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By James L. Elder, J. P. Capp, James J. Dowd

The Bureau of Mines and the Alabama Power Co., jointly, conducted the first experiment undertaken in the United States in underground gasification of coal in place, at Gorgas, Ala. Milton H. Fies, manager of coal operations, Alabama Power Co., proposed the cooperative investigation to Arno C. Fieldner, chief, Fuels and Explosives Branch, Bureau of Mines; and assisted in supervising the experiment. The objectives of the experiment were to determine whether coal in place could be burned successfully and whether the burning could be controlled; the effect of the fire on the coal bed and the overlying strata; and the yield and quality of gas that could be obtained.

Aug 1, 1947

By Ann G. Kim

The Bureau of Mines estimated the methane content of a coal, which depends primarily upon rank and pressure, from the adsorption equation V kpn, where k and n are constants related to rank. By incorporating corrections for moisture, ash, and temperature, and estimating pressure and temperature as a function of depth, the methane content of coal in place can be estimated from the following equation: [ ] Values calculated with this equation generally are in reasonable agreement with direct determinations. By assuming a standard moisture and ash content, and using the hydrostatic head to estimate pressure, a graph of rank and depth versus gas content was constructed. Although estimated values were consistently high for several high-volatile bituminous coals from an area where the pressure is known to be less than hydrostatic, the estimated methane content for most coals shows reasonable agreement with values determined by the direct method.

Jan 1, 1977

By K. P. Wang

Mining and metallurgy have had a long history in China, and resources there have always been considered promising. Under the People's Republic of China (PRC), a remarkable industrial renaissance is underway that should further gain momentum in the years ahead. Rapid development of minerals have not only brought the PRC prominence in industrialization, but also in world affairs. Chinese mineral developments, especially petroleum, have been increasingly in the news. Oil and gas may have great potential, but a very large coal industry is already in existence. The steel industry ranks fifth or sixth in the world. The PRC is also prominent in fertilizer, cement, and salt production. The export metals are well known. Also, the country is buying heavily in nonferrous base metals. The need to know and the intense interest in the subject have prompted this study. The world significance of Chinese minerals is pointed out. The history of growth and PRC's mineral supply position are reviewed. Evaluations are made of policy considerations and regional and technical factors affecting mineral development. PRC's mineral trade and efforts to obtain equipment, supplies, and know-how are assessed. Specific reviews are made of major mineral sectors, including coal and power, oil and gas, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, industrial minerals, and fertilizers and chemicals. The overall outlook is summarized.

Jan 1, 1975

By F. E. Diebold

The wastewater-treatment system of the Anaconda Mining Co., at its Butte, MT., operation has been physically and chemically characterize modeled on a computer and investigated with respect to alternate systems for economic heavy metal recovery. The system involves lime addition to a mixture of acid underground copper sulfide mine water, acid effluent water from the iron induced precipitation of copper from acid leach solution and basic suspensions of solid effluent from a concentrator plant. Experimental chemical analysis and predictive computer calculations shows that the monosulfllte and disulfllte complexes of transition metals (Iron II being dominant) and alkaline earths are 40% of the total dissolved metal load of both acid streams. The suspended solids (30% by weight) in the basic concentrator slurries are dominated by quartz and pyrite and also contain kaolinite muscovite, biotite and undissolved lime. The mixture of these three streams result's in major reductions in concentrations of Al, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Sir and Zn, and a pH >7 with calcium, sodium, potassium, and sulfate being the major dissolved ions. The treatment system has been simulated in the laboratory and accurately modeled on a computer. The computer program, an altered REDEQL-EPAK, is capable of accurately predicting the amount of lime required to reach a desired effluent water. Preliminary research has indicated the usefulness of electroprecipitation as a means of recovering the valuable metal load and providing an EPA acceptable effluent.

Jan 1, 1982

By J. A. Cooper

The objectives of this research were to define the chemical composition and physical characteristics of the aerosols associated with attached radon daughters in operating uranium mines, and to investigate the relationship between these aerosol parameters and operating conditions. Major Results and Conclusions The organic, inorganic and radiological characteristics of test chamber and active U-mine aerosols have been measured as a function of particle size. These measurements represent the first detailed analyses of the organic and inorganic components in U-mine aerosols and the first determinations of the details of the individual and total radon daughter distributions in operating U-mines. The following is a list of the major results and conclusions:

Jan 1, 2012

By Richard E. Thill

The Bureau of Mines' Oil Shale Data Bank (OSDB) was created in 1976 to serve as a centralized source for the storage, retrieval, and dissemination of technical literature, patents, and information on research projects in oil shale. Thousands of bibliographic references, patents, and research projects relating to the mining of oil shale have been identified, abstracted, and indexed according to selected keyword topics. The resulting data bank listings are contained in three sections, each with a separate keyword breakdown for use in rapidly identifying references pertaining to a specific subject. All references cited in the OSDB were published prior to an established cut-off date of May 1, 1981, when a redirection of Bureau of Mines programs resulted in the loss of project funds and the subsequent phasing-out of data bank operations. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The oil shale data bank listings are the result of a team effort of the project staff. The contributions of Jimaleen Jansma for keypunching, information acquisition, and data entry, and John Brandenburg and Sandra Brake for keywording and information acquisition are gratefully acknowledged. Appreciation is expressed to the staff members of the Smithsonian Science Information Exchange, Washington D.C. for their cooperation in supplying data on recent research projects in oil shale for inclusion in the OSDB listings. Appreciation is extended also to the staff of the Gallegos Research Group for assisting with computer services to obtain the final printouts and transfer of files onto magnetic tape.

Jan 1, 1982

By Edward P. Barrett

SPONGE IRON has been defined as the metallic product formed by the reduction (removal of combined oxygen) of iron ore or other iron oxides at temperatures below the fusion point of iron. This product probably derived the name "sponge iron" from its porous nature. When the reduction proceeds at slightly higher temperatures and the particles of metal weld together or finally even melt to yield pellets or balls that lack the porosity and low-density characteristic of sponge iron, the product might more correctly be called "direct iron."

Jan 1, 1954

By J. B. Gayle

Coke-pushing difficulties have been the subject of much controversy but relatively little scientific investigation. Nevertheless, continuing pushing difficulties can greatly decrease the life of a coke oven and should therefore be considered in the selection of the blend and operating conditions used for coke production. The present Federal Bureau of Mines investigation was undertaken to correlate results of previous investigators and to supplement these results to the limited extent practical by us of an experimental slot-type oven. To this end, pushing pressures have been determined routinely for Tuscaloosa oven tests conducted during the past 10 years. Nevertheless, the accumulated information remains incomplete in many respects, and in view of the recognized inadequacies of the data, publication is now undertaken only because of the scarcity of published information on this important problem and the discontinuation of carbonization studies with this oven.

Jan 1, 1961

Wildcat strikes in the Appalachian coal fields, primarily in West Virginia, have resulted in an estimated 4.5 million ton loss in coal production during July and through the first week in August. Since then, the strike intensified further, and on August 9, nearly all of West Virginia's 60,000 miners were off the job with another 10,000 miners on strike in eastern Kentucky. The Bureau of Mines estimates that West Virginia's coal output is currently (8/9) eight million tons below last year when the state produced 108 million tons. West Virginia, the Nation's second largest coal producer of coal behind Kentucky, has not failed to mine over 100 million tons a year since 1938. At the end of the second week in August, nearly all coal miners in West Virginia remained out. The strike is a protest against a cutback in union health and retirement benefits. An announcement June 23 about the United Mine Worker's health and retirement fund precipitated the strike, Fund directors said that because of inflation and production losses caused by earlier wildcat strikes and the severe winter, miners would have to pay the first $250 of hospital costs and 40 percent of doctor bills, up to $500 a year. Previously, the funds paid all hospital and doctor bills. According to the West Virginia Coal Association each day of the strike in West Virginia results in a loss of coal production of 500,000 tons, a loss of $3.8 million in miners wages and $1 million in contributions to the UMWA's health and retirement fund.

Jan 1, 1977

By E. B. Nelson, B. W. Gandrud, B. M. Bird

"The Lewisburg No. 2 mine of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company is located in Jefferson County, Alabama, about 7 miles due north of Birmingham. At this point the coal from the Mary Lee seam when coked in by-product ovens yields an excellent quality of metallurgical coke suitable for use in the iron blast furnace; it is also an excellent steam coal. In mining, all three benches are worked. Coarse impurities are largely gobbed by the miners underground.In addition to giving the data obtained from screen-sizing and float-and-sink tests of a representative sample of the raw coal, this report presents the results of slotted-screen tests to show the proportions of flaky particles in selected sizes, and the results of tests to show how much coal is liberated from impurities by crushing the coarsest sizes. These data have been obtained in connection with an extensive study of coal-washing now being conducted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines and the University of Alabama, with U. cooperation of the different operators of Alabama. As the work progresses other reports will follow containing furtner data on the washability both of the Mary Lee seam and of other seams in Alabama and giving the results obtained in preparing these coals by various methods.Although a great amount of investigative work on the preparation of the Mary Lee scam was previously carried on by the various coal companies of the district, comparatively little of this information has been published. In governmental publications three references have been found. Forbes5 gives a number of sections with proximate and ultimate analyses of face samples taken in the mines. Gandrud and Britton'' show sections of this seam at Flat Creek and New Castle; they also give the specific gravity and ash contents of the partings of coal and impurities. In their paper Yancey and Fraser7 include washability studies and washing data from the Sayreton mine of the Republic Iron & Steel Co."

Jun 1, 1930

By R. L. Soderberg

This paper is one of a series on mining methods and costs being published by the Bureau of Mines. It describes briefly the mining methods employed since the start of operations in 1937, with emphasis on the diamond-drill blast-hole method of ore breaking and slusher-drift method of ore drawing at the Holden mine of the Howe Sound Co., Chelan Division, Holden, Wash. The Holden mine is in the north-central part of the Cascade Range, 11 miles up Railroad Creek from Lake Chelan. The nearest railroad is at Chelan Falls, 40 miles by boat and 4 miles by highway from the mine. All freight comes into the mine and all concentrates are shipped out via Chelan Falls. The altitude of the main haulage level is 3,500 feet. Railroad Creek Valley is covered with a dense growth of fir and spruce, while most of the surrounding mountains are rocky, with sparse timber growth.

Jun 1, 1948

By Chas. G. Maier

The absence of plants on the Pacific coast for the reduction of iron ores usually is attributed to the fuel situation there. Thus, the bulletin of the. State Division of Mines for 1933, entitled "California Mineral Production," says: "There are considerable deposits of iron ore known in California, notably in Shasta, Mad era, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles Counties, but production has so far been limited for lack of an economic supply of coking coal." It has been estimated that the six major steel plants of the Pacific coast have an annual ingot capacity of 600,000 tons. The present need for tin plate averages 300,000 tons yearly for California alone, of which some 12 percent is manufactured locally. If the consump¬tion of other iron and steel products in 1929 may be taken as an approximate, estimate of the normal requirement for such products, it may be estimated further that, 65,000 to 75,000 tons each of cast-iron pipe and steel reinforcing bars and 300,000 to 400,000 tons of structural shapes and plates will be required annually in California.

Jan 1, 1936

By Paul McIlroy

Costs of producing lead from various known resources in the United States are developed by the Bureau of Mines to define the future availability of domestic lead at various price levels. It is estimated that 60 million tons of primary lead (75 percent of the total resource) is available at $0.20 or less per pound; 72 million tons (90 percent of the total) is available at $0.50 or less per pound; and the 79 mil- lion ton total estimated resource can be obtained at a price or $1.82 or less per pound. The supply available at $0.20 per pound or less will meet demand for over 78 years at the 1970 annual consumption rate of 763,000 tons.

Jan 1, 1974

By Vibration Research Group, Natasha K. Lee Shee, Tammy R. Eger, James P. Dickey, Paul-Émile Boileau, Lana M. Trick, Michele L. Oliver

Introduction Industrial exposure to whole-body vibration is associated with injury and discomfort. Certain industries, notably mining, construction, and forestry, involve complex 6 degrees of freedom vibration. Laboratory-based studies of vibration are essential for controlled and systematic evaluation of the human responses to vibration2. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate whether the duration of the vibration exposure, and rest between vibrations, significantly influence the subjective ratings of comfort during laboratory-based studies of vibration. Methods Subjects: The cumulative vibration dose was calculated, and was below the health guidance caution zone recommended by International standards3. The experimental procedures were approved by the University of Guelph Research Ethics Board. Ten adult subjects participated in this pilot experiment. All subjects completed the entire experimental paradigm; no subjects complained of pain during or after the experiment. Experimental Design: The experiment consisted of four blocks of vibration exposures; either 15 or 20 seconds of vibration (1 df:Z axis, 3 df:XY plane, 3df:YZ plane, or 6 df) alternating with either 5 or 10 seconds rest. The order of presentation of the four blocks was randomized. Each of the blocks was composed of 37 individual sinusoidal vibration exposures in randomized sequence. This abstract focused on ten identical trials, (6.3 Hz vertical vibration, 0.55 m/s2 RMS) interspersed within each block, in order to assess whether the subjects’ comfort ratings systematically varied between the 15 or 20 vibration exposures, the 5 or 10 second rest between vibrations, or within each block. The experiment involved 43 minutes of vibration within the 62 minute experiment. Vibration Apparatus: A commercial parallel robotic platform was used to apply the specific vibration exposures (R2000, Parallel Robotics Systems Corporation, Hampton, New Hampshire). The subjects sat on a passenger seat from a 1992 Honda Accord that was rigidly mounted to the robotic platform (Figure 1). This robotic system performed the specific vibration exposures operating under closed-loop displacement control. A custom-written Matlab program automated the testing sequence.

Jan 6, 2006

By Wilton Johnson

The development and use of minerals and mineral fuels are essential to national security and to the maintenance of an expanding economy. As a Nation, we often met these needs but failed to recognize and assess the impact that mining and mineral processing activities have on other natural resources. Currently, the growing demand for energy and minerals is accompanied by an increasing awareness that the provision of these resources must not conflict with society's demand for a clean and habit-able environment. Although present mining and mineral processing activities incorporate, or have under development, technology capable of minimizing environ-mental impacts on land, air, and water, many older operations, particularly in the first half of this century, lacked the technological, social, and environmental insights that exist today. Consequently, a substantial backlog of damaging and potentially damaging conditions remains from such problems as mine subsidence, acid water generation, burning and nonburning waste banks, abandoned surface-mined lands, abandoned underground mine fires, and abandoned mine shafts and oil and gas wells.

Jan 1, 1979

Operator efficiency and control capability along with cost effectiveness have been the quest of mining, industrial, and mobile hydraulic engineers for years. The majority of the functions in present day fluid power systems are controlled by on/off control valves. They are inexpensive and provide easy installation and operation, but they lack the quality of fine control of load flow or what is sometimes known as "feathering the load". An alternate approach to obtaining this capability is the use of electro-hydraulic servo-valves, but their implementation into a system is complex, and they are expensive. As a result, electrohydraulic systems are still used primarily in the aerospace industry. Of late, a compromise seems to have evolved between the on/ off control systems and the servo-technology is the so-called proportional flow control valves. A proportional flow control valve meters fluid to the load in proportion to the input command from the operator. In principle, it is similar to a conventional flow control valve and is tailored to meet the control requirements from the load point of view. The hydraulic system using this valve usually works in an open-loop mode with the operator closing the loop. Incorporating load-sensing mechanisms and adoption of electrical/electronic signalling into the valve make it the "ideal valve" which designers have been looking for from a techno-economic point of view.

Jan 1, 1983

By William L. Crentz

In a Nation-wide appraisal of coking-coal reserves and of the practicability of upgrading marginal deposits to metallurgical standards, this study of the preparation characteristics of the coals in Cambria County, Pa. , was undertaken. Over 90 percent of the coal remaining in Cambria Comity is found in the Upper Freeport, Lower Freeport, Upper Kittanning, and Lower Kittanning beds. The Middle Kittanning bed, although mined on a commercial scale in the past, is not an important bed now, as most of the remaining reserves are too thin to be mined over wide areas. For many years, Cambria County has been an important source of coal for industrial and metallurgical purposes. The) principal production comes from the Lower Kittanning bed, which accounts for almost .60 percent of the Cambria County coal output. Table 1 shows the county's coal production, by beds, during 1948.

Jan 1, 1950

By Milford L. Skow

MICA is a group name for a number of complex hydrous aluminum silicate minerals that have a sheet or platy structure and extremely variable and complex compositions containing various metallic ions, particularly those from the alkali group. Muscovite and phlogopite, the two varieties of significant commercial value, are the principal consideration of this report; muscovite has major importance industrially. The mica crystal, because of its laminated structure, can be split easily and accurately into thin films that are transparent, flexible, elastic, tough, and waterproof and have outstanding dielectric and insulating characteristics. This combination of properties is not duplicated in any other known substance. The world production of mica can be divided into two main classifications: (1) Sheet mica and (2) scrap mica (including flake mica). In general, separate divisions of the industry produce these two classes of mica, which differ widely in their uses and in the forms in which they are marketed. A glossary of mica terminology is given in appendix A.

Jan 1, 1962

By H. Reginald Hardy

This report describes the results of a research project carried out to investigate the feasibility of using transducer arrays, located on surface or in shallow boreholes, above an active coal mine to detect and locate the source of underground microseismic activity which normally occurs during mining. The initial stage of the project involves the design and development of a self-contained mobile microseismic monitoring facility capable of use in remote field locations. Following this a variety of transducers, and transducer field installation techniques were investigated to obtain optimum sensitivity and high signal-to-noise characteristics. Preliminary efforts were also undertaken to develop semi-automated techniques for analysis of microseismic field data. Using the facilities and techniques developed field studies were carried out at a number of surface locations over a central Pennsylvania coal mine operating at depths of the order of 500 feet. In particular studies were con-ducted over a previously mined development area, troubled by extensive problems of roof instability, and over two longwall panels during mining. Although many of the field studies were carried out during the development stage of the project, results in general have been most encouraging. Limited results were obtained over the development area, however excellent microseismic signals, correlating with underground strata instability, were detected over both long-wall areas, proving the general feasibility of surface monitoring techniques. More recent studies, carried out as part of a subsequent project, and utilizing modified geophone installation techniques at a third longwall site, have verified explicitly the feasibility of measuring underground microseismic activity from surface locations. Sections of typical field data are included in this report along with a brief review of the studies carried out at each of the field sites. Detailed analysis of data obtained at the second and third longwall test sites will be presented in a later report.

Jan 1, 1974

By W. B. Berwald

The United States Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the Natural Gas Department of the American Gras association, has been studying actively for the past several years the problem of the flow of natural gas through high-pressure transmission lines. Numerous data on gas flow through pipe lines under many conditions of operation have been obtained by carefully conducted tests, and these data, together with all other available information, have been analyzed carefully to secure practical facts for the use of operators in designing pipe lines and determining the effects of different operating conditions on pipe-line capacities. The first procedure in initiating; this problem was to review, compile, and analyze all of the existing data on the flow of natural gas through pipe lines. Actual data applicable to pipe and operating conditions normally used in the transmission of natural gas were meager, and the several pipe line flow formulas developed by different investigators gave widely varying; results when applied to problems of pipe-line design. Therefore, further experimental work under conditions comparable to those found in transmitting natural gas was essential before any definite recommendations could be made.

Jan 1, 1931