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A new series of reports called ?Mineral Perspectives" (MP's) has been initiated by the Bureau of Mines with the publication of MP-1 titled, "Far East and South Asia" by K.P. Wang and the staff of the Bureau of Mines. This new series parallels the creation of the recently announced "Minerals Commodity Profiles" (MCP?s). Both series are designed to provide current information on important sectors of the mineral economy to assist professionals in government, industry, and education in monitoring supply-demand relationships that have significant impact on our domestic economy as well as on the international scene. The orientation of the "Mineral Perspective" series is a geographic one which examines the mineral situation of a region or a country. The "Mineral Commodity Profile? series examines individual mineral commodities. They are in this sense complementary.

Jan 1, 1977

By J. R. Thoenen

Up to 1914 almost all of the world's supply of potash came from Germany and Alsace. With the cessation of shipments from Germany during the World War the importance of a domestic suppler was evident. During the past 15 years the United States has been working toward the establishment of a domestic potash industry which would end foreign dominance in this commodity. The Federal government has taken an active part in this program. As its share in the work, the Bureau of Lines has ascertained the potash resources in certain district's through core drilling and has engaged in a comprehensive program of research on the extraction of potash from its various minerals. Until the passage of the Winter bill (H. R. 496) by Congress in 1928 the Bureau of Mines had not been able to give any consideration to the western ores, wyomingite (leucite) and alunite. With the massage of this bill, however, the ray was opened for the extension of the potash studies to cover these materials.

Jan 1, 1932

By Robert G. Bottge

The Bureau of Mines investigated the availability of the land in south-central Alaska for exploration and mineral development of locatable minerals under State or Federal laws. The land ownership for an area of nearly 72.5 million acres in south-central Alaska was divided into 3 availability categories and 15 subcategories. In July 1985, 31.0 million acres of the study area were available for mineral exploration and development, 6.2 million acres were available with restrictions, and 35.3 million acres were unavailable. About 23.6 million acres in the study area are underlain by mineral terranes. About 9.9 million of the 23.6 million acres are available for mineral entry, 2.4 million acres are available with restrictions, and 11.3 million acres are unavailable. While much of the land currently classified as unavailable will be reclassified once it is conveyed to the State or to Native corporations, about 22% of the unavailable lands underlain by mineral terranes are now Federal parks, preserves, wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, and military lands, all of which are considered permanently unavailable for mineral exploration and development.

Jan 1, 1986

By Walter K. Utt

The process of drilling and bolting the roof is currently one of the most dangerous jobs in underground mining, resulting in about 1,000 accidents with injuries each year in the United States. To increase the safety of underground miners, researchers froth the Spokane Research Laboratory of- the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are applying neural network technology to rite classification of mine roof strata in terms of relative strength. In this project, the feasibility of using a monitoring system on a roof drill to assess the integrity of a mine roof and warn a roof drill operator when a weak layer is encountered is being studied. Using measurements taken while a layer is being drilled, one can convert the data to suitably scaled features and classify the strength of the layer with a neural network. The feasibility of using a drill monitoring system to estimate the strength of successive layers of rock was demonstrated in the laboratory.

By Henry Kreisinger, WALTER T. RAY

This preliminary bulletin was written as the first of a series of several on the significance of drafts in steam-boiler practice, the succeeding bulletins to be along the same lines but of a more advanced character. The conclusions arrived at are tentative, and are the result of a study of one of the many problems growing out of a general plan of the United States Government to increase the efficiency with which the coals of the country are being used. Greater efficiency requires better boiler and furnace design. The experimental study of drafts on which the conclusions presented in this bulletin are based formed part of the fuel-testing investigations that were carried on by the technologic branch of the United States Geological Survey and have been transferred to the Bureau of Mines. The experiments made seem to indicate that it is possible to double or treble the capacity of a plant without making any radical changes the furnaces and boilers. These increases require about double and treble the quantities of air to be put through the fuel beds and boilers. It also seems probable that rebafHing the boilers will often permit the capacity to be doubled or trebled, while still getting more steam than formerly per pound of coal for uses outside the boiler room. These experiments were undertaken with the object of clarifying ideas concerning the passage of air through fuel beds and boilers. Measured weights of air were passed through two beds of lead shot, series, one of which remained always the same and represented a boiler; the other being varied as to size of shot and depth of bed, and representing a fuel bed. Careful observations were made of the weight of air passing through the beds per minute. All data were plotted in many charts, so as to permit the study of them from several points of view. A number of laws were deduced bearing on the relative amounts of power required to force air through fuel beds of various thicknesses, composed of various sizes of coal, and through boilers of various lengths and areas of gas passages. An important part of the discussion relates to an increase in the capacity of boilers by increasing the amount of power applied to pressure and exhausting fans and thus forcing several times as much air through the fuel beds and boilers. may be possible, as a result of these investigations, to raise the rate of working the boiler heating surface to three or even four times its present value. Such an increase would undoubtedly mean new designs of grates, stokers, furnaces, and boilers, especially fitted for high rates of working. Fan equipments designed to supply three or four times as much air under several times the pressure would be provided with more efficient engines, thus giving an additional factor favoring high-capacity working. It must be borne in mind, as stated above, that the results are tentative. It will cost money to force gases at high speeds through fuel beds and boilers, and there will soon be pressing need of such quantitative data as will enable the largest possible part of the energy imparted by the fans to be advantageously utilized. We desire, to thank our superiors, especially Messrs. L. P. Breckenridge and D. T. Randall, for their helpful criticism and suggestions.

Jan 1, 1911

By Richard D. Smith

The Bureau of Mines evaluated the emission control methods, including the capital investments and operating cost, necessary for further reducing lead levels in ambient air at the Glover, Herculaneum, and Buick smelter-refineries in Missouri and the East Helena, MT, smelter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed more stringent lead in ambient air standards than those currently in effect. This report presents theoretically achievable lead emission reductions and estimated capital and operating costs. Lead emission inventories theoretically can be reduced from 1985 levels by 2,421 lb/d at the three Missouri operations by containing and filtering fugitive emissions within structural enclosures and baghouses. The aggregated capital and operating costs in 1986 dollars using conventional environmental and workplace technologies are estimated to be $250,014,100 and $18,507,800, respectively. Estimated total incremental cost is $0.063/lb as refined lead. Additional regulatory costs attributable to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSKA), U.S. Department of Labor, workplace standards are included since proposed environmental controls may otherwise degrade workplace conditions. Continuous drossing is evaluated as an alternative to conventional OSHA controls. Substituting continuous drossing for conventional work- place technology results in an estimated aggregated capital and operating costs of $258,344,800 and $15,719,600, respectively. Estimated total incremental cost is $0.062/1b as refined lead. For comparison, the average open market price of refined lead during the first quarter of 1986 was $0.184/lb.

Jan 1, 1987

By J. D. Warne

The ferberite district of Boulder County, Colo., has been an important producer of tungsten since 1900. During World War I, high prices for tungston concontrates resulted in a brief period of intense activity, and the production in 1917 was 2,707 tons of 60 percent W03 concentrates. Production declined thereafter, and in 19.2 the tungsten produced in Boulder County represented about 4 percent of the Nation's output, being exceeded only by the scheelite production in California, Nevada, and Idaho. Boulder County has boon an important source: of tungsten in the Korean emergency; the present report does not describe this recent activity, as it will be covered by a future publication. Tungsten occurs in small ore shoots of narrow and irregular veins. Most of the ore shoots have been found outcropping on the surface. Core drilling; has been used by the larger operators to explore for new veins and to locate extensions of known veins.

Jan 1, 1953

By Edward A. Metz, R. Larry Grayson, Douglas F. Scott

We describe inconsistencies in disease and illness reporting in U.S. mining, identify under-reporting of disease and illness in U.S. mining, and summarize selected disease and illness in U.S. mining from 1983 through 2001. Methods: We summarized information on mining-related disease and illness data for the years 1983-2001 from the Mining Safety and Health Administration database (MSHA). Results: Discrepancies exist in types of information collected by the Centers for Disease and Control, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Mining Safety and Health Admin¬istration database. Several factors, including a worker's fear of losing his or her job, health insurance, or other job-related benefits contribute to under-reporting of disease and illness information in the US mining industry. Conclusions: Since 1997, both number of workers employed in mining and disease and illness rates have decreased; however, the highest disease and illness rates in mining continue to be coal worker's pneumoconiosis and hearing loss.

By Others, C. M. Weld

During the past two years the Bureau of Mines has issued a series of mimeographed reports giving the results of research work and experiments conducted as part of its war minerals investigations. In this bulletin the reports on manganese are presented, which range in scope from the beneficiation of the ore to the utilization of the metal. The bulletin is in eleven chapters, each comprising a separate report, arranged in the order given below. 1. General information regarding manganese, by C. M. Weld. 2. Uses of manganese other than in steel making, by W. C. Phalen. 3. Problems involved in the concentration and utilization of domestic low-grade manganese ores, by Edmund Newton. 4. Preparation of manganese ore, by W. R. Crane. 5. Leaching of manganese ores with sulphur dioxide, by C. E. Van Barneveld. 6. The Jones process for concentrating manganese ores; results of laboratory investigations, by Peter Christianson and W. H. Hunter. 7. Cost of producing ferromanganese ores, by C. M. Weld and W. R. Crane. 8. Production of manganese alloys in the blast furnace, by P. H. Royster. 9. National importance of allocating low-ash coke to the man- ganese-alloy furnaces, by P. H. Royster. 10. Electric smelting of domestic manganese ores, by H. W. Gillett and C. E. Williams. 11. Use of manganese alloys in open-hearth steel practice, by Samuel L. Hoyt. As each chapter was originally prepared as a unit, there is neces- sarily some duplication and overlapping. With certain exceptions, however, each paper is reproduced in practically its original form. In chapter 1, covering certain general phases of the industry, such as uses, specifications, prices, and statistics, the subject matter has been somewhat modified in view of changes in conditions.About 95 per cent of the manganese consumed in the United States goes into the manufacture of steel. The remaining 5 per cent is used in a number of minor industries, the chief of which is the manufacture of dry cells. These minor uses are described in chapter 2. No discussion of the geology of manganese eres is presented, but a short bibliography on the subject is appended. With few excep- tions the manganese deposits of the United States are irregular, pockety, and uncertain. Largely for this reason, mining methods are crude and hardly warrant descriptions. The concentration of manganese ores, however, is an important problem and involves some details not common to other ores. Chapter 3 discusses the concentration and utilization of low-grade ones, notes the relationship of concentration to metallurgical prao- tices, outlines concentrating processes, and treats of commercial problems. In general, as regards concentration methods, manganese ores may be divided into two groups, as follows: (1) Ores permitting mechanical separation of the manganese minerals and the gangue, and (2) ores in which the manganese minerals and the gangues are so intimately associated that separation requires some hydrometal- lurgical or pyrometallurgical process. Heretofore, attention has been confined almost wholly to mechanical separation, chiefly by gravity. In fact, so far as known, all production of concentrates has been by wet gravity methods, although during the war some companies investigated the commercial pessibilities of magnetic separation and reported favorable results, the construction of one magnetic con- centration mill being started. The usual wet gravity methods are described in chapter 4. During the war, the Bureau of Mines undertook investigations of methods applicable to ores of group 2. A hydrometallurgical process involving leaching with sulphur dioxide was studied at the mining experiment station of the bureau at Tucson, Ariz. The results of this work, presented in chapter 5, indicate that the process is metallurgically feasible but the cost makes it unattractive. The results of an investigation of a pyrometallurgical process known as the Jones process are presented in chapter 6. The process, which is still in the experimental stage, was found to be metal- lurgically sound. The manganese product is not a concentrate but an alloy, made directly from a lean unconcentrated ore. The custom- ary method is to manufacture alloys from high-grade ores or from concentrates of leaner ores. A discussion of the costs of ferro-grade manganese ores is pre- sented in chapter 7. This discussion is in general terms only, but should be of use in so far as it relates to competitive conditions.

Jan 1, 1920

These proceedings consist of papers presented at Bureau of Mines Technology Transfer Seminars in August 1983 for the purpose of disseminating recent advances in mining technology in the area of large mobile surface mining equipment safety and health. The Bureau of Mines conducts several of these seminars each year in order to bring the latest results of Bureau research to the attention of the mining industry as quickly as possible.

Jan 1, 1983

The 1969 Lignite Symposium was held at Grand Forks, N. Dak., on May 1-2, 1969. Cosponsored by the University of North Dakota and the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, the meeting was the fifth in this series. Registrants from many States and Canadian Provinces attended the meeting representing many segments of energy-oriented companies, State and Federal Government, and universities. At 2-year intervals, these symposia provide a common meeting place where recent research and developments in technology and utilization of energy resources with emphasis on solid fuels (lignite) are presented. Proceedings3 of the previous symposia including a Forum held in 1958 have been published.4

Jan 1, 1970

By G. W. Josephson

WHILE methods of utilizing blast-furnace slag have been developing, a great deal of literature on the subject has accumulated, but no comprehensive summary of information that would be helpful to engineers, contractors, architects, chemists, and others in under-standing and more successfully using this byproduct of the iron and steel industry has been published in the English language. The National Slag Association recognized the need for such a publication, and the Problems Committee of the Association under-took in 1943 to accumulate the necessary material. Over a period of several years this committee compiled pertinent information in manuscript form, and in 1948 the Bureau of Mines and the National Slag Association made an agreement whereby the Bureau was to prepare the data for publication as a cooperative bulletin of the Bureau of Mines and the National Slag Association.

Jan 1, 1949

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 G. S. Scott

Safety problems in the mining and allied industries have led the Bureau of Mines to investigate over a period of years; the flammability (explosibility) of many types of combustible atmospheres principally at ordinary pressure; the results of these investigations have been made available as a bulletin. However, more recently, the demand for information on the flammability of gaseous mixtures at high and low pressures has increased greatly. In particular, the rapid development of high-altitude aviation has brought demands for information on the flammable (or explosive) characteristics of certain gases and liquids at low pressures. The present report gives the results of about 900 tests made to determine the flammability of the lighter paraffin hydrocarbons mixed with air and nitrogen at pressures of 400 200, 100 and 70 ram. Hg. The gases tested include natural gas, methane, ethane, propane normal butane and isobutane. The minimum pressures at which these gases are capable of propagating flame whorl individually mixed with air also were investigated.

Jan 1, 1952

Law of the Sea. - The Ninth Session of the Law of the Sea Conference resumed July 28 at Geneva and will run for 5 weeks. The 160-nation Conference began in 1973. Two of the major factors to be discussed are the transfer of technology to the UN-controlled Enterprise or mining authority, and how the 36-member Council will make decisions. As the session completed its third week, delegates expressed little hope of completing a treaty text this year. There was a feeling, though, that substantive issues might be settled so that a treaty text can be completed next year. The Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act signed by the President on June 28, provides an interim regulatory procedure for ocean mining activities conducted by U.S. nationals that may be superseded by a law of the sea treaty.

Jan 1, 1980

The U.S. Bureau of Mines has been concerned for many years with the general problems of underground coal mining and the particular problems due to the methane content of the coal. The Bureau and others have worked diligently to improve the health and safety conditions for underground coal miners. It has been recognized for many years that the methane in coal would have some value if it could he recovered and used, Also its removal before coal mining began or during the mining cycle itself would make mining safer and more economic due to a potential saving in ventilation costs. The work covered in this report was carried out to review methods of removing methane from active and inactive regions of operating coal mines and to determine how the methane could be concentrated and utilized economically.

Jan 1, 1975

By Paul M. Hall

In the last several years, the coal mining industry has made significant changes in the design of longwall mining systems to make them more productive. Some changes, such as increasing the length of the coal faces and increasing the capacity of the face conveyors, have resulted in problems with achieving sufficient motor torque to start and operate the longwall face conveyors. Other changes, such as increasing the size and/or decreasing the percent impedance of longwall power center transformers, have resulted in problems with the short-circuit currents on the transformer secondaries exceeding the interrupting ratings of the molded case circuit breakers used to protect the secondary circuits. A survey of 24 longwall mining systems in northern West Virginia was conducted to investigate both problems. The results of the survey are presented and analyzed. Several recommended solutions to the problems are presented to enable the coal mining industry to design safe and productive longwall mining systems.

Jan 1, 1982

By Sidney Katell

This; report, covering the period January 1965 through December 1965, is a continuation of a series that began with the publication of Information Circular 7516 in October 1949. It is the seventh in a series of reports prepared in cooperation with the American Association of Cost Engineers. The abstracted articles are concerned with all phases of cost engineering in the field of chemical and petroleum plants and related subjects. They are from the following sources: 1. American Association of Cost Engineers Bulletin. 2. Bureau of Mines Information Circulars. 3. Bureau of Mines Reports of Investigations. 4. Chemical Engineering. 5. Chemical Engineering Progress. 6. Chemical Week. 7. Coal Age. 8. Coal.3 9. Cost Engineering. 10. Hydrocarbon Processing and Petroleum Refiner. 11. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. 12. Nucleonics. 13. Oil and Gas Journal. 14. Petroleum Management. 15. World Oil.

Jan 1, 1966

By Sidney Katell

This report, covering the period January 1965 through December 1965, is a continuation of a series that began with the publication of Information Circular 7516 in October 1949. It is the seventh in a series of reports prepared in cooperation with the American Association of Cost Engineers. The abstracted articles are concerned with all phases of cost engineering in the field of chemical and petroleum plants and related subjects. They are From the following sources:

Jan 1, 1966

By Compiled by Staff

"INTRODUCTIONThe U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) was established in the public interest to conclude inquiries and scientific and technologic investigations on mining and the preparation, treatment, and utilization of mineral substances; to promote health and safety in the mineral industries; to conserve material resources and prevent their waste; to further economic development; to increaseee efficiency in the mining, metallurgical, quarrying, and other mineral industries; and to inquire into the economic conditions affecting those industries. The organic act of the Bureau, as amended by Congress and approved February 25, 1913, made it the province and duty of the U.S. Bureau of Mines to ""disseminate information concerning these subjects in such manner as will best carry out the purposes of this Act.""In accordance with this directive, USBM reports the findings of its research and investigations in its own series of publications and also in articles that: appear in scientific, technical, and trade journals; in "" proceedings of conventions and seminars; in' reference books; and in other non-USBM publications. The number of these reports, the wide range of subjects they cover, and the variety of mediums in which they appear make this kind of list both necessary and valuable.This edition describes reports and articles published during calendar years 1992 and 1993. It supplements the 50-year list of Bureau publications from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 196O 2; and these 5- year lists of publications and articles: from January 1, 1965, to December 31, 1969 4, from January 1, 1970,to December 31, 19745 , from January 1, 1975, to December 31, 1979 6 , from January 1, 1980, to December 31, 1984 7 , and from January 1, 1985, to December 31, 1989 8."

Jan 1, 1994