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The Government of New South Wales has granted approval for Hunter Valley Aluminium Pty., Ltd" and Alcan Australia Ltd. to proceed with the building of an aluminum smelter at Lochinvar and the expansion of a smelter at Kurri Kurri. Construction of the smelters is expected to start as soon as the consortium is finalized in early 1982. The smelters are part of a plan to increase Australia's aluminum capacity fivefold to 1.5 million tons by the mid-1980's. CHILE Construction of a $61 million lithium carbonate plant in northern Chile will be started in early 1983 by Sociedad Chilena del Litio Ltdao Production is scheduled to begin in 1984 with an initial capacity of 6,350 tons of lithium carbonate produced from a brine deposit. The firm is owned 55% by Foote Mineral Company, of Exton, Pennsylvania, and 45% by Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccion-CORFO.

Jan 1, 1982

By Howard E. Parkinson

In 1969, new coal mine health and safety legislation was enacted in the United States. As a result of this legislation, the Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines has carried out communications research aimed at developing whole mine communications for increased safety and efficient operation. The research has advanced and many promising results are now being demonstrated to the mining industry. However, there remains a challenge to further improve wireless communications within the mine workings, and through the overburden above the workings. The objectives for future research and development will be discussed, together with the physical and operational constraints that new mine communication systems must face.

Jan 1, 1973

This publication summarizes the research (in-house and contract projects) programmed by the Bureau of Mines for fiscal year 1984 (October 1, 1983-September 30, 1984) under its Health and Safety Technology Program. The objective of these projects is to provide an ordered and sequenced advance toward the Bureau's overall goal of providing the systems technology required to create a more healthful and safer working environment for the Nation's mining and minerals processing workers.

Jan 1, 1983

By G. S. Rice, H. P. Greenwald, H. C. Howarth

"""Rock-dust barriers""5 as they are termed in this country, are for the purpose of confining a coal-dust mine explosion to the limited area in which it originates. These barriers were first tested in 1910-1911, with favorable results under the conditions of test, at the French official gallery which was then at Lieven, Department of Pas-de-Calais. Shortly afterwards the Bureau of Mines in the course of its investigation of all practical explosion-prevention methods tried barriers in the Experimental Mine near Bruceton, using the primary form of simple fixed cross shelves 20 inches wide extending over the passageway and laden with rock-dust. The Bureau termed them “Taffanel barriers"" in honor of the director of the Lieven testing station. The trials were made in conjunction with tests of explosibility of different coal-dusts.Experience showed that although the principle of barriers had merit when they were used for secondary defence, the primary form was uncertain in effectiveness. This led the senior author to design mechanically discharging barriers to be operated by the compression air waves which precede the flame of an explosion. For the better understanding of the principal involved, it is pointed out that the advance air waves are what make a coal-dust explosion possible by stirring up the coal-dust from the walls and floor of the passageway. If a barrier can throw inert dust into the air to form a cloud as dense or denser than that formed by the coal-dust, it will neutralize the explosiveness of the coal-dust, and the flame of the explosion will be extinguished. When the flame ceases, the pressure dies away in a short distance if the 'area that had been traversed by the explosion is not large."

Jan 1, 1930

By Gerald M. Bandholz

Exxon Minerals Company, a division of Exxon Corporation, has been exploring for base metal deposits in the Precambrian volcanic rocks in northern Wisconsin since 1970. Aerial electromagnetic surveys of the area, conducted in 1974, reported an anomaly, near Crandon, in Forest County. In the summer of 1975, the first diamond drill entered the anomaly, representing the 25th prospect Exxon had drilled in Wisconsin. This first hole revealed significant mineralization containing zinc and copper. Subsequent drilling confirmed the discovery of a sizeable zinc-copper massive sulfide are body. 1.1.2 Location The deposit is located in northeastern Wisconsin within a topographical high called the Northern Highlands region. The deposit lies about 5 miles directly south of Crandon and about 2 miles east of State Highway 55 on Sand Lake Road (see fig. 1). Other local communities include Rhinelander 28 miles west, Antigo 45 miles south, and Iron River and Iron Mountain, in Michigan, 75 and 44 miles east and north of Crandon respectively. In relation to the lakes and streams, the deposit lies 0.25 miles north of Little Sand Lake, and about 1 mile south of Swamp Creek.

Jan 1, 1981

By Sidney Katell

This Bureau of Mines study estimates typical capital investments, operating costs, and selling prices for two bituminous coal strip mines in the Eastern and Interior provinces and a subbituminous coal operation in the Northern Great Plains province. The annual productions were based on tonnage required to fuel a 250-MM-scfd, high-Btu gas plant. The annual tonnage for the Eastern province mine is 4.8 million tons; for the Interior province mine, 6.72 mi 11 ion tons; and for the Northern Great Plains province mine, 9.2 million tons. It is assumed that the mines have a 20-year life. Wages and union welfare payments are considered as of May 12, 1974, under the terms of the Bituminous Wage Agreement of 1971, and costs for material and equipment are based on 1973 and early 1974 indexes . Initial capital investment varies: $45,358,600 for the 4.8-million- ton-per-year (MM tpy) mine in the Eastern province, $54,603,000 for the 6.72 MM tpy mine in the Interior province, and $29,871,000 for the 9.2 MM tpy mine in the Northern Great Plains province. Total capital invest-ments for the Eastern province mine, the Interior province mine, and the Northern Great Plains province mine are $61,070,000, $76,753,000, and $56,286,000, respectively. Corresponding selling prices for the coal, per ton, are $4.79, $4.23, and $2.66, assuming a 12-percent discounted cash flow rate of return after Federal income taxes. These studies are considered typical for the areas involved. Costs will vary depending on specific locations in these areas.

Jan 1, 1974

By Stanley M. Walker

Safety consciousness is not a constant for which a specific value can be assigned, but is a variable, which is frequently intangible. Its evaluation is not simple. We all know that safety consciousness is the most potent factor in the prevention of accidents. Safety consciousness may be defined as awareness of hazard and alertness to danger, which controls every action of an individual through his desire to remain alive and uninjured.

Jan 1, 1951

By Thomas S. Jones

This report discusses processing and use of the principal forms of manganese. The focus is on trends in the United States in the 20th century and specifics of domestic manganese material flows as of about 1990. To protect proprietary data, quantitative assessments are limited to the iron and steel industry, which accounts for about 90% of consumption. Nonmetallurgical uses are considered qualitatively. Approximate disposition of a U.S. cumulative consumption during 1901-90 of an estimated 69 million st of manganese is estimated to be iron and steel slag, 69%; nonmetallurgical uses of a dissipative na¬ture, 10%; iron and steel scrap, 9%; National Defense Stockpile, 3%; unidentified and/or including items in service, 10%. In slag from iron blast furnaces and steelmaking, manganese is present as a minor, relatively im¬mobile component, which so far has been uneconomical to recover. Construction and road building are main applications for these slags. Steel slag contains the greater amount of manganese. Studies by others of global manganese fluxes and the effect of human activities on them also are discussed. One source concludes that the main effect of human activities, via deforestation and agricultural activities, has been to increase the rate of transport of manganese to the oceans.

Jan 1, 1994

By William C. Cooley

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Jan 1, 1975

By P. L. Sibrell

The U.S. Bureau of Mines has tested cyanide leaching for recovery of palladium (Pd) from spent petroleum processing catalysts. Three different catalyst samples were supplied by a spent-catalyst processor. These catalysts consisted of a zeolite base and contained 0.4 to 0.7 pct Pd. During alkaline cyanide leaching, the catalysts exhibited ion-exchange properties due to their zeolite matrices. Hydrogen ions were released from the zeolite in exchange for sodium ions in solution, resulting in a significant decrease in solution pH. This could present a safety hazard because of the potential for release of toxic hydrogen cyanide gas. A pretreatment step where the catalysts were contacted with a 1.0M sodium hydroxide solution was found to prevent the pH shift from occurring. Following the sodium hydroxide pretreatment, two stages of leaching at 160 °C with solution containing 1 pct sodium cyanide and 0.1[M] sodium hydroxide gave at least 75 and up to 95 pct Pd recovery. The Pd was quantitatively recovered from the leach solution by thermal decomposition in an autoclave at 250°C for 1 h. The Pd content of the precipitate was over 50 pct. Thermal decomposition also decreased the total cyanide content of the barren solution to less than 0.2 mg/L. The catalyst leach residues passed the Federal Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure and the California Waste Extraction Test, indicating that landfill disposal of the leach residues would be acceptable.

Jan 1, 2010

By W. J. McConnell, C. P. Yaglaglou

"IntroductionThis paper on the kata thermometer is issued by the Bureau of Mines on account of the general interest in this instrument and the fact that it is frequently used in studies of mine ventilation conditions with regard to comfort and health of miners. It has been used in the studies being conducted along this line by the Bureau of Mines on the effects of high temperatures and humidities of air in mine working on the comfort conditions, as well as in studies of atmospheric conditions in mine, railway and vehicular tunnels.The study of the various physiological responses of the human body to different degrees of temperature combined with different percentages of relative humility in still and in moving air, now being conducted at the Pittsburgh experiment station of the bureau in the research laboratory of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, cooperating with the Bureau of and the U. S. Public Health Service, presents an added opportunity of investigating the instruments that have been devised to measure atmospheric conditions as they affect the comfort and health of human beings.The ordinary mercury thermometer, as pointed out by Heberden3 almost hundred years ago is a very inadequate instrument for measuring the physiological effects of atmospheric conditions. It merely accounts for that part of the body heat lost by raliation and convection, while as a matter of fact greater part of the body heat resulting from the metabolic process within the body is eliminated by means of evaporation from the surface of the body."

Jan 1, 1924

The Pittsburgh (Pa.) and Spokane (Wash.) Research Laboratories are among the world?s foremost mining research establishments. Once a part of the former U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM), which was abolished by the U.S. Congress in fiscal year 96, health and safety research at these laboratories was transferred to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NIOSH is the Federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related illness and injury. The Institute is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Over the past two decades, the Pittsburgh and Spokane Research Laboratories have produced sustained technological achievements in mining health and safety, including? ? Development of novel respirable coal dust control technologies and more effective monitoring techniques to reduce worker exposure to hazardous mine dusts. ? Improved ground control technologies to warn and protect miners from the dangers of coal mine roof collapses and other hazardous strata conditions. ? Improved ergonomic design criteria and training methods to protect mine workers from injuries and fatalities associated with equipment and manual tasks. ? Development of enabling technologies that allow miners to control their mining equipment from a physically safe, protected work area away from respirable dust, harmful noise levels, and roof collapses. ? Improved mine fire detection and extinguishment techniques. ? Development of smaller, lighter, and safer emergency breathing devices.

Jan 1, 2007

By David T. Couillard

Task training is increasingly important in mining operations because of the ever-accelerating pace of technological innovations and the concomitant increasing complexity of mining equipment. This Bureau of Mines report describes two successful task training program In use in two open-pit taconite operations in northeastern Minnesota. The programs are different in approach, but both have improved safety and in- creased productivity while lowering costs. Methods of training both before and after passage of the 1977 Mine Safety and Health Act are described, and the impact of this act on task training at each operation is discussed. The report identifies four common principles that have contributed to the success of the two training programs and presents plans each operation has for improving future training through new technology.

Jan 1, 1984

By J. M. Goris

The U.S. Bureau of Mines is conducting research on cable bolt ground supports to assess their material and support properties, to provide design criteria for using cable bolt supports as roof control systems under various types of underground mining conditions, and to provide a mathematical model of cable bolt support systems. Part 1 describes laboratory studies of the support properties of cable bolts made of conventional steel cables and provides recommendations on such topics as the use of thick grouts, selection of breather tubes, and reduction of water bleeding in cement-based grouts. The studies evaluated both single and double cables; effects of different embedment lengths, water-cement ratios, and grout curing temperatures on support strength; effects of use or nonuse of breather tubes; pumpability and water-bleeding properties of grouts; and the strength properties of sand-cement grouts. Part 2 will cover the strength characteristics of birdcage cable bolt supports, epoxy-coated cables, and cables with steel buttons attached.

Jan 1, 1990

By John C. Machisak

THE INJURY data and experience at quarries and related plants of the United States are presented in this publication under the following general sections (A) General injury experience: Tables 1-3: Current data on number of injuries, injury-frequency rates, location, accident agency, degree of injury, and related employment data. (B) Injury experience at different kinds of quarries: Tables 4-5: Current data on number of injuries, injury-frequency rates, location, accident agency, degree of injury, and related employment, data. (C) Injury experience by States: Tables 6-20: Current data on the number of injuries, injury-frequency rates, accident agency, degree of injury, and related employment data. (D) Selected injury data: Tables 21-30: Current data on various selected factors of operating conditions at different kinds of quarries, including employment size-groups, length of shifts, comparative severity of injuries, and injury data and related employment experience at dimension-stone and nondimension-stone quarries and at underground quarries. (E) Historical injury experience: Table 31: Injury and employment data on the quarrying industry for 1911 through 1957. Statistical data on injuries and related employment in the quarrying industries have been collected annually from the operating companies since 1911. Reporting to the Bureau of Mines is voluntary; there is no Federal law compelling operators of quarries and related plants to supply such data. Data presented herein may not be complete for the entire industry. They are however, believed to be representative of the hazards common to all quarry and related workers. Moreover, the figures are comparable as between States-a significant fact in view of the lack of uniformity among the States with regard to the classes of injuries covered by State reports and other factors that tend to make it impracticable or impossible when using State records to

Jan 1, 1960

By H. D. Baylor

This paper, describing the operations of the Louisville Cement Co. in quarrying limestone for the manufacture of quicklime, is one of a series being prepared for and published by the United States Bureau of Mines on stone quarries throughout the United States. Those papers are designed to disseminate technical information regarding the methods used. The cost tabulations represent operating only and not total costs. It is recognized that publication of total costs might in many instances cause embarrassment to individual operators as well as to the industry as a whole. On the other hand, operating costs are essential to the technical discussion and study of the methods employed. The attention of the reader is specifically called to this differentiation in order that no misunderstanding of the scope of the cost tabulations shall ensue. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author acknowledges the assistance of J. H. Lemmon, plant superintendent, Charles Taylor, plant engineer, and F. H. Compton, chief engineer, of the Louisville Cement Co. in the compilation and preparation of this paper.

Jan 1, 1932

By Effie T. Kurt, Jack Wright, J. W. Watkins, Cynthia Pearson

"The analysis of water produced with crude petroleum has interested oil producers since inception of the industry. Records of the first analysis of mineralized water produced from an oil-productive formation are obscure, and references to the first use of brine analyses to assist in solving problems of petroleum production are not available in the technical literature. However, many early reports of the Federal Bureau of Mines 5-8/ and. Federal Geological Survey, 9-11/ as well as articles in engineering and geological placed special emphasis on journals ,12-l4/ the importance, interpretation, and application of water analyses.One of the earliest applications of water analyses, and still a major one today, is for identification of intrusive waters in oil wells. This may be done by comparing the chemical constituents of a sample of water indigenous to the oil-productive formation with those of samples from upper, water-bearing formations within the same general area. Some earlier investigators recognized the need for analyzing samples of all waters encountered in drilling operations. Ambrose15/ stated, in part, ""In wells being drilled, the engineer should grasp every opportunity to get a true sample of water from each sand. . .,"" and, ""The waters of each oil field are chemically different from those of another field."" The validity of the latter observation and the importance of the former one have been borne out by comparing the results of analyses of many samples and noting the differences in relative concentrations of like constituents of waters from the same geological formation in different localities or oil pools."

Apr 1, 1957

By James Westfield

A brief résumé follows of some of the most recent activities of the Division of Coal-Mine Inspection that have had a favorable effect. on health, safety, and injuries at coal mines: 1. There were approximately 8,510 active coal mines in the United States during 1955. In all, 82,389 regular Federal inspections of coal mines have been made since Public Law 49 became effective in May 1941; 9,823 of these inspections were made during 1955. 2. The Bureau of Mines introduced the revised Coal-Mine Accident-Prevention Course for Supervisors in the coal-mining industry on March 1, 1948. Since that date, 19,455 supervisors and those aspiring to official positions have completed such training conducted by personnel of the Division of Coal-Mine Inspection.

Jan 1, 1956

By Mary S. Esfandiary

This is a revision of a directory of coal research organizations throughout the world that was first published in 1961 as Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8008. Because of the wide acceptance of the first edition, a revision which would supply up-to-date information on coal research and which would facilitate communication among organizations of similar interest seemed important. This compilation includes the names and activities of organizations of various types-government, university, private, and industry. The areas of investigation that each organization is engaged in are indicated in broad terms: Analysis and constitution, mining and geology, preparation, briquetting, combustion, high-and low-temperature carbonization, gasification, conversion to solid and liquid fuels, and health and safety. Publications issued by and describing the work of each organization are cited; almost all of the organizations also publish results of their investigations in the technical press. Selected technical and trade publications that publish information on the science and technology of coal and are not published directly by any of the organizations listed are cited in the pages following the list of organizations in each country. Information that would improve coverage and accuracy of the next revision of the publication will be welcomed by the Bureau of Mines.

Jan 1, 1966

By Mary S. Esfandiary

This is a revision of a directory of coal research organizations throughout the world that was first published in 1961 as Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8008. Because of the wide acceptance of the first edition, a revision which would supply up-to-date information on coal research and which would facilitate communication among organizations of similar interest seemed important. This compilation includes the names and activities of organizations of various types-government, university, private, and industry. The areas of investigation that each organization is engaged in are indicated in broad terms: Analysis and constitution, mining and geology, preparation, briquetting, combustion, high- and low-temperature carbonization, gasification, conversion to solid and liquid fuels, and health and safety. Publications issued by and describing the work of each organization are cited; almost all of the organizations also publish results of their investigations in the technical press. Selected technical and trade publications that publish information on the science and technology of coal and are not published directly by any of the organizations listed are cited in the pages following the list of organizations in each country.

Jan 1, 1966