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By F. A. Rutledge

"The chromite deposits of Red Mountain, 10,miles southeast of Seldovia, Alaska, are in an intrusive of ultramafic rocks. The earliest reference to the deposits was made by U.S. Grant3/; J.B. Mertic, Jr. 4/ made a brief examination in 1917; and A.C. Gill5/ spent 7 weeks studying the ore bodies and geology of the region in 1918. The Federal Geological Survey had a field party in the region from July until September 1940 and the Red Mountain area was mapped and geological data were assembled by P.W. Guild.6/A preliminary investigation of the Kenai chromite deposits was made in July 1941 by R. S. Sanford,7/district engineer of the Bureau of Mines, accompanied by P. W. Guild, assistant geologist of the Geologi¬cal Survey. This was followed by surface sampling and core drilling, which were completed in September 1942 under the direction of John W. Cole,8 associate engineer of the Bureau of Mines. G. O. Gates, associate geologist, and A, B. Unkelsbay, junior geologist, of the Geological Survey, logged cores and interpreted geologic features revealed by Bureau of Mines drilling and trenching.9/J. C. Roehm, associate engineer of the Territorial Department of Mines; examined the Red Mountain area in august 1941.10/Additional exploration of other deposits in. the Red Mountain area was completed during the summer of 194. Work consisted of surface sampling, core drilling, and mapping. G. O. Gates, associate geologist of the Geological Survey, spent 4 days in August investigating results of the Bureau of Mines program.Throughout the exploratory work conducted by the Bureau of Mines the cooperation of Red Mountain Chromite, Inc., and especially of John Blodgett, Jr., and Collis 2, Druley, president and superintendent, respectively, was greatly appreciated. Use of their camp in the Windy River cirque and shops at Kasitsna Bay facilitated the Bureau of Mines program."

Apr 1, 1946

"IntroductionThe combined library facilities of the five universities in the Generic Technology Center for Respirable Dust, The Pennsylvania State University, West Virginia University, University of Minnesota, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Michigan Technological University, represent one of the most extensive and comprehensive collections of information on respirable dust research which is available in the United States. The Center encompasses two major medical schools, the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center at The Pennsylvania State University and .West Virginia University Hospital at West Virginia University, and includes national and international experts from such diverse disciplines as geology, geomechanics, mining engineering, mineral processing, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, material science, physics and several areas of medicine. In order to maximize achievements in research and facilitate early results application in the private industry, university, government and public sectors, a geographically dispersed Reference Center on Respirable Dust has been established at each of the affiliated universities. This network serves to encourage unity between the universities in the Center and coordination and communication with other entities who benefit from their research.Description of the Reference CenterIn this light, the goal of the Reference Center network is to identify at what location Information is available and to provide a means for others to access this information. It is especially necessary to have both ease of input and maximum retrieval capabilities available to all the research personnel in the Reference Center. At the same time, the service provided to the inquiring public must be complete and cost-effective. The Center's approach to realizing this goal incorporates advances in computerized and electronic searching of individual library holdings and the networking of major library and commercial search systems.The Reference Center uses the following means to achieve this goal. At each participating university, a hard copy collection ls maintained of the current respirable dust research in progress by that institution's personnel. Also, available. at each university ls a review of their past and present research on respirable dust. At each participating university a hard copy collection of annual status reports and of all publications produced by Center personnel for symposiums, national and international conferences ls maintained. A key word computer search capability ls available to participating universities. This computer search, by title, author and location, allows researchers to determine at which facility information is available, thus avoiding the tremendous expense and effort of housing all the information on respirable dust research under one roof. The Reference Center has access, through The Pennsylvania State University Libraries system and the libraries of other institutions, to a large number of data bases such as MEDLINE at the National Library of Medicine,"

Aug 31, 1989

By V. R. Miller

The Bureau of Mines developed and evaluated a detecting and sorting device to separate the copper-bearing portion from the barren portion of Michigan native copper ore in the minus 4- plus 1-inch size range. Small-scale sorting tests were also conducted on minus 1- plus 1/2-inch material from the Centennial No. 6 mine, using a previously developed system that was modified to increase sensitivity. Results showed that, with the added sensitivity, 85 to 90 pct of the copper in the minus 1- plus 1/2-inch material could be recovered in about 50 to 60 pct of the fraction. Sorting tests on minus 4- plus 2-inch and minus 2- plus 1-inch fractions from the Centennial mine were conducted with the large sorting system. Results showed that 86 to 93 pct of the copper was recovered in 43 to 64 wt-pct of the sorted fractions. Combining of concentrates from the two fractions resulted in a recovery of 90 pct of the Popper in 55 pct of the weight. The composite concentrate contained 2.40 pct copper, and the tailing analyzed 0.33 pct Cu; the head sample assayed 1.46 pct Cu.

Jan 1, 1978

By C. A. Hesse

The Quartz Hill Molybdenum Project, In Southeast Alaska, was the first mining project to attempt the permitting of a submarine tailings disposal system in the United States, since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the Clean Water Act of 1977. Over $20 million was spent by the project developer in baseline data gathering and In funding the preparation of the four Environmental Impact Statements and other environmental documents required at various stages of the project between 1977 and 1988. Because of the timing and a unique set of environmental, legal and regulatory requirements which applied to this project, innovative approaches were developed. This report describes those requirements and the developments, and gives a full historical account of the campaign for permitting submarine tailings disposal at Quartz Hill, until denial of the NPDES permit application by EPA in September 1 990. The extensive studies done for Quartz Hill suggested that under certain conditions the selection of submarine tailings disposal can be the overall environmentally preferred alternative for a mining project. The Quartz Hill story illustrates the complexity of the existing permitting structure and paints out the desirability of rationalization to achieve a more effective system.

Jan 1, 1993

By J. E. Rourke, O&apos

This report incorporates a review of available dewatering technology and an evaluation of its relevance to surface coal mines in the Interior Province of the United States. Guidelines for the selection, design and construction of dewatering systems are included. On the basis of documented experience, candidate dewatering systems were selected and evaluated with respect to their anticipated impact on the environment and mine operations. Included in the discussion is a summary of laws and regulations which can impact on dewatering operations. Following this discussion, geologic and hydrogeologic conditions within the Interior Province are described and potential dewatering problems at surface coal mines are identified. Model mines are developed which exhibit the most difficult dewatering problems identified, and it is demonstrated how available technology can be utilized to deal with these problems. Dewatering of coarse-grained, high permeability terrace deposits might be economically feasible today. Low permeability, saturated glacial tills or lake deposits appear to be significantly outside present economic feasibility for dewatering.

Jan 1, 1979

By P. M. Ambrose, A. C. Fieldner

This , the 11th annual report of research and technologic work conducted by the Bureau of Mines on coal and coal products , is issued following the closing of the Bureau's war work on fuels and contains references to most of the published articles containing results of war investigations . The few remaining papers will be discussed in next year's report . The trend in coal research in the Bureau of Mines was discussed in Mechaniza- tion . This publication , covering the period from the close of armed con- flict to resumption of normal coal -research activities , includes a section never previously presented . There is included for the first time a discussion of the Bureau's activities in the Liquid Fuels and Lubricants and the Solid Fuels Subcommittees of the Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee . This report does not replace the more comprehensive ones prepared by individual authors and listed as footnote references in this publication . purpose is to bring to the reader a résume of the work for the fiscal year ended June 30 , 1946. The material presented herein is based largely upon publications , but the results of some research and testing, which would not otherwise be published in the near future, are presented in detail .

Jul 1, 1947

By K. E. Robinson

This study is the extension of an investigation of reclamation of floodplain areas in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District, Idaho, that are unuseable in their natural condition, by construction of landfills with mill tailings. The study develops a valley-wide tailings disposal plan to utilize 20 potential landfill sites on floodplain areas and presents measures for reclaiming the sites for subsequent productive use. Field and laboratory testing on a test section and two abandoned impoundments support the use of hydraulically deposited tailings for landfill construction. Hydrological testing has shown that controlled discharge from tailings impoundments results in contaminant levels in the discharge below regulated standards. Additional testing indicated that compacted soil liners and pond management provide adequate contaminant abatement where acid-generating tailings are encountered. Mechanical compaction, including surcharge loading, upgrades foundation support capacity so that construction on the surface of tailings deposits is feasible. On completion of the testing program, the test sections were abandoned and rehabilitated. Details concerning potential landfill sites have been refined. At recent production rates, the 20 sites would result in 680 acres of reclaimed land, while providing a minimum of 40 years of tailings storage capacity. A general design has been developed for the retention dikes. Aspects of embankment stability, including liquefaction are discussed, and are shown to provide an adequate factor of safety under the anticipated range of operating conditions.

Jan 1, 1983

By Shail J. Butani

In 1986 the Bureau of Mines conducted a probability sample survey, Mining Industry Population Survey, to measure such employee characteristics as occupation; principal equipment operated; work location at the mine; present job, present company, and total mining experience; job-related training during the last 2 years; age; sex; race; and education. The population estimates are necessary to properly analyze the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) injury (includes illness and fatality data) statistics; that is, to compare and contrast injury rates for various subpopulations in order to identify those groups that are exhibiting higher than average injury rates. This report uses the survey's results to characterize the U.S. nonmetallic mining workforce from March through September 1986. Similar reports have been prepared for the metallic, stone, and sand and gravel mining industries, as well as for the entire metal and nonmetal mining (includes metallic, stone, sand and gravel, and nonmetallic industries) sector and the cool mining sector.

Jan 1, 1988

By E. D. Calvert

This Bureau of Mines report discusses the electric-arc reduction of zirconium and hafnium oxides with carbon yielding a metal-metallic carbide mixture. The carbon to oxide ratio in the feed determines the metal to carbide ratio in the product. A sample of this product was produced -or testing as a feed for the deBoer iodide-dissociation process. A new technique for producing pure carbides is described, which uses the intense heat of the arc to volatilize the carbide. The condensed vapor form , crystals of nearly stoichiometric carbide, INTRODUCTION This research examines the preparation of refractory metal carbides in the controlled atmosphere electric-arc furnace.

Jan 1, 1962

Develop a new technique of in situ rock stress measurement which can be used when and where the conventional methods, such as the overcoring stress relief methods and the hydrofracturing method, cannot be effectively applied. Approach The Bureau of Mines developed basic principles to determine existing biaxial stresses in rock mass by using an instrumentation package consisting of one 3.8-cm-diameter hydraulic cylindrical pressure cell (CPC) and two 5.7-cm-diameter cement-capsulated flat hydraulic borehole pressure cells (BPC) to he installed in a single drill hole.

Jan 1, 1988

By R. L. Brown

This report, summarizing the Bureau of Mines research and technologic work on coal and coal products for the period July 1, 1950, to July 1, 1951, is based largely on publications issued during the year. The sixteenth in an annual series, it gives footnote references to publications giving further details of the research and technologic work described, except in a few cases where research data presented herein has not been published previously. During the year, the national fuels situation was generally one of plentiful supply.3/ Mineral-fuel resources appeared adequate for several hundred years at reasonably increasing rates of supply. Coal-production capacity was in excess of demand; petroleum supplies were adequate; and natural gas use was limited only by pipeline capacity. However, it was pointed out that a world war would drastically change this situation of relative plenty, particularly with regard to supplies of petroleum and its products. Conversion to the use of coal on a large scale would be required, and improved methods of mining and of processing and using coal in solid or fluidized form or converted to liquid fuels could materially contribute to our national safety.

Jan 1, 1952

By F. A. Jones

Increased mechanization .of coal mines has emphasized the need for study of actual power requirements of the various machines employed in the production of coal and losses in the distribution of power to these machines. These studies are being made in order that hazards, excessive use of power, and high maintenance cost of equipment resulting from these losses may be analyzed and eliminated where possible. Research on the use of electric power in-coal mines was suggested by the Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Mines in 1937, and it was decided to begin with a study of individual machines of various types under operating conditions in modern coal mines. The transmission of power, particularly line losses and inadequate return circuits, should be a part of the investigation. This report presents some of the data of an initial study in commercial mines. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The superintendents, engineers, and other officials of the two mines studied cooperated fully and aided in setting up and transporting the test equipment, giving such information as was requested.

Jan 1, 1942

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 in 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 chemica 1 manufacturing; a shift in requirements from metals to nonmeta ls, from inorganics to organics, from natura 1 to synthet ic materia ls , and from distant to local sources of supply.

Jan 1, 1965

By J. B. Rosenbaum

Prolonged laboratory and limited pilot plant tests have shown that the Bureau of Mines buffered S02 -H2S process is capable of removing 95 to 99 percent of the S02 from industrial waste gases. Most of the S02 is converted to elemental sulfur; only about I percent converted to sulfate The process comprises (1) washing the flue gas to remove particulates and S03, (2) absorption of the S02 in citric acid or other carboxylate solution, (3) reaction of the loaded solution with H2S in a closed vessel to precipitate the absorbed S02 as elemental sulfur, and (4) separation of the sulfur from the regenerated solution by oil flotation and melting. Two-thirds of the molten sulfur is converted to H2S for use in the sulfur precipitation step by reacting sulfur vapor with natural gas and steam in the presence of an alumina catalyst. The chemistry and mechanism of the process are described, initial laboratory and pilot plant data are summarized, and second-generation laboratory operation and pilot plant design are reviewed. Preliminary cost estimates are presented for recovering sulfur from copper smelter gas, powerplant flue gas, and Claus plant tail gas.

Jan 1, 1973

By F. A. Jones

Increased mechanization .of coal mines has emphasized the need for study of actual power requirements of the various machines employed in the production of coal and losses in the distribution of power to these machines. These studies are being made in order that hazards, excessive use of power, and high maintenance cost of equipment resulting from these losses may be analyzed and eliminated where possible. Research on the use of electric power in-coal mines was suggested by the Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Mines in 1937, and it was decided to begin with a study of individual machines of various types under operating conditions in modern coal mines. The transmission of power, particularly line losses and inadequate return circuits, should be a part of the investigation. This report presents some of the data of an initial study in commercial mines. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The superintendents, engineers, and other officials of the two mines studied cooperated fully and aided in setting up and transporting the test equipment, giving such information as was requested.

Jan 1, 1942

This report, the third in an annual series, outlines recent trends and developments in the minerals industry. Discussed are new methods, equipment, techniques, and systems used to more, effectively extract and process minerals and fuels. Environmental considerations, reduced ore grades, and the related increased quantities of material handled were the dominent concerns of the minerals industry in 1972. Productivity increased in most mineral commodities as equipment became more mobile, versatile, and sophisticated. Increasingly, equipment designs incorporated health and safety features. There was considerable interest in the field of energy and in pollution-free metallurgy processes.

Jan 1, 1973

The general nature of the special constructional features that are required to provide safety from explosion hazards on machines approved as permissible by the Bureau of Mines is fairly well known to mining men who are at all interested in safety. These requirements are outlined in the schedules, under the provisions of which the investigations of such machines are conducted. Also, the method of conducting inspections and. tests of such machines has been described in Bureau of Mines Bulletin 305, Inspection and Testing of Mine Type Electrical Equipment for Permissibility, published in 1929. A more detailed knowledge of the special safety features of a particular machine is often useful and sometimes essential for inspectors, safety engineers, maintenance men, and engineers in selecting machines for a particular application. Three bulletins that give information of this nature have been published by the bureau, viz., Bulletin 313, Permissible Storage-Battery Locomotives and Power Trucks. Bulletin 343, Permissible Coal-Handling Equipment. Bulletin 382, Permissible Coal-Cutting Equipment.

Jan 1, 1937

The Menominee Range of northern Michigan was a major producer of direct shipping iron ore for nearly a century. When the last underground mine on the Range ceased operation in 1978, it marked the end of an era. For since the start of mining in the early 1880's the district has gone through a Lull cycle from the start-up of mining through close-down. During this period over 200 million long tons of iron ore were produced and shipped from nearly 100 mining operations. This development and production spanned the time from when the United States advanced from an essentially rural-agriculatural society through the industrial revolution and into the beginnings of the computer and space age. There are many lessons that can be learned from such a rich history. This report attempts to provide ouch a lesson. Through the use of case histories, deficiencies in past mining practices and mine closure procedures that have resulted in current mine related problems are documented. These problems -an be grouped into three areas; 1) subsidence 2) hydrological or drainage problems and 3) problems related to inadequate mine shaft sealing and capping practices.

Jan 1, 1983

By G. R. Hopkins

"Refiners are generally considered solely as fuel producers, but actually they also comprise a group one of the largest consumers of fuel. For example, during the year 1929 the refineries-burned 51,544,000 barrels of oil as fuel, or the equivalent of over 5 per cent of the crude oil processed in that year. In addition enough other fuels - coal, natural gas, refinery or still gas, and petroleum coke - were utilized to raise the total fuel consumption based on B. t. u. equivalent to more than 10 per cent of the heat value in the total crude oil run to stills. Refineries utilize fuel chiefly as the heat-forming element distillation, but also under-boilers in the formation of steam used in refining, for the heating of buildings, and in the generation of electricity.In the early days of refining, the problem of fuel utilization and fuel economy was of scant importance to the refiners. Margins of profit were comparatively high and the major portion of the operatros1 attention was directed toward increasing their throughput. However, the keen competition that has prevailed in the refining industry over the past five years or more has taught the refiners that their expenses, one of the largest items of which is the cost of fuel, must be curtailed. Thus in 1925 the refiners used an average of 829,000 B. t. u. to refine a barrel of crude oil, wheras by 1929 this average had been reduced to 639,000 B. t. u., a decline of 23 per cent (see fig. 1)Since 1925 oil has ranked first as a refinery fuel (see fig. 2). The use of natural gas increased during 1926 and 1927 but declined in 1928 and 1929. On the other hand, the use of refinery gas has grown rapidly in importance. Coal has shown a steady decline in use at refineries since 1925. Petroleum coke has never supplied more than a very small fraction of the total fuel requirements, although there has been a steady increase in its use."

Sep 1, 1930

By J. C. Gerdeen

It is of upmost importance to keep the size of the program to a minimum for the computer being used. One way is to reduce the size of the data bank by adjusting the large common array A in the main program (page, line 32) and the statement following the assignment of A. The current value of A is 35001 and is optimized for the UNIVAC computer with 5,000 words of useable storage. Another way to reduce the required storage is to overlay the program. That is, to have in the computer only the subroutines which are being used. In large finite element codes, overlays or segmentation of the program is a necessity. The code presented here has three levels of segments and are presented graphically in the tree in Figure D-1.

Jan 1, 1976