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By ALEC CROWELL

Mississippi has had oil production for only the past six years and natural gas production of minor magnitude since' 1926. The search for oil and gas commenced in 1903 and 1496 wells had been drilled in search of oil and gas up to Jan. 1, 1946. As the year 1945 ended, 659 wells were producing oil and gas from 23 separate reservoirs. The production for the year was 8,353,719,000 standard cubic feet of natural gas measured on a pressure base of 15.025 lb. per sq. in. abs., 15.316,009 bbl. of oil¬field water and 19,093,766 bbl. of crude oil and condensate. Production for the year 1944 was 2,636,067,000 standard cubic feet of gas, 14,979,793 bbl. of salt water and 16,420,346 bbl. of crude oil and condensate.

Jan 1, 1946

By M. E. Smith

Chile is the world's largest copper producer and as such sets the standard of practice in copper SX/EW design. The authors summarize the liner systems used at many of Chile's major copper producers both operating and planned. The evolution in the state of the art is also discussed, considering both economic factors and Chile's burgeoning environmentalism.

Jan 1, 1994

By Phil Thwaites

"The mining industry uses many types of mineral and metallurgical plants to produce saleable product from ore mined. Plant design history has left current operations with a mixture of manual operation and various forms of automated process controls. Consequently, we typically see high variability in the continuous operations together with a shortfall in the attainment of full capacity, or higher utilization of consumables.At a level of best practice, “Operational Performance Excellence” focuses on process control, using automation and control systems to deliver process optimization. This more sophisticated delivery is a great deal more difficult than the first stage of equipment selection / installation. It includes the appropriate selection of the right instrumentation, control system, key process knowledge, individuals with a solid control engineering background/experience, and the essential backing/ support of the operations management team together leading to higher value delivery. Robust solutions can be realized, considerably minimizing process variation, thus leading to process optimization. This approach results in an easier, efficient and safer process while providing considerable returns for the plant owners.How variable are your processes, and do you maintain optimized process performance with dedicated resources, modern instrumentation, ‘best practice’ control systems and performance monitoring tools? In this lecture, these questions and their possible answers are discussed.357"

Jan 1, 2013

By Paul Meadows

The Buckrange reservoir, Stephens field, Ark., is approaching the economic limit of production under present operating conditions. Over 100 million barrels of oil remaining in the reservoir will not be recovered by primary producing methods. The Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the Arkansas Oil and Gas Com-mission, made the petroleum-engineering study presented in this report to aid operators in evaluating secondary-recovery possibilities in the reservoir and in planning secondary-recovery programs if their initiation is decided. The Stephens field, in Columbia, Nevada, and Ouachita Counties, Ark., is about 12 miles northeast of Magnolia, Ark., and 15 miles west of the Smackover field. Surface elevations in the area average about 240 feet above sea level.

Jan 1, 1956

By C. Zhou, B. Whisner, J. Carr

Proximity Detection Systems (PDSs) are used in the mining industry for protecting mine workers from striking, pinning, and crushing injuries when they work in close proximity to heavy machines such as continuous mining machines (CMMs). Currently all Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) approved PDSs are magnetic field based systems which can be influenced by the presence of wire mesh that is commonly used for supporting roof and ribs in underground coal m ines. In this paper, researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) characterize the influence of the mesh on the performance of magnetic PDSs by measuring the magnetic field difference around a CMM caused by the presence of the mesh. The results show that the magnetic fields are generally enhanced by the mesh which causes the PDS detection zones to be increased correspondingly. It was discovered that the fields around the joints of two mesh sections have the greatest enhancement and thus deserve more attention. In addition, it is found that the presence of mesh can also cause a variation in the generator current. The influence of mesh is characterized by the change in the generator current with respect to the distance between the generator and the mesh. It was found that the generator current change caused by the mesh can be significant (on the order of ten) when the mesh is extremely close to the generator (e.g, less than 1 cm) and is negligible when mesh is relatively far (greater than 0.15 m). The findings in this paper can be used to develop guidelines and best practices to mitigate the influence of mesh on PDSs. INTRODUCTION The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requires operators of underground coal mines to equip place-changing continuous mining machines (CMMs) with proximity detection systems (PDSs) to protect mine workers from striking, pinning and crushing injuries when they work around these heavy machines. Although a variety of technologies can be implemented for proximity detection, the magnetic-field-based PDS that was originally developed at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has shown great effectiveness in challenging mining environments and currently all MSHA-approved PDSs are magnetic-field-based systems. As shown in Figure 1, a magnetic PDS typically includes two major components----the magnetic field generator and the Miner Wearable Component (MWC). Magnetic fields are generated by injecting a high electric current into a ferrite-rod antenna sealed in the generator. The magnetic field strength detected by an MWC varies with the distance between the MWC and the generator. In a typical PDS, multiple generators are mounted on different locations of the machine. The relative location/zone of an MWC is determined based on the field strengths from different generators picked by the MWC. Ideally, for a PDS to work properly in the underground, the magnetic fields generated by the different generators should be stable and not vary with the environment, as the system would interpret any variation of the magnetic field as a result of the distance change between the machine and the miner wearing the MWC. In reality, however, this is not always the case since magnetic fields can be altered by a number of environmental factors such as the presence of steel wire mesh that has been widely used in underground coal mines for supporting roof and ribs In this paper, the influence of mesh on the PDS performance is investigated and the magnetic field change caused by the mesh is measured.

Jan 1, 2019

By Ross Goodman, Jesse Salai

The Ohio River Tunnel Project encountered multiple unexpected geotechnical challenges such as crown and invert instability due to the overstress condition affecting the strata above, below, and in the tunnel alignment during and after TBM excavation along with the potential for methane inflow. This paper showcases how the orientation of a tunnel alignment has a significant impact on how in-situ geological stress can impact the excavation of a tunnel from the contractor’s point of view and how geological features influence gas inflow to the alignment over time.

Jun 13, 2021

By Llewellyn A. Rubin

ROUTINES AND SUBROUTINES A- 1 Wait Loop (Wait) A- 2 Receiver Processing (RCVP) A- 3 Control Panel Sequence (CPNL) A-4 Interrupt Routine (INTRP) A- 5 Math Processing Routine (PROC) A-6 Input Constants for Math Routine (CONI) A-7 Angle Conversion Routines (LVERT) A- 8 Display Routine (DSPY) A- 9 Message Print Auxillary Routine (MESSO) A-10 Auxillary Subroutines (AFUTC and AGETC)

Jan 1, 1973

By F. J. Wiebelt

Production of small tonnages of asbestos has been reported from 18 California counties; 16 additional counties have occurrences of asbestos. The counties in the northern part of California that have had a recorded production are: Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, E1 Dorado, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Shasta, Siskiyou, Trinity, and Tuolumne. No deposit in the State has maintained consistent production. Serpentinized peridotites (potential chrysotile-bearing rocks) are widely distributed in the coast ranges, Klamath Mountains, and western foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

Jan 1, 1958

By Ewan Alexander

"As human beings, we have managed risk since the dawn of the ages and have been adept at doing so. In order to survive, we hunted or gathered. If we did not take enough risk, we died. If we took much risk, we died (Fig. 1). As individuals and tribes, risk had to be optimized to maximize our chances to thrive, as individuals and as tribes.In today’s world, the risks are vastly different, but in order to thrive, these must be managed. And no industry knows this as much as mining. In fact, the International Council of Mining & Metals (ICMM) has proposed the Critical Risk Model (Fig. 2) as a means of identifying critical risk, critical controls and associated performance standards. The ICMM focuses on sustainable development performance in the mining and metals industry. It has 23 members, representing some of the largest mining companies in the world.This approach is going to help the mining industry. But it must be applied effectively, with the acknowledgment that the system alone cannot be effective. We can say this confidently, as even companies known for the strength of their risk and safety management systems continue to experience significant incidents, and, in some cases, catastrophes. Why does that happen when all safety metrics, including injury rate, are pointing in the right direction? In the view of the author, it is only when leadership, culture and systems work in complete harmony that the resilience of an organization to manage its significant risk is at an optimal level. It remains an ongoing leadership challenge to maintain that balance and the optimal mindset in the organization. So how do you maintain that special balance?Let’s start with a basic premise. Leadership, supported by simple effective systems, creates culture which creates outcomes. Everyone going home safely is an outcome, as is cost effective operations, and to achieve those outcomes efficiently, the organization must focus on the inputs. And those inputs include effective leadership, effective systems (for the purposes of this article, risk and health, safety and environment (HSE) systems), good planning, stable operations and competent workers. This article will focus on gaining maximum performance from your risk management system."

Oct 1, 2016

By Lee R. Kump, Sarma V. Pisupati, Peter L. Rozelle, Alan R. Larson, Timothy S. White, Nicholas A. Crescenzo, Maureen D. Feineman

The Mercer Clay bed in central Pennsylvania has produced feedstocks for the refractory industry in the USA and has also been investigated as a source of alumina and lithium. Developments in global markets for these commodities, as well as rare earth elements, have led to their classification as critical minerals in the USA, in turn renewing production opportunities for the Mercer Clay resource. The work reported here includes a review of the clay types and minerals involved, as well as past mineral processing and extractive metallurgy test work, and reports new research results from renewed investigation of the deposit as a polymetallic resource. This renewed work has found lithium contents that exceed 1,000 ppm, lying directly below the overlying Mercer coal, where the alumina content ranged from 32 to 34 wt%. Total rare earth concentrations were somewhat lower than have been found elsewhere in the region, and the highest contents were also found to be stratigraphically close to the coal. Further work is required to establish the mineral hosts for lithium and rare earths and to define the extent of enriched alumina, lithium, and rare earth concentrations.

Jul 22, 2021

By PHILIPP HARTLIEB, Peter Schimek, Thomas Seidl, Paulo Couceiro, Pablo Segarra, José A. Sanchidrián, Juan Navarro

This paper describes a new methodology to assess rock mass-quality to guide blasting in open pit operations. A developed Structural Block Model and Strength-Grade factor have been combined in a Rock Factor, that, exclusively obtained from drilling data, can provide an automatic assessment of rock structure, strength, and waste/ore identification.

Feb 1, 2020

By John W. Crawford

The majority of the regulations in Part 75 for underground coal mines have been in effect since March of 1970, almost nine years now. Although there have been some additions each year in specific areas where the need became apparent or the statute required some action, the bulk was promulgated on March 28, 1970 for the purpose of clarifying the statutory provisions of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. Many of those regulations were derived from the Federal Mine Safety Code, or from experience gained by the Bureau of Mines in the enforcement of Public Law 552. Upon passage of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, these same regulations remained in effect and the statutory requirements of the Act placed a responsibility upon the Secretary of Labor to promulgate additional regulations in specific areas not previously covered. The Federal inspectorate has received formal training at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in the proper application of the regulations, as well as routine retraining and special training courses subsequent to the promulgation of new regulations. With some exceptions, the vast majority of these regulations are nothing more than good mining practice. Basically, the regulatory problems are two-fold. There are a few specific regulations that, under certain circumstances, compliance is nearly, if not actually, impossible. There is non-uniform application of enforcement of regulations by the inspectorate based on opinions developed from personal experience of inspectors or lack of experience. The record is replete with examples of overzealous inspectors applying regulations that either do not exist or have been stretched far beyond the intent of the regulations.

Jan 1, 1979

To solve the mining safety and health needs of the future, access to, and sharing of, timely and relevant information will be crucial. The next generation of the Web will provide tools (RDF, OWL, SPARQL, etc) to define and link content for more effective discovery, integration, and reuse across applications and organisations. A recent Gartner Research Report (Finding and exploiting value in Semantic Web technologies on the web, May 2007) predicts these technologies will begin to coalesce in ten years. Implementing this Semantic Web requires structured web content described via metadata (information about information). If an industry or enterprise bases its metadata on a common vocabulary, it becomes possible to share and reuse information. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and HealthÆs (NIOSH) Mining web site provides access to more than 1500 NIOSH-developed publications, products, and topic pages on issues as diverse as ground control, respiratory diseases, and mine emergency management. As the site has grown, locating content has become increasingly difficult. To improve the searching process, a panel of internal experts representing all major research programs was established to develop a controlled vocabulary for indexing that content. The outcome is the NIOSH Mining Safety and Health Thesaurus, a faceted, hierarchical thesaurus containing hundreds of mining safety and health terms organised into 20 facets (eg diseases, injuries and disorders; hazardous events and exposures, equipment, engineering and administrative controls). One immediate goal of this project is to reduce the complexity of locating information on the NIOSH Mining web site by implementing metadata and faceted information retrieval techniques. Another goal is to stimulate discussion in the international mining community regarding developing metadata standards so the industry is ready to adopt future Semantic Web technologies to improve access to mining safety and health information.

Jan 1, 2008

THE annual meeting of the Lake Superior Mining Institute was held on Sept. 7 and 8, Crystal Falls and Iron Mountain, Mich., being the principal centers of activity. Members of both institutes began assembling early, and by the evening of Sept. 6, some 60 had already arrived at Crystal Falls. The greater number arrived the following morning, however, and after the usual formalities of registration were attended to, the party were loaded into automobiles and set out on a tour of inspection of the mines near Iron River; some properties were passed through, and some were briefly visited to permit the inspection of any unusually interesting piece of equipment or detail of practice. The last stop of the morning was at the Caspian, Iron River, where the entire party was entertained at luncheon at the Caspian Club House. Both the food and the company were excellent, and as the weather was superlatively good (though the natives of the district modestly declared it was only ordinary autumn weather) the lunch was served on the lawn at the rear of the club, where the green turf, abundant flowers, and music by the band, added to the charm of good fellowship. The degree to which mining men have become addicted to golf was indicated by the large number of plus fours in evidence, whose wearers appeared just before lunch and disappeared immediately afterward.

Jan 1, 1928

By Eric Sitorus, Septian Prahastudhi, Roy William, Wieda Azani

In July 2020, massive slope failure occurred in the southeast corner Grasberg open pit. This was the final episode in the breakthrough of Production Block 2 South (PB2S) of the Grasberg Block Cave to connect to the surface. This breakthrough had been rapidly evolving during the first half of 2020 and occurred as expected with no adverse impacts to safety or operations. To manage and safeguard the exposure to the workforce and operations, numerous hazards were identified and anticipated. The failure of the sill pillar between the open pit and PB2S cave was identified as the main area of interest and was closely watched during the failure process. This paper reviews the systematic approach developed to convert monitoring data into information around the collapse of the GBC PB2S cave sill pillar. The data that was interpreted consisted of micro-seismic, piezometric, ground-based radar and observational inspections. Geological structures on the boundary of the PB2S cave were clearly involved in the breakthrough process. As the cave propagation reached these structures and triggered instability, the resulting acceleration and breakdown were clearly shown by IBIS radar units associated with high movement in the slope. The focus of this paper is on the evolution of changes seen in the micro-seismic data and how it was used to understand the rapidly changing conditions of the sill pillar. The seismic parameters evaluated were event distribution, Es/Ep value, and the seismic moment tensor inversion. The changes of breakthrough indication seen in these parameters were substantiated by Shear Wave Splitting (SWS) analysis that showed a close correlation with the fractured zone above the PB2S cave as indicated by the increasing anisotropy.

Jan 1, 2022

By Satyam Tiwari, Sarat Kumar Das

Tailings from mines and industries impose danger to the environment as evidenced by the recent failures of tailing storage dams. The tailings are mostly non-plastic with silt-size particles, but their behavior is largely dependent on the extreme void ratios of the material. Hence, the critical state provides an appropriate perspective in explaining the behavior of these geomaterials. Based on a comprehensive dataset of non-plastic tailings and non-plastic soils, an attempt has been made here to correlate critical state parameters to extreme void ratios and stress parameters. A hybrid algorithm with multi-objective feature selection (MOFS) and extreme learning machine (ELM) was used to establish the correlation and to identify the most influential input parameters. Based on the information from the proposed hybrid algorithm, a comprehensive prediction model is proposed using multi-gene genetic programming (MGGP) algorithm to facilitate quick estimation of critical state parameters. The performance of both models has been assessed using several performance metrics. The results from the study indicate that hybrid MOFS algorithms perform very well in the prediction of critical state line parameters and the identification of influential features. The findings of the study have significant implications for future research on the safe management of tailing storage facilities.

Dec 22, 2023

By G. R. Palmer

The success of future electric vehicles will depend greatly upon the power supply choices made today. Research is presently being conducted by automotive engineers and electrochemists to determine what battery type may be the most promising. Not only are product production and application efficiencies being evaluated but also environmental concerns of reclamation and recycling. Rechargeable batteries using nickel-metal hydride electrodes are strong candidates for these electric vehicle applications. The U.S. Bureau of Mines is investigating hydrometallurgical technology that separates and recovers purified metallic components present in nickel-metal hydride battery scrap. Sulfuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids are all capable of dissolving the battery electrode alloys given the proper operating conditions. Solvent extraction of the leach solutions using D2EHPA removes iron, and selective precipitation shows promise of recovering the other metals in the H2SO4 and HNO, systems.

Jan 1, 1994

The original manuscript of section 2 of this series of miners' circulars devoted to accident prevention in bituminous-coal mines was completed in September 1944. At that time roof bolting had been tried with some success in the lead-mining district of south-eastern Missouri, but information on the subject was so fragmentary that it was not included as a method of roof support. References to roof support in bituminous-coal mines, therefore, were confined almost entirely to conventional timbering methods. In 1947 the Bureau instituted a research program and intensive study of the general problem of roof control, which emphasized roof-bolt application. The rapid increase in mechanized mining following the close of World War II provided the impetus for the Bureau's roof-control investigations, because the vertical supports used with conventional timber restricted the maneuverability of mechanical face equipment, and the industry wanted to explore every possible method of eliminating interference with the production cycle to gain full advantage of mechanized mining. Moreover, the accidental dislodgment of vertical supports greatly increased the roof-fall hazard. As roof falls have killed and seriously injured more mine workmen every year than any other cause or classification of injury since records have been kept, the Bureau assumed this investigative leadership with the prime objective of substantially reducing the annual toll from falls of roof, including falls of rib and face.

Jan 1, 1958

By R. A. Matuszak

Throughout the history of power excavating machines, engineers have continuously tried to shape the main drive speed-torque characteristics to provide an optimum performance from each main motion. Selection of prime mover for the various motions has been the subject of many engineering studies and most forms of energy conversion have been tried. A new form of electrical power conversion looms on the horizon' as the most optimum yet. Controlled frequency operation of a squirrel cage induction motor increases the reliability of the most reliable form of energy conversion (electrical) found thus far and at the same time improves the performance characteristics.

Jan 1, 1977

By C. W. Smith

The U.S. Bureau of Mines; Tuscaloosa Research Center, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under interagency Agreement No. 14-09-0078-1510, conducted a comprehensive sampling program of 10 upland disposal sites along the Alabama, Black Warrior, and Tombigbee River systems in Alabama. Samples from each site were characterized according to particle size, chemical analysis, mineralogical content, and potential end use. Additionally, samples were subjected to the Toxic Characteristic Leachate Procedure to determine the presence of potentially harmful heavy metals. Based on the results of these studies, each sample was determined to have properties amenable for use as aggregate in general-purpose portland cement concretes and certain asphalt concrete applications.

Jan 1, 2010