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By J. P. Schmid

Results of a comprehensive investigation of the impact of underground mine waste disposal on the health and safety of miners are presented. Information was gathered through an extensive search of American and foreign literature and personal communication with professionals in private industry and government. All conceivable health and safety hazards directly or indirectly related to underground mine waste disposal are analyzed, catagorized, and ranked on an industry-wide basis. Positive health and safety effects are analyzed and ranked in a similar way. Both potential and known hazards and positive impacts are included. Recommendations on abatement techniques for the various hazards are presented. Case histories of a fill-related accident in a metal mine and a health hazard associated wtih coal waste backfilling are included and causes and possible abatement procedures are discussed. The rule of management in the promotion of health and safety in backfilling operation is discussed.

Jan 1, 1982

By D. Harrington

This circular presents part I of a series of papers of a review of the literature on air conditioning in mines, with particular reference to the health, safety, and efficiency of miners. It deals with the physiological aspects of exposure to air contaminated by organic matter, noxious and toxic gases, and dusts that emanate from various sources in underground workings; part II will discuss the relation of abnormal mine temperatures and humidities to the health and efficiency of minors; and part III will describe theoretical and practical methods of air conditioning mines to correct or alleviate the conditions mentioned and will discuss the results attained by some of the systems now in use in various parts or the world.

Jan 1, 1938

By E. W. Dean, H. H. Hill

Gasoline has become of such commercial and military importance that it is now practically indispensable. This product is of special interest because, in addition to realizing its value, the Nation is learn- ing that the raw materials from which gasoline is obtained are not unlimited. ACTIVITIES OF THE BUREAU OF MINES IN PROMOTING EFFICIENCY IN THE PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION OF GASOLINE. The Bureau of Mines has directly and indirectly worked for the conservation and efficient utilization of this important product. Some of the bureau's activities have been along lines widely different from those reported in this bulletin. The work of the bureau toward the increase in efficiency of processes for the production and refining of crude oil is too well known to need mention here. Another line of activity in which the bureau has engaged is the collection and publi- cation of statistics on refinery operations. Finally, as immediate preparation for the present bulletin, two surveys of the gasoline mar- keting situation have been made. The primary object of this bul- letin is to make available to the public information obtained in con- nection with these surveys. PURPOSE OF THE GASOLINE SURVEYS OF 1917 AND 1919. Shortly after the United States declared war on Germany the bureau collected gasoline samples in the retail market throughout various parts of the country. Information regarding the sources of these gasolines and the details of marketing them was obtained, and they were subjected to analytical tests which furnished conclusive informa- tion regarding their properties. The information obtained through this survey proved of inestimable value both to the bureau and the United States Fuel Administration, particularly in drawing up speci- fications and in ascertaining the best means of obtaining supplies of particular types of gasoline that were needed. A similar and more extensive survey was made in the months of April and May, 1919, in order to obtain data needed for the revision of the Federal motor gasoline specification. The specification adopted during the war had been the subject of numerous complaints, and it seemed desirable to determine whether or not these objections were valid before attempting revision.

Jan 1, 1920

By Charles L. Kimbell

For the world mineral industry as a whole, the year 1981 was a period of continuation and, in some instances, an acceleration of negative trends extending back into 1980. Most available statistical data reflected stagnation or downturns in activity. Levels of production, trade, and consumption declined for a substantial number of leading mineral commodities, including, most notably, steel and petroleum. Investment, if not lower than in 1980, was evidently increasing at a more modest rate. Prices for major mineral commodities were generally lower, at least in terms of constant dollars, and in some cases even in terms of current dollars. Prospects of a major reversal of these patterns seemed dim. The mineral industry, however, was far from alone in this general downturn; most other elements of the national economies of the world's nations fared little better. General conditions of inflation, recession, and reduced industrial product consumption were reflected in most other sectors of the total economy. International political events continued to influence mineral output and flow but had less influence on overall levels of activities than on the geographic distribution of these activities. The Iran-Iraq war certainly played a role in reducing mineral industry activities in those nations, but the commodity most affected, petroleum, was available from other sources in sufficient quantity that, in the face of reduced demand, a substantial surplus developed.

Jan 1, 1983

By Rudolf E. Greuer

The existing computer programs for the simulation of ventilation systems under normal ventilation conditions are reviewed and a suitable program for including the influence of mine fires is selected. New program parts are written for the consideration of methane productions in coal mines, heat and gas productions of mine fires, temperature and air composition changes in ventilation systems, and the ventilation forces resulting from the latter. Other program parts are provided for the detection of danger zones and reversed air currents and for the inclusion of recirculated air currents in the network analysis. Existing program and new program parts are combined. The resulting new program can be used for a multitude of assignments. It is designed for the practical ventilation engineer and should be applicable to all types of ventilation emergency plans, in particular mine fire plans. The organization of the program and its mathematical basis are described. A FORTRAN IV listing and several flow diagrams are included. Eight executed examples are discussed, input and output for these examples explained. Storage requirements and execution times are estimated.

Jan 1, 2011

By M. Dattilo

The U.S. Bureau of Mines has been conducting research on the use of waste-derived zinc as a partial replacement for pure zinc in the electrogalvanizing process. The end product of this process is automotive sheet, which has enhanced cosmetic protection over previously used cold-rolled (CR) steel. In this study, primer-coated specimens of CR and electrogalvanized (EG) steel were subjected to the on-vehicle environment and monitored periodically by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) during immersion in 1M NaCI solution. The results of these tests were compared with immersion-only conditions. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques were also used to evaluate the corrosion processes and compare them with atmospheric exposure specimens. EIS was found to measure the corrosion associated with on-vehicle exposure, thus providing an excellent screening technique for evaluation of the performance of EG automotive sheet steel.

Jan 1, 1990

By D. E. Kirby

The electrochemical reduction of AlC13 was investigated as a process for the production of aluminum. An externally heated, single-compartment cell with a rammed refractory lining was used with molten KCl-NaCl-AlC13 electrolyte. Aluminum was deposited qt 700° to 760° C with a current of 100 to 200 amperes on a molten aluminum cathode. Chlorine was evolved at a graphite anode and collected and measured to provide a quantitative evaluation of the AlC13 reduction. Aluminum was removed from the cell by siphoning or ladling. Granular AlC13 was added periodically to replenish that depleted from the electrolyte. Concentrations of 7.5 to 17.5 percent AlC13 in the electrolyte were optimum for operation. Anode current efficiencies of 83 to 85 percent were attained, using anode current densities of 5.9 amperes per square inch and an anode-cathode distance of 4 inches. The chemically bonded, alumina liner was resistant to attack by aluminum and chlorine but susceptible to erosion at the surface of the electrolyte. Titanium diboride proved suitable for the electrical connection to the molten aluminum cathode. Aluminum of a purity equal to or better than 1100 series metal was electrowon continuously from commercial AlC13 for a period of 4-1/2 months.

Jan 1, 1970

By R. S. Dean

The brief resume of the activities of the Metallurgical Division that appears annually in its progress reports series serves a useful purpose by making available a rather comprehensive but concise recapitulation of the current work, and publications of the division. An unprecedented opportunity to attack the problem of producing ferro-grade material from low-grade domestic manganese ores effectively was provided by the act designated as Public 667 of the 76th Congress of the United States, approved June 26, 1940, which made available an appropriation for "Expediting Production of Equipment and. Supplies for National Defense." Although the funds were not immediately available to the division, good progress has been made in the, solution of the many and diverse problems presented in the studies undertaken to determine the best methods for the recovery of useful products from a wide variety of manganese ores.

Jan 1, 1941

Pillars with width to height ratios of less than 1.0 are frequently created in underground hard rock mines. The strength of slender pillars can be estimated using empirically developed equations. However, the equations can provide variable results when the width-to-height ratios approach 0.5. This paper investigates some of the issues affecting pillar strength at low width-to-height ratios in hard brittle rock. The investigation includes an evaluation of empirical pillar strength data presented in the literature and observations of pillar performance in underground limestone mines in the eastern United States, supplemented by numerical modeling in which failure processes and sensitivity of slender pillars to variations in rock mass properties are evaluated. The results showed that the strength of slender pillars is more variable than that of wider pillars. The numerical model results demonstrated the increasing role of brittle rock failure in slender pillar strength. The absence of confinement in slender pillars can result in a fully brittle failure process, while wider pillars fail in a combined brittle and shearing mode. The onset of spalling in slender pillars occurs at or near the ultimate strength, while this is not the case for wider pillars. Slender pillars are shown to be more sensitive to the presence of discontinuities than wider pillars, which can partly explain the increased variability of slender pillar strength. Two examples are presented, which illustrate failure initiation by brittle spalling and the sensitivity of slender pillars to the presence of discontinuities.

By William H. Schiffbauer

One of the safety and health research programs of the former U.S. Bureau of Mines Pittsburgh Research Center was the evaluation of technology that will provide remote-controlled operation of mechanized equipment in underground room-and-pillar mining. The purpose of this effort was to enable workers to be located away from the hazardous and unhealthful coal extraction area (the face). As part of this program, advanced machine navigation and control technologies were developed for underground room-and-pillar and highwall coal mining that can be applied to commercially available mining equipment. These technologies use off-the-shelf components and a flexible control software architecture to minimize the effort required to adapt them to mining equipment. An accurate, reliable navigation system that can provide the mining machine's heading and location is a critical requirement for a remote-controlled mining system. After investigating several different types of navigation sensors, researchers selected the Honeywell Ring Laser Gyro Inertial Navigation System (INS) as showing the most promise. It was installed on a continuous mining machine at our Mining Equipment Test Facility. Extensive testing at an open pit (OP) site was also performed. This report describes the INS as it was employed on the mining machine in the laboratory, in the field, and OP tests, and provides the accuracy and performance results of the OP and highwalltests.

Jan 11, 1997

By Gordon R. Sima

This contract is concerned with the construction of a Time Resolved Audio Dosimeter System consisting of one readout unit and several dosimeter units. The Time Resolved Audio Dosimeter System was designed and developed by the Bureau of Mines with the purpose of this contract aimed at obtaining additional units for further field testing and evaluation. All construction was in accordance with the Bureau of Mines design and/or Bureau approved drawings produced during the course of this contract. This report contains a summary of the construction efforts, problems encountered, recommendations and all drawings produced under this contract.

Jan 1, 1977

By Todd M. Ruff

An average of 13 mine workers are killed each year by being run over or pinned by mobile mining equipment. At surface mines, these accidents commonly involve large dump trucks that drive over a smaller vehicle or a person that is in the dump truck’s blind spot. One method of detecting a person or another vehicle in a blind spot is to use some type of sensor technology such as radar or radio-frequency identification (RFID). Researchers at the Spokane Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health tested a number of commercially available and experimental sensors that monitor obstacles in a vehicle’s blind spots. None of the sensors had been previously applied to the specific problem of rigid-frame surface mining trucks. This report documents the procedures and results of tests conducted after RFID and radar systems were mounted on a 50-ton-capacity dump truck. It was determined that both RFID and radar technology show promise for detecting obstacles in the blind spots of mining equipment; however, more development work is needed to meet the unique requirements of mining equipment and the mine environment.

Jan 1, 2000

By J. B. Elizondo

This paper, which describes mining methods and practices at the Piokee mining unit and the Piokee expertmental mining project of The Eagle-Picher Co. in northeast Oklahoma, is one of a series being prepared by the Federal Bureau of Mines on mining methods, practices, and costs in various mining districts of the United States. The Piokee unit, comprising the Piokee, Rowe, Lucky Syndicate, and parts of the Netta White and Otis White leases, is in the SW1/4, W1/2NW1/4SE1/4, and W1/2SW1/4SE1/4 sec. 17, T. 29 N., R. 23 E., Ottawa County, Okla. (figs. 1 and 2), The 200-acre tract is adjacent to the town of Picher and near the heart of the Picher field of the Tri-State zinc-lead mining district.

Jan 1, 1959

By J. E. Fraley

Full-column anchored resin bolts were first used in underground mines in 1972. These bolts appear to improve support in many roof bolt applications, as indicated by the use of about 30 million resin bolts in 1980. In the mid-1970's, Bureau of Mines in-vestigators began looking for a substitute for resin because of its short supply and rapidly increasing price. The investigators selected accelerated gypsum plaster (CaSO. ·1/2H20), which becomes gypsum (CaSO.· 2H20) when mixed with water. Gypsum makes an effective alternate grout material because it hardens quickly, is readily available, and is inexpensive in comparison with other cementitious materials. The Bureau received a patent (U.s. patent 4,096,944) for a system combining water capsules (wax-encapsulated water) with plaster into cartridges resembling resin cartridges. This report presents the results of tests conducted by the Bureau on the plaster, the water capsules, and their combined use in cartridges. The tests were designed to determine how the gypsum-plaster water capsule bolting system performs and what happens in the hole while the bolt is being inserted through the cartridge. The test results indicate that water capsule plaster cartridges are a workable alternative to resin cartridges under normal or dry conditions.

Jan 1, 1987

By James R. Wait

The present final report constitutes the total productivity of a series of contracts from the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences over the period 1971-1979. The emphasis on the research has been analytical. In this "executive summary" we give a succinct description of each phase of the investigation. In the first phase of the investigation that was stimulated by the National Academy of Engineering, we concentrated on the analytical studies of techniques relevant to mine rescue. Several specific procedures for locating a buried source were analyzed. In the next, but overlapping phase of the investigation, we dealt with the fundemental character of how electromagnetic waves propagate in mine tunnels. At the outset we allowed for the finite conductivity of the tunnel walls and the presence of axial conductors such as cables, pipes, and tracks. The third phase of the investigation was devoted to the analyses of various specific geophysical engineering problems. The related fourth phase dealt with the general subject of non-destructive testing of wire ropes such as used for mine hoists.

Jan 1, 1980

By Richard C. Moore

The U.S. Bureau of Mines contracted a study to review the air and water monitoring requirements of five Federal environmental acts (the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) and to compile information on the currently available monitoring instruments. A literature review of the acts and their associated regulations was conducted to determine applicability to the mining industry as well as any air and water monitoring requirements. In addition, an industry search and literature review was performed to assess the instrumentation available to comply with the monitoring regulations. Based on this research, the instruments are classified by general applicability to air, surface water, or ground water monitoring, then catalogued by monitoring parameters. A discussion is provided on recommended and innovative monitoring techniques.

Jan 1, 1981

By H. H. Schrenk, W. P. Yant, F. A. Patty

"INTRODUCTION In accordance with the outline of investigation described in a previous report 5 of the Bureau of Mines dealing with the use of acrolein for detecting leakage of methyl chloride from unit--type refrigerating systems, the work has been extended to include an investigation of its use in a multiple system, This report gives the results of analysis of samples of the gas from representative units of a multiple system charged with methyl chloride containing approximately 0.9 per cent acrolein by volume, The results furnish a basis for estimating the Warning that would be given in event of leakage. The properties and warning intensity of acrolein have been described in a previous report. 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis investigation was made at the combined request-of Several Inc., Manufacturers of refrigerating, appliances, and the Roeasler Hasslacher Chemical Co., manufacturers of methyl chloride. Acknowledgment is given to R. M. Major, ,chief chemist of the former firm for arranging the experimental site and equipment; to Arthur O. Haseeneall, owner of the apartment building where the investigation was conducted, for his courtesy in permitting the investigation; and to R. R. Sayers, chief surgeon, Bureau of Mines, and surgeon., U. S. Public Health Service, for suggestions and advice."

Sep 1, 1930

By L. K. Barker

The purpose of this research was to determine how much, if any, improvement would be made by subjecting hydrogenated shale-oil naphtha to a catalytic reforming process. Preselected ranges of temperature and pressure within the commercial reforming ranges were chosen for investigation and other possible variables were held constant. All tests were made with a liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) of 3 volumes of liquid feed per volume of catalyst per hour (Vf/Vc/hr) and a hydrogen feed rate of 3,000 scf/bbl. Operating temperatures of 850°,875°, and 900° F were used at pressures of 200,400, and 600 psig. The greatest octane improvement in the naphtha was obtained at a temperature of 900° F and pressure of 200 psig. The reformed naphtha had a clear research octane number of 89, a liquid yield of 80 vol pct, and a yield-octane number of 71.1. The data indicate that a higher temperature could have produced a higher yield-octane number.

Jan 1, 1973

By B. K. Shibler

During a research program to develop improved methods for recovering elemental sulfur and useful sulfur compounds from secondary source materials, the technical literature was searched for pertinent articles on processing methods. This report summarizes results of the literature survey and describes the more important processes that have been used or suggested for recovering sulfur and sulfur compounds from all non-Frasch sources. The bibliography presented represents a survey of the available English language literature on the subject through 1958, with particular attention focused on the period 1950 through 1958. Engineering Index and Industrial Arts Index were the principal guides used in the survey of this period. Chemical Abstracts was used to a limited extent to identify a few key foreign articles and patents. The Sulfur Symposium (4)4 published in November 1950 by Industrial and Engineering Chemistry includes a broadly representative selection of the literature up to 1949. Therefore, this reference was used extensively to locate and list pertinent articles on processing methods reported in the period prior to 1950.

Jan 1, 1962

By Robert H. Lambeth

There are no identified mineral resources in the Italian Peak RARE II areas, and there are no producing or developing mines within or adjacent to the study area. Several prospects are in RARE II area M-4945, Idaho, but none were found in the area I-1945, Montana. The Viola Mine (fig. 1, no. 15) vicinity and the Heart Mountain vicinity along the west and south borders, respectively, are being prospected. There has been no recorded production from mines within the study area, but between $2.5 million and $5.0 million worth of lead, silver, and zinc were produced in the adjacent Birch Creek district - dominantly from the Viola Mine - from 1882 to 1889 (Anderson and Wagner, 1944, p. 14). The Viola and other mines in that district are possibly, on basin-margin, carbonate-hosted, lead-silver-zinc deposits stratabound within the Devonian Jefferson Formation. Previous studies have considered them to be hydrothermal, replacement orebodies. Mineral occurrences in the Heart Mountain area are possibly black-shale hosted uranium-vanadium deposits in the Mississippian-Devonian McGowan Creek Formation or perhaps the underlying Devonian Three Forks Formation. The Jefferson and McGowan Creek Formations underlie many scattered segments of the study area. The deposits and occurrence; are not sufficiently exposed to determine tonnage and grade, but sampling indicated moderate resource potential at two properties just outside the study area, the Viola Mine and the Elkhorn Group (fig. 1, no. 33). Local residents indicated there are several thousand tons of zinc-bearing resource; at the Viola line. A 23-ft (70-m) drill hole intercept near Heart Mountain et the Elkhorn Group adjacent to the stuny area contained 0.15 percent uranium oxide

Jan 1, 1983