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By H. G. Hammon

Uranium miners have been shown to develop lung cancer in direct proportion to the time of exposure in the mine and the concentration of radioactivity (cumulative working level).1 Radon gas is continually evolved from the uranium ore, but because of its shoe half-life, 3.82 days, it is soon decomposed into particulate daughter products, which along with the dust in the mine, become deposited in the miners' lungs. At present, massive ventilation is the only effective method of reducing the radioactivity concentration in the mines. However, the Bureau of Mines is evaluating the possibility of using coatings on the mine wall that will have sufficiently low permeability to radon that the gas will decompose into the particulate daughter products before it can permeate the coating. Permanently trapped in the coating, the daughter products would be prevented from dispersing in the mine atmosphere. Lawrence Livermore Laboratory was asked to aid in this investigation. The direct determination of radon permeability is more difficult than that of the other noble gases because of the short half-life of the gas and radioactive contamination of the apparatus. We felt that it should be possible to estimate radon permeation coefficients from other noble gas permeation coefficients. It was noted that the log of the diffusion constants for helium, neon, argon, and krypton, as reported by Meares2,3 plotted to a straight line-against the square of-the gas molecularddia meter. The log of the permeation coefficients also plotted to a straight line against the square of the gas molecular diameter. Thus, by determining the permeation coefficients of such gases as argon and krypton through various films and coatings, it appeared likely that radon permeation coefficients could be estimated. In addition we felt it should be possible to find some relationship between polymer structure and he noble gas permeation coefficient that would aid in the selection of coatings materials as radon barriers.

Jan 1, 1975

By Terry J. Close

In 1986 and 1987, at the request of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Bureau of Mines personnel studied 7,040 acres of the 7,240-acre Sheep Mountain Wilderness Study Area (OR-006-003) in order to evaluate its identified mineral resources. The area studied is along the divide between the Snake River and Pine Creek about 1.5 mi south of the village of Oxbow in Baker County, OR. No mineral resources or mineral-related activities were identified in the Sheep Mountain study area. The basalt covering most of the study area has no known mineralized sites. However, it contains common agate and opal that is of limited interest to mineral collectors. This basalt (stone) could be used locally as construction material (crushed stone or fill); however, suitable material is wide spread in the region and more accessible to possible markets.

Jan 1, 1987

By T. Bertke

This document assesses the environmental aspects of a preliminary design for processing kaolin clay as the domestic resource for recovery of alumina by a hydrochloric acid leach-HCl gas induced crystallization process. The report covers waste sources, control measures, and potential environmental and health effects applicable to the process technology.

Jan 1, 1980

By J. C. Franklin

A data-acquisition system was designed by the Bureau of Mines to monitor five detectors with radon continuously flowing through each. These detectors could be monitored up to 12 times an hour, but were only monitored according to a preset time, thus allowing radon to be monitored continuously in a uranium mine. The counter can be set to monitor each detector for any period of time up to 16.5 minutes. This allows very low concentrations to be monitored longer to reduce statistical error. There would be no upper limit in radon concentration that could be monitored, but there would be a lower limit of 50 picocuries per liter (pCi/l). Each detector was cylibrated in the laboratory by the Lucas flask method. Multiple samples were taken at two different concentrations, and the correction factor for each detector was determined by a least squares fit of the data. To verify the calibrations, a series of measurements at several concentrations were made against a constant source. Our agreement at low radon concentrations (300 pCi/i) with the two-filter method as within 3 percent; thus, the total error would be this difference plus the two-filter error. At high concentrations the coefficient of variation ranged between 2.1 and 9.8 percent for the five different detector units.

Jan 1, 1976

By T. C. Woo

This report describes the program that studied the theoretical and practical aspects of the belt cleaning systems, investigated-the possibilities of a self-replacing and/or sell-adjusting belt cleaning device, and designed a horizonal pentagonal turret setup for the underground mine belt conveyors. This design resulted from comprehensive literature survey (both academic and commercial), actual mine visits, study of the mechanics of belt cleaning and bench-type experiments. It has complete working drawings and rough cost estimates.

Jan 1, 1977

By M. C. Irani

The Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the Mine Safety Appliances Co., has developed a continuous-recording methanometer utilizing a catalytic combustion detector. The methanometer, which is presently operating at 22 exhaust fans at 14 mines in the Eastern coalfields, is reliable and simple to install, operate, and maintain. The instrument and the details of its installation and calibration are described. Analytical data obtained by infrared spectrophotometer and gas chromatograph are presented to substantiate its re liability.

Jan 1, 1974

By J. R. Hamke

THE WILLISTON basin is the largest known sedimentary basin on the North. American continent. Two-thirds of this large basin lies within the United States in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Less than 10 years after the first commercial oil discovery in North Dakota in 1951, the petroleum became one of the largest industries in the three-state area. Crude petroleum is now the most valuable mineral resource in the area. In 1960, the basin produced 39 million barrels of worth $100 million at the wellhead. Most of the 137 oil pools covered to date are in Paleozoic carbonates at depths ranging from 3,000 to 13,000 feet. The major producing fields, centered on the Cedar Creek anticline in Montana and the Nesson anticline in North Dakota, produce from depths below 6,000 feet. This report presents descriptions of all phases of the Williston basin petroleum industry, including leasing, exploration, geology, drilling, production, transportation, and refining. Engineering, physical, and production data, maps, and crude petroleum analyses for 137 separate oil pools are included.

Jan 1, 1966

By Dale R. Ralston

This investigation was divided into two major phases. Phase I of the study was an examination of the occurrence and production of acid water within the Bunker Hill Mine in northern Idaho. The second phase of the project involved the study of water movement through an abandoned tailings pile. Mineralogy and hydrogeology were determined to be the two most important factors in the acid mine drainage problem. Low pH water was formed in the mine in areas of lead-zinc ore rich in pyrite. Water movement in the mine was important in the production of acid and the transportation of heavy metals. Areas of recharge to the mine were identified. A data collection network was installed to monitor water quality and quantity changes. The quantity of acid drainage from the mine was found to vary directly with surface runoff events. The study of the abandoned tailings pile was performed to determine the characteristics of water movement through the tailings material and the resultant impact on the hydrologic environment. The Page Tailings Pile, abandoned in 1969, was utilized as a study area. An extensive network of piezometers and meteorological data collection sites were installed in and near the pile. Data collected to date indicate the presence of a ground-water mound under the east half of the pile. Some transfer of ions from the tailings pile to the ground-water system has been detected.

Jan 1, 1973

By Timothy J. Rohrbacher

This report presents results from an ongoing U.S. Bureau of Mines study defining domestic coal reserves. Examinations of five 7 ½ -minute central Appalachian quadrangles have been completed to date. Only 26.4%, 5.0%, 6.5%, 8.2%, and 4.2% at the coal resources remaining in the Matewan, Boltsfork, and Hoskinston, KY; Vansant, VA; and Beckley, WV quadrangles, respectively, constitute economically recoverable reserves. An evaluation of the coal mining industry's impact on the economy of Pike County, KY, wherein the Matewan quadrangle is located, was also completed in order to provide a basic understanding of the influence of coal mining on the local economy. Results show that coal mining is the only major income producing industry in Pike County, accounting for about 46% of the county's income, and 21% of the total available employment, in the base year 1990. If similar results are found in subsequent investigations, a strong argument can be made that traditional coal producing regions may soon be experiencing resource depletion problems far greater and much sooner than previously thought. This will affect not only the coal industry but, given the obvious dependence of Pike County's economy on its coal mining industry, the entire social and economic infrastructure of large areas.

Jan 1, 1994

By F. Keith Shelton

"INTRODUCTION Cobalt is an essential metal in the normal industrial ac¬tivity of the United States. Being an important constituent of high-speed steels and other cutting-tool materials, it becomes of critically essential importance during periods of national emergency. 3/ The Presidential order of December 20, 1940, included cobalt among other essential commodities that could be exported only under license. The Executive order 4/ listed cobalt metal, cobalt oxide, and alloys containing more than 5 per¬cent cobalt as being within the licensing requirements.There was no domestic marketed production of, cobalt products from 1931 until 1940 when the Pyrites Co. 5/ produced some cobalt oxide. The major portion of the domestic cobalt requirements has been obtained from Northern Rhodesia, the Belgian Congo, and French Morocco. 6/ The uncertainty of sea transportation from those sources of supply demanded that steps be taken to obtain from domestic raw materials an adequate supply of cobalt for use in the materials required for production of indispensable machined war metal products. In connection with the national policy for attaining self-sufficiency of strategic and critical materials, the Bureau of Mines, Boulder City, Nev., Experiment Station initiated studies to recover cobalt from the low-grade oxidized cobalt deposits in the Goodsprings district, Nevada. Hewett 7/ reported occurrence of cobalt specifically in the Blue Jay, Columbia, Copper Chief, and Highline mines and generally over a widespread area in the district."

Jan 1, 1946

By H. E. Peterson

Rhenium occurs in very small quantities (12).4 In order for the Federal Bureau of Mines to conduct an investigation of rhenium sources and methods of extraction, it was necessary to devise improved techniques for detecting and measuring minute quantities of the metal. A modification of the procedure of Malouf and White (46) was developed which can be used to detect rhenium in concentrations as small as 0.1 part per million and can be used to measure quantities of 1.0 part per million. It can be used for the analysis of siliceous and calcareous ores, of molybdenite concentrates, of fumes, of flue dusts, and of other metallurgical products. Development of the method involved devising an amine extraction procedure for separating rhenium from all interfering elements except tungsten and a selective distillation procedure for separating rhenium from tungsten. Adoption of these separation procedures permits use of large samples and precise determination of rhenium by colorimetric analysis of the thiocyanate complex of rhenium by means of a spectrophotometer.

Jan 1, 1961

By C. H. Herty

"The work on the physical chemistry of steelmaking, as carried out at the Pittsburgh Experiment Station of the United States Bureau of Mines in cooperation with Carnegie Institute of Technology and, the Metallurgical Advisory Board, has covered a series of fundamental studies on the action of oxygen in liquid steel and the application of the findings to open-hearth operation. The staff has varied from 14 to 23 men per year, some of whom have been Bureau of Mines physical chemists and metallurgists, others research engineers of the Metallurgical Advisory Board, and the remainder graduate students employed as research fellows at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. The work on the laboratory studies, and particularly on slag systems, has been in charge of G. R. Fitterer, associate metallurgist, Bureau of Mines, while the plant work has been under the direction of C. F. Christopher, research engineer of the Metallurgical Advisory Board. In all, some 16 physical chemists and metallurgists and 24 research fellows have taken part in the experimental work. Advantage has been taken of the opportunity for cooperation with the University of Pittsburg to have certain phases of this program made the subject of graduate work, particularly the laboratory studies on the deoxidation of steel with manganese-silicon alloys.The general method of studying oxygen has been, first, to determine the solubility of the various oxides in liquid steel. To date the solubility of Fe0 in steel has been determined, over a wide temperature range.3 The straight-line relationship in the plot of solubility versus temperature indicated that under a slag of 100 per cent Fe0 the oxygen was present in the steel as dissolved FeO. A further conclusion drawn from this work was that the solubility of FeO in the metal was proportional at a given temperature to the mol fraction of Fe0 in the slag if the slag contained a large excess of basic constituents. This result was determined from a study of the solubility of Fe0 under slags containing lime and iron oxide in various proportions. These data have been used extensively in determining the saturation of a bath of open-hearth steel under any conditions of slag composition, and results to be given later showed that the solubility curves are consistent with the results obtained in practice."

Dec 1, 1930

By Curtis H. Elder

In studies conducted by the Bureau of Mines, two test areas were hydraulically stimulated and exposed by mining: One in the Pittsburgh coalbed at the Vesta No. 5 mine, Washington County, Pa.; and one in the Illinois No. 6 coalbed at the Inland mine, Jefferson County, Ill. Induced fractures were contained totally within the coalbed with no adverse effect on the stability of associated rock strata. Induced fractures were vertical and were propagated normal to the direction of least residual tectonic stress. Gas production was increased fivefold to twentyfold by hydraulic stimulation.

Jan 1, 1977

By Phillip R. Moyle

In 1985 the U.S. Bureau of Mines evaluated the mineral resources of tie Bruneau River and Jarbidge River study areas, Owyhee County, ID, for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The study areas, separated by a narrow corridor, include 90,000 acres of the 107,020-acre Bruneau River Wilderness Study Area (ID-111-17) and 47,000 acres of the 75,340-acre Jarbidge River Wilderness Study Area (ID-17-11). They lie 26 miles and 55 miles, respectively, due south of Mountain Home, ID. Approximately 38 placer claims for gold and 182 lode and placer claims for jasper, agate, and limestone were located within and adjacent to the study areas from 1893 to 1981. Currently, there are eight mining claims for jasper at Indian Hot Springs along the corridor between the study areas.

Jan 1, 1987

By F. Fraas, J. E. Conley

"The problem of recovering potash from the mineral polyhalite (K2SO4.MgSO4.2CaSO4.2H2O), occurring in large quantities in the salt beds of Texas and New Mexico, has been under investigation at the Nonmetallic Minerals Experiment Station of the U. S. Bureau of Mines continuously since 1928. Most of the results previously obtained have been published in technical journals and in a series of Bureau of Mines Reports of Investigations.The experiments described in the present report were performed to ascertain whether a continuous countercurrent extraction of calcined polyhalite by hot water would yield satisfactory recoveries and concentrations of sium sulphate in the top liquor. Previous investigation by Storch 4 had shown that the rate of solution of uncalcined polyhalite was too slow to be of value in an industrial process, and Storch and Clarke 5 had demonstrated that calcination of the polyhalite greatly, accelerated the rate of solution in hot water, allowing most of the potassium sulphate to be readily extracted."

Sep 1, 1933

By M. R. Geer

Efforts to evaluate washery performance are nearly as old as the art of coal cleaning, and in former years there was no uniformity in either the methods used or the basic terminology employed. This situation, and the con- fusion it bred, prevailed until about the time of the First International Coal Preparation Conference in 1950, Largely because of the interest of the French coal research organization Cerchar, the subject of evaluating performance was given prime importance at this conference. As a result, there is now a much greater degree of uniformity in terminology and methods of expressing cleaning results. The International Standards Organization currently is working toward international standards of terminology and methods that should improve the situation even more. The various criteria that are used to evaluate the performance of coal- cleaning equipment fall into three categories, depending upon the extent to which they are dependent on the density composition of the raw coal; some are directly dependent, others are only indirectly dependent, and still others are substantially indenpendent.

Jan 1, 1962

By Larry Joe Linley

The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines is reviewing explosion protection methods for use in gassy coal mines. This performance criteria guideline is an evaluation of three explosion protection methods of machines electrically powered with voltages up to 15 000 volts AC. A sufficient amount of basic research has been accomplished to verify that the explosion-proof and pressurized enclosure methods can provide adequate explosion protection with the present state of the art up to 15 000 volts AC. The routine application of the potted enclosure as a stand alone protection method requires further investigation or development in order to clarify performance criteria and verification-certification requirements. An extensive literature search, a series of high voltage tests, and a design evaluation of the three explosion protection methods performed at White Sands Test Facility indicates that the explosion-proof, pressurized, and potted enclosures can all be used to enclose up to 15 000 volts AC, if the performance criteria and verification-certification requirements recommended in this guideline are implemented.

Jan 1, 1982

By Richard C. Rice

Laboratory and field data for wire ropes typical of constructions used in underground mine hoisting were obtained, screened, encoded and analyzed statistically. The statistical analysis of data for hoist ropes retired from service showed that rope remaining strength (or, conversely, strength loss) can be predicted with good accuracy if several nondestructive measures of rope damage are assessed. Found to be most important was the outer-wire corrosion rating, the electromagnetic (EM) nondestructive-inspection technique used for predicting strength loss, and the rope diameter reduction. Signs of rope deterioration such as broken wires or damage were also important indicators of strength loss. Based on the results of this investigation, a number of recommendations are presented that promise to yield better rope inspection and retirement criteria which will in turn lead to improved safety and efficiency in underground mine-hoist systems.

Jan 1, 1983

By David E. Swanson

The U.S. Bureau of Mines undertook a basic investigation of collimated abrasive water-jet behavior because a more complete understanding of the fundamental process may lead to further technical advances. Laboratory experiments used 2-mm water-jet nozzles and new entrainment apparatus to analyze collimated abrasive water jets operating under varied conditions. Maximum water pressure was 69 MPa to permit use of conventional hoses with a burst-to-operating-pressure ratio of 4. Nozzle and induction line pressures, abrasive induction rates, and jet reactive thrust forces were recorded for each operating condition. Average jet velocity and power were determined from component mass flow rates and reactive thrust force measurements. Relative velocity and cross-sectional distribution of abrasive particles were determined using impact analysis techniques. Other jet characteristics were determined photographically. Properties of free water jets, collimated water jets, and collimated air-water jets were determined for comparison.

Jan 1, 1989

By G. R. Hopkins

The average heat requirement per barrel of crude processed in the United states rose from 555,000 B. t. u. in 1939 to 579,000 B. t. u. in 1940, although crude runs increased from 1,237,840,000 barrels to 1,294,162,000 barrels in that period. Thus the almost invariable rule that the average amount of heat needed to refine a barrel of crude oil declines when total crude runs to stills increases was broken. (See fig. 1.) The reasons underlying the apparent loss in fuel efficiency in 1940 are quite obscure. There is little question but that the principle of heat exchange, the most important fuel saver, was used as extensively in 1940, as in 1939. A few companies replaced purchased power with electricity made at their plants, but for the country as a whole purchased electricity increased 7 percent, as compared with a 5-percent gain in crude run to stills. Furthermore, the premise the more complex the products the more fuel required -does not hold, as the yield of ?complex" products, including gasoline, declined in 1940.

Jan 1, 1942