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By Irwan Halim, Bhoshaga Mitrran Ravi Chandran, Kevin Huynh

Tunnel segmental lining design constitutes a significant iterative process where modeling and numerical analysis are factors in deciding the number of segments, their dimensions, gasket placements, as well as the locations of dowels and bolts. Consequently, these modifications lead to revisions in the final drawing details. However, the current tunnel engineering practices lack systematic solutions that effectively bridge the gap between the iterative design process and efficient visualization of completed drawings due to the time- consuming nature of redrawing. This paper presents a pioneering application of AI-driven solutions including using Autodesk's API, for the Northside Interceptor Tunnel (NSIT) Project. It showcases the automation of drawing design and the real-time visualization of modifications, thereby streamlining the drawing process.

Jun 23, 2024

By J. L. Furtney, C. Fairhurst

"Although global mineral resources are considered to be adequate to meet the needs of a rapidly growing world population, the United States is becoming increasingly dependent on imports. This could have implications for both the economy and national security. The US is a country with a strong tradition of leadership in science and technology. Impressive advances in autonomous underground mining systems reduce the adverse effects of heat and humidity in deep mines and focus renewed attention on ground control. Developments in computing power open opportunities to develop improved understanding of the important role of discontinuities (faults and fracture systems) and more effective design of deep excavations. Establishment of mining R&D Centers at leading US research universities, jointly funded by industry and US federal agencies is recommended as an effective step for the nation to remain an influential partner in world mining. INTRODUCTION. “None of the arts is older than agriculture, but that of metals is no less ancient.. . for no mortal man ever tilled a field without implements. If we remove metals from the service of man, all methods of protecting and sustaining health and more carefully preserving the course of life are done away with.” Agricola (1558)i Homo sapiens, generally acknowledged as the species from which modern Man has evolved, is considered to have originated in Swaziland some 100,000-200,000 years ago. Evidence of use of minerals in that region has been dated to earlier than 40,000 BC.ii Today, a large fraction of the elements of the Periodic Table are derived from minerals, and finding new applications in development of innovative technologies. Agricola’s comments are as applicable today as ever.iii Metals such as copper, tin, lead, iron and aluminum were mined and smelted several thousands of years BC. It was not until the Industrial Revolution, started in the latter half of the 17th Century in Northern England, where coal was available as an energy source, and iron as the basis for fabricating machinery, that dramatic change to society began to occur. Human toil was replaced by far more powerful machines. Rural communities migrated to work in factories in urban areas. Rapid transportation over long distances became possible, leading eventually to the world of today. The change spread to other parts of the world, bringing wealth and power. Although now well established in some regions, the Revolution has still to arrive in many other parts of the world. This can be seen in Figure 1, which shows the relative wealth, or ‘Standard of Living’ as measured by the GDP/capita, of regions around the world. Regions such as North America, Europe, and Australasia iv are seen to have the highest standard. Thanks to today’s global communications systems, regions with relatively low GDP/capita are well aware of ‘how others live’ – and eager to emulate them."

Jan 1, 2018

By B. G. McNish

Neutron Activator Laboratory Analyzer used for Rapid Analysis for Ore Blending, Stripping, and Mine Control BAUXITE is a rock and not a mineral. Since it is a rock, its mineral content varies depending upon the parent material, the topographic location of the deposit and the severity of the weathering and oxidation processes which produced it. At Bauxite, Arkansas the major mineralogical constituent of the bauxite is gibbsite with ~IL- purities of silica, iron oxide, and titania minerals. Minor amounts of other minerals are found. Chemical composition varies from 45% to 60% alumina, 5% to 25% silica, 1% to 15% ferric oxide, and 1% to 3% titania. The Arkansas bauxite region is located entirely within the north- central area of the West Gulf Coastal Plain near the northwestern boundary with the Interior Highlands. The region trends northeast-southwest and is about 42 kilometers long. It is divided into two districts; one in Saline County and the other in Pulaski County. The Saline District is the most important since it has produced most of the bauxite. This district is located at Bauxite, Arkansas and the deposits are found around the flanks of the Saline Dome. It is roughly square-shaped and is about 190 square kilometers in area. The source rock for the deposits is a Late Cretaceous, grey, nepheline syenite.

Jan 1, 1979

By D. A. Dahlstrom

Since the initiation of continuous vacuum filtration over a half a century ago, control of the performance of these units has been largely in the hands of the plant operators, Obviously there has been the introduction of variable speed drives, adjustable speed feed slurry agitation, vacuum control, etc. However, control of , filtration rate, cake moisture content, dissolved solids recovery by cake washing and dryness of solids where thermal drying is practiced is primarily up to the operators judgment and the settings he imposes on the controls he regulates, - filter cycle time, submergence, vacuum level, filter medium condition, wash water- rate, and other such factors. While this may seem to indicate that good operators are a paramount necessity, and certainly always desirable, a considerably more vital factor is a properly designed filter and filter station for the particular application. With improper design, highly skilled operator control will still leave much to be desired in the way of process performance. On the other hand, with correct design and application, the operator can easily and quickly control normal plant surges and quality variations within the flow sheet. Due to the growing complexity and inter dependency between the various processing steps in the modern flow sheet as well as the rising costs of capital investment, labor, maintenance, and losses involved with off quality product or insufficient recovery, automatic or inherent performance control of many of the unit operations within the metallurgical mill must be achieved. Continuous filtration should and can be susceptible to such control. However, as every instrument engineer knows, before control and automation can be achieved, a basic understanding of the operation is mandatory. This is primarily due to three factors. First, as in so many control applications, it may not be possible or feasible to measure the factor that it is desired to control. Thus, secondary variables that influence the major factor are substituted for control purposes. Secondly, it is always desirable to take advantage of any ?self-regulation? within the operation being performed on the equipment. In so doing, not only will automatic control be facilitated, but instrumentation is minimized while experiencing most efficient operation. Finally, automatic control is not a cure-all for improper process and equipment design and application. Hanging instruments on such an operation can be compared to constructing a sizable building on sand, Results will be disappointing.

Jan 1, 1960

By B. Mishra

This paper presents a rock mechanics investigation of the time-dependent behavior of the rock immediately surrounding the excavation in a hypothetical one-entry coal mine based on the geology of the Illinois coalfields Research in the area of time-dependency is almost nonexistent and, therefore, this research was performed to make inroads into this neglected research area. Numerical analysis of a typical one-entry coal mine in an Illinois basin was performed using the commercial finite difference program FLAC3D. The immediate roof of the coal entry was assumed to be a shale formation. Shale in other formations has shown a tendency to creep with time. Therefore, in this study the authors modeled the shale in the roof using time-dependent characteristics. The input properties were taken from laboratory creep tests performed on shale. Model runs were performed at different stages, mimicking the progressive excavation of the entry. The model results showed that stresses in the roof attained the limit of yielding. Using Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria, potential zones of failure were also predicted. The results showed that the current computational capacities are sufficient to explore this previously uncharted territory of ground control.

Mar 1, 2014

By F. Calizaya

A booster fan is an underground ventilation device installed in the main airstream to handle the total quantity of air circulated to one or more working districts. It is installed in a permanent stopping and equipped with airlock doors, a monitoring system and interlocking devices between the main fan and the booster fan. When adequately installed, a booster fan can be used to reduce the main fan pressure, reduce leakage and decrease the power consumption. However, an inadequate installation can increase the likelihood of mine fies and recirculation of air contaminants. This study identifies hazards associated with the operation and maintenance of booster fans. It analyzes the accompanying risks and recommends control measures to reduce those risks to acceptable levels. The ventilation network of an existing coal mine was updated to include a booster fan. The hazards associated with the operation of this fan were identified, the risks analyzed and the esponse to each failure mode established.

Mar 1, 2014

By John E. Kinnison

The Mission mine, located in southern Arizona near Tucson, is a recently developed open pit which produces 15,000 tons per day of copper ore. The mine lies on a wide and gently sloping bajada sweeping northeasterly from the Sierrita mountains. It derives its name from the nearby Mission San Xavier del Bac, built circa 1700. The ore body is everywhere covered by about 200 feet of alluvium, as are the adjacent Pima and Palo Verde mines. The geology of the Mission deposit is known principally through the study of diamond drill holes spaced 150 to 300 feet apart. The open pit is in an infant stage and has not yet revealed much of the deposit, although information obtained there by the operating staff, and from a few thousand feet of exploratory underground workings, has added significantly to the general fund of knowledge. Permission to publish was granted by the American Smelting and Refining Company. I am indebted to Kenyon Richard and J. H. Courtright for criticism of this paper and for their direction during the several years in which I studied the Mission deposit. Acknowledgment is given to consultant in petrography, Robert L. DuBois of the University of Arizona. The only previous publication pertaining directly to the geology of file Mission deposit appeared in 1959 (Richard and Courtright), and may not be everywhere readily available. Cooper (1960) has published a short paper on the district

Jan 1, 1963

By R. Patterson

Tracer gas sampling methods are useful for monitoring ventilation systems, especially in remote or inaccessible areas, and can be utilized for analysis of the ventilation system immediately following a mine emergency. However, the success of this technique is largely dependent on the accuracy of release and sampling methods. Analysis of sampling methods is crucial for rapid response and dependable results during emergencies. For the purpose of this study, four well-accepted sampling techniques currently used in the mining industry were compared using solid-phase microextraction (SPMe) fibers with sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), an industry standard, as the tracer gas. Current sample collection techniques include plastic syringes, glass syringes, Tedlar bags and vacutainers. SPMe fibers are used in a variety of industries, from forensics to environmental sampling, and are a solventless method of sampling analytes. To analyze these sampling methods, samples were taken from a 0.01 % standard mixture of SF6 and nitrogen and analyzed using electron capture gas chromatography. A relative standard error of less than 10% validated results to compare the accuracy of various methods. The technical and practical issues surrounding each sampling method were also observed and discussed.

Jan 1, 2011

By Richard Newcomb, Michael Rieber, William A. Vogely

INTRODUCTION The solid fossil and nuclear fuels, but especially uranium, are given prominent, indeed leading, roles by energy experts in most long range estimates of world energy futures. Optimistic forecasts are inspired partly by the disproportionately large solid fuels resource base compared to present rates of consumption or to oil and gas resources, and partly by the vision of inexpensive high technology applications. Such a view overlooks the fact that while resource- use disparities and new technologies give allure to the promise of the solid fuels, they do not guarantee cheap solutions to the basic problems of solid fuel uses: viz., their relatively difficult conditions for efficient ignition and control, including the management of environmentally acceptable residuals disposal. Contrary to the varied versions of this optimistic hypothesis, this paper shows that a great many persistent economic and technical problems interfere with such a simple inference. These act as constraints which qualify or dispute much of the national energy policy based on existing modeling of solid fuel requirements and optimistic engineering evaluations. The assumptions and techniques of such exercises are sometimes at fault. As often as not, however, the distortions created in open market fuel com- petition due to misdirected national energy policies themselves are to blame for misdirected efforts. A number of interesting implications result. Among them are the distinct possibility that the low technology applications will dominate, so that more direct coal and less synfuel or nuclear use will occur; that, accordingly, exhaustion rates for uranium will be low, that the most extensive growth of solid fuel through 2000 will be in conventional pulverized coal cumbustors, and that the traded share of the world coal bum will be much larger than predicted. These trends will place much more pressure on oil and gas prices than forecast by most experts. On the way to these findings the paper demonstrates that solid fuel resource adequacy in situ, balanced against the projections of demands as capacity requirements, mean little as conventionally measured by years to exhaustion or potential supply schedules. Indeed, all stock concepts of demand requirements or of fuel re- sources must be tied to the paths of the unit costs and the deliverable prices of all substitute fuels and systems over time. This requires a dynamic analysis of supply and demand, integrated with geological and engineering constraints, to provide insights into the multiple modes of market and product substitution. Market forces rather than technical promise will determine the allocation of the solid fuels. Moreover, the equilibrium paths of individual fuel prices and market shares are not easily simulated by general or network models, and decision makers will continue to rely on the partial, local comparison of alternatives in their choices of fuel systems at any time. 'The economics of the solid fuels differs from that of other energy sources in important ways relating to their form in use, conversion efficiency, (dis)economies and externalities. Petroleum and gas are in a more convenient form for

Jan 1, 1985

By Meredith Scaggs, Emily Sarver, Lucas Rojas Mendoza

"Early on Jan. 9, 2014, approximately 37,800 L (10,000 gal) of crude 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) leaked from a storage tank sitting on the bank of the Elk River near Charleston, WV (WVDEP, 2014; CSB, 2014). MCHM is a chemical commonly used in preparation of fine coal and is considered nonhazardous in terms of transportation, storage regulations and also toxicity (CDC, 2014a). Freedom Industries Inc., a producer and vendor of specialty chemical products, had acquired the storage facility from Etowah River Terminal, LLC just a few weeks prior in December 2013 (WVDEP, 2014; Freedom, 2005). The direct cause of the spill was ultimately determined to be two small holes in the base of the 76-year-old tank, which were created due to corrosion damage (Bauerlein and McWhirter, 2014).The spill site was located a little more than 1.6 km (1 mile) upstream from the intake of a municipal water treatment facility operated by West Virginia American Water (WVAW), which serves a population of 300,000 across nine counties in central West Virginia (CDC, 2014a). In a matter of hours, the leaked MCHM made its way through the treatment facility and into the water of nearby homes and businesses, where its strong smell was noticed almost immediately. On the evening of the spill, WVAW concluded that its conventional treatment processes, which include carbon filters to remove a variety of contaminants from water, were not capable of fully removing the MCHM and a "Do Not Use" order was issued for all customers (WVAW, 2014a).With little information readily available regarding the potential human health effects of MCHM, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quickly issued an advisory ruling that set a maximum screening level of 1 ppm for safe drinking water (CDC, 2014a). Based on this recommendation, the "Do Not Use" order remained in effect for a total of eight days, until Jan. 17, when the WVAW distribution water was confirmed to have MCHM concentrations below the approved level (WVAW, 2014a). However, due to the pungent odor of the chemical, its presence was still recognizable in the WVAW facility and in consumers’ tap water after the order was lifted (Manuel, 2014). Recent studies have shown that the chemical can be detected in water at sub-ppb concentrations, a fact that undoubtedly added to growing public concern (Rosen et al., 2014; Gallagher et al., 2014). In response to numerous complaints and demands, WVAW continued flushing the treatment facility and pipes until Feb. 25 when MCHM levels were measured below 2 ppb (WVAW, 2014b), and eventually replaced the affected filter media (WVAW, 2014c)."

Jan 1, 2014

By Charles W. Merrill

The price records of 7 representative mineral commodities for the 68-year period 1890 through 1957 have been compiled and analyzed for significant trends. When reduced to real prices in terms of dollars of constant purchasing power or to the purchasing power of industrial wages at average rates, a substantial overall fall in prices is revealed. This downtrend contradicts the widely held concept that, heavy drafts on a mineral resource must lead to scarcity, reflected in rising prices. Three metals (aluminum, copper, and pig iron), two fuels (bituminous coal and petroleum)', and two nonmetals (sulfur and cement) have been chosen because of their preeminence in their respective categories, their significance in an industrial economy, and the ready availability of their price records. It might be added that these seven commodities. were selected before any price figures were compiled, none was selected or rejected to substantiate any preconceived notions as to price trends, The overall importance of the seven is demonstrated by the fact that, taken together, they composed over three-fourths of the value of all minerals produced in the United States in 1957. The first step in the analysis was to reduce the price records to a basis for significant comparisons, Two such comparisons have been made: (1) The quantities of each of the commodities that could have been purchased for an average hour's wage in each year; and (2) the unit price of each commodity through hhe years in terms of deflated dollars. These data are set forth in the accompanying table and two charts.

Jan 1, 1959

By J. D. Noll, J. A. Organiscak, A. B. Cecala

Significant strides have been made in optimizing the design of filtration and pressurization systems used on the enclosed cabs of mobile mining equipment to reduce respirable dust and provide the best air quality to the equipment operators. Considering all of the advances made in this area, one aspect that still needed to be evaluated was a comparison of the efficiencies of the different filters used in these systems. As high-efficiency particulate arrestance (HEPA) filters provide the highest filtering efficiency, the general assumption would be that they would also provide the greatest level of protection to workers. Researchers for the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) speculated, based upon a previous laboratory study, that filters with minimum efficiency reporting value, or MERV rating, of 16 may be a more appropriate choice than HEPA filters in most cases for the mining industry. A study was therefore performed comparing HEPA and MERV 16 filters on two kinds of underground limestone mining equipment, a roof bolter and a face drill, to evaluate this theory. Testing showed that, at the 95-percent confidence level, there was no statistical difference between the efficiencies of the two types of filters on the two kinds of mining equipment. As the MERV 16 filters were less restrictive, provided greater airflow and cab pressurization, cost less and required less-frequent replacement than the HEPA filters, the MERV 16 filters were concluded to be the optimal choice for both the roof bolter and the face drill in this comparative analysis case study. Another key finding of this study is the substantial improvement in the effectiveness of filtration and pressurization systems when using a final filter design.

Aug 1, 2016

By Alan H. Goode

Of the 15 million tons of glass discarded in municipal wastes annually, about 2 million tons pass through incinerators and can be recovered by ore processing techniques. Although the primary use for this recovered waste glass would be as cullet in the manufacture of new glass containers, this approach is not always practical because of long shipping distances, high freight costs, and high purity requirements. Alternatives to the use of waste glass as cullet would be either as landfill or in secondary products. Although glass is considered a good landfill material, it is still wasteful of potentially valuable raw materials. Secondary products that can be made from waste glass1 include a variety of industrial and construction items. As part of the Bureau of Mines' program in secondary materials recovery, the Tuscaloosa Metallurgy Research Laboratory has conducted research concerned with the development of ceramic building products from waste glass. Materials employed in this research were obtained from municipal incinerator residues fractionated in the Bureau's continuous residue processing plant, College Park Metallurgy Research center.' The studies reported herein3,4 present research results using waste glass in the formulation and production of clay bricks, not only to produce improved products, but to reduce production costs, conserve natural raw materials, and most important, to reduce manufacturing energy requirements.

Jan 1, 1974

By Paul D. Tomlingson

The difficult and often harsh working environment of the mining industry can stress both personnel and equipment to the extreme. Often, the unintended consequences of this environment lead to confrontations between departments, as each goes about its tasks of mining, maintaining or supporting these activities. On occasion, the confrontations may result in criticism of other departments for perceived or real sins or omissions. The offended department may not be able to change the circumstances, but can only complain while frustration persists. The most effective solutions are the actions of the mine manager. By establishing mutually supporting roles of each department and specifying conditions for the interactive conduct of maintenance, the mine manager can better assure that the inherent problems of the mining environment are neutralized.

Jan 1, 2011

By K. L. Wiley

In-situ leaching, initiated in 1986 at San manual, was economically developed in 1989. The primary reason for this lag time between startup and viable production was the time required for technical development. The technical development pursued comprised detailed design, development, and implementation of in-situ well construction methods, formulation of suitable well pattern arrays, and the development of extensive hydrogeologic and geochemical knowledge of the mineral deposit. Since 1989, the in-situ leaching program has become a viable and cost effective method to extract copper from the supergene mineralized zone of the San Manuel deposit. The in-situ leaching methods that are currently utilized have been progressively expanded and continually developed and will became the cornerstone of copper production from the San Manuel oxide mineral deposit. This paper presents an overview of the supergene hydrogeology, current design techniques, drilling methods and well completion, pump determination and setting, solution management, and future plans for the increased extraction of copper by in-situ leaching methods at the San Manuel mine.

Jan 1, 1993

By M. G. Schulz

Mining of molybdenum at Questa, New Mexico has been accomplished by block cave methods since August, 1983. As caving progresses, a periodic geologic evaluation is made of the rock-types present in finger raises on the Grizzly Level of the mine. The production maturity of the cave can be monitored by relating this data to geologic cross-sections through the ore body. The draw point mapping program is a simple and effective tool that is used in making draw control decisions at Questa.

Jan 1, 1985

By C. Sunderman, R. Jacksha

"Mine monitoring through various sensors is a vital component of successful miner safety and health programs. Data from environmental, geotechnical, infrastructure and other types of sensors are increasingly used to discover and mitigate health and safety concerns in underground mines. In many smaller underground mines, as well as in the new development headings of larger underground mines, leaky feeder communication systems may be the only available means to transport crucial monitoring data. In addition, data transport is increasingly being delivered using Internet Protocol (IP), while older forms of serial communication are being retired. This paper presents the selection, configuration and testing methodologies employed by researchers from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to integrate commercially available land mobile data radios into an existing leaky feeder communication system to provide IP data transport.IntroductionTo enhance the health and safety of their mining workforce, mine owners and operators are increasingly installing environmental monitoring and control systems in underground mines. Real-time, mine-wide monitoring is becoming a reality with the implementation of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) into the underground mining industry (Zhou et al., 2017). However, not all underground mines, especially smaller mines and new development headings in larger mines, have the information technology infrastructure in place to handle the data transport requirements for the newer Internet Protocol (IP)-based technologies that are part of IIoT.This was the case with a mine in the Western United States. It lacked the infrastructure to perform critical monitoring in remote headings. Therefore, the mine partnered with the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Spokane Mining Research Division (SMRD) to develop and evaluate a cost-effective solution for the real-time monitoring of geotechnical conditions in relatively remote sections of the mine. This paper describes SMRD’s solution to leverage the mine’s existing leaky feeder communications system to achieve IP data transport using commercially available land mobile data radios (NIOSH, 2013; Forooshani et al., 2013; Novak, Snyder and Kohler, 2010; Yarkan et al., 2009). The solution, fully evaluated in laboratory and mine environments, requires no modifications to the existing system, is economical, simple to implement, and reliable. It also allows for transition to higher-bandwidth IT networks, such as fiber optic or WiFi, should they become available."

Dec 1, 2018

By B. M. Eiter, J. Hrica, D. R. Willmer

"Mineworkers are routinely tasked with making critically important decisions about whether or not a hazard presents an imminent danger. Researchers from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health collected formative data to investigate mine safety professional perspectives on workplace examinations, which revealed a potential gap in how mineworkers are assessing risk. During interviews, participants revealed not having a systematic methodology for mineworkers to use to determine if a hazard is considered imminent danger. In this paper, we identify and describe three distinct categories of imminent danger complexity and discuss potential steps that could lead to improved identification of imminent danger situations. Finally, we identify potential practices to incorporate into risk management efforts, including feedback, communication and specialized training, to increase awareness of imminent danger situations. IntroductionIn recent years, the metal and nonmetal mining sector, as categorized by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), experienced an increase in the number of fatalities occurring at mine sites. From 2013 to 2015, 69 mineworkers were fatally injured, twice the number of fatalities in each of the previous two years (MSHA, 2015a). As a way to address this increase, MSHA issued its P15- IV-01 program policy letter, suggesting that “miners would benefit from rigorous workplace examinations conducted by experienced and trained examiners” (MSHA, 2015b). The goal of these examinations is to find hazards in the field and mitigate them before they cause injury or death to mineworkers. While it is important to identify all hazards in the workplace, it is critically important to identify those hazards that are considered imminent danger because they require an immediate response to avoid a severe or even fatal injury."

Jan 9, 2018

By James A. Clum

The shift to lower grade iron ores, e.g., magnetic taconites, resulted in a shift towards agglomeration practices which could effectively deal with the fine particle sizes generated in the liberation and concentration processes. If the iron bearing particles are not extremely fine, e.g., -1/2 in + 100 mesh, sintering is an adequate means of agglomeration.(1) For the more dispersed ores which result in fine concentrates (more than 80%,-325 mesh), the fine particles must be agglomerated by mechanical means before final hardening, e.g., pelletizing.(1) In the pelletizing process, the essentially mechanical step of balling is extremely critical since the strength of the pre-fired pellet determines the firing conditions. The ability of the proper amount of moisture to hold together a ball of the very fine ore concentrate particles has long been recognized. It is a charac¬teristic of the reaction at the interface between the ionic solid of the ore concentrate and the polar water phase which overlays the solids. The strength in such moisture laden balls, the green strength, is a strong function of the water content (Figure 1) and thus deteriorates rapidly for either a small excess or a small deficiency of moisture. For purposes of commercial practice, the control of green ball handling properties by accurate control of ball moisture is too demanding. Moreover, as the ball is heated towards its hardening tempera¬ture, e.g., 1300'C, there is a substantial drying reaction which would lead to such a low dry strength of the ball that it would not support its own weight much less the weight of other balls in a firing furnace.

Jan 1, 1976

By Rohan Fernando, David P. Snyder, John F. Burr, Susan M. Moore

"The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act Public Law 109-236) was passed by Congress in response to three major underground coal mine accidents in the United States that claimed the lives of 19 miners. The Act resulted in substantial changes in the underground coal industry relative to the use of technology for mine escape, rescue, disaster response and other areas where the lack of these technologies contributed to the fatalities caused by these tragedies. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the MINER Act, which makes it an opportune time to reflect on the events that led to its passage, the changes that have been made since then, and the work that remains to be done.As discussed below, the last decade has demonstrated tremendous cooperative efforts among mining operators, technology innovators, labor, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and state regulators, resulting in substantial improvement of the technologies used for escape and rescue and noteworthy progress toward meeting many of the goals of the MINER Act. While the MINER Act and this article pertain primarily to coal mining, many of the technologies are equally applicable to any underground mining and have already found some acceptance outside of coal.Technology gaps targeted by the MINER ActThe MINER Act addressed several technology challenges:• Problems with donning and switching between self-contained, self-rescuers (SCSRs).• Poor visibility in smoke.• No wayfinding assistance for escape from the mine.• Limited breathable air supply.• Inability to locate trapped miners.• Inability to communicate with trapped miners.• Failure of mine seals."

Dec 1, 2016