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Prospector Survival Equipment List
Table of ContentsTransportationFoodMeatsFoods Other than MeatsSelection and QuantityTable ITable IIWastePackingShelterClothingMiscellaneous ImplementsInstrumentsPersonnelMedicines The engineer has often to penetrate difficult or unknown regions. Mineral, irrigation, boundary and railway problems frequently necessitate journeys through, or long residence in, localities whence sustenance cannot be drawn. The selection and conveyance of provisions, outfit and implements thus become a matter of the first importance. Scientific skill,
Underground Mine Dam Construction
The limit of pressure to which an underground dam may with safety be subjected, is a question that—as far as the writer knows—has not received the same attention from authorities on engineering construction, or practical mining, that has been accorded to questions on which the design and strength of other structures or machines in connection with a mine are based.
Methods of Timbering and Working Wide Lodes
Table of ContentsTimbering the Great Cobar Copper MineThe Cobar Gold Mines TimberingTimbering of the Prince of Wales Mine, GundagaiTimbering the Sybil Mine, Gundagai It has been more especially in these large low grade ore bodies, that modern methods have been beneficial; for small lodes must be rich to pay at all, as they cannot be worked on the same gigantic scale,
Method for Calculating Volume of Small Mine Drifts
In the Engineering and Mining Journal there appeared an article by Fred T. Greene, describing a method of measuring stopes by the use of strings, a clinometer and a tape. I had occasion to use a somewhat similar method, for the purpose of accurately ascertaining the volume of a very irregular drift connecting two mines. This drift was an important factor
How to Collect & Weigh a Sample
Table of ContentsSample WeighingMeasure the Moisture of a SampleGeneral Sample of Ore I have chosen this subject in view of the fact that, while there are many and ample opportunities of getting reliable assays made, there are but few who are in a position to obtain reliable data on the sampling of minerals and metals; my long experience, where, for five
Water Wheel Design & Construction
Opinions differ as to whether the water-wheel almost universally known as the Pelton type belongs to the impulse, the tangential, the reactive, the jet or the percussion class, or to a cross between two or more of these classes. The fact is, that for an almost infinitesimal part of a second the axis of the jet of water strikes the
Mougin Rotating Turrets
In presenting the subject of “ Armored Turrets for Coast Defense ” to this Institute, I am indebted to the Gruson Iron-works, a company incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, for valuable information, model and plans, by which I hope to make clear the construction and peculiar merits of this class of gun-protection. I wish it
Relation Between the Strength of Cyanide Solutions and Their Dissolving Power
Table of ContentsAn Apparent ContradictionThe Effect of Hydrogen PeroxideConclusions It has already been shown by Maclaurin, that the dissolving power of a cyanide solution saturated with oxygen increases with its strength until a strength of 5 or 10 per cent, is reached, and diminishes again as the strength in cyanide increases beyond that point. But, so far as I am
Hydrogen Peroxide & Gold Cyanidation
The peroxide of hydrogen used was Marchand’s medicinal, containing 3.3 per cent, of available peroxide, as determined by titration with permanganate of potassium. According to the new theory, the H2O2, (±) takes up from the gold strip o, which becomes positive, two units of negative electricity and dissociates into 2 (OH) (—). In the first experiment a M/1 KCN solution
How Air’s Oxygen Makes Gold to Dissolve in Cyanide
We have another substance at hand with a great tendency to form negative ions. This is the oxygen of the air. In the presence of water, the molecule of oxygen, O2, tends to assume the ionic state, combining with water to form four negatively electrified ions, thus: O2 (±) + 2H2O (±) = 4 (OH) (—). Or, as has been
Metal’s Electrochemistry of Cyanide Solutions
Table of ContentsElectrochemical TheoryAnalytical ResearchIonsMolecular ConductivityOsmotic PressureThe Gas-Law and Osmotic PressureDissociationAltered Freezing and Boiling PointsHeat of NeutralizationSolution PressureComplex IonsElectrolytic TheoryMethods & ProceduresStrength of Cyanide Solutions and Dissolving Power The practice of the cyanide-process of gold-extraction has brought to light many important contradictions of familiar chemical analogies, which still obscure both the theory and the practice of the art with distinctions subtler
Determine Relative Affinity of Metals for Cyanide Solutions
Table of ContentsProcedure of the Deflection MethodPreliminary Results with the Deflection MethodThe Zero-MethodNew Method of Plotting ResultsComparison of the Deflection and Zero MethodsEvaluating Results of Laboratory ExperimentsExperiments with Commercial Sheet-ZincElectromotive Force of Gold in KCl and KHO. In looking about for some means of determining the relative affinities of the metals for cyanide solutions, I long ago came to the
Determination Method of Gold & Silver in Copper
The extreme difficulty of obtaining a short and, at the same time, exact method for the determination of gold and silver in copper materials has been well illustrated in “Assays of Copper and Copper-Matte,” and its discussion, by Dr. A. R. Ledoux and other leading authorities on this subject. Two general methods were used by the numerous assayers. One of these
Alluvial Mining Methods
As it is my opinion that deep alluvial mining methods in Victoria and in the Murray Flats in New South Wales are practically in their infancy, and considering that we, the old school, of alluvial miners, who have thirty or forty years’ experience to guide us, must in the natural order of things hand over the management of our mines to the
Analysis of Chloridized Ore Assay
The following paper deals with a method for the “Approximate Analysis ” of Chloridized Ores, which are free from arsenic, antimony and lime. When these are present the analysis is rendered far more complicated, and many of the methods which I am about to describe could not be applied. Sufficient scope is therefore offered for discussing the analysis, when these
Precious Metals Melting System
125kw Inductotherm VIP-I Precious Metals Melting System: The furnace was only used for proof of concept in a platinum recovery project and has extremely low hours. It is practically new… It is a top of the line, USA built, VIP- I Inductotherm system using their latest IBGT technology and was specifically designed to handle non-ferrous metals (gold, platinum, copper, brass, bronze, etc.) If
How to Measure the Density SG of Rock: A DIY Prospector Tool Rule
The determination of specific gravity dates from such antiquity, and the various published methods of determining it are so numerous, that one may well be skeptical as to the value of a new means of obtaining so well-known a quantity. I make no claim to any great novelty for the little device here described, the principles, though not the convenient
Effective Hardness & Abrasive Efficiency of Corundum
The Relation Between the “ Effective Hardness ” of Corundum and its Content of Water: A specimen of corundum from Acworth, Ga., which was reputed to be of markedly inferior quality for the manufacture of corundum-wheels, was received by the Geological Survey of Georgia, with the request that it be analyzed, in order to ascertain whether this inferiority was associated with any peculiarity of composition.
Assaying Silver Bullion
The apparatus which I shall describe in this paper has been in use for some time at the Silver Bullion Assay laboratory of the Pennsylvania Lead Company’s works, and has been found to give good results, and to be simple and convenient. Steam Bath.—This steam bath is shown by Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. It is made of sheet
Cushioned Crushing Roll
Every millman engaged in the operations incident to the handling of crushing-rolls knows that in ordinary practice, when fine product is desired, the ore-materials delivered to the machine, divided into four sizes, may be estimated, approximately, as follows : This estimate refers more particularly to the requirements of medium-sized rolls and fine crushing. But, depending largely on the character of
Silver Lead Bullion Sampling
Table of ContentsBars from the Liquation FurnaceBars from the Lead-KettlesGouge & Chip SamplingDistribution of Silver in the BarLoss of Lead by VolatilizationSummary Several interesting experiments were made in the sampling of the silver-lead bullion obtained from the water- jacket smelting-furnace. The smelting-plant is divided into two portions, known locally as the north furnaces and the south furnaces. The former group comprises nine and the latter
Mercury Assay Determination Method
Table of ContentsRecipientRefrigeratorThe RetortFlux and ChargeOperationAccuracyFailuresImportant Mercury Assay Procedure Details The dry methods of assaying mercury-ores and other combinations of mercury all rest upon the volatility of this metal as a beginning. After the separation of the mercury in the form of vapor from the matrix upon which the assay is performed, the mercurial vapors are either condensed upon cold surfaces or
How Bismuth Affects Brass Quality
Table of ContentsExperiment No. 1Experiment No. 2Experiment No. 3Experiment No. 4Experiment No. 5 It is a tradition in the brass industry that bismuth is an injurious element in brass, even more deleterious than antimony; but such a belief has lacked verification. The occasional presence of bismuth in commercial copper (although less frequent than was formerly supposed) led the author to