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By Andrzej Wala

Constantly increasing demand for energy materials and metal ores brought about tremendous progress in mining techniques which are characterised by a high degree of mechanization and concentration of works. One of the recent trends in underground mining mechanization is connected with an application of heavy machines with diesel engines [l],[2]. The introduction of diesel engines in mining all over world caused not only improvement in economic conditions but also the necessity to prevent contamination of air in the mine by toxic agents in diesel exhaust emissions. A generally used way of eliminating exhaust gases is proper ventilation of the cross cut by means of providing permanent exchange of air that would guarantee in every point of the cross cut and in every moment the decay in concentration of exhaust gases beyond threshold limit [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. The present paper is an attempt to define a mathematical model describing the changes of concentration in cross cut face to which fresh air is distributed by ventilators and tubes in a forcing way. Obtained model should offer its practical adaptability to engineering calculation of the amount of fresh air needed for diluting and eliminating exhaust gases beyond threshold limit. Justness of these models has been confirmed by investigation of the growth of nitrogen dioxide concentration in air environment in some cross cut faces of Kiirunavaara iron ore mine in Kiruna (Sweden).

Jan 1, 1980

By G. B. Misra

Though installations of main mine fans vary widely, the commonest installation is of a surface exhaust fan connected to an upcast shaft some distance below its collar by a horizontal fan drift bending sharply. downwards near its junction with the shaft. The junction of the fan drift with the shaft often causes considerable shock pressure loss if not properly designed. In one of the major coal mines in India circulating 180 m3/s of air through the mine a pressure drop of 229 Pa out of the total fan pressure of 568 Pa occurred at this junction while in a smaller gold mine circulating 9.4 m3/s it was 147 Pa out of a fan-drift pressure of 382 Pa. With larger mines circulating larger volumes of air, ill designed fan drifts can lead to considerable wastage of the power of ventilation. Shock loss at the junction of fan drifts with exhaust shafts depends on (1) the angle of deflection of the bend, (2) sharpness of the corners (both inner and outer) at the junction, (3) the degree of contraction of the flow-stream which depends on the cross- sectional area ratio of the shaft and the fan drift as well as the amount of leakage through the shaft collar. It must be noted here that the friction pressure loss in the bend is negligible compared to the shock pressure loss.

Jan 1, 1980

By G. Deschenes, M. Fulton

The New Britannia Mine processes a qumtz-carbonate gold ore containing 4.63 git Au at a rate of 2,200 tpd. The ore contains approximately 3 .0% arsenopyrite, 2. 7% pyrite and the rest is gangue minerals. Eight to ten percent of the gold is refractory to leaching. Two years ago, New Britannia Mine experienced cyanidation problems. Gold extraction was not stable and occasionally decreased significantly. Preliminary test work, at laboratory scale and in the plant, indicated that lead nitrate addition was beneficial. A laboratory study was initiated to evaluate the level of control of the parmneters (grinding size, dissolved oxygen, pH, free cyanide and lead nitrate) to optimize the efficiency of the process. It was found that lead nitrate addition is required to alleviate the effect of metallic sulphides. This addition causes a significant increase in the gold leaching kinetics and a reduction in the cyanide consumption. The optimum system appeared to be: leaching for 24-30 hours at pH 11.8, 50 git lead nitrate, 250 ppm NaCN and 8 ppm 02. The gold extraction was 89.8% with grinding at 89%-74Fm (leached tail at 0.48 git). Cyanide and lime consumption are 0.40 kglt NaCN and 1.9 kglt respectively. Following the incorporation of lead nitrate, overall gold extraction was increased from 89.2% to 91.1 % but no change was noticed in cyanide consumption. The gross profit is $CDN 988,000 per year.

Jan 1, 1999

By Paula N. Wilson, W. T. Parry

Carbonaceous and metalliferous black shales occur in close proximity to Mercur-type gold deposits in the southern Oquirrh Mountains, Utah. These shale units, the Manning Canyon shale and the Long Trail shale, have undergone regional hydrothermal alteration. Hydrothermal solutions oxidized organic matter and pyrite, replaced shale by hydrothermal phyllosilicates and silica, and replaced fossils by phyllosilicates. The shales are depleted in organic carbon, calcium carbonate, alkali and alkaline earth metals, and enriched in aluminum and hydrogen. Hydrothermal veins containing illite, chlorite, pyrophyllite, kaolinite, Fe-oxides, and sulfides are present throughout the study area.The illite in veins is an ammonium illite that contains up to 2 % NH4 and is correspondingly depleted in K. Correlations among Au, As, Hg, TI, Sc, and rare earth elements indicate that hydrothermal fluids responsible for formation of ammonium illite were gold bearing. K/Ar ages of illite veins and illite-rich, clay-size separates of altered shales indicate hydrothermal activity occurred in the time range 193 to 122 Ma. Several ages from clay-size separates within the Mercur district cluster near 160 Ma. These ages are coeval with thrust faulting recognized to the north and west.

Jan 1, 1990

By Harold Wagner, Prakash Donde, Larry H. Heflin

INTRODUCTION The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is responsible for the planned 166 kilometer (103 mile) Metro rapid rail transit system in Washington, D.C. Some 117 kilometers (72.8 miles) of this system is in operation and contains 30.6 route-kilometers (19 miles) of rock tunneling. To complete the planned system an additional 1.6 kilometers (1.0 miles) of single track tunnels in rock are planned and additional contracts will consist of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) of twin tunnel, resulting in 8 additional linear kilometers (5 miles) of single track tunnel contracts yet to be offered in soft ground. Three recent contracts in soft ground included the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), along with conventional tunneling, as a bid option. Section E5a, Fort Totten Station and Tunnels, was the only one of the three to be constructed using the NATM option. This is the first application of the New Austrian Tunneling Method in soft ground in the United States. This paper will concentrate on the Fort Totten Station chamber NATM design, construction, and the instrumentation readings and evaluations which lead to an engineering back analysis which allowed a refinement of the bid design, resulting in a faster, more efficient construction. Design of the Fort Totten Station and Lines was done by Sheladia Associates. The design team included Greiner Engineering and Jenny Engineering with Mayreder-Consult of Austria, who was responsible for NATM design and NATM construction consultation.

Jan 1, 1991

By John C. Edwards, F. Friel, John J. Opferman, Robert A. Franks

A series of diesel fuel fire experiments were conducted in the Pittsburgh Research Center's Safety Research Coal Mine (SRCM) to determine products-of combustion (POC) spread rates along a single entry under zero imposed airflow conditions. Six experiments with an average fire intensity of 330 kW and three experiments with an average fire intensity of 30 kW were con- ducted in a 180 m long entry which had an average 2 m height and 4 m width. POC spread rates were measured by the response time of diffusion type CO detectors, positioned at 30 m intervals, to CO concentrations 5 ppm above ambient. For the 330 kW fires, average POC spread rates of 0.22, 0.1 3, and 0.06 m/s were determined at 30, 60, and 90 m distances from the fire. For the 30 kW fires these average spread rates were reduced to 0.08, 0.04, and 0.04 m/s. The measured maximum roof layer temperature 30 m from two of the 330 kW fire was 30 and 36"C, which is less than the 57°C alarm point of a typical mine thermal sensor. It was determined that smoke detectors can be more effective for mine fire detection than CO detectors. The experimentally determined POC spread rates can be used to provide guidance for specification of sensor spacing to improve early fire detection at zero or very low air flows.

Jan 1, 1997

By C. H. Bucknam

Acid neutralization titrations were applied to the characterization of soil and overburden for the control and prediction of acid rock drainage in the coal fields of the eastern United States in the 1970?s (1). These became known as the Sobek methods as a result of the early United States Environmental Protection Agency publication and the methods have been modified (2) to be adapted to many applications in the metal mining sector (3,4,5,6,), and, as a result, there are a large number of acid neutralization potential methods being used that are referred to as Modified Sobek methods. Standardization of neutralization potential methods for metal bearing ores and related materials based on carbonate carbon, rather than titration, commenced in the 1990?s through the American Society of Methods and Materials (ASTM) Committee E01 on Analytical Chemistry for Metal Ores and Related Materials Subcommittee E01.02 on Ores, Concentrates and Related Metallurgical Materials (7). A subcommittee section, E01.02.05 on Environmental Methods, was organized to coordinate the method and material standardization efforts of ASTM and the Acid Drainage Technology Initiative Metal Mining Sector (ADTI-MMS) Prediction Committee (8), which took on the project of standardization of the acid neutralization potential acidity titration method (ANPA) to supplement the carbonate carbon method in E1915 (9) for application to samples which have metal carbonates (10), in particular, which result in overestimation of the neutralization potential using the carbonate carbon methods (11).

Jan 1, 2010

By N. S. P. Kumar

INTRODUCTION Development work at Carr Fork Mine of Anaconda Copper Company in Tooele, Utah commenced in August 1974. A decision to install an underground gyratory crusher for primary crushing run-of-mine ore and waste was made in 1976. Higher throughput rates, larger reduction ratios and greater flexibility in terms of meeting immediate and expanded production needs were the main reasons for selecting the gyratory crusher over the jaw crusher. UNDERGROUND MATERIALS HANDLING Underground crushing and conveying system was designed for a capacity of 16,300 mtpd of ore and waste on a 2-shift, 5-day week basis. Engineering and design of crusher complex was performed by Anaconda engineers at Carr Fork. Figure 1 represents the longitudinal section of mine showing the general materials handling system. Mine area is trackless except for materials and production haulage which is run on rail track on both 1200 and 970 levels. Ore from stopes and waste rock from development headings are handled by 3.8 cu m (5 cu yd) Jarco scoops and dumped into 2.4 m (8 ft) diameter ore and waste passes at the 1200 level. The material gravitates down to the 970 level where it is loaded into 12 cu m (420 cu ft) ASEA mine cars using side loading chutes. The muck train, consisting of 15 to 18 cars and two 27 mt General Electric trolley locomotives, is hauled over a distance of 2,300 m (7,550 ft) to

Jan 1, 1981

By Larry Powell

Rend Lake is an Army Corps of Engineers reservoir located in Franklin and Jefferson Counties in south-central Illinois. The lake consists of 20,000 acres of water and 19,000 acres of public access land. The site attracts over two million visitors a year and is surrounded by campgrounds and other recreational facilities. The lake overlies the largest tonnage of low sulfur coal in the state. Coal is being removed beneath the lake from five mines operated by three coal companies. Currently high extraction mining operations are approaching low-lying, environmentally sensitive, and high-use recreational areas. Advanced planning to maximize coal extraction and minimize potential effects of subsidence requires the development of procedures to assess the impact of high-extraction mining on the land use of the area. The Bureau of Mines, the Corps of Engineers, and the coal companies have initiated research to assess the following proposed planning steps to ensure the maximum recovery of the coal resources while minimizing impacts to surface land use: 1) Establish a dialogue between the surface and mineral owners; 2) develop a geographic information system to aid in assessing existing land use and potential changes; 3) assess the potential effects of subsidence on drainage, wildlife habitats, and changes in land use prior to mining; 4) coordinate the mining displacements with surface activities to minimize disruption; and 5) develop appropriate mitigation plans before mining occurs.

Jan 1, 1986

By Scott G. Britton

The first section of this text delves into construction engineering techniques for successfully completing necessary underground production support projects. I will discuss alternative design concepts, installation practices, materials and material costs, completion time, and necessary labor for individual projects. The emphasis of this section is on describing each project thoroughly and providing a practical guide for the supervisor or engineer. There are four main construction categories for typical underground mining projects. These are: 1) Transportation of men and supply materials. This refers to track and wire installation and roadbed grading and ballasting. 2) Ventilation, composed of overcasts, man doors, regulators, and stoppings. 3) Drainage, including sumps, pumping stations, drainage networks, pumps, and face drainage. 4) Haulage of coal and rock from the face to the outside. The focus here is in the installation of belt lines, belt drives, transfer points, and vibrating bins/feeders. The first section shall fully discuss these four categories in regard to the construction engineer or supervisor designing, building, or improving a system. In addition, special projects such as surge bins, rotary dumps, and underground offices not classified under these categories will be discussed. For manageable purposes, I have limited the installation discussions to one or two approaches I feel have merit. The variation of installations in coal mining is endless, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the reader should not dismiss or restrict his thinking to only the approaches in the text. It serves as a guide only.

Jan 1, 1983

By R. S. Rickard, B. Ball

INTRODUCTION Pyrite responds to the flotation reagents normally used in sulfide flotation systems. For example, it is well known that xanthates are good collectors for pyrite, and cyanide, sulfide and hydroxides are depressants. The particular response of pyrite to these and other reagents is used to advantage in several areas. By careful control of depressant and collector additions, pyrite can be separated from other sulfides by flotation. This is of obvious importance in base metal sulfide flotation where pyrite depression is often required to produce a marketable grade concentrate. Flotation of pyrite has long been employed in gold ore processing, and it appears that pyrite flotation from coal may become important in the future (1). It is probably a direct consequence of this relative ease of separation, plus the low economic value of pyrite, that detailed investigations on the chemistry of its flotation and depression are relatively limited. Gaudin (2,3,4) and others, in the mid-1950's published data on the flotation of pyrite, but detailed or consistent mechanisms were lacking. In 1955, Sutherland and Wark's book (5) was published, in which a large amount of empirical information, especially earlier work of Wark and Cox, was presented. More recently, in 1968, significant contributions have been made by Fuerstenau et al. (6,7) and Majima and Takeda (El. These papers introduced electrochemical explanations of the effects observed with xanthate and cyanide ions.

Jan 1, 1976

By J. D. Pitts

Long distance slurry pipeline systems for steam coal, iron concentrates, copper concentrates, and limestone, first used nearly 60 years ago, are now transporting nearly three billion ton-miles annually. At this time a phosphate concentrate pipeline is nearing start-up and systems for transporting coking coal, lead/zinc concentrates, and fly ash are planned. The solids pipeline concept was first patented in the early 1900's and put into practice in the 1950's. Table 1 summarizes the major elements of several presently operating commercial systems. Increased control system sophistication has been accompanied by significant drops in control equipment size and cost, as illustrated by recent cases of pipeline operation with progressively more advanced level of control: 1) The Consolidation Coal (Ohio) and Savage River (Tasmania) iron concentrate pipelines started in 1957 and 1967, respectively, used simple hard-wired control logic. 2) The Black Mesa (Arizona) coal slurry pipeline commissioned in 1971 added a hard- wired programmable logic controller for some of the start-up and shutdown routines. 3) Two years after its start-up in 1974 the Pinto Valley (Arizona) copper concentrate pipeline was tied into the concentrator digital computer system for data logging. 4) The Samarco (Minas Gerais, Brazil) iron concentrate pipeline which came on-line in mid-1977 was the first slurry system to use a dedicated supervisory computer for its control. Communication to remote areas was via micro- wave and buried cable.

Jan 1, 1979

By S. B. Kim, J. Hong, K. Park, W. Kim, H. Kim, Y. Han, J. Choi

"For the first time, the influence of stearyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (STAC) as a collector, on the flotation behavior of lepidolite (Uljin, South Korea) was systematically examined in Denver Sub-A cells. Flotation tests were carried out by varying amount of STAC (50–200 g/ton), feed size (-65, -100, -150, and -200 mesh), and solution pH. The impeller speed of 1000 rpm, flotation time of 10 min and AF-65 (a frother) of 250 mL/ton were invariably applied. In order to complement flotation experiments, zeta potential measurements and XRD analysis were conducted. XRD results showed that the ores were mainly composed of lepidolite, muscovite, quartz, calcite and albite. In addition, zeta potential results showed that isoelectric points were about 2.5, 2.3, and 9.7 for quartz, albite, and calcite, respectively, and lepidolite was determined to be less than 2. Overall, the results of 3-stage flotation showed that Li2O grade and recovery tended to increase with increasing STAC dosage and decreasing feed size. In addition, Li2O grade increased with decreasing pH. The results were explained by the extent of the interaction between STAC and each mineral.INTRODUCTION A great number of potential applications of lithium are being developed currently by the thermonuclear fusion power generation industry(1,2) as well as by the battery and fuel cell industry(3). Even though lithium is mainly consumed in the form of lithium metal and some lithium compounds, about 10% of total lithium production is consumed directly as mineral concentrates by the ceramic industry for the manufacture of special ceramics and mica based glass-ceramics(4). Granitic pegmatites normally contain feldspars, quartz, and mica in addition to lithium-bearing minerals such as spodumene (LiAl(SiO3)2), petalite (LiAlSi4O10), and lepidolite (KLi2Al(Al,Si)3O10(F,OH)2). The amount and grade of metallic minerals tend to gradually decrease and become lower, leading to the increase in the price of base metal or metallic compound(5). Accordingly, recent studies have been extensively devoted to developing the technique to improve the grade of metallic minerals from low grade metallic ores(6,7). Nevertheless, studies regarding the improvement of Li grade from lepidolite ores are very scarce. Lepidolite is a phyllosilicate mineral of the mica group and is often associated with other minerals such as calcite, muscovite, feldspar, and quartz, which need to be separated for lepidolite enrichment(8). Many studies have reported the flotation techniques for separating calcite, muscovite, feldspar, and/or quartz from various targeting minerals(9-11); however, there has been no attempt to investigate physico-chemical properties of lepidolite and its separation from such types of gangue minerals through flotation. Hence, in this study, for the first time, flotation has been carried out for the quaternary ammonium salts (stearyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (STAC, (CH3)3CH3(CH2)16NCl))-lepidolite system based on only the electrokinetic property of minerals that consist of lepidolite ores without adding any depressant to get an initial insight on its flotation behavior. The experimental variables that influence the lepidolite flotation such as amount of collectors, feed size and solution pH have been also examined."

Jan 1, 2015

By J. D. Morgan

Demand for nonfuel minerals depends in large measure on economic activity, which rose in each quarter of 1985. However, despite 1.7 million new housing starts and a 7% increase in motor vehicle production, many domestic metal mining operations experienced continued difficulties as a result of import competition, greater use of newer engineered materials, emphasis on multi-unit housing, and downsizing of motor vehicles. Recognizing the continued difficulties of the domestic metal mining industry, many corporations made major efforts to retrench and rationalize - selling, closing, or spinning off less profitable operations, renegotiating labor contracts, and inviting increased participation by foreign firms. About 15% of US energy was imported in 1985. This included $52 billion worth of crude oil and refined products, adding significantly to the overall merchandise trade deficit of $149 billion. With the exception of a few large-bulk, low-value raw materials, most minerals move relatively freely in world trade. The strong dollar encouraged imports and made exporting more difficult US nonfuel minerals trade deficit totalled $17 billion. The US continued to rely on imports for many important strategic minerals in 1985 (see accompanying Table). Increased pressures for protection included major mineral products such as steel, ferroalloys, and copper. But President Reagan, in his Feb. 1986 "Economic Report to the Congress" stated: "Our international trade policy rests firmly on the foundation of free and open markets." He also stressed the need for fair trade and more open markets internationally. The National Critical Materials Council, created by law in the latter part of 1984, was activated in the latter part of 1985. Its first public hearing was held in January 1986. The Council is to review the nation's materials posture and advise the President on such matters. Compared with 1984, the value of US raw nonfuel mineral output rose 2%, to $24 billion. This supported the production of $244 billion worth of processed materials of mineral origin. Raw steel production - a major indicator of both material use and mineral production - fell 4% to 81 Mt (89 million st). Consequently, domestic iron ore production fell to 49 Mt (55 million st), about 97% pelletized. Iron ore imports fell 7% to 16 Mt (18 million st). Raw steelmaking capacity fell 4% to 117 Mt (129 million st). Pacts with 16 leading steel exporting nations have been negotiated in an effort to reduce import penetration of the domestic market. Domestic producers of bulk ferroalloys of chromium, manganese, and silicon operated at about 40% capacity. The US mined no manganese or chromium. Only a small quantity of ferronickel was produced from domestic laterite mining in Oregon. Molybdenum production increased slightly to 49 kt (54,000 st). Mine shipments of tungsten, another mineral tied to steel production, also fell slightly to 1.1 kt (1200 st) of contained metal. Even the domestic aluminum smelting industry suffered reverses as high stocks and low prices reduced production 16% to 3.5 Mt (3.8 million st). Similarly, imports of bauxite fell 7% and alumina 10%. Production of magnesium metal fell 6% to 136 kt (150,000 st), while titanium metal production remained unchanged at 22 kt (24,000 st). Copper mine production was unchanged at 1.1 Mt (1.2 million st). Copper refinery production fell slightly to 1.1 Mt (1.2 million st). Lead mine production rose 24% to 400 kt (440,000 st). Zinc mine output was down 10%, to 225 kt (250,000 st). Refined lead production increased 28%, to 510 kt (560,000 st). Primary slab zinc production fell 5% to 240 kt (260,000 st).

Jan 5, 1986

By Andrew Torok

Activated bleaching clays, so called because of their ability to remove color bodies from bleach fats and oils, are produced from clays of bentonitic origin. Activation is achieved by subjecting these clays to physical or chemical alteration to increase selective sorption capacities (1) . The future of activated bleaching clays depends upon the ability of producers to recognize the new areas of applications which are arising, and their skill in developing sophisticated active clays to meet new and stringent requirements. The major portion of activated bentonites are produced for decolorization of oils. New techniques of activation will improve these clays for broader spectrum use. General properties expected to result from present activation methods are: 1. Modification of hydrophobic-hydrophilic properties and increased available surface area in non-aqueous systems, thereby improving sorption capacity and ability to remove color bodies from oils. The following additional properties will be expected from future activated clays: 2. High purity of the active clay with interfering impurities totally removed. 3. Increased selective sorption capacity in aqueous systems. 4. Selective chemical reactivity, such as oxidation or hydrolysis. This property is required for removing

Jan 1, 1971

By Robert W. Bartlett

Heap biooxidation of sulfidic refractory gold ore requires large amounts of oxygen, as shown in Figure 1. Bacteria, Thiobaci/lus ferrooxidans, are donnant at oxygen concentrations below about 3% in air (1 ppm in aqueous solution) because ofmonod kinet­ics. Hence, the maximum possible utilization is only about 75%, and it may be much less than that due to poor air sweep effi­ciency. At the maximum oxygen utilization, an ore containing two percent pyrite requires nearly 100 cubic meters of air per tonne (4,000 cubic feet per ton). The stoichiometric air require­ment to oxidize arsenopyrite is similar to that of pyrite. While the leaching solution percolating through the heap introduces some dissolved oxygen, the amount is insignificant because of the low solubility of oxygen in water, 7 to 8 ppm at atmospheric saturation. There are only three ways to provide oxygen to the heap: either air flow by natural convection, diffusion of oxygen from the surface (through stagnant air in the air-filled void space in the heap), or forced air ventilation of the heap. Each of these processes will be reviewed.

Jan 1, 1996

By Ted M. Noskiewicz, James A. Ramsay

INTRODUCTION During the various stages of an underground project from inception through design and construction, probably the single factor of most interest and concern is the nature of the ground. The ground conditions more than any other item govern costs and feasibility; and although the methods available for assessing the ground have become increasingly reliable during the past thirty years, it is still very difficult in many cases to predict the behaviour of soil and rock during and after excavation. To help in this ground evaluation process, we have frequently supplemented the boring program with one or more large diameter inspection holes; and during the past eighteen years, seventeen of these holes have been constructed on tunnel projects which we have designed. There are references in the literature to similar inspection holes (1); however, as far as we are aware, no detailed description of them has been published. The behaviour of soil or rock during and after excavation and the effect of ground water on tunneling operations are of vital interest to tunnel designers and contractors. A comprehensive geotechnical investigation is therefore among the early and most important tasks carried out on a tunnel project and the backbone of every geotechnical investigation is the boring program. A series of borings, typically 50 to 100 mm (21 to 4 in) diameter, are drilled from which soil samples or rock core are recovered and the ground water observed.

Jan 1, 1979

By John T. Gormley, Pressley L. Campbell, Harry L. Crouse

INTRODUCTION This paper summarizes an investigation conducted to determine the relationship, if any, between reported occurrences of abnormal levels of carbon dioxide (C02) gas and the construction of a 2.44meter diameter main sewer tunnel under South Eighty-Fourth Street, West Allis, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Specific objectives of the study were to determine: (1) the sources of C02, (2) the significance of each C02 source, (3) how C02 could move to areas where it was reported to occur in abnormal concentrations, and (4) what actions could be implemented to eliminate elevated C02 levels associated with the tunneling operation. To accomplish study objectives, expertise from several scientific and engineering disciplines was required including chemistry, geochemistry, microbiology, hydraulics, and hydrology. Pertinent documents were reviewed and field data pertaining to each aspect of the study were collected as required and examined to evaluate existing conditions. Background On or about February 1, 1971, gas with a composition different from normal atmospheric air was reported to enter basements and wells of residences in the vicinity of South Eighty-Fourth Street, West Allis, Wisconsin. Examination of the gas composition revealed that it possessed an elevated concentration of C02 and a depleted concentration of oxygen (02). Public health officials who investigated the appearance of the objectionable gas concluded within reasonable certainty that the elevated C02 concentrations were associated with the tunnel construction under Eighty-Fourth Street.

Jan 1, 1979

By G. R. Laurer, J. W. Neton, C. Pomroy, N. Cohen, M. Eisenbud

INTRODUCTION In uranium miners, a causal relationship between exposure of the lung to high levels of alpha radiation and the consequential induction of bronchial carcinoma is now well-established (Wagoner, et al., 1965). Quantitation of this cause-effect association presents considerable difficulty, however, as the result of various confounding factors such as the contributing effects of smoking and/or arsenic exposure (Archer, Gillam, and Wagoner, 1976), normal metabolic variability and, perhaps most important of all, the absence of accurate radon/radon daughter exposure data. Estimates of cumulative lung exposures suffer from inaccuracy due to critical factors such as 1) unknown ventilation rates; 2) difficulties in obtaining representative mine air samples; 3) the variable character and magnitudes of the exposure sources; and 4) specific differences in metabolism and job histories that exist among miners. It was with considerable enthusiasm, therefore, that investigators readily embraced the idea of using skeletal burdens of the relatively longlived descendants of radon and its short-lived daughters, i.e., 210 Pb and 210Po (Archer, et al., 1968), to provide a measure of cumulative past exposure wherein the body acts as an integrating dosimeter. Early studies considered excretion rates of 210Pb and 210Po in urine, blood and hair (Sultzer and Hursh, 1954; Black, et al., 1968; Jaworowski, 1965; Bell and Gilliland, 1964) as well as their concentrations in bone samples, if and when they became available (Blanchard, Archer, and Saccomanno, 1969). These methods were ultimately complemented by in vivo, whole-body counting techniques using low background, NaI-Csl(T1) detectors (Eisenbud, et al., 1969). By this latter method, it would be possible to measure the skeletal burden of 210Pb directly, thereby avoiding the many difficulties associated with the relation between nuclide excretion rates and body burden. The rationale was simple; by knowing the skeletal burden of 210Pb it should be possible, by the judicious use of an applicable metabolic model, to estimate the cumulative lung exposure to alpha-emitting radon daughters (Fig. 1). Various models that were consequently constructed, however (Fisher, 1969), all suffered from the same limitation, i.e., the assumption that the source of 210 Pb in the skeleton and the source of lung exposure to the short-lived radon daughters were simply related and, if not, were at [ ] least not too variable (Raabe, 1970). By now, the difficulty with this assumption has been recognized and more sophisticated modeling techniques have been attempted which presumably present a more realistic picture of exposure conditions (Holtzman and Rundo, 1981). There is, nevertheless, the pessimistic view that due to the variety and variability (in time as well as in character) of sources that may exist for the origin of 210Pb in bone, it may [never] be possible to estimate past lung exposures accurately by an indirect, predictive model. For example, the origin of 210 Pb in the skeleton may include such sources as: 1) the decay of short-lived 222Rn daughters, inhaled and ingested; 2) the decay of 222Rn dissolved in body fluids and tissues; 3) directly from 210 Pb present in air, inhaled and ingested; and 4) 210Pb from non-occupational sources, e.g., food, water, smoking and endogenous 226Ra. The contribution of each of these sources may vary depending upon specific site conditions such as ventilation and mining operation. On the other hand, empirical evidence seems to indicate a trend reflecting the simplest of direct

Jan 1, 1981

By L. Cui

X. Huang (1997) recently suggested a poroelastic model for simulating the hydraulic fracturing breakdown pressure. His paper began with a discussion questioning Haimson and Fairhurst's (H&F) model. He claimed that the H&F model failed to lead to the Hubbert and Willis (H&W) model as[ a --> 0.] Huang also tried to explain why the H&F model could only work for special types of rock conditions. He pointed out that one possible reason could be that the Terzaghi's effective-stress concept had been adopted. The H&F model (Haimson and Fairhurst, 1969) was derived under the conditions that the borehole wall is fully penetrated (pp = pi) and a drained state is realized (steady pore-pressure field). Cui et al. (1997a) demonstrated that, under drained conditions, the total stresses in the penetrating poroelastic model (identical to the H&F model) degenerate into their counterparts in the elastic model (identical to the H&W model) as [a -- 0.] However, the effective-stress conditions are different for both of these models, because different pore-pressure conditions at the borehole wall were adopted. In the H&W model, p = po was assumed, i.e., the pore pressure field is not disturbed; but pp = pi was assumed in the H&F model. Assuming that Terzaghi's effective-stress controls tensile failure (that was the hypothesis adopted in both the H&F and the H&W models), only the following two special drained poroelastic cases may degenerate into the H&W model for very small a: • when the pore pressure at the borehole wall remains at the same level as the virgin pore pressure for a penetrating model and when the borehole wall is simply impermeable (i.e., the nonpenetrating model, Cui et al., 1997b). Therefore, simply setting a = 0 in the H&F model generally does not lead to the same problem described by the H&W model. On the other hand, when the porepressure boundary conditions do not correspond to the ones in the H&W model, a degeneration of the poroelastic model to the H&W model as [a – 0] should be questionable. The pore pressure at the borehole wall is generally dependent on the injection-fluid pressure and the penetrating conditions at the borehole wall, such as the existence of a filter-cake. For an impermeable wall, pp is independent of Pi, and it is basically an unknown [(how¬ever, pp -- po as t --oo).] For a fully permeable wall, pp is the same as Pi. Between these two extremes, pp should be a function of p; and the permeable condition of the borehole wall, which may be dependent of the leak-off coefficient cf. (the range of cf is from 0 to 1). Theoretically, for a rock with low permeability, a penetrating borehole wall is still possible. For saturated porous materials with very low values of a, poroelasticity shows that a pore pressure will be built up due to the stress concentration subjected to a nonhydrostatic in situ stress field (Cheng et al., 1993). This phenomenon is known as the Skempton effect. The variation of the pore pressure may be evaluated by [AP = 3 B(A rr + 06ee + A (Y,,)] (1) where B is the Skempton pore pressure coefficient. This pore pressure variation dissipates as time increases (it is totally gone as the drained state is approached). The rate of the dissipation mainly rely on the permeability of the formation. The dissipation is very slow for tight formations because their permeability is very low, and it is fast for rocks of high permeability. According to our analyses, the time period for this process could be from seconds (for sandstone's) to a couple of days (for stales). One possible reason that the H&C model did not agree well with the experimental results for rocks with low permeability might be that the time interval between the application of the loading and the fluid injection had not been long enough for the dissipation of the Skempton effect. The effective-stress law basically defines how much pore pressure contributes to the total stress. The difference between Terzaghi's effective stress and Biot's effective stress is that 100% of the pore pressure contributes to the total stress in Terzaghi's definition, while only a certain portion of the pore pressure ((ap) goes to the total stress in Biot's definition. Therefore, when the pore pressure at the boretole wall (pp) is determined according to Biot's effective-stress law, app in the total tangential stress is attributed to the pore pressure. In other words, Terzaghi's effective tangential stress is expressed

Jan 1, 1999