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By D. E. Sullivan

The Minerals Availability Program of the Bureau of Mines conducts cost evaluations of current and potential mineral operations in the United States and foreign countries. The International Mining Cost Indexation System (IMCI) allows data of different time periods within a country to be updated to a common base year for analytical purposes. The IMCI comprises 12 factor cost indexes and an exchange rate series for 96 market economy countries, denominated in both local and U.S. currency. The IMCI for each country contains 12 time series indexes that measure the average annual rate of change in the cost of factor inputs to the mining industry within that country. Mining industry factor cost indexes include wages, plant and equipment, construction and mining materials, power and transportation, and other measures considered to comprise the majority of capital and operating costs. Cost data or proxies are collected in local currency. Index series within each country are constructed separately and indexed on a 1975 base year. The local currency index is converted to a U.S.-dollar-based currency index using an exchange ratio.

Jan 1, 1987

By William Cochran

Data on the cost and quantity available were developed for rutile (TiO2), which is potentially recoverable as a byproduct at sand-washing plants in the Southeastern States of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Baaed on 1969 production data, an estimated 4,300 tons of rutile could be recovered annually from plants that process more than 25,000 tons of sand per year. Rutile prices at which this resource would be available ranged upward from $262 per ton, compared with the current market value of $185 per ton.

Jan 1, 1972

By Mark Sheppard

This paper is the third of a series recording the results of tests made at various quarries throughout the United States to determine (1) the relation between the size gradation of feed to, and product from, primary crushers, (2) the particle shape of the crushed product, (3) the differences in gradation and particle shape produce- by different types of primary crushers, and (4) the differences in gradation and particle shape caused by crushing different kinds of stone. Progress reports 1 and 2 dealt with comparisons of different types of crushers crushing the seine tyre of stone. This report deals with relationship between feed and product of two different limestones, as to size distribution and particle shape, when crashed in the same crusher.

Jan 1, 1938

[This is the eighth in a series of reports on properties of commercial motor fuels, made in accordance with a cooperative agreement between the Cooperative Fuel Research (C.F.R.) Committee and the Bureau of Mines of the United States Department of the interior. The fir t report gave data on motor gasolines sold during the winter of 1935-36.3/ The present report, covering 1,679 simples, represents the products of US companies plus those from the Pacific coast, witch were averaged by the Pacific Coast Technical Group before being submitted and arc published exactly as they were submitted. The three groups of data on samples of regular, premium, and third-grade gasolines are averred separately. the, number of samples and brands representing each grade are as follows: Regular price, 869 samples, 76 brands; premium price, 452 sample, 45 brands; third-grade 358 samples, 52 brands. In this report the same marketing districts are retained as were used in the preceding report, and as for as possible the actual sampling points in each area are indicated on table 1.]

Jan 1, 1940

By J. W. Miller

Depletion of coals most suitable for metallurgical fuel has nude necessary a general survey of coking-coal reserves in the United States. These investigations were begun in 1948 at the joint request of the Munitions Board, Department of Defense, and a number of coal companies. This report, which is one of a series, by counties, describes the preparation characteristics of the coals of Letcher County, Icy. From these data it is possible to determine: (a) Which coals either as mined or after beneficiation by conventional preparation are suitable under present standards for producing metallurgical coke, (b) which coals require special and more intensive treatment in preparation than is now practiced, and, (c) which coals cannot be upgraded by known commercial preparation methods to metallurgical fuel standards now accepted.

Jan 1, 1955

By M. R. Geer

The cleaning of fine coal, particularly for metallurgical use, is receiving greater attention. An increase in the proportion of fine coal in the run-of-mine product has been created by changes in mining practice, and a concur-rent deterioration in the quality of the fines has occurred because of more widespread full-seam mining. These two factors, augmented by the depletion of premium beds of metallurgical coal in some areas and the resulting shift to "dirtier" beds, are providing the impetus for adoption of improved cleaning techniques. For example, froth flotation, which has been used for years in a few preparation plants, now is gaining more rapidly in acceptance. Similarly, the dense-medium cyclone, which is used widely in Europe for making difficult separations, recently has been introduced to the United States. Regardless of the cleaning process employed, the finer sizes of coal can be treated with maximum effectiveness only when they are removed from the run-of-mine product and treated separately. No present process can treat the full range of sizes together with complete effectiveness. Flotation is applicable only to the coal finer than a top size ranging between 14-and 48-mesh, and cyclones require removal of all material finer than 0.5 to 0.3 mm. from the feed. Thus, the trend toward more-effective cleaning of the fine coal imposes the attendant problem of fine screening. Whereas in the past there was little need to screen finer than about l/4-in., present developments indicate that fine screening will become increasingly prevalent.

Jan 1, 1960

By J. W. Miller

From 1889, when the first railroad shipments of coal were made from McDowell County, W. Va., until today, the coals produced from the New River and Pocahontas groups have had a good reputation as premium low-volatile coals. Although there has been a large production from the Pocahontas No. 3 and. Pocahontas No. 4 beds, considerable reserves remain. This Bureau of Mines publication is one of a series appraising the Nation's coking-coal reserves by presenting data on the basis of which the practicability of upgrading marginal deposits to metallurgical standards can be determined. This study of the preparation characteristics of McDowell County coals is the second of the series to be undertaken in West Virginia. The Pocahontas No. 3 and No, 4 beds have not been included because their washing characteristics are well known.

Jan 1, 1954

By A. D. Hahn

The Federal Bureau of Mines examined ilmenite-bearing sands in southern Texas as part of a program to discover sources of supply for the domestic titanium industry. Deposits were examined from May 1956 through January 1959 in the outcrops of sandstone beds in the Jackson group of Eocene formations in Lee, Burleson, Fayette, and Starr Counties on the Gulf Coastal Plain; in alluvial valley fill in Brewster County in southwest Texas; in the sand beaches of Matagorda Peninsula and the Galveston, Padre, and Brazos Islands--part of the offshore chain of barrier islands along the Texas coast; and in unconsolidated sediments in Willacy County on the Rio Grande delta in the southeast Texas.

Jan 1, 1961

By Raymond P. Maloney

The Bureau of Mines investigated the White Mountain mercury deposit, in the Kuskokwim River Basin, to better determine the extent of mercury mineralization and to encourage its development by private industry. A program of diamond drilling, augering, bulldozer trenching, and sampling was carried on during four field seasons, from 1960 to 1963, inclusive. Significant amounts of cinnabar, with only trace amounts of arsenic and antimony, occur in dolomite over an area about 4,000 feet long and 1,500 feet wide. The deposit differs from other mercury deposits in the Kuskokwim River Basin by the absence of silica-carbonate and rhyolite intrusives. Small-scale mining was started in 1963 as the result of Bureau investigation and continued during the summers of 1964 and 1965. The investigations indicate that open pit mining might be the most feasible method of working this deposit.

Jan 1, 1967

By G. W. Birge

Fifteen coal samples, representing the Winifrede, Chilton, Alma, No. 2 Gas, Powellton, Eagle, Douglas, Sewell, Beckley, Pocahontas No.4, and Pocahontas No.3 beds in Wyoming County, and five samples, representing the Fire Creek, Pocahontas No.6, and Pocahontas No.3 beds in Mercer County, W. Va., were carbonized at 9000 C by the Bureau of Mines-American Gas Association (BM-AGA) method, and yields of products and physical properties of cokes were determined. Expansion characteristics of the majority of samples were determined in the Bureau of Mines sole-heated oven. Chemical analyses and agglutinating values were determined for all coals. The coals were mostly strongly coking and low in ash and sulfur content. Dry, mineral-matter-free fixed-carbon content of the Wyoming County coals ranged from 63.0 to 83.4 percent. The Mercer County samples were all low volatile in rank. Yields of carbonization products were generally in accord with yields from similar rank coals of the Appalachian region. Because of their expanding tendencies, most of the medium-and low-volatile coals would require blending with lower rank coal for normal coke production.

Jan 1, 1965

This is the eighth in a series of reports en properties of commercial meter fuels, made in accordance with a cooperative agreement between the Cooperative Fuel Research (C. F. R.) Committee and the Bureau of Mines of the United States Department of the interior. The first report gave data en meter gasolines sold during the winter of 1935-36.3/ The present report, covering 1,679 samples, represents the products of 118 companies plus these from the Pacific coast, which were averaged by the Pacific Coast Technical Group before being submitted and are published exactly as they were submitted. The throe groups of data en samples of regular, premium, and third-grade gasolines arc averaged separately. The number of samples and brands representing each grade are as follows: Regular price, 869 samples, 76 brands; premium price, 452 samples, 45 brands; third-grade, 358 samples, 82 brands. In this report the same marketing districts are retained as were used in the preceding report, and as far as possible the actual sampling points in each area arc indicated on table 1.

Jan 1, 1940

By E. J. Lintner, J. R. Thoenen

During the period 1937-40 and until peacetime research was superseded in 1941 by wartime activities , the junior author was engaged in studies regarding the relative efficiency of operating methods in quarries producing crushed stone for mineral aggregates . The results of some of these studies were published as reports of investigations in 1939 and 1940 ; / others were discontinued due to war demands on personnel and time . The published reports discussed the efficiency of particular quarry operations with respect to the time consumed and without reference to costs or mechanical factors . • At the time , the field data were collected for the published reports other data were collected relative to the relationship of the numerous variable factors inherent in the operation of a churn drill to the ability of the drill to produce blast holes . The churn drill is essentially a crusher and depends. for its performance upon the foot-pounds of energy it can impart to the cutting edge of its bit . The gravity stamp mill , so well-known in western gold mines , is essentially the same type of crusher . The ratio of foot- pounds necessary to crush the rock , to the total theoretical energy developed by the falling churn- drill tools , affords a good means of evaluating the efficiency of the tool . This does not include to tal over-all efficiency involving the mechanical equipment of the drill itself or its power unit .

Jan 1, 1947

By R. R. Wells

As a part of the strategic minerals program of the Bureau of Mines, nine chromite-ore samples were obtained during the period 1949-56 from mines in the vicinity of Red Mountain, near Seldovia, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. This report summarizes the results of beneficiation studies of the samples at the Bureau's Juneau, Alaska, and Albany, Oreg., laboratories. In general, the ores were found amenable to concentration by gravity methods for producing concentrates that assayed over 48 percent chromic oxide. Intimate association of chromite and gangue minerals, however, necessitated fine grinding and limited the amount of chromite recoverable. Recovery of chromium in concentrate that assayed 48 percent chromic oxide or higher ranged from approximately 20 percent for low-grade ores (10 to 12 percent Cr203) to more than 95 percent for 1 high-grade sample (42 percent Cr203). The iron content of the chrome-bearing mineral -hence, the chrome/iron ratio of finished concentrate -appears to vary with the grade of the ore. Concentrates made from high-grade ores had chrome/iron ratios as high as 3.1:1; the concentrates from low-grade ores, however, had chrome/iron ratios as low as 1.8:1.

Jan 1, 1957

By Mark Sheppard

This paper is the third of a series recording the results of tests made at various quarries throughout the United States to determine (1) the relation between the size gradation of feed to, and product from, primary crushers, (2) the particle shape of the crushed. product, (3) the differences in gradation and particle shape produced by different types of primary crushers, and (4) the differences in gradation and particle shape caused by crushing different kinds of stone. Progress reports 1 and 2 dealt with comparisons of different types of crushers crushing the same type of stone. This report deals with relation¬ship between feed and product of two different limestones, as to size distribution and particle shape, when crashed in the same crusher.

Jan 1, 1938

By W. H. Frederic, F. H. Gibson, R. F. Abernethy

This publication contains the quantitative values for phosphorus , chlorine , sodium , and potassium in United States coals . The samples tested were taken from commercial shipments and have been selected to represent the principal coal producing areas of the country . Due to combining the analytical results from two separate surveys , values for the four elements are not available for all samples .

Jan 1, 1965

By A. J. Kraemer

This report on the physical and chemical properties of typical crude oils of California is the 'eighth in a series on the producing districts of the United States. It includes discussion of results, tabulated data, and individual analyses of typical California crudes. Additional analyses of crude oils from the fields of Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, end Ventura Counties will be published later in another Serial of the Bureau, but the summary tabulations are presented here. The samples represented in this report were collected over a rather wide interval of tine, the early samples having been obtained during the fall of 1919, and the most recent ones dating from the summer of 1923. It is thought that the samples are fairly representative, both of the older settled production and of the new flush production of the southern California fields.

Jan 1, 1924

By A. J. Kraemer

This report on the physical and chemical properties of crude oils of California is one of a series on the producing districts of the United States. It includes a short discussion of results, tabulated data, and individual analyses of California crudes. Analyses of crude oils from the fields of Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura Counties have been published in Serials 25952 and 26083. The analyses reported in this paper corer samples that were obtained subsequent to the publication of Serials 2535 and 2608. The samples were obtained by members of the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Mines. The collecting of samples was facilitated by the courtesy of representatives of oil companies in California.

Jan 1, 1927

By J. E. Gebhardt

External control of the electrochemical potential of a bed of mineral particles has been investigated by the Bureau of Mines as a method for controlling particle inter-action with organic collectors and thus, flotation response. A cylindrically shaped, 200-to 300-g bed of sulfide mineral particles was used as the working electrode to examine the potential distribution in the bed. The dissolved oxygen concentration of the electrolyte had a significant effect on the potential profile across the mineral bed. Low oxygen levels were necessary to achieve uniform electrochemical potential distributions. Flotation separation of a chalcocite-pyrite mineral mixture by controlled potential was achieved using ethylxanthate, but the flotation behavior of chalcocite and pyrite from the mixture does not follow the flotation behavior of the individual minerals. That is, the presence of another sulfide mineral alters the flotation behavior with ethylxan-thate. Galvanic interaction due to mineral-to-mineral contact between chalcocite and pyrite contributes to differences in the recovery. Chalcocite dissolution products had a deleterious effect on pyrite flotation by activating flotation below -0.1 V (saturated calomel electrode) and depressing flotation above -0.1 V. Pyrite dissolution products had no effect on chalcocite flotation.

Jan 1, 1985

By Manuel Gomez

Published experimental coke data from a pilot plant slot-type oven were examined by statistical regression analysis. Quantitative relationships were found to exist between the coking rate, bulk density, and fine grinding of the coal, sole-oven expansion, volatile matter, moisture, ash, and carbon con-tent of the coal and coke parameters indicative of size and strength. Regression equations developed from coke data were shown to yield computed values that were in good agreement with experimental results for 11 coke properties. Prediction equations developed were evaluated with an independent set of data. Present results indicate that the variables cited undergo much interaction and the sum of these interactions determines coke size and strength.

Jan 1, 1967

By J. E. Hamak

This publication contains analyses and related source data for 151 natural gas samples from 19 States. Of the total samples, 138 were collected calendar year 1989. The remainder were collected earlier, but releases to were not received until 1989. All samples were obtained and analyzed as part of U.S. Bureau of Mines investigations of the occurrences of helium in natural gases of countries with free market economies. This survey has been conducted since 1917. The analyses published herein were made by mass spectrometer and chromatograph.

Jan 1, 1990