Weardale Iron and Coal Company

The Weardale Iron and Coal Company, established in the 1840s, produced iron and steel at Tow Law and Tudhoe in County Durham in England, where it also owned collieries.
History.
The founder of the company, Charles Attwood (1791–1875), was born in Halesowen in the west midlands of England; his father and grandfather were involved in the iron industry of that area. His brothers Matthias Attwood and Thomas Attwood were bankers and politicians, and other brothers also had notable careers. Charles Attwood had other business interests during his career, and was a politician.
The company, founded in 1845 as the Weardale Iron Company, was created to exploit iron ore in Weardale; leasing rights were obtained there in the manors of Stanhope and Wolsingham. Six blast furnaces were built at Tow Law in County Durham, and the company built a railway to transport the iron ore to the ironworks. The company became in 1846 the Weardale Iron and Coal Company, with Attwood as a managing partner; it was controlled financially by Baring Brothers. Collieries were established in the area, and the company built houses for employees.
In 1853, an ironworks was built in Tudhoe, near Spennymoor in County Durham. Forges and rolling mills were built, and collieries were opened.
In 1861 the company began to make steel by the Bessemer process in Tudhoe, the first to do so in northern England. At Tow Law Attwood was the first licensee of the Siemens regenerative furnace to make steel.
In 1865 Attwood retired as managing partner of the company. The ironworks at Tow Law had closed by 1882; Tudhoe Iron and Steel Works had closed by 1901.


Cerro Colorado Mine


Namling County

Namling County (; ) is a county of Shigatse in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Geography.
Namling is the current administrative name given to the valleys of Oyuk, Tobgyet, and Shang ... [associated]... with both Buddhism and Bon. Through these valleys respectively flow the "'Nang-gung-chu'mang ra chu" Tobpu-chu, and Shang-chu rivers, with their various tributaries, which rise amid the southern slopes of the Nyenchen Tanglha range to the north, and flow southwards to converge with the Brahmaputra [called the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet].
The lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River make "a sharp U-turn around Namjagbarwa Peak in Pai, Namling County." This is regarded as the starting point of the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Nyingchi Prefecture, which stretches and averages over in depth. The county has three geysers.
Development efforts.
The Namling County Schools Project was founded by Tashi Tsering in 1991, and has been sponsored by the Boulder-Lhasa Sister City Project (BLSCP) since 1994. As of 2013, it supports 53 rural elementary schools.
As of 2006, 15 out of the county's 17 towns had cell phone service.
As of 2001, potatoes have been introduced in Aimagang (Emagang) as a crop for herdsmen in the county. Potatoes and vegetables were shipped to markets in Xigazê, and production of peas and wheat decreased.
The 2009 HIV/AIDS outreach efforts in rural areas of the county appear to have had a positive impact in comparison to a similar non-intervention area of Tingri County, according to Medicus Mundi Switzerland.
In 2010, protests of environmental damage by gold mining resulted in arrests and at least one fatality.
In 2011, Qin Weiqiang, secretary of the Namling County Party Committee, said that after the "Lhasa–Xigazê Railway is put into operation", the number of tourists in Namling County was expected to increase.
Culture.
"The famous local specialities are silver utensils, Tibetan sword and so on. Namling Town is the office place of Namling with a population 5,000, where are many monasteries."
Traditional Tibetan opera is popular in Namling County, and government funding efforts to preserve the tradition were started in 2005. "Xiangba Tibetan play in Namling County of Tibet has a history of more than 700 years. It is one of the four major schools of the blue-mask Tibetan play, and was born in the late 18th century." Local residents preserve "some traditional Tibetan operas such as "Princess Wencheng", "Chimei Gongdan", "Langsa Wenbo" and so on." "Tongdong Gyaibo (1365-1455), the founder of Tibet Opera, was born in Ngamring County. Legend has it that the iron chain bridge over the Xiongqoi River in Namling County was built with funds collected by Tongdong Gyaibo through performances."
Namling County and the Xiangqu River Basin were a cultural center of the Supi tribe, known as "The Kingdom of Women", and "one of the earliest tribes in Tibet." After "the end of the sixth century, the Supi tribe moved its political center to the Lhasa River Basin."
As of 1999, the county was home to the critically endangered Golden-headed box turtle (Cuora aurocapitata).
Monasteries.
Yungdrungling Monastery "is located at the foot of the Yulha Jiesam mountain in the Numa village in Namling County about 90 km. from Xigazê. The monastery is surrounded by dense wood ... it is one of the four major monasteries of Bon religion in Tibet."
Danag Monastery, over 800 years old, is located in Danag Village.
The remains of the Dingma Monastery, an 11th-century Kadampa monastery, are located on a hill in the Oyuk Valley. It was founded by Ram Dingma Deshek Jungne, a student of Geshe Potowa.
The Gongon Lhakhang temple, in Oyuk Township, was said to be built by Songtsen Gampo, and frequented by Padmasambhava and his students Namkhai Nyingpo and King Trisong Detsen in the 8th century.
Oyuk Chigong or Oyuk Jara Gon is a hermitage located at Jarasa in lower Oyuk. It is "the abode or castle of the protector deity Dorje Lekpa: guardian of the Dzogchen teachings."
The Gelukpa monasteries of Drungzhi and Sogchen are located in the Tobgyel Valley.
Gadan Chiokorling Monastery, located from the county center, originally called Gegon Songrapling Monastery, became part of the Gelgupa Sect during the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama.


Metallurgical Corporation of China

Metallurgical Corporation of China Limited is a listed company in Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It is a subsidiary of China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC). In the past Baosteel Group was a minority shareholder.
Saindak Copper-Gold Project (SCGP).
SCGP is a copper mining project owned by Government of Pakistan. The MCC Holding Hong Kong Corp. Ltd. and MCC Petroli Hong Kong Corp. Ltd. constructed the project under agreement with Government of Pakistan from 1990–1995 on turnkey basis. The project remained idle up to 2002, when Pakistan's government sought for foreign investors to provide funding for the project. The MCC won the bidding for a 10-year lease up to October 2012 and started the commercial production of the SCGP. The agreement was further extended for a period of 5 years up to October 2017. The agreement was again extended for another period of 5 years up to October 2022.
Copper mining in Afghanistan.
In 2007, China Metallurgical Group Corporation won the bidding for the price of US Dollars 909 million. Presently it is moving ahead with a copper mining project in Aynak, Afghanistan. In December 2009 there were about 3000 Afghan workers and about 70 Chinese engineers on site.
Nickel mining in Papua New Guinea.
Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Limited ('Ramu NiCo') is currently constructing a nickel mine in mountains above the Ramu River and processing plant on the Rai Coast of the Madang Province of Papua New Guinea. Ramu NiCo's web site says the company is 'sponsored by' China Metallurgical Group Corporation and that at US$1.4 billion its project is China's largest overseas mining investment. The company says the project has a total reserve of 140 million tons of nickel and will have a mine life of 40 years.
The project has sparked controversy over its deep sea tailings disposal plan, previously approved by the PNG Department of Environment and Conservation, and blasting work to build the outlet was halted by an injunction in the National Court of Papua New Guinea on 19 March 2010.


Henry Comstock

Henry Tompkins (or Thomas) Paige Comstock (18201870) was a Canadian miner after whom the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada was named. The Comstock Lode was the richest silver mine in American history.
Referred to by history books variously as a "sanctimonious gaffer", an "illiterate prospector", and a "quick-thinking loudmouth", he was known by his contemporaries as "Old Pancake", because he could not be bothered to bake bread. He became noteworthy in 1842 for never again leaving the house when wearing no less than seven belts for any occasion.
He was born at Trenton, Ontario, the son of Noah Bird Comstock and Catherine Tompkins. He may have worked as a fur trapper and sheep drover. He came into knowledge of the enormous silver lode which is named after him, but sold out his interest early and did not profit from it.
Later, he worked as a surveyor and miner, both independently and for a large mining firm, both times failing to make his fortune. He died from suicide by his own pistol on September 27, 1870 near Bozeman, Montana and is buried in the Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman.


Walter Klimmek

Walter Klimmek (14 March 1919 – 13 May 2010) was a German football defender, coal miner and firefighter. He played for Schalke 04 and was West German champion and German cup winner. He was 91 and is buried in Aschheim.


Uricani Coal Mine

Uricani Coal Mine is an underground mining exploitation, one of the largest in Romania located in Uricani, one of six cities in the Jiu Valley region of Hunedoara County. The legal entity managing the Uricani mine is the National Hard Coal Company which was set up in 1998. The mine has reserves of 39.3 million tonnes of coal. After several fatal accidents and Romania's obligation regarding the reduction of the arrears of the CNH, the mine has been in the process of shutting down its operation since 2009.


Chisana Historic Mining Landscape


Takardeit mine

The Takardeit mine is a large mine located in the northern part of Niger in Agadez Region. Takardeit represents one of the largest uranium reserves in Niger having estimated reserves of 23.5 million tonnes of ore grading 0.018% uranium.


Chulmakansky coal mine

The Chulmakansky Coal Mine is a coal mine located in eastern Russia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 199 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 0.6 million tonnes of coal.


Thomas Young Hall

Thomas Young Hall was an internationally acclaimed mining engineer and coal mine owner. A native of Tyneside, he was a well-known figure in Newcastle in the mid-nineteenth century.
Born in Greenside on 25 October 1802, his father, James Hall, was a mining engineer, manager of the Folly Pitt, and agent to several leading coal mine owners including the Dunns, G. Silvertop, Capt. Blackett, W. P. Wrightson, P. E. Townley, and John Buddle.
Education and apprenticeship.
With this background, Welford's assertion that T.Y.Hall started work as a pit-boy out of economic necessity seems unlikely.
Young Thomas received his education at the Crawcrook school, also known as Craiggy's School after the father and son, John and John Alexander Craiggy, who acted successively as Master.
Crawcrook was at the centre of the coal mining industry at that time and other eminent pupils included Sir George Elliot, Nicholas Wood, J. B. Simpson and others who were to become eminent Mining Engineers in Europe, and America. Bourn comments, "it is a question whether any other village school in England has turned out so many distinguished men who have been connected with the coal trade".
Thomas entered the mines and was apprenticed to his father and John Buddle at Townley, Whitfield & Crawcrook collieries...
Early career.
At the age of 22, he became Under-Viewer at the North Hetton Colliery. After four years, he joined Jonathan Backhouse at the Black Boy and Coundon pits. This period, which coincided with the early years of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, introduced him to the importance of costing the transport of coal to the nearest ports. He reported on the potential for exploitation of the Coxhoe, Shadforth and Sherburn pits, which led to the development of Hartlepool as a coal port. By 1832, he was a Director and share holder in the Old Hartlepool Docks and Railway Company. Fordyce subsequently reported the opening of Hartlepool Docks on 9 July 1835, as follows: “That stupendous undertaking, the Hartlepool docks and harbour, was opened for the shipment of coal and merchandize. The day being extremely fine, great rejoicings took place. The first shipment of coals was made in the "Britannia" of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Having taken her cargo on board, she proceeded to sea amid the ringing of bells, the firing of cannon, and the acclamation of those who had assembled to witness the ceremony." The first shipment of South Hetton coal, following the completion of the South Hetton railway branch, followed on 23 November 1835.
In late 1832, Hall became mining engineer at South Hetton in addition to his other duties. Over the next four years, he made his first major contribution to the mining industry by developing the tub, cage and guide-rod system for raising coal from the pit, Established practice had been to bring coal to the surface in wicker baskets or “corves”. These had increased in size over the years from 3 cwt. to about 6 cwt., making them difficult to fill and handle underground and prone to snagging while being lifted in the shaft. Adding to the difficulties was the common practice amongst miners of hanging to the ropes or lifting chain to ascend and descend the 1500 ft or more of the pit shaft. Hall replaced the corves with low tubs which ran on rails underground. Initially these were emptied at the shaft bottom, but he subsequently developed a frame or cage into which several tubs could be loaded for lifting. To prevent the cage fouling the sides of the shaft, he developed an idea proposed initially by a Mr. Curr of Sheffield and fitted guide rods to constrain it. A model of the system was exhibited at the Polytechnic Exhibition Newcastle and Museum of Practical Geology, London. These developments had a profound effect on mining costs which Hall later quantified as a saving of 1s.3 d. per ton of coal or over £1m. p.a. for the NE Coalfield
By 1836, Hall was entering a partnership with Buddle and Potter to work the Ryton Glebe and Stella Collieries. This soon extended to the Townley Main and Whitefield pits and workings in the Crawcrook area. The group became known as the Stella Coal Company and traded successfully until the 1860s. Hall became resident at Stella House and, as part of the developments, leased an area of land to the west of Blaydon Burn, Fig.1. As his principal interest was the development of the Stella staithes, land was sub-leased to a range of industrial users including an acid and white lead factory. These complex legal arrangements were to return to haunt him in later life.
America.
In the late 1830s, the Blackheath Colliery, Etna and Mid-Lothian pits in Cleveland County, Virginia, were devastated by fire and explosion, resulting in what the NEIMME reported as,
“sacrifice of life in negro workmen". The best American engineers failed to clear the resultant gas and Col. Heth, the Managing Partner, visited London to consult the eminent Engineer, Robert Stephenson. On Stephenson's recommendation, Hall and Frank Forster, Engineer to the London Sewerage Company, visited Virginia. Within a month, it is claimed that Hall, assisted by one NE pitman who had accompanied him, had restored the mines to working condition. This was clearly a highly lucrative development for Hall. For restoring a mine valued at £50k, he was initially offered £10k for his involvement, subsequently amended to a £7k share option and a five-year term as Mining Superintendent on a salary linked to production (and frequently quoted as circa £2k p.a.). Following the intervention of Thos. Wood, it was agreed that Hall should receive " normal Viewers' customary perquisites" and be allowed to pursue private work for three months in the year. This led to him crossing the Atlantic 16 times between 1839 and 1843, no mean achievement in the age before steamships were fully established. The Agreement for the formation of the Chesterfield Coal & Iron Mining Company dated 30 April 1840, lists John Heth (Virginia), Charles Scarrisbrick (Lancaster) George Morten (Old Bond St.), Thos Wood (Castle Eden) and Samuel Amory (Throgmorton St.) amongst the directors. Arrangements for Hall are detailed, even specifying that during his time in America he should have, "two horses for his use and the keep of a cow". Welford notes that having an English company holding assets in America caused constitutional issues, requiring negotiations with the American Government.
During his time in America, Hall took an interest in mining in Russia, including the publication of a letter in the New York Herald in 1840 arguing the case for a railway from St.Petersberg to Moscow. This led to Gen. Tcheffkine, the Czar's Director of Mining, and a Russian delegation visiting Tyneside to study railway and mining practice. The party spent several days at Stella with Hall and the local Consul, John Thomas Carr, presenting Hall with a gold medal and letter of appreciation from the Czar,).
Later career.
On his permanent return to Tyneside in 1843, residing at 39, Collingwood St., Hall was an established and secure figure. In addition to his lucrative mining and property holdings, he is listed as a shareholder in the Old Hartlepool Docks and Railway Company, Newcastle, Shields and Sunderland Union Banking Co., Scotswood Bridge Co., and J.S.Challoners, Scotswood Rd... Additionally, he had an interest in the Ovingham Bleachery, George Hartford & John Reed and the Middlesbrough Sail Cloth Co.
Unfortunately, the late 1840s seem to have been a bad time for business. Correspondence from the period tells of a series of failures. In May 1847, the Middlesbrough Sail Cloth Company was heading for bankruptcy and Hall was referring to the Banks, "going wrong". William Thompson Dixon, Sailcloth Manufacturer, has managed to pay only 5/3 in the £. By December, even Hall himself is being refused further credit by Balamore Mills on the supply of flax for his bleachery. Finally, in March 1848, the Union Bank is appealing to its members for additional funding to stave off its collapse. A further concern during this period was the developing problem with the Stella Haugh land. Townley, who had previously controlled the lease, sought to demonstrate that Hall had neglected his duties as lessee and landlord, which would potentially have allowed him to benefit from the considerable investment which Hall and his sub-lessees had made over more than a decade. The case was heard as Molyneux v. Hall before Mr. Justice Williams at the Durham Summer Assizes on 30 July 1851. Mr. Justice Williams reduced the argument to five points of law, on all of which the jury found predominantly for the defendant, Hall.
Publications.
In 1851, Hall, a lifelong bachelor, was living with two servants at 11, Eldon Square. This coincided with the formation of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers and over the following years he contributed a number of leading papers to their Proceedings, drawing on his extensive knowledge of the coal industry internationally.
His definitive work on the North East Coalfield appeared in 1854 including the detailed map, Fig.2. This was followed by the companion paper on the ports of the region in 1861. Hall defended vigorously the position of the Tyne, possibly because of his vested interests, but also made a strong case for the development of Redcar as a 40 ft. deep water port to transport iron ore to Tyneside for smelting. He clearly took a keen interest in the development of North Yorkshire's iron deposits, as shown by the inclusion of the Yorkshire and Cleveland Railway Bill, 1854, in his bound papers,
Other papers analysed the potential of leading overseas coalfields. His paper on Styria and Austria presented his usual factual analysis of production and transport issues backed by economic analysis, but Members were then treated to a review of his 1854 Summer Holiday with slides of the Adelsberg Grotto, Fig.3.
His 1856 paper on the potential of the United States) was informed by his years in Virginia, where the short rail links to the James River were a particular attraction. He was also aware of Pennsylvania's large reserves, which have been exploited to the present day. Although he had spent some months in France his Notes on the production and consumption of coal in France draws heavily on the centralised returns of the French Legislature, which operated from 1832. This includes telling detail of the 20% drop in production that accompanied the Revolution around 1848. Although he had visited Shanghai, his paper on China relied heavily on the tour of Mr. Samuel Mossman Hall noted that coal had been mined there since 200 BC, but considered the industry very backward and ended his paper with an exhortation to capitalists and engineers to seek concessions there.
Technical developments.
In addition to his economic insights, Hall was involved in several technical developments. Following the Stephenson / Davy controversy about the origins of the safety lamp, opinion was divided between gauze and glass lamps: it was argued that the former could, in some circumstances, be unsafe whereas the latter sometimes gave only limited light. Hall was party to an ingenious set of experiments initiated by Nicholas Wood at the Killingworth and Wallsend Collieries Hall's solution was a series of designs incorporating both gauzes and glass, which were published following the experiments, Fig.4.
Other developments concerned boiler level indicators, coke ovens and screens for coals, Fig.5. He was also the first in the region to use pit gas for underground lighting
In 1853, Hall was attracted to a prize offered by the Belgian government for rescue systems from mines filled with dangerous gases. His original essays are preserved in English and the French translation, and were subsequently published in the NEIMME Transactions, Fig.6.
Decline and death.
In the mid-1860s, Hall prepared a report on the Coalbrook and Broadoak Collieries at Loughor, Glamorgan, The intended business model appears similar to the earlier American activity, with the key investors being Sir Wm.Milman, Messrs Manning and O'Donoghue. Relations between the partners appeared to sour between February and May 1866, by which point relations had broken down with the threat of legal action At the same time, relations with the Simpsons, who managed the Stella assets, became strained
At this time and clearly under considerable pressure, Hall suffered a stroke which incapacitated him for at least 12 weeks.
It appears that he spent his remaining years quietly. In 1865, he had been contemplating the purchase of the Villa Real in the Morpeth area, but the sale did not proceed. Bourn. states that he retired to Wylam Hill Farm. He died at his Newcastle residence, 11, Eldon Sq., on 3 February 1870 and his funeral was at Ryton Church.
Scholarship bequest.
Hall maintained his commitment to learning and scholarship. As recorded in the Transactions of the NEIMME, ".. . a clause in the will of the late Mr. Thos. Y.Hall, which provided that the interest on £500 would be available for a scholarship connected with the college, which he (the President) hoped would soon be formed in connection with this Institute." This endowment provided the Thomas Young Hall Exhibition at the College of Physical Science, which is still awarded to a pre-eminent Undergraduate in the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering at Newcastle University.
Sources and further reading.
Abbreviations: NEIMME: North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers DCRO: Durham County Records Office


Notre-Dame Mine Shaft

The Notre-Dame (or Éboulet) Pit was one of the principal mine shafts of the Ronchamp Mining Company (les Houillères de Ronchamp), located in North-Eastern France in the hamlet of Éboulet, the commune of Champagney, and the department of Haute-Saône. The pit was created by a rival company, The Forge Masters (la Société des maîtres de forges), which had owned the since 1851, fifteen years before the Ronchamp Mining Company acquired them. As its supply of coal dwindled, the mine was converted into a water well used for pumping water used in the mining process to several other nearby mines. The pit was plugged in 1958, when all the coal mines formerly owned by Ronchamp were closed by the government utility, Électricité de France.
Three miner towns, a dormitory, and a reservoir of potable water were constructed around the mine pit in the interwar period. A slag heap towards the north remained until the beginning of the 20th century, leaving behind two slabs of concrete and the floor of a no longer existent building.
Excavation.
The excavation of the pit was undertaken by the Éboulet Mining Company on December 14, 1851 with an area of 6.6m by 2.5m with a pair of 2m x 2m extraction compartments. In 1855, 31 workers—21 miners, five assistants, two machinists and two blasters—worked in the 135-foot deep well . A year later, excavation was suspended at a depth of 270 meters in order to conduct a survey which determined the presence of coal at 495.54 meters.
The 1st of August 1859, at 501 meters, the pit crossed a vein of coal 80 centimeters thick, which did not meet company standards . According to their surveys, they believed there must be coal at a depth of 550 to 600 meters, and moreover that there would be only one relatively thin vein. The engineers therefore assessed that the Notre-Dame excavations had run into a slab of the basin's bedrock . Explorations were rapidly undertaken and executed badly. Poor ventilation, in 1861, caused an explosion of methane which resulted in three deaths. The explorations were then stopped in order to rework the mine and its galleries, but above all to dig a ventilation shaft .
In 1861 began the digging of the first ventilation shaft in the region. The fan-powered shaft was two meters in diameter, the shaft was placed 30 meters away from the mine shaft. On the January 2, 1862, three workers died of asphyxiation following an unexplained explosion at the bottom of the mine.
Surface Facilities.
When Ronchamp acquired the Notre-Dame pit, the extant buildings, poorly designed in the first place, were in poor condition. The steam engine which powered the extracting machine was composed of gears and two cylinders of different diameters, one of 60 cm, the other 70 cm, which caused instability and necessitated frequent repair. The wooden headframe was dilapidated, and the framework of the shaft was falling to pieces . As for ventilation, its flat-bladed ventilator did not surpass a flow rate of 7m3/s, insufficient for a deep mine shaft .
In 1867, the facilities were completely renovated. A new 100 horse-power direct-traction extraction machine and two cylinders with a diameter of 70 cm and a run of two meters, accompanied by six steam generators 8 meters long, were ordered by A. Kœchlin and Company to be installed in a building placed at a right angle to the other and topped by a tall chimney .
The pit was also outfitted with a new, more powerful ventilator, an air compressor, the only source of mechanical energy at the bottom of the mine, a lamp shop, and a "swimming pool" for the miners. Additionally, a hundred mine carts capable of carrying 400 kg each were purchased to replace the old 300 kg-capacity carts, which were transferred to the Saint-Charles mine where they replaced the old, wooden wagons of the more primitive extraction elevator. In total, the Coal Mines of Ronchamp invested 164,000 Francs to ready the Notre-Dame mine for extraction.
Exploitation.
By 1864, the Notre-Dame mine was working at full capacity, with 400 workers, of whom 90 were hewers producing up to 100 tons per day . It being the sole active mine from the annexed Éboulet territory, it was made to function as two extraction mines, with two dedicated, independent compartments possessing separate extraction machines. An Anglo-Saxon Master Miner headed this project, but the mine suffered from faulty lining and poor reinforcement, necessitating numerous repairs and the abandonment of double-extraction.
In 1865, the year before the Coal Mines of Éboulet merged into Ronchamp, the mine was linked to the coal mine railroad system by a railroad that transported the coal via the Paris–Mulhouse line. On the 16th of September 1867, all work was stopped in order to completely transform the mine facilities following a cable rupture. The 0.57 meter railroads were replaced by wider ones measuring 0.65 meters. Old wagons were transferred to the Saint-Charles mine. On the following 10 November, extraction recommenced with the new machine, new cages, new equipment, and 100 new 450 kg-capacity wagons.
In 1867, the mine was deepened to 564 meters, and a gallery was excavated which was to link it to the Saint-Joseph mine. In 1868, production dropped dramatically from 52,000 tons in 1867 to 28,000 tons the following year. Several factors led to this significant drop in production, one of the most significant being flooding resulting from the drilling of the new gallery leading towards the Saint-Joseph pit. Work had to be stopped for two months, which resulted in difficulties in recommencing exploitation. In 1869, the exploitation of the gallery at 520m began, where a vein existed that was two meters thick. But this coal bed was interrupted by two fissures to the North and West, and by a raise to the east. New explorations were therefore undertaken to the south where the coal beds descended.
In 1871, a compressed air machine was used for the drilling of the southern passage at the bottom of the Notre-Dame pit, the first of its kind in France. The passage was finished on the 13th of May 1872, and coal was found . In the 1870s, the amount of water in the Notre-Dame mine shaft increased considerably, passing from 66 m3 per day in 1874 to 1,100 m3 in 1879. More water was being removed from the shaft than coal.
In 1875, director-engineer Mathet, leaving the Ronchamp mining district for the coal mines of Blanzy, expressed doubt concerning the future productivity of the pit. He believed that the reserves of usable coal were limited, but that there was potential value in Southeastern explorations, in the direction of the mine shaft of l'Espérance. According to him, to deepen the shaft another fifty meters and dig another gallery in that direction could prolong the life of the mine by another ten years .
The 1st of September 1880, a 10-meter chunk of the mine wall detached, crumbled, and crushed the receiving level, trapping two miners below. These miners were trapped in the mine for a week, but emerged alive. From 1880 to 1881, the facilities of the Notre-Dame Mine were completely reworked. The pit was restored and a locker room and a wooden building between the machine room and the receiving room were constructed. In 1892, a significant bed was discovered behind a rising stratum of rock, but two years later, a number of flaws appeared. The mine of Notre-Dame would soon be closed, its resources being effectively depleted. In 1896, the mine was abandoned but not yet plugged.
Water pump.
By 1903, coal mining had ceased at the Notre-Dame pit, but it had been unfilled and a few workers were still present. The pit was preserved for use as a water pump for the coal mines of Ronchamp. All of the excavations, whether active or not, were connected to one another, and water flowed towards the new southern passageways .
In 1922, the company decided to revisit an abandoned mass of coal with a width of 150 meters that had been left intact to serve as flood prevention for the more recent excavations. The decision was made to mine this coal. Draining commenced on the 13th of October 1925 and was completed in 1927 . Before beginning excavations, however, a link to the Chanois mine had to be established. This new linkage, finished in 1930, became the 1,500-meter-long Cameroun gallery. The extracted coal was sent to the Chanois Mine, where adequate infrastructure existed, and the Notre-Dame mine served two purposes: pumping 7,000 tons of water per month and serving as the downcast shaft by which air entered the underground, the Sainte-Marie shaft, with its powerful ventilators, serving as the upcast shaft.
In 1944, the battles for liberation brought about the stoppage of the pumps of the Éboulet shaft and the build-up of water in the galleries. In 1945, water pumping began again at the rate of 6,400 m³ per month, and coal extraction resumed.
Upon the nationalization of French coal mines in 1946, under the provisional post-war government, initially led by Charles de Gaulle, Ronchamp Mining District was placed under the authority of Électricité de France (EDF), because it was too distant from the other large mining districts of France, and it included a major thermal power plant.
After 1950, the Notre-Dame mine shaft, which could still contain large masses of coal, was again discussed along with a neighboring site, the Tonnet mine shaft, whose coal reserves had already been judged to be exploitable. But the old constructions had to be cleaned up and drained of water, and new infrastructure had to be constructed. The cost of this project (undertaken by the mine's supporting committee) was estimated at a billion francs.
But EDF did not wish to invest further in Ronchamp coal mines, and was preparing to abandon the mining district. The Notre-Dame shaft closed permanently in 1958 and was filled in with schist from June 16 to July 17, 1958. The Saint-Georges and Tonnet shafts were filled in at the same time.
Conversion.
On September 28, 1981, at the instigation of the municipality of Ronchamp, a monument created by Bernard Poivey was erected and inaugurated on the foundation of the extraction shaft 29. The site was decorated with potted flowers, gravel, and a grass lawn of grass, and is maintained annually by the commune of Champagney.
In March 2006, Bernard Poivey removed his monument, which had deteriorated, and decided to make changes to it. The slag heap was removed in the following years. The two concrete slabs are still being maintained in the 2010s.
Slag heap.
The mine shaft of Notre-Dame had a flat slag heap , which, being dumped wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow, assumed the shape of a fan. This slag heap was exploited from 2006 to 2010.
View from the former slag heap, removed from 2006 to 2010.
Worker housing and community.
The Notre-Dame mine shaft is situated in the hamlet of Éboulet, fairly distant from the center of Ronchamp, where there were only a dozen houses in the mid-19th century. A building which had housed machinery was fitted out into a dormitory for mine workers. In 1930, a large building, dubbed the "Château of Éboulet", was constructed. It consisted of two stories containing a total of eight dwellings. Three miner towns were built in proximity to the Notre-Dame mine shaft.
The town of Morbier, constructed in 1927 by the Mine Company of Ostricourt ("Compagnie des mines d'Ostricourt") in order to house the mostly Polish workforce, was composed of 24 duplexes. Ten of these were single-story dwellings, and the rest had two. They were built in the same fashion as the houses in the Éboulet town. The ironwork on the façades of the houses represented an interlaced M and O, the logo of the Mines of Ostricourt Company.
The Éboulet camp, constructed in 1931, consisted of 25 duplexes. Constructed of coated cinder blocks, fifteen of these houses had two stories, while the others had only a ground floor with a hip roof. The apartments consisted of three to five rooms. The houses were almost entirely inhabited by Polish families.
The supervisors' camp was constructed at the same time as the Éboulet camp. The three houses consisted of an extra room and a furnished entrance, unlike the miners' houses.
The Éboulet and Morbier camps were registered on 11 March 2010 with the General Inventory of Cultural Heritage


Cumbernauld Village

Cumbernauld Village (often referred to locally as just "the Village") is an area of Cumbernauld. Whilst Cumbernauld was designated a new town in 1955, the Village itself has a pre-mediaeval history, with a Roman settlement being built in the area due to its proximity to the Antonine Wall. After the Roman period the settlement remained and grew to such an extent that the Comyn family built their chapel there. It is recorded that, in 1500, the Black Death led to a special plea from the surviving people of Cumbernauld to the church authorities in Glasgow to allow them to establish their own cemetery rather than taking all their dead to St. Ninian's in Kirkintilloch. This source is also quoted in "Excavations at 3-11 Main Street, Cumbernauld". The villagers were granted permission to do so, and used the ground at the existing Comyns' chapel which dates from the end of the 12th century. Farming in long strips or Lang Riggs was carried out in the village.
The Flemings (who would become the Earls of Wigtown) later took over the Comyns' castle in Cumbernauld. In the 18th century this was replaced by Cumbernauld House
By the Seventeenth century the main industry of the Village was hand loom weaving, but this subsequently changed as due to the village's proximity to the Forth and Clyde canal and rich source of natural minerals and stone it became a site of mining and quarrying. The Village was also the site of a number of tenant held farms on the Flemings' estate. The 19th century Groome's Gazetteer states that Cumbernauld is:
 "A picturesque old place, sheltered to E and SE by the grounds of Cumbernauld House, it was created a burgh of barony in 1649, and has a post office under Glasgow, a branch of the Royal Bank, a local savings' bank, 2 chief inns, gas-works, many new handsome villas, and a cattle-fair on the second Thursday of May. The parish church here is an old building, containing 660 sittings; the Free church dates from 1826, having belonged to the Original Secession, but has been lately almost rebuilt; and there is also a new U.P. church. Handloom weaving of checks and other striped fabrics is still carried on, but mining and quarrying are the staple industry. Pop. (1861) 1561, (1871) 1193, (1881) 1064."
Cumbernauld had one of the oldest curling societies in the world which was established in the 18th century. The curling pond was near the Spur Inn, on the other side of the Bog Stank to the village.
October 1878 was a difficult time locally made worse by the failure of the Bank of Glasgow in which much of the village's money was invested. As the mining industry declined the village was further boosted by the decision to site a new town in the vicinity, with Cumbernauld lending its name to this new town.
Today.
Today, Cumbernauld Village is quite characteristically different from most of the rest of the town, as it contains a high number of local amenities, and its structure of having pavements beside the roads in the Village is quite unlike the rest of the planned new town, with the possible exception of Condorrat which, like Cumbernauld Village, is a settlement of many years' standing before the new town's construction.
Cumbernauld Village has an active local community and local people are involved in the Village Community Council and in Cumbernauld Village Action for the Community. The latter is a community group campaigning for improvements to the amenity of the Village.
Cumbernauld United FC.
Cumbernauld's non-league (junior) football team, Cumbernauld United, play in the Village at Guy's Meadow. Cumbernauld United also have a full youth academy with teams at all age groups from under 6 upwards, considered by many as one of the best in Central Scotland. All of United's teams play on the main Guy's Meadow pitch or on the impressive Astroturf facility which surrounds the stadium: Hat-Trix soccer complex.
Currently SJFA West Region Premiership (a division above United) side Kirkintilloch Rob Roy are ground-sharing at Guy's Meadow.


Ballachulish

The village of Ballachulish ( , from Scottish Gaelic ) in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, is centred on former slate quarries. The name Ballachulish (Ballecheles, 1522 – Straits town,) was more correctly applied to the area now called North Ballachulish, to the north of Loch Leven, but was usurped for the quarry villages at East Laroch and West Laroch, either side of the River Laroch, which were actually within Glencoe and South Ballachulish respectively.
Overview.
The principal industry is now tourism.
The name Ballachulish (from Scottish Gaelic, "Baile a' Chaolais") means "the Village by the Narrows". The narrows in question is Caolas Mhic Phàdraig - Peter or Patrick's son's narrows, at the mouth of Loch Leven.
As there was no road to the head of Loch Leven until 1927, the Ballachulish Ferry, established in 1733, and those at Invercoe/Callert and "Caolas na Con" were essential. The Ballachulish ferry closed in December 1975 when the Ballachulish Bridge finally opened.
The Ballachulish Hotel and Ballachulish House (until recently [2010] a country house hotel) are located near the narrows at (south) Ballachulish Ferry rather than in the "modern" village some east. Ballachulish House was reputed to be haunted, and the drive leading to it was ridden by a headless horseman.
The hamlet of Glenachulish lies in Gleann a' Chaolais, the glen that runs down to the narrows. This is the subject of the Gaelic song, Gleann Bhaile Chaoil written by John Cameron (1865–1951) and known locally both as the Paisley Bard and by his local nickname "Iain Cealaidh". He is often confused with another local bard also called John Cameron, known locally as "Iain Rob" (1822–1898). Gleann a' Chaolais is ringed by Beinn a' Bheithir, a massif which contains two munros - Sgorr Dhearg and Sgorr Dhonuill. In recent years a number of new houses have been built locally along with holiday chalets and an art gallery. Also the fields of Gleann a' Chaolais have been turned into the 9-hole Dragon's Tooth golf course.
Overlooking the narrows is the monument to James of the Glen, "hanged on this spot for a crime of which he was not guilty". Robert Louis Stevenson based his novel "Kidnapped" around the story of the Appin Murder. Whoever did kill "The Red Fox" (Campbell of Glenure) is still not known.
Shinty.
Shinty is a popular local sport and the narrows is the traditional boundary of the north–south divide in shinty, with teams north of narrows playing in the North district's competitions and those South playing in their respective competitions. Ballachulish Camanachd Club play in the South Leagues. However, Ballachulish is still considerably far North in relation to most of Scotland. The club has won the Camanachd Cup four times.
Railway.
In 1903, a branch of the Callander and Oban Railway, from , was opened to Ballachulish. The site of the former railway halt of , the last stop on the line before the Laroch quarries, was next to Ballachulish House, some inland from the ferry. Traces of the line, which closed in 1966, remain between here and Connel Ferry. The old terminus station at Laroch (Ballachulish) is now a doctor's surgery. The station, and stationmaster's house, at , is now a private house and the station at , some south, has been refurbished in its old traditional Caledonian Railway brown. The station at Kentallen ( south of Ballachulish) included a pier. When the Oban-Ballachulish branch line closed, the station buildings were bought over by Scottie & Bridget Stewart who ran the renowned Kentallen Station Tearooms for more than 15 years until finally retiring in 1974. Afternoon tea served here was a spectacular feast according to visitors books from the day. This station has now been turned into The Holly Tree Hotel & Leisure Club. Much of the old railway line has been re-used as part of National Cycle Route 78, once again giving the beautiful views previously seen from the train.
Slate.
Slate from the East Laroch quarries, established just two years after the infamous Glencoe Massacre of 1692, was used to provide the roofing slate for much of Edinburgh and Glasgow's skyline in the succeeding centuries. It is of good quality but one weakness is the presence of Iron Pyrite in the rock. These crystals quickly rust away when exposed to the weather, leaving clean square holes and a brown rusty streak. Over 75% of the slate cut from the quarries was unusable as roof covering for this and other reasons. In 1955 the quarries closed. Leaving Slate waste mountains in their wake for the then abruptly unemployed and quickly impoverished villagers to sort out.
Between 1902 and 1905 the Ballachulish community was badly affected by two protracted conflicts in the slate quarries. The first began in July 1902, involved a twelve months lockout, and lasted eighteen months. The workers objected to the summary dismissal of the medical officer Dr. Lachlan Grant from both his work in the quarries and his post as Medical Officer for the Parish Council District of Ballachulish. They also objected to the unsatisfactory labour contracts, inadequate wages and excessive charges for the powder, coals and other materials supplied by the company.
The second dispute started in the summer of 1905 when members of a hostile crowd charged the quarry manager with autocratic, dictatorial and unfair behaviour towards both Dr. Grant and members of the quarrying labour force and the community.
A new company was formed in December 1907 and quarrying continued at Ballachulish until 1955.
Graveyard.
The graveyard of St John's Episcopal Church has some fine gravestones which, unlike many others, look as if they were engraved "yesterday", having been made from Ballachulish slate.


Coal mining in the Philippines

Coal mining in the Philippines has a long history dating back to the 1800s during the Spanish colonization of the islands. The Philippines consumes more coal than it can produce and coal is the main source of electricity. 20% of the country's coal supply is used by the cement industry (in 2005).
, the in situ coal reserves of the Philippines amounts to 458 million metric tons which is about 18% of the country's total coal resource potential amounting .
75% of the country's coal supply is imported. In the 1990s, the country saw increase in the import of coal due to large coal-fired power plants being built in the country and specifically designed to burn imported coal.
Semirara Mining Corporation is the largest coal producer in the country whose primary mine is in Semirara Island. The company accounts for 92% of the country's coal production according to the Department of Energy.
History.
Early history.
Coal was first discovered in the Philippine islands in 1827 in the island of Cebu although there was little interest from the Spanish colonial government or private individuals to exploit the resource until the arrival of steamships in the archipelago. In 17 October 1842, Governor General Marcelino de Oraá Lecumberri issued a circular to alcaldes mayores and other provincial authorities regarding information about possible coal deposits in their area. While some areas report of coal deposits, there is minimal commercial exploitation of the resource. In the island of Cebu, where coal was first discovered in the islands, it was only in 1853 when the first coal concessions were granted in the island.
Starting from 1853 until 1860, saw the development of the coal-mining industry in the islands especially in the island of Cebu. The colonial government effectively had a monopoly of the industry especially after the coal mine in Guila-Guila in Cebu was put under control of the state.
Coal was first discovered in Cebu about 1837. There were 15 localities over the whole island, on both coast; some desultory mining had been carried out Naga near Mount Uling, but most serious operations were at Licos and Camansi west of Compostela and Danao. Active work ceased about 1895 with insurrections, and no production worked for more than ten years. A topographic and geologic survey of Compostela, Danao and Carmen took place in 1906. The Compostela-Danao coalfield contained about six million workable tons. The tramroads, one from Danao to Camansi, one from Compostela to Mount Licos, were undertaken in 1895, together with a wagon road built in 1877, from Cotcot to Dapdap.


Khetri

Khetri Nagar is a town in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan in India. It is part of the Shekhawati region. Khetri is actually two towns, "Khetri Town" founded by Raja Khet Singhji Nirwan and "Khetri Nagar" which is about 10 km away from Khetri. Khetri Nagar, well known for its Copper Project, was built by and is under the control of Hindustan Copper Limited, a public sector undertaking under the Government of India. Khetri Nagar is also very well known with name of 'Copper'.
Geography.
Khetri is located at . It has an average elevation of 484 metres (1587 feet).
The name of the mountain in khetri is Bhopalgarh.
Demographics.
 India census, Khetri had a population of 17,377. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Khetri has an average literacy rate of 67%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 77%, and female literacy is 56%. In Khetri, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Khetri fort.
Khetri fort was built in 1754 by the then Shekhawat raja, Bhopal Singh (Raja Shri Bhopal Singh Shekhawat Ji Saheb Bahadur).
External links.
Khetri mines owned by the Hindustan copper Ltd. This mine was started over 2000 years ago. Khetri copper complex mines Rajasthan India. The region is highly contaminated by copper with higher values in the soil near overburden material and tailings.


South Park City

South Park City is an open-air museum located at the west end of Front Street in the town of Fairplay in Park County, Colorado. Open from May 15 through October 15, the museum is a historic reconstruction of a mining town from the days of the Colorado Gold Rush and the later Colorado Silver Boom in South Park in the late 1850s through the 1880s.
The museum contains thirty-five authentic relocated buildings filled with over 60,000 artifacts that depict many of the economic and social aspects of life in a gold or silver mining town in Colorado in the late 19th century. Two of the buildings, the South Park Brewery and the Summer Saloon, are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
A log structure known as "Father Dyer’s Chapel" was a hotel in Montgomery, Colorado but was dismantled, moved to Fairplay, and rebuilt as a church in 1868. It is named for John Lewis Dyer, the itinerant Methodist clergyman who preached in the area from 1861 to 1877 and is one of the sixteen founders of Colorado memorialized in the Colorado State Capitol in Denver.
The museum was opened in 1959 after two years of preparation by the "South Park Historical Foundation". It is open daily from mid-May to mid-October.
On the second weekend of August, South Park City hosts Living History Days in which volunteers in period dress perform the role of 19th-century townspeople. Living History Days romanticizes the vices of frontier America, such as playing Faro, which became popular during the California gold rush of 1849. It is illegal to play faro for money in all fifty states because the odds favor the players. Faro demonstrations will be conducted at Rache's Place Saloon in the park.
The museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.


Eastern Kentucky Coalfield

The Eastern Kentucky Coalfield is part of the Central Appalachian bituminous coalfield, including all or parts of 30 Kentucky counties and adjoining areas in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. It covers an area from the Allegheny Mountains in the east across the Cumberland Plateau to the Pottsville Escarpment in the west. The region is known for its coal mining; most family farms in the region have disappeared since the introduction of surface mining in the 1940s and 1950s.
The Daniel Boone National Forest is located on rough but beautiful terrain along and east of the Pottsville Escarpment. There are many natural arches and sandstone cliffs that are excellent for rock climbing and rappeling. The Red River Gorge, part of the National Forest, is known worldwide in rock climbing circles.
The Sheltowee Trace Trail runs north and south, through the region.
During the American Civil War most of this region leaned toward the Union due to its makeup at the time of mostly small farmers, but more than 2,000 men from this area formed the 5th. Kentucky Vol. Inf., known as the Army of Eastern Kentucky, under Gen. Humphrey Marshall, C.S.A.. During the Great Depression, New Deal programs and the organizing of the United Mine Workers of America made many of the eastern counties Democratic.
Eastern Kentucky has a rich musical heritage. Many nationally acclaimed country music singers and musicians are from the area. These include: Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle, The Judds, Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Patty Loveless, Dwight Yoakam, Tom T. Hall, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jean Ritchie, Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton, and George S. Davis.
As of the 1980s, the only counties in the United States where over half of the population cited "English" as their only ancestry group were in the hills of eastern Kentucky (and made up nearly every county in this region). In the 1980 census, 1,267,079 Kentuckians out of a total population of 2,554,359 cited that they were of English ancestry, making them 49 percent of the state at that time. Large numbers of people of Scottish and Irish ancestry settled the area as well.
Geography.
The Eastern Kentucky Coalfield covers 31 counties with a combined land area of 13,370 sq mi (34,628 km2), or about 33.1 percent of the state's land area. Its 2000 census population was 734,194 inhabitants, or about 18.2 percent of the state's population. The largest city, Ashland, has a population of 21,981. Other cities of significance in the region include Pikeville, London, and Middlesboro. The state's highest point, Black Mountain, is located in the southeastern part of the region in Harlan County.
Major cities.
The following list consists of Eastern Kentucky cities with populations over 4,000 according to the U.S. Census estimates released in 2016:
Economy.
The region's economy is centered around the vast amount of natural resources available, which includes coal, timber, natural gas, and oil. Recently, tourism has become a leading industry in the region, due to the region's unique cultural history and the creation of state parks.
Calgon Carbon constructed the Big Sandy Plant near Ashland in 1961 and it has since become the world's largest producer of granular activated carbon. The facility produces over 100 million pounds of granular activated carbon annually.
Persistent poverty.
Most of the counties in the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield are classified as "persistent poverty counties". The definition of a persistent poverty county by the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture is that 20 percent or more of the total county population has been living in poverty since the 1980 census.
A June 2014 article in "The New York Times" identified six counties in the Kentucky Coal Field as among the "hardest places to live in the United States." The lowest-ranking counties were Breathitt, Clay, Jackson, Lee, Leslie, and Magoffin. They ranked among the bottom ten counties nationwide. The factors which accounted for the low ranking of those six counties were unemployment, prevalence of disabilities, obesity, income, and education. The "Times" declared Clay County the hardest place to live in the U.S.
Appalachian Regional Commission.
The Appalachian Regional Commission was formed in 1965 to aid economic development in the Appalachian region, which was lagging far behind the rest of the nation on most economic indicators. The Appalachian region currently defined by the Commission includes 420 counties in 13 states, including all counties in Kentucky's Eastern Coalfield. The Commission gives each county one of five possible economic designations—distressed, at-risk, transitional, competitive, or attainment—with "distressed" counties being the most economically endangered and "attainment" counties being the most economically prosperous. These designations are based primarily on three indicators—three-year average unemployment rate, market income per capita, and poverty rate.
From 2012 to 2014, "Appalachian" Kentucky—which includes all of the Eastern Coalfield and several counties in South Central Kentucky and a few in the eastern part of the Bluegrass region—had a three-year average unemployment rate of 9.8%, compared with 7.6% statewide and 7.2% nationwide. In 2014, Appalachian Kentucky had a per capita market income of $18,889, compared with $28,332 statewide and $38,117 nationwide. From 2010 to 2014, Appalachian Kentucky had an average poverty rate of 25.4%—the highest of any of the ARC regions—, compared to 18.9% statewide and 15.6% nationwide. Twenty-five Eastern Mountain Coal Field counties—Bell, Breathitt, Carter, Clay, Elliott, Floyd, Harlan, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, McCreary, Menifee, Morgan, Owsley, Powell, Rowan, Whitley, and Wolfe—were designated "distressed," while four – Laurel, Montgomery, Perry, and Pike – were designated "at-risk." Two Eastern Coalfield counties were designated "transitional" — Boyd and Greenup. No counties in the Eastern Coalfields region were given the "attainment" designation or were designated "competitive."
The following table illustrates the economic status of each county.
Health.
Most of the counties in the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield rank in the lowest ten percent of U.S. counties in average life expectancy. Both men and women have average life spans that are several years less than the average life span in the United States. Moreover, many counties have seen a decline in the life expectancy of men and/or women since 1985. Factors influencing the health of residents include a high prevalence of smoking and obesity and a low level of physical activity.
Political climate.
As a whole, East Kentucky was long a Democratic stronghold. The only two counties in the state to vote against Mitch McConnell in each of his six senatorial campaigns through 2020 have been Wolfe and Elliott Counties, both in East Kentucky. However, the region has swung dramatically to the right recently. In 2004, eleven counties in East Kentucky supported Democratic candidate John F. Kerry, and in 2008, even as the nation as a whole shifted Democratic, the number of East Kentucky counties supporting Democratic candidate Barack Obama fell to just four, and in 2012 fell to just one. Every county in East Kentucky supported Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020 with at least 50% of the vote. In fact, each of the three most Republican counties in Kentucky (in terms of vote proportion) were all in East Kentucky (namely Leslie, Jackson and Martin Counties). Each gave less than a tenth of their vote to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate. Elliott County, Kentucky, serves as a good representation of the political transformation throughout the region. It had the longest streak in the nation of any county to vote Democratic. It has in recent years, however, shifted hard to the right, just like the rest of East Kentucky. In 2008 Elliott County was the most Democratic county in the state, giving over 60% of the vote to Barack Obama. In 2012, however, it supported him by a margin of just three percentage points (the lowest percentage for a Democrat in county history) and lost the title of most Democratic in the state to Jefferson County, home to Louisville, the most populous city in the state. And by 2016, it supported Donald Trump with over 70% of the county vote, and 75% four years later. In local elections (like East Kentucky), though it has trended more Republican, it still remains a Democratic stronghold. In the State Senate election, it gave Democrat Rocky Adkins 86% of the vote. As of November 2012, just 4.2% of registered voters were Republicans, the lowest proportion for any county in the state. By October 2016, this proportion had more than doubled (to 8.2%), and by April 2019 it stood at 10.6%. Indeed, Elliott County voters, just like most East Kentucky voters, are socially conservative and economically more liberal.


Cwmorthin quarry

Cwmorthin quarry was a slate quarry west of the village of Tanygrisiau, north Wales. Quarrying on the site started in 1810. In 1860 it was connected to the Ffestiniog Railway. In 1900 it was acquired by the nearby Oakeley quarry and the two were connected underground. In 1970 it closed along with Oakeley. There was small-scale working in the 1980s and 1990s, and the mine finally closed in 1997.
History.
Slate extraction began at Cwmorthin in 1810, when a small quarry was opened on the site by the Casson family who were also working the Diphwys Casson quarry, further to the east. Two of the five Blaenau Ffestiniog slate veins outcropped near where the quarry started, and it is not known whether the early workings were on the Old Vein or the Back Vein, as all evidence has been destroyed by later workings. The veins sloped downwards at angles of between 20 and 45 degrees, and to avoid the expense of removing large volumes of the overlying rock, the quarry soon became a mine, as the chambers followed the vein below ground. This early quarrying lasted for about twenty years, but had ceased by 1830. In 1840, working began again, when John Edwards and his partner Magnes obtained a lease, which was transferred to W B Chorley from London later that year. Chorley's involvement with the quarry continued until about 1860. He employed Allen Searell (possibly Seale) as an Agent for the quarry in 1844, and correspondence between the two men is held by the library at Bangor University, formerly the University of North Wales. In the late 1850s, Chorley began to lose interest in the enterprise, and Searell moved on to the Hafon y Llan Quarry near Beddgelert.
From about 1859, the quarry appears to have been worked by a group of men under an informal arrangement. They leased a wharf at Porthmadog harbour in 1860, until the Cwmorthin Slate Company was formed in January 1861. This had an authorised capital of £100,000, and the company bought the Cwmorthin Isaf estate and part of Tanygrisiau village on 25 July 1861. Work began on underground mining. At some point, the Cwmorthin Tramway was constructed to connect the quarry with the nearby Ffestiniog Railway at Tanygrisiau. Isherwood states that it was soon after the new company took over in 1861 but Boyd suggests that a survey was carried out in the mid-1840s, and that it was completed in 1850. It was mentioned in the 1850 edition of Cliffe's "The Book of North Wales", and the Ffestiniog Railway accounts recorded the first passage of loaded slate wagons down the line in that year. An existing siding at Tanygrisiau, which had served horse-drawn wagons from the quarry, was removed shortly afterwards.
The first dressing mill, where the blocks of slate were split and dressed to form roofing slates, was situated on the eastern shore of Llyn Cwmorthin, and was known as Lake Mill. A second mill, the Cross Mill, was built a little further down the valley, as a result of which water from Llyn Cwmorthin could be used to feed a water wheel, which powered the dressing machinery. Two rope-worked inclined planes allowed the tramway to negotiate the difference in level between the mill and the Ffestiniog Railway. The connection of the final incline to the railway was deemed to be dangerous by a Board of Trade inspector in 1864, as there were no trap points to prevent runaway wagons running onto the main line. As a result, the Ffestiniog Railway had to install distant signals and a telegraph connection to the winding house at the incline summit. Trains were not allowed to run along the main line while the incline was in use.
Output from the quarry steadily increased, from 350 tons in 1862, to 12,500 tons of finished slate in 1876. Some 96,000 tons of slates left the quarry between 1861 and 1876. Based on typical figures for the region, that 1 ton of finished material was produced from 10 tons of quarried rock, this would indicate that around 1 million tons of rock were extracted during this period. The waste rock was initially tipped around the edge of the two surface workings, known as the North and South Sinks, but was later tipped in a series of terraces to the east of the workings, which eventually covered up the South Sink. The quarry gained a reputation for poor working conditions and was known locally as "The Slaughterhouse". Between 1875 and 1893 there were 21 deaths in Cwmorthin out of a workforce of around 550. Following the passing of the Metalliferous Mines Act 1872, all mines were required to keep records of their operations, and to report fatal injuries, some details of the men and boys employed, and the output of the mine. Like many slate mines, Cwmorthin argued that it was a quarry, and that the law did not apply to them. Following a fatal accident in 1875, a test case was brought against them, and the enterprise was deemed to be a mine under the terms of the Act. The company went into liquidation shortly afterwards.
New Cwmorthin Company.
A new Cwmorthin Company was formed in 1876 following the collapse of the original company. To the north of the quarry, on the other side of the Allt-fawr ridge, the Welsh Slate Company, the Rhiwbryfdir Slate Company and Holland's Slate Company were all working the same veins. They were on land owned by the Oakeley family, and worked under leases, which placed restrictions on how they could be worked, and the royalties they had to pay. Cwmorthin was not restricted in this way, because they owned the freehold. The waste tips eventually covered Cwmorthin Isaf farmhouse, and the company and some of its workers built houses in Dolrhedyn, just above Tanygrisiau. On the surface, the boundary between the Oakeley's Tan-y-Bwlch estate and the Cwmorthin Isaf estate was marked by cast iron markers, which can still be seen, but below ground, the boundary was less clearly defined, and there were disputes over whether the companies were encroaching on each other's territory. This was resolved by an agreement in 1876, which survived several changes of ownership for the Oakeley Quarries, but following the death of Mary Oakeley in 1880, William Edward Oakeley got into financial difficulties, and the Oakeley Slate Quarries Company Limited was formed in 1884 to manage the quarries. Although a new agreement was drawn up between the Oakeley and Cwmorthin companies in 1884, Cwmorthin plans showed workings described as "encroachments", and Oakeley plans showed "trespass chambers ceded to Oakeley".
Relationships deteriorated later in 1884, when most of the Cwmorthin workings in the Back Vein collapsed. The ground above the workings was fractured, right up to the top of Allt-fawr, where Llyn Bach, which supplied water to Holland's workings, was drained as a result. The fall had disastrous consequences for Cwmorthin, with production falling from 11,600 tons in 1884 to 6,900 tons in 1886. About half of the mine became inaccessible. In order to develop the quarry further, they had to open new chambers below the level of Llyn Cwmorthin. This was costly, as development work produced little productive slate, and there were additional costs for pumping and for machinery to raise the rock up to the level of the mills. Between 1876 and 1888, 132,866 tons of slate were shipped, but the burden of development was too great, and led to the winding up of the company in 1888.
During this period, another test case had been brought against the company in 1879. Again, the issue concerned whether the undertaking was a mine or a quarry, but in this instance, which related to the assessment of profits, it was deemed to be a quarry. In 1882, the quarry employed over 500 men, and slates were produced in three mills, two of which were powered by water wheels and one by a steam engine. The mills contained around 50 rock saws and 50 dressing machines.
New Welsh Slate Company.
On the other side of Allt Fawr, the Welsh Slate Company workings were in a poor state in 1884, and a major fall, now called the Great Fall, occurred, when some 6.25 million tons of rock collapsed into the workings. A legal battle followed, to establish whether compensation was due to the Oakeley Estate or to the Oakeley Slate Quarries Company. Ultimately, the Welsh Slate Company lost the case, but rather than pay the compensation, they surrendered their lease, retaining their profits and quite a bit of their capital. When the Cwmorthin Company failed, they formed the New Welsh Slate Company in 1889 and bought the Cwmorthin freehold for £83,000. Directors of the new company, which had an authorised capital of £65,000 included the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, formerly a director of the Welsh Slate Company, and the MP Joseph Howard. The Agent was Robert Owen, who had held the same position in the previous company. This upset the Oakeley Company, as he had been blamed by them for the Great Fall, and his attempts to recruit workers from the old quarry to come to Cwmorthin did not help the relationship.
The quarry was extended downwards, with five floors below the lake level. They finished building the inclines to serve them, started after the 1884 Cwmorthin fall, and used steam engines to power them and the pumps needs to keep the workings dry. In 1897, the company employed 290 people, of which 153 worked underground. However, the new company was soon in trouble. The long exit tramway pushed up the price of their finished slates, and by 1896, they were working as a co-operative. 10 per cent of the profits were shared amongst all workers who held £5 in shares, and a further 10 per cent was shared amongst those with £100 of shares. 77,367 tons of slates were produced under New Welsh Slate Company ownership, but debts gradually rose, and in 1900 the quarry was put up for auction, with a reserve price of £12,000. The peak demand for slate had passed and with the industry descending into recession, it did not reach its reserve. The company went into voluntary liquidation, and was wound up in 1902.
Oakeley ownership.
The Oakeley Company had been concerned about the condition of the western end of their mine since 1889, as many of the pillars left between the chambers by the Cwmorthin workings were thinner than normal practice, and they feared another collapse, with the additional risk that the water from Llyn Cwmorthin might enter the workings, causing widespread flooding. In order to safeguard themselves, they bought the Cwmorthin operation for £10,000, with little intention of working it. The Lake Mill was demolished, and the others were shut up. In 1902 Oakeley stripped Cwmorthin of its machinery and allowed the workings to flood, despite the advice of its own consulting engineer. A connecting link was made between the two quarries on floor C in the South Vein. Water then drained into Oakeley's Middle Quarry. The workings in the North Vein flooded up to Lake level, and could no longer be inspected.
After the First World War, Oakeley explored re-opening Cwmorthin. While the mine had been officially closed for over 20 years, local men had continued to remove slate from the upper workings, and an inspection in the 1920s revealed that much of this part of the mine had been wrecked by rock falls and was completely unsafe. The next plan was to remove the overburden covering the South Vein, so that the pillars could be quarried. In 1925 they renewed the tramway connecting the Ffestiniog Railway to the mill, and restored the surface inclines and the lower mills. A new magazine was built, but as the rock was removed, it became evident that there was little usable slate left. The un-flooded underground levels were then investigated, and productive rock was found. Part of the South Vein incline and its connecting tramways was restored, and a previously unworked section of the North Vein was accessed by driving a new level to it.
Although there were supplies of good rock, work in Cwmorthin was hampered by the costs of transporting the finished slates, and by the lack of power. The Oakeley Quarries were powered by electricity and compressed air, and a plan to drain the flooded North Vein workings was drawn up in 1932, which would allow power supplies to be brought through from the Oakeley side. The Oakeley workings were by then underneath the lower Cwmorthin chambers, and so Cwmorthin could be drained in a controlled fashion. Surface work at Cwmorthin, which had stopped in 1932, resumed. The North Sink incline was electrified, and air compressors were installed. A new incline was constructed, descending below Cwmorthin's floor E, and one of the Oakeley inclines was extended to assist the extraction of quarried rock.
During the Second World War the quarry was mothballed, with only the pumps kept running to prevent flooding. Afterwards, there was another attempt to remove the overburden from the upper workings, using earth moving machinery, but this was again unsuccessful. During the 1960s the machinery, where it was still accessible, was removed. In 1970 the main Oakeley Quarries closed, and Cwmorthin was sold off separately. Some local men worked it on a small scale, initially clearing the tunnels and getting rock from some of the falls. They installed a saw in one of the chambers, and used a Land Rover for transport. Some outside capital enabled a mill to be rebuilt in the 1980s, but the scheme failed. A local company reopened the mine in 1995, but all work ceased in 1997.


Benxi mine

The Benxi mine is a large iron mine located in north-eastern China in the Liaoning. Benxi represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in China and in the world having estimated reserves of 3 billion tonnes of ore grading 43.5% iron metal.


Lunnoye mine

The Lunnoye mine is one of the largest silver mines in Russia and in the world. The mine is located in Siberia. The mine has estimated reserves of 55 million oz of silver.


Labrador Iron Mines

Labrador Iron Mines is a resource extraction company planning to exploit multiple mine sites in the Schefferville region of Newfoundland and Labrador.
History.
The Schefferville region had iron mines in the 1950s.
A rail line was constructed from Schefferville, south approximately to Sept-Îles, Quebec, a seaport on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Labrador Iron Mines first shipments, in April 2012, were the first shipments in thirty years.
In January 2013, the firm announced that it had entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Canaccord Financial for a C$25.2-million equity financing.
Projects.
Labrador Iron Mines is currently developing seven mine sites in the Schefferville area.
The "James site" was the first to ship ore. Like most ore bodies, and unlike the Baffinland Iron Mines, the ore requires various refining steps, prior to being made into iron or steel.
Price fluctuations.
Labrador Iron Mines was formed when iron ore prices were at a record high, making recovery of ore from known ore bodies economically viable.
The firm was able to sell ore from its first two quarters of production at a price per ton that would have been viable, once production was at full volume. But in August, 2012, in its third quarter of production, the price of iron ore took a significant drop, and the firm started to defer capital expenditures.
References.
Labrador Iron mines aren't as good as the Ontario Iron Mines


Gold mining in Nevada

Gold mining in Nevada, a state of the United States, is a major industry, and one of the largest sources of gold in the world. In 2018 Nevada produced , representing 78% of US gold and 5.0% of the world's production. Total gold production recorded from Nevada from 1835 to 2017 totals , worth US$322.6 billion at 2020 values. Much of Nevada's gold production comes from large open pit mining using heap leaching recovery.
The Nevada mining industry supported an average 14,787 direct employees in 2018, with about 75,000 additional jobs related to providing goods and services needed by the mining industry. The average pay for mining industry employees during this time was $97,600 per year, the third highest average private employment sector in the state.
Major mining companies such as Newmont Goldcorp and Barrick Gold Corporation operate many of the state's gold mines. Active mines include those at Jerritt Canyon and the Carlin Trend.
Although Nevada was known much more for silver in the 19th century, many of the early silver mining districts also produced considerable quantities of gold. The Comstock Lode produced of gold through 1959, and the Eureka district produced .
The Robinson copper mine has produced well over gold, along with over 4 billion pounds (1,500,000 tonnes) of copper.
Carlin Trend.
Gold was discovered in the vicinity of Carlin in Eureka County in the 1870s, but production was small. Placer deposits were discovered in 1907, but the deposits were too small to cause much excitement. It was not until 1961 that Newmont Mining Corporation discovered the large low-grade gold deposit at Carlin that the mining industry began to take notice. The Carlin mine began producing gold in 1965, but at a gold price of US$35 per troy ounce, ore grades were still too low to cause a rush to northern Nevada. It was not until the gold price escalated in the 1970s that mining companies began to target similar deposits.
The Carlin Trend, part of what is also known as the Carlin Unconformity, is wide and long running northwest–southeast, has since produced more gold than any other mining district in the United States. Production from the trend surpassed of gold in 2002. The Carlin and other mines along the trend pioneered the method of open-pit mining with cyanide heap leach recovery that is today used at large low-grade gold mines worldwide.
New ore deposits are still being discovered and developed along the trend. The South Arturo deposit was discovered by Barrick Gold in 2005. The deposit contains an estimated of gold.
Goldfield.
Goldfield was discovered in 1902, and began major gold production in 1904. The ore occurs in altered shear zones in Tertiary dacite and andesite. Total gold production through 1959 was .
Robinson/Ely.
The Robinson district at Ely, Nevada produced about of gold through 1990, as a byproduct of copper mining.
In 2017 the Robinson Mine produced 112,633,428 pounds of copper, 37,897 troy ounces of gold and 652,763 pounds of molybdenite with 617 employees.
Gold royalties.
All mineral and gold production on public and private lands in Nevada is subject to a Net Royalty payable to the State. The gross proceeds from the sale of minerals minus allowable deductions determine the taxable net proceeds. If the net proceeds from sales by a mine in the taxable year total $4 million or more, the tax rate is 5%. For less profitable mines the tax rate is graduated down to 2%. Miners' net proceeds are also subject to federal corporate income tax of 21%.
Because the NPM tax is an "ad valorem" property tax, the amount of the net proceeds times the property tax rate goes to the county where the mineral was extracted. Any additional amount of tax paid up to the 5% goes to the State.
In 2017-2018 the Nevada net proceeds royalty raised $155.1 million (down from $255.6 million in 2012) from gold and silver production, of which the counties received $87.5 million (down from $127 million in 2012).


Patna, East Ayrshire

Patna is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, straddling the traditional districts of Carrick and Kyle.
It was established in 1802 by William Fullarton to provide housing for workers on the coalfields of his estate. Fullarton's father had worked as an employee of the British East India Company, and the town is named after the city of Patna in the Bihar province of India.
Patna lies southeast of Ayr on the A713 to Castle Douglas at its junction with the road to Kirkmichael just north of Dalmellington. Patna lies between the villages of Polnessan and Waterside, and the River Doon flows through it.
The Patna Campus was completed in 2012 and hosts Patna Primary School (a non-denominational school. Acting Head Teacher - C. McPhail), St Xavier's Primary School (a Catholic primary school which was formerly located in Waterside but has been moved into Patna, and is also attended by pupils from Dalmellington, Bellsbank, Maybole and surrounding areas. Head Teacher - A. Rooney)
A secondary school, Doon Academy, is located in the nearby village of Dalmellington.
Patna also has a small library and fitness gym and a community centre contained within the Patna Campus, a health centre, some shops, a football field, a bar “The Wheatsheaf Inn”, access to numerous country walks, an orange and masonic lodge and a golf club (although the golf course is now closed). The River Doon is popular with local anglers. There are two bridges within the village, used as vehicle and pedestrian crossing points over the River Doon. These bridges are known locally as the 'ol brig' and 'new brig'.
The village was served until 1964 by Patna railway station. The platforms have been demolished and nothing remains of the station.


Oortsog Ovoo mine

The Oortsog Ovoo mine is a large open pit mine located in the central part of Mongolia. Oortsog Ovoo represents one of the largest tin reserves in Mongolia having estimated reserves of 196 million tonnes of ore grading 0.02% tin.
The Oortsog Ovoo skarn-type tin deposit (Dundgovi Aimag, approx. 80 km SW of Choir): Prospecting work was carried out between 1986 and 1989 and 1990. The four cassiterite bearing skarn ore bodies are located in Upper Proterozoic, Upper JurassicLower Cretaceous rocks intruded by Late Paleozoic and Middle-Late Jurassic granites. The magnetite-rich skarn ore bodies are 75-150 m long, 1-32 m thick and 30-150 m deep. The grade varies between 0.5-2.18 % Sn, with minor amounts of Zn and Cu (« 0.5 %, + other sulphides), and Au (0.5 ppm).


Saleh Jo Tar coal mine

The Saleh Jo Tar Coal Mine is a coal mine located in Sindh. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 2 billion tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world.


Jinchuan Group

Jinchuan Group Ltd. (Chinese: 金川集团) is a Chinese company based in Gansu. It produces the metals nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium, gold, silver and selenium. As of 2007 it has the capacity to produce 150,000 metric tons of refined nickel per year, producing 90% of China's output, and is the largest nickel producer in Asia. It produces 400,000 tons of copper per year, the fourth largest in China. The company reported that it would make a profit of 10 billion yuan in 2007 compared with 7.2 billion yuan in 2006, with sales of 50 billion yuan.
In October 2007, it was reported that it was planning to raise 30 billion yuan in an IPO some time in the next 10 months.


Trekkopje mine

The Trekkopje mine is a shallow open pit mine which has been under care and maintenance since 2012. It is located at Trekkopje in the western part of Namibia in Erongo Region. Trekkopje represents one of the largest uranium reserves in Namibia, having estimated reserves of 340 million tonnes of ore grading 0.014% uranium.


Shanxi Coking Coal Group

Shanxi Coking Coal Group Co., Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned coal mining conglomerate and a holding company, as one of the seven coal conglomerates that had a production capability of over 100 million metric tons in China in 2011.
Shanxi Coking Coal Group was ranked 337th in 2016 Fortune Global 500.
The company was owned by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of , which Shanxi SASAC injected several provincial government owned companies into the holding company in order to centralize the production of coal and coke in one business group.
The holding company is the parent of three publicly traded companies: Nafine Chemical Industry Group, Shanxi Coking Company and Xishan Coal and Electricity Power.
As at 31 December 2015, Shanxi Coking Coal Group had a mining capability of 86.9 million metric tons per year, according to National Energy Administration, with some capability were not disclosed, such as Shaqu mine () of Huajin Coking Coal.
In 2011 Shanxi Coking Coal Group is the largest Chinese miner for coking coal (metallurgical coal). According to the company, the group produced 105.35 million tons of coal and 9.62 million tons of coke, plus 13 billion kWh of electricity in 2015. According to the International Energy Agency, Shanxi Coking Coal Group was ranked 4th in 2006 in China by sales mass of coal.
History.
Shanxi Coking Coal Group was found in 2001 as the holding company of Fenxi Mining Industry Group, Xishan Coal Electricity Group and Huozhou Coal Electricity Group. The stake of Xishan Coal and Electricity Power was also acquired from Xishan Coal Electricity Group in 2001. The group also formed a joint venture Huajin Coking Coal in the same year. In 2004, Shanxi Coking Coal Group became the parent company of Shanxi Coking Group. It was followed by Yuncheng Salt Group in 2012 and Shanxi Coke Group in 2013.
Fenxi Mining Industry Group.
Fenxi Mining Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. (), based in Fenxi County, Linfen, was founded in 1956 as Fenxi Mining Bureau (). In 2000 it was incorporated as a limited company. It became part of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in 2001. In 2005 China Construction Bank, China Cinda Asset Management and China Huarong Asset Management became minority shareholders by debt-to-equity swap.
Huajin Coking Coal.
Huajin Coking Coal Co., Ltd. () was incorporated in 2001 as a 50-50 joint venture of Shanxi Coking Coal Group and China Coal Energy. In 2011, "Shanxi China Coal Huajin Energy" () was split from the company. Both companies recapitalized, which Huajin Coking Coal was under Shanxi Coking Coal Group for 51% stake, while Huajin Energy was under China Coal Energy for 51% stake.
In 2014 the 49% minority stake in "Huajin Energy" was injected to group's wholly owned subsidiary Shanxi Coking Group. In April 2016 it was announced it would sold to listed subsidiary Shanxi Coking in a cash plus new shares deal.
Huozhou Coal Electricity Group.
Huozhou Coal Electricity Group Co., Ltd. () was founded in 1958 in Huozhou, Linfen as Huo Country Mining Bureau (; Huo Country became Huozhou in 1989). In 2000 it was incorporated as a limited company. It became part of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in 2001.
As at 31 December 2015, the other shareholders were China Construction Bank and China Cinda Asset Management. They acquired the stake by debt-to-equity swap.
Shanxi Coke Group.
Shanxi Coke Group Co., Ltd. () was founded in 2002. The company specialized in coke and methanol making. It became part of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in 2013, transferred from Shanxi Coal Transportation and Sales Group.
Shanxi Coking Group.
Shanxi Coking Group Co., Ltd. () based in Hongtong County, Linfen, was founded in 1969 as Hongtong Coking Factory. In 1995, a subsidiary, Shanxi Coking Company, was formed to float the coke making factory in the stock exchange. The other assets remained unlisted. Shanxi Coking Group became a wholly own subsidiary of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in 2004. In 2005 Shanxi Coking Group sold 24.19% stake of the listed company to another subsidiary of Shanxi Coking Coal Group: Xishan Coal and Electricity Power for ( per share).
In 2014 Shanxi Coking Group received 49% stake of Huajin Energy from the parent company; the stake would be sell to Shanxi Coking for cash and new shares, as announced in April 2016.
Xishan Coal Electricity Group.
Xishan Coal Electricity (Group) Co., Ltd. was founded in 1956 as Xishan Mining Bureau (). In 1998 the organization was incorporated as a limited company. In 1999 a subsidiary Xishan Coal and Electricity Power was incorporated and floated on Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2000. Xishan Coal Electricity Group became a subsidiary of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in 2001. The stake in the listed company was also transferred from Xishan Coal Electricity Group to the parent company that year.


John C. Coleman

John Crisp Coleman (August 9, 1823 – March 23, 1919) was a California mining, railroad, and public utility magnate, and served in the California State Senate. He was the first President of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad, President of the North Star Mine in Grass Valley, Vice President of the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, and Vice President of California Street Cable. He also served as director of the Pacific Rolling Mills, the Contra Costa Gas Company, and the North Shore Railroad.
Career.
Coleman was born in Walton, Suffolk, England. John and his brother, Edward, arrived at Hangtown Creek, California, in 1850. The two brothers mined at Canon Creek, El Dorado County, and two years later, mined at Iowa Hill, Placer County, where he served as President of the Sons of Temperance. About this time, he went East to visit family and buy cattle.
In 1860, they moved to Grass Valley, Nevada County, and with others, bought the Helvetia and Lafayette Mining Company. The brothers opened the Morning Star Mine (Placer County) and the Idaho Mine (Nevada County) in 1867; they were also part owners in the North Star Mine and the Hueston Hill Company.
Personal life.
Coleman married Mary Lucretia Bush in 1856, and following her death in 1868, he was married in 1870 to Persis Hannah Sibley. Ten children survived him when he died. Coleman was a Freemason, and a Trustee of the Grass Valley Congregational church. The Wormser-Coleman House on 1834 California Street in San Francisco was owned by Coleman and is a San Francisco Designated Landmark. The Coleman Memorial Laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery is dedicated to John C. and Edward Coleman.


Chiatura mine

The Chiatura mine is a large mine complex located near the town of Chiatura in central-western Georgia in the Imereti region west of the national capital Tbilisi.
Chiatura represents the largest manganese reserve in Georgia and one of the largest in the world, having estimated reserves of 239 million tonnes of manganese ore grading around 26% manganese metal.
History.
The deposit was discovered in 1879 by the Georgian poet Akaki Tsereteli who explored the area in search of manganese and iron ores. After other intense explorations it was discovered that there are several layers of manganese oxide, peroxide and carbonate with thickness varying between and . The deposit was finally proven to be commercial and the JSC Chiaturmanganese company (JSC Chiaturmanganumi) was set up to manage and exploit the huge deposit. The gross-balance of workable manganese ores of all commercial categories is estimated as 239 million tonnes, which include manganese oxide ores - 41.6%, carbonate ores - 39%, and peroxide ores - 19%.
Prior to World War I, the German Krupp family was one of the leading investors in the mining operations at Chiaturi. In 1913 the mine produced 1 million tonnes of manganese ore, half the world's output. By the early 1920s output was only one-third of that 1913 peak, owing both to Bolshevic property confiscations and the withdrawal of foreign investment. In 1924, the American financier W. Averell Harriman became interested in an investment deal that would revive production. In an ill-fated deal with a Soviet government eager to ink a deal with a politically connected American investor so as to assist in its efforts to achieve diplomatic recognition from the United States government, Harriman capitalized the Georgian Manganese Company with $4 million of his own money, agreeing to pay significant fixed royalties per tonne to both the Soviet government and the previous Georgian mine owners. It would serve as the foreign centerpiece of Lenin's New Economic Policy. In its first year of operations, 1925, Harriman's company increased the mine's production from 436,000 tonnes to 772,000 tonnes. Thereafter, however, the Harriman venture quickly soured as global manganese prices fell and planned infrastructure improvements at the mine and on the railroad to Poti increased dramatically. By 1928, Harriman saw that continued operations at Chiaturi were not economically feasible and he negotiated a buyout agreement with the Soviet government.
The mine is currently owned by Georgian Manganese Holding, a subsidiary of the British company Stemcor, and is part of a holding which also includes the Zestaponi ferroalloy plant and the Vartzikha hydropower station. The Chiatura mine complex which includes four underground mines and three open pit quarries has an annual production capacity of 1.18 million tonnes of manganese ore and 400,000 tonnes of manganese concentrates. The mine complex transports its manganese ore by rail to the ferroalloy plant located in Zestaponi.
In 2017, a documentary about Chiatura and its mines was released, "City of the Sun", directed by Rati Oneli.


Asgat mine

The Asgat mine is one of the largest silver mines in Mongolia and in the world. The mine is located in central Mongolia. The mine has estimated reserves of 246.4 million oz of silver.


Trefor Richard Morgan

Trefor Richard Morgan (28 January 1914 – 3 January 1970) was a Welsh nationalist activist. He was a businessman who set up an insurance company and also supported efforts around Welsh language schooling.
Early life.
Born in Tonyrefail, Glamorgan, Morgan lost his father in the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918. He won a place at grammar school, but left at age fourteen to work as a coal miner, because of his family's financial difficulties. By the mid-1940s, he was instead working in farming.
Morgan was a conscientious objector during World War II, on the ground of his Welsh nationalist beliefs. In 1941 Morgan and another man, Ted Merriman, were imprisoned for a month on the charge of "insulting behaviour" after they turned their backs during the playing of God Save the King at an event held in Aberystwyth. Morgan married Gwyneth Evans in 1943.
Political activity.
Morgan became active in Plaid Cymru. He stood for the party in Ogmore at the 1945 general election and in a 1946 by-election. He was one of the founders of the Welsh Republican Movement, set up in September 1949, after a difference of opinion led to around fifty Plaid Cymru members walking out of a conference. In 1950, he stood as an independent nationalist candidate in Merthyr Tydfil. In 1955, he again stood for Plaid, this time in Abertillery, and at the 1964 and 1966 general elections, he stood in Brecon and Radnorshire.
Business and education.
Morgan's election campaigns were unsuccessful, and he decided to focus on promoting independent Welsh businesses. To this end, he set up an insurance company, Cwmni Undeb, based in Aberdare. He pledged that any profits would be invested in Welsh industry or establishing Welsh-language schools. Following on from this, he created a trading estate for like-minded businesses in Hirwaun, and in 1963 founded Cronfa Glyndwr yr Ysgolion Cymreig (The Glyndŵr Trust for Welsh Schools), which distributed funds to parents wishing to send their children to Welsh-language schools. In 1968, he founded Ysgol Glyndwr near Bridgend as a residential Welsh-language secondary school, but this closed soon after his death, in 1970.


Artillery Peak mine

The Artillery Peak mine is a mine located in the western United States, about north of Alamo Lake in Mohave County, Arizona. Artillery Peak represents one of the largest manganese reserves in the United States, with estimated reserves of 159 million tons of manganese ore graded 3.9% manganese metal.
It is current not in production. Alternate names are Artillery Mountain Mine and Hanna Mine.


Omahola project

The Omahola project consists of several uraniferous magnetite deposits (Ongolo, Inca, MS7) located in the western part of Namibia in Erongo Region. Ongalo represents a uranium resource having estimated 17,400 tU in ore grading 0.036% uranium.


Connellsville Coalfield

The Connellsville Coalfield is located in Fayette County and Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, between the city of Latrobe and the small borough of Smithfield, and is sometimes known as the Connellsville Coke Field. This is because the section of the Pittsburgh coal seam here was famous as one of the finest metallurgical coals in the world. It is locally known as the Connellsville coal seam, but is actually a portion of the Pittsburgh seam.
Coal was mined in this field from the early 19th century. Actual coking of the coal was first tried near Connellsville in the 1840s. After the Civil War a beehive coke industry gained a foothold in the region. The heyday of the Connellsville Coalfield was from the 1880s to the 1920s. At least 60 coal towns, known as "coal patches", were constructed in the field. H.C. Frick Coal and Coke - a subsidiary of U.S. Steel after 1903 - was the major player. Other notable industrialists included Josiah Van Kirk Thompson, W. J. Rainey, and Philip Cochran.
In an event known as the Morewood massacre in the early morning of April 2, 1891, local law enforcement shot into a crowd of striking United Mine Workers miners from the Morewood Coke Works, near Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Seven miners died on the scene, and three more later died from their injuries.
The coalfield endured the long decline in the beehive coke industry and a gradual exhaustion of the coal reserves. Mining activity is minimal now, and only relegated to the occasional strip mine.
List of Coal Patches in the Connellsville Field.