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In this very interesting paper, Mr. Harrington mentions a considerable variety of materials suitable for use in the rock dusting of coal mines; this suggests that you may possibly be interested in same purely theoretical figures tending to show the superiority of gypsum for this purpose. Some of the gentlemen present have found difficulty in applying a thick, adherent coating of dry gypsum to the ribs and roofs of their workings, for which reason pulverized gypsum will perhaps be chiefly useful for the loading of barrier troughs. In view of the function that rock dust is expected to perform in case of a coal-dust explosion, it seems obvious that the most efficacious dust will be the one that can absorb the most heat and absorb it most rapidly. The customary rock dusting materials differ considerably in this respect, depending principally upon the facility with which they can be decomposed at the temperatures encountered in a coal-dust explosion. Such stable materials as silica, anhydrite and flue-dust vary but slightly in their heat-absorbing capacities, the specific heats of minerals in general ranging between 0.19 and 0.22; on the other hand, gypsum and limestone, as well as certain argillaceous materials such as shale, adobe, etc., are capable of absorbing additional heat through their chemical dissociation, although, as will appear later, it is questionable whether the amount of heat thus absorbed, in the case of limestone, shale, and adobe, is large enough to have any practical value. As to the temperature developed by a coal-dust explosion, the Bureau of Mines reports one test in which gold foil was melted, and others in which silver foil was melted, but not gold; hence 1832° F. (1000° C.) seems a reasonable figure to assume for purposes of calculation. Normal temperature is taken as 68° F. (20°C.). The other fundamental data required for the computations as cited by various authorities, are as follows: [Specific heats Gypsum : 0.259 Calcium sulphate, anhydrous. . .190 Limestone 0.216 Lime 0.239 Clay, shale, silica, etc. usually not exceeding 0.220 Carbon dioxide .:0.217 Steam (at atmospheric pressure)0.500 Heats of formation CaSO4+2H2O-4.606 Kg-cal. per gram molecule, or 48.2 B:t:u.' per pound of gypsum.- CaO +C0,42.5 Kg.-cal. per gram molecule, or 765 B.t.u. per pound of limestone. Latent heat of vaporization of water. from and at 100°C.. 535.9 Kg.-cal. per kilogram (964.6 B.t.u. per pound).] Computations will be based on the Fahrenheit scale and British thermal units, as probably more familiar in the coal industry. First as to the inert materials: their heat-absorbing capacity per pound is simply the product of their specific heat, say 0.22, multiplied by the assumed rise in temperature, 1764° F., or 388 B.t.u. per pound. Gypsum, CaS0, 2H.0, though apparently perfectly dry, contains 21% of combined water. When gradually heated it will have liberated three-quarters of its water freely by the time it reaches 250° F.; the remaining one-quarter is retained to a somewhat higher temperature, but the last of it will have been expelled at 482° F. For calculating the total heat absorbed in raising gypsum (or its products) to the temperature of a coal-dust explosion, no serious error will be intro-

Jan 1, 1925

Jan 1, 1995

By Mike Onsager

Jan 1, 2006

By Andrew Franklin

The eightieth regular meeting and convention was called to order by the President, John T. Atkins, at 9:15 a.m. Monday, June 25, 1984 in the Colorado Ballroom of the Marriott's Mark Resort in Vail, Colorado. President Atkins welcomed the members and their guests to the convention and noted that the annual business meeting would be held Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in the same room. A convention update was made by the Conven¬tion Liaison Officer, Loren V. Linville. This was followed with a program report by the Program Chairman, Doug Ingram. The chair then called on Clifford Barrett, Upper Colorado Regional Director of the Bureau of Rec¬lamation of the United States Department of the Interior. He presented the Bureau's Citizen Award to RMCMI former president Ira E. McKeever for his outstanding contributions to the joint private/ Federal effort and the open planning process for AQUATRAIN. According to Barrett, "from 1981 to early 1984, McKeever led private industry work in the AQUATRAIN project, a proposal for a 1,400 mile long pipeline system. AQUATRAIN was conceived as a possible alternative to solve the government's problem of rising salinity levels in the Colorado river, as well as the private sector's need for a more economical coal transport method. The Citizen Award cites McKeever's efforts in developing a model for future cooperative ventures between government and industry that can benefit the nation." Following this presentation, the formal program of the 80th meeting and convention began with the president, John Atkins, introducing the convention kickoff speaker, Andrew Franklin, President of Nerco Mining Co., Inc., followed by the convention keynote speaker, Dr. Margaret N. Maxey of the University of Texas. These speeches are printed in this Proceedings together with those of all other convention speakers. I'm Andrew Franklin, President of Nerco Min¬ing Company, and I'm delighted to be here to kick off the annual convention of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute. This has always been a very special convention in my eyes and I'm sure this year's will be no exception. I am also here to share my thoughts on the western coal industry and how we're all affected - for good and bad - by public policy decisions. Although the title of my talk is "Western Coal: An Industry Under Siege," I believe a more accurate title might be "Western Coal: The Pit and The Pendulum," because of the wide swings in public policy and coal development in the past 15 years which have cut a zigzag path for growth over this period. As one of the nation's largest coal producers, Nerco is well aware of the problems facing western coal production. Nerco Mining Company is the western coal mining subsidiary of Nerco Inc. We have been "in coal" for more than 25 years through our parent company, Pacific Power & Light. To state my conclusion at the outset, I feel it's extremely important that consistency and common sense should guide our national policy for the development of valuable energy resources. In particu¬lar, we must reduce the wide swings in government policy and activities which have affected energy development. In short, we must decide what kind of game we're playing so that the "players" and the "referees" can keep their eyes on the "ball." Business today faces two main types of uncertainty market uncertainty and public policy uncertainty. As businessmen, we expect and are used to facing the familiar challenges and uncertainties of the market in which we operate. Over the past 10 years, the market has appeared to be bullish on coal. But the facts make our future less rosy. Last year, western coal producers faced over 50 million

Jan 1, 1984

By J. C. Rae

A Japanese mining engineer was given a year's leave of absence by his company and dispatched on a tour of inspection of all the principal coal mining regions of the world. He visited the New Castle region of England, Wales, Scotland, France, Germany and Alsatian mines, the underseas col¬lieries at Nova Scotia and Vancouver, and our own important fields of Illinois, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. You are probably surprised to know that after seeing all these, he pronounced the Gebo mine of the Owl Creek Coal Company as the most interesting operation he had seen. The Gebo Mine is located about three miles west of Kirby on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in the Big Horn Basin region of Wyoming, 500 miles north of Denver and 200 miles south of Billings, Montana. The mine is working on a coal bed five or six to eleven or twelve feet' thick, dipping 22 to 23 degrees toward the northeast. The coal occurs in what is called the Eagle formation; and is found between two massive sandstones from 25 to 65 feet thick, which, weathering into bold', gray-colored cliffs, serves as a guide to the location of the coal bed. The deepest workings have an overburden of 800 feet. Cleavage planes of the coal extend at an angle of 45 degres to the pitch, and perpendicular to roof and floor. The coal itself is generally clean and not difficult to cut. It ignites readily from spontaneous combustion, however, which circumstance makes an ever-present fire hazard which must be carefully watched and guarded against. The coal is classed as sub-bituminous with analysis about as follows: Moisture 17% Volatile Matter 33% Fixed Carbon 46% Ash 4% Sulphur, about ½ % B. t. u. value a trifle under 11,000. It is known as Owl Creek coal, is one of the best domestic and steam fuels in the West, and is very popular in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska. While the coal slacks somewhat rapidly when exposed to the weather, it stores readily for months if placed under cover. On account of the somewhat isolated position of the mine as regards manufacturing establishments, there was a decided difficulty in disposing of slack, especially during the early years of the mine (1907 to 1914), and approximately 10 per cent of the entire product had to be wasted as slack during those years. This difficulty has been largely overcome since 1914, due partly to growth of manufacturing establishments in tributary territory, and also to enlarged transportation facilities. Also largely due to its isolated position, the mine has been compelled to use an extremely large proportion of box cars, much over 50 per cent of the product (in some years 75 per cent) being shipped in box cars, which, of course, entails extensive loading equipment and increases cost of loading. The output of the Gebo Mine for 1920 was 348,000 tons, for 1921, 273,000 tons; the rate of production during the year 1922 was over 1,700 tons daily, and 2,000 tons daily in January, 1923. The mine was developed by driving three openings straight down the pitch, the main slope being 12 to 14 feet wide and 3,000 feet long. A little distance from the surface a pair of level entries were turned right and left, known as the first East and first West. From these, rooms were driven up the pitch and chute mining attempted with only indifferent success: The failure of this rise-room method of mining was attributable to several

Jan 1, 1923

By Joseph Harrington

It is sufficiently correct to say that domestic solid fuel is universally hand fired and it is almost as correct to state that a very large proportion of hand-fired domestic fires are extremely inefficient and smoky. This is particularly true with raw bituminous coal for the fuel. The smokeless and efficient firing of domestic coal affords one of the most difficult problems confronting the combustion engineer. This is due to the universally constricted combustion space in the domestic furnace, the complete ignorance regarding the laws of combustion on the part of the average person, and the fact that the laws of efficient combustion are almost completely nullified under these conditions. It is well to familiarize ones self with these laws. These are: 1. The gradual introduction of the fuel to the furnace. 2. The admission and mixing of the right quantity of air with the coal gases. 3. A temperature high enough to permit complete combustion, and 4. A furnace space of volume sufficient to permit of the combustion gases and the oxygen getting together within the confines of the furnace. Even a casual inspection of the domestic heater will show that none of these essential things are present in proper degree, and this is the reason why the problem of domestic firing presents such difficulties. I have analyzed these conditions in a paper published by the Black Diamond, and which has already had wide distribution, so that I will not repeat the rather lengthy discussion in this paper. A survey of the entire field indicates very clearly that a reversal of existing methods and equipment must be had before any real improvement can be expected. It is my firm belief that in this instance above all others it is necessary to build the efficiency and smokelessness into the equipment in such a manner that its performance will be entirely independent of both skill and interest on the part of the operative. To attempt to educate every man, woman and child who periodically throws coal into a domestic furnace would be literally impossible. Much can be done, however, if we could teach the householder the simple essentials of alternate firing, which I have explained at length in the above mentioned paper. This would go a long way toward making the domestic furnace problem more satisfactory, as well as efficient and smokeless. Many will argue, and with good reason, that the domestic fuel should be prepared coke and with this I agree up to the limit imposed by the practical considerations of quantity production, price and the possibility of marketing the by-products. It will be obvious that if enough raw coal should be processed to provide all of the required domestic fuel that the amount of by-products recovered during the coking process would be so great that there would be little or no market at any price which would justify the manufacture of coke. If the by-products were wasted they would not only be a tremendous economic loss, but the price charged for the coke would probably be so high that the market would be limited, and this would defeat the very idea of the whole thing. Much can be done, however, in advancing the use of coke, but I believe that much more extensive and careful experimentization should be had in order to determine the right size and quality of coke for the various domestic furnaces. If coke were to be developed for extensive domestic consumption it is more than probable that the coking process should and could be stopped at a point where the volatile content of the coke would be sufficiently high to permit of prompt ignition and combustion in low draft installations. If the volatile content were from five to ten per cent a very different kind of coke would be produced from that which is now produced with perhaps one per cent of volatile. A skillful manipulation of this feature would make coke adaptable and satis-

Jan 1, 1925

[Adams, Leonard E .................... 8 19 Newhouse Bldg., Salt Lake City, Utah Adams, V. H ............................. 422 E. San Miguel, Colorado Springs, Colo: Allen, Earl W ........................... 2636 S. Gilpin St., Denver 10, Colo. Allen, Thomas ......................... State Coal Mine Inspector, State Office Bldg., Denver, Colo. Ambler, J. B .............................. P. 0. Box 591, Denver, Colo. Andrew, William . Boulder Valley Coal Co., Louisville, Colo. Apperson, A. B. .................... Brown Hotel, Denver, Colo. Arnold, G. O. ........................ Dawson, New Mexico Audin, Abel .......................... Somerset, Colo. Audin, Clement, Jr ................... Paonia, Colo.]

Jan 1, 1947

By T. C. Harvey

Ladies and Gentlemen: At the request of Mr. J. M. Jennings, chairman of the General Committee on arrangements during the convention of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute here, I have endeavored to prepare a brief description of the Columbia Steel Corporation's tipple at Columbia, Utah, and its operations, but [ ] from the fact that you have already listened to, and have been interested I'm sure, in the description given by Mr. Jennings and Mr. Murphy, on tipple construction and operations, I am taking the liberty, with your permission, to embody in my paper a description of our haulage and ventilation systems at Columbia, which I hope will be, in a measure, also interesting to you. As many of you know, we are mining on a Multiple Panel System, which while comparatively new in Carbon County, is being used successfully in various mining districts of the United States. Mine The Columbia mine is situated about four miles south of Sunnyside, Utah, at an elevation of 6,760 feet at the portal or main entrance of mine. [ ] From this portal, the main air intake or solid rock tunnel, about 1,600 feet long, runs into the mountain in an easterly direction to an intersection of the coal vein on a grade of 0.5 of one per cent in favor of the loads. There this main entry divides and forms two main entries. These are run in parallel with 100-foot chain pillars between them and protected with 150-foot barrier pillars on each side, and run into the coal in a southerly direction on a 0.5 of one per cent grade in favor of the loads for a dis-

Jan 1, 1925

Jan 1, 2009

Jan 1, 1989

By N/A NA

Jan 1, 1967

The Saturday morning session of the Forty-seventh Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute was called to order at 9:30 o'clock a. m., June 9, 1951, in the Junior Ballroom of the Hotel Utah, Salt Lake City; Utah, with Mr. A. P. Cederlof presiding. CHAIRMAN CEDERLOF: Mr. Whiteside suggests that we have the Treasurer's Report. Would you like to read this report,: Mr. Reese? MR. GOMER REESE, SR.: Gentlemen, we have here the Auditor's report. A. B. Foulger, President The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute Dear Mr. Foulger: Following is the report of the Treasurer from May 31, 1950 to May 31, 1951: [ ]

Jan 1, 1951

[ ]

Jan 1, 1992

[Adams, Frank E U.S. Steel Corp., 919 Kearns Bldg., Salt Lake City, Utah Alger, Van Kaiser Steel, Sunnyside, Utah Allan, Andrew Thompson Creek Coal &Coke Corp., Glenwood Springs, Colo. Allen, Earl W Mine Safety Appliances Co., 257 Rio Grand St., Salt Lake City, Utah Allen, Thomas Chief Coal Mine Inspector, Colorado, Argonaut Hotel, Denver 2, Colo. Anderson, Merlynn D U.S. Fuel, P.O. Box 5022, Dragerton, Utah Anderson, Nephi W Book Cliffs Coal Co., Dragerton, Utah Ankeny, Marling J Bureau of Mines, 5308 Roosevelt St., Bethesda, Md. Arentzen, E. M Lee-Norse Co., Charleroi, Pa. Arentzen, L. E Lee-Norse Co., 2975 18th St., Boulder, Colo.]

Jan 1, 1959

By John H. Emrick

At the meetings of this Institute held two years ago, there was presented a very comprehensive paper on the subject of shearing coal. It was well prepared and contained data based upon actual test and experiment. The conclusions reached showed that where the shearing cuts and tests were made and conducted [ ] there was no advantage but a disadvantage from having sheared the coal. In presenting my ideas on the subject of this paper to you, I do not mean to take issue with the author who addressed you two years ago but only to report the advantages which have recently been secured from shearing coal. All of this goes to prove again the well known fact that what one mine's conditions will permit another's will not. A number of years ago, when most of the coal produced was shot from the solid and when the "good, old" pick miner?s pay was based on the amount of lump coal he loaded out of his room, he was frequently seen putting in a vertical cut in the face as deep as he could do so with his pick. This man was the best ac- [ ] quainted with the peculiarities of the coal and, no doubt, saw that his pocketbook would be fattened more if he put forth the extra effort to make this vertical cut. Fortunately he was well repaid, and his employer loo, on account of the greater percentage of lump produced. Coal cutting machines of various types were then introduced to help along still more the cause of lump coal and, since the natural way to

Jan 1, 1926

Pictured on these pages are the six RMCMI Scholarship Award Winners for the 1986-87 year followed by a brief profile. Five of the winners were present as RMCMI guests at the June convention at Kalispell to receive their recognition plaques at the welcoming session held Monday, June 30, 1986. In addition to the plaques, each winner will receive $500.00 to be used toward tuition in the coming academic year. Also, as this is a continuing award, the winners from the 1985-86 season, will also receive an additional $500.00 for tuition use in their senior years provided they have maintained a good academic standing. Criteria for these awards is (1) That the award be made in the spring to a sophomore student to be used toward tuition during the junior year. (2) That the recipient be both a U. S. citizen and a resident of the state involved. (3) That the recipient have good academic standing, be pursuing a degree in a mining related field and have an expressed interest in Western coal as a possible career path. Contributions to this worthy project are tax deductible to each individual RMCMI member. Checks payable to RMCMI Scholarship may be mailed to the RMCMI Office at 2700 Youngfield Street, Suite 100 in Lakewood, CO 80215. Profiles of the 1986 winners follow: [ ] ROBERT BAUGHMAN Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado Bob is spending this summer in field camp at the Colorado School of Mines. His hobbies are fly fishing, hunting and photography. After graduation, he "would like to work for a stable mid-sized company and someday work his way into a management position." He is a member of AIME and Sigma Phi Epsilon and plays intramural football and softball. [ ] BRENT LaMOURE Montana College of Mineral Science & Technology, Butte, Montana Brent has a 3 5 grade point average and has completed courses In Mining Engineering, Underground Mining, Rock Fragmentation, Mineralogy and Petrology and Plane Surveying He is "interested in trying to make the mining industry as efficient as possible "

Jan 1, 1986

The 67th Regular Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute convened in the C'est Bon Hotel, Park City, Utah, and was in session at 10:00 a.m. The meeting was called to order by Past President John A. Reeves, Vice President, Mid-Continent Coal & Coke Company, Carbondale, Colorado. Mr. Reeves introduced President Max A. Robb and read a brief biography as follows: A Westerner by birth, he has chosen to pursue his mining career with United States Fuel Company, a subsidiary of United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company. United States Fuel Company is the largest underground producer of commercial and utility coal in the Intermountain West. Max attended Utah schools and has kept his education current through correspondence courses in mining technology and business education, and through attendance at various university-sponsored development seminars.

Jan 1, 1971

[ ]

Jan 1, 1989

The 81 st Regular Meeting and convention was called to order by the President, Charles W. Margolf at 9:00 a.m. Monday, July l, 1985 in the Silverton Room of Tamarron, a resort hotel near Durango, Colorado. President Margolf welcomed the members and others in attendance to the convention and noted his theme of "Make It Happen!" He introduced those present of the 1985-86 Board of Directors and Officers who were elected by the Board of Directors at their Annual Meeting June 29. They were: Arthur K. Neill, President; Bernard Bernstrom, President-Elect; Loren V. Linville, Convention Liaison Officer; Vice Presidents Douglas J. Hammer of Colorado, C. Joe Presley of Montana, Alva L. Smith of New Mexico, Fred Wertz of North Dakota, Rex Berry of Utah and Thomas J. Lien of Wyoming; and Doris G. Finnie, Executive Secretary & Treasurer. He also introduced Ira. E. McKeever who was elected to serve as chairman of the Advisory Board by that group. Margolf mentioned that one three-year term as a Director would be voted upon at the annual business meeting which would be held Tuesday, July 2 at 1:30 p.m. in the Windom Peak Room and introduced James "Doug" Ingram, the nominee of the Nominating Committee. A convention update was made by the Conven-

Jan 1, 1985

[JOHN B. MARKS President Boston Bldg., Denver, Colo. BENEDICT SHUBART Secretary-Treasurer 521 Boston Bldg., Denver, Colo. H. H. BUBB Vice-President for Colorado Cokedale, Colo. W. J. REID Vice-President for Utah Wattis, Utah WM. MOORHEAD Vice-President for New Mexico Dawson, New Mexico GOMER REESE Vice-President for Wyoming Frontier, Wyoming EXECUTIVE BOARD COLORADO: E. H. McCLEARY Alamo SAMUEL TESCHER Denver UTAH: DAVE BROWN Storrs JOHN JENNINGS Hiawatha NEW MEXICO: JAS. McDOUGALL Van Houten GEO. MIKSCH Gallup WYOMING T. H. BUTLER Hanna L. A. NORMAN Sheridan]

Jan 1, 1925