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By W. W. Adams

With production of coal per man-hour of work at a higher level than ever before, the coal-mining industry of the United States established a near-record in lowering the accident rate of nonfatal injuries per million man-hours of exposure in 1940, the injury rate being lower, except for 1939, than in any year since 1930, the first year for which comparable figures for nonfatal accidents were collected by the. Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior. The rate for fatal accidents, on the other hand, was not as low or favorable as in 1939, nor was it as low as in many years since 1910, the earliest year for which fatality rates were complete for all coal-mining States. Accident and employment reports received from mine operators and fatal-accident reports from State mining departments and inspectors showed that 533,267 men were employed at coal mules in 1940, exclusive of the number employed at coke ovens, Although this number represented 6,108 fewer employees than in 1939, a large increase was made in the volume of work performed and in the quan¬tity of coal produced. In 1940 the amount of labor performed at coal mines was 748 million man-hours, a gain of more than 10 percent over the previous year. The average employee worked 199 days, an increase of 20 workdays per man. Production of coal was nearly 513 million tons, an increase of 14 percent, of which more than 461 million tons was bituminous coal and more than 51 million tons was Pennsylvania anthracite. Accidents to mine workers caused the death of 1,388 employees; in addition, 59,781 employees were injured, and each injury resulted in disability of the employee for more than the remainder of the day on which the accident occurred.

Jan 1, 1942

By Mokhinabonu Mardonova, Yosoon Choi

Open-source technology for supporting the Industry 4.0 has become the target of academic research in many sectors. This study reviewed the trends of open-source technology, its forms, and some industrial applications. As a case study using open-source hardware and software for the mining industry, this study proposed a low-cost environmental monitoring system for non-metallic underground mines to support mine safety and occupational health issues. The system was developed using open-source hardware, Arduino and 3D printer, to design the monitoring device. An open-source software, MIT App Inventor, was used for developing an Android application for smartphones to enable remote communication with the system. Field experiments were conducted at an underground tunnel and a non-metallic underground mining site to assess the performance of the system in both mobile and static modes, respectively. Although a few limitations related to the precision of the low-cost dust and gas sensors still exist, the findings of the experiments show that the mining industry can benefit from open-source technology deployment when considering cost factors

By Roger C. Malan

The Monument Valley and White Canyon districts are in northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah. Exploration and mining for uranium has been conducted in these districts since the late 1940's. In July 1965, ore reserves plus ore production at 174 properties were approximately 3.3 million tons of ore containing about 19 million pounds U3O8, of which about 10 per cent remained in reserves. The two largest mines, Monument No. 2 and Happy Jack, together account for about 45 per cent of the sum of production and reserves. Approximately half the deposits in these districts contain less than 1000 tons of ore. Nearly 5000 feet of Permian, Triassic, and Jurassic sedimentary rocks, mainly continental in origin, are exposed in these districts. All the important uranium deposits are in the Shinarump, the basal member of the Chinle Formation of Triassic age. The Shinarump lies on a widespread unconformity. It is composed of fluvial sediments, generally less than 100 feet thick, that were deposited by streams flowing from a source to the south. Most of the deposits are in an arcuate belt, convex to the west. This belt, 3 to 12 miles wide, extends from Monument Valley northward nearly 130 miles. It is along the western flank of the ancient Monument Valley-Monticello upland, an area that was slightly uplifted at the beginning and again at the end of deposition of the Shinarump. Erosion and subsequent reworking of the Shinarump sediments in the vicinity of this upland are postulated to have made possible the transportation, in solution, of the uranium contained in these sediments. The soluble uranium probably was carried by migrating ground water into sites favorable for precipitation in Shinarump beds bordering the upland. Thus, the original very small amounts of dispersed uranium in the early Shinarump sediments were accreted in the favorable belt where the accumulations of carbonaceous plant remains and their decay products provided a persistent reducing environment.

Jan 1, 1968

By A. V. De Forest

INSPECTION and test methods of great diversity have been used from the most ancient times to select raw material, control its manufacture, and appraise its finished properties and value. The "miller thumb," expert in grading flour, the vintner's sense of taste, the goldsmith's micro-wear test on a touchstone, the enquiring sniff over the doubtful egg -these are all nondestructive inspection methods, accurate and depend- able, but not readily reduced to numbers in the c.g.s. system. A horse trader inspecting a possible purchase is interested in more than age, size, weight, color. heredity, speed, or drawbar pull which can be reduced to figures. Behavior, temperament, stamina, health-past, present and future---are just as important as the numerically determinate constants.

Jan 1, 1940

By Theodore Marvin

FOLLOWING the receipt of questionnaires from many parts of the world, the Aviation Committee is completing a review of the use of aviation in mining and petroleum operations. The summary of this study should be available at the 1937 Annual Meeting in New York City, at which time several papers will be presented on specific application of aerial geologizing. From the reports received, there is little question that this air branch of mining is here to stay. Of course, the transportation of personnel arid material continues to merit attention but it is in the division of aerial geologizing that flying is finding its widest, most technical application.

Jan 1, 1937

By Jr. Gabler

Methods for the direct spectrochemical determination of impurities at the parts-per-million level in tungsten metal and oxide are presented. Several published procedures were investigated and numerous modifications were made in establishing procedures with improved precision and extended lower levels of determinability. Details of standards preparation are presented, experimental work is described, and three preferred methods are described in detail. A germanium carrier-distillation procedure is applicable to the determination of 13 elements in tungsten powder; a silver chloride carrier-distillation procedure provides for the determination of 24 elements in tungstic oxide, and a sustaining ac arc method is applicable to 26 elements in tungstic oxide. The choice of methods to be used depends upon sample form, elements and concentrations to be determined, and the precision and accuracy required. The investigations reported here were undertaken to develop direct spec-trochemical methods with increased accuracy and precision to determine impurities in high-purity tungsten and tungstic oxide, to define the lower concentration levels of detectability and measurement for the common impurities in tungsten by direct spectrographic means, and to present the details of the developed or modified methods that have proved applicable.

Jan 1, 1965

By E. D. Gardner

This bulletin, which discusses open-cut mining at the metal mines of the United States, is the last of a series of such papers by the Bureau of Mines describing the principal methods of mining.4 Open-cut mining is applicable to flat-lying mineral deposits relatively near the surface. Vein deposits seldom are amenable to this method, although outcrops of veins sometimes are worked as open pits. Most of the iron ore of the country is mined from open pits; according to the Minerals Yearbook, 67.4 percent was mined from open pits and 32.6 percent from underground mines in 1937. Open-cut mining is relatively new in the copper industry but yields more copper than any other method; in 1937 about 52 percent of the copper ore mined in the United States was taken from open pits. Lead-zinc ore has been produced from open pits in the Joplin (Mo.) district, but most of the deposits in this area, although flat-lying, are too deep to be mined economically by the open-cut method. In 1937 one company at Oronogo, Mo., was stripping overburden and mining mixed oxidized and sulfide ores by this method.

Jan 1, 1941

By E. G. Kearnery

Introduction It is believed that the present paper will be of some interest, not because of any outstanding features of Renabie milling practice but because Renabie is the first gold mining property in a newly explored area - in Leeson and Rennie townships, Sudbury district, Ontario - to reach the production stage. The Renabie mill was originally designed by the General Engineering Company (Canada), Limited, as a 300-ton plant and went into operation in June, 1947, treating an average of only 128 tons a day for the balance of that year. Toward the end of 1948 the capacity of the plant was expanded to 450 tons a day, and the tonnage treated was gradually increased from the 1947 figure to the point where 420 tons a day was averaged for the first nine months of 1949. Description of Ore In general, the outstanding gangue component of Renabie ore is white quartz, which comprises at least 80 per cent of its total bulk and in some sections considerably more. Virtually all the gold occurs in very finely divided state; only very rarely has free gold coarser than 325 mesh been observed. The ore has a very low sulphide content, ranging from about 0.50 to 1.00 per cent by weight. The gold occurs both free in the gangue and ? locked in sulphides, the proportion of one to the other varying considerably from one orebody to the other. Pyrite is by far the most abundant sulphide, followed by galena, which, however, appears to be entirely absent in some of the orebodies. Minor amounts of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, and sphalerite have been noted. The ore appears to be entirely free, or almost so, of minerals containing arsenic, antimony, or molybdenum, and in general it could be described as free milling. The various hindrances to extraction of the gold which have been met with are believed to be due largely to the very finely divided state of the metal and to its intimate association with the sulphides and gangue. The ore contains silver, with the gold-silver ratio about 3:1.

Jan 1, 1950

By Linda L. Chasko, Charles P. Lazzara, Gary Braselton, Ronald S. Conti

Preparedness is an important element of any underground mine's strategic plan in dealing with an unexpected event, such as a fire. A fully implemented fire preparedness and response plan is essential in reducing the probability and seriousness of a mine fire. This report describes the development of an underground coal mine fire preparedness and response checklist (MFPRC). The checklist is a data collection instrument for profiling both the fire prevention and response capabilities of a mine site and usually requires 3 to 4 days to complete. The checklist encompasses conditions, procedures, and equipment that have frequently been identified as the primary or contributing causes of underground coal mine fires. At least 1 day is needed underground to evaluate the water system. This entails measurements of water flows and pressures at fire hydrants, and water throw distances of fire hose and nozzles at several locations (mains and branch lines). A few of the other topics that are discussed with mine personnel include detection and suppression systems, combustible materials, mine rescue and fire brigades, and firefighting equipment. The MFPRC was developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),Pittsburgh Research Laboratory. Under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Cyprus Amax, Twenty mile Coal Co. (Oak Creek, CO), the checklist was field tested and further refined. Additional field tests were conducted at several other operating coal mines.

Jan 1, 2000

By S Dunham

A cross-discipline approach combining geology, metallurgy and mine planning, geometallurgy is seen as the next logical advance in improving the design and operation of mining businesses. This rapidly evolving field is focused on realising the value that has often been lost in the chasms between the aforementioned technical silos. When successful, the geometallurgical approach promises the ability to tailor mining and mineral processing development and operational options more closely to the characteristics of the resource with resulting lower costs (both capital and operating), improved recoveries and fewer project failures.As with any technological (or managerial) change, there will be side effects from the success of the geometallurgical approach that will impact areas beyond obvious linkages between geology and processing. Some of these effects have the potential to be beneficial to the resource industry and society in general. Beyond the basic geometallurgical promise of closer alignment between processing design/strategy and the multivariate 3D spatial characteristics of the mineralisation, this paper discusses the broader implications and ramifications of the emergent geometallurgical approach: enhancing exploration and discovery; improving project development success; achieving sustainability in an industry working with non-renewable resources; in a world of increasingly hard won license to operate, improving the management of potentially harmful by-products and waste materials (with knock on effects for proactive management of closure issues); smarter approaches to energy management and thus optimisation of projects with respect to carbon footprint; and potential to re-value assets and thus realise a strategic advantage in the area of acquisitions, divestments, mergers and take overs. The authors strongly believe that companies that actively engage with the above issues (and ensure that technical efforts in the area of geometallurgy are not isolated from the larger value chain activities of the firm) will be able to exploit the opportunities that consequentially arise. These early adopters will gain first mover advantages. Firms taking the broad view of geometallurgy will have an opportunity to maximise stakeholder value and win greater success than their less insightful competitors.

Sep 5, 2011

By Johnny Zhang, Yang Anguo, Li Weifeng, Xueyi Guo

"SKSTM oxygen bottom blowing smelting technology was developed by SKS-ENFI at SKS Smelter, Hunan in the 1990s to replace the conventional sintering process and thus to meet the high national EHS standard for lead.Since then, two major milestones have been achieved:1. Since 2002, the SKS oxygen bottom blowing smelting-blast furnace reduction has been in operation at SKS, YGL, Chizhou smelter etc. Now in China, about 50% of the lead (4.2 millions t/year) is produced using SKS process; and2. Since 2008, the blast furnace has been replaced by direct reduction of molten rich lead slag at YGJ smelter, which is more energy-efficient since no slag cooling is required. This two stage process (SKS Oxidation- Direct Reduction) is named as the YGL process.Since 2008, numerous technological innovations have been implemented in the furnace design, process control, and maintenance at YGL. The plant has been successfully demonstrated its unique excellent performances on all aspects from processing capacity, product quality, energy reduction, cost reduction and emission reduction. The purpose of this report is to update all the improvements with proven tracks.Meanwhile, a preliminary comparison on the following aspects between the YGL process and other similar technologies has been discussed:1. Plant design and operating conditions;2. Mass and heat balances, metal (Pb, Ag) recovery;3. Consumables, oxygen gun and refractory lining life;4. Energy consumption and operating costs;5. Sulfur capture and emission reduction etc.It is concluded that the modified SKSTM process is a clean SO2-free emission process. The process is characteristic of other features such as no extra fuel addition, low capital with a small foot-print design, low OPEX, high throughput, easy operation, long refractory lining life and high productivity (95%+ on line time annually). It offers an alternative cost-effective technology for lead smelting industry."

Jan 1, 2014

By S. James Campbell

Ladies and Gentlemen: Never in the history of our mining industry has the emphasis on public relations been accelerated as much as it has in the last few years. Knowing of your keen interest in this subject I consider it a great privilege that your program committee has asked me here to discuss the crushed stone segment of our industry approach to this important part of our daily business lives. As you are aware, crushed stone operations are present in almost every segment of the country wherever aggregates for construction projects are required. The tonnage of crushed stone produced is second only to sand and gravel - another source of aggregates - and this together with sand and gravel amounts to over half of the tonnage of all mined products in the United States. What is unique about this industry that will be of interest to all of you in analyzing how they have approached Public Relations? The fact that it is so wide-spread is of course obvious, but perhaps a more significant nature of this segment of the mining industry that has brought it more in the limelight of public interest and on a larger scale is the location of a large part of the quarries quite close into the urban area and population centers where you have the greatest demand for aggregate products.

Jan 1, 1969

1. Domestic Production and Use: In 1979, 12 companies operated 32 primary aluminum reduction plants, with 3 firms accounting for 64% of production. Washington, Oregon and Montana accounted for 32% of the total production; Gulf Coast States 20%; other Northern States 32%; and other Southern States 16%. Based on published producer prices output of primary metal in 1979 was valued at over $6 billion. Aluminum consumption by 25,000 firms was centered in the East Central United States. Of aluminum consuming industries in 1979, building accounted for about 24%; packaging 23%; transportation 22%; electrical 11%; consumer durables 8%; and other uses, 12%.

Jan 1, 1980

Q: It is May 1961 at Bill Wrather's Washington house. Bill, think back to your first job after college. Wrather: Perhaps I ought to go back a little bit further than my first job. I entered the University of Chicago with the idea of studying law. My intention was to take a 4-yr liberal arts course and superimpose a law degree on that. But during my undergraduate work I fell under the influence of R. D. Salsbury. He decided I had some talent as a geologist and influenced me to take a geological course. Nevertheless, I did not give up the idea of law. While in school I took a spell of typhoid fever and almost died. The doctor recommended outdoor exercise, so a geological job seemed logical. W. H. Emmons was a graduate student in the University and he interceded with Dr. Hayes of the USGS. I went on the payroll as assistant packer at $60 a month. I had one of the most glorious summers I ever spent in my life. That fall and the following year I took law courses and became thoroughly convinced that I was cut out for a geologist rather than a lawyer. I finished up my law work in 1908 while waiting for a job with Bill Emmons, who was doing a careful study of Goldfield and Tonopah.

Jan 4, 1964

By C. C. Merrill

The Bureau of Mines beneficiated the wastes generated by commercial titanium chlorination operations to reclaim metal values and reduce the problem of disposing of solid wastes. A water leach solubilized about 40 percent of the dry weight and over 75 percent of the metallic impurities. The residue from the water leach was rich in titanium dioxide and carbon; it was combined with rutile and recycled to a laboratory chlorinator. The contained carbon was used in lieu of part of the coke requirement.

Jan 1, 1969

By Joseph Jensen

MANY fields have been zoned by nature with shales and intermediate waters between oil zones. Limitations thus imposed have been the basis on which the field was developed. In contrast thereto, in the Ventura Avenue Field, nature proved more generous. Always expecting to find such similar limitations, operators drilled deeper and deeper into the oil zone without finding any distinctive shale bodies other that the Gosnell shale and only one intermediate water, which became the point below which the final water shut-off of each well was made. Thus, on top of the structure, about 3300 ft. of oil-bearing zone has been penetrated below this intermediate w9ter-a distance of 4000 ft. below the Gosnell shale. At first it seemed that the greater the penetration in the zone, the better the well. The error of this assumption became evident

Jan 1, 1930

By D. M. Hausen

A computer program has been developed by Newmont Exploration to convert mineralogic data by XRD into rock type and ore type classifications. This method has proven useful in identifying lithology from cuttings samples, where percussion drilling was an alternative to expensive core drilling. Computer printouts of rock type and ore type identifications can be generated simultaneously with mineralogic analyses, resulting in a considerable time savings in manual calculation. XRD-computer logging was first applied to the Carlin mine in north central Nevada, and later to the Maggie Creek and Gold Quarry gold deposits, southeast of the Carlin mine. Impure Paleozoic limestones of the "lower plate" Roberts Mountain Formation and the "upper plate" transitional facies have been decarbonatized to altered siltstones and shaley units along vertical faults and permeable stratiform horizons. Advanced stages of decarbonatization were accompanied by silicification. Quantitative XRD data are initially sorted into principal rock type units (limestones, siltstones, dolostones, shales) based on major mineralogic components (calcite, quartz, dolomite, clays). On the basis of relative amounts of less major constituents, descriptive subclassifications (dolomitic limestones, dolomitic siltstones, argillaceous cherts) are made. XRD lithologic data provide assistance in correlating lithologic units, and delineating favorable replacement horizons associated with gold mineralization.

Jan 1, 1982

By Alastair Torrance, Mitchell Nipperess, Andrew Olsson, Italo Onederra, Gary Cavanough

Components of bulk explosive products include ammonium nitrate, water, fuel, stabilizers, and calcium nitrate. The physical attributes include prill/emulsion ratio, density, and viscosity and in the case of prilled ammonium nitrate, hardness, size distribution and fuel oil absorption. These components and attributes in conjunction with ground conditions determine all aspects of explosive performance including the risk of fume. This paper presents a fume risk assessment matrix of explosives components and physical attributes as a function of a simple description of ground conditions. Instrumentation to provide a measure of the quality of the explosive product are also described and these include both “on bench” physical measurements and laboratory analysis. “On bench” methods include “in hole “density, velocity of detonation (VOD), detonation pressure and detonation temperature. Part of the quality control process involves a mobile laboratory unit which at this stage can provide measurements of water content, ammonium nitrate content, calcium nitrate content, fuel content, prill characteristics and prill/emulsion ratio. This unit can be taken to sites to enable the testing of bulk and sensitized products at site rather than after transportation.

Jan 1, 2015

By Milton H. Fies

To present some idea as to how the Bureau of Mines may most effectively serve mining, it is necessary that we make some resume of its pact accomplishments in order to determine what, if any, changes will be of greatest service to the industry and to the nation. There are a great many times in life when one begins to wonder whether or not Emerson, in his famous epigram about "mousetraps" and "beaten paths" and "final recognition of intrinsic worth", took into account the item of time. The intrinsic value of any movement, of any work, of any accomplishment will ultimately be recognized, of that there is no doubt, but may a man in history has gone to his end in martyrdom because the world was slow in the acknowledgement of the true excellence of his worth, and this is likewise true of institutions.

Jan 1, 1934

By J. H. Adkins

The purpose of this research is to identify hazards associated with roof bolting and to make recommendations for procedural and equipment design changes to reduce those hazards. To that end, the project reviewed Literature on related research, collected and analyzed roof bolting injury data, normalized the injury data be exposure time to each activity and identified problem areas within the root bolting tasks. In addition, field data collection forms were prepared and mines selected for field work. In the field, observations were made of eighty (80) different roof bolting crews bolting one hundred fifty-five (155) place;, on forty (40) sections spread among nine (9) mines. Task analysis forms were used to record unsafe behavior or conditions for each crew and each place. Informal discussions were held with the mine's safety and training officer, the maintenance officer, one section foremen and, when possible, the observed crew, concerning the training and experience of the miners. Unsafe acts were categorized and related to the "Activity While Injured" categories developed during the accident analysis. For each of these categories one or more recommendations for corrective measure, machine modification, procedural change or job training were developed. The study produced over fifty (50) specific recommendations involving machine design, procedural, safety training and supervisional issues that would lead to reduced roof bolter injuries in the near term. The authors concluded, however, that only the development of truly hands off/remote bolting can eliminate or reduce to an absolute minimum the hazards to which the roof bolter is subjected.

Jan 1, 1977