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.

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.

Slate from British quarries roofed the world. For a period in the nineteenth century, ships exported thousands of tons of roofing slate from the UK to an international market. The development of slate as a roofing material drove the business of extraction, but many other slate products have been made as well, including writing slates, electrical installations and even snooker tables. Slate is synonymous with North Wales, where a bid for World Heritage Site status is being made for the landscape formed by quarrying, but there was also a slate industry in Leicestershire, Cornwall and Cumbria. The enormous physical remains of the quarries themselves have sometimes developed as tourist attractions and at other times have been left as landscape features ripe for exploration and discovery. This book is part of the Britain's Heritage series, which provides definitive introductions to the riches of Britain's past, and is the perfect way to get acquainted with the slate industry in all its variety.

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.

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.

The Miners' Unions of Northumberland and Durham by the historian Edward Welbourne was first published in 1923. It was based on a study which had previously been awarded the Thirlwall Prize, the Seeley Medal for History, and the Gladstone Prize in the year 1921 at the University of Cambridge. The book presents an historical analysis of the charged social conditions and conflicts that shaped the coal mining industry in the north of England from the middle of the eighteenth to the end of the nineteenth century.

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.

The scars left by the 1984/85 'Great Strike for Jobs' are still raw in Nottinghamshire, 30 years on. There, the majority of the National Union of Mineworkers did not support their union, working throughout the strike, later forming the breakaway Union of Democratic Miners. This book puts these events in context, giving a history of the coalfields through the 20th century and the first comprehensive overview of the strike year in Nottinghamshire.

It is widely believed that the employment of children underground in coal mines ended in 1842. This book, in contrast, shows that young people remained an important part of the workforce up until the virtual demise of the industry in the late twentieth century. The Children's Employment Commission was established in 1840 to expose the conditions under which children had to work underground; as we might expect, public opinion was outraged by what came to light, and a law was passed to prevent all females and boys under the age of ten from working underground. However, the lack of inspectors made the law difficult to enforce, and many females and boys under ten continued to work illegally until Parliament made school attendance compulsory in the 1860s. This popular and accessible book is a rich source of information about the working lives of children and young people in the Welsh coalfields, richly illustrated to include extensive work from Amgueddfa Cymru's photographic archives.

An examination of silver mining and society in Colonial Mexico in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, concentrating upon Zacatecas, the centre of the principal silver-mining region. In the first half of the book, the author describes the discovery of the mines, the establishment of the town, its role in the northward advance of the Spanish occupation of Mexico, its administration, and the sources of its supplies of essential food and materials. The remainder of the book is devoted to an analysis of the mining industry of the Zacatecas district. The author discusses techniques, labour and raw materials. He also provides statistics for silver production, suggesting reasons for their fluctuation, and explores sources of capital for the industry. Based on detailed study of archives in both Spain and Mexico, Dr Bakewell is able to provide an entirely new chronology for the development of Zacatecas and the Mexican maining industry up to 1700.

Topical Issues of Rational Use of Natural Resources 2019 Vol. 1 contains the contributions in presented at the XV International Forum-Contest of Students and Young Researchers under the auspices of UNESCO (St. Petersburg Mining University, Russia, 13-17 May 2019). The Forum-Contest is a great opportunity for young researchers to present their work to the academics involved or interested the area of extraction and processing of natural resources. The topics of the book include: * Geotechnologies of resource extraction: current challenges and prospects * Cutting edge technologies of geological mapping, search and prospecting of mineral deposits * Digital and energy saving technologies in mineral resource complex * Breakthrough technologies of integrated processing of mineral hydrocarbon and technogenic raw materials with further production of new generation materials * The latest management and financing solutions for the development of mineral resources sector * Environment protection and sustainable nature management * New approaches to resolving hydrocarbon sector-specific issues Topical Issues of Rational Use of Natural Resources 2019 Vol. 1 collects the best reports presented at the Forum-Contest, and is of interest to academics and professionals involved in the extraction and processing of natural resources.

Wheal Jane was one of the greatest mines of the huge complex of workings in the Chacewater area in West Cornwall. A re-opening of Wheal Jane in 1969 coincided with the arrival in the area of John Peck, who became its 'official' photographer, recording all aspects of the work there until its final closure in 1992. This book collects together those photgraphs.

This comprehensive technical book on highwall mining covers theory and practice coupled with practical examples and design aspects. It contains eight extensive chapters elaborating broad-spectrum functionalities of highwall mining and its operational aspects, covering world scenario, economic potential, methods of coal extraction, design methodology including empirical web pillar design, numerical modelling for stress analysis, safety factor for web pillars, panel and barrier design, small-and large-scale numerical modelling, multiple seam interaction and design, coal web pillar strength, equivalent width concept, laboratory testing, new web pillar strength formula, effect of weak bands in coal seam, slope stability, safety and ground monitoring, hazards and regulatory requirements, case examples, norms and guidelines for practice. It also summarizes the results of research carried out by the CSIR Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR), India and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia on the subject. The book will equip readers in understanding the complex, multiple seam scenarios for highwall mining, and its design for maximum coal recovery from any given site with better economics, which will aid the mining companies in extracting locked-up coal following the safety norms to avoid hazards and minimise instability issues. A large number of case studies is included to illustrate the application of numerical modelling for prior estimation and viability of highwall mining operations under varying geomining conditions. The book will be of interest to professionals and academics in the field of mining engineering specifically, but will also interest civil, geomechanical and geological engineers as well as rock mechanics professionals.

Rail freight expert Paul Shannon takes a detailed look at rail freight developments since 1968. He examines the gradual decline of coal mining in the UK, the changing requirements of the power generators, and changes brought about by privatization. The text is supported by many photographs, diagrams and maps.

Based on unrestricted access to papers and personnel at BP, as well as numerous other sources, this second volume of BP's history aims to be an honest and comprehensive examination of the company in the period 1928-1954. Such a history inevitably touches on many different historical interests ranging from international relations to social, economic, political and military topics, primarily in Britain and the Middle East. The 1994 book includes penetrating insights into the direction and management of the company, the achievements and shortcomings of successive chairmen, and the relationship between the company and its major shareholder, the British Government. It also deals in detail with matters which have retained an aura of controversy and mystique long after their occurrence, most notably the international petroleum cartel which sought to control world oil markets, and the major international crisis arising from Iran's oil nationalisation.

Africa supplies the majority of the world's diamonds, yet consumers generally know little about the origins and history of these precious stones beyond sensationalized media accounts of so-called blood diamonds.
"Stones of Contention" explores the major developments in the remarkable history of Africa's diamonds, from the first stirrings of international interest in the continent's mineral wealth in the first millennium A.D. to the present day. In the European colonial period, the discovery of diamonds in South Africa ushered in an era of unprecedented greed during which monopolistic enterprises exploited both the mineral resources and the indigenous workforce. In the aftermath of World War II, the governments of newly independent African states, both democratic and despotic, joined industry giant De Beers and other corporations to oversee and profit from mining activity on the continent.
The book also considers the experiences of a wide array of Africans--from informal artisanal miners, company mineworkers, and indigenous authorities to armed rebels, mining executives, and premiers of mineral-rich states--and their relationships to the stones that have the power to bring both wealth and misery. With photos and maps, Stones of Contention illustrates the scope and compexity of the African diamond trade as well as its impact on individuals and societies.

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.

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.

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.

Like an old-fashioned hymn sung in rounds, Something's Rising gives a stirring voice to the lives, culture, and determination of the people fighting the destructive practice of mountaintop removal in the coalfields of central Appalachia. Each person's story, unique and unfiltered, articulates the hardship of living in these majestic mountains amid the daily desecration of the land by the coal industry because of America's insistence on cheap energy. Developed as an alternative to strip mining, mountaintop removal mining consists of blasting away the tops of mountains, dumping waste into the valleys, and retrieving the exposed coal. This process buries streams, pollutes wells and waterways, and alters fragile ecologies in the region. The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in a society dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal. Included here are oral histories from Jean Ritchie, "the mother of folk," who doesn't let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal-miner's daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes cooperation is the key to winning the battle; Jack Spadaro, the heroic whistle-blower who has risked everything to share his insider knowledge of federal mining agencies; Larry Bush, who doesn't back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; Denise Giardina, a celebrated writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the issue; and many more. The book features both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. Each oral history is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects' connections to their region. Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, this compelling book captures a fever-pitch moment in the movement against mountaintop removal. Silas House and Jason Howard are experts on the history of resistance in Appalachia, the legacy of exploitation of the region's natural resources, and area's unique culture and landscape. This lyrical and informative text provides a critical perspective on a powerful industry. The cumulative effect of these stories is stunning and powerful. Something's Rising will long stand as a testament to the social and ecological consequences of energy at any cost and will be especially welcomed by readers of Appalachian studies, environmental science, and by all who value the mountain's majesty -- our national heritage.

Planetary Mine suggests that the burgeoning race for resources that began at the turn of the century has come to signal two distinct, yet overlapping, epoch-making shifts: the end of the Western phase of capitalism, on the one hand, and an unfolding technological revolution on the other. Through an exploration of the integrated logistical infrastructures that connect mines in the Atacama Desert of Chile with an expanding constellation of megacities, ports, banks, and factories across East Asia, the book rethinks uneven geographical development in the current, post-globalisation context.