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Determine the extent of upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders (UECTD's) in the U.S. mining industry. Background UECTD's are injuries that develop gradually over a period of time as a result of repeated stress to a particular body part without adequate time between stresses for full recovery to occur. The stresses that contribute to UECTD's may occur because of the following work components: awkward position of wrist or arm, excessive manual force, high repetitions of manual movement and effort, cold environment, and vibration. Cumulative trauma injuries to the arm and hand have become an ever growing concern among safety and health professionals in a number of different industries and work settings, such as meatpacking operations, assembly-line work, and keyboarding. Mine workers arc also exposed to a combination of stressors and work design deficiencies that result in arm and hand injuries. For example, certain job tasks and environments, such as that of an underground jackleg driller, expose miners to segmental (hand-arm) vibration and cold temperatures. Operators of underground mobile equipment, such as scoops and trams, regularly have their hands in direct contact with vibrating levers and controls.

Jan 1, 1992

By Candice Stevens

The Territory of Afars and Issas is to receive its independence from France on June 27, 1977. The Territory's economic income was based on entrepôt trade through the port of Djibouti and trans-shipment of goods on the Chemin de Fer Franco-Ethiopian (CFE) railroad. The Territorial budget was scheduled to in- crease from $32.6 million3 in 1976 to $36 million in 1977, despite severe shortfalls in 1976 stemming from inflation and a persistent balance-of-trade deficit. Subsidies from France continued to sustain the economy, and the French pledged to provide approximately $140 million in aid annually after independence. In 1976, financial agreements were concluded with a number of Arab oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia which granted $10 million toward development projects. The new Republic of Djibouti is scheduled to become the 49th member State of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the 21st member of the Arab League, and to receive aid from their financial institutions. The port of Djibouti and the CFE railroad constituted the Territory's main economic resources. Traffic at the port greatly

Jan 1, 1980

By V. E. Erwin, W. W. Adams, E. V. Walters

"Increased production of explosives in the United States in 1933 compared with 1932 is shown by statistics compiled by the Demographical Division, Health and Safety Branch, United States Bureau of Mines. The figures relate only to explosives used for industries purposes, such as mining, quarrying, and road building, and do not cover nonindustrial explosives, such as ammunition or fireworks. Industrial explosives include black blasting powder, permissible explosives, 5 and high explosives other than permissibles figures in the tables of this report were compiled from reports covering sales by the individual companies manufacture of explosives in the United States in 1933. Because of the close agreement among the several series of figures, the quantity of explosives sold is considered as reflecting production and consumption, and the three terms ""sales"", ""production"", and ""consumption"" are used interchangeably in the discussion unless otherwise stated.Of the principal industries that use high construction operations accounted for the largest percentage of increase in consumption during 1933; metal mining and quarrying also used more of this class of explosives than in the previous year. Coal mining is the chief consumer of permissible explosives; the figures for 1933 showed that bituminous-coal mining used a larger quantity than in 1932, and that anthracite mines also showed a small increase. Although a net increase of less than 1 percent in consumption was reported for black blasting powder, large increases in use of this class of explosives were reported for metal mining, miscellaneous types of work, and bituminous-coal mining. (See table 1.)"

Nov 1, 1934

By C. W. Whitten

Iron ore deposits in south-central Missouri have emerged as a possible resource for the rare-earth elements. The Pea Ridge Iron Mine is one such deposit. Rare-earth minerals at the Pea Ridge Iron Mine are contained in breccia pipes consisting primarily of silicon oxides and feldspars. These pipes extend up through the magnetite ore body and appear to be alterations and replacement of earlier hematite. The mineralogy of these pipes is very complex and varied, which could complicate the concentration and extraction of the rare-earth minerals. This U.S. Bureau of Mines !eport represents a study by characterization of the mineral phases to assess the amenability and development of concentration and extraction techniques. Previous characterization of rare-earth minerals has been mainly by transmitted light microscopy. This method along with reflected light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction was used to identify and characterize the rare-earth and associated minerals. The minerals identified were the major ore minerals, magnetite and hematite; the rare-earth phosphates, monazite and xenotime; the rare-earth silicate, allanite; the minor associated minerals, cassiterite, pyrite, and apatite; and the gangue minerals, feldspar, quartz, and actinolite.

Jan 1, 1990

By Harry Perry

One of the most notable achievements of the iron and steel industry in the United States in this century has been the general increase in productivity of individual blast furnaces and the reduction in coke rate. Most of the improvement in furnace operations has occurred within the past decade. During this time the output of the average furnace increased about one-third, while fuel rates decreased from 15 to 20 percent. For example, in 1949, the iron and steel industry produced 811.2 short tons of pig iron per blast-furnace day with a coke rate of 1,870.4 pounds per ton of pig iron, By 1960, the average production of pig iron per blast-furnace day had risen to 1,182.4 tons, while the coke rate had decreased to 1,497 pounds per ton of pig iron. These figures are averages for the entire industry; many furnaces produced over 2,000 tons per day and one furnace, operating on pellets, reached 2,700 tons of pig iron per day, Coke rates of individual furnaces varied, but some furnaces operated on less than 1,200 pounds per ton of pig iron. The significance of this decrease in coke rate is shown clearly when data on pig-iron production and coke consumption in 1959 are compared with 1948. In 1948, 57.3 million short tons of coke was charged into blast furnaces to produce 60.1 million tons of pig iron; in 1959 only 47.6 million tons of coke was needed to produce 60.2 million tons of pig iron. Thus, in 1959, nearly 10 million tons less coke was required to produce about the same amount of pig iron as was produced in 1948.

Jan 1, 1962

By J. B. Stott

The performance of an adiabatic calorimeter for measuring heats of oxidation of coal is assessed and suggestions made for its improvement and calibration. The use of magnetic analysers for measuring small oxygen deficiencies in air is described and three different methods of measuring the output for such a meter are characterised. The occurrence of spontaneous heating in an 800 tonne heap of Wyoming coal is briefly described. The major part of the report deals with the oxidation of Pittsburgh seam and Wyoming subbituminous coal and describes an experiment in which 1 tonne of Wyoming coal is stored in a 5 metre long insulated container whilst air was passed through. Temperature rises, rates of oxygen absorption and gas compositions of the air stream were measured. The report relates the results of these-experiments to a theory of spontaneous heating developed by Stott and Quan which stresses the importance of the moisture content of the coal and the relationship between the heat necessary to evaporate this water to the heat available from coal oxidation. The work was carried out over a five month period and the emphasis is on demonstrating the effects of moisture transfer and confirming the theory of Stott and Quan.

Jan 1, 1980

Case 1: A driller raised a drill rig mast into a 7200-volt overhead power line. Both he and his helper were killed. Case 2: A driller-helper was pulling a winch cable toward a stack of drill steel when the cable contacted a 12,000-volt power line. The helper was killed, and the driller at the rig controls was severely injured. [ ]

Jan 1, 2006

By Joan Weinberg

Real output expanded at a 3.0% rate worldwide in 1987, a slightly lower pace than the 3.2% rate in 1986. The decline was accounted for largely by slower growth in the U.S.S.R. and the East European countries, as well as in the developing countries (table 1). According to the International Monetary Fund, output of industrial countries output grew 3.1% and rose most strongly in Japan, the United Kingdom, and Canada (table 2). U.S. economic growth remained at 2.9%, the same as in 1986. Consumer and government spending declined in industrial countries, while gross fixed investment: rent increased. This increase in fixed investment expenditures could be attributed partly to lagged results of some 1986 developments: the fall in oil prices, declining interest rates, and exchange rate changes. The U.S. budget deficit, as well as the large external deficits and surpluses among major industrial countries, hindered further growth .2 A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicates that the impact of the October stock market crash was short-lived because it hit economies that were growing strongly, anyway.3 The growth of output in the developing countries slowed in 1987; however, output declined in the fuel-exporting developing countries. These countries have been adversely affected by weakness in oil prices and the depreciation of the U.S. dollar. The weighted average of inflation rates in industrial countries--as measured by the [ ] GNP deflator, was 2.9% in 1987, down from 3.4% in 1986. Prices rose 3.0% in the United States, up from 2.6% the previous year. Inflation for 1988 is expected to remain slightly higher in the United States than in Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany because of recent exchange rates changes and the elimination of slack productive capacity and labor in the U.S. economy. Prices in developing countries as a whole rose more than 10 percentage points in 1987. Higher import prices, caused by

Jan 1, 1988

By G. L. Oldright

The data presented in this paper were collected et the smelter of the Consolidated Mining A Smelting Co. of Canada, Limited, Trail (Tadanac), British Columbia, through the courtesy of S. G. Blaylock, vice president and general manager; James Buchanan, smelter superintendent, George Murray, assistant smelter superintendent; and the staff members listed in Paper XI, Report of Investigations 3243. INTRODUCTION This paper is the twelfth of a series on smelting in the lead blast furnace and the fifth4 dealing with blast-furnace gases.

Jan 1, 1934

By W. P. Yant, G. W. Jones

"Introduction.During the past two years the Bureau of Mines has conducted a study of natural-gas heaters*** to determine (1) what types of heaters literate carbon monoxide; (2) why carton monocide is liberated; and (3) how, by change of design or construction, the liberation of this gas can be largely eliminated, In addition to the above study the bureau has investigated cases in the Pittsburgh dis¬trict where fatalities have resulted from carbon monoxide given off by natural-gas heaters.Since these fatalities were first brought to the attention of this bureau through the press, it is likely that some cases were missed and thus not listed. On the other hand, some cases reported as being due to carbon monoxide poisoning, on investigation were found to be due to causes other than carbon monoride.The cases listed herein were shown in all probability to be due to carbon monoxide. Those in which there is any doubt have been omitted; so have those in which there was part asphyxiation, where the victims later recovered."

Feb 1, 1924

By W. F. Dietrich

1. On St. Thomas and St. Croix, and possibly also on St. John, low-quality red-burning clays probably can be developed to provide the major part of the raw materials for structural clay products and earthenware pottery. 2. The potential sales volume for structural clay products is too small to sustain a plant in the Virgin Islands to manufacture such products in competition with Puerto Rico; however, handmade patio tile might be produced successfully. 3. The market for pottery utility wares in the Virgin Islands is too small to justify a plant devoted solely to the production of such wares; but it may be feasible to evolve a diversified community activity to make jugs, pots, casseroles, bowls, charcoal burners, patio tile, and other items.

Jan 1, 1955

By D. Harrington

"FOREWORDVirtually all government agencies undertook many additional responsibilities during the period immediately preceding World War II; these responsibilities increased vastly in importance and scope after the actual declaration of war following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Bureau of Mines was one of the agencies thus affected, and it was called upon to perform many duties foreign to its normal peacetime activities.The Health and Safety Division of the Bureau of Mines, at that time designated the Health and Safety Branch, was given several important and difficult duties and responsibilities of an unusual nature because of the war while of necessity-continuing its normal functions of assisting the mineral industries in the preservation of life and health and the protection of property, this being of especial importance in wartime because of the pre-eminent importance of having maximum output of essentially all types of mineral products. Some of these additional functions were given to the Health and Safety Division because the organization of the Division, with its field set-up dividing the Nation into districts with competent, experienced personnel in charge of its work, provided the nucleus of personnel and procedure through which rapid and smooth expanded functioning was feasible.In addition to the responsibilities directly attributable to definite war activities, such as the administration of the wartime Federal. Explosives Act and the Mineral Production Security Branch a new branch (then designated division) was formed to investigate coal-mine health and safety problems after the enactment of the Federal Coal-Mine Inspections and Investigations Act, which became a law on May 7, 1941, but which actually began to function actively after the declaration of war in December 1941.The purpose of this publication is to provide a brief historical record of the activities of the Health and Safety Division as a whole and of its individual branches during the war. The detailed record has been filed in the Archives Building, Washington, D. C."

Jan 1, 1949

By John M. Devine

The oxygen bomb-is used extensively for determining sulphur in petroleum, although it has been suspected that the results obtained with this method are somewhat lower than the true varies. In this paper are compared the results given by the oxygen-bomb and Carius methods, the latter being generally accepted as the standard procedure for the determination of sulphur in organic compounds. The Carius determinations given hero were made in connection with a special study of this method.4 Only petroleum oils of the less-volatile type are covered in the present work. Summary and Conclusions. When used with oils containing 2.3 to 0.15 per cent of sulphur the oxygen-bomb method gives results that are consistenly if slightly lower than those obtained with the Carius method. This variation, for the oils used, amounts to 3.1 per cent (on tae basis of sulphur present) for the sample containing 2.47 per cent of sulphur, and gradually increases (as the percentage of sulphur in the oils decreases) to 7.3 per cent for the oil containing 0.15 per cent of sulphur. With the oils studied the presence of ammonium nitrate in the bomb does not influence the results materially.

Jan 1, 1928

Federal lands often contain extensive mineral resources and decisions affecting access to those lands are made with knowledge of the possible minerals-related consequences. Information is provided to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in this report for use in preparing environmental impact statements on the Western Mojave Management Area (WMMA) and the Desert Tortoise Priority Habitat (DTPH). To augment U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) efforts such as the Mineral Assessment of the Planned Foil Irwin Expansion, Modified Silurian Valley Alternative, San Bernardino County, California which is in progress, and the Economic Analysis of the Minerals Potential of the East Mojave National Scenic Area; California, the USBM studied mineral deposits and estimated the potential impacts of mining in a segment of the California desert; the 8.7-million-acre WMMA, an area which includes the 1.2-million-acre Desert Tortoise Priority Habitat (DTPH). In addition, this information is intended to assist administrators, legislators, and the concerned public in understanding the economic importance of mineral resources in the California desert, especially that portion designated as the WMMA. See figure 1.

Jan 1, 1993

By Len Blackman

The Absaroka-Beartooth Study Area is a tract of approximately 1.4 million acres of National forest land in southern Montana, part of the Greater Yellowstone Area. This study evaluated the mineral potential of four mineral terranes containing undiscovered resources in the area. The geological data is probabilistic, with estimates of the possible number: of deposits and their grades and tonnages. Possible future development scenarios range from no development to many mines, including some very large. As two thirds of the study area is within the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, the future development scenarios reflect the area's mineral potential, not what we expect to see in the foreseeable future. Based on the analysis performed on these four terranes, the most likely future scenario for the study area would include the potential for two medium sized, (predominately) gold, mines, each employing a few hundred workers. There is a small chance, less than 5%, that a large Porphyry Copper or Superior Iron deposit would be discovered and be economically feasible to develop.

Jan 1, 1994

By Roy E. Williams

1. The major sources of heavy metal ions in wastewaters of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District are effluents from metallurgical processing plants. Effluents from mine operations provide a secondary source for heavy metal ions. Based on data analyzed by the Federal Water Quality Administration, mercury and arsenic are escaping from some mill waste ponds, but they are in the suspended phase. 2. Metallurgical process effluents are combined with mine waste effluents in tailings ponds, consequently, the quality of the tailings pond decant water is highly degraded. The major effect of combining metallurgical process effluents with mill wastes is a drastic change of pH in the tailings pond. This chance may be an increase or a decrease depending on the metallurgical process. The effluent from an electrolytic antimony plant drastically increases the pH in the tailings pond permitting the removal in solution of antimony via the pond decant system. The addition of low pH effluents to the tailings ponds results in a net decrease in pH which makes lead, zinc, cadmium, and copper more soluble, thereby permitting their removal from the pond via the decant system.

Jan 1, 2011

By R. S. Dean

A large metallurgical experiment station at Salt Lake City to house the works of the Bureau of Mines in the intermountain area properly has long been projected. It finally became possible when a Public Works Allotment of $300,000 was set aside for building and equipment. With the new building assured, the Bureau of Mines decided to move the headquarters of its Metallurgical Division from Washington, D. C., to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was felt that this move would simplify they administrative work of the chief engineer of the division, as all stations devoted primarily to metallurgical work are west of the Mississippi. These include Rolla, Mo.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Pullman, Wash.; Reno, Nev.; Berkeley, Calif.; Boulder City, Nev.; and Tucson, Ariz. In addition to these stations will groups, of investigators working on metallurgical problem, are maintained at Pittsburgh, Pa., and College Park, Md. Salt Like City was clearly a more central point for the direction of this scattered work than Washington, D. C. The building (fig. 1, A and B) was designed from general plans worked out by the authors of this paper. Contraction was begun in March of 1939, and by the end of the year the Metallurgical Division had moved, into its now quarters.

Jan 1, 1940

By G. L. Oldright

The first Report of Investigations of the present series (No. 4562) was on the fundamental properties of lead compounds, and the manner in which they set limits to the richness of lead products treated in the usual sintering-blast furnace units. These properties of the compounds were emphasized, as' it was desired, also, to learn the limitations of smelting the same compounds in present ore hearth practice; the hearth has a competitor in these "usual" units, even with the rich lead feeds best adapted for the hearths. Operating conditions that were followed in older metallurgical processes, when rich products, were treated, were outlined. The second report of the series (R. I. 4563) was on the development of the ore hearths of the types now used in the Tri-State from the viewpoint of the features, functions, and dimensions of the earlier hearths that had been most changed. Experimental data, for both well and poorly desulfurized charges being considered, were given to show the relative changes in the sizes and compositions of the charges after they were added to the ore (Scotch) hearths. A general picture was given of the charge column and of the conditions prevailing there when the operation was satisfactory. In this third paper, the composition of the gases prevailing in the charge column at various elevations will be correlated with what has been learned of the nature of the charge column in order to trace the steps of operation by which lead sulfide is converted into metallic lead. The metallurgical factors that govern operation and the lines along which improvements may be made will be noted.

Jan 1, 1949

By IRVINGC. ALLEN, W. A. Jacobs

Realizing the great importance and wide application of petroleum and its products for fuel,lighting and lubrication, and the absence of authentic and comprehensive information in the literature on the commercial value of American petroleums, the United States Geological Survey has for a number of years' been making analyses and other examinations of these oils and their products. In 1907 the technologic branch of the Survey began a study of certain economic problems having to do with the natural mineral oils. The prime object of the investigations was to determine the economic value of the petroleums and natural gases in the United States with special reference to the supplies in the public lands, and to ascertain how these resources could be utilized in the industries withleast waste and greatest efficiency. This work, which is now being conducted by the petroleum section of the Bureau of Mines under authority of the act of May 16, 1910, will include the collection at the wells and refineries of information as to the following details: Facilities for handling and storage at the wells. Facilities for transportation, whether by pipe line, rail, or water. Distance to the nearest port or center of industry and time necessary for delivery. Facilities for storage at such point of delivery. Suitability of the crude oil for fuel, or the treatment necessary to convert itmost economically into the best fuel. Best processes of refining or of converting the crude oil into its many products. The examination of these products. The utilization of the by-products and residues of the refineries. The collection of adequate and reliable samples, and the complete chemical and physical examination ofthese samples in the laboratory.

Jan 1, 1911

By W. H. Carrington, A. C. Richardson

"INTRODUCTION The Powhatan mine of the Franklin Coal Mining Co. is located in the western part of Jefferson County, Ala., on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 40 miles west of Birmingham. The Mary Lee bed at this point yields coal with fair coking qualities, but with an ash content as mined so high as to prohibit its use in the production of metallurgical coke. At present the entire output of the mine is washed in single-compartment jigs and marketed as locomotive and domestic fuel.Figure 1 gives a typical seam section of the Mary Lee bed at the Powhatan mine. This section shows that the bed is divided by rock partings into three benches. In many parts of the mine, particularly in the older workings the roof rock is so weak that it can not be held without excessive timbering. This condition has restricted the operation in many parts of the mins to the middle and bottom benches of coal. The 6 inches of draw rock between the top and middle benches is very strong and makes an excellent roof requiring only a normal amount of timbering to support it. In the newer workings of the mine the character of the rock above the top bench is strong and it is believed that in the future it will be possible to work all three benches. This study was undertaken for the purpose of determining the washing characteristics of the Mary Lee bed at Powhatan and the effect on these characteris-tics of including or omitting the coal from the top bench. It was also the purpose of the study to show whether it would be possible to produce a washed product sufficiently low in ash to be used for the manufacture of metallurgical coke. This paper is one of a series of reports on the washability of Alabama coals which is being prepared by the U. S. Bureau of Mines and tin University of Alabama. With the cooperation of the coal producers of Alabama. It contains the results of screen sizing and float-and-sink tests of representative samples of run-of-mine coal, and the results of table tests on the minus 3/16-inch sizes of the raw coal."

Apr 1, 1933