3/6 TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



Chemical, Metallurgical, and Mining Society of South Africa. — 

 Saturday, September 29th : G. Hildick-Smith, B.Sc, President, in the 

 ■chair. — '" Electric furnace manufacture of shoes and dies on the IVitu^rters- 

 rand": Prof. G. H. Stanley. About 7,500 tons of stamp battery .shoes 

 and dies are required annually for the purposes of gold milling on the 

 Rand. A connnittee was appointed two years ago to consider the possi- 

 bility of manufacturing these articles locally. The report favoured a 

 method of melting the large existing accumulations of old shoes and dies, 

 amounting to several thousands of tons, in electric induction furnaces. 

 A description was given of the subsequent installation of the plant and 

 its operation and costs thereof, of the method of pouring and ca.sting, 

 and of the products turned out.—" Electric steel-niclfi}!;^ f^Jaiit " : Prof. 

 W. Buchanan. A description, from an engineering standpoint, of the 

 plant used on the Rand for the production of shoes and dies, particular 

 reference being made to certain special features of the design and con- 

 struction." 



Saturday, October 20th: G. Hildick-Smith, B.Sc ( President ).—" T/;t' 

 application of diaphragm pumps to metallurgical zvork " : L. Pj. Barnes. 

 The principal use of the pumps in metallurgical operations has been in 

 counter-current decantation plants for controlling Dorr thickeners and 

 transferring pulp between tliem. A thicker and more consistent underflow 

 can be secured by means of it than by any other means liitherto tried. 



Saturday, November r7th : G. Hildick-Smith, P>.Sc. (President), in the 

 •chair. — "Fertilisers" : A. Baguley. The author discussed fertilisers in 

 their relation to other factors contributing to increased soil productivity, 

 and as a means of supplying the soil with essential plant-food constituents ; 

 the need of care to be exercised in certain respects lest fertilisers should 

 bring about infertility was pointed out, and the sources and sjjecial 

 functions of the various classes of fertilisers and of their several consti- 

 tuents explained. — "A uezv method of determining copper.'': Dr. J. 

 Moir. A quick process of obtaining the metal or ore in a condition 

 suitable for determining the copper was descril^ed. To the copper si ilution 

 so obtained excess of sodium thiosulphate is added, and potassium sulpho- 

 cyanide, and the solution is titrated back with iodine. 



Saturday, February i6th : H. A. White (Vice-president) in the chair. 

 --" Notes on an underground spring of zmter containing manganese and 

 lithium " : J. Watson. The water was derived from an underground 

 spring on the east drive of the City and Suburban Mine, Witwatersrand. 

 It contained 178 parts of inorganic solids per 100,000, whereof 4.44 con- 

 sisted of inanganous oxide and .23 of lithium. — " The manufacture 'of 

 ^rude sodium manganate for use on the mines": F. Warten'weiler. In 

 view of the shortage of easily soluble oxidisers, this compound was 

 prepared in order to replace the nearly pure potassium permanganate 

 formerly used on the Rand Mines. It was prepared from pyrolusite" from 

 the Pretoria district, containing 40 per cent, of manganese, by heating 

 I part of the ore in a furnace with 1.44 of caustic soda. N() attempts 

 were made to prepare a refined product, as the crude manganate can be 

 substituted on the mines for all services for which formerlv the refined 

 potassium permanganate was used. It is more solul)le than bleaching 

 powder, and easier to handle and control. When once dissolved, and 

 converted to permanganate by dilution with water, it is comparativelv 

 rstable. 



