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LANDSAT imagery has renewed interest in linear features first recognised by E. S. Hills in a physiographic model of Australia. Certain of these lineaments are aligned with structures which control mineralisation.Lineament guidelines are potentially useful in many poorlyexposed areas if they can be recognised early enough in exploration and drilling programs leading to mine development.A case history based on the Charters Towers Gold Field indicates that lineament guidelines can be established early enough to guide development ofnew mines. The position of the Charters Towers Lineament was known as early as 1956. Subsequently, more detailed publications identified and classified associated lineaments which provide intersections correlated with gold occurrences. The discovery of a significant orebody at one of the most prominent lineament intersections came in 1975. Mine drilling has confirmed the influence ofintersecting structural trends indicated by lineaments but not by previous regional mapping.Recent gold discoveries south of Charters Towers lie in a grid of prominent lineaments. The development of mines about Charters Towers will provide additional understanding of relationships between centres of mineralisation and lineament intersections. This understanding may in future be sufficient to encourage exploration for a new generation of concealed gold deposits in northeastern Queensland.

Jan 1, 1986

By E. Swartzman

This paper presents a general re-view of the various methods of briquetting coals, with and without the aid of a binder, with special reference to the production of a suitable briquette from Nova Scotia 'fines' for re-blending with industrial coal. From the economic and technical viewpoints, either small stoker-sized briquettes made with about 4 per cent asphalt in standard low-pressure double-roll presses, or briquettes made without binder in high-pressure double-roll presses, appear to be the most reasonable solution at present.

Jan 1, 1959

By William W. Adams

A general increase in employment prevailed in the stone-quarrying industry of the United States during 1941 compared with 1940. Likewise, more accidents occurred to men working in and about the quarries, with the result that the accident-frequency rate for the industry as a whole was higher in 1941 than in the previous year. Reports from operating companies to the Bureau of Mines, covering open and underground quarries, as well as rock-crushing and rock-dressing plants, cement mills, and limekilns at or near the quarries, showed a total of 86,123 men employed and a total of more than 22 million man-days of labor performed during 1941. The total working time of the industry averaged 260 days per man. Measured in man-hours, the volume of work equaled 173 million, an average of 2,011 man-hours per employee.

Jan 1, 1943

By Charles C. Boley

Using bench-and pilot-scale coking facilities, the Bureau of Mines produced experimental coke from blends of char with Sunnyside coal (high-volatile A bituminous) from Carbon County, Utah. At bench scale, additions of char made from lignite improved resultant cokes when concentrations of up to 60 pct were used in the blends. At pilot scale (500-pound movable-wall oven), four chars made by entrained-bed carbonization techniques from the parent Sunnyside coal and from a North Dakota lignite were used in two-component blends with the Sunnsyide coal. Chars from Sunnyside coal had volatile matter contents of 5.8, 9.8, and 16.0 pct, moisture-free basis; the char from the lignite had 16.6 pct. In twenty-five 500-pound tests, improvement in coke quality was observed from all blends at char concentrations to 17.5 pct. The best coke, produced from a concentration of 12.5 to 15 pct of S.8-pct volatile char, exhibited physical properties approaching those of an industrial coke produced from Sunnyside coal blended with three higher rank blending coals. Studies were also made of the effects on coke quality of char source, of particle size, of comparative use of char and of a blending coal, and of prolonged coal storage.

Jan 1, 1973

By R. R. Faddick

Properties of coal-water slurries were studied in two separate phases: a rheological phase and a pipeline phase. The purpose of the study was to investigate the rheology of fine coal slurries to determine the effect of fine particles in a coal-water mixture on the economic and operational aspects of a slurry pipeline. The slurries consisted of 6x10, 100x200, and 200x0 mesh coal in water. A fourth slurry consisted of a mixture of the 6x10 and 200x0 mesh coal. Brookfield and Stormer rotational viscometers were used to obtain or simulate rheograms for a range of fine coal concentrations, temperatures, and particle sizes. All the slurries were pumped through a 1-inch diameter acrylic pipe. The fine coal slurries were found to encompass four distinct rheological models. The narrow size distribution of the coal slurries was apparently responsible for the high pipewall friction losses, more so than the particle size. A scale-up method applicable to Bingham plastics was found satisfactory for predicting pipeline headlosses of fine coal slurries from rheology data.

Jan 1, 1974

By Lyman G. J

Magnetic separator operation in the recovery of magnetite in heavy medium circuits was studied by conducting a series of tests on a full size wet drum magnetic separator.The significant operational variables were found to be feed pan clearance, squeeze pan clearance, dry magnetite feed rate and separator drum speed. With feed and squeeze pan clearances optimized for typical primary separator operation, magnetite loss and concentrate specific gravity were found to be related in a regular manner to dry magnetite feed rate at any drum speed.A two component model of magnetite loss is proposed, relating total magnetite loss to losses in the feed pan and squeeze pan zones. The experimental curves relating magnetite loss to dry magnetite feed rate at the various drum speeds are interpreted in terms of the two component model.The magnetite particle size distribution in the separator was also examined. The tailings magnetite was found to be finer than the feed magnetite only when the dry magnetite feed rate was low, or immediately following the introduction of a new charge of magnetite when the separator was fed at an intermediate dry magnetite feed rate.

Jan 1, 1983

A shortage of technical skills in all areas of the mining industry is being experienced worldwide. This has significant consequences for design, operations, productivity and safety and, therefore, needs to be seriously addressed, both in the short and longer term. It is therefore both a strategic and a tactical issue. Importantly, however, since mining is a long-term business, the shortage of skills must be dealt with from a strategic point of view to ensure the supply of the necessary skills for future mining. This paper will deal specifically with the provision of high level technical skills, that is, university graduates in mining engineering, and the outlook for the institutions that are currently producing such graduates.

Jan 1, 2008

By Wing G. Agnew, John A. Johnson

"INTRODUCTION This paper is one of a series being published by the Bureau of Mines pertaining to an investigation on the use of stemming in metal mines now being conducted at the Mount Weather Testing Adit. Its purpose is to compare the amount of dust and gases produced as a result of blasting charges of dynamite (1) in drill holes, (2) in bombs, and (3) in mud-cap or adobe shots.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSValuable assistance and advice on stemming were given by members of the staff at the Bureau of Mines, as acknowledged in previous publications. 4/TEST PROCEDUREThe results used for comparison in this report are from dust and gas samples taken after blasting (1) four regular test rounds with no stemming, (2) five bomb shots, and (3) two mud-cap or adobe shots.The four rounds were the standard 26-hole test rounds designed to break 4 feet of rock. The procedure for drilling and blasting these rounds is described in Report of Investigations 3509.Before the regular test rounds were blasted, about 1,200 bounds of fine rock was placed on the steel mucking sheets that covered the end of the adit track; the wails, hack, and floor of the adit were washed thoroughly; and the fine rock on the mucking sheets was completely wetted.Each of the 5 bomb shots consisted of 10 sticks of dynamite tied together and hung at midpoint of the adit, 8 feet from the fall."

Dec 1, 1942

By R. A. Wattenbarger, H. J. Ramey

The trend in gas well testing has been to rely more on the early-time flow data of drawdown and buildup tests than on stabilized flow tests. The stabilized testing methods often are not adequate for complicated modern gas reservoirs because many of these reservoirs have extremely low permeabilities and the transient flow period of a well test can last for days or weeks. It has become common to augment the flow capacity of gas wells by hydraulically fracturing their producing formations. In deep reservoirs the induced fractures are generally vertical and tend to follow a single plane of weakness. The presence of a vertical fracture at the wellbore complicates the transient flow behavior of a low permeability gas well. The flow is further complicated when turbulence occurs near the wellbore. Russell and Truittl published transient drawdown solutions for vertically-fractured liquid wells. They developed methods of drawdown and buildup testing utilizing these solutions, which were based on numerical simulation. Clark2 applied the basic Russell-Truitt solutions to analyze fractured water injection wells by falloff tests. Field examples were given to substantiate the method of analysis. The Russell-Truitt solutions and well testing methods can be extended to gas well flow. Millheim and Cichowicz3 presented the drawdown equations for *Now with Scientific Software Corp., Denver. ideal gas flow, including the effects of formation damage and turbulence. Two actual field cases were presented, both of which exhibited extensive fractures and turbulent flow. For the pressure range of these well tests, the use of ideal gas equations was acceptable. These field cases were significant in being the first published data showing the occurrence of turbulence in fractured gas wells. We, also, observed such cases in practice. Our purpose here is to extend the theory of fractured gas well testing to the flow of real gases. To determine the effects of wellbore storage and turbulence on well test interpretation, we developed a finite-difference model to simulate well test conditions. Since gas wells usually are widely spaced and have high compressibility, the emphasis has been put on the early transient behavior before the effects of the outer boundary are noticeable at the wellbore. The Mathematical Model The geometry of our mathematical model is similar to that used by Prats.4 The well is centered in a circular uniform reservoir. A vertical fracture of infinite flow capacity penetrates the formation and passes through the wellbore. The wellbore itself is not important. Fig. 1 shows a sketch of the problem. Fig. 2 shows the idealized model. The equation for the flow of real gas in a porous medium with uniform porosity, permeability and thickness is5-7

Jan 1, 1970

By Joseph Grumer

About a century ago Bunsen and his associates invented the famous burner that bears his name and was to become the ancestor of today's gas appliances. Over the years, Bunsen's invention became the starting point of a highly developed, practical technology that culminated in the gas industry as we now know it. However, it did not occur to the early workers to investigate the scientific potentialities of the new device, and as a result the science of gas-burner performance did not keep pace with the growing industry. It was with the objective of closing the rapidly widening gap between science and technology that the present research was undertaken Its immediate purpose was to provide basic information on the combustion characteristics of .fuel gases, in particular as they affect flashback, blowoff, and yellow tipping. Information obtained in the present research and contained within this report consists of the following: (1) Fundamental flashback and blowoff characteristics have been determined, it is believed, for all fuel-gas mixtures in which the gas industry may be interested. These are critical boundary velocity gradients for flames in free air, on burners with ports at room temperature and pressure. Burner aeration is characterized by the parameter, fraction of stoichiometric. These basic limits are explained, values are presented, and calculation procedure is given for deriving corresponding values of port loading and percent primary air (chs. I and II).

Jan 1, 1956

An extensive series of tests was carried out on a ball mill-rake classifier circuit in the New Broken Hill Consolidated Ltd. concentrator. The data were used to develop a mathematical model of the operation of a rake classifier and this model has been used in the simulation of the performance of a ball mill-rake classifier circuit on a digital computer. As a result of this simulation it has been possible to develop a technique for the optimization and control of a circuit which includes these units.

Jan 1, 1967

By Jos. R. Guiteras

This is one of a series of information circulars describing mining and milling methods being published by the Bureau of Mines. The Summitville Consolidated Mines, Inc., is the only company now active at Summitville. Since the holdings of the company include those of most of the former producers of the camp, the paper virtually becomes a description of the Summitville district. The field data were collected from August 23 to 28, 1937. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to H. F. Detrick, president, and Edward Thornton, general manager of the company for their cooperation in making this paper possible. Most of the information on underground operations was given by Roy Jellison, mine superintendent; the metallurgical data were supplied by Art Carl son, metallurgist, and W. L. Anderson, mill superintendent; much general and technical information was supplied by J. H. Hannan, engineer.

Jan 1, 1938

"Increasing demand for timely and accurate information about flotation plant performance requires metal accountants to increase the scope and reporting frequency of plant production. This trend has brought in-process inventory estimation at the forefront of metal accounting issues. Such significant in-process inventories can be locked in diverse process equipment (bins, holding tanks, flotation cells, thickeners, pipeline, etc.) or in stockpiles (ore, concentrates, tailings, etc.). Practice has shown that boldly ignoring these in-process inventories or the errors associated with their estimation lead to unreliable metal balances thereby creating confusion in plant production planning and operational performance assessment. To this extent, the characteristics (physical bounds, spatial heterogeneity and residence time) as well as the available measurements (volume, density, humidity, mass, composition, etc.) of each unit/section found in a generic flotation plant are jointly reviewed with respect to the particular metal accounting issues they present. The daily and monthly metal accounting tasks are then reviewed together with possible methods for obtaining reliable inventory estimates including different procedures for end-of month reconciliation.INTRODUCTION Most of the cost reduction initiatives of the mining industry aim at improving capital efficiency and asset utilization. Among the possible paths through which these goals can be achieved are mine-to-metal optimization, real-time plantwide process control (Hodouin, 2011) and knowledge sharing databases (Bascur & Linares, 2006). However, the successful implementation and subsequent monitoring will ineluctably results in an increased demand for timely and accurate information. This more than often requires metal accountants to increase the scope and reporting frequency of plant metal production. A striking example of such scope expansion is the Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil (Anglo American, 2013) having a pipeline route of 525 km between the concentrator and the concentrate shipping area. Several other mining companies have also set an increased frequency for their key performance indicators thereby shrinking the metal accounting period from monthly to weekly and daily. Those concurrent trends have brought in-process inventory estimation at the forefront of metal accounting issues. Indeed, as illustrated in Figure 1, improving trading reactivity requires improvements in production planning which strongly impacts the requirements for reliable metallurgical accounting. Furthermore, practice has shown that boldly ignoring significant in-process inventories or the errors associated with their estimation can lead to unreliable metal balances. In other words, since metal balances are the cornerstones of metal accounting, some of the risks associated with important business decisions are linked to errors associated with in-process inventory measurements."

Jan 1, 2014

By Satyajit Vaidya, Rudolph Frizzi, Luis Berroteran

This paper presents design and construction challenges associated with a high-capacity rock-socketed drilled pile foundation system for a 60-story building recently constructed in an urban environment. The site is in very close proximity to surrounding 1-to-6-story buildings and a commuter rail subway tunnel structure. High compression, uplift, and lateral loads imposed by the tall, slender tower constructed over a relatively small site footprint posed a significant design challenge due to the close proximity of the subway tunnel and other structures. Construction challenges included those associated with advancing the drilled pile casings through overburden materials using internal flush method mandated by the Transit Agency, advancing the casings through very dense glacial till materials encountered above top of rock, and drilling rock sockets in variable rock conditions. This paper provides a brief overview of the site and subsurface conditions, and discusses the resulting design and construction challenges for the drilled pile foundation system and how they were addressed. SITE AND SUBSURFACE CONDITIONS The 8,350-square-foot site is located in a busy neighborhood in downtown New York City (NYC). Buildings neighboring the site are supported on shallow foundations, and their basements extend about 15 feet below the sidewalk level. A NYC-Landmarked building is located within a NYC Department of Buildings (DOB)-designated 90-foot influence limit from the Project site. NYC Transit Authority (NYCTA) subway tunnel and station structures are located in close proximity to the Project site. The subway tunnel structure extends about 50 to 55 feet below the sidewalk level. Although the upper portion of the tunnel structure is about 13.5 feet away from the site property line, the lower portion is only about 1 foot away from the property line. A site location plan is presented as Fig. 1. Geotechnical borings revealed subsurface conditions generally consisting of successive strata of surficial fill, sandy and silty soils, and glacial till (predominantly consisting of cobbles and boulders) overlying mica schist bedrock. A generalized subsurface profile is presented in Fig. 2. The surficial fill stratum was about 10 to 23 feet thick, and generally consisted of loose to medium dense sandy soils with varying proportions of silt, gravel, and miscellaneous debris such as brick. The underlying sandy and silty soil stratum was about 60 to 79 feet thick and generally consisted of loose to medium dense inter-bedded layers of fine to coarse sand, silty fine sand, and silt. The underlying glacial till stratum was about 26 to 70 feet thick and generally consisted of cobbles and boulders embedded in a very dense soil matrix. Top of bedrock was encountered in the borings about 110 to 150 feet below sidewalk level. Groundwater level was measured at about 30 feet below sidewalk level.

Jan 1, 2018

By Thomas Novak, Robert Goldstein

The analysis of a machine-luminaire configuration is a time- consuming process requiring the construction of a machine mockup, installation of a designated lighting arrangement, and an extensive set of illumination measurements. This entire process, however, is well suited to computer analysis. By simulating the machine geometry and the characteristics of the desired luminaires, the incident light levels can be calculated at the required set of points. This Bureau of Mines paper presents a general description of the techniques involved in performing this simulation.

By John A. Kiefer

Ground fault and overcurrent protection criteria for coal mine a.c. distribution systems were examined under a Bureau of Mines funded investigation. The report begins with a literature review which discusses relaying topics including instrument transformers, ground-fault pickup methods, static relaying, and comparison of relaying techniques. A chapter on ground-fault relaying provides recommendations for maximum and minimum pickup levels as a function of maximum ground current and power system line-to-ground capacitance. Research in the area of phase overcurrent protection has resulted in a complete set of procedural recommendations for the selection and setting of overcurrent relays and current transformers, molded-case circuit breakers, and distribution system fuses in coal mine power systems. The final chapter, which discusses relay system maintenance, introduces a unique test set which was developed by KETRON and used to test the performance of relaying systems in coal mines.

Jan 1, 1980

By A. B. Parsons

AT the outset, the authors of this paper desire to file a disclaimer and an, explanation. They have no inside information from occult sources; neither of them feigns clairvoyant powers in the slightest degree. It is true that they have indicated on be graphs an approximate trend for the consumption of seven important mineral commodities up to the year 1954. At best this is a risky business; the figures do not pretend to be any- thing more than reasoned conjectures that are predicated on an attempt to evaluate some of the more obvious of the many factors that are likely to have a bearing on the future.

Jan 1, 1937

By Paul J. Sabatini, Yazen A. Khasawneh

"A Demag CC1800 crawler crane was partially erected on crane mats adjacent to a seawall when settlements near a corner of the crane mat area were observed to be slightly larger than previously assessed. A ground improvement program including installation of dry soil cement mix (DSM) piers was implemented to improve soil bearing capacity. Due to near-surface obstructions, only 75 percent of the DSM piers were installed to the design depth. Because of the partial installation of the DSM piers, an evaluation of the crane pad stability and the effect of the crane loading on the stability of an adjacent 10-ft high concrete seawall, which was believed to have limited (if any) reserve capacity, was required. A two-dimensional finite element model was developed to evaluate the responses of the partially improved ground and the sea wall to the loads imposed by the crane. Geotechnical site investigation and laboratory testing programs were performed to better define the subsurface conditions near the area where settlements occurred and to provide the required mechanical parameters for the soil constitutive model. Analysis results indicate that total and differential settlements of the crane pad and the increase in load on the seawall were tolerable provided limited excavation and replacement of weak dredged soils outside the DSM area would be implemented.INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUNDA Demag CC1800 was erected on 8 ft × 16 ft crane lattice mats at about 12 ft from an existing seawall. Approximately 3.5 in. of subsidence was observed at one corner of the crane mats, while the crane was partially erected and stationary. The approximate location of the crane mats with respect to the existing seawall when the subsidence occurred is shown on Fig. 1.The seawall consists of a reinforced concrete wall connected by reinforced concrete bents to a composite section of sheet pile wall; the total depth of the seawall is about 29 ft. The bents are spaced at about 20’4” and supported by five piles at each bent location. The composite sheet pile consists of concrete and a sheet pile section with a reinforced concrete wale section. The retaining wall is about 10 ft in height and is supported at three levels. The first support level comprises a 2-½” diameter steel rod near the top of the wall spaced at 40’8” the second and third level supports comprise 1-½” diameter steel rods spaced at about 5’6”. The second level support is inclined at about 10 degrees below horizontal and the third level support is oriented horizontally through the wall footing. A schematic of the seawall section is shown on Fig. 2.A geotechnical site investigation was implemented soon after the subsidence was observed. The program included advancing four borings to a depth ranging from 16 ft below ground surface (bgs) to about 30 ft bgs. In general, the investigation showed sandy material (likely fill that was used behind the retaining wall) from the ground surface in two borings located immediately behind the retaining wall. The other two borings furthest from the retaining wall showed very soft to soft clay (possibly dredged material) from the ground surface to a depth of about 10 ft bgs. Based on this information, the ultimate bearing capacity of the subsoils was estimated to range from 1,200 to 2,000 pounds per square feet (psf). From the anticipated crane loading (weight of the crane and loading lifts), a minimum allowable bearing capacity of about 1,500 psf would be required for safe operation. To achieve the required bearing capacity a ground improvement program was selected and implemented."

Jan 1, 2017

By H. W. Gillett

MAINTENANCE of membership by the technical so¬cieties and the activity of these societies in spite of the adverse business situation have been noteworthy. This forcibly brings home the fact that industry recognizes that sound technical guidance is well worth its cost. The numerous difficulties and losses due to defects of various kinds arising from gas-metal reactions are now generally recognized and interest in these problems is widespread. The forthcoming A. I. M. E. round-table discussion of gas-metal problems will do much to clarify the situation and will permit us to assay our present knowledge and to suggest the proper direction for profitable future research. "The Age Hardening of Metal" was the title of the annual I. M. D. lecture delivered by Dr. Paul D. Merica. A critical review of the known facts relating to age-hardening phenomena was first given, followed by the presentation of a theory correlating the detailed observations which have been made regarding the mechanism of the hardening.

Jan 1, 1933

By Miklos D. G. Salamon

If all stratifications are horizontal, the computation of surface deformation induced by coal mining involves the prediction of roof and floor convergence and then the transfer of the effects of this relative displacement to the surface through the use of the appropriate influence functions. A laminated model, in the form of a quasi- continuum, provides a simple means of computing the approximate convergence distribution and leads to the Gaussian distribution as the influence function. The ideas presented in this paper represent a subtle but fundamental generalization of the influence function Method. It is postulated that the influence of a small area of extraction is proportional to the roof and floor convergence and not to the thickness extracted. This difference in definition removes many conceptual difficulties associated with the influence function method. To demonstrate the utility of the model, the surface disturbances induced by the extraction of a parallel sided long panel are derived. Formulae giving subsidence, tilt, horizontal displacement and strain are given.

Jan 1, 1989