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By Richard F. Zaffarano

The Bureau of Mines compiled information for the nonspecialist about natural gas liquids recovery from hydrocarbon streams in natural gas processing plants. Attention is directed to the impact of the technology of processing and the quality of gas processed in view of the increased availability of natural gas for processing. Significant changes in product and market trends within the natural gas processing industry are highlighted. Fixed capital-plant costs for grassroots, refrigerated-oil absorption and conventional adsorption schemes, adapted from published studies, are presented giving ranges of cost estimates for medium-sized plants. Marketed products of the natural gas processing industry are briefly discussed in relation to automotive air pollution problems and approaches to their control.

Jan 1, 1970

The 1967 Lignite Symposium was held at Grand Forks, N. Dak., on April 27-28, 1967. This was the fifth of these technical meetings and the fourth which was cosponsored by the University of North Dakota and the Bureau of Mines. These symposia have provided a meeting place where current developments concerning technology and utilization of solid fuels (lignite) are presented. There was a registration of 255 persons from 24 States, the District of Columbia, six Canadian Provinces, Germany, and India. Many segments of coal or energy oriented organizations at many levels were represented. During the meeting, 18 presentations were made covering developments in electrical power generation, mining, estimation of reserves, combustion, gasification, and chemical and speciality uses of low-rank coals; these are com-piled in this Information Circular to provide a record of the symposium and to permit wider dissemination of the information. Proceedings of the other meetings have also been published.3

Jan 1, 1968

Arsenic.--Inorganic arsenic has been added to the Environmental Protection Agency's list of hazardous air pollutants because of a high probability it can cause cancer. EPA estimates that inorganic arsenic emissions into ambient air total more than 6,000 tons per year, with about 65;L of this coming from the operations of copper, lead, and zinc smelters. Asbestos Detection.--In June 14, the President signed S. 1658 providing $172.5 million to detect and remove asbestos hazards in schools. Asbestos Use Must be Reported.--All firms using asbestos in the manufacture of some 30 categories of products must describe in detail how they use the mineral to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, for all manufactures since January 1, 1977.

Jan 1, 1980

By George D. Dub

The Bureau of Mines, in connection with the investigations of war minerals it conducted, examined the graphite deposits of this country, studied the methods of mining and preparation used, and sought to devise more efficient methods for the preparation of domestic graphite, and to standardize the quality of the product. The graphite investigations covered three general phases, as follows: 1. An examination of the deposits in Alabama and other States, and a survey of the methods of mining and preparation used. In this connection methods of sampling and analysis were noted and experiments made to determine a standard method of sampling and a, rapid but accurate method of analysis. 2. Experimental work on the concentration and refining of domestic crucible graphite to improve the quality of the product and to lessen waste. 3. Experimental work in crucible manufacture to determine the properties of domestic flake and the maximum proportions that might be used without impairing the quality of the crucibles. This work was accompanied by photomicrographic study of crucible structure.

Jan 1, 1920

By Binyon E. O.

The tungsten properties of Lincoln Mines, Inc., and North Tem Piute Mining and Development Co. were first explored by the Bureau of Mines in 1942. Work on the project comprised trenching, sampling, a small amount of road and trail construction, and a small amount of core drilling. From April 13 to December 10, 1944, additional diamond drilling was done by the Bureau of Mines to test the lateral and downward extensions of the various tactite zones along the contact south of the Lincoln mine, including the property of the North Tem Piute Mining & Development Co. Claims leased by the Lincoln Mites, Inc., are in secs. 25 and 36, T. 3 S., R. 56 E.; secs. 30 and 31, T. 3 S., R. 57' E.; and sec. 1, T. 4 S., 56 E., M. D. B. & M., in the Tem Piute Mining District, near the north end of the Timpahute Range in west central Lincoln County, Nev. D. B. Fegles is president of Lincoln Mines, Inc., and general offices are in the Wesley Temple Building, Minneapolis, Minn.

Jan 1, 1950

By William C. Morel, Sidney Katell

This report covers the period January 1964 through December 1964; it is a continuation of the series that began with the publica- tion of Information Circular 7516 in October 1949. Also, it is the sixth in a series of reports prepared under a cooperative agreement between the Bureau of Mines and the American Association of Cost Engin- eers. The agreement provides for the publication of an annual cost bibliography with the work load involved in the preparation shared equally. The abstracted articles, concerned with all facets of cost engineering in the field of chemical and petroleum plants and related subjects, are from the following sources: 1. American Association of Cost Engineers Bulletin. 2. Bureau of Mines Information Circulars. 3. Bureau of Mines Reports of Investigations. 4. Chemical Engineering. 5. Chemical Engineering Progress. 6. Chemical Week. 7. Coal Age. 8. Coal--Today and Tomorrow. 9. Cost Engineering. 10. Hydrocarbon Processing and Petroleum Refiner. 11. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. 12. Nucleonics. 13. 011 and Gas Journal. 14. Petroleum Management. 15. World Oil.

Jan 1, 1965

By Neldon L. Jensen

Although ASARCO Incorporated, the only domestic producer, had terminated copper smelting operations and associated recovery of byproduct arsenic trioxide at Tacoma, WA, in 1985, it shipped small quantities of both trioxide and metal from its remaining stocks in 1986. Imports for consumption of arsenic trioxide increased significantly, owing to increased demand for arsenical wood preservatives and the decrease in domestic shipments of trioxide. Prices remained unchanged throughout the year. Development of gallium arsenide integrated circuits, important in advanced military and commercial electronics circuitry, continued to gain momentum during 1986. Domestic Data Coverage.-Shipments of small amounts of arsenic trioxide and metal from remaining stocks by Asarco were reported voluntarily to the Bureau of Mines.

Jan 1, 1988

1. Alford, N.G. quantity, of timber used in soft-coal mines and how much will be needed for the future. Gives a table of estimated increase in mine timber consumption in the future. A.I.M.E. Separate. 1336-C 1924. 2 Clark, B.M. The forest and the mine. Rept. Conference of Wood-Using Industries, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Apr. 13-14, 1921, pp. 58-62. Describes experience of a Pennsylvania mining company in depletion of timber supply and conservation methods adopted.

Jan 1, 1925

By Causey J. Douglas

In 1988, at the request of the Bureau of land Management, the U.S. Bureau of Mines studied part of the 13,460-acre Owyhee Breaks Wilderness Study Area (OR-003-059) in order to evaluate its identified mineral resources. The study area is in Malheur County, OR, about 27 miles northwest of Jordan Valley. No mineral resources were identified in the study area during this investigation. There is an occurrence of jasper along Birch Creek and an associated occurrence of zeolite in some tuffs. In the northern part of the study area is an occurrence of bentonitic clay containing less than 40,000 tons. Much of the area is covered by landslide blocks, colluvium, earthflow deposits, and talus, composed of Tertiary-age volcanic rocks. The upper plateaus are capped by Tertiary-age basalt.

Jan 1, 1989

By Thomas J. Peters

The Snowbank study area, which had been proposed as Wilderness, lies about 5 air mi southwest of Cascade, Idaho, and about 60 air mi north of Boise. The eastern boundary of the north-south-elongate study area lies 1-to 2-mi east of Cascade Reservoir; the western boundary is contiguous, in part, with the western boundary of Valley county. The 8,200-acre study area is underlain by Cretaceous granitoid rocks of the Idaho batholith. Three prospects were found in or near the study area during a library and field search. Gold occurs at one 30-ft adit, but the gold-bearing structure appeared too narrow to contain resources. Two other prospects appeared essentially unmineralized. No evidence of geothermal activity was observed. Rock in the area is not potentially useful as dimension stone because it does not split into flat slabs. To be used as aggregate, the rock would require crushing and hauling to distant markets. One of 18 alluvium concentrate (placer) samples contained free gold, worth $1.07 per cubic yard of gravel (at a $350 per oz gold price). No alluvial bars were seen; deposits were too small to contain gold resources or be considered gravel resources.

Jan 1, 1993

By James Westfield

A brief résumé follows of activities of the Division of Coal-Mine Inspection that have had a favorable effect on health, safety, and the reduction of injuries at coal mines: 1. The Federal Mine Safety Code fur Bituminous Coal and Lignite Mines of the United States was issued originally by the Director of the Bureau of Mines on July 24, 1946, after consulting with management and labor representatives of the coal-mining industry. The code has been used by Federal coal-mine inspectors while inspecting bituminous-coal and lignite mines as a basis for determining the existence of unhealthful and unsafe conditions and practices in these mines. A revised code was issued by the Secretary of the Interior on October 8, 1953, after further consultations with representatives of management and mine workers and was incorporated by reference in the 1952 and subsequent bituminous -coal wage agreements. The agreement of May 29, 1946, between the Secretary of the Interior, acting as Coal Mines Administrator under authority of Executive Order 9728, and the United Mine Workers of America, covering bituminous-coal and lignite mines in Government possession, charged Federal coal-mine inspectors with the responsibility of making periodic investigations of the mines and reportin; to the Coal Mines Administrator any violations of the Federal Minis Safety Code. Federal coal-mine inspectors also had temporary authority to close mines found to be imminently dangerous, but such authority under Executive Order 9728 was removed on June 30, 1947, when Government control of the mines was terminated.

Jan 1, 1960

By Oliver C. Ralston

The growing popularity of perlite (sometimes spelled pearlite) as a raw material for thermal expansion into pumicelike products in the Western States has prompted a preliminary investigation of the properties of such material and the problems that want solution to put a perlite industry on a firm foundation. The Bureau of Mines is undertaking the gathering of data and the solution of these problems, and the following paper records some of the available information. and the promise of the material, with some comparisons of advantages of the various competing lightweight aggregates that can be made from siliceous volcanic glasses and rocks containing entrapped or dissolved water that causes their expansion on' quick heating to their softening points. This new industrial rock has caught the fancy of the mineral industry in the western States because it has Fume advantages over natural pumice. Chemically, it is typified as rhyolitic in composition, and one may find obsidian, rhyolite, pumice, pumicite, and perlite from the same vant and contemporaneous in origin. The material need not be rhyolite but should be a siliceous or acid lava and contain 2 to 5 percent water still in "solution" in the rock. On quick heating to the softening temperature the material puffs, due to conversion of the contained eater into bubbles of steam. Slow heating causes gradual release of the imprisoned water by decrepitation and. cracking and-results in, very little puffing. Perlite is often in the form of ovoid volcanic bombs formed by explosive eruption of large masses of lava into the air, where they, quickly cool, with escape of little of the contained water, exceptt perhaps for a hollow interior. Since they cool in layers they have an onion-type structure and a pearly luster from interference of light between the. layers, which is' the origin of the name "perlite." Perlite may occur in intruded flows that have been quickly cooled and partly expanded but retained most of their magmatic water content. Obsidian may be the same lava cooled quickly under conditions that prevented crystallization of feldspars and other minerals, leaving the volcanic glass that may or may not retain all of the original contained water.

Jan 1, 1946

By John W. Sweeney

Shales and clays from Illinois were sampled, tested, and evaluated to determine feasibility of producing lightweight aggregate by rotary-kiln methods. Sampling procedures and the 1 ,,,y of the Pennsylvanian shale units are discussed. Chemical, X-ray spectrographic and X-ray petrographic analyses were run on the samples to determine if a correlation existed between chemical mineralogic composition and expansion. Preliminary expansion testing was conducted in a muffle furnace. Rotary-kiln tests were conducted in a 16- inch by 14-foot rotary kiln. The weight of the aggregate ranged from 27 to 59 pounds per cubic foot. Concrete cubes employing the aggregate were tested to determine the qualities of the concrete. Compressive strength of the concrete using the 7-bag of cement cement per cubic yard mix, after autoclave curing for 6 hours, ranged from 2,950 to 6,750 psi. No correlation was found between the chemical, X-ray spectrographic, and X-ray and petrographic analyses and expansion, Sixteen samples made suitable lightweight aggregates in the laboratory rotary kiln. The expansion temperature range of eight of the samples was extremely narrow, and difficulties would probably be encountered in processing these materials commercially.

Jan 1, 1965

By A. W. Hall

A nuclear method was developed for continuously and automatically deter-mining the moisture content of coal flowing through a bin. Fast neutrons from a 1 curie americium-beryllium source penetrate the coal, are thermalized (slowed down) by hydrogen in the moisture, and are counted by a thermal neutron detector. The difference between the number of these thermal neutrons and those thermalized by dry coal (in a reference drum) is a measure of the moisture content of the coal. A materials handling system was developed and in tests at a commercial coal preparation plant, moisture in coal was monitored continuously within 0.2 percent of values determined by conventional means. The meter responded rapidly to change in moisture content, making it adaptable to automatic process control, and was operated for 1 year without malfunction or recalibration. Shielding of the source by the coal kept the neutron flux level at the bin wall less than 1 milliroentgen per hour, a safe level for personnel.

Jan 1, 1973

By A. W. Ambrose

"A need exists for men in oil-field production work who correspond to the mining engineer of a large mining property. Some oil companies prefer to call such an employee a resident geologist, resident engineer, or a petroleum technologist. He should perhaps be more correctly termed a petroleum production engineer. The duty of such a man is to apply his scientific and geologic training practically to oil-field development work.He should be, by education, a mining, civil, or mechanical engineer, with a knowledge of geology and chemistry. Upon completion of his education, such a man should spend several years in the oil-fields. There are two means of gaining proper experience. The first method is to work for an oil company in making a detailed study of each well, collecting data on the history and production, followed by a preparation of good records, from which well logs can be prepared. From the well logs, the geologic cross-sections, peg-models, and structure contour maps can be made. These allow a comparable, detailed study of each well, which is necessary to solve many of the problems. Along with this the engineer should visit drilling wells daily for collection of samples of formations and for a proper study of how they drill. He should form friendly relations with the drillers and production foremen. The second method of gaining proper experience is to start work as a roustabout, pumper, or on the pipe¬line gang, finally working up to a tool-dresser. After three or four years of such work, the engineer may be classed as a petroleum production engineer."

Jan 1, 1920

By D. Harrington

Ventilation of underground workings consists of establishment of such control of air currents that the underground workers may work in safety, with maximum comfort and efficiency, mad without impairment of health; and that the mine openings may be made subject to such control of air flow as to remove from the workings at ordinary times harmful gases and dusts, and at time of emergency, such as fire or explosion, there may be maintained as much or as little air flow as may be desired covering portions of the mine or the mine in its entirety. Control of air flow is the keystone of any ventilating structure, and this very essential feature is obtainable only by the installation of mechanically operated fans, to ether with other ventilating devices such as doors, overcasts, regulators, etc. Every mine, large or shall, coal or metal, should from the outset be equipped with a fan. While much has been written about natural ventilation and many claims have been made that in specific mines there is sufficient natural al" flow, there are few if any mines, coal or metal, where natural ventilation supplies anything like adequately safe or healthful conditions for underground workers even at ordinary times; and at a time of mine fire or explosion the mines depending upon natural ventilation are practically helpless, and certainly are decidedly dangerous to those unfortunates forced to be in them.

Jan 1, 1933

By Robert Roby

The Mouat copper-nickel deposit in Stillwater County, south-central Montana, was examined by Paul T. Allsman, an engineer of the Bureau of Mines, in 1939. Because of the strategic importance of nickel, a project was executed by John East, Jr., J. J. Naughton, and E. W. Newman, engineers of the Bureau, to further delimit some of the copper-nickel sulfide-bearing bodies that had been discovered by the Anaconda Copper Mining. Co. in 1937 and to investigate the central part of the deposit, which had not been drilled previously. This report is based largely upon the results of the. Bureau of Mines investigation and the results of exploration by the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. In addition, a brief description is given of some other copper-nickel sulfide-bearing deposits along tho Stillwater Complex.

Jan 1, 1949

By Robert E. Barieau

General expressions for evaluating various thermodynamic properties applicable to the van der Waals equation of state have been derived. These formulas were subsequently used to evaluate various thermodynamic functions in the two-phase region. The results indicate that, for a van der Waals fluid, there is a finite discontinuity in the second derivative of the vapor pressure curve, in the second derivative of the chemical potential or Gibbs free energy at the critical point, and in the heat capacity at constant volume measured at the critical density. Numerical values are tabulated and graphs are presented for all functions calculated.

Jan 1, 1967

By Chas. F. Jackson

During the past 5 years the Bureau of Mines has published information circulars dealing with mining methods and costs at 78 ore mines; 7 circulars, each of which is devoted to a discussion of one of the principal mining, methods; and 23 circulars dealing with special phases of mining, such as ventilation, shaft sinking, tunnel driving, the cost of equipping and developing prospects and small mines, underground transportation, diamond drilling, and ground support. These circulars were written by many different authors, and in order that the method of presentation and the basis for compilation of data might be the same in all the papers the Bureau drafted an outline to be followed in their preparation. To clarify the data in these circulars, which are in the libraries of many engineers and mining companies, and the summarized data presented in this paper, that portion of the outline dealing with cost and labor-performance data is reproduced below.

Jan 1, 1934

By A. J. Hudson, M. R. Yenchek

Faulty insulators on mine trolley/track haulageways may allow the flow of leakage currents into the mine roof and ultimately result in combustion of the local roof material. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL), has devised a passive means to detect overheating insulators on direct current systems. The detector consists of a spring-loaded cartridge that ejects a reflective streamer of white Teflon tape when subjected to elevated temperatures. The cartridge assembly can be easily installed over the outer metallic shell of an existing trolley line insulator. If an insulator overheats due to ground leakage currents, the visible streamer alerts mine personnel traveling on the haulageway.