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This Bureau of Mines report and its companion report (Information Circular 9143) have been prepared to assist in the preparation of prefeasibility type estimates for capital and operating costs of mining of various types of mineral occurrences using current technology. The handbook provides a convenient costing procedure based on the summation of the casts for the unit processes required in any particular mining or mineral processing operation. The costing handbook consists of a series of costing sections, each corresponding to a specific mining unit process. Contained within each section is the methodology to estimate either the capital or operating cost for that unit process. The unit process sections may be used to generate, in January 1984 dollars, costs through the use of either costing curves or formulae representing the prevailing technology. Coverage for surface mining includes dredging, quarrying, strip mining, and open pit mining. The underground mining includes individual development sections for drifting, raising, shaft sinking, stope development, various mining methods, underground mine haulage, general plant, and underground mine administrative cost. This system can be used for estimating cost data for an undeveloped deposit or for checking or verifying mining costs from a developed deposit, with a minimum amount of background information.

Jan 1, 1987

By Arnold M. Lansche

DOMESTIC OUTPUT of white arsenic, As2O3, was derived entirely as a byproduct of smelting arsenic-containing copper ores by The Anaconda Company at Anaconda, Mont., and American Smelting and Refining Company at Tacoma, Wash. Arsenic metal was not produced. Consumption, and Uses.-Most of the white arsenic produced in 1964 was consumed in manufacturing lead and calcium arsenate insecticides. In the 12 year period since 1951 the production of lead arsenate insecticide has varied between 7,800 tons and 4,900 tons, indicating that lead arsenate has maintained its position in competition with organic insecticides.

Jan 1, 1965

By E. D. Gardner

From the standpoint of tonnage and dollar value copper is the most important nonferrous metal mined in North America. The opening of copper mines has had an important bearing on the development and settlement of many sections of the continent. The prosperity of many of the mining States or provinces depends directly upon the copper-mining industry. Normally, about 35,000 men are employed in the copper mines, mills, and smelters of the United States. The United States is the most important producer of copper among the nations; more copper is mined in North America than in any other continent, and for many years the United States alone produced about half of the copper of the world. During the last 10 years increasing production in South America and Africa has reduced the relative importance of North America and the United States.

Jan 1, 1938

By J. Adkins

This document presents a description of the results of a project aimed at producing a broad description of current mining training programs and an evaluation of their effectiveness with respect to reducing mine injuries. Aggregate training and injury data were used to evaluate the overall training effort at 300 mines as well as specific efforts in twelve categories of training course objectives. From such evaluations, recommendations were derived with particular emphasis being placed on identifying program characteristics that tend to be associated with effective training. Recommendations were also formulated with reference to role changes in industry and government interaction with respect to training programs, new or additional training programs, changes in the types of course materials and training methodologies, and recommendations concerning new areas for investigation.

Jan 1, 1976

By E. A. Holbrook

The data in this bulletin were obtained during an investigation of screening practice by the University of Illinois engineering experiment station and the United States Bureau of Mines under a cooperative agreement between them and the State of Illinois Geological Survey Division. Earlier work on this subject includes a study of the general practice of coal preparation in Illinois, made in 1914 and published in 1916,1 and an investigation of Illinois coal-washing methods, results of which were published in 1912 in a bulletin 2 that contained complete information on the methods then in use for sizing washed coal. OBJECTS OF THE INVESTIGATION The present investigation was limited to a study of screening as applied in preparing mineral products with the expectation of obtaining more comprehensive information on screening machinery.

Jan 1, 1925

By C. H. Larsen

The results of a comprehensive investigation of conveyance arrestment devices (safety catches) in United States coal mines are presented. Availability and use, performance, inspection, maintenance, testing, procedures, and regulatory requirements were investigated. Information was obtained from equipment manufacturers, mine operators, and regulatory-agency personnel, as well as from studies of domestic and foreign mining safety regulations. Traditional mine hoists and commercial elevators for mine use were investigated. Results of this and an earlier study of wire-rope practice in United States coal mines show a continued need for conveyance arrestment devices. A wide variety of these devices are in use. Only two types have been proved reliable for stopping a conveyance without injuring passengers or equipment. These are elevator overspeed-actuated wedge-clamp (Type B) safeties and broken-rope-actuated devices for wooden guides using a single-tooth-dog design developed in Ontario as a braking element. Elevators are widely used in U. S. coal mines. When maintained according to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Specifications A17. I and A17. 2, they appear to present no major arrestment problems. Of 42 coal-mine hoists used for man transport that were inspected, 30 are in vertical and 12 in inclined shafts. Twenty-four vertical shafts use wood guides; 6 use steel. The 12 inclined-shaft systems use flanged-wheel T-rail guidance. Two wood-guided vertical-shaft systems use the single-tooth Ontario-type dog; the other 22 use multi-toothed wedges, cams, or dogs that have been proved highly unreliable. The arrestment devices in the six steel-guided vertical-shaft systems and in six of the inclined-shaft systems cannot be evaluated because performance data are lacking. The remaining six inclined-shaft systems have no arrestment devices at all. Of the 36 hoists with arrestment devices, the devices of 16 are never tested, the devices of 10 are actuated periodically with the conveyance at rest, and the devices of the other 10 are actuated periodically with a slow-moving conveyance. Although high speed is as probable as low speed in an emergency and would provide the best test of arrestment capability, no tests are performed in the United States which demonstrate the ability of an arrestment device to stop a loaded conveyance from high speed. Mine operators indicate little confidence in their conveyance arrestment devices, and manufacturers recognize a need to improve their products. Neither state nor Federal regulations provide a guide to this improvement. Mine operators, manufacturers, and state and Federal regulatory agency personnel would welcome specific guidance. In view of this, a set of application, design, actuation, stopping-performance, and testing and inspection criteria is presented as a guide to eliminating the inadequacies of these devices. Recommendations are included for improving hoist controls and machinery directly affecting conveyance safety.

Jan 1, 1972

By D. Harrington

"One of the underlying reasons for the establishment of the United States Bureau of Mines was the desire to promote greater safety in the mining and allied industries. Safety continues to be an important feature in the work of the bureau, and during the fiscal year 1929-30 the Bureau of Mines allotted $387,510 to the safety division out of a total appropriation of $2,249,670 (other than for helium).The safety division personnel consists of 22 engineers, 2 mine safety commissioners, 3 senior foreman miners, 18 foreman miners, 16 first-aid miners, 16 clerks, 10 cooks, and 3 laborers, a total of 90 persons. These safety workers are distributed through the 10 districts into which the United States has been divided for administration purposes. During the year 3 engineers, 1 senior foreman miner, 4 foreman miners, and 4 first-aid miners left the service. In general these men left the service to take up more lucrative positions.The 10 all-steel mine-rescue cars have headquarters as follows: Car 1, Reno, Nev.; Car 2, Raton, N. Mex.; Car 3, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Car 4, Terre Haute, Ind.; Car 5, Pineville, Ky.; Car 6, Pittsburg, Kans.; Car 7, Huntington, W. Va.; Car 8, Duluth, Minn.; Car 9, Butte, Mont.; Car 10, Des Moines, Iowa. There is also a mine-rescue car with headquarters at Juneau, Alaska. In addition, there have been established 11 mine rescue stations as follows: Birmingham, Ala.; Berkeley, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; Evansville, Ind.; Jellico, Tenn.; McAlester, Okla.; Norton, Va.; Vincennes, Ind.; Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Salt, Lake City, Utah; and Pittsburgh, Pa.Every mine-rescue car and station is fully supplied with equipment and devices for use in case of mine fire or explosion, and at each station is an up-to-date automobile truck. At time of amine disaster the bureau's forces are immediately placed at the disposal of the authorities, State or company, with a view to giving such assistance as may be desired or available.The activities of the safety division at ordinary times are directed largely to securing and disseminating data on safety in mining. Among the numerous studies made, or being made, concerning safety and health in mining are those in connection with the causes and methods of prevention of mine explosions, explosibility of dust and gases, explosives and blasting, haulage, electricity, falls of persons or material, ventilation, dusts, high temperatures, timbering, lighting, machinery, and in fact practically anything which results or may result in acci¬dents of any kind in or around mines."

Nov 1, 1930

By Edward L. McHugh, Louis J. Denes, Jami M. Girard

A prototype portable hyperspectral imager that operates in the visible and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum was field tested at an open-pit mine. The tests were sponsored by the Spokane Research Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, as part of an investigation of remote sensing technologies for use in detecting and monitoring conditions in surface mines that could lead to catastrophic slope failure. The spectro-polarimetric imager, built at the Carnegie Mellon Research Institute, employs an acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF) to control wavelength, a phase retarder to measure polarization signatures, and a digital camera and computer to capture data. The spectral range of the instrument is 450 to 1000 nm at 10-nm intervals. High-resolution hyperspectral images of highwalls, outcrops, hand samples, and drill core were collected in the field. Spectra from the images closely matched those of specific minerals present and were used to classify the images. The field tests were designed to examine the feasibility of using spectral imaging to assist in compiling objective geologic maps of mine highwalls and other hazardous slopes. Results illustrate the capability of the method to discriminate materials within the image, validating the concept of simplified spectral imaging. A contributing factor in many slope failures is the presence and distribution of mechanically incompetent, clay-rich altered rock in slope faces. Spectral features of clays and other minerals are more distinctive in the short-wave and mid-infrared part of the spectrum; the capabilities of the instrument need to be extended into this range to apply the AOTF-based technology to common geologic materials. A field-portable hyperspectral imager could find broad application in remotely identifying diverse materials from solids and coatings to gases.

By Grant Buma

Groundwater restoration is an uranium leaching. Information on the technology, costs, and the current permitting regulations is of vital operators and to firms considering in important aspect of in situ effectiveness of the current state and federal government importance to in situ leach situ leaching. This study, funded by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, describes: (1) all recent restoration attempts at commercial in situ leach operations, (2) restoration costs reported by the industry, (3) empirical equations that predict the amount of groundwater flushing required to meet the current restoration criteria, and (4) in situ uranium permit requirements for the states of Texas, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Colorado and South Dakota, and Federal requirements.

Jan 1, 1981

By Richard L. Fowler

Study and development of sensing techniques and sensors were performed to aid shuttle car drivers in detecting obstacles and in guiding the car along the face haulage route. Microwave, acoustic, and optical sensing techniques were considered as part of the feasibility study for obstacle detection. Various guidance techniques, including wire-following and rib-ranging were investigated. Active optical sensing was selected for obstacle detection to obtain the beam coverage and sharp angular cutoff characteristics required within the packaging limitations defined by the shuttle car configuration. Rib-ranging guidance was selected to achieve a completely self-contained shuttle car system which responds to the existing mine geometry without need for wires, stripes, or other path defining devices. Extensive hybrid computer simulation runs were performed to evaluate various guidance techniques during the feasibility study. Subsequent simulation runs were performed to establish parameter values for the rib-ranging guidance system. The obstacle detection and guidance system was designed, fabricated and installed on a standard shuttle car. The system satisfied all applicable permissibility requirements of Schedule 2G. An experimental permit was issued to Bendix for operation in an underground coal mine. System evaluation tests were performed first above ground at the Bendix Research Laboratories. The simulation model was validated by these runs. Final testing was performed underground in an operating mine with an experienced shuttle car driver. All sensors successfully demonstrated the predicted performance capability during underground face haulage tests. Dust did not impair system performance and lens cleaning was not required during working shifts. Further development is required to achieve the desired obstacle detection performance. Closed loop steering control with manual override is recommended for the lateral guidance system. The guidance system should be an invaluable aid to low-coal shuttle car drivers where continuous mining machines are utilized.

Jan 1, 1973

By C. Daniel Kealy

Finite-element,, mathematical models that solve LaPlace's and Richard's equations numerically were used to locate the phreatic surface within tailings pond embankments and to define the subsurface flow of water from the pond. Both must be known to design structurally and environmentally safe tailings dams. The permeability distribution within and beneath the embankment, the fluid potential values upgradient and downgradient from the embankment, and the geometry and elevation of an approximately impermeable layer at some depth beneath the embankment were used as computer inputs in analyzing over a dozen finite-element models of tailings dams varying structurally from simple to complex. Results predicted with the finite-element model were confirmed with measurements in a laboratory model of a tailings pond and in the field. Of particular importance to the design of safe slopes, all data indicated that the phreatic surface within a tailings dam is concave upward, a configuration opposite that in most earth dams. The close correlation between predicted and experimental values confirmed the practicability of using the finite-element technique to design safe tailings dams.

Jan 1, 1971

Workers at the Consolidated Aluminum Corp. primary aluminum smelter at Lake Charles, LA walked out at midnight March 31 when their contract expired. Management personnel operated the smelter and prebaked carbon anode facilities until an agreement for a new 3-year contract was reached April 18. The Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) began operations at its can recycling facility at Taylor, MS. The facility can process 3 million pounds per month of aluminum and steel cans. Alcoa announced plans to increase the capacity of its aluminum paste and flake production plant at Logan's Ferry, PA by 50 percent. Completion was scheduled for mid-1980.

Jan 1, 1979

By M. Mahan, D. D. Blue, O. C. Garst, F. Fraas, L. Fink

"Early in World War II it became apparent that the known bauxite re- serves might not be adequate to supply the demands of the American aluminum-producing industry, as the transportation of bauxite from abroad to this country might easily be interfered with by hostile action. Consequently, the Bureau of Mines set up an intensive, well-integrated program for the production of cell-grade alumina from low-grade domestic ores. This pro-gram of investigation covered the production of alumina from clay, alumite, red mud, and other low- and marginal-grade ores. In line with the Bureau's usual policy of conservation of natural resources, it was decided that the investigation should be extended to cover the production of alumina and other valuable byproducts from aluminum dross.Statistical information showed that during the year 1943-44, an average of 2,900 tons of aluminum dross was generated monthly. This dross, after partial removal of free metal, had an average metallic aluminum content of approximately 9 percent. Some of this dross was produced by the melting of alloyed aluminum; but a large proportion 1,700 out of 2,900 tons - was generated by two producers of primary aluminum, and the dross did not contain an great proportion of alloying metals. Compared with dross from other sources, this 60 percent of the country's capacity can be assumed to have relatively uniform composition. Moreovcr, the problem of collection and distribution can be minimized because of the relatively small number of plants included in the organization of these two producers of virgin metal.Except for large pieces of metallic aluminum that easily can be mechanically separated for remelting, this dross has been discarded and scrapped. Inasmuch as chemical analyses show that the alumina content of dross is far higher-than ordinary ores - 111 percent alumina equivalent in dross compared to 57 percent alumina in bauxite - aluminum dross is a far richer source of aluminum than any known naturally occurring ores. The discard, of this waste material during the war and reconversion periods would be unsound economically. The work reported herein describes tests at the College Park Station of the Bureau of Mines on the recovery of metal, alumina, ammonia, methane, and abrasive-grade corundum from dross."

May 1, 1946

By J. S. Hansen

To advance technology that can conserve critical materials, the Bureau of Mines investigated a cast-on hard-surfacing that wear resistance and confines alloy additions to wear-prone surfaces. Wear-resistant material in form is on a polystyrene , the is embedded in a mold of unbonded s and the wear-resistant material is transferred to a cas surface at the time of For low-stress abrasion, derived from high-carbon ferro-chrome had higher wear resistance than did commercially available weld-hard. The microstructure of the was typi-white iron carbides. Free carbon added to the ferrochrome powder produced more M7C3 carbides than did material contained in surfacings made from ferrochrome alone, and improved the wear resistance. Several white iron powders with greatly reduced chromium contents also white iron contain-M7C3 carbides. One derived from white iron powder had wear resistance to that of weld-deposited hard facings. Among the parameters investigated, surfacing thickness was found to have a or influence on diffusion of elements out of the , microstructure, and wear resistance. The results of field tests on bucket-wheel excavator teeth and plowshares with cast-on hard surfacing are given.

Jan 1, 1985

By P. L. Woolf

Three trials with oxygen-enriched unheated blast air are described. The trials were conducted in the Bureau of Mines experimental blast furnace located in Bruceton, PA. The first trial utilized moisture addition to the oxygenated blast. The second and third trial were conducted with natural gas injection. The test was basically a feasibility study and in that regard the practice was demonstrated to be feasible and also have possible advantages over hot blast operation. The testwork was conducted in 1964 and 1965 as part of a continuing study of iron making technology in cooperation with several North American Steel Companies.

Jan 1, 1985

The objective of this handbook is to provide the inspector with guidance for recognizing hazards from inhalation contaminants in above ground work areas of underground and surface metal and nonmetal mining and processing facilities and evaluating these hazards by collecting samples or making field determinations and interpreting the analytical results. Portions of the handbook that should prove most useful to the inspectors include a survey check list, rules for determining if sampling is required, list of most frequently encountered contaminants, list of candidate contaminants and their sampling conditions, interpretation of results, and a procedure for a health and safety inspection.

Jan 1, 2011

By G. Richards Gwinn

In modern warfare, mica is truly indispensable. Coordination of combatant units necessitates maintenance of intricate communications equipment, in the construction of which high-grade sheet mica is essential. Scrap, ground, and the poorer qualities of block mica, which are less essential to the military program, are not considered in this paper. Furthermore, as the paper is designed primarily to assist mica miners, mica derivatives, Such as splittings and films, also are excluded from discussion. The paper therefore relates solely to block mica of strategic quality. Understanding of t e many factor involved in marketing mica is definitely advantageous to mica, miners. The nature and detrimental effects

Jan 1, 1943

By Jr .. Ebbley

The investigation of mine shafts and underground workings at Leadville, Colo., was started in May 1946 and recessed in November 3, 1946. Thirty-eight shafts and connecting accessible underground workings, comprising about a third of the accessible shafts in the district, were investigated. The Leadville district, a former important producer of lead and zinc, was considered by the Bureau of Mines to be capable of bolstering 'the waning domestic output of .these important metal. Accordingly, the investigation was initiated for the purpose of. .obtaining more definite data on sulfide and oxide reserves, evidence to justify completion of the Leadville drainage tunnel, representative large samples of the complex oxidized and mixed ores for testing to determine methods, beneficiation factual data to be supplied to property owners in order to stimulate production, and to determine the more favorable areas for development by the Bureau.

Jan 1, 1949

By Kenneth G. Skinner

The rapid growth of the metallurgical, chemical, and allied industries on the Pacific coast just prior to and during the war caused a sudden increase in the demand for refractories, which was the immediate cause of a revival in interest in refractory clays available on the Pacific coast, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Population increases and shortage of shipping facilities caused an increase in the amount of various ceramic materials and products used and produced on the Pacific coast, with accompanying demand for information regarding sources of clay. In an effort to supply part of this information, the Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the College of Mines, University of Washington, started a program in 1944 to test the refractory and other properties of clays from seven Pacific Northwest deposits that had been drilled and sampled as part of the Bureau of Mines alumina from clay investigation. Figure 1 shows the location of these deposits.

Jan 1, 1949

By D. Oyler

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL), RAG Pennsylvania and Strata Control Technologies of Australia collaborated in an intensive study of ground behavior, reinforcement performance, and stress redistribution at the Emerald Mine in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The study site was a longwall tailgate subjected to a severe horizontal stress concentration. Field measurements indicated that the stresses applied to the study site nearly doubled during longwall mining, resulting in roof deformations extending to a height of 4.8m (16 ft) above the entry. A computer simulation of the field site was conducted using FLAC-2D, incorporating a broad range of rock behaviors and failure mechanisms. Comparison between the measurements and the simulation showed that the model was able to capture the most significant aspects of the roof and support system behavior, particularly, the extensive slip along bedding that created a partially destressed "softened" zone in the immediate roof. The model also showed that supplementing the normal roof bolt support pattern with cable bolts would allow the entry to survive a further 20-25% increase in the applied horizontal stress. Such information could have very practical application to the design of roof support systems for coal mines.