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By Frank J. Weibelt

In accordance with provisions of the Strategic Minerals Act of 1939, the Bureau of Mines surveyed the chromite occurrences in California. The Seiad Creek deposit afforded excellent opportunity for developing reserves that could be used by the nation in case of critical shortages of the mineral. Subsequently an exploration and development program was undertaken in April 1941, which was concluded in October of the same year. Work included road construction, diamond drilling, drifting and crosscutting, surface trenching, and sampling.

Jan 1, 1949

By R. V. Lundquist, H. Leitch

The solubility characteristics of mono calcium aluminate (CaO A₁₂ 0 ) in water and in NaOH , Na₂ CO₂ , and NaOH - Na₂ CO₂ solutions were measured by determining the changes in Al2O3 concentrations in solution over a period of time at a specified temperature . The monocalcium aluminate was synthesized by sintering its starting components for 72 hours at 1,375 ° C. Distilled water and aqueous solutions of technical grades of NaOH and Na₂ CO₂ were used as solvents . The extraction of alumina from the monocalcium aluminate was dependent on the composition of the solvent and partially dependent on temperature for leaching . About 98 percent extraction of alumina from the aluminate occurred in Na₂ CO3 solutions containing 10 to 12 percent NaOH . Other solution compositions produce lesser extractions .

Jan 1, 1963

By L. C. Brichta

The Melrose zinc-lead. deposit is in an area of structural disturbance of sedimentary rocks in the Melrose mining district in Cherokee County, Kans., 25 miles west of Joplin, Mo., adjacent to the northwest limits of the Tri-State district. Mining and milling in the Melrose district has been sporadic and. very limited, largely due to the high cost of exploration through great thicknesses of barren rock, 350 to 440 feet overlying the ore deposits. No mining has ever been done on the Melrose zinc-lead tract, but it has been drilled extensively. The drill-hole logy indicate extensive structural deformation, silicification, and zinc-lead deposits in the Boone limestone-chert formations of the Mississippian series, which is overlain by thick-bedded Pennsylvanian shale and sandstone. Analyses of samples from Bureau of Mines drilling indicate the ore minerals are sphalerite and galena with no evident oxidation. During the period from November 2, 1949, to March 13, 1950, the Bureau of Mines investigated the deposit by churn drilling and sampling 23 holes aggregating 10,405 feet of bore. Factual data on the investigation and logs of holes drilled by private parties and the Bureau of Mines are presented in this report.

Jan 1, 1951

By L. R. Burdick

Sulfur compounds have long been recognized as damaging pollutants of the air. A number of investigations have been made to determine the amount of such compounds existing in the air of various cities; moreover, some study has been given to the conditions affecting the concentrations. This paper summarizes published investigation and includes a bibliography on the subject. The methods of obtaining data have differed to the type of sampling, analysis procedure, hour of sampling, number of locations, and number of determinations made. Sampling methods include both the continuous type, covering a day or a number of days, and what can considered the ?snap? type, covering very short periods. Continuous sampling has, given data representing the average concentration at the location chosen but no information regarding variations from hour to hour, are none that might be said to represent the average for a city. The snap-sampling method, while not giving a true average for any one location or area, has in some instances made available date regarding variations of concentration during different hours of the day and at various locations or zones within the area chosen. Although the sulfur compounds in the air nay include sulfur dioxide, sulfur trioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and organic compounds of sulfur, most investigators report on the basis of sulfur dioxide. This gas unites with moisture to form sulfurous acid.

Jan 1, 1939

By J. E. Tiffany, Z. C. Gaugler

An active list of permissible explosives was published in December 1943 as part of the Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 3736 under the title "Active List of Permissible Explosives and Blasting Devices Approved Previous to June 30, 1943." This list included 180 brand names. Changes in the list that have been authorized to December 31, 1945, placed 10 additional brands of permissible explosives on the active permis- sible list as a result of tests and changes in brand names.. Twelve permis- sible explosives were transferred from the active. to the inactive list. The present list contains 178 brand names. The brand names of the permissible explosives placed on the active list are as follows: American 3-A By test. Apcol No. 1-B Do. Black Diamond No. 11-B DO. Black Diamond No. 55 DO. Coalite G-1 DO. Coelite K-1 Do. Do. Coalite L-1 Coalite IS-1 Columbia B-2 DO. By change in name. By test. Monobel AA The permissible explosives transferred from the active to the inactive list are as follows: Anthracite B, L. F. Big Red No. 8 Independent No. 1, L. F. Independent No. 2, L. F. Independent No. 3, L. F. Independent No. 4, L. F. Independent No. 5, L. F. Independent No. 9, L. F. Independent No. 9-C, L. F. Independent No. 10, L. F. Independent No. 11, L. F. King No. 9

Jul 1, 1946

By R. R. Backer

The Bureau of Mines investigated the typical physical and chemical properties of coal waste materials from the western part of the United States. The results are compared, in so far as possible, with the properties of waste materials from eastern coal operations. The authors found a disparity of mines and preparation plants among western U.S. coal operations and dissimilarities with typical operations in the East. The relatively cleaner product from the predominance of surface mining and the occurrence of thicker seams in the West reduces the amount of coal preparation required and the size of the waste piles. Because of the abundance of land available for waste disposal, many of the piles are low and extended over large areas. New concepts relating statistical shear strength data to liquifaction potential are presented. The somewhat limited data indicates that western coal sludge is coarser with higher permeabilities and shear strengths than the eastern deposits.

Jan 1, 1977

By Frank J. Cservenyak

Curtailment of bauxite importation by enemy activities during World War II focused attention on the necessity of developing domestic deposits of aluminous materials. Large quantities of aluminum ores such as kaolin, siliceous bauxites, high-iron bauxites, anorthosite, and diaspore clays are available but not readily amenable to Bayer processing because of excessive impurities. The Bayer process, which is the only commercial method in use in the United States for producing metallurgical-grade alumina, requires a high Al2O3 bauxite relatively low in SiO2 and Fe2O3. The Bureau of Mines was charged by Congress to investigate processes for the production of alumina from these low-grade ores. One part of the program was an investigation, in the laboratory and pilot plant, of the recovery of alumina by the lime-soda sinter process. Ores comprising kaolin, diasporic clays, anorthosite, and siliceous bauxites have been investigated and studied in the laboratory and pilot plant, and a series 'of reports covering these investigations has been prepared.

Jan 1, 1948

By Byron E. Blair

This report describes procedures for using a high-speed camera to study blasting phenomena. Both quantitative and qualitative information can be obtained, provided that proper interpretations of the projected two-dimensional images are made. Geometrical relationships between object and image displacements are given in terms of horizontal and vertical angles of the camera optic axis with respect to the quarry face. Correction factors are given for obtaining true object displacements from image displacements in the camera film plane. The time of initial rock movement also is considered, and the control-ling factors of camera speed, scale factor, minimum increment of projection measurement, etc., are evaluated in terms of minimum time intervals. The high-speed camera and associated equipment are described, and field measurements and laboratory data analysis techniques are outlined. An analysis of a typical high-speed motion picture is made, and the application of the necessary correction factors is illustrated.

Jan 1, 1960

By Frank J. Wiebelt

The Veta Chica and Cerro Colorado chromite deposits of the McGuffy Creek area, Siskiyou County, Calif. were selected as worthy of investigation by the Bureau of Mines in accordance with the Strategic Minerals Act of 1939. These were two of many chromite deposits examined by engineers of the Bureau of Mines during their extensive wartime mineral examination and exploration campaign. Exploration by the Bureau of Mines consisted of 2,234 feet of diamond drilling, surface trenching, and sampling during the months of May and June 1942.

Jan 1, 1949

By John P. Capp

The feasibility of simultaneously burning several paths through a coalbed to develop a multiple path underground gasification system was investigated by the Bureau of Mines during two experiments, Boreholes were drilled through the overburden and into the coal and arranged in a circle approximately 50 feet from a central borehole. In the first experiment, in an area which had previously been hydraulically fractured,5 air was injected at the center borehole. The coal was ignited at the other boreholes and the fire fronts traveled toward the center, counter to the flow of air, to backward burn paths through the coalbed. Two paths were linked during the first 5 days of operation. The outlets of these two paths were throttled and air pressure was increased to maintain the flow of air, but no other linkages were made. Fourteen days after the two linkages these two paths were opened and gasification was carried on for 10 days, but with only moderate success. In an effort to overcome operating difficulties air was injected at the peripheral boreholes, and the gases were drawn off at the center borehole. Reversed flow operations continued for 12 days and two more paths linked. The heating value of the gas generally was higher than 100 British thermal units per standard cubic foot (B.t.u. per std. c.f.). Because only four of seven paths linked, however, the entire system could not be evaluated with respect to product-gas output and recovery of energy.

Jan 1, 1961

By D. Harrington

While apparently the hysteria with regard to silicosis and other occupational diseases has largely subsided and this subject is being more carefully considered and soberly judged, it would be poor policy for any employer to maintain that the storm has ended and that he can relax and revert to conditions as they were 5, 10, or more years ago. The fact is that the plan of paying occupational-disease compensation is now in its infancy and can be expected to grow rapidly. At present, while all of the States of the Union, including the District of Columbia and excepting only Arkansas and Mississippi, have compensation acts, only the following make provision for occupational diseases to some extent or in one way or another: California, Delaware, Connecticut, District of Columbia? Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Silicosis is compensable in one way or another in California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, and possibly in other States. During the past few months, occupational-disease legislation (largely silicosis) has been considered in some form in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Washington. It will be surprising if comparatively comprehensive occupational-disease legislation is not on the statute books of nearly every State in the Union within the next 5 years. With this situation confronting him, the farsighted industrialist who has the interest of his organization at heart, if he has not already done so will immediately start to "put his house in order" by studying possible occupational disease hazards to his employees and promptly applying known remedial measures or attempting to devise such measures if none exist. Unquestionably, one of the most important of the surveys to be made relates to dust occurrence, as State laws on occupational disease are almost certain to contain provisions, on silicosis and, with almost equal certainty, the provisions of any State law are not likely to be particularly similar to those of other States.

Jan 1, 1938

By Richard L. Rains

During this study in 1983, the U.S. Bureau of Mines examined one mine and five prospects in the Greenwater Valley Wilderness Study Area (WSA). No mineral resources were identified within the WSA. Principal mineral commodities in the WSA are gold and silver with minor lead, and zinc. Two properties have significance; sample analyses indicate the Salsberry Prospect may have gold-silver-lead-zinc resources, and the Graham Jem Mine may have gold resources. The likelihood for development is greatest at the Salsberry Prospect, although the only recorded production from the study area was from the Graham Jem Mine; in 1908 less than 1 ton of gold-bearing ore valued at $25,000 per ton was produced. Gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper minerals in the WSA are associated with rhyolite dikes and quartz veins in Precambrian gneissic rocks, commonly concentrated in sheared zones along the dikes and veins. Although known to contain silver-lead deposits elsewhere, Precambrian Noonday Dolomite sampled inside the WSA contained no significant mineral values. Much of the WSA is covered by relatively unmineralized Tertiary and Quaternary volcanic rocks. The Bureau collected 140 rock samples at four adits, nine shafts, four trenches, and 33 prospect pits in the WSA. In 1983, 14 lone claims and one millsite within the study area were current. No patented claims, placer claims, or coal, mineral, oil and gas, or geothermal leases were in the WSA.

Jan 1, 1985

By J. S. Browning

The purpose of this Bureau of Mines project was to develop a method for recovering kyanite and sillimanite from the present zircon-mill tailing of the Jacksonville and Starke, Fla., plants of Humphreys Gold Corp. The kyanite and sillimanite in the ore are not being exploited at present, but procedures for recovering the two minerals were worked out by the Bureau in the interest of conserving natural resources. The current zircon-mill tailing of the Starke plant contains up to 20 percent of a mixture of kyanite and sillimanite. A similar product of the Jacksonville plant contains up to 15 percent kyanite and sillimanite. The average annual production of the tailing now being stockpiled contains several thousand tons of the two minerals. Laboratory batch-flotation tests were made on the materials to determine the feasibility of flotation methods for recovering high-grade concentrates. Various reagents were employed under different conditions to determine the optimum conditions for flotation of kyanite and sillimanite and retardation of the gangue materials. The results of the preliminary flotation tests were encouraging enough to warrant more comprehensive testing of a larger sample of the ore in the laboratory pilot plant.

Jan 1, 1956

By G. W. Birge, D. E. Wolfson, J. H. Lynch

This report by the Federal Bureau of Mines describes the carbonizing properties of coals from the principal beds in Boone County , W. Va . Results are given for samples of coals from No. 5 Block , Stockton - Lewiston , Coalburg , Winifrede , Chilton , Hernshaw , Cedar Grove , Alma , and No. 2 Gas beds . Boone County coals rank as high -volatile A bituminous . Eighteen of the 21 samples tested contained from 3.3 to 7.9 percent ash and 16 of the samples contained from 0.6 to 0.9 percent sulfur . Two samples from the Alma and No. 2 Gas beds , the lowest stratigraphically of the seams tested in Boone County , contained from 1.4 to 2.7 percent sulfur . Most Boone County coals yield

Jul 1, 1960

By M. E. Volin

The Ladd manganese deposits are in San Joaquin County, Calif., about 13 miles southwest of Tracy. The deposits are confined in two main areas of development, roughly about 1,700 feet apart horizontally, and known as the Ladd mine and Fabian mine, respectively. The deposits occur as interbedded lenses in the white cherts of the Franciscan formation. The ore minerals are bementite, rhodochrosite and psilomelane. As a part of the Bureau of Mines program of investigation and development of domestic mineral deposits, a development program was started. August 24, 1940, and completed on June 24, 1941. The Federal Geological Survey cooperated by mapping the geology and logging the drill cores. The program included road building, trenching, rehabilitating the mine workings, trenching underground excavation, sampling, and core drilling. The following pages mention the location, give a brief history, and note the physical features of +1-.1, district. Mine workings are sketched, the deposit is described and the plan of the project is noted. The work performed by the Bureau of Mines is explained in the concluding pages with a summary of the drill hole logs.

Jan 1, 1949

By A. C. Richardson, G. D. Coe, B. M. Bird

"The Hull mine of the De'Bardeleben Coal Corporation is located in the Warrior field, in Walker County, Ala., about 25 miles northwest of Birmingham. The Mary Lee bed at this point is coking coal and has been used in the manufacture of by-product coke, but at present it is sold exclusively as a domestic and locomotive fuel.The data in this paper, which is the third in a series on the washability of Alabama coals,5 have been obtained in connection with an exhaustive study of coal preparation in Alabama now being conducted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines and the University of Alabama with the cooperation of the different coal operators. The paper contains screen-sizing and float-and.-sink tests of a representative sample of run-of-mine coal, and flakiness tests and crushing tests of certain sizes.In addition, complete analyses of the ¾-inch to 3/16-inch size, raw coal, together with ash fusibility tests of the float-and-sink fractions have been made; those results are given in Tables 1 and 2. Since they indicate that the pr ration problem, like that at Lewisburg, Ala., is one of ash reduction, the further tests and the discussion have been restricted to that subject."

Apr 1, 1931

By Loren R. Anderson

This is an Appendix of Volume I. It contains the results of the electric cone penetrometer soundings from the first phase of the testing program.

Jan 1, 1982

By J. T. McCartney

In an effort to correlate the size of pyrite particles in coal and coal-particle association with the removal of pyrite before burning, the Bureau of Mines conducted a study of 61 coals presently being used for electric power production. The results were obtained by visual microscopic studies of polished briquets of minus l4-mesh samples. Mean pyrite particle sizes ranged from 20 to 400 microns and proportions of pyrite contained in coal particles to an extent greater than 50 percent by volume (estimated) ranged from 20 to 95 percent. These parameters were correlated with reductions in pyrite accomplished by float-sink tests at 1.60 sp gr on 14-mesh, 3/8-inch, and 1-1/2-inch samples. The correlation coefficients between pyrite removal and mean pyrite particle size were 0.89, 0.84, and 0.79, respectively, for these samples. Correlation coefficients between pyrite removal and coal-pyrite association parameter were 0.92, 0090, and 0.85, respectively. It is apparent that extent of pyrite removal can be fairly well predicted from microscopic analysis.

Jan 1, 1969

By G. B. Shea

In the search for possible future sources of petroleum products, the recovery and utilization of bitumens from the large outcropping deposits of bituminous sandstones in the United States have been under study by the Bureau of Mines for the past several years. The results of laboratory research in the adaptation of the hot-water separation process to recovery of bitumen from bituminous sandstones were reported in an earlier publication, on the Edna deposits near San Luis Obispo, Calif. This publication included analytical data on the cracked products and asphalts obtained from the extracted bitumen and on the cracking and distillation of the bitumen. Comparable hot-water separation tests have been run in the San Francisco, Calif., laboratory of the Bureau of Mines on quarry samples from the large deposits of bituminous sandstones near Vernal and Sunnyside, Utah. The bitumens were isolated from the extracts of the separation plant and analyzed at the Petroleum and Oil-Shale Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines, Laramie, Wyo. Part I of this report summarizes the general characteristics of the Vernal and Sunnyside deposits and discusses the hot-water separation process as applied to those bituminous sandstones and the results obtained. The separation tests showed that these bituminous sandstones also respond to treatment by the hotwater method of separation. The bitumen in the Vernal sandstone was extracted more readily by the action of hot water than was the Edna bitumen, which greatly simplified plant operation. The Vernal sandstone contains no water-soluble iron compounds, such as were found in the Edna sandstone, and, therefore, required no preliminary water washing. Recovery of bitumen from the Vernal sandstone was about 96 percent.

Jan 1, 1952

By Dougherty. E. Y., S. W. Zoldok, John W. Cole

"INTRODUCTION During its wartime program of exploration for minerals essential to the national economy, the Bureau of Mines was instructed to investigate sources of raw materials used in the manufacture of iron and steel. As a part of this investigation, some work was done on the iron deposits on the Neutral and Aztec claims on Buckhorn Mountain Canogan County, Washington, which was designed chiefly to indicate the nature and behavior of the ore deposits below the surface exposures. Diamond drilling was started in June and completed in July 1945. Preliminary laboratory tests on iron, ore from Buckhorn Mountain were completed during the fall and winter of 1945. This report presents the data obtained from the investigation.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSIn its program of exploration of mineral deposits, the Bureau of Mines has as its primary objective the more effective utilization of our mineral resources to the end that they make the greatest possible contribution to national security and economy. It is the policy of the Bureau to publish the facts developed by each exploratory project as soon as practicable after its conclusion. The Mining Branch, Lowell B. Moon, chief, conducts preliminary examinations, performs the actual exploratory work, and prepares the final re¬port. The Metallurgical Branch, R. G. Knickerbocker, chief, analyzes samples and performs beneficiation tests."

Apr 1, 1947