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By R. V. Ramani, R. Stefanko, G. W. Luxbacher

Ahmed, M.,• "Development of an Integrated Control System for Mine Ventila¬tion and Firedamp Drainage," Mining Engineer, Vol. 127, No. 91, April, 1968, pp. 382-392. Andrews, J. W., "U. S. Mine Ventilation Standards," Paper presented at the International Mine Ventilation Congress, Sept., 1975. Boyle, J. A., and Conn, 0. S., "The Control of Mine Ventilation Utilizing Multiple Main Fans," Paper presented at the Seventy-second Annual CMIA Meeting, Pittsburgh, December 1958. Collinson, P. L., and Vance, W. E., "Mine Ventilation Planning," The Mining Engineer, Volume 121, No. 14, 1961, pp. 141-156. Committee on Industrial Ventilation, Industrial Ventilation, 12th Edition, 1972. Grever, R. E., "Automatic Monitoring of Ventilation Conditions in European Coal Mines," Symposium on Engineering Systems Design for Mine Safety, Michigan Technological University, August 1973. Hall, C. J., Airflow in Mines - Thermodynamic and Motive Column Analyses, The Book Concern, Printers, Inc., Hancock, Mich., 1967, 263 pages. Hargraves, A. J., "Planning and Operation of Gaseous Mines," Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin, Vol. 66, No. 731, March 1973, pp. 119-128. Harris, E. J., "The Fluid Network Analyzer as an Aid in Solving Mine Ventilation Distribution Problems," SME-AIME Transactions, Vol. 228, 1963, pp. 391-395 Higgins, J., and Shuttleworth, S. E. H., "A Tracer Gas Technique for the Measurement of Airflow in Headings," Colliery Engineering, November 1958, Vol. 35, pp. 483-487. Kaiser, K. M., and Bhowmick, B. C., "Recent Developments in Mine Ventila¬tion Instrumentation," Journal of Mines, Metals & Fuels (INDIA), June 1974, pp. 155-162. Kalasky, J. D., and Krickovic, S., "Ventilation of Pillared Areas by Bleeder Entries, Bleeder Systems, or Equivalent Means," Trans¬actions AIME, Volume 254, December 1973, pp. 284-291. Mahajan, J. K., "Ventilation Planning for a Deep Metal Mine," Min. Geol. Met. Inst. India, Volume 69, 1972, pp. 31-38.

Jan 1, 1977

By P. D. Bergman

The high price of pollucite ore, its limited availability, and the need to provide stack removal of S02 present formidable obstacles to the use of pure cesium as a seeding material in MHD power generation. Cost estimates indicate that mixed potassium-cesium seeding is preferable to the use of either pure cesium or pure potassium. Cheaper electricity and higher open-cycle MHD operating efficiencies result from the use of mixed seed. Savings of $3,000,000 per year in power costs for a 1,000-MWE open-cycle MHD power-plant are envisioned if the mixed seeding technique is adopted.

Jan 1, 1972

By Dorsey A. Lyon, Robert M. Keeney

This bulletin is one of a series dealing with the application of the electric furnace to the smelting of ores and the manufacture of alloys, and is published by the Bureau of Mines in the endeavor to increase efficiency in metallurgical processes. The bulletin presents, first, a critical discussion of the possibility of smelting copper ores in the electric furnace; second, the results of the experimental work of other investigators on the electric smelting of copper; third, the results of experiments by the authors on the electric smelting of native copper concentrates and sulphide copper ores; and, fourth, a comparison of the electric furnace with the blast furnace and reverberatory furnace for copper smelting. Before considering the electric smelting of copper ores the reader should understand that the electric furnace was not developed as a competitor of the combustion furnace, but for the purpose of doing high-temperature work that can not be done in the combustion furnace, and for the treatment of ores from deposits that are in regions where fuel is scarce and costly but hydroelectric power is comparatively cheap, as in Chile, and in certain parts of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Furthermore, it is not the object of this report to try to prove that the electric furnace should replace the reverberatory or the blast furnace, as used at present in smelting copper ores, but to show that the electric furnace may be used with advantage in localities where conditions are not favorable to the use of the reverberatory or the blast furnace. For example, otherwise valuable ore deposits may be situated in a district so remote from, or inaccessible by, railway that the cost of get- ting coke for smelting, or of transporting the ore to a smelter, is pro- hibitive. If there is sufficient water power at hand, from which electric power can be developed at a reasonable cost, and this electric power is used for smelting the ore in an electric furnace, with subse- quent bessemerizing, if necessary, the concentrated product may be

Jan 1, 1915

By Staff

This Bureau of Mines publication contains five papers pertaining to the effective grounding of mine power systems, as follows: Ground-check monitor types and safety characteristics; ground wire monitors for surface coal mines; ground bed design and measurement; electrical ground rod corrosion; and a continuous ground 'bed resistance monitor.

Jan 1, 1979

By Launa Mallett

This training material focuses on the content of emergency warning messages. Research has shown that when an emergency occurs, people often do not get the information they need for the purpose of taking appropriate action. This safety talk presents a procedure, using mental cues that can be used by senders and receivers of emergency warnings.

Jan 1, 1999

By Launa Mallett, PhD, Charles Vaught, PhD

This training material focuses on the content of emergency warning messages. Research has shown that when an emergency occurs, people often do not get the information they need for the purpose of taking appropriate action. This safety talk presents a procedure, using mental cues that can be used by senders and receivers of emergency warnings.

By David Hoadley, Kenneth R. Maser, Ashok B. Boghani, James E. Billar, D. Randolph Berry, Mackenzie Burnett, Robert H. Trent

Appendix B - Mine Evacuation Simulation Program - User's Manual B 1 Introduction Appendix B documents information necessary to use the emergency escape simulation program and to make modifications if necessary. For a user interested in using the program as it exists, Sections B 2, B 5 and B 6 are particularly useful. The program listing (B.6) can be used to prepare a card deck and the data cards can be punched from the directions given in Section B. 2. Typical input data and output printout summarized in B 5 provides guidelines for the program use. Sections B 3 (Program Nomenclature) and B 4 (Subroutine Description) describe, in detail, the inner workings of the program and are particularly useful for a user interested in modifying the program.

Jan 1, 1976

By Fred N. Kissell

The U.S. Bureau of Mines was established in1910 to reduce .the high accident rate in the nation's coalmines. For 85 years, it conducted a wide variety of tasks related to mining before it was abolished in 1995. The BOM had many technology transfer successes in its lifetime, including more than a dozen "R&D100" awards. This essay identifies and discusses five "transfer factors" that can explain the success (or failure) of many Bureau of Mines projects. These five factors are termed "pressure, pitfalls, path, price, and profit."

By W. E. Caspar, W. L. Eaton, W. M. Rohmiser, James Westfield, E. J. Podobrski, L. H. Johnson, S. H. Ash

A flood in mine workings is a crisis even if no lives are lost, and when the crisis is past and the excitement wanes there is usually a rapid return to unwarranted complacency in those regions where floods occur, even though the danger of imminent recurrence is known. Experience in flood control, regardless of its nature, has taught that in a flood the work does not cease when the emergency passes; rather, it increases as the water recedes. To do nothing, when it is known that a hazard exists, is inexcusable for those that should do something. To prevent floods in mines, data should be collected and something constructive done with those data, not alone for present conditions but for the future.

Aug 1, 1947

By Rimas Pakalnis, Catherine A. Dreesbach, Lewis A. Martin

Instrumented cable bolts developed at the Spokane Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health were used in conjunction with existing ground control systems to monitor rock mass loads at Tg Soda Ash's trona mine, Granger, WY. Axial and shear loads were determined to levels of strain gauge accuracy of ±5 N or ±5 micro strain. These gauges were embedded in a remanufactured king wire that replaced the conventional king wire. Cable bolt performance, quality of grout, and installation techniques were also assessed. By using instrumented cables, a mine operator can determine axial load along the cable at predefined gauge locations. These data provide necessary input for an operator to design a safer working environment for miners.

Jan 10, 2000

By A. J. Miscoe, W. M. McKewan

A unique machine for inducing bending fatigue in wire ropes was built at the U.S. Bureau of Mimes' Pittsburgh Research Center. This machine can produce nine levels of degradation through repetitive cycling of long samples of wire ropes of the types used in the mining industry. This report provides an analysis of the results of the first wire rope to be fatigued on this machine. These results have indicated that as a wire rope accumulates bending cycles, its strength first decreases because of wear and then in- creases due to cold working of the wires. As the amount of cold working increases, more and more of the embrittled wires break and the strength of the rope decreases rapidly. In this test, application of several of the regulatory retirement criteria to various sections of the rope suggests that there may be some inconsistency among them.

Jan 1, 1993

By T. Estelle Gardner

The Bureau of Mines made enthalpy measurements on sodium bromide and sodium iodide in the temperature range 400° to 1,200° K using an ice calorimeter. Equations representing enthalpy as a function of temperature were derived from the data by the method of least squares. These equations were used to calculate smooth values of heat capacity, enthalpy, and entropy at 50° K intervals from the ice point to 1,200° K. The melting point determined for sodium bromide was 1,020° K; the melting point of sodium iodide was 934° K. The heats of fusion of sodium bromide and sodium iodide were calculated to be 6,270 and 5,680 cal/mole, respectively.

Jan 1, 1967

By Chelesa C. Woodward, Gregory G. Miller, Walter K. Utt, Wayne L. Howie

The process of drilling and bolting the roof is currently one of the most dangerous jobs in underground mining, resulting in about 1,000 accidents with injuries each year in the United States. Researchers from the Spokane Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are studying the use of a drill monitoring system to estimate the strength of successive layers of rock and assess the integrity of a mine roof so that roof drill operators can be warned when a weak layer is being drilled. Measurements taken during drilling can be converted to suitably scaled features so that a neural network can classify mine roof strata in terms of relative strength. The feasibility of this concept has been demonstrated in the laboratory. The research project was undertaken in order to increase the safety of underground miners, especially those involved in roof bolting. The system should be applicable to the mobile drills used in underground mining and would likely find wider application as well.

Jan 1, 2002

By Lloyd A. Morley, Alan M. Christman

Presented below is a review of how the objectives, as outlined in the statement of the problem, were achieved. 1. Methods of evaluating the performance of grounding systems must be described. These methods are the subject of Chapter III. 2. Field trips to operating mines should be undertaken, and a cri¬tique of their grounding systems made upon the basis of obser¬vation and the application of the above techniques. An analysis of field trip data, along with practical recommendations, is in¬cluded in Chapter IV, while a complete review of all field trips is given in Appendix I. 3. Because of their thoroughness, present coal mine regulations should be evaluated, and their applicability to open-pit environ¬ments appraised. This has been done in consultation with governmental agency, manufacturing, operating mine, and consult¬ing engineers. As stated in Chapter IV, insight gained through field observations has served to amplify and extend the base of knowledge from which the recommendations were made. 4. The results of these investigations should lead to suggested Federal standards. Such recommendations comprise Appendix II. In addition, several important factors, which are discussed in Chapter IV, were brought to light as a direct result of the field research. 5. Seasonal variations in the earth resistance of ground mats, as illustrated by Table 12, reinforce the need for periodic

Jan 1, 1976

By Lloyd A. Morley, Robert Stefanko

In addition to explosion-proof enclosures, the IEC has published recommendations: 1. 79-2 Pressurized Enclosures, 2. 79-3 Intrinsic Safety, 3. 79-5 Sand-Filled Apparatus, 4. 79-6 Oil-Immersed Apparatus, and 5. 79-7 Increased Safety. All these are valid methods of electrical hazard reduction and find wide use in industries other than mining. Magison (52) discusses in detail each technique and, therefore, such an examination will not be repeated. Two other systems, lamina and labyrinth, are but variations of common explosion-proof enclosures and, therefore, will not be cov¬ered. (34,35,46,53,54,61) By examining other national authorities' opinion, the following will investigate each system's applicability to coal mining. Intrinsic safety applies to any system which is incapable of re¬leasing sufficient energy to be an electrical hazard. (49) Not one foreign country contacted disagreed with the concept, and they find these systems totally acceptable. Only South Africa does not accept oil-immersed apparatus, but no reasons were given. (62) Healy (27) stated that Queenlands, Austrailia would accept all techniques, yet some were still to be employed. Japan specifications allow for all but sand filled. (42,43) Increased safety or Protection Type "e" is an approach in hazard reduction in which special design considerations are applied to ensure an extremely low probability of electrical or mechanical breakdown

Jan 1, 1974

By Lloyd A. Morley, Alan M. Christman

General An important part of any mine power distribution system is its con¬nection to earth or ground. The grounding network serves to protect men and machinery from the hazards associated with electrical equipment which is operating improperly. Since the mine site is determined by the location of the rock or mineral to be extracted, the conditions required for the installation of an adequate grounding system are not always easily met. If annual rainfall is low or soil resistivity is high, an extensive array of buried metallic conductors may be necessary to assure a low-resistance connec¬tion to earth. Measurement of soil parameters can be made before the construction of a grounding grid is begun, and the configuration of a metallic network, which will yield the desired values of earth resistance and potential gradient, thereby ascertained. Proper design at the time the ground bed is installed will save much time and expense in later years. Ground conductors extend from the buried grid to each piece of mo¬bile and portable equipment via overhead lines or multi-conductor cables. In this fashion all machine frames are referenced to the same potential as the grounding medium. Protective circuitry must be installed to monitor\current flow in the ground conductors or the potential drop across the neutral grounding resistor, which is placed between the grounding grid and the neutral point on the distribution transformer secondary. When properly co-ordinated and used in conjunction with a low-resistance

Jan 1, 1976

By R. V. Ramani, A. S. C. Owili-eger

The Methane Generator program is a part of the Internal Environ¬mental Sub-system of the Master Design Simulator (MDS). All the sub¬systems of the MDS are controlled and activated by the main program as required. The data requirements for the Methane Generator are supplied by the Geology and Reserves sub-system through common storage. Figure 6 shows the information flow between the Methane Generator and other systems of the MDS. It should be noted that the Methane Generator can also function independently as was described under model application. AREAS OF MISSING INFORMATION In any numerical analysis, the accuracy of the solution depends entirely upon the data available. In gas flow problems, parameters that constitute basic model input data are rock porosity, medium permeability, reservoir pressure and initial reservoir pressure dis¬tribution. Unfortunately, however, most of these characteristics are not available for a lot of coal seams. The need for actual field data cannot, therefore, be adequately emphasized here.

Jan 1, 1974

Jul 1, 2003

By Charles L. Kimbell

This study is intended to serve three roles. First, it is an extension of the previous works under the same title that have been the overview and summary chapter of the international volume of Minerals Yearbook since the inception of that volume. Following the traditional format of past chapters, the basic statistical presentations herein deal chiefly with 1989, and in some instances with 1988, the latter only because more recent, comprehensive global statistics for 1989 are simply not yet available owing to delayed data collection and processing in some countries and continued governmental suppression of data in others. The second role of this study is to provide an update to the coverage of events impacting on the world's mineral industry that have occurred between the end of 1989 and the preparation of this study. Inclusion of this update is almost essential because of the potential effect of some of these events on global mineral industry activities.

Jan 1, 1992

By R. V. Ramani, R. Stefanko, G. W. Luxbacher

Table

Jan 1, 1977