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Oil from shales has long been a source of fuel in foreign countries; however, in the fuel economy of the United States this source is classed as a reserve for future needs. In fad, shale oil has never been produced here in quantities necessary to establish oil-shale utilization as a sustained industry. The first known resources of stored energy that man endeavored to utilize were probably wood and water, and from these he directly obtained heat and power, respectively. With the evolution of man came the search for and the development and use of other natural fuel resources, the series progressing through the solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels until today those of one type can be converted into another, depending upon the use for which they are intended. The most important fuels are those that appear naturally in the most concentrated, conveniently obtainable, and usable forms. With the discovery of each new and more concentrated fuel there has been an appreciable increase in the importance of and number of devices for converting these fuels into energy.

Jan 1, 1938

By Allan J. Clark

This paper, describing the milling practice of the Homestake Mining Co., is one of a series being prepared by the Bureau of Mines. The author acknowledges the assistance of T. G. Chapman, one of the consulting engineers of the Bureau of Mines, in arranging this paper for publication.

Jan 1, 1931

By C. W. Owning

"The Bureau of Mines has repeatedly emphasized the necessity of completely ""rock-dusting all coal mines, except anthracite mines, in every part whether in damp or dry condition."" Every open accessible part of, the, mine without exception should be thoroughly rock-dusted, including parallel entries, air courses, trackless entries, crosscuts, and rooms to within at least 40 feet of every coal face. Very few mines have followed this recommendation and warning, with the result that there have been explosions not only in mines which have not used rock dust but also in so-called rock-dusted mines. Following a number of mine explosions it has been reported that the mine was rock-dusted,"" whereas it is probable that only some of the haulage roads had been given a hurried application of rock dust and in most instances not as much as 5 per cent of the mine was really rock-dusted. That is not rock-dusting.Some conscientious, well-meaning mining men have felt that rock-dusting of haulage roads would effectively stop an explosion; however, when shown, through widespread explosions in mines ""well rock-dusted"" according to the above method, that leaving large areas undusted, furnishes paths through which a violent explosion may travel, these mining men have realized the necessity of thorough rock-dusting and have adopted this explosion-prevention method.The Mather Collieries mine, Pickands, Mather and Co., operators, at Mather, Pa., was the first mine in Pennsylvania to receive, full credit for rock-dusting under the new 'stringent ruling of the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau, the provisions of which require that:"

Feb 1, 1931

By B. Numerov

A numerical proceeding of corrections with respect to topography is worked out for places near the station and a graphical one for the remote parts of the terrain. The description is clear and very detailed. The numerical proceeding is very similar to that of the Eötvös and Schweydar methods which are in use already. In both methods the levelling is accomplished in certain circles and fixed azimuths around the station. While, in using the Eötvös method, the height differences are directly inserted into the final formulas with regard to the foot of the instrument and in case of accurate formulas derived by Schweydar the height differences are calculated with respect to the center of gravity of the attachment, Numerov introduces functions A and B, the heights, of the terrain and of the center of gravity, which are to be inserted into the formulas.

Jan 1, 1929

"Human accidents are caused by production accidents, generally ones (such as derailment of cars, falling rock, etc.) that have occurred numerous times before an employee was actually involved. Prevention of human accidents is, one of the essentials in cutting operation costs, and advocates of safety are studying economics to assist them in their work of preventing accidents.Workman's compensation insurance or compensation for human accidents is a true operating cost, and is the only purely tangible measure available which gives a measurement of the cost of accidents even though, as will be pointed out later, it represents but a portion of the total cost of human accidents.In using premiums paid for compensation insurance as a measure of the cost of accidents, it must be kept in mind that most insurance laws, as pointed out in a former paper (Serial 2590 of the Bureau of Mines) provide a waiting period before compensation for the lost-time wages starts, with the compensation limited to definite percentages of the wages. The waiting period and limited compensation combined tend to limit the amount paid to an injured workman who, if he receives 1/3 of the lost-time wage, will probably have been reimbursed as high as the average injured workman.The total or complete economic cost of human accidents, must include, in addition to compensation paid for lost time, and the portion of the lost-time wage suffered by the workman for which he is not compensated, the additional cost to the company through-(a) temporary decreased production by the breaking down of the morale, etc., (b) the breaking in of a new employee which is admittedly expensive,(c) the increased liability of human and production accidents caused to or by the new employee.Another charge against accidents, which is not included in the compensation payment, is the economic loss through the killing of as workman who has no dependents. Few of the States' laws require any compensation except burial expenses to be paid for fatalities to persons having no dependents. It is estimated by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics that the economic loss through a fatality is 6000 shifts. If each fatality was compensated for this amount of time and at half-time wages, using an average wage of $5.00 per shift, the compensation for fatality based on the economic loss would be $15,000. but the average actual compensation paid for each fatality is about $3,000."

Jul 1, 1924

By Forrest T. Moyer

To keep the mineral and allied industries informed of trends in the causes of accidents, and to point out the need for corrective measures, the Bureau of Mines collects, analyzes, and periodically publishes health and safety statistics. This report includes data for 1963 on injury experience, with related employment statistics, at coal mines in the United States. These data are presented in tabular form under the following headings: General Injury Experience Tables 1 to 6: Current data on number of injuries, degree of injury, frequency and severity rates, average severity, and related employment and production data by work location.

Jan 1, 1966

By Forrest T. Moyer

To keep the mineral and allied industries informed of trends in the causes of accidents, and to point out the need for corrective measures, the Bureau of Mines collects, analyzes, and periodically publishes health and safety statistics. This report includes data for 1963 on injury experience, with related employment statistics, at coal mines in the United States. These data are presented in tabular form under the following headings: General Injury Experience Tables 1 to 6: Current data on number of injuries, degree of injury, frequency and severity rates, average severity, and related employment and production data by work location.

Jan 1, 1966

By G. E. Rennick

An oil well penetrating the Pittsburgh bituminous coalbed in northern West Virginia was plugged and safely mined through 3 months later. A sensitive chemical tracer, introduced into the oil reservoir before the test, was not detected in the mine air following the plugging and during mining of the pillar and penetration of the well. Effectiveness of the plugging in preventing reservoir gas from entering the mine through the well hole was verified by continuous monitoring of the mine air for indications of sulfur hexafluoride, an inert gas detectable in amounts as minute as 1/2 part per billion. Expandable cement and fly ash-gel-water slurry were utilized to seal the well above and below the coal seam. Three other wells were also plugged using various techniques.

Jan 1, 1972

By F. E. Block

The reaction between calcined dolomite and ferrosilicon has been studies with the aim of developing a continuous process for magnesium production. Small-scale tests were made in vacuum retorts similar to those used in the vacuum retort process as developed by Pidgeon (1)2/ and operated during the period of World War II in several Government-owned plants. Factors investigated with respect to the silicon efficiency were the reaction temperature, reaction time, amount of excess dolomite in the charge, and effect of adding sodium silicate to the charge to serve as a binder. Additional laboratory tests were made to study the reaction at elevated temperature but at atmospheric pressure. Silicon efficiencies exceeding 80 percent were found to result when operating in the temperature range from 1,750° to 1,800° C. for periods of 20 to 30 minutes.

Jan 1, 1956

By Rose L. Ballard

This chapter summarizes data on crude nonfuel mineral production for the United States, its island possessions, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Included also are the tables that show the principal nonfuel mineral commodities exported from and imported into the United States and that compare world and U.S. mineral production. The detailed data from which these tables were derived are contained in the individual commodity chapters of Volume I and in the State chapters of Volume II of this edition of the Minerals Yearbook. Although crude mineral production may be measured at any of several stages of extraction and processing, the stage of measurement used in this chapter is what is normally termed "mine output." It usually refers to minerals or ores in the form in which they are first extracted from the ground, but customarily includes the output from auxiliary processing at or near the mines.

Jan 1, 1985

By John Durkin, Roy J. Greenfield

This report discusses the configuration and system deployment for the postdisaster surface seismic system for detecting and locating trapped miners. It analyzes the results of 15 field tests to define a signal model, background noise levels, and subarray performance. A waveform modeling procedure is described and compared with observed waveforms. The resulting similarity indicates that the major factors affecting the signal amplitude, waveform, and spectral character are understood. A model is presented which gives the signal amplitude as a function of source type, source depth, and horizontal off- set between source and receiver. Using this model a curve is presented which gives the range at which a signal will be detected for different signal and noise levels. Finally, and most important relative to the mission of the sys- tem, the ability of the system to detect signals on one or more subarrays is put into a probabilistic framework. For a strong source it is almost certain that a subarray directly over the source will detect the signal. After signal processing, it is highly likely that signals will he detected on sufficient subarrays to locate the trapped miner. Location errors have been found to be less than 100 ft in the majority of cases. Techniques have been used that can reduce the location errors to this level even when soil layer variation between subarrays is severe.

Jan 1, 1981

By Fieldner. A. C.

"In preparing this paper, an attempt was made to obtain results of plant-scale carbonization tests on washed and unwashed coal tram to same mine. A letter. in which the following questions were asked, was sent to some 50 coke-oven superintendents and others who might be interested:“What is the influence of washing coal on:(1) The chemical and physical properties of coke, as for example, the size, the amount of breeze, the fracture, strength, cell-structure, etc.(2) The quantity and quality of gas and by-products.(3) The capacity of the ovens.(4) The composition of the coal..""Your general opinion, as well as any specific data or results of testa, on this important subject will be greatly appreciated.""Of the 45 replies received, 24 stated that they had never used washed coal; 11 had used washed coal but had no comparative data on similar coals washed and unwashed; 7 answered some of the questions based on their general experience; and 3 gave some test data on Pittsburgh bed coal from western Pennsylvania. In none of the three tests did the washed coal come from the same mine as the unwashed. The washed coals in the three tests were from the same washery - one of modern construction in which the operations are under careful technical control in order to give a uniform product containing a minimum of surface moisture. The unwashed coals which were previously used in these plants were from different nearby mines in the same coal bed, and were supplied by the same company. Obviously, no sweeping or finale conclusions can be drawn from these few tests on coal from a single washery. Therefore, the writer vas obliged to consult the literature, coal-carbonization and coal-washing engineers, and other authorities to supplement the fragmentary information gleaned from the questionnaires in order to present a picture of chat gas engineers may expect from the use of washed coal in a carbonizing plant."

May 1, 1930

By T. L. Hebble

The Bureau of Mines investigated a hydrometallurgical procedure to recover Co, Ni, and Cu from an electrolytic zinc industrial copper filter cake. The copper filter cake is presently unmarketable or of low value because economic and environmentally acceptable processing technology is lacking. Research by the Bureau of Mines has developed a multistage process for recovering or recycling over 93 pct of the Zn, Cd, Cu, Co, and Ni from this material. The stages involved are (1) wet sizing, (2) H2S04 leaching of undersized material, (3) H2S04-Mn02 leaching of H2S04 leach residue, (4) selective precipitation of As, Cu, and Co-Ni products, and (5) precipitation of manganese for recycling to the leach circuit. The final process residue is only 1.6 wt-pct of the initial cake and consists of lead sulfate.

Jan 1, 1981

By D. Harrington

Springing or chambering of deep drill holes is common practice in some quarries. It involves definite hazards from premature explosion during placing of the springing charges or the final charge due chiefly to heating of the bottom of the holes by the successive exploding of the springing charges or, in some instances, from burning of paper or other material following detonation of the explosives The danger is either unknown or disregarded in many instances by those who place the charges in the holes. Disregard of this hazard probably is, at least in part, responsible for the far too high fatality and injury rate due to charging explosives and premature slots in quarry work. Awareness of the danger' should result in elimination or at least of material decrease in injuries from this cause.

Jan 1, 1941

By Rose L. Ballard

This chapter summarizes data on crude nonfuel mineral production for the United States, its island possessions, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Included also are the tables that show the principal nonfuel mineral commodities exported from and imported into the United States and that compare world and U.S. mineral production. The detailed data from which these tables were derived are contained in the individual commodity chapters of Volume I and in the State chapters of Volume II of this edition of the Minerals Yearbook. Although crude mineral production may be measured at any of several stages of extraction and processing, the stage of measurement used in this chapter is what is normally termed "mine output." It usually refers to minerals or ores in the form in which they are first extracted from the ground, but customarily includes the output from auxiliary processing at or near the mines.

Jan 1, 1984

By Donald P. Blasko

The first well that produced commercial quantities of oil in the Cook Inlet Basin of Alaska was completed in 1957. Since that time oil production in the basin has increased rapidly and by the end of 1969 had reached an annual rate of 74 million barrels. Five major oilfields had been developed, and two additional discoveries awaited development. Estimated amounts of recoverable oil by primary and secondary recovery methods total 2.7 billion barrels, or 36 percent of the estimated oil originally in place. Repressurization by injecting gas or water in formations containing undersaturated oil has significantly increased the volume of recoverable oil. All production has been from formations of the Tertiary age; that much of it is from depths of 10,000 feet or more is unusual for Tertiary formations. The oils are low in sulfur and contain low to moderate amounts of asphalt.

Jan 1, 1972

By O. C. Blade

Consumption of Diesel fuel oil in the United States has increased very rapidly during recent years. At the present time approximately 5 percent of the crude oil refined in this country is said to be processed for this purpose. This figure represents approximately 20 percent of the total distillate-type fuel oils now being produced in the United States. One factor contributing greatly to the recent increase in consumption of Diesel fuel oil has been the conversion from steam locomotives to Diesel engines by a number of railroads. Other contributing factors are greFl.ter use of Diesel engine8 in buses, trucks, tractors, water craft, and stationary power plants. The growing importance of Diesel fuel oil has resulted in a need by the petroleum industry, engine manufacturers, and consumers for more information regarding the types and quality of Diesel fuels currently being marketed. To supply this information, the American Petroleum Institute and the Bureau of Mines, United states Department of the Interior, under a cooperative agreement, have conducted a survey of Diesel fuel all produced in refineries in this country during 1950. Under the agreements, samples of Diesel fuel oil, representative of actual shipments, were analyzed by the manufacturers in accordance with instructions issued by the Fuel Survey Panel of the Automotive Research Committee of the American Petroleum Institute. Results of the analyses were transmitted to the Bureau of Mines, and that agency has studied the data and compiled them by groups in comparable form as shown in the tables of this report.

Jan 1, 1950

By James P. May

Operating mine haulage trucks near the crest of stockpiles and waste dumps is a potentially hazardous practice often resulting in a localized slope failure and a dump point accident. The U.S. Bureau of Mines has developed a computer code (INSLOPE3) based on the kinematic method of limit analysis which determines an admissible truck weight (upper bound value) for varying distances from the slope edge. The program considers the material strength parameters, slope geometry, and inertial forces induced by vehicle braking. The program can be utilized to assist in the determination of safe operating distances for a haulage truck from a slope edge, the development of safe vehicle operating procedures, and the admissible weight for a static concentrated loading near the crest of an otherwise stable slope. This report provides information on the use of INSLOPE3, interpretation of the results for mining applications, and instructions for acquiring a copy of the software.

Jan 1, 1991

By Donald Giroux

This report documents the design, fabrication, testing, and coal mine demonstration of a hopper-feeder-bolter during a four-phase program for the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The machine was designed to increase productivity and safety in under-ground room-and-pillar mining. It performed well as a hopper-feeder for continuous haulage during a coal mine demonstration. Testing in a simulated mine showed that the machine also has good roof bolting capability.

Jan 1, 1987

By T. E. Gray

This report describes the preparation characteristics of the most significant coal beds in Wise County, Va. It is one in a series of reports planned to determine coals suitable for the production of metallurgical coke, either as mined or after beneficiation. Wise County produced approximately 6,600,000 tons of coal in 1955, of which about 2,110,000 tons was cleaned mechanically. The Federal Geological Survey has estimated that 1,341 million tons of measured and indicated coal reserves remained in the county as of January 1, 1951.

Jan 1, 1958