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By John C. Machisak

THIS PUBLICATION presents injury experience and employment data for the nonmetal mining industry in the United States for 1960. Data for the mines and mills are presented separately, as shown in the list of tables. The Bureau of Mines is authorized to send questionnaires to the nonmetal mining industry for their voluntary submission of injury and employment data. As the information submitted contributes largely to the promotion of safety in the industry, special effort has been made to make these questionnaires as complete as possible.

Jan 1, 1963

By J. M. Pugliese

The Bureau of Mines, in support of its overall goal of helping to meet future U.S. demand for minerals, undertook this study to aid the quarry entrepreneur and/or operator in developing quarries near urban areas. In response to increased environmental concerns, the quarry operator often must take steps beyond those required in the last decade toward gaining permits for quarrying near metropolitan areas. Following the steps suggested in this report should increase the chances to obtain the permits to open and develop a quarry. Each task and question in the general plan flow diagrams are described in detail, with the flow diagrams aimed at the goal of acquiring the necessary permits. The appendixes include (1) types of projects for which Environmental Impact Statements (EIS's) may be prepared and Federal agencies responsible for preparing them, (2) State contacts for information regarding environmental impact assessment requirements and mining and mineral land reclamation laws, (3) a checklist of environmental inventory factors, (4) a tabulation of different regulations that affect mining in Michigan and the number of townships and counties that have each of the listed regulations, and (5) environmental logic associated with site selection. A central recommendation is that the quarry entrepreneur and/or operator coordinate plans at the beginning with local government officials (such as township supervisors and/or city and county planning board members), State and Federal officials, and public groups that will be affected.

Jan 1, 1979

By R. F. Chaiken

The Bureau of Mines has conducted a study of mine fires in the Anthracite Region of Pennsylvania to determine the most effective approaches to fire control in this area. The problems involved in controlling an anthracite fire include the geological and mining conditions in this area, the propagation characteristics of anthracite, the fire control methods available, the hazards associated with these fires, and the mar-ginal effectiveness of past fire control projects. From this genecal background, fire control options were discussed as they apply in ISBO to the Centralia mine fire. Probable effectiveness, feasibility, and costs were assessedv The options evaluated include four excavation plans, flooding, hydraulic flushing, water curtain isolation, mining to construct an underground carrier, burnout control, and relocation of the community. The most advantageous from a technical viewpoint is an excavation method combining complete excavation of the fire zone within the borough with trenching to confine the remaining fire. It appears that for many anthracite fires, as for the Centralia mine fire, there are no available control measures that have a moderate cost, are proven effective, and produce minimal disruption on the surface.

Jan 1, 1983

By S. Malhotra

Processes for the recovery of manganese contained in low-grade domestic sources are evaluated. Conclusions are based on analysis of literature, technical evaluation and cost analysis. The Nossen Nitric Acid Process, the Sulfuric Dioxide Process rind the Ammonia Leach Process should be developed further as they offer the hunt opportunity for commercialization.

Jan 1, 1984

By D. J. Bauer

The Bureau of Mines has conducted extensive studies on the recovery of alumina from kaolinitic clay by a HCI leaching-HCI sparging process. The current study reports a modification of the process, which involves a double-leaching system. The first leach of the calcined clay is made at as high a HCI acid strength as possible so that the dissolution of aluminum chloride hexahydrate (AlCI3*6H20) is suppressed, Most of the impurities, but very little aluminum, are soluble in the strong acid. After liquid-solid separation and washing, the solids are leached with recycled weak HCI, which dissolves the AICI3'6H2O. The pregnant liquor is separated from the gangue, and AICI3'6H2O is crystallized from solu-tion by injecting HCI gas. A proposed flowsheet is presented, and the effect of bleedstream size on AlC13'6H20 purity is discussed.

Jan 1, 1984

By Normal Seidle

This report (rind related Appendices) provides a description of the functional design specifications and related rationale for development of a training system for dragline equipment operators. Phase I activities involved a delineation and detailed analysis of specific behavioral requirements for successful dragline operation. Following the field data collection effort, job/activity/task descriptions were formulated into training requirements which can be achieved by a trainee with training hardware having specific functional capabilities. The training system analysis integrated the training requirements and the trainer functional capabilities into recommendations which configure a total training system. The objective of the training system described in this report is to provide new operators of dragline equipment with the requisite skills and knowledge to assure cost-effective development and an adequate supply of our human resources.

Jan 1, 1975

By G. L. Gates

The waters used to waterflood the Wilmington oilfield were studied by the Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the city of Long Beach, Calif. Increases in the pressure of the injection wells indicated that they were being plugged by materials suspended in the waters. This study was made to identify the suspended materials, determine their origin, and find methods of preventing their formation. The suspended oil-coated materials were iron sulfide, barium sulfate, calcium carbonate, clay, and sand (or silica). Results indicated that the sulfide, which was as high as 90 milligrams per liter, was the product of sulfate-reducing bacteria. The injection of ocean water increased the sulfate content of the waters in the petroleum reservoirs from 3 to 250 milligrams per liter, thereby furnishing sulfate for growth of the bacteria. The waters were supersaturated with barium sulfate. Laboratory tests showed that sulfide could be removed from the waters by adding iron at a cost of 1 to 2 mills per barrel. The solubility of iron sulfide and calcium orthophosphate in the injection waters was also determined.

Jan 1, 1975

This report, the third in an annual series, outlines recent trends and developments in the minerals industry. Discussed are new methods, equipment, techniques, and systems used to more, effectively extract and process minerals and fuels. Environmental considerations, reduced ore grades, and the related increased quantities of material handled were the dominent concerns of the minerals industry in 1972. Productivity increased in most mineral commodities as equipment became more mobile, versatile, and sophisticated. Increasingly, equipment designs incorporated health and safety features. There was considerable interest in the field of energy and in pollution-free metallurgy processes.

Jan 1, 1973

By Ronald F. Balazik

[This Bureau of Mines study is intended to identify and evaluate potential effects of impending large-scale U. S. rail line closings (abandonment) on domestic nonfuel mineral industries. This is the first nationwide study of rail abandonment impacts focused on nonfuel minerals. The analyses presented is based principally on a survey of 200 rail freight records and on statistical tests that correlated 2,000 points in the Bureau's Mines Industry Location System (MILS) with 700 prospective abandonments throughout the United States. The conclusions derived from the analysis can be useful in evaluating proposed national rail abandonment policy rind legislation regarding nonfuel miner it shipping. Among these conclusions are the following: (1) Certain mineral materials (especially fertilizers) are likely to account for a large percentage of the rail traffic affected by abandonment in the next few years, but the total tonnage- involved will be small; (2) abandonment will adversely affect some mineral shippers, particularly local smart haulers; and (3 abandonment could significance reduce the opportunity to develop new resources or reopen defunct mining facilities. Despite these problems, however, the data examined in this study do not indicate that current abandonment trends will cause widespread disruption 01 domestic nonfuel mineral shipping.]

Jan 1, 1980

By E. J. Matson

This report covers the investigation of the MacArthur copper deposit and several adjacent claims in the Mason mining district; Lyon County, Nev. (fig. 1). As a part of the Bureau of Mines program of investigation and development of domestic mineral deposits, a project was begun first on the MacArthur claims. Work was done later on some adjacent claims in the immediate area, as shown by figure 2. Field work was begun by the Bureau of Mines on January 16, 1950, and completed on October 25, 1950. Eight diamond-drill holes were completed, for an aggregate of 3,414 linear feet, Analyses were made of' each drilling interval. The report includes a brief history of the district and a description of the deposits and of the work done by the Bureau of Mines.

Jan 1, 1952

By Donald P. Schlick

This Information Circular presents a brief historical digest of the early attempts of the Bureau of Nines and the U.S. Public Health Service to establish coal mine dust exposure standards. It reviews current, accepted standards of the United States as well as available standards of other countries.

Jan 1, 1971

By Levent Ozdemir

A 6-ft. diameter laboratory tunnel, raise and shaft boring machine was designed and constructed to carry out research investigations to enhance the performance of mechanical rock excavation equipment. The machine is operated with a computer control system and features extensive instrumentation to monitor and record various test parameters, including tri-axial cutter forces, machine thrust, torque, rpm and penetration rate. An extensive laboratory testing Program has been conducted using this machine, demonstrating the feasibility of attaining high rates of penetration in various sedimentary geologies. Also, a large data base has been developed to serve as a basis for the improved design and performance of tunnel, raise and shaft boring equipment.

Jan 1, 1986

By Gilbert A. Wray

This report presents the results of a study of the overturning Stability of Front End Loaders and the development of an Obstacle Detector to warn of Obstacles in the blind regions of the vehicle. The contributing factors have been identified, the FEL stability characteristics have been determined and six overturn warning indicators were fabricated and two were field tested in a mine operation over an extended time period. A simplified overturn indicator, based on the principle of sensing wheel load, was designed, constructed and field tested. The principle was demonstrated to be sound, however, the method of sensing wheel load must be revised. An obstacle detector capable of detecting a man sized target at ranges of two feet to one hundred feet was designed. A "Breadboard" device utilizing existing microwave devices was constructed and tested successfully.

Jan 1, 1977

By S. L. Crouch

An important class of mining problems involves excavations in planar seam or vein-type deposits. In many instances it can be assumed that the seam is at 'infinite' depth in a homogeneous, isotropic or transversely isotropic, linearly elastic rock mss, and that the normal to the plane of the seam is a principal stress direction. Rational planning of excavations in such deposits requires a knowledge; of the stresses and displacements induced by complicated, irregular excavation geometries in the plane of the seam. This problem previously has been solved either numerically or by means of an electrical resistance network analog. Both of these methods effectively simulate the mined portions of the seam as a dislocation in an otherwise continuous mass, and determine the complete solution in terms of the stresses and displacements at the seam. In both cases, the plane of the seam is divided into a number - say, M x N - of squares, and the solution to the problem is determined in terms of the solution to an M x N system of equations. The numerical approach requires that these equations be solved explicitly, while the analog; solves them instantaneously with current analogous to stress and voltage to displacement. A purely numerical solution of practical problems can require a substantial amount of computer time, particularly in situations that demand some sort of sequential analysis, either due to successive mining or to nonlinear behavior of the seam material. This report describes a combined analog-digital computer system for solving problems that are impractical when either device is used separately. The digital computer and the analog are interfaced so that the digital computer can receive information from the analog via a switching matrix and an analog to digital converter, and can activate points of the analog via another switching matrix and a set of digital to analog converters. The resulting hybrid system can be used to simulate arbitrary "stress-strain" characteristics for any portion of the seam by an iterative procedure similar to the initial strain method used in nonlinear finite element analysis. Thus, the hybrid system combines the speed of analog computation with the decision-making capability of the digital computer: the analog instantaneously solves the set of equations, and the digital computer decides how the initial strains must be altered for the solution to be compatible with the prescribed "stress-strain" characteristics for the seam material. The hybrid computer system has many implications for rational planning of underground excavations, since it allows practically any type of inelastic seam behavior or artificial support characteristics to be simulated. Inelastic seam behavior, for example, might be due to either rock failure or to time-dependent deformation.

Jan 1, 1974

By David C. Uhrin

Two improved methods have been developed to transfer microfilmed mine maps to suitable base maps showing surface features. The methods provide for (1) positioning and orienting maps; (2) merging adjacent maps; and (3) plotting maps at a common scale. One method produces an overlay mosaic of mine maps using an Integrated camera-processor. This photographic method shows the details of mine workings and is most useful for specific limited-area projects. In the second method, outlines of mine maps are digitized, manipulated, and plotted as overlays using a computer. This computer method can plot mine outlines and spatially index large numbers of microfilmed maps. Microfilmed mine maps used in this Bureau of Mines study are on file in the Mine Map Repository of the Eastern Field Operations Center. The base maps are U.S. Geological Survey 7.5-minute topographic maps. The demonstration area is located in the New Kensington East and West quadrangles, Pennsylvania.

Jan 1, 1977

By Terry R. Neumann

A mineral survey of the 23,760-acre Abert Rim Wilderness Study Area (OR-1-101) was conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1986 at the request of the Bureau of land Management in order to evaluate its identified mineral resources. The study area is located in south-central Oregon, 26 mi north-northeast of Lakeview, OR. Federal and Lake County mining records indicate no mining claims, geothermal leases, or oil and gas leases within the study area as of January 1, 1987. No economic concentrations of minerals were found in the study area. The Wilderness Study Area is dominated by Abert Rim, a north-trending Basin and Range fault scarp that parallels the study area's western boundary. Exposed on the scarp is an approximately 2,000-ft-thick volcanic sequence consisting of Oligocene-Miocene basalts, tuffs, and tuffaceous sedimentary rocks.

Jan 1, 1987

By Michael J. Beus

This Bureau of Mines report describes a tunnel stress relaxation gage (TSR) developed to measure initial radial displacement around full-sized underground openings. The TSR technique was shown to be a valid concept in previous field verification tests. Sensitivity has been improved by employing a titanium alloy cantilever in the transducer head, which also permits a deeper sensor location. Use of improved fabrication methods such as stainless steel bellows and sputtering techniques and use of an environmental chamber for testing greatly increased overall reliability. A miniature data acquisition system (DAS) was interfaced directly to the transducer for increased versatility and containment entirely within a borehole. The present TSR system is suitable for use around full-size underground excavations, particularly machine-bored openings. Field evaluation of the improved instrumentation verified the design goals.

Jan 1, 1978

By Noel N. Moebs

Valley Camp No. 3 mine was the scene of an experimental shortwall introduced in 1973 in an attempt to improve the recovery from the Pittsburgh coalbed in the Ohio Valley area where adverse ground conditions have imposed partial extraction methods with only 40 to 55 percent recovery of the valuable resource. The Bureau of Mines, under a cooperative agreement with Valley Camp Coal Co., monitored ground pressures and caving in the shortwall section in an effort to determine whether the roof strata, notably the limestone main roof, will cave to the extent that roof pressures at the face are relieved and whether the powered roof supports can sustain the roof load. The Bureau's efforts included mapping of clay veins, instrumentation of chain pillars and shortwall panels with encapsulated pressure cells, recording hydraulic pressures in the legs of the shortwall chocks, and core drilling underground and from the :surface. The experimental shortwall was a qualified success. Recovery increased 5.4 percent compared with partial extraction. Pressures in chain pillars and the abutment zone were not excessive. Hydraulic pressures in the chock legs did not approach the yielding pressure. Apparently, the limestone strata caved and the roof pressure at the face was relieved.

Jan 1, 1976

By A. R. T. Denues

[Liquid oxygen explosives are ordinarily made from a carbonaceous absorbent and from liquid oxygen of high purity. These explosives have a limited but definite field of usefulness; their properties have been described in the literature, which includes several publications of the Bureau of Mines, the most recent dealing with fire-retardant treatments.3/ It seems generally conceded that the outstanding hazards in the use of these explosives are their high inflammability and their relative sensitivity to mechanical action. Each of these topics has been studied, and some interesting practical results have been obtained. Treatments have been described that render liquid-oxygen explosives prepared from granular carbonaceous absorbents practically immune to the action of igniting agents representing or exceeding practical hazards in violence.]

Jan 1, 1941

By Louis Schaffer

The purposes of the research were to assess the applicability of new accident investigation methods to mining accidents, and to adapt those found to be applicable in the development of a new methodology for use in mining. The development included field testing, evaluation and modification of the new methodology. The report is in two volumes. Volume one discusses the background research, the design of a methodology for field evaluation, preliminary field tests in Utah mines, and work done to prepare for a formal, complete evaluation by federal government mine safety officials. This, volume 2, discusses the field evaluation done by the contractor and cooperating mines after the program was re-directed by the Bureau of Mines. It relates to research done during a period of approximately eighteen months, ending in April, 1983.

Jan 1, 1986