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By BUREAU OF MINES

In 1948 the United States became a net importer of oil. Coupled with an unpre- cedented domestic production of 5,900,000 barrels daily, imports approximating 500,000 barrels made available a total supply of 6,400,000 barrels a day. Thus, by herculean effort, the oil industry was able to meet an extraordinary demand at home and, in addition, to ship abroad almost 400,00 barrels daily of petroleum and products. The country's oil position now differs greatly from that prevailing at the be- ginning of World War II. Then, actual oil production averaged about 4 million bar- rels a day, and productive capacity probably was greater than 5 million barrels a day. As the demand of the military and industrial machine grew with the rising tempo of the drive toward victory, the United States not only met its own needs but pro- duced about two-thirds of the total oil requirements of the Allied Nations, excluding Russia. As a people, we can be deeply grateful that the Nation's petroleum resources were adequate and sufficiently developed to support such a tremendous effort. Even in those critical hours when immediate needs were the paramount issues, a prudent Congress paused to contemplate the importance of an assured long-term supply of liquid fuels. From these deliberations came the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act of 1944, which authorized research and development work on new sources of oil coal, oil shale, and agricultural and forestry products. ce World War II, a civilian demand for 6 million barrels of petroleum prod- ucts has become the order of the day every day. By drilling as many as 39,000 new wells a year, the production rate has been increased enough to meet domestic require- ments by a bare margin. Some imports were necessary, however, to fill both domestic and foreign demands, and these doubtless will increase. Is this policy of exploration within the United States and the development of oil in foreign countries adequate insurance for the fulfillment of our future national needs? This question has two aspects one purely civilian and economic in character and the other significant from the standpoint of our national defense. There are now approximately 4,000 producing oil fields in this country. At first thought, it would appear that production could decline in a considerable number of these fields without materially affecting the over-all daily output. However, 48 percent of the oil comes from only 111 major fields which contain 50 percent of the total proved domestic reserves. It is apparent, then, that the flow from large fields - having proved reserves of 100 million barrels or more each must be sustained if daily production is to be kept at the present levels. Essentially, this means that new major fields must be discovered about as rapidly or perhaps more rapidly than the older ones lose productive capacity. From 1940 through 1947, only eight major fields with estimated reserves of more than 100 million barrels each, were discovered and proved - an average of one such field a year. The total estimated reserve of these eight fields was less than 1 year's supply at the present rate of use. As drilling continues, some existing fields ultimately will prove reserves larger than those now known. Without a pronounced increase in the num- ber of major discoveries, however, the prospects for increasing our present productive level are not encouraging. Any gap that appears between domestic productive capacity and demand could be filled with supplies from proved oil resources abroad. Assuming cheap pipe-line and tanker transportation to the United States, freedom from exorbitant taxes and charges

Jan 1, 1949

A compilation of papers presented at the Fifth WVU Conference on Coal Mine Electrotechnology in Morgantown, West Virginia, on July 30, 31, and August 1, 1980. Papers cover areas of electromagnetics/power systems, power systems, monitoring and control, and communications.

Jan 1, 1980

By Bill Linville

Producing oil, gas, and coal in sufficient amounts to satisfy U.S. demands for fuels, electrical power, and chemicals promises to be one of the country's major challenges during the 1970's. Adding significantly to this challenge is the urgent task of satisfying soaring fuel and power demands without destroying the natural environment or jeopardizing long-range requirements for resources. The Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, is engaged in a comprehensive program of research to help industry meet this challenge. This report reviews the aims of the research program and accomplishments in 1970; the first 11 sections cover coal programs, nine sect ions are then devoted to petroleum, and the concluding five sections deal with oil shale research. Figure 1 shows the nationwide distribution of Bureau of Mines energy research installations; Full addresses are given in appendix A. Many of the publications resulting from the Bureau?s energy research efforts are discussed throughout the report; others are listed in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1971

By E. K. Stanek

This report contains the results of an investigation into the feasibility of periodically measuring parameters of the insulation for a mine electrical power system in order to detect incipient faults. The variety of insulation parameters evaluated included insulation resistance, dissipation factor, power factor (vs. applied voltage), current harmonics, leakage current, infrared radiation, as well as certain circuit breaker parameters and tests. In order to augment field tests a program of accelerated life testing was also carried out. Apparent inconsistencies in data were identified as the result of environmental effects, primarily temperature and relative humidity. A series of environmental tests were conducted to develop correction factors that allow one to refer measured parameters to standard conditions. A portable data collector was develop-ed to aid in the accurate collection and analysis of laboratory and field data. The primary conclusion is that insulation deterioration can be measured and failure predicted with reasonable confidence. The secondary conclusion is that most of the tests are impractical in the field although useful in the laboratory. Infrared sensing, insulation resistance and dissipation factor are the best insulation field tests when portability is taken into account.

Jan 1, 1979

By Hon-Yim Ko

The properties of coal from the Pittsburgh seam, procured from the Bruceton and Federal No. 2 Mines were found to be similar. Strength and stiffness properties of Beehive Mine coal were determined and the material found to be isotropic. Mechanical, index and geologic properties of roof and floor coal measure rocks from Beehive mines were measured and correlated. Analytic formulations are given for coal creep under uniaxial loading, while triaxial creep is being investigated. Results of testing of coal model structures are compared with predictions from using several material models.

Jan 1, 1976

By D. H. Yardley

A major purpose of this contract was to evaluate a variety of dust suppressants to determine their effectiveness in mitigating dust from taconite tailings. During the course of the investigation tailings from pilot-plant tests of Minnesota copper-nickel ores became available and chemical binders were also tested for dust mitigation effectiveness on this mineralogically different material. Field-test plots were established on taconite tailings and wind tunnel laboratory tests conducted. The laboratory tests consisted of comparing treated and untreated samples at wind velocities of 40 mph using a weight-loss method and direct dust emission measurements. It was shown that the emission of fine dust from taconite tailings, in the range of 4.5 microns to 0.85 microns, could be reduced by 99 percent using certain chemical suppressants. It was also demonstrated that a straight water spray on coarse tailings (3/4" to + 10 mesh) reduced dust emission by 95 percent. Although eight different chemicals were tested, most of the tests were made using Coherex, ammonium lignin sulfonate and sodium silicate. These same dust suppressants were used, singly and in combination on almost 75 field-test plots. The Coherex appears to provide the best results in terms of economics and durability. Wind tunnel tests on treated and untreated Cu-Ni tailings demonstrated that applications of dust suppressants reduced fugitive fine dust by better than 99 percent.

Jan 1, 1980

By THOMAS SOULE, R. I. C. Manning

The Phelps Dodge Corporation considers safety a major operating problem , both from the humanitarian standpoint , for this company has a real interest in the welfare of its employees , and from the economic standpoint , for it has found the safe way to be the most economical . In turn , a feeling among employees that the company really has their interests at heart has a wonderful psychological effect . It is bound to bring forth more and better work and to attract and keep workmen of the better class . There is keen competition between the various branches of this corporation for a trophy that is awarded each year to the one having the best accident record . This trophy was won by the Nacożari branch of the Moctezuma Copper Co. in Mexico in 1926 and 1927 , and the Morenci branch won the trophy in 1928 and 1929 .

Oct 1, 1930

By W. B. Berwald

The United States Bureau of lanes, in cooperation with the Natural Gas Department of the American Gas 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. The problem, as originally planned, included flow tests on pipe lines in operation, and in each test the measured delivery vas to be compared with the delivery calculated from several common pipe line flow formulas.

Jan 1, 1931

By S. M. Dar

The U.S. Bureau of Mines constructed a full-scale model of a 15-ft-wide coal mine entry to use in combination with finite-element analyses to investigate roof support systems and various types of roof bolts. The objective was to enhance understanding of the fundamental mechanics of the interaction between rock and supports and the relative integrity of bolted mine roof as a function of roof bolt type, length, spacing, and tension, and the basic characteristics of the roof strata. The laboratory test results, when correlated with computer simulations using fmite-element analysis and underground verification tests, should provide a basis for desigillng safer, more cost-effective roof control systems and help to establish guidelines for employing fully grouted resin and mechanically anchored bolting systems. The background for this research, the research approach, the methods and equipment employed, and the results are described in this report.

Jan 1, 1989

By A. C. Fieldner

This report, the third of a series of annual reports of research and technologic work on coal by the Technologic Branch to be released in this form, covers the fiscal year July 1, 1937, to June 30, 1938. Ever-increasing demands for information on the chemical and physical properties of coals, their proper classification rind adaptability for various uses, their economic evaluation in the complex relationships between the costs of production, distribution, and selling, and their beneficiation and amenability to conversion to more valuable and. new products of commerce have necessitated an appropriate and flexible program. To most these requirements, initiation of new projects and new physical facilities has been made.

Jan 1, 1939

By L. C. George

The Bureau of Mines measured vapor pressures of selected mixtures in the binary system SnCla-ZnC12 by the static pressure method. Equations expressing the vapor pressure) and the heat and free energy of vaporization) as functions of temperature were developed by numerical analysis based on the sigma-plot method. It was found that the vapor pressure of any SnCl2-ZnCl2 mixture) at any temperature within the range of this investigation) could be accurately calculated from the derived values for the heat and free energy of vaporization for the mixture, with a probable error of 0.01 cm Hg or less.

Jan 1, 1967

By Edmund S. Leaver, R. S. Dean, T. L. Joseph

The metallurgy of manganese has developed along the lines of iron metal¬ lurgy. Enough high-grade ore has Been available so that by reduction with carbon it could be turned into an iron-ma.nga.nese alloy and a slag containing some 9 to 15 percent manganese. More siliceous ores have been smelted in the blast furnace to form iron-silicon-manganese alloys called spiegel. When lower-grade ores came in for serious consideration, which lias only been since l°l4, two types of processes received the most consideration — hydrometallurgical processes to produce a concentrate which could be smelted like the higher-grade ore and processes involving concentration of the manga¬ nese from manganiferous iron ores by preferential reduction of the iron (184)1. Special chapters in this bulletin are devoted to the production of ferro¬ manganese from ore, the hydrometallurgy cf manganese, and the Bureau of Mines modification of the preferential reduction process. Other methods of producing manganese alloys from low-grade or refractory ores have been suggested and may find future application. Manganese has a very high affinity for sulphur and is particularly adaptable to concentration by matte smelting. According to Betts (26), manganese silicate may be smelted with pyrite to give manganese sulphide and iron silicate. This method would be applicable to concentration of either the silicate or carbonate ores. The sulphide, once obtained, could be roasted to oxide and reduced in the usual way. Another possibility for the production of manganese from silicate ores involves their reduction by silicon or manganese silicides. Swedish Patent 52290, February 25, 1925. covers the reduction of a slag rich in manganese by silicon-manganese alloy containing more than 10 percent silicon, Joseph H. Brennan (38.) describes the concentration of manganese iron ores by partial reduction with silicon. Beckett (7,4,19) describes the reduction of manganese dioxide with a manganese silicide for the production of standard ferromanganese. Beckett gives as a typical alloy, manganese 64.4, silicon 24.6, and as a typi¬ cal ore, 5S.5O manganese as MnO^. The product of the reaction between these two is 80.11 percent manganese and 1.22 percent silicon.

May 1, 1934

By N. A. C. Smith, E. W. Dean, W. A. Jacobs, H. H. Hill

Fractional distillation is the most important process in the commercial refining of petroleum. The same procedure, conducted on a small scale, is the basis of a number of analytical methods of wide application in the petroleum laboratory. The Bureau of Mines has studied apparatus and procedure for the distillation analysis of petroleum, and this report is presented as a record of developments up to the present time. The work is incomplete, but the extensive information that has been obtained to date is made available as a guide in handling laboratory distillation problems. The analytical distillation of petroleum is commonly made to determine range of boiling points or to separate the oil. into fractions for detailed examination, or both. When only one of these two ends is sought the procedure involved is notably simpler than when, as is more common, information is required regarding both boiling range and properties of fractions. Moreover the degree of minuteness of measurement and the accuracy of the data required from analytical distillations differ considerably. Often the simplest sort of comparative figures are satisfactory; other tests require complicated and highly tedious procedure. No one distillation method is universally applicable, and it is impossible for anyone group of investigators to foresee all the different kinds of requirements that may occur in the industry.

Jan 1, 1922

This report contains the papers presented at the Technology Transfer Seminar on Ground Control Aspects of Coal Mine Design held by the Bureau of Mines on March 6, 1973, in Lexington, Ky. Seminar attendance consisted of representatives from the coal mining industry, universities, mining consultants, instrument manufacturers, and local, State, and Federal Government. The purpose of this meeting, one of a series of Technology Transfer seminars, was to provide the coal mining industry with detailed information about recently developed techniques, equipment, and instruments which can be used in the solution of coal mine design problems and to discuss results and direction of research in mine design. The report includes opening remarks by Joseph J. Yancik, Acting Assistant Director--Mining; an overview of the Federal Bureau of mines approach to mine design; three papers an problems associated with the design of panels; five papers on coal mine roof problems; three papers on long wall problems; and the comments made by- the participants on the Bureau-industry panel discussion.

Jan 1, 1974

By Catherine C. Kilgore

The Bureau of Mines investigated the availability of fluorspar (CaF2) from 36 U.S. and 50 foreign mires and deposits in 13 countries. Only 6 U.S. properties are considered to be economic, as 29 domestic deposits were found to have an average total cost of production that was uneconomical at a breakeven (0-pct) discounted-cash-flow rate of return (DCFROR). The 50 foreign properties evaluated represent at least 55 pot of demonstrated fluorspar resources located in market economy countries and China. Al I evaluated foreign operations were found to be economic to marginally economic in January 1984 dollars when compared against published prices for each country. Reserves for 56 properties totaled 97 million metric tons (mt) (recoverable Ca F,) from demonstrated ore resources of 344 million mt that contained 123 million mt CaF2. The average total cost needed to cover all costs over the life of each operation was determined for all recoverable fluorspar products. Comparisons of ruining, beneficiation, and transportation costs per metric ton of fluorspar concentrate illustrate advantages between countries. Of the three countries with the greatest fluorspar production, China, with its high-grade, low-cost operations had the lowest weighted-average total cost of production ($38/mt concentrate), Mexico was next, at $54/mt concentrate, and benefited in U. S. dollar terms from the devaluation of the peso. The Republic of South Africa needed an average of $90/mt of concentrate to cover all costs of production at its large low-grade deposits.

Jan 1, 1985

By Staff

A major emphasis of the U.S. Bureau of Mines is to perform research on the prevention of fatal accidents at mining operations. The leading cause of fatalities in the underground coal mining industry is groundfalls. This proceedings volume presents several new developments that are helping to prevent fatalities and reduce injuries by groundfalls. The papers focus on the problem from two different perspectives. About half of the papers present information and techniques that can be used to train and motivate miners to protect themselves from groundfalls. The other papers explain how to identify and respond to various geologic conditions that affect the stability of the mine roof. Of the 95 groundfall fatalities that occurred during 1986-90, 75% took place in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia. The rate of groundfall fatalities was much higher at small mines. During 1986-90, the rate of groundfall fatalities at mines employing fewer than 20 people was 4.3 times higher than the rate for larger mines. Because so many groundfall fatalities are occurring at relatively small mines in the southern Appalachian coalfields, many of the papers focus specifically on the needs of this category of mine operations.

Jan 1, 1992

By D. Harrington

Part III-B, presented in this circular, completes the series reviewing the literature on effects of breathing dusts with special reference to silicosis; it includes data on the status and cost of compensation for silicosis in the United States and several foreign countries and a summary and general conclusions covering the whole series. Parts I, II, and III-A of the series have been issued as Information Circulars 6935, 6840, 6948 , and 6957; Part I defines and classifies dusts, indicates sources of exposure, and describes the physiological effects of breathing dusts; Part II-A discusses the principal dust factors producing pulmonary pathology and methods of determination of dust in air; Part II-B presents data on the engineering and medical control in the prevention of dust diseases and general recommendations for their control in industry; and Part III-A deals with the economic and legal aspects of dust diseases in industry.

Jan 1, 1936

"U.S. Bureau of Mines Publications and Articles, 1994 with Subject and Author Index Compiled by Office of Public Information U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) Department of the InteriorINTRODUCTIONThe U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) was established in 1910 to conduct inquiries and scientific and technological investigations on mining and the preparation, treatment, and use of mineral substances; to promote health and safety in the mineral industries; to conserve material resources; to promote economic development; to increase efficiency in the mining, metallurgical, quarrying, and other mineral industries; and to inquire into the economic conditions affecting those industries. The organic act of the Bureau, as amended by Congress and approved February 25, 1913, made it the province and duty of the Bureau of Mines to ""disseminate information concerning these subjects in such manner as will best carry out the purpose of this Act.""In accordance with this directive, USBM reports the findings of its research and investigations in its own series of publications and also in articles that appear in scientific, technical, and trade journals; in proceedings of conventions and seminars; in reference books; and in other non-USBM publications. This edition describes reports and articles published during calendar year 1994. It supplements the 50-year list of Bureau publications issued from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960; 1 the 50-year list of articles by Bureau authors published outside the Bureau from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960; 2 andthe 5-year lists of publications and articlesfrom January 1, 1960, to December 31, 1964,3from January 1, 1965, to December 31, 1969,4from January 1,1970, to December 31,1974,5from January 1,1975, to December 31,1979,6from January 1,1980, to December 31,1984/and from January 1, 1985, to December 31,1989.8"

May 1, 1995

By F. S. Wartman

This paper gives an account of the production of ductile-grade titanium powder in 100-pound batches by reduction of purified titanic Chloride with magnesium, grinding, leaching, and magnetic-separation of the reaction product. Apparatus, technique, and methods of controlling product quality are described and some data on operating costs are given.

Jan 1, 1949

The Bureau of Mines has sponsored a comprehensive research program to enhance the safe, effective, and efficient use of blasting technology by the mining industry. Recent research results of the surface mine blasting program were presented at a seminar on April 25, 1987, in Chicago, IL. Many of the topics discussed at the seminar are presented in this proceedings. The new research described in these papers includes computer monitoring of rock motion, the influence of blast delay times on rock fragmentation, blasting effects on Appalachian water wells, blast vibration measurement near structures, and the reduction of accidents through improved blasting safety.

Jan 1, 1987