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By A G. L Pratt, C Rossetti

The implementation of mass mining methods for large metalliferous deposits has led to the development and application of increasingly sophisticated automation and condition monitoring technologies in these mines. This technology aims to increase safety, equipment utilisation and monitoring of critical aspects of the underground ambient and geological environments. The communications networks required to support these aims and their associated technologies have evolved accordingly, and have done so in a demanding underground environment. The evolution of communication infrastructure for large underground mines has developed from basic analogue telephony to high-bandwidth optic fibre based systems. The latter is now the media of choice. More recently the developments in wireless broadband equipment designed specifically for underground environments have emerged to satisfy the needs of automation for mobile equipment and shaft conveyance communications. The use of internet protocols for industrial control and monitoring has led to the application of ethernet-based backbone networks as a standardised approach. There may also be a need for the integration of range of communications platforms in a mining operation to realise the full advantages offered by automation and condition monitoring technologies. As a result the design of the communications backbone networks for underground mines has started to become the domain of information technology professionals. Without these networks, the analysis of equipment utilisation is often not possible. The improvements that can be brought about by æsweating the assetsÆ and the transmission of business critical information are the most significant benefits of an integrated communications system. These benefits far outweigh the costs of strategic planning, subsequent specification and implementation of communication networks themselves. Future developments in mining systems and communications technology will continue to drive the demands placed upon communications networks as an essential mass mining infrastructure item. This paper outlines the benefits of secure high bandwidth backbone communications networks for mass mining operations and the need for a high degree of strategic thought and demand forecasting in the planning stages for these operations.

Jan 1, 2008

Discussion WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, FEBRUARY 21, 1951 Ralph E. Grim presiding R. E. GRIM, CHAIRMAN-Has anyone a particularly fruitful point to make or question to ask on any of the papers that have been presented at the two sessions held on Monday and one held this morning? GENESIS OF ENDELLITE T. S. LOVERING-I think we are all a little bit embarrassed when we are asked if we have any particularly fruitful point for discussion; I just have a point. I believe that yesterday Bates said that he had found endellite in only hydrothermally altered rocks-he did not find it in sedimentary rocks-but this morning I heard Victor Allen say something about it as the normal product of weathering, and I am confused. My question concerns the genesis of endellite. I want to know whether endellite is found as a normal product of weathering. I understood from the paper by Bates that it was not a product of weathering and in the paper by Victor Allen* endellite was said to be a product of normal weathering. Did I misinterpret these two papers? T. F. BATES-I did not intend to state or imply that endellite is formed only under hydrothermal conditions. We have been studying the North Carolina deposits extensively and I feel that they illustrate very well the result of normal weathering processes acting on pegmatitic material. The resulting clay seems to be largely endellite or halloysite, almost to the exclusion of kaolinite. I may have misled you in the statement I made toward the end of my talk, to the effect that of all the kaolinic clays we have investigated with the electron microscope, we have not yet found halloysite or endellite in samples from clay deposits that are definitely sedimentary in origin. R. E. GRIM, CHAIRMAN-Professor Allen, have you anything to say on the matter of bauxite?

Jan 1, 1952

By Orr Hamilton

VALUATION of a mine is an approximation of its true cash value which requires the application of fundamental principles of economics. Mines are valued from necessity, for the following reasons: (a) Transfers of titles. (b) Dissolutions of partnerships or corporations. (c) Mergers of mining companies. (d) Appraisals for the purpose of State and Federal taxation. (e) Establishment of the fact of worth as a basis of loans. (f) Determination of values as frequently required in litigation. (g) Listing of stock for sale by a reputable stock exchange. For the majority of purposes a valuation is required as at the present time, but for some purposes valuations as of bygone times may more nearly reflect the intrinsic worth of a mine because its subsequent history can never be, entirely ignored, but valuations made as at the present time are better indicators of cash values. Many mines with great intrinsic worth have been sold for small cash prices. The object of legitimate mine valuations is to deter-mine salable value, or that price in cash at which a transfer of the property from a willing seller to a willing buyer might be consummated, assuming that both vendor and vendee have knowledge of all pertinent data and that the owner, is not forced to sell at a sacri-fice-the definitions of fair market value precluding a forced sale.

Jan 11, 1923

By Kostas Fytas

A computer package has been developed which is capable of evaluating alternative production schedules (long and short range) of an open pit mine once the ultimate pit limits have been defined. The model user can choose the best alternative according to cash flow considerations and the particular mining conditions. The package involves a combination of simulation for long range production scheduling and linear programming for short range scheduling. The simulation model based on an iterative technique, maximizes the profits within each long scheduling period (eg. year or sixth month period), and at the same time defers stripping as long as possible. A minimum exposed ore quantity is kept at the beginning of each mining period. The final long range schedule satisfies a set of constraints for each period, mainly ore quality and quantity constraints for ore and waste. An interactive smoothing procedure at the end of each period results in a schedule that is feasible in terms of mining practice. Finally a cash flow analysis model carries out cash flow calculations so that the user can select the best alternative. The linear programming model, based on a certain number of shovel regions, defined interactively by the model user, calculates the optimum production schedule for each short period under consideration, so that a set of constraints is satisfied.

Jan 1, 1986

By R. G. Lundquist

The idea that fragmentation for mineral processing results from some tradeoff between increased drilling and blasting and increased load on the primary crusher is well known. In a previous paper (Lundquist and Konya, 1963) the authors reported on the results of a laboratory scale study which attempted to quantify this tradeoff in energy terms. If we look only at the production of new surface area, blasting is 1700 times as energy efficient as crushing. On an energy cost basis, crushing is 57 times as expensive per unit surface produced as blasting with dynamite and more than 700 times as expensive as blasting with ANFO. The comminution process at an open pit operation starts with the drilling of blast holes and ends after the material has gone through the fine grind circuit. Operators usually break the process into several separate operations and do their cost analysis based on this approach. Often drilling and blasting is considered as one system and crushing and grinding are considered as one or two separate and independent systems. Operators will independently optimize each system. The cost for the drilling and blasting system is obvious in operations which use contract drillers to do the drilling and either contract the blasting to a distributor or do the blasting themselves. The cost of rock breaking in this manner is readily available since the contract driller will supply a monthly drilling cost to the operation and either the distributor who is contracting the blasting or the distributor who is supplying the powder to the blasting operation will also supply a monthly billing. In either case, the costs can easily be seen on a monthly or per ton basis. They are not difficult to compute even when drilling and blasting are done entirely in-house.

Jan 1, 1985

Our next speaker this afternoon is a good friend of mine of some years. I must introduce him by way of a little story. Now Harris Sherman, many of you know because he was really in charge of everything to do with the mining industry in the State of Colorado for a good many years. Some of you may know that before he became part of Governor, Lamm's first cabinet as Director of Department of Natural Resources, he was an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund and that caused me considerable panic as I think it might have caused some of you. I have observed Hams from the time he stepped into that office until he retired from that office to go into private practice as the senior partner of Arnold & Porter's Denver office, one of the , nation's most prestigious law firms. Hams is a Colorado native. He's lived here all of his life. He's a graduate of Columbia Law School for his law degree and a graduate of Colorado College down at the Springs for his BA. He has served in state government, but I thought it might be appropriate, since he is no longer in state government, if we used Harris, today, to tell us from a former state official's perspective what the image is of the coal industry from the seat he held in Governor Lamm's cabinet for a good many years. He has been the recipient of a number of honors that I think you should know about including Phi Beta Kappa and

Jan 1, 1982

By Mark C. Bronson

The feasibility of several pyrochemical approaches-for separating non-radioactive constituents from ICPP HLW calcine were examined. The removal of aluminum as AICI3 from aluminia calcine was successfully demonstrated. The examination of pyrochemical processes to remove non-radioactive constituents, primarily aluminium, zirconium, calcium and fluorine, from zirconia calcine showed that fluorine removal was required in order to chlorinate the calcine. A molten calcium chloride wash, a calcium reduction, and. a sulfuric acid treatment were examined as possible zirconia calcine pretreatment options for fluorine removal. Fluorine removal from simulated ICPP zirconia calcine was demonstrated by both a CaCl2 wash method and a sulfuric acid treatment method. X-ray fluorescence analysis indicated that greater than 97% of the fluorine can be removed by either method. Fluorine removal by a calcium reduction using an alloying agent, zinc, or a calcium reduction using, a filtration separation were also demonstrated, but the efficiencies of fluorine removal were considerably less ranging from 50 to 90%. Regeneration of CaCl2 from the salt and oxide residues of the CaCl2 wash experiments was also demonstrated 'by an aqueous dissolution method. From the salt residue, 85% or more of the CaCl2 was recovered and contained little if any CaF2 or CaO. From the oxide residue close to 100% of the CaC12 was recovered. Because of the overall success of the CaCI2 wash, it was determined to be the preferred fluorine removal process. The sulfuric acid treatment to remove fluorine is effective, but the proposed overall flowsheet has not' been adequately demonstrated.

Jan 1, 1995

By I. H. Keith

INTRODUCTION The following papers describe the extraction of nickel in the form of ferronickel from the Dominican laterites. The Falconbridge process was developed initially in the Falconbridge Metallurgical Laboratories and subsequently in several successive stages of pilot plant operation in the Dominican Republic. In the course of this work we came to believe that there is advantage in piloting on site. Mining, metallurgical and geo-political considerations all have major impact and that belief has been borne out by commercial plant experience. Lateritic nickel ores differ substantially, even within the same orebody, in their amenability to extraction methods. The Falconbridge process takes account of the heterogeneous nature of the deposit. Three years of geological field exploration led to ten years of process development after it was realised that the then known metallurgical processes would not give economical extraction from the Dominican ores. In addition to establishing the viability of a novel pyrometallurgical approach, it was necessary to verify design parameters for a very considerable scale-up to prototype commercial operation. The plant was eventually constructed within the original estimates of time and cost. Unique features contributing to the technical and commercial success of the project are described. Additionally, some bold extrapolation based on pilot plant work, eventually proved to be quite conservative. The mine is not a conventional open pit operation, but is perhaps better characterised as an earth moving job. Novel application of mobile equipment led to great flexibility in the mine, where operation of several mining fronts is essential to maintaining uniformity of ore feed to the plant. The practical aspects of almost total acceptance of the oversize run-of-mine material through a high-capacity unit,

Jan 1, 1979

By Xiyun Yang

Magnetite was prepared by hydrogen reduction method. For a conversion to cobalt-modified magnetite, magnetite particles were suspended into a solution containing Co2+ and Fe2+ to precipitate a cobalt ferrite layer on the surface. pH value influences the particle composition directly, the desirable CoFe2O4 is obtained when pH value is 12. The coercivity increases with the increase of cobalt content, cobalt efficiency reaches a maximum value at cobalt content of 2.71wt%. With cobalt modification, magnetite particles have similar lattice constant and squareness ratio to that without cobalt modification. TEM and XPS analyses indicate that acicular morphology is retained during the coating process, the epitaxial growth layer consists of CoFe2O4and 0.3Co2O3CoFe2O4 at cobalt content of 2.71wt% and 5.03wt%, respectively.

Jan 1, 2006

By Charles H. Jacoby

In 1774 a Swedish chemist, C. W. Schule, first recognized manganese as an element. That same year Schule's associate, J. G. Gahn, isolated the element manganese for the first time. In 1856 the Bessemer process of steelmaking gave birth to the economic importance of manganese. Later, in 1882, Robert Hadfield discovered high manganese steels. Although the primary use of manganese is in the ferroalloy industry, two additional important uses for manganese are making chemicals and dry cell batteries. Manganese is also vital to plant and animal life. Various chemical compounds of manganese are used in fertilizers, feeds, glass manufacture, paints, varnishes, and for numerous medicinal and chemical purposes. For the study of industrial minerals and rocks, only the chemical and battery grade material is of- concern, but for the sake of comparison, metallurgical aspects are included in this presentation. Although currently the world's largest consumer of manganese, the United States is producing only minor amounts of ore at the present time. This is due primarily to the fact that although huge deposits of manganese occur within our borders, all are of such low grade as to be economically unfeasible to mine. For many years various government agencies and segments of private industry have devoted sizable sums of money and time in an attempt to upgrade ores from the various deposits, and also in an attempt to recover manganese from blast furnace slags. In view of current world prices, and the quantity of high grade material available, there is little likelihood that any of these approaches will be found to be economically feasible in the near future. Geology and Mineralogy Mineralogy There are over one hundred minerals that contain manganese. These minerals vary from those with compositions that are predominantly manganese to those having only minor percentages. [Chemical Mineral Composition % Mn Hausmannite Mn304 72 Polianite MnO2, 63.1 Pyrolusite MnO24 60-63 Cryptomelane KR8O16R (R=Mn) Variable PsilomelaneBa Mn Mn8O16 (OH).45-60 CoronaditePb R8O16R (R=Mn) Variable Hollandite Ba R8O16R (R=Mn) Variable Manganite Mn2O3•H20 62 Braunite 3 Mn2O3•MnSiO3 62 Tephroite 2 MnO•SiO2 54.3 Rhodochrosite MnCO3 47 Rhodonite MnSiO3 42 Spessartite 3 MnO•AI2O3•3SIO2 33.3 WadHydrous Mn OxidesVariable Franklinite(Fe Mn Zn)O(Fe Mn)sO3 Variable Asbolan Cobaltiferous wad Variable AlabanditeMnS63.14] Geology From a geological standpoint most manganese deposits are complex. In general, it can be said that all primary deposits of manganese are carbonates or silicates. The most productive and profitable have been those of sedimentary origin and residual concentrations. Examples of these residual types of deposits are associated with the metamorphosed lodes of Madhya, Pradesh, India, and the lateritic deposits of Orissa and Bihar, India; nodules in the residual clays of the Philippine Islands, US southern Appalachians and Arkansas, Ghana, and Brazil. Sedimentary manganese deposits are best exemplified by the Nikopol district of Russia and the Tchiatouri area of Georgia, USSR. Hydrothermal replacements are characterized by the rhodochrosite deposits of Butte and Phillipsburg, MT. In general, the hydrothermal type deposit has not resulted in any large tonnages being produced, but may have given

Jan 1, 1983

By R. I. Jaffee, J. G. Dunleavy, W. Hodge, H. R. Ogden

Early in 1946, at the instigation of the U. S. Army Signal Corps, the authors made an extensive survey of the available literature covering high-strength, high-conductivity alloys. For the purposes of the Signal Corps, the minimum tensile strength to be considered was 150,000 psi, together with at least 50 pct IACS conductivity. No single alloy was found to be in production, or mentioned in the literature, which had this combination of properties. The constitution diagram for the iron-copper alloys is not well established in the respect to the two-liquid region. Fig I, taken from the 1939 Ed. of the ASM Metals Handbook, shows a two-liquid system existing above the liquidus temperature, but disconnected from it. Although Ruer and Fickl and Ruer and Goerensz definitely established the fact that two liquid layers could occur in the system, Ruer3 was not convinced that the line of immiscibility was closed in the center. Maddocks and Claussen4 found no liquid immiscibility at temperatures up to 157oOC in alloys containing almost no carbon. Although the diagram would indicate age hardening of the copper-iron alloys is possible, Hanson and Fords found that little hardening effect could be obtained. However, Gordon and Cohen6 reported that the response is better if the quenching is very efficient. Although iron has a potent effect on the conductivity of copper, Hanson and Fords have shown that, when hot-rolled copper-iron alloys are aged at 1200°F, the electrical conductivity decreases sharply with iron contents up to 0.2 pct Fe, and then levels off at conductivities between 60 to 70 pct IACS with compositions to 2.1 pct Fe. They also found that aging did not increase the tensile strength, although increasing iron content gave a moderate improvement in strength. High-strength copper-iron alloys, usually containing about 60 pct iron, had been reported by Smith and Palmer.7 They found that an alloy containing 56.4 pct copper, 0.21 pct magnesium, balance iron, would give a maximum tensile strength of 170,000 psi and an electrical conductivity of slightly over 35 pct IACS. The alloy could also be processed to have I50,000 psi tensile strength, and about 41 pct I.\CS conductivity. Decreasing the iron content increased the electrical conductivity, but the long mushy range during freezing of the alloy containing 10 to 20 pct iron made the production of good castings difficult. In spite of the difficulty encountered by Smith and Palmer with alloys of around 20 pct iron, it was decided to make a rather complete investigation of this type of alloy. As a result of this investigation, a method of alloying and fabricating copper alloys containing 10 to 15 pct iron was developed

Jan 1, 1949

By R. I. Jaffee, J. G. Dunleavy, H. R. Ogden, Webster Hodge

INTRODUCTION EARLY in 1946, at the instigation of the U. S. Army Signal Corps, the authors made an extensive survey of the available literature covering high-strength, high-conductivity alloys. For the purposes of the Signal Corps, the minimum tensile strength to be considered was 150,000 psi, together with at least 50 pct IACS conductivity. No single alloy was found to be in production, or mentioned in the literature, which had this combination of properties. The constitution diagram for the iron-copper alloys is not well established in the respect to the two-liquid region. Fig I, taken from the 1939 Ed. of the ASM Metals Handbook, shows a two-liquid system existing above the liquidus temperature, but disconnected from it. Although Ruer and Fick1 and Ruer and Goerens2 definitely established the fact that two liquid layers could occur in the system, Ruer3 was not convinced that the line off immiscibility was closed in the center. Maddocks and Claussen4 found no liquid immiscibility at temperatures up to 1570°C in alloys containing almost no carbon. Although the diagram would indicate age hardening of the copper-iron alloys is possible, Hanson and Fords found that little hardening effect could be obtained. However, Gordon and Cohen6 reported that the response is better if the quenching is very efficient. Although iron has a potent effect on the conductivity of copper, Hanson and Ford5 have shown that, when hot-rolled copper iron alloys are aged at 1200°F, the electrical conductivity decreases sharply with iron contents up to 0.2 pct Fe, and then levels off at conductivities between 60 to 70 pct IACS with compositions to 2.1 pct Fe. They also found that aging did not increase the tensile strength, although increasing iron content gave a moderate improvement in strength. High-strength copper-iron alloys, usually containing about 60 pct iron, had been reported by Smith and Palmer.7 They found that an alloy containing 56.4 pct copper, 0.21 pct magnesium, balance iron, would give a maximum tensile strength of 170,000 psi and an electrical conductivity of slightly over 35 pct IACS. The alloy could also be processed to have 150,000 psi tensile strength, and about 41 pct IACS conductivity. Decreasing the iron content increased the electrical conductivity, but the long mushy range during freezing of the alloy containing 10 to 20 pct iron made the production of good castings difficult, In spite of the difficulty encountered by Smith and Palmer with alloys of around 20 pct iron, it was decided to make a rather complete investigation 0f this type of alloy. As a result 0f this investigation, a method of alloying and fabricating copper alloys containing 10 to 15 pct iron was developed

Jan 1, 1948

By O. Nakai

In the copper electrorefining process, the quality of the starting sheet is one of the basic factors for producing high quality copper cathodes. A highly automated and advanced facility for the production of copper starting sheets was constructed at the Toyo Copper Refinery in 1992, bringing various improvements into an automatic stripping system using stainless steel mother blanks. In 1998, the refinery expanded the tankhouse by another 128 commercial cells, and introduced 64 polymer concrete cells in a first stage conversion. As a result, the Toyo Copper Refinery now has the capacity to produce 103,200 t/y of cathode copper. Construction has led to great improvements in the materials handling facilities and computer associated short-circuit detection technology. This report summarizes the improvements made in the quality of the cathodes and in plant productivity.

Jan 1, 1999

By Archer E. Wheeler, Milo W. Krejci

There are two general methods in use for the production of metallic copper from matte which are worthy of consideration : (1) the Welsh blister process, and (2) the converter process.' As practically all of the copper produced to-day is made in converters, we will give a brief outline of that process before proceeding with the special subject of this paper. Matte may be roughly defined as a mixture of the sulphides of copper, iron, nickel, silver, etc. In the converter process this is blown up to metallic copper in a modified type of Bessemer converter. The conversion of matte consists mainly in, (1) the removal of sulphur in the form of SO2, and (2) the slagging of the iron. With this brief statement we come to the two subdivisions of the process of converting mattes: Converting with acid linings. Converting with basic linings. Converting with Acid Lininys, This is carried out by lining the converter with siliceous rock or ore, which performs two functions: It protects the iron shell of the converter from the molten charge, and it furnishes the silica for combining with the iron as it is oxidized from the matte, to form a ferrous silicate. It follows from the second of these functions that this siliceous lining must be replaced from time to time, and in practice it has been necessary to reline converters every 8 to 40 hr., this time varying in different plants and even with different linings in the same plant, the life of a lining depending upon the grade of the matte treated, and upon the composition, the thickness, the tamping, and the drying of the lining.

Jan 1, 1914

By J. A. L. Napier

The evaluation of stress distributions and deformations in the vicinity of tabular mine layouts has been carried out routinely for many years using the displacement discontinuity boundary element method (DDM). In this approach, mine layouts are approximated as irregular shaped planar cracks (or slits) where the ?width? of the crack, corresponding to the excavation height, is assumed to be negligible compared to the in-plane, lateral dimensions. Early implementations of this approach have employed square element tessellations with constant displacement discontinuity component values. This is generally restrictive when considering the analysis of irregular pillar layouts or the intersection of fault planes with excavations. This paper describes a general revision of this approach in which triangular or quadrilateral element shapes are introduced in conjunction with higher order variations of the displacement discontinuity shape functions. This facilitates an accurate evaluation of detailed stress and displacement components close to excavation surfaces and allows the investigation of local damage and failure behaviour associated with particular geological structures such as weak parting bands or weak layers. A method to embed these features in an efficient and accurate multi-level solution scheme is described. This formulation can be extended to allow the analysis of shallow-depth pillar layout problems, facilitating the assessment of the interactive response and stability of shallow depth pillar layouts. A simple deformation model is introduced to facilitate the assessment of pillar failure and bursting potential in shallow mine layouts. The computational techniques described here have been implemented in a computer code called TEXAN (Tabular EXcavation ANalyser) and are illustrated by the simulation of a particular multiple reef pillar mining problem in a shallow depth platinum mine.

Jan 1, 2007

By J. V. Emmons

IT has long been known that the outside skin of tool steel frequently exhibits properties widely different from the interior of the mass. Within the last few years it has been generally recognized that many of these properties were clue to surface decarbonization. The origin and effects of this altering of the composition have been but little studied. C. M. Johnson' arrives at the conclusion that, in annealing, "the most active agent in surface decarbonization is the rust or scale (present on the surface), which is actually reduced to metal at the expense of the carbon in the steel to which it adheres." W. H. Hatfield in his admirable paper, The Chemical Physics Involved in the Decarburization of Iron-Carbon Alloys,' has given us the most tenable theory of the removal of carbon from iron. While Mr. Hatfield's work has been principally clone in connection with the annealing of white cast iron to produce malleable castings, it is frequently applicable to the decarbonization of tool steel. The following equations which he proposed have been fully borne out by the author's experiments: 2Fe3C + 2CO2 = 3Fe2 + 4C0 2C0 + 02 = 2C02 Continuous 2C02 + 2Fe3C = 3Fe2 + 4C0 It is the purpose of the author to show, in a quantitative manner, the effect of various treatments in eliminating the carbon in tool steel. Some of the phenomena of the decarbonized surface will also be described, as well as the practical problems they present to. the manufacturer and user of tool-steel products.

Jan 9, 1914

By Frank C. Appleyard

As the environmental movement gained force during the past few years, it was inevitable that attention would be focused on surface mining, and we have seen this method of extracting minerals from the ground come under heavy attack by conservation groups, the press and television, legislators at all levels of government,, and the public at large. It is difficult, and in some situations, perhaps impossible, to measure either the need for, or the results of, land reclamation in absolute terms. Therefore, much of the criticism of surface mining has been based upon subjective analysis rather than hard data, with the result that discussion of the subject often includes a fair amount of emotional response. To be fair, this reaction is not limited to just our critics; even we hard headed engineers sometimes respond in the same way, an observation with which you may agree when I finish this talk. This leads to the thought that whether you are for it, or against it, land reclamation in many respects is a state of mind. That is, our reaction to it can vary considerably, depending on how far we have thought it through. And think it through we must, because the pressures being brought to bear need to be met with positive actions if the problem is to be brought under control, and in the next few minutes I would like to discuss from a management point of view some ideas which might aid in this thinking process. It would be a mistake, I believe, to think that the current energy crisis will suddenly bring the environmental movement to a stop, and therefore, we can relax and go back to running our busi¬ness the way we used to. This is not realistic; on the contrary the energy crisis is focusing attention on the limitations of our natural resources as nothing else could, and with respect to land

Jan 1, 1974

By J. M. Morris

The point to be made most clear in this paper is the economic value of flotation in the Benguet mill flow sheet. It is rather a statement of effect with no attempt at a technical explanation of the cause. Certain well-known, easily understood reagents, mechanisms and principles have been adapted to the conditions at Benguet, and have proved to be more successful than was demonstrated in the laboratory. The mechanical and metallurgical development of this particular operation was arrived at by trial and error, with fortunately very little error. Changes were slow, of necessity, which in the end proved a blessing in that time was afforded for observation and analysis of the disturbing factors; and as a result each change was a definite step towards higher efficiency. Many of these steps were unpredictable from laboratory work because of the varied and differing characteristics of ores met with in daily operation of the mill, which were practically impossible to reproduce on a laboratory scale. The Benguet mill receives daily ores that differ as much as if they were delivered from three different properties. There is first the surface and upper-level zone, which produces an oxidized secondary ore containing considerable iron oxide, manganese oxide and some organic matter. Formerly, most of this ore consisted of very soft fill with some hard rock mixed in. It also contained an unusual amount of iron and aluminum sulfate, which formed hydrates upon entering the alkaline cyanide solution and caused excessive frothing. When flotation was introduced in the Benguet mill the general characteristics of this upper-level ore had changed considerably, in that it was practically all newly mined, fairly hard ore. It still contained many of the same disturbing elements, but was somewhat simpler to treat than formerly. The small proportion of fines is still troublesome in flotation, and plant practice probably does not show more than 80 per cent extraction on this small portion of the ore. No definite figure on this is available, as this particular ore is delivered at irregular intervals

Jan 1, 1939

By J. M. Morris

The point to be made most clear in this paper is the economic value of flotation in the Benguet mill flow sheet. It is rather a statement of effect with no attempt at a technical explanation of the cause. Certain well-known, easily understood reagents, mechanisms and principles have been adapted to the conditions at Benguet, and have proved to be more successful than was demonstrated in the laboratory. The mechanical and metallurgical development of this particular operation was arrived at by trial and error, with fortunately very little error. Changes were slow, of necessity, which in the end proved a blessing in that time was afforded for observation and analysis of the disturbing factors; and as a result each change was a definite step towards higher efficiency. Many of these steps were unpredictable from laboratory work because of the varied and differing characteristics of ores met with in daily operation of the mill, which were practically impossible to reproduce on a laboratory scale. The Benguet mill receives daily ores that differ as much as if they were delivered from three different properties. There is first the surface and upper-level zone, which produces an oxidized secondary ore containing considerable iron oxide, manganese oxide and some organic matter. Formerly, most of this ore consisted of very soft fill with some hard rock mixed in. It also contained an unusual amount of iron and aluminum sulfate, which formed hydrates upon entering the alkaline cyanide solution and caused excessive frothing. When flotation was introduced in the Benguet mill the general characteristics of this upper-level ore had changed considerably, in that it was practically all newly mined, fairly hard ore. It still contained many of the same disturbing elements, but was somewhat simpler to treat than formerly. The small proportion of fines is still troublesome in flotation, and plant practice probably does not show more than 80 per cent extraction on this small portion of the ore. No definite figure on this is available, as this particular ore is delivered at irregular intervals

Jan 1, 1939

By Milnor Roberts

The Nicola Valley coal-field is small, but it seems likely to become important because of its commanding position in a rich region that is developing rapidly. Bituminous coking-coal in workable quantity has not been found at any other point between the Crow's Nest Pass region, about 400 miles to the east, and Vancouver island, 250 miles westward. The Canadian Pacific railway reached the Nicola valley two years ago ; two other lines, the Canadian Northern and the Great Northern, are building towards the valley. The vast region between the Rocky mountains and the Pacific coast, extending northward for several hundred miles from the international boundary, which has been the scene of extensive mining- and smelting-operations for many years, is filling up with settlers, who are attracted by the wealth of minerals and timber, the rich soil of the valleys, and the fine climate. The Nicola river, flowing westward through the valley of that name in the Yale district, discharges into the Thompson river, which is the eastern branch of the Fraser. The transcontinental line of the Canadian Pacific railway crosses the mouth of the Nicola river at Spence's bridge, 178 miles from Vancouver. From Spence's bridge the Nicola branch line ascends the valley for 40 miles to Merritt, the coal-center, and continues 7 miles farther to the town of Nicola. Thus the haul from the mines at an elevatioiz of 2,000 ft. to salt water is 218 miles down river-grades. The Nicola branch will be continued about 150 miles farther eastward to Penticton, where it will connect with an extension of the line through the rich Kootenay and Boundary districts. The Canadian government has granted a subsidy of $6,000 per mile, to which the provincial government is planning to add $5,000 per mile, to assist in the construction of the Nicola extension. Upon the

Jan 1, 1910