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By Charles L. Kusik

A study was conducted for the Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, to provide information which will lead to an increase in the recycling of mineral materials, in order to help conserve the Nation's mineral resources. Data were collected on energy requirements to recycle prompt industrial and obsolete scrap for nine metal commodities: Iron and steel, aluminum, copper, zinc, lead, stainless steel, titanium, tin, and nickel and nickel alloys. Major process routes for recycling were considered, starting from the first collection point through scrap preparation, transportation, smelting and/or refining to the molten metal, ingot, or other semi- finished form approximately equivalent to a primary metal of a similar composition. Available data for 1976 were collected on the amounts of each metal commodity recycled by major scrap categories. In addition, energy requirements were estimated for separating municipal solid wastes into four major categories: Refuse-derived fuel, and magnetic, aluminum, and glass cullet fractions. Finally, areas of research were identified to enhance recycling and/or increase the efficiency of energy use.

Jan 1, 1978

By C. Özgen Karacan

The methane emission rate into an underground mine environment from overburden strata during longwall mining is impacted by reservoir and geomechanical characteristics of the coal measure rocks in the overlying strata, as well as the presence of any coal seam. The reservoir characteristics and how they change during mining potentially affect the performance of gob gas ventholes, which consequently impacts the efficiency of methane control in the mining environment. This study presents reservoir and elastic properties of coal measure rocks in the Lower Monongahela Group in Greene County, southwestern Pennsylvania, of the Northern Appalachian Basin. Since the source of methane in this region from underground mining is located between the Sewickley coal and the Pittsburgh coal, a specific emphasis was given to this interval. Core analyses were performed in the laboratory to determine rock porosity and permeability. Geophysical logging data (gamma, density, sonic) obtained from two exploration boreholes were used for evaluating formation boundaries, shale contents, log porosities, and geomechanical properties of formations. Permeability was also calculated using density-log data and empirical equations and compared with laboratory measurements and slug tests performed in isolated intervals of boreholes. The results presented in this study can be used as data sources for reservoir studies related to the production and control of methane.

Jan 1, 2009

By Clark F. Grain

The monoclinic to tetragonal inversion of zirconium dioxide was studied by single-crystal X-ray methods, high-temperature X-ray diffractometry, and differential thermal analysis. The unusual features of the inversion, such as no definite transition Lperature, hysteresis, and athermal kinetics, were confirmed for powders who mean crystallite size was greater than 1,000 A. Samples of mean crystallite size below 1,000 A displayed classical kinetics, obeying a logarithmic rate law. A detailed mechanism based on Ubbelohde's theory of continuous phase transformations was proposed which is consistent with all the experimental facts.

Jan 1, 1965

By Albert L. Toenges

ALMOST all of the coal used for metallurgical purposes west of the Continental Divide is ruined from the Lower Sunnyside bed in Carbon County, Utah. Coke produced from Lower Sunnyside coal and used in western steel plants is weaker structurally than coke used elsewhere in this country. For this reason, western coal operators and steel manufacturers are anxious to develop new areas of coking coal of better quality than the coal produced from the Sunnyside bed. Early in the war, the Bureau of Mines undertook an intensive investigation of western coals to (a) develop additional reserves of coking coal to supplement proved reserves in the Sunnyside bed and (b) develop, if possible, reserves of coal with coking qualities superior to Lower Sunnyside coal. Results of investigations in the Kemmerer district, Wyoming,9 and in the Minnesota Creek area, Gunnison County, Colo.,10 have been published.

Jan 1, 1952

By D. C. Dahlin

The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated the magnetic susceptibility of minerals as a function of mag-netic field strength to determine how it might affect the potential for high-field magnetic separation as an alternative to other separation technologies. Single-mineral concentrates were prepared from specimens from the same deposit to compare magnetic susceptibilities of minerals that occur together and from specimens from different deposits to compare magnetic susceptibilities of like minerals. A vibrating-sample magnetometer with a superconducting magnet capable of producing a magnetic field of 7.16 x 106 Aim (90 kOe) was used to measure the magnetic moment of the samples. The data were then converted to specific magnetic susceptibility data and plotted as a function of magnetic field strength. Cursory studies were also completed on the effects of iron content and oxidation roasts on magnetic susceptibility in high fields. The results showed that magnetic susceptibility is essentially constant in magnetic fields above those needed to saturate ferromagnetic constituents. Although magnetic susceptibility is influenced by iron content and by thermal treatment, the changes are not large enough to influence separations in fields above 1.59 x 106 Aim (20 kOe).

Jan 1, 2010

By H. G. Miller

The success of any project in which gas is injected into oil-producing sands to increase the current rate or the economic ultimate production of oil or in which surplus gas from oil-producing operations is stored temporarily in reservoir sands that have been wholly or partly depleted of their producible oil depends mainly upon an understanding of the underground movements of oil, water, and injected gas and the ability to control their speed and direction of migration through the reservoir sends. Many operators believe that injected gas always travels up the structure and drives oil to wells structurally higher than the injection wells, because the specific gravity of the injected gas is less than that of the fluid substances in the formation. Consequently, many injection wells are located on the flanks of oil-bearing structures with the idea of utilizing the energy of the injected gas to drive the oil to producing wells higher on the structure. It is true, under certain conditions of pressure and fluid depletion of the reservoir sands that injected gas will move in an up-structure direction, but the theory that injected gas always moves up the structure is based on an erroneous conception of the laws that pertain to the expansion of gases. By definition, "a gas is distinguished by its property of infinite expansion and is limited in volume only by the walls of the vessel which contains it." The expansion of gas that is injected into reservoir sands also is limited by "walls" that surround the space influenced by the injected gas. The walls of the majority of undrilled or virgin oil-bearing reservoirs in California are the impervious shales overlying and underlying the productive strata and the "dams" or effective barriers of edge water around the rims of the reservoirs. When gas is injected into the sands of a producing reservoir, regardless of the location of the injection well on the structure or the degree of depletion of oil from the sands, one of the walls which confine the gas in the structure about the injection well is fluid. This wall will be edge water in a nearly depleted reservoir, where the drainage cones or regions of reduced pressure about injection and producing wells intersect; and, where there is no interference of drainage cones and the injection well is structurally above the edge water, the wall will be oil. In some producing reservoirs bottom water may be the lower wall of the space that confines the gas about injection wells, but the effect of bottom water on limiting the expansion of gas is the same as if the water was not present and impervious formation separated the producing from the underlying nonproducing strata. Therefore, since compressed gas always seeks regions of reduced pressure and its final volume is limited only by formation and fluid barriers and since the force exerted by the gas under pressure is equal in all directions, the course of migration of injected gas in reservoir sands in California and the effect of the gas pressure on fluid movement does not depend necessarily upon the up-structure location of low-pressure regions.

Jan 1, 1932

By John J. Henn

An economic evaluation was made of the Bureau of Mines incinerator residue separation process to update the one published in 1971 to a mid-1.974 cost basis. This evaluation includes a modification of the glass-recovery operation used In the original plant design as well as a unit to bale the ferrous scrap product before shipment. Products from the plant are ferrous metal, aluminum and copper-zinc scrap, and a mixed-color glass cullet. The estimated capital and operating costs for four plant sizes are as follows : [ ] The operating costs do not include credits for recovered metals and glass.

Jan 1, 1975

Minerals are vital to any industrialized civilization. Annually, the United States uses more than 4 billion tons of new mineral materials, or about 40,000 pounds per person-about half being mineral fuels and the other half being metals and nonmetallics. Stable and economic domestic mining, mineral, metal, and mineral reclamation industries are essential to the economy. The value of United States energy and processed materials of mineral origin exceds $200 billion annually. Although a number of minerals are imported, especially some designated as "strategic and critical," most U.S. mineral supplies are derived from the domestic mines and processing facilities that you will be seeing, reading about, and visiting as you use this visitor guide. We hope you enjoy your experiences. This pamphlet, a guide to mining and mineral operations that may be observed or visited and some other points of interest relating to minerals, is intended to aid tourists and students who are interested in mining. Some may wish to study our Nation's romantic past; others may plan to enter the minerals industry as a career; still others may have a primary interest in conservation practices. The pamphlet is also intended to aid State and local officials, Chambers of Commerce, and mining firms in answering some of the many questions of tourists and students.

Jan 1, 1976

By K. A. Fowler, L. W. Higley

The effect of uranium on the transformation kinetics and the hardenability of a low- alloy steel was evaluated . Isothermal transformation curves were developed from metallographic studies , and hardenability was determined by standard Jominy end- quench tests . For the steels investigated , the addition of 0.15 weight- percent uranium was found to produce a significant shift in the isothermal transformation curve and caused a related increase in hardenability . These effects diminished rapidly when the uranium content was increased above 0.2 weight - percent .

Jan 1, 1964

By G. H. Keith

The Bureau of Mines determined the mechanism(s) involved in observed anomalous changes in mechanical properties of vanadium-base alloys. Tensile properties of electrorefined and commercial-purity vanadium-base alloys containing up to 5 atomic percent molybdenum or titanium were measured between 77° and 673° K. Snoek oxygen and nitrogen peak heights were measured to determine the changes in dissolved interstitial content caused by increasing quantities of solute. In addition, changes in lattice parameter were followed wit: precision X-ray techniques. Softening, observed in alloys containing titanium, is explained by the formation of a second-phase titanium compound with oxygen or nitrogen. However, because of partitioning of titanium between compound formation and solid solution formation, about five times the stoichiometric amount was required for complete reaction. Addition of 1 percent titanium drastically lowered the strengthening due to strain aging, at 673° K, and 2 percent titanium essentially eliminated it. All alloys were ductile at 77° K. Variations in the tensile properties of the molybdenum-containing alloys are explained by variations in the amounts of interstitial impurities present. The molybdenum did not react with these impurities and had no effect on strengthening due to strain aging. Commercial-purity vanadium alloys containing more than 2 percent molybdenum were brittle at 77° K.

Jan 1, 1969

By A. C. Fielder

It is with some diffidence that I venture to address the Montreal Section of the Society of Chemical industry on the subject of motor fuel from coal at a time when crude petroleum is produced in greater quantities than at any time in history, and at a time when the known reserves exceed all expectations, even the optimistic estimates of the Committee of Eleven of the American Petroleum Institute. Not only are new fields being discovered in America a -an embarrassing frequency but sources outside of the North American Continent show, unmistakable signs of adding materially to the world's sources of oil. Were it not for the tremendous scientific and technical importance of the work done in the past few years in transforming coal into liquid motor fuels, I should prefer to let this subject rest until a more propitious time, such as prevailed some years ago, when the gasoline consumption curve was rising rapidly and the production curve was slowing in its upward rise. That was the period which stimulated the researches which resulted in tetra ethyl lead and anti-knock gasolines on this side of the Atlantic and in methanol, synthetic gasoline and hydrogenation of coal on the other side. Some of you will recall a symposium on Motor Fuels and Oil Conservation held at the Chemists' Club n New York in September; 1925. Dr. R. L. Brown and I presented a paper at this meeting on "Complete Utilization of Coal and Motor, Fuel, in which we pointed out that coal was the most likely raw material source of gasoline substitutes if and when needed. We grouped the present and future, processes' for obtaining motor fuel from coal in three classes, namely:

Jan 1, 1928

By Frank B. Fulkerson

Barge traffic on the Nation's inland waterways over the past 15 years has been increasing at a rate much faster than intercity freight traffic by all modes, largely due to the growing consumption of mineral commodities, development of more powerful towboats and large and more specialized barges, improvements to loading and unloading facilities, and competition among bargelines for contract shipment of bulk commodities. The Bureau of Mines, in a study to determine barge traffic projections for inland waterways in the South-Central States to the year 1980, gathered data on origin-destination patterns by commodity, quantity moved, equipment used, and rates charged; the trend of each of these factors over time; and the extent of competition between water trans-port and other means of transportation. The Mississippi River and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which together carryover half the Nation's barge traffic, are major carriers of coal, crude petroleum, steel, marine shells, sulfur, salt, cement, and alumina. Greater quantities of these products will be transported by barge; however, oil pipe-lines and unit trains for coal are expected to limit increased barge traffic of these two commodities. Increasing quantities of fertilizer materials will be transported upstream. Although congestion at certain locks is a current problem, the Mississippi River below St. Louis and other open-river stretches have the capacity to handle the increasing number of barges for the foreseeable future.

Jan 1, 1969

By C. G. Kirkpatrick

Analysis of the data produced by a wide-band, sensitive, horizontal, biaxial motion sensor has revealed several distinctive patterns before, during, and after a roof fall. The signals prior to the roof fall are similar in spectra, but one thousand times larger in amplitude, than those after the roof fall. Immediately preceding the roof fall, by two to twelve hours, five events occurred which were larger in amplitude and lower in frequency than even the large pre-roof fall background signals. An interpretation of these events is offered.

Jan 1, 1979

By D. W. Frommer

Mineral dressing research was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Mines under a cooperative agreement with the St. Joseph Lead Co., on three samples of iron ore from the Pea Ridge deposit in central Missouri. The objective was to provide information on how to upgrade these submarginal ores and produce marketable concentrates. Samples were prepared from drill-hole cores of similar composition and character to produce (1) a medium-grade mixed hematite and magnetite, (2) a high-grade mixed hematite and magnetite, and (3) a high-grade magnetite. In all three ores phosphorus and sulfur constituted objectionable impurities; excessive amounts of silica were also present in the medium-grade ore.

Jan 1, 1960

By John C. Hartley

Large areas of the anthracite beds in the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., region have been first-mined in such a manner that over half of the original coal has been left underground as pillars to support the overburden. To recover the maximum amount of this remaining coal, improved devices to support the roof while pillars are being extracted are needed. Also needed are suitable backfilling systems that will stabilize the strata during the mining and effectively limit the inevitable subsidence after pillars are removed. Accordingly, the Federal Bureau of Mines furnished 400 yielding steel props that had been purchased abroad, where this type of prop had been used successfully. The cooperating company arranged for concurrent tests with a mechanical stower designed and built by an American manufacturer. In the area in which the experiments were conducted, pillar removal, using conventional timbering, was most difficult because the roof fractured badly, the installation of timbers consumed a substantial part of the work effort, and some coal nearly always was lost. With the application of the yielding props, the time needed for securing the roof was reduced 33.9 percent; production per man-shift was in¬creased over 33 percent; coal recovery was improved more than 9 percent; and the convergence between roof and floor, during mining and backfilling, amounted to as much as 8.03 inches without any break in the roof. However, in September 1953 some roof rock fell in pillar 10 owing to insufficient props in a small area where the ends of three top holes drilled in the coal face extended up into the roof rock.

Jan 1, 1956

By H. W. Kilau

The Bureau of Mines tested chromium-bearing waste slags from industrial stainless steel and other chrome alloy operations to determine their chromium leachability characteristics under acid precipitation conditions and to devise measures to prevent any pollution originating from this source. Two critical slag composition factors were found to control the chromium leachability: (1) CaO:Si02 ratio and (2) magnesium content. Above a 2.0 CaO:Si02 ratio, chromium exists in slag as CaO·Cr203, which can be vulnerable to leaching by acid precipitation especially if oxi-dized to CaCr04 when exposed to the environment over an extended period. Maximum chromium leachability from industrial slags occurred when the composition of the slag had about a 2.0 CaO:Si02 ratio. Between a 1.0 and 2.0 CaO:Si02 ratio, in the presence of sufficient magnesium, MgO ·Cr203 was formed, which is very resistant to oxidation and to dissolution by simulated acid precipitation. Addition of magnesium silicates to molten slag to fix the chromium in the MgO·Cr203 form was successful in preventing chromium leaching in simulated acid rain solutions. Experiments showed olivine and waste taconite tailings were suitable for this purpose. Olivine addition to a waste slag having a composition vulnerable to leaching (CaO:Si02 > 2) reduced the chromium leachability more than 80 pct.

Jan 1, 1984

By H. A. Dierks, H. B. Link

The purpose of this investigation was to develop a practical feeder apparatus to introduce comparatively large pieces of coal and similar material into a pipeline under pressure in connection with the vertical hydraulic transportation of solids , termed " hydraulic hoisting . " This method of hoisting the precrushed run - of - mine product of an underground mine has been given unusually wide attention abroad and could be of considerable significance to the U.S. mining industry in its search for operating improvements and cost reduction . A lock-hopper assembly was developed after a series of sinking velocity tests were made by dropping anthracite in a column of water . The system functioned reliably as an automatically operated feeder apparatus .

Jan 1, 1964

By E. L. Singleton

This Bureau of Mines investigation was initiated to study and establish some of the chemical and physical characteristics of the condensed Mno-Si02 system. To prevent oxidation of the manganous ion, I atmosphere of purified helium was used in the furnaces. Solidus-liquidus curves and invariant points were established from melting-point determinations and were supplemented from data obtained by the static-quenching method. Experimental findings and data are for the intermediate compounds of tephroite and rhodonite with their respective eutectics represented at 25.5 and 37.2 weight-percent silica. Tephroite melts congruently at 1,347° C., and rhodonite melts incongruently at 1,286° 8.. A metastable transformation was determined to exist at the 1,347° C. isotherm, the congruent melting point of tephroite. A composite X-ray-diffraction pattern was formulated for synthetic rhodonite. This investigation contributes fundamental data leading toward a better understanding of the more complex slag systems.

Jan 1, 1962

By Wallace W. Key

The California pesticide industry in 1962 consumed about 30,000 tons of clay, talc, limestone, diatomite, sulfur, and other minerals as fillers (carriers and diluents) in pesticide formulation. This was 10 percent of the U.S. filler requirement for pesticides. About two- thirds of the California total was supplied by a few local mineral producers; the remainder came mainly from Florida, Georgia, and Wyoming. The objectives of this report are to provide data on quantities, sources, specifications, and market conditions for minerals used as fillers by California pesticide formulators. The study disclosed that specifications for mineral fillers have become more rigid and formulators have become more numerous in recent years. During 1962 over 1,200 firms registered 16,000 pesticide products with the Bureau of Chemistry in California. Factors which will tend to diminish future need for mineral fillers include the trend toward greater use of organic sprays rather than dusts and further development of biological controls, such as the development of sterile insect strains.

Jan 1, 1965

By Wallace W. Key

The California pesticide industry in 1962 consumed about 30,000 tons of clay, talc, limestone, diatomite, sulfur, and other minerals as fillers (carriers and diluents) in pesticide formulation. This was 10 percent of the U.S. filler requirement for pesticides. About two-thirds of the California total was supplied by a few local mineral producers; the remainder came mainly from Florida, Georgia, and Wyoming. The objectives of this report are to provide data on quantities, sources, specifications, and market conditions for minerals used as fillers by California pesticide formulators. The study disclosed that specifications for mineral fillers have become more rigid and formulators have become more numerous in recent years. During 1962 over 1,200 firms registered 16,000 pesticide products with the Bureau of Chemistry in California. Factors which will tend to diminish future need for mineral fillers include the trend toward greater use of organic sprays rather than dusts and further development of biological controls, such as the development of sterile insect strains.

Jan 1, 1965