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By J. J. Burns

Disasters such as occurred at Oppau, Germany, in 1921, at Tessenderloo, Belgium, in 1942, and in this country at Texas City, Tex., in 1947 clearly indicate the explosive hazard associated with the manufacture, storage, and transport at ion of ammonium nit rate The importance and extent of the hazard may be Judged from the large amount of ammonium nitrate produced and transported annually in this country. Between July 1, 1947, and June 30, 1948, it was estimated that the United States produced 461,528 tons of ammonium nitrate commercially for agricultural purposes alone .5/ In addition, U. S. Army Ordnance plants have manufactured and shipped 779,730 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer to Germany, Japan, and Korea.6/

Jan 1, 1953

By Robert A. Westin

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) have been widely used as fire resistant dielectri coolants in electrical equipment used in mining applications, including transformers capacitors, electric motors, and electromagnets. In addition, PCBs have been used in hydraulic fluids and heat transfer fluids, and are present in many oil filled transformers. The Environmental Protection Agency recently banned the manufacture of PCBs and equipment using PCBs, and imposed strict requirements on the continued use and disposal of existing PCB equipment. This manual discusses the EPA requirements, suggest ways to decrease the risks resulting from continued use of PCB equipment, and surveys the non-PCB equipment that is available as replacements for the PCB electrical equipment presently used in mines.

Jan 1, 1979

By Byron S. Gottfried

This Bureau of Mines report presents a method for combining the distribution curves at different specific gravities of separation, for a given piece of coal-cleaning equipment and a given raw coal feed, into a single, generalized distribution curve normalized with respect to specific gravity and, therefore, independent of the specific gravity of separation. Illustrative generalized distribution curves, based upon Bureau of Mines collected data on industrial operations, are presented for five different types of coal-cleaning equipment. The well-known concept of probable error is extended to the generalized distribution curve. It is shown that the conventional probable error is directly proportional to the specific gravity of separation. A number of sample calculations, illustrating the use of the generalized distribution curve and generalized probable error, are presented in the appendix.

Jan 1, 1977

By C. I. Pierce

The Bureau of Mines used an electrolytic tank model to investigate the response of guard electrodes of different dimensions under different simulated reservoir conditions. Sandstone disks from the Berea and Connellsville Formations were used as resistive beds in the model, and agar gel or water was used as conductive beds. In the experiments, bed thickness, hole diameter, mud resistivity, and bed resistivity were varied. The guard electrode is an excellent tool for determining true bed resistivity in the thin-bedded oil reservoirs of the Appalachian area. Vertical resolution and resistivity values are good when there is little or no invasion. Resistivity values are near true bed resistivity in beds thicker than about six hole diameters when the electrode-to-hole-diameter ratio is close to 1. However, low-resistivity muds cause false peaks to appear on the logs near bed boundaries in thick beds, and for resistive beds having a thickness approximately three to five times the hole diameter, apparent resistivities tend to be excessively high when mud resistivity is low.

Jan 1, 1966

The principal activities of the Bureau of Mines Explosives Research Center from July 1, 1963 to June 30, 1964 are described briefly in part 1. Part 2 gives short abstracts of publications that appeared during fiscal year 1964; in general; the research reported in these publications antedates the report period. Part 3 describes a short-term investigation into safety problems associated with shipping of molten sulfur; this investigation is not at present destined for publication elsewhere.

Jan 1, 1965

By Frank J. Wiebelt

In its efforts to maintain production of tungsten during the recent war period, the Bureau of Mines explored certain parts of the properties of the Atolia Mining Co. in San Bernardino County, Calif., by diamond drilling. Owing to past production record and other available data, the area was considered attractive for possible development of new ore bodies. Scheelite occurs in narrow veins ranging in width from a fraction of an inch to several feet. The veins are in quartz monzonite in a zone 2 miles long and 500 feet wide. Production from the district was reported to have been over 1,000,000 units of W03. Twelve diamond-drill holes, totaling 5,056 feet, were drilled by the Bureau of Mines in the vicinity of the Papoose, Papoose No. 5, Amity, and Union mines, the tailings pond, and the "Old Spud Patch." The work began in August 1943 and was completed in June 1944. This publication briefly describes the history and deposits of the district and gives full details of the work performed by the Bureau.

Jan 1, 1950

By George S. Rice

"The author was a member of a Commission sent by the Secretary of the Interior to France to investigate developments in mining and metallurgy under stress of war conditions, and also to observe the extent and character of the destruction of the collieries and the steel and iron plants, and methods which were being taken to reestablish them. This commission consisted of F. G. Cottrell, Chief Metallurgist of the Bureau of Mines, Frank H. Probert, Dean of the University of California Mining School, and George S. Rice, Chief Mining Engineer of the Bureau. While conducting this investigation a trip was made to the Saar Basin to observe the conditions there. Following this Mr. Rice acted as advisor on mining matters to the Representative of the Economic Council in an Interallied conference held at Cologne in April 1919, and subsequently visited the mining districts in central and southern France, Belgium, and Great Britain.The Germans, in planning a campaign for world supremacy, had as one of their first objectives the seizing of the important Briey iron ore deposits of France and the coal fields of Belgium and northern France.Large resources of coal and iron have led to the commercial greatness of the countries possessing them, as exemplified by the great development first in England then in the United States, and in Germany when the minette high phosphorus iron ores became useful through the invention of the Thomas and Gilchrist dephosphorizing process in 1878. However, this development was anticipated by the German scientific advisors in 1871, and led to the then known deposit of minette ore in Lorraine being taken from France by Germany.When these ores became available, Germany made such tremendous strides that its minette ore developments were not sufficient and importation of ore was necessary. Meantime France, by drilling, had established the extension of the minette ore field into French Lorraine. Then it was discovered that France had greater resources, while the German resources were being rapidly depleted.Although Germany, in its Westphalian basin, possessed the most important coal field on the Continent, containing the largest resources in coking coal outside of Great Britain, its coal was distant from the sea coast, so it could not be an important factor in the export business. No doubt this fact caused the German Imperialists to look forward: to securing the coal basin of Belgium and northern France for future ocean trade.It was a striking feature in the German conduct of the war that, although the steel and iron plants of Belgium and France and other industrial establishments in the invaded regions of Belgium and France were utterly destroyed, the iron mines in French Lorraine were not destroyed nor materially damaged by the Germans in their retreat, while the destruction in France continued until the day of the Armistice. The other striking fact is that the coal mines Of Belgium were not destroyed. It can only be conjectured whether this was due to President Wilson's threat of retribution, which did not stay their hand in France, or was due to the fact that they did not consider Belgium as a real competitor. It was evident they wished to cripple France industrially when they could not hold these northern provinces."

Dec 1, 1919

By R. Hogg

"Particles play an important role in our environment and in many aspects of human activity. Much of the Earth's surface - sand, soil, rocks - consists of particles, as do clouds in the atmosphere, smoke from fires, and dust in our homes. Many of the foods we eat - cereals, flour, instant coffee - and everyday items such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, detergents and other cleaning products are encountered in the form of particles. Inks and paints consist of very fine particles dispersed in liquids. Modem agriculture uses huge quantities of fertilizers and pesticides, largely in particulate form. The list could be extended almost indefinitely; particle systems are obviously an important part of our daily lives. But what do we know about them? For most people, the answer is probably: not much.We are all familiar with the three common states of matter: gas, liquid and solid. In many respects, particle systems should be regarded as a distinct class of their own. The particles themselves may be solid but we all know that a heap of sand is quite different from a solid rock. A cloud of liquid droplets - fog - has much more in common with a cloud of solid particles - smoke - than it does with a bucket of water. There are certain characteristics and properties which are unique to the particulate state. The behavior of any particle system is determined not only by the material from which the particles are made, but also by interactions among the particles and with their environment. These interactions become increasingly important as the size of the particles decreases, and for exceedingly fine particles, smaller than about one micrometer (0.000001 meters or 0.00004 inches), these interactions dominate and we enter the realm of colloidal systems.Particle SystemsA system in which discrete entities - particles -are dispersed in a continuous medium can be regarded as a particulate system. The particles and the medium can consist of a solid, liquid or gas. The various combinations and some common examples are listed in Table 1. The properties and behavior of these systems depend on the characteristics of the particles, the nature of the medium, and the relative abundance of the two phases. In general, it is the latter which determines the kind of behavior exhibited by the system.As a general rule, the behavior of particle systems follows that of the dispersed phase (the particles) at high concentration, and that of the continuous phase (the medium) at low concentration. For example, both powders and smokes consist of solid particles in a gaseous medium. However, in a powder the solids typically occupy over one half of the total volume; in many respects powders behave like solids. In a smoke, on the other hand, the particles may take up only a few parts per million of volume, so that these systems generally behave like gases."

Jan 1, 1989

By R. D. Brown

There are techniques for separating aluminum alloys from mixed scrap, but there are no efficient ways to separate wrought aluminum from cast aluminum. This Bureau of Mines report describes a novel technique for separating mixed aluminum alloy scrap into cast and wrought aluminum alloy fractions. The technique, which uses conventional heating, fragmentizing, and screening equipment, exploits differences in the mechanical properties of cast and wrought aluminum alloys at elevated temperatures. The cast alloys become brittle at high temperatures owing to intergranular melting of regions of eutectic composition. This melting begins to occur as the solidus temperature for each alloy is reached. Solidus temperatures for casting alloys generally range from 520° to 580° C, but are above 600° C for most wrought alloys. Thus, the casting alloys are easily fragmented while the wrought alloys remain ductile in the proper temperature range. Starting with a mixture containing approximately 80 pct cast and 20 pct wrought alloys, fractions of 100 pct cast and 98 pct wrought have been produced.

Jan 1, 1985

By R. V. Ramani, J. Qin

"In this paper, the results of a research study on airborne dust transport in a full scale simulated longwall face are presented. The simulated longwall face was set up in the Lake Lynn Laboratory mine of the U.S. Bureau of Mines to conduct experiments under controlled conditions. The controlled parameters in the experiments were the dust dispersion rate, dust size distribution, density of the dust, air velocity, and the rate of travel of the dust generating source. The analyses of the experimental results on mass concentrations, particle size distributions, and real-time respirable dust concentrations are discussed. There are definite spatio-temporal trends between the location of the shearer, the concentration at any location in the face, and the dust generation rates. The size-consist and density characteristics of the source dust, the air velocity in the face, and the air leakage into the gobs all affect the concentration. INTRODUCTIONA detailed experimental study on the characteristics of longwall dust cloud in operating longwall faces has been reported by Ramani, Qin, and Jankowski (1991). The study indicated that there are several important factors whose effects on dust transport in longwall faces need to be further investigated. In an operating longwall face, the effect of these parameters could not be easily isolated as control over the affecting parameters is not readily possible. In a simulated longwall face, however, these parameters can be controlled. Therefore, as a follow-up to the field study, a series of controlled experiments were conducted in a full scale simulated longwall face in the Lake Lynn Laboratory mine of the U.S. Bureau of Mines [Qin, 1992]. Specific aspects which were addressed during the experimental design phase included determining the types of samples to be collected, selecting proper instruments to collect these samples, and developing detailed sampling and time-study plans to correlate the dust concentrations with face activities. Two types of dust--anthracite and bituminous--were used. Dust dispersion rate into the air as well as the source dust particle size distribution were documented. Control was exercised over both air velocity at the face and air leakage along the longwall face. During experiments, the dust source was moved to simulate the shearer movement at operating longwall faces. Detailed descriptions of the design of experiments, experimental results, and data analyses follow in the subsequent sections."

Dec 1, 1996

By Daryl R. Tweeton

The Bureau of Mines conducted experiments to measure the influence of environment on the friction and wear of a steel-quartz system at several speeds and loads. In each test a quartz block was pressed against a rotating ring of low-carbon steel. Environments used were moist air, dry air, dry nitrogen, water, aqueous oleylarnmonium acetate (ClsH35NH3+-OCOCH3), and aqueous aluminum chloride (A1C13). The sliding speeds were 2.2, 13, and 33, cm/sec, and the loads were 6.8 and 13.6 kg. The coefficient of friction, the wear, and the roughness of the surfaces were measured, and the wear debris was examined. The coefficient of friction was significantly lower in moist air at 2.2 cm/sec than for any other combination of environment and speed employed, and was generally an inverse function of the oxidizing ability of the environment. The coefficient of friction increased somewhat with increasing load. The wear of the steel rings was greatest in dry air at all speeds and loads. The wear of the quartz blocks at 180 rpm was greatest in dry air, but at 12 rpm it was greatest in nitrogen. Friction and wear in aqueous oleylarnmonium acetate and in aqueous aluminum chloride were similar to effect in water alone.

Jan 1, 1976

By Noel N. Moebs

Five LANDSAT lineaments in the coal mining region of southwestern Pennsylvania were investigated by the Bureau of Mines to determine their geologic character, relation to subsurface conditions, and the means of discriminating one from another. The investigation included earth resistivity and very low frequency (VLF) electromagnetic traverses, soil moisture sampling, and a correlation with coal mine roof conditions. The lineaments could not be detected by the methods used, suggesting that they might be a surface phenomenon unrelated to subsurface geologic structures or roof stability in coal mine workings beneath.

Jan 1, 1987

By John J. Mulligan

The Bureau of Mines investigated reports of mineral deposits within 10 miles of the route of the proposed pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. No producing lode deposits or lode prospects of possible national economic significance were found. Measured placer deposits in the route are or slight value except possibly some deeply buried gold placer deposits in the Fairbanks and Livengood Quadrangles. The pipeline corridor crosses five belts of minerals having potential economic value: (1) The north slope of the Brooks Range (oil, gas, oil shale, coal, phosphate); (2) the south slope 01 the Brooks Range (copper, gold); (3) the Livengood area (gold); (4) the Fairbanks area lead-silver, antimony); and (5) the Wrangell Mountains-Denali copper belt (copper-gold). The Jarvis Creek coalfield, an eastern extension of the Nenana coalfield, is on the north side of this belt. Scattered along the corridor across the Chugach Mountain and in the vicinity of Valdez are a wide variety of metallic deposits that make up the eastern margin of the Chugach gold belt but do not seem to constitute a well-defined zone.

Jan 1, 1974

By W. W. Adams, T. D. Lawrence, D. R. White

"This paper presents the results of the eleventh yearly accident-prevention contest, the National Safety Competition of 1935, conducted by the United States Bureau of Mines. Participating in the competition were 336 mines and Quarries in 37 States. Five mining or quarrying companies, each the leader in its group for having established the best safety record during the year, were awarded the national safety trophies 'Sentinels of Safety.Since these annual contests were begun 11 years ago the scope of the competition has been broadened materially, both as to the number of plants participating and as to the number of man-hours of exposure to accident hazards. Moreover, marked progress in the pre¬vention of accidents has been achieved, as is indicated by an almost constant downward course in the accident-frequency rates for the contest group as a whole during the past 11 years. On the other hand, the accident-severity rates for the group showed an upward trend during the first part of the period and a downward trend during the latter part, except in 1930 and 1934, when two disastrous explosions occurred with heavy loss of life, and in 1935, when there was an increase in the number of fatalities although no major disasters occurred. The accident rate for 1935, both as to frequency and severity, was higher than for 1934.The National Safety Competition is conducted by the Bureau of Mines in the interest of safety in the mining and quarrying industries. This object is accomplished directly through the efforts of the competing companies and their employees to win first place in the competition and thereupon receive well-merited and national recognition for their achievement. Indirectly the purpose of the contest is accomplished through studies by the Bureau of Mines of the fasts contained in the accident reports which the competing companies furnish to enable the Bureau to compute the accident rates that are the basis for determining the winners of the contest.The statistics that constitute the basis for determining the winning companies and the relative standing of all companies are prepared uniformly without regard to the States in which the companies operate, or to differences in classes of accidents covered by State laws relating to compensation for injuries resulting from industrial accidents."

Jul 1, 1936

By C. J. Cohen, L. A. Dahners

"SUMMARYA method has been developed for surveying, drill holes without lowering into the hole any surveying equipment other than an etch tube. The orientation of the rods at the collar of the hole is maintained as the etch tube is lowered. The attitude of the etch ellipse in depth with respect to the rod orientation at the collar can then be observed. This relationship permits the bearing of the hole in depth to he calculated. The rod orientation is maintained during the lowering by means of a pair of alinement clamps. One clamp is fastened to the top of each rod as the rod is coupled and is removed when the alinement has been transferred to the other clamp at the top of the next succeeding rod. A particular advantage of this survey technique is that surveys can be readily made in magnetic country rock.PRINCIPLE OF THE TECHNIQUEAn axial lamina of the column of drill roes is the lamina in which one fiber would be the centerline of the rods. In the new survey technique, the rods are fed into the hole in such a manner that the axial lamina of each successive rod maintains its position at the collar of the hole. In depth, as the rods bend in following the drill hole, the axial laminae also bend. The lamina that was originally vertical will, in general, be tilted away from the vertical. The trace of this lamina is marked on the glass etch tube before the tube is lowered in the hole. The axial lamina that becomes vertical at the survey station is recognized as that axial lamina which contains the long axis of the etch ellipse. The angle between the lamina originally vertical and the lamina vertical at the survey station is thus measurable. When the vertical axial lamina at one survey station has been determined by the etch ellipse at that station, angle R between this lamina and the vertical axial lamina at the next survey station becomes measurable also. By moans of angle R, and dip angles D1 and D2 at the two stations, the change in bearing (z) of the drill hole between the two stations can be calculated."

Aug 1, 1944

By J. A. Ruppert, P. M. Sullivan

A process was developed on a laboratory scale in which iron contained in galvanizers ' zinc dross and aluminum contained in scrap zinc die - cast alloy were removed simultaneously . Melting both types of scrap together in the proper proportions resulted in formation of solid intermetallic Fe₂ Alg , which was readily removed from the melt by filtration and centrifugation . Recovery was 87 to 92 percent of the available zinc . Refined filtrate contained 0.02 percent iron and 0.20 percent aluminum. Aluminum content was further reduced to less than 0.01 percent by fluxing with zinc chloride . Low temperatures employed and inexpensive equipment requirements make the process commercially attractive .

Jan 1, 1964

By C. H. Schack, K. C. Dean

An investigation was made to devise and evaluate a flexible flotation method for beneficiating typical tactite types of calcareous scheelite - bearing ores ; these scheelite - bearing ores are available in large tonnages in deposits containing 0.2 to 0.3 pct tungsten trioxide . The objective was to achieve a high recovery of the tungsten in concentrates , containing a minimum of 10 pct WO3 , that would be suitable for chemical processing into high- quality synthetic scheelite . The principal problems encountered and resolved by bench- scale flotation tests on ore samples from five different deposits were to define the conditions and reagent combinations essential for ( 1 ) achieving selective flotation of a small amount of scheelite from a large amount of calcite and ( 2 ) controlling the effect of small amounts of calcium , magnesium , and iron salts in the ores and water used . The flotation process was evolved from batch tests and continuous runs in a pilot - scale mill with a capacity of 100 lb per hour . The flotation process comprised ( 1 ) removal of sulfide minerals , ( 2 ) conditioning the residual ore pulp with sodium carbonate , quebracho , and trisodium phosphate , and ( 3 ) rougher flotation and single - stage cleaning of a scheelite concentrate . In a pilot plant run , over 91 pct of the tungsten was recovered from ore containing 0.27 pct WO3 , in a concentrate containing 11.2 pct WO3 .

Jan 1, 1964

By Frank L. Hess

In 1876 cassiterite was identified in the placer gold from the northern Black Hills, and such a mixture could have come only from Nigger Hill or one of the streams draining the hill, because in no other part of the northern hills have cassiterite and gold been found together. Nigger Hill is in western Lawrence County, South Dakota, and on it is the little camp of Tinton. The Wyoming line runs along the west side of the hill and crosses the ridge which is the hill's continuation about miles north-northwest of Tinton.

Jan 1, 1938

By Frank L. Hess

In 1876 cassiterite was identified in the placer gold from the northern Black Hills, and such a mixture could have come only from Nigger Hill or one of the streams draining the hill, because in no other hart of the northern hills have cassiterite anti gold been found together. Nigger Hill is in western Lawrence County, South Dakota, and on it is the little camp of Tinton. The Wyoming line runs along the west side of the hill and crosses the ridge which is the hill's continuation about miles north-northwest of Tinton.

Jan 1, 1938

Five conclusions that emerged from ADL's Contractor Noise Measurements Assessment done for the Bureau of Mines and the 7 December 1971 Bureau of Mines Contractors' Round Table Meeting in Boulder, Colorado were: ? a limited amount of good data has been obtained for characterizing the noise environment for electromagnetic (EM) coal mine operational/emergency communications systems; ? significant noise date gaps still exist; ? suitable instrumentation and data analysis methods are available for filling these data gaps; ? the immediate and most important data gaps should be filled by means of a timely field measurement effort that is purposely limited in scope and duration; ? this field measurement effort should preferably be carried out by a team knowledgeable and experienced in coal mine EM noise measurements.

Jan 1, 1972