The Magazine April, 1970 - Mines Magazine - Colorado School of ...

The National Academy of Sciences
Sounds Alarm Regarding Fufure
Of Mineral Sciences & Tecfinology
rilHE National Academy of Sciences
X has sounded a note of alarm regarding
the status and future of the
nation's mineral science and technology.
In a seven-part study just released,
the. Academy presents a critical
assessment of the deteriorating
U, S. position in world mining and
mineral education.
"The state of mineral technology
in the United States is wretched," the
report announces. According to Dr.
Vernon E. Scheid, dean of the Mackay
School of Mines, University of Nevada,
"This report could do much to
help focus attention on the critical
status of one of the nation's most vital
sources of economic wealth."
The study was made at the request
of the U. S, Bureau of Mines in response
to growing concern over the
problems of the mineral industry and
its related fields of research and education.
As a result, in 1966 the National
Academy of Sciences, with the
National Academy of Engineering and
National Research Council, established
a Committee on Mineral Science
and Technology, charged with
the task of "determining the state of
(Continued jrom Fage 1)
abnormalities. It is suggested, therefore, that individuals
with slightly malfunctioning cardiac-circulatory systems
became sensitive to some small changes in the geophysical
or electromagnetic fields taking place imperceptibly in
the last stages preceding that particular earthquake,
CONCLUSION
The effort undertaken in Russia on earthquake prediction
studies, especially since the Tashkent earthquake of
1966 (that is, during the last three and one-half years) and
the scientific talent employed in these studies should lead
to significant results in the near future. Some of this
woz'k is unique; e.g., the drilling of special wells down to
the focal zone of the Tashkent earthquake. Other Russian
studies are conducted along the same lines of research as
our own, even employing similar instrumentation; e.g.,
the quartz tube strain meters. It will be interesting to see
to what extent Soviet results will corroborate our own.
This article does not purport to give a detailed review
of Russian earthquake research but merely to give a general
outline and direction of Soviet work in this field. The
article is based entirely on information found in publications
of general character listed in references. Undoubtedly
more complete data on the subject could be found in
about 50 different Russian geoiogical and geophysical
technical and scholarly journals published by the different
Soviet universities, government ministries, U.S.S.R. Academy
of Science, and the Academies of Science of each
Soviet Republic.
mineral science and technology in the
United States and providing information
and recommendations regarding
its he alth a nd ef f e ctivenes s." The
seven-volume "Mineral Science and
Technology" is the outcome of that
endeavor.
Six panels of experts were named
by the Committee to survey and report
on the fields of mining, extractive
metallurgy, production of mineral
fluids, fuel science and technology,
nonmetallic materials, and mineral
economics and resources. Reports
of these panels comprise six of
the seven studies. The seventh, prepared
by the Committee itself, is entitled
"Mineral Science and Technology—Needs,
Challenges, and Opportunities."
It includes a discussion of
mineral education and research and
summarizes the U. S. position, with
recommendations for the future.
Most important result of the work,
perhaps, is the statement of alarm
"that mineral engineering programs
in universities receive so little financial
support, a partial consequence of
which is the deteriorated state of
higher education in these fields in the
United States."
For example, in universities, where
formal training of mineral scientists
and engineers occurs, out of 26. departments
of mining engineering accredited
in 1962, only 17 remained in
1967. A sampling of the industry in
1964 indicated a 10-year need for at
least 162 new mining engineers per
year. Between 1962 and 1967 only 132
bachelor degrees were granted in this
technical field,
At the graduate level, almost half
of the students in mining, extractive
metallurgy, and petroleum engineering
are foreign!
The Committee adds: "We also find
an amazing lack of coordination and
support of mineral resource, research
by both Federal and State governments
as compared with the organization
and funding of research on agricultural
resources. The coimtry is
not running out of mineral resources
but out of the mineral technology
needed for their profitable production
and processing in world competition;"
Two University of Nevada professors
conti'ibuted to the National Academy
of Sciences study. Dr, George B.
Maxey, research professor of Hydrology
and Geology at the Mackay Schooi
of Mines, and director. Center for Water
Resources Research, Desert Research
Institute, served as a member
of the Panel on Mineral Fluids. Dr.
John V. Sharp, associate professor of
Geology, Mackay School of Mines, and
research associate, Desert Research
Institute, also contributed.
REFERENCES
(Listed alphabetically according to the name of the
jom'nai or newspaper)
Journals:
'G. P. Gorshkov, Can Earthquakes Be Predicted Culture
and Life, No. 8, 1968.
'I. Popov, Pid's Planety (Pulse of the Planet), Nauka i
Zhizn', No. 7, 1968.
, Zemletriasienie-Razvedchik Nedr
(Earthquakes—An Exploration Tool), Neff i Gaz, Institut
nefti i khimi, Baku, No. 1,1969.
' , Predicting Giant Waves, Soviet Life,
No. 1, 1970.
•''M. A. Sadovskii, Nauka Predskazhet Zemle-triasieniia
(Science WiU Predict Earthquakes), ZemUa i Vselennaia,
No. 6, 1968.
"A, Yershov, Warning Clues to Earthquakes, Sputnik, No.
1. 1970.
'A. Yershov, Zagadochnyi Svet (Mysterious Light), Yunyi
Tekhnik, No. 11,1968,
Newspaper articles:
'Bakinskii Raboehii, Oct. 8,1968.
Izvestiia, Aug. 28, 1969.
'"Izvestiia, Nov. 14, 1969.
"Krasnaia Zvezda, May 6,1969.
''Moscow News, Nov. 29, 1969.
'"Pravda, Dec. 4, 1969.
''Pravda, Jan. 23,1970.
"Sotsialisticheskaia Industriia, Nov. 15, 1969.
^"SotsiaUsticheskaia Industriia, Dec, 12, 1969.
"SotsiaUsticlieskaia Industriia'", Feb. 5, 1970.
'•'Sotsialisticheskaia Industriia, Feb. 17,1970.
'^Sovietskaia Rossiia, May 15, 1968.
'•"Trud, Dec. 18, 1968.
"Vecherniaia Moskva, May 10,1968.
APRIL, 1970 THE MINES MAGAZINE
ron Ore Pumpec
n Slurry Form
A
TINY STEEL MILL in the Pacific
Northwest has caught the attention
of the cost-conscious steel industry.
The miU receives its iron ore
by pipeline.
The finely ground ore is pumped
through the pipeline in slurry, or
slush-Uke form from tanker ships anchored
offshore in deep water. As a
result, the mill doesn't need to dredge
a harbor or buUd complex port facilities,
and its handling costs, particularly
for labor, have been cut sharply.
These savings are extremely attractive
to steelmakers with coastal
plants. And for other steel producers,
the slurry system could make the
coasts, in particular the Pacific and
Gulf areas, more attractive for expansion—especiaUy
for small mills of
limited capacity to serve regional
markets.
Last year, the U. S. industry used
more than 120 milions tons of ore,
most of it going into the huge, towerlike
blast furnaces where it is reduced
to metallic iron that is then fed into
steelmaking open hearth and basic
oxygen fm'naces.
What steel men are watching is the
Portland, Ore., miU of Oregon Steel
MiUs, a division of GUmore Steel Corp.
of San Francisco. The mill has an annual
steel capacity of about 500,000
tons and turns out steel slabs to be
roUed into plate. The key to its operation
is an iron-ore handling process
caUed Marconaflo, developed by San
Francisco-based Marcona Corp., a
mining and materials transportation
concern.
Marcona moves the ore to Portland
from its San Nicholas Bay mine in
Peru, where it has been ground up
and concentrated to raise iron content.
A slurry of about 75 per cent
solids is pumped aboard ship and allowed
to settle. Then most of the water
is drained off, leaving a cargo of
about 92 per cent solids. On arrival
at the miU site, high-speed water jets
turn the ore again into slurry, which
is pumped ashore to a pond for settling.
A pelletizing plant turns the ore
into iron peUets that are fed directly
into the mUl's electric steel-making
furnaces.
It's claimed the slurry system can
cut ore-handling costs 90 per cent,
Marcona's president, Charles W. Robinson,
says the slm'ry can be loaded
and unloaded for a combined cost of
2V2 cents a ton, compared to conventional
ore handUng costs of around 45
cents a ton.
Marcona, a jointly owned affiliate of
Cyprus Mines Corp. and Utah Jlining
& Construction Co., is active in 'seUing
ore overseas. (Wall Street Journal,
Nov. 10, 1969)
THE MINES MAGAZINE • APRIL, 1970
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