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By BUREAU OF MINES

In July, 1918, the attention of the Secretary of the Interior WItS called to the rapidly increasing cost of producing gold and the declining output of that metal in the United States. Realizing the importance of the gold-mining industry, the Secretary appointed a. committee, consisting of Hennen .Iennings, chairman, J. H. Mackenzie, and Charles Janin, of the Bureau of Mines, and H. D. Me- Caskey and F. L. Ransome, of the United States Geological Survey, to,make a thorough study of the gold-mining situation in the United States. The study was to cover the increased cost of recovery and the decreased output of gold, and to consider the different measures that had been proposed to relieve the industry and stimulate production. This report embodies the results of the investigation and study made by the committee. The report presents statistical data compiled from various sources, showing the production of gold in the United States and other countries, with comparative figures for coal, iron, and other mineral products, and describes the sources and distribution of gold output in the United States. It discusses the relation of gold' production to finance and credit, the causes for the decline in gold output, and measures for the relief of the industry. The Interior Department publishes this report in the belief that the widest publicity possible should be given the findings of the committee in order that attention may be directed to the serious conditions revealed therein, and in the hope that wide discussion of the subject may result in some action being taken that will aid in upholding the gold standard ,and the gold industry.

Oct 30, 1919

By Paul M. Tyler

The technology of clay and the manufacture of ceramic products therefrom, and also the clay resources of most of the individual States, are already covered by a voluminous literature. The present resume touches these matters only briefly; its purpose is essentially to bring together in small compass certain of the elementary factors affecting the potential commercial value of a clay deposit. In its preparation the author made extensive use of the annual chapters on Clay in Mineral Resources of the United States and in the two annual issues of the Minerals. Yearbook that succeeded them. For careful review and constructive criticism of the manuscript, the author is indebted to Hewitt Wilson. GENERAL DESCRIPTION The term ?clay? includes a great variety of substances that may differ widely in chemical mineralogical and physical properties. No two clays are exactly alike. All of them however, have the prominent characteristic of becoming more or less plastic when wet. Nearly all of the useful clays can be molded into articles, will hold their shape while being dried, and can be converted into a hard, rocklike substance by heat. Clay may, and in fact usually does, consist of a number of minerals among the commonest of which are kaolinite, quartz, feldspar, iron oxides, mica, bauxite, calcite, and manganese oxides. Organic matter is often present. Pure kaolinite, which has the formula A1203. 2 SiO2. 2H2O, is ordinarily, considered to be the parent "clay substance," butt most clays contain other hydrated mixtures of alumina and silica (aluminosilicic acids) along with indefinite amounts of sand and other nonessential minerals3/ Even, this so-called inert matter affects the plasticity, drying shrinkage, ease of drying, and final density, and at high temperatures may react chemically with the clay substance.

Jan 1, 1929

By Robert H. Peters

This report presents a literature review conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The review summarizes what has been learned from the large volume of empirical studies on the effectiveness of eight types of interventions intended to increase organizational effectiveness via in the management of human resources. The interventions concern the following: recruitment, selection, training, objective feedback, goal setting, reward systems, participative management practices and organization development. Although many of these interventions appear to have the potential for improving the safety and efficiency of mining operations, it does not appear that they are being widely used. Examples are given of the successful use of a few of these interventions at mining operations. An analysis of the relationship between coal mine productivity and safety is also presented. This analysis generally supports the view that good safety performance and high productivity are NOT incompatible goals. In fact, safe mines also tend to be more productive and vice versa.

Jan 1, 1992

By P. M. Daling, C. A. Geffen

The objectives of this study were to examine a representative cross section of formal safety analysis techniques developed for the nuclear and aerospace industries, to recommend those methods that would be suitable for application to the mining industry, and to include those methods in a user's manual. Volume XI of this report, the user's manual, describes several methods that were determined to be immediately transferrable to the mining industry. The handbook gives detailed instructions on appropriate application and utilization of the methods. Other techniques will require further development before they can be effectively transferred to the mining industry.

Jan 1, 1983

By J. W. Thompson

That the governor is hereby authorized to appoint a commission of seven persons, to be known as the industrial accidents commission-two of whom shall be employers of labor, two of whom shall be employees in either mines or industrial establishments of this Commonwealth, or duly accredited representatives thereof, two of whom shall be learned in the law, and one of whom shall be a person skilled and experienced in making investigations-to inquire into the causes and results of industrial accidents in the mines, mills, factories, stores, and upon the railroads, street railways, ships, wharves, and in all industrial establishments, and in all other places where men, women, and children are employed in manual labor in this Commonwealth; to study the most advanced methods for safe-guarding against these accidents; to inquire into the subject of fair compensation for those who are injured in these accidents, and for the families of those who shall be killed as a result thereof; and to study the operation and effect of the Workmen's Compensation Law of 1913. SEC. 2. The chairman of said co~mission shall be designated by the governor, and the person named on said commission as a skilled and experienced investigator shall be the secretary of the commission, The commission shall have power to employ such legal counsel and other officers and employees as it may deem necessary to properly perform its duties. SEC. 3. The secretary of said commission shall receive an annual salary of $2,400 and his actual necessary expenses; and the other members of the commission shall receive no compensation for their services, but shall be allowed their actual traveling and other necessary expenses. The salaries of any other persons employed by the commission shall be fixed by it.

Jan 1, 1920

By J. R. Koehler

Effective barrier pillar design is essential for safe and productive underground coal mining. This U.S. Bureau of Mines report presents an overview of available barrier pillar design methodologies that incorporate sound engineering principles while remaining practical for everyday usage. Nomographs and examples are presented to assist in the determination of proper barrier pillar sizing. Additionally, performance evaluation techniques and criteria are included to assist in determining the effectiveness of selected barrier pillar configurations.

Jan 1, 1995

By Daryl R. Tweeton

The Bureau of Mines is investigating possible applications of geophysics to monitor leachate during in situ mining. Tomographic reconstruc-tion of seismic or electromagnetic crosshole data appears applicable. The tomographic program BOMTOM (Bureau of Mines tomography) was written and then used to investigate reconstructions with synthetic travel time data. The calculations confirmed that without constraints, crosshole data do not provide unique solutions. The solution is not determined solely by the data, but is also influenced by the velocity guesses starting the iterative solution procedure. The effectiveness of constraints in combatting nonuniqueness was examined. The requirement that the velocity not vary laterally at the top and bottom of the pixel grid was effective. This constraint is realistic when the top and bottom of the grid represent dry and saturated re-gions, respectively. Limiting the maximum velocity improved reconstructions, but may not be applicable in practice. BOMTOM uses the simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique (SIRT) with straight ray paths. The program is efficient in use of memory, and can be run on a personal computer. A source code in FORTRAN is listed. A source code in BASICA and compiled executable codes in both languages are available from the Bureau's Twin Cities (MN) Research Center.

Jan 1, 1985

This Information Circular describes the Bureau of Mines Minerals Availability System (MAS), presents the Resource Classification Manual used for information input to a computer file, and discusses the methods of collecting and assembling background material' basic to coding the data.

Jan 1, 1974

By Forrest T. Moyer

Need for lightweight building materials was created in the latter part of the nineteenth century by a radical change in building design in which dead load or structural weight was transferred from thick, heavy, load- bearing walls of former construction practice to a load-carrying framework of beams and columns with thin walls. This new design was brought about by the introduction of structural steel followed by reinforced concrete and structural concrete as materials for the erection of the load-supporting frame. The new materials and method of construction made possible the erection of skyscrapers and the building of bridges with long spans, and made feasible additions of one or more floors to existing buildings. As size and design of the load-bearing framework are controlled chiefly by dead load, the natural result was a. search for and use of light- weight materials in partitions, floors, and exterior walls. However, these thin walls created problems of heat and sound. insulation, so that building materials which possessed good heat- and sound-insulating properties in addition to light weight were objects of extensive research. One group of materials developed to fill this need comprised lightweight concretes, of which some were obtained by the use of lightweight aggregates. Although the advantages of lightweight.materials were evident from the first skyscrapers, there was a transition.stage.between the old bearing- wall and modern skeleton-frame types of building, with the heavy and massive construction of the former superimposed upon the latter. Hence, it was not until the period between 1910 and 1930 that the new lightweight concretes were recognized and used more extensively in the erection of large, nonresidential buildings. From this type of construction, light- weight-aggregate concretes entered-fields of residential and small non- residential building; in which they were found desirable for production of prefabricated, large-size; masonry units. Although the weight of each unit was reduced sufficiently to enable one man to handle it easily, properties of the new concretes other than light weight were the principal factors in the ready acceptance of these new materials in residential building. Manufacture of precast units includes complete lines of masonry and back-up blocks, bricks; floor beams, columns and partition, roof, and floor tiles and slabs. Recent improvements in casting machinery, development of the vibration-pressure machine, and a more thorough study and knowledge of the requirements and properties of the concrete mix have all contributed materially to the rapid expansion in use of lightweight aggregates in this industry.

Jan 1, 1942

The contribution of minerals to the growth and development of the United States is best demonstrated by the uses which have evolved during the past two centures. During pre-Revolutionary days the colonies were essentially agricultural in character, producing cotton, tobacco, rice, indigo, grains and flour, fish, livestock, dairy products, and timber. Shipbuilding was the major manufacturing industry. In 1763, the total value of exports for Virginia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts was £2,722,000, of which £55,000, or 2 percent, was for "copper ore, and iron in pigs" (3)1 and £49,000 was for 21,000 barrels or hogsheads of "pot-ash." The value of 75 ships built for sale in 1763 by the colonies was £61,500.

Jan 1, 1976

By Alice M. Chieruzzi

This Country Documentation Report presents the development of economic indices for the Philippines for the period from 1970 through 1981. The work was done through the Bureau of Mines, Minerals Availability Program, under Contract number J01225001. This contract calls for the development of twelve index time series describing factor input costs in the mining sector of 95 countries. The twelve index time series describe the costs of: 1) mining wages, 2) construction wages, 3) equipment and repair parts, 4) bits and related steel, 5) eimber and lumber, 6) fuel, 7) powder and balsting agents, 8) tires, 9) construction materials, 10) industrial materials, 11) transportation, and 12) electrical power. These indices combined with weight factors being developed by the personnel of the Minerals Availability Field Office (MAFO) of the Bureau of Mines in Denver, Colorado, will be used to perform instantaneous updates of all costs relating to the mining industry. The indices were developed primarily for use in the Bureau's Minerals Availability Program in assessing the worldwide availability of nonfuel minerals.

Jan 1, 1983

By John M. Dale

Sulfur is a plentiful, low cost, unique material whose physical properties can be altered and employed in structural applications. This program was undertaken to develop an optimum sulfur based formulation for use as a coating to both seal and support mine walls. The initial effort in the program was devoted to a laboratory study of the physical and mechanical properties of a variety of sulfur base coatings that were specifically formulated for this application. Concurrent with formulation development, laboratory equipment and techniques were developed for spray applying the sulfur based coatings to the ceiling and walls of a structure that simulated the interior of a mine. Much of the formulation work was guided by the experiences encountered when attempting to spray the formulations overhead. One hundred parts of sulfur modified with 10 parts of talc, 3 parts of milled glass fiber, and 2 parts of dicyclopentadiene was found to be a fire retarded, low odor, low eye irritation, sprayable formulation for sealing and strengthening mini, walls. An invention disclosure on this formulation was submitted to the Bureau of Mines and a patent application was filed. Various mineral samples were obtained and adhesive strengths of the formulation to these samples in both the wet and dry state were measured. With the development of an attractive sulfur based coating material, attention was directed to the design, fabrication, and testing of a portable spray application unit so that coatings might be applied in the field to various rock surfaces and earth formations for further evaluation. The unit was fabricated in the Southwest Research Institute shop. Once operational, the unit's capabilities were field tested and demonstrated at three separate locations. Upon completion of the field testing, the unit was shipped to the Spokane Mining Research Center where Bureau personnel were instructed in the use of the unit.

Jan 1, 1972

By A. E. Ketler

This report describes a variety of coal mine lighting projects which were funded by the Bureau of Mines in order to obtain underground lighting experience in support of new lighting requirements for underground coal mines. Low coal and high coal, narrow and wide entries, conventional and continuous mining, ac and dc power, bituminous and anthracite, and machine mounting and area lighting were some of the variables covered in this program. Also evaluated was the OCENCO fluorescent caplamp.

Jan 1, 1979

By John J. Sammarco

The functional safety of programmable electronic (PE) mining systems is an international issue and concern. From 1995 to 2001, 11 PE-related mining incidents in the U.S. were reported by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA); 71 PE-related mining incidents were reported in Australia. MSHA does not have regulations for formal evaluations of the functional safety of PE mining systems. Hence, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in partnership with MSHA and the industry, generated the NIOSH safety framework for functional safety of PE mining systems. An overview of the NIOSH framework is given; the key framework elements, the safety life cycle and safety integrity levels are detailed. The safety framework approach has impacted the national and Australian mining industries by enabling the industries to advance from an ad-hoc approach to a formalized and systematic functional safety process. In retrospect, valuable lessons were learned for addressing functional safety and for changing industry perspectives and practices. These lessons continue to benefit mining and are applicable to other industries as well.

By G. W. Weems

The Bureau of Mines used the Burnett method and apparatus to determine the compressibility factors for helium and carbon dioxide mixtures at 0°, 10°, 20°, 23°, and 35° C and to pressures of 900 psia. Tables of compressibility factors and approximations of the virial coefficients are presented for seven binary mixtures as well as for helium and carbon dioxide. The results compare favorably with existing data.

Jan 1, 1969

By Roger M. Sherman

[Investigation of mine land characteristics, evaluation of irrigation systems, and evaluations by the mining industry, determined that irrigation is a feasible method for aiding revegetation of coal mined lands in western arid and semi-arid regions. The various regions studied displayed a commonality of characteristics which enables, independent of the site or region, the recommendation of solid set irrigation. Irrigation should be supplemental by complimenting natural precipitation and be should implemented on a temporary basis.]

Jan 1, 1980

By Roy L. Grant

The Bureau of Mines investigated the up-and-down method with factorial designs to determine if shorter, and therefore less costly, trial sequences could be used. Although sequences of 50 trials are usually recommended, sequences of 20 trials were arbitrarily chosen for the experiments with permissible coal mine explosives described in this report. These explosives were fired from a cannon pointed into a flammable natural gas-air atmosphere at the Bureau of Mines Explosives Research Center gallery to ascertain their safety properties. The investigation demonstrated that the shorter sequences led to useful conclusions with a reduction in cost of the experimental program.

Jan 1, 1967

By J. Bongarra

This report describes the development of the instructional design and content of a training program for shaft construction miners and supervisors. The recommended training approach is based on the results of a needs, task, and competency analysis of the jobs performed by conventional shaft sinking and raise drill personnel. Learning objectives were derived from the task analysis and the appropriate training delivery system was chosen using a selection technique which employed learning algorithms. The training described is aimed at improving the safety and efficiency of constructing shafts by new hire and experienced miners and supervisors. A self-paced, self-teaching, modular approach to training, using criterion-referenced tests was proposed. Recommendation was made to divide the training into three parts: Orientation and Safety; Task Instruction; and Practical Exercise. Training requirements for conventional shaft sinking and raise drilling were described. Training program content was detailed in the form of module and lesson design approaches. In addition, the report recommends a method for developing, implementing and validating the training program. The authors conclude that such an implementation would meet the major objectives of improving the safety and efficiency of shaft construction work operations.

Jan 1, 1979

By Philip C. Tully

These modifications to the Redlich-Kwong equations for pure hydrogen and neon were developed after an unsuccessful attempt to generalize a modification technique previously developed for helium. New coefficients of the B terms were developed by minimizing the residuals. No changes were made in the coefficients of the A terms. For normal hydrogen, B was changed to [0.08063Tc PcT] for temperatures from 980 to 423° K and pressures up to 1,050 atm. The average deviation in Z was 0.36 percent with maximum deviations less than 1 percent for all but a few low-temperature points. For neon, B was changed to [PCT 0.1025T], for temperatures from 120° to 973° K and pressures up to 1,500 atm. The average deviation in Z was 0.34 percent with maximum deviations less than 1 percent for all but a few high-pressure and low-temperature points. Efforts to attain a lower temperature range to comparable accuracy with this type of modification were unsuccessful. In the range of applicability, these equations should be used with caution when calculating derived thermodynamic functions, such as the isobaric specific heat.

Jan 1, 1968

Mine drainage and mine reclamation are topics of major interest to the mining industry, federal and local governments, and the general public. This publication and its companion three volumes are the proceedings of a conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 24-29, 1994. There were twelve sessions (69 papers) that dealt with mine drainage, including modeling, geochemistry, prediction, treatment, control strategies, characterization, hydrology, and case studies. These sessions comprise volumes 1 and 2. The six sessions (34 papers) that dealt with reclamation and revegetation of disturbed lands are included in volume 3. Volume 4 includes the six sessions (34 papers) that dealt with such topical issues as fires at abandoned mine sites, subsidence, hydrology, mine wastes, and policy. Poster session presentations are represented by 49 papers and 92 abstracts that have been placed in the back of volumes 2, 3, and 4, consistent with the subject of that volume.

Jan 1, 1994