Chromite ore in combination with various quantities of magnesia is used in basic refractories. Refractories of this type are used as linings in steelmaking and copper smelting furnaces, rotary cement calciners, and glassmaking tanks. However, most of the consumption is by the copper and steel industry. Approximately 20 percent of the chromite consumed in the … Read more
As part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, mission to assure a viable domestic minerals and materials economy, research is being conducted to investigate methods for recovering accessory elements from solutions resulting from hydrometallurgical processing of base-metal sulfide concentrates. These types of sulfide concentrates have traditionally been treated by smelting procedures … Read more
The increasing demand for titanium minerals, especially rutile, has sparked interest in the abundant domestic titanium resources of the United States. Although 93 percent of the rutile used in this country is imported, there are porphyry copper deposits in the Western United States that constitute a very large potential rutile resource. Rutile is used to … Read more
The known domestic reserves of potash feldspar of the quality needed for dinnerware and sanitaryware, as well as for electrical and other industrial porcelain products, are not likely to meet anticipated demand during the rest of the century. However, molybdenite tailings and the prospective tailings from currently undeveloped ore bodies are mineral wastes that have … Read more
The prime objective of this paper is to call attention to possibilities of reducing the cost of pumping, generally by reducing inflow into the mine area. A surprising number of ways have been used to do it. To show the potential benefits of reducing pumping this paper emphasizes both the un-quantified and the obvious costs. … Read more
Al2O3 used as feed for electrolytic cells in the production of aluminum metal is obtained in the United States from bauxite by the Bayer process. The United States is dependent on imports for its bauxite supply, and despite adequate world reserves rising prices and competition by other industrial nations for bauxite suggest a need to … Read more
An exploration program initiated by Johns-Manville Corp. resulted in the discovery of significant occurrences of platinum-group elements in the Stillwater complex of south-central Montana. The mineralization occurs in a horizon of relatively sulfide-rich anorthositic rocks within the Banded Zone of the complex. The favorable horizon is continuous over a strike length of 24 miles. The … Read more
The purpose of the Bureau research described in this report was to devise a procedure for producing TiCl4 from titaniferous raw materials, especially those that are high in CaO content. This research supports the Bureau’s goal of maximizing the recovery of minerals and metals from domestic resources in order to assure an adequate supply of … Read more
The Sylvinite ores mined in conventional mines contain Sylvite (20 to 30% K2O), Halite, sometimes Carnallite and 1 to 5% insol. Liberation, in some cases, is substantial at 1 cm (3/8 inch), and virtually complete in all cases at 14 mesh. The separation processes include dissolution of the Carnallite, and removal of the insols, followed … Read more
The trend in the design of fine crushing plants is in the direction of the horizontal arrangement with all crushers on a single floor. Conveyors from the coarse ore bin or stockpile, feed the scalping screens which are usually double decked. When the feed to the fine crushing plant contains less than 15 percent passing … Read more