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By John B. Knaebel

This paper, describing the milling operations of the St. Joseph Lead Co. at Balmat, N. Y., is one of a series of similar papers being prepared by the United States Bureau of Mines on practice at various mills in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company also operates a mine end mill at Edwards, 12 miles northeast of Balmat. Mining practice in the district, as exemplified at the Edwards mine, is described in another information circular of the Bureau of Mines.3 The writer gratefully acknowledges the generous cooperation of the company officials which made this investigation possible, and wishes to thank R. J. Mechin, manager, P. W. Wolf, mill superintendent, and F. G. Kuehl, assistant mill superintendent, for their helpful assistance. Especial thanks are due J. S. Brown, geologist, for supplying information on the characteristics of the ore, and to C. F. Jackson, principal mining engineer, U. S. Bureau of Mines, for helpful suggestions.

Jan 1, 1932

By V. R. Spironello

The Bureau of Mines is involved in research directed toward the conserva¬tion of important raw materials and the utilization of solid waste. Two of the objectives are to conserve high-quality coking coals used for foundry coke and to utilize waste materials of marginal quality but of high calorific value. These objectives are consistent with Bureau goals. Pilot plant cupola trials were made to evaluate the adequacy of various alternative fuels, and to determine to what extent they could replace the foundry coke in cupola charges. Information was obtained on furnace performance, metal and slag chemistry, environmental questions, and the properties of castings. It was shown that anthracite or bituminous coals can partially replace charge coke up to the 40 pet level. Briquetted materials prepared from fuel fines, and waste prod¬ucts or byproducts of high calorific value, all tend to break down on heating in a cupola so that their use must be restricted to below 20 pet replacement. In cases where pitch-bonded coal fines or petroleum coke were used, carbon pickup by the iron was inadequate for gray iron specifications. Although emphasis during this work was placed on basic slag practice, some acid practice results are included.

Jan 1, 1980

By d&apos, Kathleen J. Amico

This summary appears in Minerals Year-book volumes I and III, which cover mineral production in the United States, its island possessions, the Canal Zone, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as the principal minerals imported into and exported from the United States. The several commodity and area chapters contain further details on production. A summary table comparing world and U.S. mineral production also is included. Mineral production may be measured at any of several stages of extraction and processing. The stage of measurement used in the chapter is normally what is termed "mine output." It usually refers to minerals in the form in which they are first extracted from the ground, but customarily includes for some minerals the product of auxiliary processing operations at or near mines.

Jan 1, 1966

By Richard D. Smith

The Bureau of Mines evaluated the emission control methods, including the capital investments and operating cost, necessary for further reducing lead levels in ambient air at the Glover, Herculaneum, and Buick smelter-refineries in Missouri and the East Helena, MT, smelter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed more stringent lead in ambient air standards than those currently in effect. This report presents theoretically achievable lead emission reductions and estimated capital and operating costs. Lead emission inventories theoretically can be reduced from 1985 levels by 2,421 lb/d at the three Missouri operations by containing and filtering fugitive emissions within structural enclosures and baghouses. The aggregated capital and operating costs in 1986 dollars using conventional environmental and workplace technologies are estimated to be $250,014,100 and $18,507,800, respectively. Estimated total incremental cost is $0.063/lb as refined lead. Additional regulatory costs attributable to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSKA), U.S. Department of Labor, workplace standards are included since proposed environmental controls may otherwise degrade workplace conditions. Continuous drossing is evaluated as an alternative to conventional OSHA controls. Substituting continuous drossing for conventional work- place technology results in an estimated aggregated capital and operating costs of $258,344,800 and $15,719,600, respectively. Estimated total incremental cost is $0.062/1b as refined lead. For comparison, the average open market price of refined lead during the first quarter of 1986 was $0.184/lb.

Jan 1, 1987

By Fred E. Fiedler

A demonstration project investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of two management interventions, Management Training and Organization Development, for improving productivity and safety in metal/non-metal mines. The management training intervention was conducted at Texasgulf Company's trona mine, using three nearby trona mines as controls. The Organization Development intervention took place in Hecla Mining Company's Lucky Friday mine, using the highly similar Star Mine as control. The two management interventions seemed about equally effective in reducing accidents and injuries, as well as MSHA citations, and the management intervention at the Texasgulf mine also appeared to have led to substantial improvement in mine productivity.

Jan 1, 1983

By A. G. Sharkey

THE PURPOSE of this investigation was to develop methods for analyzing coal derivatives and products from the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. As part of this investigation it was necessary to study the mass spectral characteristics of many classes of compounds. The mass spectra of alcohols, the trimethylsilyl ether derivatives of alcohols, acetal-type compounds, ketones, esters, and naphthenes were correlated with structure, and analytical methods were formulated. A method was devised to determine the ratio of branched to normal hydrocarbons up to CIS in the Fischer-Tropsch product. Low-ionizing-voltage mass spectrometry was combined with type-analyses to analyze tar acids and neutral oils from coal. The necessary sensitivity correlations at low-ionizing voltage were developed, particularly for phenolic compounds. Special analytical techniques were developed for the mass spectral analyses of specific compounds and compound types including (1) oxides of nitrogen, (2) hydrogen sulfide, (3) isomers of butenes and pentenes, and (4) hydrogen deuteride. An investigation was made of the effects of various hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds on tungsten filaments in the mass spectrometer. The operating characteristics of rhenium filaments under similar conditions were studied. Several improved sample handling techniques were developed, including an automatic manometer and a self-filling micropipet. Studies were made of anomalous and negative peaks in the mass spectra of certain gases.

Jan 1, 1967

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 Henry Kreisinger, WALTER T. RAY

General statement.-The briquetting tests conducted by the technologic branch of the United States Geological Survey had their beginning in the testing of coals and lignites at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., in 1904. Briquetting tests were made at the fuel-testing plants at St. Louis, Mo., and at Norfolk, Va. Similar tests to be made at the experiment station of the Bureau of Mines at Pittsburg, Pa., form an essential part of investigations looking to the determination of the fuel value of the coals and lignites belonging to or for the use of the United States. The tests have comprised (1) the manufacture of briquets to determine the adaptability of different coals and lignites to the process and the merits of different binding materials; (2) physical tests to establish the fitness of the briquets to withstand weathering, transportation, and handling; and (3) steaming tests to prove the calorific value of the briquets in boilers of different types used by the Government, and, by comparison with the raw coals, the benefits to be derived from briquetting. Details of the tests have been issued in other publications. list of Government publications on fuel testing and briquetting is given at the close of this volume. Tests at Norfolk.-The fuel tests conducted at Norfolk included a detailed investigation of a number of Virginia and West Virginia coals that are bought by the United States Government for the Navy and for use in constructing the Panama Canal, and are extensively used by the merchant marine, manufacturing plants, and railroads. Through a cooperative arrangement with the Navy Department steaming tests of the coals were undertaken to determine the relative merits of the same coal when burned raw or as briquets in marine boilers. Preliminary arrangements were made between Joseph A. Holmes, then expert in charge of the technologic branch of the United States Geological Survey and now director of the Bureau of Mines, and Rear-Admiral Charles W. Rae, Chief Engineer of the United States Navy. The tests were made on board the U. S. torpedo boat Biddle, designated for the purpose, beginning December 6, 1907, and ending January 27, 1908. The coal used in these tests came from the Sewell and Beckley beds in the New River district of West Virginia. With the particular equipment used in the tests both coal and briquets were far. from smokeless; consequently the data of this bulletin are applicable only by analogy to parallel operation with a coal more nearly smokeless, but nevertheless applicable with much reliability. The possibilities of coals of different composition are indicated by the data to be published in a bulletin of the Bureau of Mines, wherein the present authors describe a number of tests in which only a very slight amount of smoke was emitted while burning raw coal from the Pocahontas No.3 bed, West Virginia, and briquets made therefrom at rates of combustion very much higher than any rates used in the torpedo-boat boiler. At a combustion rate of 120 pounds of the Pocahontas briquets per square foot of grate surface there was scarcely any smoke. It was the original intention to make a set of preliminary steaming tests alongside a dock (which tests furnish material for this bulletin) and to finish with a set of running tests at sea; but the running tests were never made, for lack of time and men.

Jan 1, 1911

By W. K. Connor, O&apos

The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated the Sheep Creek prospect in the north-central Alaska Range to evaluate the Pb, Zn, Ag, and Sn resources. The studies included field investigations, mineralogical characterization, and concentration tests. Mineralization at Sheep Creek consists of disseminated, banded, and massive pyrite, sphalerite, and galena. Tin occurs as grains of cassiterite (Sn02) in the quartz-mica matrix and within pyrite and sphalerite grains, and Ag occurs in solid solution within the galena. Three bulk surface samples and two sets of core samples were collected at the Sheep Creek prospect for this study. Gravity concentration yielded products with up to 30 pct Sn, and the best result was a product that recovered 52 pct of the Sn at a grade of 22 pct Sn. Bulk sulfide flotation yielded products that recovered up to 89 pct of the Zn, 73 pct of the Pb, and 75 pct of the Ag, but grades were relatively low; selective flotation would significantly increase the grades.

Jan 1, 1989

By Kung-Lee Wang

SUSTAINED growth characterized the U.S. economy in 1964. Many new peaks were achieved in production, sales, employment, employee earnings, and business profits. At the end of 1964, the economy had experienced 4 years of uninterrupted expansion, and the greatest net gains in output for all postwar cyclical advances had been registered. There were no indications of the various weaknesses which have previously characterized advanced stages of business expansion. Both gross national product (GNP) and national income were 6.7 percent higher than in 1963. In 1964 GNP totaled $628.7 billion, a gain of $39.2 billion over the 1963 figure. On an overall basis, prices rose 1.75 percent in 1964. The real volume of output of goods and services (GNP in constant dollars) increased by 5.0 percent ill 1964; this was more than the 3.8-percent gain in 1963 but less than the 6.6 percent gain in 1962. The 1964 output gain also exceeded the average 3.7 percent annual increase for the postwar period. Congress authorized a two-stage tax reduction designed to further stimulate economic growth and employment. The tax cut favorably affected the 1964 economy in the following ways: By helping to boost personal income, corporate profits, and industrial production; by accelerating the pace of consumer spending and business capital expansion; and by increasing employment, thereby reducing unemployment to 5 percent. Three major problems remained unsolved. These were unemployment of 3.7 million persons, poverty conditions among more

Jan 1, 1965

By K. E. Tame

Pollution from radioactive nuclides, principally Ra226, in liquid waste from uranium mills can be minimized by reusing the waste solution within the mill. Such reuse of waste solution in the Vitro Chemical Co.-type process was investigated in the laboratory. Vitro employs an acid leaching process for dissolution of the uranium, countercurrent decantation for liquid-solid separation and washing, and amine solvent extraction for recovery of the uranium from solution. The simulated reuse of barren raffinate in the mill circuit was carried through two separate laboratory campaigns of 29 and 31 cycles. Conventional chloride stripping of the amine was employed in the first campaign, whereas nitrate stripping was used in the second campaign. Dissolution of uranium from the are in the acid leaching circuit averaged 96 percent. Washing efficiencies of 98 to 99 percent were attained by using 4 volume tons of combined raffinate and makeup water per ton of ore. Uranium recovery from the pregnant solution using a 5-percent solution of amine LA-1 in kerosine ranged from 99.3 to 99.9 percent.

Jan 1, 1962

By J. K. Richmond

This is a progress report summarizing more than 5 years of a long-range Bureau of Mines research program. The purpose of this program has been to investigate the fire and explosion properties of Green River oil shale in the Bureau's Experimental Mine, in laboratories, and in the field. The lean limits of explosibility of oil shale dust, by small-and large-scale tests, are reported as a function of grade, ignition source, and particle size. A limited number of laboratory tests on the autoignition of oil shale dust layers and the spontaneous combustion tendencies of oil shale are described. Moderate-scale rubble fire tests were conducted to determine flame spread rates as a function of ventilation flow. With the aid of a system to continuously monitor methane emissions in a deep oil shale mine, the characteristics of the methane flow are reported as a function of ventilation and blasting procedures, and are compared with gas yields from core samples. Tentative predictions as to the emission of the methane to be expected in deep oil shale mines, far from the outcrop, are offered. Brief reference is made to a parallel investigation into the fire and explosion hazards of oil shale mining and processing by a Bureau contractor; detailed results of the latter investigation are to be found in the contractor's reports.

Jan 1, 1982

By G. S. Scott

In the course of the Bureau of Mines investigation relative to the causes, behavior, and control of anthracite-mine fires, attention was directed toward the correlation between the temperature of oxidation and the gaseous oxidation products in the range of temperatures between 100° and 350°C4/. These tests, made on a high-grade anthracite to determine the amount of oxygen consumed and the mounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane evolved when air was passed through samples of the anthracite at various elevated temperatures, showed that the gases evolved and their relative proportions vary with temperature, constitute a means for determining the probable temperature of the anthracite, and thus permit detection of incipient heating beers dangerous fire hazard exists. As the relationships mentioned are affected somewhat by the amount of previous oxidation of the coal, it was deemed desirable to know to what extent they might vary owing to this cause. It was also considered desirable to have a means for estimating the extent of oxidation from the gas analysis, as this would permit a more accurate estimate of probable temperature. Finally, it seemed desirable to know how much the composition of coal might vary over an extended period of oxidation, since this was previously suggested5/ as a possible means for estimating the probable maximum oxidation temperature to which a sample of coal had been subjected.

Jan 1, 1940

By F. G. Scott

This document is a proposed program plan for mining environmental research to be conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in support of industrial oil shale mining and processing. This program plan is one of three research alternatives being considered by the Bureau, each based on a different level of anticipated funding. This report documents the mid funding level program plan.

Jan 1, 1980

By D. Harrington, M. W. Von Bernewitz

"Introduction In studying the mine disaster files of the Bureau of Mires for preparation of a bulletin on coal-mine explosions, a table was compiled covering various features of fan installations and the handling of air currents at the time of and after the disasters. As a sidelight on this discussion, there was tabulated the loss of life and number of men injured.Discussion of collected dataOf the 164 disasters tabulated, 148 were explosions, 14 were fires, and 2 involved both fire and explosion. The total loss of life was 4,158 and 412 were injured. There were 145 disasters in bituminous coal mines, 13 in anthratice mines, 2 in lignite mines, 1 in a cannel coal nine, and 3 in metal mines. By States, 35 took place in Pennsylvania; 17 in West Virginia; 16 in Oklahoma and Alabama; 15 in. Kansas and Illinois; 12 in Indiana; 7 in Colorado; 6 in Kentucky; 3 each in Ohio Tennessee and Wyoming; 2 each in Arkansas, Montana, Washington, Virginia, New Mexico and Utah and 1 each in Iowa, Missouri, Maryland, and California."

Sep 1, 1924

By Edward L. McHugh, Louis J. Denes, Jami M. Girard

A prototype portable hyperspectral imager that operates in the visible and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum was field tested at an open-pit mine. The tests were sponsored by the Spokane Research Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, as part of an investigation of remote sensing technologies for use in detecting and monitoring conditions in surface mines that could lead to catastrophic slope failure. The spectro-polarimetric imager, built at the Carnegie Mellon Research Institute, employs an acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF) to control wavelength, a phase retarder to measure polarization signatures, and a digital camera and computer to capture data. The spectral range of the instrument is 450 to 1000 nm at 10-nm intervals. High-resolution hyperspectral images of highwalls, outcrops, hand samples, and drill core were collected in the field. Spectra from the images closely matched those of specific minerals present and were used to classify the images. The field tests were designed to examine the feasibility of using spectral imaging to assist in compiling objective geologic maps of mine highwalls and other hazardous slopes. Results illustrate the capability of the method to discriminate materials within the image, validating the concept of simplified spectral imaging. A contributing factor in many slope failures is the presence and distribution of mechanically incompetent, clay-rich altered rock in slope faces. Spectral features of clays and other minerals are more distinctive in the short-wave and mid-infrared part of the spectrum; the capabilities of the instrument need to be extended into this range to apply the AOTF-based technology to common geologic materials. A field-portable hyperspectral imager could find broad application in remotely identifying diverse materials from solids and coatings to gases.

By H. J. Sloman

Mining laws of the several coal-producing Stat e with respect to safety catches on mine cages and their testing are extremely variable and generally indefinite in scope. The most specific requirements are contained in the Coal Mining Laws of Washington,3/ as follows:

Jan 1, 1944

By Kenneth C. Stewart

The overall purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate, in the laboratory, instrumentation and procedures which might allow for the use of physical measurements of earmuff attenuation which would yield results equivalent to those obtained from psychophysical measures of attenuation. The ultimate goal was to evaluate techniques which might subsequently prove feasible for physical measurement of earmuff attenuation in the field. Current instruments were modified to have a response similar to differrences observed in earmuff attenuation as observed in Volume 1 of the current contract. Mining noise spectra were selected and presented to a single subject seated in a diffuse noise field. The subject wore one of the muffs evaluated in the earlier study and was also fitted with two physical sound measurement systems. A linear system measured the "outside" noise level and a linear system plus "correction" filter measured the "in-side" noise level. These measurements indicated that, under the procedures presented in this report, a laboratory method for measuring earmuff attenuation is feasible and yields results comparable to an extensive psycho-physical procedure.

Jan 1, 1980

By Mark Sheppard

The technical literature on the general subject of crushing contains many references to the work of investigators on the laws governing, and the factors entering into, the economical production of fine materials. In fine grinding, whether for the purpose of producing fine material, or for the unlocking of minerals in an ore, close control of the screen sizes of primary-crusher products is of secondary consideration and accordingly has received very little attention. The growth and development of the nonmetallic industries, however, have drawn more attention to primary crushing. Many of these industries are interested in the production of relatively coarse products that meet certain definite size specifications, a condition entirely different from that existing in the field of ore dressing. Under such conditions, a knowledge of the factors governing the selection and operation of primary-crushing equipment is essential to the economical production of a satisfactory material.

Jan 1, 1939

By Alfred Wild

The Kraftile Co. plant, Fremont, Alameda County, Calif.--the largest producer of glazed, structural wall units west of the Rocky Mountains-- maintains modern processing facilities to evaluate and blend a wide variety of clays from several sources to produce quality products. The report desribes the prospecting, exploration, and test methods used to locate raw material sources and covers processing methods, cost factors, and trends. Also, the geologic and ceramic factors are considered in a general discussion of the economics, potentials, and requirements of clays as raw materials for ceramic tile manufacturing.

Jan 1, 1963