Newton, South Lanarkshire

Newton is a mainly residential district in the town of Cambuslang in Scotland. It is situated south of the River Clyde; the river directly borders the district to the north. Newton is within the Cambuslang East ward of the South Lanarkshire Council area.
The name is familiar to many in the Greater Glasgow area as a terminus on the suburban rail system (Newton railway station). The railway lines form the southern boundary of the area, while to the west Newton is separated from the neighbouring village of Westburn by the small Newton Burn, and to the east it is separated from farmland belonging to the town of Blantyre by the Rotten Calder river which flows into the Clyde.
History.
Mining village.
Originally lands owned by the Clan Hamilton, a hamlet called Newton appears on William Roy's military survey of Scotland (1750s), and had earlier been labelled (as 'Neutoun') in Timothy Pont's map (1590s). That settlement had all but disappeared by the time area was developed as a mining village in the late 19th century. Rows of miners’ cottages were built along with local schools, churches and shops. There were several collieries in the vicinity and large bings rose on the landscape. The village reached its greatest extent around 1910. The parish town of Cambuslang also became heavily industrialised and grew substantially in population.
Since 1849 the area had been served by a train station, and when this was replaced in 1873 it coincided with the opening of the large Hallside steelworks. However, unlike nearby districts also served by stations on the same lines such as Uddingston, Kirkhill and Burnside, Newton did not become a railway commuter suburb for Glasgow at that time.
The village and mines only occupied a small part of the district. The majority of land was occupied by the fields of "Newton Farm" bounded by the River Clyde to the north, as well as a small country estate centred around "Newton House" (this was approached by a bridge across Newton Burn and a tree-lined driveway, with the original mansion dating from the 1600s and the last version built in 1825), and a smaller farm called Ridleywood/Redlawood.
Post-War Decline.
In common with much of post-industrial Scotland, in the years after World War II the landscape of Newton changed considerably.
The mining industry declined and the pits closed, with the industrial areas becoming overgrown, and the miners' cottages were demolished in the 1960s; the remaining residents were rehoused in new developments on the other side of Cambuslang such as Cairns and Springhall. The Hallside Steelworks also closed down during the 1970s. Most of the civic amenities and shops closed their doors and the premises were knocked down, leaving derelict ‘gap sites’ which are still present today; however, St Charles' Primary School remained in operation.
Newton House was eventually abandoned and demolished around 1950, and Newton Farm ceased operations in the early 2000s, leaving its fields and buildings neglected. A small isolated group of modern houses were added on the footprint of the miners rows in the mid 1980s, with the streets named Redlawood after the neighbouring farm which had also been bulldozed.
The presence of an electricity generating station nearby resulted in the area being criss-crossed with large electricity pylons and wires, but other than that the land had almost reverted to its original unoccupied rural state after such changes during the previous decades.
Modern Suburb, Phase 1.
In the early part of the 21st Century, plans were made to transform Newton into a "Community Growth Area" with 2100 new houses to be constructed over the following 20 years as well as a local retail centre and new education and community resources.
The first phase of development began in 2006 near to the train station with housing (by Bellway and Taylor Wimpey). A replacement campus was built for St Charles' Primary School, opening in 2011, and later further housing areas (by Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Miller Homes) concluded ‘Phase 1’ of the development in 2015 with about 600 homes constructed. The street names were themed on aspects of farming and rural life.
Around the same time the Newton Arms public house (originally dating from 1895) re-opened following a programme of refurbishment, providing a gathering point for the growing population which was otherwise lacking in the development.
Civic improvements were also made in ‘Newton Village’ - the small group of houses at Redlawood Road – including upgraded gym equipment at the local playpark and a small memorial garden reflecting the mining history of the area.
Modern Suburb, Phase 2.
"Newton Farm Phase 2" commenced in 2015. The first stage of construction included 600 houses and, at a cost of £13.4m, a new nondenominational primary school with a 3G football pitch and nursery class (opened August 2017) roughly where the buildings of Newton Farm itself previously stood. Barratt Developments, Miller Homes and Taylor Wimpey are the house builders involved - the latter firm is also in overall control of the whole project.
Future development scheduled for the next 10 years, involving another 900 houses and two local parks, was to encompass land on the site of Newton House, with the main road completing a ‘loop’ back to the railway station. With development having moved north towards the Clyde by 2019, some residents there complained of regular and strong unpleasant smells emanating from the Daldowie area on the opposite side of the river, which contains a sewage treatment plant, waste-to-fuel facility, landfill site and crematorium. A retail zone for the district is also zoned to be built close to the station; however as of 2020 there was no confirmation as to when this commercial area would be completed, what exact design it would have, or what businesses would be tenants.
The secluded area around the footbridge to Westburn was a congregating point for local youths for many years, with antisocial behaviour often resulting – this continued after the surrounding land was dug up and fenced off for housebuilding, and after public gatherings were banned during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.
The area has much in common with many modern developments, with the houses often constructed by the same builders. A nearby example is Broomhouse, Glasgow, also a large suburban 'Community Growth Area' on green belt land, based around a small mining community with a few relic buildings including a pub, on the site of a demolished country house, traversed by pylons (on the same line), bounded by a minor river and a railway with a station, with few local amenities but close to established suburbs which provide these. Broomhouse is less than a mile north of Newton as the crow flies, with Daldowie between the two locations; however the communities are separated by the motorway and the river and have no direct transport links.
Amenities.
Education.
Until Newton Farm Primary School opened in 2017, parents in the area who did not wish their children to receive a Catholic education at local St Charles' Primary had to utilise Cairns Primary in the Halfway district of Cambuslang, as the closer schools in the Drumsagard district (Hallside and Park View) were already at capacity due to the considerable amount of new housing in that area in recent years. Even after the school opened, many families opted to keep their children at Cairns to avoid disrupting their routines.
In 2018, it was announced that St Charles' (which opened its new buildings in 2011 and had already installed additional Portakabin classrooms in 2015) would be extended further to accommodate five more new classrooms, with the local authority seemingly unprepared for the continued increase in pupil numbers despite the planned nature of the growth at Newton and the house builders aiming to attract families with young children. In November 2019, it was confirmed that Newton Farm Primary would also require temporary classrooms costing £500,000 after the council's estimated pupil numbers fell far short of the reality.
There are no secondary schools in Newton. Pupils who attend St Charles' Primary will transfer to Trinity High School while pupils at Newton Farm Primary will transfer to Uddingston Grammar School. The situation has proven controversial, due to pupils from schools in Drumsagard being allocated to both Cathkin High School (nominally in Cambuslang but a considerable distance from both Drumsagard and Newton) and to Stonelaw High School in Rutherglen due to capacity issues - some parents felt this would cause splits in the community of Cambuslang.
The Newton Farm Primary School project completed in 2017 also included a nursery provision for 3/4 year olds. In addition to this, plans were presented to the local authority in August 2018 for the construction of a standalone nursery facility (on the vacant land at Newton Brae once occupied by St Charles Primary School) anticipated to be built over the following two years. Construction on the facility, to be named "Millburn Early Learning and Childcare Unit", began in October 2019.
Commerce.
Currently the only shop in Newton itself is a small convenience store attached to the public house, plus a hairdresser and MOT garage. There is a licensed grocer and post office in Westburn and a neighbourhood retail zone at the south of Drumsagard, albeit these are both a considerable walking distance for many residents (e.g Westburn store is from Newton Farm Primary school, and Drumsagard shops from the same location). Halfway and Cambuslang Main Street have typical general shopping facilities, as well as the closest places of worship for various denominations. There is a modern industrial estate near Westburn.
Newton residents operating home businesses (as well as the many recreational users streaming television services etc) experienced problems with Broadband Internet access speeds, as the roadside cabinets which supplied the services became oversubscribed due to the number of new homes built in the previously rural location without any expansion of the relevant infrastructure. In 2017, the availability to existing streets was improved by the Openreach operator after the matter was highlighted in the UK Parliament by the sitting MP Margaret Ferrier. However, the issue would become apparent again every time another cluster of homes was completed in the ongoing building work in the area, with little consideration given to future significant increases in broadband capacity requirements, requiring both Ferrier's successor Ged Killen and the local MSP Clare Haughey to give the matter their attention due to the volume of complaints received from constituents.
Transport.
Newton railway station is a busy stop for local services linking Glasgow and Lanarkshire on two different lines (Cathcart Circle Lines and Argyle Line). Additionally, high-speed trains on the West Coast Main Line pass Newton on separate lines which are also used by the suburban Shotts Line, meaning several trains of various types can be seen and heard each hour throughout the day.
The nearest connecting stations to Newton are and to the west and to the east on the Argyle line, and on the westbound Cathcart Circle line - Newton is the east terminus for this line. Other nearby stations on different lines are (common link at Rutherglen) and (common link at Cambuslang).
Bus provision is fairly limited as of 2017. First Glasgow 7A service (to/from Summerston via Rutherglen and Glasgow City Centre) has its terminus near Newton Station, as does the 364 (to/from Parkhead), but the former is indirect and the latter an infrequent service. A major First route to Lanarkshire which includes night runs, the "267", travels through Cambuslang and Halfway but is a considerable walking distance from Newton at its closest point (e.g. from Newton Farm Primary School to Halfway Park bus stops).
The opening of the M74 Motorway extension between Cambuslang and Tradeston in Glasgow in 2011 introduced a quick route to and from the Newton area. Motorway connections heading south towards Hamilton and England, or towards northern (M73/M80) or eastern Scotland (M8) have been in place for some years. For visitors unfamiliar with the local road network, "Junction 2A" (Cambuslang/Tollcross) is the most suitable exit as it serves both north and southbound lanes. On suburban roads, generally drivers should follow signs for Cambuslang and then Halfway or Westburn – Newton itself is poorly signposted due to its small population until recently.
Recreation.
There is little in the way of organised sport in Newton, other than bookings of the football pitches by casual groups and local amateur/youth teams and fitness classes held in the school halls on evenings and weekends. There are numerous participation and spectator sports organisations based in Cambuslang, and Westburn Hall is another community facility nearby. The main recreational features of note in the area are:
The areas of grassland and woods around Newton are home to various bird and animal species, including a herd of roe deer which are sighted on a regular basis in various locations by residents; these habitats are sometimes disrupted by the ongoing housebuilding work.
During World War II, an Anti-aircraft battery and associated camp for military personnel known as the 'Whins' or 'Blantyreferme' was set up on open land off the Blantyre Farm Road between Newton and Blantyre ( from Newton); the camp was used as emergency accommodation after the conflict, but the huts were later demolished. However, some of the AA battery buildings survived into the 21st century (albeit heavily vandalised in some cases) and were incorporated – along with a former clay quarry nearby – into the landscape of "Redlees Urban Park" developed by the local council.


Fairhaven Ditch

The Fairhaven Ditch is a historic canal on the Seward Peninsula of northwestern Alaska. Located in the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, it is a ditch dug in 1906-07 without the benefit of heavy equipment in extremely hostile terrain. The ditch was dug by miners engaged in placer mining on the peninsula, and was used to transport water from Imuruk Lake, the largest body of fresh water on the peninsula, to mining areas north of the lake. It is one of a large number of such canals dug on the peninsula, and was one of the longest. At the bottom it was wide, and was hacked out of permafrost, a volcanic field surrounding the lake, and dirt. Cabins built to house workers and monitor water flow survive. The ditch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The Fairhaven ditch is located within two drainage basins, the upper section in that of Kugruk River and the lower section in that of Inmachuk River. The ditch takes its water from Imuruk Lake, which lies at an elevation of about 960 feet above sea level. A dam 500 feet long and 5 feet high was built to form a storage reservoir, and this held the total inflow at the lake for two years if necessary. The ditch is in three sections. The upper section, 17 miles long, lies on top of the lava and extends from the lake around the head of Wade Creek to the divide between Wade Creek and Pinnell River, where the water is dropped into a channel emptying into a sink hole in the lava, apparently connected by an underground passage with Wade Creek. The water is diverted from Wade Creek into Pinnell River by the middle section of the ditch, which is about half a mile long. The distance between the upper and lower ditches is about 6.5 miles, and the drop is estimated at 140 feet. The lower section of the ditch extends from the intake on Pinnell River along the right side of the valley to a point a few hundred feet below Logan Gulch, a small tributary of the Inmachuk above Arizona Creek, and has a length of about 19 miles, making the total length of the ditch 36.5 miles.
The ditch has a grade of 4.2 feet to the mile and was built 11 feet wide on the bottom. The grade line was located 1 foot below the surface of the ground on the lower side and a 4-foot lower bank was provided. The removal of 1 or 2 feet of the upper moss and soil put the bottom of the ditch into a mixture of ground ice and muck, much of which was almost clear ice. This material thawed when the water was turned in, and as a result a large part of the bottom of the ditch has settled at least 2 feet and the ditch has widened in many places to 15 or 20 feet or more. As the upper bank thawed, material was thrown against the lower bank to protect it and to keep the water from getting under it. Practically all the upper ditch and at least three-fourths of the lower ditch is built in frozen ground of this character. These sections have been difficult and expensive to maintain and caused considerable interruption in the delivery of water during 1909 and 1910. Where the lower ditch is built around the steep gulches that carry the eastern tributaries of the Pinnell the northerly slopes of the gulches are covered with muck, but the southerly slopes are made up of a more solid clay and of decomposed mica schist. Along the upper ditch lava bowlders are present in the muck from the surface to bedrock, and at a few places the material encountered was composed of angular fragments of lava with only a little soil between them. Above and below Snow Gulch, the lowest tributary of Pinnell River which the ditch crosses, are short pieces of rockwork. The rock is much shattered and could have been loosened with picks if it had not been frozen. Much difficulty was experienced in making the rockwork water tight on account of the lack of good sod, as the surface covering is commonly decayed moss or peat containing much fibrous matter and little earthly material, and will float even though saturated with water, so that it is necessary to weight it down with rocks when it is used on the bottom of the ditch.
The ditch was built under contract, and construction was begun early in 1906. The upper section and more than half of the lower section had been built bv October 12, when work had to be suspended for the year. The construction was completed in July, 1907, and water was run through the ditch for a short time in September of the same year. The pressure pipe leading from the penstock below Logan Gulch to the mine has a total length of 10,600 feet and gives a head of 530 feet on bedrock at the Utica group of claims. This head was greater than was found practicable for use, and a second penstock was built to reduce it to 330 feet.


Gongchangling mine

The Gongchangling mine is a large iron mine located in northern China in the Inner Mongolia. Gongchangling represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in China and in the world having estimated reserves of 760 million tonnes of ore grading 32.8% iron metal.


Pandabeswar (community development block)

Pandabeswar is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Durgapur subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
History.
During World War II there was an American airbase at Pandabeswar.
Geography.
Pandabeswar is located at .
Pandabeswar CD Block is part of the Ajay Damodar Barakar tract. This area is sort of an extension of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. It is a rocky undulating area with laterite soil, with the Ajay on the north, the Damodar on the south and the Barakar on the west. For ages the area was heavily forested and infested with plunderers and marauders. The discovery of coal, in the eighteenth century, led to industrialisation of the area and most of the forests have been cleared.
Pandabeswar CD Block is bounded by Dubrajpur CD Block, in Birbhum district, on the north, Faridpur Durgapur CD Block on the east, Andal CD Block on the south and Jamuria CD Block on the west.
Pandabeswar CD Block has an area of 97.80 km2. It has 1 panchayat samity, 6 gram panchayats, 112 gram sansads (village councils), 17 mouzas and 14 inhabited villages. Pandabeswar police station serve this block. Headquarters of this CD Block is at Pandabeswar.
Gram panchayats of Pandabeswar block/panchayat samiti are: Bahula, Baidyanathpur, Chhora, Haripur, Kendra and Nabagram.
Demographics.
Population.
As per the 2011 Census of India Pandabeswar CD Block had a total population of 161,891, of which 26,720 were rural and 135,171 were urban. There were 84,651 (52%) males and 77,240 (48%) females. Population below 6 years was 19,709. Scheduled Castes numbered 49,189 (30.38%) and Scheduled Tribes numbered 10,821 (6.68%).
As per 2001 census, Pandabeswar block had a total population of 146,445, out of which 79,992 were males and 66,453 were females. Pandabeswar block registered a population growth of 9.37 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade. Decadal growth for Bardhaman district was 14.36 per cent. Decadal growth in West Bengal was 17.84 per cent. Scheduled castes at 55,511 formed around one-third the population. Scheduled tribes numbered 14,508.
Census Towns in Pandabeswar CD Block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Chak Bankola (part) (11,527), Parashkol (part) (10,367), Kendra Khottamdi (part) (6,875), Bilpahari (8,565), Ramnagar (5,446), Dalurband (15,107), Baidyanathpur (15,704), Mahal (4,841), Konardihi (8,488), Nabgram (4,626), Sankarpur (6,399), Haripur (5,910), Chhora(13,806) and Bahula (17,510). Chak Bankola and Parashkol are partly in Andal CD Block and partly in Pandabeswar CD Block. Kendra Khottamdi is partly in Jamuria CD Block and partly in Pandabeswar CD Block.
Pandabeswar is shown as part of Baidyanathpur in the map of Pandabeswar CD Block on page 243 of the District Census Handbook, Bardhaman, 2011.
Villages in Pandabeswar CD Block are (2011census figures in brackets): Banbahal (3,540), Gobindapur (1,898), Konda (916), Deshlopa (1,178), Danya (3,854), Chak Karala (1,331), Joalbhanga (2,070), Bhatmura (594), Chak Jharia (1,497), Shyamsundarpur (2,801), Bhaluka (681), Sonpur (2,358), Bajari (1,583) and Kumarkhala (2,419).(All villages included in 2011 census data are mentioned here. Other villages or localities, if any, are parts of these villages.)
Literacy.
As per the 2011 census the total number of literates in Pandabeswar CD Block was 103,801 (73.01% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 61,005 (81.82% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 42,796 (63.28% of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 18.54%.
As per 2001 census, Pandabeswar block had a total literacy of 63.73 per cent for the 6+ age group. While male literacy was 73.56 per cent female literacy was 51.65 per cent. Bardhaman district had a total literacy of 70.18 per cent, male literacy being 78.63 per cent and female literacy being 60.95 per cent.
See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate
Language and religion.
As per census definition, mother-tongue is the language spoken in childhood by the person's mother to the person. As a mother-tongue, Bengali has decreased its share from 82.3% of the population of Bardhaman district in 1961 to 79.9% in 2001, Hindi has increased its share from 8.5% in 1961 to 10.9% in 2001 Santali has remained steady at around 4.9% during the period, and Urdu has increased its share from 2.4% in 1961 to 2.6% in 2001. Other mother-tongues spoken in 2001 were: Odiya (0.3%), Punjabi (0.2%), Koda/Kora (0.2%), Telugu (0.1%), Bhojpuri (0.1%), Nepali (0.1%) and Kurukh/ Oraon (0.1%).
As of 2017, CD Block-wise/ other region-wise break-up of mother tongue is not available in census/ other official sources. There have been reports in the media about the Hindi speaking population being substantial in the Asansol (Lok Sabha constituency). Bardhaman district provided attractive livelihood opportunities for immigrants from Bihar/ Jharkhand.
According to the West Bengal Official Language Act 1961 and the West Bengal Official Language (Amendment Act) 2012, the Bengali language is to be used for official purposes in the whole of West Bengal. In addition to Bengali, the Nepali language is to be used for official purposes in the three hills subdivisions, namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, in the district of Darjeeling, and Urdu is to be used for official purposes in district/subdivision/ block/ municipality where the population speaking Urdu exceeds 10% of the total population. The English language will continue to be used for official purposes as it was being used prior to the enactment of these laws.
The West Bengal Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, 2012, included Hindi, Santhali, Odiya and Punjabi as official languages if it is spoken by a population exceeding 10 per cent of the whole in a particular block or sub-division or a district. Subsequently, Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi and Kurmali were also included in the list of minority languages by the West Bengal Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018.However, as of 2019, there is no official / other reliable information about the areas covered.
In the 2011 census Hindus numbered 139,805 and formed 86.36% of the population in Pandabeswar CD Block. Muslims numbered 20,377 and formed 12.59% of the population. Christians numbered 232 and formed 0.14% of the population. Others numbered 1,477 and formed 0.91% of the population.
Rural poverty.
As per poverty estimates obtained from household survey for families living below poverty line in 2005, rural poverty in Pandabeswar CD Block was 20.59%.
Economy.
Livelihood.
In Pandabeswar CD Block in 2011, amongst the class of total workers, cultivators numbered 1,401 and formed 2.81% of the total workers, agricultural labourers numbered 3,747 and formed 7.52%, household industry workers numbered 1,650 and formed 3.31% and other workers numbered 43,052 and formed 86.36%. Total workers numbered 49,850 and formed 30.79% of the total population, and non-workers numbered 112,041 and formed 69.21% of the population.
Coalmines are spread across the Andal, Pandaveswar, Raniganj, Jamuria, Barabani and Salanpur region, including municipal areas. Livelihood in this region is coal-centred. The area does not produce much of agricultural products. Overall work participation rate, and female work participation rate, in the mining area are low. Interestingly the work participation rate in the predominantly agricultural rural areas of erstwhile Bardhaman district is higher than in the predominantly urbanised mining area. Human development in the mining area does not at all look good. However, in the composite livelihood index the mining area performs much better than the non-mining areas of erstwhile Bardhaman district. The decadal (1991-2001) change in composition of workers shows the growing pressure of population growth, as well as of migrants from adjacent Jharkhand.
Infrastructure.
All 17 or 100% of mouzas in Pandabeswar CD Block were electrified by 31 March 2014.
All 17 mouzas in Pandabeswar CD Block had drinking water facilities in 2013-14. There were 61 fair price shops in the CD Block.
Coal mining.
Sonpur Bazari Open Cast Project of Eastern Coalfields was approved in 1995. The targeted output in 2016-17 was 8 million tonnes. Mineable reserve as on 1/4/2015 was 179.60 million tonnes. Balance life of the project as on 1/4/2012 was 23 years.
Madhaipur open cast project in Pandabeshwar Area of Eastern Coalfields has a mineable reserve of 13.15 million tonnes.
Amongst the mines of Eastern Coalfields selected for introduction of mass production technology with the installation of the continuous miner are: Kumardihi (1.02 million tonnes per year) and Khottamdi (1.0 mty).
See also – Pandaveswar Area, Bankola Area, Kenda Area, all of Eastern Coalfields, Sonpur Bazari and Jhanjra
Agriculture.
Although the Bargadari Act of 1950 recognised the rights of bargadars to a higher share of crops from the land that they tilled, it was not implemented fully. Large tracts, beyond the prescribed limit of land ceiling, remained with the rich landlords. From 1977 onwards major land reforms took place in West Bengal. Land in excess of land ceiling was acquired and distributed amongst the peasants. Following land reforms land ownership pattern has undergone transformation. In 2013-14, persons engaged in agriculture in Pandabeswar CD Block could be classified as follows: bargadars 3.65%, patta (document) holders 24.82%, small farmers (possessing land between 1 and 2 hectares) 5.72%, marginal farmers (possessing land up to 1 hectare) 37.32% and agricultural labourers 28.49%.
In 2003-04 net cropped area in Pandabeswar CD Block was 3,156 hectares.
In 2013-14, Pandabeswar CD Block produced 6,253 tonnes of Aman paddy, the main winter crop, from 2,005 hectares and 28 tonnes of wheat from 10 hectares. It also produced pulses and oilseeds.
Banking.
In 2013-14, Pandabeswar CD Block had offices of 9 commercial banks.
Transport.
Pandabeswar CD Block has 3 originating/ terminating bus routes.
The Andal-Sainthia branch line passes through this CD Block and the main station is Pandabeswar railway station.
NH 14 (old number NH 60) pass through this CD Block.
Education.
In 2013-14, Pandabeswar CD Block had 44 primary schools with 6,666 students, 7 middle schools with 737 students, 2 high school with 812 students and 5 higher secondary schools with 9,009 students. Pandabeswar CD Block had 1 general college with 1,007 students, 257 institutions for special and non-formal education with 9,690 students
Pandaveswar College was established at Pandabeswar in 2005. It is affiliated with Kazi Nazrul University.
Healthcare.
In 2014, Pandabeswar CD Block had 1 primary health centre and 1 private nursing home with total 6 beds and 1 doctor (excluding private bodies). 6 patients were treated indoor and 141,410 patients were treated outdoor in the hospitals, health centres and subcentres of the CD Block.
Pandabeswar Block Primary Health Centre, Pandabeswar CD block, with 10 beds, at Pandabeswar, is the major government medical facility in the Pandaveswar CD block.The 750-bed Mandabani Hospital of Eastern Coalfields is located at Panthnagar.


James Stedman Dixon

James Stedman Dixon (8 January 1845 – 18 July 1911) was a leading Scottish coal-mine owner, President of the Mining Institute of Scotland and of the Institution of Mining Engineers of Great Britain, and founder of the James S. Dixon Chair of Applied Geology in the University of Glasgow.
Early life and education.
James Stedman Dixon was born at Glasgow on 8 January 1845, son of stockbroker Peter Watson Dixon and Jane Dow. The family moving to Hamilton in 1850, James Dixon attended the prestigious Hamilton Academy school, later attending classes in engineering at the University of Glasgow under Professor Macquorn Rankine.
Career.
Apprenticed in 1863 to George Simpson, mining engineer of Glasgow, Dixon was to be made a partner in the Simpson firm in 1869, and on George Simpson’s death in 1871, took over the whole business. In the following year, Dixon started the Bent Colliery Company which was to become the largest mining operation in the Hamilton area. In 1890 Dixon expanded his interests by acquiring the mining division of James Dunlop and Co., of Clyde Iron Works, subsequently giving up his engineering business to concentrate on his mining interests which between them were producing some 1,250,000 tons of mined coal per annum. By 1898 his Bent Colliery business having greatly increased, Dixon was able to give up his interest in the Dunlop concern to concentrate on other interests, becoming Chairman of the Broxburn Oil Company and a director of both the Edinburgh Colliery Company and the Plean Colliery, among other business concerns.
Appointments and interests.
Dixon was twice elected to serve as President of the Lanarkshire Coalmasters' Association, and was to become the first President of the Coalmasters' Insurance Association, formed as a result of the requirements of the Workmen's Compensation Act. He was later to serve (twice) as President of the Mining Institute of Scotland (eventually through mergers becoming in 2002 the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining), and as President of the Institution of Mining Engineers of Great Britain; and was appointed to the Royal Commission on Coal Supplies.
In 1902 Dixon endowed a Lectureship in Mining Engineering in the University of Glasgow increasing this endowment in 1907 to found the James S. Dixon Chair of Mining, appointments being made jointly between the University of Glasgow and the Royal Technical College (renamed in 1956 the Royal College of Science and Technology and in 1964 becoming the University of Strathclyde). In 1932, another notable former pupil of Hamilton Academy, Andrew Bryan was appointed to this Chair, as Professor of Mining. The founding ordnance being repealed in 1980, in 1989 the funds were relocated to found the present James S. Dixon Chair of Applied Geology in the University of Glasgow. For his services to education, James Dixon was awarded the degree of LLD by the university.
In addition, Dixon founded the Dr. James S. Dixon Bursary in Mining Engineering for pupils in technical subjects at Hamilton Academy, to assist them in attending the University of Glasgow, Faculty of Engineering. As a university benefactor, James Stedman Dixon is formally remembered annually on Glasgow University’s Commemoration Day.
A leading member of the Conservative Party in Lanarkshire, Dixon twice served as President of North-East Lanarkshire Conservative Association, in addition to his appointments as a J.P. and Income Tax Commissioner for Lanarkshire. Married to Isabella Douglas in 1883, the couple had no children.
James Stedman Dixon died at his home, Fairleigh, in Bothwell, South Lanarkshire, on 18 July 1911.


Bedford Colliery disaster

The Bedford Colliery disaster occurred on Friday 13 August 1886 when an explosion of firedamp caused the death of 38 miners at Bedford No.2 Pit, at Bedford, Leigh in what then was Lancashire. The colliery, sunk in 1884 and known to be a "fiery pit", was owned by John Speakman.
Explosion.
On the day of the disaster 159 men and boys were underground working a shift that started at 6.00 a.m. and would have ended mid afternoon. The disaster took place at about 10.45a.m. in the Crombouke mine (seam) at a depth of about 530 yards and 700 yards from the "pit-eye" (shaft bottom). The miners in other areas of the pit were wound to the surface. One man working at the seat of the explosion, John Woolley a "dataller", (day wage man) survived and, though burned, managed to get to the bottom of the shaft. When the alarm was raised, the pit manager W. Horrobin, underlooker James Calland and the mine owner's son, Harry Speakman led a rescue party to investigate but were impeded by the presence of afterdamp. According to Calland the afterdamp was "very strong and makes the men very dizzy. When they have this feeling they have to come up quickly to the fresh air". The Mines Inspector, Joseph Dickinson of Pendleton was contacted by telegraph.
The explosion occurred before the formation of mines rescue teams but assistance arrived from nearby collieries and an exploring party of men from Bickershaw Colliery, Astley and Tyldesley Collieries and the Wigan Coal and Iron Company went underground but considered there would be no survivors. The underground fires were eventually extinguished and bodies brought to the surface.
Aftermath.
News of the explosion travelled quickly, by 11 a.m. a crowd of women had arrived at the pit and in the evening a crowd estimated to be between eight and ten thousand had gathered at the pit head. The burned and mutilated bodies were wrapped in tarpaulins and taken to the wheelwrights shop and the joiners shop was used as a mortuary. The youngest victim was 15 years old and the oldest 65. The average age of those who died was 32 and 48 children were left fatherless. Some families lost more than one member.
The colliery subscribed to the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Permanent Relief Society whose officials attended at the colliery. A committee of local dignitaries was formed to raise monies for the "Relief of Widows, orphans and others placed in distress by the explosion" and an appeal advertised in "The Times" newspaper.
Inquest.
The coroner's inquest was not heard until 23 September 1886 so that John Woolley, who had survived the explosion, could give evidence. The coalface where the explosion occurred was being worked on the retreating principle. Headings had been driven into the coal and a working face established between them. As the coal was worked back along the headings, waste material accumulated in the "goaf" or "gob" behind it. Pit props were progressively removed and the roof was allowed to subside into the goaf a short distance behind the working face. Woolley was removing pit props when the fracturing roof released firedamp. The flame in Woolley's Davy lamp turned blue indicating explosive gas. Instead of reporting it, work continued. A few minutes later the flame in the lamp of a nearby miner "fired". Established procedure was "lowering his lamp to the floor [firedamp is lighter than air] and taking it steadily into the fresh air, avoiding jerks". Instead the miner shook it and attempted to blow it out at which point the flame passed through the gauze and caused the explosion.
The verdict of the coroner's jury was accidental death caused by an explosion of firedamp. The coroner commented that the fireman should spend more time examining the workings before the men went down the pit and that greater care should be taken examining the lamps. It was regretted that the gas was not reported by the prop-takers.
Subsequently, the colliery owners bought 150 Masault lamps and 50 improved Clanny lamps which had bonnets fitted. The effect of the bonnet was to protect the gauze from draughts and reduce the risk of the flame passing through.
See also.
List of mining disasters in Lancashire


Korpanga mine

The Korpanga mine is, a large iron mine located in north-western Russia in the Republic of Karelia. Korpanga represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 527 million tonnes of ore grading 30% iron metal.


Harmony Gold (mining)

Harmony Gold is the first largest gold mining company in South Africa.Harmony operates in South Africa and in Papua New Guinea. The company has nine underground mines, one open-pit mine and several surface operations in South Africa. In Papua New Guinea, it has Hidden Valley, an open-pit gold and silver mine and a 50% interest in the Morobe Mining Joint Venture, which includes the Wafi-Golpu project and extensive exploration tenements. Outside the joint venture, Harmony's own exploration portfolio focuses principally on highly prospective areas in Papua New Guinea.
In FY17, our South African operations accounted for 91% of total gold production of 1.09Moz, with 9% coming from Papua New Guinea. At 30 June 2017, Harmony reported attributable gold equivalent mineral reserves of 36.7Moz of gold, and attributable gold mineral resources of 104.3Moz. At the end of FY17, Harmony employed 33 201 people in total – 26 478 employees and 4 512 contractors in South Africa and 1 300 employees and 911 contractors in Papua New Guinea (excluding employees of the Morobe Mining Joint Ventures). Employees are drawn from communities around the company operations, from other provinces in South Africa and Papua New Guinea and from other countries (Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Australia).
Operations.
South Africa.
In 2020 Harmony acquired AngloGold Ashanti's last South African mining assets for about R4.4 billion.
Tshepong.
Tshepong is located in the Free State Province, near Welkom, about 248 kilometres from Johannesburg. Mining is conducted at a depth of 2 349 metres. The mine uses conventional undercut mining in the Basal Reef while the B Reef is exploited as a high grade secondary reef. Ore mined is processed at the Harmony One plant.
Bambanani.
Bambanani, near Welkom and about 262 kilometres from Johannesburg, has two surface shafts (the East and West shafts). Mining is conducted at a depth of 2 365 metres. Activities at the mine focus on the Basal Reef and are limited to shaft pillar extraction. The ore mined is sent to Harmony One Plant for processing. Given the high risk of seismicity at Bambanani, efforts are focused on managing support systems and the rehabilitation of areas with challenging ground conditions.
Target 1.
Target 1 is located in the Free State Province, some 10 kilometers north of Welkom and 270 kilometres southwest of Johannesburg. Mining operations at Target 1 comprise one primary underground mine, with a depth of approximately 2 945 metres. While most of the ore extracted comes from mechanised mining (massive mining techniques), conventional stoping is still employed primarily to de-stress areas ahead of mechanised mining. Ore mined is processed at the Target plant.
Doornkop.
Doornkop, a single-shaft operation, is located in the province of Gauteng of South Africa, approximately 30 kilometres west of Johannesburg, on the northern rim of the Witwatersrand Basin. Mining is conducted at a depth of 1 978 metres. The operation focuses on narrow-reef conventional mining of the South Reef. The ore from the operation is processed at the Doornkop plant.
Joel.
Joel is located in the Free State Province and about 292 kilometres from Johannesburg, on the southern edge of the Witwatersrand Basin. The mine comprises two shafts, the North and South shafts. The primary economical reef horizon at Joel is a narrow tabular Beatrix Reef deposit which is accessed via conventional grid development. Mining is conducted at a depth of 1 452 metres. The ore is processed at the Joel plant.
Kusasalethu.
Kusasalethu is located about 90 kilometres from Johannesburg, near the provincial border of Gauteng and North West Province. Kusasalethu is situated in the West Witwatersrand Basin and mines the Ventersdorp Contact Reef as its main ore body. The mine comprises twin vertical and twin sub-vertical shaft systems and uses conventional mining methods in a sequential grid layout. Mining is conducted at a depth of 3 388 metres, making it Harmony's deepest mine. Ore mined is treated at the Kusasalethu plant.
Masimong.
Masimong is located in the Free State Province, near the city of Welkom and about 260 kilometres from Johannesburg. The Masimong complex comprises an operating shaft (5 shaft), and a second shaft (4 shaft), which, although closed for mining, is used for ventilation, pumping and as a second outlet. Masimong exploits the Basal Reef and the B Reef. Mining is conducted at a depth of 2 050 metres. Ore mined is processed at the Harmony One plant.
Moab Khotsong.
Harmony successfully acquired Moab Khotsong from AngloGold Ashanti Limited on 1 March 2018. The $300-million deal includes the Moab Khotsong mine, one of the newest South African deep-level mines, with life-of-mine grade forecast at 8.2 g/t, taking the average Harmony underground grade to 5.7g/t.
The acquisition also includes the Great Noligwa mine which is a high grade opportunity for Harmony to extend the life of mine and extract the shaft pillar.
Unisel.
Unisel is located in the Free State Province, near Virginia and about 271 kilometres from Johannesburg. Mining is conducted at a depth of 2 153 metres below surface. Conventional scattered mining and pillar reclamation takes place to access the Basal, Leader and, to a lesser extent, the Middle reefs. Ore mined is processed at Harmony One plant.
Kalgold open pit.
Kalgold is an open-pit mine situated 55 kilometres southwest of Mahikeng in North West Province and located within the Kraaipan Greenstone Belt. Mining takes place from the A Zone pit. Ore mined from the pit is processed at a carbon-in-leach plant located at Kalgold.
Surface Dumps.
Production from the processing of surface rock dumps situated in the Free State province of South Africa depends entirely on the availability of spare mill capacity at the Harmony One and Target plants, which in turn depends on the availability of underground ore delivered for milling.
Phoenix Surface Operations.
Phoenix, a tailings retreatment operation situated in Virginia in the Free State Province, makes use of the Saaiplaas plant to retreat tailings. During FY13, Harmony finalised an empowerment agreement and transferred 30% of its shareholding in the Phoenix operations to black economic empowerment owners.
Papua New Guinea.
Hidden Valley.
The Hidden Valley mine is an open pit gold and silver mine, situated in the highly prospective area of the Morobe Province in Papua New Guinea, some 210 kilometres northwest of Port Moresby. The major gold and silver deposits of the Morobe goldfield and Hidden Valley are hosted in the Wau Graben. The operational pits are Hidden Valley-Kaveroi and Hamata, located approximately 6 kilometres apart. Ore mined is treated at the Hidden Valley processing plant.
Illegal miner deaths.
In late May to early June 2009 63 illegal miners died in a Free State, South Africa mine owned by Harmony Gold.
On Thursday 28 September at around 6pm the regional manager of Harmony Gold, Simphiwe Kubheka was shot dead at Harmony Mines in Welkom, South Africa.
Popular culture.
In South Africa, Harmony Gold secured a license to sell a replica of the One Ring, made from gold taken from the Bloemfontein mine, the area where "The Lord of the Rings" author J. R. R. Tolkien was born. Their version of the ring, also inscribed with elvish script, sold in a variety of sizes in various jewellery stores throughout South Africa and directly through their website.


Dave Talerico

David M. Talerico is an American politician from Alaska. A Republican, he has served in the Alaska House of Representatives since 2015. He represents House District 6, a vast district in The Bush that encompasses the Denali Borough and other unincorporated areas. He is the longest-serving mayor of the Denali Borough, in office from 2002 to 2012, and briefly served on the Borough Assembly again from 2013 to 2014, when he was elected to the House of Representatives. He is a longtime resident of Healy.
Talerico previously ran unsuccessfully for a House seat against David Guttenberg, a Democrat from Fairbanks. He worked for Republican Representative Doug Isaacson as a legislative staffer from 2012 to 2013. He is a miner by trade and was the director of human resources and safety at the Usibelli Coal Mine at the time of his election to the House of Representatives in 2014.


Winding Gulf Coalfield

The Winding Gulf Coalfield is located in western Raleigh County and eastern Wyoming County, in southern West Virginia. It is named after the Winding Gulf stream, a tributary of the Guyandotte River. In the early 20th century, it was promoted as the "Billion Dollar Coalfield".
History.
The nomadic Native Americans who hunted there for thousands of years ending in the Woodland Period and the early European settlers in the Virginia Colony and the Commonwealth of Virginia were generally aware of the "rock that burns" which lay below the rugged terrain of the mountainous area which became southern West Virginia. However, aside from some personal mines, no commercial value had been realized by the mid 19th century.
Noted British geologist David T. Ansted (1814-1880) was among the early experts hired by potential investors to survey promising coal fields along the New River in southern Virginia in the United States. In 1853, Dr. Ansted helped identify the rich bituminous coal seams which lay there. His work set the stage for a mining boom in the area, where he invested in land in what became the new state of West Virginia in 1863 during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
It took transportation and industrialized techniques to realize the commercial potential. A protégé of Dr. Ansted, William N. Page (1854-1932), became a leading industrialist and developer of iron furnaces, coal mines and railroads in the area, leading and managing such enterprises as the Gauley Mountain Coal Company for absentee investors, many of whom were based overseas in the United Kingdom. Page came to West Virginia to help complete the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) between Richmond, Virginia and the Ohio River in the early 1870s, and helped develop branch lines to coal mining facilities. Former West Virginia Governor William A. MacCorkle described him as a man who knew the land "as a farmer knows a field." Beginning in 1898, Page began working on a scheme to expand into the Winding Gulf area, which was also in the sights of the C&O, whose main line ran along the New and Kanawha River Valleys.
The C&O was heavily working the New River Coalfield, and planning expansion into the Winding Gulf region. However, despite efforts to discourage him, Page introduced unwanted competition by what appeared at the time to be mysterious means. In what has become a popular tale of both U.S. railroads and business competition, the story was recorded and told by historian and rail author H. Reid in "The Virginian Railway", published in 1961.
It turned out that William Page, who the C&O knew to be a bright man but of apparently limited financial means, had the secret backing of millionaire industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840-1909). When the large railroads used their power to discourage the Page scheme, Rogers financed an expansion of the Deepwater Railway, originally planned as a West Virginia short line railroad of , into a Class 1 railroad reaching all the way across Virginia over to become the Virginian Railway, becoming a major third coal exporter at Hampton Roads in 1909. Despite the inefficiency of some duplicative facilities, the Winding Gulf Coalfield benefited from the two major railroad outlets, and became one of the most productive in the state.
The mining of coal in the Winding Gulf Coalfield began in the first decade of the 20th century and continues into the 21st century. The coal in this field is a low volatile coal, and the seams of coal that have been mined include Beckley, Pocahontas No. 3, Pocahontas No. 4, and Sewell. This is very high quality bituminous coal rated at approximately .
Coal camps.
Over 50 coal camps (also known as coal towns) were once located there, with independent commercial districts at Sophia and Mullens anchoring the eastern and western ends of the field. By the 21st century many coal camps had partially or completely returned to nature.
Some of the names associated with the Winding Gulf Coalfields are:
Railroads.
The company towns were located along Winding Gulf Creek, Stone Coal Creek, upper Piney Creek, Slab Fork, Laurel Fork, Devils Fork, Barkers Creek, and the Guyandotte River. The main railroad in this coalfield, the Virginian Railway (VGN), had branches running along all of these streams.
The Virginian's main line bisected the field as well, in addition to a repair shop and rail yard at Mullens (named the Elmore Yard), which was operated by the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) after a 1959 merger. The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) also served the eastern part coalfield, but never entered the Wyoming County portion.
Companies, ethnics.
Winding Gulf Collaries, Gulf Smokeless Coal Co., C.H. Mead Coal Co., E.E. White Coal Co., and Pemberton Coal and Coke Co. were among the early players in the field. These companies recruited native born whites for employment, but also imported Poles, Italians, and other European immigrants to work in their coal mines. African-Americans were hired to work in the coal mines of the Winding Gulf Coalfield as well. By the time the "coal boom" of the late 1970s and early 1980s occurred, Westmoreland Coal Co. and Eastern Associated Coal Co. were the dominant operators and most of the ethnic diversity had disappeared (including polka dances at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Beckley).
21st century.
While millions of tons of coal have been mined from this coalfield, the mineral is still extracted at a few deep and strip mines, and a large International Coal Group deep mine and preparation plant on the edge of Beckley, WV started operations in late 2007.


Sudamdih

Sudamdih is a neighbourhood in Dhanbad in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in Jharkhand state, India.
Geography.
Location.
Sudamdih is located at . Its average elevation is above Sea level.
Sudamdih was combined with other urban units to form Dhanbad Municipal Corporation in 2006. Sudamdih is part of Ward No. 51 of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation.
It is 18 km from Dhanbad, 5 km from Sindri, 7 km from Bhaga, 31 km from Adra, 200 km from Khargapur, 212 km from Tatanagar.
It is a developing town which comes under Bharat Cooking Coal Limited's Urban Project. The Damodar River flows along Sudamdih village and divides it from Bokaro.
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.
Police station.
Sudamdih police station serves Jharia CD Block.
Economy.
Coal mines.
Various projects have been going on for utilization of coal which is present in huge amount in Dhanbad. Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) is a subsidiary of Coal India Limited with its headquarters in Dhanbad, works the Sudamdih coal mines since nationalization of coalmines in 1971. It is a more than a century old underground shaft mine and washery.
Collieries in the Eastern Jharia Area of BCCL are: Bhowrah North underground mine, Bhowra South colliery, Sudamdih Inclined Mine, Sudamdih Shaft Mine, Pathardih Colliery and Amlabad colliery/ project. East Jharia Area has a reserve of 508.493 million tonnes.
About 17.85 hectares of East Jharia Area are affected by fire and subsidence, because of primitive methods of mining at shallow depths in the pre-nationalization era. All the quarries and subsidized areas affected by fire at Sudamdih and Pathardih have been filled up.
Mining has been going on in the underground mines in this area for about 100 years. Working conditions in these mines being amongst the most difficult in the world, good quality prime coking coal in the lower seams still remain untapped.
Transport.
Sudamdih railway station is on the Railways in Jharia Coalfield.
Trekkers and state buses are available, which connect Sudamdih to Jharia, Dhanbad, Bhaga and Sindri.


Arkengarthdale

Arkengarthdale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England. Running roughly north-west to south-east, it is the valley of the Arkle Beck, and is the northernmost of the Yorkshire Dales. It is a subsidiary dale to Swaledale, which it joins at Reeth. The history of the dale, its people, and farming, lead mining, and local crafts is displayed and documented in the Swaledale Museum in Reeth.
On its way up the dale from Reeth the unclassified road crosses many other small streams and their catchments, such as Great Punchard Gill, Roe Beck, Annaside Beck, and William Gill. It passes through several small settlements: Raw, Arkle Town, Langthwaite (where a narrow back road leads to Booze), Eskeleth and Whaw.
At Eskeleth Bridge another unclassified road forks north-east (towards Barnard Castle); this also joins a minor road running along the northern side of the dale to Whaw. Beyond Whaw is the most sparsely populated upper part of Arkengarthdale, which here runs roughly west–east. This area is one of the most northerly parts of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Eventually the dale ends and the road reaches the Tan Hill Inn, the highest in England, just outside the Park, near the Pennine watershed.
Beyond Tan Hill, the road divides again, heading westward to Brough, south to Keld and south-west to Kirkby Stephen.
The moors on both sides of Arkengarthdale are used for the annual Scott Trial, a cross-country motorcycle endurance event.
The Dale cuts through the eastern half of a major lead mining field and lead was extracted from the area for over a thousand years. Most of the mining structures have now disappeared leaving only the spoil heaps and the line of an long chimney from the site of the smelting mill.
The current economy of the Dale depends on hill farming, grouse shooting and tourism. In 1989 Arkengarthdale (and Swaledale) were designated as a Barns and Walls Conservation Area.
Population and land ownership.
In the 19th century a lead ingot with the name Hadrian stamped on it was found, at Hurst, east of the dale. This find, which has been lost at the British Museum, as well as records of the Romans at Richmond using Brigantian slaves digging for lead, has led to the assumption that the Romans were mining lead in Arkengarthdale in the 2nd century.
The large proportion of Viking names, Fagger Gill, Kitley Hill, Langthwaite and Whaw, indicates Viking settlement during the 10th century, probably arriving from the west. Arkil is a Viking name which leads to speculation that he was a local leader.
Following the Norman conquest in the 11th century a large part of North Yorkshire was given to Count Alan, a member of William's family. He kept Arkengarthdale and neighbouring New Forest as a hunting "forest" which was policed by forest rangers. In the 14th century there were eight gamekeepers employed preventing game being hunted in the dale.
Towards the end of the 13th century there were 30 cottages in the Parish, but there followed a period lasting over a century of depression and de-population, with plague and war with France.
By the end of the 16th century the Earls of Richmond had died out and Arkengarthdale and New Forest reverted to the Crown. Attempts by Crown agents to change the leases of the 55 tenants of small-holdings in the area led to protracted disputes. In 1628 the Crown, in an attempt to clear its debts, sold Arkengarthdale as well as other estates to the City of London. In 1656 the valley was bought by Charles Bathurst, who was Oliver Cromwell's doctor.
The estate remained in the Bathurst family for four generations, John, Theodore & Charles, until in 1740 it was inherited by Charles' three great-granddaughters. At that time married women were not allowed to own property so the estate belonged to their husbands.
In 1770 the turnpike road from Reeth to Brough via Tan Hill was opened. This greatly reduced the cost of transporting lead and coal from the mines since carts could be used instead of pack-horse trains.
Between 1808 and 1811 a London banker, George Brown of Stockton, bought all three parts of the estate.
Before his death in 1814 Brown had rebuilt the school and laid plans for a new church. The estate was inherited by his sister and his second sister's husband Rev John Gilpin, vicar of Stockton.
The early 19th century was a time of growth in the dale. In 1801 there was a population of 1186. In 1811 it had risen to 1529. In 1798 there were 34 miners and 1 farmer; in 1820 there were 9 farmers, 5 innkeepers, 4 mining agents, 2 flour dealers, a curate, a schoolmaster, a clogger, a shoemaker and a shopkeeper. In 1831 there were 285 males over 25 years old working as miners.
But with the decline of the price of lead from £33 a ton in 1801 to £13 10s in 1831 a depression followed during which people left the dale in search of work; some to the factories in Derbyshire and Lancashire, others to the mines in County Durham, a significant number also emigrated to America.
The average age of death of miners between 1835 and 1841 was 54 years 5 months. Typhus was common in the dale.
1851 census.
The 1851 census records 1283 people in the dale; for 1073 of them it was their place of birth. There was a male population of 659; 254 of whom were lead miners and a further 42 were involved in smelting, construction and transport. 18 women and children washed the ore.
There were 7 coal miners living in William Gill.
There were 49 farms employing 64 men and women.
Amongst the over fourteen trades counted were four dressmakers, one knitter and one tailor.
51 of the 294 boys under the age 15 and 40 of the 247 girls were at school.
Following the 1883 closure of CB Mining the most of the miners moved on in search of work. By 1891 the population of the dale was 761.
37 men from Arkengarthdale served in the First World War, three of whom were killed.
1921 was the first year in which anyone in the dale owned a car, it was a Ford.
The estate remained in the Brown-Gilpin family until being sold to Tommy Sopwith after the First World War. The shooting estate is currently shared between the Duke of Norfolk and a Dutch shooting syndicate.
Lead mining.
Lead is found in veins running through the extensive limestone and chert beds which extend from Swaledale. One of the earliest techniques for extracting the ore is called "hushing". It involved the controlled release of dammed water along the line of a lead bearing vein to wash away the top soil allowing the vein to be worked. The Roman historian Pliny records this method being used in Britain to extract lead. Some fine examples of hushes can be found in Arkengarthdale as well as traces of dams and other water works.
The other early method used was the digging of bell pits with lateral tunnels, called drifts, following the vein. The drifts would be extended until they became unsafe and another pit would be dug further along. Lines of these pits can still be seen across the moors.
Apart from a locally found Roman lead "pig" stamped with the name Hadrian the earliest record of lead being taken from the dale dates from 1285. It states that the Lord's mine made a profit of £4, possibly referring to Faggergill.
By 1521 there was extensive mining in Arkengarthdale, at Moulds, Punchard Gill and Faggergill.
Bell pits were common in the 17th and 18th century. The lead was sold to lead merchants based in York. Gunpowder was introduced about 1700, and had become common by 1750. This led to the digging of deep-level tunnels into the hillsides. By the end of the 19th century it was possible to enter the Moulds Level in Arkengarthdale and travel six miles underground to the Sir Frances Mine in Gunnerside Gill, Swaledale.
The hexagonal powderhouse was built in 1725.
In 1750 the Moulds Level, north-west of Langthwaite, was worked out. It was later used as a route for transporting ore from the Old Gang Levels in the next valley to the west. It had its own smelting mill but this was knocked down after the building of the Octagonal Mill.
The lead-mining in Arkengarthdale was dominated by the CB (Charles Bathhurst) Company which was founded in 1656 when a Dr. Bathhurst purchased from the Crown the right to mine in the area. His Company continued until 1911 when the lead-mining industry in Yorkshire collapsed due to the slump in the price of lead.
Water was always a problem in the mines. During the eighteenth century a group of miners working underground near Boldershaw blasted into an underground lake. Twenty-four miners and two pit ponies were drowned in the flood that followed. In 1820 miners in Little Punchard Gill created a canal level along which ore and spoil could be floated to the surface. The existence of this water level is disputed by modern researchers.
The Octagonal and the New Mills.
In 1800 the mines of Arkengarthdale were let for 21 years to a Newcastle company for a fixed rent rather than a percentage of the lead mined. The company, under its manager Frederick Hall, invested heavily in new technology.
In 1804 they built a new smelting mill, 2 miles north of Langthwaite. It was octagonal in design, 170 ft by 70 ft, with a 36 ft diameter water wheel to drive the bellows. It had four flues and a timber roof.
In 1824 the octagonal mill was replaced by the New Mill a few hundred yards away on the other side of the Tan Hill road. The New Mill was built by Easterby Hall & Co. for Ark & Darwent Mining Company. It had improved fire chamber design and a 33 ft water wheel, but used the existing chimney which ran half a mile up to the top of the moor. This kind of flue was large enough to allow men to climb up the inside and scrape off the condensed lead. It also vented the toxic residues away from livestock and vegetation.
The Octagonal Mill continued life as a saw mill until in 1941 one of the roof timbers gave way and the roof was taken down. Today only the clearing on which it stood can be made out. Some parts of walls from the New Mill can be seen from the Tan Hill road. It closed in 1883, the last lease-holder being Whitewell & Company. The route of the collapsed double flue up the moor is easy to follow. The powder house is still standing. For a time it was used for candle making. The octagon was believed to have special properties for containing explosions.
In 1870 there was a strike at the Faggergill Mine over the new management's insistence that the morning shift should start at a fixed time. After an eight-week stoppage the miners were forced to accept the changes.
The last lead-mining enterprise in the Dale was Stang and Cleasby Mines, formed in 1908. They dug the Nuthole Mine, connecting to the Faggergill Levels and managed to remain profitable until 1914. They created a mile-long horse level cutting through the multiple existing levels. The total length of the Faggergill levels is calculated to be around fifteen miles. The mine was sold on in 1912 and continued to make a small profit until the First World War.
Other minerals were extracted from the Dale but on a smaller scale. Coal was mined in Punchard Gill until the 1940s. Chert was taken from the Hungry Hushes and along Fremington Edge, also ceasing after 1940.
Notable people.
Anthony Peacock was executed in Richmond for his part in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536.
In 1736 Christopher Hind was transported to the "King's plantations for seven years" possibly for poaching.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Mathew Edward Stones was widely known for his skill at water and metal divining using hazel twigs.
Civil parish.
Arkengarthdale is also a civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, which includes most of the dale. The population of this civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 231.
The lowest part of the dale, below Arkle Town and including the hamlet of Raw, is in the civil parish of Reeth, Fremington and Healaugh.


Algama mine

The Algama mine is a large zirconium mine located in Russian Far East in Ayano-Maysky District of Khabarovsk Krai. Algama represents one of the largest zirconium reserves in Russia having estimated reserves of 93.7 million tonnes of ore grading 4.62% zirconium metal. It is located at the southeast edge of the Stanovoy block of the North Asian Craton.


Rio Alto Mining

Rio Alto Mining was a Vancouver-based international gold producer engaged in the exploration, development, and production of mineral resource properties throughout Latin America, with its principal asset, the La Arena mine, in La Libertad Region, Peru. The company and its assets were acquired by Tahoe Resources, Inc. in 2015, and the company no longer exists.
Operations.
Rio Alto's annual gold production exceeded 200,000 ounces from its La Arena mine.
In 2008, Rio Alto purchased La Arena from Iamgold for $48 million. In May 2011, the company poured its first gold from operations at La Arena. Tahoe Resources announced a merger with Rio Alto Mining on February 9, 2015 for $1.12B. The merger was completed on April 1, 2015.


Normandy Mining

Normandy Mining was an Australian mining company which predominantly mined gold. Normandy was, during much of the late 20th century, Australia's largest gold miner.
Normandy ceased to exist when it was taken over by the Newmont Mining Corporation in February 2002, and became Newmont Asia Pacific instead.
The company produced gold mainly from its Western Australian mines, which, in 1998, provided approximately 50% of its production, followed by the Northern Territory and Queensland with approximately 15% each. International gold production contributed for less than 10% of the overall company production.
Overview.
Names and listings.
Normandy Mining started its existence under the name of Northwest Tantalum NL, changing it to Amad NL on 12 August 1966. Amad NL became Normandy Resources NL on 12 December 1985 and was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the code NDR. The company changed its name once more on 9 May 1991, to Normandy Poseidon Limited, and was then listed under the code NPL. The last name change occurred on 20 June 1995, to Normandy Mining Limited, under the stock code of NDY. The stock was delisted in 2002.
The company was also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Montreal Exchange.
Early history.
On 1 July 1981, Robert Champion de Crespigny was appointed a company director, later to serve as the chairman of the company until its take over by Newmont. Crespigny transformed the exploration company Amad, valued at A$3 million, to Australia's largest gold miner, valued at A$4.9 billion by Newmont, earning an estimated A$160 million in the process.
In October 1996, Normandy took over Posgold Limited.
Great Central Mines takeover.
In early 1999, Normandy made an offer for Great Central Mines, a company led by the ordained Rabbi Joseph Gutnick, through Yandal Gold, a company it owned a 49.9% interest in. This offer came under investigation from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which demanded a termination of the offer on 23 March 1999. Gutnick and Crespigny were found to have illegally structured a takeover of the company and Gutnick was ordered to return $28.5 million to investors. The court found that their behaviour in jointly bidding $450 million earlier that year for Great Central Mines was unlawful and deceptive. Both Gutnick and Crespigny had shareholdings in GMC before this bid was launched, and they agreed together to form the Yandal Gold company. The court found however, that it was only Gutnick who received any benefit and it was therefore him who had to pay the $28.5 million.
The deal nevertheless went ahead and brought the Bronzewing, Jundee and Wiluna Gold Mine's to the company.
Newmont takeover.
In late 2001, AngloGold made an offer for Normandy, valued at A$1.43 per Normandy share. It subsequently increased this offer by 30 cents per share, but was outbid by Newmont, which offered A$1.70 per share. AngloGold closed its offer on 21 January 2002, not having found sufficient acceptance to warrant an extension. AngloGold's offer was valued at A$3.2 billion, 30% above Normandy's share price at the time.
Normandy was then taken over by "Delta Acquisition LLC", a fully owned subsidiary of the Newmont Mining Corporation in February 2002. The company was delisted from the ASX on 1 July 2002, and became Newmont Australia instead. Newmont had also, at the same time, taken over the Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation Limited, making the company the world's largest gold producer. Had AngloGold succeeded in its bid, they would have become the world's largest producer instead.
Production.
Annual production figures of the company:


Molodezhny mine

The Molodezhny mine is a large copper mine located in the southwest of Russia in Bashkortostan. Molodezhny represents one of the largest copper reserves in the world, estimated at 982.8 million tonnes of ore grading 1.65% copper.


Jack Lawson

John James Lawson, 1st Baron Lawson, PC (16 October 1881 – 3 August 1965) was a British trade unionist and a Labour politician. A miner and later Member of Parliament in County Durham, he served in the governments of Ramsay MacDonald and Clement Attlee. In 1950 he was ennobled as Baron Lawson, of Beamish in the County of Durham, and is sometimes referred to as Lord Lawson of Beamish.
Background.
Lawson was born in the port town of Whitehaven, Cumberland, and grew up in the nearby village of Kells. His father John Lawson was a sailor and miner who had begun working in a colliery by the age of nine, sailed round the world by eleven, and later served in the Royal Naval Reserve. His mother, Lisbeth Savage, was a strict disciplinarian. Both parents were illiterate and the family lived in extremes of poverty common at the time. At the age of three, Lawson was sent to the local National School, Glass House School. Here, he learned to read, developing an avid interest in popular fiction as a boy, and moving on to literary fiction and poetry in later years. When he was six his family moved to the village of Flimby, near the towns of Maryport and Workington. The family now included ten children: five boys and five girls. Two of his elder brothers worked with his father at the local colliery and the family was no longer on the breadline. A year later, they moved to County Durham, where the working members were employed at Boldon Colliery. The family joined the Co-operative Society, and were committed trade unionists, active in the Durham miners' strike of 1892. Outside of school, Jack Lawson's time was consumed with chores and he often looked after his youngest brother, Will, born in 1890.
Lawson eagerly began work in the colliery the day after he turned twelve. He started as a trapper, opening and shutting doors for the drivers, working a ten-hour day. He was paid ten pence per day, and his life greatly improved – he was treated as an adult now. After a few months he became a driver, with his own pony. After a couple more years, he began off-hand work, braking inclines and attending to the signalling bells. He began attending union meetings, including the annual Durham Miners' Gala, where in later years he met the likes of Will Crooks, Ellen Wilkinson, Ernest Bevin and George Lansbury. At eighteen he became a putter and began speaking and working for the union. With five members of the family now working at the colliery, the Lawsons had a higher status and moved into a house closer to the pit, with a front room. Throughout this period he gambled frequently and read a lot: Eventually, reading won over gambling. He had read nothing of economics or politics yet, but had developed a strong sense of injustice, firmly believing that manual workers were under-paid and under-valued. These ideas generally seemed strange to his colleagues and family and he kept them to himself. He joined the Methodist Society, and found his ideas more accepted there. Through reading the "Labour Leader" and "The Clarion", Lawson realised he was a socialist. At the age of 21 he met Isabella Graham Scott, a domestic servant from Sunderland who was staying with friends at Boldon. They were married in February 1906.
Trade Unionist.
In 1904, Lawson joined the newly founded branch of the Independent Labour Party at Boldon. He was invited to be a speaker, but initially refused, unsure of his own ability. He discovered a socialist bookshop in Newcastle, where he met many like-minded people, and read books on economics and society, including those of Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin. He became a hewer that year, working at the coal-face, and within a few months was elected as an assistant checkweighman. He had no ambition for work beyond being a hewer, but he did want to continue his education. He began teaching boys who worked at the colliery and then helped to set up a school for adults in two disused colliery houses.
In 1905 Lawson became an active speaker for the ILP, expounding socialism and the Labour Representation Committee to the miners of Durham, who had traditionally supported the Liberal Party. Later that year, Lawson joined a correspondence class with Ruskin College, Oxford. The following spring, Lawson received a letter from the college offering him six months' scholarship if he could find the money to pay for the other six months. This was a significant expense that would be compounded by living costs, and as Lawson was determined that he would only ever work as a miner there was no obvious advantage to university study. Canon William Moore Ede, a county councillor and later Dean of Worcester, convinced him to go and helped raise some of the fees; Lawson and his wife sold their furniture and saved what they could, and the rest was paid by his parents. His wife moved to Oxford with him, finding work and accommodation as a servant in a series of homes. Amongst his tutors, Hastings Lees-Smith, the vice-principal of Ruskin and a lecturer on economics, had a particular influence on Lawson.
At the end of the year, Lawson was offered a further six months scholarship on the same terms, and after working at Boldon over the winter to raise the money he began his second year of study in February 1908. Halfway through that year, he was told that the College Council had decided to extend his scholarship to cover the rest of the full year. It was suggested he should enter Manchester College, Oxford, to study for a degree. He was grateful but refused, not wanting a professional career; three months later, he returned to Boldon. He became well known around the county, as a speaker for both the ILP and the union. He was a negotiator for his union lodge and a delegate to the Miner's Council at Durham.
In 1909, he was invited by the union to run for Durham County Council, but he was not yet on the electoral register and was ineligible to stand. Pete Curran, Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, had made Lawson his election agent: this was unpaid, hard work, and consumed all of Lawson's spare time during campaigns, as he travelled to and around Jarrow division. Curran was hit by ill health in the January 1910 general election and had trouble campaigning. He lost by less than 100 votes and died within a week. The Lawson's first daughter, Irene, was born later that year. Whilst campaigning in the general election in December, Lawson was asked by friends in Chester-le-Street to stand for the position of checkweighman at Alma Colliery. Elected and paid by hewers, as a checkweighman he would be responsible for ensuring miners received the full amount due for the coal they dug and would act as their legal representative. Lawson was reluctant to leave manual work, but allowed his name to go forward. Labour lost Jarrow again; at the same time, the miners at Alma, elected him almost unanimously.
Member of Parliament.
Two years after moving there, Lawson was elected to the County Council for the Chester-le-Street division. He wrote a pamphlet campaigning for minimum wage for miners and was a leading figure in Durham during the miners' strike of 1912 on this issue. He and his wife had a second daughter, Edna, while his brother Will, whom he had tutored, took a diploma in Economics and Political Science at Ruskin. In 1913 he was a delegate to the Miner's International in Carlsbad. Journeying through Leipzig and Dresden, he saw the growing Prussian army, and once in the Balkans witnessed some of the troubles that would spark the first World War. When war broke out in 1914, Will Lawson became an officer in the Durham Light Infantry. Jack Lawson followed his example, volunteering for service; experienced with horses, he was assigned as a driver with the Royal Field Artillery, serving in France. Another brother, Tom, joined the Border Regiment. Will Lawson was sent to Ypres in January 1915, and died in battle thirteen months later.
Following the end of the war, Jack Lawson was granted temporary leave to contest the Seaham division of Durham in the 1918 general election; he campaigned against war reparations and won only a third of the votes against a coalition candidate. After that he was sent to Clipstone in Derbyshire, where he was demobbed. Returning to work at Alma Colliery and as a county councillor, he started to have health problems and was sick during the council elections the following year. The Labour Party, which entered the election with around a dozen out of one hundred councillors, won control of the council.
Later in 1919, John Taylor, Labour MP for Chester-le-Street since 1906 and a friend of Lawson's, resigned his seat due to ill health. Though reluctant to risk leaving Durham and the colliery for London and Parliament, Lawson was persuaded to stand for Labour in the by-election. He was sponsored by the Durham Miner's Association and won with a majority of eleven thousand, entering the House of Commons in November 1919.
Ramsay MacDonald appointed Lawson as Financial Secretary to the War Office in the 1924 Labour government. He worked alongside Clement Attlee, and the two came to enjoy a very firm friendship and mutual admiration. Both felt odd, controlling generals they'd served under a few years before, but the generals liked them, considering them less idle than their predecessors. He served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour in the 1929 Labour government, but refused MacDonald's invitation to join the National Government following the split in 1931.
The 1931 general election was disastrous for Labour, and Lawson was one of only two Durham Labour MPs to keep their seats, out of seventeen who won there in the 1929 election. During the 1930s, Lawson supplemented his income as an MP by writing. He published his autobiography, "A Man's Life", in 1932, intended as a record of the family life of miners. He followed this with a novel about miners, "Under the Wheels", and biographies of Peter Lee and Herbert Smith. He also wrote for newspapers and periodicals.
Elder Statesman.
When Attlee became leader of the Labour Party in 1935, he created a new Defence Committee for the party, appointing Lawson along with A. V. Alexander and Manny Shinwell. In April 1936, Lawson wrote a column in the "Sunday Sun" criticising the National Government's policy of appeasement: Entitled "Watch Winston", it predicted the government's policy of appeasement would result in war, and that Winston Churchill, at that time a marginal figure, would return to become Prime Minister. In April 1939, during the build-up to the Second World War, Sir John Anderson, the Home Secretary, appointed Lawson as Deputy Commissioner for Civil Defence in the Northern Region. This region covered Durham, Northumberland and the North Riding; Lawson oversaw preparations for aerial bombardment and possible invasion, and the organisation of shelter and relief when bombing began. Lawson later refused the offer of a position in government to continue his work in civil defence. His third daughter, Alma, was a gunner in the ATS; his son Clive, born in 1932, was killed by a bomb in 1942.
With Labour's victory in the general election of July 1945, Lawson was appointed Secretary of State for War, with a seat in Attlee's Cabinet. During the closing months of the war, he travelled thousands of miles, visiting troops in India and the Far East, and speaking at military functions and mass meetings. His refusal to stick to the scheduled, whitewashed routes on official visits, insistence on seeing everything for himself, and willingness to stop and listen to everyone he met, made him unpopular with senior officers. However, he was very popular with soldiers, who were glad that one of their own was now in the War Office. Lawson oversaw planning for post-war operations, including the occupation of Germany, and for the mass demobilisation, ensuring it happened quickly and smoothly. He also served as one of Attlee's key allies in the Cabinet, particularly during early conflicts with Herbert Morrison. However, from the summer of 1946, Lawson found his job increasingly difficult: he suffered severe health problems and had to go into hospital, retiring from the front bench in October.
In 1949, on Attlee's recommendation, the King appointed Jack Lawson as Lord Lieutenant of Durham. He resigned from parliament in December 1949 on appointment as vice-chairman of the National Parks Commission, he was made a hereditary peer as Baron Lawson, of Beamish in the County of Durham, in March 1950. Lords Lieutenant are unpaid, and Lawson, one of the first working-class men to hold such a position, received income support. He attended the House of Lords but did not take a front-bench position. Still a close friend of Attlee, he provided moral support during struggle to hold the Labour Party together during the 1950s. His protégé, Sam Watson, became General Secretary of the Durham Miners and one of the most influential trade unionists in the party.
Lawson retired as Lord Lieutenant in 1958 and died in 1965, at the age of83. His hereditary peerage became extinct on his death.
The Lord Lawson of Beamish Community School is named in his honour. He was for years on friendly terms with the historian Sir Arthur Bryant, despite the latter's more right-wing outlook.
Books.
His personal papers, including correspondace political, official, and personal, including a file of constituency correspondence for 1926–7, appointments diaries, journals, accounts and recollections by Lawson of politicians, politics, and travels abroad on official missions, fragments of an autobiography continuing "A man's life", drafts of publications, speeches, broadcasts, sermon notes, cuttings and photographs - are held at the Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections. Related collections also can be found at Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College, London: Bryant Papers D/4, letters from Jack Lawson, early 1940s.
Little of significance seems to have survived, however, from his periods of ministerial office.


Georges Besse

Georges Besse (25 December 1927, in Clermont-Ferrand, France – 17 November 1986, in Paris) was a French businessman who led several large state-controlled French companies during his lifetime. He was assassinated outside his Paris home by the terrorist group Action directe. At the time of his death he was the CEO of French car manufacturer Renault.
At Renault.
Besse became the head of the public-owned Renault automaker in January 1985. He was credited with taking the money-losing company to reporting a profit only two months before he was gunned down. He was criticized because his plan to make the bloated enterprise efficient included closing plants and laying off 21,000 workers. Labor unions opposed his actions in Europe, as well as his support for Renault's investments in the United States. The French company was a major stockholder in American Motors (AMC), which was also experiencing financial problems. Renault invested additional resources in AMC for launching new Jeep vehicles, upgrading to fuel injection new 2.5 L and 4.0 L AMC engines, as well as a new factory in Brampton, Ontario. While some Renault executives and labor leaders perceived AMC with negative bias, Besse championed the future in the North American market just as Jeep four wheel drives were riding an unprecedented surge in demand. Not only did Besse make Renault profitable, but AMC was also on course with growing markets and sales.
Assassination.
Besse was gunned down at about 8:25 in the evening of November 17, 1986 on the sidewalk at the front steps of 16 Boulevard Edgar Quinet, walking to his 18th-century villa at 12 Boulevard Edgar Quinet — in Paris' 14th Arrondissment, the Montparnasse district. The scene was witnessed by one of Besse's daughters, who'd observed the street from an upstairs window while waiting for her father's 8:30 return.
Besse's killers approached just as he alighted from his chauffeur-driven car a short distance from his home. Witnesses said Besse was shot four to six times, in the head and in the chest, dying almost immediately where he fell on the pavement. Reports varied on whether the assailants escaped by car, motorcycle or on foot.
Leaflets by the militant anarchist organization Action Directe were sent three months later. The organization claimed responsibility for the murder, stating the murder was in retaliation for his reforms of the financially stricken automaker Renault which involved laying off a large number of workers. However, the Action Directe members denied any responsibility during their trial.
Two women, Nathalie Menigon and Joelle Aubron, were charged with his murder in March 1987 and were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989. Two other Action Directe members, Jean-Marc Rouillan and Georges Cipriani, were convicted as accomplices and also sentenced to life imprisonment.
Besse's murder has also been linked, most notably by Dominique Lorentz, to the negotiations concerning the Eurodif nuclear company, in which Iran had a 10% share.
Commemoration.
Renault's car assembly plant in Douai in northern France, was renamed in Besse's honour.
The Georges Besse gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plant was operated by AREVA from 1979 to 2012 at Tricastin, then replaced by the Georges Besse II centrifuge enrichment plant.