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By Donna L. Anderson

This U.S. Bureau of Mines report discusses the status of a laser-based guidance system to provide position and heading feedback and closed-loop control of tramming maneuvers for a continuous mining machine. The system has been developed and tested at the Bureau, and is now being prepared for underground experiments. The system hardware includes laser scanners, a sensor communication network, and host computer hardware. The system software includes a position and heading computation module and a tram control module. The description of the software includes discussions of laser data acquisition, error compensation methods, position and heading determination, safety checking for continuous miner tramming, and closed-loop tram control. The accuracy of the laser scanner's data, the reliability of the lasers in a dusty environment, and the system's accuracy on tracking the position and heading of the continuous mining machine are shown in the results of experiments performed at the Bureau. Conclusions are stated based on these experimental results, and further work to improve the system performance and prepare for underground testing is discussed.

Jan 1, 1990

By P. G. Barnard

The Nation's steel industry is largely dependent on shipments of manganese from foreign sources for steel production. An adequate substitute for the manganese requirements of our present steel technology would improve our national self-sufficiency and also contribute substantially to the conservation of our manganese resources. As each of these objectives is a major interest of the Bureau of Mines, possible substitutes for manganese in steel were investigated. Titanium was selected as the most promising substitute because the published results of several investigations indicate that titanium would perform the most obvious function of the manganese in steel: The elimination of iron sulfide and its deleterious effects. The investigation involved extending the published data on titanium additions in steel to provide enough information for an accurate evaluation of the practical value of the substitute. Therefore, quantitative data were obtained on the partition of sulfur and carbon between iron and relatively small titanium additions.

Jan 1, 1962

By D. F. Scott

The purpose of this study was to determine if miners were at risk from exposures to chemicals used in the mining industry and determine the nature and sources of the illnesses and injuries. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration?s (MSHA) employment and accident, injury and illness database was reviewed. There were 2,705 cases of chemical-related injuries and illnesses reported from 1999 through 2006, involving 66 different chemicals. The main source (cause) of chemical-related cases was acids/alkalis (about 39%). The primary nature (effect) of chemical-related cases was chemical burns (about 57%). The job classification where workers incurred the most chemical-related injuries and illnesses was cleaning plant operator/media operator/boney preparation plant operator/crusher worker (cleaning plant operators are responsible for maintenance of plants, media operators are responsible for handling reagents, boney preparation plant operators oversee removal of ?bone? from coal, and crusher workers use large crushers to break mined material). From 1999 through 2006, the rate of ?nonfatal days lost? and ?no days lost? (resulting from injuries) did not change significantly; however, the rate of illnesses decreased significantly. Chemical burns accounted for a large number of injuries; mining companies should carefully examine their personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements, training methods and safety culture to ensure that their workers are protected.

Jan 1, 2009

By Michael D. Fenton

Bauxite resources were primarily in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America. Only five countries combined, Australia, Brazil, Guinea, India, and Jamaica, contained most of the total world reserves available for extraction under current economic conditions and accounted for nearly 80 % of world production of bauxite. World bauxite and alumina production declined and prices for smelter-grade alumina remained below the $200/mt level during 1993 because of growing aluminum inventories on international markets and declining worldwide demand. The United States imported bauxite primarily from Australia, Brazil, Guinea, and Jamaica. U.S. alumina plant capacity remained essentially unchanged throughout 1993, but apparent capacity utilization decreased by the close of 1993. Chromium Most of the world's known resources and reserves of chromite are located in India, Kazakhstan, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. India, Kazakhstan, and South Africa accounted for 73 % of world production of chromite. The two largest producers of chromite, Kazakhstan and South Africa, were in the process of major economic and political change during 1993. South Africa's production and exports of chromite continued to fall during 1993, because of weak international demand and a flood of cheap metal from the former U.S.S.R. and China into world markets. Despite a significant increase in production, South Africa's ferrochrome producers continued to operate below capacity in 1993. Prior o the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., Kazakhstan was a major internal supplier of chromite ore to the U.S.S.R. consumer, but subsequent decline in demand led to a downward trend of chromite production in Kazakhstan and increasing exports to Europe during 1992 and 1993. The United States consumed, about 10% of world chromite ore production in various forms of imported materials. The United States imported nearly one-half of its required chromium contained in chromite ore and chromium ferroalloys and metal from South Africa; the remainder was from the minor producers Turkey, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe, and others.

Jan 1, 1995

By D. Harrington

"A tabulation is printed below showing the accident record of the thirty-two mines of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., in Montana, for the years 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1920, with summation for the six years. The table gives the number of shifts worked by each mine with the serious plus fatal accident rate for each 10,000 shifts worked.It is seen that in a total of 16,460,767.5 shifts worked by employees of the company's mines during this six-year period, there were only 2,005 serious and fatal accidents and of these, 200 were fatalities, leaving 1,805 serious accidents (a serious accident being one in which 14 or more days' time are lost). This is at a rate of 9,120 shifts per serious accident and at a rate of 82,304 shifts per fatality. Hence, if 300 days be adopted as a year's work, there would be one fatality per 274.3 years of work in these mines and one serious accident for every 30.4 years work.According to Bureau of Mines Technical Paper 286, (Metal-mine accidents in U. S. in 1919, by W. W4 Adams), during the years 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1919, the metal mines of the United States worked a total of 210,548,640 shifts and had 39,705 serious accidents. During the same years, according to the following tabulation, the mines of the above-mentioned company worked 11,958,978 shifts and had a serious accident rate of 0.995 accidents per 10,000 shifts worked. If the metal mines of the United States, working these 210,548,640 shifts, had this company's serious accident rate of 0.995 serious accidents per 10,000 shifts, the total number of serious accidents would have been only 21,000 or the country's metal-mine serious accidents would have been reduced nearly one-half, and there would be 18,705 fewer serious accidents than actually occurred."

Jun 10, 1921

By Dean H. Ambrose

This Bureau of Mines publication summarizes the status of mine electrical equipment reliability research. Failure rate data were estimated from theoretical, laboratory, and field studies. Tables are presented listing reliability characteristics of molded-case circuit breakers, undervoltage relays, ground check monitors, cables, motors, and control circuitry. Application of failure rate data is shown in tables listing maintenance scheduling intervals of components and components that are most sensitive to the probability of hazardous voltages on power distribution systems in the mines. Complete, accurate, and appropriate failure rates on mine equipment are of the utmost importance for reliability evaluations.

Jan 1, 1985

By Slavoljub D. Maksimovic

At some coal mines, methane gas is released during raise drilling. At the request of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), U.S. Department of Labor, the Bureau of Mines conducted ventilation surveys at different raise drill sites to assess various methods of reducing methane concentration. The resulting data indicate that raise drill shaft cavities are ventilated by air compressors, vacuum pumps, auxiliary blower fans, and free intake air from the surface. The compressors, pumps, and fans operate simultaneously or separately. At the bottom of the shaft cavities, ventilation is controlled by regulators and airlocks. Methane is monitored, measured, and periodically sampled on the surface, at the bottom, and at different levels in the shaft cavities. Maximum concentration of 3.5 percent was measured in one shaft in West Virginia. Air velocity down the raise drill shafts is always very low, Maximum recorded air down the drill stem was 3,000 cfm, which can be increased by adding air compressors. The best way to ventilate shaft cavities is through the simultaneous use of air compressors and vacuum pumps. If the methane concentration cannot be reduced with additional compressors, then the inside diameter of the drill rod should be increased, or larger pilot hole drill bits should be used.

Jan 1, 1981

By H. William Zeller

The Bureau of Mines performed laboratory research into the effects of a barium-based fuel additive (the "postflame" type) on diesel particulate matter (DPM) emissions. The 5.6-L, six-cylinder test engine is typical of types certifiable for use in underground mines. Test parameters consisted of additive concentration and engine loads, speed, and air intake restriction. DPM emissions, including condensed volatiles, were measured gravimetrically. Also measured were gaseous emissions including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons. The fuel additive was effective, reducing DPM up to 75 pct, when used at a concentration of 0.09 wt pct (one-fourth of the concentration recommended by the manufacturer). The additive was most effective at the highest fuel-air ratios, reducing DPM from 400 mg/m3 for untreated fuel to 120 mg/m3. At light loads, 25 pct of full rated, no DPM reductions were measured. Based on these results, the additive is recommended for use in diesel fuel, at a concentration of 0.09 wt pct, to power underground mining equipment as long as certain conditions are met: that a beneficial DPM reduction is verified, that the minimum required quantity of additive is used, and that potential adverse effects such as increased nitrogen oxides are checked.

Jan 1, 1990

By M. J. Reasor, M. DiMatteo, J. M. Antonini, K. Van Dyke, Z. Ye

"The inhalation of silica has been shown to produce a dramatic inflammatory and toxic response within the lungs of humans and laboratory animals. A variety of cellular and biochemical parameters are used to assess the silica-induced lung injury. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the use of luminok:Jependent chemiluminescence as a new method to study inflammation in both phagocytic cells and lung tissue recovered from silicaexposed animals. Chemiluminescence, or the emission of light, accompanies the release of reactive forms of oxygen when phagocytic cells are challenged. In this study, male Fischer 344 rats were intratracheally instilled with either silica (10 mg/100 g bw) or saline vehicle. One day after the instillations. a marked increase in the chemiluminescence was observed in the lung tissue and bronchoalveolar lavage cells recovered from the silica- treated animals when compared with the saline controls. The light reaction was markedly decreased by either superoxide dismutase or N-nitro-Larginine methyl ester hydrochloride. Superoxide dismutase is involved in the enzymatic breakdown of superoxide anion. while N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrocholoride, a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, prevents the formation of nitric oxide. When superoxide anion and nitric oxide react. they form the highly oxidizing substance peroxynitrite. This study then implicates peroxynitrite as an agent that may be responsible for some of the oxidant lung injury that is associated with silica exposure. The use of luminol-dependent chemiluminescence may prove valuable as a method to measure the earliest events in the inflammatory process. and may be an adjunct in studying the mechanisms that produce inflammation. - Environ Health Perspect 102(Suppl 10):37-42 (1994) IntroductionResearch on inflammation has not produced a method that links the initial events of the process to the controlling events. Rather, a variety of parameters are measured that are the result of and not the basis of the inflammatory reaction. Parameters such as tissue weight, edema, blood flow, enzyme and protein release, or production of metabolites (prostaglandins, leukotrienes) have been used extensively. A method is needed that could be applied to cells of a particular type, groups of cells of different types, and even tissue, in an attempt to study the kinetics of the inflammation as well as being sensitive enough to monitor the early events of the process . Since inflammation is so complicated, the relationship between the control of the initial events and the oxidation process has never been explained nor studied in any derail."

Dec 1, 1995

By W. T. Abel

Laboratory tests were conducted with a closed, recycling system to evaluate the effectiveness of solid-in-gas suspensions as heat transport mediums. Micronized graphite in helium or nitrogen was circulated by a centrifugal compressor to determine the feasibility of the method and heat transfer capabilities of the mediums. Suspensions were circulated without plugging or eroding the compressor or piping. At low flowrates and light (0.1 to 0.2 volume-percent) graphite loadings, slightly less power was required to transport a given amount of heat with suspensions than with helium alone. Graphite deposition on the heat exchange surfaces of the cooler decreased the heat transfer effectiveness at higher solids concentration. Efforts to eliminate deposition are described.

Jan 1, 1963

By L. B. Berger

"INTRODUCTION Accurate determination of carbon monoxide in concentrations ranging from 0.2 to about 0.5 percent by volume is troublesome, because such concentrations are too high for some analytical methods and too low for others. Methods that are sensitive to concentrations of carbon monoxide considerably less than 0.2 percent are approaching their upper limit of usefulness when applied to the analysis of samples containing 0.2 percent or more of carbon monoxide, and it may be necessary to resort to dilution of the sample with a known proportion of air, or otherwise modifying the analytical technique, to obtain satisfactory results. Such methods include the determination of carbon monoxide by reduction of heated iodine pentoxide 3/4/5/ by the ""Pyrotannic acid"" method 6/ and by the so-called ""phosphomolybdic acid"" method. 7/ The use of conventional gas-analysis equipment, such as the Orsat type, in the determination of carbon monoxide in concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 percent is not desirable, as possible analytical errors may be of about the same magnitude, thus producing results of little quantitative value.For several years prior to this publication, the Gas Analysis Laboratory of the Health Division of the Bureau of Mines has used a modification of the Haldane type 8/9/10/ gas-analysis apparatus for the determination, by absorption in a chemical reagent, of carbon monoxide in low concentrations that are not readily determined by other methods. The method is applicable also to the determination of higher concentrations. As the procedure has proved successful and has been adopted by others, this report was prepared to describe the method and to present results of analyses obtained with it."

Nov 1, 1947

By K. C. Dean

A semiquantitative test for the presence and identification of cesium and rubidium in rocks, clays, and mineral waters has been developed by the Bureau of Mines. The test can be used in the field, as a guide for the prospector, geologist, or mining engineer engaged in location or development [w]ork. It comprises two simple spot tests of a solution prepared from the [m]ineral sample. Phosphomolybdic acid, added to a drop of the test solution, [d]etects cesium, rubidium, and potassium in quantities as low as 60 parts per [m]illion. Silicomolybdic acid, added to a second drop of test solution, enables the operator to distinguish between cesium and/or rubidium and potassium. Test procedures, equipment requirements, and limitations of the method are described in this report. Cesium and rubidium were discovered in 1860 and 1861 by Bunsen and Kirchhoff with a spectroscope. The elements usually occur together, particularly in granite and granitic pegmatites. Rubidium does not occur as an essential constituent of any known mineral, yet it is found as a minor element in so many minerals that rubidium is 16th in abundance in the earth's crust. Cesium, which ranks as the 37th most abundant element, is the principal component of pollucite and a minor element in a wide variety of minerals.

Jan 1, 1960

By Brian L. Quick

Problem: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's [NIOSH] National Occupational Research Agenda (DHHS Publication No. 96 115) reports that approximately 50% of miners will experience hearing loss by age 50, compared to only 9% of the general population. The present investigation examines three antecedents believed to be associated with miner's use of hearing protection. Method: A posttest delayed posttest control group field research design was employed to assess antecedents toward wearing hearing protection. Results: Following the initial posttest, miners' attitudes and subjective norms were antecedents to intentions to wear hearing protection devices. Also, intentions toward wearing hearing protection predicted hearing protection behaviors. Approximately six weeks later, miners' attitudes and perceived behavioral control were each significant predictors of intentions to wear hearing protection and again, intentions were positively associated with hearing protection behaviors. Impact on Industry: Our results indicate that appeals to normative influences may be the most effective antecedent to employ when persuading coal miners to wear hearing protection. However, messages designed to impact attitudes and perceived behavioral control were also effective.

Jan 1, 2008

By James A. West

COUNTRIES of the Near East, with the world's largest and insist prolific petroleum resources, produced nearly 277 percent of the world's estimated total output of crude& oil in 1964 and accounted for about 60 percent of world exports of this commodity. Although petroleum largely dominated the mineral industry of tine area, production of antimony, chromium, copper, mercury, boron, potash, and phosphate rock was of world significance. Production of crude oil in Near East countries reached a record high of 7,520,000 barrels per day in 1964, an increase of nearly 11 percent over that of 1963. Kuwait maintained its position as the leading producer, accounting for almost 28 percent of the area's output. Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq followed with 22.5, 22.2, and 16.5 percent of total area output, respectively. Despite record production, the Near East, proved crude oil reserve remained in excess of 211 billion barrels, or more than two-thirds of the estimated world proved crude oil reserve.

Jan 1, 1966

Provide the U.S. mining industry with a user friendly computer program to calculate stresses in underground coal mines in order to improve safety conditions for mine workers. Capabilities of MULSIM/NL MULSIM/NL (multiple seams, nonlinear) is a three-dimensional boundary-element method (BEM) program developed at the U.S. Bureau of Mines for stress and displacement analysis of coal mines. It can analyze one or two parallel seams that can have any orientation with respect to the Earth's surface. Three main new features distinguish MULSIM/NL from its predecessors: (1) non¬linear material models, (2) multiple mining steps, and (3) energy release and strain energy computations. MULSIM/NL has six material models for the in-seam material: (1) linear elastic for coal, (2) strain softening, (3) elastic plastic, (4) bilinear hardening, (5) strain hardening, and (6) linear elastic for gob. The multiple mining step capability enables the user to efficiently simulate a changing mine geometry. Finally, MULSIM/ NL computes energy release rate due to mining using the most recent concepts advanced by Salamon.

Jan 1, 1993

By D. R. Babich, E. R. Bauer

US. National Institute for Occupational .Safety and Health (NIOSH) researchers are conducting a Cross-sectional survey of equipment noise and worker noise exposures in the mining industry. Surface and underground limestone is one commodity recently sun eyed. The sound levels of milling and processing equipment were recorded to identify noise sources. Full-shift worker noise exposures were completed to determine the exposure of various occupations. This article presents the results o f the noise research conducted in both underground and surface limestone manes, detailing the equipment likely to cause worker overexposures, and the occupations experiencing overexposures. Implications for worker noise exposure reduction are also reported.

By W. C. Holliman

This report describes apparatus and procedure used for determining the vapor pressure of aviation gasoline in surveys of commercial aviation-gasoline characteristics made by the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the Coordinating Fuel and Equipment Committee of the Coordinating Research Council, Inc. (CFR-CRC). The method is a modification of the Reid method, in which a mercury manor is substituted for the Bourdon-type gage of the Reid method. The method was used in earlier surveys made by the National Bureau of Standards in cooperation with the CFR-CRC, and was used in the Bureau of Mines surveys at the request of the cooperating organizations. It is designed for special research problems? particularly in vapor-lock studies, which require a precision greater than obtainable by the Reid vapor pressure method. A repeatability of + 0.01 p.s.i. average deviation from the mean may be obtained by method.

Jan 1, 1950

By Michael D. Fenton

Social and political movements that had been gathering momentum over several years continued in 1993 to dramatically affect and inspire uncertainty on the global mineral industry. Privatization of government-controlled mineral industries continued throughout the world, especially in Africa, Asia, Central Eurasia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Western Europe. The reasons for privatization varied among regions and countries, but the trend was universal and was not expected to end soon. Regional trade blocks were being developed and expanded. The European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) , the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) , and the Latin American Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR) were expected to contribute to reduced internal tariffs and increased minerals trade. Minerals consumption within the politically unstable former Soviet Union (FSU) decreased significantly without a simultaneous cutback in production, while its exports flooded the world's mineral markets. These exports into Western Europe and Japan, still in economic recession, depressed minerals and metals prices worldwide, especially for aluminum, magnesium, nickel, and potash. Increasingly restrictive environmental laws and land-access limitations in Australia, Canada, Western Europe, and the United States tended to discourage mineral resource development. However, the number of undeveloped countries in Latin America and Asia that encouraged exploration and development by revising mining and tax laws and regulations increased, thereby increasing investment opportunities for foreigners.

Jan 1, 1995

By F. J. Bailey

"In the fall of 1919, the U.S. Bureau of Mines began an inquiry as to the possibility of utilizing airplanes in conjunction with its rescue work, for quickly transporting engineers and oxygen rescue-apparatus to mine disasters.It was realised that this proposed use of airplanes has serious limitations, and if it were feasible, that the Bureau would have to rely on the cooperation of the established aviation fields of the U. S. Air Service for furnishing airplane service. Therefore Van. H. Manning, Director of the Bureau of Mines, under date of October 28, 1919, wrote the Director of Air Service outlining the rescue and first aid organization of the Bureau, the location of headquarters of district engineers, the distribution of safety cars and stations, and other essential details, and asking whether the Air Service could cooperate with the Bureau in the event of serious mine disasters. Major-General Charles T. Menoher, Director of Air Service, responded that the Air Service would be glad to cooperate insofar as possible, and designated those Air Service stations nearest the district engineers' headquarters, which might be best able to assist.The Bureau of Mines has ten mine rescue cars and eight mine safety stations distributed throughout the mining regions of the United States. The cars are each equipped with sets of oxygen mine-rescue breathing-apparatus and first-aid supplies. The car personnel consists of a mining engineer, surgeon, foreman, first-aid miner, clerk and cook. A foreman miner is in charge of each station and at five of the eight stations are mine safety trucks. The work of the cars and stations is two-fold; (1) Assisting in rescue and recovery work at mine disasters, and (2) training miners in mine rescue and first-aid methods, and in investigations looking to prevention of mine accidents. The country is divided into nine safety districts, with nine district engineers in charge."

Apr 1, 1920

By J. W. Paul

The tests described herein were made in the course of a series of experiments on coal-mine ventilation factors which the Bureau of Mines has beep; conducting for the past two years at its experimental mine near Bruceton, Pa. The object of the present tests was to determine the leakage of two air locks which had been placed in the experimental mine as hart of the equipment for tests on friction factors. Position of the Doors. The first or inner lock gas across the aircourse between No. 1 and No. 2 left butt entries, and forced the air through these butts. An air-measuring suction in No. 1 butt determined tae volume passing at tent point.

Jan 1, 1924