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This volume contains a series of papers describing research conducted by the Bureau of Mines to develop or improve equipment and systems that satisfy the communication requirements of miners doing work related to rail, belt-conveyor, trackless, and hoist haulage systems.

Jan 1, 1977

By L. H. Cole

FOR many years Industrial Minerals, or as they were formerly called, 'the Non-Metallic Minerals', compared with the metallics, were considered of only minor importance and as such were given scant attention in the technical press as well as in the public press. Those days are, however, happily passing, and thanks, to an appreciable extent, to the constant endeavour of the Industrial Minerals Section of this Institute, established in the fall of 1932 industrial minerals are now assuming the importance to which they are entitled. The term 'Industrial Minerals', when first adopted in this sense by the Institute, was thought to be original in its application, but it is interesting to note that it had been used many years previously by the Queensland Geological Survey in the following publication: SALT Article 1 in Industrial Minerals by B. DUNSTAN, Chief Government Geologist (Publication No. 268, in Part) Queensland Geological Survey, Department of Mines, Brisbane 1920 In Queensland, however, the term embraced some of the metals as well as the non-metallic minerals proper. The lead furnished by Canada in this matter bore rapid fruit, and already the term 'Industrial Minerals' is widely used, not only throughout Canada but in the United States as well.

Jan 1, 1939

By D Ford

BHP BillitonÆs new rotary iron ore car dumper installation at Finucane Island (Port Hedland) was constructed to increase the total capacity of the port facility from 110 Mtpa to 120 Mtpa and to allow for incremental capacity increases in future. The arrangement of the dumper is similar to other car dumper installations existing on site. To construct the facility, approximately 120 000 m3 of material was excavated in six months, to a total depth of 22 m. The saline water table was nominally 6 m below ground level and the materials excavated varied depending on depth, ranging from sand to mangrove muds. There was a need to retain the sides of the excavation and limit the amount of water from entering the excavated area. This was required to allow excavation to progress and had to be maintained during construction of the permanent concrete and steel facility. The excavation was backfilled progressively as construction progressed. Various retaining wall methods were investigated with the preferred option being sheet piles secured by walers and ground anchors. Detailed electronic models were developed and assessed to complete the final design arrangement. Dewatering bores around the perimeter of the excavation removed the groundwater to intercepted sumps within the site. A strict and methodical program was developed to monitor the integrity of the temporary works and the quality of the groundwater. The works were completed on time despite the following challenges being encountered: availability of resources and equipment, movement of mobile plant on æboggyÆ materials, difficulty driving sheet piles into material at depth, drilling of ground anchors to 32 m, grouting of ground anchors, greater than expected groundwater flows, and the risk of hydrocarbons within the groundwater. The lessons learned from the use of the retention system and, in particular, the associated construction challenges overcome, provide a sound basis for similar work in this buoyant resource market. The conference paper describes the temporary works options investigated, design considerations and processes, construction methodology and challenges encountered, and the monitoring systems developed. Lessons learned are also discussed.

Jan 1, 2007

By Richard Collins

The projected depletion and the increasing costs of petroleum and natural gas along with the public and governmental resistance to nuclear energy have caused coal to emerge as one of today's answers to both our short term and long term energy needs in power generation. In order to satisfy this need, major increases in coal production are mandatory, thus requiring more and higher capacity coal transfer terminals. The logic for selecting coal as the major fuel for power generation is based on many different reports on the existing and potential energy sources, which include petroleum, natural gas, hydropower, solar, geothermal, and nuclear. The following is a brief synopsis of these reports for each type of energy.

Jan 1, 1978

By D. W. Butner

This report is concerned with the conditions affecting the methods and costs of mining phosphate rock in that part of the western phosphate field that is in Bear Lake and Caribou Counties in southeastern Idaho ( see fig . 1) . The area was selected because it contains most of the known phosphate reserve and because its geology has been studied more extensively than that of other sections . Deposits of phosphate rock on public land may be leased from the Government under the terms of the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 , subject to the regulations of the Bureau of Land Management . Public interest in phosphate production is growing , as shown by an increasing number of applications for leases . Two mines are being operated steadily for the production of phosphate rock by companies that have also the necessary processing plants for the manufacture of fertilizer . Total western phosphate - rock production in 1947 is reported by the Economics Statistics and Division of the Federal Bureau of Mines to have been 1,193,000 long tons , mined in Idaho , Montana , and Wyoming . The average grade was 30.7 percent of contained phosphorus pentoxide (P205 ) ; the average value at the mines was $5.67 per long ton . Idaho contributed 905,000 tons , or somewhat more than 75 percent of western production . Western fertilizer plants took 23 percent of total production; 76 percent was exported . Strip mining accounted for 75 percent of the Idaho tonnage; the remainder was stoped from underground workings . Rock must contain a minimum of 30 percent P205 to be commercially useful for the production of superphosphate fertilizer by current acid treatment methods . Research by corporations and Government agencies has been directed toward the use of lower - grade ore . So far , only by smelting can rock containing as little as 25 percent P205 be used economically . Any development of processing or use pattern that would render the mining of , say , 20 percent rock profitable would have important effects in reducing the unit cost of mining . In the search for metallurgical improvements , consideration should be given to the saving of valuable components of the rock, such as vanadium and fluorine , both of which are present in the beds .

Oct 1, 1949

E. E. Russell Tratman, New York City (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Glenn's paper brings up again the question of the part played by coal-dust in colliery-explosions. In the discussion of Sir Frederick Abel's paper on " Accidents in Mines," read before the Institution of Civil Engineers,? much was said about the dangerous properties of coal-dust, and several instances were given of the successful use of a spray of water, water and compressed air, or exhaust-steam from an engine, to keep the mine SUEciently damp to prevent the formation of dust clouds. Methods of preventing shots from blowing out; of using water cartridges to prevent flame ; and of using lime cartridges, wedges and other means of breaking down the coal were also discussed. Mr. Emerson Bainbridge referred to the explosive termed " roburite " (ammonium nitrate and

Jan 1, 1895

By Benjamin W. Haynes

The Bureau of Mines conducted research to provide technical information needed to devise waste management plans for the processing of manganese nodules. Studies included summary descriptions of Pacific manganese nodules, process options and flowsheets, methods for characterizing nodules and their tailings, and results of analyses of laboratory and pilot-plant generated tailings. This information is the result of a cooperative research effort of the Bureau of Mines and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with NOAA providing funding and the Bureau conducting the research. A summary of the extensive literature review is provided for manganese nodule mineralogy, chemistry, processing techniques, and methods of analyses. Characterizations and analyses of laboratory-generated tailings and slags are given, as well as the results of the leaching studies on these waste materials. Leachability was determined by three standard leachate tests- the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extraction procedure (EP) toxicity test, the American Society for Testing and Materials shake extraction test, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-EPA seawater elutriant test. While the wastes generated in the laboratory may not be entirely representative of those to be generated in full-scale plants, results of these studies provide a positive indication that commercial recovery of cobalt, copper, manganese, and nickel from manganese nodules would be environmentally acceptable.

Jan 1, 1985

"The mission of the Respirable Dust Center is to enhance the health, safety and productivity of the miners 'through advancing the fundamental .understanding of all aspects of respirable dust associated with mining and milling and the interaction of dus.t and lungs for reducing the incidence and severity of respirable dust disease. All Dust Center activities are focussed to be responsive to this mission which is shared by several federal agencies closely associated with the Generic Mineral Technology Center for Respirable Dust such as USBM, M,SHA, and NIOSH, and the mining industry. While significant progress has been achieved in making mine atmospheres cleaner and healthier, respirable dust disease remains the nations worst industrial hazard. GOALSThe goals of the Respirable Dust Center have been formulated to recognize the diverse scientific, engineering and medical aspects of respirable dust as well as the need to enhance the interaction, education and technology transfer in the respirable dust area.The Center goals are to:1. Enhance the understanding of the scientific, engineering and biological characteristics of fine and respirable mineral particles, fibers, organic aerosols, and complex particles found in the mining and milling atmospheres.2. Advance the understanding of the physical behavior of airborne respirable dust particles in flowing streams under different. stimuli during mining and milling.3. Advance fundamental understanding of the causative mechanisms for the occupationally related lung impairments and the airway diseases of mine and mill workers.4. Establish the relationship between natural and cultural factors (mine geology, mineralogy, mining and milling methods, equipment and control measures) in the generation, exposures, and pathogenic properties of fine particles.5. Contribute to the development of control mechanisms for reducing ambient respirable dust concentrations, worker exposure, the incidence and severity of dust related lung disorders and disease prevention in mining and milling atmospheres.6. Enhance functional integration among the various research personnel in the Center, as well as, with other groups, such as MSHA, NIOSH and USBM involved in respirable dust research and control.7. Develop technically trained personnel for employment in the mineral industry for respirable dust research and control.8. Enhance the availability of respirable dust-related information utilizing several technology transfer avenues."

Jan 1, 1990

By J. J. Forbes

This publication is a revision of the first of a series of four Miners' Circulars originally prepared and issued in 19'29 for use in a course of training designed to prepare mine officials to organize men for rescue and recovery operations. These circulars were revised in 1937 and 1938 and again in 1948. This circular (Miners' Circular 33) discusses mine gases and methods for detecting them. The second of this series (Miners' Circular 34) gives instruction in Bureau of Mines methods of sampling and analysis of mine gases; the third (Miners' Circular 35) describes methods and equipment used for protection against mine gases; and the fourth (Miners' Circular 36) explains procedures used in sealing and unsealing mine fires and in recovery operations after mine fires or mine explosions.

Jan 1, 1954

By Zachary D. Jones

"Construction projects involve a great many risks. The risk that material prices will increase during construction or that the work under construction will be destroyed by fire, storm or some other act of God are just a few examples. In tunneling or other underground projects, one of the most significant risks is that the subsurface conditions encountered during construction will differ from what is expected. Each of these risks must be accounted for, managed and, ultimately, the duty of one party or the other to bear. The primary tool used to allocate the risks among the parties is the construction contract.How construction contracts allocate the risk that subsurface conditions will differ have changed substantially over the past century. Today, construction contracts typically allocate the risk through a series of provisions. The first is the differing site condition or changed condition clause. That clause, when included, typically provides that the owner bears the risk that the subsurface conditions will differ from what is indicated in the contract documents or what is reasonably expected. The second clause is one that provides that the contractor must conduct a reasonable site investigation and bear the risk of any conditions that such an investigation would reveal. The third provision includes disclaimers that are often included in geotechnical data provided by the owner (or the owner’s engineer) to the contractor which attempts to limit the information on which the contractor can rely. Because these risk-allocating devices seem to be somewhat conflicting, a brief discussion of each provides critical insight in understanding how the modern construction contract allocates the risk of differing site conditions.At the start of the 20th century, construction contracts looked substantially different than they do today. For example, one contract for the construction of a public water tunnel in Chicago, IL, drafted around 1895 contained the following clause:The contractor must take the work entirely at his own risk. No extra allowance will be made for quicksand, hardpan or boulders."

Jan 1, 2014

By D. R. Buist

The Taharoa plant of New Zealand Steel Mining Limited extracts a 57% Fe titano-magnetite concentrate from a large mineral sand deposit 90 miles south of Auckland on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. The plant consists of an 18-inch suction cutter dredge which feeds a 750 TPH floating separation plant. An initial gravity/ size separation is obtained using cone concentrators. Finished concentrate is produced by a combination of conventional drum magnetic separators and top fed wet Mortsell magnetic separators. Concentrate is stockpiled by cyclone, and reclaimed by a bull- dozer and tunnel system. Repulped concentrate is pumped by sub- marine pipeline to slurry tankers anchored at a single buoy one mile offshore. Current concentrate production rate is in excess of one million metric tons per year.

Jan 1, 1973

By O. J. R. Baena, I. C. Sánchez, J. L. G. Guzmán

Frontino, a municipality in western Antioquia, Colombia, has more than 200 years of mining tradition. Currently, mining activities are carried out for lode gold using subway tunnels, where the grinding of the material is done in "cocos", whose energy depends on internal combustion engines and ACPM, environmentally polluting and inefficient methods. In accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals as an initiative developed by the UN, different mining methodologies that are aligned with these are constantly being analyzed. This study proposes to eliminate the use of hydrocarbons in artisanal mining, mainly promoting Sustainable Development Goals 7, 9, 11, 12, and 13. This will be achieved through an energy transition to renewable energy sources that take advantage of the topography and water resources of the area, providing advantages to the communities that live there, such as lighting, electricity for cooking, ventilation for mines, etc

Mar 2, 2022

By Mario Cedrón Lassus

El presente texto señala los principios de excavación de túneles y el uso de la máquina tunelera denominada TBM (del inglés Tunnel Boring Machine) en el proyecto Hidroeléctrico de Carhuaquero. Así también refiere las pautas para la selección de equipo, estimación de rendimientos y análisis de costos. Finalmente se analiza las ventajas del sistema comparada con las de método convencional para la excavación de túneles.

Nov 1, 1983

By Rita D. Sylvester

THE BUREAU OF MINES was established in the public interest to conduct inquiries and scientific and technologic investigations concerning mining and the preparation, treatment, and utilization of mineral substances; to promote health and safety in the mineral industries; to conserve mineral resources and prevent their waste; to further economic development; to increase efficiency in the mining, metallurgical, quarrying, and other mineral industries; and to inquire into the economic conditions affecting these industries. The organic act of the Bureau, as amended by Congress and approved February 25, 1913, made it the province and duty of the Bureau to "disseminate information concerning these subjects 'in such manner as will best carry out the purposes of this Act.'" In accordance with that directive, the Bureau reports the findings of its research and investigations in its own series of publications and also in articles that appear in scientific, technical, and trade journals; in proceedings of conventions and seminars; in reference books; and in other non-Bureau sources. The number of these reports, the wide range of subjects they cover, and the variety of mediums in which they appear make the kind of list and index presented in this special publication both necessary and valuable. This issue describes Bureau reports and articles published during the period January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1964. It, supplements the 50-year list of Bureau publications issued from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960,2 and the 50-year list of articles by Bureau authors published outside the Bureau from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960.3 It supersedes the annual lists of Bureau publications and articles from January 1 to December 31, 1960,4 from January 1 to December 31, 1961,5 from January 1 to December 31, 1962,6 and from January 1 to December 31, 1963.7 The leading general and technical libraries of the United States maintain files of the Bureau's publications. A list of these libraries appears immediately following this introduction.

Jan 1, 2007

In 1967 the United States consumed 58.8 quadrillion Btu of energy. Both the Atomic Energy Commission and the Resources for the Future, Inc., a private economic forecasting group, predict that the United States energy requirements will reach 135 quadrillion Btu by the year 2000. In 1967 bituminous coal produced 21.4 percent of the energy used in the United States and anthracite coal another 0. 5 percent. Coal Reserves Coal reserves make up about four-fifths of the United States storehouse of fuel in proven reserves. Seventy-five percent of all fuel, likely to be found and recovered is coal. Electric utilities consume more than half of the bituminous coal mined in the United States in generating 53 percent of the nation's electricity. Atomic Energy Commission analysts have proposed the development of a vast "national energy system" based upon long-distance electrical transmission from abundant untapped coal reserves in the western United States. The study predicts that even if uranium supplies are available and economic breeder reactors developed, coal requirements for electricity generation will more than double by 1980 and increase another 50 percent before the year 2000.

Jan 1, 1970

Controlled Blasting, Inc. (CBI) located in Norcross, Georgia recently teamed with the Dekalb county fire marshals office to stage a mock disaster to test new trainees of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). It as an interesting example in which industry can help out the community and government through the use of explosives.

Jan 1, 2010

By George S. Barnett

The Equis and El Roble projects are located in the Cordillera Occidental of Colombia. The Equis vein deposits have sulfide ore reserves of 95.9.5.5 mt (105.770 st) grading 8.51 g/mt (0.248 oz/st) gold and 12.4 g/ml (0.36 oz/st) silver with 0.94 % copper. 1.10 a lead and 11.06% zinc. Ore reserves at El Roble are estimated as 1.1% Mmt (1.21 million st) grading 4.89% copper and 3.39 g/mt (0.099 oz/st) ,old. Geologically possible reserves at Equis may total 1.6.Mmt (1.76 million it). El Roble has the potential to contain several tens of millions of metric tons. Exploration included diamond drilling, trenching, channel sampling, rock and soil geochemistry, geophysics and tunneling. Erratic high grade samples affect the weighting of channel and drill core samples. Secondary reconcentration of gold is also a factor. Sample maps and graphs show the distribution of values to be highly variable. Geostatistical treatment of some of these data gave important guidelines for parameters such as sampling densities, drill hole spacing and confidence limits.

Jan 1, 1984

By J. Edwards

A new, world class dump leach, solvent extraction, electrowinning plant for the recovery of copper comes on line in Chile. CODELCO-Div. Chuquicamata has added a new facility to their operations located in northern Chile. The plant demonstrates many unusual features including: underground collection of leachate, high copper tenors, extensive use of plastics and special corrosion resistant alloys.

Jan 1, 1989

By Walter T. Lewieki

"INTRODUCTION Numerous deposits of iron ore are found in Cherokee, Bartow, Floyd, and Polk Counties in northwest Georgia. The deposits are generally small and irregular in shape. The ore is usually referred to as ""brown ore"" and is predominately limonite. The crude or ""bank ore"" has to be washed and concentrated before being shipped.The proximity of the deposits to the Birmingham furnaces and a favorable freight differential permit the operation of many deposits that otherwise would be uneconomical. The district produced 413,468 long tons of brown-ore concentrates, averaging 45.53 percent iron in 1943.The necessity of developing additional iron-ore reserves for the war energeucy to supplement the production of the Birmingham district, prompted the Bureau of Mines to initiate exploration of the more promising northwest Georgia deposits. Thirteen properties in the four counties were explored during the program (fig. 1).HISTORY AND PRODUCTIONSeveral furnaces were operated in the district until the early 1900's, ranging from charcoal furnaces to more modern plants with capacities up to 50 tons of pig iron. No furnaces have operated for about 40 years, the product being shipped to Alabama and Tennessee.Bartow County iron mining is declining, although formerly it was the principal producer of the district. Most of the known merchantable ore deposits have been exhausted. For the past 3 years the Mitchell-Hodge mine has annually produced about 225,000 long tons of concentrates containing 46 to 43 percent iron and at present is the only large producer in Bartow County."

Jan 1, 1946

By David D. DiPonio, John DiPonio, Roger Van Omen

The greatest opportunity to attain the most favorable prices for underground construction projects occurs during the competitive bidding period. The Owner, Engineer, and Contractor need to have a thorough understanding of the project’s design concept, how it is going to be built, and what it is going to cost. This paper presents the opinions of three engineering professionals who are well established in their sectors of heavy civil underground public works construction. This paper will outline and summarize the considerations that the three principal contracting parties of Owner, Engineer, and Contractor need to make to obtain good price quotes at the time of bids.

Jan 1, 2005