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By Michael A. Anuta

This report describes the potential for utilization of satellite observations for remote sensing of mine waste disposal areas. Four study sites consisting of metal and nonmetal mining areas in different climatic and physiographic regions of contigous United States were used in this investigation. The mine waste disposal sites consisted of mining of phosphates in Florida, copper in Arizona, silver in Idaho, and coal in West Virginia. Landsat satellite multispectral scanner observations were used together with aerial photographs, ground surveys, U.S. Geological Survey maps, and other ancillary information. Landsat digital data were categorized using automated supervised classification algorithms and an image analysis system. Detailed description of automated classification techniques employed and the accuracy attained is provided together with the results of manual interpretations. The inventory of areas distrubed for phosphate mining and a change detection investigation for-Polk County Florida were also undertaken during this study.

Jan 1, 1982

By John J. S. Sebastian

A laboratory-scale investigation was made of the basic problems involved in developing a ceramic heat exchanger to operate at high temperatures for using nuclear heat from gas-cooled process-heat reactors. Technical data were obtained on transferring heat by forced-convection from helium to air in a single-tube vitreous-alumina heat exchanger. Coolant air was passed through the annulus parallel with, and either concurrently or counter to, the flow of helium inside the tube. The data obtained pertain to removing heat from the helium. Average inside film coefficients were determined at mean surface temperatures of 200° to 1,570° F., inlet-gas temperatures of 1,450° to 2,665° F., and Reynolds numbers up to 560. The gas-to-surface temperature ratios were varied from 1.05 to 7.6. The tabulated results are shown in the appendix at the end of this report. The film coefficients of heat transfer were correlated by taking into account the physical properties of the helium at the average fluid temperature. With experimental conditions pointing to a laminar flow, the Nusselt number was found to decrease as the ratio of gas-to-wall temperature was increased to a value of 3. However, within the range tested, gas-to-wall temperature ratios above 3 did not affect the Nusselt number, regardless of the value of the Graetz number. Thus, beyond this point any increase in this ratio ceased to influence the heat-transfer relationship.

Jan 1, 1962

Three complete connector assemblies and ten separate contacts were submitted to a series of tests to establish the connector permissibility and compliance with the Bureau of Mines' research Contract H 0110423. Test Procedure TPC-0100 was coordinated, and the test plan approved by the Bureau as fully complying with the intent of the contract for the low voltage, medium voltage and high voltage A.C. connectors. The components and connector assemblies have been demonstrated in testing that they meet or exceed all the requirements of the test procedure.

Jan 1, 1972

By Lars G. Olavson

A prototype roof bolt which can be remotely placed by pumping has been developed by the Bureau of Mines. It is known as the "Pumpable Bolt". With the objective of field testing the effectiveness of the pumpable Bolt roof support system a mining machine was developed capable of installing Pumpable Bolts in the normal production cycle of a typical underground coal mine. The machine was built and the pumpable Bolt concept tested and evaluated as a total system in shop and mine tests. The machine was operated in the mining cycle of two mines and pumpable Bolts were installed at both mine sites.

Jan 1, 1976

By James Westfield

This report covers the calendar year 1953 and has been prepared and submitted in accordance with the provisions of Sec. 106(a) and Sec. 212(c) of the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act (66 Stat. 692; 30 U.S.C. Secs. 451-483). During this first full calendar year of operations under the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act, the coal-mining industry of the United States attained the best injury records in its history - improving the former best records (made in 1952) by 91 fatal and 10,020 nonfatal injuries. Whereas, the mandatory provisions of the act were intended and designed to prevent major mine disasters, apparently the effects have reached beyond the scope thereof in reducing mine accidents generally.

Jan 1, 1954

By Benjamin C. Pollard

The location and production potential of a large block of strippable reserves in North Dakota were determined by using published data as a base and adding new drill hole data or other data contributed by companies that presently own or lease coal lands. Only beds exceeding 5 feet in thickness, under less than 120 feet of overburden, and in large blocks of 5 million tons or more were included in the estimates. All such reserves are in the Fort Union Formation of western North Dakota and are lignite in rank. Sixteen large blocks of reserves evaluated in this study are estimated to contain a total of 4.1 billion tons of strippable lignite.

Jan 1, 1972

By M. W. Von Bernewitz

The Bureau of Mines receives frequent requests for information on the treatment of mercury ores, but as its own and almost all other publications on mercury are out of print, the Bureau has prepared this circular on the metal for the prospector and operator of small mines and plants. Mercury, commonly though improperly termed ?quicksilver?, is the only common metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures. Mercury is used in the amalgamation of gold and silver, in power boilers, explosives, friction-less bearings, laboratory apparatus, lamps, medicine, paint, rectifiers, and for ?silvering.? The last mentioned is being superseded by silvering with silver. The use of mercury boilers may increase when they are thoroughly understood, but amalgamation is -being replaced to some extent by the use of corduroy and other collecting mediums, such as jigs and flotation cells.

Jan 1, 1937

By Albert E. Long

During the summer and fall of 1948 the Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the U. S. Geological Survey, conducted 6xperiments in diamond core drilling in the Phosphoria formation in southeastern Idaho and southwestern Wyoming. Nearly all of the diamond core drilling in the Phosphoria formation has been done by mining companies interested in finding and developing phosphate-bearing beds amenable to stripping. The recovery of sludge; and enough core (usually 30 to 60 percent) to identify certain marker beds produced by current drilling practices meets both the primary requirement of mining companies in determining depth of overburden and their secondary need to determine the phosphate content of relatively thick minable units whose general composition and nature are already fairly well established.

Jan 1, 1949

By E. C. Lane

This paper is the first putt of a report giving the results of the Bureau of Mines' twenty-third semiannual survey of motor gasoline marketed in the United States. A companion report, Part II, is in preparation and will give a more detailed discussion of the whole survey. Results of the determination of copper-strip corrosion, color, sulphur content, copper-dish evaporation residue, and gum content as given by the Bureau of Mines steam-oven method will be presented in the second paper, which will also include the prevailing retail price and the tax at the time the sample was taken. This paper deals specifically with data relative to gravity, Reid vapor pressure,' and distillation (method 100.13).6 The samples tested were divided into "competitive-price gasolines" and "premium-price motor fuels," a method of presentation that was begun with the twenty-second semiannual survey. A total of 312 samples were collected from service station pumps in 20 cities throughout the United States. Of this number of samples, 207 were "com-petitive-price gasolines" and 106 were "premium-price motor fuels." All of the samples were collected in March, 1931, and analyzed at the Petroleum Experiment Station of the United States Bureau of Mines at Bartlesville, Okla. "Competitive-price gasoline" includes those fuels that are sold at the generally recognized local base price and all fuels that are sold below that price. All fuels that are sold at an advance over the generally recognized base price are placed in the class of "premium-price motor fuels." These fuels include Ethyl gasolines, benzol blends, "high-test" fuels, and those fuels that owe their "anti-knock" rating to the process of manufacture rather than to the addition of other material such as Ethyl fluid or benzol. The term "high-test" is generally applied to motor fuels that are more volatile than the regular competitive-price gasolines. "High-test" fuels may also have a high anti-knock rating.

Jan 1, 1931

By J. P. Powell

Records show that systematic water flooding was begun as early as 1935 in Greenwood County and in 1937 in Butler County. Water flooding on some earlier projects in Greenwood County were described in a Bureau of Mines Report of Investigation.2/ This report presents a discussion of 4 projects -2 in Butler County, 1 in Greenwood County, and 1 in Butler and Greenwood Counties. The location of these projects is shown in figure 1. The projects have been in operation 6 to 12 years and have recovered about 6.6 million barrels of additional oil from the injection of 84.7 million barrels of water. Three of the projects take advantage of the elevation of the nearby hilly terrain, and water from the treating ponds flows by gravity through the filters into the clear-water tanks. By utilizing gravity flow, fewer pumps and less electrical energy is required, resulting in more economical operation.

Jan 1, 1956

By Sidney Katell

This report, covering the period January 1968 through December 1968, is a continuation of a series that began with the publication of Information Circular 7516 in October 1949. It is the tenth in a series of reports prepared in cooperation with the American Association of Cost Engineers. The abstracted articles are concerned with all phases of cost of engineering in the field of chemical and petroleum plants and related subjects. They are from the following sources: 1. American Association of Cost Engineers Bulletin. 2. Bureau of Lines Information Circulars. 3. Bureau of Mines Reports of Investigations. 4. Chemical Engineering. 5. Chemical Engineering Progress s 6. Chemical Week. 7. Coal Age. 8. Coal Mining and Processing. 9. Cost Engineering. 10. European Chemical News. 3 11. Hydrocarbon Processing. 12. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 13. Oil and Gas Journal. 14. Petroleum Engineer. 15. World Oil.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. H. East, D. Harrington

"INTRODUCTION Burning refuse dumps are a common and by no means pleasant sight in most coal-mining distracts; they have been and largely continue to be accepted as a necessary, if undesirable, adjunct to coal-mining operations. The odor, smoke, and fumes emanating from the burning dumps have caused much property damage, as well as aroused unfavorable public sentiment in the areas thus affected; and there is reason to believe that, in at least some cases, they have had an adverse effect on the health of certain communities, adjacent to mines. In some instances such communities have been owned or controlled by the mining companies and in others they are incorporated towns.After the start of World War II, it was necessary for Great Britain to take prompt and effective measures to extinguish or at least blanket the burning refuse dumps at collieries, since the fires served as beacons for the enemy planes; the problem thus became a matter of national security rather than one of local inconvenience. If the United States should become involved in a bombing war, these dumps might became a source of national danger, hence now is a propitious time to at least make a start on available methods of solving this problem. Much progress was made in Great Britain in extinguishing the dump fires that had burned for years and in preventing newly made dumps from taking fire.Burning refuse dumps have not been a national problem in the United States, but they are a nuisance and frequently a danger and often a fruitful cause of poor public relations on account of the odor and fumes. Many progressive coal-mining companies are taking effective and positive action in trying to extinguish old dump fires and to build new dumps so they are less likely to fire.The purpose of this paper is to provide information about the problem as well as on ways to extinguish refuse dump fires, to describe methods of constructing dumps that probably will prevent them from firing, and to point out some of the danger that exists when dumps are improperly built and when they are on fire."

Mar 1, 1948

By Roger G. Long

This final report reviews installation, maintenance and inspection of mine pager telephone installations. A Technical Handbook was developed and distributed. Certain commercial telephone test equipment was modified and a tone source and switching circuit were developed for use in the testing of mine pager phone systems. Descriptions are included of the modifications to a commercial test set and of a tone source/ switching unit.

Jan 1, 1975

By J. D. Davis

THE carbonizing properties of one medium- and and five low-volatile coals from West Virginia and one high-volatile A and two medium-volatile coals from Pennsylvania were determined by 800° and 900° C. BM-AGA carbonization tests and expansion tests in the sole-heated oven. Plastic properties of the coals and the yields and quality of their cokes and other carbonization products were determined. The low-volatile coals comprised a mine and a coke-plant sample of Pocahontas No. 6-bed coal from the. Black Eagle No. 1 mine, Wyoming County, W. Va.; a mine sample of Pocahontas No. 6 bed from the Louisville mine, Mercer County, W. Va. ; Davy Sewell bed was sampled at the Twin Branch mine, McDowell County, W. Va.; and Fire Creek bed was sampled at the Dunedin No. 1 mine, Raleigh County, W. Va. The medium-volatile coals were from the Fire Creek bed, Laurel Creek mine, Greenbrier County, W. Va.; Lower Kittanning bed, Springfield No. 4 mine, Cambria County, Pa.; and Upper Kittanning bed, Springfield No. 6 mine, Clearfield County, Pa. The high-volatile A coal represented the Upper and Lower Freeport beds, Kent Nos. 1 and 2 mines, Indiana County, Pa. In addition to the coals listed, high-volatile A coal from the Pittsburgh bed, Warden mine, Allegheny County, Pa., a standard blending coal, was used in blends in this investigation.

Jan 1, 1950

By Allan E. Martin

As part of a comprehensive investigation of tae mechanism of desulfurization of iron and steel by slags, the Blast Furnace Studies Section, Metallurgical Division, Bureau of :lines, in cooperation with the Institute of Technology., University of Minnesota, has made a study of the forms in which sulfur occurs in blast-furnace slag. This report presents data on the three sulfides most important in iron smelting, namely, ferrous sulfide, manganous sulfide, and calcium sulfide. The tendency of these sulfides to form colloids in the molten slag was determined by an examination of quenched samples with an ultramicroscope. Vogt5/ conducted experiments on sulfide silicate melts and examined synthetic blast-furnace slags in a partly crystallized condition. His conclusions were that FeS, CaS, and MnS, or isomorphous compounds, such as (FeXCay)S and (MnxCay)S, were precipitated from the melt, depending on the composition of the slag. In all specimens sulfides were visible and were spherical.

Jan 1, 1941

By Robert H. Peters

Groundfall accidents have been the leading cause of fatalities in the underground coal mining industry for many years. Statistics from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) indicate that approximately half of the victims of these fatal accidents were in an area where no devices had been installed to support the mine's roof. This report was prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Mines to summarize the opinions of 268 coal miners, 29 rust-line supervisors, and 30 MSHA inspectors concerning why people go under unsupported roof, and how to prevent this behavior. Interviews were conducted at six minesites.

Jan 1, 1991

By J. L. Howell, D. E. Pollock, A. B. Cecala, A. D. O’Brien

Dust from worker,s clothes has been shown to be a problematic source of personal dust exposure. A recently completed effort between NIOSH and the Unimin Corporation has resulted in a quick and effective way to clean worker clothing. The process involves a booth under negative pressure with an air spray manifold to supply compressed air to blow off the dust from the clothing. The overall system is designed to meet MSHA and OSHA requirements. Results of field testing indicated that the manifold cleaned the clothes 10 times faster and removed 50% more dust than cleaning methods used by workers today.

By J. R. Allsup

Air pollutants in exhaust gas produced from LP-gas (propane) were studied using both laboratory engines and vehicles. The objective of the study was to evaluate engine parameters relating to the advantageous use of propane as a low-pollution fuel. Some comparisons are made between gasoline, natural gas, and propane. Results show that engines can operate over a wider range of A/F with minimum carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emission when using propane than when using gasoline. Mixture enrichment using propane is unnecessary during cold starts, thereby eliminating the emission penalty during warmup. Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emission using propane are unaffected by ambient temperature. The photochemical reactivity of hydrocarbon emission is considerably lower with propane than with gasoline.

Jan 1, 1972

By Mackenzie Burnett

This program was initiated by USBM to quantify the respirable dust problem caused by the use .of roadheaders in underground metal/nonmetal mines with special emphasis on this problem in uranium mines. The contract called for the development of methods or equipment to alleviate the respirable dust and to implement the solution in a mine. Attempts to quantify the dust problem were made in the following way: survey of MSHA records, survey of state mine enforcement agencies, survey of mine records, dust measurements taken at two mines using roadheaders. The results of this study are not conclusive due to very limited and sometimes less than useful data; however, the study does indicate that a serious dust problem could and may exist. If and when roadheader use becomes more popular, it is almost certain that development of dust control procedures and equipment will be necessary. This contract was concluded without developing this equipment since only one roadheader is currently in use in an American uranium mine and the mine prefers not to participate in the program at this time. This report discusses the available data concerning respirable dust problems and presents a solution which can potentially help to solve the problem. The solution requires the use of blowing ventilation, on-board dust extraction at the source, and filtration, as well as continued use of water sprays. The on-site tuning of such a system is necessary to demonstrate the degree of improvement possible.

Jan 1, 1981

By J. H. Hedges

During the World War Leadville was an important producer of manganese and maganiferous ores for then steel industry. Normally, the market for these ores is limited to the requirements of the local steel mill at Pueblo for low-grade ores used in making, basic pig iron containing 1 to 2 percent Mr and spiegoloison containing 20 percent Mn, but during the war and a brief period of postwar readjustment, a good deal of 25- to 40-percent manganese ore qua shipped to in-stern steel-manufacturing centers. Throughout the active life of the camp, manganiferous iron ore carrying a little silver and lead and sometimes as such as 35 percent Mn was chipped to load smelters for flux. The total reordered production is 936,024 tons of metallurgical ore shinned to steel mills and 2,576,514 tons of fluxing ore, much of it of metallurgical grade.

Jan 1, 1940