At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, despite many difficulties and falling manpower, coalmining was the most important industry in Great Britain. It employed around a million persons in well over 3,000 pits ranging from small hillside drift mines with a few hands to substantial collieries with workforces and pit communities the size of villages and small towns. A few months into the conflict, Lloyd George in a patriotic speech to a coal conference proclaimed that coal was 'everything for us, the country's life and blood, its international coinage'. As well as digging coal for the war effort, often in dreadful and dangerous conditions, miners demonstrated 'their old work in a new guise' when serving in huge numbers during the Great War. Thousands voluntarily swapped the pit for what many thought would be a better and safer option, around a quarter of a million enlisting by 1915; and about one in five of all military volunteers came from the coalfields of England, Scotland and Wales, an astonishing proportion. The massive response to the Call for Arms was most obvious in industrial areas where the so-called 'Pals battalions' were established and it was these recruits who suffered so heavily during the disastrous Somme offensive of 1916. The sheer number and range of gallantry awards including several VCs - also testify to the immense contribution of former miners. The many thousands of pitmen who paid the ultimate price are inscribed on public war memorials in coalfield communities, often dominating the listings. Such was the response from large pits that many others are commemorated on memorials specially erected by colliery and coal companies, one the earliest in the village of Brampton in South Yorkshire on behalf of Cortonwood Colliery. Whether working below and above ground at collieries or as part of the armed forces, miners played a very significant role during the Great War of 1914-18, a total contribution that deserves to be told.

The conferences on 'Applications for Computers and Operations Research in the Minerals Industry' (APCOM) initially focused on the optimization of geostatistics and resource estimation. Several standard methods used in these fields were presented in the early days of APCOM. While geostatistics remains an important part, information technology has emerged, and nowadays APCOM not only focuses on geostatistics and resource estimation, but has broadened its horizon to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the mineral industry. Mining Goes Digital is a collection of 90 high quality, peer reviewed papers covering recent ICT-related developments in: - Geostatistics and Resource Estimation - Mine Planning - Scheduling and Dispatch - Mine Safety and Mine Operation - Internet of Things, Robotics - Emerging Technologies - Synergies from other industries - General aspects of Digital Transformation in Mining Mining Goes Digital will be of interest to professionals and academics involved or interested in the above-mentioned areas.

Life in the early twentieth-century coalmining communities changed very little for the women who dedicated their lives to their miner husbands. The women's working days were much longer than the miners, who typically worked an 8-hour shift. Their living conditions were poor and lack of investment by the coal owners greatly challenged their homemaking skills as they faced life without many basics, such as clean water and sewerage systems. Health services were slow to develop and women's health was only just beginning to be of some importance to the medical profession. Coal-miner wives in the twentieth century also had to cope with demands put upon their families by the First World War, which highlighted the importance of solidarity, a feature of mining communities that had proved itself to be at the heart of colliery village life. This follow-up book to the popular Women of the Durham Coalfield in the 19th Century continues with the story of Hannah's daughter as she negotiates homemaking in the most challenging of conditions.

AS A FUNCTION OF ITS CORPORATE DUTIES, the Consolidation Coal Company, one of the largest coal-mining operations in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century, had photographers take hundreds of pictures of nearly every facet of its operations. Whether for publicity images, safety procedures, or archival information, these photographs create a record that goes far beyond the purpose the company intended. In Extracting Appalachia, geographer Geoffrey L. Buckley examines the company's photograph collection housed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. Included in the collection are images of mine openings, mining equipment, and mine accidents, as well as scenes of the company towns, including schools, churches, recreational facilities, holiday celebrations, and company stores. Although the photographs in the collection provide us with valuable insights, they tell only part of the story. Using company records, state and federal government documents, contemporary newspaper accounts, and other archival materials, Professor Buckley shows that these photographs reveal much more than meets the eye. Extracting Appalachia places these historic mining images in their social, cultural, and historical context, uncovering the true value and meaning of this rare documentary record.

The book provides primary information about civil engineering to both a civil and non-civil engineering audience in areas such as construction management, estate management, and building. Basic civil engineering topics like surveying, building materials, construction technology and management, concrete technology, steel structures, soil mechanics and foundations, water resources, transportation and environment engineering are explained in detail. Codal provisions of US, UK and India are included to cater to a global audience. Insights into techniques like modern surveying equipment and technologies, sustainable construction materials, and modern construction materials are also included. Key features: * Provides a concise presentation of theory and practice for all technical in civil engineering. * Contains detailed theory with lucid illustrations. * Focuses on the management aspects of a civil engineer's job. * Addresses contemporary issues such as permitting, globalization, sustainability, and emerging technologies. * Includes codal provisions of US, UK and India. The book is aimed at professionals and senior undergraduate students in civil engineering, non-specialist civil engineering audience

Although most mining companies utilise systems for slope monitoring, experience indicates that mining operations continue to be surprised by the occurrence of adverse geotechnical events. A comprehensive and robust performance monitoring system is an essential component of slope management in an open pit mining operation. The development of such a system requires considerable expertise to ensure the monitoring system is effective and reliable. Written by instrumentation experts and geotechnical practitioners, Guidelines for Slope Performance Monitoring is an initiative of the Large Open Pit (LOP) Project and the fifth book in the Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design series. Its 10 chapters present the process of establishing and operating a slope monitoring system; the fundamentals of pit slope monitoring instrumentation and methods; monitoring system operation; data acquisition, management and analysis; and utilising and communicating monitoring results. The implications of increased automation of mining operations are also discussed, including the future requirements of performance monitoring. Guidelines for Slope Performance Monitoring summarises leading mine industry practice in monitoring system design, implementation, system management, data management and reporting, and provides guidance for engineers, geologists, technicians and others responsible for geotechnical risk management. This book is an initiative of the Large Open Pit (LOP) Project and the fifth book in the Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design series. It summarises leading mine industry practice in monitoring system design, implementation, system management, data management and reporting, and provides guidance for engineers, geologists, technicians and others responsible for geotechnical risk management.

Yorkshire People & Coal is the third title in Peter Tuffrey's Yorkshire People series, featuring photographs from the Yorkshire Post's picture archives. This volume makes use of the wealth of pictures and information held in the Yorkshire Post's archives on the county's long association with coal. Peter believes there has never been a period in coal mining's long history as eventful as the previous forty to fifty years and many of the pictures contained here are from that time. Images have been carefully selected to show how coal has had a wide-ranging effect on Yorkshire life. Most aspects of colliery life are depicted and not surprisingly several themes dominate throughout: disasters, strikes and pit closures. It might be that coal is becoming a fading memory to those who lived through the trials and tribulations of the past fifty or more years and present generations might find it hard to imagine a time when it was relied upon to provide heating, energy and a means of travel. However it cannot be denied that coal has left an indelible mark on Yorkshire's long industrial history and its final glory years are aptly portrayed in Yorkshire People & Coal.

So much has been said about Marikana since the tragedy of 16 August 2012 where 34 miners were shot dead by police. South Africans are divided, with many supporting the miners and others supporting the police. The news and the images of the massacre made headlines around the globe for weeks. What the world didn’t take into account was who and what it took to bring that news from the small town of Rustenburg to the world.

Reporting from the Frontline by Gia Nicolaides is about personal experiences describing incidents behind the scenes from the main action. While most journalists spent weeks covering the unfolding events at Marikana, many didn’t have the opportunity to tell their own stories. A large group of journalists, producers and television presenters gathered at the North West Platinum Mine when several deaths were reported and the violence broke out. While the nation and the world focused on what was happening on the ground, no one asked how the media dealt with this tragedy. As with any good movie, critics want to know what it took to create it.

These stories will take you to the production centre of Marikana where the journalists watched, listened and interviewed in order to weave the stories together. The way Marikana was told to the world is quite different to what happened to the journalists who covered it. Their stories will show a completely different perspective.

The history of mining is replete with controversy of which much is related to environmental damage and consequent community outrage. Over recent decades, this has led to increased pressure to improve the environmental and social performance of mining operations, particularly in developing countries. The industry has responded by embracing the ideals of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Mining and the Environment identifies and discusses the wide range of social and environmental issues pertaining to mining, with particular reference to mining in developing countries, from where many of the project examples and case studies have been selected. Following an introductory overview of pressing issues, the book illustrates how environmental and social impact assessment, such as defined in "The Equator Principles", integrates with the mining lifecycle and how environmental and social management aims to eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive mining impacts. Practical approaches are provided for managing issues ranging from land acquisition and resettlement of Indigenous peoples, to the technical aspects of acid rock drainage and mine waste management. Moreover, thorough analyses of ways and means of sharing non-transitory mining benefits with host communities are presented to allow mining to provide sustainable benefits for the affected communities. This second edition of Mining and the Environment includes new chapters on Health Impact Assessment, Biodiversity and Gender Issues, all of which have become more important since the first edition appeared a decade ago. The wide coverage of issues and the many real-life case studies make this practice-oriented book a reference and key reading. It is intended for environmental consultants, engineers, regulators and operators in the field and for students to use as a course textbook. As much of the matter applies to the extractive industries as a whole, it will also serve environmental professionals in the oil and gas industries. Karlheinz Spitz and John Trudinger both have multiple years of experience in the assessment of mining projects around the world. The combination of their expertise and knowledge about social, economic, and environmental performance of mining and mine waste management has resulted in this in-depth coverage of the requirements for responsible and sustainable mining.

Disputes and dispossession of property rights in the mining sector are causes of injustice, violence, and forced resettlement around the world. This comprehensive volume examines mining, particularly what is often called 'Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining', from a perspective of governance and rights. It focuses on rights to land, natural resources, and other forms of material 'property'. Many projects, policies, and laws targeting artisanal and small-scale mining are embedded in problematic conceptual and institutional frameworks that implicitly stigmatise and discipline artisanal and small-scale miners. This collection takes a critical look at notions of property to destabilise some of these frameworks. The chapters in this book are notable for their recognition of the agency of artisanal miners and 'local communities' within the uneven hierarchies in which they are embedded, and their acknowledgement of the difficulties of state regulation of such a complex set of issues. The authors use a variety of theoretical tools, engaging with political economy, political ecology, classical economic theory, and socio-cultural concepts derived from ethnographic methods. This book includes insightful case studies from Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mongolia, South Africa, and Zambia, and is an important resource for academics, development practitioners, and policy-makers. It was originally published online as a special issue of Third World Thematics.

The book deals with development of comprehensive computational models for simulating underground coal gasification (UCG). It starts with an introduction to the UCG process and process modelling inputs in the form of reaction kinetics, flow patterns, spalling rate, and transport coefficient that are elaborated with methods to generate the same are described with illustrations. All the known process models are reviewed, and relative merits and limitations of the modeling approaches are highlighted and compared. The book describes all the necessary steps required to determine the techno-economic feasibility of UCG process for a given coal reserve, through modeling and simulation.

Structured into fourteen chapters, this volume covers various aspects of kiln maintenance and deals with the wear of components, operational parameters and their impact on the condition of the kiln, maintenance-friendly design considerations of kiln components, on-line techniques for condition monitoring, repair during operation, effective management of a kiln shutdown, and some management approaches. It presents systematic analyses of the problems encountered during the life span of the kilns and suggests appropriate method(s) to tackle them and meet the needs of engineers and operators involved. Written in simple language, containing a good blend of theory and practice, and supported with practical reference tables and figures, this book is intended for engineers, operators and maintenance workers working with cement kilns. The author, Dr. J.P. Saxena is an absolute expert in the field.

This book provides construction professionals, designers, contractors and quality auditors involved in construction projects with the auditing skills and processes required to improve construction quality and make their projects more competitive and economical. The processes within the book focus on auditing compliance to ISO, corporate quality management systems, project specific quality management systems, contract management, regulatory authorities' requirements, safety, and environmental considerations. The book is divided into seven chapters and each chapter is divided into numbered sections covering auditing-related topics that have importance or relevance for understanding quality auditing concepts for construction projects. No other book covers construction quality auditing in such detail and with this level of practical application. It is an essential guide for construction and quality professionals, but also for students and academics interested in learning about quality auditing in construction projects.

Surface and Underground Excavations - Methods, Techniques and Equipment (2nd edition) covers the latest technologies and developments in the excavation arena at any locale: surface or underground. In the first few chapters, unit operations are discussed and subsequently, excavation techniques are described for various operations: tunnelling, drifting, raising, sinking, stoping, quarrying, surface mining, liquidation and mass blasting as well as construction of large subsurface excavations such as caverns and underground chambers. The design, planning and development of excavations are treated in a separate chapter. Especially featured are methodologies to select stoping methods through incremental analysis. Furthermore, this edition encompasses comprehensive sections on mining at 'ultra depths', mining difficult deposits using non-conventional technologies, mineral inventory evaluation (ore - reserves estimation) and mine closure. Concerns over Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), environment and loss prevention, and sustainable development are also addressed in advocating a solution to succeed within a scenario of global competition and recession. This expanded second edition has been wholly revised, brought fully up-to-date and includes (wherever feasible) the latest trends and best practices, case studies, global surveys and toolkits as well as questions at the end of each chapter. This volume will now be even more appealing to students in earth sciences, geology, and in civil, mining and construction engineering, to practicing engineers and professionals in these disciplines as well as to all with a general or professional interest in surface and underground excavations.

Mining activities may result in rock mass deterioration and instability that may lead to failure both in underground and open pit mines. Such deterioration represents a safety risk and may result in substantial financial losses. Rock mass response may lead to ground subsidence, fall of ground/caving, inundation, pillar collapse, seismic activities and slope and tailings dam instability. Each response is preceded by warning signs and precursors, which are identified in this book, with a view to providing guidelines for prediction and amelioration of damage to mining structures. Furthermore, case studies of both large scale ground deterioration leading to collapse and geotechnical mine disasters are presented. Identifying risks and monitoring geotechnical precursors and warning signs allows for safe and productive mining.

Wastelanding tells the history of the uranium industry on Navajo land in the U.S. Southwest, asking why certain landscapes and the peoples who inhabit them come to be targeted for disproportionate exposure to environmental harm. Uranium mines and mills on the Navajo Nation land have long supplied U.S. nuclear weapons and energy programs. By 1942, mines on the reservation were the main source of uranium for the top-secret Manhattan Project. Today, the Navajo Nation is home to more than a thousand abandoned uranium sites. Radiation-related diseases are endemic, claiming the health and lives of former miners and nonminers alike. Traci Brynne Voyles argues that the presence of uranium mining on Dine (Navajo) land constitutes a clear case of environmental racism. Looking at discursive constructions of landscapes, she explores how environmental racism develops over time. For Voyles, the "wasteland," where toxic materials are excavated, exploited, and dumped, is both a racial and a spatial signifier that renders an environment and the bodies that inhabit it pollutable. Because environmental inequality is inherent in the way industrialism operates, the wasteland is the "other" through which modern industrialism is established. In examining the history of wastelanding in Navajo country, Voyles provides "an environmental justice history" of uranium mining, revealing how just as "civilization" has been defined on and through "savagery," environmental privilege is produced by portraying other landscapes as marginal, worthless, and pollutable.

The past few decades have witnessed remarkable growth in the application of passive seismic monitoring to address a range of problems in geoscience and engineering, from large-scale tectonic studies to environmental investigations. Passive seismic methods are increasingly being used for surveillance of massive, multi-stage hydraulic fracturing and development of enhanced geothermal systems. The theoretical framework and techniques used in this emerging area draw on various established fields, such as earthquake seismology, exploration geophysics and rock mechanics. Based on university and industry courses developed by the author, this book reviews all the relevant research and technology to provide an introduction to the principles and applications of passive seismic monitoring. It integrates up-to-date case studies and interactive online exercises, making it a comprehensive and accessible resource for advanced students and researchers in geophysics and engineering, as well as industry practitioners.

This book explores the formation of small and medium-sized construction company's (SME) compliance with health and safety issues in developing countries. Little has been written about the formation of SME contractors' health and safety compliance for developing countries, especially, in the sub-sahara regions where construction and infrastructure development activities have significantly increased in order to serve the development mandate of those countries. Thus, this book will provides insight into construction safety for SMEs, as well as health and safety compliance, and its policy implementation trends and development.

Coal has been fundamental for the development of industrial and transport technologies since the nineteenth century. Globalisation, including colonialism, would not have been possible without coal-based energy and thus the exploitation of coal in every part of the world. But coal mining is a labour-intensive activity and mine operators had to find, mobilise and direct workers to these sites to enable exploitation. The recruitment of miners often targeted groups with a perceived inferior status. This turned coal mining communities into dense social spheres characterised by the intricate dynamics of ethnic identifications, interracial relations and class formation. The twelve articles presented in this volume cover cases from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Turkey, the Soviet Union and Western Europe, as well as a broad range of topics, from segregation, forced labour and subcontracting, to labour struggles, discrimination, ethnic paternalism and sports.

The go-to resource for professionals in the mining industry The SME Mining Reference Handbook was the first concise reference published in the mining field and it quickly became the industry standard. It sits on almost every mining engineer's desk or bookshelf with worn pages, tabs to find most used equations, and personal notes. It has been the unequaled single reference and the first source of information for countless engineers.This second edition of the SME Mining Reference Handbook builds on that success. With an enhanced presentation, new and updated information is represented in a concise, well-organized guide of important data for everyday use by engineers and other professionals engaged in mining, exploration, mineral processing, and environmental compliance and reclamation. With its exhaustive trove of charts, graphs, tables, equations, and guidelines, the handbook is the essential technical reference for mobile mining professionals.

Current dominant thinking and practice in the private and public sectors asserts that peoples' development needs are in conflict with, or mutually exclusive to, the need to conserve the biosphere on which we depend. Consequently, we are asked to either diminish development in the name of conservation or diminish conservation in the name of development. Efforts to identify complementary objectives, or mutually acceptable trade-offs and compromises indicate, however, that this does not always have to be the case. This first volume in the State of the Apes series draws attention to the evolving context within which great ape and gibbon habitats are increasingly interfacing with extractive industries. Intended for a broad range of policy makers, industry experts, decision makers, academics, researchers and NGOs, these publications aim to influence debate, practice and policy, seeking to reconcile ape conservation and welfare, and economic and social development, through objective and rigorous analysis.

The mining engineer and petrologist Frederick Henry Hatch (1864 1932) left the Geological Survey of Great Britain in 1892, relocating to South Africa. He worked for De Beers and with John Hays Hammond for Cecil Rhodes, finding important new gold fields in Matabeleland and Mashonaland. Control of the gold mines was a significant factor in the tension between Dutch and English settlers that would result in the Second Boer War in 1899. Prior to this, Rhodes and Hammond were behind the abortive Jameson Raid, but Hatch had returned to England briefly and was not implicated. This 1895 work, written with South African mining engineer J. A. Chalmers, reveals the extent of gold reserves in the Transvaal, and the engineering skills needed to exploit them. It deals with geological, economic and legal aspects of the mining industry, remaining of interest to historians of South Africa and the British Empire.

International institutions (United Nations, World Bank) and multinational companies have voiced concern over the adverse impact of resource extraction activities on the livelihood of indigenous communities. This volume examines mega resource extraction projects in Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Chad, Cameroon, India, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines.

Alexander von Humboldt (1769 1859) was one of the most respected scientists of his time; Darwin called him 'the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived'. From 1799 Humboldt spent five years exploring the Americas, reporting his findings in thirty volumes, published over a period of more than twenty years from 1805. His Essai Politique, describing northern New Spain, particularly Mexico, was one of the first studies of a single country written to take account of both its history, its society and its political development. In 1824, the English mining engineer John Taylor published this abridged translation, combining it with passages from Humboldt's Geognostical Essay on the Superposition of Rocks in order to provide a focussed account of Mexico's mining concerns and opportunities. Including detailed maps, this work contains exhaustive statistics, particularly with regard to trade, agriculture and mining, alongside geographical studies and observations on the population and government.