Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company (Iowa)

 The Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company (Iowa), was a mining company and was incorporated on May 7, 1893 under the laws of the state of Iowa. It had an initial capital stock of $600,000, 600,000 shares, $1.00 each. The company was represented by its president Biddle Reeves and its secretary and treasurer George W. Peirce. The difference between this company and the Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company (New York), is very probably that the capital stock of $600,000 was organized under the same company name, but a separate incorporation in a different state.
The company had its administration at 101 Boston Building, Denver, Colorado.
The company had a predecessor under the same name of Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company, of New York, which was formed in 1879 and incorporated 1882 under the laws of New York. Properties, including those in gold mining near Georgetown, Colorado, were taken over.
People involved.
"Found Death on the Floor. Biddle Reeves, prominently connected with business in Utah, dies of Apoplexy." Denver., Colo., May 30. Mr. Biddle Reeves of the firm Reeves & Clemes, real estate and investment brokers, representing in Colorado and Utah the Mortgage Trust Company of Pennsylvania, was found death on the floor of his bedroom. Apoplexy caused his sudden death.
He was born in Woodsbury, N.Y., 47 years ago. For years he was engaged in the manufacture of glassware with Samuel Tatua and company in Philadelphia and later was interested with his brother, Paul S. Reeves, in the manufacture of brass goods. His health failing him, he came west about 18 years ago.
Events.
The gold robbery.
The rich gold ore from the company's gold mine in Georgetown, Colorado, and in some extent also at Golden Fleece Mine in Lake County, Colorado attracted interest also from other sides. The ore was subject of a systematically robbery, which was uncovered in 1895.
Finally, the method of the robbery was elucidated. As a result, nearly the whole staff, about 150 persons, mainly miners, lost their jobs, and a new crew was hired. The theft case was solved with the aid of Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Charles A. Siringo, a detective working for the agency, was involved in uncovering the methods of the thieves, as it is mentioned in his memories.
A newspaper report from Sunday Herald (June 23, 1895) gives a detailed account on the robbery and some further information on the company:
ROBBING A MINE. "Systematic Fleecing of Ore of the Richest Gold Properties".
The Golden Fleece Mining company is one of the best paying gold producing properties in Colorado and it has no wonder that a great sensation followed the recent discovery that there had been a series of systematic robberies by which about half of the output has been stolen. The extent of the robbery may be at least partially realised when it is stated that the output last month was $35,000. During the four years that the mine has been worked it has been one of the best paying, investments ever uncovered in Colorado. With a capital stock of $600,000 the promoters have within a few years all become wealthy men. Four years ago a party of Denver men, among whom S. S. Kennedy now living in Highlands was a leading spirit, began to work the mine which was then for the first time known to contain large deposits of gold. When a company was formed two years ago this month to further develop the property it was not anticipated that the output would reach anything like the figure that are now shown. In the past two years the yield has averaged more than $20,000 a month and many months it has run as high as $40,000. It was no wonder that the fact that one-half of this large output has been systematically stolen should have created consternation among those interested in similar enterprises.
 "Extraordinary Precaution".
The opinion was generally expressed that this is only one instance of where similar practices have been consummated in mining camps. For many years old miners claim, that professional thieves have been working the mines when discovered that have produced big outputs. This gang, it is asserted, have toured the West, and no great mine has escaped the robbery that has followed. To such an extent has this been carried that in many of the larger mines the plan has finally been adopted of closing all except one entrance and requiring that persons going in and coming out shall make a complete change of clothing. In most new mines, however, this rule is not observed.
The most sensational feature of the discovery is that the fact is borne home, that miners of Colorado must have lost in the last ten years millions of dollars by reason of the systematic scheme carried out in all its arranged details by a baud of professionals. As one of the officers of the Golden Fleece said yesterday, the work was not that of the miners themselves. As a rule, they are honest, and are content to receive the regular wages. Some bold thieves have, however, planned robberies on a gigantic scale, and it would appear have generally carried their schemes to a successful issue.
 "Defensive Organisations".
There is some talk of forming an organization of mining men for the purpose of running to earth and punishing the rascals who have plundered the rich mines of the State and pilfered their product from the rightful owners. There is no clue as to who the leaders of the gang of marauders are, but it is thought that with a perfect combination and the expenditure of enough money the perpetrators of this stupendous schema of robbery can he found.
The specimens of rich tellurium ore exhibited in the company's office suggest the ease with which the stealing of enormous sums can be done. A small chunk of ore in the glass case not over two inches square is worth $65, while the large piece at the window which was shown at the World's Fair is worth more than $800.
In May 1893, the Golden Fleece Mining Company was organised with a capital stock of $600,000. It has since not only paid its dividends, amounting to about 25 per cent per annum, but has besides expended large sums in developing and improving the property. The output is principally gold. About two mouths ago the officers of the company received a tip that the company was being systematically robbed, and the investigation was then begun which now results in the finding that for many months the corporation has lost over one-half of its ores, stolen under the vary eye of the managers.
 "Vice President’s Statement".
S. S. Kennedy, vice-president of the company, said he did not know the details of the result of the investigation except as he had read the same in The News. "About two months ago," Mr. Kennedy said, "we received word that the ore was being stolen, and an investigation was then begun. A few days ago Misters Pierce and Lee were sent down to be on the ground and personally-endeavor to get the bottom facts. I believe no doubt the report in your paper is true, as it is in line with what we were prepared to hear." Mr. Kennedy owns 120,000 shares of the stock. He was originally the owner of a quarter interest but a few weeks since he disposed 30,000 shares, retaining now a fifth interest in the property. "Whenever a rich mine is opened" continued Mr. Kennedy, "professional thieves are sure to gather around. Genuine miners are all right. I do not think the stealing has been going on long, and I believe an organised hand of professionals is at the bottom of the whole affair."
To much an extent has this species of theft been carried on in other mines that the owners have at times of late discharged the entire force, innocent as well as guilty, in the effort to locate the rascals. Some months ago the management of the Victor gold mine at Cripple Creek let out all of the men and it is rumored that this course will now be pursued at the Golden Fleece, although if the other officers feel as Mr. Kennedy does, there will be no occasion for this plan, as he has no doubt the men are without blame.
The robbery did not affect the company's dividend payments to its shareholders. The dividend was not even cut back as one might think this would happen as a result of one of the biggest robberies in value known by then. To that point in history, the company enjoyed the highest reputation among investors and shareholders. But times were changing, later...
The name robbery: Golden Fleece Mining, Milling and Refining Company.
Due to the extraordinary rich gold production in the mines and the high dividend payments to shareholders, Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Co. was well known being a reliable investment, at least for more than one decade, even before 1890, until the turn of the 20th century. That was in contrast to many other mining companies of that time, which had consumed the collected capital funds very quickly without ever paying any return or dividends to their investors. Although the glorious peak of Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Co. had passed long ago in 1910, its demise was at least not based on fraud, but rather than the missing luck in finding new gold veins in the mines.
The former reputation of the company many Americans must probably still have known, as in November 1910 the Burr Brothers Inc., residing at Flatiron Building, New York, was raided. Sheldon C. Burr being its president, and Eugene H. Burr, secretary and treasurer, among many others, were arrested for having robbed the Public of probably $100,000,000. The Burr Brothers and their associates had spun an extensive network of companies all over the country around Burr Brothers Inc., that was specialized for cheating large numbers of Americans upon their savings. This Ponzi scheme, due to its giant dimensions for its time being, received similar public attention as the Madoff investment scandal today. The Burr Brothers' case was followed by many newspapers. In 1911, when Burr Brothers were at trial, some inside went public to the mechanism of the scheme.
It was a specialty of Burr Brothers to create mining stock companies with melodious and fanciful, phony names. Among many other, such companies had tip-off names like Rawhide Tarantula, capitalized at $1,000,000; others were Montezuma Mining and Smelting, $1,000,000; Montezuma Extension Gold Mining Co., $1,000,000. But one of their set up companies, referring to the reputation of Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Co., was the Golden Fleece Mining, Milling and Refining Company, endowed with a stock capital of $500,000. Nothing other than a similar-sounding name was used to deceive many Americans to invest their money in fake companies.
It should be mentioned that the name game continued 90 years later, this time in different form, but under the same name of other Burr Brothers. This time Burr Brothers were represented by Daniel Burr, and his younger brother Robert, setting up an investment scam company, Cornerstone Management, in 1999. Here, only one reference is made to a newspaper article of the year 2003. It would be interesting to know, if Burr Brothers I (1910), are ancestors to Burr Brothers II (1999).
Financials and Financial statements.
The Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company, Inc., was listed on the Colorado Springs Mining Exchange (stock designation: Golden Fleece). It paid high dividends to its shareholders during peak times. The company’s dividend payments can be explored for several years and were subject of statistical analysis.,
The company’s cumulative earnings report from September 1, 1892 to December 31, 1895 were published in 1896:
The Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company of Lake City, Colorado, reports:
Considering the dividend payments for this period only, shareholders received a capital re-distribution of 67%, calculated on the fully paid, original stock capital of the company. Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company (Iowa), for its first time, was listed on Mining Exchange of Colorado Springs, on Wednesday, December 4, 1895. Before its listing, ownership of the company was condensed to few shareholders, and some shares were traded, similar to its predecessor Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company (New York), occasionally on stock exchange.
On December 13, 1895, it open with $1,10 and closed with $1,30, some days after its listing.
In December 1895 the company purchased the Colorado City Mine in the Cripple Creek mining district, Colorado for $60.000..
Gold production from gold mines in Hinsdale County, Colorado peaked in 1895, and after that year constantly fell down. Reports on discovery of new gold veins in mines operated by the company were not published. Given below are some representative stock quotations, taken out of stock market reports, published in the NY Times on the following day.
Quotations for Golden Fleece fell slowly, but constantly, reflecting the fate of the company. The stock became a penny stock, and accordingly, investors lost interest in investing in the stock.
The missing luck in discovery of new gold veins was publicly noted. The report suggests that luck of finding new gold veins had faded.
The decline in the Golden Fleece stock was used as template in Frederick Upham Adams story about the figure John Burt, a New England lad, who had gone West to seek his fortune and finds it in gold mining. The story is also an account to the stock manipulations, with reference to the gold mining scam, a feature also on top today. The excerpts from the story reads:
"Then I made a strike on the Mariposa River. Sold my interest to an English syndicate for ninety-five thousand. I went to San Francisco and fell in love with Lucile Montrose. Did you ever see her, John? No? Well, you've heard of her, of course. She's an actress, or rather she was an actress. Ah, Lucile, Lucile! She was a dream, John. Such eyes, such pearly teeth and golden hair! And her voice was like well, it was great. And I loved her and she loved me, and we were engaged to be married. I bought her diamond rings and sunbursts, and a carriage, and all kinds of things until my ninety-five thousand had dwindled to fifty thousand. I argued with myself that no such sum of money was sufficient to enter upon a matrimonial career with Lucile, so I decided to double it by making an investment in Golden Fleece mining stock. I lost the fifty thousand. With tears in her beautiful eyes, Lucile said she was sorry, and would wait for me to make another fortune. She did not say how long she would wait, and not hearing from me for three weeks while I was plugging away in the mountains, she married a one-legged old millionaire, and wrote me a letter saying she would never cease to love me."
The company went out of business prior to June 1913. The stock was listed by the Alien Property Custodian report in 1919, in an appendix as “securities of unknown and undetermined value”.
Revival attempt.
A revival under the name of the original Golden Fleece and Mining Company was tried in 1920. The then issued company prospectus stated a stock capital of $2,500,000, and incorporation under the laws of Colorado. The new company was seated at 601 Foster Building, Denver Colorado in 1922, and soon later, when architect Jacques Benedict finished his Flatiron Building in 1923, the company moved its office to 313 Flatiron Building, 1669 Broadway, Denver, Colorado, with Harold B. Barnes being the executive, and Lyman Franklin Hulen as president of the company. The company in 1920 took a lease on some properties of the Golden Fleece Mine (Colorado) again. Although it was the Flatiron Building in Denver, did Mr. Barnes know, that the Burr Brothers had their headquarters at Flatiron Building in New York? It is not known whether this new company has ever operated in other business than that of increasing the stock capital to $2,500,000. The company was out of business already around 1926.
See also.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Hinsdale County, Colorado


Anglo Pacific Group

Anglo Pacific Group plc is a major natural resources royalties business based in London. The company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in securing natural resources royalties by acquisition and through investment in mining and exploration interests. It activities are primarily in Australia, North and South America, and Europe. It is listed on the London and Toronto Stock Exchanges.
History.
The Company was founded as "Diversified Bank Shares Limited" in 1967. It was first listed on the Unlisted Securities Market in 1984 and started to acquire Australian oil, gas and mining assets in 1989. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996. It adopted its present name in 1997.
Operations.
The Company gathers royalties from a number of coal and metal mines, the most important of which are in Australia. Most of the revenues came from its two coal mines there.


Jack Spadaro

Jack Spadaro (born October 11, 1948) is an American mining engineer. He is from West Virginia and is known for bringing attention to oversights of the government in relation to the Martin County coal slurry spill and whistleblowing on the subsequent downplaying of the role of the government and Massey Energy in the disaster.
Early life.
Jack Spadaro was born in West Virginia and graduated from Mt. Hope High School in 1967. Under the guidance of an influential English teacher who was married to the head of the Bureau of Mines at that time, he received a scholarship to West Virginia University where he studied mining engineering.
Career.
Two years after graduation from college, Spadaro was teaching and doing research when, on February 26, 1972, the Buffalo Creek flood disaster occurred. Spadaro was one of the investigators called upon by Governor Arch Moore to investigate the matter. When Jack arrived he noticed workers pulling dead bodies from the mud. This inspired him to protect miners and regulate activity in those communities.
He began to uncover information that proved dams built across West Virginia had not used standard engineering methods. Vice president of Buffalo Mining Steve Dasovich said that during the construction of one dam on Buffalo Creek no engineering calculations were made. Nearly a decade later Spadaro joined the Department of Natural Resources and began building an inventory of dams and enforcing laws regulating coal waste and dam construction.
Spadaro spent his career overseeing environmental disasters and damage caused by coal mining. For 38 years he worked alongside companies, citizens, and many other organizations to combat hazards that correlate with coal mining incidents and processes. He worked as a Mine Safety and Health Administration consultant, providing assistance as an expert witness in cases that involved damage to the environment and mining incidents that affected workers. Spadaro has been a key trial witness due to his personal experience with large mining incidents.
Martin County sludge spill.
The Martin County sludge spill was an incident that Spadaro worked closely on. This coal slurry impoundment resulted from the Massey Energy Company's mining expeditions. He was asked to investigate the incident, working alongside colleagues to find the root of the impoundment failure. This investigation led to the discovery of a previous spill at the same spot. Accusations came amid claims that this problem had been fixed in the past. Through Spadaro's efforts and investigation, it was discovered that engineers were aware of the previous spill in 1994, and that the issue had been ongoing until it broke in October.
Spadaro came forward with viable evidence and sources stemming from his research. This information intended to show the origin of the spill. During this time, the Bush administration had a strong push for more energy, which led to the deregulation of energy companies. On June 4, 2003 government agents entered Spadaro’s office and went through his files. He was locked out and placed on administrative leave. Spadaro stated that the Bush administration was covering up the Martin County spill. Spadaro complained that the new administration had given lucrative contracts for work at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy to friends. The MSHA denied the accusations, while Jack claimed the program was divided into 186 smaller contracts.


Sirius Minerals

Sirius Minerals plc was a fertilizer development company based in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Anglo American in March 2020.
History.
Founded in 2003, the company initially focused on exploring the potential for potash mining in North Dakota. However, after abandoning attempts at overseas exploration in February 2012 and following approval from the North York Moors National Park Authority in June 2015, the then AIM-listed company stated that it would seek financing in order to begin construction at the Woodsmith Mine in North Yorkshire. It was admitted to the main market in April 2017.
In September 2019 the Woodsmith Mine project was in doubt when the company shelved a £400 million junk bond sale, citing a lack of government support and Brexit uncertainty. In November 2019 the company announced that it was in talks with potential investors to raise $600 million needed to fund the first phase of the development.
In January 2020 Anglo American confirmed it was considering making a bid to buy Sirius, making a 5.5p per share offer to buy the project for £400m. In salvaging the financially troubled project, Anglo American envisages spending around £230m to keep construction going through to at least 2022. Sirius advised shareholders that if the offer was rejected then the company could face administration within weeks. Subject to approval by at least 75% of Sirius shareholders, the deal was expected to become effective by 31 March 2020. The sale was approved by shareholders on 4 March 2020.
Operations.
The Company’s stated focus is the development of its North Yorkshire polyhalite project which aims to exploit the world’s largest deposit of polyhalite, a type of potash. The company plans to create a mine three miles south of Whitby and an underground conveyor system to transport the mineral from the mine site to a materials handling facility at Teesside, away. The area of interest is located on the Yorkshire coast, mostly within the North York Moors National Park. The mineral seam lies below the surface, covering an area of approximately , around onshore and offshore.
The company announced the material findings of the project's definitive feasibility study on 17 March 2016. In summary it proposes a framework for production capacity of 20 million tonnes per annum ("Mtpa") with initial installed capacity of 10Mtpa. This will deliver a £2.3 billion annual contribution to the UK's GDP, £2.5 billion of annual exports which represents a 7% decrease in the UK's trade deficit and 2,500 direct and indirect production jobs as well as over 2,000 jobs during construction.


Gustavus Blin Wright

Gustavus Blin Wright (June 22, 1830 – April 8, 1898) was a pioneer roadbuilder and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada. His biggest achievement was building the Old Cariboo Road to the Cariboo gold fields, from Lillooet to Fort Alexandria, but he was also a partner in a freighting firm that operated on the Douglas Road, he ran a toll bridge at Bridge River, near Lillooet, and built part of the road from Quesnel to Barkerville. He was also the original owner of the town of 70 Mile House.
Early years.
Gustavus Blinn Wright was born in Burlington, Vermont, United States. He arrived in British Columbia on February 28, 1862, aboard the steamer "Brother Jonathan" and began a partnership that operated vessels on the route between San Francisco and New Westminster.
The Old Cariboo Road.
On August 16, 1862, Wright won the contract to build the 47 mile (76 km) long section of the Old Cariboo Road from Lillooet to Cut-Off Valley, which connects from the Fraser River at Pavlion, over Pavilion Mountain via Kelly Lake to Clinton, British Columbia, as "47 Mile House" would become known. He was also given the option to complete the rest of the 151 miles (243 km) of construction to Alexandria, which he also undertook. By the end of the 1862 season, his crews had completed the road as far as the 127 Mile post. He built a camp for his workers for the winter of at 70 Mile House and then purchased the property outright the following spring.
Some controversy erupted when Wright proposed a change to the planned route that had originally been intended to go past the roadhouse at Williams Lake. Wright said he was concerned that the high cliffs and deep ravines would make construction too difficult and he proposed a different route that by-passed Williams Lake and went past Wright's own roadhouse at Deep Creek instead. While some believed Wright was making a perfectly logical decision based on the difficulty of the terrain, others, like the owners of the roadhouse at Williams Lake, claimed that Wright had ulterior motives, and was changing the route simply for the sake of the profits he stood to gain by diverting the majority of the traffic to his own roadhouse. The situation was finally resolved by Colonel Moody of the Royal Engineers, who examined both routes and came back with the recommendation that the road be built as Wright had proposed.
By July 1863, the section was completed through to Soda Creek and Alexandria. Then, early in 1864, Wright undertook the construction of the wagon road from Quesnel to Cottonwood, on the way to Barkerville.
Wright's sternwheelers.
At Alexandria, Wright built the first of his two sternwheelers that would ferry passengers and supplies up the Fraser River to Quesnel. It was the "Enterprise", and was built by Victoria shipbuilder, James Trahey. The "Enterprise" was launched and put into service in the spring of 1863.
In 1868 Wright built a second sternwheeler to augment the service of the "Enterprise". It was the "Victoria" built at Quesnel by James Trahey and put into service in the spring of 1869.
The Omineca Gold Rush.
In 1871, during the Omineca Gold Rush, Wright decided to take the "Enterprise" up to Takla Landing, northwest of Quesnel, following a route that even the seasoned Hudson's Bay Company canoe-men regarded as extremely difficult. In June 1871, the "Enterprise" left Quesnel with a full load of passengers and freight, and, after a perilous trip that took more than two months, arrived at Takla Lake on August 12.
However, by then other supply routes had been made to the Omineca diggings, from Hazelton via the Skeena River. On her journey back from Takla, the "Enterprise" was wrecked and abandoned on Trembleur Lake. Wright's "Victoria" would work on the upper Fraser River until 1886, when she was berthed at Steamboat Landing near Alexandria.
He died on April 8, 1898, in Ainsworth, BC.


John Evans (British Columbia politician)

John Evans (January 25, 1816 – August 25, 1879) was a miner and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Cariboo in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1875 to 1879.
He was born in Machynlleth, Wales, and was educated there. He worked in Manchester as a young man, later moving to Tremadog in Wales with his family. He came to British Columbia in 1863 with a group of Welsh miners. The venture was unsuccessful but Evans remained, continuing to prospect for gold and also working as a mining and land surveyor. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Legislative Council for the Colony of British Columbia in 1863 and 1865 and for a seat in the provincial assembly in 1871 before being elected in 1875. Evans was married three times: twice in Wales, first to Martha Evans in 1840 and then to Ann Thomas in 1842, and later to Catherine Jones in 1877 in Victoria. He died in office in Stanley at the age of 63.


Uranium mining in Arizona

Uranium mining in Arizona has taken place since 1918. Prior to the uranium boom of the late 1940s, uranium in Arizona was a byproduct of vanadium mining of the mineral carnotite.
Carrizo Mountains.
Uranium mining started in 1918 in the Carrizo Mountains as a byproduct of vanadium mining. The district is in Apache County, in the northeast corner of Arizona. The uranium and vanadium occur as carnotite in sandstone of the Salt Wash member of the Morrison Formation (Jurassic). Production stopped in 1921. Another period of mining took place from 1941 to 1966, producing 360,000 pounds (160 metric tons) of uranium oxide (U3O8).
Monument Valley.
A Navajo discovered uranium in 1942 in Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona. The first mine in the district opened in 1948. Uranium and uranium-vanadium minerals occur in fluvial channels of the Shinarump Sandstone member of the Triassic Chinle Formation. Ore deposits are associated with carbonized wood in the sandstone. Mining stopped in the Monument Valley district in 1969, after producing 8.7 million pounds (3900 metric tons) of uranium oxide, more than has been produced from any other uranium mining district in Arizona. In 2005 the Navajo Nation declared a moratorium on uranium mining on the reservation, for environmental and health reasons.
Lukachukai Mountains.
In 1948, a copper deposit in the Moenkopi Formation was discovered to have economic concentrations of uranium. The deposit was in the Lukachukai Mountains of Apache County. Uranium totaling 3.5 million pounds (1600 metric tons) of U3O8 was produced from 1950 until the mines closed in 1968.
Cameron district.
Navajo prospector Hosteen Nez found uranium near Cameron in Coconino County in 1950. The uranium is in the Kayenta Formation and the Chinle Formation. Production was from 1950 to 1963, and totaled 1.2 million pounds (540 metric tons) of U3O8.
Collapse breccia pipes.
Uranium was discovered in the Orphan copper mine near the south rim of the Grand Canyon in 1950. The mine has been private property since 1906, and is today completely surrounded by Grand Canyon National Park. The discovery led to the finding of uranium in other collapse breccia pipes in northern Arizona. The breccia pipes were formed when overlying rocks collapsed into caverns formed in the Mississippian Redwall Limestone. The pipes are typically in diameter, and may extend up to vertically.
Sierra Ancha district.
Uranium mining started in 1953 from deposits in the Precambrian Dripping Spring Quartzite in Gila County. The uranium mineral is most commonly uraninite, which occurs with pyrite, marcasite, and chalcopyrite. The orebodies are in veins or strataform deposits within one-half mile of diabase intrusions.
Date Creek Basin.
The Anderson uranium deposit was discovered in 1955 by an airborne gamma-radiation survey. Small amounts of ore were produced from 1955 to 1959. Uranium is associated with organic material in carbonaceous Miocene siltstones and mudstones of lacustrine and paludal origin of the Chapin Wash formation of the Date Creek Basin in Yavapai, La Paz, and Mohave counties. The Anderson mine is now owned by Concentric Energy Corp. which is doing extensive development work to bring it into production.
Porphyry copper byproduct.
For some years starting in 1980, the Twin Buttes copper mine in Pima County recovered uranium as a byproduct from leach solutions recovering copper from waste material.
Uranium mining and native people.
After the end of World War II, the United States encouraged uranium mining to build nuclear weapons stockpiles. Large uranium deposits were found on and near the Navajo Reservation, and mining companies hired many Navajos. Disregarding the health risks of radiation exposure, the private companies and the United States Atomic Energy Commission failed to inform the Navajo workers about the dangers and to regulate the mining to minimize contamination. As more data was collected, they were slow to take appropriate action for the workers.
Studies show that the Navajo mine workers and numerous families on the reservation have suffered high rates of disease from environmental contamination, but for decades, industry and the government failed to regulate or improve conditions, or inform workers of the dangers. As high rates of illness began to occur, workers were often unsuccessful in court cases seeking compensation, and the states at first did not officially recognize radon illness. In 1990 the US Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, to settle such cases and provide needed compensation.
In 2008 the US Congress authorized a five-year, multi-agency cleanup of uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation reservation; identification and treatment of contaminated water and structures has been the first priority. Certain water sources have been closed, and numerous contaminated buildings have been taken down. By the summer of 2011, EPA had nearly completed the first major project of removal of 20,000 cubic yards of contaminated earth from the Skyline Mine area.
There is a current producing uranium mine in the Whetstone Mountains of Cochise County. The mine has restarted and has been in operation for five years. The government has also closed down about around the mountain which is all was public lands.
Current activity.
There are currently no producing uranium mines in Arizona. Denison Mines planned to begin mining its Arizona One mine in 2007. The deposit is in a breccia pipe on the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona. In March 2011, the State of Arizona issued air and water permits to Denison which would allow uranium mining to resume at three locations north of the Grand Canyon, subject to federal approval.
As of May 2015, Energy Fuels was preparing to mine uranium at its Canyon mine, a deposit on US Forest Service land, six miles from the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The deposit was discovered in the 1970s, and partially developed as an underground mine under a Forest Service permit in the late 1980s, but never put into production. The Canyon deposit holds enough ore to yield an estimated 1.63 million pounds of uranium concentrate U3O8. A coalition of groups, including the Havasupai Tribe, the Sierra Club, the Grand Canyon Trust, and the Center for Biological Diversity, sued the Forest Service to stop the reactivation of the mine. In April 2015 the US District Court for the District of Arizona ruled in favor of the Forest Service and Energy Fuels, and allowed work on the mine to proceed. The plaintiffs plan to appeal.
Energy Fuels has also been developing its Pine Nut mine located north of the Grand Canyon since 1986.
Ban on uranium mining near Grand Canyon National Park.
In July 2009 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a two-year ban on new mining on federal land in an area of approximately surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. Although the ban is on all mining, the main effect is on exploration and development of breccia-pipe uranium deposits. Those claims on which commercial mineral deposits have already been discovered are exempt from the ban. During the two-year ban the Department of the Interior will study a proposed 20-year ban on new mining in the area.
In January 2012, secretary Ken Salazar approved a 20-year ban on mining around the Grand Canyon. This decision preserves about “1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, an area known to be rich in high-grade uranium ore reserves” and has generated a number of different responses
The ban is supported by the president of the League of Conservation voters, Gene Karpinski: "Extending the current moratorium on new uranium mining claims will protect drinking water for millions downstream.” Many environmental groups agree that such mining would endanger the Colorado River as a source of water not only for wildlife, but for tens of millions of people; Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles rely on the river for drinking water. With areas of contamination already noted in United States environmental impact reports on old mining operations, opposition fears that allowing mining to expand and continue would increase the levels of contamination in the river.
Supporters of the mining around the Grand Canyon argue that large-scale contamination from accidents involving mining are unlikely. According to an Arizona Geological survey, “60 metric tons of dissolved uranium is naturally carried by the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in an average year". J.E. Spencer, AZGS Senior Geologist, argues that in one hypothetical, worst-case scenario experiment, a truck carrying “thirty metric tons (66,000 pounds) of one-percent uranium ore” spilling and washing into the Colorado River increases the natural uranium level in the river by an insignificant amount. Providing further data on uranium levels in the Colorado River, a 2010 United States Geological survey found that the river carries about 40 to 80 tons through the canyon each year.
In 2011 more than 200 Arizona small businesses addressed postcards to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sign the 20-year ban on new uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, to preserve thousands of tourism-related jobs. President of the League of Conservation voters Gene Karpinski agreed that protecting the tourism industry, which relies on the Grand Canyon, is more economically important than mining near the canyon. Coconino County Supervisor Carl Taylor argued that Uranium mining poses a great threat to tourism in the canyon and surrounding areas. Some believe that one mining accident could be destructive for tourism in the highly popular park. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar states that “the Grand Canyon attracts more than 4 million visitors a year and generates an estimated $3.5 billion in economic activity”. Salazar also stated that people from the United States and even all over the world come to visit and see the Grand Canyon. He believes that allowing mining in this area to be pursued would negatively impact this tourism industry.
Some argue that not allowing the mining to occur destroys years of resource development. Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association states that banning mining in the Grand Canyon only deprives the United States of energy and minerals that are critical to the survival and strength of the US economy. The mining industry agrees, believing that a ban on mining around the Grand Canyon would negatively impact Arizona's local economy and the United States’ energy independence. Jonathan DuHamel states that a permanent ban on mining would eliminate hundreds of potential jobs. Former presidential candidate John McCain argues that opposition to the mining provoked by environmental groups who have the goal of killing mining and grazing jobs throughout Arizona.
The increasing number of claims that began in 2006 was a direct result of the rising uranium prices that began that year. Higher uranium prices encouraged mining companies to locate and mine new deposits around the canyon area. In 2011, when the price of uranium lowered about 35%, companies continued to explore the area.


William Straker

William Straker (13 July 1855 – 31 December 1941) was a British trade unionist.
Born in Snitter, Straker moved to Widdrington at an early age and began working at the local colliery. He was a Primitive Methodist, known for his teetotalism. He became active in the Northumberland Miners' Association and was elected to its executive in 1882, then became its Corresponding Secretary in 1905. This post was renamed as the General Secretary in 1913, serving until 1935.
Straker had an unusual set of views. He opposed almost all strikes, approving only of the 1912 stoppage. In 1914 he was chosen to be the Labour Party candidate at Wansbeck to run against the sitting Liberal MP Charles Fenwick, who was a leader of the Northumberland Miners' Association. However, the outbreak of war postponed the election and Straker was later replaced as candidate. Despite his opposition to militancy, he also opposed the expulsion of communists from the Labour Party, and he strongly opposed World War I, leading some newspapers to campaign for his removal. He was appointed a CBE in 1930.


Rawhide Mine

The Rawhide Mine is a coal mine located 10 miles (16.1 km) north of Gillette, Wyoming in the United States in the coal-rich Powder River Basin. The mine is an open pit mine that utilizes a combination of cast blast/dozer push and truck/shovel mining methods to strip an average of 165 feet (50.3m) of overburden off of approximately 105 (32.0m) feet of coal. Rawhide produces a low-sulfur, sub-bituminous coal from the Roland and Smith seams. This coal is used for domestic energy generation and shipped to customers via railroad. The mine is currently owned and operated by Peabody Energy.
As of 2009, Rawhide had reserves of 388,000,000 tons (352,000,000 tonnes) of sub-bituminous coal and a maximum permitted production capacity of 24,000,000 tons per year. Typical annual production has been in 12–18 mm ton range for the last several years though. In 2010, the mine produced just over 11,225,000 million short tons of coal, making it the 13th-largest producer of coal in the United States.
The average quality of the coal shipped from Rawhide is 8,300 BTU/lb, 0.37% sulfur, 5.40% ash, and 1.60% sodium (of the ash).
Train loading at the Rawhide mine is done in two passes. The first pass flood-loads the majority of the coal into the rail car while it is under the mine's silos, while a second pass tops off the car to its final target weight ± 250 lbs. Silo capacity at the mine's rail loop, which can accommodate up to three unit trains, is 78,000 tons. The mine also has an intermediate coal silo that has an 18,000-ton capacity for 10"- run of mine coal.
History.
The Rawhide Mine shipped its first train of coal in 1977 after beginning pre-production work in 1974. Rawhide mine was previously owned by the Carter Mining Company, a subsidiary of Exxon, before being purchased by Peabody Energy on November 1, 1994. Peabody Energy runs the Rawhide Mine via its wholly owned subsidiary, the Caballo Coal Company.
Production at the mine has been continuous since its opening except for an 18-month period beginning in late 1999, when the mine was idled due to market conditions. Mining operations resumed at Rawhide in 2001 with coal shipments resuming in 2002.
In 1982, Rawhide mine was the recipient of the Sentinels of Safety Award from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), in the large surface coal mine category. The Sentinels of Safety is awarded annually by MSHA to the safest mine in each of several categories.
Approximately 30% of Rawhide Mine's production was sent to Monticello Steam Electric Station in Texas before closing in January 2018. Another customer from Texas, Big Brown Power Plant, closed the following month.


Gonamena

Gonamena is a site of disused mines in Cornwall, England. It is half a mile south of Minions.


PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara is a subsidiary company of Newmont Mining Corporation that operates their Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia on the island of Sumbawa.
Newmont holds a 45% stake in the company while the Sumitomo Corporation from Japan holds an additional 35% and Indonesian company P.T. Pukuafu Indah holds the remaining 20%. Newmont and Sumitomo are required to divest 51% of their stake in the joint venture Indonesian parties by 2010 by the agreement signed under the Indonesian government of Suharto. The Indonesian government declined to purchase 10% of the company between 2006 & 2007 because of lack of funds, and Newmont declined to sell to local governments because the governments were backed by unnamed private parties, and Newmont wished to have more control over potential buyers. In 2008 Newmont sold a 2% stake in P.T. Newmont to the local governments in Sumbawa.
Award.
The company received the Aditama Award in 2011, as the best mining company in terms of mineral mining environment management.


Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum

The Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum exists to preserve and interpret the historic extractive industries in ball clay mining in the Isle of Purbeck. The museum is located adjacent to Norden station on the Swanage Railway and is open from the end of March to the end of September on weekends, some weekdays and Bank Holidays.
A redundant mine has been relocated to Norden with a railway laid around the site, a new engine shed and the restoration of wagons that worked on the lines around Norden.
The main future aim of the museum is to construct a new building at Norden to house "Secundus", a 2 foot 8 inch steam loco, wagons and other artefacts not on display at present. It will also contain a library and education centre.
It is planned to extend the narrow gauge railway to the other side of the Swanage Branch line to land owned by the group via Bridge 15. In 2010 a structural engineer surveyed Bridge 15, a skew bridge over the Swanage Railway. The condition of the bridge was good for a "temporary" bridge built in 1885. Since then the Bridge has been involved in a serious incident in which it has been severely damaged.
History.
Middlebere Tramway.
The Middlebere Tramway was funded by Benjamin Fayle, a close friend of Thomas Byerley of Wedgwood, the Staffordshire pottery. When the original owner of the clay pits, Barker Chofney, was declared bankrupt, Fayle took them over to ensure a reliable supply of Ball Clay for Wedgwood and other potteries. The Iron Rail Way, as it was originally known, opened in 1806. It was designed by John Hodgkinson using the same construction techniques as the Surrey Iron Railway. It was gauge and 3.4 miles long. The rails were cast iron, L-shaped, 3 ft long and weighed 40 lb. The horse-drawn clay wagons had flangeless wheels, and the sleepers were simply stone blocks 60-70 lb each numbering well in excess of 10,000. The cast iron rails were secured to the sleepers with metal spike and oak dowel.
In 1807, the line was extended south under the Wareham to Corfe road. The tunnel exists and is a listed building, however it is blocked. A second tunnel was built in 1825 east of the first tunnel and it is also blocked. In 1881, when the LSWR built the Swanage line the Middlebere Tramway was extended east parallel to the new line and Eldons Sidings were built to transfer clay to the standard gauge network. In 1907, the tramway was abandoned after 101 years of service.
The quay at Middlebere Creek has fallen into disrepair and almost vanished. Some stone sleepers remain in place today, complete with holes where the rails used to be fixed, whilst others have been reused as paving stones at various locations. Others can be found in the walls at Middlebere Farm. In many places the route across Hartland moor can be traced.
Newton Tramway.
In May 1854 a railway opened from the clay pits at Newton to Goathorn Pier on South Deep in Poole Harbour. The Admiralty had given permission for the building of the pier in 1852. The railway was initially horse worked and built at gauge but was re-gauged to to take a Steam locomotive that was built by Stephen Lewin of Poole Foundry in about 1870. The engine was named "Corfe" but was nicknamed "Tiny" because of its size. The nickname became its real name. An engine shed was built at Newton to house "Tiny" and was located alongside clay workers' cottages. The water required for "Tiny" was obtained by hand pump from a well to the south of the engine shed. The coal for "Tiny" would have been brought in by ship via Goathorn Pier. In 1907 the railway was joined to Norden and part of it became the "Fayles Tramway".
Fayles Tramway.
In about 1907 the Middlebere tramway fell out of use and a link to Newton was constructed to a gauge of , rails were laid from a point just southeast of the Slepe Road bridge at Norden across the Heath to join the Newton tramway, giving an outlet to Goathorn Pier. The line was 5 3/4 miles in length, another locomotive was purchased. The railway enabled some of the clay from Norden to be exported via Goathorn pier and in turn some of the clay from Newton to exit Purbeck by train via Eldon Sidings. The railway was also used in 1924 to construct the Training Bank to maintain a navigable approach to Poole Harbour. It was constructed from limestone blocks (Portland and Purbeck stone) which were carried by the railway from Norden to Goathorn where they were loaded on to barges.
The line was constructed using flat-bottomed rail spiked to wooden sleepers with earth ballast in a conventional way. There was an additional locomotive shed at Norden and trackwork included a short branch at Bushey. Other features included a wooden bridge over the Corfe River.
By 1937 the Newton line seems to be little used. The pier at Goathorn ceased to be worked with the Second War requiring the peninsula as part of a bombing range. Much of the line that crossed Newton Heath was taken up in 1940 and there was no working north of the engine shed at NordenThe line was abandoned in 1937 and clay then left by lorry or via the Swanage Branch Line. In 1948 the complex at Norden was regauged to . To work the narrow-gauge line one steam-engine and several internal combustion engined rail tractors were purchased. The steam-engine was "Russell" a 2-6-2T Hunslet (1906) with a chequered history. In the final years of the Norden system a number of Ruston & Hornsby 48DL class 0-4-0 engines operated on the line, numbers 392117, 175413 and 179889, also used for a while was a Motorail simplex (c/n 5252).
After the closure of Eldon sidings all clay exports were via lorry. For several years the clay was carried from the mines across the A351 by trains to the "Lorry Drop". It was realised that the lorries could take the clay directly from the mines and the cost of maintaining a railway system avoided. The transhipment buildings were raised to accommodate the lorries beneath them and in the early 1970s the railway system sold partly into preservation and the rest scrapped. Use of narrow gauge railways continued underground at Norden No 6 & 7 mines until all mining operations ceased in 1999.
Future.
In 2014 the Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum set up a plan in conjunction with its governing body the Swanage Railway Trust for a forward plan for the future. The plan involved opening the museum on more days to boost numbers and increase access to areas of the museum previously restricted. Its first priority was to improve interior displays. The plan is now complete and now one of its main priorities is to restore skew arch bridge over the Swanage Railway and to enable access to Norden South, this will allow the Museum with the possibility of expanding the 2 ft gauge railway and operating a passenger service and demonstration clay trains on special event days. The museum also wants to develop a building for Secundus and wagon 28 and moving them from Corfe Castle Station.
Rolling Stock.
All gauge unless otherwise stated.


Mir Nooruddin Mengal

Mir Noor-ud-din Mengal (; 13 July 1952 – 13 October 2010) was a senior Baloch politician who was active in Balochistan's political scene for nearly four decades, from 1970 to 2010. He belonged to the famed Zagar Mengal tribe and was the nephew of the Baloch National Poet Mir Gul Khan Nasir. His father's name was Mir Lal Bakhsh Mengal and he had seven siblings. His mother was a prominent member of the Gichki family from Mekran.
Early life.
Mir Noor-ud-din was named after Sardar Noordin Mengal (an uncle of Sardar Attaullah Mengal and a close friend of Mir Lal Baksh Mengal who died in a road traffic accident near Kalat). He was brought up in his hometown of Kalat. His father was a prominent tribal and political figure of Balochistan while his uncle Gul Khan Nasir belonged to the top tier Baloch leadership along with Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, Abdul Aziz Kurd and, later, Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal and Khair Bux Marri. As a result of this he was exposed to politics from a very early age. This exposure instilled a nascent sense of political awareness in him which, with age, kept growing.
Mengal passed high school from Kalat and after matriculating from Noshki, enrolled in F.Sc Pre-Engineering in Government Science College, Quetta.
After he had finished college, Gul Khan Nasir advised Mengal to get into a university instead of just relying on a college degree. Following his uncle's advice, he applied to Patrice Lumumba University and was accepted. Mengal had chosen a University in Moscow because at that time it was a very common practice for Baloch students to go to Russia in pursuit of a higher education but because of his political activities (which he had already begun by 1970 from Baloch Students Organization's (BSO) platform) his name was put on the Exit Control List and he was unable to go.
With that door closed, Mengal applied for Mining Engineering at University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore in 1973 and was, once again, accepted. He spent four years in Lahore and graduated with a B.E Degree in 1977.
Politics.
Throughout his student life, Mengal had been active in politics and from 1974 to 1976 had served as BSO's Vice Chairman. During his time in Lahore he had opened sixteen units of BSO in different cities of Punjab. After returning to Quetta he served a second term as the Vice Chairman of BSO from 1978 to 1980 and while he managed to secure a job as a Mining Engineer in a private mining company, his political life remained dominant over his professional life. So much so, in fact, that he eventually quit his job to devote all his time and energy to politics.
After serving his second term as the Vice Chairman of BSO, he joined the political party of Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, The Pakistan National Party. After Mir Ghaus Bakhsh's death in August 1989, the leadership of the party shifted to Mir Bizen Bizenjo but he wasn't able to hold on to it for long. When Mir Bizen vacated the office of the Party President, PNP was thrown into turmoil. During this tumultuous time the position of Party Organizer was also vacant, so Mir Noor-ud-din Mengal was named the Organizer of the Party. After successfully organizing the council session of PNP where Mir Hasil Bizenjo was named president, Mengal went back to being the Deputy Organizer of the Party while Raziq Bugti became the Organizer. A few months after this, in 1992, Mir Noor-ud-din was elected as the Vice President of PNP, an office he held until the merger of PNP with BNM in 1996.
By 1996 it seemed that no single political party was able to represent the whole Province of Balochistan. In light of this discussions began between the leaders of Pakistan National Party and Baloch National Movement. Mengal played a central role in these talks and was pivotal in the merger of the two parties to form Balochistan National Party. Mir Noor-ud-din was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee of BNP after the merger and held the position until his death in October 2010.
Mengal remained an active and loyal member of the BNP right up until his death. When the Balochistan National Party was split into two factions, i.e., BNP Awami which was a forward block led by Israr Zehri, and BNP which was led by Akhtar Mengal, Mir Noor-ud-din remained in BNP proving his loyalty. He set up his political base in his hometown of Kalat and was arrested and persecuted for his political beliefs numerous times from 2000 to 2007 . In 2006, Balochistan National Party announced a Long March against, what they termed, the continued exploitation of the Baloch land and people by the Establishment especially during the dictatorship of General Pervez Musharaff. The long march was to start from Gwadar and culminate at Quetta. Before the long march could even begin, the Government launched a crackdown against the BNP Leaders. Party President Akhtar Mengal was the first to be arrested triggering protests throughout Balochistan. After Akhtar Mengal's arrest Mir Noor-ud-din Mengal was chosen as the Acting President of BNP. On 3 January 2007 he too was arrested while en route to Khuzdar to meet incarcerated party workers. Political cases under 16 M.P.O were registered against him and he was put under physical remand in Quetta for a month after which he was shifted to Khuzdar Jail where he was detained for four more months.
After being released, Mir Noor-ud-din Mengal began preparing to take part in the upcoming 2008 elections. He submitted his papers for the National Assembly Seat from Kalat but the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM, an alliance of several political parties against General Musharaff's regime) announced to boycott the elections and since BNP was also a part of APDM, therefore all the BNP candidates withdrew their candidacy.
Akhtar Mengal was released in 2008 after a change of regime and went to Dubai for treatment of a disease he had contracted while in detention. So in his absence the party was being run by Habib Jalib Baloch, Dr Jahanzaib Jamaldini and Mir Noor-ud-din Mengal. In 2010 the BNP Leaders began receiving death threats and the threats were put into action for the first time when a BNP worker, Naseer Langove, was murdered in May 2010. A group named Baloch Musallah Difaee Tanzeem (Baloch Armed Defence Organization) claimed the responsibility for the murder and issued a statement claiming that their intended target had been Habib Jalib. On 14 July 2010 the shadow organization struck again, this time succeeding in assassinating Jalib in front of his house in Quetta. Only four days later another BNP Leader Haji Liaquat Mengal was assassinated near his house in Kalat.
Assassination.
After the death of Habib Jalib Mir Noor-ud-din Mengal was the man directing the affairs of Balochistan National Party in the absence of Akhtar Mengal and he was also one of the few top leaders of the party who wasn't keeping private security guards with him. On 13 October 2010 he had gone to the market in Kalat to get his Blood Pressure checked. As soon as he got back and turned his car into the gate of his house, unknown gunmen riding a motorcycle came up behind him and opened indiscriminate fire upon him. He was hit by three bullets; One in the neck and two in the back. He was immediately rushed to the local hospital but none of the doctors who were supposed to be on duty were there. Mengal was sent to Quetta without being given basic first aid. He died on the way to Quetta due to profuse bleeding. He had been conscious for nearly 75 minutes after being shot. As the news of his death spread in Balochistan, the traffic began thinning on the roads from the fear of riots erupting. Mengal was buried beside his father's grave in Kalat the same evening. Hundreds of people flocked to attend his funeral.
His death was assailed by all the local and national political parties such as the Pakistan National Party, the Awami National Party, Pakhtun-khwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i Azam, the Baloch National Front, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and the Pakistan People's Party. On 14 and 15 October all the main cities of Balochistan remained closed to mourn Mengal's death. Strikes were also observed on the National Highway by BNP and BNF over Mir Noor-ud-din's assassination.
Legacy.
After his death, a congregation was held to pay tribute to Mir Noor-ud-din by BNP where he was given the title "Shaheed i Watan" or "The Nation's Martyr".


2007 Shandong coal mine flood

The 2007 Shandong coal mine flood was an incident that occurred on August 17, 2007 in Xintai, Shandong, People's Republic of China, when heavy rain caused a river to burst a levee creating a flood into two mine shafts. By 8:50 am (1:50GMT), the mine was inundated underwater.
Damages and casualties.
More than 200mm of rain had fallen in Xintai, causing a 50-metre breach of a levee of the Wen river. Water poured into the 860-metre deep pit at the Huayuan mine, quickly overwhelming the mine's pumps. The 172 miners were trapped in a 3,000-foot-deep mine shaft when a mine operated by the Huayuan Mining Co. Nine others were also missing, in a nearby mine run by a different company. None of the 181 miners, living or dead, were recovered from the two mines after the accident.
The Huayuan mine was flooded with an estimated 12 million cubic metres of water. If all six available pumps were used around the clock they could pump out about 120,000 cubic metres of water a day. But only four were operational. Unofficially, experts say that it would take almost 100 days to drain the water inside the mine.
Aftermath.
An official at China.com.cn discussed the fact that signs of flooding had appeared in advance prior to the incident, and that the "disaster was completely avoidable." On September 6, the Shandong provincial government issued a statement citing scientists who said that none of the miners would be able to make it out alive after that amount of time underground.


Tom Lamb (artist)

Thomas Coutts Lamb (3 May 1928 – 24 February 2016) was a British coal miner and artist in the North East of England.
Tom Lamb was one of many young coal miners, at the age of 14 he started working in Busty Pit at Craghead Colliery near Stanley, County Durham. Lamb did not realise his artistic talent until he was hospitalised with diphtheria at a young age, from then on Lamb brought sketch books underground with him. Here he was able to capture the atmosphere of the coal mine, depicting his and many others every day working environment.
Early life and family.
Tom Lamb was born to William Lamb, born 1899, and Jennie Coutts, born 1904, along with his older brother call John, born 1924. Tom’s dad and brother were also miners and they all lived in one of the houses on Black Horse terrace. Although the signs of mining could be seen around the family home, this area was in the middle of the countryside. Here Lamb would play with his older brother and friends as well as practice drawing the landscape and activity he experienced around him.
Tom lamb as a child had been hospitalised with diphtheria, whilst he recovered from this illness he discovered his ability to draw.
Tom went to school until he turned 14 years old, here his teacher noticed we had a great talent for art. After this he went to work in the Busty Pit in Craghead Colliery near Stanley in Co. Durham.
Coal mining 1942 - 1969.
At the age of fourteen Lamb left school and started work in the mining trade.‘In 1942 there were over 130 pits in the County of Durham employing about 120,000 men and boys’. Lamb's first job was above ground as he was too young to start working underground, and he was an assistant attendant in the pit head baths from 1942 to 1946. He would have to hose down the shower cubicles, keep the locker rooms clean and look after the boilers.
In the summer of 1946 Lamb turned eighteen, the age that pit boys started to work underground. Before he could go underground he had three weeks training at the Morrison Busty Colliery in Annfield Plain as well as being given the equipment he would later need to use. Lamb then started work at the Busty Pit at Craghead Colliery, his 'first job was on the landing as a datal hand and was to send sets of four full tubs outbye (to the shaft bottom) on the haulage rope and then to make sure the putters had plenty of chumins (empty tubs) that came back on the haulage rope'
In 1948 Lamb's job was hand-putting until 1950 although for Lamb this work was too physically demanding he would scrape his spine on the low roofs which would never heal properly. After these two years of working in these poor conditions Lamb asked to be transferred back to datal work; here he worked until the pit closed in 1969 and he was made redundant.
Artwork.
Lamb documented his entire career underground through taking his sketch books to work with him every day. He was able to capture the true emotion and daily tasks that miners experienced on the day to day. Lamb’s sketches and paintings shows a realism to mining that some other artists are not able to capture. Lamb used his brother frequently as a model when working underground as he was able to ask John to hold certain positions. He would start by taking quick sketches of the scenes that were taking place underground as well as making notes and comments about each sketch he produced.
It was in his later years that Lamb began to turn his sketches into the artwork one can see today in exhibitions.
Some of Lamb's artwork is still available to view at the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, Newcastle.
Personal life.
Lamb married his wife Margaret in December 1972. 'They travelled widely, something Tom had never been able to do when a miner', they visited Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France.
In 1984 Lamb and his wife moved 'to York Crescent, Newton Hall'
Notable exhibitions.
Exhibitions include:


Uranium mining in Canada

For many years, North America was the largest exporter of uranium ore in the world and has been a major world producer since demand for uranium developed. In 2009 Kazakhstan took over top spot, relegating Canada to second. 20% of the world's primary uranium production came from mines in Canada in 2009. 14.5% of the world production came from one mine, McArthur River. Currently the only producing area in Canada is northern Saskatchewan, although other areas have had active mines in the past.
History.
Canada's first recorded discovery of uranium came in the 1930s 3 when prospector Gilbert LaBine discovered pitchblende, a major uranium bearing mineral, on the shores of the Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories. This discovery led Labine's company, Eldorado Gold Mines Limited, to develop the Eldorado Mine at Port Radium, Northwest Territories in 1932 and a refinery to extract Radium from the ore in Port Hope, Ontario, the following year.
During World War II, the demand for uranium exploded as the United States and its allies, Britain and Canada, began the Manhattan Project to produce the first atomic weapons. As a result, in 1943 the Government of Canada expropriated the assets of Eldorado and formed a federal crown corporation, Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited, to oversee Canadian uranium assets. Exploration for uranium was restricted to Eldorado and the Geological Survey of Canada.
The ban on private prospecting was lifted in 1947. This led to an exploration boom that quickly resulted in the discovery of mines in the Northwest Territories (Rayrock), Ontario (Bancroft and Elliot Lake), and Saskatchewan (Uranium City). By 1956, thousands of radioactive occurrences had been noted and by 1959, 23 mines were in operation in five districts. In 1959, Canadian uranium exports were valued at $330 million, more than for any other mineral exported from Canada that year. In the early 1960s, military demand for uranium declined and in 1965 Canada imposed a policy of only selling uranium for peaceful purposes. This period marked the end of the first uranium boom and saw the number of operating mines drop to four. To assist the domestic uranium industry, the federal government initiated a stockpiling program to purchase uranium. This program ended in 1974 when demand for uranium for power generation was sufficient to support the industry.
Uranium mining by province.
Nova Scotia.
A moratorium on uranium exploration was declared in the province of Nova Scotia in 1984. This moratorium expired on January 1, 1995. However, Nova Scotia has since enacted legislation making uranium exploration and mining illegal.
Quebec.
On March 28, 2013, Quebec became the third province in Canada to impose a moratorium on uranium development. This ban appears to be temporary.
British Columbia.
In 1980 the province of British Columbia introduced a seven-year ban on uranium mining and exploration, which was not renewed. In 2008, the government established a "no registration reserve" under the Mineral Tenure Act for uranium and thorium. This excludes uranium and thorium from any mineral licences in the province. The government has also stated that they will "ensure that all uranium deposits will remain undeveloped".


Pigot Diamond

The Pigot Diamond, also sometimes called the Pigott Diamond, the Lottery Diamond, or the Great Lottery Diamond, was a large diamond that originated in India in the 18th century and was brought to England where at the time it was the largest diamond in Europe. It remained in Europe for half a century, changing hands several times until it was sold to the ruler of Egypt in the 1820s. What happened to it after that is unknown, inspiring a two-century mystery.
Pigot acquisition.
The Pigot Diamond was obtained by George Pigot during his term as British governor of Madras, the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu for the East India Company. He may have received it from an Indian prince in 1763. This may have been the Rajah of Tanjore as Pigot had told the directors of the East India Company that he had received presents from the Rajah. It also may have been Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah, the Nabob of Arcot. The diamond may have been mined at Golkonda. Diamonds were a common way to transfer money back to England at the time. Pigot brought it to London, probably in June 1764 when he returned to England aboard the East Indiaman "Plassey" after his first term as governor of Madras (1755–1763). The diamond was brought to England rough cut and subsequently cut as a fine, oval brilliant, and had an official recorded weight of . The cutting is said to have taken two years and cost £3,000. The size of the rough stone is estimated to have been around . At the time, it was the largest diamond in England. It has been characterised as having a large table (the largest central facet of the crown) and girdle, but it is relatively shallow in depth giving it poor brilliance.
On Pigot's death in 1777, he bequeathed it to his brothers, Robert (1721–1796), who commanded the left flank of the British forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill and Hugh (1722–1792), Commander-in-Chief of the West Indies fleet of the Royal Navy, and his widowed sister Margaret, the wife of Thomas Fisher.
Upon Robert's death in 1796, his share passed to his son George Pigot. Upon Hugh's death in 1792, his share passed to his widow Frances and their five children. The joint owners attempted to sell the diamond but were unsuccessful as the perceived intrinsic value was so high and no reasonable offers were made.
An alternate account is that Pigot left the diamond to his children. Although unmarried, he had several natural children at the time of his death, all of whom were minors. Regardless of this, the diamond remained in the extended Pigot family.
London lottery.
A plan was conceived to conduct a lottery so that the Pigot family could receive full value without a single buyer willing and able to pay such an amount. Such a plan required the approval of the Parliament, who was so petitioned in February 1800, because games of chance were normally illegal. The petition was considered in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. There were arguments made for and against allowing the lottery, and it was approved on 2 July 1800. The act was titled An Act to enable Sir George Pigot Baronet, Margaret Fischer and Frances Pigot, to dispose of a certain Diamond by a Lottery or The Pigot and Fisher Diamond Lottery Act of 1800.
The terms of the lottery were that 11,428 tickets could be sold for two guineas each. Therefore, the sale of all tickets would realize £23,998. The value had been estimated at £25,000 to £30,000. Newspapers advertised the lottery beginning in August. Tickets were available from stockbrokers, jewellers, newspapers, and other companies. The winning number, 9488 was drawn on 2 March 1801 in Guildhall, London and had been purchased jointly by John Cruikshank, Richard Blanchford, and John Henderson of London and William Thompson of Walworth. The ticket was sold by Hornsby & Co.
Christie's auction.
The next known sale occurred in 1802 when it was sold by auction, as weighing 188 grains (47 carats) at Christie's on Pall Mall, the centre of London's fine art scene at the time, on 10 May for £9,500 to a pawnbroker in Soho, a Mr. Parker of Parker and Birketts. Parker may have been acting on behalf of the famous London jewellers, Rundell and Bridge who in 1804 had obtained part ownership.
Christie's used this description of the diamond:
Attempted sale to Napoleon.
In 1804, it was offered for sale to Napoleon Bonaparte, who was just made Emperor of the French by the French Senate. Rundell and Bridge thought this was an opportunity to interest Napoleon in the diamond. Since the ephemeral Peace of Amiens with England ended and France and England were again in conflict, the diamond had to be smuggled into France. It arrived in Paris after being brought through Holland by a man named Liebart, and was then offered to Napoleon by Laffitt & Co. Napoleon declined the offer, probably because he was aware it came from England, with whom he was still at war. The "Times of London" prematurely reported on 26 November 1804 that Napoleon had purchased the diamond.
Due to the conflict, the diamond was not immediately returned to England. It remained in France until 1816 when the situation stabilised and several lawsuits over the diamond were concluded.
Parker was anxious to obtain his share of the stone and contemplated a lawsuit which might have resulted in the diamond being divided into pieces, thus greatly reducing its value. Instead, Rundell and Bridge bought out Parker's share and became sole owners. An alternate report is that Parker filed a lawsuit to determine the value of his share of the diamond, resulting in the buyout.
E. W. Rundell went to France after the 1814 defeat of Napoleon to reclaim the diamond, but his lawsuit ended prematurely with the return to power of Napoleon who had escaped from exile in Elba. Rundell had to flee Paris, returning again after the final defeat of Napoleon in June 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. Rundell filed another lawsuit which was ultimately successful, allowing the return of the diamond to England.
The diamond was known to be in London in 1818 and 1821.
Rundell and Bridge continued trying to sell the diamond, sending models to all the crowned heads of Europe.
Egyptian sale.
Rundell and Bridge finally sold the diamond to Muhammad Ali of Egypt, the self-declared Khedive of Egypt, for £30,000, the sale having been negotiated by Samuel Briggs, the British Consul in Alexandria. The date of this sale is given as 1822, 1823, and 1830.
Mohammed Ali purchased the diamond as a gift for Mahmud II, the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul, one of many such gifts to Mahmud, possibly to compensate for Ali not supporting the Ottomans in the suppression of Greek during the Greek War of Independence of 1821–1832
(a position for which the sultan called for his execution) or to gain the sultan's acknowledgement of Ali's right to govern Egypt.
An 1830 account details that the diamond was purchased in London by an agent of Muhammad Ali for Mahmud, and then taken by a British admiral in his coat pocket to the Royal Navy's naval port in Portsmouth, from where he was to depart for the Mediterranean. Although England was one of the European nations that intervened on behalf of Greece and defeated the Ottoman fleet in the 1827 Battle of Navarino, it maintained cordial relations with the Ottomans in the earlier part of the conflict when the diamond was most likely sold.
The fate of the diamond after this time has not been established.
Speculation.
There are several stories about the diamond after it left England.
Ali Pasha.
One legend says that the diamond was sold to Ali Pasha of Tepelena, the Ottoman pasha of the western part of Rumelia, the empire's European territory. It then passed to the Sultan Mahmud II, either in Ali Pasha's lifetime, as part of his complicated dealings with the central Ottoman government, or after his execution, when his possessions were confiscated by the Sultan.
However, another version of this legend is that Ali Pasha held on to the diamond until his last day; when mortally wounded on 5 February 1822, the dying Ali Pasha reportedly ordered that it be crushed to powder in his presence – which it was. Since Ali Pasha died violently, having been shot multiple times and then immediately beheaded, this is implausible.
Since Ali Pasha was executed in 1822, he could not have purchased the diamond and the association to him is based on confusion of his name, Ali Pasha of Tepelena, with the actual purchaser, Mohammed Ali Pasha. There are also sources that say the confusion is in the opposite direction and Ali Pasha of Tepelena actually bought the diamond.
Spoonmaker's Diamond.
It has also been suggested that the diamond passed from Egypt to Turkey and is now exhibited as the Spoonmaker's Diamond (), the most valuable single exhibit of the Imperial Treasury exhibitions at the Topkapi Palace Museum. However, the weight of the Spoonmaker's Diamond, , is much larger than that of the Pigot Diamond (), and it is of a different shape, precluding them from being the same stones.
This story survives because the origin of the Spoonmaker's diamond and how it came to the Ottoman Empire is not known. One version of the Spoonmaker's history is that a French officer named Pigot purchased the diamond from the Maharajah of Madras in 1774 (less than 10 years after Sir George Pigot received the Pigot diamond) and brought it to France from India. The diamond passed through several owners and was then sold by auction to Madam Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother. She then sold the diamond upon Napoleon's exile, to Ali Pasha of Tepelena, and upon his execution the diamond was confiscated by the Sultan Mahmud II and the "French Pigot Diamond" subsequently became the Spoonmaker's diamond. The existence of a different "French Pigot Diamond" is unlikely as only the English Pigot diamond is listed in diamond reference books.
Queen of Albania.
A contemporary reference, which states that it attempts to be a "relatively" complete dictionary of gemology lists the Queen of Albania Diamond as a pear-shaped diamond, probably from South Africa, owned by Queen Geraldine of Albania until she sold it in London in 1960. It then states that this diamond "is believed...to be the same as the Pigott Diamond." Although the size is similar, the shape is different making this unlikely.
Contradictory mentions.
The November 1804 edition of "The Gentleman's Magazine", a London periodical, published that the Pigot diamond was purchased by or for Madam Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, for a necklace.
In 1840, a British scholastic book said the Pigot diamond, after having been sold to Mohammed Ali, somehow came to be an ornament on Bonaparte's sword of state and in 1840 was in the possession of the King of France. This is unlikely since the sale to Ali did not take place until after Bonaparte's death. Another famous diamond, the "Pitt Diamond", that also originated in India before being acquired by an Englishman (Thomas Pitt), was sold to French royalty and eventually was mounted to the pommel of Napoleon's sword.
In an 1862 publication, the diamond's history was accurately recounted to the possession of Rundell & Bridge, but said it then went to a Portuguese Prince.
A 1928 write-up said the diamond was sold by Rundell & Bridge in 1818 to "Ali Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt". Apart from the sale date being too early, this is otherwise correct. It then went on to tell the tale of Ali Pasha, Ottoman pasha of Europe ordering destruction of the stone. This is apparently another case of confusion of similar names. This source also erroneously states the diamond weighted , as do others, lending credence to the speculation that the Pigot and Spoonmaker's diamond are the same.
In 1858, an American magazine, "Harper's New Monthly Magazine" said that the diamond was brought to England in 1801, approximately 35 years later than the actual date, and was won in the lottery by a woman who then sold it to the Pasha of Egypt. This account bypasses the Christie's auction and the ownership by Rundell & Bridge.
Other.
Dr. George Frederick Kunz, American mineralogist, wrote about the mysterious Pigot Diamond in 1897 for the "Century Magazine".


Willow Creek mining district

The Willow Creek mining district, also known as the Independence Mine/Hatcher Pass district, is a gold-mining area in the U.S. state of Alaska. Underground hard-rock mining of gold from quartz veins accounts for most of the mineral wealth extracted from the Hatcher Pass area. The first mining efforts were placer mining of stream gravels, and placer mining in the area has continued sporadically to this day. Robert Hatcher discovered gold and staked the first claim in the Willow Creek valley in September 1906. The first lode mill in the area started operating in 1908. Underground mining continued at a variety of locations around the pass until 1951. In the 1980s one of the area's hard-rock mines was briefly re-opened. At least one mining company is actively exploring for gold in the area now.
Through 2006 the district produced 667-thousand ounces of hard rock gold and 60-thousand ounces of placer gold.
The Willow Creek district at Hatcher Pass is historically the third-largest lode-gold producing district in Alaska, having produced 624,000 oz of gold.
At Hatcher Pass proper the southwestern margin of the Cretaceous to Tertiary age Talkeetna Mountains batholith is in fault contact with a pelitic schist. The Talkeetna Mountains batholith in this area consists of a pervasively altered zoned 74 Ma (million years old) tonalite body underlying Hatcher Pass and the headwaters of Willow Creek, and a 67 Ma quartz monzonite pluton farther west. The schist to the south consists mainly of metamorphosed and deformed sedimentary rocks, of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene age. The schist may represent subducted Valdez Group that was exhumed in the forearc region from beneath the Peninsular terrane. Both deformed and undeformed small felsic dikes occur in the schist. Several bodies of serpentinite are contained within the schist. Unmetamorphosed Late Cretaceous or Tertiary terrestrial sedimentary rocks of the Arkose Ridge Formations lie to the south of the schist and intrusives, across a low-angle detachment fault. Those bedded rocks are derived from the schists and intrusive rocks to the north. A rock unit variously mapped as intricately intermixed amphibolite and quartz diorite; or as a migmatite, occurs in contact with the Arkose Ridge formation on Government Peak and in contact with the Arkose Ridge Formation and quartz monzonite east of the Little Susitna River. It is not clear if the migmatite is a higher-metamorphic-grade equivalent of the schist.
Gold-bearing (+/- Ag, W, Sb, As, Cu, Mo, Pb, Te, Zn, Hg) veins occur in the tonalite, in small amounts in the schist, and in the Jurassic? migmatite, but not in the western quartz monzonite or in the Tertiary sediments. Most of the mineral deposits are close to the tonalite-schist contact.
Independence mine.
What is now called Independence Mine was once two mines: The Alaska Free Gold Mine on Skyscraper Mountain, and Independence Mine on Granite Mountain. In 1938 the two were brought together under one company, the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company (APC). With a block of 83 mining claims, APC became the largest producer in the Willow Creek Mining District. The claims covered more than and included 27 structures. In its peak year, 1941, APC employed 204 men, blasted nearly a dozen miles of tunnels, and produced about 35,000 ounces of gold.
In 1942, the War Production Board designated gold mining as nonessential to the war effort. Gold mining throughout the United States came to a halt, but Independence Mine was permitted to continue to operate because of the presence of scheelite, an ore of the "strategic mineral" tungsten, which occurs in the quartz lode with the gold. In 1943, Independence Mine was ordered to close. Mining interests returned to Hatchers Pass when gold prices rose in the mid-1970s; this resulted in a short period of production from the Independence Mine in 1982 by Coronado Mining Company.
Today, Independence Mine is a part of the Independence Mine State Historical Park, a popular winter recreation area. Displays of mining artifacts may also be viewed at the Dorothy Page Museum and Old Wasilla Townsite in downtown Wasilla, Alaska.
The Independence was the largest mine in the Willow Creek District, over a dozen other hard rock mines operated, and may operate again, within a few miles.
Willow Creek mines.
The Willow Creek Mines includes the Lucky Shot mine (Gold, copper, lead, zinc, arsenic) and War Baby mine (Gold, copper) veins, which produced from veins cutting the igneous country rock. Combined production for the two mines between 1919 and 1940 was about 252,000 ounces of gold, with some copper. Grade was about 2.2 ounces of gold per ton.
Other Notable Lode-Gold mines of the District.
The Gold Bullion Mine (Gold, copper, mercury), produced about 77,000 ounces of gold, at a grade of 1.7 ounces per ton, from quartz veins in igneous rock.
The Fern Mine (Gold, lead, tungsten, tellurium), produced about 44,000 ounces of gold between 1922 and 1950 from quartz veins in shears in igneous rock.
The Martin Mine (Gold, copper, lead), produced about 28,000 ounces of gold from two veins between 1911 and 1920, at an average grade of 1 ounce per ton.
The Gold Cord Mine (Gold, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten), produced about 16,000 ounces of gold, mainly between 1931 and 1938, from veins with grades ranging for 0.1 to 9 ounces per ton.
See also.
Gold mining in Alaska
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Roter Berg (Ore Mountains)

The Roter Berg in the Ore Mountains is a mountain in the German free state of Saxony in southeastern Germany.


Fife Coalfield

The Fife Coalfield was one of the principal coalfields in Scotland. Over fifty collieries were in operation at various times between the middle of the nineteenth century and the closure of the last pit in 1988. The coalfield extended across the southern part of Fife where rocks of the Coal Measures Group occur and was one of a series of coalfields throughout the Midland Valley from which coal was won by both deep workings and opencasting methods. It is traditionally divided into the West Fife, Central Fife and East Fife coalfields with Kirkcaldy having been a particularly important area. Some of the mines extended beyond Fife under the Firth of Forth following the seams which occupy the Leven Syncline which extends to the south shore of the firth at Musselburgh and beyond.
The Longannet power station near Kincardine used to source much of its coal from nearby pits but the Longannet coal mine closed after severe flooding in 2002, an event which more or less marked the end of deep mining in Fife and indeed Scotland. Opencasting in Fife was severely reduced after the premature closure of the power station. As of 2020, most opencasts have ceased production of coal, not only on a regional level but in Scotland as a whole.


Thomas F. Breslin

"Colonel" Thomas F. Breslin (1885–1942) was a civil engineer and a civilian contractor for the United States Army. He was pinned as a Colonel at the outbreak of the Battle of the Philippines and died during the Bataan Death March, the brutal POW march in the aftermath of the Battle of Bataan.
Birth and early life.
Thomas Breslin was born in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania on July 6, 1885, the son of Francis Breslin and Mary Malloy. He was baptized 6 days later at the Church of St. Joseph. Francis was a Justice of the Peace in Summit Hill. Francis' family had immigrated from Glenties County Donegal, Ireland in 1865. Mary was also born in Summit Hill. They were married at St. Anthony's Church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. Thomas was the oldest of six children and grew to be 5' 11".
Education.
He received dual degrees in Civil Engineering and Mining Engineering from Pennsylvania State College, now called Pennsylvania State University, graduating at the age of 22 in 1907.
Work and marriage in Cebu.
Thomas received a contract with the U.S. Government to survey large portions of the island of Cebu in the Philippines which was then under American rule following the Spanish–American War. While in Cebu, he married Maria Mata Laurel who was born in Danao City on Cebu Island, the daughter of Candido Laurel and Gabina Mata. They had 11 children together. A street named "Brezlin Street" was named (with a phonetic spelling) after him in Cebu City, Cebu. He became multilingual during his time there.
According to a record held by his son, Robert Breslin, "The Island of Cebu bears his initials at each mountain peak" meaning that his initials are on the surveying benchmarks at each mountain peak on Cebu. Surveyor's initials are left on benchmarks so that if questions or disputes arise, the original surveyor can be consulted.
Luzon.
They moved from Cebu to the island of Luzon in order for Thomas to work as a mining engineer and mine inspector in Baguio. At the outbreak of World War II, he was working as a civilian contractor for the US Army. He was in charge of constructing new barracks at Fort William McKinley, just south of Manila. According to his obitutary in a Summit Hill, Pennsylvania newspaper, "Mr. Breslin's fortunes and prominence grew until his name was notably linked with many business and governmental institutions in the Philippines. He established his home on Cebu, and Americans who visited him were impressed with the obvious success he had made of his prominence."
The Baatan Death March.
Although he was a leading civilian and was not in the military, he was pinned a Colonel when the Battle of the Philippines (1941–1942) started. According to a record held by his son Robert Breslin: "After his commanding general pinned Colonel's rank on his lapel, he made his goodbyes at home and by Christmas Day, 1941 was helping to position the defenses at Bataan." His language skills are thought to have been an important consideration in his pinning as most of the enlisted men in the United States Philippine Division were from the Philippines.
When the American forces there were overcome by the Japanese in the Battle of Bataan, the prisoners of war were made to march about 100 km as part of their journey to several concentration camps in the Bataan Death March. It was during this death march that, according to his son Robert's record, "Sick with dysentery and malaria, his comrades hid him in a culvert on the road to avoid the Japanese bayonets. A young Filipino man found him, took him to his home and hid him underground in his backyard, trying to nurse back his strength for about a month. With meager food amounts and no medicine, he succumbed to the diseases that plagued him." He died on May 10, 1942.
His son's ordeal.
His son, Richard "Dick" Breslin, was also on the death march but was much younger and stronger and so survived. Around April 3, 1942, Dick visited his father at the "Quartermaster Corps" before going to the front lines of the Battle of Bataan. This was the last time they would meet. After the surrender to the Japanese, Dick marched from Mariveles, Bataan to "Kilometer 69", and then was sent by cattle train to Camp O'Donnell in Tarlac. Because he was relatively healthy he was moved to "Camp #1" in Cabanatuan, and from there was on assignment, constructing the airport in Las Piñas from 1943 to 1944. He was near Corregidor when the Americans/Allies conducted the airstrike. Two days later, Dick was put in the coal bin of a hell ship and spent 38 days there before landing in Formosa. From Formosa they sailed the China Sea to Muji, Japan. From Muji he was sent by train to Tokyo and then to Odati for the winter 1944–1945 where he worked in an open pit lead mine until the war ended. He weighed about 87 lbs. at the end.
His family.
His family searched for him during the later, similar march of the prisoners from the Battle of Corregidor. They had no word of the fate of him or of his son until late in the war.
Burial.
After the American and Filipino army reoccupation of Luzon in 1945, a villager on the Bataan peninsula pointed out where his body had been buried to the soldiers. Only at this point did his family learn that he had died. Thomas' body was then exhumed and re-buried at Fort William McKinley, just south of Manila. His grave is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission.


McKinley Mine

McKinley Mine was an open-pit coal mine, owned by Chevron Corporation, and located in McKinley County, New Mexico. The mine closed in 2009.