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By William N. Hale

This Bureau of Mines report gives a detailed study of water usage in the Montana mineral industries, along with projections for the future. The mineral industry of Montana in 1963 used 36.5 billion gallons of new water, and reused or recirculated an additional 53.5 billion gallons for a total water requirement or usage of 90 billion gallons. The petroleum industry was the major water user, followed by the copper and zinc industries. Many mineral industry operators provide their own water, and new water is withdrawn largely from surface sources. At present, sufficient water is available in rivers, streams, and reservoirs in Montana; however, shortages do exist locally near mineral industry operations using large quantities of water. Some is supplied from sources up to 44 miles distant. New water withdrawn by the State of Montana mineral industry is expected to increase from 36.5 billion gallons in 1963 to 51.1 billion gallons by the year 2000. The total-water requirement is expected to more than double, or reach 182 billion gallons by the year 2000.

Jan 1, 1966

This report presents information developed during Bureau of Mines contract H0242016, "Mine Shaft Fire and Smoke Protection Systems" from May, 1974 through June, 1975. Purpose of the metal and nonmetal health and safety project was to evaluate mine shaft fire and smoke hazard problems, and to develop and demonstrate a low-cost, reliable mine shaft fire protection system that would protect against such hazards and would be applicable to a majority of metal and nonmetal mine shafts, including raises and winzes, especially in deep mines. Program effort proceeded through five phases, culminating in the successful in-mine fire demonstration of a prototype system. In addition to this final report, a film is available which depicts components of the system and its successful shaft fire testing at an underground mine.

Jan 1, 1975

By J. J. Taber

This is the final report on Grant No. G0144067. The report presents the results of a number of laboratory studies carried cut in several different ways to determine the effectiveness of foam for blocking the flow of gas in coal. The effectiveness; (of foam for retarding or blocking the flow gas in various porous media has been observed by many investigators1-4 but we are not aware of similar detailed studies in coal. Because of the diversity of our experiments, the key findings and general conclusions are presented very briefly in Section II. As a convenience to the reader a complete table of cements is included to enable the reader to find those experiments and studies of greatest interest.

Jan 1, 1976

By D. Harrington

For many years the Federal Bureau of Mines-in cooperation with other agencies-has been making investigations and compiling and publishing reports and statistics on accidents in the various branches of the mineral industry.4 Its assistance has been enlisted also in health, safety, and ventilation problems' incident to the driving of many large tunnels in the United States in recent years. As part of this work the Bureau has compiled considerable statistical and other information on accident experience in the tunneling branch of the heavy-construction industry. It has always been difficult to obtain up-to-date information on tunneling methods and tunnel accidents. Published accounts of tun¬nel construction furnish much interesting material of engineering, historical, or fiscal value, but usually little or no attempt is made to discuss and critically analyze the means taken to preserve the health and life of employees.

Jan 1, 1941

By ALBERT E. HALL, Arno C. Fieldner, Alexander L. Field

As a safeguard against excessive clinker troubles, specifications for the purchase of coal can be drawn to include the "softening" or "fusing" temperature of the ash. The value of such information has been recognized by the Bureau of Mines and has induced the bureau to investigab~ laboratory methods of determining the fUSIbility of coal ash, and the bearing of the results on clinker formation in fuel beds. The bureau realized that the fusibility of a mixture of oxides and silicates snch as is comprised in coal ash ,'aries according to the conditions under which tests are made, and that in the absence of any generally accepted method, no agreement is to be expected among tests made in differ«:-nt laboratories. Indeed, Marks a has recently called attention to differences as great as 3900 C. that were obtained with the same sample of ash by two different laboratories. Therefore if a fusion-temperature clause is to have any place in specifications for coal, a standard m('thod of t('sting should be adopted in order to insure comparable results by different laboratories and to obtain the softening or fusing temperature of the ash unde:'r conditions similar to those of a fuel bed. After a consistent method has been devised for obtaining comparable:' results at different laboratories, there will remain the correlation of these results with those from the burning of coal in furnaces before the value of fusibility tests in coal specifications can hE' finally determined.

Jan 1, 1918

By L. L. Hirst

In 1944, the 78th congress of the United States enacted Public Law 290, which directed the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Mines, to furnish industry with basic information and cost data for the development of a synthetic liquid fuels industry. Recently published information with respect to the cost of synthetic liquid fuels processes indicates a wide variation in estimated results. To clarify the results and inconsistencies for the hydrogenation of coal, the Bureau of Mines has prepared preliminary designs and calculated detailed investment costs from which the operating costs to produce 30,000 barrels per day of liquid products, mainly gasoline, by coal hydrogenation were obtained.

Jan 1, 1949

By Herbert Tomlinson

The United States Bureau of Mines has engaged in a study of the conditions under which coal mine accidents, resulting in the loss of life, limb, or time to the injured person, occur from falls of roof and coal. This publication is devoted to the results of a study conducted in the coal mines of the Book Cliffs and Wasatch Plateau coal fields of Utah. To show the necessity of this study, a statement of the fatalities that have occurred during the period 1928-1930, inclusive, in the bituminous mines of the United States and of Utah, is presented (Table 1), followed by a brief description of this Utah district, its coal beds and immediate roof, thickness of cover, dip of coal beds, methods of mining, supervision, roof testing and timbering for roof support, all of which are factors in any plan devised for preventing accidents from falls of roof and coal.

Jan 1, 1932

By G. F. Kuncir

The analysis described herein evaluates the Bureau of Mines Program for Advancing Mining Technology - Oil Shale in terms of the economic benefits which may be derived for the Nation as a result of its successful research and development efforts. On the basis of postulated oil shale production scenarios, benefit-cost ratio indicators are computed for the program elements as they apply to surface, underground, and modified in situ oil shale mining systems. Eight value indicators are used to measure the Program's beneficial impact on the future oil shale industry in relation to planned research and development costs. These are: capital cost savings, operating cost savings, labor savings environmental quality maintenance cost reduction, reduction in production costs, byproduct production benefits, total production benefits, and additions to recoverable reserves. Program costs are aggregated from 1974 through 1987 and major benefits are accrued from 1982 through 2040. Both cost and benefit streams are discounted to mid-1975 present value.

Jan 1, 1977

By R. S. Handy

This paper describing the milling practices at tae concentrators of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Co. is one of a series being prepared by the United States Bureau of Mines on milling methods and costs in the United States. The possibility of useful comparisons has prompted the description of all five of the mills operated by the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Company in northern Idaho. The general features of these mills are tabulated below: [ ]

Jan 1, 1930

The design, specification, and performance evaluation of the Communications and Location portions of a Coal Mine Rescue and Survival System are described. The work was performed as part of a nine month effort to develop a mine rescue and survival system using existing technology and state -of-the -art hardware as recommended by the National Academy of Engineering. Three basic subsystems were developed, one for survival, one for communications/location and one for rescue. This report and related equipment manuals describe only the Communications/ Location Subsystem which was designed, fabricated, and tested by the Westinghouse Georesearch Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Two basic technologies were used. Electromagnetic signals propagating through-the-earth provide voice downlink and coded beacon up-link communications. Seismic methods were developed to provide means for locating trapped miners. Seismic signalling also provides a backup means for communications. Parallel development programs for the electromagnetic and seismic portions of the system were conducted. The resulting hardware and software have been partially tested in coal mines and under simulated emergency conditions in order to evaluate system performance. The results of these tests are discussed. Further testing is recommended in order to establish quantitative performance limitations tinder a variety of environmental conditions and to develop methods for improving system performance.

Jan 1, 1971

By Herbert Tomlinson

The United States Bureau of Mines has engaged in a study of the conditions under which coal mine accidents, resulting in the loss of life, limb, or time to the injured person, occur from falls of roof and coal. This publication is devoted to the results of a study conducted in the coal mines of the Book Cliffs and Wasatch Plateau coal fields of Utah. To show the necessity of this study, a statement of the fatalities that have occurred during the period 1928-1930, inclusive, in the bituminous mines of the United States and of Utah, is presented (Table 1), followed by a brief description of this Utah district, its coal beds and immediate roof, thickness of cover, dip of coal beds, methods of mining, supervision, roof testing and timbering for roof support, all of which are factors in any plan devised for preventing accidents from falls of roof and coal.

Jan 1, 1932

By Karl Oltay

A series of 15, stations beginning with Potsdam and Budapest and ending with Budapest and Potsdam were occupied inn the period August, 1908, to January, 1909. The intermediate stations were all at points which had been connected by Baron Eötvös with torsion-balance traverses. The observations were made with an invariable pendulum of the standard four-pendulum type of instrument of the Geodetic Institute, made by Stückrath at Berlin-Friedenau. The observations at each of the field stations lasted-one to three days with one exception; two or three time determinations were made; four to eight series of pendulum observations were made; the error of determination of the elevation of the instrument above mean sea level ranged from 0.30 meter to 1.10 meters, with the exception of the Arad and Baja stations, where the elevation was known more accurately and averaged about ± 0.8 m, which would cause an error of ± 0.25 x 10-3 dynes. No topographic correction was applied. The values for ?g were taken from Eötvös: Report on Geodetic Observations in Hungary, especially Observations with the Torsion Balance, Budapest, 1910. The differences in ?g as determined, by the torsion balance and by the unvariable pendulum were: Kuvin-Hidegkut 1.2 km. 0.001, Livada-Kuvin 9 km. 0.001, Pankota-Livada 13 km. 0.004, Kuvin-Arad 20 km. 0.000, Pankota-Arad via Kuvin 42 42 km.0.005, Pankota- Arad via Kurtics 50 km.0.000 dynes. Oltay concludes that if the stations are close enough together and if the terrane is rather flat, the measurement of ?g with the Eötvös torsion balance is as accurate as with the invariable pendulum. -- Donald C. Barton.

Jan 1, 1929

By Walter W. Kaufman

The braking performance of underground, rubber-tired, non-coal mining vehicles is evaluated. Surveys of mining equipment and braking manufacturers and underground stopping tests are discussed as they relate to this evaluation. Stopping performance recommendations are included as well as related aspects of roadway construction and runaway vehicle protective devices.

Jan 1, 1977

By F. E. Cash

The Holmes Safety Association was organized and named in honor of the late Dr. Joseph A. Holmes, first director of the United States Bureau of Mines. The association is a national organization and operates through local, sectional, or State chapters in mining, petroleum, and allied industries. The National Council of the Holmes Safety Association consists of representatives of State councils and local chapters, with the Director of the Bureau of Mines as president.

Jan 1, 1929

Antitrust Investigation Dropped. - The Department of Justice announced that it was dropping its 5-year investigation of the aluminum industry. The investigation was over whether the aluminum companies were acting as if they were a shared monopoly. Deep Seabed Mining. - The Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established an Office of Ocean Minerals and Energy which will be responsible for implementing the Deep Seabed Nard Minerals and Energy Act and the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Act. It will establish licensing and regulatory programs.

Jan 1, 1980

By William E. Souder

The behavioral accident simulator (BAS) is a computer program that can be used to simulate accident situations. It demonstrates how the potential to have an accident grows or diminishes as a result of changes in various environmental, organizational, and behavioral factors. It calculates the number of fatalities that may result from various conditions and graphically displays these data. The BAS is useful for studying systems of accident causes, for demonstrating the various ways to diminish fatalities, and for training employees. This Bureau of Mines report provides the detailed instructions needed to use the BAS.

Jan 1, 1988

By Frank K. Cameron

"The DepositsThere are two large deposits or groups of deposits of potash salts which, at the breaking cut of the great world war in 1913 and for several decades preceding, were practically the only commercial sources of supply for the entire world. In both cases the origin of the deposits was sea water, the potassium salts being deposited by desiccation, but there were modifying factors which were not entirely the same in both cases so that well defined and important differences exist in these deposits. The larger and better known group, called the Stassfurt Deposits, are in Germany in the region about or adjacent to Magdeburg and Halberstadt. The general character of these deposits and the methods for recovering potash from them have been frequently described, not only in technical publi¬cations, but in the non-technical propaganda long maintained by the Kali Syndikat, an organization founded on a ""cartel"" with the supervision and support of the late Imperial German Government.Less well known are the smaller though nevertheless extensive deposits in the neighborhood of Mulhouse in Upper Alsatia, which were also under the control of the Kali Syndikat at the breaking out of the war but have now passed to French control, with the reentrance of Alsace into the French Republic.The Alsatiaa deposits, while less extensive than the German deposits, are, nevertheless of great magnitude. They occupy a large part of the area between the Vosges Mountains and the River Rhine, from Col¬mar on the North to Mulhouse on the South. Indeed a few borings on the East bank of the Rhine indicate that the deposits may extend under the river and to some distance beyond Buggingen Linken, Baden, though it has not been Shown as yet that this extension is of commercial significance.As is well known, the Stassfurt potash occurs as potassium chloride or potassium sulphate or both salts, intimately mixed with salts of sodium, magnesium eau& calcium (lime) and contaminated with substances. insoluble in water such as ferric oxide, clay etc. The potash salts are segregated in more or less extensive 'pockets' throughout the salt mass, these segregations departing usually from the horizontal. But the main ""potash region"" is a stratum varying from 30 to 150 feet in thickness and at a depth requiring shafts 5000 feet."

Jul 1, 1919

By B. R. Mohal, S. Chander

"A new technique to determine wettability of powders is presented in this paper. In this technique the times for immersion of individual particles from air into liquids, defined as imbibition times, are measured. Through the measurements of imbibition times for a large number of particles, it is possible to determine homogeneity/heterogeneity of a powder sample with regard to its wetting behavior. Quartz particles give a very narrow distribution of imbibition times showing a homogeneous wetting surface whereas coal particles give a broad distribution indicative of the heterogeneous nature of its surface. The imbibition time measurement technique is considered to have certain advantages over other methods to determine wettability of powders in surfactant solutions. In this study we have also compared the imbibition times with the wetting rate mea¬surements obtained by a modified Walker test.INTRODUCTIONSeveral methods are available for determining wetting characteristics of sol¬ids. Each of the methods has been used in the past to obtain very valuable information for comparing wetting behavior of various solids in a given liquid or for comparing the wetting behavior of several liquids for a given solid. Each method measures a somewhat different aspect of wetting and therefore quantitative correlations between techniques have been difficult. A general approach is to use a method in which close similarity between the technique and the application (where results of wetting measurements are to be used) can be maintained. The objective of this investigation was to develop a method which could be used to determine the wetting characteristics of single particles in surfactant solutions. Wetting of individual particles is of importance in cap¬ture of dust particles by sprays of surfactant solutions.METHODS FOR DETERMINING WETTING — A BRIEF REVIEWThe various methods available for measuring wetting characteristics of solids include: contact angle, immersion/sink time, bubble pick-up, induction time, capillary rise, and displacement method measurements. Some of the methods are briefly reviewed in the paragraphs that follow."

Mar 1, 1989

By G. R. FITT, S. R. B. Cooke, C. W. Davis, V. H. Gottschalk, C. G. Maier, C. E. Wood, R. S. Dean, S. B. THOMAS, John Gross, E. P. Barrett, T. L. Joseph

Lack of funds has prevented publication of much of the metallurgical work of the Bureau of Mines during the past 2 years . The present progress report covers studies in the direct production of iron and steel . The experimental work was carried out in cooperation with the universities of California , Minnesota , and Missouri . Complete reports will be published when funds are available .

May 1, 1934

By F. K. Shelton, J. C. Stah, Ruth E. Churchward

A study of the hydrometallurgy and electrowinning of cobalt from various domestic ores has been in progress at the Boulder City, Nevada, Experiment Station since February 1940. Previous reports covering certain phases of this investigation have been published. This report covers the research and pilot-plant work on the production of cobalt metal from cobalt-copper ores from the initial experimental work on crude ore through continuous operation. The ore types were from the Blackbird District, Lemhi County, Idaho. The initial tests were made with concentrated ore which was received by air mail and these experiments were expanded both in size and scope. After the laboratory was continued, improved, and extended tests were reported. Sufficiently advanced, a continuously operated plant producing 250 pounds of electrolytic cobalt per day was operated from June 15 through July 15, 1944.

Jan 1, 1948