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By M. A. Cook

Crude titanium metal, produced by the reduction of titanium tetrachloride with magnesium, is contaminated with some excess magnesium end adhering magnesium chloride when it is removed from the reaction pot. The method of vacuum 'purification is described in which the crude mixture is heated in a vacuum at a temperature of about 1,700° F. and the magnesium metal and chloride are volatilized away from the titanium, leaving it practically magnesium-free in a sponge-metal form. The pilot-plant equipment is described in detail, together with the technique of operation and methods of sponge recovery. Operating data is given, which compares ten 24- to 30-hour heats with ton 48-hour heats, and finally, power and labor requirements are discussed. Vacuum purification of raw titanium produced by the Kroll process has boon employed for treating of several tons of raw titanium with results for superior to those achieved by the method of leaching and grinding. The operations described, while on but little more than pilot-plant scale, indicate commercial feasibility of the process, even though it is a batch-typo operation. All equipment is either of standard manufacture or can be readily fabricated from standard materials, and operation of the units can be satisfactorily maintained by semiskilled labor.

Jan 1, 1952

By Bruce Pinkston

This report presents a description of the Prototype Demonstration Vehicle developed under U.S. Bureau of Mines Contract No. JO 366003, "Improving Man Transit Safety". This vehicle was constructed to assess the feasibility of a set of equipment related guidelines which were drafted in Phase I of the same contract. State-of-the-Art improvements were embodied in such areas as collision survivability, occupant comfort, and multiple mode (on and off rail) operation. The electric battery-powered vehicle carries a twelve man section crew at speeds up to 12 mph. The description of the demonstration vehicle is presented in Volume I. Safety Guidelines are presented in Volume II.

Jan 1, 1981

By M. Paczkowski

The use of inert gas systems to extinguish mine fires has been the subject of research for some time in the United States. In some European countries, it is an established practice. Tests were conducted with the CMI Inert Gas System (CMI), which is being used by the Polish mining industry. This system utilizes a modified jet aircraft engine and afterburner as a compact source of combustion products with a very low (less than one percent) oxygen content. Water injected into the combustion products stream provides evaporative cooling and forms a mist with a high cooling capacity. The CMI system was used under controlled conditions to extinguish coal pile fires at the U. S. Bureau of Mines Experimental Mine in Bruceton, Pennsylvania. The test results show that the CMI system can be used conveniently to extinguish fires quickly and to maintain an inert atmosphere in the fire zone to prevent re-ignition.

Jan 1, 1982

By William C. McLaughlin

In the deep vein mines of the Coeur d'Alene mining district, rock bursts are a potential hazard to the mine structure and underground personnel. Damage repair costs are estimated by one company to exceed $1 per ton of ore mined. The Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the mining companies, has conducted research intermittently over the past 10 years to help reduce bursts. Onsite inspections of major rock bursts were conducted, and reports were submitted to mine management; these included the geology and geometry of the affected area. The paper discusses the development and improvement of microseismic and surface monitoring equipment. The underground microseismic network, when operated on a regular basis and the results plotted daily, is capable of detecting stress concentration in certain areas. The surface seismographs record rock bursts, blasts, earthquakes, etc., throughout the district and show approximate location, time, and relative intensity of the event.

Jan 1, 1976

By P. B. Grote

The report provides a general description of DOM technology, sources for DOM technology, and identifies approaches and requirements for acquisition by the Enterprise of DOM technology by conventional means. The approaches identified assume the Enterprise enters into a contractual/ joint venture arrangement with an uncommitted and competent systems management firm at various stages of the DOM system acquisition process. The approaches provide for training through work/study as well as through direct participation in acquisition programs. The potential success of the alternatives are evaluated in terms of the likelihood of the acquisition of an ongoing Enterprise economic DOM operational capability. The study concludes that sources exist and that the Enterprise should under-take the development of its own technical capability through conceptual design prior to selecting its source for systems management expertise.

Jan 1, 1980

By Harry Dobroski

Communications with moving tracked vehicles in a rail haulage mine pose a difficult problem. These communications take place from dispatcher to vehicles or from vehicle to vehicle via the trolley line, which is a very poor communications line. As a result, deadspots and high-signal areas can occur anywhere along the line, or signal can decrease simply as a function of distance. An analysis is made of the trolley line as a communications line, and methods of improving its characteristics are discussed. Data from inmine experiments are presented, showing actual improvements in communications. Recent Bureau developments in new hardware are also discussed. These include an adaptive speaker control for existing carrier phones and a new generation of improved carrier phones.

By Robert A. Miller

This computer program determines the price per ton of coal needed to obtain a profit of 12 percent discounted cash flow. From a predetermined equipment and manning list, the program calculates all costs and prints seven tables, Including the equipment and manning tables and the discount cash flow table. Forty-four of the input variables may be readily changed to study their effects upon the final price per ton of coal or upon individual cost items. The method is adaptable for any type of mining and with additions, for beneficiation processes. This program was written in Fortran IV for use on the IBM 11302 and with few modifications can be used on other computers.

Jan 1, 1971

By Dale William Avery

Thirty mines and prospects were studied; 22 are within the Dolus Lakes RARE II area. Three properties within the area and one adjacent to it were determined to have indicated or inferred gold, silver, or molybdenum resources (fig. 1 and table 1) associated with quartz veins and shear zones or quartz-pyrite stockworks in granodiorite. Five other properties in the area and three just outside have potential for the discovery of gold and silver resources. Minor amounts of very fine-grained placer gold are in glacial outwash in and near the area. The John G. Carlisle Mine (fig. 1, no. 9) produced 120 oz (3.7 kg) of gold between 1897-1899. The Independence Mine produced 481 oz (15 kg) gold, 197 oz (6.1 kg) silver, and 189 lb (86 kg) of copper between 1926 and 1935. These mines are adjacent to the study area's northern boundary.

Jan 1, 1983

Development of automatic fire protection systems for large, mobile mine haulage equipment was initiated under Department of Interior's Bureau of Mines-FMC Corp. contract H0122053, "Improved Sensors and Fire Control Systems for Mining Equipment June 1972 to May 1973." After successfully designing and mock-up testing an effective economical automatic fire protection system, and after having demonstrated that the system could extinguish controlled fires on 100-ton capacity haulage trucks, USBM-FMC contract 110232059 was issued in June, 1973, to conduct further development and validation testing. This report documents technical progress and activity under the latter contract. Figure 1 shows areas of the two haulage trucks that were protected by the automatic fire protection systems tested during this program. Figures 2 and 3 are composites showing hardware and schematic diagrams of the systems tested.

Jan 1, 1974

By Edward M. Kawenski

Float dust deposits in return airways in bituminous coal and lignite mines present a special explosion hazard. Research is in progress at the Bureau of Mines experimental coal mine to evaluate the degree of the hazard and to develop measures for preventing dissemination of dust into the ventilating air current. To determine the extent of this hazard prevailing in operating coal mines, 711 dust samples were collected in 50 mines located in the major coal fields of the United States. The mean quantity of coal and the incombustible content of the dust in the samples were determined. The term "float dust" is used to designate particles smaller than 74 microns in diameter (particles passing a No. 200 sieve) which have settled from the air current. Dust usually found in roadways and in working places is coarser than float dust, and is termed "coarse dust" (particles passing a No. 20 sieve). Variations in amount and incombustible content of coarse dust in a midwestern mine were studied previously.5

Jan 1, 1963

By David J. Hoadley

This report describes the development and underground operation of a semi-automatic, raise climber, Man and Supply Hoist System designed for stope access in underground metal and nonmetal mines. Demonstrated capabilities of the system include a 4000-lb payload capacity, control from the traveling cage and from up to five remote stations, operating in vertical or inclined raises 5 ft in diameter and up to 300 ft in length and a travel speed of 50 ft/min. The 'system has the capability of operating in crooked raises because the conveyance climbs two stationary wire ropes suspended down the raise. The drive unit is electrically powered with power and control signals supplied to the drive unit through an armored cable also suspended down the raise. The system has been designed for portability, ease of installation and minimum raise development. The system can be installed by two men in five shifts. The hoist has been demonstrated successfully in two underground applications. The first demonstration was in a 5-ft diam, 60 deg inclined raise over a 2-month period. The second demonstration utilized a vertical 5-ft diam borehole to access a blast-hole stoping area. The system successfully provided two shift-a-day service over a 7-month duration demonstration. This report provides a detailed description of the hoist design and its demonstrated performance in two mine applications.

Jan 1, 1981

By Albert Ketler

[Early Bureau of Mines research had produced a fluorescent mine illumination system which was approved by MESA under Schedule 29A for use as portable equipment Intense industry preference for machine-mounted hardware required a MESA 2G approved system. The modifications required to upgrade the portable system arc herein described.]

Jan 1, 1976

By McHenry Mosier

The Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior, has established a testing adit on the Government reservation at Mount Weather, Virginia, to facilitate research on the fundamentals of mining under actual metal-mining conditions. A number of sites in several Eastern States were investigated, but Mount Weather was selected because the rock seemed best suited for rock drilling and other mining tests and because the ground was already owned by the Federal Government, the site having been acquired in 1902 for use of the Weather Bureau. The testing adit has an advantage over an active metal mine for certain investigations because variable conditions affecting any particular research problem can be controlled and maintained in a fixed status, whereas in an operating mine this seldom is feasible. Operations were begin in September 1936, with a crew of four laborers under a resident engineer. The laborers were recruited from nearby farms, and although they had no previous mining experience, they have developed into satisfactory miners.

Jan 1, 1939

By James A. Wasson

This report summarizes the results and conclusions reached by various investigators who have attempted to determine the extent to which hydraulic fracturing will affect the secondary recovery of crude oil by waterflooding. It also discusses the most advantageous use of this well-stimulation method in waterflood projects. A thorough search of the literature was made, and pertinent information was abstracted from appropriate reports. A carefully designed and controlled program of formation fracturing is an effective aid in waterflooding because it increases water-injection and oil- production rates. Generally, fracturing has resulted in little or no reduction in ultimate oil recovery, but under certain circumstances recovery has been substantially increased.

Jan 1, 1963

By Thomas J. Peters

A mineral survey of the Sill Hill RARE II area (No. 5304), covering 5,200 acres (2,100 ha) of the Cleveland National Forest, San Diego County, California, was conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the U.S. Geological Survey. This survey was in conformance with the Resource Planning Act (RPA) of 1974, as amended by the National Forest Management Act of 1976, to provide mineral resource information for study area classification. Bureau of Mines personnel made an economic appraisal of mineral deposits by searching pertinent geological and mining publications as well as U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Bureau of Mines files and records. Known mines, prospects, and mineralized localities were examined during 1981, and sampling and mapping were done where warranted. The Geological Survey 'did geologic mapping, geochemical sampling, and geophysical surveys to aid this study.

Jan 1, 1983

By T. G. Carnahan

In-place leaching is being actively utilized to extract uranium, copper, and evaporites from low-grade and difficult-to-mine ores. The purpose of this report is to discuss in-place leaching technology, its advantages and disadvantages, and to give an overview of past, current, and envisioned in-place leaching operations in the U.S.A. Application of in-place leaching to uranium ores has been particularly successful because the conditions for leaching are nearly ideal. The ores are generally in highly permeable sandstone aquifers bounded above and below by impermeable shales. The uranium ore minerals are easily leached with oxidizing acid or base solution and the pregnant solutions are amenable to ion exchange concentration and purification prior to conventional solution neutralization for recovery of yellow cake. Copper is routinely recovered from sub-grade rock by dump leaching at most major copper mines. Acidified ferric sulfate is either sprayed on the surface of the dumps or is ponded on top of the dumps. The leaching solution migrates down through the rock and dissolves copper. The solution is collected from the base of the dumps and copper is recovered by solvent extraction-electrowinning or by cementation on detinned steel cans. True in-place copper leaching is being practiced in the caved stopes of an exhausted underground copper mine. Other innovative in-place copper leaching techniques have been tested commercially and laboratory- and pilot-scale experiments have been conducted to investigate proposed in-place leaching techniques for extracting copper from difficult-to-treat chalcopyrite ores. Solution mining of evaporites is being conducted commercially for the extraction of sodium chloride and potassium chloride. A large-scale experimental project for solution mining of trona has been undertaken.

Jan 1, 1982

By Edward M. Kawenski

Float dust deposits in return airways in bituminous coal and lignite mines present a special explosion hazard. Research is in progress at the Bureau of Mines experimental coal mine to evaluate the degree of the hazard and to develop measures for preventing dissemination of dust into the ventilating air current. To determine the extent of this hazard prevailing in operating coal mines, 711 dust samples were collected in 50 mines located in the major coal fields of the United States. The mean quantity of coal and the incombustible content of the dust in the samples were determined. The term "float dust" is used to designate particles smaller than 74 microns in diameter (particles passing a No. 200 sieve) which have settled from the air current. Dust usually found in roadways and in working places is coarser than float dust, and is termed "coarse dust" (particles passing a No. 20 sieve). Variations in amount and incombustible content of coarse dust in a midwestern mine were studied previously.

Jan 1, 1963

By D. R. Dollnar

At a mine in central PA, high horizontal stresses have caused long running roof falls resulting in hazardous conditions for the miners and the premature abandonment of panels. Because of these conditions, the mine requested assistance of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in utilizing the 'advance and relieve method to mitigate the affects of horizontal stress on the mine roof. "Advance and relieve" mining involves the removal of a pillar or a portion of a pillar during development, thereby creating a cave along one side of the panel. Following cave development, the horizontal stress is relieved over the workings adjacent to the cave in the active panel. The mine has used this system in three panels with a significant reduction in stress damage and no large roof falls.

Jan 1, 2002

By J. C. Gerdeen

SAP-S information on the following element types are included in this appendix: Type 1. Three-Dimensional Truss and Bolt Element Type 4. Two-Dimensional Finite Elements Type 8. Variable-Number-Nodes Thick Shell and Three-Dimensional Elements Type 9. Two-Dimensional Joint Element (to be used with Type 4 elements) Type 10. Three-Dimensional Joint Element (to be used with Type 8 elements) Additional SAP4 elements, Types 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 12, are also contained in SAP-S and information on these elements is readily available in any SAP4 user's manual. These elements are as follows: Type 2. Three-Dimensional Beam Elements Type 3. Plane- Stress Membrane I-r .n Elements Type 5. Three-Dimensional Solid Elements (8 Node: Brick) Type 6. Plate and Shell Elements (Quadrilateral) Type 7. Boundary Elements Type 12. Three-Dimensional Straight or Curved Pipe Elements

Jan 1, 1976

By Stephen Gerard Sawyer

This report presents a Fortran IV computer program for the structural analysis of space-frame protective canopies used in underground mines to protect equipment operators from falls of roof, face, or rib. This program entitled CANOPY permits rapid calculation of the elastic strength of a canopy for a variety of static loading conditions. Stresses in, and displacements of each structural member are computed and printed out. Additionally, identification of all members that have commenced yielding, weight of the canopy, total loads on the canopy, and maximum loads that the canopy can sustain elastically are output. Program description, input instructions, program listing, and two example problems are included.

Jan 1, 1972