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By H. C. Ko

Calorimetric determinations of low-temperature heat capacities and standard enthalpy of formation were made by the Federal Bureau of Mines for basic aluminum sulfite, A1203?2.0S02?5.3H20. The standard values of entropy (S°), enthalpy of formation (?Hf°), and calculated Gibbs energy of formation (?Gf°) at 298.15 K are 85.2±0.1 cal/deg-mole, -943.1±1.2 kcal/mole, and -820.7±1.2 kcal/mole, respectively.

Jan 1, 1976

By L. H. Banning

In the fall of 1953 the Philippine Bureau of Mines, under a Foreign Operations Administration Technical Assistance (FOA-TA) program, began a systematic investigation of the nickel content of the well-known Surigao laterite areas, on the island of Nonoc northeast of Mindanao, to determine the occurrence, distribution, and grade of nickel contained in the laterite and in the subjacent serpentine. At the same time, a technical review of the possibility of producing commercial ferronickel from the nickeliferous materials in the Philippine Islands was made, and a smelting process was suggested. The proposed process would be similar to that developed by the Federal Bureau of Mines for the reduction of the nickeliferous serpentine occurring in the Nickel Mountain ?deposit at Riddle, Oreg. The potential avail-ability of electric power from the Maria Cristina facilities at 3 mils per kw.-hr. would enhance the economic possibility of this program. Development of an economically feasible process for recovering nickel from the nickeliferous serpentines and laterites should lead to the establishment of a new industry in the Philippines, to the development of a source of nickel in the Far East, of which at present there is none, and to partial solution of the problem of supplying the free world with nickel. Enough preliminary reconnaissance had been completed by early 1954 to permit sampling of the deposit for metallurgical investigations. The FOA then requested the Federal Bureau of Mines Northwest Electrodevelopment Laboratory, Albany, Oreg., to conduct preliminary electric smelting studies on nickeliferous serpentine and laterite samples.

Jan 1, 1955

By K. A. Fowler, L. W. Higley

Steels with an alloying addition of depleted uranium were studied to develop successful melting , casting , and fabricating methods ; to obtain data on mechanical properties ; and to determine the effects of this alloying element . Uranium in amounts up to 1.5 percent was added to steel - base compositions containing approximately 0.5 percent carbon , 2 percent nickel , 0.25 to 2.0 percent silicon , and 0.75 percent manganese in both vacuum- melted and air -melted heats . Radiation levels were monitored for all operations . Bureau of Mines research at the Rolla Metallurgy Research Center showed that uranium additions did not increase tensile strength ; that hot - shortness occurred during forging above 1,090 ° C because of the presence of a low melting point constituent of a eutectic type ; and although a measurable amount of radioactive contamination resulted from processing , the quantity was never large enough to require the work area to be identified as a radiation area .

Jan 1, 1964

By C. Melvin Lepper

High-resolution shallow seismic reflection methods are being used by the Bureau of Mines to map underground geologic features in coal mines. These features include faults, channel sand, washouts, rolls, and steep dips. The seismic method is proving useful for locating all of these at reasonable cost and with better definition than available with drill programs alone. This report provides a capsule description of the techniques and their application to mine planning.

Jan 1, 1976

By George W. Hezzelwood

This paper describing the minim, methods at the mine of the Consolidated Cortez Silver Mines, Cortez, Nevada, is one of a series of similar papers being prepared by the Bureau of Mines on mining practices and costs in the various mining districts of the United States. The Cortez district is situated on the southwest slope of Mt. Tenabo of the Cortez Range, near the middle of the boundary line between Eureka and Lander Counties (fig. 1). The camp of Cortez is 36 miles south of Beowawe, the nearest station on the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific Railroads. Mt. Tenabo, which is the highest summit of the south end of the Cortez mange, has an elevation of 9,240 feet; Cortez is about 6,280 feet above sea level. The Consolidated Cortez Silver Mines is the only company operating in the district at the present time and employs about 60 men. The daily production of l25 tons of silver-lead ore is concentrated in the company's mill of 150 tons capacity. The concentrate is hauled to Beowawe by automobile trucks for shipment to a reduction plant in Salt Lake Valley, Utah.

Jan 1, 1930

[In selecting deposits of exploration projects, tabular deposits or large mineralized masses are favored because they may be explored systematically and because they afford the best opportunity for blocking out reserves in advance of mining, whereas irregular, small pipes and scattered]

Jan 1, 1941

By A. N. Fried

One of the important problems confronting oil producers in appraising the possibilities of secondary recovery in many California fields is the effect of viscosity on oil recovery by water flooding. In January 1954 there were 554 fields and/or pools, in the State, that produced 1 million barrels daily, and 138 of these pools produced approximately 267 thousand barrels daily of heavy crude oil having gravities below 200 API. Many of these fields are nearing the end of their primary economic life and still have high residual-oil saturations, a favorable factor in water flooding. The crux of the problem is whether or not enough oil can be recovered from these fields by water flooding to make the operation economically successful. Some experiments on the relationship between viscosity and oil recovery have been made by other investigators, but in most instances the viscosity of the oils used in the experiments was lower than the viscosity of the oils found in many of the heavy-oil fields in California. A study was undertaken, therefore, to determine the relationship between oil viscosity and recovery over a wider range of viscosities and to compare the experimental results with those predicted by theoretical calculations.

Jan 1, 1955

By R. O. Dannenberg

This report describes aperiments by the Bureau of Mines and reviews theoretical aspects of the use of organophosphate solvent extraction for recovering beryllium from sulfate leach liquors. The leach liquors were prepared by sulfuric acid leaching of lime-sintered low-tenor beryl flotation concentrates. The experimental work on sulfate leach liquors showed that the acidic esters of organophosphates extracted beryllium slowly but in preference to aluminum. Three common alkylphosphoric acids, di- (2-ethylhexyl) (EHPA), heptadecyl (HDPA), and dodecyl (DDPA), in order of decrmsing selectivity, yielded a partial separation of beryllium from aluminum.

Jan 1, 1962

By H. M. Thorne

The oil-shale deposits of the Puertollano basin in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real appear to have been give little consideration in discussions of oil-shale resources throughout the world. A small, integrated oil-shale operation has been conducted at Puertollano since about 1922 by a French company, Sociedad Mimora y Metalurgica de Penarroya, hereinafter referred to as "Penarroya", but only within recent years have the potentialities of the Spanish oil-shale deposits been recognized. Empresa Nacional "Calvo Sotelo" do Combustibles y Lubricantes, hereinafter designated as "Calvo Sotelo," which was created in 1942 by the National Industrial Institute of Spain to produce liquid fuels from oil shales, has made marked progress in the design and construction of a complete oil-shale plant at Puertollano. Penarroya is mainly a coal-mining company, and the oil-shale operations were on a small scale of approximately 220 tons a day in October 1947. It is an integrated operation comprising oil-shale mining and retorting and shale-oil refining. Motor gasoline, Diesel fuel oil, light burner fuel oil, lubricants, paraffin wax, cresols, and ammonium sulfate are manufactured.

Jan 1, 1950

By Jack E. Tress

The Bureau of Mines has been involved for several years in the development of processes for the recycling of solid wastes. As part of this program, a project was initiated to determine the feasibility of producing secondary pig iron from auto scrap. During the test period, 86,000 pounds of shredded auto scrap, along with petroleum coke and fluxing agents, was charged to a submerged-arc furnace of 1-ton nominal capacity. Eighty-eight thousand pounds of pig iron, with an average carbon content of 3.90 percent and an average copper content of 0.2 percent, was produced at an electrical consumption of 512 kW-hr per net ton. A cost estimate of the process showed that the pig, iron might be produced at a cost of $57 per ton.

Jan 1, 1973

By Joseph A. DeCarlo

According to the annual survey of beehive-coke plants by the Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior, there were 61 plants with 9,549 ovens in the United States on December 31, 1956, This publication in¬cludes only those for which an annual report was filed with the Bureau of Mines. Not all plants listed were active, however, as nearly one-third of those canvassed were idle all year. A compilation of the returns showed that 44 plants with 6,920 ovens were active part or all year and 17 plants with 2,629 ovens were idle throughout the year. The capacity of beehive ovens has fluctuated between 6 and 14 million tons during the past decade. At the end of 1956, the annual coke capacity of beehive ovens on which reports were received amounted to 5.8 million tons. As noted in table 2, however, not all of this capacity was in operating condition, as 2,093 ovens with a capacity of 1.2 million tons were not operable on [ember] 31, 1956.

Jan 1, 1958

By Douglas C. Corner

This is the first of a series of papers dealing with modern tunnel-driving methods, compiled in accordance with an outline prepared by engineers of the United States Bureau of Mines and to be published in a series of information circulars by the bureau. This series will supplement a similar and earlier series of papers dealing with mining methods and costs. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author desires to express hiss appreciation, of the assistance of A. C. Dennis, manager for the West Construction Co. Contractors, and Franc: E. Winsor, chief engineer for the Boston Metropolitan District mater Supply Commission who furnished much of the data and detailed description of operation appearing in the following pages. C. F, Jackson, mining engineer, United States Bureau of Mines, collaborated in the preparation and arrangement of the text.

Jan 1, 1931

By A. J. Forney

This report summarizes the findings of methods of treating caking coals in a fluid bed to destroy their caking properties. In batch tests it was found that several coals, including those with a free-swelling index greater than 8, could be decaed at temperatures from 400° to 425° C with a fluidizing gas composed of inert gas or steam containing 0.2 percent oxygen and a minimum residence LS,-;,' of 5 minutes. When treatment decreased the free-swelling index from about 8 to 1-1/2 or lower, the resulting treated coal was noncaking. In a continuous unit with continuous feed and discharge of coal, slightly more severe conditions were required to decake the coal. For 18- to 100-mesh coal a temperature of 430° to 440° C and an oxygen-to coal ratio of 0.4 cubic foot of oxygen per pound of coal feed was necessary. Finer mesh sizes required lower oxygen-to-coal ratios. In tests using air only as the fluidizing medium and treatment temperatures well below the softening range, the caking properties of 150- to 200-mesh coal were destroyed in 30 to 40 minutes of residence time at 200° C. Coarser sizes of 18 to 48, 48 to 100, and 100 to 150 mesh required longer residence time.

Jan 1, 1966

By K. E. Tame

The Bureau of Mines is studying possible modifications in conventional uranium ore-processing steps to confine and permit controlled disposal of radioactive wastes. Surveys of Ra226 contamination of liquid wastes from uranium mills indicated that the Vanadium Corporation of America plant at Durango, Colo., had one of the more urgent problems. A possible procedure for minimizing the waste disposal problem was to reuse the waste solution in the mill--in effect, erasing the need for disposal of liquid waste. In examining this possibility, interlocked bench-scale leaching and solvent extraction tests simulating the Durango flowsheet were made. The simulated reuse of barren raffinate for leaching and washing was carried through three separate campaigns of 9, 12, and 35 cycles each.

Jan 1, 1961

By J. M. Stuve

Standard heats of formation (AH°p) of YbCl3 (c) and TmCl3 (c) were measured by solution calorimetry. Heat of solution data are given for ytterbium and thulium metals and corresponding anhydrous trichlorides in 4.360 molal hydrochloric acid. The derived standard heats of formation of YbCl3 (c) and TmCl3 (c) were -229,370 ±720 and -235,820 ±400 cal/mole, respectively, at 298.15° K. The resulting heats of formation for YbC13 and TmCl3 are about 1 kcal and 6.3 kcal more negative than previously published values.

Jan 1, 1967

By W. J. Crawford, P. M. Gruzensky

"Several experiments have been carried out in efforts to evaluate qualitatively a variety of electrolytes for refining bismuth. Most extensive work was done with the basic tartrate, hydrochloric acid, and hydrofluosilicic acid electrolytes. Deposits that are smooth and adherent can be obtained from these three electrolytes if low cathode current densities are employed. All three electrolytes were effective in purifying crude bismuth considerably, with additional purification indicated in each instance by a reelectrolysis step.With the basic tartrate electrolyte best results were obtained when the electrolyte was at 40° C. and contained at least 100 grams of bismuth per liter. An apparent disadvantage was depletion of bismuth from this electrolyte, causing the deposits to become spongy and nonadherent.The hydrochloric acid electrolyte had the greatest tendency to yield rough, dendritic deposits. Best deposits were obtained at cathode-current densities below 2 amperes per square decimeter. A small amount of glycerin helped to produce a smoother deposit, and adding sulfuric acid or methyl sulfuric acid retarded the deposition of impurities. Very good results were obtained in electrowinning bismuth from a bismuth trichloride-hydrochloric acid electrolyte.Smooth and adherent deposits were obtained from a hydrofluosilicic acid electrolyte, with very good refining as regards lead and silver impurities; however, higher reagent costs and slow decomposition of the electrolyte have discouraged its use.INTRODUCTIONMethods of recovering bismuth from ores and byproducts were underdeveloped for many years because of the limited uses for bismuth, the pharmaceutical industry being the chief consumer. In the past decade or so additional uses for bismuth, particularly in the metallurgical field, have brought about increased demand for the metal with the result that bismuth is being recovered from byproducts that were once discarded. In addition to such uses as low-melting alloys, solders, bearings, die setting, etc., some interest has been indicated in bismuth as a possible coolant for nuclear reactors. The advent of ductile bismuth and bismuth-alloy thermocouple wire has contributed greatly to temperature measurement, particularly in the below-zero range."

Jan 1, 1956

By G. L. Hundley

An anhydrous chlorination process has been developed by the Bureau of Mines for the production of copper, ferric oxide, and sulfur from chalcopyrite. The first part of the process is a chlorination step in which elemental sulfur and a mixture of iron-copper chlorides are produced. This paper describes the second step of the process in which the copper and iron chlorides are reacted with oxygen to selectively convert the iron chloride to ferric oxide and chlorine leaving the copper in the chloride form. The chlorides are pulverized and dropped countercurrent to a flow of oxygen in a vertical 20-cm-diam. reactor at 800° C. By leaching with brine, the copper chloride may be separated from the insoluble iron oxide and reduced to copper powder by electrowinning. It has been demonstrated that 70 to 80 pct of the iron can be converted to oxide in a single-stage operation with a chlorine content in the offgas of 80 pct. After removal of the oxygen, this chlorine could be recycled to the chlorination step. A two-stage operation will convert 98 to 99 pct of the iron in the mixture to insoluble oxides. The offgas from the second stage contains 70 pct chlorine.

Jan 1, 1974

By Nabil A. Bibawy

An improved method for preparing gravimetric standard gas mixtures of helium-4 in nitrogen has been developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. A single-pan 12-kg analytical balance that has a sensitivity of 3 mg is used to prepare the mixture. The balance will accommodate a cylinder having a volume of approximately 4 L that weighs approximately 5 kg. The method has been improved to a precision of ±O.04 pct by performing four successive dilutions, by improved handling of gases in the manifold, and by using an improved analytical method to select high-purity gases.

Jan 1, 1990

By J. E. Berg

This paper3 describing the mining methods at the Page mine operated by the Federal Mining & Smelting Co., is one of a series being prepared by the United States Bureau of Mines on mining practices, methods, and costs in the various mining districts of the United States. The Page mine is the most westerly of the producing lead-silver-zinc mines in the Coeur d'Alene mining district of Idaho, being situated 5 miles west of the city of Kellogg and at an elevation of 2,677 feet above sea level. It may be classed as one of the new active producers, of the district and owes its present activity largely to the development of floatation.

Jan 1, 1930

By C. M. McKinney

This report presents analyses of crude oil from most of the fields in the United States producing 2,500 barrels per day or more. The purpose of the report is threefold : 1) To present detailed analyses of crude-oil samples from as many al possible of the important fields in the United States. On January 1, 1947, there were 340 fields producing 2,500 barrels & day or more. Analyses for 283 of these fie1ds are presented. Fifty-seven fields have been omitted because the Bureau of Mines did not have analyses or the crude oils being produced. As one sample was not representative of the promotion from several of the fields, two analyses are given for each field of this kind. (2) To compile these analyses, many of which have not been published previously in a single report. Since the publication of Bulletin 291 in 1928, there has been no report showing analyses of crude petroleum from fields throughout the United states, but a number of separate reports according to area or state have been issued. Many of these are out of print. (3) To provide a means of ready comparison of the properties of crude oils from different areas of the United states.

Jan 1, 1948