Search Documents

By J. D. Lane

The U.S. Bureau of Mines is conducting research on guidance systems for computerized haulage in underground mines. This report describes the process of component selection, installation and testing, perception algorithm development, and steering control algorithm development, to produce a real-time steering control system for an articulated haul truck for underground mining. Ultrasonic transducers were mounted on the truck to provide perception data by measuring the distance to the ribs. Linear potentiometers mounted inside the steering cylinders measured the steering angles. Algorithms, implemented on an inexpensive, robust onboard computer system, analyzed the data and controlled the steering via an electro-hydraulic proportional valve. The steering algorithm presented follows a zone defined by the relative position between the truck and a rib. Experimental verification of the ability to follow the zone in a test corridor on the Colorado School of Mines campus is presented. The automatic steering system successfully negotiated straight sections, curves, and the transition zones between straight and curves with the truck in first and second gears. The resulting real-time automatic-steering system can be applied to many underground articulated machines.

Jan 1, 1994

By William J. Campbell

Three types of X-ray analytical instrumentation were compared for applications in the secondary brass and bronze industry. The instruments were a conventional X-ray spectrograph, a portable X-ray spectrograph, and a radioiso-topic X-ray analyzer using balanced filters. The following two general applications were considered: Rapid identification for sorting scrap metals and quantitative analyses to provide guidance in the melting and casting of alloys. Twenty-three analyzed copper-base alloys were used as standards. Although the alloys varied widely in composition, matrix correction procedures were not necessary except for copper. The conventional X-ray spectrograph provides positive identification of the alloys and quantitative values for the six elements investigated--aluminum, copper, iron, lead, tin, and zinc. Equivalent results were obtained with the portable X-ray spectrograph for those elements whose characteristic X-rays are in the wavelength range of the instrument. The radioisotopic X-ray analyzer distinguishes certain groups of alloys and provides quantitative determinations for copper, lead, tin, and zinc. The sensitivity of the analyzer was marginal for the determination of small concentrations of elements of atomic number 26 or lower.

Jan 1, 1972

By G. C. Price

This study traces the development of the bucket-wheel excavator, points out the differences in the German- and American-type wheels, and gives the major design criteria and the advantages and disadvantages of bucket-wheel operations. A computer program, written in FORTRAN IV for use with an IBM 360 computer, simulates the operation of the digging components of a bucket-wheel excavator. By supplying certain mining dimensions, soil characteristics, and machine design specifications, this program will print out a time study of the various components of an operation, power calculations for the operation, and production data. This program, when combined with a truck, belt, or rail program, should be helpful in planning a complete mining system In material suitable for a bucket-wheel excavator operation.

Jan 1, 1973

By Richard A. Rivell

This document is a users manual intended as a reference for personnel interested in the analysis of coal-mine-electrical-power systems under either normal operating conditions or fault situations. The interactive procedures developed for this purpose are described and implementation considerations are discussed with respect to the mine-power system. Considerations for choosing a solution technique and a number of examples are included. Procedures available include Gauss-Seidel and Newton-Raphson iterative techniques for the analysis of normal operation or balanced faults as well as a non-iterative Z-bus technique for analysis of unbalanced or balanced faults.

Jan 1, 1980

By N. Malakondaiah

Several growth chamber and laboratory experiments were conducted to study the germination behavior of plant species on mine spoils and plant growth responses to nutrients on spoils and topsoils. Experiments were conducted to study the germination potential of some native and introduced species under various conditions. The seeds of green needlegrass, side oats grama, thickspike wheatgrass, crested wheatgrass, birdsfoot trefoil and emerald crownvetch were less tolerant, whereas those of alkali sacaton. durar hard fescue, slender wheatgrass, yellow sweetclover and alfalfa were most tolerant to the sodic mine spoil conditions. Addition of leonardite improved the germination potential of some of the poor genninators. Slender wheatgrass and yellow sweetclover were used as test plants to study the fertility status and productivity potential of stockpiled topsoils and spoils collected from Center. Glenharold and South Beulah of North Dakota. The topsoils were neither saline nor sodic but low in N and P. The spoils were neutral to alkaline with SAIL of 12-32, EC of 1.8-5.5 mmhos/cm, Olsen&apos;s P< µ4g/g, and total N <0.07%. Application of N and P together to the topsoils increased the yield of wheatgrass and sweetclover by 88% and 70% of their respective maximum yields, whereas near maximum yields were obtained for both the species by the same treatments to the spoils. The average yields on topsoils were higher than the yields on spoils. The concentrations of major nutrients were higher in plants grown on topsoil, whereas the opposite was true with the concentrations of Mn, Zn, and Cu. Growth chamber experiments were also conducted to study the growth responses of alfalfa, oats and slender wheat grass by the application of Mn and Zn to a sodic coal mine spoil which was previously used for pot culture experiments. Significant growth responses to Mn and Zn were observed in alfalfa but not in oats or slender wheatgrass. Fertilizing the spoil with Mn along with NPK increased the yield of alfalfa to 85% and with Mn + Zn to 99%. Growth responses and plant composition results of this study confirm that the application of major nutrients to spoils can accentuate Zn and Mn deficiencies in some plants.

Jan 1, 1982

By Manuel Gomez

Low-temperature carbonization product yields for 129 coals representative of 12 Utah coalfields were estimated, using regression equations developed from heating value and proximate and ultimate analysis data. It was shown that yields of char, tar plus light oil, water of decomposition, and gas, as well as the gas volume and the heating value of the gas, could be predicted with reasonable accuracy. Published and experimental results from eight Utah coals carbonized at selected temperatures in the 4500 to 1,000° C range were used to determine the effect of temperature on product yields. Carbonization temperature, heating value) oxygen, and volatile matter of coal appear to be the principal variables influencing carbonization product yields. Data presented show that the heating value and the residual volatile matter in low-temperature char may be predicted using relationships developed from proximate analysis data for 220 coals.

Jan 1, 1967

By David W. Tongue

This report describes the engineering work leading to the design of an underground coal mine piping system to transport approximately 2,000,000 cubic feet per day of methane gas to the surface from degasification holes drilled horizontally into the coalbed in existing coal mines. Safety instrumentation for detection of gas leaks and provisions for automatic emergency shutdown are included in the design. It also includes specifications for a safe system of handling gas, water, and drill cuttings during drilling of the horizontal holes and recommendations for compressor and metering facilities at the surface. The main pipeline is recommended to be constructed of polyethylene plastic pipe joined by a butt fusion method while lateral lines and separator and meter piping at the horizontal holes are recommended to be screwed steel piping. The materials used are to be resistant to the forces of impact exerted by falling rock. The pipelines are to be suspended from the ceiling with pipe hangers. All steel components are protected from chemical corrosion by applying protective coatings and the vertical casing to the surface is protected from electrolytic corrosion by a rectifier station. Methane gas detectors monitor the mine atmosphere to detect the presence of gas leaks and a pneumatic plastic tubing line provides for control of the safety shutdown system. Both the recommended design and the required construction procedures are in compliance with the applicable Federal codes for coal mine safety.

Jan 1, 2012

By Robert D. Perry

This report describes methods of reclaiming abandoned or inactive tailings ponds and dams. The investigated sites were selected tailings deposits adjacent to metal mines in the southwestern United States and the Pacific Northwest. The basic data developed for each site consisted of the following: a review of existing literature; a site visit that included sampling of the tailings and surrounding materials; laboratory and engineering studies; and development of reclamation plans. Laboratory tests determined the gold and silver content of each tailings deposit and the chemistry of the tailings and surrounding materials. Reclamation plans that include approximate costs were developed for five tailings deposit sites. These ranged in size from 52,000 to 103,000,000 tons. Our conclusions on the remining potential of each site are based on the tailings assay and other technical data. This study concludes that remining as a reclamation tool is feasible at certain sites. Included in this report is a remining program as part of the overall reclamation plan for two sites. Our preliminary results indicate that remining as a reclamation tool is feasible for only one of them.

Jan 1, 1981

By L. A. Morley

Volume IV of the final report examines the problem of indirect contact of overhead high-voltage power lines by mining personnel. This refers to the contact of energized lines by workers through some intermediate conductor such as a metallic tool or a piece of high-reaching mobile equipment, thus the term "indirect contact." The shock hazard presented by such contact has been a major cause of electrical fatalities associated with mining operations. The report volume is divided into three major areas. The first gives a general background of overhead lines, basic characteristics, and associated hazards, and continues to describe presently used techniques and devices which attempt to alleviate the contact problem. The second area narrows the discussion to the mining industry by presenting a detailed analysis of 39 overhead-line contact accidents in mining since 1970. The third major section uses the information from the first two areas to formulate recommendations to prevent these accidents and subsequent electrocutions at mining operations.

Jan 1, 1982

By R. W. Geehan

The Bureau of Mines has been investigating deposits of critical and essential minerals in the United States since 1939. Bureau engineers made a preliminary examination of the Morefield mine early in 1943 and recommended investigation by trenching and diamond drilling, The Bureau of Mines conducted work from August to December of 1943, which indicated that the Morefield mine was a favorable location for an experimental mining program. The Bureau of Mines carried on such a program from September 1947 to March 1949. The property investigated is 30 miles southwest of Richmond in Amelia County, Va. (fig. 1). During World War II mica and beryl were shipped from the Morefield mine, but after the high prices and premiums paid during the war years were not available the mine was closed.

Jan 1, 1953

By H. R. Pierce

A gas well has a certain definite capacity to deliver gas from the gas sand through the producing string of pipe. This capacity depends upon the pressures in the sand; that is, a well will deliver gas at a rate of flow which is determined by the formation or "shut-inn pressure in the sand and the back pressure at the face of the sand in the well. The three factors, rate of flow, formation or "shut-in" pressure, and the back pressure, for a given well, can be written into a fundamental relation which is strictly applicable only to that well. This relation can be used to determine the capacity of the well to deliver gas from any formation pressure against any back pressure held at the f ace of the sand in the well. Studies have been made of the deliveries of 400 gas wells operating under different conditions of pressure, Most of the wells which have been studied are in Osage County, Okla.; however, several representative studies have been made on wells in southern Louisiana, southern Texas, the Texas Panhandle, and West Virginia.

Jan 1, 1929

By John J. Henn

Ten proposed processes for the recovery of manganese from domestic resources as a high-grade oxide product are described. Nine of the processes employ sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid, or a combination of both for leaching. The tenth process utilizes sulfur dioxide to sulfatize the ore at 600° to 850°C before water leaching. In addiction to these ten complete processes, six processes from the patent literature are described. Methods for receovering MnSO4?H2O are also reviewed.

Jan 1, 1968

By C. E. Dobbin

The coal fields of Montana are widely distributed through the plains region in the eastern and northern parts of the State, and the mountain regions in the central, southern, and southwestern parts of the State. (See fig. 1.) SURFACE FEATURES The Fort Union region in eastern Montana is a broad plain of almost horizontal rocks, characterized by extensive "bad lands" along the larger streams and by red hills, benches, ridges, and buttes which represent shale and sandstone that have been fused by the burning of an underlying coal bed.

Jan 1, 1932

By J. Douglas Causey

In 1986 and 1987, at the request of the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Bureau of Mines studied 73,010 acres of the 76,480-acre Lower Owyhee Canyon Wilderness Study Area (OR-003-110) in order to evaluate its identified mineral resources. The study area is in Malheur County, OR, about 8 miles north of Rome. There are approximately 7.7 million tons of subeconomic zeolite (heulandite and/or clinoptilolite) resources with ammonia ion exchange capacities as high as 1.75 milliequivalents per gram in the Chalk Basin-Lambert Rocks area. The bed is 25 ft thick with less than 100 feet of overburden. This resource probably will not be mined in the foreseeable future.

Jan 1, 1989

By G. L. Neumann

Owing to the need for additional sources of supply of both zinc and lead following World War II, the Bureau of Mines investigated many abandoned lead-zinc mines in the eastern United States. A series of shallow veins in south-western St. Lawrence County has long been a subject of speculation. These veins, which average about 4 feet in width and cut across the bedding of the country rock at right angles, are filled with calcite-carrying galena and sphalerite. The deposits have been worked sporadically during the last 115 years. From 1837 to 1852 the Coal Hill, the North, and the Victoria mines near the village of Rossie were at their peak of activity. Other calcite veins were prospected and a small production was realized. The Bureau of Mines began diamond drilling May 1, 1950, under the general supervision of McHenry Mosier, chief, Mining Branch, Bureau of Mines, Region VIII, and under the immediate supervision of the author) who was project engineer, following the preliminary examination by Robert S. Sanford. A total of 3,870.2 feet was drilled in 18 holes on four of the numerous deposits scattered over Macomb and Rossie townships. Drilling was completed September 21, 1950.

Jan 1, 1952

By H. E. Heide

"Before the war, the United States was the world’s leading consumer of tin, the industrial applications of which had become widespread. Domestic production was negligible, and requirements were met almost entirely by imports, principally from British Malaya, United Kingdom and China. Average annual imports for the years 1925-1929 amounted to 78,009 long tons.With the advent of war in Europe and signing of the Japanese-German pact, it was realized that foreign sources of supplies were threatened, and steps were taken by Congress to forestall critical shortages of tin and other minerals. These steps in regard to tin included stock-piling, improving reclamation and conservation, increasing South American production, constructing a smelter in the United States for treatment of tin, ores, and intensifying the search for domestic tin deposits. Annual imports were raised to 140,873 long tons by 1941. On 1945, annual imports had shrunk to 37,675 long tons and consumption had been reduced to 52,100 tons of primary and secondary tin but not tin content of scrap alloy.The Strategic Minerals Act, passed by the Congress in 1939, authorized the investigation of domestic tin deposits.As Alaska had supplied virtually all of the domestic output of tin, an investigation of Alaska deposits was undertaken in 1940 and 1941 by J. B. Mertie, Jr., and Robert R. Coats of the Geological Survey.The Lost River lode tin mine on the Seward Peninsula was examined by H. E. Heide of the Bureau of Mines in 1942. Possibilities for developing a significant amount of tin appeared favorable, and exploration of the ore bodies was started in August 1942."

Jul 1, 1946

By Max F. Lee, Warren A. Peck

The applicability of the Q-system [Barton et al. 1974] to Australian underground metal mines is discussed with reference to two common design issues: ground support for horizontal mine development, and assessing the stability of bored raises. Installed ground support in mine development is com-pared to empirical estimates using the Q-system and associated support capacity calculations. Data are graphically presented from 59 specially selected sites at 15 contributing mines. The actual performance of large-diameter raise-bored shafts is also compared to empirical stability assessments using a modified version of Q (Qr, after McCracken and Stacey [1989]). Lower-bound Qr values are plotted against raise diameter for 47 selected sites at 23 mines in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The influence on Q and Qr of some geotechnical aspects of the Australian landscape, the dynamic nature of mines (compared to civil construction), and occupational health and safety regulations are discussed. Stability and support assessments that are based just on Q or Qr are not always conclusive. It is often necessary to consider other rock mass parameters, the regulatory environment, and risk issues. These results are interim; further data collection and analysis are required with regard to comparing actual performance versus empirical assessments.

Jan 5, 2007

By F. L. Wideman

This paper is one of a series on mining methods being published by the Bureau of Mines. It describes briefly mining practices at the Sunrise iron mine of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Corp., Platte County, Wyo. The Sunrise mine is in the Hartville iron district in east-central Wyoming (fig. 1). The district covers part of the Hartville Mountains, a region of moderate relief in which erosional features have been formed by the dissection of a low plateau. Altitudes vary from 4,300 feet along the North Platte River to 6,000 feet in the uplift. The climate is semiarid, with hot summers and winter temperatures below zero for short periods. Grasses, cacti, yucca, and low desert shrubs grow at lower elevations. Cottonwood and boxelder trees and willows grow along permanent streams; juniper and coniferous trees are confined to the higher elevations.

Jan 1, 1956

By John C. Ferm

This report summarizes the results of an investigation of geologic factors that contribute to roof quality in underground mines in the Pocahontas #3 coal bed in southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia. The investigation consisted of three phases, the first of which was selecting for detailed study five mines which represented the range of roof conditions, mining practices and geologic phenomena. This was accomplished by a statistical analysis of questionnaire data from 35 mines. The second phase consisted of detailed mapping in a "good" and a "bad" top area in each of the five selected mines and resulted in a qualitative assessment of geologic factors contributing to roof £alls. In the third phase, five mines were selected in which most non-geologic factors believed to contribute to roof falls were relatively constant but displayed a wide variety of geologic characteristics. Data from these mines were analyzed to test the qualitative assessments from Phase II. The primary result of this investigation is that slickensides arising from different geologic causes are the major geologic features leading to roof falls. These slicken-sides are found in ancient slump deposits, fire clays and sandy fire clays and channel contacts. Falls also occur where thick sandstone bodies directly over-lying the coal contain abundant shale or ironstone pebbles and coaly strips. The best top material is a sequence which consists of shale grading upward to sandy shale and sandstone within 30 feet of the top of the coal. Thick sand-stone units (301) without pebbles also provide good top.

Jan 1, 1978

By S. H. Ash

The Pennsylvania anthracite region is composed of four fields, namely, the Northern, Eastern Middle, Western Middle, and Southern. It is in the eastern part of Pennsylvania and is shown on figure 1. The anthracite industry is confronted with a crucial problem of inundation by water impounded in underground pools in many mines and by infiltration of water from streams and pools on the surface (3). The deposits of anthracite in the United States are limited virtually to Pennsylvania, and the difficulties of this industry have been commonly considered as a State problem rather than a national one (1, 4, 6, 7). Anthracite was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1762, and the first mining company was formed in 1793. It was not until 1812 that anthracite began to receive recognition in the Philadelphia market as a domestic fuel, and by 1838 the annual production was nearly 1 million net tons. Since anthracite mining began, mine water has become progressively more difficult and costly to handle because of the extraction of anthracite both underground and along the outcrops of the beds, until at the present time mine drainage is a major anthracite-mining problem. Mine water is handled at the anthracite mines as follows: (a) by pumping, (b) by drainage tunnels, (c) by combination of pumping and drainage tunnels, and (d) by water hoists (hoisting water by means of large buckets) (4, 5,6, 7). This paper covers removal of the water from mines by means of pumping plants. Pumping is indispensable in the production of anthracite (5). The cost of pumping mine water has increased progressively since anthracite mining began. Some collieries have been forced to discontinue mining because of the high cost of pumping.

Jan 1, 1950