Andrew Knowles and Sons

Andrew Knowles and Sons was a coal mining company that operated on the Manchester Coalfield in and around Clifton near Pendlebury, in the historic county of Lancashire, England.
Robert Knowles who died 1780, started pits in Eagley Bank and Sharples, north of Bolton. The pits were inherited by his descendants, Andrew (1735–1810), Robert (1756–1819) and Andrew (1783–1847), his great grandson. The family had an interest in this area until 1870.
Andrew Knowles was born in 1783 into a family whose mining interests began in Elizabethan times and whose descendants dominated the industry at the end of the Victorian era. Before 1810 Knowles operated in Bolton, Darcy Lever and Great Lever and subsequently bought leases in the Irwell Valley near Clifton. In the late 1830s Knowles took his four sons into partnership. Andrew Knowles died in 1847 and a son, John, died in 1852 leaving Robert, Thomas and James Knowles to continue the business. Little Bolton Colliery on Slater Lane near the River Tonge in Bolton was owned by the company between 1853 and 1863. The third generation joined the firm after a disagreement in 1872 and Andrew Knowles and Sons Limited was formed in 1883. The firm grew to be the largest on the Manchester Coalfield by the end of the 19th century when it had almost 4,000 employees.
The company sank the first Agecroft Colliery which operated until 1928. The output of Knowles' collieries was initially for local use and was moved by road transport. Some collieries were close to the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal on which the company operated a fleet of boats and by 1850 some pits had access to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Manchester to Bolton line. Clifton Moss Colliery employed up to 300 men before 1891 when it closed.
In 1896 the company owned Clifton Hall Colliery in Lumns Lane, Clifton, Foggs Colliery in Darcy Lever, Wheatsheaf Colliery in Pendlebury and Pendleton Colliery in Pendleton, Salford. By then Rivin Colliery in Little Lever and Allens Green and Green Lane in Radcliffe had been abandoned. In 1929 the company became part of Manchester Collieries.
In 1866 all workers who had joined the forerunner of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain were locked out of the Knowles pits and the company defeated attempts to unionise the workforce. The company's intransigence towards unions continued up to 1891 when a strike left miners little better off but the firm was forced to negotiate with a union it had up to then refused to recognise.
References.
Notes
Bibliography


Kuranakh mine

The Kuranakh mine is one of the largest gold mines in Russia and in the world. The mine is located in Siberia. The mine has estimated reserves of 5.04 million oz of gold.


Bayyaram Mines

Bayyaram Mines are iron ore mine located in Bayyaram in Mahabubabad district, Telangana, India. The mines also include Gudur Mandal in Warangal district.
The mines.
The iron ore mines are spread over 5,342 hectares in Bayyaram, Garla and Nelakondapally mandals in Mahabubabad, Khammam and Gudur mandal in Warangal. The Indian Bureau of Mines had estimated the value of ore at Rs. 16 lakh crore.
History.
In 2001, the AP Government under CM, N Chandrababu Naidu, gave rights to three tribals to mine in 63 acres. Later, the mines spread over Bayyaram, Garla and Nelakondapalli areas of Khammam district and Guduru in Warangal district, were first allocated by the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in June 2010 to a joint venture of AP Minerals Development Corporation Ltd (APMDCL) and Rakshana Consortium, a private company. It was cancelled by Chief Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy in June, 2012 and allotted it to VSP in April 2013.
VSP allocation controversy.
A new agitation arose after the iron ore was allocated to public sector company, Vizag Steel Plant (VSP). Pro-Telangana parties and Congress leaders from the region took exception to the Chief Minister allocating resources of one region to a manufacturing facility located in another region. Decades ago there was a slogan in Andhra region, "Visakha Ukku, Andhrula Hakku" (Vizag iron ,the right of Andhra people), now activists of Telangana interplay it as "Bayyaram Ukku, Telangana Hakku" (Bayyaram iron, the right of Telangana people).


Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research

The Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research is a scientific laboratory studying the cloud processes that produce lightning, hail, and rain, located in the Magdalena Mountains of central New Mexico in the United States. The lab is operated by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech) with funding from the National Science Foundation.
The lab was founded in 1963, following pioneering research by E. J. Workman, former president of New Mexico Tech (then the New Mexico School of Mines), and others, including Nobel laureate Irving Langmuir, the namesake of the laboratory. The earlier studies took place on the Plains of San Agustin and the San Mateo Mountains.
The laboratory is located just south of South Baldy, the highest peak of the Magdalena mountains, at the southern end of the main ridge crest of the range, at an elevation of 10,679 ft (3,255 m). The Magdalena Mountains offer favorable conditions for the study of storms because of their frequency during the summer. Local storms are also often isolated, stationary, and relatively small.
The lab occupies the Langmuir Research Site, a congressionally designated area within the Cibola National Forest, and operates under a Special Use Permit from the US Forest Service.


Roseberry Mine

Roseberry Mine was an ironstone mine in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, which operated between 1883 and 1924, with a break of 24 years. Both periods of mining used a form of tramway to transport the ironstone out, which connected with the railway line north of railway station. The mine was located on the south side of Roseberry Topping digging into the hillside. Of the three ironstone mines in the Great Ayton area, Roseberry was the largest.
In 1912, the northern slope of Roseberry Topping collapsed and slipped down the hill which has left it with a distinctive shape (it was conically shaped before the landslide). Originally, the ironstone mining was blamed, but modern investigations had concluded that extreme weather events were the cause.
History.
Roseberry Ironstone Mine was on the south side of Roseberry Topping, some south east of Middlesbrough, north east of Great Ayton and south of Newton-under Roseberry. The Norton Iron Company developed the mine from 1870, but the proceedings were very slow, so much so that the royalty owner took the company to court as they should have been producing over a day. The company was fined £689 for loss of earnings to the royalty owner. Part of the reason for the poor returns, was the lack of transportation for the mined ore. It had been recognised that the proximity of the mine to the Great Ayton railway branch line, should have made it easy to export the ironstone, however, the tramway connection was not finished until early 1880. The engine used on the tramway was an 0-4-0ST named "Roseberry", and built by Black, Hawthorn & Co. in Gateshead in 1880. It was used for ten years before being sold and used on reservoir construction in County Durham.
Like the Warren Moor Mine across the valley near Kildale, the iron content at Roseberry was only 26–28%, in a seam that was thick. However, as the mine was driven into the hillside, and the miners were effectively digging upwards, the mine was self-draining for its water ingress and tubs carrying the mined ore could be moved to the surface under their own gravity. This also meant that the surface operations covered a smaller area.
In 1910, productivity at the mine was good and the output of ironstone amounted to three trainloads per day. In May 1912, the northern slope of Roseberry Topping slipped and caused a landfall event. This was blamed on the ironstone mining that had resumed underneath the hill, as well exploratory workings on the northern slope and old jet workings. Modern geological investigations believe that the softer sandstones underneath the hill would have failed anyway, bringer the harder sandstone cap rumbling down, but the mining has probably had some effect.
In 1911, an influx of workers from Cornwall and Norfolk appeared in the census. This was put down to the closure of tin mines in the south west and the loss of agricultural jobs in East Anglia. Besides ironstone, the area around Great Ayton was noted for its whinstone quarrying. In 1917, the mine achieved its best output of and employed over 380 workers, making it the largest of the three mines in the Great Ayton area (the other two mines being Ayton Banks and Monument). Between 1907 and closure in 1924, the output of the mine (and that of Ayton Banks), was used in the Lackenby smelters of the Tees Furnace Company. During the First World War, Roseberry was dispatching three trainloads of ore a day to Teesside.
Mining ceased in 1924, but a small team was retained at the site to undertake "routine maintenance". The Gribdale Mining Co. took over the site in 1925, but no mining took place and closure plans were announced in 1929. The machinery was cleared from the site in 1931.
Owners.
During its 41-year history, the mine was operated by six different owners;


Cilgwyn quarry

Cilgwyn quarry is a slate quarry located on the north edge of the Nantlle Vale, in North Wales. It is one of the earliest slate quarries in Great Britain, being worked as early as the 12th century. King Edward I of England was reputed to have stayed in a house roofed by Cilgwyn slates, during the Welsh wars of independence. It is one of the major slate quarries in the Nantlle Valley area.
History.
Quarrying at Cilgwyn dates back to the 12th century. By the end of the 18th century a large number of small pits had grown into a substantial working.
The Cilgwyn Quarry Company was formed in 1800 by the Caernarfon solicitor John Evans. By the 1820s it had been taken over by the Cilgwyn and Cefn Du Slate Company, though this company collapsed in 1831. It was then taken over by George Alfred Muskett, a banker from St Albans who served as MP for that city from 1837 to 1841. Muskett's tenure was not successful, and by 1840 the quarry was failing. Many of the quarrymen went unpaid and they resorted to selling slates directly instead of through the company. Muskett fled the country in 1842, leaving behind debts of £10,000 (); he died in exile a year later.
Quarrying later resumed at Cilgwyn but it failed again between 1843 and 1844, closing with debts of around £20,000. Cilgwyn was operating again by the 1850s and developed four main pits. In 1882, 7,430 tons of finished slate were produced. Between 1864 and 1895 between 200 and 304 workers were employed at Cilgwyn; this had dropped to 51 to 102 between 1918 and 1937. Quarrying continued at Cilgwyn until 1956.
In the early 2000s, the quarry was used as a waste dump by the local council, but landfill activity ceased in January 2009.
Description.
Cilgwyn was an opencast quarry comprising three main pits: "Gloddfa Glitiau" to the north-east, "Old Cilgwyn" to the west and "Veingoch" to the south-east. Earlier in its history there were a larger number of smaller pits. The mills stood on top of significant waste tips to the south and east of the pits. A tramway north ran from the mills to another waste tipping site to the north of the quarry at Bryn Byfryd Terrace.
Transportation.
Cilgwyn quarry was connected to the gauge Nantlle Railway by a pair of inclines that dropped from the Cilgwyn mill level through Glantyfedw quarry to a junction at Talysarn Uchaf. Internally the quarry had an extensive network of gauge tramways. These served the three main pits and the waste tips. A mile-long tramway ran from the mills round a horseshoe curve to a waste tip on the north side of Mynydd y Cilgwyn. In 1923 a connection was made from this tramway to the line connecting Fron quarry to Bryngywn. This allowed slates to be dispatched from Cilgwyn onto the Welsh Highland Railway, avoiding the need to transship slates from the internal quarry wagons into the Nantlle Railway's wagons.
The quarry used at least three steam locomotives internally from 1876: "Queenie" a Bagnall, "Lilla" a large quarry Hunslet and "Jubilee 1897" built by Manning Wardle. Lilia and Jubilee 1897 were sold in 1928 for use on the Penrhyn Quarry Railway and both survived into preservation - Lilla on the Ffestiniog Railway and Jubilee 1897 at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum. The steam locomotives were replaced with a number of diesels. One of these - Ruston & Hornsby works number 175414 of 1936 - survives in preservation at the Welsh Slate Museum in Llanberis where it carries the name "Cilgwyn"; it worked at Cilgwyn quarry between 1936 and 1940.
The quarry ceased to send slate via the Welsh Highland Railway in 1935 when a new road was constructed down to Talsarn. From that point all slate left the quarry by road.


Ikeshima

Ikeshima or Ikejima (), also sometimes listed as Ike Island, is an island in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It formerly employed thousands of coal miners who lived on the island. The number of miners was reported to be 8,000, or over 10,000. As of 2018, 130 individuals, mostly retired miners or their relatives, remained on the island.


Sierrita mine

The Sierrita Mine is a large copper mine located in the Sierrita Mountains of Arizona, in the southwestern part of the United States. The mine is located in southern Pima County, southwest of Tucson and west of Green Valley-Sahuarita.
Originally developed as an underground mine in 1907, the Sierrita open pit has been in operation since 1959 and is a copper and molybdenum mining complex, operating on a porphyry copper deposit with oxide, secondary sulfide, and primary sulfide mineralization. The mine produces copper and molybdenum concentrate as well as SX/EW copper cathode from a ROM oxide-leaching system.
Sierrita was operated by Phelps Dodge until 2007 when it was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan. The mine has one of the largest copper reserves in the United States and in the world. In 2018 the deposit had estimated proven and probable reserves of 3,369 million tonnes of ore grading 0.23% copper and 0.02% molybdenum along with an additional resource of 1,378 million tonnes of mineralized material at 0.17% copper and 0.02% molybdenum.
References.


Reuben Rickard

Reuben Rickard (August 20, 1841 – February 24, 1896) was a mining engineer He married Mary Elizabeth Humphreys October 3, 1863. They had six children, three of whom died young. who served as President of the Town Board of Trustees in Berkeley, California from 1891 to 1893, and again for about one month during 1895.
Rickard was born on August 20, 1841 in England. Rickard was hired by John Taylor and Sons of London to oversee their mining and metallurgical operations in Pontgibaud, France in the 1860s. In 1875, the Rickard family emigrated to the United States as Reuben had been hired to manage the operations of the Richmond Mining Company in Eureka, Nevada. He worked there six years before taking on another job inspecting mines for English investors throughout the western U.S. and Mexico. The family finally settled in Berkeley, California on July 24, 1882.
Reuben's wife died of tuberculosis on March 28, 1895 in Central City, Colorado.
Reuben Rickard died February 24, 1896 of acute diarrhoea on-bard the steamer Bothwell Castle which was bound from Geraldton to Fremantle in Western Australia where he was inspecting a mining project.
Reuben was survived by three children, Thomas, Edgar and Leontine. Thomas Rickard also served as President of the Town Board of Trustees from 1903 to 1909. Edgar Rickard was a close lifelong friend of President Herbert Hoover.
Leontine Rickard married William Bowditch Fisher on March 11, 1896 in Berkeley.
Reuben had a brother Alfred Rickard who was also a mining engineer based in Denver, Colorado, and a nephew Thomas Arthur Rickard who was a prominent writer on the subject of mining.


Albazino mine

The Albazino mine is one of the largest gold mines in Russia and in the world. The mine is located in Khabarovsk Krai. The mine has estimated reserves of 5.3 million oz of gold. It is mined by conventional truck-shovel and drill-and-blast methods.


Tamir gol mine

The Tamir gol mine (, "Tamir River") is an iron mine located in the Tüvshrüülekh sum of Arkhangai aimag in central Mongolia.
The reserves of the mine are estimated at up to 60,000 t of iron, at an ore concentration between 42 and 49%.


Cerovo mine

The Cerovo mine is a large copper mine located in the east of Serbia in Bor District. Cerovo represents one of the largest copper reserve in Serbia and in the world having estimated reserves of 325.5 million tonnes of ore grading 0.36% copper.


Prigoria Coal Mine

Prigoria Coal Mine is an open-pit mining exploitation, one of the largest in Romania located in Prigoria, Gorj County. The legal entity managing the Prigoria mine is the CEN Craiova which was set up in 2004.


Kudremukh Iron Ore Company

KIOCL Limited, formerly Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited is a government owned enterprise with its head office and administrative activities in Bangalore. It has a pelletisation plant in Mangalore and had an iron ore mine in Kudremukh (Chikkamagaluru district). It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel , Government of India. The Kudremukh mine, one of the largest iron ore mines in the world, was closed in 2006.
The captive mining took place at Kudremukh on the Western Ghats range. The mined ore was transported 110 km through slurry pipelines running through the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada up to the pelletisation plant in Panambur, adjacent to the premises of the New Mangalore Port.
The pellet plant with a capacity of 3.5 million tons per annum was commissioned at Mangalore in 1987. The plant was stopped in 2011 but in 2014 the plant resumed producing and exporting pellets, running on ores supplied by NMDC Limited. The pellets have been shipped to countries like China, Iran, Japan, and Taiwan.
In 2017 there were plans to restart captive mining operations, now at Sanduru in Bellary district.
Controversies.
The mining lease was given to KIOCL in Kudremukh for a period of 25 years and was supposed to be closed by December 2001. Kudremukh area is a biodiversity hotspot, with Kudremukh national park nearby. The mining lease was temporarily extended, however, it was completely stopped in 2006 due to environmental reasons.
In 2016 KIOCL planned to develop a commercial resort in the Kudremukh national park, refurbishing some of its buildings, unused since the closure of the mine. The project had not obtained an environmental clearance. In October 2016 the Ministry of Environment and Forests ordered to immediately stop the work.


Agua Rica mine

The Agua Rica mine is a large copper mine located in northwest Argentina, in Catamarca Province. Agua Rica represents one of the largest copper reserve in Argentina and in the world having estimated reserves of 384.9 million tonnes of ore grading 0.56% copper and 0.033% molybdenum.


Gurasada mine

The Gurasada mine is a large mine in the west of Romania in Hunedoara County, 28 km north-west of Deva and 409 km northwest of the capital, Bucharest. Gurasada represents one of the largest bentonite reserve in Romania having estimated reserves of 20 million tonnes.


Sumitomo Metal Mining


Crater of Diamonds State Park

Crater of Diamonds State Park is a Arkansas state park in Pike County, Arkansas, in the United States. The park features a 37.5-acre (15.2 ha) plowed field, the world's only diamond-bearing site accessible to the public. Diamonds have continuously been discovered in the field since 1906, including the Strawn-Wagner Diamond. The site became a state park in 1972 after the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism purchased the site from the Arkansas Diamond Company and Ozark Diamond Mines Corporation, who had operated the site as a tourist attraction previously.
History.
In August 1906, John Huddleston found two strange crystals on the surface of his farm near Murfreesboro, Arkansas. The following month, Huddleston and his wife, Sarah, sold an option on the to a group of Little Rock investors headed by banker-attorney Samuel F. (Sam) Reyburn, who undertook a careful, deliberate test of the property.
After 1906, several attempts at commercial diamond mining failed. The only significant yields came from the original surface layer, where erosion over a long period of time had concentrated diamonds. In the early period, 1907–1932, yields from this "black gumbo" surface material often exceeded thirty carats per hundred loads (50 mg/Mg) (standard 1600-pound tramload of the early period). Highest yields from the undisturbed subsurface material (described as kimberlite or volcanic breccia by the U.S. Geological Survey) were two carats per hundred loads (3.5 mg/Mg) in 1908 and about two carats per hundred short tons (4.4 mg/Mg) in 1943−1944.
Because equipment of the early period usually included bottom screens with mesh larger than 1/16 inch (1.6 mm), thousands of smaller diamonds were allowed to pass through. The bulk of these ended up in drainage cuts of varying depths all over the field and in the big natural drains on the east and west edges of the diamond-bearing section of the volcanic deposit (approximately of volcanic breccia on the east side of the pipe). In recent decades, those small diamonds have been the bread-and-butter of recreational diamond digging.
Soon after the first diamond was found, a "diamond rush" created a boomtown atmosphere around Murfreesboro. According to old tales, hotels in Murfreesboro turned away 10,000 people in the space of a year. Supposedly, these aspiring diamond miners formed a tent city near the mine, which was named "Kimberly" in honor of the famous Kimberley diamond district in South Africa. On the other hand, all available evidence indicates that the Town of Kimberly originated as a land-development venture in 1909, initiated by Mallard M. Mauney and his oldest son, Walter, on their land immediately south of Murfreesboro. The project failed soon afterward as the speculative boom generated by the diamond discovery collapsed. Today, the Kimberly area is almost all cow pasture, owned by Mauney's descendants.
During the Second World War, the U.S. government took over the mine and granted a contract to Glen Martin to extract this rare war material. Although diamonds were obtained, and the concentration of diamonds similar to other producing mines, this was not fully successful as a venture due to the large costs involved with U.S. labor. After the war, the property was returned to the previous owners. From 1951 to 1972, the crater hosted several private tourist attractions. The first, The Diamond Preserve of the United States, lasted only about one year. In late 1951, Howard A. Millar stepped in and salvaged the infant tourist industry. In April 1952, Millar and his wife, Modean, launched their Crater of Diamonds attraction. Howard Millar, an accomplished writer and promoter, stirred unprecedented national publicity and drew enough visitors to sustain the operation. In March 1956, a visitor found the Star of Arkansas on the cleared surface. The rare beauty weighed . Later, Roscoe Johnston opened a rival tourist attraction, the Arkansas Diamond Mine, on the main part of the diamond field.
The rivalry between the two tourist operations left both in a weakened position. In 1970, the entire volcanic formation was consolidated by a private partnership, which then reassigned the property to General Earth Minerals (GEM) of Dallas, Texas. GEM expected to turn the property over for a profit, but ended up heavily indebted to GF Industries (GFI) of Dallas. Upon default, GFI took the property in July 1971.
GEM consolidated the tourist operation as well as the property. GFI continued the attraction until it sold the volcanic formation and some to the State of Arkansas in March 1972 for $750,000. The tourist operation continued as the centerpiece of Crater of Diamonds State Park.
Due in part to the park, and also because Arkansas was the first place outside South Africa where diamonds were found at their original volcanic source, this special gem has come to be associated with the Natural State. A large diamond symbol has dominated the state flag since 1912. The Arkansas State Quarter, released in 2003, bears a diamond on its face as do the current license plates.
Geology.
The Crater of Diamonds volcanic pipe is part of a 95-million-year-old eroded volcano. The deeply sourced lamproite magma, from the upper mantle, brought the diamonds to the surface. The diamonds had crystallized in the cratonic root of the continent long before and were sampled by the magma as it rose to the surface.
The geology of the area and the diamond formation process itself were the subjects of the Ph.D. dissertation of Roland Everett Langford in 1973 from the University of Georgia; in it, he proposed a gas phase reaction from the reduction of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the upper mantle. The dissertation was on display at the state park for many years.
More recent research by geologist Dennis Dunn (Ph.D. dissertation 2002) established that the diamondiferous epiclastic rocks range from olivine lamproite to phlogopite and olivine rich tuffs. Mantle xenolith chemistry were used to derive maximum pressures of ~ 5GPa and temperatures of 1000°C for the upper mantle origin of the lamproitic magma.
The lamproite diamond source is unusual, as almost all diamonds are mined from kimberlite and from alluvial deposits of diamonds weathered from kimberlite. The most prominent lamproite diamond source is the Argyle diamond mine in Australia.
Recreation.
Crater of Diamonds State Park is famous for the plowed field on which visitors can hunt for diamonds and other semi-precious gems. On average, two diamonds are found per day by park visitors. A visitor center contains information about the geology of the park, a gift shop, and a cafe. Interested visitors can continue to the Diamond Discovery Center, which offers an interpretive look at prospecting for diamonds. The Diamond Springs aquatic playground, enclosed pavilion, trails, and picnic areas surround the diamond field. The park offers campers 47 Class AAA facilities near the Little Missouri River.
Diamond mine.
Crater of Diamonds State Park is situated over an eroded lamproite volcanic pipe. The park is open to the public and, for a small fee, rockhounds and visitors can dig for diamonds and other gemstones. Park visitors find more than 600 diamonds each year of all colors and grades. Over 29,000 diamonds have been found in the crater since it became a state park. Visitors may keep any gemstone they find regardless of its value.
In addition to diamonds, visitors may find semi-precious gems such as amethyst, agate, and jasper or approximately 40 other minerals such as garnet, phlogopite, quartz, baryte, and calcite.


Harry Hubbick

Henry Edward Hubbick (12 November 1910 – 18 March 1992) was an English footballer who played professional football for Burnley, Bolton Wanderers, Port Vale, and Rochdale either side of World War II.
Playing career.
After leaving school Hubbick worked as a coal miner. In his free time he played football for Jarrow, Blyth Spartans and Spennymoor United before signing for professional club Burnley in 1935. Hubbick made his debut for Burnley on 19 October 1935 in a 1–0 win over Nottingham Forest and went on to make 32 appearances for the club that season. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw with Manchester United on 10 April 1936. Hubbick kept his place in the side going into the 1936–37 season and missed only one match in the first five months of the campaign. He played his last Burnley match on 6 February 1937 in a 3–1 defeat to Southampton at Turf Moor. In February 1937, he left Burnley and joined Bolton Wanderers, moving up from the Second Division to the First Division.
Bolton finished one place and two points above the relegation zone in 1936–37. They then rose to seventh position in 1937–38 and then eighth place in 1938–39. With the outbreak of World War II football was cancelled and Hubbick went back to work in the pits, also guesting for Blackpool, Bury and Blackburn Rovers. Immediately after the war, Bolton manager Walter Rowley made him club captain. He led the club to an 18th-place finish in 1946–47.
Hubbick joined Gordon Hodgson's Port Vale for a £1,000 fee in October 1947. He played 30 Third Division South games in 1947–48, before making 21 league and cup appearances in 1948–49. He scored only his second goal in the Football League for the "Valiants" in a 3–0 win over Leyton Orient at The Old Recreation Ground on 25 December 1948.
He was sold on to Rochdale in January 1949 for around £1,000, where he finished his professional career in 1950, at the age of 40. Ted Goodier's "Dale" finished seventh in the Third Division North, and then third in 1949–50. After leaving Spotland with 90 league appearances to his name, he later played for Lancaster City as a player-coach before moving on to Welsh clubs Caernarvon Town, Llandudno and Rhyl Athletic. He later worked as Preston North End's physiotherapist.
Statistics.
Source:


Halton Lea Gate

Halton Lea Gate is a small village in Northumberland, England, on the A689 road close to the boundary of the counties of Northumberland and Cumbria. The village is part of the parish council area called Hartleyburn, and borders the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Halton Lea Farm has a Grade II listed farmhouse, the eastern end of which probably represents a large bastle. The Pennine Way long-distance footpath runs just to the east of the village.
The population of Halton Lea Gate was 310 in 1901.
The area was subject to extensive coal mining activity in the nineteenth century, with a later phase of mining being undertaken from the 1930s to 1958.
Coal mining controversy.
The area has featured in the national news on account of plans to develop open cast coal mining adjacent to the village. A plan submitted in 2008 led to speculation in the local media that property values would drop by 40% as a result. The plan submitted by HM Project Developments Ltd in November 2010 was to extract approximately 140,000 tonnes of coal; with the nearest housing to the mining extraction being just under 60 metres away.
In May 2012 the UK government Planning Inspector, Clive Sproule, held an inquiry into this proposal, after the County Council had rejected applications to develop the site. The inquiry sat for nine days between 15–31 May. On 7 August the Planning Inspector published his decision. The appeal by HM Project Developments Ltd against the decision of the Northumberland County Council was allowed provided a schedule of conditions could be met. A notable person absent from the inquiry was Dr Dick van Steenis, a retired GP, whose presence at other inquiries to give evidence of the link between open cast mining and reduced life expectation and other health problems, had previously led to the blocking of many open-cast mines.
Hartleyburn Parish Council then sought a judicial review of the Planning Inspector's decision. Hartleyburn Parish Council's challenge to the Inspector's decision was dismissed by Judge Brehens sitting in the High Court in Leeds.
Following the Planning Inspector's decision, an amended application was submitted by HM Project Developments Ltd to Northumberland County Council. This application was recommended for acceptance by the County Council Planning Case Officer and was approved by the Planning and Environment Committee of the County Council on 7 January 2014. Extraction of coal commenced in 2016.
The success of the application to open cast coal mine at Halton Lea Gate has opened up the possibility of further mining applications in places like Lambley and Coanwood, where applications have previously been refused. The current National Planning Policy Framework allows national interest to overrule local decisions in respect of mineral resources.


Tlalpujahua

Tlalpujahua (; formally Tlalpujahua de Rayón) is a town and municipality located in the far northeast of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is a former mining town, home of the Dos Estrellas Mine, which was the leading producer of gold in the early 20th century. A major landslide of mud and mining debris damaged this mine and buried about one-third of the town in 1937. Mining continued until 1959, but nationalization of the mine by President Cardenas in the 1930s led to the demise of the mine and impoverishment of the town. In the 1960s, a local by the name of Joaquín Muñoz Orta began making Christmas tree ornaments here. This eventually grew into what is now one of the largest producers of ornaments called Adornos Navideños SA de CV. In addition to this and another factory, there are about 150 small workshops dedicated to making Christmas items, with about 70% of the town's economy based on it. In 2005, the town, with its narrow stone streets and adobe/stone houses with red tile roofs, was made a Pueblo Mágico as part of its efforts to attract tourism.
The town.
Mining town.
The town proper is small with only 3,704 residents (2005). It is filled with stone paved streets which rise and fall markedly, with the rugged terrain it is built on. Along the streets there are houses with thick walls made of adobe and/or pink sandstone, topped with peaked roofs covered in red tile. A number has wooden balconies and other wood details and look like chalets. The houses are built this way due to the winter months which are cold and sometimes snowy. (decarlan) Surrounding the town are rugged forested mountains. In 2005, Tlalpujahua became the 20th town to be declared a Pueblo Mágico, as part of its efforts to attract tourism. However, it is still quiet with few traffic problems despite the narrow streets.
Tlalpujahua's history is tied to mining, with the peak period for this activity spanning the very late 19th century to the 1930s, although mining had been done in this area since pre-Hispanic times. The major mine of the area was the Dos Estrellas Mine, which was established when a miner by the name of Nacho Ramírez found a rich vein, while employed by Frenchman Francois Joseph Fournier in 1898. This mine was the largest producer of gold, producing of gold and of silver. A major landslide caused damage to the mine in 1937. Nationalization of the mine by President Cardenas in the 1930s led to decreased investment and modernization that was previously provided by its private French owners, and the government controlled mine closed in 1959, devastating the economy of the town. Today, the mine has been converted into a museum called the Museo Tecnológico Minero Siglo 19. The exhibits are housed in the mine's original buildings, almost all of which have been preserved. The mine museum contains mining equipment and a collection of old photographs depicting the life and times of the area during its mining heyday, and is the first of its kind in Mexico. Some of the buildings also hold workshops and other events and others have been left as they were, such as the old mechanics shop, which is claimed to be where parts of the first airplane made in Mexico were forged. The garden areas of the museum contain sculptures made with materials found in the mine in forms such as butterflies and erupting volcanoes. They were made by Gustavo Bernal, the director of the museum and the one to bring the museum into existence. The museum also has a bookshop and café. http://www.museominadosestrellas.com.mx
Christmas tree ornaments.
Tlalpujahua is one of a number of former mining communities in this area, along with Angangueo and El Oro, Mexico State. What sets it apart is that it has become a major producer of Christmas tree ornaments, especially glass spheres. The industry began with Joaquín Muñoz Orta, who left his hometown with his family in the 1950s to Chicago, where he worked at a factory making artificial Christmas trees. He returned to Mexico in the early 1960s, but since there was still no work in Tlalpujahua, he went to Mexico City where he set up a small Christmas tree workshop with his family. They initially sold the trees in places such as the La Merced Market, but soon after they began to offer blown glass Christmas tree ornaments as well. These were more popular than the trees. By the end of the decade, they decided to move their workshop home to Tlalpujahua, which has since become Adornos Navideños SA de CV. Today, the company has about 1,000 employees, five plants and fifteen workshops. It is considered the largest such enterprise in Latin America,(esferas) and one of the five largest in the world. Each year, the factory produces about 38 million spheres, 26 million of which are exported.
This is one of two established large factories in the town. In addition, there are about 150 smaller workshops making various kinds of handcrafted Christmas decorations and most families in the area make them on the side at home. Even with large-scale production, creation of the glass spheres is still mostly artisanal, including the blowing of the glass and painting. Handcrafted spheres are blown, usually by men. When cool, the glass spheres are usually taken to be covered in a silver nitrate or similar solution, to give them a metallic look. Colors vary and include red, pink, yellow, blue gold and pearl. The classic ornaments are simple glass spheres but there are over a thousand different models available with shapes such as fruits, Santa Claus, pencils, dolls, snowmen, monkeys and many more. Workshops in the area have over 300 standard designs for the sphere, which include hearts, stars, harlequins, flowers, comets and more. Most of the painters are women. A number of the designs of the glass spheres are unique to the town. The creation of these glass spheres have given the town a reputation. Local authorities see the ornament industry as a way to stem emigration out of the area. The industry employs about 10,000 people, and accounts for about 70% of the town's economy. As of 2015, there were about 200 workshops in town that produced more than 100 million ornaments per year. From November to early December, the seat hosts an annual fair dedicated to Christmas decorations called the Arte Navideño. It exhibits ornaments, trees and other Christmas decorations. About 5% of the ornaments are sold during the fair, 35% in the rest of Mexico and about 60% are exported to countries such as the US, Canada, Argentina, Japan and Malaysia.
Churches.
The main church of the town is alternately called the Parish of San Pedro y San Pablo or the Del Carmen Sanctuary/Temple. The Santuario del Carmen was formerly dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. It was constructed in the first half of the 18th century, when mining in the area was good by Felipe Neri Valleza. It originally had rich Baroque ornamentation both inside and out. Today, one can still see the Baroque portal of two levels and a crest that forms a pinnacle. The levels are divided by paths which guard religious figures in its niches. In 2009, outside lights were installed to illuminate the church as part of efforts to bring tourism to the town as a Pueblo Mágico. The interior's original decoration, including its original five Baroque altars were destroyed and redone between 1858 and 1871. The last remodeling of the interior came in the late19th and very early 20th centuries. The project was sponsored by Father José María Galván and done by artisan Joaquín Orta Menchaca, using new techniques to sculpt flowers, other vegetative motifs, mouldings and more in plaster and ceramic on the walls of the church. All of these and the remaining flat spaces on the walls and ceiling were painted in various colors. This style has been repeated in the Church of San Francisco in Tlalpujahua and the Sanctuary of Guadalupe in Morelia. At first glance the work of Orta Menchaca looks to be a late version of Baroque, but it is really an eclectic style. It is considered to be an original work and a contribution to Mexican art.
The church was originally dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. Today, the main altar has an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel painted on a portion of an adobe wall flanked by images of Saints Peter and Paul. The Mount Carmel image comes from a former chapel dedicated to her, which was built in the 16th century by hacienda owner Juan Galindo. The image itself dates back at least to the 18th century. In 1937, a major landslide buried much of the town's principle blocks, and killed over 400 people. All that can be seen from the buried area is the bell tower of the chapel. The wall on which the image was painted was also undamaged. According to local lore, the face of the image was also above the debris and the landslide stopped just short of the wall. The salvation of the image was considered to be a miracle. This adobe wall was carefully cut away from the rest of the ruined building and moved to the parish church over 1.5 km away. The project was realized by the residents themselves with an estimated 12,000 taking part in some way. In 1965, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was declared the patroness of the municipality and on 16 July, she is honored, bringing thousands to the church from in and around the municipality.
The monastery of San Francisco was built in Baroque style in the 17th century. It was home to poet Manuel Martínez de Navarrete, who is exhibited in effigie in the central courtyard. The Santiago Puxtla Church was built in the 16th century and its fronted by a graveyard. It is a simple construction which originally was a church for the local indigenous. It is still used by locals and one of its main events is Day of the Dead. The chapel of Señor Jesús del Monte is one of the oldest churches in the municipality. It contains a Christ image in “pasta de caña” (corn stalk paste), made using indigenous techniques.
Other landmarks and events.
The Casa de los López Rayón (Rayon House) is a museum dedicated to the town's mining past and the Rayon brothers’ role in the War of Independence. The museum was opened in 1973 and contains items such as photographs, machines, plans, utensils, helmets, archives and letters. On 13 November, local schools participate in parades and theatrical depiection about the Lopez Rayon brothers, Ignacio, Francisco, José María and Ramón.
The town's crafts and food are offered for sale, especially on Sunday, the weekly market day. Most craft items are related to Christmas, but other crafts such as locally made pre-Hispanic style feather work and items make of wood, brass, iron, stone and silver as well as pottery are available as well. One local workshop called La Estanzuela produces high fire ceramics. In the markets and restaurants in town popular dishes such as barbacoa, and “cabeza de res” (beef head), both traditionally cooked in adobe ovens, are available. Other common dishes include soups made with local mushrooms, preserved fruits and bread made with pulque, corundas, turkey in mole, pickled nopales and a sweet bread called pan de pucha.
Since 2008, at the end of the October, it hosts the annual Festival Internacional de Cine Fantástico y de Terror Mórbido (International Festival of Fantasy and Morbid Terror Cinema). While movies and film are featured, there are also events related to local culture, workshops, seminars, music and dance. The films are from both Mexico and abroad, from classics of the 1950s to new films. The event is sponsored by a number of organizations including Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, the state of Michoacán and local authorities. Tlalpujahua is host to the most important horror film festival in Mexico. The films are shown in a number of venues, including the town's old theatre and even inside an old mine.The festival gives young filmmakers a chance to show their work and have it voted on by attendees. The 2010 festival paid homage to the Cardona family, which has made over one hundred films, many of which were of the horror and suspense variety. (morbido)
The municipality.
As municipal seat, the town of Tlalpujahua is the local governing authorities for about 80 named communities, which cover an area of . The municipality has a total population of 25,373 (2005), but on 3,704 live in the town proper. The municipality is located in the far northeast of the state, and borders the municipalities of Contepec, Senguuio and Maravatío with the State of Mexico to the east. It is 156 km from the capital of Morelia. The municipality is connected to Atlacomulco and Morelia via Federal Highway 126. There are state highways that link it to Venta de Bravo, Santa María de los Angeles and Angangueo. Other important communities include San Francisco de Los Reyes, Tlacotepec, Tlapujahuilla, San Pedro Taríbaro, Los Remedios and Santa María de los Angeles. As of 2005, there were only 49 people in the municipality that spoke an indigenous language, mostly Purépecha. While the municipality had a negative growth rate in the 1990s, due to emigration, it has since grown from 18,376 in 1995 to 25,373 in 2005. Almost all profess the Catholic faith with a small community of Evangelicals.
The municipality lies within the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. It is mountainous dominated by the Sierra de Tlalpujahua, with peaks such as Somera, Campo del Gallp, Aguilas, San Miguel and Santa Maria. It has one river called the San José, with arroyos such as the Naranjas and Ciénega. There are also fresh water springs and two dams called the Brockman and the Estanzuela. It has a temperate climate with rain all year round. Average temperatures vary from to . The municipality is dominated by forests of pine, oyamel and juniper with some areas having holm oak and cedar. Wildlife includes cacomixtle, raccoons, weasels, armadillos, and wild fowl. The area is part of a rugged mountain chain that separates the state of Michoacán from neighboring State of Mexico. Like neighboring areas such as Angangueo and El Oro, State of Mexico, it is an area historically rich in minerals. While not part of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, it is only from the Sierra Chincua, which is the second most important sanctuary in the Reserve.
Mining is no longer performed in the municipality, although there are still deposits of gold, silver and copper. The most important economic activity now is industry, mostly the making of Christmas related items. This is concentrated in the town of Tlalpujahua and the community of San Francisco de Los Reyes, and accounts for 29% of GDP. Other products include pencil sharpeners, stone products and textiles. Agriculture and livestock is second in importance. Principle crops include corn, beans and fava beans. Livestock include cattle, pigs, sheep and domestic fowl. It accounts for twenty percent of economic activity. In recent years, the municipality has been making efforts to attract tourism including gaining the status of Pueblo Mágico in 2005. Commerce and services is limited to small and medium –sized enterprises catering to local and tourist needs.
Outside the municipal seat, there are a number of tourist attractions. The Hermanos Rayón National Park, also called the Campo del Gallo Park, was created in 1952 by President Miguel Alemán Valdés. This was the area in which the López Rayón brothers had their headquarters during the early War of Independence. At the highest point, there is a monument in their honor. Another ecotourism area is the Mineral Casa de Campo, located in a forest with oaks, holm oaks, oyamels and eucalyptus trees. The area offers cabins for up to twelve people and tours of nearby monarch butterfly sanctuaries. The Brockman Dam offers activities such as camping, mountain biking, skiing, canoeing and more. It is located 15 minutes outside the town.
History.
In pre-Hispanic times, the area was initially dominated by the Mazahuas, with Tlalpujahuac as its original name. This comes from Nahuatl and means spongy or flabby land. The Purépecha took over the area in 1460, but the Aztecs invaded under Axayacatl. The area remained a point of contention between the Aztec Empire and Purépecha Empire until the Spanish conquest of both empires.
After the Spanish conquest, the area was made part of the Tarimeo encomienda, under the control of Gaspar de Avila. Gold had been mined by the indigenous in the area before the Spanish arrived, and by 1558, the Spanish rediscovered mining in these mountains. This rediscovery brought an influx of Spanish settlement to the area and the mining camp took on the name of Real de Minas de Tlalpujahua in 1560. In 1570, it was named a “alcaldia mayor” (principal town) which was under the direct control of the viceroy. In 1593, the leader of the mining community, Gaspar de Solís, under orders from the viceroy, created the first parish for the indigenous, and traced out the first blocks of a formal Spanish town. In 1603, it was formally established. Around this time, chapels such as the Nuestra Señora del Carmen and San Lorenzo were constructed. The monastery and church of San Francisco was also established. After the bishopric of Michoacán was split from that of Mexico City, there was conflict again as to which Tlalpujahua belonged. Eventually, the interventions of Vasco de Quiroga made it part of Michoacán.
At the beginning of the 18th century, a fire destroyed part of the town, taking with it a number of important buildings and archives. A new parish church was constructed in 1750. By 1765, the parish also included the communities of San Miguel Tlacotepec, San Juan Tlalpujahuilla, Santa Maria, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios and San Pedro Tarimangacho. The early mines began to give out in 1769.
The town played a role in the early part of the Mexican War of Independence. Ignacio López Rayón formed an insurgent group after the death of Hidalgo called the Suprema Junta Nacional Americana in Zitácuaro. When royalist troops arrived to that city, he retreated to his hometown of Tlalpujahua and established his base of operations. Along with his brothers, he fortified the Cerro del Gallo Mountain, created arms and munitions and reestablished the armed insurgency. It is from here as well that Ignacio Rayon sent to José María Morelos a document called Elementos de nuestra Constitución (Elements of Our Constitution), which contained individual guarantees to be granted to those in insurgent held territories. They also set up a printing press at the site. However, in 1813, royalist troops took Tlalpujahua and forced the evacuation of the Cerro del Gallo. Another supporter of independence, Father Juan Antonio Romero was executed in the town, before Francisco López Rayón took it back in 1815. The war shattered the economy of the town, and most of its mines were abandoned. Despite this, it became a municipality in 1822. Mining was reactivated in 1825, with the arrival of the English, but it lasted only for three years.
In 1859, the municipality's name was changed to Mineral de Rayón, to honor the López Rayón brothers. It would later be changed to the current Tlalpujahua de Rayón. In 1861, it was the seat of a district comprising Angangueo, Contepec, and itself. In 1862, Conservative forces took control of the town, which was taken back a short time later by Liberal General Rafael Cuéllar.
In 1874, the state of Michoacán attempted to restart large scale mining. However, success came at the very end of the century, when a large vein of gold ore was found on the Cerro de Somero by a worker employed by Frenchman Francois Joseph Fournier. The strike was rich and made Tlalpujahua the most important producer of gold between 1908 and 1913. This strike consolidated into the Dos Estrellas Mine. This and other older mines returned to profitability due to French and English technology, made Tlalpujahua and neighboring El Oro, a magnet for foreign workers, who came from Europe, the U.S. and even Asia. It also brought modern infrastructure such as railroad telegraph. Tlalpujahua claims to have had electric lights first in the country, even before Mexico City.
Mining came to an abrupt halt when on 27 May 1937, a major landslide buried about one-third of the town and damaged the Dos Estrellas Mine. The material was actually mining debris from deep inside the earth, so when it settled, it formed into a kind of concrete. Only the tower of the former chapel is visible today. This damaged the mine, but it was the nationalization of the mine by President Cardenas in the 1930s that led to it closing in 1959. As Dos Estrellas was the main economic engine of the area, its closing all but killed mining in Tlalpujahua, and people began migrating to other parts of Michoacan. The population dropped from 25,000 in the 1930s to only 600 in 1960.
All mining activity ended in 1959. The rise of the Christmas tree ornament industry and tourism has revived the economy somewhat. The industry began with Joaquín Muñoz Orta, who left his hometown with his family in the 1950s to Chicago, where he worked at a factory making artificial Christmas trees. He returned to Mexico in the early 1960s, but since there was still no work in Tlalpujahua, he went to Mexico City where he set up a small Christmas tree workshop with his family. They initially sold the trees in places such as the La Merced Market, but soon after they began to offer blown glass Christmas tree ornaments as well. These were more popular than the trees. Eventually, they decided to move their workshop home to Tlalpujahua, which has since become Adornos Navideños SA de CV. Today, the company has about 1,000 employees, five plants and fifteen workshops.


Ralph Julian Rivers

Ralph Julian Rivers (May 23, 1903 – August 14, 1976) was a Democratic United States Representative from Alaska.
Biography.
Born in Seattle, Washington to Louisa Zenaide (née Lavoy) and Julian Guy Rivers, Rivers attended grammar school in Flat, Alaska, and Franklin High School in Seattle. He worked as a gold miner in Flat from 1921 to 1923, and then earned an LL.B. from the University of Washington School of Law in 1929. He then worked as a lawyer in private practice for several years.
Rivers was a lifelong civil servant, working in a number of public positions throughout his life. He served as United States Attorney for District of Alaska, from 1933 to 1944. He was then elected as the attorney general of Alaska, serving from 1945 to 1949. He was the chair of the Employment Security Commission of Alaska from 1950 to 1952, and then became the mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska from 1952 to 1954. In 1954 he was also president of the League of Alaskan Cities. He was a member of the Alaska Territorial Senate in 1955, and was the second vice president of the Alaska Constitutional Convention at College, Alaska in 1955 and 1956. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1960, 1964, and 1968.
Rivers appeared on the game show "To Tell the Truth" as contestant #1 in the second group of contestants on June 2, 1959.
U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1957 and 1958, Rivers was a United States Representative-elect under the Alaska-Tennessee Plan in Washington, D.C., on a provisional basis, pending statehood. Upon the admission of Alaska as a State into the Union, he was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-sixth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1959 until December 30, 1966. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Ninetieth Congress in 1966, resigning days before the end of his term.
Rivers died in Chehalis, Washington, and his remains were cremated. His ashes were interred at Sunset Memorial Gardens.
Electoral history.
Alaska's at-large congressional district: Results 1958–1966


Dresden White Diamond

The Dresden White Diamond (also known as Dresden White or the Saxon White) is a cushion-cut diamond that probably originated from the Golconda mines in Southern India.
The Dresden White's name is derived from Dresden, the capital city of Saxony, Germany, and from the gem's white color.
History.
When the diamond was first shown to Frederick Augustus I, the King of Saxony, he was so captivated by the cut, clarity, and color of the gem that he chose to acquire it at any cost. He supposedly paid somewhere between $750,000 and $1,000,000 for the diamond.
In order to house his enormous collection of treasures, he set up the Green Vault in Dresden Castle.
In 1746, goldsmith Jean Jacques Pallard designed the elaborate Golden Fleece ornament for Frederick Augustus and the Dresden White was placed at the top of the design. However, after the end of the Seven Years' War the Golden Fleece was broken up. The Dresden White was then incorporated into a shoulder knot ornament designed around 19 large diamonds and 216 small stones.
After World War I, the items in the Green Vault were put on public display. They remained there until the beginning of World War II, when they were placed back under lock and key. At the height of the war in 1942, the items were transferred to the Königstein Fortress.
In 1945, the Soviet Trophies Commission took the Green Vault contents to Moscow, but safely returned them in 1958. The contents were then placed on display in Dresden's Albertinium, which was built on the same site as the original Dresden museum.
On November 25, 2019, a group of thieves stole much of the jewelry in the Green Vault during the 2019 Dresden heist, including the White Diamond.


Moonidih

Moonidih is an inhabited place in Dhanbad CD block in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand
Geography.
Location.
Moonidih is located at .
Moonidih was not identified as a separate place in 2011 census. In the map of Dhanbad cum Kenduadih cum Jogta CD block on page 127 of District Census Handbook Dhanbad, 2011 census, several census towns and mouzas are shown in the southern part of the CD block. It appears that Moonidih is part of a mouza, but it is not possible to identify which one. In the map placed on this page (based on geographical coordinates) Moonidh is surrounded by several census towns in Dhanbad CD block. In the map on this page Kenduadih, a neighbourhood in ward no. 12 of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, is shown as being adjacent to Moonidih, but the latter is not mentioned in the list of wards in DMC.
Overview.
The region shown in the map is a part of the undulating uplands bustling with coalmines. The Damodar River, the most important river of the Chota Nagpur Plateau, flows along the southern border. A major part of the area shown in the map is part of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, an urban area. The places in the DMC area are marked as neighbourhoods. The western part of the region shown in the map is covered by Dhanbad (community development block). 57% of the population of Dhanbad CD block reside in rural areas and 43% reside in urban areas, The east-central part of the region shown in the map is covered by Baliapur (community development block). 86% of the population of Baliapur CD block reside in rural areas and 14% reside in urban areas. The places in the CD block areas are marked mostly as census towns. Three operational areas of BCCL operate fully within the region – Pootkee Balihari Area, Lodna Area and Eastern Jharia Area. The Moonidih sector of Western Jharia Area also operates in the region.
Economy.
Coal mines.
The Western Jharia Area of BCCL covers two separate coal blocks- Moonidih coal block and Mahuda coal block. While Moonidih coal block is situated in west-central Jharia coalfield, Mahuda coal basin is situated on the western part of Jharia coalfield. Location wise both the blocks are separated by a few kilometres and are accessible by National Highway 18 (old number NH 32) (locally popular as Dhanbad- Bokaro national highway). The mines in the Area are: Moonidih Project, Murlidih 21/22 pits mine, Lohapatti mine and Bhatdih Mine. The Area office is located at Mahuda.
The Moonidih Project initiated in 1964 with Polish collaboration is one of the deepest underground coal mines in the country, its shafts going down to depths of and . Since inception Moonidih was designed for high levels of production utilising longwall mechanisation, moving on to higher levels of technology in subsequent years.
The Coal Bed Methane project is in the southern part of the Moonidih block, where coal seams have occurred at depths of and are still virgin. The effectively recovered methane gas is utilised at Moonidih for generating electricity.
Washery.
Moonidih coking coal washery of BCCL was commissioned in 1983 and has an operable capacity of 1.60 million tonnes per year.
Transport.
Trekkers and mini buses and state buses are available, which connect Moonidih to Jharia, Dhanbad and other places. Public transport buses are few.
The nearest railway station to Moonidih is 8 km away at Mahuda. A branch line for transportation of goods connects Moonidih coal mine and coal washery to Mahuda railway junction. Monnidih is 8 km from Jharia, 10 km from Dhanbad, other nearby villages and mines are at Lodna (6.4 km), Putki (2.5 km), Jamadoba (6.2 km). The Damodar River flows near Moonidih village.
Education.
D.A.V. Public School (Moonidih Project), Indian School of Learning, Baludih Public School, Jatudih, are the schools which caters the need of children of villages and staff working in coal mines and washery.
D.A.V. Public School (Moonidih Project) is the largest school in Moonidih on the basis of both, number of students studying and infrastructure.


Kirovgradsky mine

The Kirovgradsky mine is a large copper mine located in the south-west of Russia in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Kirovgradsky represents one of the largest copper reserve in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 200 million tonnes of ore grading 4.3% copper.


Jean-Baptiste Leblond

Jean-Baptiste Leblond, born on 21 May 1957 in Boulogne-Billancourt, is a materials scientist, member of the Mechanical Modelling Laboratory of the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University (MISES) and professor at the same university.
Biography.
Leblond attended his scientific preparatory classes, notably in the special M' mathematics class at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and was admitted to the École normale supérieure de la rue d'Ulm, mathematics option, in 1976. He then joined the Corps des mines and became a doctor of physical sciences.
Leblond's kinetic theory.
This is an approach established by Leblond in his work on phase transformations.
The theory proposes an evolutionary model to quantify the composition of the different phases of a crystalline material during heat treatment.
The method is based on experimentally established CRT (Continuous Cooling Transformation) diagrams to compose TTT (Time-Temperature-Transformation) diagrams, which are widely used for numerical simulation or for the manufacture of industrial parts.
The theory posits the equivalent volume fraction of a constituent "yeq" as the stationary solution of the evolution equations describing the phase change kinetics:
We then suppose in anisothermal condition that the real fraction y is close to "yeq", it is then possible to approximate the real value "Y" by a Taylor development at order 1:
The evolution is given by :
There are also other formalisms such as the theory of Kirkaldy, Johnson-Mehl-Avrami or Waeckel. One of the most classical, quite old, is that of Johnson-Mehl-Avrami. The model proposed by Jean-Baptiste Leblod is in fact based on this classical model by generalizing it on two points: 1) it considers any number of phases and transformations between these phases, and not just two phases and a single transformation; 2) the transformations can remain, after an infinitely long time, partial, and not necessarily complete as in the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami model (this is linked to the existence, in the new model, of fractions "at equilibrium" of the phases towards which the system evolves after an infinite time, not necessarily equal to 0 or 1 but which can take any value between these limits).
The Leblond model is designed for applications in the thermometallurgical treatment of steels; this explains its success with the modellers of these treatments.


Taolin mine

The Taolin mine is a large mine located in the south-eastern China in Hunan. Taolin represents one of the largest fluorite reserves in China, having estimated reserves of 6.1 million tonnes of ore grading 14.3% fluorite.


Richard Pennefather Rothwell

Richard Pennefather Rothwell (May 1, 1836 – April 17, 1901) was a Canadian-American civil, mechanical and mining engineer. He was the co-founder of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and was awarded the gold medal at the Paris Exposition, in 1898, by the Soeiete d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale de France, as founder and editor of "The Mineral Industry".
Early years and education.
Richard Pennefather Rothwell was born May 1, 1836, at Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada. He studied in early life at Trinity College, Toronto, the Rensselaer Institute at Troy, New York, and the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris.
Career.
His professional practice in France and England, and his subsequent career as civil, mechanical and mining engineer in Pennsylvania, from the year 1866 to 1873, prepared him for his later work as editor, writer and manager of statistical and scientific publications. Rothwell already was known as an accomplished writer on engineering and mining topics when, in 1874 he became an editor, and afterward the owner of "The Engineering and Mining Journal".
Later, he formed The Scientific Publishing Company, and in 1893, began the publication of "The Mineral Industry", which fulfilled his ideal of an annual that would cover the whole field of the world's mineral production and the world's mining and metallurgical progress. Rothwell was eminently fitted to organize and advance this undertaking. He possessed a quick perception of the value of material for publication, an extraordinary memory and a keen sense of fitness and preparation. While he possessed in an eminent degree the power of broad generalization, few men could analyze a compilation of figures so quickly or give to statistical results so clear and compact a form. He laid the lines on which "The Mineral Industry" had been carried forward, and it was primarily due to his good judgment and management that the book from the first possessed a value, which was generally acknowledged as scarcely without parallel in statistical and technical literature.
Rothwell was one of the three founders of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. He was awarded the gold medal at the Paris Exposition, in 1898, by the Soeiete d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale de France, as editor of "The Mineral Industry".
He organized The Sophia Fund, which was incorporated in May 1900, as a memorial to his long-time employee, Sophia Braeunlich, with a donation of about , a part of which was contributed from moneys left by Braeunlich.
Personal life.
Rothwell married Bertha Hillebrand in 1862.
He died at his residence in New York City, on April 17, 1901.


Bioenergy (corporation)

 Bioenergy Corporation (Russian: Корпорация "Биоэнергия") is industrial holding company in the field of fuel energy, engineering and biotechnology.
Assets of the company provide a complete production cycle for Industrial Engineering, peat extraction and processing, production and distribution of finished products, generating heat and electricity.
The basis for holding a number of technology clusters in the peat industry. The main production assets are concentrated in the Central European part of Russia. In particular, a corporation controlled by one of the largest peat Russian companies LLC "Mokeiha-Zybinskoe" in the Yaroslavl region of Russia and "Vladimir-Peat" in Vladimir region.
Corporation Management.
Chairman of the Board of Directors - David Yakobashvili.
President, Member of the Board - Yan Yanovskiy.


Evergreen (Mount Savage, Maryland)

The Evergreen Heritage Center is a historic museum property on Trimble Road, east of Mount Savage, Maryland. The property, dubbed Evergreen relatively early in its history, has a history dating to the mid-18th century, and its buildings represent a distinct cross-section of styles across a period of more than 200 years. The oldest surviving element is the c. 1780 barn; the main house includes a stone portion built c. 1822–23, with its main section, built on an 18th-century foundation, exhibiting fine Late Victorian architecture. The property also includes early 20th-century industrial resources, associated with a coal tramway.
The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.


Paladin Energy

Paladin Energy Ltd is a Western Australian based uranium production company.
It currently has one operating mine in Africa; the Langer Heinrich mine (LHM) in Namibia. Paladin was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX), as well as the Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt Exchanges. It also owns deposits in Western Australia.
As of February 2018, Paladin is in the process of restructuring, having filed for insolvency in July 2017.
History.
Uranerz Australia started operations in Perth, Western Australia, in 1970 with John Borshoff, Paladin's managing director/CEO, serving as Chief executive from 1986 to 1991. Uranerz, the Australian arm of German-based uranium mining house Uranerzbergbau, explored throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Africa, focusing primarily on uranium. When Uranerz decided to close its Australian operations, John Borshoff acquired its extensive proprietary databases, which subsequently formed the nucleus for the public float of Paladin in 1994.
In February 2008, Paladin, in conjunction with joint venture partner Cameco, were selected from a highly competitive field to explore the Angela and Pamela deposits located approximately 25 km south of the town of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Following successful completion of 2 drilling programmes, an updated Mineral Resource estimate was completed by the JV partners in July 2011.
In February 2009, Paladin completed the takeover of Fusion Resources, adding the Duke Batman and Honey Pot deposits to the existing Mount Isa project area. The capacity of the LHM operation has been successfully expanded to a production rate of 5.2Mlb per annum.
According to information released by Wikileaks in 2010, BHP Billiton attempted to lobby the Australian government in order to block the Aluminium Corp of China (Chinalco) investment in Rio Tinto.
In 2012, Paladin joined forces with Rio Tinto to block the sales of BHP Billiton's Australian uranium deposit to Canadian mining company, Cameco.
Founder of Paladin, John Borshoff stepped down as CEO in 2015 as part of a board decision. Alexander Molyneux, took over as interim CEO of the company. In 2016, The Australian reported that Paladin may be in talks with Russian owned ARMZ Uranium Holding as well as China National Nuclear Corporation. CNNC is a 25% owner in Paladin's Namibian mine Langer Heinrich.
Paladin posted a loss of $22,9 million after tax in the six months to 31 December 2015.
In 2016, Paladin announced the sale of non-core Australian exploration assets to Uranium Africa. The value of the sale was A$2.5 million and included the Oobagoma project in Western Australia and Pamela/Angela project in the Northern Territory.
In 2017, Paladin filed for insolvency, due to its high debt and consistently low uranium prices. The stock was also delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.
In June 2018, former Newcrest executive Scott Sullivan was appointed to take over the CEO responsibilities from Alexander Molyneux.
Uranium projects.
The Company’s uranium projects include Langer Heinrich in Namibia and Manyingee in Western Australia. Each of these projects had feasibility studies carried out by previous owners during the 1980s, and Paladin secured them at low cost during the depressed uranium market.
Paladin has augmented its resource base in Australia through the acquisition of Valhalla Uranium Pty Ltd, whose primary assets are the 50% joint venture interests in the Valhalla and Skal deposits near Mount Isa in Queensland and 41.71% ownership of the Bigrlyi deposit in the Northern Territory.
Paladin also has an 82.08% controlling interest in Summit Resources Limited, Valhalla's joint venture partner at Mount Isa and the holder of other promising exploration titles in the region.
African Focus.
Namibia.
Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia is Paladin's flagship project. Having reached its initial production of 2.7Mlb U3O8 per annum in 2008, the mine completed its Stage 2 ramp-up to 3.7Mlb per annum in the 2010 financial year. Subsequently, the Company has completed a Stage 3 expansion and began producing at a 5.2Mlb per annum rate. An additional Stage 4 expansion review is currently nearing finalisation with the view to potentially increasing production up to 10Mlb per annum at a later date when the economics justify the additional investment required. Substantial technical work has been completed on this project since its discovery in 1973, mainly by Gencor (the original explorer), a large South African mining house that evolved into BHP Billiton. Paladin acquired Langer Heinrich in 2002, and started a BFS in 2004.
Paladin's Board approved the development proposal at a capital cost of US$92M in 2005; site works began in September 2005;and, the project construction was completed on time and within budget. The mine was officially opened by the President of the Republic of Namibia in March 2007.
In July 2016, it was reported that Paladin was looking to sell a further 24% stake in the Langer Heinrich mine to an unnamed buyer.
In subsequent reports, it was stated that the buyer would be a division of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC). The value is expected to be $175 million. However, in December 2016, Paladin reported that the sale had been delayed.
Malawi.
Kayelekera mine in Malawi is the Company's second mine. A Development Agreement with the Government of Malawi was executed in February 2007, which provided fiscal stability for the project for ten years. Kayelekera was officially opened in April 2009 and has operated at designed production rates of 3.3Mlb U3O8. Project life is expected to run for at least an additional 8 years with exploration underway to identify feedstocks to extend the current project life.
The uranium development in Malawi has been besieged by issues and international media attention since 2008. A report presented by the United Nations Human Rights Commission argued that Malawi would lose money and resources over the life of the mine.
In 2014, Paladin suspended production at Kayelekera, citing lowered uranium prices at the reason for suspension.
Canada.
In February 2011, Paladin completed the acquisition of its first Canadian project. Paladin acquired the uranium assets of Canadian company Aurora Energy Resources Inc. (Aurora) which added a significant tenement package in the highly prospective Central Mineral Belt (CMB) in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Aurora had already established a Mineral Resource base of 40.2Mt at 0.09% U3O8 (83.8Mlb) of Measured and Indicated category material, with an additional 29.0Mt at 0.08% U3O8 (53.0Mlb) of Inferred category resources.
In 2015, the Canadian Federal government granted an exemption to the current regulations on foreign ownership of active producing mines in Canada. Paladin was granted the right to have a majority ownership stake in the Michelin uranium mine, located in Newfoundland. Paladin was able to secure the exemption by demonstrating that no suitable Canadian owned company was attracted to the venture.
Australian uranium mining ban.
A uranium mining ban dating back to 1989 had been in place, hindering the group's Australian activities for more than a decade. This ban was overturned in October 2012, paving the way for firms like Paladin to take advantage of the vast resources available; exploration had not been prohibited and thus the reserves have been targeted and are ready for mining.
However, it was not all of Australia that lifted the ban. In 2015, the state of Queensland reinstated the ban on all uranium mining activity. South Australia is still undertaking research into the effect of uranium mining in the state. Mining is still banned in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.
Paladin owns the Valhalla deposit with both measured and indicated uranium resources of 24,425tU.


Minmetals Development

Minmetals Development Co., Ltd. (MINLIST) () is a Shanghai-listed Chinese company principally engaged in the domestic and international trading of minerals. Headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China, the Company mainly offers steel products, steel billets, iron ore, coal and coke.
The Company distributes its products within the domestic markets and to overseas markets. The company is also involved in the international freight forwarding, logistics and storage, international bid and auction, hotel management and high technology industries, through its subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2006, the company had 11 major subsidiaries.
Address.
Minmetals Development Co Ltd
Building B, No. 5 Sanlihe Road
Haidian District
Beijing, BEJ 100044
P: +86 106.849.4267
F: +86 106.849.4207


Discovery Claim on Pedro Creek

The Discovery Claim on Pedro Creek is a historic gold mining site in central Alaska. It is located at mile 16.5 of the Steese Highway, northeast of Fairbanks. It is a site on what is now called Pedro Creek, that was where Felix Pedro made the first major discovery of gold in the area on July 22, 1902. His discovery drew large numbers of gold prospectors to the area, and led to the establishment of Fairbanks as a major community in Alaska. Most of the claim site is located south of the highway, which crosses one corner. There is a commemorative marker placed at the side of the highway in 1952. The claim is now owned by the Pioneers of Alaska Igloo #4; there is no substantial evidence of the mining activities that took place there.
The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.


Third Energy Onshore

Third Energy Onshore Ltd is a UK company involved in oil and gas exploration, including proposals for fracking operations in Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire.
The company was incorporated as Viking Petroleum UK Ltd in October 2003. In December 2003, it acquired a 40% holding in the Ryedale gasfields in North Yorkshire from Edinburgh Oil and Gas plc. In October 2013, Viking acquired Tullow Oil's 60% share in onshore oil interests relating to the North Yorkshire gas fields and operation of the gas-fired Knapton Power Station in October 2013 (Knapton is supplied by gas wells in the Kirby Misperton area). Viking changed its name to Third Energy Onshore in October 2013.
Third Energy Onshore was 97% owned by Barclays' private equity division, Barclays Natural Resource Investments; its ultimate parent company, Third Energy Holdings, is based in the Cayman Islands. Sister company Third Energy Offshore was acquired from Third Energy Holdings by Hague and London Oil plc in September 2018, with the deal formally approved in December 2018.
In October 2018, owner Barclays was reported to be considering selling Third Energy Onshore rather than invest a further £5m to make the Kirby Misperton fracking site fully functional in the next 12 months. In March 2019, financial adviser Lazard was reported to be talking to rival energy companies about investing in or acquiring Third Energy Onshore's business. In July 2019, Third Energy Onshore and two sister companies were sold to York Energy, a subsidiary of US-owned Alpha Energy.
Kirby Misperton fracking.
In November 2014, Third Energy Onshore announced its intention to apply for permission to frack near Kirby Misperton.
In July 2015 Third Energy Onshore applied to North Yorkshire County Council for planning permission to frack a well drilled in 2013 and to produce gas from it. Permission was granted in May 2016; Friends of the Earth and a local pressure group, Frack Free Ryedale, applied for judicial review of the decision, but this application was rejected in December 2016. In October 2017, Third Energy Onshore announced its intention to begin fracking within weeks.
In November 2017, opponents to the fracking operation called upon the company to confirm its financial standing before commencing work; the company was over a month late in filing its accounts (which were eventually filed on 1 February 2018). In January 2018, Business Secretary Greg Clark said permission for Third Energy Onshore to frack would not be granted until financial checks had been completed by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, amid concerns about its resilience and ability to fund clean-up costs. The 2016 accounts of Third Energy UK Gas Ltd showed it made a £3.4m loss (down from a £3.85m loss in 2015), but owed £44.7m to its ultimate parent company, Third Energy Holdings, based in the Cayman Islands.
Third Energy Onshore began removing equipment from the site in early February 2018, as questions about the company's finances and management continued, including about the September 2017 appointments of former Carillion interim CEO Keith Cochrane as non-executive chairman, and of Jitesh Gadhia, a Conservative party peer and donor and a non-executive director at HM Treasury body UK Financial Investments (which advises government on dealing with financially distressed businesses) as a non-executive director. Cochrane and Gadhia resigned as directors in September 2018.
In April 2019, the Kirby Misperton site remained dormant over a year after Third Energy Onshire vacated it; the company had earlier said it would drill at the site before the end of 2019. The July 2019 completion of Third Energy Onshore's sale raised fears that fracking might be restarted at Kirby Misperton.


Idwal Robling

James Idwal Robling (1927 – 9 June 2011) was a Welsh sports commentator, who worked for the BBC in Wales for almost 40 years.
Robling was born in Ynyshir in the Rhondda, where he attended the local grammar school. His education was interrupted by the Second World War, and upon being called up was accepted for service in the Royal Navy. However, he was selected by ballot to become a Bevin Boy so instead of going to the Navy he was conscripted to work in the coal mines. After the war, he resumed his education and qualified as a teacher after attending Caerleon College and Loughborough University, although instead of teaching he decided on a different career and became a manager at the Lovell's sweet factory in Newport, Monmouthshire.
Robling was an outstanding amateur footballer, and was part of the Great Britain squad for the 1952 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki. He won 13 caps as an amateur international for Wales, and captained the team on one occasion. He also played for Lovell's Athletic, his company's works team which played at a high level in the amateur Southern League. As his playing career wound down he became involved in sports reporting, and in the 1960s he worked part-time for both BBC Wales Radio as a sports commentator as well as writing reports for "The Times", but he was still working as a sales manager in 1969, when he won the BBC competition to find an extra person for the BBC's 1970 World Cup television commentary team. Ten thousand people entered, and Robling's rivals in the final six included Ed Stewart, Ian St John and Gerry Harrison. In the final round of judging Robling tied with St John, a Scottish former international footballer, and the casting vote went to the then England football manager Sir Alf Ramsey who was well known for his love of the Welsh accent.
After his victory Robling joined the BBC football "Match of the Day" team, covering matches in the South and West of England area during a short-lived experiment at covering regional matches, and did indeed go to the 1970 World Cup, commentating on a number of first-round games although none of them were broadcast live in the UK. At the start of the 1970/71 season he replaced Wally Barnes as the regular TV football reporter and commentator on BBC Wales, a role he held for the next sixteen seasons, as well as occasionally covering Boxing and Rugby League
In those days of limited football coverage he was used mainly as a reporter by BBC Wales and his commentaries were largely restricted to the occasional "Match of the Day" opt-out, Welsh Cup game or international friendly, but Cardiff City and Wrexham's exploits in the European Cup Winners Cup in the 1970s saw him commentate on some memorable European games against the likes of Real Madrid, Hajduk Split and Anderlecht. He commentated on many Wales' international matches, including Wales' home defeat in the 1978 World Cup Qualifier against Scotland when a controversial refereeing decision saw the Scots being given a late penalty. In the 1976 European Championship Qualifier he had seen Wales become the first team in 30 years to beat Hungary in the Nep stadium, declaring almost incredulously as John Mahoney scored the second goal, "and it's 2-0 to Wales...IT'S AS SIMPLE AS THAT!" (probably his most remembered line of commentary for Welsh fans), and in his final major international he commentated on Mark Hughes' "wondergoal" in a 3-0 win in the 1986 World Cup Qualifier against Spain. It was probably fitting that he lived to see Swansea City win promotion to the Premier League of English football in the spring of 2011, as they started their previous top-flight campaign with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Leeds United on the opening day of the 1981-82 First Division season, a game covered by Robling and which gave him a rare top-billing on the network "Match of the Day".
With his 60th birthday approaching Robling retired from commentating at the end of the 1984-85 season but he continued covering football as a reporter with a local news agency. He returned to the BBC in an off-screen role as a producer on the "Scrum V" and "Sport Wales" programmes, and was still working there until a few months before his death.
Robling died in Newport, aged 84, following a short illness. He was married with a son and two daughters. His grandson Lewis Robling is a professional rugby union player.


William Hamilton Merritt III

William Hamilton Merritt III (June 8, 1855 – October 26, 1918) was a Canadian soldier, author, and mining engineer. His grandfather, William Hamilton Merritt, was a politician in Ontario. Confusingly, his father and cousin also shared his name; even though he is now known as William Hamilton Merritt III, during his life, he did not refer to himself as the third.
After completing schooling in Ontario at Trinity College School and Upper Canada College, Merritt studied at Clifton College and the Royal School of Mines in England, where he received his A.R.S.M. (Associate of the Royal Society of Mines). Upon returning to Canada, he published pamphlets on mining and taught at the School of Mining in Kingston, Ontario. He was elected vice-president of the Ontario Mining Institute.
Merritt also pursued a career as a soldier. In 1882 he joined the Governor-General's Bodyguard, where he was promoted quickly through the ranks. In 1903, he became lieutenant-colonel. Merritt served in the Northwest Rebellion and the Boer War, but by 1914 he was too old to serve in the First World War. He maintained an interest in military matters, though, and published a book, "Canada and National Service", which advocated compulsory military service. Merritt was also president of the Canadian Defence League, which advocated universal military training.
The city of Merritt, British Columbia, is named after William Hamilton Merritt III, due to his role in bringing the railway through the Nicola Valley. In 1890 he married Margaret Simpson, daughter of Toronto merchant Robert Simpson. In 1891, Merritt prospected for coal near where the city is today. Finding it, he organized the Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Coal and Railway Company to extend the rail line through to transport coal out of the valley. The railway also allowed settlement and industry to flourish in the valley. As demand for coal grew, the company was eventually bought by the Canadian Pacific Railway.


Solid Energy

Solid Energy was the largest coal mining company in New Zealand and is a state owned enterprise of the New Zealand Government.
The company was formed from the former government department State Coal Mines. It was then established as a state owned enterprise called Coal Corporation in 1987 (known as Coalcorp), and renamed Solid Energy New Zealand Limited in 1997. In 2015, it had a turnover of NZ$369.8 million and produced 2.8 million tonnes of coal.
The company mined extensively in New Zealand's Waikato and the West Coast regions. Approximately half the coal mined was exported, as it is high value with little moisture, sulphur, or other impurities. Much of this is to China, India and Japan where it is used in the power generation and coke industries and for the manufacture of steel and other metals. Major domestic users included the Huntly Power Station and New Zealand Steel at Glenbrook.
Solid Energy went into voluntary administration in August 2015. On 31 October 2016 it was announced that the company's assets had been sold to three separate buyers. On 16 March 2018 the company was put into liquidation.
Coal operations.
Solid Energy produced approximately 85% of New Zealand's coal annually. Each year it produced around 4 million tonnes, more than half of it for export.
Solid Energy had proposed opening two further mines: the Cypress Mine and the Mt William North Mining Project.
In 2006, Solid Energy bought Newvale Coal Co Limited and acquired the Newvale opencast mine, located in the Waimumu coal field in Southland. The Newvale mine supplies lignite to the domestic market, including to Fonterra's Edendale dairy plant. In December 2010 the Terrace mine near Reefton, which had closed in 2009, was sold to Crusader Coal. In October 2011 Solid Energy opened the small opencast Reddale Mine near Reefton on the West Coast.
Retrenchment 2011 to 2015.
In March 2012, Solid Energy purchased Pike River Coal, which had gone into receivership after the Pike River Mine disaster of 2010. The sale was completed in May.
There has been criticism because Solid Energy decided in 2014 that it was too risky to re-enter the mine to recover any remains from the mine.
The government subsequently purchased the 3580 ha of land around the Pike River Mine. The environment minister Nick Smith announced on 15 November 2015 that the 3580 ha of land is to be added to the Paparoa National Park, and a 45 km walkway, the "Pike 29 Memorial Track" from Blackball to Punakaikai through the park constructed as a memorial to the 29 miners lost in the disaster.
In mid-August 2012, the chief executive, Don Elder, announced a decline in Solid Energy's revenue of $200 million and a review of its operations. On 25 October 2012, Solid Energy confirmed it was moth-balling the Spring Creek Mine and that 220 miners would be made redundant. Solid Energy's annual report for the financial year ended June 2012 was released in November and showed a loss of $40 million, a decline of 146% from the profit for 2011.
In December 2012, workers at mines owned by Solid Energy were repeatedly rejecting pay cuts and reductions in hours. Solid made 235 employees redundant at the Spring Creek mine, and reduced the workforce at the Christchurch head office by 163 positions, as well as cutting 60 jobs at the Huntly East mine. In January 2013, workers at the Stockton Mine agreed to reduced hours and pay after months of negotiations with owners Solid Energy, who had dis-established several hundred jobs in the previous year.
On 4 February 2013, board Chairman Mark Ford announced that Don Elder had resigned as Chief Executive and that Garry Diack would be the interim CEO until a permanent CEO was appointed. On 22 February 2013, Solid Energy stated that its half-year result would include a further "significant loss" and that its debt had increased to $389 million. Finance Minister Bill English distanced the Government from the state-owned company's woes, saying it would no longer be paying out large bonuses to executives.
In 2011, Solid Energy had valued itself at $3.5 billion, but a later review said that was at least $2 billion too high. A restructuring package in October 2013 gave the company an extra $100 million in equity, with 75% coming from banks and 25% from the New Zealand Government. Another $103 million of equity was supplied by the government in September 2014.
Voluntary administration and sale of assets.
On 13 August 2015 the company went into temporary voluntary administration, asking creditors to freeze most of its debt. If the creditors agree, Solid Energy will sell its assets as going concerns so that it can pay the creditors.
On 31 October 2016 the company announced it had concluded sale and purchase agreements for the majority of its mining assets. Agreements were signed with three different entities:
The sales were completed in the first half of 2017.
Lignite conversion proposals.
In 2010, Solid Energy was promoting a number of 'lignite conversion' projects. Solid Energy believed that its proposed projects "could unlock the vast potential of Southland’s multi-billion tonne lignite deposits by making them into high value products". In January 2011, Southland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Richard Hay predicted that the full lignite to briquette plant and the lignite to fertiliser plant might employ up to 2,300 people which would transform the fortunes of the town of Mataura.
Briquettes.
One of the projects was to make fuel briquettes from lignite. A pilot briquetting plant was planned for either the former Mataura Mine site, or the former Mataura Paper Mill. In July 2010, Solid Energy reported it had run a successful trial of briquettes with US partner GTL Energy. In June 2011, Gore District Council approved resource consents for the Mataura briquetting plant. By June 2012, construction was under way at a site by State Highway 1, south of Mataura. The briquetting plant was expected to process 148,000 tonnes of low-grade lignite from the New Vale mine into 90,000 tonnes of higher-quality briquettes for fuel. The plant would have had a boiler likely to burn 15,000 tonnes of lignite a year.
Fertiliser.
The other potential lignite-conversion project was to gasify lignite to produce urea-based fertiliser. Solid Energy was considering the viability of a lignite-to-urea plant with the fertiliser company Ravensdown as partner. Solid Energy and Ravensdown initially co-operated over a joint concept study until August 2012 when Ravensdown stated it would no longer be involved.
Liquid fuel.
The other potential lignite-conversion project was to gasify lignite to produce liquid fuels. Solid Energy had an agreement with an Australian company, Ignite Energy Resources Pty Ltd, to develop a lignite-to-liquid plant. The technology involved had not been proved viable at a commercial scale.
Implications.
In December 2010, Dr Jan Wright, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, issued a report, "Lignite and climate change: The high cost of low grade coal", which criticised the lignite conversion proposals for their carbon intensity, their contribution to climate change and the likelihood that they would be eligible to receive a free allocation of carbon credits under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. Wright said "it makes no sense that the emissions trading system (ETS) rules would lead to taxpayers subsidising, even at a modest level, new investment in outdated dirty technology".
On 22 February 2013, the "New Zealand Herald" reported that the plans for converting the Southland lignite into diesel, fertiliser and burnable briquettes has been abandoned due to debts and low coal prices.
Renewable energy operations.
Solid Energy had previously invested heavily in the development of renewable energy in New Zealand, but due to the retrenchment begun in mid-2012, significant restructuring occurred. The biodiesel business was divested and now exists as two separate business: Biodiesel New Zealand which manufactures biodiesel, and Pure Oil NZ which manages the agri-business operations.
Switch, the wholesale distributor of wood pellet fires and Apricus solar hot water systems, was absorbed by Nature's Flame, a manufacturer of wood pellet fuel. Nature's Flame was restructured to be a stand-alone business, although was still an asset of Solid Energy. Nature's Flame produces wood pellets for home heating. The company claims that the wood pellets are a sustainable, renewable fuel that burns so efficiently it is virtually smokeless, and that it meets stringent new clean air standards. According to Solid Energy's 2008 Annual Report, Nature's Flame was the largest manufacturer of wood pellets in the Southern Hemisphere. Nature's Flame began in 2003, when Solid Energy purchased a small wood pellet company based at Rolleston.
Solid Energy applied for a resource consent for a hydro-electric power station at its Stockton Mine.
Opposition groups.
Concerns were raised about the environmental performance of Solid Energy particularly at the Stockton Mine on the West Coast. In 2006, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment proposed to undertake a review of the environmental performance of the company in 2008.
Solid Energy has also been criticised by the Ngawakau Riverwatch group and environmental groups and organisations such as Greenpeace, Forest and Bird, The Buller Conservation Group and the Save Happy Valley Coalition. The criticisms include carbon emissions, environmental damage and greenwashing in respect of the impacts of mining.
Resource consents were granted to Solid Energy for the development and operation of the Cypress mine on land near Waimangaroa. This was opposed by the environmental group Save Happy Valley Campaign (SHVC). They claimed that the mine would contribute to acid mine drainage, climate change and the possible extinction of a species of "Powelliphanta" snail.
On 27 May 2007, "The Sunday Star-Times" reported that Thompson and Clark Investigations Ltd, a security firm employed by Solid Energy, used private individuals to spy on SHVC. A second spying episode was alleged involving Thompson and Clark attempting to employ another spy to obtain information from SHVC. Solid Energy claimed that they had no knowledge of that instance of an attempt by Thompson and Clark to employ a spy.