Baghmara (community development block)

Baghmara is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district, Jharkhand state, India.
Overview.
Dhanbad district forms a part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau, but it is more of an upland than a plateau. The district has two broad physical divisions – the southern part is a coal mining area with mining and industrial towns, and the northern part has villages scattered around hills. The landscape of the southern part is undulating and monotonous, with some scars of subsidence caused by underground mining. One of the many spurs of Parashnath Hills (1,365.50 m), located in neighbouring Giridih district, passes through the Topchanchi and Tundi areas of the district. The spur attains a height of 457.29 m but there is no peak as such. The Dhangi Hills (highest peak 385.57 m) run from Pradhan Khunta to Gobindpur. While the main river Damodar flows along the southern boundary, its tributary, the Barakar, flows along the northern boundary. DVC has built two dams across the rivers. The Panchet Dam is across the Damodar and the Maithon Dam is across the Barakar.
Maoist activities.
Jharkhand is one of the states affected by Maoist activities. , Dhanbad was one of the highly/moderately affected districts in the state., Dhanbad was not identified as a focus area by the state police to check Maoist activities. However, there were some isolated Maoist activities in the Dhanbad area.
Geography.
Baghmara is located at .
Baghmara CD Block is bounded by Topchanchi and Tundi CD Blocks, on the north, Govindpur and Dhanbad CD Blocks on the east, Chas CD Block, in Bokaro district, in the south and Chandrapura and Nawadih CD Blocks, in Bokaro district, on the west.
Baghmara CD Block has a forest area of 4,979.67 hectares, covering 18.45% of the area of the CD Block.
Baghmara CD Block has an area of . It has 71 gram panchayats and 227 villages. Baghmara, Katras, Mahuda and Tetulmari Police Stations serve this block. Headquarters of this CD Block is at Baghmara.
It is located 32 km from Dhanbad, the district headquarters.
Demographics.
Population.
As per the 2011 Census of India Baghmara CD Block had a total population of 334,309, of which 222,657 were rural and 111,652 were urban. There were 175,479 (52%) males and 158,830 (48%) females. Population below 6 years was 47,472. Scheduled Castes numbered 69,474 (20.78%) and Scheduled Tribes numbered 17,737 (5.31%).
Baghmara CD Block has several census towns (2011 population figure in brackets): Matigara (5,685), Bhimkanari (5,170), Nadkharki (4,427), Madhuban (4,316), Barora (3,890), Dumra (6,772), Harina (4,637), Muraidih (6,360), Rajganj (8,820), Mahlidih (6,381), Kharkhari (5,656), Sahnidih (6,777), Malkera (8,232), Nagri Kalan (9,410), Baua Kalan (9,489), Phulwartanr (5,884), Jhinghipahari (4,550) and Mahuda (5,196).
Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in Baghmara CD Block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Latipahari (4,790), Ranguni (4,056), Raghunathpur (4,110), Kanrra (4,258) and Singra (4,017).
Literacy.
 census the total number of literates in Baghmara CD Block was 214,888 (74.92% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 128,719 (85.46% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 86,169 (63.26% of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 22.20%.
 census, literacy in Dhanbad district was 74.52%. Literacy in Jharkhand was 66.41% in 2011. Literacy in India in 2011 was 74.04%.
See also – List of Jharkhand districts ranked by literacy rate
Language.
Hindi is the official language in Jharkhand and Urdu has been declared as an additional official language. Jharkhand legislature had passed a bill according the status of a second official language to several languages in 2011 but the same was turned down by the Governor.
In the 2011 census, Hindi was the mother-tongue (languages mentioned under Schedule 8 of the Constitution of India) of 62.5% of the population in Dhanbad district, followed by Bengali (19.3%) and Urdu (8.1%). The scheduled tribes constituted 8.4% of the total population of the district. Amongst the scheduled tribes those speaking Santali formed 77.2% of the ST population. Other tribes found in good numbers were: Munda, Mahli and Kora.
Economy.
Livelihood.
In Baghmara CD Block in 2011, amongst the class of total workers, cultivators numbered 7,276 and formed 7.67%, agricultural labourers numbered 6,594 and formed 6.95%, household industry workers numbered 1,953 and formed 2.06% and other workers numbered 78,994 and formed 83.31%.
Infrastructure.
There are 178 inhabited villages in Baghmara CD Block. In 2011, 162 villages had power supply. 52 villages had tap water (treated/ untreated), 167 villages had well water (covered/ uncovered), 165 villages had hand pumps, and 10 villages had no drinking water facility. 26 villages had post offices, 20 villages had sub post offices, 36 villages had telephones (land lines), 73 villages had public call offices and 123 villages had mobile phone coverage. 168 villages had pucca (paved) village roads, 58 villages had bus service (public/ private), 18 villages had railway stations, 39 villages had autos/ modified autos, and 74 villages had tractors. 12 villages had bank branches, 8 villages had agricultural credit societies, 11 villages had cinema/ video halls, 13 villages had public library and public reading rooms. 157 villages had public distribution system, 18 villages had weekly haat (market) and 110 villages had assembly polling stations.
Coal.
Jharia coalfield is the richest treasure house of metallurgical coal in India. The Barora, Block II and Katras Areas of BCCL are located in Baghmara CD Block.
The following collieries function under the Barora Area: Madhuband, Phularitand, Muraidih and Shatabdi. Collieries functioning in Block II Area are: Madhkurkee, Benidih, Jamunia and Block II. Collieries functioning in Katras Area are: Salanpur, Angarpathar, Keshalpur, Ramkanali, Ramkanali OC, West Mudidih, Galitand, Keshalpur OC, Katras Chot and East Katras.
The Barora Area of BCCL is located in the western part of the district. Damoda colliery of this area is located in Bokaro district. Block II Project was funded by the World Bank. Madhuban Coal Washery is functionally under Block II Area. Some parts of Katras Area is affected by fire.
Agriculture.
Dhanbad district has infertile laterite soil, having a general tendency towards continuous deterioration. The soil can be classified in two broad categories – red sandy soil and red and yellow soil. There are patches of alluvium along the river banks. Limited water resources constitute a major constraint for cultivation. Paddy is the main crop. The soils for rice cultivation fall into three categories – "baad", "kanali" and "bahal". "Aghani", is the main winter crop, consisting primarily of winter rice. "Bhadai" is the autumn crop. Apart from paddy, less important grain crops such as marua and maize are grown. The "Rabi" crop includes such cold weather crops as wheat, barley, oats, gram and pulses.
Backward Regions Grant Fund.
Dhanbad district is listed as a backward region and receives financial support from the Backward Regions Grant Fund. The fund, created by the Government of India, is designed to redress regional imbalances in development. As of 2012, 272 districts across the country were listed under this scheme. The list includes 21 districts of Jharkhand.
Transport.
The Adra-Gomoh branch line passes through this block. There are stations at Mahuda, Kharkhari and Malkera on this line.
Education.
In 2011, amongst the 178 inhabited villages in Baghmara CD Block, 30 villages had no primary school, 108 villages had one primary school and 40 villages had more than one primary school. 71 villages had at least one primary school and one middle school. 32 villages had at least one middle school and one secondary school.
Healthcare.
In 2013, Baghmara CD Block had 1 block primary health centre, 4 primary health centres and 7 private nursing homes with total 30 beds and 12 doctors (excluding private bodies). 6,153 patients were treated indoor and 42,552 patients were treated outdoor in the hospitals, health centres and subcentres of the CD Block.
In 2011, amongst the 178 inhabited villages in Baghmara CD Block, 4 villages had primary health centres, 15 villages had primary health sub-centres, 6 villages had maternity and child welfare centres, 3 village had a TB Clinic, 7 village had an allopathic hospital, 4 village had an alternative medicine hospital, 18 village had a dispensary, 2 villages had veterinary hospitals, 15 villages had medicine shops and 113 villages had no medical facilities.


Aussinanis project

The Aussinanis project is a uranium deposit located in the western part of Namibia in Erongo Region. Aussinanis represents a uranium reserve estimated at 34.88 million tonnes of ore grading 0.02% uranium.


Betita mine

The Betita mine is a large mine located in Tébessa Province. Betita represents one of the largest phosphates reserve in Algeria having estimated reserves of 175 million tonnes of ore grading 18% P2O5.


Mwaiseni

Mwaiseni (Bemba language: "welcome") is a mining company in Tanzania; it specializes in the mining of gemstones. Mwaiseni Stores Ltd. was a Zambian business. Henry Susman was the Managing Director.


A. S. Embree

A. S. Embree, a former minister, was an experienced American union organizer and, briefly, a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Embree served as the secretary-treasurer pro tem of the national IWW for a period of two months after the national office was raided by federal agents.
Embree was the editor of the "Nome Industrial Worker" in Nome, Alaska and chairman of the Bisbee, Arizona IWW strike committee. He was among the union men deported during the Bisbee Deportation, July 12, 1917. He later returned to Bisbee, and was arrested on a charge of inciting a riot. After a change of venue, he was tried in Tucson, and acquitted minutes after testimony was completed. Embree then again returned to Bisbee, and was jailed for three months, and threatened with lynching if he did not leave for good.
Embree sought relief from the federal government, arguing that he had the right to live with his wife and children wherever he chose. The federal government informed him that they saw no grounds on which to intervene.
He then worked as an organizer in Butte, Montana, and then traveled to Idaho, where he was arrested for making speeches and distributing literature for the IWW. Embree was convicted of violating Idaho's Criminal Syndicalism Act in Shoshone County in 1921, and spent more than three years in jail. After he was released, he began organizing coal miners in Colorado in March 1926, focusing in particular on Walsenburg, Colorado. A subsequent strike resulted in a statewide walkout of twelve thousand miners. The strike is best known for the Columbine Mine Massacre.
In August 1939, Embree was working as an organizer for the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW) in Silverton, Colorado. Embree and the secretary of the Silverton local were forced into an automobile and deported. The National Labor Relations Board stepped in and ordered back pay for miners who had also been evicted.


Hunan Nonferrous Metals

Hunan Nonferrous Metals Holding Group Co., Ltd. is a nonferrous metals company of China. It is a subsidiary of China Minmetals, which in turn indirectly under supervision of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
Some of the assets of the conglomerate was listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange from 2006 to 2015 as "Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation Limited" (SEHK: 2626). (The holding company retained Hunan Yaogangxian Mining Co., Ltd., Hunan Huangshaping Mining Branch and a joint venture (Duddar mine).) However, in 2014 China Minmetals announced the plan to privatization of the listed company, which China Minmetals already took control of the holding company "Hunan Nonferrous Metals Holding Group Co., Ltd." in 2011.
On 1 August 2006 it purchased a 9.73 percent share in Compass Resources NL of Australia for 30 million Australian dollars.


Wenonah, Alabama

The Wenonah community (formerly Fossil) was the name of one of a series of Red Mountain ore mining camps for employees of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company (TCI). The name was chosen by TCI's social science director Marion Whidden as a complement to the company's Ishkooda and Muscoda camps. All three names appear in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha". The TCI camps were designated from west to east as: Muscoda Division Camp - mines #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, Wenonah Division Camp ( originally referred to as the TCI Fossil Division ) mines #6½ #7, #8, #9, #10 and the Ishkooda Division Camp - mines #11, #12, #13, #14, #15.
History.
The oldest TCI mine was in the Ishkooda camp #13, which opened in 1873 as part the Eureka Company Mines and was called Eureka #2 mine. The oldest Wenonah Camps were #7 and #10 where the mines opened in 1880, known then as the Alice mine - #7 and Redding mine - #10. Mine #6½, which opened in 1910 and other mines were listed on the 1916 Birmingham Mining District maps. Wenonah Number 6½ was next to the Woodward Iron Company's Red Ore camp mine #2, which was on the #6½ western boundary, and also near here was the location of the water reservoir that in about 1947 was replaced with a covered water tank, now owned by the Bessemer Water Works. The reservoir/tank is located in the Lipscomb area of Jefferson County.
By 1900, TCI was operating 15 iron ore mines in the Birmingham District including the Wenonah #7, and #8 mining camps. In 1880, before TCI became the owner, the #7 mine was operated by T.T. Hillman and Henry DeBardeleben's Alice Furnace Company. The #7 mine in those days was called the Alice Mine and also sometimes referred to as the Hillman Mine. The Wenonah #8 mine, opened in 1887, was originally the Fossil Mine and was operated by the Smith Mining Company. Wenonah Mining Camp #7, later in 1940, became the site of the sintering plant that processed the iron ore before being transported via The High Line Railroad connection from Red Mountain to the Fairfield Works. The Highline was constructed in 1925. In 1914, TCI began ongoing facilities and programs to improve lives of employees with schools (Wenonah School), hospitals (Lloyd Noland Hospital), training programs and housing.
Camp locations.
The oldest was Wenonah Camp #7 (circa 1880) as listed on the 1916 Birmingham Mining District maps. Number 6 1/2 was next to the Woodward Iron Company's camp #2 on its western boundary and was the location of the water reservoir that in about 1947 was replaced with a covered water tank, now owned by the Bessemer Water Works. The reservoir/tank is located in the Lipscomb area of Jefferson County.
Wenonah Mining Camp #7 (1880-1938), located on the southwest boundary of Browns Station, was also the site of the plant that processed the iron ore before being transported via High Ore Line Railroad connection from Red Mountain to the Fairfield Works.
Wenonah Camp #8 (1887-1938), was located just south of Hillman on the north side of Red Mountain, and is sometimes referred to as "New Hill". It was also the site of the company commissary, doctor's office and other administrative offices.
Wenonah camp #9 was south of Grasselli Heights on the north side of Red Mountain. It was the location of the Wenonah School, built in 1917 on the current East Brownsville Park site, as part of the program to improve lives of employees. The #9 mine was opened in 1897 under contract to the Smith Mining Company and then was known as the Klondike mine.
Wenonah Camp #10 (1880-1952), was located adjacent to West Goldwire and south of the current Wenonah High School. It is now known as Tarpley City.
Mine closures.
In 1962, the TCI - US Steel Red Mountain ore mines closed in Birmingham District as material and labor cost begin to increase. Due to a higher grade, the ore in Venezuela began to be used. The last Iron Ore mine to close in the Birmingham district was the Woodward Company #4 (Pyne)mine, The Pyne Mine which was located just south of Bessemer, Muscoda and Readers Gap. The Pyne Mine closed in 1971.


Commerce, Oklahoma

Commerce is a city in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,473 at the 2010 census, down 6.5 percent from the figure of 2,645 in 2000, and lower than the 2,555 residents it had in 1920. Commerce is included in the Joplin, Missouri metropolitan area.
History.
What became Commerce was land that was part of the Quapaw Indian Agency, allocated in the late 1830s. The Quapaw were removed to the area in the 1830s by the federal government after residing for hundreds of years on the west side of the Mississippi River in what later entered the union as the state of Arkansas.
Immigrants arrived and formed a mining camp named Hattonville after Amos Hatton. In 1906, Hatton developed the Emma Gordon zinc and lead mine, whose resources had attracted workers. Starting in 1908, the Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri Inter-Urban Railway built a line between Miami and Commerce to serve the mining industry. In a series of steps the line was later acquired by the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. In 1913, the residents called the local post office North Miami, though by June 1914 the post office took the present-day city's name that came from the Commerce Mining and Royalty Company, which had bought the mining camp.
In 1914, the mining company platted the town; a mayor–council government formed two years later. By the 1920 census, Commerce had a population of 2,555. The town's population has remained roughly the same size ever since.
Commerce was on Route 66 when that highway was commissioned in 1926, and was the first town on the route through Oklahoma after crossing the Kansas border westbound.
Commerce was the site of two notable events in the mid-1930s. In April 1934, Bonnie and Clyde and their associate Henry Methvin killed Commerce Constable William C. Campbell and kidnapped police chief Percy Boyd. By May, Bonnie and Clyde would both be dead.
In 1935, in an event that would later become notable in retrospect, Mickey Mantle's father would move his family to Commerce, to work as a miner. Mantle would later be nicknamed "The Commerce Comet."
Most mines closed by 1960, due to a declining market and the realization of extensive environmental damage to ground, water and air. Residents have turned to occupations such as farming and ranching,
Geography.
Commerce is located at (36.933529, -94.871371), five miles () north of Miami on U.S. Route 69, which was once part of historic U.S. Route 66. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.
Demographics.
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,645 people, 968 households, and 693 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,232.2 people per square mile (1,245.4/km). There were 1,079 housing units at an average density of 1,318.5 per square mile (508.1/km). The racial makeup of the city was 68.05% White, 13.35% Native American, 0.64% African American, 0.19% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 11.68% from other races, and 5.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 18.53% of the population.
There were 968 households, out of which 36.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.3% were married couples living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.4% were non-families. 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.18.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.7% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,982, and the median income for a family was $30,547. Males had a median income of $25,104 versus $18,466 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,734. About 14.7% of families and 16.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.8% of those under age 18 and 13.9% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people.
Commerce has been home to several professional athletes, most notably Mickey Mantle, a Hall of Fame professional baseball player. Others include:


Enashiminskoye mine

The Enashiminskoye mine is a large iron mine located in eastern Russia in the Sakha Republic. Enashiminskoye represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 450 million tonnes of ore grading 51% iron metal.


Aricom

Aricom PLC () was an iron ore mining company with operations in Russia and listed on the London Stock Exchange. The firm was effectively founded as a spin out from Peter Hambro Mining in 2003, listing on the London Stock Exchange and later becoming a member of the FTSE 250. Aricom was reacquired by Peter Hambro Mining (now known as Petropavlovsk PLC) in April 2009. In October 2010, the assets previously held by Aricom were listed as IRC Ltd on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Petropavlovsk PLC retaining a majority shareholding.
History.
Aricom was founded in 2003 when it was listed on the Alternative Investment Market and acquired a 74% stake in "Olekminsky Rudnik", a business which owned the licience to mine the "Kuranakh" deposit, from Peter Hambro Mining. In 2007 the Company obtained a listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Aricom was fully bought over by its sister company Peter Hambro Mining in April 2009. The acquisition coincided with Peter Hambro's move from AIM to the LSE main market, leading to it taking Aricom's place in the FTSE 250 Index. In October 2010, the assets previously held by Aricom were listed as IRC Ltd on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Petropavlovsk PLC retains a majority shareholding in IRC Ltd.
Operations.
The mining operations formally held by Aricom (and now held by IRC Ltd) are based in the Amur Region and Jewish Autonomous Region of Eastern Russia. The regions offer a wealth of mineral deposits and provide strong infrastructure for the assets: the mines are all within proximity to the Trans-Siberian Railway and BAM Railway.
The mines are all “open pit”, which are essentially well planned craters dug into the ground. To excavate the ore, grids of holes are drilled into it and dynamite is then inserted into the holes. This process in known as “blasting” and the blasted ore is then removed from the pit in ore trucks.


Bing (mining)


Dmitry Sukhovarov

Dmitry Gavrilovich Sukhovarov (; 12 June 1904 – 4 March 1982) was a Soviet Army colonel and a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Early life and prewar service.
A Belarusian, Dmitry Gavrilovich Sukhovarov was born to a peasant family on 12 June 1904 in the village of Zhakovka, Mogilev Governorate. After completing six years of schooling, he became an apprentice in a tailor's shop in 1920 before working as a carpenter with a bridge building detachment and as a miner in Yuzovka in the Donbass.
Conscripted into the Red Army in November 1926, he was sent to the 33rd Rifle Division of the Belorussian Military District, graduating from the school of its 97th Rifle Regiment at Chausy in 1927. With the 97th, Sukhovarov served as a squad leader and assistant platoon commander, company "starshina", and acting platoon commander in the 97th Rifle Regiment. Transferred to the 99th Regiment of the division, he continued his service as a platoon commander at the regimental school and chief of the one-year officer cadet detachment. During this period, Sukhovarov completed seven grades of night school.
After graduating from the Kiev Infantry School in 1931, Sukhovarov returned to the 99th as a company commander and served as acting regimental chief of staff before holding that position with an airborne battalion. He completed a correspondence course offered by the Military-Political Academy in 1933 and the Armored Commanders' Improvement Course at the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization (VAMM) in 1935. Appointed chief of staff of the 2nd Tank Battalion of the 16th Mechanized Brigade (later the 104th Separate Tank Battalion of the 22nd Light Tank Brigade) of the district in February 1936, Sukhovarov participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland. He became commander of the 107th Separate Tank Battalion of the 22nd Brigade in March 1940. Two months later, the brigade was relocated to the Baltic Special Military District, where in March 1941 Sukhovarov became commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 45th Tank Regiment of the 23rd Tank Division.
World War II.
After Operation Barbarossa began, Sukhovarov fought with the division in the border battles on the Northwestern Front. In September 1941 he became a battalion commander with the 9th Reserve Tank Regiment, and later that month succeeded to command of the regiment. Appointed chief of the 1st section of the Armored Department of the 24th Army in January 1942, he became acting deputy commander of the tank forces of the army on 25 March. From April he served as deputy chief of the Armored Department of the army for combat use of tanks. In July he transferred to serve as deputy chief of the Armored Department of the 64th Army, and on 15 August became deputy commander of the 56th Tank Brigade, with which he fought in the Battle of Stalingrad. The brigade was converted into the 33rd Guards Tank Brigade in February 1943, and Sukhovarov departed for the Academic Improvement Course for Officers at the Military Academy of Armored and Mechanized Forces (the renamed VAMM).
Following his completion of the course later that year, Sukhovarov received his first independent command, the 53rd Tank Regiment of the 69th Mechanized Brigade, in July. He led the regiment in the Battle of the Dnieper and the Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive, receiving the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 10 January 1944 for his leadership; promotion to colonel followed on 26 February. Between 11 and 23 January he was acting commander of the 59th Separate Guards Tank Regiment, then returned to the 53rd, which he led in the Proskurov–Chernovitsy Offensive. Sukhovarov was acting commander of the 69th Mechanized Brigade between 5 and 18 March, and was hospitalized for a serious illness in late March.
After recovering, Sukhovarov was appointed commander of the 51st Guards Tank Brigade of the 6th Guards Tank Corps on 25 September. The corps joined the 1st Ukrainian Front on 28 October and fought in the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive and the Lower Silesian Offensive from January 1945. In April, Sukhovarov was sent to the Moscow Armored Training Center, thence to the Soviet Far East to command the 204th Tank Brigade of the Maritime Group of Forces of the Far Eastern Front on 19 June. He led the brigade in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
Postwar.
After the end of the war, Sukhovarov served in the Primorsky Military District as commander of the 72nd Tank Regiment and the 77th Heavy Tank/Self-Propelled Gun Regiment, and as deputy commander of the 7th Guards Mechanized Division. He ended his career as deputy commander of the 10th Mechanized Division from October 1953, being transferred to the reserve in July 1956. Sukhovarov lived in Kurgan, where he worked as director of a driving school and head of the office of the passenger car fleet until his retirement in 1965. Sukhovarov died on 4 March 1982.
Awards and honors.
Sukhovarov was a recipient of the following decorations:


Corriente Resources

Corriente Resources is a multinational corporation based in Canada that plans to open an open-pit copper mine in the Ecuadorian rainforest.
History.
Corriente Resources exists since 1992. Around the year 2000, it entered into an agreement with mining giant BHP Billiton, buying mining concessions in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador.
Over 25,000 people flooded Quito, Ecuador's capital, on March 22 in the culmination of a two-week march that began in the country's Southern Amazon region and spanned roughly 700 kilometres.
The march, translated from Spanish to mean the "Plurinational March for Water, Life, and Dignity of the People," was led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) in collaboration with other indigenous, environmental, student, worker, and women's groups.
The movement was born out of a rejection of the constitutional violations and extractive environmental policies of President Rafael Correa's national government, which is led by the Alianza Pais party ("Proud and Sovereign Fatherland Alliance").
Thousands left Ecuador's Southern Amazonian province of Zamora-Chinchipe on March 8 – International Women's Day – to begin their journey to Quito. They arrived on March 22, World Water Day.
The starting point was symbolically chosen to denounce the large-scale, open pit copper mining project initiated in Zamora's Condor Cordillera following a contract signed at the beginning of the month with the Chinese transnational mining corporation, Ecuacorriente (ECSA).
ECSA is an international subsidiary of the Canadian natural mineral resource company, Corriente Resources Inc., based in Vancouver, BC.
The project is the largest scale mining development in the Ecuador's history, and is contracted to last 25 years, with a $1.4-billion investment in the Southern Amazonian region by ECSA within the first five years.
Provincial coordinating committees sent roughly 5,000 to 6,000 people from each province to participate in the march, joining the movement as it moved northward from Zamora toward the capital. Together these bodies made 19 demands on issues including labour, environmental justice, and reproductive rights.
They declared three of these demands to be nonnegotiable: the elimination of large scale mining, decriminalization of social protest, and the reinstatement of employment of 5,600 public workers who had been laid off in Fall 2011 by a constitutional decree which instituted "mandatory resignation."
On March 22, 20,000 demonstrators travelled the final stretch through Quito, arriving from the south to gather downtown at Parque del Arbolito. Another 5,000 arrived from the north. They carried with them large banners, flags, graffiti, and drums, chanting as they made their way through the city.
Though the protesters marched in unity, they represented a wide variety of issues.
"I am here because I believe in protest. I believe it is one of the greatest achievements of the people, and I join this struggle for two reasons; because water is a right for all, and because I am against the large scale mining project in Zamora," said Pablo Torres, a demonstrator from Quito.
Another demonstrator, Marco Montagua from Pastaza in the South Eastern Amazon stated, "I am here in the spirit of solidarity between indigenous peoples and nationalities. Each people, each sector, has their own reason for being here. We, the Sapara Nation, are here to resist oil extraction on our land."
Riot cops and military lined the march and police helicopters flew overhead. While the protest remained mostly peaceful, altercations broke out between riot police, police on horseback, and the demonstrators around 6:00 p.m.
The government had banned the contracting of interprovincial buses throughout March, which constrained the number of protesters present in the demonstration.
Despite this, Soledad Vogliano, Natural Resource and Legal worker for CONAIE, explained that the march has already yielded some positive results.
"The government has announced that they will begin a process of dialogue to evaluate how the nonnegotiable demands can be implemented," said Vogliano. "This period will last six months, by the end of which, if there is no action, the organizations involved in the march have announced that there will be uprising."
Through a community relations campaign, Corriente Resources was able to win over many of the inhabitants of the area that will be affected by the mine, spending money. However, in 2006 a local resistance movement was formed, which then took some mining camps. Another group of locals, supported by the corporation, resisted the take, and there was a fistfight.
Corriente Resources currently has the support of Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador.
Due to its economic power, Corriente Resources not only has influenced Correa, but also local authorities in Zamora Chinchipe and Morona Santiago provinces, where the corporation operates. In early 2009, during a demonstration against the corporation in the town of San Miguel de Conchay in Morona Santiago, the village chief, Hernán Samaniego, issued a death threat against Vicente Zhunio, one of the copper mine's opponents.
Mirador Project.
Mirador is Corriente Resources' main project in Ecuador. It is located on coordinates , near the town of Gualaquiza on the western slope of the Cordillera del Cóndor mountain range.
Corriente Resources plans to extract 30 thousand tonnes of copper ore per day for about 17 years, producing a sum total of 145 million tonnes of waste, which will be dumped near the open pit, in the middle of the rainforest. Corriente Resources believes it will use 10 thousand cubic meters of water per day, an amount equivalent to the water used by 20 thousand people in Ecuador's cities daily. Corriente Resources plans to build a dam near the Quimi River to hold the water produced by the mine.
Corriente Resources plans to invest $533 million upfront.
To export the copper, Corriente Resources will build port facilities in Puerto Bolívar on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, 250 miles from the mine.
On July 2009, Corriente Resources announced it had gotten the go ahead from the Environment Ministry and the Water Department of Ecuador to begin digging the open-pit mine.
Substantial Shareholders.
The following own 5 percent or more of Corriente Resources' stock:


ZCCM Investments Holdings

ZCCM Investments Holdings is a successor company to Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (ZCCM Ltd), of Zambia.
History.
The company, ZCCM, was formed by a gradual process of nationalization and corporate concatenation which began in January 1970; the process is more completely described in the article Economy of Zambia.
A major switch in the structure of Zambia's economy came with the Mulungushi Reforms of April 1968: the government declared its intention to acquire equity holdings (usually 51% or more) in a number of key foreign-owned firms, to be controlled by a parastatal conglomerate named the Industrial Development Corporation (INDECO). By January 1970, Zambia had acquired majority holding in the Zambian operations of the two major foreign mining corporations, the Anglo American Corporation and the Rhodesia Selection Trust (RST); the two became the Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines (NCCM) and Roan Consolidated Mines (RCM), respectively. The Zambian government then created a new parastatal body, the Mining Development Corporation (MINDECO). The Finance and Development Corporation (FINDECO) allowed the Zambian government to gain control of insurance companies and building societies. However, foreign-owned banks (such as Barclays, Standard Chartered and Grindlays) successfully resisted takeover. In 1971, INDECO, MINDECO, and FINDECO were brought together under an omnibus parastatal, the Zambia Industrial and Mining Corporation (ZIMCO), to create one of the largest companies in sub-Saharan Africa, with the country's president, Kenneth Kaunda as Chairman of the Board. The management contracts under which day-to-day operations of the mines had been carried out by Anglo American and RST were ended in 1973. In 1982 NCCM and RCM were merged into the giant Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Ltd (ZCCM).
However, after nationalisation, copper prices started declining, oil prices increased and
the effects of using the mining industry as a cash cow started showing. Copper production
in Zambia plummeted – from its peak of in 1973 to in 2000.
Privatisation of ZCCM.
Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), which operated ten mines, three smelters, two refineries and a tailings leach plant. ZCCM was owned by Zambia Industrial and Mining Corporation (60.3%), an Anglo-American subsidiary ZCI Holdings (27.2%), RST International (7.0%) and the public (5.5%). ZCCM was sold in 1998 for just US$627 million, split into 7 units, including Konkola Copper Mine ($25 million), Kansanshi Mine ($28 million), Luanshya Mine ($35 million), Chibuluma Mine ($17.5 million), Chambishi Mine ($20 million) and others. The low price was criticised for being a result of bribery and corruption – with Anglo-American, which sat on the board of ZCCM, buying Konkola Copper Mines, ZCCM's flagship, for a song, critics alleged.
The mines were privatised after the copper prices had dropped from $2,300/tonne in
1997 to about $1,500/tonne in 1998 – and remained at this level until 2003. As the government was subsidising the mines by approximately $1 million a day, the privatisation was encouraged by a bit of arm-twisting:
"We were told by advisers, who included the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank that (...) for the next 20 years, Zambian copper would not make a profit. [But, if we
privatised] we would be able to access debt relief, and this was a huge carrot in front of us
(...). We had no option," said then Minister of Finance Edith Nawakwi.
The objectives, which the Government was seeking to achieve through the privatisation of ZCCM, were to:
· Transfer control of and operating responsibilities for ZCCM's operations to private sector mining companies as quickly as practicable;
· Mobilise substantial amounts of committed new capital for ZCCM's operations;
· Ensure that ZCCM realised value for its assets and retained a significant minority interest in principal mining operations;
· Transfer or extinguish ZCCM's liabilities, including its third party debt;
· Diversify ownership of Copperbelt assets;
· Promote Zambian participation in the ownership and management of the mining assets; and
· Conduct the privatisation as quickly and transparently as consistent with good order, respecting other objectives and observing ZCCM Ltd's existing contractual obligations.
As part of the privatization process, the company's mining assets were unbundled and sold off as separate new entities or business packages to the private sector. The reason for unbundling the ZCCM Ltd into business packages was to promote diversity of ownership and minimise political and economic risks.
A two-stage privatisation process was adopted. Under Stage one, majority interests in the packages relating to certain of ZCCM Ltd's mining and power distribution operations were offered to trade buyers, which was to leave the transformed ZCCM Ltd as an Investments Holdings Company, with minority interest in each of these packages. Through ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc., Government has retained minority interests of not more than 21% within each of the business packages.
The privatisation of ZCCM commenced in 1996, after GRZ and the Boards of ZCCM and the Zambia Privatisation Agency (ZPA) approved the ZCCM Limited Privatisation Report and Plan presented by UK based financial and legal advisors, NM Rothschild & Sons and Clifford Chance, respectively.
Stage two of the privatisation of ZCCM envisaged GRZ disposing of some or all of its shareholding, with part of this being earmarked for Zambian institutional and private investors as a way of promoting Zambian participation in the mining sector.
GRZ obtained the support of the World Bank and the Nordic Development Fund for the Copperbelt Environment Project (CEP), to address environmental liabilities and obligations remaining with GRZ/ZCCM-IH following the privatization of mining assets.
The Environmental Management Facility (EMF) which is composed of multiple stakeholders, working as the EMF Steering Committee, was established by the Minister of Finance and National Planning as provided for by the protocols, for the purpose of prioritizing and approving subprojects of the CEP for funding. The project which became effective on 31 July 2003 ends in August 2008.
Apart from environmental responsibilities ZCCM-IH has the additional responsibility of managing the ex ZCCM employees trust fund and also the finalization sale of ZCCM properties.
In November 2011, the role and importance of ZCCM-IH have been highlighted, led by the Hon. Zambian Minister of Mines Wylbur Simuusa, representing the major shareholder.
"Through its state mining investment company, Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings, the government is finalizing plans to start negotiations with mining companies aimed at increasing its stakes in projects to as much as 35%" he told the press.
"There is need for the country to have increased ownership in the mines and ZCCM-IH is an engine which can facilitate the process."
"ZCCM-IH is an important unit which if properly managed, can help the country realise huge benefits from the mining resources."
To that purpose, as Zambian presidential elections have emerged the victory of Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata, Mr. Wila D. Mung'omba was appointed as Executive Chairman of ZCCM-IH with effect from 1 December 2011.
Mr. Mung'omba who is not new to the affairs of the company, has in the past served as Group A Director of ZCCM Limited in 1996–98. Between 1995–1998, Mr. Mung'omba was World Bank's appointed Team Leader in the initial preparation of the ZCCM Limited privatization Report and Plan by the UK based Investment Bank NM, Rothschild & Sons and international law firm Clifford Chance. Later Mr. Mung'omba was involved in the creation of the present ZCCM-IH.
Mr. Mung'omba is a distinguished lawyer of many years, a former Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund, and former President of the African Development Bank Group. For five years he served as Non-Executive Director on the initial Board of the Emerging African Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), a donor funded financial instrument to encourage public and private sector partnership in infrastructure development in Sub-Sahara Africa.
The objectives are to diversify the portfolio (coal, gemstones, oil...) and to maximise returns from assets and shareholdings. Therefore, the management recently engaged negotiations with mining companies to get unpaid dividends as profits are huge.
The Social Impact of the Privatisation of ZCCM.
The privatisation of ZCCM saw drastic cuts to social spending on health, education, urban infrastructure on the Zambian Copperbelt.
Assets & Shareholding.
ZCCM owns significant amount of the stock of the following subsidiary Zambian copper mining companies:
ZCCM-IH has 100% shareholding in NLC
ZCCM-IH has 50% shareholding in KML – Gemfields Plc has 50% shareholding in KML
ZCCM-IH has 35% shareholding in MCL - Nava Bharat Ltd has 65% shareholding in MCL
ZCCM-IH has 20.6% shareholding in KCM - Vedanta Resources Plc has 79.4% shareholding in KCM
The grz has a golden share.
ZCCM-IH has 20% shareholding in KMP - First Quantum Minerals Ltd (FQM) has 80% shareholding in KMP
ZCCM-IH has 20% shareholding in CEC - Zambian Energy Corporation has 52% shareholding in CEC
[ZCCM-IH has 20% shareholding in LCM - China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining Ltd (CNMC) has 80% shareholding in LCM
ZCCM-IH has 20% shareholding in Konnoco, African Rainbow Mining 40% - VALE 40%
ZCCM-IH has 15% shareholding in NFCA - China Nonferrous Metal Co Ltd (CNMC) has 85% shareholding in NFCA
ZCCM-IH has 15% shareholding in CMP - Metorex Ltd has 85% shareholding in CMP
ZCCM-IH has 10,07% shareholding in Investrust (494,00,000 shares / 4,901,500,000)
ZCCM-IH acquired 90% shareholding of MCM previously held by Glencore Corporation
through Carlisa Investment Corporation (73.1%) and First Quantum Mining (16.9%), giving ZCCMIH 100% control of Mopani. The Government of Zambia and Glencore Corporation signed an off-take arrangement deal. An off-take arrangement is simply an arrangement between the producer and a buyer to purchase or sell all or portions of the producer’s forthcoming goods/ commodities to the market. This sort of agreement is commonly done with the mines to secure a market for their future production purposes. In this case, Glencore Corporation has agreed to sell 90% of its shares to ZCCM-IH, which will fully own the mines after the transaction has been fully settled. This is because ZCCM-IH and Glencore deal is based on a no-cash transfer basis.
ZCCM-IH has 10% shareholding in Chambishi - Eurasian Natural Resources Capital (ENRC) has 90% shareholding in Chambishi
Shareholders.
Prior to privatization in 2000, ZCCM Ltd was a consolidated copper-mining conglomerate, majority-owned by the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ). Put in other words, until 31 March 2000, ZCCM Ltd was a 60.3% state-owned, mine-operating company in which Zambia Copper Investments Ltd (ZCI), an associate company of Anglo American Plc, held 27.3% of shares, with the balance of 12.4% of shares held by private investors.
Since privatisation of ZCCM, ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc (ZCCM-IH) is an investments holdings company which is listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange and on Euronext in Paris, and has the majority of its investments held in the copper-mining sector of Zambia.
The company's shareholders are the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ), with 77.7% shareholding, and institutions and individuals, with 22.3% of shares.
Capital.
Minority shareholders are spread throughout the world, in various locations.
Europe: England, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland, Greece,
Channel Islands, Irish Republic, Portugal, Norway and the Principality
of Monaco.
Africa: South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria,
Algeria, Republique Du Congo and Morocco.
Australasia/other: Australia, New Zealand, India, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Bahamas and USA.
Financial Summary.
ZCCM Investment Holdings Plc (LuSE:ZCCM) financial summary 5 years trend on income, balance sheet and cash flow information
Statement of Income Extract for the last 5 Years..
All values in Zambian Kwacha.
Statement of Financial Position for the last 5 Years.
All values in Zambian Kwacha.


Dyosovskoye mine

The Dyosovskoye mine is a large iron mine located in eastern Russia in the Sakha Republic. Dyosovskoye represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 700 million tonnes of ore grading 66.7% iron metal.


Milkanskoye mine

The Milkanskoye mine is a large iron mine located in eastern Russia in the Far Eastern Federal District. Milkanskoye represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 2.7 billion tonnes of ore grading 31.5% iron metal.


Pine Nut mine

The Pine Nut mine is a large uranium mine located in the southern part of the United States in Mohave County, Arizona. It is located just north of the Colorado River outside the Grand Canyon National Park. Pine Nut represents one of the largest uranium reserves in the United States having estimated reserves of 24.8 million tonnes of ore grading 0.68% uranium.


Watts, Griffis and McOuat Limited

Summary.
Watts, Griffis and McOuat Limited ("WGM") is one of Canada's longest running independent firms of geological and mining consultants. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the firm provides professional services to the global mineral resource industry, including exploration project management, property valuations, Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates, National Instrument 43-101 and JORC technical reports, and due diligence reviews.
History.
Established in 1962, the firm was co-founded by Murray Edmund Watts, Arthur Thomas Griffis, and Jack McOuat, each of whom have been inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. WGM was a founding member of OMESE, the predecessor of CAMESE (Canadian Association of Mining Equipment and Services for Export).
Locations.
Toronto.
8 King Street East, Suite 301, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1B5
Telephone: (416) 364-6244 Fax (416) 864-1675
Beijing.
Unit 1107, Full Tower, 9 Dongshuan Zhong Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing, P.R. China, 100020
Telephone: 010-62241091


List of mines in the Philippines

The following list of mines in the Philippines is subsidiary to the Lists of mines in Asia article and Lists of mines articles. This list contains working, defunct and future mines in the country and is organised by the primary mineral output(s) and province. For practical purposes stone, marble and other quarries may be included in this list. Operational mines are demarcated by bold typeface, future mines are demarcated in "italics".


Porcupine Gold Rush

The Porcupine Gold Rush was a gold rush that took place in Northern Ontario starting in 1909 and developing fully by 1911. A combination of the hard rock of the Canadian Shield and the rapid capitalization of mining meant that smaller companies and single-man operations could not effectively mine the area, as opposed to earlier rushes where the gold could be extracted through placer mining techniques. Although a number of prospectors made their fortune, operations in the area are marked largely by the development of larger mining companies, and most people involved in the mining operations were their employees.
The mines peaked between the 1940s and the 1950s but still continue to produce gold although the many smaller mines have been consolidated into a small number of larger holdings. By 2001, 67 million troy ounces of gold have been mined from the Porcupine area, making it by far the largest gold rush in terms of actual gold produced. For comparison, the well-known Klondike Gold Rush produced about 12 million troy ounces.
The Porcupine rush, along with the Cobalt Silver Rush and Kirkland Lake Gold Rush, all in the early 20th century, drove most of the settlement effort in northern Ontario.
Prior to the Rush.
During the late 17th century, explorers and fur traders established outposts in Northern Ontario (then part of Rupert's Land) to capitalize on the fur trade. The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company later developed several trading posts along major routes in Northern Ontario. The rivalry between these two trading companies resulted in the need to get their furs to market as soon as possible and this led to the development of the Porcupine Trail, a trading route that connected the Abitibi River to the Mattagami River and passed directly through present day Timmins.
There were hints of gold in the Porcupine Lake area on a number of occasions before the actual rush started. The earliest recorded mention is by a Department of Mines surveyor, E.M. Burwash, who reported seeing gold-bearing quartz as he travelled through Shaw Township, just southwest of the future goldfields. This was of little interest at the time, as the area was almost inaccessible. A University of Toronto geologist, W. Parks, followed up with three surveying runs in 1898, 1899, and 1903. These crossed through the main gold-bearing area along what was known as 'the Back Road' which has since been renamed "Goldmine Road". On his return to Toronto, he made a now-famous comment that "I regard the region south of the Porcupine trail as giving promise of reward to the prospector."
A major event that led to the eventual rush was the start of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) running from North Bay through to Cochrane. As it expanded northward it allowed prospectors to support longer surveys deeper into the bush, looking for the minerals that were expected to stretch across all of Northern Ontario. Almost immediately the massive silver deposits in Cobalt were discovered, leading to a "silver rush" in 1903. This, in turn, filled Northern Ontario with miners, assayers, prospectors and all the requirements for rapid development of new mining sites.
A near miss.
Reuben D'Aigle was the first to explicitly set out for the Porcupine Lake area in hopes of finding gold. D'Aigle had earlier been a latecomer to the Klondike, arriving after the initial rush but nevertheless sticking it out and eventually striking it rich along the Koyukuk River. After returning south he enrolled in a geology course at Queen's University, and used the library to pore over mining reports for new gold deposits. Discovering Parks' earlier report, he finished his course at the University and immediately set out for Porcupine.
Ignoring the new railway, he hooked up with a Métis guide, Billy Moore, and used the Canadian Pacific Railway's mainline running along the northeastern edge of Lake Huron to the Mattagami River. They started off by canoe and eventually reached Porcupine Lake, exploring around the area for some time. Although he found gold in numerous quartz outcroppings, the tiny flakes he saw were in stark contrast to the nuggets that could be panned in the Klondike, and he remained unimpressed.
Nevertheless, he returned the next summer in 1907 with a larger party including several experienced prospectors and tools needed to break down the rock. Several test pits were dug, but none of them seemed terribly promising. Bob Mustard, one of the prospectors in the D'Aigle party, stated "Quartz veins in Ontario never pay to work." D'Aigle apparently agreed, and they simply abandoned their tools in their latest pit and headed south. Seven claims were staked by the team during their prospecting, but all of these eventually lapsed.
Although D'Aigle's parties were the largest, several other prospectors also made attempts to find gold in the area, potentially after hearing of his efforts. Edward Orr Taylor had camped on Nighthawk Lake three years before a major discovery. The two prospectors Victor Mansen (or Mattson) and Harry Benella (or Penella) set up a mine on the lake in 1907, along with a crude mill. They had managed to produce a single bar of gold by the next year, when a fire burned the mine down. They decided not to bother setting it back up again, and abandoned the site.
Discovery.
By 1909 the north was being inundated by prospectors travelling up the new railway and hunting down any hint of riches. As the stories of the Porcupine gold started to filter back to the larger supporting towns along the line, more and more teams headed out for Porcupine. During the summer of 1909 there were several parties in the area; it was only a matter of time before the main veins were discovered.
George Bannerman set out with a partner, Tom Geddes, and started prospecting in the area north of Porcupine Lake. They found an excellent surface sample, staked several claims, and started their return trip to Haileybury to register them. When they arrived they were mobbed by a crowd who formed to see the samples. They received backing from a group in Scotland to develop the plots, forming the Scottish-Ontario Mine. The name later changed to Canusa (Canada-USA) and finally to Banner Porcupine over the years. The mine proved to have excellent surface gold veins, but stopped shortly underground and was never very productive.
In early June, Jack Wilson, backed by two Chicago businessmen, led a party of four prospectors and three native guides into Tisdale Township. On June 9 then came across a dome of quartz sticking out of the ground and decided to trench around it. As Wilson later noted;
As I was examining the seams in the quartz, about twelve feet ahead of me I saw a piece of yellow glisten as the sun struck it. It proved to be a very spectacular piece of gold in a thin sean of schist... when the boys came back we got out the drills and hammers, and that night had about 132 pounds of very spectacular specimens.
Following the vein they found it to be several hundred feet long and about 150 wide, running down the side of the hill. The vein later became known as the "Golden Stairway", and the dome of rock gave its name to the Dome Mine, which would become one of the "Big Three" mines in the area.
Following right behind them was the smaller team of Benny Hollinger, a young barber from Haileybury, and his partner, Alex Gillies. They met Wilson's Dome group, who told them that most of the good sites were already staked as far as four miles (10 km) to the west. They decided to skip those six miles, and moved westward where they came across one of D'Aigle's test pits, the one with the abandoned tools. Gillies' report of the find shows just how unlucky D'Aigle had been:
... Benny was pulling moss off the rocks a few feet away, when suddenly he let a roar out of him and threw his hat to me. At first I thought that he was crazy but when I came over to where he was it was not hard to find the reason. The quartz where he had taken off the moss looked as though someone had dripped a candle along it, but instead of wax it was gold.
The team later found that the bootprint of one of the D'Aigle team-members had pressed directly into a vein of gold.
They staked 12 claims near their discovery and then– because different sponsors had staked them food money –they flipped a coin to determine how to divide the claims. Hollinger won the toss and chose the six claims on the west. Noah Timmins and his brother, Henry, former Mattawa, Ontario merchants who had bought into the La Rose silver mine in Cobalt, purchased Benny Hollinger's claims and opened the Hollinger Mine, one of the greatest gold-producers in the western hemisphere. Noah's nephew, Alphonse Paré, described it: “It was as if a giant cauldron had splattered the gold nuggets over a bed of pure white quartz crystals as a setting for some magnificent crown jewels of inestimable value.” On the strength of his nephew’s information, Noah paid $330,000 for the mine. Alphonse Paré, a Royal Military College of Canada trained mining engineer, continued working for the family company exploring stakes and mining operations all over the world.
The third great discovery was made by Sandy McIntyre (né Oliphant), an adventurous Scotsman who, years before, gave up his factory job as to become a prospector. He teamed up with Hans Buttner, and together they staked two claims north of Hollinger's. McIntyre's findings formed the basis of a company that would, in 1909, become McIntyre Mines. Although his name made millions, Sandy McIntyre himself had serious drinking problems, and sold his claims to the Timmins brothers before he could grow wealthy from their rich yields.
The Hollinger was the first of the three mines to go into production. In 1935, Timmins wrote that he had set out with a mining party in December 1909, and had followed an old logging road that had fallen into disuse, cutting a new trail where needed. The party arrived at the mine site on New Year's Day 1936, and soon acquired 560 acres of claims, including those of Hollinger, Miller, Gillies and Millerton.
In 1910, Dome Mines began operations by sinking four shafts, the deepest being seventy-five feet. McIntyre was the last of the three to go into operation; McIntyre's partners were constantly quitting due to his behaviour, and it was not until 1915 that any real production started.
The Rush.
By the spring of 1910 the rush was in full swing. Thousands of fortune seekers poured into the area, either in an attempt to stake their own claims, or more and more commonly, looking for work in high paying mining jobs. Towns, often nothing more than tent camps, sprung up along the banks of Porcupine Lake, at that point the terminus of the canoe route into the area. Golden City (later Porcupine) and Pottsville sprung up almost overnight, followed by South Porcupine at the end of the lake, closer to the main mining areas. As the area was quickly explored and staked, the main gold producing area was revealed to be three miles (5 km) wide and five long. South Porcupine was incorporated in 1911.
Mines all along the area started production over the next few years, buying plots staked during 1910 and 1911. Seeing the obvious potential of the area the T&NO started construction of a spur line, but was delayed by the constant defection of workers to the goldfields. The province responded by shipping prisoners to work the line, handing secondary duties such as clearing trees and rock. The spur reached Golden City on June 7, 1911, and an official opening followed on July 1. More people poured into the towns, and by the end of the summer there were 8,000 active claims.
The Fire.
The summer of 1911 was unusually hot, reaching a record temperature of 107 F on July 10. There had been no rain for several weeks, and by the evening several small bushfires had been spotted. The threat to the mining townsites was obvious, and starting on the morning of the 11th boats started ferrying women and children from South Porcupine to Golden City at the other end of the lake. Throughout the day the smaller fires combined, and by the afternoon had merged into a single wall of fire up to wide at points, sweeping eastward on gale-force winds. It swept through South Porcupine around 3:30 p.m., burning it to the ground, and continued to burn its way as far as Cochrane, sending blankets of ash hundreds of miles downwind. Tom Geddes, co-claimer of the sites that started the gold rush, died attempting to save his dog.
The T&NO spur line, unharmed north of the lake, sped relief supplies to the area. Eaton's funded an entire train of supplies, including blankets, tents and supplies, while churches across Ontario responded with clothing and other supplies. As crews returned to South Porcupine they found and collected the dead, including people who had died of smoke inhalation or asphyxiation and were seemingly uninjured. Some 500,000 acres of land was burned. The dead, officially numbered at 73 but thought to be as high as 200, were buried in a new cemetery across the point of the lake from the town, known to this day as Dead Man's Point.
Although most of the Porcupine area mines were destroyed in the fire, the return to production was almost overnight. The Dome founders held an emergency meeting within two days, and funds to rebuild were immediately forwarded.
Buildout.
With most of Porcupine wiped out in the fire, development shifted. On Labour Day 1911 Noah Timmins held a public auction for building sites on a relatively flat area of land just west of the McIntyre and Hollinger mines, creating the village that would soon develop into the town of Timmins. By the time it incorporated on January 1, 1912, it had already surpassed both Golden City (now known as Porcupine) and South Porcupine in size. Timmins has remained the real center of the mining area to this day.
By March 1912 the site had grown so large they were able to host a major party for the investors, shipping them in via a new spur line that ran to the site. In its first full year in operation the mine had already produced almost a million dollars of gold, with a profit of $500,000. Over the next five years the quarry mining gave way to shafts, producing $5 million in gold. A rich ore body at the 23-level of the Dome extension was discovered in 1933.
The Hollinger site was also wiped out in the fire, but rains that followed washed off the now unprotected topsoil to reveal many more veins of gold-bearing rock. The mine was processing 800 tons of ore a day by 1914, and that year they were able to announce that they had proven reserves worth at least $13 million, and started paying dividends. In 1916 they were the first mine in the area to install underground electric railways, which paid for themselves in six months due to faster movement of man and ore. Hollinger then purchased the Acme and Millerton properties, creating a single plot, and becoming the Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines in the process.
McIntyre lacked the financial backing of the Hollinger or Dome, and took longer to get into full production. They had constant problems finding reasonable veins, and moved to the north side of Pearl Lake, eventually digging five shafts before finding a reasonable deposit. By this time the company was having trouble paying bills and was often being delivered goods "cash on delivery", but without a strong financial backer this was difficult to arrange. There is an oft-told story in Timmins that the first bar of gold produced by the mine was rushed to the bank so quickly that it was still warm. Things improved dramatically when Sir Henry Pellatt, rich from the Cobalt silver mines, took interest in the McIntyre, and the mine paid its first dividend in 1917. In 1924 the company went on a buying spree, purchasing the Jupiter and Pearl Lake mines, creating a single plot. In 1927 they built their Number 11 shaft, who's headframe can still be seen on the north side of Pearl Lake, a symbol for the entire rush.
The initial rush resulted in scores of small mines, but the hard rock mining demanded a high level of investment to be profitable, and many of the smaller sites with less valuable plots failed. There was a major first-mover advantage and many of the surviving properties were consolidated by the larger holdings to produce a single mine that was much more profitable. Although the "big three" were the most successful at this, there were a number of other success stories as well. The Coniaurum Mine was founded in 1924; backed by Cobalt money, they amalgamated several older plots north of the McIntyre area. The mine proved highly profitable due to the nature of the veins, which tended to run vertically. This allowed shafts to be sunk directly over the veins, without requiring the massive amounts of lumber needed to shore up horizontal drifts. The Coniaurum was successful into the 1950s, when the gold ran out. Another success was the Vipond, which had veins similar to the Coniaurum, and used their profits to build up a larger set of holdings.
Starting in the late 1920s and early 1930s a second wave of new mines opened across the area. Low labour costs due to the great depression changed the economics of running a mine, and an increased demand due to a lack of faith in paper money led to higher gold prices on the market. A number of sites formerly ignored due to low production were suddenly rendered profitable.
Peak production.
By 1932, approximately 75% of the gold mined in Canada came from the Kirkland Lake and Porcupine camps. By the late fifties, the Porcupine camp employed 6,000 miners.
By the 1950s many of the original plots had been mined out, and only the richer veins remained profitable. By the mid-1960s most of the mines in the area had closed. Even the main Hollinger eventually closed in 1968.
Gold prices started to rise, inflation adjusted, for the first time starting in the later 1960s, rising to $150 by the 1970s. By the late 1980s this had increased to an average around $400 a troy ounce. Improvements in mining techniques had by this time dramatically improved recovery rates and cost of operation, and a third wave of mines opened. These efforts included reprocessing of the massive tailing piles left by the previous mining efforts.
Most recently many of the remaining plots were acquired by Goldcorp Inc. (Porcupine Gold Mines).


Mukondo Mine

Mukondo Mine is a copper and cobalt mine in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of 2011 it was operated by the Central African Mining and Exploration Company (CAMEC). It may be the richest cobalt reserve in the world.
Location.
In July 2008 CAMEC said the resource estimate at Mukondo was 70 million tons of ore containing 1.5 million tons of copper and 500,000 tonnes of cobalt. The cobalt grade averages 1.2%, an exceptionally high concentration.
The Mukondo mountain has a height of over .
Mining is relatively cheap since waste rock can simply be pushed off the mountain rather than hauled away.
Ownership changes.
In January 2001 the Kababancola Mining Company (KMC) was established as a copper and cobalt mining partnership for a 25-year term.
Tremalt, controlled by the Zimbabwean businessman John Bredenkamp, held 80% of KMC while the state-owned Gécamines held 20%
In June 2006 Dan Gertler bought Tremalt for about $60m.
The sale was to Prairie International, of which Dan Gertler's family trust was a major shareholder.
Tremalt owned 80% of Savannah Mining, a successor to KMC that held concessions C17 and C18 in Katanga Province and 50% of the Mukondo project.
Billy Rautenbach, a Zimbabwe businessman, owned Boss Mining, which controlled the other 50% of the mine.
In a February 2006 deal, Rautenbach gained about 17% of the CAMEC shares when CAMEC bought 80% of Boss.
Boss Mining had rented and operated Bredenkamp's half of Mukondo. Gertler terminated this arrangement when he bought Tremalt.
Gertler and CAMEC made plans to combine the Mukondo assets into a new holding company to be operated by CAMEC.
Billy Rautenbach would be paid out and excluded from ownership in the new company due to the hostile relations that had developed between him and the DRC government.
CAMEC and Prairie International signed the MOU to complete the deal in November 2007.
In September 2009 the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) of Kazakhstan made a £584-million cash offer for CAMEC.
The deal was closed in November 2009.
Operations.
The joint venture was to extract cobalt from Mukondo, reopen the Kakanda concentrator and control the Luita copper cobalt SX/EW facility.
In February 2008 the two companies announced that the Mukondo Mountain operations had restarted.
In July 2008 CAMEC said the Luita facility, due to be completed later that year, would be the largest of its kind in the world.
The target was to produce 100,000 tonnes per year of copper cathode.
In July 2009 CAMEC announced a long-term agreement under which CAMEC would deliver its entire annual production of cobalt in concentrate from Mukondo Mountain to Zhejiang Galico Cobalt & Nickel Materials of China.


Bekisopa mine

The Bekisopa mine is a large iron mine located in central Madagascar in Haute Matsiatra. Bekisopa represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Madagascar and in the world having estimated reserves of 130 million tonnes of ore grading 14% iron metal.


Tillicoultry

Tillicoultry ( ; Scottish Gaelic: Tulach Cultraidh, perhaps from older Gaelic "Tullich-cul-tir", or "the mount/hill at the back of the country") is a town in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Tillicoultry is usually referred to as Tilly by the locals.
One of the Hillfoots Villages on the A91, which runs from Stirling to St. Andrews, Tillicoultry is situated at the southern base of the Ochil Hills, which provide a spectacular backdrop. The River Devon lies to the south. The river also runs through neighbouring villages Dollar and Alva to the east and west respectively. The former mining village of Coalsnaughton lies just south, whilst Alloa lies southwest.
The "hill" referred to in the first etymology is likely to be Kirkhill, at the east of the town. The alternative Latin etymology, "Tellus culta", the cultivated land, suggested by Rev. William Osborne, minister of the parish from 1773 to 1794, is also possible. However, as both etymologies could equally be applied to a hundred places in Scotland, both are suspect, as neither define the town in a unique manner.
History.
The estate of Tillicoultry was taken from Aleumus de Meser in 1261 by Alexander III for failure to render due feudal services. The estate had originally been received by de Meser's father, also Aleumus, from Alexander II. It was then granted to William Count of Mar and remained in possession of the Mar, and then by marriage of Margaret, Countess of Mar, to William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, the Douglas family until 1483, when it changed hands to the ancestors of Lord Colville of Culross. By 1634 it was sold to Sir William Alexander of Menstrie (later, 1st Earl of Stirling). Between 1644 and 1840, ownership of the estate changed hands frequently.
The origins of the village lie in the Westertown (previously Cairnstown) area, where the road to Stirling crossed the Tillicoultry Burn. It is thought that the centre of Westertown was probably in the area now known as Shillinghill.
There are records of a Parish church existing in Tillicoultry from 1639, and knowledge of cloth manufacture dating from the 1560s. Traces of a Druid circle, sixty feet in diameter, were found in the eastern area of the parish at the end of the 18th century. A Pictish fortress stood upon the Castle Craig, near the current site of Craigfoot Quarry on Wood Hill, to the west of Tillicoultry Glen. This has long since been ruined, however legend has it that the stone of the fortress was employed in the building of Stirling Castle.
Due to the rapid growth of the village during the 19th century, there were problems with overcrowding, poor housing, high infant mortality, water supply and drainage. In an attempt to address these problems, Tillicoultry Burgh was created in 1871. It lasted until 1975 when it disappeared as a result of local government reorganisation.
Around 1930, one of the first bus stations in the country was built at Murray Square to serve the eight bus services which terminated in the town. The original glass and cast iron shelters were replaced by modern shelters some time ago. Despite the growth in car ownership and the corresponding decline in public transport, Tillicoultry, and indeed all the Hillfoots villages, retain a regular bus service.
The old Harviestoun estate, where Archibald Tait (1811–82), Archbishop of Canterbury, spent much of his boyhood, lies East-North-East of the village. Robert Burns visited the estate in the summer of 1787, during his stay he wrote "The Banks of the Devon" and "Fairest Maid on Devon Banks". A commemorative cairn at the roadside, near the east lodge to Harviestoun, marks this event.
Industry.
The burn which runs off the Ochils and down through the glen into west of the village provided an attractive source of water for the early textile industry in Tillicoultry, being used for the washing and dying of wool. During the early 18th century a cloth known as Tillicoultry Serge was manufactured by weaving worsted with linen.
By the time of the industrial revolution the burn was a recognised source of power, with the first mill being established in the 1790s. Many more textile mills were built along the burnside, by the 1830s, steam powered mills were introduced and by 1870 there were 12 mills employing over 2000 people. As the industry expanded, more workers were attracted to the village. The population of the parish, which had stood less than 1,000 at the turn of the 19th century, had grown to over 4,500 by the early 1850s.
Textile mills and coal mines remained the biggest employers of the local population until the first half of the 20th century. In the 1950s the most recent colliery (map) to be worked, on the south bank of the River Devon, set new productivity records due to a high level of mechanisation. Its impressive adit entrance, now safely bricked up, can still be seen. In 1851, due to the importance of Tillicoultry as an industrial centre, it became the first Hillfoots village to have a rail connection.
In 1921 Samuel Jones Limited established a paper mill at Devonvale, the current site of Sterling Furniture. In 1926, 33 people were employed at the site and the firm returned its first profit. By 1936, 238 staff were employed by the company. Sydney Platfoot was appointed Managing Director of the Devonvale works in 1922, he later went on to become town provost from 1930 to 1936. In 1964, the company merged with Wiggins Teape and by 1967 employed a fifth of the working population.
Tillicoultry Quarries Ltd, as the name suggests, was established in 1930 by R.W. Menzies at Craigfoot Quarry Tillicoultry, and remains 100% owned by the Menzies family. Quarrying no longer takes places in Tillicoultry, the companies Head office is based in nearby Kincardine.
Quartz-dolerite was first extracted in 1930 from the now inoperative Craigfoot Quarry (map), however quarrying had taken place on a smaller scale at the site since 1880. On 26 January 1949 the quarry was the site of a tragic explosion when a magazine containing 150 lb of explosive detonated killing quarryman Alexander Honeyman and blowing out doors and windows in the Shillinghill and Upper Mill Street area.
The Flood of 1877.
Following a particularly wet summer and torrential rainfall over a 12-hour period, Tillicoultry Burn burst its banks on the morning of 28 August 1877. Flooding was widespread throughout Strathdevon, both Alloa Railway station and Alloa Brewery were submerged, crops were destroyed around Tullibody and there was extensive property damage in Dollar also. The Alloa Advertiser described the rainfall as 'not simply heavy rain; it was a terrific downpour- persistent, incessant, it fell in bucketfuls- to use our expressive vernacular it came down like "hale water"'.
Workers in mills to the west side of the burn were trapped in their workplaces, unable to cross Mill Street due to the flood water. By breakfast time the houses and shops of High Street were under three feet of water.
Three people, Castle Mill owner William Hutchison, dyer William Stillie and Isabella Miller, a young factory worker, were swept away when the bridge on which they were standing collapsed into the flood waters. The collapse was probably due to the impact of water-borne debris upon the embankment on which the foundation of the bridge stood. Both William Hutchison and Isabella Miller perished in the torrent, however William Stillie was rescued further downstream. Despite exhaustive searches, Isabella Miller's body was not recovered for several days. It was eventually discovered at Glenfoot, where the burn joins the River Devon.
The village was deprived of water and gas supplies for a week following the flood. The cost of repairs to the Burnside amounted to £2,000.
The village today.
As the textile and coal mining industries declined, Tillicoultry became a popular commuter town. Many of the mill buildings have been converted into residential accommodation. Tillicoultry railway station, on the Devon Valley Railway was situated opposite Devonvale Hall, and closed in 1964.
The Clock Mill, built by James and George Walker of Galashiels, which is situated at the top of Upper Mill Street. The last production of textiles in the mill was by D. C. Sinclair & Son. They wove high quality mohair goods among others. It was turned into a museum, then a business centre and now residential flats.
The village developed on a herring-bone pattern north of the main road. A series of diagonal streets, mostly lined with cottages, lie between the High Street and Walker Terrace, which run parallel. The eastern area of the village has more recent residential developments, dating from the 1940s to the present.
Tillicoultry is perhaps now best known for its large retail outlet, Sterling Furniture, based in the former Devonvale paper mill complex, as well as for the adjacent Sterling Mills shopping centre.
The Devon Way walkway links eastward to Dollar.
The village also has a 400-pupil Primary School, which is situated next to the Fir Park artificial ski slope. For secondary school aged children, the closest school is Alva Academy.


Ofir Resources

Ofir Resources Ltd. is a mining company operating mainly in Africa in the development of natural resources.
It works with materials ranging from diamonds to gold, coltan, and rutile.
It currently operates or holds assets in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic.
History.
Established in Jersey, it is the leading company for the Metals and Minerals branch of the Swiss-based holding company Otsara AG.
Ofir Resources' focus has shifted from exploration to production and currently holds, directly or indirectly, significant interests in the production of gold, diamonds, coltan, timber and rutile in Africa.
Operations.
Ofir Resources currently has operations in five African countries. Ofir also still holds exploration rights for gold and diamond in Bas-Congo and Équateur provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 2009, Ofir commissioned gold and diamond mining sites in the Bavu and Lombe basins, near Lukula and Seke Banza in Bas-Congo province.
Gold and diamonds are also produced in the provinces of Équateur and Maniema.
In Dondo and Kotakoli, near Gbadolite in the Nord-Ubangi District
In Businga, near Gemena in the Sud-Ubangi District
In Lubutu district in Maniema.
Burundi.
As of April 2010, Ofir owns two mines producing coltan in Nyarudende and Gakana in the Kirundo Province, with an annual starting capacity of about 10 metric tons.
Central African Republic.
Ofir commissioned two mining sites in Mbaiki and Boda for alluvial diamonds.
Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Located in Mano in the Kailahun District in Sierra Leone, diamonds produced by Ofir in the country are said to be exported via Monrovia in Liberia where the company is involved in timber and forest industry in the northwest of the country.


Wallace Thorneycroft

Wallace Thorneycroft (1864–1954) was a 19th/20th century British mining engineer, businessman, coal-mine owner and geologist. He was President of the Institute of Mining Engineers. As a geologist and archaeologist he was an expert on vitrified forts and one of the first to undertake practical experiments to establish their mode of construction.
Life.
He was born in Dorchester on 24 February 1864, the son of Thomas Thorneycroft, and his wife, Jane Whitelaw. The family moved to the Mansion House in Tettenhall in his youth. He was educated privately at Charterhouse School. He studied Mining Engineering at Owen's College in Manchester then was apprenticed to Simpson and Rankine in Glasgow.
He trained as a mining engineer and based himself in central Scotland. His first position was as manager of Merrytown Colliery in Hamilton from 1889, then moving eastwards, and living at 25 Snowdon Place in Stirling from 1896.
In 1894 he rented the Plean estate to open a colliery, from 1897 living himself on-site at Plean House, near Stirling in central Scotland, the former mansion of the late William Simpson of the East India Company. The estate had been historically part of the lands owned by Robert Haldane of Airthrey Castle. Plean House was built by Francis Simpson in 1819. The Simpson family held title to the estate until 1922 when it was bought in its entirety by Thorneycroft.
In 1902 he also became Director of Lochgelly Coal and Iron Co. in central Fife.
In 1907 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were fellow geologists John Horne, Ben Peach, Sir John Smith Flett and L. W. Hinxman.
His East Plean mine suffered a major underground explosion in 1922 with many dead and injured. Of the 520 total mining workforce 12 were killed at 59 injured.
In 1937 he came to relative fame in Europe by experimenting on recreating conditions to create a vitrified fort, this being in liaison with archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe. These experiments took place at one of his own mines: Plean Colliery.
He retired to Strete Ralegh, a mansion in Whimple, Dorset but retained Directorship of his Plean and Lochgelly companies.
He died in Weymouth on 26 April 1954 aged 90.
His colliery at Plean was closed in 1963 and is now just marked by a memorial.
Plean House was vacated by the Thorneycroft family in 1972 and is now ruinous. The estate and former colliery and slag-heaps were acquired by Stirling District Council in 1988 and the colliery area relandscaped. The combined areas now form Plean Country Park.
Family.
He married Margaret Campbell and they had at least six children.


Arigna

Arigna (, formerly "Cairn An Ailt"), is a village in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is near Lough Allen (on the Shannon-Erne Waterway), on a designated "scenic route" between Keadue and Sliabh an Iarainn. Arigna is situated in Kilronan Parish alongside the villages of Keadue and Ballyfarnon. The village lies close to the shores of Lough Allen. There is a long association with the coal mining industry, carried out for over 400 years until the mines closed in 1990.
Etymology.
Arigna is an english corruption of , meaning "the plundering", an adjective for the Arigna river - , the "plundering river". The Gaelic name for Arigna was ("Carn Analt").
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Cairn means "pile of rocks", and Ailt (also: ailt, alt) means "the steep-sided glen, height, cliff".
Arigna coal mining.
The Arigna Coal Mine is famous for its very shallow deposits. Seams of culm were worked by miners lying on their sides to shovel the coal out. Mining lasted until 1990, and the coal was used for iron works and later for a power plant. With the demolition of the ESB Generating Station chimney, the era of collieries in the area ended.
The mining history at Arigna started in the Middle Ages with the mining of iron here, and at Sliabh an Iarainn. At the beginning of the 17th century, the iron was smelted at Arigna in new built iron works, using charcoal, which was burnt from the wood of the forests around. But as no organised tree planting took place and the timber eventually ran out, the iron works had to be closed at the end of the 17th century. More than half a century later, in 1765, the mining of the coal deposits started, and again 30 years later the smelting was revived using the local coal instead of charcoal. This iron works closed finally in 1838, as they were not very successful.
Demand for fuel in Dublin drove the industrial and economic development in the region. In 1790s Dublin, years of rising fuel inflation had driven the price of coal to 36-40 shillings per ton, causing "very great distress" to the inhabitants of Dublin. The completion of the Royal Canal allowed for the supply and sale of Arigna coal at 10 shillings per ton. New towns and villages emerged. Drumshanbo has its origin in these industries.
Coal mining continued and provided work for the people in the area. The coal was used to heat homes and hospitals, and to power steam engines. In 1958 the Arigna Power Station was opened to produce electricity. It was the first major power generating station in Connacht. The station was built specifically to burn the semi bituminous coal with its high ash content. At its height, the power station burned 55,000 tonnes of coal per year and employed 60 people. Like in other coal mining areas of Europe, the main goal of this power station was to secure the jobs in the local mining industry. During the internationalization process of the mid-20th century, foreign coal from much bigger and easier to mine deposits became much cheaper than local coal. At the end of the 1980s, the power station was shut down, and without its main buyer the mine closed in 1990.
Because of the thin coal seams, a special type of mining was practised at Arigna. A main tunnel was driven from which branched a series of secondary tunnels every 5–6 meters, where the coal was mined. The secondary tunnels followed the seams and were rather low. The miners typically worked lying on their back to cut the coal. These 'Cutters' or 'Brushers' also prepared the mine for the next day's work, and extended the roads using explosives. 'Drawers' filled hutches (tubs) and pushed them out to the main underground mine road. Here the hutches were linked up to an endless-rope haulage system and were pulled to the outside. Sometimes small diesel locomotives were used to pull hutches out of the pit. 'Proppers' used timber pillars to prop up the mine roof.
Life inside the Mines.
In his memoir, "The Home Place", author Brian Leyden gives a description of life in the mines and describes the conditions in which the miners worked: "The coal mines were often tiny by the standard of most industrialised countries. The men often had to lie on their backs in water, using a handpick or short-handled shovel to get at a thin seam of coal under a ledge of rock."
Leyden describes how a religious picture was placed at the pit entrance and that the "coal-miners blessed themselves at this spot before they went underground. Strangers who visited the mines out of curiosity often found the experience of the mineshaft so frightening they never got past the picture".
Preservation.
The Arigna Mining Experience consists of an exhibition and an optional underground tour. The underground tour is guided by former miners, who are able to answer many questions on the coal mining process. This tour is a little difficult for some, as the mine is often somewhat low. There is no need to fear going "down" into the mine as the entrance and the whole mine tour is on a single flat level and wheelchair accessible. Visitor get hard hats to protect their heads. Lighting and sound effects throughout the mine are intended to add to the authenticity of the experience.
In April 2009, a musical celebration of Arigna's mining heritage, "Scars On the Mountain" was launched by RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster.
Transport.
Arigna railway station opened on 2 May 1888, but finally closed on 1 April 1959. It was part of the narrow gauge Cavan and Leitrim Railway.


Danderhall

Danderhall is a village in Midlothian, Scotland, just outside Edinburgh but inside the Edinburgh City Bypass.
Overview.
The village includes a large amount of council housing — although much of this is now privately owned by the occupiers. Danderhall was formerly a mining village, supplying labour for the nearby coal mines of Edmonstone to the northwest, Sheriffhall to the southeast, Woolmet to the east and Monktonhall beyond that. The latter was the last to remain open, but closed for good in 1998.
Danderhall is made up of 1,200 homes and a small number of shops. Danderhall also includes a library, primary school, two churches (a Church of Scotland and "Calvary Chapel of Edinburgh").
Notable people from Danderhall include: footballer Grant Brebner, now playing in Australia, former Hearts and Motherwell footballer Kevin Twaddle., Commonwealth Gold Medalist and triple World Champion David Peacock (bowls), former International darts player Rab Stewart and Scottish Autocross champion Blair Hamilton.
Danderhall and District is a Community Council area of Midlothian and is within the civil parish of Newton. In addition to Danderhall village, Danderhall Community Council area also takes in the area of Millerhill, Newton Village, Hilltown and various farms. These are small residential areas and without shops and similar amenities, which are concentrated in nearby Danderhall.
The civil parish (Newton) has an area of and a population of 3,258 (in 2011).
Woolmet House.
Woolmet House was a large and highly impressive mansion built for Archibald Napier (1575-1600) around 1590 as a wedding present from his wealthy father Archibald Napier of Merchiston Castle (father of John Napier and of Alexander Napier, Lord Laurieston)). It was demolished in the 1950s due to subsidence caused by Woolmet Colliery. Some carved stones from Woolmet were incorporated into the Castle of Mey around 1990.
All that remains is an ornamental doorway of around 1700, crudely attaching the modern Miners Welfare Club.
Woolmet Colliery.
The Colliery opened late in Scottish mining history (1898) and closed in 1966. It was operated by the Niddrie and Banhar Coal Company. It employed around 700 men and produced around 200,000 tons of coal per annum, under the control of Sir James Steel.
Edmonstone House.
This mansion stood west of Woolmet House, north of Danderhall village. It was certainly extant in 1600 as home to the Edmonstone family. It was remodelled in the 18th century but demolished in the 1950s to avoid tax (the fate of many mansions in the 1950s). An entrance lodge and the base of the mansion still survive.


Lebedinskiy mine

The Lebedinskiy mine is a large iron mine located in western Russia in the Kursk Oblast. Lebedinskiy represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 20.2 billion tonnes of ore grading 35% iron metal.


Brigus Gold

Brigus Gold Corporation was a Canadian mining company. The company was based in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada and operated Black Fox Mine and Mill in the Timmins Gold District of Ontario. The Black Fox Complex encompasses the Black Fox Mine, the new Grey Fox property and adjoining properties in the Township of Black River-Matheson, Ontario, Canada. The Black Fox Mine is in production and the Grey Fox Mine, located four kilometres from Black Fox is in development.
The company was originally incorporated in 1936, in the province of Ontario. In 2003, the company was reorganized under the laws of the Yukon Territories.
In 2014 the company was acquired by Primero Mining Corp..
Controversy.
The company, then known as "Apollo Gold", was formed in the mid-1990s when Pegasus Gold declared bankruptcy and transferred its profitable assets to Apollo Gold. Pegasus Gold wanted to avoid paying for the clean-up of its Zortman-Landusky mine. The directors of Pegasus Gold and Apollo Gold were the same people at the time. This has been cited as an example of corporate environmental irresponsibility and unsustainable practices of mining companies at the expense of local people and environments.


Bobby Cowell

Robert Cowell (5 December 1922 – 11 January 1996) was an English football defender. During his football career he only played for one club, Newcastle United. Despite his success with Newcastle he failed to win any caps for the English national team.
Career.
Cowell was born in Trimdon Grange and worked as a coalminer at Blackhall Colliery as a teenager, as well as playing for the non-league football team Blackhall Colliery Welfare. He joined Newcastle in October 1943 at the age of 20 – a time when the club were only playing friendly matches as World War II meant all the football leagues in England were suspended. He made 81 appearances for Newcastle as a right-back.
He made his Football League debut on 1 February 1947 in a match against Barnsley and would feature a further 12 times before the end of the season. He only played 19 league games for the rest of the following season as Newcastle were promoted into the First Division. However, he bided his time and became the club's first choice right-back for the 1948–49 season.
Along with Jackie Milburn and Bobby Mitchel Cowell featured in all three of Newcastle's FA Cup successes during the 1950s. He won his first FA Cup winners medal in 1951 when Newcastle beat Blackpool 2–0 and the following year he was part of the team that surprised Arsenal and the first team to retain the cup since 1891. He won his third FA Cup title in 1955 against Manchester City.
Retirement and death.
Bobby Cowell was forced to retire in 1955 at the age of 33 when he picked up a serious knee injury during a pre-season tour of Germany. He had made 330 appearances for Newcastle.
One of Newcastle United's top goalscorers of all time, Jackie Milburn, stated that Cowell was "the best uncapped fullback I've ever known".
Bobby Cowell died on 11 January 1996 in Newcastle upon Tyne, aged 73.
Honours.
As a player.
Newcastle United


Dudley Joel

Dudley Jack Barnato Joel (26 April 1904 – 28 May 1941) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician.
Part of the wealthy and prominent Joel family, he was the son of businessman Solomon Barnato Joel and his wife Ellen (Nellie) Ridle; he was married to Esme Oldham.
Heavily involved in Thoroughbred horse racing, in 1922, his father purchased Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket from the estate of Sir Ernest Cassel. On his father's death in 1931, Dudley Joel inherited the property.
In the 1931 general election, Dudley Joel was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dudley. He was re-elected to Parliament in 1935, but with the outbreak of World War II joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was killed in action on 28 May 1941 when the steam merchant HMS "Registan" was bombed by German aircraft off Cape Cornwall.
Dudley Joel is buried in the family plot at the Willesden Jewish Cemetery in London.


Le Grand-Pressigny

Le Grand-Pressigny is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.
There is a Chalcolithic flint mine located in the commune. It produced an unusual caramel-coloured stone which appears to have been highly prized across Europe with examples found in the Pyrenees, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Blocks of flint and unfinished blanks were traded, as well as finished tools.


Teliuc mine

The Teliuc mine is a large open pit mine in the western of Romania in Hunedoara County, 15 km west of Hunedoara and 406 km north-west of the capital, Bucharest. Teliuc represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Romania having estimated reserves of 3 million tonnes of ore. The mine produces around 100,000 tonnes of iron ore/year.