In purely metallic systems investigation has been more limited. There are, of course, extensive data from loop tests which are used in an engineering evaluation of liq- uid metal corrosion. Here, however, the dissolution process is complicated by several interdependent processes. In general, one of two factors is considered to be rate limiting in the dissolution process: the transport of material from the solid-liquid interface into the bulk liquid, or an activation process directly at the interface. A number of studies of the dissolution rates of solid metals in liquid metals under static conditions have been published.3- Since the attendant hydrodynamic conditions imposed by thermal gradient convection and concentration gradient convection are difficult to analyze, it is doubtful if a clear interpretation of the experimental findings of these papers in terms of the mechanism involved in the dissolution process can be made. A clearer picture of the dissolution process is provided by

Jan 1, 1962

By H. P. Greenwald

THE rapidly increasing use in coal mines of portable auxiliary fans, which are generally "blowers" employed in connection with canvas tubing, raises questions concerning the hazards of such equipment, especially where the practices are opposed to established methods of ventilating face workings. Half a dozen or more coal-mine explosions and some fires have been attributed to the use of auxiliary fans; moreover, competent mining engineers have found many dangerous installations and methods of use-for example, intermittent running of the fans in gassy mines with consequent accumulations of firedamp at the faces. These facts have led the U. S. Bureau of Mines to issue this recommendation: "In the interest of safety, the Bureau of Mines, Department of Commerce, recommends that auxiliary fans or blowers should not be used in coal mines as a substitute for methods of regular and continuous coursing of the air to every face in the mine." The comparatively recent introduction of new types of mining machines, mechanical loaders, face conveyors, and slabbing machines has encouraged the trial of new systems of face mining, all of which have for their object the rapid advance of the faces. Although the latter has certain economic advantages, in gassy mines the rate at which gas is given off is generally found to increase in proportion to the speed of advance into new territory, which in turn increases the difficulties of efficient ventilation of the face workings. Some of the systems of advance mining being tried in connection with new mechanizing methods practically compel the use of blower fans and tubing, as single narrow places are now driven, 300 ft. or more without crosscuts. In some instances a series of parallel headings are driven without crosscuts pre-

Jan 1, 1928

By Walter Nummela

INTRODUCTION By the end of 1979 pellet productive capacity from the processing of low grade iron ores in the Lake Superior-District will total 86 million tons per year. Of that tonnage, 72 million result from the processing of magnetic ores such as taconite, about 6 million tons from the flotation processing of relatively coarse grained specular hematite, and 8 million tons from the processing of fine grained non- magnetic ores at Tilden. The Tilden flowsheet represents a break- through in the processing of this type of crude ore and hence is unique in the Lake Superior District (1). Operations at Tilden started in late 1974 with Algoma Steel, J&L Steel Corp., The Cleve- land-Cliffs Iron Company, The Steel Company of Canada, Ltd., Wheeling- Pittsburgh Steel Corp., and Sharon Steel Corp. as participants. Cleveland-Cliffs operates and manages the operation. Other companies have conducted extensive pilot plant tests or are in commercial production in the processing of fine grained non-magnetic ore materials (2). Flowsheets and reagent schedules may be different for each particular application, but some of the problem areas in the processing of Tilden ores have also been experienced at operations such as the IOC Plant at Sept-Isles, at Lamco and at Bong in Liberia, and in pilot testing of Fabrica ores of Ferteco Mineracao in Brazil. With a grind of about 80-85% -500 mesh resulting in 50% of the particles in the concentrate being less than 15 microns, a discussion of the pro- cessing of Tilden type ores fits the topic of this workshop. There are very large tonnages of fine grained non-magnetic crude ores which exist throughout the Lake Superior District and other iron ore producing regions. These fine grained non-magnetic materials constitute an important source of iron minerals. Before going into specifics of the flowsheet, it is important to

Jan 1, 1979

By Francis H. Crockard

During the past five years we have probably witnessed greater technological advances than in any similar period. Industry and science have steadily marched ahead. The makers of iron and steel products have watched with great interest the development of streamlined trains, faster and safer airplanes, the entirely new science of air-conditioning and the widespread use of stainless steels. Since 1930, we have witnessed the erection of the world's largest suspension bridge, the largest and fastest ocean liner and the spectacular Boulder Dam, while even greater things are planned in these particular fields. Other industries, too, have been moving ahead rapidly. This advance in a few years has been caused primarily by the fierce competition of the depression. Now, more than ever, is the emphasis placed upon quality and service. Makers of southern merchant pig iron have been no exception and have been confronted with increasingly strict chemical specifications and with much greater stress on physical characteristics than ever before. For example, sulfur in the iron must be held very low, competition demanding that it be in the 0.020's and low 0.030's; silicon content must be held within a very narrow range, and definite requirements of phosphorus and manganese are an essential part of the specifications. Physical characteristics are becoming of increasingly greater importance. The introduction of triple-skimmed, slow-cooled iron several years ago was the first step in this direction. Now there are a few customers who buy iron by chemical analysis and physical appearance, having found that the analysis alone is an insufficient guide to their requirements. In addition to questions of quality, the subject of cost has greatly altered the southern furnaceman's viewpoint on many things. Formerly we had low-grade but cheap raw materials, but recent developments, such as greatly increased labor rates, have raised the cost of the same

Jan 1, 1936

By James Aston

A proper consideration of this subject is not confined to the technical channels of production and metallurgy. It concerns an industry, and should cover economic aspects which are of material importance in any program of development. The discussion may logically be treated under three subdivisions, as follows: (1) manufacture, (2) characteristics related to quality of material; (3) adaptability and exploitation of product. Manufacture of Wrought Iron The manufacture of wrought iron is the most ancient art of the ferrous metal industry. The eighty years or less of existence of processes identified with our modern "Age of Steel" is a relatively brief interval compared with the several thousand years associated with the production of wrought iron by man. From the primitive early methods of production, manufacture for many centuries followed the line of direct reduction. There were developments as experience was gained through the years; but man's needs for a strong, ductile, forgeable product were met by reducing the ore to metallic iron in a single-stage operation. Following the development several centuries ago of what has become our modern blast-furnace operation, manufacture of wrought iron was gradually transformed into a two-stage method of first producing cast iron and then refining this to the desired degree of forgeability; the forerunner in principle of today's scheme of manufacture of steel. The product retained the essential characteristics of highly refined base metal with iron-silicate slag incorporation, which were associated with the material resulting from direct reduction methods. Cort's invention of the puddling process in 1784 is a landmark in wrought-iron manufacture. It consisted essentially in adapting a coal-fired reverberatory furnace to the refining operation; thus lifting the industry out of the slough of

Jan 1, 1935

By S. C. Westerfeld

The original patent for the gyratory crusher was granted to Philetus W. Gates in 1881. This first crusher was used by the Buffalo Cement Co. At the time these early gyratory crushers were developed all mining and quarrying, either underground or open pit, was done by hand; tonnages generally were small and product specifications simple and liberal. Likewise plants were small and demands for small product sizes practically nonexistent. In addition to substantial amounts of hand labor, the available material handling equipment was small, simple, and not suited to handling large run of mine ore. Mine can, cable ways, or belt conveyon transporting crushed material to the mill had limited capacity per hour. At the turn of the century the largest Gates crusher, the No. 9, had a receiving opening of 21 x 48 in. with a three-arm spider and a 21 x 80-in. opening with a two-arm spider. The steam shovel began to change the entire picture of open pit quarrying. As a result of the use of steam shovels around 1910 crushers with 48-in. receiving openings were built; thus it can be seen that the basic gyratory crusher was developed prior to World War I. The improvement of the internal combustion engine and the use of pneumatic tires created a new set of operating conditions. Early mines were small, using shrinkage stoping and small mine can. The capacity of material handling was small, limiting the size of the largest piece and the feed rate. Improved material handling resulted in more and more large open pit mines with large shovels and a tremendous increase in the size of off road or mine haul trucks or rail can. Primary gyratory crushers also increased with receiving openings as large as 60 in. and connected hp of 1,000.

Jan 1, 1985

By R. D. Clark, Heinz Althoff

"The advantages and disadvantages of a mobile crushing plant with a belt conveyor system compared to a stationary crushing plant with haulage by heavy trucks are described. The capital expenditure and operational expenses are compared and the individual cost factors are explained.Every open-pit mine or quarry, however, is different and has to be assessed and analyzed individually in order to find the optimum and most economical solution. Due to the high truck haulage costs, many open-pit mines tend to the more economical solution with mobile crushing plants and continuous belt conveyor operation. IntroductionFor the material haulage within an open-pit mine the heavy truck is the most flexible means of transportation. However, due to the high fuel consumption, wear and labour costs, it is also the most expensive one. Therefore, many open-pit mines are looking for alternative solutions for the material transport A mobile belt conveyor system is most likely to meet the requirements because it is efficient and economical with regard to the power consumption. The material , however, has to be crushed at the mining face to lumps which are suitable for conveyor operation. For this purpose a mobile crushing plant is required.In some open-pit mines the crusher is also used to crush the material to lumps of smaller particle sizes in order to save crushing costs in the preparation plant.Although a cost comparison between a system with stationary crusher and truck haulage and a system with mobile crusher and belt conveyors favours in most cases the belt conveyor system, up till now only a few open-pit mines and quarries benefit world-wide from the advantages of the mobile crushing plant with continuous belt conveyor operation."

Jan 1, 1986

By Merete Tangstad, Eli Ringdalen

"In Norway ferrosilicon/silicon and ferromanganese production are strong with world markets of 4 % / 9 % and 4 %, respectively. Research and development in the academia mirrors the national interest; hence, there has been extensive academic research in these areas. There are some vital drivers and premises for a successful cooperation between the academia and industry with the main driver being a win-win situation for both. For industry,the potential advantages include cost-, competence- or environmental- benefits; for academia, the important drivers are building of competence and equipment, educating more students at higher levels, and increased possibilities to publish. In Norway, the benefits of cooperation between industry and academia are basic knowledge regarding thermodynamic and kinetic data, as well as reaction mechanisms within core processes. In recent years, such research interests have focused on the depletion of raw materials as well as environmental issues.IntroductionIn 1989, the Norwegian Ferroalloy Producers Research Association (FFF) was funded on the belief that a common research association would benefit the industry by making it easier to perform basic research as well as paving the ground for better recruitment to the industry. The funding partners in Norway were the FeSi/Si and FeMn producers. Today, the producers are Elkem, Finnfjord, Fesil, Wacker, Eramet and Vale. The main research partners working with FFF are SINTEF (Materials and Chemistry) and the Department of Material Science and Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). With more than 1700 employees, SINTEF is the largest independent research organization in Norway and NTNU is the largest technical university. Together, the two organizations provide an exceptionally strong materials technology research environment, and especially so for pyrometallurgical research."

Jan 1, 2012

By Francis H. Crockard

During the past five years we have probably witnessed greater technological advances than in any similar period. Industry and science have steadily marched ahead. The makers of iron and steel products have watched with great interest the development of streamlined trains, faster and safer airplanes, the entirely new science of air-conditioning and the widespread use of stainless steels. Since 1930, we have witnessed the erection of the world's largest suspension bridge, the largest and fastest ocean liner and the spectacular Boulder Dam, while even greater things are planned in these particular fields. Other industries, too, have been moving ahead rapidly. This advance in a few years has been caused primarily by the fierce competition of the depression. Now, more than ever, is the emphasis placed upon quality and service. Makers of southern merchant pig iron have been no exception and have been confronted with increasingly strict chemical specifications and with much greater stress on physical characteristics than ever before. For example, sulfur in the iron must be held very low, competition demanding that it be in the 0.020's and low 0.030's; silicon content must be held within a very narrow range, and definite requirements of phosphorus and manganese are an essential part of the specifications. Physical characteristics are becoming of increasingly greater importance. The introduction of triple-skimmed, slow-cooled iron several years ago was the first step in this direction. Now there are a few customers who buy iron by chemical analysis and physical appearance, having found that the analysis alone is an insufficient guide to their requirements. In addition to questions of quality, the subject of cost has greatly altered the southern furnaceman's viewpoint on many things. Formerly we had low-grade but cheap raw materials, but recent developments, such as greatly increased labor rates, have raised the cost of the same

Jan 1, 1936

By Nathan C. Rockwood

LIME is a very general term applied to products of limestone, in popular treatises often incorrectly, including ground or pulverized limestone used in agriculture. When used without qualifying adjective, the term usually means burned or calcined limestone, or quicklime, or calcia. The corresponding calcined product of magnesite is magnesia. If the calcined rock is relatively pure calcium carbonate, the resulting lime is a "high-calcium" lime; if the rock is dolomite, or a combination of calcium and magnesium carbonates, the lime is a "dolomitic" or a "high- magnesium" lime. There are various grades in between, depending on the percentage of magnesium carbonate and other ingredients in the raw rock. For some industrial purposes only high-calcium limes are suitable; in other processing-as, for example, neutralizing acid wastes -the relative percentages of magnesium and calcium carbonates in the raw material are not important. Limestone is burned (roasted or calcined) in furnaces known as lime kilns by direct exposure to the hot gases and flames. When heated to incandescence, the carbon dioxide content of the rock is expelled, leaving calcium and magnesium oxides, according to the formula usually written: [ ] This thermal reaction is reversible, which requires that the lime be withdrawn from the "calcining zone" of the kiln about as fast as made. Pure calcium carbonate would lose 44 pct of its weight in the calcining process; dolomite, 48 pct. Generally, the lime will retain the approximate size and shape of the piece of rock from which it is made but some few limestones tend to break down into granules or dust. Hence lime (quicklime) comes from the kilns in lumps or granules and normally is packed in water- tight containers in these forms, or is pulverized after calcination.

Jan 1, 1949

By F. N. Rhines

DESPITE the large amount of study which has been devoted to the subject our present knowledge of the copper-oxygen system remains incomplete and unsatisfactory in many respects. This applies particu-larly to those regions in which solid metallic copper exists. The primary object of the present paper is the contribution of new information relative to the solid solubility of oxygen (or cuprous oxide) in copper at atmospheric pressure, together with certain observations in the low-pressure regions of the system. It seems appropriate also to present a brief summary of the outstanding previous work on the constitution of mixtures of copper with its lowest oxide in order to show the relation between the new facts and the system as a whole. The earliest recorded investigations of the copper-oxygen system are those of M. S. Lucas (1) § and of M. Chevillot(2) in 1819 and 1820. Lucas believed that liquid copper is capable of dissolving its oxide, but neither he nor Chevillot was able to furnish convincing proof of this property. It was not until 1866 that T. Graham° definitely established the existence of such a solubility. Nine years later W. Hampe(4) measured its extent and roughly outlined the copper-rich portion of the system. The first really precise examination of the constitutional relationship between copper and cuprous oxide, however, was that of E. Heyn(5) who in 1900 published a temperature-concentration diagram covering the range from 0 to 10 per cent of cuprous oxide at atmospheric pressure. Within these limits of composition cuprous oxide was found to dissolve in liquid copper, forming at 3.4 to 3.5 per cent a eutectic which melted at 1065° C. R. E. Slade and F. D. Farrow(6) extended these studies to mixtures of higher

Jan 1, 1934

By L. Furtenbach, T. Möller

"Grinding mills are the heart of the mineral processing plant, and are production-critical machines which are required to achieve high availability. Liner wear life and a liner design that promotes ease of installation are important variables to achieve a high level of mill availability. Increased mill size results in more mill internal surface to protect, and more liner components to install and remove. This drives designers toward an increase in liner size to minimize the number of components to be installed by the liner handler. The liner attachment method can also have a large impact on mill availability as well as safety during installation.This paper outlines the experience from the development, installation and follow-up of liners installed in two 38' x 45' AG Mills at Boliden Aitik in Sweden. A new Poly-Met shell liner concept has been developed to minimize the number of liner components. The new Poly-Met shell liner components are made much larger than conventional Poly-Met or steel liners. This reduces the number of components to be installed/removed by the liner handler and helps to minimize installation time and consequently down- time. A new attachment system has also been developed to eliminate the need for the installation crew to be in the “drop-zone” of the shell liners while installing the liner bolts.One interesting aspect of this project was the requirement to predict liner life for these new large format AG mills. The existing 22' diameter mills at Aitik provided a base-line reference for this purpose, and DEM studies were used in the project development stage to predict the wear life of shell liners for the new 38' diameter AG mills. The results from this study are included."

Jan 1, 2012

By Christopher Mark

After the United States and Australia, South Africa has the largest. modern underground coal mining industry in the world. Historically, South Africa has been the cradle of many innovations in ground control, particularly in the area of pillar design. Today, South African mines are grappling with many of the same issues faced by their U.S. counterparts, including safety during pillar retreat operations, selecting the proper roof support, and maintaining long-term pillar stability. The author recently visited seven underground mines in the Mpumalanga, Free State, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Mining methods included longwall, room-and-pillar with continuous miners, and drill-and-blast. The mines represented a cross-section of geology and ground support practices. At each mine evaluations were made of the Coal Mine Roof Rating (CMRR), roof support practices, pillar design methods, and general ground control experience. The coal seams observed were generally thick (2-5 m), the depths of cover moderate (less than 200 m), and the roof rocks relatively strong (CMRR greater than 45). Unfortunately, the South African roof fall fatality rate is approximately three times greater than in U.S., perhaps in part because roof bolts seem to be more widely spaced in most South African mines. Roof bolting equipment was generally outdated, and the quality of bolt installation was a major concern. Pillar design, on the other hand, is quite advanced, and pillar failures are rare. Several novel partial pillaring techniques are employed, including "checkerboard" mining in which every other pillar is removed, 3-cut systems, and high-extraction mining where engineered final stumps are left by design. The paper also offers observations on ground control management techniques (including recently introduced Codes of Practice), the role of the mine inspectorate, and the status of the research community.

Jan 1, 1999

R. F. McELVENNY.- Mr. Oldright has just given me a letter to read to you, which I think it may be of interest. It is headed, "Silver Meeting Dinner". The letter is as follows: "To Members of the A. I. M. & M E.: The annual business meeting and election of officers will take place at the University Club, Wednesday, May 28th, 1930 at 7 p.m., at the Silver Meeting Dinner. The Nominating. Committee for next year's officers have proposed the following names: Chairman, Robert Wallace; Vice-Chairman, G. W. Crane; secretary, C. T. Van Winkle, Other nominations can be made at the meeting. Utah being the leading silver producer of the United States, constructive suggestions regarding the silver situation will be made at this meeting which are new and of general interest to the members. The speak¬ers will be followed by a Round Table discussion of the silver situation and proposed remedies. Speakers will be - W. M. Ferry, President of the Silver Producers' Association, 'Recent developments in the Silver Question'.. Senator Frank J. Cannon, 'The Cannon Plan'. George W. Snyder, 'The Manufacture of Sterling Silver.' Discussion by J. J. Beason, G. W. Crane, J. 0. Elton, J. W. Wade and others. Members of the Conference on Copper Reverberatory Smelting are invited to be present. Chairman J. A. Norden will preside. C. T. Van Winkle, Secretary. Dinner will be $1.50 per plate." The next subject is "Boilers: Proper construction of, so as to secure best utilization of heat from gases, and facility in removing dust and clinker with minimum losses in operation." Who is particularly interested in that subject? The type of boilers is practically a standard practice now. I do not know of anybody that is using the tandem system now. No one is building a plant with a tandem system in it.

Jan 1, 1930

By H. W. Graham

[ ] Even though we have a small audience, I am sure there are some here who are interested in sponge iron. It is a large subject, with a lot of economic interest, and one that will continue to grow in importance as the years go by and as the conditions that urge action in that direction increase. The authors have chosen to deal in this paper with one particular narrow phase of a long program of work by the Bureau of Mines. Before asking for any general discussion, I would myself like to ask Mr. Buehl if he would tell us just a little bit about the mechanism of discharge and the form in which the material was discharged; that is, when dolomite is added, what happens to the dolomite? R. C. Buehl (author's reply)-You are interested in the equipment that was used? H. W. GRAHAM-No, just the product. R. C. Buehl-The product was in granular form, of a shape very similar to that of the ore used. Using minus 10-mesh ore, the product is essentially minus 10-mesh, mixed with the coal and dolomite. It is then passed through a belt type of magnetic separator, which picks up the magnetic iron and allows the dolomite and coal to fall off. If the coal is sufficiently valuable, it can be separated from the dolomite and, provided the coal has a sufficiently low ash content, it can be reused. For instance, if a low-ash reducing agent like petroleum coke is used, it can be reused until all the carbon is consumed. H. W. Graham-That clears the point for me. I was not quite sure whether the experi-

Jan 1, 1947

By A. T. Goldbeck

THE use of stone as a building material in relatively large blocks is recorded in ancient historical records but only within the past 200 years has broken stone in small sizes begun to have extensive use, principally in highway construction. Tresaguet, in 1764, describing his method for highway construction in France, required the top surface to be built of stone about the size of a walnut, broken by the use of a hammer. It is said that the Romans, in the top layer of their rather massive roads, used large stones bonded together with lime mortar and bedded in small stones mixed with mortar. Much of the early macadam as built by McAdam around 1815 in England was made with hand-sledged broken stone. In 1858, the use of crushed or broken stone received a great impetus from the invention in that year by Eli Whitney Blake of what is said to be the world's first stone crusher. As a consequence of that invention, stone could be crushed to small sizes with considerable ease and, as a natural result, the use of crushed stone in macadam roads and as railroad ballast increased at a great rate. Also, as portland cement came into use, machine-produced crushed stone furnished readily available aggregate. Rapidly, other uses developed, such as for fluxstone in the production of pig iron and for other metallurgical operations and chemical utilizations. These utilizations made for the rapid growth of the crushed-stone industry and this growth is still proceeding with the growth of population and the development of new uses, notably the employment of limestone for the improvement of soils for agricultural purposes. The industries of which the production of crushed stone is a part have a tonnage second only to that of mineral fuel in the mineral industries of this country.

Jan 1, 1949