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By Frank A. Linforth

The object of this paper is to present a brief outline of the methods of geologic mapping employed in the Geological Department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., at Butte, and to show by means of a few typical examples the practical nature of the results obtained. The extremely complicated geological conditions early encountered in Butte mining led mine operators to realize the necessity of accurate detailed geologic mapping m an aid to successful development of the ore bodies. The organization of the Anaconda Geological Department was undertaken in 1900 by H. V. Winchell, who, in conjunction with D. W. Brunton, worked out the essential methods of procedure which are, in the main, followed at the present time. Since the year 1906 the geologic work has been under the direction of Reno H. Sales, and in some respects the scope of the work has been slightly enlarged. An excellent article describing the general equipment of the geological department was presented by D. W. Brunton at the British Columbia meeting of the Institute in 1905.' His idea, that data collected underground and recorded should be put to practical use and not remain a mere " inventory of the company's underground possessions," is the keynote to the success of applied geology in Butte. The geologic notes are taken as soon as possible after the ground is broken so that any mistake in the mining may be corrected at once, or any particularly advantageous procedure may be suggested before any useless work is done. Taking the notes underground is a comparatively simple matter, but a few necessary precautions may be pointed out. The essential to success is that the notes shall show exactly what geological facts are disclosed. The observer must discriminate carefully between important and unimportant exposures in making the record, especially as regards the relation between veins and stringers, between faults and minor slips, or between the characteristics of veins of different ages. A simple color scheme has been adopted for making this record. Red pencils are used to indicate

Jan 1, 1914

To reuse chromium, nickel, and molybdenum now lost in stainless and specialty steel-making wastes, and simultaneously to overcome the current environmental problem resulting from landfilling these wastes. Approach A variety of stainless and specialty steelmaking wastes are agglomerated and recharged into the plant's electric arc furnaces. How It Works Stainless and specialty steel-making wastes such as bag-house dust from the electric arc furnace, dust from the argon-oxygen decarburization unit, grinding swart, and mill scale are blended in proportion to the ratio in which they are generated. Next they are agglomerated on a pelletizer with an addition of a small amount of carbonaceous reducing agent, and air-dried in preparation for being recharged into the furnace. Some mixtures of wastes tested in the laboratory required the addition of binders and/or the use of ovens in lieu of air-drying to produce sufficient pellet strength. Although the optimal maximum particle size of wastes being pelletized is 35 mesh, somewhat larger particle sizes were satisfactorily pelletized during in-plant tests. The photograph shows a typical mixture of wastes and the pellets made from them.

Jan 1, 1981

By Clemens Jones

THE analytical history of phosphorus in its relation to the metallurgy of iron is an interesting study, the progress of which runs parallel with the development of the greatest industry in the world. Without the means of finding out how much phosphorus crude pigiron contained, the Bessemer steel process would have been impossible. To do this was originally tedious and slow work. On the other hand, the " direct" process of to-day, as well as the various special processes for steel or iron, have demanded the utmost rapidity in the operations of analytical chemistry. In general, any rapid process for the conversion of unrefined metal into a product of standard composition depends upon the rapidity of some accurate means employed to control it. Moreover, in our modern practice, it is not improbable that the differences in physical properties among the various makes of iron or steel are affected, if not produced, by the use of different methods of analysis. Recourse is always had for correction to the ((standard methods," but I incline to think that these methods are susceptible to error. It is very certain that the system of duplicates would not be resorted to, if the fact were otherwise. Even when duplicated, under the most careful and skilful manipulation, these standard methods produce disagreements. In proof of statements like these, which may sound. heretical, I hope, further on, to cite some evidence worthy of attention. I do not now mean to lay claim to the distinction of discovering the ultimate corrective. That result will come, no doubt, in. time, as the product of the experience of many workers. In the case of phosphorus, as of the other ingredients of iron or steel, a great deal has been done to accommodate the methods of analysis in rogue to the growing necessity for more rapid procedures: Much of this work has concerned what might be called the incidents of method. There is no better example of the accumulation of these incidental improvements than the work done on phosphorus; and I

Jan 1, 1890

By Edward Sampson, Allan B. Griggs

SURVEYING of many holes drilled by the U. S. Bureau of Mines in the Metaline district has shown surprising deviations. The holes start in the Ledbetter slate (Ordovician) and pass into the underlying gently dipping Metaline limestone (Cambrian) at varying depths, locally in excess of 1000 ft. All holes start vertical, but one had deflected as much as 35° at a depth of only 300 ft. One hole was found to be deflected 70° at a depth of 1000 ft. These deviations were not indicated to the drillers by any action of the rods or machines. Analysis of the survey data in the light of the observed geology indicates that the holes deviate most in the Ledbetter slate and scarcely at all in the Metaline limestone. The upper part of the "limestone"' in most holes is a massive rock strongly altered by hydrothermal action and essentially homogeneous. The slate is only obscurely bedded but has a cleavage, varying from slight to strong, which is unrelated to bedding. Drill holes have deflected to become nearly perpendicular to the cleavage. Several plans and cross sections are submitted showing the behavior of various holes.

Jan 1, 1946

By Julius Rubinstein, Victor Badenicov

The development of column flotation is the most significant achievement in the area of mineral processing in the last few decades. The high efficiency of column flotation allows a reduction in process time, a decrease in the number of cleaner stages and in the volume of the circulating load in the flotation circuit, and, as a result of this, an increase in consistency and reliability of operations. Unique multisectional column flotation apparatuses were developed. Such designs have a number of essential advantages as compared to monocells. A change from monocells to multisectional column allows to provide favourable conditions for separation of particles of various floatability. To attain that aim particular hydrodynamics and aeration regime is established in each section of the column, operational variables being adjusted according to the floatability of the material. Therefore in multisectional column machines the material-apparatus feedback can be established, process variables optimized depending on the characteristics of the floated materials. This concept forms the basis of column designs we have developed. For the first time column cell with alternating slurry Rows (combination of co- and counter-current flows) were developed and commercialized . Successful operation was reported of the new generation of columns with cell volumes of 10 to 80 m3 and the height of 4-6 m in copper, molybdenum, antimony, tungsten and nickel ores and coal slurry processing at different plants. Operation experience of these cells showed their considerable design and operational advantages and verified the proposed options and relationships. The new apparatus is provided with a pneumohydraulic aerator allowing to control bubble size distribution, the service life of the aerator is not less than two years. A multilevel flotation model was developed and used to work out a technique of column design and process parameters calculation. A method of the apparatus design parameters calculation based on laboratory test results (scaling up) was worked out. The method is based on flotation macro and micro-hydrodynamics simulation.

Jan 1, 1995

By C. E. Arnold

IN attacking the problems of mining and treating large disseminated copper orebodies such as those occurring in the Miami or the Ray district of Arizona, one of the vital questions to be decided is, "What is the value of the orebody per ton in place?", The importance of this question lies in the fact that its answer helps to reach a decision concerning the method of mining to be employed. Let it be assumed for the moment that milling and smelting practice, especially the latter, is more or less standardized; and has a cost incapable of much variation, while the cost of mining has a considerable range owing to the large number of mining methods by which a mine may be exploited. For instance, a method may be adopted whereby all the available ore can be extracted perfectly clean (i.e., unmixed with barren material) at a relatively high cost; or a method may be used involving the necessary dilution of a portion of the ore with waste, in order to recover that portion, thus giving a relatively poorer extraction but nevertheless a lower working cost than the former method. Naturally, between these two extremes there lie intermediate methods. In order to arrive at a solution of a mining method problem that is of any value, it is necessary that accurate and complete estimates of mining, milling, and smelting performances and costs shall be established. By way of illustration is given a, case of mining, by the system of undercutting and caving, a large orebody with an average content of 1.50 per cent. copper supposedly all in sulphide form, to which case has been applied those results in mining operations which one may fairly assume are to be expected when viewed in the light of G. R. Lehman's ore-drawing experiments, which form the subject of a paper to be presented at this meeting. It is assumed that the total. costs will be as shown in the following table:

Jan 9, 1916

In November 1992, the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) was formed from the rperggr of the Papua New Guinea Taxation Of- fice (PNGTO) and the Bureau of Customs, and now has the re- sponsibility for the administration of direct and indirect taxes on a national basis in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Since that date we have undertaken many initiatives to make the new organisation more efficient and responsive to clients' needs. Income Tax The mining industry is catered for, in respect of income tax, un- der a separate taxation regime within the Income Tax Act (ITA), Division 10, as well as some general provisions within that Act as may be applicable. Division 10 is itself broken up into subdi- visions to cover the different types of mining leases, namely Spe- cial Mining Leases (SMLs) and Mining Leases (MLs), and peri- ods of time during which those sub-divisions apply. Ring Fencing Income tax assessed on the mining industry, with the exception of Mining Leases (these will be explained later), has a project basis of assessment, that is, each project is assessed separately as if the taxable income of the taxpayer from operations attributable to the project was the only assessable income derived by that taxpayer. This is often referred to as "ring fencing". This is an important point to consider because losses from unsuccessful projects cannot be set off against income from those that are suc- cessful, except in very limited specific circumstances, such as where an unsuccessful exploration licence is cancelled or surren- dered. The project basis of assessment applies to both resident and non-resident companies. A relaxation in the 'ring fence' provisions was applied from 1st January 1995, where ten percent of exploration expenditure, in- curred in areas outside of Special Mining Leases and Petroleum Development Licences in a particular year of income, can be claimed as an outright deduction which is limited to ten percent of the tax otherwise payable in that year. This was introduced to encourage exploration in PNG.

Jan 1, 1997

By F. L. Vogel

Densities and distributions of dislocations in plastically bent germanium crystals before and after annealing were studied. In the bent and annealed crystals, the theoretical relationship between radius of curvature and density of dislocations is confirmed. Before annealing, however, more dislocations are present than required, and these are distributed with a minimum at the neutral axis and maxima at the top and bottom surfaces. On annealing, three significant changes occur in the bent bars: 1) the average dislocation density is reduced, presumably by the annihilation of opposite signs; 2) dislocations migrate from the high density outside regions toward the low density neutral axis, thus producing the equilibrium distribution of dislocations; and 3) a polygonized structure is formed by movement of the dislocations into walls normal to the slip plane. ETCHING to reveal edge dislocations'-" offers a unique opportunity to study, in germanium single crystals, the functioning of dislocations in plastic deformation. Plastic bending is ideally suited to this purpose because it produces a static array of edge dislocations in an ideally plastic material which is predictable from the theory." " Nye" has given a rather complete treatment of the geometry of bent crystals in terms of dislocations. The density of excess dislocations is related to the radius of curvature of the slip plane of a bent crystal, as shown in Fig. 1, assuming the absence of macroscopic elastic stresses. The curvature of any plane in the zone of the bend axis is found by resolving the Burgers vector into that plane, so that for the usual case where the slip plane is inclined at some angle 0 to the neutral plane of the bar, the equation applies, with T equal to the radius of curvature of the neutral plane of the bent crystal. Two predictions which are relevant to this study may be made from Eq. 1. First, in crystals bent to various radii, the average excess dislocation density is inversely proportional to the radius and second, for a bar bent to a radius which is large compared with its thick-

Jan 1, 1957

By Wymer DG

The concept of hydro power in deep mines is based on the exploitation of the hydrostatic head that can be gained as refrigerated cooling water descends in shaft pipe columns from the surface, to provide hydraulic power for machines at the working face. This paper describes the work done on two important aspects of the controlled distribu-tion of the high pressure water within a mine, namely the control of pressure under normal operating conditions, and the control of flow in an emergency situation following a pipe breakage. Suitable methods of control have been determined using theoretical techniques to model the steady and unsteady flow behaviour of the water in the pipeline, and taking into consideration the environmental constraints on the types of control devices that can be used. The preferred approach is one in which the high pressure water itself is used as the control medium. The control valves themselves can be fairly conventional in design, but in the case of pipe break protection it is shown that a less conventional approach based on the use of a hydraulic fuse gives improved control performance.

Jan 1, 1985

By Research Staff ? Verde Copper Mines

FLOTATION is now commonly practiced in alkaline ore pulps, yet little is known regarding the action of the alkaline solutions on the ore particles beyond the fact that films of oxidized material form. We wish to chronicle our discovery of the presence of soluble reducing agents in alkaline ore pulps of the United Verde, and present some data on lime consumption. During the grinding and flotation of a pyritic ore containing small amounts of ferrous sulfate and other soluble salts, an excess of lime was added to precipitate the salts, and filtered samples of the solution were titrated with standard permanganate solution. Even in pulps of high causticity an appreciable permanganate titration was always obtained, in spite of the fact that the solutions were shown to contain little iron. Investigation of the cause brought about the discovery of several previously unsuspected compounds in flotation pulps made from pyritic ore. Not only the reducing agents present had to be identified, but also the amount of dissolved oxygen, and a survey was finally made of the free oxygen content and reducing agents of the mill pulp in the concentrating mill at Clarkdale. A great many compounds might form, caused by oxidation of pyrite or other metal sulfides or by reaction between a lime solution and pyrite. The most probable compounds considered were calcium sulfides; polysul-fides, thiosulfates, and polythionates. Later it was discovered in the literature that in alkaline pulp polythionates do not exist and if introduced. are decomposed into sulfites and thiosulfates.1 Any precipitated sulfur is changed by alkali into thiosulfate and polysulfide. Sulfites and sulfides react to form thiosulfate, so that in the end it is possible to have in an alkaline solution only thiosulfate and an excess either of sulfide or sulfite. Confirmatory tests were made and it was finally established that the alkaline mill pulps made from the United Verde ore contained

Jan 1, 1929

By Garg R. K

Himalayan ranges on the northern border of India are source of many perennial rivers and suitable sites for large dams have been located therein. However, Himalayas are young mountains and comprise of comparatively weaker rocks having adverse geological features like shear seams, thrust zones, minor and major faults and intense jointing. Tehri dam project under construction, is located in lower Himalayas. It envisages construction of a 260.5 m high earth and rock fill dam and an underground power station of 2000 MW (Eight machines of 250 MW each, four of which will be reversible) installed capacity. This dam will be the highest and the underground complex will be the largest to be constructed in India in the Himalayas. The under- ground complex comprises of 25 km of tunnels varying in diameter from 6 m to 11 m and seven large cavities of various sizes, the biggest being 22 m in width, 194 m in length and 65 m in height. Rock formation in the power house complex belong to phyllites having various joint sets spaced from 0.5 m to 3 m. Due to the poor geological conditions and closely spaced net work of large cavities, the planning, analysis and design of the cavities is a challenging job. Many aspects have to be considered in determining the sizes, locations and orientations of the various cavities taking into account the properties and jointing pattern of rock mass, functional requirements and economics. Correct evaluation of loads and forces is necessary for economical design of supporting system for the various cavities. Rock loads on the roof of cavities and their supporting system will be assessed with the help of the latest methods. The stability of the rock mass around the cavity will be evaluated by elasto- plastic method using finite or boundary element techniques. A scheme of field investigations, laboratory tests and instrumentation for deter- mining rock properties in preconstruction stage and for monitoring behaviour of the underground cavities during and after construction is envisaged.

Jan 1, 1987

By S. J. Kidder

The Mogollon mining district is in the southwestern part of New Mexico near the southern end of the Mogollon range, from which the district takes its name. The town of Mogollon is but 371/2 miles in an air line northeast of Clifton, Ariz. The air-line distance from Silver City is 521/2 miles and from Tyrone, 57 miles. Supplies are transported by motor truck from Silver City. The distance by road is 75 miles, half of which is an improved highway of modern construction. Transportation has always been a large item of expense in carrying on operations in the district. Valuable ore is said to have been discovered in the Mogollon Mountains as early as 1870 but the first regular prospecting was carried on in 1875, by James C. Cooney, a sergeant from Fort Bayard. His discovery of rich silver-copper ores in the region of Mineral Creek led to the establishment of the Camp of Cooney. Remote from any settlements where there was a semblance of law and order, and harassed by the Apaches, development was slow and nearly 10 years elapsed before the village of Mogollon was established on Silver Creek. Prospecting in this section of the district had disclosed the outcrops of several promising veins containing silver-gold ores. Among the early claims located were the Last Chance, Top and Confidence, on what has proved to be the most productive vcin in the district. To the end of 1922, the Last Chance and Top claims had produced approximately 600,000 tons of ore and nearly 200,000 tons had come from the Confidence group of claims. The total value of the ore produced from this vein alone has amounted to about $9,600,000 in silver and gold. The Fanney vein was developed later and during its most active period of production contributed more than half of the output of the district. Other important locations, though far less productive than the above, were the Maude S, Deep Down, the Deadwood and the Pacific.

Jan 1, 1925

By S. Zador

"IntroductionIn the past decade, metallurgical and mining companies have shown an increased interest in the licensing of technology. When licensing technology, it is usually to the benefit of the parties, to have at least some of the technology to be licensed protected by a patent.This paper is intended to bridge the gap between the engineer in the field of mining, metallurgy and mineral processing who is interested in exploiting an invention commercially, and the patent agent or intellectual property lawyer whom he/she might retain to prepare a patent application and then prosecute the application to obtain a granted patent. It is also intended to encourage the inventor or a small business concern to consider the value of patents in the sale and licensing of technology. The lawyer may subsequently advise and assist the inventor in licensing his/her invention.A brief outline of some of the basic features of the patent system follows. The nature of the information, which the patent professional requires from the inventor to enable him/her to draft a patent application, will also be considered in general terms. Furthermore, various types of licenses which may be drawn up between a licensor of specific technical information and a licensee, will be listed and briefly discussed. No attempt, however, will be made to give a comprehensive and detailed account of the above aspects; the interested reader should consult legal publication and reference books, and patent professionals for further specific information.A granted patent is a document which describes an invention and how to practise it. The claims of the granted patent, figuratively speaking, fence off the intellectual property the inventor regards as his invention. The Commissioner of Patents, representing the Government, grants to the inventor or his assignee the exclusive right of making, constructing and using the invention, and selling it to others to be used, for a limited period of time, in exchange for disclosing the invention to the public. Thus, a patent prevents others from practising the claimed invention but it does not, necessarily, bestow the right to the patentee to practise his own invention. The term of a patent now in Canada and in most of the developed countries of the world, is 20 years from the date of filing the patent application. In the United States the patent term is still 17 years from the date of issuance of the patent. In Canada, the term was changed to 20 years in the new Canadian Patent Act which came into force on October 2, 1989. Any patent application filed prior to that date or granted before it, retains a 17 year life, commencing at the time of grant."

Jan 1, 1991

In common with general experience in the iron-making industry overseas, Australia has in recent years suffered a deterioration in the physical quality of her iron ores in their suitability as a direct blast furnace feed. The increasing amounts of fines and the more friable nature of lump ore, especially in the ore from the Cockatoo Island deposits in Yampi Sound, Western Australia, have focused attention on problems of ore preparation and agglomeration, particularly sintering.Although very small pilot scale Dwight-Lloyd type sinter machines were operated at the steel-making centres at Newcastle and Port Kembla during World War II, no sizeable capacity was installed, so that ore was charged to the blast furnaces almost entirely unscreened, and the resultant flue dust was stockpiled.Towards the close of the war, the pilot plant at Newcastle was replaced by a small machine, adjacent to the flue dust stockpile, with a rated capacity of some 20 tons per hour. After approximately five months of part-time operation, this plant was closed down in January, 1945. Production was not resumed until December, 1950, when, due to a temporary ore shortage, it was decided to supplement available ore with sinter produced from the large flue dust stocks of about 300,000 tons. In spite of mechanical and process difficulties, inherent to the design of the plant, operation was continued on a two-shift basis, with several shutdowns for extensive overhaul and plant alterations, until September, 1954, when production was put on a three-shift basis. Addition of Yampi ore fines to the sinter machine burden was not commenced...

Jan 1, 1957

By Gyasi-Agyei Y

In recent years rapid advances have been made in the technology used for hydrology and erosion modelling of rural catchments. These advances have been driven by the growing availability of digital terrain maps that can be used to automatically define catchment properties that previously had to be manually extracted from contour maps. In addition, these models have, in principle at least, more powerful predictive capability. The author is involved in a number of projects to migrate and further develop these models for application to mine rehabilitation assessment. Current technologies for hydrology and erosion assessment (eg CREAMS, ANSWERS) are reviewed, underlying principles highlighted and deficiencies in the context of mine rehabilitation design assessment addressed. The advantages and disadvantages of the new digital terrain map tools (eg WEPP, SIBERIA) are discussed. Current work integrating these new models with existing rehabilitation design tools (eg ACIRL's ARGUS computer package) highlights the advantages of an integrated approach using digital terrain maps; cheaper, faster, lower impact and more flexible rehabilitation design. The use of novel visualisation tools to aid the design process is discussed. The paper is illustrated by applications to mine sites in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Jan 1, 1995

By Foster Fraas

Under a very high vacuum of 10-8 torr the transfer of terrestrial mineral beneficiation methods to the vacuum ambient of extraterrestrial locations such as the lunar surface was investigated. In the size range for the electro-static and magnetic separation of ores (minus 35 plus 150 mesh) there is no adhesion of particles produced by crushing and grinding due to the limited contact area, and for repeated contacts area size has a frequency of occurrence in accordance to the normal law. The photoelectric effect which is successful in separating a few minerals in an air ambient has a wider application in a vacuum, while the lack of air viscosity and sound transmission provides for high feed velocities and the adaptation of particle vibration to dispersion and grinding. Contact electrification is reversible upon return to atmosphere.

Jan 1, 1970

By Mario SINNAEVE, Olivier LEMAIRE, Gisèle WALMAG, Sébastien FLAMENT

Many hot rolling mills worldwide face nowadays bonding zone fatigue problems before reaching scrap diameter of the work rolls. This phenomenon is nowadays known to occur in reversing roughing mills both in stainless steel and in carbon steel rolling. The phenomenon can be explained through longer rolling campaigns, inadequate backup or work roll maintenance, harder steel grades or increased throughput by reduced amount of passes to achieve the same thickness. In order to help users in optimizing the roll use, we developed a numerical tool to evaluate and optimize roll maintenance. This paper will review the influence of roll geometries on stresses generated at the roll surface but also at the bonding zone. We will also show how roll geometries can decrease contact fatigue damages by modifying crowning and chamfering procedures, shell thickness, material design or campaign length

Oct 1, 2019

By L. H. ADAMS, C. N. HASKINS, J. K. CLEMENT

In the course of its investigations of the fuel resources in the United States and of the methods by which these resources could be utilized with greatest efficiency, the United States Geological Survey tested a great variety of coals and lignites as gas-producer fuel. Early in these testa it was found that many factors controlling the formation of gas in the generating chamber of the producer and, consequently, having a direct bearing on the management of producer-gas plants, were not as well understood as they should be. The Geological Survey therefore took up a detailed investigation of the chemical and physical processes that take place in the producer, keeping in view not only the possibility of increasing the efficiency of the producer as a source of energy, and the ensuing benefits to the public of cheaper power and greater utilization of low-grade fuels, but also the application of the results to the problems of boiler-furnace operations. - The Bureau of Mines, to which the testing and analyzing of fuels as carried on by the United States Geological Survey has been transferred, is continuing producer-gas investigations at the testing station at Pittsburg, Pa. Results of the gas-producer tests a made at the coal-testing plant erected at St. Louis, Mo., and of a study of some of the problems° that came up in the tests have been published by the Geological Survey. Results of the tests made at Norfolk, Va., and Pittsburg, Pa., and of further studies of particular problems, will be published by the Bureau of Mines. In the gas producer solid fuel is transformed into more readily combustible gaseous fuel. The transformation is relatively slow and consists of several processes: 1. The distillation of the volatile hydrocarbons from the freshly fired fuel at relatively low temperatures. 2. The combustion of the fuel by its combining with the oxygen of the air forming carbon dioxide (COO. 3. The formation of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (11 3), the essential constituents of producer gas, in accordance with the equations:

Jan 1, 1911

By H. S. Chiang, Y. Luo, S. S. Peng

"IntroductionThe way in which the particle sizes distribute in the airborne coal dust plays an important role in the transportation of the dust in the mine air and human respiratory systems. Though the particles of a size less than 10 microns could be inhaled, the real distractive portion of the dust is that the sizes range from 1 to 5 microns since only they can reach the lungs and be retained there. Those with an equivalent diameter larger than 5 microns will settle on the membranes of the branchial tubes(1) while those with diameter less than 1 micron can either be exhaled out of the lungs or the settled quantity is so insignificant that does very little harm to the lungs. In the transportation process, the finer dust will fly farther away from the sources than the coarser ones. Thus once the fine dust is generated and becomes airborne, it will spread out to a larger area.In this paper, the coal samples collected from two longwall faces were analyzed statistically for size distribu¬tion. A mathematical model is proposed and the effects of different conditions on the dust size distribution were analyzed using the mathematical model.Sampling and Statistical AnalysesSampling Instrument and ProcedureThe instrument used in the sampling were Mine Safety Appliance (MSA) personal sampling units equipped with 10-mm nylon cyclones, pre-weighed MSA PVC filters and constant-flow pumps.Two longwall operating faces were selected for the dust sampling. The two faces were located in two coal mines ex-tracting Pittsburgh seam. The double-ended ranging-drum shearer applying the unidirectional cutting sequence was employed. The two-leg shield supports were used for face support. The width of the two faces was about 215 meters.In each of the two faces, four sampling stations were set up. The stations were located at the cross-cut immediately outby the headentry side, the 15th support (25 m), 65th support (107 m) and 111th support (182 m) from headentry T-junction, and numbered as #1, #2, #3, and #4 station, respectively (Figure 1). At each sampling station, a group of three sampling units was hung at proper position. At cross¬cut (#1) station, the units were hung about one foot under the roofline in the center of the cut (Figure 2a), and at the stations in the face, the units were position near the hydraulic legs and one foot below the support canopy (Figure 2b).One complete set of 12 samples was collected for each day. The sampling were performed for five consecutive days. All the samplings were conducted in the morning shifts. The time duration of the sampling for each day was about five hours. During that time, the shearer might complete 5 to 7 mining cycles."

Mar 1, 1989

By Ann Hubbs, Vincent Castranova, Jane Y. C. Ma, De-Hwa Chao, Joseph K. H. Ma

AN OVERVIEW OF THE ACTION OF TETRANDRINE ON SILICOSISBecause of the persistent presence of silica dust in the lungs silicosis is a progressive and irreversible disease. At present, there is no proven effective therapy for silicosis. Limited choices of therapeutic intervention with corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive regimens 1,2 have been accepted for some forms of pulmonary fibrosis. These treatments are only minimally effective, and the results provide little understanding of the disease state due to the lack of correlation between drug activity and the mechanism of fibrosis. Thus, continuing effort must be made in the search for effective antifibrotic agents, which may be used to provide a sequential analysis of the fibrotic process and to open the door for further research and clinical development. Tetrandrine is one of hundreds of drugs screened for antifibrotic activity by Chinese scientists. It has been used in China as a treatment for silicosis in open clinical trials3 and in laboratory animals. The action of tetrandrine on pulmonary fibrosis has been attributed to its ability to inhibit particle stimulation of alveolar macrophages, a key cell type central to the fibrotic process, to release oxygen radicals and inflammatory cytokines. Alveolar macrophages (AM) residing on the alveolar wall, are the predominant phagocytic cells of the lungs responsible for pulmonary defense against inhaled microorganisms and other particles and thus play an important role in maintaining the homeostasis of the lungs. 7 Ample evidence suggests that cells of the monocyte-macrophage series play an important role in the immunopathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. When upregulated by silica, alveolar macrophages generate reactive oxygen metabolites8·9 which can damage lung parenchyma and release fibrogenic growth factors and cytokines, 10,11 such as interleukin 1 (IL-1), which can induce fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis. The cytokine-mediated fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis are key steps in the development and progression of pulmonary fibrosis .11 Previous studies by our group have shown that tetrandrine exhibits strong binding affinity to AM and inhibits particle-stimulated respiratory burst activity (oxygen consumption, superoxide anion release, and hydrogen peroxide secretion) in these cells. 13 In addition, studies by Kang et al. 14 have reported that tetrandrine inhibits silica-induced release of fibrogenic factors such as IL-1 which are capable of inducing fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis. Reist et al. 15 further suggested that the antifibrotic action of tetrandrine may be mediated in part by the direct effect of this drug on the ability of fibroblasts to respond to proliferative agents. These results indicate that the mechanism of silicosis involves activation of AM and fibroblasts by silica, resulting in abnormal collagen production due to miscommunications between the cell types. Tetrandrine may interrupt this process by direct interaction with the lung cells.

Jan 1, 1998