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By D. Randolph Berry

The objective of this program was to develop a system to extinguish coal mine fires by remote sealing of the underground passageways. The system developed had to be versatile enough to function under a wide range of operating conditions, including large variations in passageway geometry, depth of mine, water conditions, both in the mine and at the surface, and rubble in the mine passage. The system developed had to include instrumentation for the remote probing of the passageway prior to sealing, a system for sealing the mine passages, and instrumentation for remote monitoring of the quality of the seal during and after construction. These objectives were successfully achieved during this program. The remote mine sealing capability of the system was satisfactorily demonstrated in a field test conducted at the Eastern Associated Coal Corporation Federal No, 1 Mine in Grant Town, West Virginia.

Jan 1, 1973

By Hanns J. Billmayer

This report, which covers the period from April 1975 to November 1975, describes the work performed in compliance with the requirements of Contract No. H0357091. The purpose of this contract was the development of protective canopy concepts applicable to rail haulage equipment used in underground coal mines.

Jan 1, 1976

By Robert T. Davis

An award is a form of recognition given for superior performance in a special field of endeavor. Each year awards are given by the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association and the National Safety Council to the coal-mining industry's underground and open-pit mines that have worked a specific number of man-hours without a lost-time injury. These awards have a dual significance in that they prove efficiency can be attained without injury to persons. Safety awards do not result from luck or good fortune but do result from sincere desire coupled with sufficient effort and cooperation to achieve a desired goal.

Jan 1, 1964

By R. E. Hershey

1. Reserves were estimated for three coal beds: Lantana, Sewanee, and Richland. 2. Known measured and indicated reserves for all beds, based on a minimum thickness of 14 inches and on 1,800 tons per acre-foot of coal in place, are estimated at 34 million short tons as of Januray 1, 1954. Of this total, 15 million short tons represents coal 28 inches and more thick. Areas in the beds were omitted from the estimate because available data relative to the bed characteristics were insufficient to permit making an estimate conforming with the definitions of measured and indicated coal adopted for this study. Should future drilling or development prove reserves in these areas, such reserves should be added to the total estimated reserves determined by this investigation.

Jan 1, 1956

By William N. Hale

This Bureau of Mines report gives a detailed study of water usage in the Montana mineral industries, along with projections for the future. The mineral industry of Montana in 1963 used 36.5 billion gallons of new water, and reused or recirculated an additional 53.5 billion gallons for a total water requirement or usage of 90 billion gallons. The petroleum industry was the major water user, followed by the copper and zinc industries. Many mineral industry operators provide their own water, and new water is withdrawn largely from surface sources. At present, sufficient water is available in rivers, streams, and reservoirs in Montana; however, shortages do exist locally near mineral industry operations using large quantities of water. Some is supplied from sources up to 44 miles distant. New water withdrawn by the State of Montana mineral industry is expected to increase from 36.5 billion gallons in 1963 to 51.1 billion gallons by the year 2000. The total-water requirement is expected to more than double, or reach 182 billion gallons by the year 2000.

Jan 1, 1966

By William N. Hale

This Bureau of Mines report gives a detailed study of water usage in the Montana mineral industries, along with projections for the future. The mineral industry of Montana in 1963 used 36.5 billion gallons of new water, and reused or recirculated an additional 53.5 billion gallons for a total water requirement or usage of 90 billion gallons. The petroleum industry was the major water user, followed by the copper and zinc industries. Many mineral industry operators provide their own water, and new water is withdrawn largely from surface sources. At present, sufficient water is available in rivers, streams, and reservoirs in Montana; however, shortages do exist locally near mineral industry operations using large quantities of water. Some is supplied from sources up to 44 miles distant. New water withdrawn by the State of Montana mineral industry is expected to increase from 36.5 billion gallons in 1963 to 51.1 billion gallons by the year 2000. The total-water requirement is expected to more than double, or reach 182 billion gallons by the year 2000.

Jan 1, 1966

By L. C. IlsLey

"This paper is intended for State mining inspectors, safety engineers of mining companies, and others interested in electrical safety inspection in mines, It presents the important points that should be watched by inspectors, and briefly reviews the work of the Bureau of Mines in the testing of electrical apparatus or equipment to determine their permissibility for use in gaseous coal mines.Important Points in Inspecting Mine Electrical Installations or Equipment.The following questions are intended as suggestions to a safety inspector who may not have been specially trained in looking for defects in installations or in the maintenance of electrical equipment:1.,Is there someone in charge of electrical equipment who is fitted for this position by ability, training and experience?2.,Is a systematic recorded inspection of electrical equipment made at least once each month?3.,Is a plan map of the mine kept showing all permanently installed electrical machinery and apparatus, including cables, conductors light etc.?4.,Are there instructions for resuscitation from electric shock posted in each surface and underground electrical station, also at the entrance of the mine and in the first aid station and are employees working on electrical equipment trained to apply these instructions in case of accident?"

Nov 1, 1923

By D. Harrington

The record of fatalities from mine explosions in the United States during the past 3 years has been the best in the history of the mining industry. During these 3 fiscal years, mine explosions have resulted in an average of 4I0 deaths per year, as compared with an average of 153 deaths per year for the preceding; 5 years; an average of 542 deaths per year for the 3-year period 1907-09, inclusive, just before the organization of the U. S. Bureau of Mines; and a yearly average of 265 deaths per year for the 20-year period prior to 1929. This remarkable reduction in deaths from mine explosions demonstrates clearly that mine explosions can be controlled; in fact, they can be prevented when or if the mining people of the United States see fit to take the readily available precautions necessary to bring about this desirable objective. Several large coal-producing States, which in the past have had numerous disastrous explosions, have been free from such disasters for continuous periods of as much as 6 years or even longer. The bituminous mines of Pennsylvania, the largest coal-producing State, give a good example of what can be done to prevent explosions; this State has had only one major explosion (and it resulted in 7 fatalities) during the past 6 years, and no explosion occurred in the several hundred bituminous-coal mines of the State during the past fiscal year. This is a truly remarkable record when compared with past performance in any year in the operation of coal mines in Pennsylvania.

Jan 1, 1936

By Yi-Shen Li

This report has been prepared by Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc. (LMSC), under United States Bureau of Mines Contract No. H0220040 dated 21 June 1972 for the design, development, fabrication, and certification of the One-Hour Self-Rescue Breathing Apparatus (PBA). The PBA is a self-contained, oxygen-generating, CO2-removing closed-loop breathing apparatus that provides a minimum of 1 hour of breathable atmosphere during escape from a mine with a contaminated or oxygen-deficient atmosphere. This Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) contract has been successfully completed in a three-phase program. The Phase I tasks included the design, development, and fabrication of prototype units developed at LMSC in accordance with the requirement of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 30, Chapter 1, Subchapter B, Part 11 (Appendix A), and was submitted to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for joint NIOSH and Bureau of Mines certification testing.

Jan 1, 1974

By Terry Muldoon

In conventional noncoal, room-and-pillar mining, the cutting machine is frequently a major source of airborne dust. Water is often used for dust control. An evaluation of typically used water systems during this program showed that they reduced dust levels by 60 to 70 percent over dry cutting when at least 0.5 gpm of water was applied. These systems, however, are only marginally effective in maintaining compliance levels and the added moisture causes operational problems. During the program, three additional dust control systems were designed, fabricated, and evaluated. The first, a hollow cutter bar, was designed to capture dust in the kerf at the cutting zone. The system was only marginally effective in reducing dust levels due to its lack of control of other sources. Large quantities of material captured by the system made it operationally questionable. The second, a machine mounted exhaust system, was extremely effective in capturing virtually all the dust generated in the heading. The captured dust was ducted out of the heading and exhausted downstream in the crosscut. Exhausting the dust without scrubbing, however, creates problems for personnel working downstream of the cutting machine. Successful application would require changes to the mine ventilation system and mining sequence. The third, foam, injected foam from an onboard generator through a channel to the cutting zone at the tip of the bar. Test results showed that foam, using 1/3 to 1/2 the total fluid quantity, was equally effective when compared to the mine's current water system.

Jan 1, 1983

By H. C. Miller

"Introduction**The progress of the ""Safety First"" movement in the oil fields of California during the past few years has been remarkably rapid. It has been generally concede by those who have learned to value the life and limbs of their employees, that safety is essential to efficiency and no company that has a high accident rate can be considered an efficient organization. Accidents have a destructive effect on the morale of any body of workers and cause disorganization and delays.The increasing danger to life and limb involved in the drilling for and the production of oil and gas, has become so great that it is clearly evident that everything possible must be done to keep it within the narrowest possible limits.There is a tendency toward carelessness, especially by men who are employed in hazardous occupations. This is brought about by the familiarity of the risk under which they are working and in no industry is this more forcibly exemplified than in the oil fields. Men have performed the same or similar duties for many years and have worked around similar hazards and unprotected machinery until many have can entire disregard for the dangers surrounding then. Very often familiarity with a hazard occasions a contempt for that hazard which only too often results disastrously."

Dec 1, 1923

By D. A. Paice

A portable calibrator to check tie trip setting of dc circuit breakers within an accuracy of +5% has been developed for the Bureau of Mines. It operates from a 300 volt dc trolley wire to provide controlled current pulses of 120 milliseconds duration and continuously adjustable from 1400 to 3600 A. These current pulses enable a breaker dc trip current to be determined and subject the contacts to full current rating. The equipment is simple to use and weighs 86 pounds. Connections are made with protected, clamp-on leads which are separately connected and weigh about 22 pounds. An accurate calibration procedure takes less than 5 minutes to complete.

Jan 1, 1978

By K. E. Robinson

This study provides an initial indication that mill tailings produced in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District of Idaho can be placed on floodplain areas in a technically acceptable manner without artificial liners and without seriously contaminating the surrounding area. Tests have shown that landfills on these unused areas can result in returning these areas to productive use. The engineering properties of mill tailings permit construction of stable embankments. Designed slope protection inhibits water erosion. Among the environmental considerations in using tailings for landfill construction are the acid and other contamination produced by tailings and wind erosion of exposed tailings surfaces. The initial results indicate that adverse impacts are not as severe as previously thought, and mitigative measures are feasible. Based on the preliminary data, and in accord with existing Federal and State waste management regulations, a conceptual design has been developed for 23 potential landfill sites in the District, which could reclaim 750 acres of floodplain. A cost analysis of landfill construction with mill tailings indicates that the method would be an economically viable means for increasing the valleywide tailings storage capacity, provided construction with slurried tailings is feasible. A Stage H study is proposed to evaluate slurried tailings as a foundation material, as opposed to hauled tailings used in this present study.

Jan 1, 1981

This appendix contains the list of equipment selected for the capitol cost estimate, with the respective quotations from their vendors/manufacturers. A vendor response report along with a separate equipment and motor list has been included in the first part of this appendix.

Jan 1, 1979

By W. L. Dare

This information circular is one of a series the Bureau of Mines plans to publish describing the methods and costs of mining uranium on the Colorado Plateau. The Big Buck mine is one of the larger underground uranium-vanadium ore mines on the plateau. The mine is about 39 miles southeast of Moab in the Big Indian mining district, San Juan County, Utah. The Big Buck claims were located late in 1947, when uranium mineralization was discovered in the Cutler formation at its outcrop along the escarpment that forms the west side of Big Indian Wash. Charles A. Steen made the first major discovery of uranium ore in the Chinle formation in the Big Indian mining district on July 6, 1952, when 14 feet of high-grade uranium ore was encountered in a diamond-drill hole drilled on his Mi Vida claim. The Big Buck ore body now being mined by Standard Uranium Corp. is a southeast extension of Steen's original discovery.

Jan 1, 1956

By Harry W. Campbell

A Bureau of Mines investigation identified no mineral deposits in the Lost Creek RARE II area. Sand and gravel has been mined from alluvial flood plain deposits just outside the RARE II boundary. An oil and gas lease application which includes the eastern portion of the RARE II area is pending. Abundant basalt in the area can be crushed and used as aggregate; but it could not compete with similar deposits in more favorable locations, or with cheaper substitutes such as volcanic cinders or sand and gravel which are available outside the study area closer to major markets. No indication of coal or geothermal energy resources was found. INTRODUCTION Location and Access The Lost Creek RARE II area encompasses 8,300 acres (3,400 ha) of Lassen National Forest in north-central California, about 20 mi (30 km) north of Lassen Peak. The closest city is Redding, California, 50 air mi (80 km) southwest. Peripheral access is provided by State Highway 89 passing near the western RARE II boundary (fig. 1). The Pacific Crest Trail traverses the western margin of Hat Creek Rim adjacent to the eastern boundary of the area.

Jan 1, 1983

By Shirley F. Colby

The past 40 years have seen the sand and gravel industry grow from small roadside pits and holes in farmers' back yards to giant corporations selling millions of tons of sand and gravel each year and owning plants representing huge capital investments in land and equipment. The days hen a man could "work out" his taxes by providing the materials for nearby roads are gone forever. In addition to the hundreds of privately owned and operated plants, Government agencies operate sand and gravel pits and plants to supply aggregates for the tremendous road-building and public-works programs in progress during the past few years. EXPANDING PRODUCTION In 1940 the send and gravel industry produced almost a quarter of a billion short tons valued at more than 110 million dollars. This compares with less than 2 million short tons worth 1 1/2 million dollars produced in 1902. The practice of screening sand and throwing away the gravel in the early days of the industry's growth has stopped, and in 1940 gravel constituted two-thirds of the total production. In 1906, the first year in which sand and gravel were reported separately gravel accounted for only one-

Jan 1, 1942

By Robert L. Lagace

[Suuple Iheorctrccil models are I'M lllolalcd to cltaraclerl/c medium frequency (MF) radio vase pi opaiation in undcrgiounli room arid pillar coal mines fur the purpose of predleiln the most lavolable operating fIegtucncics,md nr,ixunum communic;IIIoil ranges for pottahIe rldu)s with I top antennas. I or conductul IrCC areas, at hree layer propaeaIion IltodcI wit II a Iiallsmissloil IIIIi- lhlllllIIal'u11 lot the plupa!edti ii unlstallt Iris been dcvcloped ;md verified experimentally. 1 lie mode u1 propaCaUetl lakes Ills form of i parallel plane (0,t)) TIM lransnussu)nhne 1% PC of mode with the electric held vertical and the magnetic held hoti/cntal t itliin a planar coal scam in which the tunnels Can he ignored and which 1s hounded above and below hp richer conductivity rock. 1lie model lilt the data best river the 200 io 1000 kH/ frequency hand and exhibits a rc;;lon of optlnrul1l Pelffelntance, with respect Io maxnluiulg radio Communication range, between 300 and 100 klf/. Maximum cunununlcatrorl ranges are sliongls dependent oil the sigiial alleilliatroil sale, ant) Illelclulc on the electrical conductivltles of the coal seam and surrounding ruck. These ranges v;ny tutu about ,,5 Io 100 nleleis Ill a high Iuss scam such as the Ilelllit No. fl to about .100 to 400 meters in a low loss seam such as the Pittsburgh foil portable intrinsically safe radios. The ieslllls die haled on the comparison oftheorc' and experiment for eleven n n. ill sesen coal seams. V OT ate is dice: a conductor such as a power Cable, is present a model has been developed for the coupling of loop antennas to a low loss Coaxial TEM ti;u?smisslon line mode in which the cable acts as the inner conducl,lr and the rock above and below acts as the outer conductor. The electuc and md' nctic Itelds for till` (node are apprlixitllatcly transverse to the cahlC and fall oil expontially with distance in the transverse plane. The principle of reciprocity is used to simplify the analysis. More expelitnental data arc needed to help resolve discrepancies between the theory and the limited data available to date.]

Jan 1, 1980

By Robert T. MacMillan

An essentially chemical technique has been developed on a small scale for the efficient utilization of certain domestic titaniferous iron ores. Three main steps are involved: (1) Sintering the ore at 1,050° C. with carbon and soda ash to reduce the iron to metal powder, retaining the titania in the slag, (2) separating the powdered iron from the slag, after wet grinding, by magnetic or gravity methods, and (3) sulfuric-acid decomposition of the titania fraction to produce pigment and certain byproducts. The technique was first applied to the tailings from the Bureau of Mines bauxite-concentrating plant at Bauxite, Ark. A good grade of powdered iron was produced from this material. Subsequently, the work was diverted to the study of the titaniferous magnetite from the MacIntyre Mine at Tahawus, N.Y., because of the potentially higher recoveries of iron, titanium and vanadium. Ninety percent of the iron in this ore has been recovered as an iron powder analyzing 90 percent metallic iron and containing 2 to 3 percent TiO2. The remaining titania was found in the slag and was recovered as pigment-grade TiO2 by application of a suitable technique. The vanadium was distributed between the TiO2 fraction and the alkaline liquor resulting from the wet-grinding and magnetic-separation operations, with only a minor proportion retained by the metallic iron.

Jan 1, 1950

Develop hydrometallurgical or pyrometallurgical recycling methods to recover valuable rare-earth compounds from various forms of NdFeB magnet scrap. Background The U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) has developed technology to treat and recycle a variety of wastes containing valuable and strategic metals. As part of this effort, the USBM developed a process to separate neodymium and other valuable rare earths from iron in NdFeB magnet scrap (fig. 1). Since this scrap typically contains nearly 30 weight percent neodymium and since the demand for neodymium is constantly increasing, cost-effective methods for scrap treatment could have a significant impact on industrial expenditure and materials supply in the expanding area of magnet manufacture. Approach A hydromctallurgical, H2SO4 dissolution-precipitation process provided the most effective treatment for separating rare earths from bulk NdFcB magnet scrap (fig. 2). Precipitation of neodymium-alkali sulfate double salt proved advantageous over direct precipitation of fluoride or oxalate products. This double salt is easily converted to a variety of useful rare-earth compounds, which eliminates many of the materials-handling and economic problems inherent with direct precipitation. Following rare-earth precipitation, dissolved iron was removed from the acid leach solution by precipitation as a jarosite.

Jan 1, 1993