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By Oliver Bowles

"Underground operation.In its broader sense the term ""mining"" is applied to all processes whereby raw materials are taken from the earth to be used as sources of mineral products. In a more restricted sense ""mining"" is applied to underground operations as contrasted with open pit work designated as quarrying. The tern is used in the restricted tense in this paper; for it relates to the exploitation of limestone deposits by modern methods of underground operation rather than by open pit methods.Present tendency toward miningIt may seem to some readers that a paper on mining limestone will find little general interest among lime plant operators, for only a limited number of them have yet resorted to this means of procuring raw materials. It is noteworthy, however, that a growing tendency exists toward underground operation, for one by one quarry owners are faced with increasing difficulties in open pit operation. It seems desirable, therefore, for operators to keep closely in touch with this gradual change in process, to inquire into the underlying causes, to compare costs, and to study the effects of the change in method on subsequent steps in calcining the stone to produce lime."

Mar 1, 1924

By C. H. Larsen

The results of a comprehensive investigation of conveyance arrestment devices (safety catches) in United States coal mines are presented. Availability and use, performance, inspection, maintenance, testing, procedures, and regulatory requirements were investigated. Information was obtained from equipment manufacturers, mine operators, and regulatory-agency personnel, as well as from studies of domestic and foreign mining safety regulations. Traditional mine hoists and commercial elevators for mine use were investigated. Results of this and an earlier study of wire-rope practice in United States coal mines show a continued need for conveyance arrestment devices. A wide variety of these devices are in use. Only two types have been proved reliable for stopping a conveyance without injuring passengers or equipment. These are elevator overspeed-actuated wedge-clamp (Type B) safeties and broken-rope-actuated devices for wooden guides using a single-tooth-dog design developed in Ontario as a braking element. Elevators are widely used in U. S. coal mines. When maintained according to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Specifications A17. I and A17. 2, they appear to present no major arrestment problems. Of 42 coal-mine hoists used for man transport that were inspected, 30 are in vertical and 12 in inclined shafts. Twenty-four vertical shafts use wood guides; 6 use steel. The 12 inclined-shaft systems use flanged-wheel T-rail guidance. Two wood-guided vertical-shaft systems use the single-tooth Ontario-type dog; the other 22 use multi-toothed wedges, cams, or dogs that have been proved highly unreliable. The arrestment devices in the six steel-guided vertical-shaft systems and in six of the inclined-shaft systems cannot be evaluated because performance data are lacking. The remaining six inclined-shaft systems have no arrestment devices at all. Of the 36 hoists with arrestment devices, the devices of 16 are never tested, the devices of 10 are actuated periodically with the conveyance at rest, and the devices of the other 10 are actuated periodically with a slow-moving conveyance. Although high speed is as probable as low speed in an emergency and would provide the best test of arrestment capability, no tests are performed in the United States which demonstrate the ability of an arrestment device to stop a loaded conveyance from high speed. Mine operators indicate little confidence in their conveyance arrestment devices, and manufacturers recognize a need to improve their products. Neither state nor Federal regulations provide a guide to this improvement. Mine operators, manufacturers, and state and Federal regulatory agency personnel would welcome specific guidance. In view of this, a set of application, design, actuation, stopping-performance, and testing and inspection criteria is presented as a guide to eliminating the inadequacies of these devices. Recommendations are included for improving hoist controls and machinery directly affecting conveyance safety.

Jan 1, 1972

By K. K. Kelley

The first bulletin (269) 3 in this series, which appeared in 1932, compiled the entropy values then available for the elements and in-organic compounds, results being listed for some 150 substances. Elaborations and revisions followed in 1936 (272) and 1941 (280), when over 500 usable entropy values were tabulated. The present bulletin constitutes a further elaboration and revision. The accumulation of data since 1940 has been marked, and 800 entropy values now are available. The present bulletin also contains all the pertinent explanatory matter that appeared in its predecessors. Thus, it retains the same dual purpose of assembling the available values of the entropies at 298.16° K. of the elements and inorganic compounds and giving enough explanation of methods of calculating entropies to make the results comprehensible.

Jan 1, 1950

By Albert L. Toenges

ALMOST all of the coal used for metallurgical purposes west of the Continental Divide is ruined from the Lower Sunnyside bed in Carbon County, Utah. Coke produced from Lower Sunnyside coal and used in western steel plants is weaker structurally than coke used elsewhere in this country. For this reason, western coal operators and steel manufacturers are anxious to develop new areas of coking coal of better quality than the coal produced from the Sunnyside bed. Early in the war, the Bureau of Mines undertook an intensive investigation of western coals to (a) develop additional reserves of coking coal to supplement proved reserves in the Sunnyside bed and (b) develop, if possible, reserves of coal with coking qualities superior to Lower Sunnyside coal. Results of investigations in the Kemmerer district, Wyoming,9 and in the Minnesota Creek area, Gunnison County, Colo.,10 have been published.

Jan 1, 1952

By J. D. Davis

THIS-report gives results of in investigation of the carbonizing properties of 18 coals, including 2 from Alaska, 12 from British Columbia, 3 from Washington, and 1 from Utah. Each coal was carbonized in the standard 13-inch Bureau of Mines-American Gas Association (BM-AGA) retort at 900° C. Plastic properties were determined by the Gieseler and Davis methods, and agglutinating and free-swelling properties were determined by standard methods. Expanding properties were measured in the Bureau of Mines sole-heated oven. From the results of the tests on these single coals, three coals from the Crowsnest area in British Columbia, representing Elk River Nos. 4, 9, and 10, were selected for blending with the Utah coal, which was from the Lower Sunnyside bed, Horse Canyon mine, Emery County. Lower Sunnyside also was blended with Wilkeson -Nos. 2 and 3 (Washington) coals, Pocahontas No. 3 from McDowell County, W. Va., and the Oklahoma low-volatile coal used in the blend carbonized at, the Provo, (Utah) coke plant at the time this investigation was started. Most of the blends contained 3 percent hard pitch, which is the proportion used at the Provo plant. The blends were also carbonized in 13-inch BM AGA retorts at 900° C. High-volatile B coal from the No. 3 bed, Evan-Jones mine, Lower Matanuska, Valley, Alaska, yielded poorly fused coke or char. M-bed coal from the Chickaloon mine, Upper Matanuska. Valley, Alaska, ranked as medium-volatile bituminous and coked strongly. It expanded 39.6 percent in the sole-heated oven at a. charge density of 55.5 pounds per cubic foot..

Jan 1, 1952

By S. R. Zimmerley

[In the course of a flotation investi~ntion, a siliceous gold ore was ground ir, R 'ball mill to ~inils 300-mesh. It mas found that the small mount of zlus 300-~esh mnterial had a go12 assw approximately twice that of the oricinal ors, md thst this oversize ~roduct also contained much abra?.ed iron. >!oreover, the gold assay of the abraded iron, which was separated ma~etic-dl:;, wno ei::ht tiaes tkat of the ore. These facts sug,~estsd th~t sone r3laticnshin existed between the abnormally high .gold content and the preseace of abrade4 iron. It was ciecided, therefore, to investl~ate furtkor ths acsoclation of the ;old nith the iron abraded from the balls durir-g grincing. As a nrelininary ex?rr>hent, a samy?le of siliceous gold ore 786 grolznd for 1-1/2 hours i;l 3 ball mill and the nuln was divided into two products electri~mag-etically. The racult s follow: ]

Jan 1, 1937

By Donlad B. Lindsay

This report describes a field-test program to determine the effectiveness of a polymeric wall sealant to reduce the excape of naturally occurring radio-active gas radon from the walls of an underground uranium mine into the ventilation air. A 75-foot-long, dead-end drift with a surface area of about 6,000 ft2 was used as the test site in which the average natural radon flux from the normally dry rock was 16 fCi/cm2-s. The effect on radon emanation of wetting the walls with water to a depth of 3 inches was tested, after which the rock was completely covered with a coating of dry-mix concrete to provide a base for the sealant, an acrylic latex. Sealant was applied in two coats to about 0.25 mm thick. An overall reduction of average radon flux of about 75 pct was achieved. Radon production and other environmental values were measured continuously and automatically by a Bureau of Mines data acquisition system. A commercial microcomputer was programed to convert raw data to engineering units and to perform other useful operations while recording all data on magnetic diskettes. Direct measurements of radon flux from the rock surface were made by a charcoal adsorption technique.

Jan 1, 1981

By N. A. C. Smith, D. D. Stark

"Sulphur is apparently a normal Constituent of crude petroleum, but in most crudes is present in percentages of less than one-half of one per cent. Some crudes, however, contain more, and occurrences have been reported of heavy asphaltic oils with as much as five per cent of sulphur.Occurrences of Sulpher-bearing CrudesIn North America, the fields rest of the Mississippi River are almost entirely free from sulphur oils, the time oil from Northern Ohio and Indiana, and the Potrolia crude in Ontario, being practically the only ones which contain sulohur in amounts over 0.5. per cent. In the Mid-Continent district the production of high sulphur crude in general is small and unim¬portant. The two main excentions are the Healdton field in Oklahoma and the El Dorado field in Arkansas, both of which produce oils with considerable sulphur content. In the Wyoming field, one sand, the Ember Sandstone, pro¬duces a crude of high sulphur content, and it is probable that this crude rill be of considerable importance as production increases. At present, however, very little crude is produced from this formation. In the Gulf Coast conditions are irregular, some crudes being low in sulphur and others comparatively high. The same is largely true of California. The crudes of Mexico contain notable amounts of sulphur, and as they have been of great commercial importance in this country, a typical sample of light Mexican crude was selected for the present study. It is probable that the results obtained poly also (but to a lesser degree) to other sulphur-bearing oils. An analysis of this crude will be found in Table 3, also analyses of other typical sulphur-bearing crudes from different sections of the United States."

Mar 1, 1924

By F. W. Horton

Investigation of an extensive deposit of chromite-bearing actinolite-talc schist situated on the summit of Casper Mountain, 10 miles south of Casper, Wyo., was one of the first projects Undertaken by the Bureau of Mines under the Strategic Materials Act (Public 117, 76th Cong., Ch. 190, 1st sess.), for which an appropriation became available August 9, 1939. During the previous summer; the Geological Survey? made? a magnetometrical survey of the area in which the schist occurred. It was exposed in several small lenses and two larger ones aggregating about 19?acres in area. Although the occurrence of chromite here had been known for many years, the only work done on the deposit was the digging of? a few shallow pits on some of the more promising outcrops. From August 23 to December 3, 1939, the Bureau of Mines investigated the larger of the two main schist bodies. Twenty-four trenches having a total length of 8,073 feet were dug across the deposit, and its subsurface extension was explored by 3,623 feet of diamond drilling. Over 32 tons of samples were shipped to the Metallurgical Division of the Bureau of Mines at Reno, Nev., for reduction, analysis, and ore testing. In all, there were 853 individual samples. Geological maps, based upon examination of outcrops, trenches, and drill cores, as well as a contour map of the area were made by the Geological Survey.

Jan 1, 1949

By Carl W. Kelley

PRODUCTION in the United States of carbon black has increased from 20 million pounds per year in 1920 to over 2 billion pounds in 1964 valued at $156 million, mostly for consumption by the rubber-tire industry, which uses over 90 percent of total production. Production of over 2 billion pounds in 1964 is a 7.8-percent increase over 1963 and is the first time furnace black production has topped 2 billion pounds. Although 1964 channel black production dropped 6 percent below 1963, carbon black produced by the furnace process, which ac-counted for 92 percent of total production, increased 9 percent to 2,053 million pounds. Total shipments during 1964 amounted to 2,245 mil-lion pounds, a 7 percent increase. This growth parallels the expansion of the automotive and petroleum industries. Along with this expansion have been many advances, both in methods of manufacture and in the quality and variety of blacks available to industry. There are several kinds of carbon black, thermal, channel, furnace, lamp, and oil blacks. Until recently, channel has been the important black in rubber compounding. Following the introduction of the synthetic GR-S, and more recently of "cold rubber," it has been found that certain furnace blacks with particle size larger than that of the standard channel black give superior reinforcement. A great advantage of furnace black is that its yield per unit of gas feedstock is higher than that of channel black. The 184-million-pound increase in domestic carbon black sales was partially offset by a 37-million-pound decrease in exports. Decrease in exports especially to Europe, is expected to continue. In Europe, as in the United States, the major end use for carbon black is in the manufacture of automobile and truck tires. Although the number of automobiles in Europe is predicted to grow by about 7.5 percent per year, compounded until 1975, the increased demand will be met by a 20 percent increase in existing capacity and by the new plants being built in Europe by U.S. companies. Also) aromatic oils for producing furnace blacks are plentiful now that western Europe's chemical industry is switching to a petroleum base.

Jan 1, 1965

Now more than ever, the United States must have an adequate and dependable supply of minerals to meet its defense and economic needs. A chief mission of the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Mines is to help ensure that the United States meets these needs at acceptable environmental, energy, and economic costs. As it looks toward the 21st century, the Bureau of Mines will focus its attention on the following areas: - upgrading the capabilities of its mineral information and analysis program - expanding mineral land assessment activities - disseminating the practical results of federally funded research activities to the private sector through enhanced technology transfer - addressing the impact of regulations on mineral industries - addressing the needs for mineral-oriented training and research in the Nation's universities - enhancing mine worker health and safety - improving mining and mineral processing productivity through automation, robotics and other innovative technologies - reducing the environmental impact of mining and mineral processing operations - and enhancing the accessibility and conservation of domestic mineral resources.

Jan 1, 1991

Commodities statistics and other information are available through the following three systems: Internet Access: To acccess the USBM Gopher server on Internet, connect to: gopher.usbm.gov port 70, using gopher client software. Or contact the Systems Administrator for technical questions: Matt Klevemann, 412-892-6499 (klevemmc@miner.usbm.gov) These USBM materials are available on Internet, with more to come in the future: Publications and other research findings, including this bimonthly publications list, newsletters, tech transfer updates, enviromental technology research, health and safety information. USBM software products Media materials and speeches. Mines Data: Computer bulletin board. Log on via modem through 202/501-0373, or call 202/501-0406 for technical assistance. Mines FaxBack: Return fax service. 1. Use the touch-tone handset attached to your fax machine's telephone jack. (ISDN [digital] telephones cannot be used with fax machines.) 2. Dial 202/219-3644. 3. Listen to the menu options and punch in the number of your selection, using the touch-tone telephone. 4. After completing your selection, press the start button on your fax machine.

Jan 1, 1995

By P. R. Jones

A computer program was written for the design of a shell and tube heat exchanger on a price optimum basis for the following conditions: (1) Triangular pitch; (2) single or multiple pass; (3) heating or cooling; (4) no change in phase; and (5) inside pumping costs immaterial. Price optimum design was obtained for four standard tube sizes and standard pitch. The inside pressure drop was fixed and outside pressure drop was computed for the optimum baffle spacing and when the baffle spacing equaled the shell diameter. Standard shells whose areas equaled or exceeded the required area were also listed. The program was made adaptable to various fluids and to various tube sizes and pitch by reading in many of the required data such as physical properties of the fluids, tube data, and standard shell data in tabular form.

Jan 1, 1968

By J. A. Holmes, EDWARD C. FRANKLIN, RALPH A. GOULD

The commission may be permitted to express its earnest hope that the litigation which comes to an end with the findings and recom- mendations herein set forth will be considered by both parties to the action as definitely and equitably decided. The commission trusts that its work will show the value of the commission form of settlement and that its work will serve as a prece- dent to be followed in disputes relative to technical subjects. If the work of the commission is productive of a tendency on the part of technical litigants to avoid the use of the courts for the settlement of disputes it will not have been done in vain. Such tendency will surely grow and ultimately such differences will be arbitrated by technically trained men without recourse to the courts of law. Appended to the report of the findings of the commission are to be found the detailed reports covering the several lines of inquiry and investigation carried on by the commission and upon which its findings are based, and also a detailed statement of the fiscal affairs of the commission. A word of explanation is necessary in regard to the fiscal statement. While each party to the litigation has agreed to bear one-half of the expense of the investigations of the commission, it will be noted that the Selby Smelting & Lead Co. is credited with $21,000, while Solano County is credited with but $6,000. In order that the investigations of the commission might go forward without interruption the Selby Smelting & Lead Co. has generously supplied funds at the times they were needed. This assistance has been

Jan 1, 1915

By R. J. Hundhausen

This report describes the exploration and recent utilization studies the Bureau of Mines conducted on the Iron King, Chambers, and Dry Camp chromite deposits in the John Day district, Grant County, Oreg. The field investigations were undertaken during parts of 1939 and 1942 to determine the tonnage and grade of chromite in the district that could be utilized as a war reserve for the steel industry. As a result of the Bureau's field work, which included construction of 9 miles of access road, 6,204 feet of diamond drilling, 195 channel samples, and 1,020 linear feet of trenching, an ore reserve of 208,000 tons of 22-percent chromic oxide was indicated in the 3 deposits. Less than 1,000 tons of this ore has been mined since the field work was completed because the 2 largest deposits are submarginal in grade and there is as yet no incentive to develop and mine the ore. Since the war, however, the Bureau has been seeking means of utilizing the ore. Two methods of utilization that show promise are direct smelting of the ore in an electric furnace and use of the chromite for making refractory brick.

Jan 1, 1956

By G. M. Kintz, Charles B. Carpenter, G. W. Jones

"INTRODUCTION At 9:12 a. m. on April 16, 1947, the ammonium nitrate cargo in hold 4 of the S. S. Grandcamp, a 7,176 gross-ton Liberty ship owned by the French Government, detonated at pier 0 of the Texas City Terminal Railway Co., Texas City, Galveston County, Tex.This detonation was the first of a series of explosions and fires that took the lives of approximately 600 persons, injured 3,000 other persons, and caused a property damage and business loss that will exceed $58,800,000. It has been estimated that the life, accident, and workmen's compensation insurance loss will be $8,200,000.At 1:10 a. m. on April 17, 1947, the ammonium nitrate cargo in hold 5 of the S.S. High Flyer, a 6,214-gross-ton Liberty ship owned and operated by the Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., Inc., detonated at pier L. This explosion materially increased the property damage caused by the first explosion, in between 50 and 100 persons, and is believed to have taken the life of only one person.The exact number of casualties resulting from the Texas City disaster may never be known. On June 22, 1947, 65 days after the explosions, the red Cross and the Texas Department of Public safety repoted:,""Identified dead, 405; unidentified dead, 63; believed missing, 100; injured, 3,000; hospital¬ized, 600; still in hospitals, 37."""

Feb 1, 1948

Minerals are vital to any industrialized civilization. Annually, the United States uses more than 4 billion tons of new mineral materials, or about 40,000 pounds per person-about half being mineral fuels and the other half metals and nonmetallics. Stable and economic domestic mining, mineral, metal, and mineral reclamation industries are essential to the economy. The value of United States energy and processed materials of mineral origin exceeds $200 billion annually. Although a number of minerals are imported, especially some designated as "strategic and critical," most U.S. mineral supplies are derived from the domestic mines and processing facilities that you will be seeing, reading about, and visiting as you use this visitor guide. We hope you enjoy your experiences. This pamphlet, a guide to mining and mineral operations that may be observed or visited and some other points of interest relating to minerals, is intended to aid tourists and students who are interested in mining. Some may wish to study our Nation's romantic past; others may plan to enter the minerals industry as a career; still others may have a primary interest in conservation practices. The pamphlet is also intended to aid State and local officials, Chambers of Commerce, and mining firms in answering some of the many questions of tourists and students.

Jan 1, 1977

By N. A. Eilertsen

The Aroostook manganese-bearing deposits lie within a rectangle 30 miles wide and 70 miles long. Over 40 different deposits have been discovered in this area, but they have not been mined because the ores are difficult to treat. In 1949, the Maple Mountain area was selected for detailed investigation by the Bureau of Mines, because study by the State of Maine and the Federal Geological Survey indicated that it was the most promising in Aroostook County for developing a large tonnage of reserves. Investigation by the Bureau of Mines disclosed that all of the reported deposits of the central district were located on the limbs of a syncline underlying a pear-shaped area of 283 acres between the crests of Maple Mountain and Hovey Mountain. The ore area has been outlined by trenching and drilling along three sides of the perimeter, while the remaining side is defined by a fault. The area has a length of 6,300 feet and a maximum width of 3,100 feet. Diamond-drill holes have intersected the deposit as deep as 1,550 feet below surface, but additional deep drilling would be required to determine the intensity of folding or warping at depth. The Maple Mountain-Hovey Mountain deposit lies in the slates of Ordovician age and is classified into three zones, of which the upper, averaging about 57 feet thick, is designated manganiferous purple and red slate. The central zone, also averaging about 57 feet thick and containing the highest manganese content, is manganiferous, banded hematite. The lower zone is manganiferous, interbedded hematitic and green slate with an average width of about 33 feet. Manganese minerals occur with hematite in all three units. Trenching on the northwestern slope of Hovey Mountain uncovered other disconnected deposits of manganiferous rocks of earlier age than the ore of the syncline. The general strike of these deposits, which range from 15 feet to 75 feet in thickness, is southwest a length of 5,000 feet. They dip steeply southeast. The ore of the syncline is predominantly deep, hematitic red, inclining to red-dish black, fine-grained, dense, and thinly laminated. It is hard and siliceous. Hematite has, in places, been altered to magnetite. Because of the fine-grained texture of the ore, the manganese-mineral constituents are difficult to determine. Of the manganese silicates present, braunite is the most readily identified. Manganese carbonates and oxides are found also.

Jan 1, 1952

On September 4, 2007, Mine Safety and Health Administration, in alliance with the International Union of Operating Engineers and the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers, presented the first annual Mine Construction Maintenance and Repair?s Safety Contractor of the Year Award to Artisan Contracting, Inc., of Cape Girardeau, MO. Eligible contractors located throughout the United States were nominated. Artisan Contracting was nominated by Illinois Cement Company located in LaSalle, IL. Illinois Cement Company is a Division of Eagle Materials Inc., located in Dallas, Texas. Mr. Larry Frankum President of Artisan Contracting Inc., stated, ?While it is gratifying to receive a wonderful award such as this, we must not forget how fragile a good safety record is. We must constantly remain diligent in pursuit of maintaining safe work sites.?

Feb 1, 2008

By James H. Cobbs

The utilization of large diameter drilled holes for mine shafts seems to have had its beginning in Europe about 1850 (28) where the mining industries of Germany and The Netherlands first used drilled shafts. Recent shafts in softer formations of diameters as large as 25 feet and as deep as 1, 700 feet have been drilled in both The Netherlands and Germany. The first shaft drillers utilized cable tool or churn drilling techniques which limit both hole diameters and drilling speeds. Though some churn drilling of shafts is still performed, rotary drilling has been the dominant technique for many years.

Jan 1, 1973