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By William Gleason

Despite a global slowdown in most mining sectors, Caterpillar, the world?s largest mining equipment maker continues to forge ahead with new, and improved offerings to the global mining industry. On Nov. 10, as part of its Loading and Hauling Mining Focus Session at its Tinaja Hills proving grounds south of Tucson, AZ, Caterpillar unveiled to customers and media its two latest mining products, the 994K wheel loader and 6020B hydraulic shovel. The Caterpillar 994K wheel loader builds on a nearly 25-year history of the 994 model but with one noticeable difference ? the 994K is bigger ? much bigger. Weighing in at 239,142 kg (527,218 lb) the 994 K is up to 20 percent larger and comes with up to 30 percent increase in payload capacity. This behemoth of a machine is currently being tested at Caterpillar?s Tucson Proving Grounds, Anglo Gold Ashanti?s Cripple Creek and Victor gold mine in Colorado and Taseko?s Gibraltor copper and molybdenum mine in British Columbia, Canada.

By John S. Alexander

From the National institute for Occupational Safety and Health Disasters take many forms and demand quick response from emergency workers. They may include natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, or they may involve manmade disasters such as technological failures or terrorist attacks. As a member of an emergency response team, you and your team members are at risk of experiencing what psychologists refer to as a traumatic incident—an incident that may Involve exposure to catastrophic events, severely injured children or adults, dead bodies or body parts, or the loss of colleagues, for instance. Traumatic incidents can produce unusually strong emotional reactions that may interfere with your ability to function at the scene or later: You may experience any of the physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral symptoms listed below in Table 1. Some people experience emotional aftershocks weeks or months after they have passed through a traumatic event. Others may experience these reactions while still at the scene, where they must stay clearly focused on constantly changing hazards to maintain their own safety and to rescue injured victims.

By C. Liliane Carvalho

In the current study, bio-oxidation tests were carried out in shaking flasks with a flotation concentrate containing the sulphides pyrite, arsenopyrite and gudmidite. The tests were performed with mesophilic microorganisms (At. ferrooxidans) at 30 °C and also with the moderate thermophile S. thermosulfidooxidans, at 50 °C. The effects of (i) previous adaptation of the microorganisms to the concentrate, (ii) ferrous iron concentration and (iii) pulp density (2%, 4% and 6% (w/v)) on the dissolution of the sulphide were studied through arsenic extractions. S. thermosulfidooxidans was more sensitive to the pulp density in comparison to At. ferrooxidans as a reduction in sulphide oxidation was observed with the increase in the solid content to 6%. Therefore, the mesophilic strain was selected for further work, which comprised a rolling bottle experiment at 10% solids. After 40 days of bio-oxidation, the solid material was subjected to cyanidation, which revealed 85% gold extraction as compared to 21% from the original concentrate. The antimony sulphide grains in the bio-oxidized product showed similarity to what was observed in the original sample, suggesting such particles were not susceptible to the bio-oxidation process.

YOUR mom was right …count to 10. Most workers today report that they find their jobs stressful. Miners, in particular, are faced with hazardous and changing environments. Every shift provides different conditions and challenges. Coping with stress is an important tool to maintain your physical and mental health. Now, back to mom. Studies on stress tell us that shifting your focus away from what is causing your stress increases your ability to cope. Counting to 10 is one method. Science proves mom right. The stress response We are born with the stress response, which is a survival instinct, sometimes called the "fight or flight" response. When approached by a tiger in the jungle, our ancestors would perceive danger and prepare to fight or run. The body prepares for the fight or flight response in a number of ways. The bloodstream brings extra glucose and oxygen (fuel) to the heart, the sense of pain is dulled, and memory and thinking improve. The pupils dilate for better vision and the lungs take in more oxygen, while heart rate and blood pressure increase. Body hairs become erect, as puffed-out hair makes an animal look bigger and more dangerous. Once the perceived danger is gone - we have run fast enough to get away from the tiger or won the fight - the body returns to normal functions. Unfortunately, civilization gives us too many opportunities to experience this response. If activated too often, it can create wear and tear on the body, which may lead to injury and illness. Chronic and traumatic stress There are two key types of stress: chronic stress and traumatic stress. Both types can cause both physical and psychological symptoms. Chronic stress builds up from the day-to-day hassles. Traumatic stress results from a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a mine disaster, or the sudden death of a loved one. Chronic stress is associated with an increased risk of a number of health problems including heart disease, depression, back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Traumatic stress may lead to post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Miners may experience both chronic and traumatic stress in their work.

By E. F. Kingsbury

One of the well-known and important uses of the noble or precious metals has been for electrical contacts. In fact, the elements of this group, comprising gold, silver and the six platinum metals, have been called "noble" because of their ability to resist heat and corrosion, properties which were early found to be of importance in good contacts. Of these, platinum and its iridium alloys, palladium, and silver, have been extensively used. In recent years the electrical industry has been responsible for about one-eighth of the total consiimption of the platinum metals in the United States. Information is not available as to what part of this one-eighth has been used for contacts but it is certainly an important one. Substitutes for Platinum During the past 20 years a considerable number of contact alloys have been proposed in the patent literature largely with the aim of more or less replacing platinum by gold or silver, and some of these alloys are finding increasingly widespread application as the reliability of their performance becomes established. From even the partial data at hand it appears that this substitution by the less precious metals has replaced at least one-half of the amount of platinum that the entire electrical industry would otherwise be consuming at the present time. While the subject is of considerable interest to the metallurgist it is even more so to the electrical engineer and it is surprising that the literature records no systematic and comprehensive investigation along these lines. Practically all the scattered work on noble metal contacts has centered around platinum as a standard and has had two more or less distinct aims. One of these has been the replacement of platinum by cheaper matcrials, and the other, the dcveloprnent of materials of superior electrical performance. The merit of a contact metal has been assumed to be dependent on its infusibility, and since thc more precious metals have the higher melting points there has naturally been an association of the two qualities in the sense that the more precious were

By Lynn L. Rethi, Barbara Fotta

Recent employment figures (taken from the Mine Safety and Health Administration's database) indicate that the number of independent contractor' employees working in the coal mining industry has doubled over the past ten years. As their numbers increase, they become a more visible segment of the industry. [ ] Increased exposure to mining hazards has also brought an increase in the number of fatalities involving independent contractor workers. One gauge that is traditionally used to evaluate the overall safety of an entity is the "number of fatalities." Over the five-year period from 1985-89, 27 independent contractor employees were fatally injured while working on coal mine property. This number increased to 45 fatalities during the subsequent five-year period from 1990-94. Nearly half of these fatalities (47%) were due to accidents involving powered haulage (See Table); 13% were electrical accidents; and 9% were machinery accidents. Combined, these three accident classifications accounted for 69% of all coal nine independent contractor fatalities. Information taken from fatality data is an important piece of the safety puzzle; however, other variables need to he examined in order to better define contributing factors associated with accidents. More specifically, information on trends in fatal and nonfatal accident and injury data is necessary before deciding what approach should be used to improve safety. In order to implement appropriate safety strategies, it is important for safety practitioners to examine all available lost time accident and injury information. The following coal industry data sites specific and present trends of independent contractor employees working in underground locations at coal mines, surface areas of underground coal mines, surface coal mines, and preparation plants. The data compares employment and accidents for time periods at the beginning and the end of a ten-year span from 1985 to 1994. Because the number of incidents involving independent contractors in certain accident categories during any one year may be small, three-year totals are used; the first three years (1985-87) of the ten-year period are compared with the last three years (1992-94). [ ]

By N. H. van Lingen

A laboratory stud], has been made to determine what factors affect the penetration rate of roller bits, diamond bits and drag bits in rock drilling with clay /water muds. The rather simple relations that exist when pressures in and around the borehole are equal become more conzplicated when under down-hole conditions the penetration rate is hampered by the existence of a pressure differential between the mud at the hole bottom and the pore liquid at cutting depth. Expressions that have been derived for both the penetration rate and the magnitude of the pressure differential in permeable rock together fully account for operating, rock, mud and bit variables. In impermeable rock a similar pressure differential is caused by the bit action itself. In all cases, the pressure difierential and the reduction in penetration rate increase with the effectiveness of the plastering at the bottom of the hole by mud particles. Where bits are employed whose action is largely that of crushing, however, the plastering may become even more effective owing to the addition of rock particles rubbed into the pores of the rock. With roller bits, a plastically hehaving layer may be formed, which causes a further reduction in penetration. In the case of bits whose action is chiefly scraping, moreover, penetration may be arrested by the bit's becoming balled-up. The various adverse effects are reduced by thorough scavenging of the hole bottom. This paper shows how with jet bits the efficiency of such scavenging may he improved by suitable choice of the position of the nozzles. INTRODUCTION The reduction in a bit's penetration rate with increasing depth of hole has been the subject of many investigations. Various investigators ',' have independently reached the conclusion that this reduction occurs not so much because the rock-breaking process becomes more difficult as it does because the lifting of the rock fragments is impaired by a fluid pressure differential holding the fragments down. When such a pressure differential can be avoided, as in air drilling and to a smaller extent in water drilling, penetration rates remain high. Although the range of applicability of these techniques is being extended, most oil wells still have to be drilled with mud. In this paper we present the results of laboratory experiments carried out to determine what factors govern the hold down effect encountered in mud drilling. In the course of this investigation, the well known importance of bottom scavenging came more and more into prominence. Not only may it reduce the magnitude of the hold-down forces, but also it appeared to be a means of preventing the accumulation of a plastic mass of cuttings and mud on the hole bottom and bit which may cause penetration to cease almost completely. So that the effects of fluid pressures may be more readily understood, the factors that govern penetration rate in the absence of these pressures will first be discussed. The effect of down-hole pressures will then be assessed for the case of permeable rock where fluid pressures are well defined, and it will be demonstrated how rock strengthening due to confining can be accounted for. Subsequently, fluid pressures in less-permeable rock will be examined; we will show that in impermeable rock it is the bit action that governs fluid-pressure distribution and hold-down. In the case of poor scavenging and/or high bit load. cutting cake manifests itself. The effect, like various others. appears to depend on the type of bit used. From the very beginning, therefore, we shall base our discussion on the three main types of bits used in rotary oil-well drilling— roller bits, diamond bits and drag bits. Since space is limited, it will be impossible to make more than a passing reference to many aspects of the problem. Moreover. certain relations that are not of primary irnportance to our argument will unavoidably have to be stated in a somewhat dogmatic fashion, and the experimental data on which these are based necessarily must be omitted. EQUIPMENT The drilling experiments were performed on three machines, of which one has been designed for the realistic simulation of down-hole pressure conditions. HIGH-PRESSURES MACHINE In this machine (diagramed in Fig. 1) the mud, pore and confining pressures can all be adjusted independently. The foil-covered rock sample contained in the inner pressure vessel is confined by oil that is pressurized by means of a hand pump. The pore space of the watersaturated sample is connected to an arrangement which keeps the pressure in the pore space constant regardless of the rate of filtrate flow through the sample.

By William E. Souder

Behavioral accidents are a particular type of accident. They are caused by inappropriate individual behaviors and faulty reactions. Catastrophe theory is a means for mathematically modeling the dynamic processes that underlie behavioral accidents. Based on a comprehensive data base of mining accidents, a computerized catastrophe model has been developed by the Bureau of Mines. This model systematically links individual psychological, group behavioral, and mine environmental variables with other accident causing factors. It answers several longstanding questions about why some normally safe behaving persons may spontaneously engage in unsafe acts that have high risks of serious injury. Field tests with the model indicate that it has three important uses: It can be used as an effective training aid for increasing employee safety consciousness; it can be used as a management laboratory for testing decision alternatives and policies; and it can be used to help design the most effective work teams.

By Donald P. Tuchman, Robert P. Vinson, Steven J. Page

Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have long used stationary tapered element oscillating microbalances (TEOMs®) in laboratory settings. They have served to assess the mass concentration of laboratory-generated particulates in experimental , dust chambers and they provide a reference method for comparison with other particulate- measuring instruments. Current NIOSH research is focused on further adapting TEOM technology as a wearable personal dust monitor (PDM) for coal mining occupations. This investigation's goal is to help identify, quantify, and provide means for resolving certain TEOM- related error. The present research investigated bias caused by thermal effects on filter assemblies. New filters used in the PDM for 8 h tests show an average positive bias of 25.5 pg, while similar tests of equivalent filters used in two 1400A model TEOMs show an average positive bias of 34.3 µg. The derived bias values allow correction of previously collected biased data. Also, pre- heating the filters for 24 h at 46° C shows significant bias reduction, with PDM pre-heated filters subsequently averaging -3.3 µg and 1400A TEOM filters averaging 5.9 µg. On a single-point comparison to gravimetric sampling, a 25.5 µg bias is only significant at low mass loadings. At 2.5 mg, this bias represents a negligible 1 % of the mass measurement. If ordinary linear regression is used, the bias is still insignificant. However, if the more valid weighted linear regression is used, it gives more weight to the smaller dependent variable values, which are more impacted by the bias. Consequently, what is 1% bias on a single high-mass value can translate into a larger bias percentage at high-mass values when performing a weighted regression on data that include a large number of low-mass values.

By R. L. Virta

Four companies ? H.C. Spinks Clay Co., Inc., Imerys, Old Hickory Clay Co., and Unimin Corp. ? mined ball clay in four states in 2013. On the basis of preliminary data, production was 1 Mt (1.1 million st) with an estimated value of $47 million. Production increased by 3 percent in tonnage from 973 kt (1.1 million st) with a value of $45.1 million in 2012. Tennessee was the leading producer accounting for 64 percent of domestic production, followed by Texas, Mississippi and Kentucky. About 67 percent of total ball clay production was airfloat, 22 percent was crude or shredded and 11 percent was water-slurried.

By J. H. Henderson, L. A. Wilson, R. L. Gergins, R. J. Wygal, D. W. Reed

This paper presents a method of predicting the production history of an underground combustion recovery process. A rigorous solution of the thermodynamics and hydrodynamics involved is beyond the scope of this report. However, a practical scheme to appraise combustion recovery performance has been Worked out. By prudent assumptions, regarding the attainment of steady-state conditions, a trial-and-error solution, which satisfies both material balance and three-phase relative permeability requirements has been evolved and tested. As a combustion zone moves through a formation the interstitial water, the water of combustion and a portion of the oil wil1 be vaporized. These vapors will move downstream to a cooler region of the formation where they will condense. Part of the remaining oil will be displaced by the imposed gas drive and what remains behind will be consumed as fuel. The fluids will distribute themselves downstrean? in a manner which will satisfy the three-phase relative permeability characteristics of the formation. Three distinct zones will exist ahead of the combustion zone: (I) a zone termed a water bank which contains three mobile phases, oil, water and gas; (2) a region containing two mobile phases, oil and gas, called the oil bank; and (3) a zone having the fluid saturution distribution which existed prior to combustion. The mobile water will impose a water flood on the oil in the region containing three flowing phases. The process can be visualized as a simultaneous water .flood and combustion-supported gas drive. It is possible to estimate the saturation distributions in the water bank and oil bank as well as the production history for any combustion temperuture if the porosity, three-phase relative permeability characteristics, oil viscosity and initial saturations are known. This has been done for injection pressures ranging from I to 100 atm, oil viscosities of 10 to 1,000 cp and porosities from 20 to 40 per cent. Several of these calculations have been checked in the laboratory, with the result indicating rather good agreement between the predicted and observed production histories. The analytical and experimental techniques are described and the comparison of predicted and observed performance presented. INTRODUCTION Considerable research by the oil industry during the past 10 years has been directed toward the thermal recovery of crude oil. Of all schemes considered, the one receiving the most attention is in situ combustion. This is a process in which part of the oil is actually burned within the reservoir rock. The uniqueness of the process lies in its potential. Theoretically, this potential generates from the following: (1) it may open the door to vast reserves previously not economically producible, (2) it may induce increased production rates where low rates are now realized and (3) it may give high over-all recovery efficiency. The general idea of the process has received considerable attention in the literature '-' and the following brief description is intended for orientation only. In situ combustion can be visualized by considering a linear system, one end of which represents the injection well and the other the producing well. The formation at the inlet end is raised to ignition temperature by placing a gas or electric heater at the face of the formation or by the ignition of thermite, charcoal or similar material. While heating, the water and part of the oil in the heated region is vaporized and moved out into the reservoir by the injection of gas containing oxygen. In addition, part of the oil is displaced as liquid by the imposed gas drive. The oil not displaced is modified to an immobile, coke-like material (hereafter referred to as coke) by the high temperatures existing immediately ahead of the combustion zone. This coke is used as fuel, and the combustion front advances through the formation at a temperature which is probably in excess of 800°F. As the combustion front advancek it will drive ahead all interstitial oil not rendered immobile and all interstitial water plus the water formed by the combustion of hydrogen. As a result the sand behind the combustion zone is freed of all oil and water. Although the general description of the process has been outlined in the literature, there has been no consideration of the behavior of the fluids moving downstream from the combustion front. It is the purpose of this paper to present a technique

By J. Paraszczak

Underground metal mining involves many challenges. Economic slowdown, tough international competition and sometimes volatile metal prices put constant pressure on mine operators to increase productivity and to reduce production cost. At the same time, countries such as Canada, the United States and Australia are experiencing skilled labor shortages that might even stall development of certain mine projects. Furthermore, some stages of underground production take place in particularly hazardous environments where the safety and health of miners is at risk. Automation of some processes in underground mining is one of the promising avenues to alleviate some of these problems. Loading and haulage are among the most critical operations and areas where implementation of autonomous vehicles has been targeted. However, although health and safety issues are a primary driver to opt for automation, the latter should ensure an acceptable level of productivity and pro?tability. With this in mind, this article focuses on the factors affecting operational effectiveness of autonomous underground loading and haulage equipment and the means to maximize it.

By Andrew Scogings

The current edition of The Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Code was published in 2012 and, after a transition period, the 2012 edition came into mandatory operation on Dec. 1, 2013. There is a significant change between JORC 2004 (Clause 44) and JORC 2012 (Clause 49) for the reporting of industrial mineral resources and reserves, which should be addressed by ASX-listed players in the industrial minerals space.

By C. W. Arnold, H. L. Stone, D. L. Luffel

The purpose of this research is to determine (I) the efficiency of small banks of enriched gar driven by methane in displacing oil from a porous medium and (2) the effects of variation in bank size and composition of that efficiency. Most of the experiments were conducted in a sand-packed tube 20-ft long and 1/2-in. in diameter. The hydrocarbon system generally used was methane, butane and decane at 2,500 psia and 160°F. The results of these experiments indicate that, in the regions contacted by the gas, a small bank of an oil-miscible gas driven by methane can displace all of the oil in a piston-like manner. If the enriched gas is of such composition as to remain immiscible with the oil, displacement of oil is less efficient than for the miscible case, and the gas bank travels through the sand with a velocity less than that of the driving gas. These data along with theories discussed imply that smaller banks and less total gas are required when the enriched gas and oil are miscible. INTRODUCTION Widespread application of enriched-gas drive to the recovery of oil rests upon a key factor — the use of limited quantities, or "banks", of enriched gas. At the present time, the value of liquefied petroleum gas or other enriching agents discourages their use in a continuous injection technique, or even in a large bank, except in a few isolated reservoirs. If small banks of enriched gas driven by methane were as effective in displacing oil as is continuous injection, the enriched-gas drive process might be applied to a larger number of reservoirs. Previous research on the mechanics of the enriched-gas drive process reported by Stone and Crurnpl and by Kehn, Pyndus and Gaskell has utilized continuous injection of enriched gas. This work has shown that two types of displacements occur. With gases containing sufficient intermediates. the oil is displaced misciblv and complete recovery is obtained from the regions swept. When gases are used which contain insufficient intermediate hydrocarbon for miscible displacement, oil is displaced immiscibly. In the latter type, selective solution of the intermediate hydrocarbons causes a swelling and reduction in viscosity of the oil and leads to an increased recovery over that obtained by dry-gas (methane) drive. The size of the enriched-gas bank necessary for efficient displacement of oil is determined by those factors which cause deterioration of the bank. A differentiation may be made between those factors which operate on a microscopic scale and those which act on a macroscopic scale. On the smaller scale, the enriched gas mixes in the direction of flow by diffusion and convection with the fluids immediately preceding and following it. On the larger scale, the gas may by-pass the oil by flowing through permeable streaks, by overriding the oil because of density difference, or by fingering because of unfavorable viscosity ratios. In such cases, the enriching material tends to mix with the oil both laterally and in the direction of flow. The increase in effective area available for diffusion and dispersion of the enriching components leads to a faster degradation of the bank and a need for a larger bank than is necessary for those cases in which no by-passing occurs. The effects of such macroscopic factors in the deterioration of enriched-gas banks have been reported in a separate paper by Blackwell, Terry and Rayne. The present study was confined to the factors which operate on the smaller scale, in particular to the behavior of banks of enriched gas in sands uniformly swept by the gas. Experiments were designed to answer the following questions. 1. Can small banks of enriched gas driven by methane be used to secure oil recoveries comparable to those obtained by continuous injection of enriched gas? 2. What is the optimum bank size (the minimum bank size necessary to obtain a recovery comparable to that obtained by continuous injection of the same enriched gas)? 3. How many total pore volumes of gas must be injected to obtain the maximum recovery when the optimum bank size is used? 4. What is the effect of varying the number of enriching components in a gas bank? This report describes the experimental investigations and discusses the results in terms of their significance to reservoir behavior.

By J. F. Gormley

Drill pipe, and the connections used to join the pipe together, have had a long history of development and improvement. With the growing use of high tensile-strength pipe, the rotary shouldered connections used to join the lengths of drill pipe have become more critical. Fatigue-type failures of rotary-shouldered connections, or tool joints, have become a cause of much conern to operators and manufacturers. Most fatigue tests on tool joints have been made on the basis of bending moment applied vs number of cycles, rather than on the basis of stress vs cycles. A desire to learn more about the nature of stress in a tool joint due to bending caused a rather intensive experimental study to determine what actually happens to cause fatigue failure. It was known that a tool joint with insufficient make-up torque was subject to early fatigue failure. Therefore, the establishment of the relationship between make-up torque and allowable bending moment would enable a testing engineer to better correlate the results of various tests. The problem of calculating the stress in a tool joint due to an applied bending moment was complicated by: the effect of unknown stress concentrations; the applicability of the well known formula S = Mc/I; and the question of whether to use the combined cross section of the pin and box in calculating the moment of inertia I. TEST EQUIPMENT The test equipment consisted of the following. 1. A lathe modified to act as a fatigue machine for full-size tool joint or drill-collar specimens. 2. An adapter plate bolted to the headstock of the lathe and into which a short adapter was screwed. 3. Tool-joint pins on sections of drill collars bucked into the adapter. 4. A hydraulic load cylinder which rested on the bed of the lathe and applied bending moments to the joints. 5. Paper-backed strain gauges (FAP-12-12, 1/8-in. gauge length and A-5-1, 1/2-in. gauge length). 6. Eastman 910 contact cement for bonding gauges to joint and Epoxylite 222 waterproofing. 7. A 12-position switchbox, SR-4 bridge balancing unit connected to an SR-4 strain indicator to read the gauge output. 8. A four-channel Sanborn recorder, Model 150, was used as the readout instrument for part of the testing. The fatigue machine was well suited as a loading device. Because of the long lever arm available, the change of moment with distance was small; consequently, the vertical shear stress was small, less than 300 psi. Some difficulty was experienced with the hydraulic load cylinder at high bending moments due to leakage. The strain gauge equipment was simple and quite reliable. A 41/2-in. extra hole (E. H.) joint with "as machined" threads and shoulders and a 2 7/8-in. internal flush (I. F.) joint with copper-plated threads and shoulders were selected for testing because of their common usage in the field. In addition, the 4 1/2-in. E. H. was suitable because it had an inside diameter large enough to permit the insertion and accurate positioning of strain gauges without using special jigs, while the 2 7/8-in. I. F. joint required much lower bending loads to cause separation of the shoulders of the joint when made up to the recommended torque. The joints were made to standard API specifications, except for very small bevels on the box and pin shoulders and cylindrical stress-relief grooves added to the pins. Larger bevels would have

By S. Gallagher

If we consider ergonomics to be an exercise in matching job demands to worker capabilities, one of the principal capabilities we must be concerned with is that of human strength. Our ability to evaluate different characteristics of muscular strength has increased dramatically over the past couple of decades with the development of new and increasingly sophisticated instrumentation. One would think that armed with such advanced techniques, we might be able to develop methods to conclusively identify workers at risk of injury in physically demanding jobs. Unfortunately, this has not yet proven to be the case. Instead, what these instruments have continued to point out is how intricate a function muscular strength really is, and how complicated and ambiguous its relationship is to musculoskeletal injury. While we cannot just use isolated tests of strength to specify precisely who may be at risk of injury, studies have indicated that strength testing can be a useful tool for job design and, under certain circumstances, selection of workers for demanding jobs. However, because strength is such a complex phenomenon, there has often been some confusion regarding the proper application and interpretation of strength tests in ergonomics, especially among persons not thoroughly familiar with the limitations and caveats associated with the available procedures. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss some of the fundamental principles of strength assessment in ergonomics, so that these procedures can be better applied to control the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace 1.1. What is Strength? (And what are we Measuring?) Many of the complications associated with strength assessment arise from the simple fact that even our most sophisticated machinery does not directly measure the force or tension developed by a muscle in a living person. Instead, we can only observe the consequences of force development by a contracting muscle, or more likely, by a combination of muscles There are many ways in which we can measure the effects of muscular contraction, and the techniques we use can have a dramatic impact on the strength readings we will obtain. Consider the situation illustrated in Figure 1. In this example, the muscle exerts a constant force of 1000 Newtons (N). However, the forces we measure can vary quite dramatically depending on where we place the force cuff - from 167 N if we place it near the wrist to 500 N if we place it near the elbow. Which value should we select as properly representing the muscular strength for this elbow flexion exertion? The preceding example illustrates some important points with regard to strength assessment. Perhaps the most important is that "muscular strength is what is measured by an instrument" (Kroemer et al. 1999). It should also be clear from this example [ ] that two researchers could perform an elbow flexion strength experiqent on the same group of subjects, but if each selected different force cuff positions, they might end up with wildly differing estimates of strength. Differences in the strengths of various muscle groups in the published literature may be the results of differences in the procedures and measurement methods used by the experimenters Thus, it is critical that any strength data presented be accompanied by a detailed account of the manner in which the data were obtained. A few additional points need to be made with regard to the testing of human strength. We must be clear that what we are obtaining in such tests are not a person's maximal strength capability, but their maximal voluntary strength. The voluntary nature of the exertion introduces an unknown, but surely substantial, amount of variability in our measurements of strength. One can imagine two subjects with identical muscular strength capabilities, but with varying levels of motivation or discomfort tolerance, for example. We are likely to observe considerable differences in the voluntary force exerted by the two, but it should be understood that such results may be largely the result of psychological factors, and not differences m muscular strength per se. The important point to be made here is that not only are we unable to directly measure muscular force, what we are able to measure is modified by an invisible filter - a filter subject to a wide variety of influences and which will differ considerably for every person we test To make matters worse, this filter would be expected to change even within a given individual on a given day. From the foregoing discussion, one can perhaps better appreciate some of the difficulties with establishing a definitive relationship between an individual's measured strength and that individual's risk of injury.

By R. Sellaro

It has long been understood that extended occupational exposures to respirable mine dusts can lead to chronic lung disease. In underground coal mines, coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP) and silicosis are major concerns. While there have been many studies aimed at understanding total dust concentrations and silica content associated with different mining conditions (e.g., locations/occupations within a mine, cutting methods, geologic strata), little research has been completed to more comprehensively characterize respirable dust (i.e., by distributions of particle composition, size or shape). For such analysis, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) may represent a powerful tool. This article is a preliminary investigation of SEM-EDX to characterize respirable dust from an underground coal mine in Central Appalachia. Samples were collected from various locations in the study mine, and individual dust particles were identified and classified by mineral type. A continuous personal dust monitor was also used to estimate respirable dust concentrations during sampling. This data was compared to particle densities observed under the SEM. Dust is generally defined as small, solid particles with an effective diameter between 1 and 100 µm. In underground coal mines, dust is produced by a variety of activities such as coal and rock cutting, materials handling, haulage and from a variety of materials. While the coal itself is primarily made up of organic carbon, it is estimated that as much as 60 percent of coal mine dust consists of mineral matter, including clays, metal oxides and sulfides, carbonates, quartz, phosphates and heavy minerals (WHO, 1997). Mineral matter may be ingrained in the coal seam or associated with adjacent or interlying strata, and may also be contributed by specific activities such as rock dusting. When dust is generated or made airborne, suspended particles tend to settle slowly with gravitational forces, but can remain airborne for extended periods of time depending on environmental conditions such as air velocity (Courtney et al., 1986) and particle properties such as size (ISO, 1995; WHO, 1999). Thus, miners working underground are routinely subject to occupational dust exposures ? with highly variable characteristics between and even within mines.

Dr C. M. van Staden (Fellow): Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for this opportunity to contribute to the paper by Dr Stander, and Messrs Henzen and Funke. First of all, my congratulations to Dr Stander on being re-elected President of the International Association of Water Pollution Research. We in South Africa are proud that this honour was again bestowed on our leading scientist in the field of water research. Furthermore, my congratulations to the authors of this paper. The growth of the pollution problem caused by acidic water discharged from abandoned collieries, is known to most of us. However, I am not aware of any case where an abandoned gold mine is directly discharging polluted underground water. I think it is also a debatable point as to what the quality of underground water being discharged from abandoned gold mines would be in the long run. Any reduction works on a gold mine which practises only fairly good housekeeping, should not cause any water pollution by cyanide. First of all, any cyanide solution before gold precipitation would be too valuable to lose. Secondly, the precipitated solution, which contains the cyanide, is used to pump slime to slimes dams. Any cyanide pollution that may occur at the slimes dam, must come from the top and, fortunately, the days when pen stock water was discharged directly from the top of dams into public streams, have gone. Run-off and seepage is usually acidic, thus decomposing the cyanide. The code of practice by the Chamber of Mines is quite clear on the point as to how the tops of dams should be secured, to prevent any process water or storm-water polluting public streams. The general standards are given on page three of the paper. To my knowledge, under certain circumstances a degree of relaxation can be given regarding the faecal coli count; namely a permissible count of 1 000 per 100 ml. I feel very strongly that research aimed at inhibiting the activity of acid-producing bacteria should be encouraged. Success in this field would be of great benefit to the mining industry. I am very thankful that the authors have mentioned vegetation of dumps as a method to combat water pollution, with the full awareness that the key objective in vegetating dumps is to prevent air pollution. A problem that I have not heard mentioned before and on which I would appreciate the views of the authors, is the pollution that may be caused by power-stations discharging

By Donald T. Robertson

This paper presents case histories of driven concrete pile damage detected with dynamic testing methods utilizing strain gages and accelerometers embedded in the pile at the prestressing yard during pile construction. Data from the embedded instrumentation is compared with data taken with external bolt on instrumentation and other test methods such as low strain testing on the same pile. In the most severe cases, the piles were extracted revealing and corroborating the embedded data collector results.