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By Robert C. Hickman

In its search for strategic minerals, the Bureau of Mines investigated the Rutherford Mine property in Amelia County, Va. The property was visited by F. W. Horton, mining engineer, and Margaret Fuller Boos, mineral technologist, of the Bureau of Mines, in company with Eugene Dawson, of the War Production Board, on July 16-11, 1943. An exploration program by the Bureau was recommended, and work was started on July 28, 1943, and continued until September 16, 1943. A total of 1,250 feet was diamond drilled in 5 holes on the property.

Jan 1, 1950

By G. B. Shea

The accident experience of the California petroleum industry for 1927 was characterized by a decrease it .the number of fatalities. The year closed with a total of 41 fatal accidents, as compared with a total of 54 for the preceding year. 3 In percentage, the figure for 1927 represents a decrease of 24 per cent from that of 1926 and evidences the promising results of organized safety work, in which the industry in California has taken an absorbing interest. The percentage of decrease for 1927 is the largest recorded in any one year since the compilation of the fatality record in the California petroleum industry was begun. Although good progress has been made during the past few years, much remains to be done to reduce still further the human and economic waste caused by accidents. This review is intended to show the employee, as well as the employer, the proximate and contributing cause of accidents. To increase the value of the report, preventive measures in various instances are suggested, on the theory that accidents of a similar nature will occur unless remedial action in taken to remove the cause.

Jan 1, 1928

By J. E. Murphy

A method is being developed by the Federal Bureau of Mines for recovering lead metal from galena without the generation of SO2. Lead chloride is obtained by leaching lead concentrate at a temperature of approximately 100° C with FeCl3 solution: PbS + 2FeCl. " PbC1 2 + 2FeC1 2 + S. Electrolysis of the PbCI 2 product in a fused-salt bath results in deposition of molten lead metal at the cathode and evolution of chlorine at the anode. The chlorine can then be absorbed in the spent leach solution to regenerate FeCl3 for recycling. Optimum electrolyte composition was a PbC12-LiCl eutectic containing 7.6 wt-pct LiCl. The PbCl2-NaCl eutectic also proved satisfactory. Electrolysis in the PbCl2-LiCl bath at 450° C yielded 99 pct current efficiency at a current density of 5 amp/in2 with an energy requirement of only 0.24 kW-hr/lb metal produced. This compares with 98 pct current effi¬ciency and 0.26 kW-hr/lb metal produced for the PbCI2-NaCI bath. A typical lead deposit contained less than 100 ppm total detectable metallic impurities. At the low temperature employed for electrolysis, there was essentially no vaporization of Pb or FbC12.

Jan 1, 1974

By C. M. Mason

A method for evaluating the relative incendivity of detonating cord in natural gas-air mixtures was developed. The method consisted of firing short lengths of cord in bundles to determine the number of strands per bundle which would ignite natural gas-air mixtures 50 percent of the time in the 45-cubic-foot gallery of the Bureau of Mines. The relative efficiency of a flame quenching agent, potassium acid tartrate (KHT), when incorporated in both the pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) core and the polyethylene sheath, was explored. The effects of sheath thickness, sheath composition, core weight, and core composition were evaluated. The bundle method established a quantitative scale for evaluating the relative incendivity of cords. The relative incendivity determined by the bundle method was then compared with the incendivity of 100-foot lengths of detonating cord when initiated in 8 percent natural gas in the 640-cubic-foot gallery of the Bureau of Mines.

Jan 1, 1968

By Theodore Christos

The Bureau of Mines sponsored an investigation of the thermal oxidative degradation characteristics of selected ingredients employed in the formulation and manufacture of conveyor belts. This work was done to supplement similar studies of samples from finished conveyor belts and thus provide basic data for correlation of the potential toxic behavior of a finished belt with that of the individual ingredients. This report covers the study of (1) basic polymers (styrene-butadiene, neoprene), (2) reinforcing fibers (Nylon 6,6, Dacron, viscose rayon), (3) flame-retardant plasticizers (tritolyl phosphate-isomeric mixture, tri-p-tolyl phosphate, tributyl phosphate, tris (dichloropropyl) phosphate), (4) plasticizers (diphenylphtha1ate, di-(2-ethylhexyl) sebacate), and (5) a vulcanization accelerator (2-mercaptobenzothiazole).

Jan 1, 1977

By R. R. Sayers

"According to the dictionary,3 an accident is an event that takes place without one's foresight or expectation, often an undesigned, sudden, and unforeseen occurrence of an afflictive or unfortunate character. However, actual experience with accidents, the second most important cause of death in the United States,4 and a more extensive and scientific inventigation of their causes indicate that from 75 to 90 per cent of accidents are avoidable.5 This is borne out by the results of a three-year study of the accident records of 64,000 motor vehicle operators in New York6 which show that certain drivers are prone to accidents, that accident experience is traceable to certain causes, and that accidents don't just ""happen,"" It is estimated that 97,000 persons were killed by accidents in the United States in 1929 and 15,000,000 were injured. Of these about 23,000 deaths were due to so-called industrial accidents. In a list of accident rates by industries, compiled by the National Safety Council7 from reports of member establishments, mining heads the list, in both frequency (74.43 per 1,000,000 man-hours worked) and severity (9.9 days lost per 1,000 man-hours worked). These figures are very much higher than for any other industry; theindustries showing figures most comparable to mining are meat packing with a frequency rate of 55.94 and a severity rate of 1.47, construction with a frequency rate of 50.41 and a severity rate of 4.62, and refrigeration with a frequency rate of 43.35 and a severity rate of 3.04.While there is no way to determine the actual cost of all accidents from a monetary standpoint, estimates indicate that the cost will run into hundreds of millions of dollars annually.Cost of accidents in metal mines.- The United States Bureau of Mines obtains accurate figures on the number of lost-time nonfatal accidents as well as fatal accidents in the metal-mining industry.8 In 1926 the metal mines employed 127,823 men; 430 men were killed and 30,350 men received lost-time but nonfatal injuries as a result of accidents. Each of these fatal and nonfatal injuries averaged 114 days lost time, computing a fatality as 6,000 days lost time. This is equivalent to 3,523,944 days time lost due to accident, or at $5 per day per man, to a wage loss of $17,619,720. Deducting one-ninth of this figure for compensation paid, the metal miner loses in wage annually about $15,700,000, or about $122 per individual. This average loss per individual includes the cost of fatal accidents reckoned at 6,000 days or $30,000, but even if the loss in time due to fatal accidents be deducted, the average cost to each individual metal miner each year for nonfatal accidents is about $32. Estimating the loss to the metal-mine employer as about the same as that to the employee, the annual cost of metal-mine accidents to the employer is about $15,700,000 and to the employer and miner is $31,400,000."

Oct 1, 1930

Objective: To evaluate the quantity of ventilation air reaching the face of a 40-ft box cut during a 40-ft, two-pass, extended cut and to examine ways to increase this quantity of air.

May 1, 1998

By S. W. Zoldok

[The Bull Valley iron-ore district lie,; in the northern part of Washington County, Utah, approximately 30 airline miles southwest of the highly productive Iron Springs area (fig. 1). Iron-ore occurrences in the district have been known for many years, but they have not been mined, largely because of the inaccessibility of the area. The Bureau of Mines established a development project in the Bull Valley district in September 1941. Two separate areas, the Pilot and the Cove Mountain, were investigated. The work was planned to increase iron-ore reserves for steel production in the Western United States. During the project period three diamond-drill holes aggregating 1, 000 feet were completed (fig. 2). The program also included 6 408 linear feet of surface trenching and 171 feet of underground work (figs. 2 to 8, inclusive). Analyses were made of 460 samples from the diamond-drill holes and surface and underground excavations. The results of the analyses are given in tables 1, 2, 4, and 5, and the logs of the diamond-drill holes are shown in table 3. Field. work was completed in September 1942.]

Jan 1, 1953

By Lester G. Morrel

THE RICH and varied occurrences of metallic ores in Australia, extensive nickel deposits on New Caledonia and phosphate rock on several widely scattered small islands were important aspects of the economy of the South Pacific area. Relatively small quantities of gold and nonmetallic minerals produced in New Zealand, Fiji, and the Territory of Papua-New Guinea remained important to the domestic economies of these islands, but had little importance to overall world mineral supplies. The value of mineral commodities produced in this area in 1964 was estimated at $658 million,3 compared with $585 million in 1963. The year's greatest commodity gains were in bauxite and aluminum, beryl concentrate, manganese ore, nickel smelter products, tin, and coal. Annual increases were recorded in virtually all countries and possessions in the area except Papua-New Guinea, where the drop in output of alluvial gold accounted for a decline of about $160,000. Mineral industry activities in Australia overshadowed those in all other parts of the South Pacific in 1964. Outstanding developments were the sales contract negotiations and physical preparation for exploiting the rich iron ore discoveries in Western Australia, the initiation of domestic crude oil production, the commissioning of two new steal mills and an alumina refinery and a start on the new alumina-aluminum project based on Cape fork bauxite deposits. The principal mineral development in 1864 in New Zealand was the progress on plans of the Newzealand Steel Co. to use indigenous iron sans as the resource base for a local steel industry. In New Caledonia, additions and expansion of the nickel mining and smelting facilities continued throughout the year. Plans for extensive geophysical studies were announced by the Government Geological Departments of British Solomon Islands and Fiji.

Jan 1, 1966

By Stephen R. Wilson

The West Tintic mining district is located at the southern end of the Sheeprock Range in Juab County, Utah (fig. 1). Scheelite was discovered in the area during 1940, and the Desert Tungsten Co. began mining in May 1942. The ore was shipped to the Metals Reserve Co. chemical treatment plant at Salt Lake City during the war. A Bureau of Mines development project was established on property controlled by the Desert Tungsten Co. Work was started during September 1942 and completed in February 1943. The program included removal of overburden in the mine area to facilitate geologic napping, followed by surface trenching, diamond drilling, and sampling (figs. 2,. 3, 4, and 5). Eleven diamond-drill holes totaling 1,480 feet were drilled from the surface. Sixty-one samples from the surface trenches and diamond drill holes were assayed. The logs of the holes are given in table 2. Assay results of samples from the surface trenches and diamond drill holes are listed in tables 1 and 3. Geologists of the U.S. Geological Survey mapped the mineralized area during the project period. The scheelite deposits occur in limestone areas adjacent to intrusive m9.sses, which are principally monzonite. The ore bodies are pyrometasomatic in origin, but consist of two somewhat different types: (1) a series of veins occupying fault zones in limestone and (2) tactite bodies immediately adjacent to the limestone. The veins in the limestone have been the most productive of the two types.

Jan 1, 1950

By D. H. Baker

This report, one of a series prepared by the Federal Bureau of Mines on the technology of titanium, describes the development of an electrorefining cell from which cathode deposits up to 30 inches long can be produced. Data show individual deposits to be homogeneous, comparable from top to bottom, and not varied in quantity or quality of metal over the entire length of the deposit. Investigations concerned with various diameter cathodes showed that cathode current efficiencies were materially reduced with cathodes less than 2 inches in diameter. Deposits produced on 1/2-inch-diameter cathodes showed cathode current efficiencies of 19 percent and on 1-inch cathodes, just over 22 percent, whereas deposits produced on 2- and 4-inch-diameter cathodes showed about 70-percent current efficiencies. A series of 20 deposits on 4-inch-diameter cathodes was produced under simulated production operation. The average current efficiency, based upon a divalent ion, was 72 percent with 11 1/2 pounds of metal produced per cycle of operation - 98.8 percent of which had a Brinell hardness number (B.h.n.) of 80 or less.

Jan 1, 1959

By D. B. Taliaferro, David M. Logan

which an operator may obtain detailed information regarding all projects in the State. It is the purpose of this report to present data such as volume of oil produced monthly, volume of water injected monthly, spacing of wells, number of injection wells and oil wells, and other such pertinent information regarding every project in the State whether active or abandoned and whether a success or a failure. It is believed that with these data it is possible to analyze water-flooding operations in this area more completely than has been possible in the past. As the title indicates, the report is essentially a history, and ordinarily no opinion is given as to the cause for the success or failure of individual projects. Increasing the production of oil is exceedingly important at this time, and one method by which it may be done most readily is by providing additional energy for the movement of oil in many of the older fields. In many oil fields the predominant force that drives oil through the porus reservoir rocks to wells is the gas dissolved in or otherwise associated with the oil under pressure. As the pressure in the reservoir declines in consequence of the removal of fluid, gas comes out of solution in the form of minute bubbles; as the pressure is reduced further, the expansion of these bubbles forces part of the oil toward the areas of lowest pressure and into the producing wells. The physical properties of the oil and the gas governing their flow through reservoir rocks to wells differ, and much of the gas slips past the oil leaving large quantities of oil in the reservoir when the pressure has been exhausted. Often the natural productive life of fields is prolonged by reducing the pressure in oil wells below atmospheric with vacuum pumps; but the ad- ditional energy made available in this manner is limited to less than 1 atmos- phere of pressure, and even after the extended application of "vacuum" to a petroleum reservoir large quantities of oil are left unrecovered in the porous rocks and sands.

Nov 1, 1943

By M. M. Jones

A procedure for the spectrophotometric determination of uranium has been developed in support of minerals research being conducted by the Bureau of Mines. Uranium is separated from the sample by tributylphosphate extraction from acid solution containing added aluminum nitrate and (ethylene dinitrilo)-tetraacetic acid solutions. The colored uranium-dibenzoy1methane complex is developed in the organic phase by adding an ethanol solution of dibenzoylmethane buffered with triethanolamine. Absorbance is measured at 410 nanometers, and the response is linear up to at least 100 micrograms U30S in the aqueous aliquot taken for analysis. Aliquots containing as little as 8 micrograms U30S may be analyzed with relative errors no greater than ±5 percent. For aliquots containing at least 35 micrograms U308, relative standard deviation at the 95-percent confidence level is about ±2.2 percent. Appropriate procedures are given for analyzing a wide variety of samples.

Jan 1, 1980

By Stephen C. Brown

The major developments of the world's Mineral economy in 1955 were the continued rise in production and consumption of practically all major minerals. the sharp increase in output of the fertilizer minerals in response to demands for greater food output, the cutback, in new investment for steel capacity in Europe and Japan, Europe's continuing decline as a producer of primary minerals, and the emergence of nuclear power as an economically competitive factor in the energy economies of the United States and Western Europe. In resource development, discovery of new natural gas deposits in the North Sea and the continued development of Australia's bauxite and iron ore resources, making this country a major source for these commodities, were significant.

Jan 1, 1967

By Charles L. Kimbell

This study is intended to serve three roles. First, it is an extension of the previous works under the same title that have been the overview and summary chapter of the international volume of Minerals Yearbook since the inception of that volume. Following the traditional format of past chapters, the basic statistical presentations herein deal chiefly with 1989, and in some instances with 1988, the latter only because more recent, comprehensive global statistics for 1989 are simply not yet available owing to delayed data collection and processing in some countries and continued governmental suppression of data in others. The second role of this study is to provide an update to the coverage of events impacting on the world's mineral industry that have occurred between the end of 1989 and the preparation of this study. Inclusion of this update is almost essential because of the potential effect of some of these events on global mineral industry activities.

Jan 1, 1992

By P. L. Placek

Correlations were made on experimental data for four New Mexico ore series to determine relationships between ore grade and uranium extraction during leaching operations. Such relationships provide information needed to predict the long-range supply of minerals to meet national economic and strategic needs. Results show that other ore constituents and gangue materials in addition to uranium grade influence uranium extraction. In general, tailing grades decrease and uranium extraction increases as both H2S04 and NaCl03 concentrations increase. Terminal emf and terminal pH also were studied. Similar trends appeared for all ores; however, specific combinations of results also were observed for individual ores and ore series. Experimental results indicate that uranium extractions are higher for lower uranium feed grades than predicted by other estimates. Three factors--uranium feed grade, H2SO4 concentration, and NaC103 concentration--were used to design factorial experiments for each ore series. Four additional feed assay factors--V205, Fe, C02, and CaO--were included in regression equations to account for some of the variation in data. The three factorial factors are represented in the regression equations by linear and exponential terms of the form D i'1*G i + Di,2 *e Di, 3*Gi. The four additional assay factors are represented by linear and squared terms of the form Di,*Gi + Di,2*eDi3*Gi. where the Di, ,J are coefficients, the Gi are factors, and the symbol * represents multiplication in computer notation. The interactions of the factors are represented by products of the nonlinear terms for all pairs of the factors.

Jan 1, 1981

By Powell. Alfred R.

"An investigation has been made of the applicability to a variety of coals, other than those from Illinois, of the Powell and Parr method of analysis for the forms of sulphur in coal.A complete study was made of the sulphur in the following coals:- Upper Freeport, Pa.; Pittsburgh seam, Pa.; Pocahontas No. 3, W, Va..; Letcher Co., Ky.; Morgan Co., Tenn.; and Cherokee Co., Kan.The method of analysis gave excellent results when applied to these coals. In the determination of pyrite, the iron-sulphur ratio checked in every case with the theoretical. After the extraction of the pyrite and sulphates, the remaining sulphur was proved to be organic in nature.This work indicated that sulphur exists in coal in three typical forms: - pyrite or marcasite, sulphates, and organic sulphur. A study of the changes which these forms undergo during coking has been made on a variety of coals, and the following five classes of reactions established.First. Complete decomposition of the pyrite and marcasite to ferrous sulphide, pyrrhotite, and hydrogen sulphide. This reaction begins at 300°C., is complete at 600 °C., and generally reaches its maximum between 400 and 500°C."

Mar 1, 1920

By T. L. Joseph

The purpose of this article is to describe briefly the operation of a 6-ton blast furnace on a charge of bauxite, limestone, iron ore, and cast-iron turnings and to point out the bearing which smelting such a charge has upon the production of alumina cement. One object of the experiment, conducted by the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the Aluminum Co. of America, was to determine whether tae so-called Pedersen process3 can be applied to the blast furnace. This process consists of smelting a charge of bauxite, iron ore, and. limestone, and results in to products. One is a slag containing about 50 per cent of A1203 and is intended for use in manufacturing aluminum, and the other is iron low in sulphur. Complete details of the test are published in other reports4. Blast-furnace slag is now recognized as a satisfactory and economical raw material for making Portland cement, Wm. A. Forbes5 has recently reported that in 1926 an important steel interest used well over 1 million tons of slag in producing about 24 million long, tons of cement. This is equivalent to about ½ ton of slag for each ton of cement. Alumina cement can be made direct in the blast furnace. Its physical character would have to be changed by grinding, but no change in its chemical composition would be necessary.

Jan 1, 1928

By Paul Hopkins

The following methods have been selected from a large number tried while assaying several hundred samples of placer concentrates. It is thought that some of these methods may be useful to those who are required to assay similar products containing large quantities of metallic articles, such as jeweler's sweepings. No great difficulties will be encountered in assaying black sand from beaches or river bars. Such samples require care in grinding and sifting so that no oversize particles of sold or platinum are lost. It is also necessary to have sufficient silica in the flux to form a fluid slag with the excess of iron, magnesium, or chromium Which such samples contain.

Jan 1, 1934

Continuously monitor air-borne radon daughters that are a hazard to underground miners. Approach A beta detector continuously counts beta activity collected on a filter paper to allow calculation of exposure in working level units. How It Works At each Site a constant flow pump draws mine air through a fiberglass filter located in front of a beta detector (pancake type Geiger Mueller tube), Radioactive particles (products of the radon 222 gas emanating from the mine walls) collect on the filter and decay, releasing alpha and beta particles as well as gamma rays. A portion of the beta particles penetrate the Geiger tube window and create electrical pulses in the tube. These pulses are then amplified and sent by a coaxial type or shielded electrical cable to a central monitor located some distance from a working level detector. At the central monitor incoming Signals are amplified and fed into two channels, (See the block

Jan 1, 1979