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By F. Albayrak

This report is a study of the impact of Federal laws and regulations on the domestic supply of metallic and nonmetallic minerals. The study was confined to pertinent environmental legislation and the recently enacted Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. Emphasized were the legal requirements placed on individual selected mineral industries, and the economic impact of these requirements. A certain amount of attention was also directed to the particular environmental and health and safety problems generated by selected mineral industries. The study also pinpointed a list of major problem areas having significant impact on the domestic mineral supply.

Jan 1, 1978

By S. J. Gerdemann

In support of its objective to improve mine safety, the Bureau of Mines has searched for better materials and systems to anchor roof bolts. TIlis report describes a study on the effects of mine waters upon accelerated gypsum, one of the materials under consideration. The accelerated gypsuw dissolved at an appreciable rate relative to an assumed 10-yr life span of a roof bolt. Surface orientation, initial ion concentration of a dissolving solution, and flow rate of the solu-tion had substantial effects on the dissolution rate. Factors such as water-cement ratio, accelerator content, wax capsule additions to the gypsum in cartridge-installed bolts, surface area, temperature, and curing duration had little effect. In an actual roof-bolt environment, dissolution will occur in static solutions to the solubility limit of gypsum (~2 giL) and cease, result-ing in minimal damage; but in flows of unsaturated solution as slow as 1 L per month, a loss of up to 10 pct will occur in 2 yr. Since miners cannot readily measure the flow or ion concentration of static-appearing water at every roof-bolt site, all such water must be assumed to be pure and flowing. It is recommended that gypsum-bonded roof bolts be confined to dry roofs only.

Jan 1, 1983

By T. E. Gray

This report describes the preparation characteristics of the significant coalbeds in Harrison County, W. Va. It is one in a series of Federal Bureau of Mines reports planned to determine coals suitable for the production of metallurgical coke, either as mined or after beneficiation. Over 6.5 million tons of coal was produced in Harrison County, W. Va., in 1958, of which over 3.7 million tons was cleaned mechanically in seven preparation plants. All of the coal cleaned was from the Pittsburgh bed. It has been estimated that more than 1,816 million tons of coal remains in the county in beds 12 inches or more thick. The Pittsburgh and Redstone beds were selected by the Bureau for a study based on current production rates and estimated minable reserves. Sample locations were selected following a study of the literature, conferences with mining engineers and mining company officials in the field, and examination of the available sites. Six samples were collected from the Pittsburgh bed, and three samples came from the Redstone bed, Float-and-sink tests of the samples collected from the Pittsburgh and Redstone beds showed that neither coal could be upgraded to a metallurgical fuel under the standards set up for this study, even after intensive preparation. Finer crushing of the samples moderately increased the yields and slightly reduced both the ash and the sulfur contents in the 1.30-specific-gravity float fractions. Finer crushing slightly decreased the yields in the 1.58-specific-gravity float fractions, whereas it reduced the sulfur content 0.11 percent for the Redstone sample and 0.46 for the Pittsburgh sample.

Jan 1, 1961

By Sarkis G. Ampian

Published optical microscopic and X- ray diffraction characteristics of the following compounds are critically evaluated and compared with Bureau of Mines data : Tricalcium aluminate , calcium monoa luminate , dodecacalcium heptaluminate , dicalcium silicate , tricalcium silicate , and sodium aluminate . A recommended set of definitive optical and X- ray diffraction characteristics is presented . These values are used to identify products of the lime soda sinter process for production of alumina . Polymorphism of gamma- , beta- , and alpha prime - dicalcium silicate is reexamined , and new data are presented on polymorphism of tricalcium silicate and sodium aluminate by high- temperature X- ray diffractometry . Polymorphism is not observed for tricalcium aluminate , calcium monoaluminate , and dodecacalcium heptaluminate . Bureau of Mines data indicating a stoichiometry of 12Ca0.7A10 for the phase 5Ca0.3A1 0₂ are discussed . A critical review of the literature concerning calcium dia luminate and sodium undecaluminate ( 8 -A10 ) is also included .

Jan 1, 1964

By K. B. Lindsey

Geologically, the Williston Basin is a large structural depression of sedimentary rock in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota and Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada. The approximate It-mite of the basin are shown on figure 1; it is roughly circular with a diameter of about 400 miles and contains approximately 120,000 square miles. Although the petroleum potentialities in this area had long been recognized, it had not been vigorously prospected by the petroleum industry because of its geographic location, rigorous winters, depths to possibly productive zones, difficult geological problems, and the fact that more seemingly favorable areas were available for prospecting. With the discovery of oil near Edmonton, Alberta, in the prolific Devonian reefs, an incentive was given to explore for oil in the southeast extension of the same sedimentary trough, the Williston Basin. The Virden field discovery in southwestern Manitoba in January 1951 was a direct result of this southeastward movement. Discovery of this shallow field was followed soon after by discovery of' deep production on the Nesson anticline in North Dakota at Clarence Iverson No. 1 well. North Dakota then became the twenty-seventh petroleum-producing State.

Jan 1, 1954

By D. J. Hawk

The mechanical properties of coal are often represented by the orthotropicmaterial model, which consists of nine elastic constants. The material symmetries involved are found in coal primarily because of the natural process by which it was formed. In this thesis the material properties of five U.S. coals, as obtained from cubical testing, are examined, using as a basis for comparison the assumption of the orthotropic material model. An analysis is performed on each set of coal material data in order to examine its conformability to other, less complex material models, these being the transversely isotropic model consisting of five elastic constants and the 'isotropic model consisting of two elastic constants. In addition, the material properties of two American shales are analyzed, based on the assumption that they comply with the transversely isotropic model. An analysis similar to that performed on the coal material is applied to the shale in order to determine the conformity of its material properties to the isotropic model.

Jan 1, 1980

By Gerhard Braüner

The report gives a review of the methods of predicting mine subsidence; these methods are used particularly in European coalfields. The methods are subdivided into two groups, based on mathematical expressions either for the trough profile or for the influence of infinitesimal extraction elements. The fundamental relationships common to all methods described herein are the principles of superposition and of equivalent extraction areas. The involved parameters are derived from field observations. For calculating horizontal displacements, their relation to the slope of the subsidence profile is applied. The time-dependent development of the subsidence process is characterized by the empirical "time factor." Modifications for the case of inclined strata are considered. A brief review of experimental and theoretical model investigations is given.

Jan 1, 1973

By Joseph T. Singewald

The possible value of the red hematite iron ore of the southern Appalachian States, if some practicable method of concentrating it could be devised, has long been recognized. The ore is very low grade, and although in enormous quantities, particularly in the States of Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, is only at a few points rich enough to work, and even the best of it ranks among the lowest grade iron ores being mined in the United States. A cheap method of beneficiating this ore would make enormous quantities available and vastly increase the iron-ore resources of the country. However, this low-grade ore in effect constitutes a potential iron reserve, and as long as ample quantities of ore can be obtained elsewhere the question of its utilization does not demand immediate notice. Where these ores are in part of workable grade, however, a problem of more immediate importance arises which, from considerations of economy and prevention of waste in their mining, ought to be solved or, at least, attacked as quickly as possible. Where these ores are being worked they are usually intimately associated with lowergrade material that in mining is left behind. The difficulty and expense of going into ground broken by old workings makes the recovery of this lower-grade ore practically impossible and it is lost forever. Success in concentrating the red ores, therefore, would save material that is now being irretrievably lost. The successful largescale concentration of low-grade ore in the last few years on the Lake Superior iron ranges should encourage the attack of similar problems in the Birmingham district. While studying iron-mining methods in the United States for the Bureau of Mines, Dwight E. Woodbridge, consulting mining engineer of the bureau, was impressed with the importance of this problem, and believed it merited the attention of the bureau. Accordingly, Mr. Woodbridge had Mr. W. J. Penhallegon, general superintendent of ore mines and quarries of the Republic Iron & Steel Co., of Birmingham, send the author of this report five samples of the unworkable siliceous ores of the district. The results of concentration experiments with these ores made a more thorough 'and systematic investigation desirable. In consequence, the author subsequently collected samples in the district, and these became the basis of the experimental work described in this report. The results are published by the Bureau of Mines as a part of its efforts to increase efficiency in the utilization of mineral resources. The experiments were conducted in the geological laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., with the aid of Raymond Leibensperger, mining assistant. The chemical analyses were made by A. C. Fieldner, chemist, of the Bureau of Mines. The author wishes to express his appreciation of the courtesies extended to him by the mining companies of the district, and particularly to Mr. W. J. Penhallegon, of the Republic Iron & Steel Co. Thanks are also due Prof. W. B. Clark, director of the geological laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, the unrestricted use of the facilities of the laboratory.

Jan 1, 1917

By Seth T. Reese

THE INJURY and related employment experience of the coking industry in the United States for 1953 contained in this bulletin are presented under three general sections, as follows: (A) General injury experience: Tables 1 to 9: Contain current and comparable statistics on operating data, number, frequency, and severity of injuries, and major accident agencies involved in the cause of injuries. Data are tabulated for the industry as a whole, for each type of oven, and for the States in which coke is manufactured. (B) Selected injury experience: Tables 10 to 15: Contain comparable injury data covering 5- and 10-year periods on the number and severity of injuries and major accident agencies. (C) Historic injury experience: Tables 1.6 to 19: Contain data on the number and rates of injury occurrence and related employment statistics on the industry from the earliest records through 1953.

Jan 1, 1955

By D. A. Reynolds

THIS REPORT gives results of an investigation of the carbonizing properties of two Tennessee coals, one from the Jellico bed in Campbell County and the other from the Sewanee bed in Marion County. Jellico coal and blends with 20 and 30 percent Pocahontas No. 3 coal were carbonized at 800° and 900° C. by the BM-AGA method. Sewanee coal was carbonized by the same method at 800°, 900°, and 1,000° C.; blends with coals of similar and different ranks were carbonized at 800° and 900° C. The coals were subjected to various physical and chemical tests, including complete chemical analyses, low-temperature assays, and agglutinating, free-swelling, friability, plasticity, and expansion tests. The Tennessee coal field is a part of the Appalachian field, which extends from northern Pennsylvania to central Alabama. The Jelico bed, one of the most important in the State, is part of the Jellico formation, which is above the Lee formation of the Lower Pottsville. Sewanee coal bed belongs to the Sewanee conglomerate and is stratigraphically lower than the Jellico bed.

Jan 1, 1953

By D. E. Shanks

The Bureau of Mines surveyed a variety of inorganic ion-exchange materials to determine their suitability for removing valuable accessory elements and troublesome contaminants from metallurgical process and waste streams. Most of the materials, which included molecular sieves, heteropolyacid salts, and hydrous metal oxides, did not give adequate separations, did not have the necessary stability in strong acids or bases, or were not in a physical form suitable for ion-exchange use. Many of the suitable inorganic materials, especially the hydrous oxides, were capable of cation exchange with high capacity only in basic conditions, which caused hydrolysis of most of the cations tested. Multivalent anions, such as arsenate and phosphate, were easily removed from acidic solutions by hydrous oxides. Hydrous zirconia was the best material for this purpose. Multivalent anions were not easily des orbed because of compound formation; therefore, conventional ion-exchange techniques could not be employed. As an alternative approach, hydrous ferric hydroxide was used as a filter material to remove arsenate and phosphate from acid solutions. One gram of arsenic was removed from solution for each 20 g of ferric hydroxide. Ferric hydroxide is preferable to hydrous zirconia for use as a filter material because of low cost.

Jan 1, 1983

By H. W. Gillett

This bulletin is issued by the Bureau of Mines as a contribution to the increase of safety and efficiency in the preparation and utilization of the mineral resources in the United States. Notable among the drains on these resources are the demands made by the nonferrousmetal industries, and in these the losses occasioned in melting brass and bronze are worthy of particular attention. This statement will be better appreciated by a consideration of the size of the brass industry. MAGNITUDE OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY. According to the Thirteenth Census, in 1909 there were in the United States 1,021 fu-ms that dealt mainly in brass and bronze. This total included jobbing foundries, manufacturing plants that both cast and machine a brass or bronze product, and rolling mills, but did not include iron foundries having nonferrous departments nor the numerous large brass-foundry departments of manufacturing plants that produce the castings used in the manufacture of electrical apparatus, cash registers, pumps, and the thousands of machines that require brass castings for their construction. Penton's Foundry List for 1910 gives about 1,150 exclusively nonferrous foundries and about 2,300 iron or steel foundries that also melt brass. If the rolling mills and. jobbing foundries in manufacturing plants be included, and if due credit be given to the rapid growth of the industry in the last few years, largely through the stimulation of the automobile busi¬ness, it is probable that not less than 3,600 plants are to-day melting brass or bronze.

Jan 1, 1916

By Robert H. Peters

Groundfall accidents have been the leading cause of fatalities in the underground coal mining industry for many years. Statistics from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) indicate that approximately half of the victims of these fatal accidents were in an area where no devices had been installed to support the mine's roof. This report was prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Mines to summarize the opinions of 268 coal miners, 29 rust-line supervisors, and 30 MSHA inspectors concerning why people go under unsupported roof, and how to prevent this behavior. Interviews were conducted at six minesites.

Jan 1, 1991

By R. T. MacMillan

Many bench-scale tests and studies have been conducted in developing and testing a chloride-volatilization procedure Ear treating low-grade manganese ore from the Maple Mountain-Hovey Mountain deposit of Aroostook County, Maine. The ore, averaging 10 to 12 percent Mn, contains manganese in several forms and is resistant to concentration or extraction by usual physical and chemical procedures. Over 90 percent of the manganese, content of the ore has been recovered using a chloridizing roast in which the ore was heated at 950°-9b0' C. in a circulating stream of hydrochloric acid gas. Chlorides of manganese and iron were volatilized and swept to a fume collector, where they were condensed and separated from the [as] stream. Operation of a small, 1-pound-per-hour shaft Furnace produced enough chlorides for studying other factors in an integrated process such as: (1) Conversion of the chlorides to oxides; (2) recovery of HC1 gas of suitable concentration Ear recycling to the chloridizer; and (3) control of the Mn-Fe ratio in the oxide product to produce a suitable feed for ferromanganese production.

Jan 1, 1956

By Wallace W. Key

Mineral raw materials produced in California, other States, and foreign countries were purchased for consumption in quantities valued at over $60 million at 800 of the 1,200 chemical plants operating in California Fn 1960, according to questionnaires completed by company officials. These and other data received from mineral consumers, producers, dealers, and Government agencies formed the basis for this the first of a series of reports designed to present the intricate features and relationships controlling mineral raw material supply and demand in California industries. The results of this study indicated certain changes in use patterns of minerals in chemical manufacturing; a shift in requirements from metals to nonmetals, from inorganics to organics, from natural to synthetic materials, and from distant to local sources of supply.

Jan 1, 1965

By Wallace W. Key

Mineral raw materials produced in California, other States, and foreign countries were purchased for consumption in quantities valued at over $60 million at 800 of the 1,200 chemical plants operating in California Fn 1960, according to questionnaires completed by company officials. These and other data received from mineral consumers, producers, dealers, and Government agencies formed the basis for this the first of a series of reports designed to present the intricate features and relationships controlling mineral raw material supply and demand in California industries. The results of this study indicated certain changes in use patterns of minerals in chemical manufacturing; a shift in requirements from metals to nonmetals, from inorganics to organics, from natural to synthetic materials, and from distant to local sources of supply.

Jan 1, 1965

By John F. Papp

The objective of this U.S. Bureau of Mines study is to calculate an accurate, reliable estimate of chromium and nickel content of stainless and heat-resisting steel produced in the United States. The columbium, manganese, molybdenum, titanium, tungsten, and vanadium contents of this steel are also calculated. Such contents are required for estimating the quantity of alloying element recovered from recycled stainless steel and consumed by market sectors. In this investigation, the elemental fraction of stainless and heat-resisting steel was calculated as the ratio of the weight of element contained in stainless steel to the weight of stainless steel produced. The elemental fraction has been calculated as a time-averaged, grade-averaged value. The elemental fraction was averaged from 1962 through 1983, and averaged over the grades for which production was reported by the American Iron and Steel Institute during that time period. The 1962-83 average elemental fraction of U.S.-produced stainless and heat-resisting steel was calculated for chromium to be about 0.17 ± 0.01; columbium, 0.00014 ± 0.00003; manganese, 0.015 ± 0.005; molybdenum, 0.004 ± 0.001; nickel, 0.07 ± 0.01; silicon, 0.009 ± 0.001; titanium, 0.0004 ± 0.0001; tungsten, 0.0001±0.00003; and vanadium, 0.00003±0.0000l.

Jan 1, 1991

By George A. Burrell, Frank M. Seibert

The Bureau of Mines, as part of its designated duty of investigating the causes of mine accidents, is conducting at its experiment station in Pittsburgh, Pa., a study of mine gases. Some of the work already done in connection with this study is outlined below. A large number of mine-gas samples have been collected under normal conditions in returns and in splits, and at other points in the ventilating current, also at the face, in the goave or gob, in unventilated places, and wherever the air was still. Samples have also been obtained under abnormal conditions, as after explosions and while mine fires were in progress, or from sealed areas behind stoppings and darns where the air had been stagnant for some time. Chemical changes in the composition of mine atmospheres during mine fires have been studied," and conditions peculiar to certain mines have been investigated. The question of the effect of a change in atmospheric pressure on the escape of gas (methane) in coal mines has been studied. Explosives have been fired in both coal and metal mines, and samples of resulting gases have been collected to ascertain the degree to which these gases vitiate the air. A series of samples in mines where gasoline locomotives were being used have been examined in order to ascertain the degree to which the exhaust gases from such locomotives foul the mine air. Experiments have also been performed in regard to the relative effect of carbon monoxide b upon men and small animals. A preliminary report relating to the inflammable gases in mine air has been published. Full reports of the results of the investigations outlined above will be published as soon as all the necessary data have been gathered. The first part of this report deals with the methods used by the bureau in the collection and examination of the various mine gases; the latter part discusses the bureau's methods of sampling and examining natural gas.

Jan 1, 1913

By Oliver Bowles

Lime is of tremendous importance to modern industries. In agriculture it is regarded as essential to the continued fertility of many important regions; in building it is indispensable, and in the many ramifications of the chemical industries it is so necessary and so widely employed that it has been designated "the king of all the bases." Figure 1 shows a general view of a modern lime plant producing more than 500 tons of lime daily. In 1924 the production of lime was reported from nearly every State in the Union and amounted to more than 4,000,000 tons, valued at, nearly $40,000,000. For a production of that magnitude between 8,000,000 and 9,000,000 tons of limestone are required. The many problems involved in winning this great quantity of raw material from the natural rock and preparing it for the kilns have in the past received little attention from any governmental agency. Therefore, in compliance with a request from representatives of the National Lime Association in 1922, the Bureau of Mines began a study of problems in limestone quarrying in an effort to advance more economical methods of operation and the utilization of waste material. Field studies were made at many quarries, and the information thus compiled, besides data already at hand from work in other branches of the stone industries, were disseminated to operators in the form of mimeographed Reports of Investigations, eight of which were issued at intervals during 1922, 1923, and 1924. A questionnaire was appended to each report, and quarry operators were invited to contribute additional information obtained as a result of their actual experience and observation. Operators of lime plants have been cordial in their responses and have supplied the bureau with much valuable information. From the data thus obtained, supplemented by later field studies, the revised reports have been combined to form the major part of this bulletin, which is believed fairly to represent present knowledge on the subject of quarrying limestone for lime manufacture.

Jan 1, 1927

By Frank B. Fulkerson

This is the second of two interrelated studies of waterborne transportation. The first study discussed transportation of mineral commodities on the inland waterways of the South-Central States.2 Together, the two surveys describe and analyze the flow of foreign and inland waterborne commerce of the gulf coast. All the principal mineral-industry imports and exports of the gulf coast are mentioned in the report, including metals, nonmetals, and mineral fuel products, The gulf coast foreign trade in mineral industry products was determined to be composed of a small number of commodities.

Jan 1, 1971