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By James Douglas

THOUGH liberality is not supposed to be a prominent trait of the Scottish character, Canada owes to a Scotchman, Sir Wm. Macdonald, more than to any other of its people, not only wise ideas, but pecuniary help towards extending education: and another Scotchman, in New York, has sumptuously housed under one roof three branches of the engineering fraternity, of which we are one. Having thus created us members of the same family-for the metaphorical meaning of house and kinship is identical-Mr. Carnegie expresses more emphatically than even he could in words, that, by affording facilities for closest intercourse, he in¬vites the mechanical, electrical and mining engineers to par¬ticipate in the freest interchange of idea and experience, and to correlate and combine the results of their studies and activi¬ties; and, being members of the same household, to banish re¬serve and secrecy. And now we, the members of the - American Institute of Mining Engineers, meet as though we were at home in a neighboring country. For whether we meet in Canada, in England, or elsewhere, the Institute is always received as though no political or geographical divisions separated its members from those of congenial associations in the land of its host. In truth, the title which we have assumed claims for the sphere of our activities the whole American continent, regardless of such trifling details as boundary-lines. The fact that we meet to communicate each other's experience, to discuss our difficulties, and to seek each other's aid in solving the intricate problems that so often present themselves in the course of our profes¬sional life, is an acknowledgment of our individual helpless¬ness; and therefore an argument for united effort. But no effort can be of any value if there is an underlying suspicion

Jan 9, 1907

By FRANKM. SEIBERT, G. G. Oberfell, GEORGEA. BURRELL

The Bureau of Mines is conducting a series of investigations with the common aim of minimizing the losses that occur in the mining and treatment of mineral substances. The results of the investi- gations are being published in reports of the bureau. This report treats of a method of preventing some of the waste of the natural gas incidental to oil mining. This method, the condensation of gasoline from natural gas, offers to the oil operator and others a profitable means of utilizing some of the oil-well gas now being wasted. The most desired constituent of crude oil is obtained, the production of oil is not hindered, and the gas, after the extraction of gasoline, can be returned to the leased area to drive pumps or into pipe lines for uses to which natural gas is ordinarily put, usually with its fuel value lessened only in slight degree. Publications already issued briefly discuss the subject. In this report the work is treated in greater detail, and the results of many additional tests are shown.

Jan 1, 1915

By J. C. Barcellos

El presente estudio describe el método de empleo para la determinación del espaciamiento óptimo de muestreo en la Mina Casapalca. La técnica comprende cuatro pasos: recolección y preparación de datos, procesamiento electrónico de datos, análisis de los resultados y la verificación de las conclusiones. Dentro de las conclusiones, se considera que los métodos estadísticos son los más útiles en la solución de los problemas de la industria minera , puesto que cualquier dato numérico pueden ser convertido a un número más simple a través de la computadora.

Nov 20, 1972

By W. H. Coghill

Numerous investigators have studied grinding. Each has contributed his bit to a literature that is difficult to correlate. Too many of the results have been transformed into curves with so many "inflection points" and "counterflexures" that they obscure the issue. Some of the investigators have neglected the very essence of the problem, namely the power and the amount of material to which a known amount of work was applied. The purpose of this paper is to show the ease with which results can be interpreted when these quantities are duly recognized. Some grinding tests will be given for illustration. Grinding studies are of two kinds: (1) Study of the character of the ore and (2) study of the performance of the machines. Several ores may be crushed by a given machine, or several machines may be used on a given ore. The illustrations given in this report cover both objectives.

Jan 1, 1934

By F. Matanzo

This guide considers only nine of the many wire rope terminations used in the mining industry so use of the information presented for terminations not specifically addressed can be done, but with some risk. The nine terminations considered are: Flemish Loop with Steel Sleeve & Thimble, Flemish Loop with Steel Sleeve, Wedge Socket, Swaged Socket, Turn Back Loop with Aluminum Sleeve & Thimble, Thimble Splice with Four Tucks, V-Bolt Clip with Thimble, Zinc Poured Socket, and Epoxy Resin Poured Socket. The guide uses pull test data, axial fatigue test data, and data on sensitivity to poor workmanship, to rank the nine terminations with respect to these performance measures. A selection procedure is suggested and illustrated with an example. Failure data is used to identify the common modes of failure of each termination and so help the inspector direct his attention to the likely location for a failure and describe what he should be looking for. The data on which this guide is based is included so that as new data becomes available, the ranking order can be adjusted accordingly.

Jan 1, 1978

By Charles A. Steen

Publication of this information circular results from an invitation extended to the Bureau of Mines by the Utex Exploration Co. to visit the company mine, on the Mi Vida claim about 39 miles southeast of Moab, in the Big Indian mining district, San Juan County, Utah. The Bureau is pleased to present this record of the Utex mine -- a property that in the relatively short period of 4 months has become one of the major uranium-ore producers on the Colorado Plateau. The ore deposit was discovered in July 1952 by Charles A. Steen, a geologist-prospector, now chief geologist of the Utex Exploration Co., in tae course of drilling the first diamond-core borehole in the Big Indian district. High-grade ore, 14 feet thick, was penetrated by the borehole. Sinking of a shaft, from which to develop the ore body, was begun in October, and the first shipment of ore left the property December 6, 1952. Ore production, as recorded on ore-settlement sheets received by the company up to July 15, 1953, totaled 16,000 tons averaging, 0.51 percent U305 and 1.25 percent V205. Discovery of the ore body and the large production of ore were achieved without any financial assistance from the Government.

Jan 1, 1953

By R. W. Van Dolah

An investigation was made of the distances over which sympathetic detonation of ammonium nitrate (AN) and ammonium nitrate-fuel oil (AN-FO) might be expected. Large-scale gap tests used two types of AN-FO donor charges in three sizes with AN, both at ambient and elevated temperatures, and AN-FO acceptor charges. Donor sizes were varied to test the validity of a scaling law commonly used in quantity distance tables. The up-and-down experimental design was chosen to determine the 50-percent initiation point efficiently. The acceptor charges were instrumented to indicate initiation and to determine detonation velocity. Other electronic techniques for measuring the rate of growth, stability of detonation, and detonation pressures were employed. Air shock and fragment velocities between charges were measured by electronic and photographic methods, and determination of side-on air-blast pressures and impulse duration were made for about half the shots. Separation distances between donor and acceptor were found to be larger than anticipated both for the AN and the AN-FO. With AN-FO acceptors and a 16-gage steel faced donor, one initiation occurred at a separation of 53 feet or nearly 16-charge diameters; with AN, initiation occurred at 4 to 5-1/2- charge diameters.

Jan 1, 1966

By Jeanne B. Percival, Paul Ramaekers, Charles W. Jefferson, Pat A. Hunt, Eric G. Potter, Katherine E. Venance, William Davis, Sean A. Bosman

"A 10-cm thick clay-rich layer near the top of the Manitou Falls Formation of the Athabasca Group is unusual in its breccia texture, alteration, and detrital mineral composition relative to the adjacent overlying and underlying sedimentary beds. This layer is composed of angular quartz grains set in an illite >> kaolinite + dickite matrix. Deformed clay-rich fragments within the layer have very similar mineral assemblages. The presence of euhedral accessory minerals including Ti-oxides and aluminophosphatesulphate minerals points to a diagenetic/hydrothermal origin. The presence of individual grains of Kfeldspar and amphibole is unusual relative to the typical Athabasca quartz arenite; originally, these minerals were probably included in detrital quartz and subsequently liberated during fracturing. The textures and alteration characteristics suggest that this layer is a hydraulically-fractured unit, which has experienced hydrothermal fluid alteration - a possible pathway distally related to uranium mineralization Une couche argileuse de 10 cm d’epaisseur pres du sommet de la Formation de Manitou Falls du Groupe d'Athabasca est remarquable par sa texture brechique, son alteration et la composition de ses mineraux detritiques qui different de ceux des couches sedimentaires sus- et sous-jacente. Cette couche est composee de grains de quartz angulaires dans une matrice composee d’illite >> kaolinite + dickite. Des fragments deformes riches en argile dans cette couche presentent des assemblages mineraux tres similaires. La presence de mineraux accessoires idiomorphes dont des oxydes de titane et des aluminophosphates-sulphates suggere que ces derniers ont une origine diagenetique / hydrothermale. La presence de grains de feldspath-K et d'amphibole est inhabituelle comparativement aux arenites quartziques typiques de l’Athabasca; initialement, ces mineraux constituaient probablement des inclusions dans le quartz detritique qui ont ete subsequemment liberees pendant la fracturation. Les textures et les caracteristiques de l'alteration suggerent que cette unite a subi une fracturation hydraulique et a ete alteree par un fluide hydrothermal - possiblement en lien avec les effets distaux de mise en place de la mineralisation en l'uranium."

Jan 1, 2013

By Leslie D. Marrus

This project and final report represent an effort to collect, analyze, and verify reliability and performance data on currently available medium -to-high seam models of continuous miners being used in underground coal mining. The analysis determined availability, mean time and tons between failures, amounts of down time associated with various failures, labor and part costs required to correct failures, and various indices of maintainability. Machine performance and reliability are discussed relative to cumulative tons (machine age) produced and production rates (machine loading). It was determined that performance can be significantly improved given preventive maintenance programs that will increase machine availability.

Jan 1, 1976

By Albert Ladd Colby

A GLANCE through the Bibliography appended to this paper will show that the Transactions of this Institute contain what virtually contitutes a history of the development of the manu¬facture of steel rails in this country and abroad. It is, therefore, fitting that this paper, bringing one branch of this important subject down to date, should be here presented, and it is also appropriate to select this joint meeting of our Society with the Iron and Steel Institute to compare the specifications covering the rails produced in these two countries, and to propose a standard specification to govern the manufacture of American rails for export. During the last ten years the production of Bessemer steel rails in the United States and Great Britain has amounted to 32,128,720 gross tons. Nearly 19,000,000 tons have been rolled in the past five years. The next five years will see an even larger output, owing partly to the extension of railway projects in the Orient, in South and Central America, in Mexico, and in Australia and the other British Colonies. Of late years, the American rail-mills have so largely increased their daily output, that trade conditions have often made possible the delivery of American rails to foreign ports. The tenders submitted by American mills, however, have always been accompanied by requests for changes in the foreign specifications, chiefly in the reduction of the amount of testing required; and it has only been natural, especially at first, that the engineer, whose specification had always been accepted without question by British mills, should interpret American tenders 'as an evidence that an inferior rail would be furnished

Sep 1, 1906

By E. M. Timoshenko, A. V. Tarasov

The results of laboratory, bench-scale and semi-commercial investigations of a method for adding surfactant (technical-grade lignosulphonate) to the process of pressure leaching of nickel-containing pyrrhotite concentrates have been discussed. Lt has been demonstrated that feeding of technical-grade lignosulphonate distributed along the length of an autoclave ensures a reduction in its requirement by a factor of 1.5 to 2 as compared with single-point feeding; it also results in a decrease by 5% in the unit requirement of metallized iron-bearing precipitator in the process of non-ferrous metals precipitation and reduces by 0.05 to 0.1% (abs.) the nickel and copper contents in the tailings of the given process. Technical solutions have been proposed for commercial introduction of the process.

Jan 1, 2004

This talk was delivered in Kalgoorlie in April this year, to the Kalgoorlie Branch of The Institution of Engineers, Australia. We believe it is of such interest to members of our Institute and readers of this publication we believe it important to extend the audience who have the opportunity to read it. An edited version follows:"Why should we be so concerned about Mining Related Education; after all is said and done, the mining industry is not a great employer of persons?"The mining industry is capital rather than labour intensive. It employs only 2.7 per cent of the national workforce. However; the minerals industry is Australia's major exporter accounting for over 40 per cent of the nation's total export of goods.In Western Australia the value of minerals production in 1985 was about $5,000 million and consequently mineral exports accounted for about 53 per cent of the total value of overseas exports from the State. The diversity of the mining industry is also worthy of mention and produces iron ore, alumina, gold, nickel and mineral sands. That apart, our potential to become a major producer of diamonds, rare earths and petroleum products is considerable, not to mention base metals (copper, lead and zinc) and uranium.Our mining industry is of national importance and contributes in excess of 30 per cent of the total value of Australian overseas trade. Although the mining ind ustry does not employ many people, the people it employs contribute very much more, per capita, to the wealth of the nation than do employees in any other sector of our economy.No-one would deny that during the 20th century Australians have depended on the export earnings from the sale of relatively unprocessed agricultural products and more recently the sale of relatively unprocessed minerals for their standard of living.Not surprisingly, therefore, our economy is highly vulnerable to unstable world commodity market prices.The slump in trade we are currently experiencing (in first quarter 1987-Edition) was brought about by the over supply of the raw materials we produce. However, the recent downturn in world market prices is more serious than previous slumps because in part it is due to technological advances 'in other countries which could have a permanent effect on the world trade of primary products.

Jan 1, 1987

By Pedro Lilienfeld

This Final Report describes a program whose objective was to design, develop, fabricate, and test an airborne mass monitor for unattended and recording measurements of the concentration of dust in mining environments. Sensing collection are performed by beta-radiation attenuation and inertial implementation respectively. The instrument is portable, battery or line operated provides a digital printout of the mass concentration during each selection sampling period, as well as the accumulated mass of dust, and the elapsed sampling time.

Jan 1, 1974

By G Tranell, E Pastor-Vallés, A Vallejo-Olivares, J B. Pettersen

Metals are essential for the sustainability transition and decarbonisation of society. Yet, it will be paramount to produce them sustainably and minimise the affiliated resource and energy use and the associated emissions. In the circular economy, the metallurgical industry should recycle existing material stocks, and improve its utilisation of wastes, residues and side streams. This increases the complexity of processes, as they become both (often multi-fraction) waste treatment as well as material production processes and brings complexity to the assessment of environmental benefits. Assessing the environmental impact of technological developments frequently is supported by life cycle assessment (LCA). While the method is well documented, its implementation involves several methodological choices that deserve reasoning and analysis, such as how to define the product when former wastes are turned into new products, the selection of impact methodology when converting emissions to environmental indicators, the definition of system boundaries and co-product allocation and the interpretation of sensitivity and uncertainty in final outcomes. In this exploratory study, we investigate how the variation of LCA set-up affects the environmental burden of the system. We consider a metallurgical process where a mix of hard-to-recycle aluminium-containing streams is used to produce aluminium cast alloys in a rotary furnace. Remelting with salt-fluxes allows recovering metals from partly oxidised/contaminated streams, such as dross, bottom ash and industrial shavings, but at the expense of generating significant amounts of salt-slag/salt-cake hazardous waste. The study considers different system alternatives such as landfilling the salt-slag residues versus valourising them into salts, aluminium concentrates, ammonium sulfate and non-metallic-compounds to be used by the metallurgical, construction or chemical industries. Practical recommendations are outlined to facilitate the implementation of LCA in assessing the potential benefits of the circular economy in the metallurgical sector.

Aug 21, 2024

By Robert H. Ridgway

This paper presents the results of the second in the series of annual canvasses on the consumption of ferrous scrap and pig iron in the United States, inaugurated in 1935 by the Bureau of Mines and published in Report of Investigations 3329. The study was undertaken in response to requests from trade organizations and others for detailed statistics on this phase

Jan 1, 1937

By Robert H. Ridgway

This paper presents the results of the second in the series of annual canvasses on the consumption of ferrous scrap and pig iron in the United States, inaugurated in 1935 by the Bureau of Mines and published in Report of Investigations 3329. The study was undertaken in response to requests from trade organizations and others for detailed statistics on this phase of the iron and steel industry. Thus, for the first time, producers, buyers, sellers, and consumers of iron and steel scrap have had an accurate statistical picture of this important raw material As originally contemplated, the study was to be continued on an annual basis, but, owing to budgetary limitations for the fiscal year 1937-38, the Bureau may be unable to conduct the canvass for 1937.

Jan 1, 1937

By C. E. Gregory

In terms of a Research Proposals supported by a Grant Agreement dated 30 June 1973, the author was commissioned to prepare an annotated bibliography of mine fires. The main objective was to conduct a comprehensive program of library research and search of official files to prepare a list of articles dealing with actual occurrences of mine fires. This bibliography as now completed includes an annotated reference from each article or report cited, underlining the cause, extent, methods used, procedural errors made, results achieved, ventilation effects, and lessons learned from the operation of subduing the particular fire.

Jan 1, 1974

By Felix du Breuil

Contract H0177044 included three objectives; (1) consolidate, maintain, and distribute information on STE approved lighting systems; (2) develop and present one-day seminars on underground mine lighting; (3) determine direct labor and hardware costs associated with the installation of mine illumination systems. All objectives were completed with results as follows: Task I - A file containing 1350 Statements of Test and Evaluation (STE) for all types of underground equipment was developed and publicized throughout the coal fields, A total of 40 requests for STE information was received and processed. Task II and III - A series of 50 seminars was scheduled and presented to 942 attendees throughout the coal fields. The seminars were well received and attendees indicated the information presented would be helpful in bringing their equipment into compliance. Holding a series of seminars in the coal fields, instead of a few in population centers, was favored by attendees. Task IV - Installation cost data obtained on 415 lighting systems indicate that the factors which most affect installation costs are higher hardware cost for DC powered systems and slightly higher manpower requirements for systems installed underground. Based on these data, the total cost to industry of retrofitting existing underground equipment could range up to $50 million.

Jan 1, 1979

During the first quarter of 1973 ADL worked closely with PMSRC staff, under an extremely compressed time schedule, on all aspects of the detailed planning, organization and overall coordination and preparation of the lectures and in-mine demonstrations for the Bureau's Technology Transfer Seminar on Mine Communications given in March of 1973 to representatives of the mining industry. Our efforts centered on the detailed organization and preparation of each of the five technical seminar lectures and associated supporting material, and the coordination of tasks assigned to ADL and other seminar participants. Revised and expanded drafts of the seminar papers were prepared from rough draft versions obtained from PMSRC, Collins Radio and ADL staff. Measurements were made to gather key data on the operation and performance of each of the following systems installed in the Bruceton Safety Research Mine; call alert paging, roof bolt paging, section wireless radio, and guided wireless radio systems. These data were analyzed, manufacturer's equipment specifications utilized, and calculations made to provide performance curves and data for each of the above systems. A substantial amount of artwork was conceived and prepared for 35 m slides, system identification posters in the mine, and seminar handouts. This artwork included some forty 8-1/2" x 11" line sketches, graphs, block diagrams, circuit diagrams, coverage maps, and other line drawings; five 30" x 40" block diagram system identification posters suitable for in-mine use; a 20" x 30" detail perspective illustration of a representative coal mine layout; forty viewgraphs; and seventy 35 m slides of the artwork and word charts. Conferences, discussions and review sessions were held with conference participants to help coordinate the various efforts, obtain technical information, and make final plans regarding the lecture presentations, associated visual aids, and the communication system installations to be demonstrated in the Bruceton mine. These meetings included final systems checkouts and dry run presentations and reviews of the lectures and mine demonstrations. This phase of the seminar effort concluded with R. Lagace and R. Spencer of ADL participating in two days of seminar presentations in the lecture hall and in the Bruceton mine.

Jan 1, 1974

By J. E. Shelton

Flotation tests are described on samples of two lowgrade nickeliferous ores of Oregon and Washington. The sample from the Congress mine, Ferry County, Wash., contained 1.2 percent Ni, occurring chiefly as millerite. The sample from the Shamrock mine, Jackson County, Oreg., contained 2.20 percent Ni and 0.78 percent Cu occurring chiefly as pentlandite, nickeliferous pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite. The millerite in the Congress ore was concentrated by flotatioin with aulfydric collectors in a series of locked tests to recover 73 percent of the nickel as a 7 percent bulk concentrate. By successively regrinding and floating the bulk concentrate, it was further concentrated to 12.4 percent Ni at a recovery of 59 percent and 21.8 percent Ni at a recovery of 50 percent. Attempts at selective concentration of the copper-nickel Shamrock ore were only partly successful because of the intimate association of pentlandite and chalcopyrite. The nickel concentrate, which contained 86 percent of the nickel, had an analysis of 4.42 percent Ni and 1.03 percent Cu. The copper concentrate had an analysis of 18.8 percent Cu and 1.96 percent Ni and contained 48.5 percent of the copper. A bulk sulfide concentrate contained 92 percent of the copper and 01 per¬cent of the nickel and had an analysis of 4.17 percent Ni and 1.63 percent Cu.

Jan 1, 1956