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By Karl R. Zipf

A tube bundle system (TBS) is a mechanical system for continuously drawing gas samples through tubes from multiple monitoring points located in an underground coal mine. The gas samples are drawn via vacuum pump to the surface and are typically analyzed for oxygen, methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Results of the gas analyses are displayed and recorded for further analysis. Trends in the composition of the mine atmosphere, such as increasing methane or carbon monoxide concentration, can be detected early, permitting rapid intervention that prevents problems, such as a potentially explosive atmosphere behind seals, fie or spontaneous combustion. TBS is a well-developed technology and has been used in coal mines around the world for more than 50 years. most longwall coal mines in australia deploy a TBS, usually with 30 to 40 monitoring points as part of their atmospheric monitoring. The primary uses of a TBS are detecting spontaneous combustion and maintaining sealed areas inert. The TBS might also provide mine atmosphere gas composition data after a catastrophe occurs in an underground mine, if the sampling tubes are not damaged. TBSs are not an alternative to statutory gas and ventilation airflowmonitoring by electronic sensors or people; rather, they are an option to consider in an overall mine atmosphere monitoring strategy. This paper describes the hardware, software and operation of a TBS and presents one example of typical data from a longwall coal mine.

May 1, 2013

Discussion at the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers' general meeting held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 8th April 1916, on the paper published in Trans. I.Min.E., vol.LI, 1916, p.72-90, included written contributions on size and gauge standardisation by Lupton A., Peck W.R., Dean S., Mayer R.W. and Ashworth J., with the author's written response, and by Bulman H.F. and Brown M.

Dec 1, 1916

By Raymond B. Ladoo

"The recent discovery and exploitation of petroleum territory have resulted in the enactment of new petroleum laws in most of the South American Republics. The activities in the discovery of these new fields were engendered by the knowledge of the fact that present producing fields must within well defined periods be exhausted. Oil operators were willing to take the initial steps in exploitation in the absence of legislation that applied strictly to petroleum operations. The enactment of modern legislation in many of these Republics encouraging and protect¬ing exploitations may cause tremendous oil activities in these countries, and the results may be comparable with the magnitude of the undertakings and the prestige of the companies now entering this territory.These, oil fields are admirably located for convenient distribution of petroleum by water to all the Nations using oil as fuel for shipping and industrial concerns. The oil markets of the western coast of South America will derive immense benefits from the Panama Canal. This navigation route brings these markets into direct ocean shipment with the Atlantic coasts of the Western and Eastern Hemispheres.One deterrent to oil production in the Republics of South America is the want of inland. transportation facilities, but the recent laws of these Republics without exception provide for acquiring rights of way for pipe lines and other modes of transportation; and doubtless the great interests and. syndicates already operating in these regions will, as production increases, provide ample pipe line transportation sufficient to convey to the coast the oil produced. It way be assumed, from the legal guarantees afforded, and from operating equipment and machinery that are now being concentrated that refineries will be erected at shipping points for the purpose of making these petroleum products accessible to the world."

May 1, 1921

The major technological advances of the last 30 years have profoundly reshaped mining practices. Machines keep getting bigger while productivity continues to increase and manning levels drop. These trends will continue and the introduction of breakthrough technologies will continue to accelerate, driven by a continued focus on lowering the cost of production, improving the productivity of workers and machines, and ensuring safer working environments. At the same time, global consolidation of mining companies has impacted on technology development in a range of ways. There are many potential technologies being proposed, some already operating in Australian mines. The automation of underground load-haul-dump (LHD) trucks for example, continues the process of removing workers from the most dangerous operating environments. Global positioning systems fitted to draglines, fibre optic communication channels, and 400 tonne trucks are only some examples of what lies ahead. However, where we need to return focus is to the technology of management û which is also one of the two key interrelated themes of this keynote address. Have we, as an industry, adequately been able to keep up with technological advances? Are our management systems as competent as the machinery we employ? The other key theme is the processes of globalisation and consolidation. What are the impacts on our industry? What are the implications of these processes, particularly for the ways in which we manage our people? My paper is divided into several components:some comments on the coal industry and the dramatic restructuring we have seen in recent years; in the context of this restructuring, an overview of my company and its evolution; my views on the role of contractors; some comments on the consolidation also occurring in the mining machinery and equipment, technology and services sectors; some observations on two major areas of technology û drill and blast; and trucks, shovels and excavators; the implications of consolidation and new technology for our employees and management; and finally some comments on research programs.

Jan 1, 2001

Jan 1, 1989

By Joseph Bradley

THROUGHOUT this article, minerals used in the paint industry are designated 'pigments'. They may be classified in two groups: (1) Pigments which are used in the state in which they occur in nature, requiring only mechanical preparation. (2) Pigments which require heating or chemical treatment before use, in order to obtain from them a product of the desired quality or shade of colour. They may be further classified according to colour, as follows: White Pigments .-These include calcium carbonate (chalk, marble), gypsum and alabaster, kaolin-or china-clay, and magnesia. However, the white pigments most extensively used are compounds prepared chemically from minerals containing lead, zinc, titanium, and antimony. The white pigments are of particular importance because, not only are they used by themselves, but they also serve as adjuncts to other colours for the production of special shades. Yellow Pigments.-These are mainly naturally occurring ferric hydroxides, as limonite and bog iron ore, or similar. compounds prepared artificially. Brown Pigments .-Pigments of this group are distinguished for their beauty and depth of colour, and many of them are used in the finest of paintings. Familiar names are sienna, umber, and Vandyke brown. They are for the most part ferric hydroxides, containing varying amounts of water; but the group also includes a manganese brown, which consists chiefly of a mixture of oxide and hydroxide of manganese. Red Pigments.-Chief among this group is ferric oxide, known under various trade-names, such as Canadian red, Persian red, etc., and also the much prized and somewhat rare vermilion. The pigment used is either naturally occurring hematite, de-hydrated limonite, or artificially produced red ferric oxide.

Jan 1, 1937

By O. E. KEOUGH

AT the Tooele custom lead-zinc ore concentrator,' two sections, each having a daily capacity of 500 to 600 tons, are operated on slightly different types of ores with but little difference in flow sheet and reagents. The ores comprising the two general classes are the coarsely crystalline type, with low pyrite and sphalerite low in iron content, from the Park City district, and the more finely disseminated higher pyrite ores from Bingham, which are more difficult to treat by flotation. Laboratory testing determines with which general class a new ore will work better. The ores are crushed to minus 1 1/4-in. size at either the Utah Ore Sampling Company's plant at Murray, Utah, the Tooele smelter sampling plant, or the crushing plant at the concentrator. The ores for each section are mixed to maintain as nearly as possible uniform lead and zinc contents.

Jan 1, 1930

By Santiago Faucher

Molten slag from pyrometallurgical furnaces is tapped at high temperature, carrying a large amount of thermal energy. But the common slag dumping and water granulation methods used for slag treatment do not permit energy recovery. Furthermore, water is present in these processes and while operations are designed to minimize risks of steam explosions, from the contact of slag with water, these common slag handling practices have never been inherently safe. Common handling practices do permit some slags to be sold, but often in low volumes at low prices. Dry granulation offers advantages over these common slag handling practices, including the production of by-products, the recovery of thermal energy, and the eliminated consumption and safety hazards of water. For these reasons, there have been various studies in dry granulation and heat recovery, but most have never been brought to commercial scale due to scalability and cost challenges. Ecomaister- Hatch has developed and brought to commercial scale a reliable and simple dry granulation and heat recovery technology. Here we review common slag handling practices, the developments in dry slag granulation over the last three decades, introduce the Ecomaister-Hatch dry slag granulation process, and elaborate on future applications of the technology in the processing of argon oxygen decarburization and blast furnace slags.

Aug 17, 2017

By B Robertson

Over the 40 years that the author has been engaged in the Australian underground coal mining industry, there has been a continuous improvement in safety performance as the sector has grown in size and productivity. The underground environment hosts many hazards with significant risk profiles that are kept in check by effective health and safety management systems that have evolved largely following major underground disasters. Observations are made on the changes observed for specific aspects of the underground coal sector, with particular reference to ventilation issues, and predications are made as to the needs of the future.CITATION:Robertson, B, 2013. Past achievements and future challenges in the underground coal sector, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference , pp 27-32 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 1, 2013

By E. H. Denny

The presence in the Cripple Creek district, Colo., of irrespirable gas or gases, generally known to consist mainly of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, has been recognized by members of the mining industry in that region almost since underground mining was begun there; the occurrence, origin, and possible control of these gases have been discussed in several articles cited at various places in this report. Similar gases have also been studied in other metal-mining districts, as later discussed. In March, 1925, there were two fatalities from rock-strata gases in the shaft of the Index mine, near Cripple Creek. Two men repairing the bell or signal line preparatory to reopening the shaft were lowered into irrespirable gases and died. Their bodies were recovered by rescue crews from the United States Bureau of Mines and .the Portland mine, Victor, Colo. These crews found it necessary to use oxygen breathing apparatus. In October of the same year a miner was trapped on the 6 level of the Midget mine by an influx of gases that filled the shaft to a point above that where he was working. Oxygen breathing apparatus was again used by Bureau of Mines employees, who were in the vicinity, and the man was brought out in time to save his life. These two fatalities and one near fatality seemed to show that additional investigation of the gases and methods of control might be warranted. Accordingly, field and laboratory studies were begun by the authors of this report after a visit to the district by M. van Siclen, then engineer in charge, mining research division, Bureau of Mines, and after conferences with the Mine Owners' Association of Cripple Creek and with J. T. Joyce, metal-mine commissioner of the State of Colorado. The mine operators of the Cripple Creek district and the State mine commissioner's office gave whole-hearted cooperation in this work.

Jan 1, 1930

By MUSTAFA ERKAYAOGLU, Muhammet Mustafa Kahraman

Particulate matter (PM) is one of the main actors related to air pollution caused by surface mining. Fugitive dust, considered as particulate matter that cannot be collected by conventional measures, is classified by the particle size. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) categorizes PM as coarse and fine particles based on the particle size being less than 10 μm (PM10) and less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5). Basic operations of surface mining such as drilling and blasting, loading, haulage, and processing are processes that can potentially generate fugitive dust. Regulations and legislations enforce the mining industry to use environmental monitoring systems, fugitive dust level measured by PM10 level as part of this. Air quality monitors are positioned at different locations around surface coal mines and track air quality levels during production. This study introduces a data-driven methodology to handle air quality issues related to fugitive dust at surface coal mines. Data is sourced from different mine equipment in real-time and they are integrated with air quality monitoring systems to provide information to support decisions for fugitive dust. The method is implemented and demonstrated in a case study at a large surface coal mine.

Sep 29, 2020

By N. T. Avard

THE profitable disposal and utilization of much of our slack coal, lignite, and other low-grade fuels is one of the major problems facing the coal mining industry of Canada today. It is my belief that the pulverization process applied to these fuels opens the door to greater efficiency and greater prosperity, and I wish to discuss briefly with you some features of its development and advantages to date. Indeed, the art of burning pulverized coal under stationary boilers is one of the romances of modern engineering. As a Nova Scotian, I feel some pride in the fact that at Chignecto Mines, N.S., was built in 1906 the first pit-mouth power plant on the North American continent. This was built to make effective for the first time Edison's dream of carrying coal for power by wire rather than by rail. This plant, built by the Maritime Coal, Railway and Power Company, Limited, success-fully utilized underfeed stokers for twenty years but in 1927 was replaced by a more modern plant equipped with machinery for burning pulverized coal, which is now operating very successfully. A further source of pride is the fact that the first boilers on this continent to be operated by pulverized coal were installed by the Dominion Coal Company at New Waterford, N.S., in 1912 and were satisfactorily operated during the lifetime of the plant. It is an acknowledged fact that average living conditions on a large part of the North American continent are far superior to those of any other people on earth. The reason is that we use so much more machinery per capita, and cheap power supply has been a large factor in bringing that about. Statistics show that where one horse-power was used one hundred years ago to assist man in his work, five hundred horse-power is used today. Truly a remarkable development and the key to our present high standard of living. Lack of coal in the chief industrial centres of Canada has forced the extra-ordinary development of the water powers which Providence has placed in those centres. How many of us realize that Canada stands second in the world in the per capita development of hydro power, Switzerland being first and the United States sixth? From this condition, we are reminded of the fact that the per capita foreign trade of Canada far exceeds that of our great neighbour to the South-but another illustration of the benefits accruing from our great power development.

Jan 1, 1937

By F. Chiesa

Forty aluminium A356 castings were poured on a Low Pressure Permanent Mould industrial machine, 500x700mm in platen size. The 152mm wide casting comprised three steps, 25mm, 13mm, 6mm in thickness and a 2.5mm overflow which allowed to assess the thin wall capability of the process. The casting campaign, which produced 40 parts, allowed to test the influence of various production parameters including the time of application of the pressure in the crucible, artificial cooling of the mould and casting rate. The thermal history in the mould was recorded over the 40 cycles, which allowed to construct a reliable thermal model of the mould/casting assembly. The metallurgical quality of castings representative of the various conditions was assessed in the 25mm, 13mm and 6mm plates. This included measuring the level of microporosity, the dendrite fineness (DAS), along with the tensile properties in the T6 condition. The radiographic quality per ASTM E155 was also determined. Modelling filling and solidification allowed to verify the validity of the predictions based on available relationships relating microporosity, secondary dendrite arm spacing (DAS) and local tensile properties (Quality Index, Q) to the local thermal solidification parameters.

Jan 1, 2007

By Robert Hopler

A detonator is a copper tube about a quarter of an inch in diameter and an inch and a half long, closed at one end and containing in the closed end a small charge of fulminate of mercury, which has been found to be the best explosive for detonating dynamite. The fulminate charge is a very powerful explosive very sensitive to friction, lows or heat and very poisonous. When exploded it has an intense local action, shattering things in its immediate vicinity, but not extending very far away from the explosion. This kind of detonator is intended to be exploded by a spark from burning fuse.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. B. DUTTON, W. F. RITTMAN, E. W. Dean, M. S. HOWARD

NOMENCLATURE USED IN THIS REPORT. In this report the ending ene has been used throughout, except in the bibliography and in quotations from the writings of previous investigators, for all aromatic hydrocarbons, as, for instance, benzene, toluene, xylene. The ending ol, though largely used in technical description, is not correctly applicable to these hydrocarbons, and should be used to designate the impure mixtures of commerce, as distinguished from pure chemical compounds. PRESENT STATUS OF PETROLEUM-REFINING INDUSTRY. Although petroleum is widely distributed, being found in many parts of the world, and although information as to its occurrence and general characteristics seems to have existed from vcry early times, our knowledge of the chemical nature of this substance has been acquired largely within the past 40 years. Within this period a voluminous literature has accumulated, which records work as painstaking as has ever been undertaken in the whole field of chemistry, such as that of C. M. Warren, F. H. Storer, S. P. Sadtler, S. F. Peckham, and C. F. Mabery. Despite this fact, the commercial method of treating crude petroleum for the purpose of procuring marketable products is, in the main, essentially empirical. Much knowledge has been acquired as to methods of separating from crude petroleum such products as are desirable commercially, but little has been done to attain the maximum recovery of such products.

Jan 1, 1916

By E. P. Youngman

Titanium ranks as one of the more abundant elements, is widely distributed, and occurs in concentrated form in numerous deposits. This substance was discoveres 140 years ago; but despite the efforts of metallurgists and chemists to find a place for it in industry, only within the last 10 or 15 years has the increased use of titanium pigments provided any extensive outlet for titanium ores. Even to-day titanium is confined to a few highly specialized industrial applications. The metal itself is now quoted regularly in trade journale, but scarcely yet can it be said that the production or use of the metal. has progressed very far beyond the laboratory stage. Ferroalloys containing the element were largely used for a time, especially in connection with the manufacture of Bessemer steel rails; but as American rail- ways adopted open-hearth rails in preference to Bessemer rails, the demand for the alloys in the rail manufacture gradually dwindled into insignificance. New outlets for ferrotitanium have been found in the steel industry; and the production of titanium alloys, both in the United States and in Europe, has increased in recent years. By far the largest use of titanium at the present time, however, is in pigments. The manufacture of titanium white began in Norway, but at present the United States is the leading producer. One of the two companies now operating in the United States is also the leading factor in European production. Although titanium occurs, in many minerals, the principal commercial sources are rutile (the natural oxide, Ti02) and ilmenite (iron-titanium oxide, FeO. TiO2). The latter is a coal-black mineral, but it is the one used in the manufacture of the titanium white of commerce, as well as in the manufacture of ferroalloys and arc-lamp electrodes. Rutile, the natural oxide, is not pure white and, being less common in nature, costs more; it is, therefore, reserved for use in the manufacture of titanium chemicals employed in relatively small amounts in dye works and bleacheries and for sundry minor purposes. This paper summarizes the titanium industry, with special reference to its economic aspects. It is offered as a survey of current trade literature and as a digest of material in the files of the bureau and is presented in response to numerous inquiries from prospective producers as to ways and means of exploiting deposits. (At present, much of the ilmenite consumed in this country comes from overseas, principally from British India..). A forthcoming circular, devoted to deposits of titanium-bearing ores, deals with foreign and domestic sources of supply.

Oct 1, 1930

By D. Harrington

The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the hazards and furnish a list of recommendations for the safe operation of quarries and related works. They have been compiled from Bureau of Mines publications covering the safety experience of engineers before and during the year in the mineral industry,5 from a publication of the National Safety Council, Inc.,6 from explosives recommendations made by various explosives manufacturers,7 and from suggestions obtained from quarries visited. The second objective is to describe and illustrate safety devices, practices, and quarrying methods. The quarrying and related industries of the United States had a lower accident-frequency rate than either the metal- or coal-mining industry as reported for 1942.8 However, the quarry industry ranked eleventh in 15 major industries during 1942 in lost-time accident fre¬quency; metal mining ranked fourteenth and coal mining fifteenth.

Jan 1, 1950

Coal research and related activities in 1964 by the Bureau of Mines resulted in many advances in the production, preparation, and utilization of this valuable natural resource. Mining research during the year was marked by work on hydraulic mining, coalbed degasification, mine drainage control, mine sealing, strip-mine rehabilitation, and quenching of mine-refuse fires. Bureau research continued to produce information leading to increased safety in underground mining. Such research included roof and rib control via bolting and bonding, pressure monitoring of coal and mine rock during mining operations, and development of safety devices for detecting conditions leading to roof falls. Other safety work was continued on methane detectors, coal-dust suppression, and mine ventilation equipment and techniques. Mine explosion and explosives research, mine equipment and materials, safety rule modernization, and safety education and training of mine workmen were continued. Coal storage and preparation work in 1964 ranged from freezeproofing of lignite for rail shipment, through washability studies of coals and washing equipment, to research on new ways to remove ash and sulfur from coal. Electric power production, which accounts for a major portion of the market for coal, received further study. Unique power generation systems, including coal-burning gas turbine and megnetohydrodynamic generators, were intensively investigated. Conventional power systems were improved through continuation of work on furnace performance, powerplant stack gas purification, and engineering and boiler water service.

Jan 1, 1965

By H. L. Monro

Contribution by B. K. Martust I congratulate the author on his interesting paper. In my view, the establishment of the level at which South African gold output is at some kind of optimum is an interesting though somewhat academic exercise. Contribution by D. M. Hawkins* The thesis of the paper is a very interesting one, but, before it is used as the basis of any firm proposals to restructure the mining industry, which changes may be irreversible, one should be very sure that the basis of the calculations is sound. Contribution by P. J. Niewenhuizen* The hypothesis advanced by Mr Monro that the demonetization of gold in August 1971 introduced a major new policy variable, namely the supply-pricejdemand-price relationships, into the decision making process touches on a matter that has never really been given serious thought by the industry. Contribution by B. G. Kingsman* As a co-worker on the development of an econometric model for supply and demand in the world gold market with Mr H. L. Monro, it would perhaps be useful for me to make some comments on the various points raised in the discussions on his paper.

Jan 1, 1984

By W. R. Huff

This report describes the development and operation by the Bureau of Mines of a pilot plant designed for using high-volatile A bituminous coal-in-water suspensions as a source of preheated coal and superheated steam in the pressure gasification of coal with oxygen. Figure 1 on page 2 is a block diagram of the integrated gasification process, in which a total of 70 tons of coal was fed from slurry and gasified. The present work included (1) development of equipment and methods both for mixing pulverized coal and water to produce slurry and for pumping and metering the slurry at gasification pressure; (2) development of equipment for heating the flowing slurry and, because slurry that can be pumped produces more steam than is necessary as a gasification reactant, developing equipment for removing and metering the excess steam; and (3) demonstration of the process under actual gasifier operating conditions, at a coal rate of about 800 pounds per hour and gasification pressures in the range 100 to 300 pounds per square inch gage. By using the forced-convection principle, a flow of slurry made from a caking, high-volatile A bituminous coal can be continuously heated to 600° F. in a coil-type heater. The flow rate and concentration of the slurry and the temperature gradient along the length of the heating coil must be closely controlled. In a radiant-type heater, involuntary reductions in flow rate, even momentary, can lead to coking and plugging of the heater coil.

Jan 1, 1961