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By C. A. Herbert

This paper sets forth the hazards of accumulations of explosive mixtures of methane and air due to inadequate ventilation, the causes of which are discussed as follows: 1. Lack of well-maintained air courses. 2. Air losses due to leaky stoppings, trap doors, and overcasts. 3. Faulty mining methods. 4. Poor supervision. A modified plan of room-and-pillar panel mine development is suggested, which, it is believed, will eliminate many off the hazards of gas accumulations inherent in the present method of mine development. It is also suggested that some water-proofing agent be used on the roof of permanent air-course entries in conjunction with roof bolting to eliminate the detrimental effect of the moisture-laden atmosphere during summer and thus prevent serious roof falls.

Jan 1, 1953

By A. T. Coumbe

This compilation of statistics covering competitive fuels consumed for heating of residential and commercial buildings is in response to numerous requests for data of this nature to show the relative changes in the demands for the different fuels in recent years. The figures presented cover the amounts of various fuels ant electric energy reported as used for heating dwellings and commercial buildings. However, the totals for gaseous fuels and electricity necessarily include amounts consumed for both cooking and lighting purposes, as these associated household uses could not be readily broken out. [ ] SOURCES OF FUEL AND POWER STATISTICS Liquid fuel: Mineral Market Reports of the Bureau of Mines covering annual Pales of fuel oil and kerosine. The fuel oil figures include grades 1 to h, reported as sold for space heating. Kerosine and grade 1 fuel oil delivered as range oil ore also included. Gaseous fuel: "Gas Facts" published by the Bureau of statistics of the American Gas Association. Thin source was used as It is believed that the data shown are representative of the actual market

Jan 1, 1953

By W. H. Tomlinson

The fourteenth National First-Aid and Mine Rescue Contest we;; held at the State fairgrounds, Columbus, Ohio, October 2, 3, and 4, 1951. The meet, the first such event in 21 years, was under the auspices of the Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior, and the Joseph A Holmes Safety Association and was sponsored by the National Coal Association, the United Mine Workers of America, and various State mine-inspection departments. The cooperating agencies that contributed to make the meet a success, in addition to the National Coal Association and the United Mine Workers of America, were the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals, Ohio Division of Mines, West Virginia Department of Mines, Pennsylvania Department of Mines, and the Columbus Convention Bureau. SUMMARY Fourteen teams from 6 States participated in the mine rescue contest, and 55 teams from 9 States competed in the first-aid contest. Only one of these teams entered as a combination team, that is, participating in both the mine rescue and first-aid contests. The States represented and the number of teams from each State are listed in table 1.

Jan 1, 1953

By R. A. Cattell

The conditions under which the researches of the Bureau of Mines on petroleum and natural gas were conducted in 1952 were little changed from those indicated in the last report,2/ which dealt with activities during 1951, immediately after crossing of the 38th Parallel by the North Korean Army. Although only a small part of the program was classified in the military sense, there was a feeling of the clash of world forces which called for even cheer scrutiny of the research problems so that the emphasis could be placed without delay where the greatest needs for na¬tional defense seemed to be. The reports of the work accomplished were so directed as to have the greatest immediate value to persons charged with supply planning for the military forces and included information on the availability and characteristics of a wide variety of crude oils, fuels, and other petroleum products. Actually, the approach, direction, and conduct of the work do not differ greatly under the two circumstances, as has been pointed out in earlier reports; only the tempo changes.

Jan 1, 1953

By Thomas Fraser

The Convertol process, recently developed in western Germany, is a new method of cleaning and dewatering coal-washery slurries. It is a modified bulk-oil process, in which a very small quantity of heavy oil is dispersed over the surfaces of the coal particles, followed by a screen centrifuge operation in which the water and dirt (clay, shale, and pyrite particles) are thrown out through the screen perforations and the clean coal particles are retained on the screen and discharged as a dewatered, clean coal product of 8- to l0-percent surface moisture. It is reported, also, that the process oil, all of which is retained in the clean-coal product, adds to the coking power of the coal and facilitates the production of briquets, reducing the proportions of binding material required.

Jan 1, 1953

By W. J. Fene

The lowest number of fatalities from coal-mine explosions in the United States in any year since records have been kept was the total of 8 in 1949 and again in 1950. Even incomplete records as far back as 1870 reveal a larger annual loss of life from explosions. From 1890 to 1948 the lowest annual loss was 32 in 1946. A smaller total of 15 fatalities was reported in 1952. Figure 1 shows the total yearly loss of life from explosions in all coal mines since 1880. Those in anthracite mines alone are shown by the shaded area. The erratic variation of the chart line shows the difficulties that have confronted the industry in the struggle to control and eliminate mine explosions. Potential hazards have existed in marry mines without realization that only a small change in conditions could initiate a disaster. Many disasters causing great loss of life occurred in mines that had been regularly operated without incident for long periods. Although the number of coal-mine explosions causing great lose of life has been kept down in recent years, the exceptions still make the record anything but satis¬factory. There have been almost no widespread explosions for several years, but in a few instances many lives were lost from afterdamp. Although the violence and spread of mine explosions may be controlled, the loss of life may be heavy if many of the men happen to be in the path of the smoke and gases. For these reasons, the strictest controls must be maintained to eliminate all factors that might combine to cause even a small ignition of gas or dust.

Jan 1, 1953

By W. D. Walker

This information circular is offered to the coal-mining industry for use as a guide in selecting, placing, and caring for fire-fighting equipment in coal mines. Its purpose is to suggest minimum requirements for fire protection underground, and it is presented with the hope that it will aid in establishing adequate standards that will provide reasonable protection against underground fires in coal mines. Potentially, a coal mine is a hazardous fire area. Coal itself is a combustible substance, easily ignited. In addition, large quantities of other combustible materials must be present in the area of operations; these include materials for roof support, track ties, doors, ventilation stoppings, lubricants, etc.

Jan 1, 1953

By R. L. Brown

This report, the seventeenth in an annual series, summarizes Bureau of Mines research and technologic work on coal and related investigations for July 1, 1951, to July 1, 1952. It 1s based largely on publications issued during the fiscal year, although 10 some instances data are presented that have not been published previously. Footnote references are given to the publications so that further details on the work may be obtained. Bureau of Mines research on the mining, preparation, and utilization of coal is directed toward developing and encouraging safer and more efficient mining practices and preparing and utilizing coals to the best advantage.

Jan 1, 1953

By A. A. Giardini

This report represents the results of a literature study on boron nitride and related substances. The purpose of the study was to find Information that might be of value for production of a new, hard modification of boron nitride preferably in single crystal form. The report consists of a review of the major developments in boron nitride research, a discussion of the results, tabulations of physical and chemical properties;, conclusions drawn from the study, and a bibliography.

Jan 1, 1953

By W. D. Walker

The trend toward encouragement of worker participation in accident prevention in the coal mines of the United States is not new; however, it has been given added impetus in recent years and is now definitely progressing. It has been found by experience that, although there are many approaches to a mine-safety program that will include the workers themselves as well as their supervisors, no one way is suitable under all circumstances. It requires the concerted efforts of many agencies working along parallel lines toward a common goal. The following seven principal agencies, using somewhat different methods, are listed to illustrate how this problem is approached throughout the coal-mining industry 1. Federal Bureau of Mines. 2. State mining departments (in individual States where coal is produced). 3. Programs conducted by individual mine operators. 4. Programs conducted by mine workers' organizations (unions). 5. Institutes, societies, and other educational organizations. 6. Coal operators' associations (regional and national). 7. Universities, college, and high schools. Each of the seven approaches to safety are discussed briefly, and their methods end contributions, such as publications and other activities, are listed.

Jan 1, 1953

By Sara J. Davenport

The human race has been exposed to copper for thousands of years, as copper and gold were the metals first used by man (1). if According to Ramazzini (2), "of all the metals that man's ingenuity has contrived to dig out of the bowels of the earth, iron and copper are the most useful, far more so than silver and gold." Workings of copper in the oldest known copper mine associated with the smelting of this metal have been traced back to 4300 B. C. Facts revealed by archeological research in India, Austria, Hungary, France, Italy, and Spain indicate that the use of copper probably began about 5000 B.C. (3), and that about 4000 B.C. a copper age came intermediate between the stone and bronze ages (4). Copper ores are rather widely distributed and are found in nearly every country. Many of the copper minas of Europe have been worked since before the Roman Empire. The must important mines in Europe occur in the district around Huelva, extending into Spain and Portugal. The German deposits are located mainly about Mansfeld (Rhenish Prussia); they have been worked continuously for 1,000 years. Some of the mines in Africa have been worked by the natives for centuries, and China has produced copper from shallow pits for thousands of years. India also has many ancient mines worked in the early centuries (2).

Jan 1, 1953

By J. G. Kirby

According to the annual Bureau of Mines survey of refinery capacity, there were 343 petroleum refineries in the United States as of January 1, 1953, with a total daily crude-oil throughput capacity of 7,638,661 barrels. Compared with the previous year, this represents a decline of 7 in the total number of refineries, but a gain of 305,776 barrels in daily crude-oil throughput capacity. The capacity of the average refinery to process crude oil increased to 22,270 barrels, a gain of 1,319 barrels during 1952. All refining districts reported increases in installed capacity for the year, with Texas Gulf Coast accounting for 28 percent of the increase; California, 21 percent; and the Indiana-Illinois-Kentucky district, 18 percent. Additional crude-oil capacity under construction January 1, 1953, was 60 percent greater than at the beginning of 1952. The total reported, 509,721 barrels daily, is a record high for refinery expansion. In addition to the new facilities under way, facilities for 127,755 barrels daily are being installed to replace those that are obsolete. Four new refineries were under construction at the beginning of the year, and three of these are now in operation. Plans for five' new refineries have been announced, but actual construction has not been started.

Jan 1, 1953

By O. S. North

As recently as the late 1920's there Were few indications that a 15-million-dollar-a-year industry would ever grow out of the mineralogic curiosity vermiculite. Today, it is an important industrial commodity, used primarily as an insulating material and lightweight aggregate, but with a wide range of other applications. The quantity of crude vermiculite produced and used in the United States increased 14-fold in the 17 years between 1935 and 1951. The vermiculite minerals are of secondary origin, formed by hydrothermal alteration of an ultrabasic igneous rock, generally pyroxenite, or by alteration of phlogopite or biotite mica or possibly other similar minerals. According to different authorities, vermiculite may originate either by direct hydrothermel means, by the weathering of biotite or phlogopite, or by a combination of these two agencies. Vermiculites frequently occur at or near the contacts of an acid intrusive rock, especially a pegmatite dike, with a basic or ultrabasic country rock.

Jan 1, 1953

By Charles A. Steen

Publication of this information circular results from an invitation extended to the Bureau of Mines by the Utex Exploration Co. to visit the company mine, on the Mi Vida claim about 39 miles southeast of Moab, in the Big Indian mining district, San Juan County, Utah. The Bureau is pleased to present this record of the Utex mine -- a property that in the relatively short period of 4 months has become one of the major uranium-ore producers on the Colorado Plateau. The ore deposit was discovered in July 1952 by Charles A. Steen, a geologist-prospector, now chief geologist of the Utex Exploration Co., in tae course of drilling the first diamond-core borehole in the Big Indian district. High-grade ore, 14 feet thick, was penetrated by the borehole. Sinking of a shaft, from which to develop the ore body, was begun in October, and the first shipment of ore left the property December 6, 1952. Ore production, as recorded on ore-settlement sheets received by the company up to July 15, 1953, totaled 16,000 tons averaging, 0.51 percent U305 and 1.25 percent V205. Discovery of the ore body and the large production of ore were achieved without any financial assistance from the Government.

Jan 1, 1953

By J. Venter

The history of firedamp is the same as that of coal: The initial stage was the accumulation of vegetation, which was converted into peat under certain local conditions, then lignite, bituminous coal, and finally anthracite. These deposits ceased to increase owing to inundation that deposited earthy sediment, sometimes as much as several tens of meters (several tens of yards). The vegetable matter, whether it was covered with sediment or not, began to ferment. The basic organic components of the vegetable matter are: Cellulose, lignin, and wax and resin in varying proportions, according to the different kinds of vegetable matter. There are, in addition, some impurities, generally mineral.

Jan 1, 1953

By A. T. Coumbe

The Bureau of Mines has compiled pipeline mileage every 5 years since 1926, with the exception of the war period 1941 to 1949. The present survey has been made to reflect the progress under mobilization of the petroleum pipeline industry where efforts have been made by the government to stimulate construction of those facilities that would best equip the nation for a possible major emergency. This report summarizes the total mileage change 1n petroleum pipelines for 1950 through 1952. In order to increase the value of the information gathered the reporting companies were requested for the first time to report not only the net change in mileage as formerly, but also all new and used pipe laid and the total taken up. This new information permits effective appraisal of the construction effort of the industry and relates it to steel requirements.

Jan 1, 1953

By B. P. Martinez

A process for regenerating spent pickle liquor is proposed in which some of the water is evaporated at atmospheric pressure and ferrous sulfate is precipitated as monohydrate crystals..Equilibrium conditions are set for a slurry of crystals in a mother liquor containing 5 percent FeS04 and 45 percent E2S04, by weight, and boiling at about 235° F. The slurry is pumped continuously to a filter, and the mother liquor from the filter is pumped back for reuse in the pickling tanks. The net result of the process is to remove ferrous sulfate in the regeneration plant at the same rate ac it is produced in the pickling tanks. This process is integrated with the steel-pickling operation and controlled by the pickling requirements for particular steels. Spent pickle liquor is removed for regeneration continuously from both batch and continuous picklers at higher acid concentrations than would be dumped to waste because no acid is neutralized or discarded. However, the process is not designed to keep a sulfuric acid concentration stronger than 25 percent in any pickling tank. To retain flexibility in the pickling operation, all acid makeup is added to the pickling tanks. Rinse waters are used as water makeup for the pickling tanks. To further minimize waste of acid in the rinse waters, improvements of rinsing practices are outlined.

Jan 1, 1953

By M. A. Elliott

Diesel-powered haulage equipment has recently been tested and approved for permissibility by the Bureau of Mines for use in mining in the United States. Achievement of this advance in safety involved extensive studies, both in the testing station (2, 3, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)3/ and in the field 1, 4, 13, 30), of the operating characteristics of diesel engines in relation to the toe of such engines underground. The results of these studies formed the basis for establishing the requirements that should be met by diesel-powered haulage equipment approved for permissibility. Considerable interest has been manifested in the development of diesel-powered haulage equipment fur mines. The purpose of this paper is to retrace briefly the course of this development and to answer such questions as: What is the history of the use of diesel engines underground? Why has the Bureau of Mines been interested in the development of diesel-powered haulage equipment for use in mines?

Jan 1, 1953

By D. Harrington

This paper is a revision of Information Circular 7380, by D. Harrington and J. H. East, Jr., published in 1946, entitled ?Safe Storage, Handling, and Use of Commercial Explosives in Metal Mines, Nonmetallic Mines, and Quarries.? Issued soon after the close of World War II, this earlier circular described the unprecedented increase in the production and use of commercial explosives during the war as a result of expanded industry and the tremendous demand f or metals and minerals. In the years following World War II, the production and use of commercial explosives in the United States have continued to rise. Hence, the Bureau of Mines presents these revised figures through 1952. In rewriting this Wormation circular, most of the text prepared by Harrington and East has been retained, with newer statistical information compiled by Seth T. Reese, Accident Analysis Branch, and V. E. Wrenn, of the same branch.

Jan 1, 1954

By D. D. Blue

To insure domestic production of aluminium for, essential civilian and defense uses, the Government, under authority of the Defense Production Act of 1950, programed and promoted an aluminum-expansion program that will more than double the primary production capacity that existed in 1949. In view of this vastly increased production, the raw materials, with respect to both quantity and sources, are reviewed. The raw-material consumption pattern, the requirements during an expansion period when excess quantities of materials for starting up new facilities are consumed, and the probable requirements for production of 1.7 million tons per year of primary aluminum are discussed. The raw materials that presented the most difficult supply problems were bauxite, electrical power, and fluoride salts, and the supply pattern for these materials probably will undergo changes. A major part of the electrical energy for the increased capacity was to come from thermal generation, Jamaica-was to become a major source of bauxite, and synthetic fluoride salts were replacing natural cryolite in increasing quantities. Other raw-material requirements discussed are: Soda ash; lime, and limestone; starch; filter cloth; fuel; alumina; the carbonaceous materials, green and calcined petroleum coke, high-and low-temperature pitch and coke or anthracite; cryolite; aluminum fluoride; the materials going into production of synthetic fluorides, acid-grade fluorspar, and sulfuric acid; and labor. INTRODUCTION The raw materials for the aluminum industry that have received the most publicity are bauxite, the ore that supplies elemental aluminum, and electrical energy, the means by which aluminum oxide is reduced to metal. A number of other important materials are, however, required in large quantities in the production of primary aluminum metal.

Jan 1, 1954