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By F. C. Gregory

"Introduction.The third annual mine-rescue maneuvers of the Globe-Miami District First Aid and Mine Rescue Association were held at Globe, Ariz., on November 5 and 6, 1923. The first demonstration was held in October 1922, and the results** from that experiment, both in the practical training and the interest aroused in the apparatus men, were so much more satisfactory than those from the ordinary smoke-chamber training, that Orr Woodburn, director of the Association, decided to hold similar maneuvers at frequent intervals. The second test was held on March 21-22, 1923, in connection with the meeting of the Southwest Mining Section of the National Safety Council at Globe.Place and Organization.The recent maneuvers were held in the same mine and conducted in the same general manner as the first, and the points of interest not brought out previously are described below. By studying the accompanying map the movement of the teams can be better understood.Thirty-three apparatus men were out on the first day and thirty-two on the second day, a total of forty-three men being trained.Mr. Woodburn was aided in directing the work by his two assistants from the mine-rescue station, two local safety engineers, and an engineer from the Bureau of Mines. Local mine superintendents and the State deputy mine inspector were interested spectators."

Jan 1, 1924

Design a model health and safety program which, when implemented, can improve mine safety by reducing occupational injuries and accidents. Approach The Bureau of Mines developed a model program which identifies the elements essential to the effectiveness of health and safety programs designed for mining operations, and is readily adaptable to all types of sizes of mines. The model program primarily provides training on loss control and accident investigation and technical assistance with health and safety problems. In order to assess the effectiveness of the program, it was tested at both a coal and gold mining operation. Monthly statistics were generated to reflect the number of occupational injuries and accidents, and the severity of injuries (as measured by the number of work days lost during recovery). Observations were made of employees performing a large number of randomly selected jobs in order to estimate. the proportion of the workforce that was working in the presence of one or more of three types of safety deficiencies: Type A-individual job performance deficiencies which could be corrected by the employee alone I e.g., an employee is seen not wearing a seatbelt.

Jan 1, 1986

By Benjamin W. Haynes

The Bureau of Mines conducted research to devise technology for increasing the Nation's mineral supply by recovering valuable constituents from currently discarded waste materials. Municipal solid waste (MSW), presently a major disposal problem, represents a significant source of metals, glass, and a combustible fraction that can be used to supplement coal in generating heat and electricity. As part of the total metallurgical system to treat MSW, this study evaluates the combustible fraction of MSW to characterize the various combustible components and to identify the principal sources of elements that eventually may be objectionable from corrosive or environmental considerations. Several possible sources for cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc have been tentatively identified. These sources are pigments, inks, paper stock, and additives to plastics. A correlation between industry consumption values and measured concentrations in MSW was found for several elements.

Jan 1, 1978

By Ann G. Kim

The Bureau of Mines investigated factors that influence the formation of methane and other hydrocarbon gases in coal, which is an integral part of the coalification process. Coalification begins with a biogenetic stage in which plant debris decomposes and peat is formed; methane and CO2 are the predominant gases produced during this stage. During the diagenetic stage of coalification hydrogen and the hydrocarbon gases methane, ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, butene, iso-and normal butane, and pentane are formed by dissociation of the organic material. Methane may also be produced by a secondary reaction of hydrogen with unsaturates or by the reduction of CO2. The gas contained in coalbeds is a mixture of methane, C2 through C5 alkanes, CO2, O2, N2, H2, and He; its heating value is equivalent to that of natural gas. The gas content of coal depends on many variables, but an empirical relationship between adsorptive capacity, rank, and depth has been observed.

Jan 1, 1978

Determine the effectiveness of remining operations in reducing contaminant load (acidity, iron, and sulfate) of discharges emanating from abandoned surface and underground coal mines. Background Until the implementation of remining initiatives, most States had regulations that held the operator remining an abandoned site responsible for preexisting acid mine drainage (AMD) discharges. For example, if a mining. company wanted to remine an area hydrologically connected to an existing AMD discharge, the company became responsible, as soon as the site was activated, for treating that discharge to meet effluent standards. If the mining operation improved the quality of the discharge, but the discharge failed to meet effluent standards, the company was held accountable for perpetual treatment. Because of this regulation, most mine operators avoided abandoned sites with minable coal reserves and AMD discharges. However, changes in remining legislation allow coal companies to be released from treatment liability as long as the post-remining pollution load does not exceed the pre-remining level. If remining can improve water quality through improved mining and abatement techniques, abandoned mine land (AML) areas that previously were liabilities could become

Jan 1, 1994

By Ted C. Briggs

A removable-jacket distortion apparatus was constructed and used to measure distortion coefficients for two high-pressure vessels. The measured distortion coefficients were used to compute distortion coefficients for volumes VI and (V1+V2) of a 1,000-atmosphere Burnett compressibility apparatus for the temperature range 0° to 75° C. Young?s modulus for Armco 17-4 PH stainless steel, heat treated to condition H1150-M, was computed from experimentally determined distortion coefficients. A 10-to 14-percent correction to the values obtained for Young's modulus may be required because pressure vessel end effects were neglected. The distortion coefficients of the compressibility apparatus are believed to be accurate to about 1 percent.

Jan 1, 1970

By T. F. Tomb

This paper describes field and laboratory investigations conducted on a dust-collection system recently designed for integral use with a continuous mining machine. The results of the field study showed that the average respirable dust concentration measured at the machine operator's position was reduced by about 60 percent (from 8.7 to 3.5 milligrams per cubic meter), and total and respirable dust concentrations in the return air were reduced by approximately 70 percent. The data indicated that approximately 20 percent of the dust generated at the face was not passed through the scrubber. The lab-oratory results showed that the overall efficiency (by particle count) was approximately 80 percent for total dust concentrations (minus 20 micrometers in size) typical of those encountered underground. Calculations based on total dust concentrations measured during the underground study indicated that the respirable mass concentrations of the effluent from the scrubber would still exceed acceptable levels even if scrubbing of all the air at the face were possible.

Jan 1, 1973

Improve the health and safety of underground mine workers by finding ways of keeping them away from unsupported areas of the mine. Background Roof falls have been the leading cause of fatal accidents in the underground coal mining industry. During 1985-89, 92 coal miners were killed by falls of roof and rib, with more than 4,000 miners injured. According to accident investigation reports from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, 47% of the victims of these fatal roof fall accidents were in the area of unsupported roof al the time they were killed. There is an urgent need to find out why miners go under unsupported roof and to devise strategies for preventing this unsafe behavior. Approach To discover what can be done to prevent miners from going under unsupported roof, confidential interviews were conducted with 297 miners who work in the face crews of 6 different coal mines. The interview topics included company policies and actions regarding going under unsupported roof, how foremen react to people who go under unsupported roof, circumstances likely to cause some people to go under unsupported roof and how to prevent these situations, and observations concerning those who go under unsupported root.

Jan 1, 1991

By Rollien R. Wells

THERE are two recognized methods of recording the state of the metallurgical art. One involves delineation of individual advances reported in the literature. This approach is used effectively in the excellent annual reviews published by some of the leading technical journals and in the technology sections of the individual commodity chapters in this volume. In an effort to more clearly indicate the current trend of metallurgical research and development, the authors of this chapter chose the method of discussing generally selected items of interest brought to their attention during 1959. Since technology cannot be confined by dates on a calendar, most of the items mentioned have been in the process of development for several years. No attempt was made to identify the sources of information used here. Material was drawn from many sources : Nonconfidential correspondence and conversations with authorities of the metallurgical fraternity, papers delivered at technical meetings, and articles noted in the technical press, including particularly Engineering and Mining Journal, Metal Progress, Journal of Metals, Mining Engineering, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Chemical and Engineering News, Chemical Week, Materials in Design Engineering, Review of Metal Literature, the Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin, the Mining Journal (British), and the Journal of the Institute of Metals (British).

Jan 1, 1960

By John C. Edwards

To have the capability to predict the development of localized spontaneous heating within a porous coalbed that is subjected to forced air ventilation or in an otherwise quiescent environment in which buoyancy develops, the Bureau of Mines developed three time-dependent mathematical models, which were used to calculate the temperature increase associated with chemisorption of oxygen by the coal. In each model, spontaneous heating is driven by an Arrhenius first-order reaction between the oxygen and coal. Two models are two-dimensional, and one is one-dimensional. In the first two-dimensional model, a constant-velocity forced convection airflow is specified; and in the other, buoyant flow is allowed to develop in the absence of forced convection. The third model evaluates the airflow from Darcy's law and a specification of the pressure at the surface of a one-dimensional porous coalbed. Numerical computations demonstrated how each model could be used to predict the onset of spontaneous heating when the porous coalbed was subjected to constraints of an imposed internal heat source or a high- temperature airflow. The effects of particle size and coalbed compaction upon spontaneous heating were examined with the third model.

Jan 1, 1990

By Donald N. H. Chi

This Bureau of Mines report is concerned with a theoretical study of the aerodynamic response of a single mine entry to flame-induced disturbance. The unsteady, one/dimensional, compressible flow equations were solved using the method of characteristics. This study was primarily undertaken to determine the feasibility of extending the method of characteristics to study the aero-dynamic response of complex mine networks. It was demonstrated that although the technique has merit in studying the complex wave interaction in single entries, it appears to be too unwieldly and too expensive for network analysis. Effort was also directed at a further study of the dispersion and filtering characteristic of aerodynamic disturbances in mine passageways.

Jan 1, 1975

By J. H. Perry, Joseph Cervik, G. N. Aul

The Bureau of Mines is conducting research to determine the effectiveness of long holes in degasifying an area of the Upper Split of the Lower Sunnyside coalbed at Kaiser Steel CO.'s Sunnyside No. 1 mine. These holes were drilled from the two outside entries of a section that was closed to mining because of excessive methane emissions. Two holes drilled to 430 and 450 feet produced initial gas flows of 160,000 and 127,000 cfd, respectively. Sixteen days after the completion of the second hole, the total gas production declined to just over 144,000 cfd. In 9 months of degasification, over 35 MMcf of commercial-quality gas has been removed from the coalbed. The combined gas flows declined to 106,000 cfd in the 9-month period. The two holes have reduced face emissions by about 40 pct.

Jan 1, 1978

By D. C. Fleck

The Bureau of Mines, in a cooperative research program with four lead companies, has investigated ferric chloride leaching of galena to prepare lead chloride for molten-salt electrowinning to produce lead metal. The hydrometallurgical-electrolytic process is an alternative to the sintering-smelting-refining process currently used to produce lead metal and avoids the environmental problems associated with a conventional smelter. During investigations on the electrowinning aspects of the work, it was noted that certain cations, moisture, and sulfate in the electrolyte affect lead metal purity, cell voltage, current efficiency, and viscosity of the electrolyte. Results of bench-scale tests are re-ported on the effects of CaCI2, CuCI2, FeCI2, MgCI2, NaCI, ZnCI2, PbS04, and moisture on electrolysis. As impurities increased in the electrolyte, current efficiency decreased. CaCI2, CuCI2, and FeC12 decreased current efficiency by 12 to 47 pct. ZnCl2 gave a small voltage increase, while CaCI2 addition equivalent to 4.9 pct Ca caused a 50-pet increase in voltage. The lead metal was contaminated in direct proportion to the CuCI2 buildup in the electrolyte, Anode corrosion was observed with MgCI2 and MgC12?6H20. Viscosity increased appreciably with the buildup of NaCI, CaCI2, and sulfate. Electrolyte foaming occurred with ZnC12, MgC12?6H20, MgC12, FeC12?2H20, and FeCI2. Moisture inhibited the coalescence of the lead metal.

Jan 1, 1983

By an Slo, J. J. Forbes

"INTRODUCTION This is the first of a series of information circulars dealing with the control of roof and the prevention of accidents from falls of rock and coal. These circulars are being published to focus attention of the coal-mining industry on this most prevalent source of fatalities and injuries and to present factual information that should be helpful in reducing loss from these causes.Records of fatal accidents in the coal mines of the United States, from all causes, have been kept since 1906; during this period approximately 30,000 men have been killed by falls of rock and coal in the bituminous-coal mines, and more than 7,000 men have lost their lives in the Pennsylvania anthracite mines from the same causes. From 1906 to 1930, about 900 men were killed annually by falls of rock and coal in bituminous-coal mines, and about 200 men were killed annually in anthracite mines during the same 25-year period. From 1931 to the present time, the number killed annually from falls of rock and coal has averaged more than 500 men in bituminous-coal mines and about 125 men in Pennsylvania anthracite mines.Numerically the record of accidents from falls of rock and coal shows improvement, but on a percentage basis and on a million-man-hours-of-exposure basis little, if any, improvement has been made during the past 40 years. The cold fact is that, year after year, about 50 percent of all those killed in coal mines in the United States lose their lives from falls of rock and coal."

Apr 1, 1948

By William J. Wiehagen

This is the third in a series of four articles that discuss underground fire-fighting preparedness. As with the first two articles, it is based on interviews with 214 miners conducted at 7 underground coal mines (referred to as Mines ?A? through ?G?) by researchers of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health?s (NIOSH) Pittsburgh Research Center [Vaught et al. 1996]. In the first article, the authors presented an overview of the study conducted by NIOSH on mine fire response preparedness and provided a general perspective on underground mine fires. The second article discussed miners? preparedness to evacuate a fire and their experience with incipient fires. In this article, we describe miners? experience in fighting underground mine fires and present their perceptions of training and readiness for fire-fighting.

Jan 1, 1997

At the present time many coal preparation plants handle coal-clay wastes in one of two methods. In one method, the waste is processed in a thickener, followed by further dewatering through filtration, and subsequent blending with coarse waste refuse from the preparation plant. The resulting mixture is then disposed by stacking it in available storage locations. The coal-clay waste is often reslurried by rain or water from other sources, causing a potentially unsafe situation such as mud flows. The other method often used requires thickening and impoundment of the thickened slurry behind earthen dams which poses safety risks if structural failure of the dams occurs. To overcome these two problems, a flocculation method was developed which produces a stable agglomerated material resistant to reslurrying. How It Works The new method involves treating coal-clay waste with lime to raise the pH and flocculating the slurry with a nontoxic polymer of polyethylene oxide. The resulting floes are dewatered on a static screen and agglomerated. For extremely fine waste, further dewatering of the material is accomplished on a rotary trammel screen. The dewatered material may be ponded or mixed with coarse waste from the preparation plant to produce a stable mixture that can be stacked.

Jan 1, 1985

By P. A. Bloom

Arsenic-containing flue dusts are currently being stockpiled by several nonferrous smelters in the United States. These stockpiles are a source of environmental concern since the dusts can be transported by wind and contain water-soluble arsenic. The stockpiles also represent an alternate source of metals. To provide a quality environment, the Bureau of Mines investigated a process to make environmentally acceptable the discard of arsenic obtained from the treatment of arsenical flue dust. The process includes (1) leaching arsenic from a lead smelter copper dross flue dust, (2) fixing arsenic as an insoluble compound, and (3) recovering other metal values. Overall results of acid-leaching tests on lead-smelter flue dusts showed that H2S04 dissolved 80 to 90 percent of the As, Zn, and Cd, and up to 86 percent of the In. Pb, Ag, and Au remain in the residue, which can be recycled to the smelter. Indium was recovered from the strong acid leach solution by solvent extraction; arsenic was fixed in a stable form by precipitation with Fe2(S04)3 and CaO or CaC03.

Jan 1, 1982

Prevent the explosion of methane gas or coal dust by replacing air with inert gas inside highwall mine excavations. Approach Use combustion gases as a source of inert gas with low oxygen content to blanket the cutting, head of highwall mining machines. This gas is placed strategically at the collar of the excavation where it enters the hole to replace the mined coal volume. The elimination of oxygen from the hole prevents explosions of gas or dust. How It Works Highwall mining methods arc used when surface mining becomes uneconomical. One method of highwall mining involves use of a horizontal auger to enter the coalbed from a surface mine bench. The coal is mined in a series of horizontal, parallel, and large-diameter holes. Historically, little methane has been associated with auger mining. However, mining technology has extended the reach of auger mining, which can increase the occurrence of methane. Methane explosions at auger mining operations have been increasing. Methane has been the primary fuel source of these ignitions, but coal dust also may have been involved.

Jan 1, 1993

By C. W. Owings

Two problems perplex many coal-mine operators and employees. Is coal-mine dust harmful to breathe; and, if so, is it possible to keep the concentration below the danger point? The medical profession is not unanimous in its opinion of the danger of breathing bituminous-coal dust, but there appears to be ample and increasing evidence that coal-mine dust can be harmful if breathed in large enough doses for long periods. The question of controlling the dust at the point of formation is still unanswered in the minds of many in the mining industry. However, results of limited studies conducted by the Bureau of Mines in 9 bituminous-coal mines indicate that a full-shift average exposure of workers should not exceed about 20 million dust particles per cubic foot of air (m.p.p.c.f.) and that concentrations can be held within this limit without too much difficulty. Furthermore, these studies indicated that an exposure in the neighborhood of 40 m.p.p.c.f. should not be exceeded for an individual operation and that it is possible to hold within this ceiling.

Jan 1, 1957

By Rollien R. Wells

A REPORT of technological advancements restricted to a specific 12-month period is impractical. Inherent in the nature and development of technology is the element of time; rarely can a new process or product be attributed to a particular year. An overall picture of general trends and pattern changes, however, is indicative of technological growth. This paper presents selected observations and discussions of current metallurgical research and practices in an attempt to develop' such a picture. Of the estimated $16.5 billion spent for research and development in the United States in 1962, at least 80 percent was earmarked for the aircraft, electronics, chemical, and machinery industries. Much of the effort was of the end-use variety and was oriented closely to the national defense and aerospace programs. Only a small fraction of the total research money was directed to studies of the utilization and improvement of metals. Even if the investigations in allied fields such as solid state physics are included, the total research expenditure for metal and mineral materials barely reached $500 million. An additional $200 million was spent by industry and government for development of minerals recovery and processing methods.

Jan 1, 1963