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By Wallace E. Anable

This investigation by the Bureau of Mines was conducted chiefly on Cuban serpentine nickeliferous ores to determine whether these materials would be amenable to direct carbothermic reduction in an electric furnace to produce a low-carbon ferro-nickel. The project was carried out as one of several under a Memorandum of Agreement between the Bureau of Mines and the General Services Administration (Contract GS-OO-B (D)-152l). Two ore samples were received for this investigation. One was a mixture of nickeliferous serpentine from the North Ocujal, South Ocujal, and San Juan claims of the Nicaro Nickel Co. The other sample was a mixture of material from the Ramona and the Lorna Mulo claims of the Cuban Nickel Co. Most of the ore from the Ocujal-San Juan deposits and about 40 percent of the sample from the Ramona-Lorna Mulo deposits were calcined before smelting. The remainder of the sample from the Ramona-Loma Mulo deposits was smelted after drying to about 8 percent moisture. An arc-resistance, selective-reduction smelting technique was employed in these tests. Either bagasse alone or a mixture of bagasse and coke was used for reductants. No flux was used in the furnace charges.

Jan 1, 1957

By William J. Campbell

This study was a part of two programs: The first, to develop and evaluate high-temperature refractories; the second, to investigate reaction-rate kinetics and phase equilibria in the sinter step of the lime-soda process for the recovery of alumina. High-temperature X-ray diffractometer techniques are to be used extensively in both programs. This paper summarizes developments in the field of high-temperature X-ray diffractometers through 1959, evaluates various furnace designs, and describes briefly the X-ray diffraction facilities of the Federal Bureau of Mines. A more detailed description of the equipment and its calibration is planned in a future paper on thermal expansion and phase inversion of rare-earth oxides.

Jan 1, 1961

By A. W. Fahrenwald

"About two years ago the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, and the University of Idaho undertook an investigation of classification in its relation to table concentration of Idaho ores. The cooperation of the management of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Co. in placing at our disposal their West Mill and facilities as desired, offered an unusual opportunity for studying the field of hindered classification in its practical and economic relation to table concentration.It has been shorn theoretically, and demonstrated experimentally, that ore products are more easily and economically concentrated on tables if the natural feed, consisting of various minerals and of all sizes of particles of each mineral, be classified or grouped into a series of products in which the mineral particles of greatest density are small in diameter relative to the diameter of the mineral particles of lesser density. Products in which the maximum difference in diameter of light and heavy minerals occurs are to be obtained only by true hindered settling classification. To our knowledge there has never been a really good hindered settling classifier used in practice and the present tendency seems to be to by-pass any attempt at such classification.After a careful study of the nature of hindered classification and of the requirements for hindered settling in practice, a classifier has been developed that takes fullest practical advantage of the widely known, but generally only meagerly understood, condition of hindered settling so well analyzed a number of years ago by Dr. Richards.The present paper presents briefly some of the more important practical results accruing through the investigation."

Jun 1, 1924

By Mark Sanders

The report describes three experiments that were conducted to determine the effects of size and weight of the miner's battery pack on performance in the low seam coal environment. Three separate experiments were carried out in a simulated low seam coal mine. The first experiment tested the sensitivity of task measures (i.e., subjects performed locomotion) shoveling, cart pushing, and timbering tasks) to detect variations in the size and weight of the battery pack. The results of the first experiment demonstrated that only the locomotion tasks were sensitive to size and weight variations. The second experiment, therefore, focused on the locomotion tasks and tested the effects of varying size and weight on task completion time. The third experiment was designed to compare the present battery pack to a radically different configuration of power cells. The most important findings were that changes in weight affected locomotion times but changes in size and configuration had small and inconsistent effects. Opinion data of subjects indicated a strong preference for a battery nark belt concept.

Jan 1, 1980

By Kenneth M. Smith

The kaolin deposits of Aiken County, South Carolina (fig. 1), have been worked continuously since 1852. It has been long known that the deposits contain a high percentage of' alumina and that large reserves exist. These facts led to the early selection of' this area for examination in the search by the Bureau of Mines for high-alumina clays. An exploratory program was started by the Bureau, and drilling was carried on from. June 27, 1942, to October 31, 1942. The kaolin-bearing district occupies an area approximately 25 miles long and 11 miles wide, running northeast, with its center at Aiken, S. C. (fig. 1). Within this district, a triangular area bounded by Horse Creek, Silver Bluff Road, and Hamburg Road was roughly prospected by boring 43 machine and 12 hand holes. As a result of the data obtained, a final smaller area was chosen for more systematic prospecting. This area is bounded by Pine Log, Tewkesbury, Silver Bluff, and Craig Sawmill Roads and covers about 4,000 acres. Mineral exploration agreements covering 11,272 acres were signed by 35 property owners, and 11,956 feet was drilled in 200 holes on these properties.

Jan 1, 1949

By F. G. Scott

This document is a proposed program plan for mining environmental research to be conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in support of industrial oil shale mining and processing. This program plan is one of three research alternatives being considered by the Bureau, each based on a different level of anticipated funding. This report documents the high funding level program plan.

Jan 1, 1980

By C. B. Manula, R. L. Sanford, R. A. Rivell

PART I. FLOW CHARTS

Jan 1, 1974

By J. A. Woolf, E. S. Leaver, N. K. Karchmer

"In the cyanidation of silver ore, the need of oxygen is well recognized. Various methods have been introduced for supplying the oxygen. In usual practice, air is the source of oxygen and the methods of application are mechanical.This article gives the results of touts made to show the rate of dissolution of silver from each of the common silver minerals in cyanide solution, under conditions similar to those used in the practical recovery of silver from its ores. The effect of oxygen in aiding the dissolution of the silver from each mineral is also shown by a comparison of the methods of supplying the oxygen. Oxidation by preliminary roasting (500°C.) of each mineral sample gives the maximum extraction of the silver by treatment with cyanide.Each silver mineral5 used in these experiments was as pure as could be obtained from the mineral dealer. In their natural occurrence, silver minerals are not usually free from mineral impurities. They are usually closely associated with other minerals often forming, a complex mixture. The form of crystallization, the proportions, and properties of the diluent that incases or has been dispersed with the silver mineral may decidedly affect the dissolution rate of the silver from each mineral. While the following results should aid in the cyanidation of silver ores, each ore should be studied from the basis of the form and condition of the silver that is to be recovered.All the tests reported in this article were made on synthetic samples, prepared by mixing the particular silver mineral with clean sea sand. Each mineral was ground in an agate mortar to pass 100-mesh before mixing with the sand which had previously been ground in a porcelain pebble mill to 100-mesh. Such proportions of each mineral and the sand were used as to give a head assay of approximately 20 ounces of silver per ton to the synthetic sample.Agitation was carried on in stoppered bottles approximately one-third full of pulp, method apparently supplied all the atmospheric oxygen that would be taken up by the solution under usual conditions, because tests conducted in open bottles did not show increased recovery,"

Jan 1, 1931

By Arnold P. Pipilen

In a study of the principal factors affecting the transport of coal-water mixtures through a centrifugal pump and a pipeline, the interrelation between solids concentration, velocity, and pressure drop was established for a bituminous lump coal (minus 2 inch) in concentrations up to 48 weight-percent. An optimum concentration was found to exist for maximum capacity of a given pipe-line, and for minimum energy requirements per ton of coal. Coal size degradation by particle fracture took place in the pump; abrasion and attrition to form fines took place in both pump and line. A novel system of studying flow of solid-liquid mixtures in pipelines by the determination of relative sound intensities was developed.

Jan 1, 1966

By Laurance L. Oden

Titanium-enriched smelter slag produced commercially by Quebec Iron and Titanium Corp., Sorel, Quebec, was evaluated as feed material for a process developed by the Bureau of Mines to prepare rutile. Glass-forming agents including P205, B203, and two binary mixtures were added individually to the as-received and preoxidized smelter slag, and the nonferrous tramp oxides were effectively partitioned into the resulting noncrystalline phase. Iron in the ferrous oxidation state was moderately soluble in the glass of reduced specimens but less soluble under oxidizing conditions. The solubility of iron oxide in phosphate glass exceeded the solubility of iron oxide in borate glass. Effective conversion of titanium oxide to rutile was not achieved in the high-iron commercial smelter slag, and 20 to 30 pct of the titanium remained as pseudobrookite, a mixed iron-titanium oxide.

Jan 1, 1973

By S. L. Weber, V. Castranova, D. E. Banks, J. K. H. Ma, Y. Rojanasakul, J. Y. C. Ma, M. Bhat

"The mechanism of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis is not ye: clear. Recent studies have shown that alveolar macrophages (AM) can be stimulated by bleomycin in vitro releasing inflammatory cytokines, suggesting that the interaction of bleomycin with AM is an important step in the drug-induced fibrotic process. Bleomycin is known to bind DNA and generate oxygen radicals through complexation with Fe2+ and oxygen. To provide,more insight into the cellular oxidative property of bleomycin, v.s have developed a fluoromicroscopic method using 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFHDA) as an oxidative fluorescence probe to study the deomycin-induced intracellular oxidation in rat AM and the inhibition of the oxida¬tion by taurine, a compound known to inhibit the bleomycin-induced fibrosis. Bleomycin at 5 to 20 ug/ml has a moderate stimulatory effect (1.87- to 2.66-fold) on the secretion of superoxide anion. A high concentration of bleomycin (20 ug/ml), however, inhibits cell response to zymosan-induced secretion of superoxide anion. At 4 ug/ml, bleomycin has no effect on cell membrane integrity or morphology but results in a significant increase in intracellular oxidation. This oxidative process is Fe2-,-dependent and is accompanied by an increase in intracellular calcium (35 nM). Both the intracellular oxidation and calcium rise induced by internalized bleomycin are inhibited by pretreatment of cells with varying concentrations of taurine (25, 125, and 187.5 uM). The inhibitory effect on intracellular oxidation .vas found to be 36, 57, and 60%, respectively. These results demonstrate a stimulation-inhibition relationship between bleomycin and taurine on re cellular oxidation at a subcytotoxic dose of bleomycin, suggesting that the oxidative effect of the intracellular bleomycin-Fe2 complex is important in the initiation of the fibrotic process. — Environ Health Perspect 102 (Suppl10):91-96 (1994) IntroductionThe pulmonary system is most susceptible to oxygen radical-induced diseases due to its constant exposure to the highest oxygen tension, and the potential encounters with oxidant gases such as ozone, nitrogen oxides, and toxic doses of dust particles. The lung is also a well-perfused organ and thereby vulnerable to the effect of circulating xenobiotics such as paraquat, and, bleomycin, which is known to cause pulmonary injuries (1). Alveolar macrophages (AM), which act as a means of defense by phagocytizing inhaled dust particles and microorganisms while increasing production of reactive oxidative species, have been shown to play an important role in mechanisms leading to oxidative lung injury and fibrosis (2-4)."

Dec 1, 1995

By R. C. Hickman

"INTRODUCTION Marl, consisting of a bed of coarse shell conglomerate from 1 to 5 feet thick, occurs on the Chesapeake Corporation tract and Philbates properties in New Kent County, Va.Nine holes were drilled on these properties in February 1946. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSIn its program of exploration of mineral deposits, the Bureau of Mines has as its primary objective the more effective utilization of our mineral resources to the end that they make the greatest possible contribution to national security and economy. It is the policy of the Bureau to publish the facts developed by each exploratory project as soon as practicable after its conclusion. The Mining Branch, Lowell B. Moon, chief, conducts prelimi¬nary examinations, performs the actual exploratory work, and prepares the final report. The Metallurgical Branch, Oliver C. Ralston, chief, analyzes samples and performs beneficiation tests.The project was under the immediate supervision of Mitchell H. Kline, chief, Raleigh Division, Mining Branch.LOCATIONThe Chesapeake Corp. deposit is reached from West Point, Va., by driving west on State Route 33 to the junction of State Route 634, approximately 5 miles. Proceed southeast along State Route 634 about three-quarters of a mile, at which point an old longing road turns north along a ridge and leads to the marl outcrops about one-half mile distant. The Philbates property lies three-quarters of a mile farther west along State Route 33 from the junction with State Route 634. The property lies north of State Route 33 and east of State Route 623 (fig. 1). The marl deposits are on the north end of the farm. The Chesapeake Corp. tract comprises 174 acres and the Philbato property 58 acres."

Aug 1, 1947

By B. W. Gandrud

In 1927 Coghill5 showed that there is considerable liberation of the iron oxide mineral from gangue when the Alabama red iron ores are ground to a size suitable for classification and tabling, but that there is not sufficient to make possible a high extraction and a high grade of concentrate. Coghill states: High extraction and high grade of concentrate cannot be obtained without grinding to a size comparable with flotation or cyanide practice. If grade of concentrate be sacrificed the grinding need not be so severe.

Jan 1, 1934

By Oren C. Baptist, Carlon S. Land, Eliot J. White

The water sensitivity of the oil - gas - producing sandstones in three fields in the Patrick Draw area of southwestern Wyoming was estimated by laboratory testing . The tests used to estimate sensitivity , which is a measure of the loss of well productivity if the producing formation is invaded by fresh water , are : Porosity ; permeability to gas , water , and brines ; saturation characteristics with air displacing water from the samples and by mercury injection ; and identification of clay minerals by X - ray diffraction . Laboratory results indicate that the degree of water sensitivity of the sands in the Patrick Draw, Table Rock , and Desert Springs fields vary , in that order , from moderately sensitive to highly sensitive . The main cause of the sensitivity appears to be the movement of fine particles in the pores , but the swelling of a small amount of an expandible clay mineral may also contribute to the permeability reduction observed in the samples . Laboratory results further indicate that the permeability of the sands to fresh water is seriously reduced if they are first flushed with sodium chloride brine ; calcium chloride brine is less harmful to the sands than sodium chloride brine . The low original permeability of the oil sand in the Patrick Draw field , together with its moderate sensitivity , indicate that the rate of water injection for the secondary recovery of oil will be low . Limited field experience in two pilot - injection wells confirms this prediction .

Jan 1, 1964

By G. L. Gates

The Bureau of Mines studied the scales formed in producing wells in the Wilmington field, California. The scales were primarily barium sulfate and resulted from the mixing of injected sea water and formation waters; there was excess sulfate in the injection water and the formation waters contained appreciable barium. After breakthrough, the produced brines were supersaturated with barium sulfate. Laboratory tests indicated that barium sulfate precipitated quickly When the supersaturated brines were agitated with crystals of barium sulfate and fairly rapidly when more sulfate solution was added. Precipitation occurred slowly on standing or under nonturbulent conditions. Both the apparent and equilibrium solubilities of barium sulfate in these brines were determined and compared with equilibrium solubilities in distilled water and sodium chloride solutions.

Jan 1, 1965

By Donald P. Schlick

This Information Circular presents a brief historical digest of the early attempts of the Bureau of Nines and the U.S. Public Health Service to establish coal mine dust exposure standards. It reviews current, accepted standards of the United States as well as available standards of other countries.

Jan 1, 1971

By J. P. Bennett

Based on previous Bureau of Mines research indicating that improved high-temperature properties could be achieved for periclase refractories through chemical additions, the Bureau investigated the properties of full-size bricks produced from chemically modified periclase refractory grains and the suitability of making such chemical additions to Mg(OH)2 slurries prior to production of the periclase grains. In full-size brick testing, strength values, both hot and cold, for the optimized bricks were superior to those for a commercial 98-wt-pct-MgO refractory. The best results were obtained for a natural magnesite with an adjusted CaO:Si02 (C:S) ratio of 3.0 and a 1.0-wt-pct addition of Zr02 and for a seawater periclase with an adjusted C:S ratio of 2.5 and a 0.5-wt-pct addition of Mn02. For samples produced from chemically modified Mg(OH)2 slurries, additions of both Mn02 and Zr02 and an increase in C:S ratios produced significant increases in hot flexural strength, similar to those resulting from chemical additions made to periclase grains. The most effective modifications were additions of Mn02 to brine-derived periclases having a C:S ratio adjusted to 3.0. These results on chemically modified magnesia refractories indicate that such material could potentially substitute for magnesiachrome refractories containing imported chromite.

Jan 1, 1984

By Jr. Reistle

The tests reported in this paper were made in the East Texas field in the summer and fall of 1932 as a part of the Bureau of Mines study of the operation of flowing wells and reservoir performance; and to determine, if possible, the minimum reservoir pressure necessary to produce the wells in this field by natural flow through different sizes of flow strings. The minimum reservoir pressure that would be required to Maintain natural flow through 2 1/2-inch tubing was determined experimentally for the existing energy conditions in the East Texas field. With the present available data, however, it is impossible to predict accurately or to determine by calculation the necessary energy requirements for maintaining the vertical flow of oil and gas mixtures under all conditions. Although some valuable data were obtained which seem to have application to the solution of problems involving vertical flow, this important research of the petroleum industry is so involved that more study of the complicating factors influencing the flow of oil-gas mixtures through vertical pipes is required.

Jan 1, 1933

By Raymond W. Hiteshue, Sam Friedman, Martin D. Schlesinger

The Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the El Paso Natural Gas Co. investigated the effect of high temperature and pressure at short residence times on the hydrogenation of a New Mexico coal to gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons . The study was made in a bench - scale semicontinuous unit at pressures of 500 to 6,000 psig , 480 ° to 1,000 ° C , and residence times of less than 1 minute to 15 minutes . Ammonium heptamolybdate was impregnated on the coal to furnish 1 percent molybdenum based on maf coal . Coal could be rapidly hydrogenated at elevated temperatures and pressures to yield large quantities of gaseous hydrocarbons and small quantities of lowboiling oils , high in single - ring aromatics . At 800 ° C and 6,000 psig and a residence time of 1 minute , the yield of hydrocarbon gas was 43 percent and of liquid hydrocarbons 9 percent , based on maf coal . With a 15 - minute residence time , the yield of gaseous hydrocarbons increased to 68 percent with a decrease in yield of oil to 6 percent . At higher hydrogen velocities , the yields of oil were much greater but contained large quantities of asphaltene . Low concentrations of molybdenum (0.01 and 0.1 percent ) or a high concentration of iron ( 1 percent ) were ineffective at 800 ° C , 6,000 psig , and short residence time .

Jan 1, 1964

By M. Orchin

THIS PAPER is concerned with two aspects of the behavior of coal: (1) Dispersion by solvents atmospheric pressure and high temperature and (2) the destruction and regeneration of the coking properties of coal. Several pure polycyclic compounds and a coal-tar fraction were found to extract 95 percent of the organic material of a bituminous coal. About 20 percent of the extract was soluble in benzene, and this fraction contained the ?coking principle? of the coal. From an extensive chemical spectroscopic, and x-ray study of the benzene-soluble material, some conclusions could be drawn concerning the composition and structure of this fraction of coal. A possible commercial application of the extraction technique is in the preparation of low-ash carbonaceous material for the manufacture of electrode carbon.

Jan 1, 1951