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By Jay F. Colinet

Respirable dust exposure has long been known to be a serious health threat to workers in many industries. In coal mining, overexposure to respirable coal mine dust can lead to coal workers? pneumoconiosis (CWP). CWP is a lung disease that can be disabling and fatal in its most severe form. In addition, miners can be exposed to high levels of respirable silica dust, which can cause silicosis, another disabling and/or fatal lung disease. Once contracted, there is no cure for CWP or silicosis. The goal, therefore, is to limit worker exposure to respirable dust to prevent development of these diseases. The passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 established respirable dust exposure limits, dust sampling requirements for inspectors and mine operators, a voluntary x-ray surveillance program to identify CWP in underground coal miners, and a benefits program to provide compensation to affected workers and their families. The tremen­dous human and financial costs resulting from CWP and silicosis in the U.S. underground coal mine workforce are shown by the following statistics: ? During 1970?2004, CWP was a direct or contributing cause of 69,377 deaths of U.S. underground coal mine workers. ? During 1980?2005, over $39 billion in CWP benefits were paid to underground coal miners and their families. ? Recent x-ray surveillance data for 2000?2006 show an increase in CWP cases. Nearly 8% of examined underground coal miners with 25 or more years of experience were diagnosed with CWP. ? ?Continuous miner operator? is the most frequently listed occupation on death certificates that record silicosis as the cause of death.

Jan 1, 2010

By John A. Breslin

This publication provides an historical overview of research undertaken by the U.S. federal government over the last 100 years to improve the health and safety of our nation?s miners. Federal research efforts began with the establishment of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM, or the Bureau) in 1910. They have continued over the past century, even after the Bureau?s closure in 1996. It is hoped that this publication will give the reader an appreciation for the work of mining health and safety researchers over the past century, and of the miners served by this research. Although not a comprehensive history, this report highlights the key organizational changes made within the Bureau and the federal government that affected mining safety and health research. Some mention is also made of Bureau research not directly related to mining health and safety. Note that the work classified as safety and health research has varied over the last century. For example, before 1970 the Bureau separated mining research and safety and health research. At that time, mining research included ground control and methane drainage because they had direct implications for mine safety. Explosives research was also reported separately from health and safety, even though permissible explosives research was obviously related to safety. Therefore, where budget figures from the Bureau are mentioned in this report, it is often not possible to separate safety and health research from other types of research. This history is generally chronological, with a few exceptions. Because of their prominence and direct links to Bureau research, most of the Public Health Service mining studies completed before 1970, when NIOSH was established, will be discussed in a single section, even though the work spanned many decades. Likewise, for convenience, the brief histories of the Bureau?s mining research centers are located in one section.

Feb 1, 2010

By Howard M. Stainer

Jan 1, 1963

By G. R. Hopkins, A. B. Coons

A survey of the petroleum pipe lines by the Bureau of Mines as of May 1, 1923, shows that on that date there was a total of slightly more than 90,000 miles of pipe lines in the United States, having a capacity of approximately 15,750,000 barrels, which is equivalent to one-fourth of the nation's average production for one month. These lines varied in diameter from 2 to 16 inches, the weighted average being 6 inches. The total pipe-line milenge was about equally divided between trunk lines and gathering lines, though the capacity of the former was about four times that of the latter. This was due, of course, to the difference in average diameter, that for the former being 7.4 inches as compared with 3.7 inches for the latter. The common size for trunk lines was 8 inches, and for gathering lines 2 inches. Oklahora, with 19,180 miles of pipe lines, is the leading State in total mileage, with Texas second and Pennsylvania third. From point of trunk lines alone Texas is considerably ahead of any of the other States, a position which it owes to its size and to the growth in the rovement to its Gulf ports. Cali- fornia, though the leading State from point of production, ranks only seventh in pipe-line mileage. This is due to the fortunate location of the Los Angeles Basin fields, some of which are within sight of the refineries to which their oil is delivered or of the port of San Pedro through which their oil is shipped. The last survey of this nature, made in the spring of 1924 by the U. S. Geological Survey, recorded a total mileage of nearly 83,000 with a capacity of approximately 14,450,000 barrels. This indicates an increase of 9 per cent in both mileage and capacity during the two years.

Jan 1, 1927

By Douglas W. Barr

If some of you have been through the long hot summer in the southwest, you may find it refreshing to turn your thoughts to the wintertime problems of mineral processing in the northern climates. The purpose of this paper is to point out some of the ways in which heat is gained or lost in the tailing basin operation and the problems that can result if too much heat is lost.

Jan 1, 1980

By D. L. Kuck

Water ice pillars far underground mine roof support can be frozen and/or maintained and/or melted on demand. The system to do this consists of a refrigeration brine chiller, brine circulation system and disposable plastic containers. Fusion expansion, resilience to dynamic loads, plastic deformation under stress, and non-contamination of coal or ore are unique properties of ice. Lower labor and material costs are economic advantages of ice far mine structural support. Ice brattices can become ice pillars on retreat. For safety, ice pillars can be placed (by remote control, if necessary) in hazardous sites without human entry.

Jan 1, 1988

By David L. Kuck

This paper describes a system for providing structural, support in underground mines, employing water ice for pillars. packwalls and brattices. It consists of a refrigeration brine chiller, brine circulation system, and disposable plastic containers. The system provides for the timely freezing of uniform ice pillars, and for ice maintainance and/or melting on demand. Unique, useful ice properties include: expansion upon freezing, resilience to dynamic loads, and plasticity. Ice will not dilute or contaminate coal or ore. Economic advantages include: 1) lower labor and material costs (water can be piped to the ice pillar site through mine-water, spray-water, or drill-water lines); 2) replacement or supplementation of timber. concrete or other roof support equipment; and 3) potential use of ice brattices as ventillation control; and 4) conversion of ice bratices to ice pillars upon retreat. See Figure . A safety advantage for personnel and equipment is that ice pillars can be placed in hazardous sites, by remote control, if neccessary, without human entry. All filling, freezing and melting operations can be controlled from a safe distance.

Jan 1, 1987

By V. Izaxon

Current practice in mining frozen, underground placers is to support the mine openings by leaving remnant pillars, which are kept frozen to maintain their stability. These pillars may be partially extracted depending on mining conditions, but this practice may be risky, and roof falls are common. Instead of allowing the mined-out areas to cave, the extracted entries could be filled with waste material, which would then be frozen, using cold ventilation air. A finite difference model for analyzing the effects of various parameters on the freezing of backfill in underground mines in the Arctic has been developed and tested. The model also accounts for properties unique to a frozen rock mass, including those that change with temperature. Examination of the characteristics of ice-cemented mining waste materials as backfill indicates that with proper engineering control, a backfill system can be designed for use in production mines. The system will allow increased extraction ratio while maintaining the stability of underground openings with minimum heat impact on the surroundings. These simulated results establish the relationships among the strength, the temperature, and the freezing characteristics of a given material. When coupled with site observations these relationships will facilitate the optimal design of ore pillar recovery methods.

Jan 1, 2004

Protect rescue workers fighting fires or mine personnel temporarily working in hot environments from heat stress. Approach A specially designed ice-cooled vest is worn while working in hot environments where cooling the mine air is not possible. How It Works The vest holds a total of 44 individual ice cells in packets that are firmly held near the wearer's skin. These ice cells remove heat from the wearer, reducing heat stress and increasing comfort. The locations of the ice cells and packets are shown in the diagram. The vest is constructed in three layers with the outer layer being aluminzed fiberglass cloth. Its aluminized surface reflects radiated heat, and its fiberglass cloth provides fire resistance and strength.

Jan 1, 1979

By H S. Shin, H Jin, B H. Ryu, J Lee

Prospecting ice on the Moon necessitates drilling systems to obtain subsurface samples and measure the composition of ice deposits. Landers and rovers equipped with drilling equipment are essential for analysing ice and subsurface resources located at the Moon’s poles. These devices must be small, lightweight, low-power, highly efficient, and high-performance units to function properly in the extreme conditions of the lunar environment. Researchers have developed a prototype drilling apparatus capable of operating in atmospheric and cold environments. A newly developed drilling system in Korea, capable of performing not only sampling but also subsurface investigation, is introduced.

Sep 1, 2024

By Syd Peng, W. B. Guo, F. Du, L. Yang, J. Yw. Cheng

The annual ICGCM China was initiated in 2014. Up to 2023, ICGCM China has been held 9 times. In the 9 conferences during the past 10 years, about 559 papers in 17 topical areas were presented and attendance ranged from 200+ to 400+ each conference. The 42nd ICGCM China was held in Xiangtan, Hunan, China, 10/20–10/22/2023. There were 86 papers presented in 26 topical areas. In addition, an MS and PhD Research Forum was held concurrently with 36 papers presented by MS and PhD candidates in mining engineering from 8 schools. The conference plays an important role in cultivating advanced degree student talents. In this paper, all 559 papers reviewed previously were summarized. In addition, the 42nd ICGCM China is used to illustrate the current and future development trends of coal mine ground control in China. It summarizes the 122 papers (including 36 MS and PhD forum papers) grouping into, and in terms of, 26 topical areas. In addition, its unique and innovative subject areas, short summary of developments as well as conference strengths and shortcomings will also be presented.

Jun 25, 2024

By J P. Tidman, I J. Kirby, G H. Harries

The SABREX computer model is based on the fact that both shock waves and gas pressure are important in describing a blast. The treatment of explosive-rock interactions includes the influence of non-ideal detonation to make use of recent advances in that field. Details of the blast layout are defined from a comprehensive list of conditions the blaster can control (drill pattern, charging and hook-up). The program gives practical and graphic information about fragmentation, muckpile, damage and costs.

Jan 1, 1987

By G G. Paine, C V. B Cunningham, G Harries

The companies of the ICI Explosives Group have successfully used a wide variety of internal computer codes including BOBCAT, KUZ-RAM, ICRAX, XPLODE, BLEND, 3CRACK, MICBLAST, DETON, etc. In recent years the extensive experiences across ICI have been combined into a single compatible model engineered to worldwide technical service and customer needs for the prediction and assessment of blast results.

Jan 1, 1987

By Peter Duniam, Vivian Patz

History of the ExEx 1000 CAB system. l What we’ve learned using electronic timing. l Requirements for a second generation. EDD system. l The ExEx 2000 system - simple, versatile and cost effective

Jan 1, 1997

PROFIL D'ENTREPRISE Léandre Gervais & Associé(e)s est une société d'experts-conseils en ingénierie de la structure, de la mécanique & de la tuyauterie, et de l'électricité et de l'instrumentation. Nous offrons des services hautement spécialisés à notre clientèle des secteurs industriels des mines et de la métallurgie, au Québec, au Canada ainsi que dans plusieurs autres pays du monde. Notre mission est d'assurer à nos clients un ensemble de services d'ingénierie de haute qualité contribuant à la mise en oeuvre et à la réalisation de leurs projets d'affaires. Léandre Gervais & Associé(e)s emploie 36 employés à temps pleins et opère à partir de Val-d'Or, province de Québec. SERVICES OFFERTS Nous avons réalisé de multiples mandats pour notre clientèle de différent pays du monde dans les domaines d'expertise les plus variés : ?Études de faisabilité ; ?Ingénierie conceptuelle ; ?Ingénierie de détail ; ?Gestion de projets ; ?Ré-ingénierie de la maintenance.

May 1, 2001

By A. Roper

Since the Toronto conference in May 2002, the International Council on Mining and Minerals (ICMM) has made progress on the road to sustainability. Fifteen of the world?s largest mining and metal producing companies and twenty-five associations have made a long term commitment to ICMM to improve the environmental and social sustainability of their activities. Sir Robert Wilson (Rio Tinto) assumed the chairmanship of ICMM in October 2002. By December 2002, the Council had approved a Strategic Vision and an operating plan for 2003. Both have been posted on the ICMM website (www.icmm.com). ICMM?s Operating Plan sets out three priority tasks: - Providing strategic leadership to achieve improved sustainable development performance in the mining, minerals and metals industry. - Contributing to international policy discussions on cross-cutting issues of importance to the industry, in collaboration with national and commodity associations. - Promoting dialogue and partnership with other organizations to catalyze sector?wide sustainability initiatives.

Jan 1, 2003

By Frank Wright

"The Icon Sullivan Joint Venture ore deposit was discovered in June, 1965 by Messrs. Paul Benard, Bob Galipeau and Mac Watson working under the direction of Mr. Andrew J. Troop, as employees of the Icon syndicate. The deposit is located on the Waconichici River as the south end of Baie du Poste of Lake Mistassini, approximately 45 miles north of Chibougamau. Property acquisition and Winkie drilling was followed by a diamond drilling program to evaluate the deposit. Stripping of the open pit area connnenced in the late fall of 1966 and the first test sample of ore was shipped to Chibougamau in December of that year.Regular ore shipments to the mill of Merrill Island Mining Corporation Limited for concentration commenced May 25, 1967. Production to December 31, 1970 amounts to 42,960,000 pounds of pay copper.The ore is chalcopyrite in white quartz dolomite, and it contains a very small amount of precious metals. The quartz dolomite assumes a flat to gently dipping attitude and is associated with a graphitic argillite contact zone on both hanging and footwall sides, in dolomitic limestone rocks. There is practically no other sulphide present in the ore.During the summer of 1969 a series of pre-concentration tests were completed and a Wemco heavy media sink float plant was installed in late 1969 and early 1970. This pre-concentrator eliminates at least one third of the ore mined in the form of barren quartz dolomite prior to ore shipment by truck to the concentrator in Chibougamau."

Jan 1, 1971

In the late 1970's Western Mining Corporation, Exploration Division considered the purchase of a major multi-element spectrometer as an adjunct to our existing atomic absorption spectrophotometers. The analytical work proposed for the unit included barium, uranium and rare earth elements from Olympic Dam, uranium, sulphur, vanadium and strontium on Yeelirrie type deposits, major element and whole rock analysis, multi-element analysis of samples from the laterite, chromium and manganese exploration programmes and tin and arsenic analysis. These were all analyses that were not readily or easily performed by flame atomic absorption or were where we expected that a simultaneous multi-element instrument would be an advantage. Also the turnaround times for the commercial laboratories was considered unacceptably long for some determinations. Other factors, important when considering the spectrometer were the ability to ensure confidentiality of results and the ability to assign our own priorities and not to have to rely on commercial laboratories. The two techniques considered were X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry. The decision was made in favour of the ICP unit for several reasons. The ICP fitted in with our existing methodology, ie samples digested for atomic absorption or colorimetric techniques would also be suitable for ICP analysis and vice versa. The technique was suitable for water samples and for major element analyses and for rare earth elements. X-ray fluorescence spectrometers were installed at the Kambalda and Belmont laboratories and would be available to us for routine checking and for elements not suitable for ICP analysis. The final consideration was price. ICP was considerably cheaper than XRF.

Jan 1, 1987

By R. W. Bartlett

The extensive central Idaho black sand placer deposits are a potential source of rare earth elements, particularly the heavy rare earth elements that are not prevalent in commercial bastnasite deposits. These placers derive from the Idaho batholith. The geology, occurrence, and extent of these deposits are reviewed and the diverse mineral assemblages and complex mineral chemical compositions of these sands are described. Niobium, yttrium and thorium are also present in significant concentrations. The results of prior mining practice, including concentration and separation of the heavy minerals are reviewed. Technical approaches to extraction of rare earths from Idaho black sand concentrates are discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Idaho, Moscow, Ida. John W. Finch, Director. A list of publications will be sent upon application. A series of Bulletins and Pamphlets have been issued by the Bureau to date since 1920 Of the Bulletins, six are out of print, and a charge is made for eight. Each of the Bulletins, in the main, treats of the geology and resources of a particular district in Idaho, as follows (only available Bulletins listed): Bulletin 1, South central Idaho (1920), 15 cents, 7, North central Idaho (1924), 50 cents, 8, Bonneville, Bingham and Caribou counties (1924), 50 cents, 9, Boise Basin (1924), 50 cents; 10, Boundary County (1926), 50 cents; 11, Region about Silver City (1926), 50 cents; 12, Clark Fork district (1930), 50 cents, 14, Eastern Cassia County (1931), 50 cents, Press Bulletin 15, Teton County (1927), Bulletin 16, Melon Valley near Buhl (1927); 17, Concerning land slips near Whitebird, Idaho (1928) The 37 Pamphlets are issued free of cost, and each treats, also, in the main of the geology and resources of a particular district in Idaho Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 17, 18, 20, 22, 25, 26, 30 and 35 are out of print Of those available, attention may be called to Pamphlet 6, Reported platinum occurrences near Coeur d' Alene (1925), 11, Bruneau River Basin, 12, Power and Oneida

Jan 1, 1933