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By ELLSIVOKTH DAGGETT

THE Berlin gold quartz mine is situated in Nye county, Nevada, on the west flank of the Shoshone range, about 40 miles south and 30 miles west from the town of Austin, the county-seat of Lander county. The distance from Austin is about 60 miles by stage-road. The outcrop of the vein, at the top of the incline-shaft, is situated just at the base of the mountain proper, almost exactly at the intersection of the mountain-side with the gravelly bench that slopes for about three-quarters of a mile to the flatter sage-brush plain, or desert valley, below. The -vein itself consists almost entirely of quartz, with perhaps 2 per cent. of sulphide of iron, copper, lead, zinc and antimony, and perhaps a trace of some of the compounds of tellurium with gold and silver, although none of the latter have been as yet positively identified. The relative proportion, by weight, of silver and gold in the ores, varies in different parts of the vein, from 12 silver for 1 of gold, to 7 silver for 1 of gold. The quartz vein-filling is usually frozen fast to the walls, and is very hard and compact, seldom showing the friable, fissured, or shelly structure often to be found in quartz veins. Comparatively little evidence of relative motion of one wall of the vein upon the other is to be found-a fact indicating that during the formation of the vein, and prior to the extensive movements herein described, little disturbance had taken place. No evidence whatever of metasomatic origin has been observed. On the other hand, occasional occurrences of comby structure, in which the axes of the quartz crystals are at right angles to the plane of the vein, rather indicate deposition from solution in a pre-existing fissure. Spurs, or branches, and small parallel veins, while not en-\

Mar 1, 1907

We are advised by Carrington Phelps, Secretary of the professional Classes War Relief of America, having offices at 33 West 42d Street, New York, that this organization is now prepared for active relief of professional men who have enlisted in military service or are assisting the Government in the civil service or in civil life, at the sacrifice of their usual sources of income. The organization has found that the main obstacle to such relief is the hesitancy of this class of persons to make known their needs. Relief cases have to be sought out; the organization has already found some but has asked the cooperation of the Institute to assist in finding as many more as may exist. It is suggested that the Institute can render useful service in this connection, first, by informing our members of this feature of war relief, by being on the alert to report those needing relief, and to make all possible inquiry after such cases. It is further desired that information as to all such cases be forwarded immediately upon their discovery.

Jan 3, 1918

Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering.-Mining engineer to teach mine surveying, mine mapping, assaying, etc., but not metallurgy. Location, Ohio. Salary, $1800 per annum. No. 379. Metallurgist.-Experienced metallurgist capable of running 25-ton blast lead furnace. Man who knows the country and speaks Spanish desired. You may know that this state is in peaceful conditions and that even during the worst time of the revolution there were several mining concerns never idle. Besides, its resources are wonderful, and once a man gets started, he will find many possibilities. Notwithstanding that Sinaloa is a mining state, our smelter will be the only lead smelter on this coast. Location, Culiscan, Sin., Mexico. No. 381. Quarry Superintendent.-Engineer experienced in limestone quarry work for position as superintendent; must be capable of producing results; must increase output of quarries from 4 to 12 cars per day. Young man with abundant energy is desired. Permanent position, chance to grow up with the company. Location, New Jersey. Salary depends upon the man. No. 382.

Jan 4, 1919

By G. S. Hume

The largest development program in the history of Alberta was undertaken in 1941 in an effort to increase oil production. The drilling record is as follows: In Alberta there was the largest exploratory campaign for oil in the history of the Province, although drilling of wildcat wells was somewhat less than in the previous year. A great deal of geophysical work was done. This included three gravimetric and five seismic parties as well as a number of geological survey parties by the major oil companies and by the Geological Survey of Canada. Seismic work was done by one party in southern Saskatchewan. The production of petroleum in Canada is shown in Table I. About 98 per cent of the total production comes from Alberta and the yield of the various fields is shown in Table 2. The greatest developments in Turner Valley have been in the north end. In 1941 about two miles of new productive area was proved by drilling, extending the field to a length of 20 miles. The wells at the

Jan 1, 1942

By G. S. Hume

The largest development program in the history of Alberta was undertaken in 1941 in an effort to increase oil production. The drilling record is as follows: In Alberta there was the largest exploratory campaign for oil in the history of the Province, although drilling of wildcat wells was somewhat less than in the previous year. A great deal of geophysical work was done. This included three gravimetric and five seismic parties as well as a number of geological survey parties by the major oil companies and by the Geological Survey of Canada. Seismic work was done by one party in southern Saskatchewan. The production of petroleum in Canada is shown in Table I. About 98 per cent of the total production comes from Alberta and the yield of the various fields is shown in Table 2. The greatest developments in Turner Valley have been in the north end. In 1941 about two miles of new productive area was proved by drilling, extending the field to a length of 20 miles. The wells at the

Jan 1, 1942

By Robert S. Shoemaker

Recently we read a short article which stated that Marcona Corp. was studying the use of 25,000-hp autogenous grinding mills for an iron ore project in Alaska. As if that weren't enough, they were going to dispense with the primary crusher and feed run-of-mine ore to the grinding mills which were to be driven by wrap-around seven-cycle motors. We see also that Bougainville Copper Co. will be grinding 90,000 tpd of ore in only eight 4250- hp ball mills. At Bougainville too, their float section will be the first large one to be completely equipped with the new 350-cu ft flotation cells. After a half century of relatively peaceful growth in the minerals industry, we are now seeing almost exponential advances in both equipment and plant size. At the same time, we are seeing a constant blending of hydro and pyrometallurgical techniques and processes into minerals beneficiation until the sample grind-'em-up-and-concentrate-'em plant is becoming a rarity.

Jan 1, 1970

By Martin Coryell

THIS coal area, and the coal from a limited portion of it, has been known for a long time. In 1817, McClure prepared a geological map to represent the boundaries, and they are not controverted at the present date. In 1834, Richard C. Taylor made a survey and report on portions of the basin. In 1835, Prof. W. B. Rogers was appointed by the State of Virginia to make a geological survey, and made six annual reports in which this area was included; but the re¬ports and maps were not published. R. C. Taylor's Statistics of Coal, published in 1855, gave to the public the details of exploration and production, to date, very perfectly and completely. Daddow and Bannan's work, Coal, Iron, and Oil, published in 1866, repeated the details before given, and advanced some vague theories respecting the coal-field, but gave no new facts. Macfarlane's work, Coal Regions of America, published in 1873, under the head of "Triassic Coal," chapter 27, gives what is known from existing publications of the position, geology, and production of the field, making

Jan 1, 1875

By G. Kinder, R. Gilges, W. Stoker, R. Davey

The Bingham Canyon Mine, located 48 km (30 mi) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, is operated by Kennecott Copper Corporation's Utah Copper Division. This operation is the world's largest open-pit copper mine and produces 96 000 tons (106,000 st) ore and 327 000 tons (360,000 st) waste each day. This material is loaded by large electric shovels and transported by both truck and rail haulage. To meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act of 1970 (as amended), new facilities for the control of smelter emissions were required and are now nearing the final stages of construction. The facility will be capable of treating all the output from the mine, some 2,530 tons (2,789 st) per day of combined concentrate and precipitate. Costing $280 million and necessitating the replacement of reverberatory furnaces with continuous smelting vessels, the plant, with its massive and complex gas handling and acid-making facility, is required to remain on-stream with the minimum of pollution control equipment outages to conform with Federal Regulation 52.2325.

Jan 8, 1978

By Harrison, Henry Fay

The study of an entirely new series of alloys may be undertaken from a desire to obtain knowledge applicable to the perfection of industrial alloys, or merely to test certain theoretical considerations. In the case of antimony-tellurium alloys, the theoretical side only is at present important; but it is hoped that the results of this investigation may have some industrial value, at least indirectly, by furnishing one more example for comparison when studying commercial alloys. The statement is found in various places that antimony is isomorphous with arsenic, bismuth and tellurium; but very little experimental evidence has been offered in support of this assumption. All four metals crystallize in rhombohedra, and the ratio of the axes a: c is approximately the same—which seems to indicate, but does not prove, their isomorphism. The close association of these metals in minerals also seems to indicate that they are isomorphous. There are, however, certain differences in their properties which render this coriclusion somewhat doubtful, and it is therefore desirable that inde-

Jan 1, 1902

By E. J. Lintner

CLAY mining in the 'United States is by no means a small industry for approximately ten million tons of shale and clay are recovered yearly. The bulk of this tonnage enters into the manufacture of paving, building and refractory brick, draintile, pots, sewer pipe, stoneware, and wall and floor tile. This group of manufactures is commonly known as the heavy clay products industry. The winning of the raw materials for this industry constitutes merely a step in the manufacturing process because the manufacturer usually owns and operates his own source of supply. The mining of kaolin and the whiteware and chinaware claps, however, is usually a separate industry.

Jan 1, 1936

By H. Matlock

Beam-columns with continuous or discontinuous transverse and angular loads and elastic restraints are represented mathematically in a manner corresponding to finite-element mechanical models. Solutions for linearly elastic cases are accomplished by direct recursion-equation elimination of unknowns, and for cases involving nonlinear loads and supports, by repeated trial-and-adjustment of complete elastic-type solutions. Five practical applications are presented by which various capabilities of the general method are illustrated. The examples include simulation of a pipeline launching and the bending and collapse of a conductor pipe in deep-water drilling operations. INTRODUCTION The diversified and complex operations being conducted in support of the production of offshore oil have produced a wide variety of new problems in structural mechanics. Many of these problems cannot be solved by conventional analytical or experimental approaches and have therefore stimulated inquiry into new methods of solution. It is the purpose of this paper to give a brief description of an analytical method for solving nonlinear beam-column problems and to illustrate the generality of the method by applying it to several problems related to offshore operations. Although the data for all of the examples are artificial, the cases discussed will be recognized as being based on actual situations. DESCRIPTION OF METHOD The analytical approach which is to be described stems from research on offshore foundations, in particular, the study of lateral-load behavior of foundation piles. The method represents a generalization of a technique which was suggested by Gleser' and extended by Focht and McClelland2 and Reese and Matlock." To maintain generality and therefore versatility in the method, a considerable variety of input data is considered. Fig. 1 illustrates the various types of loads and restraints which might be applied to a short segment of a beam. Each of the terms illustrated in the figure is shown acting in a positive sense. Capital letters are used to designate concentrated quantities whereas the corresponding lower-case symbols indicate effects which are distributed in some way along the length of the beam. The transverse loads and the elastic restraints may be divided into two classes: (1) loads Q and q and springs S and s, which act normal to the axis of the beam, and (2) couples T and t and rotational springs R and r, which act in an angular sense. In addition, there is an axial force P which may be constant or may vary along the length of the beam. The bending stiffness of the beam (the product EI of the modulus of elasticity and the moment of inertia) is designated by the symbol F. The assumptions of conventional elementary beam theory provide the basis for the present method. Among these are the neglect of shearing and axial deformations and the limiting of consideration to straight beams of symmetrical cross-section. Lateral deflections are considered to be small compared to original dimensions. A deformed element of such a beam is shown in Fig. 2a. The curvature of the beam is approximated by the second derivative of the deflection y with respect to distance x along the beam. It is assumed that the material of the beam is linearly elastic and therefore the relation of Eq. 1 between curvature and bending moment M is the ordinary expression from elementary beam theory. A generalized beam element is shown in Fig. 2b. The element has been deflected in a positive direction by an amount y and tilted through a small positive angle dy/dx. The various loads and elastic restraint reactions are detailed in the figure. Temporarily, only distributed effects are considered; provision for concentrated loads and restraints will be made subsequently. Eq. 2 in Fig. 2b is obtained by summing the forces and moments acting on

By PAUL H. SHAEFF

THIS paper is presented with the idea of discussing only the basic open-hearth charge. The importance of the charging operation in producing steel is more clearly understood by dividing the principal components into four groups and discussing each separately, thereby becoming acquainted with what constitutes a charge. The significance of these components in the charge itself will then be taken up. Classification of the charge components is as follows: steel scrap; pig iron ; limestone ; refractories and coke. Steel Scarp The first component, steel scrap, according to size, analysis and cleanliness, may be classified as heavy, medium and light. Heavy melting scrap includes crop ends such as are produced in blooming ingots or the heavy crops from bar mills abovely in. in diameter; railroad scrap, which comprises rails, side-plates, car-frames, draw- bars, etc.; and such automobile forgings as axles, crank- shafts, gears, etc. This class of scrap should give a four-box charging-car (box dimension 24 by 18 by 72 in.) an average load of 10,000 to 20,000 lb.

Jan 1, 1926

By Harrison Schmitt

DURING the past decade the writer has studied and mapped certain ore deposits and their structural associations in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, New Mexico and Arizona, and he believes that these deposits, with the exception of the manto-chimney, are representative of the principal types in the area of the states named. In this paper the deposits are described; then generalizations are drawn so far as seems appropriate. HANOVER, NEW MEXICO The Hanover; New Mexico, zinc deposits were briefly described by Lindgren and others,1 Paige2 and recently in more detail by Schmitt.3 These, the kind ordinarily called contact metamorphic, border the southern end of an oval area of granodiorite intrusive 3/4 mile wide and 2 1/2 miles long (Fig. 1). The granodiorite has intruded, folded, and metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks, which range in age from pre-Cambrian to Upper Cretaceous. About 90 per cent of the ore has replaced coarse, recrystallized, pure, fossiliferous, lower Mississippian, nonmagnesian limestone (Hanover limestone) 110 ft. thick;4 about 75 per cent of it occurs in the upper 50 ft. of this horizon just below an 18-ft. lower Pennsylvanian shale bed, which lies on a locally inconspicuous unconformity representing upper Mississippian time. The orebodies show five shapes or attitudes, each dependent on a special structural situation: 1. Most of the ore occurs as podlike; thick lenslike or other "three-dimensional" shoots extending from top to bottom of the Hanover limestone and lying adjacent to the outer contact of a silicate zone largely of andradite, which follows the intrusive contact (Figs. 1 and 2).

Jan 1, 1933

By P. Barnes

(Read at the Philadelphia Meeting, February, 1878.) IT may be of interest, and perhaps of importance, to the members of the Institute that specific mention should be made in detail of the great value of this method of copying or photographing all kinds of tracings.* Several samples are laid upon the table which may serve as illustrations of the results obtained. Some of these show slight imperfections, depending upon the character of the tracing, and upon the length of the exposure to the light, but it may be clearly seen that even a faint copy would be quite available for actual use. The process is believed to be of French origin, and has been used for many years. Special attention seems to have been directed to it recently, and its great value to engineers appears likely to be fully recognized. The manipulations required are of the simplest possible kind, and are entirely within the skill and comprehension of any office boy who can be trusted to copy a letter in an ordinary press. These particulars may be summarized somewhat thus 1. Provide a flat board as. large as the tracing which is to be copied. 2. Lay on this board two or three thicknesses of common blanket, or its equivalent, to give a slightly yielding backing for the paper. 3. Lay on the blanket the prepared paper with the sensitive side uppermost. 4. Lay on this paper the tracing, smoothing it out as perfectly as possible so as to insure a perfect contact with the paper. 5. Lay on the tracing a plate of clear glass, which should be heavy enough to press the tracing close down upon the paper. Ordinary plate-glass of ill thickness is quite sufficient. 6. Expose the whole to a clear sunlight, by pushing it out on a shelf from an ordinary window, or in any other convenient way, for six to ten minutes. If a clear skylight only can be had, the exposure must be continued for thirty or forty-five minutes, and under a cloudy sky, sixty to ninety minutes may be needed. * The introduction of this process into the United States is due principally to Mr. A. L. Holley, who first drew the attention of American engineers to its simplicity and convenience. Mention was also made of the process at the meeting of the Institute in New York, in February, 1877, by Mr. Ogden Haight.

Jan 1, 1878

By John E. Miller

Unit Rig & Equipment Co., manufacturer of Lectra Haul trucks, is continually studying methods of reducing the operating costs of large haulage trucks. Reduction of haulage system operating costs is an important goal that equipment operators and equipment manufacturers constantly try to improve on. One of the most variable and important factors affecting operating costs is actual truck operating practices. An examination was centered on methods to optimize truck utilization. It was found that a very effective method of accomplishing this goal would be an automatic truck control (ATC) system to automatically control a fleet of haulage trucks in a predetermined pattern. Economic studies were conducted which showed a very favorable reduction in mine operating costs by use of an ATC system. In 1970, Unit Rig & Equipment Co., in conjunction with SAAB-SCANIA began preliminary development of adapting, for truck use, a proven automated control system, previously used for train systems, small trucks, and military target vehicles. In 1974, the first prototype system was installed on a Lectra Haul M-100 and tested extensively at Unit Rig's test track in Tulsa, OK. This truck and system were then displayed publicly at the 1974 convention in Las Vegas. In 1976, the system was redesigned for production to maximize reliability, ease maintenance, and to accommodate future control and-status reporting developments proposed for haulage trucks. The new design equipment was manufactured, and a full system test will be conducted in an actual open-pit mine for an extended period to evaluate reliability, compile economic data, and obtain application information to evaluate complete mine haulage system conversions to ATC. System Description The ATC system is designed to provide automatic control of all the vehicle functions normally accomplished by the vehicle operator. The basic system consists of the on-board control equipment and the wayside control equipment. The on-board equipment receives commands from the wayside equipment and controls all the truck functions. In addition, on-board sensors monitor all critical truck functions and provide instructions to the truck and system to assure safe operation. The wayside equipment consists of a buried guidewire, block control units and a central controller which provides predetermined signals to the on-board equipment for speed control, steering, and for auxiliary functions (dumping, horn, etc.) through the guidewire located in the truck's path. The wayside equipment also controls vehicle separation, system status, and provides truck location to a central display panel. The central control panel can vary the speed level signals over any segment and can also command an emergency stop to halt all the units. [Fig. 1] illustrates a typical ATC installation. If ATC is used in operations which require flexibility and mobility at the end of the ATC guidance network, the trucks can then be operated by either radio remote control or manually to complete their assigned functions.

Jan 1, 1982

By P. W. Andrews, R. B. Toombs

ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF MODERN INDUSTRIAL ECONOMIES The role of minerals in modern industrial economies may be examined in several ways. There are relationships with the various sectors of the economy: the primary, secondary, and tertiary industrial groupings and activities. Mineral supply and demand activities can be measured in terms of national accounts criteria. The economic policy objectives of the modem industrial economy are based to a considerable extent on the needs of the nation for economic supplies of miner- al materials. There is an important role for minerals relative to national security in peace and in wartime and many national policies are directed toward ensuring adequate sup- plies of minerals. Environmental control in the modem industrial economy is increasingly concerned with matters related directly to the production and use of minerals and these matters, in turn, bear importantly on conservation in mineral supply and demand. Mineral polices include specific provision for research and development activities concerned with the production and the use of minerals. In all, national policy objectives will be shaped in considerable part by the circum- stances of mineral supply and demand: the relative degree of availability from domestic and foreign sources, the state of the mineral-processing industries, and the degree of development of the mineral-using industries, and per capita and total changes in requirements. Goods made from mineral raw materials are the basis of all advanced societies and although this is taken for granted, every country is continually dealing with problems of mineral supply and demand. Considering that in the first 50 years of this century the consumption of mineral materials in a highly Industrialized country such as the United States increased by six times while the population was doubling, it becomes apparent that if a country is to enjoy rapid economic growth it must have access to huge and ever-growing supplies of mineral materials at lowest possible cost. Adequate supplies of mineral materials and wise usage of mineral resources have always been among the most important determents of a nation's survival The importance of access to adequate mineral supplies is increasing every year and this has significant international, as well as national, implications because of the unique locational characteristics of mineral resources. It is generally acknowledged that no particular type of natural resource is essential to a high level of national income or to economic progress. A country's endowment of natural resources need not exercise a determining influence on the course of its national income over time, provided it is able to trade. What is required for economic progress is the availability of a substantial quanti-

Jan 1, 1976

Jan 1, 1934

By Charles Pack

Die castings may be defined as metal castings made by forcing molten metal, under pressure, into a metallic mold or die. It is necessary to keep this definition in mind to avoid confusing this process with other permanent-mold casting processes. The fundamental principles of the process have been known and practised many years. The simplest application is embodied in the modern linotype machine in which molten metal (usually tin-lead alloy) is forced under pressure into a metallic mold. The pressure is derived from a piston and cylinder immersed in the molten metal. Progress in the art of die casting may conveniently be divided into three groups: Machine for imparting pressure to the metal, material for the die or mold, casting alloys. The problem of delivering molten metal under pressure into a die is comparatively simple, when dealing with low-fusing-point alloys, as the alloys of lead and tin, but it is much more complicated when dealing with metals of higher fusing points, such as the alloys of zinc, aluminum, and copper. Although the art of die casting is comparatively new and, to a large extent, unknown, the records of the patent office are replete with patents on the subject. Fig. 1 shows the Underwood machine patented in 1902; this is probably one of the first machines designed for the production of commercial die castings. The relation of this machine to the linotype casting machine is clearly apparent. A cylinder and piston are immersed in the molten metal, the application of power to this piston forcing the molten metal, under pressure, into the mold or die. The Doehler machine, Fig. 2, patented in 1907, is based on the same general principles. This machine is used to a large extent at the present time, throughout the United States, for the production of zinc, tin, and lead alloy die castings. In the machine shown in Fig. 3, patented by Doehler in 1910, compressed air is used for forcing the metal into the die. In Fig. 4 is shown another of this type of machine. Here compressed air is applied to the surface of the molten metal to force it into the die. In a machine patented by Chandler in 1914, shown in Fig. 5, the

Jan 1, 1919

By Robert F. Mehl

THE purpose of a symposium, I take it, is to gather together a group interested in a common intellectual field, in order to exchange views, and to appraise the state of knowledge. Symposia are the more successful, the greater the activity in the chosen field and the wider the range of applicability of the information gained. From time to time, as emphasis changes from one field of research to another, a given subject may enjoy popularity and later retire into a scientific somnolence, for fashions change even among engineers and scientists. The subject of this symposium, however, enjoys the advantages of wide applicability and of high current interest and productivity in results. It is a timely subject for a symposium; with much new information, surely metallurgical engineers should now devote an increasing attention to its application to practice. In beginning the symposium, I shall attempt briefly to appraise our basic knowledge in the field, to survey instances of practical usefulness, and to suggest where new work might be most productive of useful results. There are many examples of direct practical application of diffusion knowledge, and it is the purpose of the several papers in this symposium to review these. In this introduction I shall attempt to take a broad view, which, while it will but poorly serve the engineer in the solution of any given problem, may perhaps be of some use in assessing the state of knowledge in this field. RATE OF DIFFUSION Liquid Metals The process of diffusion among liquid metals, of gases in liquid or solid metals, or among solid metals, is ubiquitous, to say the least. The manufacture of alloys by the intermelting of metals, the addition of ferroalloys to molten steel, the deoxidation of molten alloys, all involve diffusion in the liquid state. The oxidation of molten copper for purposes of purification, the unsought oxidation of alloys generally during melting and casting, the reaction of liquid steel with oxidizing slags in the open-hearth furnace, the absorption of nitrogen by liquid steel, particularly in the bessemer furnace, all operate by the diffusion of gases in liquid metals. These processes have not been studied much from the viewpoint of rates of diffusion. Alloys are made by melting metals with stirring and with allowance of time for mixing (which is diffusion) but I know of no studies that seem to define the necessary times, and though in only very rare cases can faulty properties of the finished castings be ascribed to inadequate mixing, and though certainly in most cases, with stirring, the rate of diffusion is adequate to give sufficient mixing, a more quantitative treatment would be good to have. It is not wholly certain that thorough and sufficient mixing is at all times attained, for I suspect that ferroalloy additions to steel, and that additions of aluminum to steel as a deoxidizer, especially in the sampling of steels

Jan 1, 1944

By David W. Kennedy, Stephen P. Harrison

In the past few years, a new system has been developed for ventilating longwall panels in some gassy coal mines in the Northern West Virginia area. This system utilizes a five or six foot diameter air shaft to ventilate a group of three or more longwall panels dependent on conditions. This shaft exhausts all the air needed to, ventilate the active longwall and adjacent gob areas. By law, this bleeder fan can handle double the maximum methane concentration allowed in a normal return air course. As a result, the methane that must be diluted by the primary ventilation circuits is reduced. This new ventilation system was first conceived by mine management as a means of coping with a sudden shift in production mode that occurred a few years ago. Formerly, production often consisted of room and pillar mining with continuous miners. The high methane liberation rate was handled by driving entries around a large block of coal prior to mining. This isolated the future mining area from the adjacent coal seam and allowed a major portion of the trapped in situ methane to bleed off. Also, these bleeders served to exhaust return air from the mining area. Once the bleeders were established, productive mining could start. When the decision was made to shift production mode from continuous miners to longwall mining, some of the bleeders did not encompass large enough unmined areas under the old ventilation system to initiate longwall production. Also, many other established continuous miner section bleeders were either improperly positioned or too restricted for longwall ventilation. Unfortunately, standard bleeder development can take up to two years' time. In order to eliminate the old style bleeder system and maintain or increase the margin of safety for ventilation, the bleeder shaft system was conceived. With this system, the only entries developed are those necessary for the longwall, significantly reducing the production delay. In this area, the Pittsburgh #8 coal seam dips to the northwest. As a result of this dip, the bleeder shaft is constructed in the northernmost set of tailgate entries. In this manner, groundwater accumulations can be pumped to the surface and bleeder entries kept dry. During the initial longwall entry development, the bleeder fan can be used to ventilate entries adjacent to virgin coal where significant methane liberation often occurs. Once longwall production starts, the bleeder shaft exhausts the entire air quantity necessary to safely ventilate the longwall. As the bleeder entries deteriorate, the air quantity and pressure characteristics must be increased. The extreme flexibility of the centrifugal fan used at the surface allows the air quantity and pressure to be adjusted without stopping the fan. This improves safety by decreasing the possibility of a methane buildup resulting from the fan being out of service. The bleeder shaft system of ventilation, developed by mine management in Northern West Virginia, can provide a safe means for effectively ventilating longwall panels in excessively gassy mines. This system should be considered where mining conditions are comparable.

Jan 1, 1982