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By Phillip R. Moyle

A mineral survey of 19,350 acres of the Gooding City of Rocks Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in the north-central Snake River Plain was conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1984. No formal mining districts are known in or near the study area. Forty-two placer claims within and adjacent to the study areas cover the Clover Creek diatomite deposit. Minor production from four pits was reported by the owners. The diatomaceous sediments are underlain by dacitic welded tuff and capped with basalt. Five exposures or blocks totaling 416 million tons of the diatomaceous material comprise the Clover Creek deposit; four of the blocks are in the study areas, out are predominantly covered by basalt. The North Clover block, just west of the areas, is only partially capped, and could be mined by open pit methods on the western flank of the exposure. The minable wedge contains an inferred marginal reserve of 35 million tons of diatomite possibly suitable for filter aid, filler, insulation, and other applications. At a production rate of 150,000 tons/year, total mining and milling costs for high-grade filter aid diatomite would be about $100/ton. The deposit is classed as marginal because products from this deposit may be inferior to currently marketed diatomite products. The market is well supplied by developed sources.

Jan 1, 1985

By Robert E. Barieau

In the design of plants to separate helium from natural gas, it is necessary to estimate the enthalpies of the various streams at various positions in the process. This Bureau of Mines report surveys the various methods that have been used to determine enthalpies and gives information on the organizations with such capabilities. The minimum information required for developing an enthalpy diagram is presented, and the relative merits of the various methods are discussed. It is concluded that methods that require no mass flow rate or energy measurements are to be preferred.

Jan 1, 1965

By Robert E. Barieau

In the design of plants to separate helium from natural gas, it is necessary to estimate the enthalpies of the various streams at various positions in the process. This Bureau of Mines report surveys the various methods that have been used to determine enthalpies and gives information on the organizations with such capabilities. The minimum information required for developing an enthalpy diagram is presented, and the relative merits of the various methods are discussed. It is concluded that methods that require no mass flow rate or energy measurements are to be preferred.

Jan 1, 1965

By F. A. Penning

A number of highly instrumented free fall tests were performed on an arrestment system for a man cage in a vertical shaft. Tests were conducted in the U.S. Bureau of Mines free fall test tower at the Colorado School of Mines. A single tooth safety dog was used to stop on 4x6-in. Keruing (Phillipine mahogany) wet and dry wood guides. The safety dog had a penetration depth of 1 in., an adjustable width from 1-1/2 to 2-1/4 in., and a tooth angle of 80 deg. Twenty-seven free fall tests were performed covering a range in weights from 3-1/2 to 10-1/2 tons, hoisting velocities from 850 to 1350 feet per minute. Average g loads were measured from a low of 0.6 to a high of 3.4. The electronic instrumentation included piezoelectric and seismic mass accelerometers, strain gages on structural and mechanical elements, load cells in the guides, and distance measuring. Computer analysis was used to correlate with experimental measurements used to calculate stress. A statistical analysis gave no indication that the velocity or area affected the wood crushing stress. The instrumentation revealed a chatter occurring during the stop as shown by the accelerometers, strain gages, and load cells. Additional work is required to analyze this newly discovered phenomenon. The chatter imposes loads much higher than the average g load.

Jan 1, 1980

By E. Chin

The countries of Asia and the Pacific, with their large mineral resource base, are significant suppliers of a wide variety of minerals to both regional and world markets. Australia, China, and India dominate the commercial mineral exploitation in the region. Australia has known reserves of major minerals, which are adequate for both domestic demand, and for exports, and is a significant producer of bauxite; copper; diamond; gold; iron ore; lead; manganese; mineral sands (titaniferrous minerals, monazite, and zircon); nickel; salt; silver; tin; uranium; and zinc. China is the world leader in proven reserves of antimony, barite, ilmenite (titanium), magnesite (magnesium), molybdenum, rare earths, and tungsten. China also has large resources of low-grade iron ore and significant resources of other mineral commodities, such as coal, based on its production and export capabilities. India has significant resources of bauxite, barite, graphite, iron ore, and mineral sands.

Jan 1, 1995

By M. F. Boos

The Portland beryl-mica district, Middlesex County, Conn., comprises three deposits investigated by the Bureau of Mines in 1943. The Gotta-Walden deposit is in a pegmatite dike 4 to 20 feet thick, which cuts gneiss and schist. In general, the hanging wall is rich in mica and beryl with some feldspar, quartz, and garnet. The central core is usually high in quartz and feldspar, with relatively little mica and beryl. The footwall comprises quartz and feldspar, with varying amounts of mica and some beryl. The beryl crystals range in color from green to almost golden and have a maximum diameter of inches. Results of surface trenches indicate a beryl content of 0.81 percent for the pegmatite. A small production of beryl, feldspar, and scrap mica has been made from the deposit.

Jan 1, 1949

By T. E. Swigart, C. E. Beecher

The Federal Government, as the largest lessor of oil and gas lands in the United States, is vitally interested in the conservation of those resources. This manual has been prepared at the direction of the Secretary of the Interior to call the attention of lessees of public oil and gas lands to the most common oil and gas field wastes and the best methods of preventing them; to outline the policies of the Interior Department on field operations; and to give information as to how the "Operating Regulations" of the department will be interpreted by the Bureau of Mines. The oil industry has progressed steadily. Present operating methods are much more efficient-and less wasteful-than those of a few years ago; moreover, the art of producing oil and gas is continually advancing. Public interest requires that improved methods, which will result in obtaining the greatest possible amounts of oil and gas from the natural deposits, shall be developed and used. Part I of this manual points out types of oil and gas wastes and suggests, in detail or by reference, the most practical and effective methods in current practice for stopping these wastes. Throughout Part I the department's operating policy is given, with interpretations of the "Operating Regulations" for enforcing every practical measure of conservation. Part II comprises the revised "Operating Regula-tions" which supersede all previous regulations and will govern future operations on public lands; it will be found in the pocket in the back cover of this bulletin.

Jan 1, 1923

By Charles Vaught, Jeff Duncan, Michael J. Brnich, Lisa J. Steiner

This document contains most of the materials needed to use the exercise. The main part of the document is the instructor's copy. It tells how to use the exercise, presents the objectives, the master answer sheet, the scoring key, and discussion notes to be used following the exercise. The next section summarizes results from field tests of the exercise, and reports the miners' evaluation of the activity. The last part of this document is three appendices. Appendix A is the exercise problem booklet. This booklet can be duplicated locally. The booklets are reusable. One is needed for every person in the classroom. Appendix B is the answer sheet. Copies of this answer sheet must have the latent image (invisible) ink answers that appear in Appendix C printed on them.3 Answer sheets are consumable. One is needed for each person or each small group of persons who work the exercise. Exercise Summary Read this section first. It determines if the exercise is appropriate for your classes. If you choose to use the exercise, examine the table of contents and review the remainder of this document. Type: Latent image Audience: Remote control and extended cut miner operators and face crews Length: Eight questions (30 minutes for administration plus 30 for discussion) Skills: Remote control mining procedures including remote control mining, taking extended cuts, resetting breaker on mining machine, and setting timbers. Communicating mine conditions, influencing safe behaviors when mine conditions are less than stable Location: Underground coal mine, four section continuous mining operation Average seam height is 48 inches Problem: Your regular job is on the general labor crew at Cripple Creek #9 mine, a four section continuous mining operation. The mains are 9 entries wide and panels are 5 entries across. You and the rest of the crew had annual refresher training about 3 months ago. For the past few days you have been sent to 2 South panel to fill in as the third shuttle car operator. This morning, however, your buggy is down. The face boss asks you to get the scoop and take seven or eight timbers to the number 5 entry because the last shift got off sight line. The miner will be working in entry 5 while the bolter crew pins entry 4. When you get up to the face you see that Mo, the remote control continuous miner operator, has rounded off the left inby corner in order to make his first cuts in the right hand rib. Now, he has squared around enough so that you and Red, the miner helper, can set some posts on the corner. The two of you set posts along the left inby rib of #5 entry while the shuttle car operator waits. You are in a tight spot when Mo decides to start mining. You must decide where the best place is to stand for safety and to be out of the way.

Jan 10, 1999

By Richard S. Fowkes

This Bureau of Mines report describes the Human Factors in Mining Search System (HFMSS), a computerized information retrieval system that provides relevant human factors information from journal articles, research reports, seminars, conferences, etc. in terms of 19 mining-related categories. It is the only existing data base that stresses all of the areas of human factors as applied to mining. Examples of these categories are biomechanics and work physiology, human error and human reliability, work design and task analysis, manual materials handling and back injuries, hand tools, organizational and management practices, psychological factors, and training. Although the emphasis is on literature dealing directly with mining, applicable material from other areas of research is included for those categories in which little research has been done in mining. Each record in HFMSS can be recalled by any field such as title, author, date, source, descriptive terms or key words, as well as by any words found in an abstract that describes the purpose, procedure, and results of the research. This report describes HFMSS fields and subject categories, the annotated bibliography, user's manual, and thesaurus of key words. Example printouts in both brief and full formats are included as an appendix.

Jan 1, 1990

By Frederick C. Trutt

Research performed on arcing faults and their interactions with electrical insulating materials within coal-mine power system enclosures are described. This work was performed at The Pennsylvania State University from December 1, 1976 through August 31, 1978. The thrust of this research has been divided into several primary areas. These include the development of a theoretical procedure for computation of three-phase and line-to-line arcing fault currents as a function of time, formulation of arc and tracking models so that arc voltages and energies may be computed, development of a simulation for pressure and temperature rises when a fault interacts with an electrical insulating material within an enclosure, experimental evaluation of electrical insulating materials in terms of their tendency to support and maintain an arc as well as their potential contribution to enclosure pressure rises, and integration of the above research areas to form overall procedures for theoretical and experimental evaluation. During the course of this research, consideration has been given to the possible effects? of an internal methane-air explosion within an enclosure as well as the potential influence of utilization-voltage-level, conductor spacings, and enclosure venting. Conclusions and recommendations address potential means for protection against enclosure failure, internal design considerations, and low-power testing procedures which might be used to evaluate insulating materials to be utilized within an enclosure.

Jan 1, 1978

Maps To Accompany Bulletin 418

Jan 1, 1941

By Guy E. Dent, Robert S. Sandford, W. T. Millar, Hugo E. Kuehn

"INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARYDuring the latter part of 1943 a magnetometric survey was conducted by the Geophysical Division of the Bureau of Mines at the mine, Putnam County, N. Y., in an endeavor to locate a segment of the body that reports state was cut off by a fault. The Mahepac mine was abandoned about 1895 after producing nearly 1,000,000 tons of high-grade magetite iron ore. The results of the investigation indicate the termination of the ore body by ""pinching"" or a displacement of such magnitude as to place any extension at a considerable distance the original ore body. This report describes the work done on the project and presents the data obtained. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe Bureau of Mines has been investigating deposits of critical and essential minerals in the United States and Alaska since 1939. The Mahopac mine was visited by W.T. Millar, an engineer of the Bureau of Mines, on June 5, 1943, accompanied by Dr. William Agar of the Federal Survey, and again on July 29, 1943, accompanied by Dr. A. F. Buddington and H.F. Hawkes, both of the Geological Survey.The mineral investigation was under the general supervision of Paul M. Tyler, formerly regional engineer, Eastern Region; J. D. Bardill, formerly district engineer; and Dr. F.W. Lee, formerly chief. Division, Geophysical Exploration. The work was done under the immediate supervision of W. T. Millar, project engineer. The Geophysical Survey was made by Hugo Kuehn and Guy E. Dent."

Sep 1, 1948

By John H. Soule

Appreciable quantities of sine and lead orus have been produced from the West. Pinos Altos district of Grant County, N. sex. This area was visited many times by engineers of the Bureau of ines. D. H. Johnson and 4. R. Storms visited the district in haren 1943 in connection with an acrenu road to toe wines. M. H. Storma again visited the area in July 1943 in connection with a hetals Feserve Corporation loan on the Routen-Thomas

Apr 1, 1948

By F. N. Kissell

The machine-mounted continuous respirable dust monitor (MMCRDM) is a fixed-location area sampling device developed for possible use at the working face of an underground coal mine. This device, based on proprietary technology known as the tapered element oscillating microbalance, has evolved over the past eight years through a cooperative effort of the former Bureau of Mines, MSHA, and the Rupprecht & Patashnick Company in Albany, NY. The capability to measure respirable coal mine dust levels on a continuous basis, rather than depending solely on periodic samples obtained from the traditional coal mine dust samplers, has been a goal in the mining industry for nearly two decades. Recently, an extensive series of laboratory and underground tests was conducted by NIOSH with the cooperation of MSHA and coal operators to test the performance of the MMCRDM In preliminary laboratory testing, the MMCRDM seemed to work well. However, in every underground test, when compared to reference samplers placed close to the inlet, the MMCRDM failed to meet the 25% accuracy criterion specified in the contract under which it was developed. Two reasons explain this failure: First, in most tests the bias (the relative discrepancy between the average MMCRDM concentration and the average reference sampler concentration) was too great. Second, the variability of the samplers used for reference comparison was too large. Finally, the underground testing of the MMCRDMs showed that they are quite unreliable at this stage of development. In the majority of mine tests, no more than 10 shifts of data were taken before the MMCRDM failed to function properly. Major breakdowns, requiring the return of the MMCRDM to the factory for repairs, occurred on average every 28 days. To be considered mine-worthy, MMCRDM reliability must be substantially improved. KEYWORDS Dust, coal dust, dust instrumentation, dust sampling, dust monitoring, black lung, pneumoconiosis

By Martin A. Elliott

Recommendations for safe practices in the operation of Diesel engines underground must take into consideration the hazards that might be created if the composition of the underground atmosphere differs from that of normal air. One aspect of this problem was discussed in the second report6/ of this series, which presented the results of tests in which a Diesel engine was operated with mixtures of normal air and exhaust gas supplied to the intake of the engine. Atmosphere .of this type were studied first because they will be present whenever the exhaust was is discharged into the atmosphere of underground workings in which an engine operates. Diesel engines in underground service may operate in another type of atmosphere, namely, one

Jan 1, 1941

By Martin A. Elliott

Recommendations for safe practices in the operation of Diesel engines underground must take into consideration the hazards that might be created if the composition of the underground atmosphere differs from that of normal air. One aspect of this problem was discussed in the second report6/ of this series, which presented the results of tests in which a Diesel engine was operated with mixtures of normal air and exhaust gas supplied to the intake of the engine. Atmospheres .of this type were studied first because they will be present whenever the exhaust was is discharged into the atmosphere of underground workings in which an engine operates. Diesel engines in underground service may operate in another type of atmosphere, namely, one

Jan 1, 1941

By Frank E. Cash

Although during the past 10 years Alabama has attained an enviable position by its coal-mine accident experience and, like most of the other coal-mining States, has made progress in the safer operation of coal mines, there is still room for improvement, which can be realized only by still greater efforts on the part of employees and employers. From 1993, when accidents were first recorded by the Alabama State Mine Inspection Department, to 1934, inclusive, 3,451 men lost their lives in the production of 569,722,676 tons of coal. The primary purpose of this report is to bring to the attention of the mining industry in Alabama end elsewhere statistics of fatal accidents for 1931-34, with the hope that a study of the causes may lead to reduction of similar accidents in the future.

Jan 1, 1936

By R. Larry Grayson

In the October 1998 issue of the Holmes Safety Association Bulletin, NIOSH authors Mark Stephenson and Carol Merry wrote the article Hearing loss among miners and measures to protect hearing, which focused on the extensiveness of hearing loss among miners and the use of hearing protection to prevent hearing loss. While the primary importance of engineering controls in preventing hearing loss was discussed, since miners do not generally have control over their work en­vironment or assignments, the article focused on the importance of consis­tent use of hearing protection. In this article, all aspects of a compre­hensive approach to the prevention of hearing loss in miners will be covered. The discussions will do the following: ? describe application of the hierarchy of controls in preventing hear­ing loss in miners, ? give an example for each type of control measure and its impact, ? explain the major provisions, be­yond the hierarchy of controls, of the recent NIOSH document en-titled Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupa­tional Noise Exposure, Revised Criteria 1998 relative to a hearing loss prevention program, and ? summarize important points on control of noise exposure for every miner to remember, equipment in most facets of operations. Miners are well aware of noisy areas in or around equipment, icluding extraction machinery such as draglines, power shovels, longwall shearers, and continuous mining machines; powered haulage equipment such as load-haul-dumps, shuttle cars, large trucks, and continuous haulage units; roof bolting machines; jackleg drills and stopers; auxiliary equipment such as compressors, fans, and pumps; size reduction equipment, etc. They are not well aware of the insidious nature of pro­gressive hearing loss, which is per­manent, but they are generally aware of what levels of noise are hazardous and what measures can be taken to reduce their personal noise exposure. Behaviorally, however, there are many reasons why miners choose not to use hearing protection faithfully.

Jan 1, 1998

By G. S. Rice, J. W. Paul, M. W. VONBERNEWITZ

This bulletin abstracts and reviews essential details of reports on 59 fires in different coal mines in the United States, describes the circumstances of origin and the methods of controlling or extinguishing the fires, and points out the lessons taught. all, the fires caused great damage to property and killed nearly 400 men. The data have been compiled from the records of the Bureau of Mines, which cover most of the major mine accidents in the United States since 1.908. The names of the mines concerned and of the persons connected with the management of those mines have been omitted in accordance with the usual policy of the bureau. The bureau hopes that this bulletin will be of service to all persons interested in lessening the fire hazard at coal mines and to all who may be called on to fight a mine fire.

Jan 1, 1927

By George T. Motock

In Germany the extraction of lithium and its salts has been handled mainly by units of the two major concerns - Metallgesellschaft A, G. and Deutsche Gold und Silber Scheide Anstalt, both with headquarters in Frankfurt. Zinnwaldite, which belongs to the mica group, is the major source of the lithium-containing raw material in Germany. Lepidolite and amblygonite also are used when available, but they are imported, as there are no major deposits of these two minerals in Germany.

Jan 1, 1946