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By C. J. Chindgren

Upgrading of commercial red cake and recovery of vanadium oxide from uranium-vanadium mill solutions were investigated by the Bureau of Mines. Alternative procedures potentially useful for manufacture of high-quality vanadium oxide at the mill site were explored and developed. The simplest and best procedure for converting commercial red cake containing about 10 percent combined sodium and potassium oxides (Na20) (K20) into a 98- to 99-percent vanadium pentoxide (V205 product appeared to be a metathesis in an ammoniacal solution of ammonium sulfate. Molybdenum, as well as the alkali metal oxides, was removed from the red cake by this procedure at a modest expenditure of labor and reagents. When preparing vanadium oxide of higher grade, it was necessary to dissolve the red cake and reprecipitate the vanadium as ammonium metavanadate. Calcination at 450° C, decomposed the metavanadate and yielded oxide of about 99.5 percent V205. By recyrstallizing the metavanadate before decomposition, an oxide product approaching 99.9-percent purity was obtained.

Jan 1, 1962

By R. L. Hopkins, H. T. Rall, H. J. Coleman, C. J. Thompson

Two methods were tested for separating sulfur compounds in certain petroleum fractions into types . Such separation is preliminary to identifying the compounds . Each method involved extraction of sulfides from petroleum sulfur concentrates . In the first method , the sulfur concentrate was reacted with methyl - ptoluenesulfonate to form sulfonium compounds from which unreacted portions of the sample were removed by washing with solvent . The sulfides then were recovered by heating the sulfonium compounds with anhydrous triethanolamine . The second method consisted of passing anhydrous hydrogen iodide into a n-butane solution of the sample cooled in dry ice , whereupon the hydrogen iodide adducted with the sulfides to form sulfonium compounds . These adducts separated as crystalline solids or , more frequently , as glassy viscous liquids . The sulfide was regenerated by adding water to the filtered sulfonium compound and was recovered by steam distillation or by extraction with pentane . These methods have been evaluated , using individual pure sulfur compounds and blends of sulfur compounds . They also have been applied successfully to separating sulfides from sulfur concentrates derived from petroleum fractions .

Jan 1, 1964

By E. P. Youngman

The mining law of Chosen, which was made effective April 1, 1916, was promulgated as ordinance 8, December 24, 1915, in accordance with the provisions of articles 1 and 2 of law No. 30 of 1911. The new le repealed the mining law, Fo. 3 of 1906, and the placer mining law, No. of 1906, and in effect annulled all prior mining legislation. An amendment to the mining law of 1916 (by virtue of law No. 30 of 1911) vas. passed December 16, 1918, as ordinence o. 17. The detailed regulations, which were to supplement the law proper, and rich in all probability follow closely the regulations in force in the Empire, were not available. Unless otherwise indicated, references in this paper are to the mining law of 1916.

Mar 1, 1933

By Ludwig Schmidt

This report, the second of a series, presents the results of laboratory corrosion studies which were made in connection with a one-year test on aluminum lease tanks conducted by the United States Bureau of Mines. Part I of the report contains the results of the field teats.5 The studies were made on an oil lease in a so-called "sour district," near Borger, Tag., where free hydrogen sulphide accompanied the production of oil, gas, and salt water. Steel tanks previously used on the lease had suffered severe corrosion, because steel is inherently susceptible to attack by hydrogen sulphide. Because of the high resistivity of aluminum to the action of hydrogen sulphide, it Was believed that this metal had promising possibilities as a material for the construction of lease tanks in "sour districts." The results of the one-year field teat proved that aluminum lease tanks will withstand corrosion by hydrogen sulphide, but it was found that aluminum was susceptible to attack by salt water, which was invariably present in certain portions of the tanks, and that hydrogen sulphide accelerated this salt-water corrosion in an indirect manner, as will be explained hereinafter. In order to study corrosion conditions encountered in the tanks during the test period, a laboratory was maintained at the site of the aluminum lease tanks.

Jan 1, 1931

By R. F. Zaffarano

Reservoir oil in the Greater Aneth area, Utah, part of the Paradox basin, was studied to detect variation in oil characteristics within the reservoir and to determine its relation to age of accumulation and fluid equilibrium. At least three subsurface oil samples were obtained from each of the four largest of five field divisions comprising a producing area of 45,000 acres. Height of the oil column in the Pennsylvanian Desert Creek zone is about 230 ft. In general, the oil characteristics were found to be uniform across the area, and averages were developed for use in engineering applications. Average saturation pressure was 1,780 psia; the oil was undersaturated at the initial reservoir pressure, 2,200 psia. Variation in saturation pressure shows a lack of complete fluid equilibrium and continuing diffusion of solution gas from the main body of the reservoir to two extensions linked by narrow arms. By assuming early accumulation, the time involved in this diffusion process was calculated to be about the same as the age of the reservoir formation. Cause of the concentration of gas in the main body is attributed to differential entrapment during accumulation of oil and gas from an exterior source.

Jan 1, 1963

By J. B. Zink, M. J. Peterson

A semiquantitative spectrochemical method was developed and applied to the analysis of ash of U.S. coals . A low- temperature ashing procedure was used to minimize the loss of volatile elements . The analytical procedure provides for the estimation of 68 elements including major , minor , and trace constituents . Standards for the trace elements were prepared in a synthetic base mixture that approximates the average composition of U.S. coal ashes . Excitation was achieved with a d- c arc , spectra were recorded photographically , and interpretation was made by visual comparison of spectra of unknowns with spectra of graded standards series . Thirty- six trace elements were found in the analysis of 900 samples . Details of the procedure are presented , including sample and standards preparation , excitation and exposure conditions , spectral lines used , and approximate limits of detectability .

Jan 1, 1964

By Henry P. Cole

A series of studies are described that identify critical health and safety skills needed by underground coal miners for coping with mine emergencies. First aid and self-rescue and escape were selected as two broad performance domains that include many subordinate skills needed for preventing, recognizing, and coping with mine emergencies. The performance domains and their objectives were used to direct the development of simulation exercises that permit miners to experience mine emergencies in the safety of a training room. The exercises are based upon research with similar simulations for the training of flight crews and medical personnel in information gathering, judgment, and decision making skills. Exercise content is drawn from actual mine accident and disaster case studies. The exercises incorporate recent principles of cognitive psychology and instructional design. Initial studies in annual refresher training classes suggest the exercises are stimulating for miners and their instructors, easy to use and read, sufficiently complex and authentic to challenge experienced miners, and useful devices for both teaching and testing critical problem solving skills required for preventing and minimizing emergencies.

Jan 1, 1988

By R. V. Ramani, R. Bhaskar

"The control of respirable dust in mines has been given paramount importance due to the health and safety implications associated with fine dust. The understanding of the temporal and spatial behavior of dust has been recognized as essential for increasing the efficiencies of the existing control techniques and for developing new control strategies. Mining-related studies in this area are, in general, limited. They are also mostly experimental. Some mathematical and computer analyses have been attempted. In this paper, first a review of the mathematical studies performed in the last three decades in this area is presented. Second, a mathematical model for analyzing dust flow in mines is proposed. The model takes into account a number of factors affecting dust transport. It incorporates varying dust generation source strengths and dispersion, deposition, and coagulation of dust in mine airways. Finally, application areas for the model are discussed. A computer program based on the mathematical model has been developed. The program will output the dust concentration in the mine atmosphere as a function of time and distance from the source. The amount of dust deposited on the sides, roof, and floor of the airway is also determined.IntroductionAn airborne dust cloud is a complex system containing particles of varied size, density, shape and state of aggregation. The behavior of the particles is dependent on a number of complex physical mechanisms, often opposing in nature. The net interaction results in the ambient concentration. This size dependent behavior of particles contrasts with that of gases, an area quite widely studied.The term aerosol is used to describe clouds of microscopic and submicroscopic particles in air such as chemical smoke or particulate matter released from smoke stacks. An aerosol system can be regarded as an arbitrary element of volume filled with gas and suspended particles of possible highly variable physiochemical nature. The parameters that are used to describe an aerosol system include concentration, mass average velocity and particle mass and radius. In characterizing such systems, several assumptions are made. Among these is the assumption that particles are smooth, inert and rigid spheres. Again, for example, when the particles are in transport, the possibility of collision exists. As a result of the collision, the particles may coalesce to form larger particles. The probability of sticking is considered a known quantity (lady, 1970). In this paper, the application of the principles used in aerosol systems is explored for the study of the transport and deposition of fine coal dust in underground mines."

Jun 1, 1988

By D. S. Burgess

An investigation of the hazard of spillage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) onto water is described. About 2,000 gallons of LNG were consumed in various tests. The initial vaporization rate of LNG following spillage was found to be 0.037 lb/ft2 sec; when the spill was confined, this vaporization rate was moderated after about 20 seconds by the growth of an ice layer on the water surface; when the spill was unconfined, a coherent ice floe was not observed and the vaporization rate was essentially time independent. The maximum diameter (in feet) of the spreading LNG pool was found to be given by 6.25 Wo 1/3, where Wo is the weight of LNG in pounds, Downwind of a natural gas source, time-averaged methane concentrations were given in good approximation by standard air pollution equations. However, peak concentrations were as much as twentyfold higher than average, adding an additional factor to the assessment of hazard. The effect of layering by the cold vaporized natural gas was similar to the effect of a temperature inversion on normal gases in the atmosphere. Small-scale explosions were observed on pouring LNG onto a water surface; no single explanation seems pertinent to all of the incidents observed.

Jan 1, 1970

By Paul Hatmaker

A primary, function of the Bureau of Mines is to encourage elimination of waste and the most profitable use of mineral raw materials. In line with this objective the Bureau has frequently stressed the importance of waste utilization at stone quarries. From time to tine studies both technical and economic in character have been made of problems pertaining to the most efficient use of natural, stone, particularly that which may be classed as a by-product of the higher grades of dimension stone. Every quarry producing ornamental or building stone yields large quantities of material that for one reason or another is unsuited for high-grade products, even though a great deal of work has been expended upon it more or less unavoidably. It is obviously good judgment to sell this odd-sized or off-grade stone at whatever price can be obtained rather than to spend more money to place it on the waste dump. In many cases, however, a really profitable side line has been developed.

Jan 1, 1933

By William C. Cooley

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Jan 1, 1975

By Frank D. Lamb

"INTRODUCTION The use of beryllium and its alloys has come into prominence in the last 15 years and increased considerably during the war. In contrast to other light metals, such as aluminum and magnesium, beryllium is relatively hard, has a high melting point (1,285° C.), and other properties that make it resemble steel in many respects. It has a specific gravity of 1.85, is only slightly heavier than magnesium (specific gravity 1.74), and is appreciably lighter than aluminum (specific gravity 2.7). Its lack of ductility prevents its use as a structural material, but this difficulty may be overcome in the future by the use of various alloy forms. The only important commercial alloy in which beryllium is used today is with copper. The addition of small percentages (1/2 to 2 percent) of beryllium to copper imparts properties to the alloy that make it desirable for use in springs carrying electrical current, particularly at high temperature. Many other uses of berylliam are known, and new uses are being found constantly that make the metal of increasing interest.Possibly the main factor preventing the use of more beryllium is the lack of a large source of beryllium ore. Many beryllium minerals are found as minor constituents of natural deposits, some of the more common ones being beryl (Be3Al2(Si03)6), chrysoheryl (Be A1204), helvite (3(Mn, Fe) Be Si04. MnS), and phenacite (Be2Si04). Of the known beryllium minerals, beryl is by far the most common and has been found distributed rather widely throughout the world. It usually occurs associated with granitic rocks and is commonly found as a constituent of granitic pegmatite."

Mar 1, 1947

By G. A. Savanick

The Bureau of Mines has designed, fabricated, and field tested a water jet cutting device capable of perforating nonmetallic well casings for the purpose of completing or stimulating in situ uranium leaching wells. The device is lowered into the wellbore, where it issues a high-velocity water jet that penetrates either a polyvinyl chloride or fiberglass casing, cement, and from 1 to 4 feet into the surrounding uraniferous sandstone. The resulting perforations allow leaching solution to pass between the sandstone and the wellbore. This report describes the water jet perforator, tells how it is used, presents cost data, and discusses the results of laboratory and field tests. The tests were designed to (1) determine the optimum operating conditions for water jet perforation, (2) assess the effects of changes in these conditions, (3) evaluate the performance of the water jet perforator under actual conditions, and (4) compare this method with other methods of well completion. These tests showed that water jet perforation is superior to conventional well completion methods for selectively achieving communication between the well-bore and adjacent sand while maintaining sand control, for restoring permeability lost through wellbore damage, for stimulating poorly performing wells for completing wells with casings that have inside diameters as small as 2 inches, and for extending the effective well diameter.

Jan 1, 1981

This paper describes the sinking and lining of a 14 foot 6 inch finished diameter shaft down to and into the salt of a typical dome of the Gulf States region. The conditions and nature of the strata encountered divide the work into three distinct sections - that in (1) alluvial surface deposits, sunk through by open caisson methods, (2) water bearing rock, directly above the salt, and in (3) salt. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The writer wishes to acknowledge the cooperation of the sinking contractors, The Dravo Contracting Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa., through E. T. Gott, vice-president, in furnishing the data used in this paper.

Jan 1, 1932

By Seth T. Reese

THE INJURY DATA and experience at coal mines in the United States for 1949 are presented in this bulletin under the following general sections: (A) General injury experience: 1. Tables 1 to 18: Contain current data on number of injuries, frequency and severity rates, average severity, major and detailed classification of injuries, and distribution of injuries by part of body and days of disability. (B) Selected injury data: 1. Tables 19 to 45: Contain current data on various selected factors of operating and physical conditions that have contributed to the occurrence of injuries at bituminous-coal mines and at Pennsylvania anthracite mines. These factors include extent of hand and machine loading, size of mine by employment and production groups, thickness of bed or vein, duration and number of work shifts, rating of mine as gassy, or nongassy, types of cap lamps, ventilation, explosives, and combinations of factors that influence mine safety. (C) Injury experience by States: 1. Tables 46 to 52: Contain current data on number of injuries, frequency and severity rates, average severity, major classification of injuries, injury records of all coal-producing States, and the relative standing by States according to injury-frequency rates. (D) Appendix: 1. Tables 53 to 84: Contain certain injury data for the years 1943-47 that have not heretofore been published.

Jan 1, 1953

By Edward L. McHugh

In 1984, at the request of the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Bureau of Mines studied an 84,165-acre portion of the 84,935-acre Clover Mountains Wilderness Study Area (NV-050-139) in order to evaluates its identified mineral resources. The area studied is in Lincoln County, NV, about 90 miles north of Las Vegas, NV. No mineral resources were identified in the study area. Volcanic rocks are the most common in the study area, consisting mainly of a thick sequence of ignimbrites in a cauldron complex. Cambrian to Triassic marine sedimentary rocks and Cretaceous to Oligocene clastic rocks are along and partly inside the west and south sides of the study area. No mineral production ha s come from the study area, but gold, silver, copper, and fluorspar have been mined nearby. Eleven mines and prospects in or adjacent to the study area were examined. Workings inside the study area include two shafts, 10 and 60 ft deep, and eleven shallow prospect pits at four sites along the west edge.

Jan 1, 1987

By Alexander May

The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated the application of oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and pH measurements to environmental studies of mining and mineral processing wastes, and developed a computer program to estimate the concentrations of species of lead present in samples from a lead processing waste site. The methods and techniques for the ORP-pH measurements were investigated using known standard solutions made in the laboratory, samples from a ferric oxide waste disposal pond at a rutile production plant, and samples of well water and stream water from the lead processing waste site. ORP values were measured from 5 to 80 °C, from pH 1 to pH 12, and at various ratios of oxidant to reductant. The ORP-pH values can help identify valence values and species of ions present, including those of major, minor, and trace concentrations, and also indicate possible reactions at various pH values. The ORP measurements versus temperature yield data from which thermodynamic values can be calculated. The application and limitations of these measurements are discussed, and a brief discussion of the computational program to identify species of lead is presented.

Jan 1, 2010

By K. B. Rojiani

Surface mining activities disturb large tracts of land resulting in the potential for greatly increased downstream sediment loads. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 places increased emphasis on the protection of the environment from the adverse effects of surface mining operations. Surface mining activities must be planned to minimize disturbance to the hydrologic balance, erosion and sediment contributions to receiving streams. Sediment ponds must provide a sediment storage volume equal to the accumulated sediment volume from the drainage area as determined by the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) or other empirical methods established by the regulatory authority. It has thus become extremely important for the mining industry to secure more accurate estimates of potential erosion losses and sediment yield. Accurate estimates of sediment yield are required for the planning, design and successful operation of sediment control systems such as detention ponds and other alternative control structures and for evaluating the effectiveness of land management practices. The principal soil loss prediction procedure available for use is the LISLE. The USLE procedure is inadequate for use in predicting soil loss from surface mine regions for a number of reasons. These include: 1. The USLE was developed to estimate average average annual loss from agricultural soils. It cannot predict accurately soil loss for specific storm events. In surface mine regions a major portion of the soil loss occurs during the initial six months to one year of active mining. Accurate estimates of soil loss over short periods are thus required for the design of control structures. 2. The slope length and gradient factors used in the USLE were obtained from data or cropland having slopes ranging

Jan 1, 1983

By Louis A. Panek

An improved centrifugal-testing apparatus has been designed and built in the Bureau of Mines laboratory at College Park, Md., which is unique in that it incorporates the use of resistance gages to measure directly the strains in a rotating model without testing it to failure. Owing to this feature, a more rapid testing method can be used; furthermore, model materials need not be restricted to those of the prototype. The behavior of any structure in which strains of significant magnitude are produced by its own weight may be studied in a small model subjected to simulated gravity loading. The model is rotated in a centrifuge to induce in it centrifugal forces, which, like the gravitational forces in the full-size structure, act on the volume elements and are proportional to the masses thereof. Centrifugal testing is, therefore, applicable to the design of mine openings and to the study of similar ground-control problems. It constitutes an experimental method for determining the state of strain in a structure for which analytical methods are excessively laborious or even impossible. In previous applications of centrifugal testing by other investigators, the models usually were tested to failure, and the analysis was made from-the type of break produced. The models were made of the same materials as the proto-type, and the test results were applied only to the particular prototype represented by the model. Beam deflections were measured from photographs of the rotating model, but no means was employed either to determine the actual distribution of stress in the model or to determine quantitatively the degree of restraint imposed on the ends of the loaded model beam, that is, to determine whether the loaded model behaved as a beam with rigidly fixed ends or as some other type of beam. With the apparatus described, it is possible to determine the state of strain, and thus the boundary conditions, in a rotating test model weighing up to 90 lb., which can be subjected to centrifugal forces up to about 2,600 times the force of gravity. The load-strain relationship, applicable directly to the prototype, can be determined from a Single model test. The test results can be presented as quantitative relations between the loads, strains, and dimensions and mechanical proper-ties of the structural members and can be applied to any prototype, whatever its component materials, that satisfies the similarity requirements.

Jan 1, 1952

By W. G. Pariseau

A U.S. Bureau of Mines case study of pillar recovery in high-grade ore near the Ross shaft at, the Homestake Mine, Lead, SD, has demonstrated the usefulness of the finite-clement method for the evaluation of shaft pillar mining plans and shaft stability. This report, one of three in a series describing the Ross shaft pillar case study, focuses on the premining stability analysis. The two-dimensional computer program UTAH2 was used in advance of pillar mining; results suggested that the shaft would remain stable. Subsequent reports describe parts 2 and 3 of the study. In part 2, borehole extensometers and other instruments were installed to provide data for model verification and shaft monitoring. Results of the recalibrated two-dimensional model confirmed the premining stability evaluation. However, after mining began, great concern developed because of the appearance of cracks and other signs of ground movement over considerable distances from the area of active pillar miping. In part 3, an intense three-dimensional modeling effort using UTAH3 was initiated. The results again showed that the shaft would remain safe. Three-dimensional analyses of alternative pillar mining scenarios indicated that more of the shaft pillar ore reserve could be recovered than previously thought.

Jan 1, 2010