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By Kikuo Matsui

In a difficult economic environment, the coal mines in Japan have been making extensive efforts in order to survive by rationalizing the mining operations. Introduction of a new longwall mining system is one of these efforts to establish the rational production structure. In the high production longwall mining system, gateroads should be developed rapidly and maintained effectively during their lifetime. Strata bolting support system has been employed in the gateroads to raise their stability levels and reduce their maintenance cost. However, excessive gatemad closure caused by longwall mining is still occurring, impeding the passage of equipment, personnel transportation, and ventilation air in the longwall panels. This paper describes the development system of gateroads and proposes a new mining method to control the excessive roadway closure problem.

Jan 1, 1995

By AIME AIME

LIFE in few countries is dominated by geographic conditions to the degree that it is in Peru. The broad plateau of the Andes, bordered by lofty ice-clad ranges with deeply eroded flanks, imposes a pattern on the region to which most human activities must conform. On the Pacific side, desert conditions prevail, interrupted only by irrigated valleys along rivers that descend from the highlands. Above seven or eight thousand feet the rocky ridges become grass covered, and the central zone is one of high pastures with cultivation in the valleys or on terraced slopes except at altitudes over 15,000 ft. where glaciated landscapes prevail. Each of the three belts has its own distinctive resources and climate, and each its own special ways in which its inhabitant, must make a living. The Pacific region is one of the most arid regions in the world. Except for the irrigation, the country is an unmiti¬gated desert. The climate, in spite of the tropical latitudes, is mild with the heat relieved by air from the adjoining cold ocean. Fogs are prevalent throughout the winter months but precipitation is scarcely measurable. Ideal conditions exist for cultivation of sugar and cotton which are the dominant crops. Lima, the capital. situated in one of the most productive valleys, is an impressive city which in its modern development is well maintaining the high position it held when it was the

Jan 1, 1945

By W. M. Peirce

COMMENCING in 1922, each year a lecture has been presented to the Institute of Metals Division at this February meeting. The range of subjects has been very broad. Some speakers have dealt with the most advanced work in the very heart of the science of physical metallurgy. Others have stimulated our imaginations by discussing the most recent progress in related fields of science. Others have told us of the latest art, which is at any moment of greater practical importance than the latest science, of metals. I feel that this broad precedent in the choice of subjects will justify my choosing to talk about some of the prosaic details of how, during the last generation, industry has effectively organized research to accelerate progress in our own and all other fields of science and related art. A number of years ago I visited one of this country's well-known research laboratories and had the pleasure of chatting for a few minutes with its equally well-known director. Being particularly interested at the time in the organization problems connected with industrial research, I broached that subject. My host stated in effect that he didn't believe in organized research. He was, of course, resorting to a rhetorical hyperbole to point out the danger of overorganization which can so easily drift into regimentation and destroy individual initiative. Actually nearly all of us, much as we cherish our personal freedom of action, believe in organization because the history of progress in every field of human activity has been a history of men learning to work together, to cooperate, to create an efficient division of labor. We use organization to achieve this coordination. At the same time our form of organization must not stifle individual initiative or it will prove a deterrent rather than an aid to accomplishment. Research, too, must be organized for greatest achievement but especial skill and care are perhaps needed to avoid stifling the initiative of the individual workers. I have, of course, followed with keen interest and much benefit the vast amount that has been said and written on this subject in the past twenty years but I still find new stimulation in discussions with my good friends working in this field. It is my hope that this discussion may serve a like purpose. It would be ungracious not to make due acknowledgment to the many able contributors to this particular phase of human progress, but their very number and the great volume of their writing makes it impossible to trace to any one individual a particular significant and valuable idea. I shall content myself therefore with this general acknowledgment and with acknowledgment of the specific debt that every research man owes to those who have so ably kept before the public, and in particular before industrial executives, the place of research in the modern scheme of things. Because of the legitimate publicity thus given to research, the day is past when any

Jan 1, 1944

By J. K. Edgar

FOR a number of years the production and use of super-purity aluminum (better than 99.99 pct) has been steadily increasing. High-grade lots of such aluminum show certain outstanding characteristics not found in lower grades containing principally silicon, iron and copper as impurities. One such characteristic is the so-called "self annealing," that is, the recrystallization of the heavily cold worked metal at room temperature.' Interest therefore is aroused as to the effects of the impurities. It is well known that the amounts of silicon and copper which occur in aluminum of better than 99.95 pct are completely soluble, at least at elevated temperatures (above 200°C). Iron, on the other hand, is known to be fairly insoluble in solid aluminum. Thus, a knowledge of the limits of this solubility would be of considerable use in studying the characteristics of the high purity metal. All investigators have agreed that iron has very low solubility in solid aluminum. Rosenhain, Archbutt and Hanson2 reported traces of an aluminum-iron phase in the "purest samples of aluminum obtainable." Gwyer and Phillips3 reported that an iron constituent was visible under the microscope in metal containing ".0088 per cent iron." Roth1 found that in the solid state the solubility of iron in high purity aluminum was 0.01, 0.01, 0.017 and 0.022 pct at 225, 320, 500 and 600°C respectively. Dix5 working with alloys containing less than 0.03 pct impurities, concluded from microscopic and chemical analyses of eutectic areas that the eutectic composition was close to 1.7 pct iron. Dix placed the eutectic temperature at 655°C'. Archer and Fink,6 using high purity aluminum-iron alloys, found that the hypoeutectic liquidus intersects the eutectic horizontal at 1.7 pct. This is in fair agreement with the investigation of the aluminum-iron system by Gwyer and Phillips who placed the eutectic at 1.89 pct iron with a freezing point of 653° PREPARATION AND CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF ALLOYS Electrolytically refined aluminum (99.991 pct aluminum) and a high purity aluminum-iron alloy (11.45 pct iron) were used in the preparation of the alloys for this investigation. To aid in controlling the iron content of the experimental alloys, an alloy of lower iron content was prepared first from these materials. The high purity aluminum was melted and heated to about 700°C in a plumbago crucible coated with alundum cement and the aluminum-iron alloy was then added. The alloy was thoroughly stirred, fluxed and skimmed and then chill-cast into notch bars. The analyses of the three materials are given in Table I. The alloys for the determination of the solid solubility of iron in aluminum were prepared by melting 600 g total of the aluminum plus the required quantity of the aluminum-iron alloy (No. 92531). These

Jan 1, 1948

By David R. Mitchell

THIS paper is limited primarily to a description of dry coal-cleaning processes in which air currents are used to effectuate a separation between coal and refuse. Processes depending mainly on differences in the coefficient of friction, resilience and shape are not described unless the use of air is necessary for the proper functioning of the process. The air cleaning of coal is of primary importance to the coal industry of the United States. From figures presented in the 1941 edition Mechannual,1 it is estimated that at least 12 million tons of bituminous coal was cleaned in the United States during 1940 by machines using air as the separating medium. One of the current problems confronting the coal-preparation engineer is the dry cleaning of small sizes and slacks. Progress in machine development for the cleaning of small sizes has been slow in recent years in the United States of America; it has been much more rapid in Britain and on the European continent. This paper does not attempt an exhaustive survey of all these developments, and only machines and processes that have found considerable commercial application are cited. Further, no critical analysis has been made of the theory involved in the separation of coal from refuse by processes using air as the separating medium other than that necessary for an understanding of particular machine designs and applications. HISTORICAL SUMMARY The possibility of using air for the separation of coal from refuse was recognized early by mining men and many attempts were made to develop commercial machines. The ingenuity of the early experimenters is to be marveled at in view of their lack of knowledge of the theoretical principles involved. As in other arts, practice has largely preceded theory. Yet, science and practice play a game of leap frog, now one ahead, then the other; the careful experimenter governs his efforts along practical lines by adapting his experiments to the limits prescribed by scientific laws. By first studying developments and the theory involved, it is not only possible to adapt processes to new uses but also to reduce materially operating cost and to build larger units without costly failures. Although many inventors have applied for patents for separating minerals by the use of air currents, the literature in regard to coal is meager. Berrisford2 describes briefly some of the early attempts to clean coal without the use of water. Several of the examples cited by him are reproduced herein. Fig. I shows a machine used for grinding and sizing, in which rollers running in a pan with a perforated bottom and fan opening on the side crushed the coal, which was then carried by the air currents to a settling chamber. The heaviest particles dropped out first and the light ones farthest away, as shown. In the year 1864, a machine was made that could be used as a sizer or to separate dirt from coal with a sized feed (Fig. 2).

Jan 1, 1942

By H. Siebert, G. Raitt

With the advent of the Interstate Highway Pro- gram, many problems have been encountered in the application of highway design standards to topography, particularly rock cut design. A rigid application of slope ratios with little respect to rock type, dip, foliation, structure and height of cut face is a problem. Generally a slope ratio of ½ : 1 or 63º for shallow cuts and 1/3: 1 or 71º in deeper cuts are used in Connecticut. The deepest cut face constructed recently was greater than 185 ft. With cuts of this size, rock fall and stability become a problem, and a way to reduce the problem is to construct a stable face initially. A search of the literature indicates that adequate information on the construction of stable rock slopes is not available. A major highway contract was awarded in 1962 to Savin Brothers, Inc., in which line drilling on 6-in. centers was required in many portions of the contract where the cut was greater than 60 ft and one or more benches were to be constructed. From the start of the project many variations were attempted regarding slope hole spacing and distribution of explosives in the holes. Rock ranged from a competent granitic gneiss to an incompetent soft graphitic schist. Generally, the roadway alignment was roughly normal to the strike of the foliation having a dip of ± 60º. An important factor affecting construction of rock slopes was the existence of intersecting joints and faults. The spacing used in less competent rock was about one ft on center. Loading of holes was purposely varied. As competency of the rock increased, hole spacing was also increased. Thus, on a different project in similar rock, spacing was kept at 4 ft.

Jan 4, 1966

By John Brett

BHP Australia Coal Pty. Ltd. (BHPAC) manages and, through its parent company BHP, partly owns seven large opencut mines in the Bowen Basin of Central Queensland, Australia. In terms of developments in surface mining in Australia, the operations of BHPAC are as representative as any. The seven mines managed by BHPAC produce a combined total of about 40 Mt/a (44 million stpy) of mostly high quality coking coal. They also produce small but increasing amounts of thermal and PCI coal. Virtually all of the coal produced is sold on the export market. In 1993, Australia exported 133 Mt (146 million st) of coal. Salable production was 172 Mt (189 million st) in New South Wales and Queensland and 180 Mt (198 million st) nationwide. Mining systems Surface coal mines in Queensland can be typified as large, long-strike-length, shallow-dipping and sometimes multi-seam dragline operations. There are exceptions. Blair Athol, for instance, works a 30- to 40-m (100- to 130-ft) seam beneath shallow cover but is still a dragline operation. Moura is truly multi-seam and steeper dipping but also is still a dragline operation. Mines in the Ipswich area are small shovel-truck operations.

Jan 1, 1995

By K. Shikaze

"For the last three years (1967-9) the value of the output of mineral resources in the Province of Ontario exceeded one billion dollars per year. To produce this great wealth, it was necessary for the mining industry in Ontario to dispose of an estimated 80 million tons of waste mill tailings. Some of these tailings were returned underground but the greater proportion was disposed of above ground in lakes, watercourses, marshy areas and in engineered impoundment basins. This volume of tailings, if accumulated in one location would cover an area of 1000 acres to a height of almost thirty feet. The provision of proper disposal of the waste mill tailings in a manner such that they will not create problems in the environment is one of the costs which must be borne from the extraction of such a wealth from our mineral resources. It is principally the potential water pollution which may occur as a result of the indiscriminate discharges of waste mill tailings which is of concern to the Ontario Water Resources Commission.ONTARIO WATER RESOURCES COMMISSIONThe Ontario Water Resources Commission was formed in 1956 and operates under the Ontario Water Resources Commission Act. The Act has been broadened and amended many times by amendments."

Jan 1, 1970

By H. Hance James

SOME of the outstanding features of petroleum production in Illinois during 1923 were: (1) Sustained production from the older wells, due to cleaning and deepening; (2) good results from new drilling in a few localities; (3) large percentage of dry holes, many of which were ill advised tests, with a resulting high cost of the new production; (4) decrease in the number of productive wells in the state; (5) low average price of crude petroleum, a serious factor over the entire country. FIG. 1.-ANNUAL TOTALS OF ILLINOIS PRODUCTION. The total production of Illinois for 1923 was 8,710,000 bbl.,1 a decrease of 7.2 per cent. from that of 1922. Of this amount, it is estimated that about 8,500,000 bbl. were produced by old wells, many of which had been cleaned and deepened somewhat, and approximately 210,000 bbl. were obtained from the new wells drilled during the year. About 95 per cent. of the oil comes from the southeastern field in Clark, Crawford, and Lawrence Counties, where production is almost entirely from Pennsylvanian and Mississippian rocks. Extensions of the productive area were made in Clark, Wabash, Marion, and Jackson Counties. Some important gas development has been accomplished near Jacksonville, in Morgan County, and at Gillespie, in Macoupin County.

Jan 3, 1924

By John B. Hastings

TEN miles from Hartsel, near Antelope springs, in Park county, Colorado, there is a large area of unconsolidated lake beds, which are interesting because at least a part of the lacustrine sands contains in the aggregate an immense amount of gold. During 1906, one of the arms of this dessicated lake was fairly well prospected with shafts and cuts by an Eastern company to test its value, as favorable amounts of gold had in some instances been found upon it. The claims of the company contain about 5,000 acres of the beds; but this is only a small portion of them, a south branch from a main body, which is at least 7 miles in diameter, with other and very wide lateral gulches, paralleling the one herein described on the east and west. A certain amount of digging and sampling was done in the outside areas; but the result was evidently unsatisfactory, since the work was discontinued. his section of Colorado has not been studied geologically, and the age of the ancient lake is unknown. It is probably Quaternary. I spent two weeks on the ground, in September and October, 1906, but was quite absorbed in the sampling. I looked, however, for terraces on the rim-rock and other evidences of movement and erosion, but did not find anything to denote an earlier age than the Quaternary. The granite rim-rock may be Archean; S. F. Emmons says that some of the granites in central Colorado are as old as that. The rim-rock as observed is a gray quartzose biotite-granite, except a small area in Sections 3 and 34, where it is a felsitic (?) breccia. The breccia is silicified by solfataric action at the corner near Shaft No. 7, in Section 34; but this action is older than the sands and does not extend to them. The shaft averaged 50c. per ton, more than twice as much as the rest.

Jan 5, 1908

By C. P. Mangelsdorf

The success of the Birmingham roof truss (Figure 1) in supporting some difficult roof conditions, particularly in the Illinois coal basin, has given impetus to the development of a number of alternate schemes. These schemes attempt to alleviate two major problems with the Birming-ham truss, namely, the time required for installation and the cost of material. Because of the difficulty of drilling angled holes and the number of different pieces of hardware which must be handled manually, most operators have been unable to install Birmingham trusses in the cycle and have had to schedule truss crews during the maintenance shift or whenever they would not impede production. Due to this delay the truss has traditionally been viewed as a supplemental form of roof support. In fact, the truss might qualify as primary support and replace at least two bolts if it could he installed in the cycle (and MSHA would accept it as an alternate in the roof plan.) [ ] Figure 1. The Birmingham truss. Two attempts to deal with the first difficulty have sought to streamline the truss hardware while preserving the essential character of the Birmingham truss. One of these, by Peabody Coal, is reported elsewhere in these proceedings by C. Bollier. Another is a contract issued by the Bureau of Mines to Bendix Corporation for the development of a machine, particularly suited for use in low coal, which will automate many of the operations currently executed manually. This machine is expected to be ready for field testing by fall of 1982. Once in place, a truss installed by either of these schemes will interact with the roof in the same way as a conventional Birmingham truss. An alternate approach has been proposed by several different manufacturers independently. Although the hardware details differ. the essential idea consists of two angle bolts, the heads of which are connected by a horizontal chord tightened to some pre-determined tension. Figure 2 shows the generalized concept and does not depict any one of the four systems proposed. The advantage of this scheme is that the angle bolts can be installed and tightened in the cycle, and as bolts, immediately satisfy the roof control plan. The horizontal chord can be added later to achieve almost any initial desired roof loading, the limits of which are defined below this scheme is referred to here as the angle-bolt truss. Because of a fundamental difference in the way in which load is transferred between chords, this design does not interact with the roof under subsequent loading in the same manner as a Birmingham truss. The purpose of this paper is to examine this fundamental difference and its consequences. [ ]

Jan 1, 1982

By H. Copur

Roadheaders have become widely used in underground mining and tunneling operations because they offer the flexibility to excavate soft- to medium-strength rock formations. A critical issue in successful roadheader application is the ability to develop accurate and reliable estimates of machine production capacity and the associated bit costs. Increased pressure to improve productivity and lower costs in the mining and civil construction industries has been the driving force behind the more wide- spread use of mechanical excavation systems. This has caused both industries to move away from the conventional drill and blast methods. Additional benefits of mechanical mining include improved safety, reduced ground support requirements and fewer personnel. These advantages, coupled with recent enhancements in machine performance and reliability, have resulted in mechanical miners taking a larger share of the rock excavation market. Roadheaders are the most widely used underground partial-face excavation machines for soft- to medium- strength rocks, particularly for sedimentary rocks. They are used for development and production in soft rock mining (main haulage drifts, roadways and crosscuts), particularly in coal, industrial minerals and evaporitic rocks. In civil construction, roadheaders are used to excavate railways, roadways, and sewer and diversion tunnels in soft ground conditions. They are also used to enlarge and rehabilitate underground structures. Their ability to excavate almost any profile opening also makes them attractive to those mining and civil construction projects where various opening sizes and profiles are needed. In addition to their high mobility and versatility roadheaders are generally low capital cost systems com- pared with most other mechanical excavators. Because of higher cutting-power density due to a smaller cutting drum, roadheaders can excavate rocks harder and more abrasive than continuous miners and borers.

Jan 1, 1998

By James Douglas

Though liberality is not supposed to be a prominent trait of the Scottish character, Canada owes to a Scotchman, Sir Wm. Macdonald, more than to any other of its people, not only wise ideas, but pecuniary help towards extending education: and another Scotchman, in New York, has sumptuously housed under one roof three branches of the engineering fraternity, of which we are one. Having thus created us members of the same family—for the metaphorical meaning of house and kinship is identical—Mr. Carnegie expresses more emphatically than even he could in words, that, by aff'ording facilities for closest intercourse, he invites the mechanical, electrical and mining engineers to participate in the freest interchange of idea and experience, and to correlate and combine the results of their studies and activities; and, being members of the same household, to banish reserve and secrecy. And now we, the members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, meet as though we were at home in a neighboring country. For whether we meet in Canada, in England, or elsewhere, the Institute is always received as though no political or geographical divisions separated its members from those of congenial associations in the land of its host. In truth, the title which we have assumed claims for the sphere of our activities the whole American continent, regardless of such trifling details as boundary-lines. The fact that we meet to communicate each other's experience, to discuss our difficulties, and to seek each other's aid in solving the intricate problems that so often present themselves in the course of our professional life, is an acknowledgment of our individual helplessness; and therefore an argument for united effort. But no effort can be of any value if there is an underlying suspicion

Jan 1, 1908

By James R. Craig

The slags generated during gasification of petroleum coke are heterogeneous and con-sist of many different phases. These phases are important because their physical properties affect the operability of gasifiers and because they concentrate many elements that are present in the petroleum coke feed in only minor to trace quantities. An understanding of the chemistry and physical nature of these slag phases is necessary to predict behavior in the gasifier and in considering the ultimate use or disposal of the materials. Slags typically consist of silicate glasses, calcium-silicates, free iron-nickel metallic phases, iron sulfides, and aluminum oxide spinels enriched in iron, chromium, and vanadium. The partitioning of elements among these phases has been analyzed and will be discussed.

Jan 1, 1989

By C. E. Sims, C. A. Zapffe

AN investigation of the behavior of inclusions in steel several years ago1 led to the conclusion that some of the commonly occurring inclusions in steel have appreciable solubilities, particularly in liquid steel. In the belief that further study and clarification of this matter was warranted, a laboratory study of oxides in liquid steel was started. These oxides are generally the result of deoxidation treatment, and the basis of an understanding of their behavior must be, therefore, the behavior of the deoxidizer in liquid iron. The Fe-Si-O system was selected for the first study, and the apparatus used and experiments conducted are described herein. APPARATUS The apparatus is shown in Fig. I and the system is shown by diagram in Fig. 2. Furnace Atmosphere Commercial hydrogen (1) passes through an orifice (2) into a manometric system that measures the tankside pressure (3) and the back pressure (4) in the system. A water trap (5) guards against excess tankside pressure. A by-pass with stopcocks (6 and 7) is provided, so that the hydrogen can be routed directly from the tank to the furnace if desired. When stopcock 7 is closed and stopcock 6 is open, the gas proceeds through the conditioning train, of which the first unit is a furnace (8) that contains platinized asbestos at 350°C. The temperature is measured by a thermocouple and potentiometer (9) and is controlled by a slidewire resistance (10). In [ ] this furnace free oxygen is converted to water vapor. The exiting gas passes over a water bath (11) kept slightly below boiling temperature by an auxiliary heating unit (12). This unit also heats a surrounding copper coil (13) containing water, and the heated water rises through a collar (14)

Jan 1, 1942

By Robert B. Sosman

THE chance that a Howe Memorial Lecturer will be able to refer back to a personal contact with the distinguished metallurgist for whom this lectureship is named grows steadily smaller. I did not have the pleasure of his personal acquaintance, but I did receive from him in 1916, quite unexpectedly, a letter commenting on a paper that I had recently published27 on "Types of Prismatic Structure in Igneous Rocks." The paper was written for geologists and petrologists, but it had an application, naturally, to the crystallization of iron and steel in a mold. The letter impressed me at the time, and still does, with the breadth of Professor Howe's interests and his perseverance in keeping up with the progress of any branch of knowledge that had metallurgical connotations. SCOPE OF THE LECTURE During several years preceding the date mentioned I had worked in collaboration with Arthur L. Day and E. T. Allen8 at the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, on the temperature scale as defined by the nitrogen thermometer at high temperatures. Later (1928-1947) I had the opportunity of helping to apply this experience to the pyrometric problems of the steel industry. Because of the range of its temperatures, the multiplicity of the methods used, and the variety of its purposes, pyrometry in the open-hearth process has always offered a fertile field for both research and development. I am therefore devoting an hour to the subject of temperatures in the basic open-hearth furnace, the furnace that makes most of our steel in the United States. I would direct your attention particularly to the choice of the first two words in the title of the Lecture. One sometimes hears or reads of the "temperature of such-and-such a furnace," as if it were a single, measurable, characteristic quantity. I need hardly emphasize to any one who has ever operated a furnace or a kiln that "temperature of the furnace" is a meaningless phrase. Even if we confine our attention to the space enclosed by the roof, walls, and hearth of an open-hearth furnace, it is doubtful whether any such space has ever been so uniform in temperature that the phrase would have a meaning. In any furnace, there are many different temperatures, capable of being measured at many different places, and actually being measured for several different purposes. These pyrometric purposes, methods, and results, if given in detail, would expand this lecture into a book on the basic open-hearth process. I must therefore confine myself to a statement of the range of temperatures as they have been observed in various parts of the furnace, indicating in a general way why they are measured, and mentioning the methods that are available without attempting to describe these

Jan 1, 1948

By S. V. Krusiewski, J. W. Gabelman

Regional metallogenic zones and areas of equal paragenetic range have been interpreted from a compiled metallogenic map. of Mexico. Mineralization gradients of the pattern subsequently identified extend inland from coastal zones of high-temperature mineralization, and join in a central longitudinal zone of relatively low-temperature mineralization, apparently leaving no zonal room for lowest temperature deposits. The striking regional zoning pattern can be correlated with regional deformation gradients of similar position and orientation. The gradients represent at least three major orogenic cycles in two structural belts. Paleozoic structural belts existed along each coast with deformation gradients diminishing inland toward a narrow, central peninsular craton. The Mesozoic-Tertiary Mexican (Cordilleran) belt covered the entire country with a gradient oriented toward the Gulf of Mexico. Most ore deposits in this belt are of Tertiary age, although Tertiary mineralization gradients seem to have "inherited" the pattern left by Paleozoic tectonic gradients. Mineralization gradients can be used to identify the regions most favorable for the occurrence of selected metals. A metallogenic province is characterized by particular proportions of various metals, and the relative proportions can vary from province to province; but within any province the same intensity of mineralization would produce similar deposits in different places. Declining intensity of minetalization produces different kinds and sizes of deposits in zones that are concentrically arranged around sites of strongest rock alteration. On a regional basis, districts of similar average intensity of mineralization occur in zones that generally parallel some tectonic grain with the result that tectonic deformation has been designated a principal cause of mineralization. Variations in the type and intensity of deformation would determine the type as well as size of metal deposits. Mexico is especially favorable for such a study be- cause of its great abundance and variety of epi-genetic mineral deposits in various lithologic, structural and tectonic environments. The concept is also useful in recognizing portions of Mexico favorable for the occurrence of specific metals. METALLOTECTONIC ZONING IN MEXICO Theory: In studies of individual districts and groups of districts throughout North and South America, areal zoning of metal deposits generally seemed to respond to the paragenetic sequence of iron, gold, copper, zinc, lead, silver, antimony and arsenic, gold and fluorite. However, the definition of district zones is greatly obscured by contemporaneous or rhythmic deposition of metals, especially in the middle of the paragenetic range, and by the common superimposi-tions of different generations of metals. Zones could usually be distinguished only for groups of metals, such as early precious metals, base-metal sulfides, sulfosalts and late precious metals. The best defined zoning in a district is normally the spatial separation of the greatest volumes of altered and metallized rocks.' Exceptions are districts representing the high- and low-temperature extremes of the mineralization range where the former creates a matrix for the latter. In most districts the total quantity of alteration products is greatly in excess of, and appears to be roughly proportional to, the total quantity of metallization products. Subsequent to the bicomponent nature of each district, the most important mineralogical feature is the great excess of one to several metals or minerals which results in a district identifiable as one of predominantly gold, copper, lead-zinc, fluorite, etc., although a great variety of other elements may be present. The para-genetic range for the abundant elements in any district is only a portion of the entire possible range for all the elements representing the complete process throughout the region. Early during investigations of this type, it became apparent that the consistent bicomponent character of districts allows two methods for studying epi-genetic mineralization patterns. One is to identify and plot altered rock "pipes,"* which are easily recognizable in the landscape by their anomalous

Jan 1, 1969

By James E. York

THE honor so fairly earned and so incompletely and tardily paid to Henry Cort, the inventor of the puddling-furnace and the, rolling-mill, has been fully set forth by Mr. Charles H. Morgan,1 and needs no further emphasis here. In view of the importance of the rolling-mill in the treatment of iron and steel, the paucity of information concerning it is surprising. With the exception of a hook, written about 35 years ago, by Peter Bitter von Tunner, an Honorary Member of this Institute, and of desultory articles on simple sections, which have appeared in technical journals, I know of no pub¬lication attempting to treat this subject, although volumes have been written on the scientific theory and technical manipulations involved in other branches of the iron- and steel-industry. This strange anomaly may be due to the fact that roll-turning cannot be called a scientific business. It does not ordinarily come within the range of an educated engineer; yet it cannot be performed by an ordinary mechanic. It demands some of the qualifications of an engineer, in designing, and those of a mechanic, in execution. The men who have followed this trade have controlled the training of their successors. In many cases the technical knowledge required bas been handed down from father to son, and there has been a motive of private interest to prevent its public dissemination. Moreover, the statement of the various principles involved in the process would require, besides manual experience, a degree of scientific knowledge which roll-turners do not usually possess; and, finally, any book on the subject, in order to possess real, practical value, would have to be so fully illustrated as to make it very costly to publish. Regarding my own experience, I may say that I served a six-

May 1, 1906

By R. B. Fuller, E. T. Casler

MANY changes were made in the methods and equipment used in the mining of pebble phosphate rock in the generation immediately preceding the present World War and it would be extremely interesting to note the improvements that will be made during the next generation. Literally, much water has gone over the dam since the days when we used local cordwood for generating steam and drying pebble phosphate rock. belt-driven centrifugal pumps operated by steam engines. and floating dipper or centrifugal dredges; when we removed overburden by small steam shovels and transported it by dinkey locomotives and six-yard cars; when washing machinery was installed on wooden structures the washers being replaced every four to six years. Those were the days when men were plentiful, and 47 different mining companies were selling their products, based on .decidedly meager information; and. like so many mining operations, little thought was given to conservation. As the importance of phosphate rock has become more prominent in the thoughts of our economists, a more intelligent approach has been made to mining problems. Vast improvements have been made in the technique and processing of the phosphate matrix and stripping of overburden, which, in turn, have brought developments in machines and equipment and a more

Jan 1, 1944

By Andrew Hodge

ISSUES IN MINING LABOR The examination of mining labor issues is often confined to health, and safety. There are other issues, including the present state of mining manpower availability and utilization, and the nature of mineral industries' industrial relations, which are worthy of consideration. The state of the labor market for mining skills, the availability and utilization of mining engineers and related disciplines, the state of research and its employment of scientists and engineers, and the condition of mining industrial relations with all these groups, all have an important effect on the viability and economic health of the minerals production sector. PRODUCTION LABOR Why examine an industry's production labor market? People involved in an industry should be aware of what labor supplies will be relative to industry requirements. This advance information allows industry and government to plan ahead to alleviate problems by moving to affect labor supplies or to accommodate production to expected labor supplies. This is less costly and less painful than responding after the fact to labor market changes. Any industry requires some form of labor. Labor is especially important to the mining industry. Mining labor is well paid. Average annual earnings are higher than in manufacturing. Average hourly wages are also higher. Payroll costs form a high percentage of total cost in coal mining and nonmetallic minerals mining. In metal mining the percentage is comparable to the average for manufacturing. Payroll cost in oil and gas extraction is quite low, but a major proportion of cost is in the form of income to proprietors, i.e., unincorporated businesses. Mining labor is worthy of specific attention. The minerals extraction labor is unique in many ways. Mining labor and especially underground miners are differentiated from other "unskilled" labor. Miners cannot be considered as part of a larger labor pool. The mining labor market has exhibited a unique combination of characteristics. Mining is the only large sector of United States employment in which hourly wages are high and continuing to rise, yet employment declines. Although industry has introduced new labor-saving investments, and labor requirements continue to decline, there is evidence of a mining labor shortage. Specific problems have arisen in the mining labor market such as a present labor shortage in nonfuels mining. Understanding the causes and remedies for these specific problems is also important. These various problems and questions may be handled in a unified manner by examining the relationships of certain economic variables. The relationship that exists between changes in output, employment, labor productivity, and hours worked per week may be stated explicitly:

Jan 1, 1976