Search Documents

Advances were made during 19b5 in many phases of a broad program designed to increase efficiency in the mining, preparation, and utilization of coal. Also recorded were achievements in activities devoted to mine health and safety, coal resources, and mine explosives. Featured in this report is a review of progress in environmental studies relating to coal mining and utilization. Environmental projects comprise a comprehensive program to facilitate mine reclamation and reduce air and water pollution associated with extraction and use of coal. Publications cited throughout this report present results of the coal program in greater detail. Organizations, institutions, and companies contributing to the program are listed in appendix A. Centers and laboratories conducting the coal research and related investigations appear in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1966

By W. R. Moorehead

This paper, describing the mining methods and colt at the New Indria quicksilver mine, is one of a series of similar papers being prepared by the Bureau of Mines on various mines in the United States. The New Idria mine lies at an elevation of 3,500 to 4,200 feet in the Coast Range of San Benito County, Calif. The property is accessible by automobile stages from Gilroy or Hollister via Tres Pinos. Tres Pinos, 65 miles northwest of the mine, is the nearest railroad point.

Jan 1, 1931

By S. F. Mauser

This report describes the study of factors which affect medium voltage (661 - 1000 volts) trailing cable splices used in underground coal mines. Improvements in quality, dependability, and design of splice kits and shop splices are presented in the study results and recommended guidelines and regulations. Recommended research programs are included which describe approaches for development of the recommended guidelines and regulations for medium voltage trailing cable splices. The basis for the conclusions and recommendations presented in this report is included in three appendices which describe a survey, splice examination, and general requirements development prepared during the progress of this study.

Jan 1, 1977

By Charles Will Wright

This paper is one of a series dealing with mining problems and summarizing the data contained in the Information Circulars on individual mines that have been prepared by the managers or superintendents and published by the Bureau of Mines. The purpose of this paper is to present the problems encountered in the development of an efficient mine organization and to show the means used by certain mining companies in promoting efficiency. There is also a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the various systems of paying and handling labor and a description of their application at the individual mines.

Jan 1, 1932

By Howard E. Rollman

South Central United States, an area including Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, is a net exporter of refractories. Nearly $45 million of these materials was shipped in 1954 from plants in the area, compared with area consumption of $18.5 million. About 88 percent of all refractories production is concentrated in Missouri. The prevalent consumption pattern, however, is one of localized shortages. For example, although Texas uses more than half of the refractories consumed in the South Central United States, production of refractories in Texas is relatively small. Also, the apparent self-sufficiency of the area is in terms of value produced rather than in terms of products consumed. Nearly all of the $6,425,000 nonclay refractories consumed in the area were shipped from other States. Local resources possibly could be developed for making refractories to serve markets that currently are being supplied from outside the area. Since other industries are growing rapidly in the area, the market for refractories is expected to continue to grow--more rapidly than the national market. The Missouri refractories industry is economically important nationally. Nearly one-fourth of the clay refractories produced in the United States are made in Missouri. Moreover, Missouri produces most of the higher grade clay refractories, about 62 percent of the high-alumina refractories, and 85 percent of the superduty refractories. The competitive position of the Missouri refractories industry is strong. The national market for clay refractories and the market in the South Central United States are expected to continue to grow. The ratio of net income to the value of refractories shipped in Missouri is larger than the national average.

Jan 1, 1960

By R. V. Ramani

This volume is the second of a four-volume final report on research carried out under a contract from the U.S. Bureau of Mines on the development of a computer simulation model for surface mine reclamation planning. The other volumes are titled as follows: Volume I: Ore Reserve Estimation, Volume III: Mine Coordinate Generator System, and Volume IV: User's Manual for OPMHS/2. The dragline model described in this report simulates the movement of the dragline bucket across the digging face, the swing load, the dump, and swing back. It is programmed to handle chopdown, key cut, main cut, and rehandling operations. Provisions have been made for simulating equipment and mining delays. Any mining method can be specified in terms of numbered blocks, the dragline positions for the mining block and the dumping location for the block. Accounting procedures permit the calculation of production rates, rehandle volume, dig and delay times. The model can be used to study the effects of varying mining conditions, cut width, and spoiling sequence with special reference to toxic spoil, overburden and bench removal procedures. The basic input data for the model include machine parameters, the geology and material characteristics, the mining parameter, and the delay characteristics of the equipment.

Jan 1, 1985

In 1960, the Secretary of the Interior, acting under the provisions of Public Law 454, 80th Congress, appointed a Lignite Advisory Committee to aid in programming research on coal (lignite) of the north-central area. The chairman of this committee is the Secretary of the Interior or his delegated representative, and in all meetings held during 1960 and 1961, the Director of the Bureau of Mines, Marling J. Ankeny, has presided. The members of this committee were R. W. Rovelstad, President, Baukol-Noonan, Inc., Noonan, N. Dak. W. E. Keller, Vice President, Northwest Division, Truax-Traer Coal Co., Minneapolis, Minn. A. M. Cooley, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks; N. Dak.

Jan 1, 1963

By E. H. BURROUCHS

This bulletin is the third of the series of yearly petroleum bibliographies being published by the Bureau of Mines. The two preceding, Bulletin 149 and Bulletin 165, were for the years 1915 and 1916, respectively. In arranging the references the same general scheme has been followed, but as in those bulletins, several changes and additions have been made in the classifica.tion, the more important being in the classes " Development and production " and "Refining and refineries." German periodicals for 1917 were not procurable and references to articles in those and in other foreign journals that were not available have been credited to the sources from which they were procured.

Jan 1, 1920

By Charles Enzian, Donald F. MacDonald

It is a far cry from the small and uncertain mining efforts of 50 years ago to the splendidly equipped and solidly financed organiza- tions that now handle thousands of tons of ore per day. The old mining was largely speculative; the new is practically on a manu- facturing basis. In the old days of mining the aim was, chiefly, to find comparatively rich ore; modern practice looks more toward efficiency in mining and milling, so that vast tonnages of low-grade material may be worked at a profit. The old operators had faith and hoped for good returns; the new ascertain with a fair degree of precision what the available tonnage is, what the cost of mining and treating the ore will be, the time necessary to exhaust the deposit, the capital required, and the net profits to be made. The old mining was financed on a highly speculative basis, and the value of mining stock was largely controlled by the imaginations of the promoters and of the individual holders. In the new régime the financing of mines is often as conservative as the financing of manufactures or railroads, and the value of stock, quoted on the leading exchanges, is controlled by the carefully estimated profits in sight. Of course, with every legitimate industrial enterprise go certain business risks, and mining is not exempted from these. Then, too, valueless mining as well as valueless industrial stocks are sometimes offered for sale by the intentionally dishonest, or the ignorant. However, the prospective purchaser of a mine nowadays, if he is willing to pay for the services of reputable mining engineers, can obtain information on which to base an opinion as to the quality of his investment. The relatively recent development of cheap and efficient methods of mining and of ore dressing has given value to low-grade ore bodies that a few years ago were almost valueless. The iron mines of northern Minnesota have been fruitful in developing efficiency in mining methods, notably the open-cut methods in which steam shovels strip off the overburden and then load the ore directly into railroad trains for transport to the furnace. In 1907 open-cut mining was applied to the low-grade copper ores of Bingham, Utah, with splendid results, and since then it has won a most important place in the min- ing of large masses of low-grade ores in several other mining regions, especially at Santa Rita, N. Mex.

Jan 1, 1916

By R. R. Sayers

A series of coal- mine catastrophes in the latter part of the first decade of this century focused public attention on the need for safety in mines and resulted in the establishment of the Federal Bureau of Mines , whose primary function was to promote safety and improve hygienic conditions of workers in the mineral and related industries . These activities are carried out by the Safety Division of the Bureau's Health and Safety Service . In general , the work performed by the Safety Division personnel may be classified as educational and investigative . Instruction is given in accident prevention for mine officials and miners ; first aid to the injured ; the use and care of oxygen breathing apparatus ; and advanced mine rescue and recovery operations . A specialized safety course is offered to the petroleum and gas industries . Division personnel also aids in or directs rescue and recovery work after mine fires and explosions ; assists at first - aid and mine rescue contests ; conducts safety exhibits and demonstrations ; and presents safety talks , often accompanied by sound safety motion pictures or latern slides , before employee and official groups , at meetings of Holmes safety chapters , at mining institutes , and at other safety or technical gatherings . Coal - mine fires and explosions are investigated , as well as quarry or metalmine explosions and fires , miscellaneous accidents , health and safety hazards , and safety conditions at mines and plants ; safety devices are investigated and developed . Field studies cover ventilation , methods of allaying suspended coal - dust particles , prevention of dust accumulations , the proper use of rock dust to prevent or limit explosions , explosives practices , and the care and use of underground equipment . The results of these studies and investigations are widely applied in the various training courses and are prepared as reports and recommendations , which are submitted to interested persons or are combined and distributed to the public as bulletins , technical papers , miners ' circulars , information circulars , and reports of investigations . These studies also afford a basis for the development of new or modification of old Safety Decisions of the Mine Safety Board of the Bureau of Mines . The following pages review the accomplishments of the division as regards safety during 1942,2/ with like information for a series of recent years and summaries to date . A striking feature of the division's work has been the safety education of more than 1-1/2 million persons who have taken first -aid and mine rescue training courses . That these efforts over a period of 3 decades have been successful is revealed by the decline in coal - mine fatality rates and a somewhat smaller decrease in metal - mining and quarrying fatality rates .

Apr 1, 1943

By Steven R. Ruggieri

This report documents the work performed and the results obtained during the field demonstration of the Remote Sealing System at the USBM's Jenny Mine near Inez, KY in the Fall of 1978. Although various portions of the Remote Sealing System had been used on a number of prior occasions, the field demonstration at Jenny Mine marked the first use of the complete upgraded system including the use of the inert gas generating system for seal placement and the first application of the new froth foam system. The objective of the field demonstration at Jenny Mine was to demonstrate the complete system by emplacing and evaluating several complete underground seals under conditions representing those of a mine fire situation. Several critical sealing conditions were identified including: ? High entry airflow ? Standing water (1 to 2 ft) in the entry ? Flowing water (150 gal/min) ? Irregular roof ? Sealing a 4-way intersection. Four seals were successfully placed under the conditions mentioned above. The demonstration served to verify proposed techniques to handle these conditions as well as to dispel any doubts about the system's capabilities. As a result of the successful field demonstration, the Remote Sealing Equipment is now under the jurisdiction of MSHA's Mine Emergency Operation ready for a mine fire emergency.

Jan 1, 1980

By Earl C. Redman

The Juneau Gold Belt, centered on Juneau and approximately 120 miles long by 10 miles wide, stretches from Berners Bay on the north to Windham Bay on the south (fig. D-l). Access within the Juneau Gold Belt is provided by the Glacier, Thane, and North Douglas Highways. The Glacier Highway extends northwest from Juneau for approximately 40 miles to Echo Cove, and the other two roads end 5.5 miles southeast and 12.6 miles west from Juneau, respectively. None of these roads connect with other highway systems and access to other areas is restricted to airplanes, the State ferry system, and commercial barge lines. BUREAU ACTIVITIES The majority of lode gold produced in Alaska came from the Juneau Gold Belt portion of the Juneau Mining District. To evaluate the economic potential of the Gold Belt, the Bureau located 173 mines and prospects within the area. A total of 263 ad its and shafts were found and 56,650 feet of underground workings were mapped. The Bureau collected and analyzed 1,557 samples during the study. In addition, considerable detailed geologic map-ping was done in the vicinity of the mines and prospects from which ore control models were developed.

Jan 1, 2012

By S. H. Ash

NO MORE important question has come before the coal-mining industry in many places, especially in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, than prevention of stream pollution by mine drainage. Available information on acid mine drainage in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania indicates that a pollution problem must be solved in any program of anthracite mine drainage. The major problem concerns satisfactory disposal of the daily average mine-water discharge of 327,000 gallons per minute (g. p. m.), or 472 million gallons per day (g. p. d.), containing a free-acid load of 431 tons or a total acid load of 934 tons a clay as H2S04. This report indicates the scope of the problem and gives some suggestions concerning its solution.

Jan 1, 1951

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 F. Matanzo

[Nine wire rope terminations were pull tested and fatigue tested to destruction to measure the termination efficiency and relative fatigue life. The terminations were selected on the basis off mine site visits and the specimen were assembled in a manner similar to industrial slings. To measure a termination's sensitivity to poor workmanship, both standard and modified assembly specimen were tested. Lang and Regular construction of the 6x19 and 6x37 class wire ropes were used in diameters of 13 mm (1/2 in.), 19 mm (3/4 in.), 25 mm (1 in.), 38 mm (1 1/2 in.), and 51 mm (2 in.). In static pull tests rope class, construction, and diameter interacted with the termination to influence the efficiency of the termination. In axial fatigue tests using only the 6x19 class rope, the effect of rope construction was negligible since failure was primarily dependent on the termination type. The Swaged Socket, a termination requiring a high capacity hydraulic press, gave the best overall performance in terms of efficiency and fatigue life. The short body length of the Zinc Poured Socket (RR-S-550) was attributed with the short fatigue life of this termination. The use of thermosetting resins as a replacement for zinc was demonstrated successfully for some socket designs. The fatigue life of the termination, expressed as a percentage of the fatigue life of the wire rope, was shown to be a guide for the retirement of the wire in these applications where the wiry' rope is primarily in axial loading.]

Jan 1, 1978

By John D. Spencer

Air and water pollution and land reclamation relating to coal mining and utilization continued to be featured in research and technologic work on coal by the Bureau of Mines in 1967. Details of the environmental studies are given in this report, along with accounts of other research relating to the mining and utilization of coal. Other studies that were continued during 1967 included health and safety, mine explosives, coal preparation and transportation, coal utilization processes, chemistry and properties of coal, inspection and analysis, and inter-national activities. Publications issued in 1967 are cited throughout the report and in appendix C. Bureau of Mines research centers and laboratories are listed in appendix A, and organizations contributing to or cooperating in the work, in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1968

By Louis H. Berkelhamer

"INTRODUCTION In the present war, with increasing demands on foundrymen for speedy production of sound castings, the role of sand in foundries has paramount importance.Foundry sands include both molding sands and core sands. Molding sands are those used in making molds, whereas core sands include those used for ""cores"" that fill the parts of the mold intended to be openings or hollow spaces in the casting. Core sands are, as a general rule, relatively coarse-grained as compared to molding sands. Coarse-grained sands, however, are required in making molds for large castings.Owing to the intimate relationship between properties of the sand and casting defects, it is necessary (for most efficient foundry work) to keep a close check on the molding sands used and to properly select and prepare a sand for a specific job. A mold is essentially an unfired refractory composed to meet specific requirements as to strength, permeability, and resiliency. Good green strength is important in preparing and handling the mold. Low dry and hot strengths contribute to cutting and washing, whereas high strengths cause difficult shake-out, with subsequent loss of sand. When molten metal is poured into the mold: a dried skin is attained, and gases from moisture and combustibles are driven off. Excessive moisture necessary for the proper working of a sand, as well as poor venting due to low permeability, are factors responsible for producing such defects as blows and pinholing. The skin of the mold, upon contact with molten metal, first expands and later contracts; these conditions are favorable for producing scab defects. Contact with the molten metal sometimes causes the skin of the mold to sinter or fuse and may produce a sand burn on the casting. Then again, the mold may develop excessive hot strength rapidly, thereby causing a cracked casting. Experienced foundrymen can other such relationships, too numerous to be included here."

Sep 1, 1944

By S. H. Ash

THE MAGNITUDE of the anthracite industry's drainage problem in the Northern field of Pennsylvania is realized when it is known that, for the 8-year period 1944-51, all pumping plants in this region pumped an average volume of 112.5 billion gallons of water from the mines to the surface each year. This is over 214,000 gallons per minute pumped against an average hydrostatic head of 400 feet each year for that period (12).4 By comparison, Lake Wallenpaupack, the largest artificial body of water lying wholly in Pennsylvania, contains 71 billion gallons of water in its 24-square-mile area; the average volume of water pumped from the mines in the Northern field each year during the 8-year period was 58 percent more than the volume impounded in Lake Wallenpaupack. The natural configuration of the drainage area overlying the Northern field subdivides the total area into two major drainage areas-the Lackawanna River drainage area and the Susquehanna River drainage area overlying the Wyoming Basin. Although the 169-square-mile drainage area overlying the Wyoming Basin is slightly less than half that of the Lackawanna River drainage area (10), the total volume of water pumped to the surface from mines in the Wyoming Basin is 21 percent more than the total volume pumped to the surface from mines in the Lackawanna Basin. From this, it is apparent that the Susquehanna River and the pervious deposits in the buried valley over which it flows in its course across the coal measures of Wyoming Valley is the greatest single source of mine water affecting mines in this area. Because of its relatively flat terrain, the wide flood plain of Wyoming Valley does not facilitate rapid runoff; consequently, much of the surface water seeps directly into the buried-valley deposits and eventually into the mine workings.

Jan 1, 1953

By R. J. Hundhausen

This report describes the exploration and recent utilization studies the Bureau of Mines conducted on the Iron King, Chambers, and Dry Camp chromite deposits in the John Day district, Grant County, Oreg. The field investigations were undertaken during parts of 1939 and 1942 to determine the tonnage and grade of chromite in the district that could be utilized as a war reserve for the steel industry. As a result of the Bureau's field work, which included construction of 9 miles of access road, 6,204 feet of diamond drilling, 195 channel samples, and 1,020 linear feet of trenching, an ore reserve of 208,000 tons of 22-percent chromic oxide was indicated in the 3 deposits. Less than 1,000 tons of this ore has been mined since the field work was completed because the 2 largest deposits are submarginal in grade and there is as yet no incentive to develop and mine the ore. Since the war, however, the Bureau has been seeking means of utilizing the ore. Two methods of utilization that show promise are direct smelting of the ore in an electric furnace and use of the chromite for making refractory brick.

Jan 1, 1956

By Robert L. Lagace

The purpose of the work reported herein was to investigate whether available telephone multiplexing equipment offered a means to rapidly upgrade the traffic-handling capacity of present mine telephone systems and provide for selective calling for safer and more efficient mine operation. Common sense was used to decide whether or not an item could be termed "available." Since conventional telephone gear is not designed to interface pager phones for example, existing shelf items would require adapters to compatibly interface these two types of gear for independent operation over the present single twisted pair used in mines. These and similar small items were allowed, but if a system required any extensive design work to adapt it for the mines, we ruled it "not available."

Jan 1, 1975