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By W. W. Agey

An inexpensive technique that laboratory studies indicated would significantly reduce seepage in irrigation canals was devised and tested through research sponsored by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Missouri River Basin Field Committee. Laboratory tests simulating optimum field conditions determined that easily applied sodium carbonate solutions made test beds of canal lining materials virtually impermeable for long periods. The study comprised alternative laboratory treatments of 3-inch-deep test beds of canal earths with 74 water-soluble chemicals in search of one 01' more that would effectively improve the water barrier characteristics of the component clays. Sodium carbonate, one of the least expensive, was among the most effective. The addition of 0,4 lb of reagent per sq yd greatly reduced the seepage from typical, highly permeable test beds. The reagent penetrated and sealed surface for about a 1.5-inch depth.

Jan 1, 1965

By G. A. Crowder

Far infrared spectra, most of them in the region 15-200 microns and for both the liquid or solution state and for the vapor state, were obtained for twenty-seven compounds.

Jan 1, 1965

By Arden D. Fugate

The Federal Bureau of Mines conducted extensive studies on solid-state defluorination (laboratory scale) and tests on molten defluorination (intermediate scale) of siliceous fluorspars. The studies were made to develop a pyrohydrolytic process for liberating fluorine from offgrade fluorspars. Test results showed that more than 90 percent of the fluorine can be evolved by solid-state defluorination at 1,300° C., and more than 97 percent can be liberated by molten-state defluorination at 1,420° C. Solid-state defluorination conditions were established by conducting tests on mixtures of ceramic-grade fluorspars and high-purity silica flour. Pelletized mixtures were defluorinated under varying conditions of time, temperature, and relative concentrations of silica, calcium fluoride, and water. The effects of adding various amounts and combinations of aluminum oxide and iron oxide on defluorination were also studied. Investigations of solid-state defluorination indicates that the following two reactions are involved: 2CaF2 + 3SiO2 = 2CaSiO3 + SiF4, and CaF2 + Sio2 + H20 = CaSiO3 + 2HF, The second reaction is dominant, although significant defluorination can be achieved by the first reaction.

Jan 1, 1961

By D. Harrington, B. W. Dyer

"One of the products of the activities of the United States Chemical Warfare Service is a simple device and method for nearly instantaneous determination of small quantities of carbon monoxide in air. Since the war, this device has been diverted to commercial uses, and is now being marketed in connection with rapid determination of the comparatively small but dangerous quantities of CO, which may be found in garages, in sewers, about blast furnaces, etc. Also, it probably has a definite field of use in both coal and metal mines in connection with fires and explosions, as well as in confined places after firing of explosives) the latter applica-tion being of especial importance in metal mining.The device as marketed is readily portable, being small and light enough to carry in a coat pocket of medium size. In operation, a sample of the air mixture is drawn into a small rubber bulb, then forced through a small glass tube filled with certain chemicals upon which CO has the effect of changing the original color from gray or white to shades of green, the deepness of the green determining the percentage of CO in the air. A color scale is attached for purpose of comparison and determination of CO percentage. Only a few minutes are consumed in obtaining the result, all work being done on the ground.The exact effect of minute quantities (up to 1/10 of 1 percent) of CO on the human system is somewhat uncertain, and much research has been and is being done to obtain definite data on this point. It is, however, definitely known that in air containing more than 1/10 of 1 percent CO men doing hard work are quickly and seriously affected. As the gas is tasteless, colorless and odorless, methods of determining the presence of both small and large quantities have been of much importance. Technical Paper 11 of the U. S. Bureau of Mines gives much data as to effect of CO on mice and canaries. It was found that mice show very little distress until the CO content is about 0.20 percent, but quickly succumb when that percentage is exceeded; canaries are somewhat more susceptible; they quickly show distress in as little as 0.15 percent 00, and soon collapse when that percentage is exceeded."

Jan 1, 1921

By Fred Biggs, Walter Utt, Richard Miller

Powered haulage has been, and continues to be, a major source of severe accidents and fatalities at metal/nonmetal surface mines. Between 1986 and 1997, truck drivers accounted for63% of the lost-time injuries in surface haulage. This project was undertaken to reduce the number and severity of lost-time injuries among operators of these trucks. Work involved measuring shock acceleration at a western surface mine during representative work cycles on two types of trucks and collecting data from cab floors using a triaxial accelerometer and from operator seats using a seat pad accelerometer. NIOSH researchers also used the mine’s GPS systems to locate shock events on a mine map in real time. Shock tests were also run at Caterpillar, Inc.’s, proving grounds in Green Valley, AZ, to determine the magnitude of shocks resulting from controlled rock drops onto the bed of a haulage truck.

By Michael J. Magyar

This report contains a cost estimate of the Bureau of Mines process for dewatering Alaskan placer effluent streams with polyethylene oxide (PEO). In this process effluent slurry is withdrawn from the placer plant pond system after a primary settling stage. A dilute PEO solution is injected into the slurry line to flocculate the fine, suspended solids. The flocculated solids are dewatered on a stationary screen. Clarified water is returned to the placer operation or discharged, while the 35 percent solids waste is pumped back into the mine cut. Cost estimates are presented for dewatering plants processing 1,000 gallons per minute of effluent slurry at three representative turbidity levels. Both the placer and the dewatering plants operate on the same 1-shift-per-day, 6-day-per-week schedule for the 100-day Alaskan operating season. Estimated fixed capital costs for these plants processing placer with effluent turbidities of 1,000, 3,000, and 5,000 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) are approximately $29,000, $31,000, and $34,000, respectively, on a fourth quarter 1986 basis. Operating costs are estimated to be $0.34, $0.37, and $0.40 per thousand gallons of effluent slurry.

Jan 1, 1987

By Albert E. Long

Preliminary experiments conducted in 1949 with a few diamond bits in which the diamonds in the bit crowns were set in hard-vector directions indicated that a substantial saving could be effected when a high percentage of the diamonds were oriented in this-manner. It was realized, however, that many additional tests would have to be performed before a positive trend could be established and the possibility of coincidence eliminated. Therefore, a long-range series of experiments was planned to investigate various phases of the problems related to the orienting of diamonds in diamond bits. This report (the third in a series) 2/3 presents the information obtained from tests conducted to investigate more fully the effects of orienting high-grade drill bort in diamond bit crowns. In these tests, the drill bort were oriented in both hard-vector and soft-vector directions in the crowns of AX-size bits. Test drilling was done in a dike of saussuritized dacite porphyry similar to a fine-grained granite in hardness e drillability.

Jan 1, 1954

By X. C. Shi

Bacterial mutagenicity and mammalian cell chromosomal and DNA damage in vitro assays were performed on a diesel exhaust particulate material (DPM) standard in two preparations: as an organic solvent extract, and as an aqueous dispersion in a simulated pulmonary surfactant. U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology DPM SRM 2975 expressed mutagenic activity in the Salmonella reversion assay, and for in vitro genotoxicity to mammalian cells as micronucleus induction and as DNA damage in both preparations: as an acetone extract of the DPM mixed into dimethylsulfoxide, and as a mixture of whole DPM in a dispersion of dipalmitoyl phosphatidyl choline. Dispersion in surfactant was used to model the conditioning of DPM depositing on the deep respiratory airways of the lung. DPM solid residue after acetone extraction was inactive when assayed as a surfactant dispersion in the micronucleus induction assay, as was surfactant dispersion of a respirable particulate carbon black. In general, a given mass of the DPM in surfactant dispersion expressed greater activity than the solvent extract of an equal mass of DPM.

Jan 1, 2009

By Gary E. Sherman

To aid the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in their Resource Development Navigation Study of ten existing or proposed port sites in Alaska, the Bureau of Mines examined the potential for mineral development around three Alaska port sites: Iliamna Bay, Kotzebue, and Nome. The mineral deposits near Iliamna Bay include gold, copper, and iron. Development of minerals in this area will require the discovery of new deposits or the definition of additional are reserves at known deposits. The mineral deposits near Kotzebue are primarily gold, copper, coal, lead, and uranium. Based on the character of these deposits, it appears that development of a small-scale mine supplying coal for regional use is the most likely scenario in the near-term. The mineral deposits near Nome are primarily gold and copper. Development of small underground gold mines is possible, however it appears that expanded offshore gold dredging will have the greatest impact on the flow of freight and goods through the Nome port in the near term.

Jan 1, 2011

By Louis C. Brichta

The rapid depletion of known deposits of high-grade ore and the need for development of additional reserves, together with increased interest in open-pit mining of low-grade zinc-lead ores in the Tri-State District, led the Bureau of Mines to examine likely mining sites. Underground operations failed to remove all of the ore in a number of areas, and it appeared possible that some of them might be reworked successfully by low-cost open-pit methods. The South Carthage or Hull tract in Jasper County, Mo., was selected by Bureau engineers as favorable for the development of an open-pit mine.

Jan 1, 1949

"INTRODUCTIONThe information compiled in this volume initially formed the response by the Generic Mineral Technology Center for -Respirable Dust (GTCRD) to a review of its research and technology transfer programs performed in 1990 by the Advisory Committee on Mining and Mineral Resources Research. This review for each mineral technology research center is accomplished, as required of the Bureau of Mines by the House/Senate Joint Conference Committee, through site visitation to the research institutions of the GTCRD and an in-depth questionnaire. The information provided by that questionnaire becomes an important factor in their recommendations concerning future directions of the program.The site visitations took place during January and February 1991 at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center~ The Pennsylvania State University, West Virginia University, University of Minnesota, and Michigan Technological University, in addition to an in-mine visit conducted at the Loveridge Mine in West Virginia. The questionnaire was prepared and made available to the Advisory Committee and the Research Council for their review at the GTCRD annual project review meeting in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in April 1991.The comprehensive nature of the questionnaire and the scope of the information contained therein make it an excellent retrospective of the Center. Having a clear vision of where the Center has been and knowing where it is now helps to guide it into the future. It is believed that such a detailed view of the Center's facilities and research program will be of value to Center personnel and Advisory Committee members. Each aspect of the questionnaire was examined, answered in detail and documented thoroughly. With the completed questionnaire as a guide, this review of the Center's activities provides an update to Respirable Dust Center Research Program Review 1988, published in 1989 as the seventh of the Generic Mineral Technology Center for Respirable Dust volumes. As does that volume, this review presents the complete General Mineral Technology Center questionnaire, with the GTCRD's expanded responses and supporting documentation appended. An examination of the research program, Center personnel currently active on GMTC projects, the number of graduate degrees granted with GMTC supports GMTC publications, the degree of individual interaction, technology transfer activities, the reference center, GMTC equipment and facilities, and envisioned plans for future research directions provides updated information in these areas. In addition, this year, information has been included to demonstrate the interaction between the Center's goals and its research projects, with thorough consideration of actual research needs as specified by the National Academy of Sciences. This volume serves as a review of the years 1989 through 1990, the sixth and seventh years of the Center's operation."

Jan 1, 1990

By Richard L. Rains

In 1984 and 1985, at the request of the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Bureau of Mines studied part of the 162,887-acre Mormon Mountains Wilderness Study Area (NV-050-161) in order to evaluate its identified mineral resources. The study area is located in Lincoln County, NV, about 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The study area had no mines or mining claims in 1985, and no mineral resources were identified within the study area, or at the Whitmore mine or Iron Blossom prospect near the study area. The alluvial fans around the southern boundary are staked with about 450 placer claims. Chemical analyses of samples indicate that some limestone in the study area is suitable for manufacturing cement or for agricultural purposes but the limestone is distant from markets and therefore not economic in the foreseeable future. The study area is blanketed with oil and gas leases, but no known productive horizons were identified.

Jan 1, 1986

By John Ward Smith

Detailed oil yield, lithologic, and mineral distribution data are presented for core and drill-cutting samples from the Western Oil Shale Corp. Project Utah EX-1 Corehole (WOSCO EX-I), drilled to sample a deeply buried oil-shale sequence in the Green River Formation of Utah's Uinta Basin. Drilling of this corehole was part of the evaluation of this site for possible oil-shale development by nuclear explosion. Sections sufficiently thick for nuclear development average 15 gallons per ton or less and consist predominantly of low-grade shales. Some properties of low-grade shales may be advantageous to a nuclear experiment by facilitating breakage, fracture development, and in situ retorting. The formation correlates precisely with the well-studied oil shales 25 miles east near the Colorado border. A 235-foot mineralized section containing nahcolite, shortite, and searlesite whose bottom lies 300 feet above the Mahogany zone is described.

Jan 1, 1972

By David E. Siskind

The Bureau of Mines studied environmental blast effects in six occupied residential structures. Airblast, ground, and structure vibrations were measured both inside and outside residences for seven quarry production blasts. Walls and floors responded to the blast noise and vibration by shaking at their own natural frequencies, often with greater peak particle velocities than the ground outside the structures or their foundations. The vibrations of the houses generated noticeable internal noise, correlating with the arrival of the groundborne energy. The later arriving airblast wave was predominantly at low infrasonic frequencies (1.0 to 1.5 Hz) and had similar amplitude and frequency characteristics both inside and out-side the structures. Significant structural motions resulted from the air-blast overpressures for at least two of the seven blasts. The most severe airblast effect occurred at a house 1,800 feet from a 5,047-pound (200-lb/ delay) blast. This stucture was subjected to a peak 0.16-in/sec particle velocity and 130 dB(L) airblast. The wall of the second floor responded to the ground vibration and airblast by shaking at particle velocities of 0.15 and 0.28 in/sec, respectively. Analysis of these data and those from additional field studies will be used to identify appropriate, safe, and reasonable impulsive noise levels, measurement techniques, and factors of design applicable to minimizing the adverse environmental effects of blasting.

Jan 1, 1976

By W. C. Holliman

This report is one of a series of reports on the characteristics of commercial aviation gasolines, It presents compilations of inspection test data on their products furnished by 16 manufacturers of commercial grades of aviation and special date obtained in Bureau of Mines laboratories on 66 samples of these gasolines, Data are presented for 19 samples of grade SO, 17 of grade 91/98, 22 of grade 100/130, and 8 of grade 115/145 aviation fuels. These gasolines are designated July 1948 production, although some of the samples may have been produced a month earlier or later.

Jan 1, 1948

By Frank J. Wiebelt, Spangler Hicker

The Iron Mountain investigations were part of a comprehensive program for making a national inventory of raw materials used in the production of steel. A tentative program of core drilling by the Bureau of Mines was set up for exploration of more promising iron deposits. Iron Mountain was selected as worthy of investigation because it could serve as a potential source of ore for the war-created steel plant at Fontana, Calif. The deposits were reported on by an engineer in October 1943. The purpose of the project was to determine the lateral and vertical extent of ore bodies and to obtain accurate material data on them.

Apr 1, 1948

By W. A. Calhoun, M. M. Fine

"One of the most important wartime activities of the Bureau of Mines was the search for new sources of mineral necessary to the prosecution of the war. Part of that effort was in the form of metallurgical service extended to other government agencies engaged in purchasing and stock piling some of the more critical and strategic materials.Fluorite was one of the materials stock piled by the Metals Reserve Company. The fluorite was usually in the form of coarse metallurgical con¬centrate purchased in the United States and abroad. The material was stock¬piled to insure an adequate reserve of fluorite for the metallurgical industries. The domestic production of metallurgical fluorite containing a minimum effective calcium fluoride content of 55 percent,4/ however, gradually increased until production was at least equal to consumption. The stock-piled metallurgical fluorite, therefore, soon became a surplus commodity.On the other hand, the supply of acid-grade fluorite, containing a minimum of 97.5 percent calcium fluoride and n maximum of 1.5 percent silica,5/ was never entirely adequate. Increased consumption of acid-grade material in the aluminum, petroleum, and chemical industries kept that material on the critical list during the war.Under the circumstances, it was felt that a study of the possibility of producing acid-grade fluorite from the metallurgical stock piles would be of some benefit to the war effort. Consequently, samples of fluorite from several of the Metals Reserve Company stock piles were tested by the Bureau of Mines at the request of the War Production Board.Two groups of samples were submitted for testing. One consisted of metallurgical fluorite purchased from Mexico and stock-piled in the El Paso and Laredo, Texas, stock piles of the Metals Reserve Company. The second group of samples was from the stock piles at Gila, N. Mex.The sample submitted from the El Paso stock pile consisted of about 5,000 pounds of minus 4-inch material. Mineralogically, the sample consisted of fluorite contaminated by calcite, chert, quartz, and small amounts of iron and alumina. Although some of the fluorite was reasonably free from gangue at minus 1-inch, much of it remained locked in sizes as fine as 65-mesh.The Laredo sample was about 5,000 pounds of material from five different piles. The samples from each stock pile, A to E, inclusive, were analyzed separately to determine whether the grade of the material in the piles varied markedly. As there was little difference in the analyses, the samples were combined in proportion to the tonnage represented to make a composite sample for testing. The composite sample consisted of fluorite with small amounts of quartz, calcite, and barite. Most of the fluorite was the dark-colored, opaque variety. A small amount of iron-oxide staining was present, and traces of muscovite, clay, pyrite, and tourmaline were noted. The quartz was present as crystals in vugs, and as finely disseminated grains in the fluorite. The druzy quartz and the calcite were free at minus 10-mesh, but the disseminated grains, some of which were 1 to 15 microns in size, were not entirely free at minus 270-mesh. A petrographic estimate indicated that 65 percent of the silica was locked in the 150- to 200-mesh."

Jun 1, 1946

Nineteen eighty-seven was a year of significant change in the Bureau of Mines-change to help it better adapt and respond to the wide range of new challenges facing the U.S. mineral industry. The Bureau has been regarded as the world's premier mineral information and research agency. Its authoritative, comprehensive data and its pioneering research have contributed significantly to the minerals position of the United States. Yet no organization in today's complex, dynamic world, with its rapidly advancing technologies, can afford to rest on its laurels. Mission and program must be constantly fresh and relevant to the day's issues and problems. Moreover, rather than reacting to events, the organization must strive to anticipate and prepare for them. It must have a sense-a vision, if you will-for the future.

Jan 1, 1987

By K. J. Miller

A two-stage froth flotation technique was developed in the laboratory to separate fine-size pyrite from coal. The process consists of the initial flotation of a 15-percent solids coal slurry with a minimum of frother; the coarse, free pyrite and other refuse are removed in the tailings. The froth product from this first stage is then repulped and treated with a coal depressant, a pyrite promoter, and a frother to float the remaining fine-size pyrite or pyrite attached to coal particles. With the two-stage process, the pyritic sulfur content of a Lower Freeport bed coal sample was reduced from 1.78 percent to 0.75 percent in the first stage, and from 0.75 percent to 0.27 percent in the second stage with good clean coal recovery.

Jan 1, 1972

By W. L. Dare

This information circular is one of a series the Bureau of Mines plans to publish describing the methods and costs of mining uranium on the Colorado Plateau. The Temple Mountain mining district is unique among the uranium-producing areas on the plateau. This relatively isolated mining district is in Emery County, Utah, on the eastern flank of the San Rafael Swell, about 35 miles southwest of the town of Green River. The district lies just within the eastern escarpment of the San Rafel Reef - a rampart of rugged and tilted sandstone cliffs that encircles the highly eroded core known as the Sinbad Country. The presence of petroleum matter found associated with the ore deposits, the occurrence of uranium in various formations, and the structural deformation caused by collapsed features have aroused a great deal of geologic interest. Mine development on Calyx Flat is distinctive, in that the ore deposits are worked through 36-inch calyx-drill holes.

Jan 1, 1957