Feature Stories
Real Life Mining Stories With Leadership Lessons: Respectful Power Creates Success
March 21, 2012
The coal mining process with which I had the most experience is called Room and Pillar. A continuous miner cut five tunnels and crosscuts to connect them on 60-foot centers. Mining in this way left 40-foot blocks of coal to hold…
Caterpillar Pleased With Bucyrus Integration
March 16, 2012
Steve Wunning faces a challenge that many companies would envy: meeting the demands for a multibillion-dollar product line that, in most cases, is sold out. Wunning is president of Caterpillar Inc.‘s mining equipment group, which includes the former Bucyrus International Inc.…
Utah’s Kennecott Mines Silver and Gold for Tiffany & Co.
March 14, 2012
The name Tiffany & Co. means first-class, New York City high society in jewelry circles. But customers buying gold or silver from the world-renown jeweler are likely buying Utah’s best, too. The prestigious New York-based jeweler is opening its first store…
Women in Mining Recognized By Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia
March 8, 2012
Natasha Cann is proving women can mix it with the big boys in town — winning the Outstanding Technician/Operator/Trade honors at the Women in Resources Awards. Amid a sea of women working for big-name miners, such as Fortescue Metals Group and…
Real Life Mining Stories With Leadership Lessons: Leaders Focus on Small and Large Safety Rules
March 7, 2012
One day while in the coal mine, we were forced to evacuate due to a mine fire. Later, we learned that a track haulage motor while carrying a piece of equipment had gotten caught against a piece of live trolley wire.…
EPA Has Lost Its Way on Warming
March 2, 2012
Legal challenges by states and industry groups over the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could and should be decided in the challengers’ favor. Whether that will happen in this highly politicized, semi-scientific matter of…
Final Report on UBB Explosion Released by State Officials
February 24, 2012
West Virginia mine safety officials issued 253 violations in their investigation of the Upper Big Branch disaster and targeted at least two foremen, saying their failures may have exacerbated the unsafe conditions underground before the explosion that killed 29 men. The…
Coal Mining May Return to Walden’s Ridge in Tennessee
February 24, 2012
A deep-mining operation with 300 projected jobs and an annual payroll of $34 million is being planned for Walden’s Ridge near Dayton — the first deep mining on the ridge in about 80 years. If permitted by state and federal officials,…
Colorado Miners Take on Modern Day Gold Rush
February 22, 2012
A specialized industry is bringing jobs to Colorado and it is all because of gold prices. Unexpectedly, the value of the commodity has skyrocketed in recent years as countries around the world are faced with devalued currency. The translation is record…
Usibelli Permits Approved for New Alaska Coal Mine
February 22, 2012
Usibelli Coal has received permitting from the Department of Natural Resources to open a new pit mine northeast of Healy. Jumbo Dome Mine will be about six miles from Two Bulls Mine, which Usibelli has operated for about 10 years. Both…
