ABSTRACT
This feasibility study was limited to one mine over three consecutive shifts. The study did not intend to answer the number of questions concerning the level of exposure of a broad miner’s population to diesel emissions, nor to provide quantitative, subject specific risk assessment, or to address the issue of various sampling methods. Rather, this study assessed the ability of source sampling and chemical mass balance (CMB) modeling to apportion the sources contributing to ambient area samples taken in an underground mine. In addition, the collection of personal samples carried by miners allowed some comparison of job exposure variability and differences between two stationary samples and the personal exposure samplers. While collecting material for input to CMB, detailed chemistry was measured on the ambient concentrations of carbon, inorganic ions, speciated organics, and metals. Chemical measurements were made for both personal samples and ambient samples, but CMB apportionments are only presented for the ambient samples.
